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Philippians
1:3-5;
3I
thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4always
offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, 5in
view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now.
A. The Joy of Reflection
Philippians 1:3, 3I thank my God in all my
remembrance of you,
& In life there are some things we want to forget!
Remember
Paul’s persecution of the church and his comment in:
1st Corinthians 15:9-11 9For I am the least of the
apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the
church of God.
Remember his personal choice not to allow
the past to play havoc with the present or the future?
Philippians 3:13,14; 13Brethren, I do not regard
myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching
forward to what lies ahead, 14I press on toward the goal
for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
& There are some things we need to remember.
About
10 years had passed since Paul had first worked among them. But the
passing of time had not diminished his love or his interest in them. Paul
showed gratitude to God as he reflected upon the joy of knowing and loving
those to whom he ministered and with whom he served. Like the Psalmist, he
knew how to beat depression even from a jail cell.
Psalm
42:5 Why are you in despair, O
my soul?
And why have you become disturbed
within me? Hope in God, for I shall
again praise Him For the help of His presence.
Paul certainly remembered
that the Philippian church was the only one
that helped him financially.
Philippians 4:15,16
“15You yourselves also know,
Philippians, that at the first preaching of the gospel, after I left
Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving
but you alone; 16for even in Thessalonica
you sent a gift more than once for my
needs.”
Every one needs some one in
their lives to be those “balcony people.”
You know, the ones that cheer you on and encourage you.
B. The Joy of Supplication
Philippians 1:4,
4always offering prayer
with joy in my every prayer for you all, . . .” The word
prayer here is (δέησις), { deh’-ay-sis}, "a
need, entreaty, and
is always used in regard to God. See
Romans
10:1, 1Brethren, my heart’s
desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation.
In the
case of the Philippians, Paul found great joy in holding them up before
the Lord. Their lives were
totally changed by the grace of God through the Divine call of the Gospel.
The heart of the Apostle is seen in his prayer.
Philippians 1:9-11;
9
And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real
knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve
the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until
the day of Christ; 11 having been filled with the fruit of
righteousness which comes
through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
Paul
desired greater love, genuine knowledge of the Word in order to make sound
decisions in life and ministry through Jesus Christ to the glory of God
the Father.
C. The
Joy of Participation
Philippians 1:5; in view of your
participation in the gospel from the first day until now.
Paul’s
joy in prayer sprang from the
fellowship with them in the Gospel. Biblical fellowship is based upon a
joint-connection to Jesus Christ. This
fellowship began when they were born of God. See John
1:11-13
11He came to His own,
and those who were His own did not receive Him. 12But as many as received
Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even | 
