Happy New Year! Please forgive me if I am not sounding quite as upbeat as I would hope to. Usually I come back after a bit of holiday after Christmas full of energy and enthusiasm and excitement as we look forward to all the New Year will bring. This year instead my mood is best summed up in a picture I discovered a few years ago. In it a polar bear is saying, “I’m up! If you’re expecting bright eyed and bushy tailed, go catch a squirrel!” That is a bit like what I am feeling today. The truth is that after all the pressures of last year I am still pretty worn out, and I am sure I am not the only one. We are very grateful to have enjoyed a few pleasant and relaxing days, but not enough to feel refreshed and recharged. And while the arrival of vaccines against Coronavirus is very good news for the long term, for the next few months at least life is still going to be full of challenges and even hardships. On top of that, today the sleet is falling. With the joys of Christmas almost over and very little to look forward to, we should be grateful for the very many blessings we are receiving. But this can sometimes be hard to do.
I feel unprepared and inadequate to face all that 2021 is likely to bring. So for this evening, a verse of Scripture to encourage and inspire us for the days and weeks and months ahead. A wonderful promise to claim when the going gets tough.
Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”
The obvious question to ask with this text to begin with, and one reason why it is sometimes misquoted, is, what does Paul mean by ALL THINGS? Surely Paul wasn’t saying he could fly, or walk through walls! This verse is not a guarantee that every Christians will have a successful career, or that we will be brilliant at every hobby we enjoy. We need to look at the context to see what “all things” means here and the context is that Paul is talking about everything he had suffered for Christ’s sake.
Paul had been through tough times. He was writing to the Philippians while he was in prison in Rome because of corrupt officials, waiting for possible execution on false charges. But it hadn’t been an easy ride for Paul to that point either! Years earlier he had made a list of the ways he had suffered for Christ up until that point when he was writing to the Corinthians.
2 Corinthians 1123 I have in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. 24 Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, 26 I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. 27 I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.
In J.B.Phillips’ words, many times Paul had been, “Knocked down but never knocked out.”
Yet still Paul could write in Philippians 4:12,“I have learned the secret of being content it any and every situation.”
MESSAGE I’ve learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I’m just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I’ve found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty.
If only we could learn as Christians to be content with what God has chosen to give us, however much or however little. If only we could learn to the secret of contentment whether we are well-fed or hungry, full or empty. If only we could learn not to chase after things God does not want us to have!
We should not need a nice job, a nice house or a nice car. We should not need to be successful or to have lots of friends. All these things may bring superficial happiness but they don’t make anybody content. We should not need money or possessions to make us happy. Paul wrote to Timothy,
1 Timothy 6 6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. … 8… if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.
When they face problems, many people think they can just buy their way out. They rely on money to avoid troubles and hardship. But the truth is that Money can’t solve every problem and possessions don’t bring contentment – materialism brings so many problems and doesn’t solve any.
Other people think they can achieve contentment through sheer hard work. When they face problem they just try to plough on through by their own efforts. Other people rely on their own willpower to get them through the hard times. The truth is there is nothing any of us can do for ourselves which will guarantee contentment. And we just don’t have it within ourselves to cope with every problem we may face in life.
In these days, many people are putting their trust in science to solve the whole world’s problems. Others turn to technology to make them happy. When we face problems with our health, folk look to medicine or therapy to help them cope, and at times this is absolutely the right thing to do of course. But too many people rely on prescriptions when they don’t need them. Not to mention those who try to drown their sorrows with alcohol, or illegal drugs. All to find the contentment which these things can never provide.
In contrast, Paul had found the secret of true contentment. “I have learned the secret of being content it any and every situation.”
For Paul contentment meant an inner sense of rest or peace that comes from being right with God and knowing that He is in control of all that happens to us. It is not always easy to be content, especially when life is not going well and things get tough. I don’t know how well any of us would have coped with all those terrible things which Paul went through. Yet we sometimes think life is tough for us!
Notice that Paul does NOT say that his secret of contentment was that God miraculously rescued him from all those times of danger, although that did happen on several occasions. Paul does not say that he learned to be content because God always took his problems and hardships away. Some peddlers of the false “Health, wealth and prosperity” doctrines teach that the believing Christian will never have any problems like poverty or bad health or indeed any suffering of any kind. That is not what Paul says here and it’s not what the Bible says anywhere! Christians will all go through rough times. If Christ suffered, we can expect to suffer too. That is “the normal Christian life.”
So what was Paul’s secret of contentment?
“I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” “I have strength for all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
The Message translates the verse like this. “Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am.”
Or in other words, Christ gives me the power to cope with life no matter what comes my way. “I can make it through anything,” That was Paul’s honest testimony. Whatever life had thrown at him, he had come through. “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” Paul’s secret for contentment was Christ Himself, giving him all the strength he ever needed for a joyful life and an effective ministry.
The secret is clear. “Christ strengthening me”. “Strengthening” there is a present participle and that implies an ongoing continuous or repeated action. Forgive me if I labour the point. Paul is not saying that at some point in his life Christ gave him some kind of strength which Paul can then use whenever he likes to help him cope. What Paul is saying instead is that whenever he is facing hardship, at that point he is able to cope because at that moment Christ strengthens and keeps on strengthening him. The strength and help come each time as Paul relies on the strength Christ gives him and not on his own human resources.
And this takes us right back to a well known passage earlier in Philippians 4.
6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Everybody faces problems sometimes. We all have things to worry about. Jobs. Family. Money. Health. What the future may hold. And our worries will rob us of our joy and our peace and our contentment. Whenever we face problems or hardships, whenever anything burdens or distresses us, God does not want us to be anxious or worried or afraid. He simply invites us to come to Him in prayer. Prayer is our conversation drawing near to God and petitions are our specific requests to Him. And heartfelt thanksgiving to God for so many blessings is always appropriate. We can even thank God for the problems we may face, because these are opportunities for God to give us strength and for our faith to grow and for God to be glorified in our hours of weakness. Our contentment and our rejoicing and our peace and our strengthening will come to us directly from Christ and they come to us as God answers our prayers! Here again, for emphasis. “Present your requests to God” is another continuing action. “Keep on letting your requests be known to God.” And the result will be that each time God’s amazing peace will keep on garrisoning your mind keeping it safe in Christ. The peace of God will stand sentry over our minds and hearts keeping us safe from anxieties and fears. God does not offer anyone a guarantee that he will always take all our problems and all our sufferings away. What God does promise is strength to cope with whatever may come – the strength that comes from Christ Himself.
Note again, there is no once-for-all-time experience from God which will give to a Christian some kind of permanent peace and contentment which will never go away whatever troubles we face. But Paul’s experience and God’s promise to us is that on every occasion as we bring our requests to Him, Christ WILL give us the strength to cope and the peace and contentment we all long for.
Isaiah 26:3 You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is fixed on you, because he trusts in you. 4 Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord, is the Rock eternal.
It is precisely as we trust in God, and fix our minds on Him, and bring our requests and our needs to Him, that we experience His peace and His contentment and his strengthening.
“I can do all things through Christ strengthening me.” Paul uses this same word for strength in his prayer for the Colossians. Colossians 1 9 … we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience …
God wants us all to be strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that we might have great endurance and patience whatever life may be throwing at us. In the challenging months ahead, God wants us to bring all our prayers and petitions to him. That is the way we will prove again in our own experience that we too can make it through anything through Christ as He strengthens us!

Philippians 2:6-11 was a very early Christian hymn which Paul quotes to teach the Philippians about humility and service. It contains the heart of the gospel and some of the deepest theology in the whole of the New Testament.

6 (Christ was) in very nature God,
but did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! NIV

GOOD NEWS BIBLE,
NEW CENTURY TRANSLATION,
NEW LIVING TRANSLATION,
THE MESSAGE

6 (Christ was) in very nature God,

6 He always had the nature of God,

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men.

Col 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

John 10:30 I and the Father are one

Never forget that the man who died on the cross was much more than a man. He was God – Immanuel God with us. It was God the Son, the second Person of the Holy Trinity, who gave up his life as a ransom for many there on the cross on Good Friday.

Only after his death did people begin to realize who Jesus really was.

Mark 15:39 And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”

Christ was indeed God
but did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,

He did not think that by force he should try to remain equal with God.

6 Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God.

He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what.

Christ Himself was God in everything but did not think that being equal to God was something to be used for his own benefit.

Christ the Living Word of God did not have to die on the cross. He did not have to come to earth to be born as a man at all. That was His choice. A choice made out of love for us. A choice made out of obedience to the will and the unfathomable purposes of the Godhead.

Christ was truly God,

7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

Instead of this, of his own free will he gave up all he had, and took the nature of a servant.

When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human !

But he gave up his place with God and made Himself nothing.

7 He made himself nothing; he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form.

Here is the Christmas story, the mystery of the Incarnation. The Word became flesh

He EMPTIED HIMSELF – Christ remained God – but laid aside all the power and glory of his divinity to become a tiny baby laid in a manger. A self-emptying which continued throughout His earthly ministry even to his death on the cross.

AND CAN IT BE that I should gain An interest in the Saviour’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain? For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! how can it be That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
He left His Father’s throne above, So free, so infinite His grace;
Emptied Himself of all but love, And bled for Adam’s helpless race.
‘Tis mercy all, immense and free; For, O my God, it found out me.

“Love, to be real, must cost,” said Mother Teresa, “It must hurt. It must empty us of self.”

YOU LAID ASIDE YOUR MAJESTY, Gave up everything for me,
Suffered at the hands of those You had created.

8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself

He was born to be a man and became like a servant. And when he was living as a man he humbled himself

Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges.

He came to earth as a servant even though He had every right to come as a sovereign

Consider for a moment the humility and the humiliation of Jesus Christ the Son of God

Mark 15:15 Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified. The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called together the whole company of soldiers. 17 They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. 18 And they began to call out to him, “Hail, king of the Jews!” 19 Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spat on him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him. 20 And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.

Christ humbled himself – even to the ultimate humiliation. Christ emptied Himself even of life itself.
and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! NIV

8 He was humble and walked the path of obedience all the way to death—his death on the cross. Good news

He was fully obedient to God, even when that caused his death, death on a cross. New Century

8 And in human form he obediently humbled himself even further by dying a criminal’s death on a cross. New Living translation

He lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that: a crucifixion. The Message

Father’s pure radiance, Perfect in innocence,
Yet learns obedience To death on a cross.
Suffering to give us life, Conquering through sacrifice,
And as they crucify Prays: ‘Father forgive.’
O what a mystery, Meekness and majesty.
Bow down and worship For this is your God, This is your God.

John 15: 13 Greater love has no-one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

Consider just how costly this obedience was to the Son of God!

Mark 15:25 It was the third hour when they crucified him. 26 The written notice of the charge against him read: THE KING OF THE JEWS. 27 They crucified two robbers with him, one on his right and one on his left. 29 Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, 30 come down from the cross and save yourself!”
31 In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! 32 Let this Christ, this King of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

See here God’s creatures murdering their creator. But death on a cross was even more costly than that for God the Son.

Mark 15:33 At the sixth hour darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “ Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? ”—which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, not only betrayed by His friend and abandoned by his disciples, but abandoned by God the Father. THAT is what it cost for Jesus to be “obedient to death – even death on a cross”!!

So how much does God love us? What was really going on as Jesus of Nazareth was hanging suffering and dying on the cross of Calvary?

6 (Christ was) in very nature God,
but did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! NIV

9 THEREFORE God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

Did you see what Paul is saying here about Jesus Christ the Son of God? Jesus who has the Name above all other names, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Jesus before whom every knee will bow, every creature in the whole of creation.

Paul is saying that Jesus was exalted to this highest place and given that name above every name AS A CONSEQUENCE of Him being obedient to death, even death on a cross. From before the beginning of time Jesus Christ was already God the Son, already the firstborn of the Father, already the second Person in the Holy Trinity. From the moment of His incarnation as a baby laid in a manger in Bethlehem, Jesus was already the Living Word, the agent of creation, the visible image of the invisible God and the Messiah that the Jews had been anticipating. But all that was not remotely enough glory for the Son of God who have Himself up for human beings and for our salvation. Not nearly enough honour for the suffering Servant King. So that is why God the Father exalted His Son to an even higher status.

9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, (NIV)

Good News 9 For this reason God raised him to the highest place above
and gave him the name that is greater than any other name.

Message Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything, ever, so that all created beings in heaven and on earth—even those long ago dead and buried—will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ, and call out in praise that he is the Master of all, to the glorious honor of God the Father.

So what Paul is saying is that the crucified Risen Christ is even more exalted and glorified than the incarnate Son of God. We saw the same idea this morning in Peter’s first sermon after Pentecost

Acts 222 “Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. 23 This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. 24 But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. ….. (King David) spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. 32 God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. …
36 “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”

God has made this Jesus both Lord and Christ, as a consequence of the crucifixion and through His glorious resurrection.
It was as a result of His death and resurrection that Jesus Christ has been exalted even more highly to be King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

We find the same amazing truth in Revelation 5. Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, is worthy of even greater honour and praise and glory, because He has taken away the sins of the world.
Rev 5 6 Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. …
9 “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. 10 You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.”
11 Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. 12 In a loud voice they sang:
“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!”

So the death and resurrection of Jesus do not just have significance for us who are saved by Him. The death and resurrection of Christ have implications for the entirety of creation!

8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! NIV
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

And so, in honour of the name of Jesus all beings in heaven, on earth, and in the world below will fall on their knees, and all will openly proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Good News)

Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything, ever, so that all created beings in heaven and on earth—even those long ago dead and buried—will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ, and call out in praise that he is the Master of all, to the glorious honor of God the Father. (Message)

The fastest growing religion in Africa is not Islam. But nor is it Christianity. The fastest growing religion in Africa is a variation of Pentecostalism which is as dangerous as it is unbiblical. It is what is known as the “prosperity gospel.” It is the mistaken and wrong teaching that if you are a Christian God will always give you health, wealth and success, just as long as you have enough faith. The prosperity gospel. So in many African cities cars and church-owned minibuses display disturbing bumper stickers like “Unstoppable Achiever,” “With Jesus I Will Always Win,” and “Your Success Is Determined by Your Faith,”
This prosperity gospel of health, wealth and success is spreading all over Africa and India too but its roots lie in USA. You will have heard some of their slogans. “Say it; do it; receive it; tell it.” “Name it and claim it” “Healing in the atonement”. “You believe you receive”. “What I confess, I possess.” This “prosperity gospel” can even sneak its way on to Premier Christian Radio and most of the God TV channels. And I was very sad even to find a song in Songs of Fellowship (798) which promises,
“Oh, the Lord, He is the God And faithful is He.
He’ll keep His word and His covenant, Giving mercy and prosperity.”
No – He won’t.
Christians have always looked to God to meet their material needs. But the kind of blessings that prosperity gospel preachers often promise are very different. An expectation of abundant wealth, runaway professional success, and unassailable physical and emotional health, all so that Christians can fund Christian work and prove to the watching world that Christ exists. These are the lies of the prosperity gospel! I have preached before the heresy of “Health, wealth and success” but I return to the theme tonight because in Philippians 4:19 we come to what I think is probably the most misquoted and misunderstood texts in the whole Bible.
“And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”

Here is a precious promise claimed by many Christians, not just those proclaiming a prosperity gospel. But what does this text really mean. Does God really promise to meet ALL our needs???
When I am preparing my sermons, after I have thought about what I am going to say, I look at the sermons other ministers have preached on the same texts. The classics of Luther, Calvin, Wesley, Spurgeon, Campbell Morgan. And contemporary sermons posted online in a very useful website anybody can read called sermoncentral.com. But looking there at the 73 sermons preachers have posted on the text of Philippians 4:19 I became very depressed very quickly. Because almost without exception, preachers have misinterpreted this verse and the majority of them have actually been teaching some form or another of the prosperity gospel and not the true meaning and message of Philippians at all.

Let me give you a few examples of what others have said which I believe are WRONG and NOT what Philippians 4:19 has to say to us today.
A Methodist wrote, “In the same way God supplied the needs of the Philippian Church, he promises to do so for local Churches today and for each one of us personally as His individual children.” (David Reynolds)
A sermon called, “God shall supply” promised, “In whatever circumstance we should find ourselves in, God will supply all our needs.” (Scott Ghan)
One Pentecostal called said, “Because the Philippian church was a giving church God was going to bless them in many ways. If we learn to be generous givers God will also bless us.” (Ronald Thorrington)
A Baptist introduced his sermon this way. “Do you have needs today? If so, what or who are you trusting in to meet those needs? If you are going to God and fully trusting him then those needs will be met. God promises us that He will meet all of our need as his people. All too often people seemingly suffer need because their faith in God to meet their need is so little. Trust in God and Him alone, He will never fail you. Today by God’s wonderful help we would like to consider our unfailing God, and His ability to meet our need.”
And one Pentecostal preacher from India even entitled his sermon, “Secrets of Prosperity: My God shall supply all your need.” “This sermon is about the secrets of financial blessing through generosity and How God promises to supply all our need.” (Stanley Vasu)
I have quoted these examples because I believe they are wrong interpretations and wrong applications of what Philippians 4:19 has to say to us today. So, why do I think that? And what does this verse really promise us?
The starting point for understanding any text is its context. A text without a context is a pretext. So who wrote these words and who was he writing to? In the early 60s AD the apostle Paul wrote a letter to the church at Philippi and in it he said, “My God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”
In context this is Paul conveying to one particular group of Christians in a particular place at a particular time his assurance that God would meet all their needs. Because Paul is speaking as an apostle, we can assume that God had given him that message to pass on to that church. It was a message for those Philippians. The occasion of the message was as part of a “thank you note” which Paul wrote to the church because he had received some gifts they had sent him with Epaphroditus. And in the first instance that promise that “God will meet all your needs” was historically unique to the Philippians, just as much as their gifts to Paul were historically unique.
But it’s not unusual for us to extend promises, or commands, in the Bible beyond the people who originally received them. Like God to Joshua: “I will never fail you or forsake you.” Many Christians regularly claim that promise. We usually say that anything Jesus said to his disciples in the gospels will apply to all his disciples in every place and generation. We take, “Go and make disciples of all nations,” as being for every Christian, not just the first apostles. We make that kind of unspoken assumption almost every time we read the Gospels. Unless we have good reasons to think otherwise, we usually say that any instructions Paul gives to a particular church in one of his letters will be a command to every church. We assumed that last week. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” We happily transferred those wonderful promises initially written to the Philippians on to ourselves and I am sure we were right to do so. But my point is that we made that jump in application without even thinking about it. We usually think that promises made to specific people in the Bible apply more widely to other people and so we claim them for ourselves. But let’s think about this some more.
We don’t usually think that Bible promises Jesus made to his disciples can be claimed by people who are not believers unless they are promises which are obviously aimed at non-believers. And there are some promises Jesus made to specific individuals which we don’t think are for everybody. “You are Peter and on this Rock I will build my church.” Not every disciple called Peter is called to be Jesus’s Rock and the foundation of the church. Every time we read the Bible we make a judgment about how what we read applies to us. And it is not right that we should just assume that every verse applies directly to us without at least some consideration. “My God will meet all your needs,” was written to the Philippians, not in the first instance to you or to me.
So who is that promise for? Many preachers rightly look at the immediate context of the previous verses
Philippians 4 14 Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles. 15 Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; 16 for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid again and again when I was in need. 17 Not that I am looking for a gift, but I am looking for what may be credited to your account. 18 I have received full payment and even more; I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.
Here is Paul’s thank you note for the gifts he has received. We see that the Philippians have supported Paul with practical aid, gifts of money and perhaps of food and clothing as well. Again Paul stresses, he is not writing looking for a handout. He is content with what he has. Paul just wants to thank the Philippians for their gifts to him which he describes as “a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.” So we read that the Philippians were a giving church, a faithful church, a generous church, even a sacrificing church. And many preachers see this context and say that the promise in Philippians 4:19 is specifically for churches and Christians like the Philippians. Many preachers say essentially the same as one who wrote, “This promise comes with a premise. If you meet the premise of 4:14-16 you can claim the promise of 4:19. This promise is not for all people. It is not even for all Christians. It is for those who are meeting the premise. God wants us all to be generous people and if we are meeting that premise we can stand on this promise.” (Mark Atherton)
It is good when preachers attempt to read the verse in the context of the passage. But, in that understanding, God is only promising to meet the needs of Christians who are following the example of the Philippians of generous giving. If you give generously to God’s work, God will meet all your needs. If you don’t give enough, that promise is not for you. God’s promises are conditional and unless you meet the conditions you can’t claim the promise.
An interpretation like that which imposes some kind of condition on God’s promise has the great advantage for those preachers that it suggests a convenient explanation for why some Christians are poor, and some Christians are even homeless or starving. Preachers like that teach that the reason is that those poor hungry Christians have not been generous enough. So God will not meet their needs. For preachers of Health, Wealth and Prosperity who want their congregations to give very generously to their churches, that is a very convenient way to understand the promise of Philippians 4:19. It gives their congregations a very strong incentive to be very generous in their giving to their churches, and consequently also to their pastors and preachers. Some go so far as to teach that Christians can only claim this promise if they are tithing – faithfully giving 10% of their income to the church. It never seems to occur to those preachers that there are other Christians, who in Africa or India may be literally on their doorsteps, who are homeless and starving through no fault of their own. There are some Christians living on the breadline who have never had the opportunity to be generous, and others who may have been generous in the past but droughts or floods have wiped away their crops and even their homes and left them with absolutely nothing. God does not seem to be meeting all the needs of those Christians – and that has nothing to do with whether they have been generous in their giving or not. That slogan sounds great: “Every promise has a premise and if you meet the premise you can claim the promise.” The problem is, that is not a valid way to interpret this passage, or indeed lots of other promises. God is not a heavenly blessings machine that if we put in our pennies or notch up enough heavenly brownie points we are guaranteed a particular blessing. God’s promises just don’t work that way.
Some preachers will qualify this promise in a different way. They say that God only promises to meet the needs of Christians who are trusting in Him and in Him alone. Not trusting in their jobs or their employers but in God alone. Another sermon by a Baptist says this. “Do you have needs today? If so, what or who are you trusting in to meet those needs? If you are going to God and fully trusting him then those needs will be met. God promises us that He will meet all of our need as his people. All too often people seemingly suffer need because their faith in God to meet their need is so little. Trust in God and Him alone, He will never fail you.”
In other words, if all your needs are not being met, it is all your own fault. You haven’t been generous enough, or you haven’t put your trust in God, or you simply haven’t got enough faith!
I hope you realise that I don’t just disagree with these interpretations. I think they are fundamentally wrong and desperately cruel to Christians who in this unjust world have so little when others have so much. But what then DO I believe these verses say to us?
The secret of interpreting Philippians 4:19 is indeed to read it in context. But the context is not just verses 16-18 but the whole passage we looked at last week beginning at verse 10. Let me remind you.
Philippans 4 11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.
Paul had just said to the Philippians that there had been times when he was in need and that he had learned to be content whatever his situation, whether well fed or hungry, living in plenty or in want. He implies there and makes clear in other letters that his contentment did NOT come by God always miraculously meeting his material needs. His contentment came through Christ strengthening him. “Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am.” (Message) We saw this last week.
In that context it makes no sense to me to say that Paul was promising the Philippians that God would never let them experience material needs. That had not been his own experience. Why would he suggest that would be the case for the Philippians, however generous they had been to him? Surely Paul is NOT saying that God promises that Christians will NEVER be in material need!! Paul may have been talking about the Philippians helping meet his material needs, but the whole thrust of Bible teaching is that there are more important things even than our material needs for food and shelter and companionship.
Listen again to the whole of Philippians 4:19.
“And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”
New Living Translation “19 And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.”
The needs Paul is talking about are not the kind which are met by the arrival of gifts of food or clothes or money. They are the even more important things we really need, which God has given us already through the glorious riches which come to us in Christ. They are the kinds of needs which Paul experienced in his times of hunger and want and which God met as Christ was strengthening him.
Remember Paul’s teaching in 1 Timothy 6
17 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. …. 19 …. they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life

.

So I believe there is a wonderful promise here in Philippians 4:19. And I believe it is for all Christians without conditions or qualifications. But we misunderstand the promise if we think it is talking about physical and material needs. The greatest needs every human being has are not material needs in this present age but spiritual needs in the age to come. Our greatest need is “to take hold of the life that is truly life,” eternal life which Jesus described as “life in all its fullness.” And for those ultimate needs here is God’s promise which we can all claim.
“…. my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”

There are some wonderful promises in the Bible. Some verses which look fantastic on posters and T-shirts and Bibles. But some of those texts tend to be misunderstood because they are always taken by themselves and out of context. They are still fantastic promises – but we just don’t understand or apply them properly. And one such verse is Philippians 4:13
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”
The obvious question to ask with this text to begin with, and one reason why it is sometimes misquoted, is, what does Paul mean by ALL THINGS? Surely Paul wasn’t saying he could fly, or walk through walls! This verse is not a guarantee that every Christians will have a successful career, or that we will be brilliant at every hobby we enjoy. In America it is a very popular slogan for the tracksuits of Christian athletes and sportsmen and sportswomen. But surely Paul is not saying that every person wearing that text is going to win their event. We need to look at the context to see what “all things” means here and the context is that Paul is talking about everything he had suffered for Christ’s sake
Paul had been through tough times. He was writing to the Philippians while he was in prison in Rome because of corrupt officials, waiting for possible execution on false charges. But it hadn’t been an easy ride for Paul to that point either! Years earlier he had made a list of the ways he had suffered for Christ up until that point when he wrote to the Corinthians.
2 Corinthians 1123 I have in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. 24 Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, 26 I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. 27 I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.
In another place Paul summed up what he had suffered for Christ like this.
2 Corinthians 6 4 great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; 5 in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; … 8 through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; 9 known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; 10 sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
In J.B.Phillips’ translation, “Knocked down but never knocked out.”
Yet still Paul could write “I have learned the secret of being content it any and every situation.”
MESSAGE I’ve learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I’m just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I’ve found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty.
If only all Christians could learn to be content with what God has chosen to give us, however much or however little. If only we could learn to the secret of contentment whether we are well-fed or hungry, full or empty. If only we could learn not to chase after things God does not want us to have!
We all long to be content. People look in all kinds of directions to find contentment.
Nice job, success, nice house, nice care, lots of friends. All these material things may bring superficial happiness but they don’t make anybody content.
Very many people look to money and possessions to make them happy. A wise man once said, “Money can’t buy happiness but you sure can have a good time renting it.” So many people pin their dreams on winning the lottery. The recent explosion in online gambling is very worrying. The truth is that money does not make anybody truly content.
1 Timothy 6 6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 9 People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
When they face problems, many people think they can just buy their way out. They rely on money to avoid troubles and hardship. We have all faced money problems sometimes. The money runs out before the month does! But the truth is that Money can’t solve every problem and possessions don’t bring contentment – materialism brings so many problems and doesn’t solve any.
Some people think they can achieve contentment through sheer hard work. When they face problem they just try to plough on through by their own efforts. Other people rely on their own willpower, to bring them happiness and get them through the hard times. Still others put their trust in their own strength of character. The fact is there is nothing any of us can do for ourselves which will guarantee contentment. And we just don’t have it within ourselves to cope with every problem we may face in life.
In these days, many people put their trust in science to solve not only their problems but the whole world’s problems. Others turn to technology to make them happy. It is staggering the number of people, and increasingly of younger and younger children, who seek to escape the realities of their lives in virtual worlds online on their smartphones, tablets and laptop computers. We all face problems with our health at some time in our lives. When life is tough some folk look to medicine or therapy to help them cope, and at times this is absolutely the right thing to do of course. But too many people who don’t need them rely on prescriptions. Not to mention those who try to drown their sorrows with alcohol, or illegal drugs. All to find the contentment which these things can never provide.
In contrast, Paul had found the secret of true contentment. “I have learned the secret of being content it any and every situation.”
For Paul contentment meant an inner sense of rest or peace that comes from being right with God and knowing that He is in control of all that happens to us. It is not always easy to be content, especially when life is not going well and things get tough. I don’t know how well any of us would have coped with all those things which Paul went through. Prison, flogged, whipped, beaten with rods, stoned. Never mind shipwrecked or adrift at sea! Danger from all sides. Going without sleep and food. Troubles, hardships, distresses indeed. And we sometimes think life is tough for us!
Notice that Paul does NOT say that his secret of contentment was that God miraculously rescued him from all those times of danger, although that did happen on several occasions. Paul does not say that he learned to be content because God always took his problems and hardships away. Some peddlers of the false “Health, wealth and prosperity” doctrines teach that the believing Christian will never have any problems like poverty or bad health or indeed any suffering of any kind. That is not what Paul says here and it’s not what the Bible says anywhere! Christians will all go through rough times. If Christ suffered, we can expect to suffer too. That is “the normal Christian life.” And something else Paul is NOT saying here is that when he had no money he had learned to be content because the Philippians had sent him a gift. They had in the past sent him money, and Paul was grateful to them for it. But this is not some veiled plea for another gift of money. Although I am sure their gift had been very useful at the time, Paul had learned not to rely on money to get him out of difficulties or to make him happy.
So what was Paul’s secret of contentment?
“I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” “I have strength for all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
The Message translates the verse like this. “Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am.”
Or in other words, Christ gives me the power to enjoy life no matter what comes my way. “I can make it through anything,” That was Paul’s honest testimony. Whatever life had thrown at him, he had come through. “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” Paul’s secret for contentment was Christ Himself, giving him all the strength he ever needed for a joyful life and an effective ministry.
The earliest versions of the text literally say, “I am able for all things through Him strengthening me.”. Later manuscripts added the explanation that Him was of course Christ. The secret is clear. “Him strengthening me”. “Strengthening” there is a present participle and that implies an ongoing continuous or repeated action. Forgive me if I labour the point. Paul is not saying that at some point in his life Christ gave him some kind of strength which Paul can then use whenever he likes to help him cope. What Paul is saying instead is that whenever he is facing hardship, at that point he is able to cope because at that moment Christ strengthens and keeps on strengthening him. The strength and help come each time as Paul relies on the strength Christ gives him and not on his own human resources.
And this takes us right back to the passage we looked at last week:
Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always and again I will say, rejoice!
Matthew Henry wrote, “Joy in God is a duty of great consequence in the Christian life; and Christians need to be again and again called to it. If good men have not a continual feast, it is their own fault”
6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Everybody faces problems sometimes. We all have things to worry about. Jobs. Family. Money. Health. What the future may hold. And our worries will rob us of our joy and our peace and our contentment. Whenever we face problems or hardships, whenever anything burdens or distresses us, God does not want us to be anxious or worried or afraid. He simply invites us to come to Him in prayer. Prayer is our conversation drawing near to God and petitions are our specific requests to Him. And heartfelt thanksgiving to God for so many blessings is always appropriate. We can even thank God for the problems we may face, because these are opportunities for God to give us strength and for our faith to grow and for God to be glorified in our hours of weakness. Our contentment and our rejoicing and our peace and our strengthening will come to us directly from Christ and they come to us as God answers our prayers! Here again, for emphasis. “Present your requests to God” is another continuing action. “Keep on letting your requests be known to God.” And the result will be that each time God’s amazing peace will keep on garrisoning your mind keeping it safe in Christ. The peace of God will stand sentry over our minds and hearts keeping us safe from anxieties and fears. God does not offer anyone a guarantee that he will always take all our problems and all our sufferings away. What God does promise is strength to cope with whatever may come – the strength that comes from Christ Himself.
A woman once asked the preacher Campbell Morgan, “Do you think we should pray about the little things in our lives, or just the big things?” He retorted, “Madam, can you think of anything in your life that is big to God?”
Note again, there is no once-for-all-time experience from God which will give to a Christian some kind of permanent peace and contentment which will never go away whatever troubles we face. But Paul’s experience and God’s promise to us is that on every occasion as we bring our requests to Him, Christ WILL give us the strength to cope and the peace and contentment we all long for.
Isaiah 26:3 You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is fixed on you, because he trusts in you. 4 Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord, is the Rock eternal.
It is precisely as we trust in God, and fix our minds on Him, and bring our requests and our needs to Him, that we experience His peace and His contentment and his strengthening.
“I can do all things through Christ strengthening me.” I was interested to discover that there are a handful of different words in the New Testament all meaning strength, But Paul uses this same word in his prayer for the Colossians. Colossians 1 9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.
God wants us all to be strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that we might have great endurance and patience whatever life may be throwing at us. In the week ahead, as we bring all our prayers and petitions to God, may we all discover that we too can make it through anything through Christ as He strengthens us!

Did you read this week the report from the Cabinet Office ranking different professions and jobs according to the satisfaction and happiness they bring? At the very bottom, 274th on the list for job satisfaction, are pub landlords. The bottom 10 include Bar Staff, Telephone salespersons and debt collectors. The top 10 include hotel managers, farmers and doctors. Second on the list are chief executives and senior officials, although that may be related to them having the highest average income of any profession at £118,000 a year. But do you know who came top?? Despite earning almost £100,000 a year less, according to this survey, the group of workers who gain most satisfaction and are happiest in their jobs are, you guessed it, clergymen. Priests, vicars and ministers are considered to be the happiest in their jobs.

You might not have guessed, because we clergy are not usually renowned for our overflowing happiness. The renowned American Judge Oliver Wendell Holmes once said, “I might have entered the ministry if certain clergymen I knew had not looked and acted so much like undertakers.” In one of his lectures to his ministers in training, C.H.Spurgeon said, “When you are preaching on heaven, your face should light up with joy. When you are preaching on hell, your usual face will do!”

Nevertheless, clergymen are supposed to be the people who are happiest in their work. And so they should be! C.S.Lewis said, “Joy is the serious business of heaven.” All Christians should indeed be “the happiest people on earth.” So what better week to preach on Philippians 4:4?
Rejoice in the Lord always, and I will say it again, rejoice!

Joy has been described as “the surest mark of a Christian” and “the gigantic secret of Christianity”. So how come so many Christians seem to be missing out on joy for so much of the time. Why are some Christians so gloomy and dismal and unexcited about God and about the new life He has given us? Why do some churches have a reputation of being dull and boring? As somebody once said about Christians “If one tenth of what you say you believe is true, you ought to be ten times as excited as you are!”

1. Joy is part of God’s gift of salvation

CS Lewis Joy is the serious business of heaven. Joy is the happiness and excitement we feel as we receive and experience God’s blessings.

Isaiah 35:10 10 and the ransomed of the LORD will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

Isaiah 55:12 12 You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.

Isaiah 61:10. I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness.

Psalms 126:2 2 Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.” 3 The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.

Some people will tell you that joy isn’t the same as happiness. It is a much deeper contentment. That is certainly true. But if we claim to be joyful but never actually enjoy our Christian lives then we are missing out somewhere. If your experience of being a Christian NEVER makes you happy then there is something missing. There are 576 references to joy and gladness and rejoicing in the Bible, and those often come in the contexts of festivals and celebrations. If our joy is so “deep” that we never let any of it surface in gladness and excitement then it isn’t Biblical joy.

One problem is that we live in this age of entertainment where we sit around waiting to be entertained. We expect somebody else to make us laugh and feel good. Whatever did people do before iPods and the internet, before television and even radio? The answer is that a century ago people made their own entertainments. Not just children but adults too. They played sport and didn’t just watch it. They made music and didn’t just listen to it. They played games and put on plays and entertainment was much more of an active thing. The greatest problem the “couch potato” generation face is not their physical health. It is that we have a generation of people who have become passive – who expect to be entertained and have forgotten how to entertain each other.

And I believe this problem can spread even into our Christian lives. We can just sit around waiting to feel joyful. We wait for the preacher or the music group to make us feel joyful. And sometimes it doesn’t happen! “Being joyful” can be something very passive. In contrast, “rejoicing” is something very active. We have to stir ourselves and do our bit. Time and again the Bible invites us to take the initiative, to rejoice!

2. Rejoicing is our proper response to God and to his salvation

God and the angels in heaven rejoice at our salvation – so should we!! One recurring theme in Jesus’s parables is joy and rejoicing.

Luke 15:6 PARABLE OF LOST SHEEP. `Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

Luke 15:9 PARABLE OF LOST COIN `Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Prodigal Son
22 “But the father said to his servants, `Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate

We know how to rejoice at parties, at birthday parties and weddings. We need more practice at rejoicing in the Lord, always!

Psalms 35:9 9 Then my soul will rejoice in the LORD and delight in his salvation.

Isaiah 25:9 9. “Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the LORD, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”

There was a fascinating article in Readers Digest a few years ago, telling the extraordinary stories of ordinary people, “The day I nearly died”. When Lizzie was only two and Susie just a few months old our car was written off in the middle of a pile up. We were very grateful all to survive without a scratch, even our dog Tara who was in the hatchback which was mangled. How much more should we all be grateful and rejoice at the fantastic salvation God has given to us!

God loves us so much! We should rejoice in all the blessings God has poured upon us.
o We are God’s children
o God forgives our sins
o God gives us eternal life
o God is in us – we are in God
o God gives us victory
o God answers our prayer
o The certainty of heaven
o Jesus laid down his life for us
so we experience the length, breadth height and depth of God’s
Great, incredible, amazing fantastic wonderful love !!!!!

If we aren’t excited and happy and joyful about all these wonderful blessings God has lavished upon us, then we can’t have experienced God’s love in the way He wants us to.

Our salvation is SO precious – it is the most important thing in our lives! We will be thinking about two final parables next Sunday morning and here is a sneak preview of one of them:-
Matthew 13:44 44. “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.

The joy we have in our salvation leads us to give everything we have to God!

One particular blessing we can focus on again this evening = our HOPE OF HEAVEN.
We don’t think about heaven enough! When life if getting you down, the Bible tells you to look up, look beyond this life to the glory which is waiting for us all in heaven.

1 Peter 1:3. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade- kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials…. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

We greatly rejoice! We are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy!! That is God’s promise! And it has worked for suffering and persecuted saints in every age.

We, like them, can rejoice even in face of suffering and opposition. Even mature Christians can be weighed down sometimes by so many cares of the world. We need to learn to respond to the trials of life with faith in God and a conscious attitude of rejoicing IN God. Rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS.

Psalms 126:5 5 Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. 6 He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him.

James 1:2 2. Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,

When our faith is tested, when times of illness come, when we face great temptations in the challenge to live a holy life, when we even face opposition and persecution:

Nehemiah 8:10 …. for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”

So we should make a point of rejoicing at the salvation God in His grace has given us.

3. So how can we know this joy, this inexpressible and glorious joy??

Joy comes from being in the presence of God and His Holy Spirit. The root of Christian joy is being glad and excited about God! Just like meeting your loved one on a date is a thrilling joyful experience, so meeting with God should be even more thrilling and joyful. Joy comes from being in God’s presence.

Psalms 16:11 11 You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

Psalms 21:6 6 Surely you have granted him eternal blessings and made him glad with the joy of your presence.

Acts 13:52 52 And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

Sometimes the joy God gives when we experience his presence can be quite overwhelming!! Nobody is saying that every Christian has to have spectacular encounters with God. But if we have NEVER met with God in a way which has left us with an awesome sense of wellbeing and Godly excitement and true joy, then start to get excited – God may yet have a few surprises for you! Open your heart and mind and ask God to reveal to you the full measure of “the joy of your salvation”.

Galatians 5:22 22 The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
Joy comes from the presence of God – so to find true joy we must draw near to God.

Draw near to God in Prayer – personal and private rejoicing

John 16:22 Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no-one will take away your joy. 23 In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 24 Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.

In prayer we draw near to God. His answers to our prayers will fill us with joy. And we can worship God in private, but something special happens when we join with other believers in praise adoration thanksgiving.

Draw near to God in Worship – corporate rejoicing

Psalms 92:4 4 For you make me glad by your deeds, O LORD; I sing for joy at the work of your hands.

Psalms 5:11 11 But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you.

One morning a couple of years ago I preached on the title, “Worship should be joyful”. Worship in the Bible is always reverent, but it is also always exciting and joyful. Just as meeting a pop star or film star or sports star would be thrilling, even more should meeting with the Almighty and eternal God, Our Creator and our Heavenly Father, be amazingly exciting! Sadly, familiarity breeds contempt. And too often we don’t allow ourselves to get excited in worship. If our worship is not characterized by deep joy and exhuberant gladness for all that God is and for all that God has done for us in Jesus Christ, then we’re missed out on something somewhere. That isn’t the characteristic reserve of the English, that’s an absence of joy!

2 Chronicles 30:23 records an amazing worship service. Hezekiah purifies the Temple and celebrated the Passover 23 The whole assembly then agreed to celebrate the festival seven more days; so for another seven days they celebrated joyfully. 26 There was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the days of Solomon son of David king of Israel there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem.

So LET US draw near to God this evening and receive His joy. Let us rejoice in the wonderful salvation He has provided for us.

Psalm 96:11 Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it; 12 let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy!

Message translation: “Let’s hear it from the Sky with the Earth joining in, and a huge round of applause from the Sea! Let the Wilderness turn cartwheels and the animals come dance. Put every tree in the forest in the choir!”

May God restore to US the joy of our salvation!

Rejoice in the Lord always, and I will say it again, rejoice! Phil 4:4

What do you want most out of life?
Big house? Nice car? The latest iPhone or iPad?
To be happy?
To be successful?
To be safe and healthy

The apostle Paul had very different desires and ambitions.
Philippians 3 10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
10 All I want is to know Christ and to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings and become like him in his death, 11 in the hope that I myself will be raised from death to life. (Good News)
ALL I WANT is to know Christ

Paul was writing towards the end of his life under house arrest in Rome. But knowing Christ had been his one and only goal since that day when he encountered the risen Jesus on the road to Damascus. From that day forward Paul had been excited about Jesus. He had been passionate about Jesus. Paul was fanatical about Jesus!

Because Paul had discovered how wonderful and marvellous and exciting Jesus is!
Jesus Christ – Son of God – Immanuel, God with us.
Jesus – crucified for our sins, so that we could be forgiven
Jesus Christ – risen from the dead!
Jesus Christ – King of Kings and LORD of LORDS
Jesus the returning King – one day EVERY knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord
No wonder Paul was passionate about Jesus. Paul was fanatical about Jesus! Because Jesus was worth it! Knowing Jesus was the only thing in life worth bothering about.
Having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ
Experiencing the power of Christ’s resurrection in our lives
Even becoming like Christ in His death was worth it! Sharing Jesus’s sufferings was worth it! For the incredible blessings of knowing Jesus.
The Psalmist prayed: “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You, O God” (Psalm 42:1). The greatest desire of a true Christian is to know God. Every other desire pales in significance to this one.
Jesus is so important and precious that knowing him is more important than anything else in life. Because of how great and wonderful Jesus is!!!!

Jesus IS SO GREAT:-
Everything else is rubbish

7 But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ …. 10 All I want is to know Christ

Some people seem to have it all! A Jew called Saul was one of them. Faultless pedigree, first rate education, a top job with all the prestige and power that brings, and all the privileges that money could buy. But then Saul’s life was turned upside down on the day when Jesus Christ appeared to him on the Damascus Road, and Saul the persecutor became Paul the apostle. So Paul gave up all his privileges, because knowing Jesus is SO MUCH MORE valuable than anything else we could aim at and strive for.

There are so many things that people work hard for in life and strive for in life.

Careers, Family, Hobbies, sports, pastimes

All these, says the apostle Paul, are worth NOTHING compared to knowing Jesus Christ. Yes, they are important, they demand our time and efforts, but compared to having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ our Saviour and Lord, all these things we may work for and take pleasure in are worth NOTHING.
MESSAGE: Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant .. I’ve dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him. …. I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself.
Paul gave up everything to know Christ. So what have WE given up so that we can know Jesus better?
Around 250 years ago, two young Moravian men heard of an island in the West Indies which was owned by one plantation master. He was a violent man who treated his slaves with complete contempt. He would not allow them to know anything about Christian things and no missionaries were allowed to come and work among the slaves. God gave these two young Moravian men a burden for this group of people who would never hear about the love of Jesus. So they sold themselves into slavery to that plantation master. They used the money they received for their own lives to pay for their boat passage to get to the island. They gave up their lives to go and live among that community of slaves and bring them the gospel.

Their families came to the docks to farewell them, knowing it was highly doubtful they would ever see them again. Their mothers were crying on the shore as the ship pulled out of the harbour. The last words ever heard from them came from one of the young men shouting from the ship’s deck: “May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of His suffering.” That became the rallying call of that small Moravian community. They sent out a total of 2,158 missionaries all over the world. Jesus had died for people who would never hear the gospel unless someone went to tell them.

When we hear stories like that of those two young men, we may be tempted to think “That’s not NORMAL! Selling yourself into slavery? Leaving everything behind, even family. That is not normal.”

But what IS the “NORMAL” Christian life? According to the Bible, according to the example of the Early Church, according to the apostle Paul here in Philippians 3, the normal Christian life is one of FULL DEVOTION to Jesus Christ. Total Commitment. Anything less than TOTAL devotion to Christ is SUB-normal. Not what Jesus intends. Jesus Himself said: “If anyone wants to follow in my footsteps, he must give up ALL rights to himself, take up his cross and follow me.” (Mark 8:34 – J.B. Phillips)

Giving up all rights. Throwing everything else away. Follow him. Being Fanatical about knowing Jesus.That is the NORMAL Christian life. Total commitment, full devotion to Jesus Christ.
Again Jesus said in Luke 14:33, 33 Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.

Missionaries in later generations also give us challenging and inspiring examples of self-sacrifice. C.T. Studd was born in 1860. He was educated at Eton and Cambridge and also a world-class cricketer. He was saved under the preaching of evangelist D.L.Moody, and at age of 25 C.T.Studd went to China as a missionary, one of the “Cambridge Seven”.
He inherited a vast fortune and gave it all away to Christian work and went to be a missionary in India but had to return to England due to illness. Back home Studd went along to a meeting entitled, “Cannibals need missionaries” and against the advice of his doctors, he went out and worked in central Africa until he died aged 71.

C.T.Studd once said “If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.”

One of his fellow missionaries said about him: “C. T.’s life stands as a sign to all succeeding generations that it is worthwhile to lose all this world can offer and stake everything on the world to come. His life will be an eternal rebuke to easy-going Christianity. He has demonstrated what it means to follow Christ without counting the cost and without looking back.”
1. A Fully Devoted Follower of Jesus COUNTS ALL THINGS “LOSS”.
2. A Fully Devoted Follower of Jesus HAS A PASSION TO KNOW CHRIST.
3. A Fully Devoted Follower of Jesus IS PREPARED TO PAY THE PRICE.
4. A Fully Devoted Follower of Jesus LIVES A NEW LIFE.
A simple illustration: a businessman was selling a warehouse he owned. The building had been empty for months and needed repairs. Vandals had damaged the doors, smashed the windows, and strewn trash around the interior. As he showed a prospective buyer the property, the businessman promised that he would replace the broken windows, bring in a crew to correct any structural damage, and clean out all the rubbish. But the buyer said: “Forget about the repairs. When I buy this place, I’m going to build something completely different. I don’t want the building; I want the site.”

God doesn’t come into our lives and rescue us because He likes the buildings we have build of our lives. He wants the site. He wanted US, so He can build an entirely NEW building. Something beautiful. Something we could NEVER have built. Something in the image of Christ. If we are trying to improve our lives so that God will accept us are like people tidying up a warehouse that is destined to be demolished. That’s pointless!
“I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally,” says Paul
5. A Fully Devoted Follower of Jesus SEES LIFE AS A RACE TO BE RUN TO THE FINISH. Throughout His life to the very end, the apostle Paul was

Focussed on the goal

We need to make knowing Christ and running the Christian race our top priority
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, 14 I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus. 15 All of us who are mature should take such a view of things.
It is a sign of Christian maturity not that we put our feet up and wait for heaven but that that we “forget what was behind, strain towards what is ahead and press on”.
MESSAGE : By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back. So let’s keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision—you’ll see it yet! Now that we’re on the right track, let’s stay on it.
Focussed on the goal – which is Jesus – knowing Jesus.
Hear again what Paul is saying. We should be:-
“pressing on” (endurance)
“reaching out” (focussed on the future)
“forgetting the past” – forgetting the bad AND the good!
“moving forward” (progress)
THIS IS CHRISTIAN MATURITY. Maturity as a believer is not measured by how much you already know – it’s measured by the passion with which you are committed to moving on to know Christ better, to see Him more clearly, love Him more dearly and follow Him more nearly, day by day.
Growing in Christian maturity:
Growing in our relationship with God
Growing in knowledge and understanding
Growing in witness and service
Growing in the image of Christ
Growing by deeper fellowship
Growing in victory
Growing in passion
What do you want most in life? Most of spend our lives multitasking – chasing a number of things at one. Career. Family. Success. Popularity. Comfort.
One thing I do (v13) – all I want (v10) – in contrast to multitasking – chasing lots of different things at once. The apostle Paul was single minded. “One thing I want” he said. ALL I want – the only thing I want – is to know Jesus.
We happened to be visiting Florida in 2008 when revival broke out for a short while at Ignited Church in Lakeland. From that church, revival spread out across the world particularly in signs and wonders, miracles of healing and deliverance. One sentence from that evening is particularly appropriate: a simple truth:-
“A FANATIC IS ONLY A PERSON WHO LOVES GOD MORE THAN YOU DO”
The apostle Paul was a fanatic. We may have friends who think we are fanatics. I certainly had colleagues who couldn’t understand why I walked away from a very successful and promising teaching career to become a Baptist Minister. God calls us all to be fanatical about Jesus – because He’s worth it! By comparison, everything else is just rubbish.
The Missionary Aviation Fellowship pilot who was martyred by the South American Auca Indians, Jin Elliott once said,
“That man is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose!”
10 All I want is to know Christ and to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings and become like him in his death, 11 in the hope that I myself will be raised from death to life. (Good News)

FOR ME TO LIVE IS CHRIST
My life is Christ’s life.
Galatians 2:20 20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

What does it mean – to live is Christ?
Following Jesus so closely that we do the things that Jesus would do, we say the things that Jesus would say. To live like Jesus so that other people can see Jesus in us.
For me to live is Christ, to die is gain
to hold His hand and walk His narrow way
there is no peace, no joy, no thrill, Like walking in His will
For me to live is Christ, to die is gain
Living like Jesus – but there is more to it than that!
We saw last week how Paul gave God the glory for everything that he had ever accomplished. It was not his own work, Paul said, but God at work within Him.
1 Cor 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No – I worked harder than all of them – yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me!”
And Paul makes just the same point in Philippians 2.
12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
WE have to work out our salvation with fear and trembling – we have our part to play. But at the same time it is God working within us to will and act according to his good purpose. It is God’s masterplan we are living out, he is giving us the motivation and he is giving us the strength.
Paul says much the same in Colossians 1.
Christ’s cosmic masterplan is “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
And so, says Paul, “28 We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. 29 To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.”
We labour and struggle, but at the same time, underneath it all, it is God’s energy working powerfully within us. For me to live is Christ!

TO DIE IS GAIN

When John Owen, the great Puritan, lay on his deathbed his secretary wrote (in his name) to a friend, “I am still in the land of the living.”
“Stop,” said Owen. “Change that and say, I am yet in the land of the dying, but I hope soon to be in the land of the living.”
One day they’ll tell you Moody is dead. But don’t you believe it! On that day. I’ll be more alive than I’ve ever been!

Death is not a loss, but a gain. It is an enormous loss for those family and friends who are left behind. But when a Christian believer dies, for them it is a gain.
Gaining
A perfect life – life freed from the limitations and imperfections of our mortality. Rev 21:4
21 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
We gain – Incredible life, eternal life, glorious home John 14:1-4
14 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
To die is gain. If for me to live is money, then to die is a loss. If for me to live is pleasure, then to die is a loss. If for me to live is self, then to die is a loss. If for me to live is ambition, then to die is a loss. If for me to live is sin, then to die is a loss. If for me to live is worldliness, then to die is a loss. But if for me to live is Christ, then to die is a gain.
“For me to live is Christ, to die is gain.” Truly a WIN-WIN situation!!! There’s no way to lose! Either way, we win! Living this life in communion with Jesus Christ is wonderful, but to die and go to be with Christ and see Him face to face will be even more glorious! “To die is gain.” Gaining eternal life in an eternal home,
Philippians 1 22 If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! 23 I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; 24 but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that through my being with you again your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me.

I DESIRE TO DEPART AND BE WITH CHRIST, WHICH IS BETTER BY FAR
I desire to depart and be with Christ,
“To depart and be with Christ” = we often focus on what we are leaving behind, but Paul is thinking about where He is going and what he is going to.
Depart = boarding ship, pulling up anchor and setting on our way to our destination
Depart is also a legal term, release of a prisoner! (Paul was in prison)

Paul longed to depart and be with Christ – but do we?
Need to face our fear of death.
Woody Allen, “I’m not afraid of dying. I just don’t want to be there when it happens.”
Ps. 116:15 – “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.”
1 Peter 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade- kept in heaven for you,

This is our Christian hope. The “happy certainty” of heaven. Sometimes we use the word “hope” in a vague wishy-washy kind of way. In contrast, in the Bible the word “hope” is always definite and certain! So we do better to translate the word “hope” as “happy certainty”!
Only Christians inherit when WE die. When a Christian dies, they receive their inheritance. Death is simply the doorway through which we must pass to enter into the immediate presence of the Lord we love and Who loves us. For Christians, death is not a hopeless end but an endless hope. Death is not an end but a beginning, not an exit but an entrance. “Death is a door to more, not less, a plus not a minus, an increase not a decrease, a filling not an emptying.” (Jim Packer) Death is not extinguishing the light from the Christian. It is putting out the lamp because the bright new glorious dawn has come. Death is not a journey to an unknown land but a voyage home, to our Father’s house and to our forever family. When we die, we are simply called home! To use a wonderful Salvation Army phrase, we are “promoted to glory.”

which is better by far;

Finally behind me lies the body that was mine.
I can listen to the laughter, touch the peace of life to come,
Where the darkness yields its questions and the doubting mind is free.
Here I stand, beyond the shadows, reaching for the Son.
Wakened to life in the Land you have chosen, Come gently arise, greet the dawn.
Follow the song of the morning bird calling and watch as a new day is born.
Here you are free as a mountain bird, riding the breeze,
Lost in a Paradise song.
Here you can drink in the sunlight that breaks through the trees.
This Land is where you belong.
Mighty the sound of the cool water falling where rainbow lights dance in the spray.
Sweet is the taste of the air you are breathing so filled with the freshness of day.
Great is the sight of the distant horizon where ocean waves meet with the sky.
Gentle the touch of the summer wind blowing where forests and open fields lie.
Here you are free as a mountain bird, riding the breeze,
Lost in a Paradise song.
Here you can drink in the sunlight that breaks through the trees.
This Land is where you belong.

Gone to a better place
A better home, a better body, a better inheritance,
We might rightly say, “They’ve gone to a better place.” Heaven is a place of rest, a place of reward, a place of rejoicing, a place of resurrection, a place of reunion with our loved ones and especially in the presence of Christ Himself. A place of resurrection! A place with no more sickness, no more pain, no more crying, no more dying, no more mourning. “With Christ, which is better by far!” That is the heart of the Christian hope – the certainty that spending eternity with Jesus in glory will be so much better than even the best of life here on earth.
Come, Lord, when grace has made me meet, Thy blessed face to see;
For if thy work on earth be sweet, What will thy glory be!
My knowledge of that life is small, The eye of faith is dim;
But ’tis enough that Christ knows all, And I shall be with him. (Richard Baxter)
When D. L. Moody, the great evangelist, was dying, his last words were, “Earth is receding, heaven is approaching; this is my crowning day.”
For me to live is Christ, to die is gain.
I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far.
THIS is our Christian hope!

Life isn’t always easy. The last few weeks have been difficult or sad for many of us. We all need encouragement. And one of the best Bible books to cheer any of us up is what was probably the apostle Paul’s last letter, Philippians. It’s just overflowing with joy and grace and peace and hope. And when we are weary or discouraged one of the best verses to start with is Philippians 1:6

v.6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus
There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears. (The Message)
It was Magnus Magnusson’s famous phrase, “I’ve started, so I’ll finish.” This verse tells us very clearly, “God’s started, so He WILL finish.”

We are talking here about the wonderful doctrine of the Perseverance of the Saints. When we hear the word perseverance we can easily get discouraged.
“Perseverance is the most overrated of traits: beating your head against a wall is more likely to produce a concussion in the head than a hole in the wall.”
But the idea of the Perseverance of the Saints is something altogether more wonderful and glorious and exciting. And its summed up in these words of the apostle Paul to the church at Philippi:
PHILIPPIANS 1:6 Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus
The Doctrine of the Perseverance of the Saints is the glorious truth that it’s not up to us to cling on to God whatever happens, however hard life gets. If it was up to us, each one of us would grow weary, would let go of God, would fall away, because NONE of us is strong enough to keep hold of God.
The Perseverance of the Saints is an idea which reminds us that whether we hold on to God or let Him go, God will always hold on to us and God never let us go. Whether we succeed in persevering to the end in our Christian lives is not up to our human efforts, but all up to God’s grace.
PHILIPPIANS 1:6 Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus
The apostle Paul knew more than any of us about trials and tribulations in Christian living. Paul probably wrote Philippians from the prison in Rome where he would soon die. But Paul really knew WHAT (or WHO) gave him the strength to keep on going.
2 Corinthians 1:21 Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ.
Because it is all down to God and not to us then we can be absolutely certain, that ONCE we are SAVED, we are ALWAYS SAVED! ONCE SAVED, ALWAYS SAVED!

Can a Christian ever go so far away from God that they lose their salvation? Can a Christian be saved and lost again? Absolutely NOT! Let me give you THREE reasons for being confident that once God has saved us, we will stay saved forever.

(1) Our new relationship with God
Christianity is not just a philosophy or a set of beliefs or a way of living. It is a relationship with God our creator, who by Christ’s death in our place has changed us from God’s enemies into His friends. More than that, we are adopted into God’s family as His children, sons and daughters, so we can know God as “Abba, Father” (John 1:12-13, Romans 8:14-17). So God views Christians in a new way, no longer as rebels but as beloved children. We are no longer “lost sheep” – instead we belong to Christ’s flock. This new relationship is not based on our good works but on the merits of Jesus Christ alone. Nothing we can do will cause God to take that new status as His children away from us again. Jesus promises that our loving heavenly Father would never turn away or reject or disinherit one of His own children.

(John 6:35-40). 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”

(2) We are born again to a new life
A Christian is someone who has been born again, and given a brand new life to live. Christians are “in Christ” – they share in all the blessings of Christ’s death for sin and Christ’s resurrection life (Romans 6:1-4). They have passed from death to life (John 5:24, Ephesians 2:1-10). They are no longer in darkness – they have come into the light. The Holy Spirit lives inside them giving this quality of new life, and the Holy Spirit would not allow the Christian to do anything which would reject or destroy that new life.

(3) God can and will keep us safe
The eternal security of the believer rests ultimately in God’s hands, not ours. Just as we can do nothing to earn God’s free gift of forgiveness and new life, so we can do nothing to deserve to keep that gift. Christ’s death has dealt with ALL our sins, those before AND those after we accept His gift of new life. We do not have to work hard to “keep our place” in God’s family – that place is guaranteed by God Himself. He is greater than everything. He CAN and WILL keep us safe and He will never reject us (Rom 8:28-39).

Walking along a busy street with one of my children when they were younger, I would say to them, “Keep away from the road. Watch out for the cars.” But I would still keep a firm grip on their hands to keep them safe. Their safety didn’t depend in the least on them obeying my instructions. It depended on my hand holding theirs tightly and never letting go of them! Equally, our eternal safety rests, not in our own hands, but in the Hands of God.

So we are once saved, always saved. God’s love will never let us go!
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.
Here’s the key – God’s faithfulness to us! Not our human efforts, not our struggling, God is faithful – God WON’T let us down. God WILL finish the work He has started in each of our lives. God has made so many promises to us – and God keeps His promises!
2 Thess 3:3 The Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.
1 Corinthians 1:8-9 He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.

GOD will keep us safe. He WILL finish the good work he has started in our lives. And
Jesus Himself promises us that the eternal destiny of a true Christian is completely secure,

“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no-one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no-one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:27-30)

PHILIPPIANS 1:6 Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus

But what is this good work God has begun in our lives. What does it look like? It is God’s wonderful salvation which turns sinners into saints and atheists into missionaries. It is the transforming power of God changing us into the image of Christ.
v.9 And this is my prayer: this is what Paul prays for the Philippians
that your love may abound more and more
Growing in love! Loving God with all our heart and all our strength and all our mind. Loving our neighbours as we love ourselves with Good Samaritan love. Loving other Christians as Christ has loved us. By THIS will all men know you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.
in knowledge and depth of insight,
Knowing God better. Not just knowing more about God or even understanding more about God – but deepening our relationship with God day by day.
so that you may be able to discern what is best
Knowing what God’s will is. Knowing what he wants us to do with our lives. Knowing what He wants us to pray for. Knowing what to do in order to please our Heavenly Father.
and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ,
Here indeed is the greatest need of this time – our personal holiness. That we live pure and blameless lives. That we stand out from the crowd not by being popular or successful, but by being holy. So that we will be ready to meet Him when Jesus returns.
filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ
This fruit of righteousness is the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. The fruit of righteousness is also a life of righteous deeds!
to the glory and praise of God.
And isn’t this what we all want – that our lives should bring glory to God. This kind of life is the good work God has begun in us and that He promises and guarantees He will bring to completion at the day of Christ Jesus!
9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

How can Paul be so certain that God will complete His good work in us? What gives Paul such confidence?
v.7 all of you share in God’s grace with me.
I love to preach on the wonderful grace of God!
Through many dangers, toils and snares we have already come.
Tis grace has brought us safe thus far, and grace will lead us home.
1 Peter 5:10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.
God has made so many glorious promises to us who believe. God will continue His work in each of our lives until it is fully completed and we stand in His presence in glory. Whatever the problems, whatever the disappointments, however much suffering may come along the way, God has promised “I will never fail you or forsake you.” God WILL complete His work in our lives. Think for a moment about how your life is going. Think about the difficulties and challenges other people are facing at the moment. Now remember God’s faithfulness. He WILL NOT abandon us!

When we think of grace we need to remember that there are two senses to the word. There is the grace that saves us, and then there is the grace which helps us live the Christian life. God’s undeserved favour AND THEN God’s strength to do God’s work and to triumph
GRACE – GOD’S UNDESERVED FAVOUR

Grace is love that cares and stoops and rescues. John R. W. Stott (1921– )

We were dead because of sin. But Jesus has died for our sins on the cross. As we share in His death our sins are forgiven. But even more than that! We were dead– but God has brought us to life with Christ! We are raised up with Him and seated in heavenly places! We share Christ’s resurrection life, eternal life, life in all its fullness! That’s grace. Getting the punishment we deserve for our sins would be justice! Being spared that punishment which we deserve would be mercy. But sharing the benefits of Christ’s glorious resurrection, receiving blessing upon blessing, that’s grace! That’s the love shown by the father of the prodigal son. The father who doesn’t treat this wasteful son as he deserves for squandering the family estate, but instead welcomes him home. The Father who is always on the lookout ready to welcome the wanderer home. That’s God’s grace. God’s underserved favour. All the blessings we could NEVER earn or deserve, lavished upon us by our loving heavenly Father!

But then there is the second sense of God’s grace.
GRACE – GOD’S STRENGTH TO DO GOD’S WORK and to TRIUMPH

Everything good and worthwhile that he, and any of us ever do in Christian service, is GOD at work within us. It’s all of grace! Grace is God himself, his loving energy at work within his church and within our souls. Remember the apostle Paul’s testimony:-
1 Cor 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No – I worked harder than all of them – yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me!”

It’s all GOD’s working inside us! Everything that any of us have ever done in God’s service, anything of value that’s ever been accomplished in North Springfield Baptist Church. It’s ALL the Holy Spirit equipping us with spiritual gifts and stirring us up to service, giving us the love and perseverance we need. It’s all of grace!

Eph 2:10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

God’s grace not only saves us! Grace also leads us on and equips us to serve God for the rest of our lives, doing those good works God has planned for us to do! So everything good that we’ve ever done is all of grace!! God’s strength to work for Him and to triumph. The mistakes and failures are ours – the successes are His! So we can always look forward with excitement and confidence. Not confidence in our own efforts but confident in the grace of God!

When we think we haven’t the strength to continue, God’s grace is there for us!. Whether it’s in our church life together or in any part of our lives, home, work, family, if ever we are weary and discouraged and want to give up, God’s grace is there for us!
Grace – God’s strength to do His work and to triumph!

THROUGH MANY DANGERS TOILS AND SNARES WE HAVE ALREADY COME
TIS GRACE HAS BROUGHT US SAFE THUS FAR AND GRACE WILL LEAD US HOME
That’s why Christians will always be more than conquerors! And nothing can ever separate us from God’s love! Whatever the challenges, whatever the discouragements we may be facing, Jesus will continue His work in our lives until it is thoroughly finished. He’s NOT going to give up on us. Never! Praise God, the Perseverance of the Saints does NOT rest in OUR hands, but in God’s faithfulness and God’s grace. Paul’s words are God’s words for each one of us!
PHILIPPIANS 1:6 Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus
“God’s started, so He WILL finish.!”