Sunday, May 31st, 2009, Sermon Summary

Preaching Series: The Book of Philippians
Preaching Text: Philippians 4:21-23

The Apostle Paul closes the letter of Philippians the way he closes every letter: with a greeting and a blessing.  First, he greets “every saint in Christ Jesus” (v. 21).  That includes everybody in the church.  A saint isn’t a special class of Christian; it’s your run-of the-mill believer whose sin has been covered by the blood of Christ.

Then Paul sends greetings from the “brothers” who are with him.  These might be his traveling companions like Timothy and Luke who followed Paul after he was arrested and shipped to Rome.  Then Paul sends greetings from the saints who live in Rome, especially those of “Caesar’s household” (v. 22).  We know Christians were in Rome before he arrived there and the church continued to grow after his arrival, even some from the Emperor’s own people.

These greetings from the Roman Christians are one more indication to me of the bond and affection Christians had in the first century.  These are strangers greeting strangers.  They have never met and likely never will, but they have this one thing in common: they are “saints in Christ Jesus.”  May we recapture a sense of bond and affection with Christians outside our local church and outside our own country.

The Blessing
In every letter Paul closes by saying, “Grace be with you” or something very similar (“The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all”, “Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible”).  Four times, including Philippians 4:23, Paul specifically writes, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.”  What’s so significant about these words?  Do they mean anything or are they just another way of saying “good-bye”?

Paul’s blessing is significant because he knows his readers need something going forward.  We have just completed our own verse-by-verse journey through Paul’s letter.  We’ve spent nine months studying what takes less than 20 minutes to read.  We’ve covered some of the greatest themes and greatest truths and greatest promises in the whole Bible.  We’ve talked about faith, suffering, prayer, joy, affection, unity, humility, the glory of Christ, the gospel, justification, sanctification, glorification, missions, contentment, generosity and more. 

Paul has just finished writing and we’ve just finished studying this massive mountain of Christian teaching and the very last thing he writes is, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.”  Why?  Because he knows in order to live out what we’ve just learned we need something more than our own will-power and strength.  Paul knows that believing the truths and promises we’ve learned and applying the examples and commands we’ve learned without giving up or giving in, requires something we don’t have in ourselves.

We need the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ with our spirits!  The grace of the Lord Jesus is the divine resource we need for believing and applying everything we’ve learned in Philippians.  Grace is the undeserved favor of God that not only saves us, but sanctifies us and sustains us and strengthens us as Christians.  Without the grace of God, which comes to us through Christ, we are sunk.  But with His grace, we have every reason to go forward with hope and joy. 

This is the same idea we find in Deuteronomy 31.  Here Moses is giving a charge to the people of Israel and to their next leader, Joshua.  Their job is to take possession of the promise land, subduing and destroying the nations, and Moses isn’t going with them!  How would you feel if you were Israel or Joshua?  I know I would feel inadequate and afraid.  But listen to what they do have:

“Be strong and courageous.  Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you.  He will not leave you or forsake you…It is the Lord who goes before you.  He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you.”  (31:6, 8)

The last thing Jesus told his disciples was, “Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptize them, and teach them everything I have commanded you.  And behold, I will be with you to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20).  The ability to do what Jesus commissioned them to do would not come from themselves, Jesus would be with them.  Today, by His grace with us, we can obey and live out everything we have studied in Philippians. 

This was Paul’s experience.  When he pleaded for God to take away his “thorn in the flesh”, he heard Jesus say, “My grace sufficient for you” (II Cor. 12:9).  Paul recongized that it wasn’t him doing great things but God’s grace in him; “I worked harder than any of [the Apostles], thought it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.”

So, what’s significant about Paul’s closing blessing?  The grace of Christ is exactly what our spirits need.   By His grace and for His glory ought to be our motto as we seek to apply to our lives the incredible teaching of Philippians.