THE PASTOR’S JOY AND CONFIDENCE – Charles Spurgeon
THE PASTOR’S JOY AND CONFIDENCE
“I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, for your fellowship in the Gospel from the first day until now being confident of this very thing that He which has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the Gospel, you all are partakers of my grace.” Philippians 3-7.
Introduction: The Epistle of Joy
The Epistle to the Philippians is the epistle of joy. Bengel sums it up in two Latin words, which, when interpreted, signify, “I rejoice, rejoice you.” Here we come to that sweet fruit of the Spirit which we call “Joy.” The statement Paul makes about the Philippian Church shows to what a high estate a Church can come. Beloved, we of the Tabernacle never wish to be like the Church in Galatia, which was bewitched by false teachers who led away the people from the vital doctrine of justification by faith. Paul had to be very sharp with them and lay down the grand fundamentals of Free Grace to bring them back to the one sure Rock on which they ought to have built. By the Grace of God, we have never fallen into that condition. At the same time, I am afraid we have never reached as far as the Philippians went, and this morning it is my intense desire that while I show you what they attained, every member of this Church may resolve, in the Holy Spirit, to labor to bring us to that happy condition. May God the Holy Spirit fire us with a devout ambition not to be a whit behind the best of the Apostolic Churches! The possibilities of a great Church like this are immeasurable. We must not sit down and dream of what we can do. We must feel our hearts pulsing with a strong desire that whatever God can do with us and by us may be carried out to the fullest. If in anything there has been a falling short, may each member be determined that the responsibility shall not lie at his door!
I. A People Whom the Apostle Remembered with Joy
The Apostle speaks of the Church at Philippi as a people whom he always remembered with joy. This is seen in his declaration, “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you.” A better rendering is, “I thank my God upon all my remembrance of you.” Taking the long run of his acquaintance with them—remembering them from the time when he preached by the riverside and Lydia was converted—even until the moment of his writing to them as a prisoner in Rome—he knew nothing of them but that which gave him joy. He thought of how they had, of their own free will, ministered again and again to his necessities when no other Church was mindful of him. He says, “Now you Philippians know, also, that in the beginning of the Gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no Church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but you only.” Their grateful benevolence caused him to thank God. He had no dash of bitterness in the cup of his happy memory of them. As long as he remembered their prayers, their courage, their faith, their labor, their unity, their constancy, their zeal, their thoughtfulness, and their liberality, he felt unmingled gratitude to the Author of all these excellent things.
I trust there are many ministers who, with perhaps some slight reserve, can say of their people, “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you.” If any man can say this, I claim to be that man! Not all have been faithful to God in the long years of my ministry, but, taking you as a whole, you have been true to the core. This was a great wonder at Philippi, for wanderings from sound doctrine, noticeable departures from the way of rectitude, or acts of unkindness to their spiritual leader would have destroyed this happy memory of Paul. A consistent life may be marred in any one Christian—and when there are many united in fellowship—what a risk there is to the whole Church from the power for mischief that lies in any one person! One cantankerous, overbearing, changeable mind, or one hypocritical professor, may blot the record of a Church of God. Truly, “one sinner destroys much good.” It had not been so at Philippi.
Again, all the Apostle’s remembrance of them was tender. I am sure it was so because he does not say, “I thank God,” but, “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you.” When his faith was lively and his joy in God was overflowing—when, in his closest approaches to the Throne, in his most hallowed familiarities with his great Lord, he could say—“I thank my God upon every remembrance of you.” There existed between Paul and the Philippians a loving tenderness. They had been most kind to him personally and most hearty in their cooperation with him in his labor of love, so that when he was thanking his own God for His choicest mercies, his mind brought before him these dear people.
Brethren, in the relation of pastor and people, I notice in many places an absence of anything like tender affection. And when that is gone, the very joy of the Gospel is gone from the preacher and, to a very large extent, from the people. They invite him to take office, pay him a wage more or less scanty, and then send him about his business because they are tired of him. Can they expect a blessing upon such a hireling ministry from which every element of holy relationship is absent? But in the case in which the pastor is the spiritual father of his Church and a true shepherd of souls, how different is the relationship! When they were sad, he has cheered them. When they were in difficulties, he has guided them. When their hands hung down, he has strengthened them. And because of all this, there exists a near fellowship and a tender love, as of children to a father, or of brother to brother—so that he rejoices in them and they rejoice in him. May it be so among us forevermore! If it is not so among us, where is it so?
Again, all Paul’s memory of Philippi excited gratitude in his mind. He could not have said of the Galatians, “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you.” Oh, no! He said, “O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?” There were persons of whom he said, “I thank God that I baptized none of you.” He was pleased that Believers should be baptized, but he was glad that he had not baptized certain persons who would have made capital out of it and boasted that they were baptized by the hands of Paul! All good people are not equally good. There are some in the world whom we hope to meet in Heaven with whom fellowship is difficult. If they were on the other side of the Atlantic, we might love them better than when we see much of them. I know several Christian people with whom I would sooner sit in Heaven throughout all eternity than sit ten minutes with them on a sofa here below—distance—in their case—might add enchantment to the view. It was not so with the Philippians—Paul thought of them with devout gratitude to his God that there were such people and that he had come into personal contact with them. He knew the ins and outs of them and yet he could thank his God whenever he thought of them. Dear Friends, may it be so with us, that men of God may thank God for the existence and the work of this Church!
II. A People Whom He Regarded with Confidence
Paul saw in the Philippians a people whom he regarded with the utmost confidence. “Being confident of this very thing, that He which has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” What was Paul’s confidence? His confidence was that the work in their hearts was a Divine work. The Lord Himself had begun a good work in them! This is a vital matter. Everything turns upon the question, “Is this conversion a Divine work or not?” The man is altered for the better. The woman is certainly improved. A work has been done—but is it God’s work? Or is it the work of the flesh? A moral change may sometimes look so much like a spiritual change that onlookers cannot detect the difference! The child of Nature, finely dressed, is not the living child of Divine Grace—and how are we to tell the one from the other? “By their fruits you shall know them.”
The Apostle had found the Philippians true in their partnership in the Lord’s work. They suffered for their Lord patiently. They defended the faith bravely. They spread it zealously and their lives confirmed it! And so Paul said to himself, “This is the finger of God! The Lord Himself has begun this work.” How happy we are when we can have this confidence about every member of the Church—that from the beginning of their religion, God has been at work in their hearts! I pray you, do not be satisfied with the most promising religiousness if it is not God’s work! If you have undergone a change, take care that it is such a change as only the Creator could have worked in you—a resurrection from the dead, an opening of blind eyes, a turning from darkness to light! If you have not undergone a renewal which betokens heavenly handiwork, be uneasy. Be restless until God Himself, who made you, makes you new in Christ Jesus! My heart silently entreats the Lord to begin this good work in you at once—and may there be signs following which shall give us the joy of knowing that, indeed, and of a truth, the Lord has done it!
Paul could see, in the next place, that it was a growing work, for the Lord was still performing it. The work of God is always a growing work. If things do not grow they lack one of the chief marks of life. You put into the ground something which looks like a living plant and after it has been there six months you find it just the same, without a single bud or shoot. What do you say of it? Why, you conclude that it is an artificial production devoid of life. If we do not grow better, surely it is because we have no goodness worked in us! If we do not grow in Divine Grace it must be because we have no Divine Grace! Paul saw God carrying on the work in the heart of the Philippians so that they went from strength to strength, and about this he was confident. He was also confident that God would perfect it. He says, “He will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”
III. Giving Glory to God Alone
Although Paul speaks concerning the excellence of the Philippians, he views them as a people for whom he gave all glory to the Grace of God. He did not praise them, but the Lord who had saved them. Observe how he began, “I thank my God.” In what was done, he sees reason for gratitude to God. Brothers and Sisters, if we win a single soul, let us humbly thank God for it. If, after years of labor, any one of you should bring but two or three children to Jesus, you will have reason to thank God for all eternity! A friend said to me on Wednesday, when the sun was shining, “We ought to be grateful for this fine weather.” I replied, “I go farther than that—I am grateful for it.”
We should not only acknowledge what we ought to do, but we should do it. If God gives you any success in His service, do not say, “I ought to be thankful,” but be thankful from the bottom of your heart up to the brim of it. I remember a Brother who used to pray, “The Lord has done great things for us, whereof we desire to be glad.” The Bible does not say so—the Bible says, “whereof we are glad.” Another cries, “The love of Christ ought to constrain us.” The Bible does not talk in that fashion. It says, “The love of Christ constrains us.” What we ought to do, we should do. A Christian’s life should be the Decalogue written large and somewhat more.
But Paul also, after he had thanked God, kept on praying for what was still needed. “Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request.” See, dear Brethren—at Philippi, he has not only begun with God, but he goes on with God. He has much more to do but he does not attempt to do it without his Lord. Oh, that all workers were of this mind! We deal with God too little. A person exclaimed, “Let us get up a revival.” The revivals which men can get up had better be left alone—we need to get revivals down. If we get a revival up it must come from beneath—but if we get a revival down, it comes from above. Lord, revive us! We pray for it, and when it comes we will praise You for it. Brothers and Sisters, we must mix up our constant service with more prayer and praise if we desire it to be largely effectual. If the work is worth anything, it is God’s work in us and by us—He begins it, carries it on, and completes it! What, then, can we do if we do not draw near to Him? Our labor must have a constantly distinct reference to God.
Conclusion
Paul’s confidence was in God alone, who begins, carries on, and completes the work. Let us trust in Him and give Him all the glory for the work He does in our hearts. Let us remain faithful and active in the fellowship of the Gospel, knowing that He who has begun a good work in us will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. May God continue to bless us, and may we always give Him the praise for every good work. Amen.