Filled with the Fruit

This week we are going to start a new series and instead of doing a subject, we’re going to look at Paul’s letter to the Philippians. We’ll start at the beginning and work our way through. As planned, it’ll take us through the middle of October. I figure it’s a good way to spend our summer.

Here’s a little background on Philippians from the book called “Opening up Philippians” by Roger Ellsworth. There is a series of books called “Opening up” whatever NT book you want. It is a good series published by Day One Publications. Anyone wanting to read in depth a little more on a book in the NT should look into this series of books.

Paul visited and started this church in Philippi during his second missionary journey in around 51 A.D. The letter to the Philippians occur around 11 or 12 years after he left Philippi. This letter is the second one while in prison for the first time in Rome. The Prison Epistles are Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon.

Overall, however, the main theme in Philippians is this: true authentic Christian joy comes from having a mind that it centered on Christ. Keep this in mind as we travel through the wonderful book of Philippians.

Before we go any further, let’s read our scripture for today, and we’ll start digging into it. Philippians 1:1-11

1Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,
To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons:
2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 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.
7 It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. 8 God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection 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.

The first thing I want to point out here is that in verse 3, Paul thanks God every time he remember the believers in Philippi. Just out of curiosity, do you do the same with church family, not just here at OSBC, but within the city? How about the county, state, country or world? Just a little side note to think about. This is exactly how much Paul likes the church here at Philippi.

The word partnership in verse 5 is translated fellowship in a few other versions. I love both words here, because it gives a nice round picture of what Paul is really trying to say here. Unfortunately, the term fellowship is used very loosely nowadays…it’s associated with food and a few laughs which is nothing more than unbelievers share. Fellowship by definition is: sharing of experiences or a group of like-minded people; we hold something in common. The proper definition fits us. We as Christians brothers and sisters share a partnership indeed…outside of these walls of OSBC, we might not have anything else in common other than living in the same town. Through Christ however, we have much more in common…life everlasting through the Son of God.
By way of this partnership, the church at Philippi had supported Paul throughout his ministry. Later in the book of Philippians we see that they even sent a man by the name of Epaphroditus to be with Paul in his ministry, more specifically, to minister to Paul himself.

As Sherri and I have been planning our trip to Walt Disney World, we’ve enjoyed planning things for the girls that we think they may enjoy. Overall, a day with Grandma LeiAnn and Grandpa Pete in one of the parks, a couple nice restaurant experiences with characters dining, all kinds of fun stuff. Aside from that, we’ve discovered that there are something they call “hidden Mickeys”. Throughout all four parks there hundreds of sets of Mickey ears set in places where you have to be looking for them. They’ve actually made a sort of game out of it; they say, “how many hidden Mickey’s can you find?”

Paul has done a similar sort of thing here in verse 6. Paul has hidden a little nuggets of Truth in an otherwise sort of boring spot in scripture. There are three nuggets here that I would like to point out.

First, Salvation is God’s work. It says that He who began a good work in you…God began this good work in us, Salvation. He is the only one who can sustain it, and it is primarily, his work.

Second, Salvation is a good work…it says it right there after it states God started it. By stating it’s a good work, that means it is worthwhile.

Third, Salvation is a sure work. Paul continues, “will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” In other words, not only will God start the work of salvation, but he will carry it on until it is completed when Christ comes again.
So far, we’ve talked about fellowship and salvation. Believe it or not, all of this is going to tie together. You see, the fellowship that Paul shares with the people in Philippi only happens because of the work of Salvation within each member. When Salvation is accomplished, we also accomplish fellowship within the family of believers present, which is why it is so important for us to come to church…to commune, fellowship with other people who believe what we do, otherwise it is very easy to go astray.

So, now that we’ve put the two together, we’re going to round out the text for today in the last two verses. Because salvation and fellowship have been accomplished, Paul is now praying here for four things for his friends to have. Four things that are vital to a life of Christ-centeredness.

First, Paul prays that their love may abound. First off, this means that their love will continue to be well supplied or plentiful. Paul is telling us that love needs to reign in our lives…something Jesus always said. More than that though, but our love would be well supplied in the area of knowledge and depth of insight. Insight is better explained by the word perception. That from our own point of view, we may have a clear sight and knowledge of certain situations that would tend to draw us astray. This leads us to our next point.

Second, Paul tells us that we need the first in order to discern what is best. Discernment is something that for a long time I did not understand. Rightfully put, I was not able to discern what discernment was. If you don’t know, let me help. Discernment is an ability to understand something that is unclear…it is a special ability to distinguish God’s truth above and beyond normal abilities. Once I realized what this ability was, I began to notice this ability growing. Let me give an example or two of what it really is.

The first week I came to preach here back in March, I was having a real difficult time deciding what to preach. I had gotten advice from colleagues and fellow students what to preach. I remember being at work at Wells Fargo, where I had a lot of quiet time to think. It hit me like a ton of bricks. I realized what I had to preach on. It was a sermon I had written for class and had some feedback. I realized what I had to do was rework the sermon a bit and it would be exactly what was needed. It was a communication from God on what I needed to do. When planning sermons for the future, I try to utilize this ability on where God wants me to go.
Another time is more recently, in fact, this past week. I began a class called Life of Christ this week. It was not what I was expecting. Above and beyond what we were talking about, the question of inerrancy in the Bible came up. I did a search on this and in fact the word inerrant is never used in any version of the Bible…anywhere. However, as I contemplated this, and tried to come to grips with this because it is what I was taught from a very young age, that Scripture was inerrant. While laying in bed that night after class, God gave me the biggest bout of discernment that I have had yet. These are the words that were given to me.

The Bible is not inerrant in form, it is inerrant in function. Which means it is exactly how God intended it. It’s not the form or the details that really matter, it’s about the function, the big picture that really matters; just like our lives…details don’t really matter to God, it’s how we live our lives as a whole that makes the difference. So, I got my answer…in fact, yes, the Bible is indeed inerrant, just not how I originally perceived it.

Discernment is a gift…if you know someone who has it, don’t be afraid to ask their opinion before you make a big decision. This is why Paul was praying this for the people of Philippi…and for us.

Next Paul prays for us to be pure and blameless. Short and simple, pure means sincere. Sincere in our faith, work and our love. Blameless really means simply, without offense. If we are sincere in our faith in Jesus Christ, we will indeed remain without offense until He comes again. Again, everything tying back to the fellowship and salvation earlier.

Finally, Paul prays for us to be filled with the fruit of righteousness. Pretty much what this is that we are observant of morality and justifiable by Christ, because only through Christ can we truly be righteous.

Christ is the only one capable of filling us with the fruits of righteousness. Everything ties back to fellowship, salvation, love, discernment, purity, blameless and filled with the fruits of righteousness…ironically enough, they all add up to be 7 fruits of righteousness…and they all tie together.

So, as I close out this message, I want to leave you with a question. There is a reason the title is “Filled with the Fruit” although I did not know it until I was about done writing the sermon. God works wonderfully to ensure the right message comes out. Are you filled with the fruit of righteousness or are you filled with something else? I want to encourage us all to pursue these 7 fruits of righteousness, based in our savior, Jesus Christ.

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