Philippians: Part 1 - The Gift of Partnership
SERMON TRANSCRIPT
I want to tell you a couple quick stories. In 2009, the CEO of Taco Bell began thinking that they needed to prioritize fresh new ideas for their business. They were doing well, but he thought they needed to keep pushing new things for Taco Bell customers. And a partnership was made in 2009 with another big company to collaborate on a product. That product is still around today. Any guesses on what Taco Bell and this collaboration might have, what they could be? Yes, okay, so this product wasn't introduced for another three years, but finally in 2012, the famous Doritos Locos Taco was introduced to the menu, and it quickly became a staple. The immediate success was so great that Taco Bell had to hire 15,000 new employees and start four new production lines at the Doritos Taco Shell company. So this, it was just huge. And yeah, it's still around today. Maybe some of you have had that taco. Different partnerships, Starbucks. Starbucks and Kraft, we all know crab, maybe mac and cheese, used to be partners. And Starbucks, great coffee. Kraft, massive food production company. And so they partnered together to help get Starbucks into the homes of people, not just at the stores, but they wanted to start selling whole beans to people so they could take them home and grind them up and have coffee at home. Well, in 2010, Starbucks wanted out of that partnership. They wanted to start making K-Cups for people that those new machines were coming out. And Starbucks said, we want that too. But they couldn't produce the K-Cups with Kraft, because the contract did not have that in there. And so Starbucks wanted to get out of their agreement. Before the contract was up, Kraft was not agreeing. And so they tried to have this settlement of, hey, we'll pay you this much if we can get out now. And Kraft said no. So Starbucks decided it was worth it anyways. They broke their contract and started making K-Cups. And it ended, or it went on for three years. This clash between the two companies, and it ended with Starbucks having to pay Kraft $2.75 billion.
So, I share these stories to say that a partnership can make or break a business, an adventure, and a good partnership, a healthy one, is beneficial for both sides. And today we're going to talk about the importance of good partnership. We just finished our Pre-decided series. We are very excited about that. How many of you from that series were encouraged or challenged to follow God in a new way? Or just, how many of you think that your year this year is going to be better because of the quality of your decisions? Yeah, raise of hands. Good. Yes. That is our prayer, that God would continue to speak to you and guide you through His Word and our time together. Well, as is our rhythm at Spring Valley Church, we're shifting now to go through a series, through a book of the Bible, and we're going to be beginning our series in Philippians. You may ask, "Why Philippians? How did we arrive here?" Well, as a pastoral team, a few months ago, as we were planning out this year, what we were going to cover on Sundays, we were praying about it and trying to decide or discern what God had for us. And we kept coming back to conversations that we were having with many of you. And at that time, the conversations revolved around hardships that you guys were going through, or hardships that you foresaw in the future going through. And the common question was, "How do I go through this hardship honoring God? How do I go through this thing well? Can't get out of it, this is kind of inevitable, it's happening right now, or I foresee that it's going to be happening, I know this is coming up and it's very difficult. How do I do that in a way that glorifies God?" And so as a team, as we were praying about that, we were drawn to the book of Philippians. Because as you were all talking about family or work or health-related issues, finances, living situations, children, the list goes on, we wanted to say, "What's a series that can meet all those things and talk about how to endure hardship?" And Paul writes a letter to the Philippians about having to endure hardship with joy. And the secret is that that joy is founded and sourced by Christ. So we're going to start this eight-week series. We're going to do it in two parts. We're gonna go four weeks starting now, then we're gonna stop for Easter, have a little Easter series break, and a small series after that, then we're gonna come back at the end of spring and finish our book of Philippians. And we're gonna be doing so, going verse by verse, an exegetical series, just drawing the truth out. And so our goal in this series is to connect and reinforce in our minds that being a Christian means participating in the life of Jesus in some way. Jesus lived a life of service, of suffering, of compassion, of generosity, of kindness, ministry, and so much more. And our lives in different seasons reflect some part of Jesus' life. We're going to learn that every aspect of our lives, whether service to sacrifice, can be used for God's kingdom, and in that, there is joy. And as we participate in the life of Jesus, We are deeply transformed by the Spirit's work in us. So there's an invitation at the beginning here, there's our series, to partner with Christ, and will you accept that partnership, that invitation? It's a foregone conclusion, as you well know, that we face hardships in life, but we have the decision, how are we going to endure them with joy? So that's what we're going to discover each week.
Let me go ahead and pray as we get started. God, thank you again for our time together. Thank you for everyone here, everyone who's watching online. We pray that you would meet us. As we come with humility and joy and eagerness to hear your word, we pray that through your spirit you would speak to us, draw us closer to you, and transform us to live more like Christ. We love you, God, and we pray this in your name, amen.
Before we get to our actual series, I wanna help us understand more of where Paul, the author of this letter, and the church of Philippi are at, the recipients of this letter. So, we have Paul. This is happening long, long ago. Around 8051, Paul's been doing ministry in Asia Minor, and he makes a big decision to shift gears and head towards Europe. And so, he starts heading in a new direction. His first stop is Philippi. And he meets a group of faithful women. He preaches the gospel, and he establishes the first congregation in Europe. Timothy, at this time, if you've heard of Timothy, there's other letters in our New Testament addressed to Timothy, played a huge role in this period of Paul's ministry. And the Church of Philippi is among the first believers to serve alongside and suffer with Paul. Specifically, Lydia, Euodia, and Syntyche. Don't check me on those. Those are people. Paul was in prison during this time for preaching the gospel. But God is with him because when he's in prison, the jailers were converted to Christianity. And this is evidence of how much the Spirit is at work through Paul in his ministry. Paul's then asked by the authorities to leave, and so he leaves the church in the hands of Luke, and he heads to Thessalonica, and it's a difficult trip. It's not easy. And so while he's there, the church of Philippi, that he's left, sends materials to Paul. And it's of great encouragement to him, both physically with those things, but also just spiritually, having that support from Philippi was a huge encouragement to him. Then Paul flees to Berea, to Athens, to Corinth. He's there in Corinth for 10 months where he again receives help from the church of Philippi, and then he returns to Antioch. And so Paul has this continued relationship with the church in Philippi. Wherever Paul went, despite the hardships that the church was facing, they had pre-decided to be generous and to support Paul. And so whatever they were going through, they were facing their own hardships. They still loved and encouraged Paul. Well, Paul's away. Unfortunately, the leadership of the church of Philippi falls into the sin of dissension. There are two leaders, two leaders that worked very closely with Paul, start to be pinned against each other. And so there's division, cracks of division in the church. And the general health of the church has just deteriorated. But here's where they made a great decision. Instead of letting that happen and letting the church divide and crumble and fall, they reach out for help. They know that they needed some spiritual help, and so they sent out Epaphroditus with a gift and asked Paul to say, "Hey, Paul, here's a new servant that you can use, a new helper. Can you send back Timothy? We love Timothy. Timothy was here with you while you were here. Can you send back Timothy to help?" Unfortunately, there are some complications as Epaphroditus gets sick, and he's unable to reach Paul, and Timothy wasn't able to return, and so, given all that, that storyline, now we reach the letter to the Philippians. This letter is what happened in lieu of all those things that were supposed to happen. Paul wanted to be there, whether by, in person or by sending someone, but the best he could do was write this letter to the church to encourage them. So, we haven't even opened the letter yet, but hopefully we have a fuller understanding of where the church is at, where Paul is at. The church needs help. They have a desire for truth and restoration and guidance, and Paul can't be there, but he wants to give that to them. So now let's open up.
If you would turn with me in your Bibles to Philippians 1, or you can read along the screens. Today in our passage, Paul is going to teach us that partnership with each other is one one of God's gifts to experience a joy that endures. Partnership with each other is one of God's gifts to experience a joy that endures. Let's take a closer look at Paul's opening words and how important his partnership with the church of Philippi was. I'm gonna read the first two verses. It says, "Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all God's holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons, grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We'll pause right there. So again, Paul and Timothy, beloved disciples, give the Philippians their greetings. And compared to other letters, Paul at the beginning of other letters we'll read in the New Testament, he usually flexes his apostolic authorities. Like, hey, I'm Paul, I'm a big deal, and this letter is not good news. You're in trouble, let me set you straight. But this is different. This letter of Philippians is a friendship letter. Given that these were people, this was a church that suffered with them, served alongside him, he approaches them more as peers and say, "Hey, brothers and sisters in Christ, beloved ones." Also, Paul is trying to unify the people, reminding them of what connects them together, their partnership with Christ. As with any situation with tension or possible division or dissension, Paul wants to bring everyone in and get them on some common ground before addressing the issue. "Hey, all of you that I love, that you guys love each other in Christ." So he's establishing some common ground. And now Paul shares his thanksgiving and a prayer for the church. Let's continue reading in verse 3. It says, "I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the Gospel from the first day until now. 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. It is right for me to feel this way about all of you since I have you in my heart, and whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God's grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer, that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best, and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ. filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. Paul's now speaking in encouraging and loving words to his partners in ministry. I want to pause here and just ask what does a partnership in Christ mean? Well, as believers, we have a partnership with God. 2 Corinthians explains that we are co-laborers with Christ.
So we partner with God, serving God in His kingdom. Well, because we have a partnership with God, it also means that we have a unique partnership with each other. We are co-laborers too. So just like Paul is expressing to the early church in Philippi, we today have a special connection with each other as believers in the same church family, serving the same God and on the same mission, to serve His kingdom. Well, outside these walls, outside of a Sunday, we all kind of go our own way. Sometimes our lives intersect, but we, despite all that, we don't necessarily see each other every day like family typically does. We are a church family because we share this unique connection. We serve along God. We serve God alongside each other. And so this partnership in Christ with each other is essential for our Christian lives. I'm I'm gonna highlight a few things about this partnership. Partnership in Christ with each other is to be appreciated. Partnership in Christ with each other helps us endure. And partnership in Christ with each other encourages inner transformation. So that first one. Partnership in Christ with each other is to be appreciated. This is found in verses three through six. Paul is giving thanks for his ministry partners in Philippi. and he expresses that even in his difficult situation, being imprisoned, the thought of this church, miles and miles away, supporting him, praying for him, is of immense encouragement and brings him joy. And he takes time to appreciate them. We've preached this here before at Spring Valley Church that it is so important to appreciate good things in life, specifically those things that God brings into our lives. The world is so full of negativity, of complaining, of bickering, and this is what comes naturally. We are selfish, sinful people, and our hearts lean towards our own desires and can revolve around what we want, and we can make the whole universe revolve around us, and this usually ends up with us being discontent. But gratitude and thankfulness are vital to combating that. The more grateful we are, the more perspective we have, the more we surrender to God and realize that things are out of our control, the more trust we have in him. And so we can take Paul's example here and see that having partners in Christ is something to be thankful for. If you belong to this church, you can look around this room and say, "These are all people to be thankful for in your life." We have a community here at Spring Valley, a community based solely, primarily, on our belief in Jesus. We are united together in our love for him. Praise God for that. Partnership in Christ with each other is to be appreciated.
Secondly, partnership in Christ helps us endure. Remember that Paul is in prison during this time. He's in the midst of serious challenges and hardships, and yet he is remaining faithful to his mission to share the gospel, and he can do so because of the encouragement and support from his partners in Philippi. You see, on our own, we will come to the end of our limits very quickly. We have no one to lean on when we need rest. We have no one to encourage us when facing discouragement. We have no one to spur us on when we have no more desire left within us. On our own, it can be so hard to see the hope that is found in Christ. We are not meant to be alone. God acknowledged this with Adam in the garden all the way at the beginning of our Bibles by creating Eve as a co-laborer in the garden. I'm not just talking about romantic relationships. He gives Moses Aaron, he gives Naomi Ruth, He gives David, Jonathan, he gives Paul, Timothy, and Barnabas, other partners in ministry. God has created his people and his church in the same way. We are meant to be together. And it helps us endure all the hardships that we inevitably face. Romans 12 says, "Rejoice with those who rejoice, "weep with those who weep, "live in harmony with one another." Those words are instructions for people who are meant to live in community, partnered together in Christ. Like I mentioned at the beginning of this sermon, we're all going through things. The common theme for many of us is going through situations that call for us to endure. They're not just one day problems that, hey, this one thing is coming up. It's, we're often going through seasons, long seasons of hardship. And that is taxing. Maybe it's a thing that we got from COVID, but some of us got used to being alone. Some of us hated the distance that COVID kind of put in this world and we missed people. We missed the relationships, we missed seeing people. Some of us didn't mind it, if we're being honest. Some of us were like, "Oh, less people, this is nice. I haven't seen people in a long time, no stress.” But maybe some of you got stuck in that, got used to something that wasn't good for you, and that's isolation. When you're isolated, you can't endure the hardships as long as you can with partners in Christ, in a community with Christ, at least not in the most healthy way. And the enemy loves to get people isolated. He wants them to feel alone and hopeless. If you go back into the Old Testament, into the Bible, so many of the issues where the enemy is confronting someone, they are alone. They aren't around the community they were supposed to be with. All the way back to the garden, and Eve, where's Adam at that point? She's alone. Enemy loves to get us isolated. But the Bible says, "A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated. Two can stand back to back and conquer, but three are even better, for a triple braided "The immediate cord is not easily broken." Partnership in Christ with each other helps us endure those things. We are meant to be in community because in community we can endure.
And then thirdly, in verses nine through 11, partnership in Christ encourages inner transformation. This is found in the prayer that Paul prays to the people in Philippi. You see, there is work that the Spirit does within us that only really happens in community. How can we practice having compassion if not around people who need compassion? How can we practice generosity if we're never around people and have the opportunity to give? How can we love like Jesus has first loved us if we're not around people who need the love of Jesus? The opportunities that come from being in community are unique and are necessary in order to experience the inner transformation from the Spirit. Notice Paul's words here at the end. It says, his prayer for the church is that, their love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ. That love that Paul is talking about is not just an intellectual understanding, but an experiential understanding, acquired through acts of loving other people. Church, it's one thing to know that Jesus loves us through reading his word. That is good, and it's necessary, but it's a whole other thing to know Jesus loves us by experiencing the love of Jesus. And one of the biggest ways we experience the love of Jesus is through other people. And when this happens, what's produced within us is a sincerity of faith in Christian living. It's often easier to love others when first being loved, receiving love yourself. And so if you are a believer, if you claim to be a Christian, and you've received the love of Jesus, you are then able to share that love with other people. The language here that Paul uses also shares this idea of love that grows exponentially, abounding and existing in abundance. Paul wants the Philippians to have lots and lots of love in that church. A theologian, George Guthrie, writes, "Paul wants the Philippians to have loads of love "in their community. "He prays that this dynamic, super abundant love, "might be ever increasing, as the Philippians themselves "grow in the faith and as the community grows in size "through the advancement of the gospel." That should be our desire too. Here at Spring Valley, we want to be growing in faith and size as a community as we share the gospel. And also that our church here is known for how much we love each other. If people come and visit and they see how much we love each other, that is pointing them directly to Christ. And there's something that draws them in, I need that love, I want that love. Paul is praying that for the church in Philippi, and that's our prayer too. Partnership in Christ encourages inner transformation from a life of sin to a life following the way of Jesus, being able to love other people. Partnering with Christ means knowing who Jesus is. And as we know who Jesus is and what he does more and more, we have a better understanding of what we're supposed to do as followers of Jesus, and therefore we know how to live. So as we live like Christ, each of us inside can experience the work of the Spirit, and that just happens more and more as we are together in community.
So, what's the relation between Paul's opening words of his letter and us today? Well, I have a couple things that I want us to reflect on today and going forward in this week. Remembering that partnership with each other is one of God's gifts to experience a joy that endures. I want to ask you this first question. Who are you thankful for? Who are the people who have encouraged you in the faith? Maybe in life, or maybe recently. Who are those people that you're thankful for? And have you shared your appreciation with them? Take the time this week. Send a text, write an email, whatever it is. Take the 30 seconds it takes to share with them your appreciation for them. how you were encouraged by them. Show your appreciation for your fellow partners in ministry, because without them, you wouldn't be able to endure the things that you have endured, or the things that you will have to endure. Secondly, are you relying on your partners in Christ to endure? Don't make the mistake of being the lone wolf in life who just goes it alone, says, "I can handle it all," Because at some point you will reach your limit. At some point you will be feeling like I wish there was someone here with me. I wish I had support, encouragement. Depend on your fellow partners in faith. Allow them to encourage you. Be vulnerable, let them support you. Remember, a strand of one can break easily, but a cord of three, not easily broken. So are you relying on your partners in Christ to endure them? The last question, how are you experiencing the transforming work of Christ through community? How are you experiencing the work of the Spirit that happens when you are living life with your partners in ministry? If you're having trouble thinking of how you're experiencing that, then ask yourself this. Are you involved, participating, partnering with God's people enough to the point where you're noticing work of the Spirit within you? Do you need to be more involved? Do you need to immerse yourself more into a community where you can feel their support? I invite you to do that. If that's where the Spirit's leading in any of those answers, follow the Spirit where He's guiding you.
As we contemplate these things, know that we as a church, we're here. This is our prayer. We want to to be a church, a community that supports each other, that helps each other endure. Just this morning we were praying and things that go out through the prayer chain, we know that people are going through tough things. We know that people are battling seasons of sickness or recovering from surgery or are dealing with hard family issues. And we are so thankful when we get the chance to pray for you. When you share with that and say, "I need prayer for this." That is you leaning on this church family, and that is so good. We wanna do more of that, so keep that coming. And if you haven't shared yet, do that. Lean on us. Use this family around you to help you endure whatever you're going through. As we do that, we can rest assured that Jesus will provide a joy for us that can endure through all things. It doesn't change the situation. It doesn't mean happiness, that all of a sudden you are no longer in that difficult time, but it's a deep, deep joy knowing that God is using you, knowing that you are a part of His plan, and knowing that you're not alone. And that joy can just help you get through the next moment, to the next day, into the next week. Pray with me.
God, thank you again for your word that encourages us, that lifts us up. And as we begin our series, our prayer is that we would know or remember that we are partnering with you for ministry. God, that we, our lives are to be used for your kingdom, even the hard parts of life, even the difficult moments. God, we want to surrender all of it and say, "God, use it, Lord, for your kingdom." And we pray that you would help us. Give us what we need, whether it be energy, whether it be joy, whether it be wisdom, guidance, discernment, whether it be a change of heart, a change of attitude, words to say or the discernment of not to say anything. God, give us what we need. We want to rely on you and we want to rely on each other. I pray that no one in this room would feel that they are alone, but they would know that these people are here for them. We are here for each other. We want to be known for our love that we have that comes from you that we pour out to each other. Help us to love each other well. Help us to support each other well. God, we trust you with our lives, knowing that you have good for them and knowing that you will finish the work that you have started. We pray this in your name. Amen.