Sermon Tone Analysis

*Philippians 2**.*

Please turn to the book of Philippians.

Last time I gave you a little bit of church history, about how the church in Philippi came to be established, and how Paul came to write a letter to them *[P]*.

There was difficulty every step of the way, but through it God furthered His purposes.

This letter to the Philippians is motivated by personal matters: Paul reaffirms his ties to the Philippian believers, explaining the unplanned return of Epaphroditus, and weighing in on a personal dispute between a couple of women in the fellowship: Euodia and Syntyche.

There are no matters of doctrine or ministry practice to correct.

Thankfulness, submission, and self-sacrifice permeate the letter.

Paul encourages the believers to follow his model as he follows Christ [*Philippians 3:17* /Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us/.].

And last time I suggested that the Philippian fellowship might serve as an example to us also.

So lets have a look at this letter: *[P]* [*Philippians 1:1-11* /Paul and Timothy, bond-servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons: /(remember we met some of them last time – there was a man who appeared to Paul in a vision asking him to come to them, a jailer, Lydia (a cloth merchant), a slave girl who had been possessed by a divining spirit – now the church has grown: elders and deacons have been appointed to take care of it)/ Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, in view of your participation in the Gospel from the first day until now.

For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

For it is only right for me to feel this way about you all, because I have you in my heart, since both in my imprisonment and in the defence and confirmation of the Gospel, you all are partakers of grace with me.

For God is my witness, how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.

And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God/.]

A few things stand out to me as I read through the passage: “/prayer/” mentioned three times, “/grace/” mentioned twice, the “/day of Christ/” mentioned twice; “Gospel” mentioned twice and the Philippians working with Paul in that endeavour, the love and affection for this fellowship.

“/God/” is mentioned 6 times and “/Jesus Christ/” five times.

Also thankfulness and joy are mentioned which are key themes in this letter.

This is concentrated stuff, jam packed with content.

But I don’t know about you, but I tend to gloss over the introductions to these letters, the first couple of verses.

I mean they seem to be a bit of a formula: from … to ….. grace and peace etc.

But introductions have significance.

It’s the start of the school year, you have to go to the school office and pay fees and fill in paperwork.

I go there and introduce myself as Hannah’s Dad – I don’t introduce myself as medical laboratory scientist.

But if I am applying for a job telling them I am “Hannah’s Dad” doesn’t have a lot of significance.

You tailor how you introduce yourself to the situation.

So how you introduce yourself has significance.

For example, in Galatians, where Paul’s authority as an apostle is under attack, he introduces himself as [*Galatians 1:1* /Paul, an apostle (not sent from men nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead)/,].

He explains what kind of apostle he is by saying what kind he is /not/.

This sets the stage for the issues he tackles later in the letter.

In Philemon, the credential Paul chooses is “/prisoner of Christ Jesus/.”

In the letters to the Thessalonians, Paul just uses his name; no other credential is provided.

So what credentials does Paul introduce himself with?

Of all the possible credentials that Paul had available, he chooses only one.

*[P]* [*Philippians 1:1-2** */Paul and Timothy, bond-servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons: grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ./]

Does he choose apostle of Christ Jesus?

Prisoner for Christ Jesus?

Neither, he chooses /a slave of Christ Jesus/ because it fits best with his objectives for the context.

Think about how important obedience, humility, and submission are in the life of a slave or a servant.

The path to honour, esteem, and authority for a slave or servant is humble, faithful submission.

Paul chooses /slave/ as his credential because the qualities of a faithful servant mesh with his exhortations of the Philippians.

He has willingly accepted his circumstances (imprisonment).

He views them as ordained by God for the advancement of the gospel and exhorts the Philippians to adopt this perspective.

Far from being a victim, Paul rejoices and will continue to rejoice in these circumstances.

He’ll unpack the key to this throughout the letter.

But fundamentally it begins with a willing, thankful submission to God.

The slave credential sets the stage for the exhortations and affirmations that follow.

Paul greets the church at Philippi with a blessing – an impartation from God to man.

This is not mere greeting, it is bestowing favour from God Himself upon them – supernatural!

Paul always seems to start his letters this way: “grace and peace” – you can gloss over it as just a standard formula that he uses – a standard greeting: “χαρις”~/“grace” was the standard Greek greeting and “שָׁלוֹם”~/“peace” was the Hebrew greeting.

But it is more than that – it was always grace and peace because that is always what we as believers need.

Grace *[P]* is absolutely essential: it is by grace that we are saved (Ephesians 2:8), it is by grace that we stand (Romans 5:2) – without grace we fall away (Galatians 5:4) says that without it we have been severed from Christ!

That is how we started – we deserved God’s wrath but He bestowed grace upon us, gave favour that we didn’t deserve and saved us from our terrible and inevitable fate.

But not only are we saved by grace, our continued ability to remain standing in our Christian walk is totally by grace.

If we turn from grace – we have had it!

And it has to come from God!

No wonder Paul always imparted the grace of God to the saints.

Likewise peace *[P]* is essential to the Christian life, and like grace it is imparted from God. Jesus given us His peace (John 14:27); He made peace through the blood of His cross (Colossians 1:20); having been made righteous by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1).

The peace of God is wonderful, it passes comprehension and guards our hearts and minds (Philippians 4:7); it is the guides us, ruling in the decisions we make (Colossians 3:15).

Jesus is the Prince of Peace – peace is the foundation of His Kingdom rule (Romans 14:17) says that righteousness, peace and joy are the Kingdom of God.

Peace is essential if we belong to His Kingdom.

This vital grace and peace comes from our Father, God Himself and from Jesus Christ – that is the only source.

We need this Divine blessing – that is why Paul always imparted this blessing.

Grace and Peace are vital to Christian life, so too is thankfulness *[P]* – and this permeates the whole of this letter.

Paul is always thanking God for the believers – they are His workmanship, His new creation.

Paul’s description of how he thanks God for the believers is one complex thought that stretches through from [*Philippians 1:3-7* /I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the Gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; just as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my chains and in the defence and confirmation of the Gospel, you all are partakers with me of grace/.].

It is really a prayer – he gives thanks in every prayer he makes, remembering them – you look at Paul’s prayers, they are full of thankfulness.

So let’s take a look at each part.

(Phil 1:5) describes the focus of Paul’s thanksgiving: the Philippians’ faithful partnership with him in his ministry of the Gospel – they are working together with him – they may be in Philippi, he in Rome but they are working with him – by their prayers, their financial gifts, sending Epaphroditus – they are actively involved.

Haydn goes to India, John goes to the prison – but we are working with them in what they are doing.

(Phil 1:6) elaborates on the big idea of giving thanks; it provides the basis for his thankfulness – why is Paul thankful?

Verse 6 gives the answer: [*Philippians 1:6* /being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ/;].

Paul does several things here to focus attention here on this – making it a main point.

He wants the Philippians to understand their situation.

He says: “/this very thing/” or “/this same thing/” *[P]* it refers ahead to a key idea—drawing more attention to it.

Instead of just saying: “ I am confident that God who began a work in you will finish it” – he says “I am convinced of this same thing” – what thing?

It draws your attention to what “this thing” is – it is like saying “listen to this!” “Get this!”

It gets you anticipating what comes next.

What follows is really important: the fact is that God finishes what He begins, and especially the good work in their lives.

He is absolutely convinced, assured, that this will come about.

There is no possibility that God will not finish the work that He has embarked upon – and that work is us!

Hallelujah!

It is the assurance that God, the Author and originator of life, will be faithful to complete the work He started.

He will not abandon us.

Hallelujah!

Have you ever embarked on something and then realized that you have bitten off more than you can chew?

When we all lived back with mum and dad there was a built in bench seat and inside it was full of sewing things, material and patterns, and at the bottom there was a pile of clothes that my sister had started to make but then given up on.

God does not give up on what He starts!

He doesn’t think: “Yes, Trixie is coming along nicely, I’ll finish that one up; but why on earth did I take on Paul?! I don’t think I can make anything out of Him.

I think I’ll give up on that one.

Write him off as a hopeless case.”

God knows what we are like, He knew that when He chose us, and is able to finish what He started.

Stan restored an old vintage car a “Bean” – it was a bit of a wreck, it needed parts, it needed to be repainted, upholstered.

Stan had in mind to bring it back to the perfect condition it was when it first left the factory.

Now, I don’t know whether he felt like packing it all in part way through as he encountered problems.

But he completed the project.

And God does something like that – not just a restoration, a new creation!

In the beginning God created man and He stated that what He had made was “/good/” – it was perfect – and He is doing a /good/ work.

But His goal is to make us perfect – spotless, without blemish or wrinkle, holy before Him! [*Colossians 1:21-22* /And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before Him/,] Many times I look at myself in despair – but God knows what He has taken on – He is able to do it.

He who began this good work will complete it!