The theme of the Philippian letter is joy. Paul believes that a relationship with Christ is a pipeline of joy and it produces a life of rejoicing. Paul is writing at the end of his life in a Roman prison, yet it is the most joyful book of the New Testament. Paul teaches us that in whatever prison we find ourselves, we can learn to rejoice. In whatever discontenting circumstance we encounter, we can learn to be content. 

Okay, so welcome to the Philippian church, Paul's letter to Philippi. Let's open up to the to the book of Philippians. Well let's pray. Lord we pray that you would give us understanding to grasp this timeless message of the letter to the Philippians. We thank you, O Lord, that the Apostle Paul experienced what he did and the Philippians needed to hear the fruit of your work in His heart through His experiences so that we would be made wiser and stronger in our in our own time.

Lord, we pray that you would help us to grasp these things deep within our hearts. Amen. Okay, so the theme, if you have an outline in front of you, the theme of Philippians is rejoice. Paul believes that a relationship with Jesus Christ produces joy, and it creates a whole life of rejoicing and that's why he says rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice that's why he says be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." The Apostle Paul is writing from a Roman prison And he writes what is the most joyful letter in the entire New Testament, perhaps in the whole Bible. And you could probably distill his message with this.

In whatever prison you find yourself, you can rejoice. And you can be like Paul. You can learn to rejoice. Rejoicing is a matter of learning. It's something that comes with maturity, with right responses to the Lord, and the circumstances.

But you can learn. And Philippians helps us to know how to learn this wonderful quality of joy, and Paul is very, very clear in this letter. Devotion to Jesus Christ produces a life of rejoicing. Paul rejoices in prison. You can also rejoice in whatever prison you find yourself involved in.

You know, Paul had many reasons to despair when he wrote this letter. He was facing many, many discouraging circumstances that he understood were taking place in Philippi, discouraging circumstances and being inflicted upon himself and all the other churches that he was a part of. You know Paul and Silas were beaten and they were thrown into prison and the result was the the conversion of a Philippian jailer. Paul learned firsthand that the difficulties and trials aren't the end of the story because God makes good out of all things. People were complaining about Paul.

He understood there were people preaching Christ from wrong motives. He was writing to this church where humility and grace were wearing thin. People were boasting in their works. There was disunity in the church, and he wrote to correct that, and he writes this letter explaining how God sustains those who are in times of trial. Now, you'd think that this letter would be full of complaints, explanations of the challenges, a spirit of heaviness, prayer requests, sorrow, And that's really not what you find here in this letter because it is the most joy-filled letter of the New Testament.

Now the letter should remind us that there are many thieves to joy. People can steal your joy. Reversals can steal your joy. Money problems can steal your joy. Legalism can steal your joy.

Discontentment is the issue that the Apostle Paul is dealing with. And when you think about discontentment in our own society and you look around at the things that you see in the media and the things that you read, we have a society of discontentment. The whole advertising industry is designed to make you discontent. If you turn on talk radio, what do you hear? A bunch of discontent.

You know, the media actually makes its living by creating discontent and giving voice to people who are discontent because it's just so interesting. And we're not urged to be content in anything really in America and so the Apostle Paul comes to rescue a church from its discontentedness. Perhaps the church had lost its joy. And so the apostle comes and teaches them how they might find joy in the Lord. So that's the basic thrust of the letter to the Philippians.

Notice there are several words that explain the message of Philippians. This is the second item on your outline, words that explain the message. First of all, the word joy or rejoice appears 16 times. Secondly, the word gospel appears many times, 10 times. Number three, the word think or attitude, explaining your mental and emotional disposition, occurs nine times.

But the most prominent references are to Jesus Christ himself. It's astonishing to realize that there are 61 references to Christ in 104 verses. It's really amazing how often the Lord Jesus Christ is mentioned in this letter. So those words give you a sense of the message of the book. The purpose for writing, the apostle makes it very clear that there were a number of purposes for the writing.

First of all, he writes to inform the Philippians of his circumstances in chapter 1 verse 12. He wants them to know how He's doing. Secondly, He writes to give thanks to them for their support. He was a recipient of their gifts that promoted and supported His ministry, and you read about that in chapter 1 verses 3 through 5. He also writes to comfort them about Epaphroditus, telling them that Epaphroditus, though he almost died, has recovered.

And you read about that in chapter 2, 25 to 30. He writes to them to help them understand how they can have joy in all their circumstances. He also calls for peace in the church. There are two women who are at each other's throats, Yodia and Syntyche in chapter 4 verses 2 and 3. He calls for them to make peace.

Sixthly, he writes to expose and warn about extreme self-righteousness in chapter 3 verses 1 through 11, And he uses really remarkable, strong language to really expose this pattern of legalism. And then he also finally, number seven, exposes and warns about antinomian self-indulgence. And you read about that in chapter 3 verses 2 and 3. Let's talk about the setting of Philippians. Philippi itself was the location of the entry of the gospel to Europe.

And so it's very significant in this sense. This was the launching point to the spread of the gospel throughout the whole world. And Paul is under house arrest in Rome under the care or control of a Roman guard. Acts chapter 28 tells of his house arrest in Rome. Now while he's in prison, he writes what are called the prison epistles.

Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon as well. The year is 63 AD and the Apostle Paul is a subject of the Roman Emperor Nero and if you can imagine being a subject of Nero, one of the most wicked, vicious, vindictive rulers in history, the Apostle Paul was right there in Rome where Nero was in prison and he had the experience of living under a very very wicked government. You know we think about our own governments and we consider them to be so wicked And to that I would just have to say, you ain't seen nothing yet. Nero was like no ruler America has ever had, and the greatest evils of American rulers don't even come close to Nero. Our non-Christian rulers are like Sunday school teachers compared to Nero.

So that was the setting there. And then the recipients of the letter are stated in chapter 1 verse 1, Paul and Timothy bond servants of Jesus Christ. So Paul and Timothy are there writing to the Saints there, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi." So he's writing to the saints, the general population of the church, but then he makes it clear he's writing also to the bishops and deacons. Now the word bishop is the word elder, and so he's writing to the elders and the deacons and all the people who are gathered together under their care. And you can see the biblical structure of the church where you have two kinds of officers, elders and deacons, and He's writing to everyone at the same time.

So those are the recipients of the letter, And you'll see that He loves these people. The language is very tender that He uses concerning them, and it should teach us about the tenderness of the Apostle Paul and the tenderness that we also can have for the saints and even the elders and the deacons that are among us. Now let's talk about the founding of the Philippian Church. This is a particularly exciting story. It's remarkable what happened there.

The Philippian Church was founded in 51 AD right after Paul's Macedonian call. Paul was in Troas during his second missionary journey, and Paul was encountering a number of roadblocks. And you can read about this call in Acts chapter 16, but Paul doesn't go to Philippi until he faces many, many roadblocks. And Christians often find that roadblocks are the precursors to blessing, and the longer you live the more you know how true that is. Sometimes the worst things that happen actually turn out to be the best things, And the Apostle Paul experienced that there.

And so you can read about this in Acts chapter 19 verse 6, when they had gone through Phrygia in the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the Word in Asia. So they were not allowed to go to the place they wanted to go. The Spirit would not permit them. And then in verse 8, the Lord gives the Apostle Paul a vision in the night, and this man from Macedonia is pleading with him saying come over to Macedonia and help us and so after he'd seen the vision they headed over to Macedonia concluding that the Lord had called them there to preach the gospel and so they got on a ship, they sailed from Troas and they went straight to Philippi after making a couple stops. Now, Philippi was the foremost city of the region and Paul arrived there and he stayed there for several days.

What did he do? Well, he on the Sabbath day, one day, went out out of the city limits to the river where people were praying and he and Timothy sat down and spoke to the women who met there. And they met a woman by the name of Lydia who was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira and she worshiped God and the Lord opened her heart to see the things that the apostle Paul spoke. She would say because the Lord opened her heart. It says very explicitly in Acts 16 verse 14.

And then she shares the gospel with her family and everybody in her family believes and they were baptized and so she begs them to stay there and so they went to her house and this was the beginning of the church in Philippi and she had a church in her house and of course you know there there are many houses that contain churches Priscilla and Aquila had a church in their house, and so did Lydia. Well, it was in this city that they encountered a demonized slave girl who was making a lot of money for her masters, and in Acts 16, verse 16, you can read this story, and as a result of the ministry of the Apostle Paul the demons came out of her and she was set free. Problem was this little girl was making a lot of money for her masters, and it made her masters mad because they saw their income evaporating. Whenever the gospel comes into a city in power, it affects the economy. It particularly affects the economy of those who are involved in idolatry.

So the slave girls' masters got very angry and they spread the word about it and they dragged the apostles into the marketplace and they gave various accusations and the whole multitude came against them and the apostles were beaten and they were thrown into prison after many stripes it says so they were beaten severely and thrown into jail and they were put in stocks and there they were stuck in jail now. And what were Paul and Silas doing? Well, they were singing and they were praying. And about midnight while they were singing hymns and while they were praying, the prisoners were listening to them and something remarkable happened. But before we get to the remarkable situation, here you have a picture of the power of God working in men's lives.

They're in the worst possible circumstance. They're in prison. And what are they doing? They're rejoicing. They're praying without ceasing, and they're giving thanks to God, and Paul and Silas prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that there are no prisons when Christ is living in you.

You're free because your soul is given to the Lord. The Lord will possess your soul and He'll take care of you. And they were chained on the outside, but they weren't chained on the inside. And they prove that you can be in a prison, but the prison does not have to be in you. So with the singing and praising God, an earthquake starts rumbling.

It says that there is a great earthquake and the foundations of the prison were shaken and the doors flew open and everybody's chains were loose, if you can imagine that. That was a miracle in itself, I mean chains just falling off of their feet and the jailer knew that if these men escaped he would be executed and so he wakes up, he sees what's happening, and he was going to commit suicide because he didn't want to be shamed and killed by his Roman colleagues. But the Apostle Paul calls out and he says, don't harm yourself. We're all here. And so they lit a light and the jailer falls down trembling before Paul and Silas.

He can't believe they're still there, and the jailer asks, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And the apostle said, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your household. And so He was saved. And then Paul and Silas go back to His house, and His family also believes, and they're baptized, and they have a feast, and they rejoice in verse 34 in chapter 16. Then the city fathers are still very angry and they actually want these men to be let go because they had done something illegal by beating and imprisoning these men.

And so the magistrates say, let them go, but Paul stands up and he says, they've beaten us openly. We are uncondemned Romans. They threw us into prison and now they want to put us out secretly. No way we're not leaving because this is a violation of the law. The Apostle Paul was appealing a Roman law, and so apparently they went back to the prison and stayed there.

Paul said, you send them to let us go, but we're not covering up this violation of the law that just happened here. And so that's what they did. And so The city fathers came to the city, asked them to get out, and they left the prison and they went to Lydia's house and they encouraged them and then they departed. And then the apostle Paul made a second visit that's recorded in Acts 20 verse 6, but we don't have any details about it at all. So that was the beginning of the Philippian church.

It began with a woman by the river who believed, And then the gospel was spread dramatically through the confusion and the violence that took place as a result of a demonized slave girl being saved. And that's what caused all the blessing. It did cause him to go to prison, but it also caused the Philippian jailer and his whole family to be saved. So God uses the most difficult circumstances for His own glory. You can always count on that.

This is always the way God works. He uses everything for his own glory. So you never have to be afraid of any prison, any opposition, any loss at all. It will all work out for God's glory. Okay, let's start walking through the book now.

You see the outline in front of you that Philippians is divided really simply into four sections that are marked out by the four chapters in the letter. And chapter one has its focus on Christ as our life, that we are partakers of Jesus Christ. And then chapter 2 is an explanation of Christ as our example and you see the humility of Christ in chapter 2. And then in chapter 3, the Lord Jesus Christ is our salvation, and pursuing Him is where all the blessing is. And then chapter 4, Christ is our strength and our joy.

And here you find a declaration of the power of Jesus Christ. These chapters are used so often in counseling, particularly chapter 4. They are so practical. They really help people deal with their troubles, and so it really is a treasure. So let's look at chapter 1, and we're just going to walk through and hit some of the high points in these chapters.

In chapter 1, of course, there's a description of Christ as being your whole life and that you are partakers of Jesus Christ. But Paul starts out expressing his joy in the Philippian church and he speaks of how all his afflictions turned out for the good. And the Apostle Paul demonstrates this in so many ways. He says in verse 3 that he's thankful. I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine, making requests 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 Christ Jesus." And then he says, it's right for me to think this way. And I love these words that he speaks. Because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you are partakers with me of grace. For God is my witness how greatly I long for you with all the affection of Jesus Christ." One of the things that really sticks out in these first eight verses is the Apostle Paul's affection for these people, how he loves them. And it demonstrates one of the most powerful effects of the gospel and that is this Jesus Christ changes every relationship and let's be clear about these people these were people who had just been saved out of paganism they didn't have everything figured out in their life they had a lot of problems paganism messes with your personality it messes with your ethics it messes with the way you use your mouth and the way you carry yourself, and the Apostle Paul loves them.

They're being sanctified And he longs for them with the affection of Jesus Christ. And this is what happens to a Christian. He receives the affection of Jesus Christ for the saints. And this is the beauty of the body of Christ. God implants an affection one to another that it's supernatural.

It is the affection of Jesus Christ because Jesus Christ changes every relationship that you have. And then the Apostle Paul prays for the church in verse 9. He says, And this I pray that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent." Now notice these words of love. Affection. I have you in my heart.

I long for you with the affection of Christ. This was a closeness that was secured by Christ, but it was also helped along by their mission, and that was to spread the gospel. They were participating in the gospel, And whenever the gospel is the center of the attention of your fellowship, it takes care of so many problems. It keeps people from inspecting one another's fruit, you know, too closely and trying to be the judge of all men and women. When your intent is overwhelmingly to spread the gospel and to speak the truth and love to one another, then it really creates a wonderful culture in a church.

And then in verses 12-14 in chapter 1, he speaks about the benefit of his trouble through persecution. He says, but I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel. So he's talking about the hard, difficult, disappointing things that happened to him. Those things turned out for the advancement of the gospel, and he says here that the whole palace guard observed the power of the gospel and that it caused more boldness among those who heard. So his troubles had a marvelous and positive effect.

And then he speaks about those who preach Christ with bad motives in verses 15 through 18, and he says, Some preach Christ even from envy and strife, and also from goodwill. The former preached Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains, but the latter out of love." So he's saying, you know, some people preach the gospel to exalt themselves, but some people preach it out of love for God. And Paul says either way the gospel is preached, he's going to rejoice. And you can see how kind the Apostle Paul was to those who were around him. He says that he was willing to die or live in chapter 1 in verse 21.

For me to live is Christ and to die is gain. But if I live on in the flesh this will mean fruit from my labor. Yet what I shall choose I cannot tell." So the Apostle Paul understands that this world is not his home and he's willing to die or live. And then he turns and he encourages those who are striving and suffering. He tells them in verse 28 that they should not in any way be terrified by their adversaries.

He says that it has been granted to you not just to believe in Him but also to suffer for His sake. So He's explaining really the depth of experience in the Christian life. Not only do you believe, and as a result are saved, justified, and sanctified, you also believe and suffer. That's part of the Christian life. So you should expect to suffer.

And then he speaks of, in chapter 2, this marvelous disclosure of the deity and the humanity and the humility of Christ in chapter 2, that Christ is our example through His humility. And in chapter 2, He begins by talking about how we have had consolation in Christ, and because we have been consoled and cared for and loved, comforted by Christ, then we shouldn't do anything from selfish ambition or conceit, but we should consider others better than ourselves. And then he says in verse 4 in chapter 2, let each of you look out not for his own interests but also for the interests of others. And he's talking about the life of humility in the church. In the previous chapter he talked about the suffering and now he's speaking about the humiliation that one should experience as a Christian by following the example of Jesus Christ.

And this is I think the central message of the letter and you can find verse 5 explaining it. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal to God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death of the cross. And so the Apostle Paul here is making it very clear that if we are to rejoice always, then we would have to recognize the importance of our humility. The humblest people are always the happiest people. And he makes this very clear.

And then he appeals to them to be obedient in this very dark world. And he says, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Then he says, do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless, harmless children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the Word of Life. And he's just urging the Philippians to understand that through their humility, they work out their salvation, and They humble themselves before their circumstances. They ought not complain and they ought not dispute, but they should be like lights in a perverse and crooked generation.

And then the apostle speaks of Timothy's humility. He gives two examples, Timothy and Epaphroditus there in chapter 2. In chapter 2 verses 19 through 30, he speaks of Timothy's usefulness. And he says that he's going to send Timothy to them, but he declares an astonishing fact about Timothy. He actually says that Timothy is the only person who will care for their state.

He says, all seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus. But he says to them, accept Timothy because of his proven character and accept him because he served me as a son, serves as father in the gospel. So the apostle sends his most trusted servant or friend or brother, Timothy, to the Philippian church and then he speaks of Epaphroditus. He comforts them because they'd heard he was sick and he was sick and he almost died, but he urges them to receive him in the Lord with all gladness and to hold him in high esteem and to love him when he comes. So these two men are really examples of the humility of Jesus Christ.

And then in the third chapter, he warns against legalism, and particularly the legalism of the Judaizers. In verses 1 through 3, he speaks about this warning. He starts out by saying, Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. But then he says in verse 2, Beware of the dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation, for we are the circumcision who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." He's talking about people who are exalting themselves out because of their obedience, because of their faithfulness and worship, because they keep every jot and tittle of the ceremonial law, and they do everything right on paper and on the surface, but their hearts are far from Him. And the Apostle Paul is saying don't put any confidence in the flesh.

Don't put any confidence in your outward works. And he says if anybody could have confidence in the flesh, it's me. He says I was circumcised the eighth day according to the law. I was of the stock of Israel. I was of the tribe of Benjamin.

I was a Hebrew of Hebrews. He says I was a Pharisee. I was persecuting the church, and I did everything the law told me to do. If anybody has a reason to be proud, it's me." And the Apostle Paul says, no one can be proud. And he said that all those things, those outward things, were worthless compared to knowing Jesus Christ.

He says, I count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ, not having my own righteousness which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith. So the apostle is making it very clear that no man is justified by the works of the law, that outward expressions of righteousness are meaningless, but that only faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that is genuine has any meaning in terms of the demonstration of love for God. And He speaks at the very end of the chapter that he's pressing on to the goal. He uses an illustration from athletics explaining his own inadequacy at the same time. And then He makes some very interesting statements.

I'd like you to dial into verse 17 in chapter 3. He says, Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern. Now, the Apostle Paul is saying that He and the apostles are the pattern of life for all believers. So we should look at their lives and pattern our lives after them. And the things that they have declared are patterns for the Church of Jesus Christ.

The Church cannot live any old way it wants to. It must find its pattern in the Apostles. The Bible says that the Church is built on the foundation of the Apostles and the prophets, And so we should find all of our patterns in Scripture and in Scripture alone. But he contrasts people who follow his pattern with those who set their mind on earthly things. They just want to do their own thing.

And that really makes the difference between a glorious church and a man-made church. A glorious, heaven-made church is a church that finds its patterns in the apostles. And a man-centered church is a church where the inventions of man create the ministry. I was really struck by his use of citizenship in chapter 3 verses 20 and 21. He says, "...for our citizenship is in heaven from which we also eagerly await." Now, when the Apostle Paul uses this language, citizenship, he's He's using words that the Romans are very, very familiar with because Philippi had become incorporated into Rome, and that means that your pattern for life comes from Rome.

The way you live comes from Rome. The way you think, the way you eat, the way you drink. When in Rome you do like the Romans do. And so the Philippians had a citizenship in Rome and this was the center of their whole being and existence. And their lives were being created by Rome.

And Paul says, no, your citizenship is in heaven. You are citizens of Rome, but you must become like citizens of heaven. And so he is contrasting citizenship in Rome to citizenship in heaven. And then when we get to the final chapter, chapter 4, He urges them to stand fast and he delivers words of love to them. He calls them, my beloved, my longed-for brethren, my joy and my crown.

And he says, stand fast in the Lord, beloved. So he really desires their strength. And then he turns to this situation in the church where two women are fighting, Euodia and Cyntiki. He corrects them. And you know this is an example of difficulty, breakdowns of love in the church.

And the New Testament makes it very clear that lack of love was a problem in the churches of the New Testament. You had the Hellenists and the Hebrew widows, they were at odds over their care in Acts chapter 6. The Corinthians struggled with loving one another. They were dragging one another into civil courts. They were worshipping celebrities.

They were selfish at the Lord's table. The Corinthian women wanted to dominate the worship services, and the Apostle Paul had to come and speak to their selfishness there. Paul and Barnabas had a falling out, and here you have Euodia and Syntyche. Even the Apostle Paul had problems, you know, in the church in Galatia. There were people there who declared him an enemy.

Timothy, when he was the pastor in Ephesus, had to deal with Hymenaeus and Philetus and Alexander, and even Titus himself had to face a bunch of unloving liars, gluttonous, lazy cretins. And when we think about going back to the New Testament Church, we're not going back to the church that was perfect. We're going back to the church that had problems and they needed instruction on this matter of love. And here are some of the admonitions that he issues in chapter 4. One of the most critical things that he speaks in this whole letter really speaks to this matter of being overwhelmed.

And he's saying, no, you know, instead of getting overwhelmed, be overawed by the goodness of God. And so In verse 4, chapter 4, he says, Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say rejoice. And he says, you know, instead of being so powerful and so amazing, be gentle. Let your gentleness be evident to all.

The Lord is at hand. You know, instead of fretting and running on adrenaline and running on anxiety, he says, be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." And then he speaks of the very best rule of life in chapter 4 verses 8 and 9. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things. And he says, these things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do and the God of peace will be with you.

You know, this is a section in Philippians that makes it so clear that God desires to save His children from a life of irrelevancy. He desires to fill your life with what is truly lovely. And everything that you do should be screened by Philippians 4-8. And in doing such a thing you will live a life free of the dangers of involving yourself in unsatisfying things, irrelevant things, and destructive things. We live in a world where everybody wants to get so much pleasure from this world and they don't screen out the things of this world with passages like Philippians 4-8.

You know, it really is a matter of joy, and I'm reminded of Leonard Ravenhill who said That entertainment is the devil's substitute for joy. The more joy you have in the Lord, the less entertainment you need. And the Apostle Paul says, Let your mind dwell on these things and you'll have joy. And it's such marvelous instruction. Paul speaks of his contentment in verses 11 through 20.

He says, For I have learned in whatever state I am to be content. I know how to be abased and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both who abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." You know, my wife Deborah's grandfather used to quote this passage over and over again. I cannot read these verses without thinking about him, and I can hear him saying it now, In whatsoever state I find myself, therewith I have learned to be content." Notice he says he learned.

Contentedness is learned, And the apostle says that he learned it, and he is our pattern that we too would learn how to be content. And then he says that God will supply all of your needs in verse 19. And my God shall supply all your need according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus." And then he finally concludes the letter with a greeting and a blessing and a final acknowledgement of the power of God working in the most unusual place, the place you would never expect, Caesar's household. There in the middle of those who are serving the most wicked ruler, perhaps in the ancient world at that time. There are believers.

They heard the gospel and many from Caesar's household turned to the Lord Jesus Christ. He ends the letter by saying, Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren who are with me greet you. All the saints greet you, but especially those who are of Caesar's household. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

Amen. So Paul is in prison. It's a very difficult moment, but as a result of his imprisonment, many in Caesar's household are being converted. He was in Philippi, you know, flogged, thrown in jail, and a whole family is converted. Was it worth it?

Absolutely it was worth it because God works all things together for good, for the called according to His purpose. You know as you think about Philippians, you should ask, is there anything stealing your joy now like today? Is there any loss that's dogging you? Is there a pressure that's on your back? Is there a fear that you're grappling with it and no one can see it but you know it?

Is there a disappointment that you're grousing under and you're complaining under and you're just wishing you had a different kind of life? Is there anything diminishing your joy in the brethren that God has given you to abide with? Is there anything that's dampening your love for them? Is there anything that is causing you to walk around with a long face? Well, Philippians is a letter that we need for circumstances like that.

And so the Apostle Paul says, rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say rejoice. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds through Jesus Christ. Why? Because you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you and you know that it is true that your God shall supply all your need according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus.

And this is why the letter to the Philippians is so helpful to us. When you understand the power of God, then there is no prison that will imprison you because you're free, because you understand that God, even in the darkest prison, will supply all your needs and He will glorify Himself. And so you can rejoice and be glad. That's the whole message of Philippians.