Philippians 4:20-23
Farewell to Philippians
(Scripture Reading: Lamentations 3:21-23)
Today is a milestone for myself as a preacher, and for us as a church. We are bringing to a close our very first preaching study through a book in the Bible - the book of Philippians.
Partners in the Gospel
Chapter 1: Pastors affection and prayer …Worthy conduct of the gospel
Chapter 2: Humility, portrait of Jesus humility, Men Worth Sending
Chapter 3: Real worshippers, Opportunity Cost of Religion
Chapter 4: The Peace of God, Contentment, The Giving behind Giving
What can we take away from Philippians as we approach these last few verses? What, from this ending, do the Philippians send us off with as we say Farewell? Three things.
I. Live for the glory of God (v. 20)
First, the Philippians say farewell by exhorting us to Live for the glory of God. Notice verse 20, “To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”
This is the third time Paul mentions the glory of God in this letter (1:11; 2:11; 4:20).
What we see Paul giving here is a doxology. Doxology comes from the Greek words “doxa” which means glory and “logos” which means “word.” So a doxology is a word about glory, or, to ascribe glory to, or, to speak of the glory of someone. To use your mouth as an expression of your heart to acknowledge the glory of God.
Doxologies are found throughout Scripture, and they come after great teachings of God in Scripture. (Romans 11:36; Eph 3:21; 1 Timothy 1:17; 2 Timothy 4:18; Hebrews 13:20-21)
Doxologies are the right response of man to the revealed truth of God. The way I‘m supposed to respond to the truth of who God is, is awe-filled worship. My worship of God is because of the truth I know of Him, and, I worship Him according to the truth of who He is.
God has saved us to worship Him in truth. Turn with me to John 4 verse 24 please.
Listen, whether or not we are worshipping is directly tied to whether what we are doing is because of God’s truth or not. We cannot worship God if we do not know Him. Who are we singing to? Who are we praying to? Who are we believing in? Is it the God of the Bible who is the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ? Are you singing praise to God because of who He truly is? Are you praying to God according to who He truly is? Are you speaking and behaving towards God and each other according to the truth of who God is? Is what you imagine God to be really what He is as He has revealed in His Word?
In other words we are to worship Him for who He truly is according to who He has revealed Himself to be in the Bible, not what we imagine Him to be. Worship is only worship if it is because of the truth we know of God and if it is magnifying His truth.
If a person imagines God to be anything other than what He is, anything less than what He is, he has created an idol, another God who is not theGod of the Bible. He didn’t do it with wood, He didn’t do it with gold or silver, He didn’t do it with clay - He did it with His imagination. Creating a mental image of God in one’s imagination that is not what God really is is just as idolatrous as the Israelites bowing before a golden calf at Mount Sinai.
Be careful when you or someone else says, “I can’t imagine god would ___.” Or, “If God is God than he should ________.” A person who says such things is in danger of blasphemy.
An incorrect image, is an insufficient image of God - entertain no such thoughts of God that are not true of Him. There is no greater, no mightier, and no more noble and worthy thought than the thoughts that are true of God.
Our application then is that if we are to grow in our worship we are to grow in our understanding of who God is and what He is like. How do we know what God is like? How do we know what is true of God? By His Word - the Scriptures - the Bible! The thing that is - or should be - in your hands right now. It is the revelation of God from God.
We cannot know God by our own efforts. People cannot understand divine truth all by themselves through meditation or through yoga or through self-denial or anything else that any other religion promotes. The one and the only way by which we come to know God and grow in what we know of Him is through His written Word - the Bible. That’s it.
And it is the truth of God within the Bible that we learn, and then turn to worship Him for. We worship God because of the truth of who He is we come to know. It’s a matter of worthiness. He is worthy of our worship simply because of who He is.
Improving our worship, growing our worship, has nothing to do with whether we’ve got a guitar, drums, contemporary songs or hymns. It has everything to do with are we ascribing glory to God because of the truth of who He is. Truth of God is the issue.
This doxology in our passage also follows a great truth. The comforting fact that God will take care of all the needs of all His children causes Paul to burst into a word of glory to God - to speak of the glory and to ascribe glory to God.
What causes you to ascribe glory to God? Is it when you see you have benefited from Him? Someone told me that at their work sometimes people would say “Hallelujah!” over the stupidest things. A fax went through. Someone remembered a memo. A customer put an order in.
Hallelujah means Praise God in Hebrew. And people were saying “Praise God” but they don’t believe in Him, they don’t believe Him and they certainly don’t know Him. It was empty praise. It was taking the Lord’s name and using it in a vain, empty, and common way of speaking. That’s breaking the 3rd commandment. Using God’s name in vain isn’t just attaching a swear word behind it. It’s using His Name in any way that does not reflect and revere the reputation of His name. To profane the name of God means to use it commonly - to use it like any other word. To revere His Name means to not use it commonly. To treat it as special and to show it the highest respect. To not mistreat it. Worship can be vain if you use God’s name in a way that in no way shows reverence and knowledge for the truth of who He is.
So, the Philippians are sending us off first with the exhortation to live for the glory of God.
II. Greetings (v. 21, 22)
Secondly, they are sending us off with their Greetings. Notice verses 21 and 22, “Greet all the brothers in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me send greetings. All the saints send you greetings, especially those who belong to Caesar’s household.”
Greet is the Greek word “aspazomai”, and it appears over 60 times in the NT. It can mean to salute, or to wish one well, or to draw someone near to you. It expresses respect. It depicts the genuine desire I have for your well-being; that things would be well with you. It has a sense of intimate concern.
When Paul and others gave greetings they were acknowledging those people who were their relation in Christ. If you were greeted it was because of your identity in the family of God - you belonged. That’s why he says “greet all those who are in Christ Jesus”.
Greetings are found in the NT epistles. Epistles are letters. There are 27 books in the NT, and each of those 27 books fall into one of three types of writings. There are historical books (Gospels and Acts). There is prophetic writings (Revelation only). And there are epistles, or letters. Out of the 27 NT books, 20 of them are epistles.
These are the most intimate and most personal kinds of writings; they are written by real people, sent to real people, at a real time in a real place and in regards to real issues. It is in these epistles that we see the heart and soul, the personality and the characteristics of the writer. It’s a chance for a close up of some of the most godly men in all of church history.
Philippians is an epistle. And Paul is the author. And in almost everyone of Paul’s 13 epistle’s found in the NT he includes a greeting at the end.
Greetings are for everyone who is in Christ Jesus. And he calls them saints - Saints are anyone who is in Christ Jesus.
The point I want you to see is that you belong. Every one of you who is in Christ by faith belongs to each other. I belong to you. You belong to me. Our place is in Christ, so, our place is with each other. You and I belong to this community based on identity.
What is our identity. Who are we? Look at the text, Paul says we are saints. Saints. This is a fantastic word. I hope I can unpack it for you well enough that you walk out of here today looking at yourself, and looking at your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ with a new light.
Saint is not a super-Christian. We may hear the word saint and think of Catholic saints. The Catholic version of saint is not the Biblical version. The Catholic Church says that by certain qualifications and merits and even the performance of miracles someone can become a saint. Simply put, according to the Catholic Church, not all Christians are saints.
But, the Bible says the exact opposite. All Christians are saints. A Christian is a saint and a saint is a Christian. Paul’s favorite word for referring to Christian’s in his letters is “saints”, he uses to identify them more than any other word. He begins his letter in chapter 1 verse 1 by addressing all the Philippians as saints, that is all those who are in Christ Jesus. Now he is ending his letter by calling them saints - those regular old, run-of-the-mill, ordinary Christians, not super-Christians.
He calls all believers saints because being a saint has to do with one’s position before God, not performance for God. When you trust in Christ, your position changes: you become a Christian, you become a son of God, you become a priest, you become among many other things, a saint. It refers to your new position before God, your new standing and relationship to God based on nothing more than your new faith in God’s Son, Jesus Christ.
The Greek word that is translated “saint” is the word “hagios.” It means set apart, it means separated, distinct from, sanctified. This word is the same word that is translated as “holy” in other parts of the Bible. A saint is a “holy one”, someone who has been set apart.
Let me illustrate, last year I remember taking 96 into Grand Rapids. And as I was approaching Coopersville, I saw a billboard that caught my eye. A local college was advertising their masters degree program and it had a picture of someone who looked very business sharp. In big bold letters it said, “Set yourself apart.” Set yourself apart. In other words, stand out from the rest of the crowd. Distinguish yourself from the dime-a-dozen job-seekers out their by getting your masters degree from us. Set yourself apart from everyone else.
Listen, that exactly what being a saint is. In your new position in Christ, you are a saint, you have been set apart by God.
The question you need to ask is, “From what?” What is it that we as Christians are set apart from, separated from, sanctified from, distinct from? Sin.
A Christian is a saint who is a holy one which means that they are someone who has been separated from sin to God for holy purposes. Separated in two ways.
First, when you believe in Jesus Christ, you become separated from the penalty of sin. John 3:36 says that anyone who rejects the Son of God , the wrath of God remains on him. A man or woman who does not believe in Christ is not in Christ and therefore is in his or her sin, and that is why God’s wrath is over them and someday will come down on them if they don’t‘ turn from sin to Christ in faith. Death is the penalty for sins, and Jesus Christ suffered your death penalty when he died on the cross in your place. By believing in Him, by placing your trust in Him, by receiving Him through faith, you become separated from the penalty of your sin and are set apart in Christ, to God. It’s a position that you gain when you trust Christ as Lord and Savior. That is the first separation, or setting apart - it is your separated position. A holy, saintly position.
The second way a person is separated is by growing in the ceasing sinful practices and starting holy ones. In other words, a saint is someone who, in their lifestyle and conduct and speech, moves away from their old sinful practices and towards the perfection of Christ. Simply put, this means stop sinning because your identity, or, your position is no longer in sin, but in Christ. Therefore grow in the grace, grow in the knowledge, grow in the character, grow in the love of Jesus Christ - in whom you are saved.
These are who Paul is greeting in his letter. These are the people who are sending their greetings to the Philippians he says. They belong to each other. And the Philippians send us off with their greetings. Almost 2000 years may separate us from them and Paul, but, just as much, we who are in Christ today belong to them and they belong to us. We are in Christ together.
III. Go in the Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
So far the Philippians want to send us away living for the glory of God, Greeting one another always, and thirdly, to go in the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice verse 23, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.”
Paul is now ending his letter with the very thing he started with - grace. He said in verse 2 of chapter 1, “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
As a matter of fact, Paul begins and ends every single one of his 13 letters in the NT with grace. In every one of them he starts and ends with his desire for the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ to be with those to whom he wrote. Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, and Philemon.
"Grace in simple terms is God's unmerited favor and supernatural enablement and empowerment for salvation and for daily sanctification. Grace is everything for nothing to those who don't deserve anything. Grace is what every man needs, what none can earn and what God Alone can and does freely give. Grace addresses man's sin, while mercy addresses man's misery. The gift of grace makes men fit for salvation, miraculously making separated strangers into God's beloved sons"
Grace is God’s kindness given to us when we didn’t deserve it. Without His grace we would have no salvation, because we could not earn salvation (Ephesians 2:8 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God…”).
But God’s grace doesn’t end when you are saved. It continues and is what enables and empowers you to grow in your separation from sinful ways. God’s grace saves you, but, once saved, God’s grace sanctifies you. In other words, when Paul says in chapter 1 verse 6 of Philippians, “he who began a good work in you” that’s salvation, that’s grace, “will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ” that’s sanctification and that too is by the same grace.
And the rest of his letter is in regards to the work God is doing: worthy conduct of the gospel, have the same humble attitude as Jesus Christ, consider others better than yourselves, work out your salvation with fear and trembling, do everything without complaining, without arguing, keep pressing on and look forward to the return of Jesus Christ, put into practice those things you’ve seen and heard from Paul, think noble, pure and lovely thoughts …………all these things are post salvation spiritual growth issues and Christians mature in these things by God’s grace just the same as we receive salvation by grace. God started, carries on and will complete his work of grace in us all the way until the day of Christ Jesus.
Conclusion:
So the Philippians send us away with three things: Live for the glory of God; their Greetings, and the Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Farewell to Philippians
(Scripture Reading: Lamentations 3:21-23)
Today is a milestone for myself as a preacher, and for us as a church. We are bringing to a close our very first preaching study through a book in the Bible - the book of Philippians.
Partners in the Gospel
Chapter 1: Pastors affection and prayer …Worthy conduct of the gospel
Chapter 2: Humility, portrait of Jesus humility, Men Worth Sending
Chapter 3: Real worshippers, Opportunity Cost of Religion
Chapter 4: The Peace of God, Contentment, The Giving behind Giving
What can we take away from Philippians as we approach these last few verses? What, from this ending, do the Philippians send us off with as we say Farewell? Three things.
I. Live for the glory of God (v. 20)
First, the Philippians say farewell by exhorting us to Live for the glory of God. Notice verse 20, “To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”
This is the third time Paul mentions the glory of God in this letter (1:11; 2:11; 4:20).
What we see Paul giving here is a doxology. Doxology comes from the Greek words “doxa” which means glory and “logos” which means “word.” So a doxology is a word about glory, or, to ascribe glory to, or, to speak of the glory of someone. To use your mouth as an expression of your heart to acknowledge the glory of God.
Doxologies are found throughout Scripture, and they come after great teachings of God in Scripture. (Romans 11:36; Eph 3:21; 1 Timothy 1:17; 2 Timothy 4:18; Hebrews 13:20-21)
Doxologies are the right response of man to the revealed truth of God. The way I‘m supposed to respond to the truth of who God is, is awe-filled worship. My worship of God is because of the truth I know of Him, and, I worship Him according to the truth of who He is.
God has saved us to worship Him in truth. Turn with me to John 4 verse 24 please.
Listen, whether or not we are worshipping is directly tied to whether what we are doing is because of God’s truth or not. We cannot worship God if we do not know Him. Who are we singing to? Who are we praying to? Who are we believing in? Is it the God of the Bible who is the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ? Are you singing praise to God because of who He truly is? Are you praying to God according to who He truly is? Are you speaking and behaving towards God and each other according to the truth of who God is? Is what you imagine God to be really what He is as He has revealed in His Word?
In other words we are to worship Him for who He truly is according to who He has revealed Himself to be in the Bible, not what we imagine Him to be. Worship is only worship if it is because of the truth we know of God and if it is magnifying His truth.
If a person imagines God to be anything other than what He is, anything less than what He is, he has created an idol, another God who is not theGod of the Bible. He didn’t do it with wood, He didn’t do it with gold or silver, He didn’t do it with clay - He did it with His imagination. Creating a mental image of God in one’s imagination that is not what God really is is just as idolatrous as the Israelites bowing before a golden calf at Mount Sinai.
Be careful when you or someone else says, “I can’t imagine god would ___.” Or, “If God is God than he should ________.” A person who says such things is in danger of blasphemy.
An incorrect image, is an insufficient image of God - entertain no such thoughts of God that are not true of Him. There is no greater, no mightier, and no more noble and worthy thought than the thoughts that are true of God.
Our application then is that if we are to grow in our worship we are to grow in our understanding of who God is and what He is like. How do we know what God is like? How do we know what is true of God? By His Word - the Scriptures - the Bible! The thing that is - or should be - in your hands right now. It is the revelation of God from God.
We cannot know God by our own efforts. People cannot understand divine truth all by themselves through meditation or through yoga or through self-denial or anything else that any other religion promotes. The one and the only way by which we come to know God and grow in what we know of Him is through His written Word - the Bible. That’s it.
And it is the truth of God within the Bible that we learn, and then turn to worship Him for. We worship God because of the truth of who He is we come to know. It’s a matter of worthiness. He is worthy of our worship simply because of who He is.
Improving our worship, growing our worship, has nothing to do with whether we’ve got a guitar, drums, contemporary songs or hymns. It has everything to do with are we ascribing glory to God because of the truth of who He is. Truth of God is the issue.
This doxology in our passage also follows a great truth. The comforting fact that God will take care of all the needs of all His children causes Paul to burst into a word of glory to God - to speak of the glory and to ascribe glory to God.
What causes you to ascribe glory to God? Is it when you see you have benefited from Him? Someone told me that at their work sometimes people would say “Hallelujah!” over the stupidest things. A fax went through. Someone remembered a memo. A customer put an order in.
Hallelujah means Praise God in Hebrew. And people were saying “Praise God” but they don’t believe in Him, they don’t believe Him and they certainly don’t know Him. It was empty praise. It was taking the Lord’s name and using it in a vain, empty, and common way of speaking. That’s breaking the 3rd commandment. Using God’s name in vain isn’t just attaching a swear word behind it. It’s using His Name in any way that does not reflect and revere the reputation of His name. To profane the name of God means to use it commonly - to use it like any other word. To revere His Name means to not use it commonly. To treat it as special and to show it the highest respect. To not mistreat it. Worship can be vain if you use God’s name in a way that in no way shows reverence and knowledge for the truth of who He is.
So, the Philippians are sending us off first with the exhortation to live for the glory of God.
II. Greetings (v. 21, 22)
Secondly, they are sending us off with their Greetings. Notice verses 21 and 22, “Greet all the brothers in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me send greetings. All the saints send you greetings, especially those who belong to Caesar’s household.”
Greet is the Greek word “aspazomai”, and it appears over 60 times in the NT. It can mean to salute, or to wish one well, or to draw someone near to you. It expresses respect. It depicts the genuine desire I have for your well-being; that things would be well with you. It has a sense of intimate concern.
When Paul and others gave greetings they were acknowledging those people who were their relation in Christ. If you were greeted it was because of your identity in the family of God - you belonged. That’s why he says “greet all those who are in Christ Jesus”.
Greetings are found in the NT epistles. Epistles are letters. There are 27 books in the NT, and each of those 27 books fall into one of three types of writings. There are historical books (Gospels and Acts). There is prophetic writings (Revelation only). And there are epistles, or letters. Out of the 27 NT books, 20 of them are epistles.
These are the most intimate and most personal kinds of writings; they are written by real people, sent to real people, at a real time in a real place and in regards to real issues. It is in these epistles that we see the heart and soul, the personality and the characteristics of the writer. It’s a chance for a close up of some of the most godly men in all of church history.
Philippians is an epistle. And Paul is the author. And in almost everyone of Paul’s 13 epistle’s found in the NT he includes a greeting at the end.
Greetings are for everyone who is in Christ Jesus. And he calls them saints - Saints are anyone who is in Christ Jesus.
The point I want you to see is that you belong. Every one of you who is in Christ by faith belongs to each other. I belong to you. You belong to me. Our place is in Christ, so, our place is with each other. You and I belong to this community based on identity.
What is our identity. Who are we? Look at the text, Paul says we are saints. Saints. This is a fantastic word. I hope I can unpack it for you well enough that you walk out of here today looking at yourself, and looking at your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ with a new light.
Saint is not a super-Christian. We may hear the word saint and think of Catholic saints. The Catholic version of saint is not the Biblical version. The Catholic Church says that by certain qualifications and merits and even the performance of miracles someone can become a saint. Simply put, according to the Catholic Church, not all Christians are saints.
But, the Bible says the exact opposite. All Christians are saints. A Christian is a saint and a saint is a Christian. Paul’s favorite word for referring to Christian’s in his letters is “saints”, he uses to identify them more than any other word. He begins his letter in chapter 1 verse 1 by addressing all the Philippians as saints, that is all those who are in Christ Jesus. Now he is ending his letter by calling them saints - those regular old, run-of-the-mill, ordinary Christians, not super-Christians.
He calls all believers saints because being a saint has to do with one’s position before God, not performance for God. When you trust in Christ, your position changes: you become a Christian, you become a son of God, you become a priest, you become among many other things, a saint. It refers to your new position before God, your new standing and relationship to God based on nothing more than your new faith in God’s Son, Jesus Christ.
The Greek word that is translated “saint” is the word “hagios.” It means set apart, it means separated, distinct from, sanctified. This word is the same word that is translated as “holy” in other parts of the Bible. A saint is a “holy one”, someone who has been set apart.
Let me illustrate, last year I remember taking 96 into Grand Rapids. And as I was approaching Coopersville, I saw a billboard that caught my eye. A local college was advertising their masters degree program and it had a picture of someone who looked very business sharp. In big bold letters it said, “Set yourself apart.” Set yourself apart. In other words, stand out from the rest of the crowd. Distinguish yourself from the dime-a-dozen job-seekers out their by getting your masters degree from us. Set yourself apart from everyone else.
Listen, that exactly what being a saint is. In your new position in Christ, you are a saint, you have been set apart by God.
The question you need to ask is, “From what?” What is it that we as Christians are set apart from, separated from, sanctified from, distinct from? Sin.
A Christian is a saint who is a holy one which means that they are someone who has been separated from sin to God for holy purposes. Separated in two ways.
First, when you believe in Jesus Christ, you become separated from the penalty of sin. John 3:36 says that anyone who rejects the Son of God , the wrath of God remains on him. A man or woman who does not believe in Christ is not in Christ and therefore is in his or her sin, and that is why God’s wrath is over them and someday will come down on them if they don’t‘ turn from sin to Christ in faith. Death is the penalty for sins, and Jesus Christ suffered your death penalty when he died on the cross in your place. By believing in Him, by placing your trust in Him, by receiving Him through faith, you become separated from the penalty of your sin and are set apart in Christ, to God. It’s a position that you gain when you trust Christ as Lord and Savior. That is the first separation, or setting apart - it is your separated position. A holy, saintly position.
The second way a person is separated is by growing in the ceasing sinful practices and starting holy ones. In other words, a saint is someone who, in their lifestyle and conduct and speech, moves away from their old sinful practices and towards the perfection of Christ. Simply put, this means stop sinning because your identity, or, your position is no longer in sin, but in Christ. Therefore grow in the grace, grow in the knowledge, grow in the character, grow in the love of Jesus Christ - in whom you are saved.
These are who Paul is greeting in his letter. These are the people who are sending their greetings to the Philippians he says. They belong to each other. And the Philippians send us off with their greetings. Almost 2000 years may separate us from them and Paul, but, just as much, we who are in Christ today belong to them and they belong to us. We are in Christ together.
III. Go in the Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
So far the Philippians want to send us away living for the glory of God, Greeting one another always, and thirdly, to go in the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice verse 23, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.”
Paul is now ending his letter with the very thing he started with - grace. He said in verse 2 of chapter 1, “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
As a matter of fact, Paul begins and ends every single one of his 13 letters in the NT with grace. In every one of them he starts and ends with his desire for the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ to be with those to whom he wrote. Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, and Philemon.
"Grace in simple terms is God's unmerited favor and supernatural enablement and empowerment for salvation and for daily sanctification. Grace is everything for nothing to those who don't deserve anything. Grace is what every man needs, what none can earn and what God Alone can and does freely give. Grace addresses man's sin, while mercy addresses man's misery. The gift of grace makes men fit for salvation, miraculously making separated strangers into God's beloved sons"
Grace is God’s kindness given to us when we didn’t deserve it. Without His grace we would have no salvation, because we could not earn salvation (Ephesians 2:8 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God…”).
But God’s grace doesn’t end when you are saved. It continues and is what enables and empowers you to grow in your separation from sinful ways. God’s grace saves you, but, once saved, God’s grace sanctifies you. In other words, when Paul says in chapter 1 verse 6 of Philippians, “he who began a good work in you” that’s salvation, that’s grace, “will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ” that’s sanctification and that too is by the same grace.
And the rest of his letter is in regards to the work God is doing: worthy conduct of the gospel, have the same humble attitude as Jesus Christ, consider others better than yourselves, work out your salvation with fear and trembling, do everything without complaining, without arguing, keep pressing on and look forward to the return of Jesus Christ, put into practice those things you’ve seen and heard from Paul, think noble, pure and lovely thoughts …………all these things are post salvation spiritual growth issues and Christians mature in these things by God’s grace just the same as we receive salvation by grace. God started, carries on and will complete his work of grace in us all the way until the day of Christ Jesus.
Conclusion:
So the Philippians send us away with three things: Live for the glory of God; their Greetings, and the Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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