I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now; Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
( Philippians 1:3-6 )
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The book of Philippians is one of my favorite books next to book of John and Romans. The reason for this is that while Paul was in prison the very tone and theme is joy and encouragement. You can see this in a number of spots, but so very strongly in the fourth chapter in the fourth verse where he writes under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit rejoice in the Lord always and again I say, rejoice. I must say how many us in place of trials say such words of encouragement. Most times sad to say we do not show such attitudes and I pray that if you have not read the book of Philippians all the way through do so. Find encouragement and see that in all times the Lord can and will provide encouragement. Not to mention He will get us through our trials for He never leaves us nor forsakes us( Hebrews 13:5 ). With this said I pray that tonight I can encourage as I dig into the Holy Writ.
In verse 3 the apostle states that he thanks God for every remembrance of you. You know this is something I do think of often. What I mean by this, is how often do we think of our brethren when we depart from their presence. Do we thank God for them. Do we recognize the blessing of the fellowship of which the Lord has so granted us. I think of how many unregenerate, carnal, lost people I encounter daily, but how thankful am I honestly of the fellowship with my brethren. Truly this can bring a man or women who loves the Lord their God to ones knees in thankfulness for every brother and sister the Lord has blessed them with. Here in jail the Apostle Paul is writing to the church in Philippi and showing I do believe his dear love for his brethren there. My friends what a lesson we can learn from this I do believe in that we need not take for granted those whom the Lord blesses us with, but instead value the fellowship.
Then in verse four Paul continues with showing this love and care for his brethren that ,"Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy". Let us take a moment to examine that statement. So in all of his prayers for his brethren he makes their requests with joy. Meaning one my friends as I stated previously that the brethren are not just on his mind when he sees them. Two they bring him great joy. Now granted this joy in no measure compares to the joy in which Christ gives him, but my friends when we think of brethren it should bring thoughts of joy for these are our brothers and sisters. This again may come to a problem I mentioned last night where we have wrong ideas of such terms. This is why I am so picky or should I say careful on whom I call "brother" and "sister". The reason being is this I'm not just going to call anyone this as these terms I truly should believe should be saved in the most sincere sense for those who seek to do the will of the Father. We need not be flippant with the usage of words and be more sincere. Truly when I call someone brother or sister I mean it. So I ask when you make requests for your brothers or sisters in prayer do you do so with joy? Another way to state this is do you wish for the Lord's will in their situations and that by this it enters you into joyfully praying for them? Truly we all need to pray like Jesus ,say Lord Your will be done and mean it. I honestly believe this will help bring about joyful prayer requests for we will be leaning completely and wholly in the providence of Lord and placing our trust in Him.
The Apostle Paul then explains even more his joy of his brethren in detail in verse five. He states of their fellowship of the gospel from the beginning until now. Another words Paul is stating since their conversion they have stayed true to the faith. As you will see in verse six Paul bringing in a theme here which today is debated to some measure and that is assurance of salvation. Of course it is phrased a number of ways, but the most common heard today is "Once Saved Always Saved." Now while I do agree that once the Lord saves a person they will never be lost, I do not like the phrasing that is used. I'd prefer some other terms to use," Blessed Assurance or Perseverance of the Saints " Now my view on this is neither popular or well thought of, but it is biblical much to what the trend of a lot of modern evangelicals have gone.
Let us examine scripture,let it be what gives us the answer and not the precepts of men nor tradition. Here we have a familiar passage from the Psalms," Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. ( Psalm 23:6 ). " Here David is speaking of the goodness and mercy of God which shall follow him all the days of his life. That for one indicates something there for if it should follow all the days of his life there I believe that statement to be quite obvious. Then following in this verse states that I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Well, my friends as you know one, David was human just as us so there is no way he could physically dwell in the temple(physical building) forever, two the temples both built at different points in Israel history were destroyed so this leaves, but one logical and possible conclusion David was talking about and that is dwelling with the Lord forever. Even David recognized that the Lord was the one who upheld him,sustains him, and guaranteed his eternal salvation.
So now drawing back to the passages and moving to verse six and let us see where Paul talks on how the saints at Phillipi will persevere till the end. He states one that his confidence is in God. See I take it most times when one who has the same theological view I have or just believes God secures the eternity of believers that people become immediately opposed to it. The first thing you must address is this, in this verse Paul states of the confidence of this perseverance of the saints is kept by God. Remember scripture indicates to us God doesn't lie( Titus 1:2 ), is unchangeable, and is faithful. With these characteristics in mind when Paul says that he is confident that he(God) who began a good work will finish it. Brethren be sure we can cash our checks and place our bets for God will complete the work in which He truly begins. The biggest problem I've seen to opposing this is they think eternal security gives people the right to live how they wish and what I don't understand is how so. Truly the regenerate man instead is thankful to know he can't lose that which is purchased by God and so seeks to glorify God in all he does. Granted we make errors and do sin, but through godly sorrow we are brought to repentance and grow in sanctification. To say someone can lose their eternal salvation or give it up is ridiculous. To me I once stated this to a pastor not as a question,but as a statement. What value does eternal salvation have if we can lose it when we neither earned it nor merited the earning of it? Think about that my friends and please do digest on that thought.
Brethren be encouraged by this that one do you think of your brethren? As I stated earlier not just when your with them. I encourage you to give them a call sometime, drop an email, or any other means. You never know how much encouragement you can provide remember we are to encourage one another. Another point addressed are you when you bring prayers of your brethren do you bring them joyfully? Now granted some do have a measure or theme sadness,but can you joyfully pray knowing that ultimately you are seeking "Lord Your will done" for them and that will bring comfort and of course joy. Believe me those are four of the hardest words for our flesh to say in prayer,but remember as I stated last night prayer is not a laundry list,but it is about our will being conformed to the will of God. Lastly know this that if God has truly saved you He will keep you. Take comfort in this and thank God. May this blessed assurance give us an attitude of gratitude. Now I leave you with these words of encouragement.
" Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.Abstain from all appearance of evil. "
(1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 )
Good night and God bless,
John W. Whybrew III <><
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