Paul Gives Thanks - 2

Well, as you know, Paul writes to the church at Philippi from his Roman imprisonment where he is under house arrest. And in this epistle, as in all his other epistles, Paul follows the format that is standard for letters in his day. And therefore, he begins with a customary salutation, which we looked at last week, which identifies the author, the recipient, and a word of greeting. Following that, in most epistles, there is one of two different elements. It may be either a health wish, may you prosper and be in good health. We have only one other epistle in our New Testament that follows that format, but that is 3 John, where John writes the elder to the beloved Gaius whom I love in truth.

Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. So that will normally follow the greeting and the salutation or a short statement of thanks to the gods, general, plural, without specificity, or to a particular god, Zeus or whoever it may be. And those statements of thanks are usually very brief, perfunctory, almost routine.

You don't sense any strong attachment to the meaning of those statements in most of the epistles of that day. Paul chooses the second option of the two in the epistolary format of his day, namely after the greeting, he gives thanks to God. And in his case, that generally is an extended period, extended statement of thanks that goes on for several verses, as it does in the Philippian epistle. As a matter of fact, you'll find such a statement of thanks in all of Paul's 13 epistles except for two, namely Galatians and Titus, but all the others follow this same pattern.

This doubtless, this word of thanks, doubtless, is a great encouragement to the Philippians, but it is also an opportunity for instruction as well as encouragement to us. And so it'll be helpful for us to take a close look at what it was for which Paul gave thanks. What caused Paul to break into great thanksgiving to God?

What causes you to give thanksgiving to God? In Paul's case, there are four items. Paul, first of all, thanks God for there, that is, the Philippians' past, their history.

I thank my God, he says, for every remembrance of you, precious memories. Paul didn't have that song in his day, but he might have been singing, if it were available to him, precious memories, how they linger. Thinking about the Philippian church, his heart was filled with praise because his heart was filled with good memories of what took place while he ministered in that location.

Now many of those memories we know about because they're recorded in Scripture, though I'm sure there are far more that we don't know about because they are not recorded for us. But let's think about Paul's beginning in the city of Philippi. He and Silas and Timothy and Titus and Luke, as far as we can tell, those five men who made up the missionary team, arrived in Philippi, a Roman city, and I think expected to find a synagogue because the city was large, and to their surprise, they found none. Paul's custom, of course, was to go to the synagogues first, and because of the custom of that day, when a traveling rabbi, and Paul was a rabbi, arrived in a synagogue, he would be invited to speak a word to the congregation, and Paul used that as an opening for the gospel.

And so he always started in the synagogue and preached the gospel there until he was invited to leave, and then he would go out to other places and continue to preach the gospel. Paul came to Philippi, and he inquired, and they said, no synagogue here, but someone must have told him, there are a few women who gather on the Sabbath day down by the riverside, and they have some sort of a synagogue-type service to the extent that they're able to do that. And so that's where Paul goes, and we read in verse 13 of Acts 16, And on the Sabbath we went out of the city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made, and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there, apparently not a man among them. Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul, and when she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, if you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.

So she persuaded them. Lydia's significant conversion. And notice how the Spirit of God, writing through or prompting the historian Dr. Luke to write these words, notice how the Spirit of God describes the conversion of Lydia.

Not on the terms that we normally hear such descriptions today. He doesn't say, Lydia heard the Gospel and she made a decision for Christ. Lydia heard the Gospel and she invited Jesus into her heart. Lydia heard the Gospel, and I'm sure all those things are true.

I'm not saying they didn't happen, but notice where the Scripture places the emphasis. Lydia heard the Gospel from Paul, and the Lord opened her heart so that she heard, so that she attended to the things that were spoken by Paul. And as a result of that, she believed.

As a result of that, she made a decision, if you want to call it that. As a result of that, she embraced Jesus Christ as her Savior, and other members of her household believed the Word of God as well. And she was baptized as a testimony of her faith in Christ. And she invited the missionary team to come and lodge in her home.

They needed the place to stay. And she apparently was a wealthy woman with a large house. And she said, come stay with me if you consider me to be faithful, if you consider me to be worthy of this honor of providing hospitality for you. And that was the beginning of the church in Philippi. No doubt the church met in her house, and others were added to the Lord in that location. We read in the same chapter about the remarkable account of a demon-possessed slave girl who told fortunes and made a lot of money for her masters. And she started following Paul and the team around the city and crying out, these are servants of the Most High God, these are servants of the Most High God. What she said was true, very true. But it was coming from a rather questionable source, this endorsement. And after a while, Paul said, we've got to stop this. It isn't helpful to the cause of the gospel to have the devil endorsing our ministry. And so he commanded the demon to come out of her and instantly she was freed of her demon possession and instantly was unable to tell fortunes anymore.

Uh-oh. And her masters were enraged. This affected their livelihood, this affected their pocketbook, and they dragged Paul and the others before the magistrates.

And that's how they ended up in jail, in that famous Philippian jail. But Paul, thinking back upon that incident, apparently is not focusing upon their beating, is not focusing upon the stocks, is not focusing upon the humiliation, is not focusing upon the inconvenience to them. He's focusing on the work of God. Look what God did. God opened the heart of Lydia and many others. God freed this slave girl from her demon possession and in the process, no doubt, saved her soul as well.

And then, of course, we all know about the conversion of the Philippian jailer. How the earthquake shook the jail in the middle of the night when Paul and Silas were what? Complaining about this injustice that had come to them, that they were in jail for nothing more than preaching the gospel? Paul and Silas were singing hymns of praise to God at midnight, even as they were flinching from the beatings which they had received and the aching of their bones and body and perhaps even wishing that they could wipe some of the blood that was trickling down their cheeks and other parts of their body.

But being in stocks, they were unable to do so. And what were they doing? They were singing the first century version of Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Sound, that saved a wretch like me.

I once was lost, but now I'm found, was blind, but now I see. And the prisoners were hearing them sing and maybe even the jailer was hearing them sing. And then an earthquake shook the jail and the jailer assumed, when he realized the magnitude of the earthquake and that the gates, the doors of the cells were flung open and that prisoners had ability to escape, he feared for his own life because under Roman law, if a Roman official, soldier, jailer, whatever, allowed a prisoner to escape, then the punishment that would have befallen that prisoner is placed upon the one who allowed him to escape. And so the jailer knows that some of those prisoners are going to be executed and he'd rather take his own life than suffer execution at the hands of others. So he drew his sword and was getting ready to kill himself and Paul calls out, do yourself no harm, for we are all here. Now, how do you explain that? I don't have trouble explaining why Paul and Silas were there. They trusted God and they had no reason to flee. But how do you explain these other prisoners all having the opportunity to flee and they just stay put?

I don't know how to explain that, but it certainly is remarkable, isn't it? Do yourself no harm, for we are all here. And the jailer took a light and he sprang in to evaluate the situation and he cried out to Paul, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? I've heard people say that the jailer wasn't talking about eternal salvation. He was talking about his own life. What must I do to be saved from execution?

But that doesn't make sense. The prisoners were all there. The danger of his execution has now passed.

That is no longer an issue. So I think it's clear that he had been listening to them singing and he was brought under conviction by the Spirit of God. And when he cried out, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? He meant, what must I do to be cleansed from my sins?

What must I do to be made right with a God who is so powerful that he can perform a miracle like this? And Paul said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved and your house. Our Presbyterian friends, and I have many wonderful friends among them, godly Bible believing men and women. Our Presbyterian friends said there must have been some little babies in that household. Paul said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved in your house. And he baptized them. There must have been some babies that were baptized there.

Now keep reading, keep reading, keep reading. When you get to verse 34 you read, now when he had brought them out into his house he set food before them and he rejoiced having believed in God with all his household. All the ones who were baptized had also believed in God. They were old enough to do that. Not an infant among them who was baptized.

Right? But Paul's thinking about all these things. Precious memories, how they linger. When I think about the Philippians I think about these incidents and probably others as well. There was a whole ingathering of souls in Philippi. We read this in the last verse of chapter 16 of Acts. So they went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia.

And when they had seen the brethren they encouraged them and departed. Now we've only learned about Lydia and her household. We don't know who all was involved in her household. And the demon possessed Damsel who would have been in this group.

The Philippian jailer is still probably at his house when Paul visits Lydia's home. And there he meets with the brethren. Clearly others had been gathered in. There was a pretty good number of believers at this point. There was a good start on the church in Philippi. And no doubt every one of them had a story to tell.

Like Lydia, like the jailer, like the demon possessed gal. And as Paul 13 years later in Roman confinement is thinking about what God has done there, these memories are precious to his soul. I thank God upon every remembrance of you. Paul is giving thanks for their past. And these memories, he goes on to tell us in verse 4, are joyful.

Always in every prayer of mine making requests for you all with joy. Now the first part of verse 4 is very common. It's something we've read in other epistles.

That's a statement that we'll read a number of times in other places. That's the way Paul frequently frames his prayers for others. But that phrase with joy is the unique factor in the Philippian epistle. Paul doesn't say that very often.

But here he does. Always in every prayer of mine making requests for you all with joy. With joy, number 1 out of 16 times he's going to use a form of that verb in the Philippian epistle.

And this is the first one. This is a joyful epistle. Paul is filled not only with precious memories, but with joyful memories from the Philippian church. And so recalling God's wondrous works, he gives thanks to God. And in giving thanks to God, his heart rejoices. And so his remembering their history stimulates thanksgiving. And his thanksgiving stimulates prayer to God. And his prayer to God increases his joy in spite of difficult circumstances, both now in Rome and then when he was in Philippi. Because it's clear that Paul's joy is not related to his personal circumstances, but it is related to the welfare of the kingdom of Christ.

That's what is so different about Paul and most of us. I asked you earlier, what do you give thanks for? Well, I give thanks when God gives me a new job. I give thanks when I have the birth of a new child or grandchild. I give thanks when God restores my health. I give thanks when God sends some blessing my way.

And indeed we should if we don't. We are most ungrateful. We are ungrateful wretches if we don't give God thanks in those situations. But Paul isn't thinking about any of those things when he gives thanks to God with joy for them. He's thinking about the conversion of Lydia. He's thinking about the rescue of the slave girl. He's thinking about the conversion of the Philippian jailer. He's thinking about the beginning of a church in Philippi. He's thinking about the spiritual health of the church. He's not thinking about his stocks and bonds and imprisonments and hardships. He's giving God thanks for what God is doing to advance the kingdom of Christ and the gospel.

And you see, that doesn't depend on his circumstances. Because of that, Paul can give thanks even in the worst of his own personal circumstances because he's not focusing on those. Those are trivial in comparison with the gospel, the conversion of souls, the planting of churches, the advancement of Christ's kingdom. And so Paul gives thanks for their past, for their history. Do you regularly thank God for His grace in your history?

If not, maybe that explains your pessimism, your discouragement, your lack of joy. And if that's your case, then I would encourage you to employ Paul's practice of giving thanks to God for the evidences of His working in this world, in the lives of others, in the advancement of Christ's kingdom. And as you do that, it will not only bring honor to Christ, which is the main reason for doing it, but it's going to help you. It's going to help your frame of mind. It's going to help your outlook. It's going to help your attitude.

It's going to fill your heart with joy. So number one, Paul thanks God for their past. Number two, Paul thanks God for their partnership, verse five. For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now.

For their partnership, which was a tangible partnership and a consistent partnership. A tangible partnership for your partnership or your fellowship, rather, in the gospel from the first day until now. Fellowship, koinonia is the Greek word, is a very rich word that has a lot of different nuances to it. It means communion. It means fellowship. It means participation.

It means partnership. It reminds us that when Christ draws men and women to Himself, He also draws them to one another. We belong to those who belong to Christ. I've told you this before, you don't choose your human family.

Sometimes you wish I didn't have this relative or that relative, but I'm stuck with them because that's the, what should I say, the unavoidable result of my birth and the family I'm in and so forth. But though I can't choose my relatives, at least I can choose my friends, not in the body of Christ. God chooses those too.

He chooses them for you. And He draws you to Himself and He draws you to other believers in Christ. And we belong to those who belong to Christ. And Paul is grateful because the Philippians are practically involved in the work of the gospel. I thank God for your fellowship, your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. Immediately after they were saved, they started participating in the work of the gospel.

We're not told exactly how. We would assume that this had to do with proclaiming the gospel in the city of Philippi, doing what they could to build up the church that was there. But one thing we do know for sure, there are a lot of things we're not sure because they're not told us, but one thing we do know for sure is that the Philippians were unusual in their financial partnership with Paul. We'll see that as this epistle unfolds, and particularly when we get to chapter 4, where Paul thanks them profusely for their multitude of gifts over the years, beginning very early on, starting when he was in Thessalonica, just 100 miles from Philippi, and continuing on a regular basis over all his ministry. And once again, when he's in Rome, they sent another gift.

We find record of that here in Philippi. And so the one thing we know for sure that they did in partnership with the gospel in relationship to the apostle Paul was supported him financially, generously, regularly, repeatedly, and Paul calls that your fellowship, your partnership in the gospel. It is, I say, a tangible partnership. It's not a pat on the back and God bless you and go to it, brother.

It is here. We will, out of our resources, out of our pocketbook, out of our savings, out of our income, we will help you in your gospel work. A tangible partnership and a consistent partnership. They were doing that all along, he says, from the first day, that would be about A.D. 49 until now, about A.D. 62. Faithfully, consistently, over a 13-year period, without interruption, from the first day until now is the way one translation puts it. Paul thanks God for their partnership. They didn't start helping Paul and then get distracted and go on to something else.

They kept it up, they kept it up, they kept it up. There are some who start well in their Christian endeavors and then fall by the wayside. Does that describe you? I hope not. Whereas others start well and continue faithfully on.

Does that describe you? I hope that it does. That ought to be the goal of all of us. And we ought to endeavor to become ever yet more faithful in our service to the Lord as we pray, Keep me, Lord. Oh, keep me cleaving to thyself and still be leaving till the hour of my receiving promise joys with thee. Their partnership. Paul thanks God for their past. Paul thanks God for their partnership because he recognizes that the gospel is a team effort.

Everyone can do something. And financial partnership is highly significant in the work of the gospel. And so he thanks God for their partnership. But number three, he thanks God for their perseverance. Verse six, being confident of this very thing that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. Their perseverance from a gracious beginning to what Paul is sure will be a guaranteed completion.

He's as certain of that as if they were already there. And what was the gracious beginning? It was a good work begun. He's talking here, of course, about salvation. But again, he attributes it to what?

To the sovereign work of God's grace. Again, he doesn't say being confident of this very thing that from the day you ask Jesus into your heart, from the day that you made a decision for Jesus until the final day, you will continue. Because Paul actually doesn't have strong confidence in that.

But he has strong confidence in this. That he, God, who has begun a good work in you, will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. Paul isn't sure that every profession of faith is genuine faith. Paul isn't sure that every decision is a Holy Spirit-wrought decision. But Paul is sure that every work of salvation begun by the Spirit of God is going to be completed without any possibility of failure. If this work indeed had a gracious beginning, that is, in the work of God, then it also has a guaranteed completion.

It cannot fail because God began it and therefore God will perform it until that day. Paul is totally confident of that, isn't he? He's not confident in them, but he's confident in God. I was shuffling for something we sang earlier that goes right along those lines, but I can't remember which of the two or three hymns we sang that it was in, so I'll stop that search.

But Paul's not confident in them, he's confident in God. What God begins, God completes. If you begin it, you may end it. You may fail, you may fall, you may change your mind, you may reverse course. But if God began it, it's going on to the very end.

You can be absolutely certain of that. If God began it, it cannot fail. He will complete it, and he will complete it at the day of Jesus Christ, that is, at the time of Christ's return, and that's the goal, because when that day arrives, then our salvation will be locked in, so to speak. Then we'll be entirely sanctified.

Then we will be sinless, without any possibility of sin, whereas now we know that it is possible to sin. The return of Jesus Christ is the goal, and God will work until he brings us to that state of accomplishment. For God is getting ready for us to see and to share in the glory of Christ. We are going to see that glory with our own sanctified eyes. We are going to share in that glory with our completed, sanctified lives. And so on that day when his bride is complete and we are entirely sanctified, then the goal will be reached, and then the enemy cannot assault us, then nothing can trip us up. But if God began the work, even though now we are vulnerable, we are still protected and guaranteed. Until that day of Christ's return, when we shall begin eternity with him. Now please note, this guarantee is for the work which God began, not for anything that you did. That takes me back to what I said earlier. The problem with asking Jesus into your heart is anybody can say the words, but are these words that are prompted by the work of the Holy Spirit?

Who can tell? The problem with making a decision for Christ, anybody can walk an aisle, anybody can pray a prayer, anybody can raise a hand in the strength of the flesh. That's something that we can do without God. Obviously, if God isn't at work, it accomplishes nothing, and that's the problem, that's the point. This person walks an aisle because God is working in his heart, he's under conviction.

This person walks an aisle for some other reason. They both walk an aisle, they both kneel at the altar, they both meet a personal worker, they both pray a prayer, they both ask Jesus into their heart. One does so because that's the outflow of the work of the Holy Spirit. Another one does so because of an emotional response, because of fear of hell or something else, but not because that the Holy Spirit has wrought new life within him. You see, it's not the things that we do that triggers the new birth, it is the new birth that the Holy Spirit does that triggers genuine faith, genuine repentance, genuine prayers of cry to God for mercy. It is the work that God's Spirit does that prompts those that are genuine. And so Paul's not confident that anything that you did is going to guarantee your final perseverance, but Paul is absolutely confident that what God has done will guarantee it. It's not your profession of faith, but his creation of life. His work is known by its fruit. Life manifests itself by demonstrating the fruit of life.

Spiritual life manifests itself by demonstrating spiritual fruit or the fruit of the Spirit, if you please. What Paul is saying here is in some ways similar to the old conundrum. Do you believe in once saved, always saved?

I do. But I don't necessarily mean by that what some people mean by it. That's where the problem comes in. Once saved, yes, saved by the grace of God, saved by the power of God, saved by the work of the Holy Spirit, saved unto the new birth. Yes, once saved, always saved for sure, but not once having made a profession of faith, always saved. That's not what the Bible teaches. That's not what that doctrine says, if it is properly understood.

But that's the way it is understood by many. I believe in eternal security. I believe in once saved, always saved.

I was saved when I was seven years old. I've got nothing to worry about. But where's the fruit? Where's the life?

Where's the evidence that God has done a work? Well, I know there's not much there and I won't get many rewards, but thank God I'm guaranteed of heaven. No, you're not. I'm sorry. No, I'm not sorry to tell you. I'm thankful for the opportunity to tell you because you need to know this.

No, you are not. You're guaranteed of heaven if God has begun a good work in you. Now that's what you need to be looking for. So what is Paul thanking God for? Number one, their past. Number two, their partnership. Number three, their perseverance.

And number four, their performance. Verse seven. Just as, he says, it is right for me to think this of you all, to think of your salvation unto eternity. It is right for me to think this of you all because, and now he's going to give two reasons why he thinks this is true of them.

Because number one, I have you in my heart. And number two, in as much as both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you are partakers with me of grace. Paul, first of all, gives a subjective evaluation of their state.

And then secondly, an objective evaluation of their state. Paul, first of all, expresses an emotional attachment to the Philippians that he takes as some level of evidence that they are genuinely God's people. It's right for me to think this of you because I have you in my heart.

I feel this way about you. Paul felt close to them. He had them in his heart. Paul felt like he had a spiritual bond with them. And we've all felt that around other believers, haven't we? Paul felt, therefore, that they were genuine believers because he had this subjective sense of relationship with them, this subjective sense that they were indeed his brothers and sisters in Christ.

And that's not illegitimate, not completely illegitimate. He says, it is right for me to think this of you. Not wrong, it's right for me to have these emotional responses to you.

It is right, or that could be translated, it's righteous. It's a righteous thing for me to have this kind of emotional response to you. But, as Paul goes on to make clear, in itself it's not totally reliable because emotions, though they're God-given, and emotions, though they're important, and emotions, though they are sweet, and emotions, though they can be helpful, in our fallen, sinful state, emotions can be misleading, emotions can be wrong, and many people are misled by their emotions. And Christians who live by their emotions are weak Christians and are easily deceived. And that's why it's a mistake to try to jack up people emotionally as the primary purpose of a church service, and many of them are designed that way. Get them jacked up emotionally. It's not that emotions are illegitimate, but that's not the most important evidence.

What is? Their performance, not the way I feel about them, but how do they perform in their profession of faith in Christ? In as much, he says, as both in my chains and defense and confirmation of the gospel, our partakers, that word fellowship again, partners with me of grace.

He goes back to this again. Their partnership, their koinonia in grace is what is the most objective evidence of their salvation. Tangible partnership in his imprisonment, in my chains. They sent Epaphroditus with a gift to help him in his situation. You can see it in Philippians 2, 25. Yet I considered it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, he's sending him back, my brother, fellow worker and fellow soldier, but your messenger and the one who ministered to my need. He may have been one of their pastors. They sent him to Paul in Rome with a financial gift and to assist, to help, to encourage Paul in his Roman imprisonment. He makes reference to it again in chapter 4, verse 18.

Indeed I have all and abound. I am full having received from Epaphroditus the things sent from you. That's the financial gift, the offering. A sweet smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God. Their partnership in the gospel, he's going back to that again. That's the objective evidence of their salvation. Their tangible support of his ministry, their enthusiastic support of his defense of the gospel as Paul in his gifted apostolic assignment resists assaults and objections to the gospel and overcomes them many times to the salvation of souls. His confirmation of the gospel, his ability to lay out evidences for the gospel that people will come to understand indicate the gospel is true as of course the Holy Spirit works in their hearts. But their partnership in all of this which is again more than anything else financial.

It very well may be other things as well, but the one thing we know for sure is it's financial. In other words, one of the greatest evidences, well there's probably two here, but one of the greatest evidences of genuine salvation is that God has opened your pocketbook to the work of the gospel. I'm concerned about the spiritual state of tightwad Christians who haven't learned the grace of giving, don't have the desire of financial partnership, who don't delight in giving to the work of the gospel.

Their financial partnership is objective evidence. Unbelievers don't do that, but believers do, as well as their attachment to the truth of the gospel, their delight in seeing it defended and confirmed. That is good evidence of their salvation. They loved the gospel. They loved the word of God. They loved to see it proclaimed and to help it be proclaimed.

They loved to see it making advances throughout the world. And so an open pocketbook and a firm hold upon truth is a mark of salvation and an objective ground of assurance of salvation, not the decision you made or the prayer you prayed and not even what somebody else feels about you. Well, I know he's a Christian. I remember praying with him when he was a little boy.

I feel that he's a child of God. Where's the fruit? Where's the fruit? Where's the fruit?

How many of you are old enough to remember that old Wendy's commercial? Where's the beef? You open that competitor's hamburger and there's a little bit of meat in there.

You open a Wendy's hamburger and great big slab of beef. Where's the beef? Where's the real thing?

That's what we're looking for here. Where's the beef? Where's the evidence of God's work?

All you say, now you've slipped a notch. You're not preaching salvation by grace. You're preaching salvation by works. No, we're preaching the evidence of salvation is your works. You're not saved by works, but you're saved unto works. And if there are no works, evidently there's no salvation. The works flow out of God's work of grace within your heart.

By grace you are saved through faith, not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them. If God ordained it, it will happen. If God ordained it, there will be works in our life.

There will be fruit. If God is at work, that's what will flow out. And that is the objective evidence of their salvation. Paul gives thanks for their performance, their past, their partnership, their perseverance, their performance. Paul gives thanks for all of these things. And so we learn it is performance in spiritual realities, not profession of faith that makes our claim of salvation valid.

It is fruit, not talking about anything fruit, but it is the fruit itself. Like John the Baptist said to the Pharisees that came out to be baptized of him, you vipers, who told you to come out here? Before I baptize you, bring forth good works, evidence of repentance.

I haven't seen those. I'm not going to baptize you. There's no repentance. There's no faith because there's no good works. But when God saves us, there's a delight to be in partnership with the gospel and with gospel efforts and with the people of God. Paul knows that, and Paul prays accordingly. May we know that as well, shall we pray. Father, how we delight to hear your word and to receive it into our hearts and to be instructed by it and changed by it. O Lord, teach us more of your ways and show us your sure paths. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.