The Saints of God (Philippians 4:20–23) John MacArthur

This particular Sunday morning is, in some  ways, an historical moment because we come   to the last message on the great epistle of Paul  to the Philippians. About a year and a half ago   we embarked upon this book and God has taken us  through many marvelous truths and applications.   We now bring to a close this great, great letter.  And my prayer is that though we cease to preach on   this, it does not cease to be warm in your hearts,  fresh in your minds, active in your living. We come to the final four verses of  Philippians, chapter 4 verses 20 through 23.   There is one word that is repeated twice in  these four verses to which I would like to   draw your attention and which will provide for  us the substance of the message this morning.   That is the word "saint." It appears in verse  21. It appears again in verse 22. That little   word saint is going to be the hook on which  we hang the truths of these four verses. It   is a familiar word to us but admittedly somewhat  understood wrongly or improperly by most people.

For example, if someone were to ask you if you  were a saint, what would you say? Well you might   think about it for a moment because you might be  a little bit afraid to answer the question because   the term "saint" has been loaded with so much that  is not representative of its biblical meaning. The   word "saint" has come very far from its original  New Testament sense. And for some of us we would   be reluctant to say I'm a saint because we  live under the assumption that someone who   is a saint lives at a much higher spiritual  level than we do and we would be thinking   ourselves somewhat egotistical, boastful, proud  to even say I'm a saint because we reserve that   term for people who spiritual are much, much more  like Jesus Christ than we assume ourselves to be,   and so humility in one sense might cause us to  be a bit afraid to answer in the affirmative.

And then looking at it from the opposite  extreme we might not want to say that we   are saints because people might misunderstand  what we mean by that. Most people, I suppose,   would assess a saint as a sort of angular  figure long dead, a sort of ecclesiastical   relic crystallized in stained glass or in a statue  form in some Catholic Church someplace. And since   we are neither ecclesiastical relics or long dead  and certainly not worthy of stained glass windows,   nor desirous of being turned into  statues, we're a bit reluctant.   Maybe we think of a saint like the little boy who  said they are multi-colored people who block out   the sunlight, and we really don't care to be a  multi-colored person who blocks out the sunlight. It could be very unacceptable to us to be  identified as a saint if we assess sainthood   like the Roman Catholic Church does. In Roman  Catholic theology which, of course, has tended   to dominate the definition of the term "saint,"  a saint is a super-person. In fact, Catholic   theology says, and I quote, "A saint is one who  has exhibited unsurpassable devotion to Christ."   And if you take that definition  that a saint is someone who has   demonstrated unsurpassable devotion to  Christ, you might well be reluctant to   call yourself a saint because it would be  hard for you to say...Well, my devotion to  

Christ has no capability of being surpassed by  anyone anyplace. That too sounds a bit much. The Roman Catholic Church says that people,  however, who have lived lives of unsurpassable   devotion to Jesus Christ are worthy to be  called saints, to be canonized which word   means to be made the spiritual standard, or  lifted up as the spiritual models, and so   these canonized unsurpassably devoted people are  called saints. Statues and stained-glass windows   are made of them and they are to be venerated,  they are to be prayed to, appealed to, praised,   exalted and honored. And that whole thing makes us  uncomfortable with the term saint. These statues   of saints are placed in churches. The statue  itself then becomes in whatever form, whether   it's a small statue or a large one, the focal  point of veneration. You might see, for example,   people kissing those saints. You might see many  people bowing their knees before those saints.   You will see some people bringing flowers and  gifts to the saints. Others will be burning   candles or lighting lights in more sophisticated  cathedrals. Some people will be offering incense   and some people will be just there meditating  upon the virtues of the life of that individual.

Now this is done because the Roman Catholic Church  teaches that because of the unsurpassable devotion   to Christ these people exhibited in their earthly  life, they have been exalted in their heavenly   life to a position of special clout with God. And  the reason we appeal to them and the reason we   honor them and extol them and venerate them is so  that they in receiving our honor and our prayers   will intercede with God for our needs. They become  intermediaries, intercessors for us and we want   to stay in their good graces and since they by  holy life on earth have special clout with God   can gain things for us, we want to do all  we can to acknowledge their greatness. Another thing Roman Catholic theology teaches  is that they have special work of interceding   with God for the souls of people which are  captive to the pain of purgatory. And so   as you pray to the saint, in a sense you  are pleading with that saint to appeal to   God to release the one that you love  from the pain of purgatory. In fact,   you will frequently see in a Roman Catholic  Church candles at the feet of the saints,   which candles are lighted and as long as  the candle is still burning, the prayer is   perpetual to the saint to plead with the saint, to  plead with God to get that soul out of purgatory.

These things make us feel very uncomfortable  with being called a saint. We do not care to be   etched in stained glass, we do not care  to be a statue that somebody kisses. We do   not care to be thought of as somebody who is  supposed to be getting people out of a place   that doesn't even exist. So the whole idea of  sainthood can be a bit uncomfortable for us. However, not withstanding all of that  misinformation about what sainthood is, you   might be interested to know that Paul's favorite  word for Christians is the word "saint." He uses   it over sixty times in his epistles. And when  he speaks of saints, the majority of times his   reference is to very ordinary Christians...very  ordinary Christians. You will notice that in verse   21 he says, "Greet every saint in Christ Jesus."  In verse 22 he says, "All the saints greet you."   And you can see by both of those references that  the term is very commonly used. It is very broad.   It is very encompassing. In fact, he identifies  all of the people in the Philippian church as   saints back in chapter 1 verse 1. He says, "To all  the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi,   including the overseers and deacons."  It isn't just deacons who become saints,   it isn't just elders, overseers who become  saints, or pastors, it is everybody in the  

congregation who is a saint. One little boy said  that saints are stained-glass figures who block   out the sunlight. And another answered him.  No, saints are people who let the light shine   through them. And that, in effect, is the true  definition of a saint. Any saint could be defined   as one in whom the light of Christ exists  and from whom the light of Christ shines. Now Paul comes to the end of  his letter to the Philippians,   he reminds them of the identification  he gave them at the very beginning,   that they in fact are saints. And as he  says this final little farewell here,   when he introduces the term saint he gives us  a good hook on which to hang this whole text so   that we can pull it together and comprehend its  richness and its implications for our own lives. Now, if someone asks you if you're a saint,  by the time we get done with our message this   morning I hope you'll be able to give happily  the right answer. You should know what to say.

Let's talk first of all about the character of  saints...the character of saints, or the nature   of saints, or the definition of saints. Just  looking at that word, saint, in the singular,   saints in the plural in verse 22, inherent in  the term is the definition or the character   or the nature of a saint. The word hagios or  hagioi(?) in plural, simply means "set apart ones,   separated ones, sanctified ones or perhaps best,  holy ones." That's just a list of synonyms for   the word "saint." The concept is "being set apart,  being separated." Now we know that the Bible says   that God is holy. The word can be translated  holy, is often translated holy in Scripture,   it means the same thing. We know that God is  holy, or God is saintly or God is separated.   And from what is God separated? God is  separated from sin, that is in fact the   purest definition of God's nature. That is why it  is the only attribute of God repeated three times,   He is holy, holy, holy. Why? Because it  defines God's utter otherness. It defines   Him as utterly unlike us because we are sinful He  is separated from sin...utterly distinct from sin,   set apart from sin. What is a saint then? A saint  is one...listen carefully...who has been separated  

from sin unto God for holy purposes. That's  all inherent in the word. Separated from sin   to God for holy purposes...that's a saint. Anyone  who is separated from sin unto God is a saint. Now there's a further insight into this definition  in verse 21 because he says, "Greet every saint in   Christ Jesus." And in the sphere of being "in  Christ Jesus" is where sainthood takes place.   That little phrase "in Christ Jesus" is a  very common one to the Apostle Paul because   it defines the Christian's identity. We are  in Christ. We do not just believe Christ. We   do not just believe that He lived and died and  rose. We do not just believe that He provided   salvation. We do not just believe that He is  coming again. We are not only believing Christ,   believing in Christ, but we are in Christ  in a union of life. We are bonded to Christ.

Now this has been on the mind of Paul in the  Philippian letter. It is not the first time the   thought has crossed his mind. Chapter 1 verse 21  simply sums it up, "For to me to live is Christ."   And a number of other times in this epistle he  uses the term "in Christ" or "in the Lord." For   him his very life was in Christ. There's a sense  in which the believer has been separated from sin   unto God. And that separation is accomplished  when we cease to be in the darkness, in sin and   we become in the light, in holiness, in Christ.  That obviously is not completed yet until the day   of our glorification. But already we have received  the righteousness of God in Christ imputed to us.   We have received the indwelling Holy Spirit  and with Him the life of God within us which   is a righteous nature. We have...Peter says  it as well as anyone in 2 Peter 1...we have by   having received the righteousness and godliness  of Christ been delivered from the corruption of   the lust that is in the world. A believer then  is a saint because every believer is in Christ,   separated from sin unto God for holy  purposes. That is true of all of us.

So, the definition of the saint, the nature of the  saint, the character of the saint...very simple,   one who is separated from sin unto God for holy  purposes which separation has occurred by that   individual becoming in Christ through faith.  In Jesus Christ and His sacrificial death and   resurrection we become in Christ. Paul says to  the Roman church, we are joined with Christ,   we die with Christ, we rise with Christ, we  walk in the newness of the life of Christ. To   the Galatians he says, "I am crucified with  Christ, nevertheless I live...implied with   Christ...and the life I live I live in the flesh,  but it is not I...he says...it is Christ living   in me." So I am in Christ. That's not true of  other world religions. People aren't in Buddha,   they just believe in the teachings of Buddha.  They aren't in Mohammed, they just believe the   teachings of Mohammed. They aren't in Mary  Baker Eddy, they aren't in their religious   leader. They aren't in the swamis and the yogi  leaders and occult leaders. That kind of union   of life is distinctively Christian. And we are  therefore distinctively the separated ones who   are the saints. There should be no reluctance in  your heart and mind in calling yourself a saint.   The only reluctance should be that you  might feel embarrassed to say it because   someone knows you're not living as a saint  ought to live. But the title you deserve.

Just to make it as clear as possible who the  saints are, if you were to identify the most   troublesome sinful church to which a New  Testament letter is written, what church   would it be? Corinth, right? Listen to these  encouraging words, 1 Corinthians 1:1 and 2, "Paul,   called an Apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of  God and Sosthenes, our brother, to the church of   God which is at Corinth, to those who have been  sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling."   Even the Corinthians were saints. With all of our  failures and foibles and problems, we are saints. What is the character of a saint? One who has  been separated from sin unto God, set apart for   holy purpose. That occurs because that person  by faith in the person and work of Christ is   in Christ. And so we possess the righteousness of  Christ, are separated from sin and its dominion,   some day separated sin and its presence. So Paul  is glad to remind the Philippians that they are   saints. And I think inherent in this reminder  in the beginning of the epistle and at the end,   and he really circles back and picks up the  term, inherent in that reminder is that sort   of insidious message underneath it that if  you're going to call yourself a saint, you   better get serious about living up to your title.  There's that implication clearly in the very term.

So as the dear Apostle Paul watches  the candle flicker, probably at night,   and realizes that the darkness of night is soon  to fall and waits the morning dawn when he hands   the scroll, as it were, to Epaphroditus and  he says, "Epaphroditus, the letter is done,   you can now return to Philippi and give it  to the leaders of the church," as he waits   to send off that dictated letter which an  amanuensis or secretary has taken down,   just before he is finished in the flickering  of that last evening, he picks the stylus up   himself and with his own hand it is very likely  that verses 20, 21, 22 and 23 were written. You say, "Well what makes you think that? The  word of the Apostle Paul to the Thessalonians.   The Apostle Paul in writing the final words of  2 Thessalonians said this, "I, Paul," chapter   3 verse 17, "write this greeting with my own hand  and this is a distinguishing mark in every letter,   this is the way I write." You wouldn't write a  letter without signing it to authenticate it,   neither would Paul. And he says in that  verse, "In all the letters I write,   I always take up the pen and authenticate this."  You can understand how important that would be,   right? People could be sending all kinds  of letters and saying they were from Paul,   it was vital that the true Word of God through  that instrument be validated by his own inimitable  

inscription. And we know from Galatians 6:11  that he wrote with large letters. There's   reason to assume a rather large clumsy letters  were his common way to sign off which would be   very difficult to counterfeit. And so he picks  up the stylus from his secretary, or amanuensis,   and pens this final word. And as he does he  introduces to us this lovely theme of sainthood. Now having understood the character of saints,  let's move secondly to the worship of saints...the   worship of saints. Verse 20, "Now to our God  and Father be the glory forever and ever. Amen." Now let me give you a point that I want to  emphasize. Saints are not to be worshiped.   Saints are to worship. Saints are not  only known by their relationship to sin   and to God through Christ, but saints are  known by their worship. This, by the way,   in verse 20, is a great doxology. Doxology  comes from a Greek word doxa which means   glory. A doxology is simply a word about glory.  It is ascribing glory to God. It is a doxology.

Let me tell you something about doxologies. As in  this case, doxologies are responses of praise to   great truth. Did you hear that? A doxology is the  fitting response to doctrine, to truth. And this   outburst of doxology in verse 20, this outburst  of praise flows from the Apostle's exuberant   joy over the whole letter which has literally  expounded the heretofore unheard truth of God.   And I believe though Paul wrote it with his own  pen, writing it under the inspiration of the   Spirit of God, he probably experienced  an exhilaration that could exceed any   exhilaration that we could even feel. What  we learn here is that worship as always   is the fitting response to doctrine. Truth  should produce joyous praise, glory to God.

Now the heart of the doxology is that little  phrase "be the glory...be the glory." That   simply means divine honor, divine praise, divine  adoration. That's what a doxology is. It gives   glory to God. It adores Him, honors Him, respects  Him, fears Him, worships Him, praises Him.   It is a fitting response to truth. And all the  marvelous truth that has been flowing through   this epistle is culminated in verse 19, isn't it?  "And my God shall supply all your needs according   to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus."  Just the overwhelming realization that all   your needs are met in Christ releases,  as it were, the pent up thrill and out   comes the exuberant Spirit-inspired praise of  verse 20. A similar outburst of doxological   praise occurs at another high point in Paul's  letters. Turn with me to Romans chapter 11,   Romans chapters 1 through 11 provide for us the  greatest doctrinal treatise in all of Scripture,   the monumental discussion of the significance  of the coming, the death and the resurrection   of Jesus Christ. And as Paul has gone through 11  chapters of this doctrine, 11 chapters of this  

profound truth, he can no longer contain himself.  And in verse 33 of chapter 11 as he comes to the   end of the doctrinal section of Romans, it's as  if the lid blows off and he just exuberantly pours   out these words, "O the depth of the riches  both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how   unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable  His ways, for who has known the mind of the Lord,   or who became His counselor, or who has first  given to Him that it might be paid back to Him   again? For from Him and through Him and to Him are  all things, to Him be the glory forever. Amen." And after bursting at the seams, as it were,  he then settles down to write the last part   of his book. And even after the last part  of Romans, which is practical instruction,   he can't close the epistle without praise  and so the last verse of Romans 16 says   "To the only wise God through Jesus  Christ be the glory forever. Amen."

Listen, praise is always the fitting  response to truth. Listen to me,   that is why when you worship God you worship  Him in spirit and in...what?...truth.   People will say to me, "Well, you know, at the  worship service, you call it a worship service   but there's too much preaching, there's too much  reading of Scripture, discussing of Scripture,   we need more time for worship." And my response  to that is...that the time for worship is when   you are responding to truth. And so how can we  worship God if we do not know truth about Him? The Apostle Paul then tells us about the  worship of saints. We are the worshipers,   not the worshiped. We worship. Notice, please,  it says, "Be the glory forever and ever."   That marvelous Greek phrase translated forever and  forever basically means cycles...cycles and cycles   and cycles and cycles, it's ad infinitum,  it's unending. Saints worship unendingly,   cycling and cycling and cycling and cycling,  worshiping and worshiping forever, forever,   forever and ever. That is the  very definition of our existence.

Would you go back to chapter 3 verse 3  and remember with me what is my favorite   definition of Christian. "We are the true  circumcision," that is we have the true mark,   what is it? "We worship in the Spirit of God and  glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in   the flesh." That's...that's what a Christian is. A  Christian is a worshiper who worships in the power   of the Spirit, gives the glory to Christ, puts  no confidence in the flesh. We are worshipers. This should not surprise us. Go with me to John  chapter 4, that marvelous discussion with the   woman at the well in Samaria. And Jesus gives us  a tremendous insight. In verse 23 He says to this   woman in John 4, "An hour is coming and now is  when the true worshipers shall worship the Father   in spirit and truth...listen to this...for such  people the Father seeks to be His worshipers."   Marvelous statement. Listen to me, salvation is  all about the Father seeking worshipers. You are   saved to worship. I was saved to worship. It's  the Father seeking worshipers. And, those who   worship Him, it says in verse 24, must worship in  spirit...that is with all our inner being...but   also in truth according to fact, according  to truth. The object of redemption, beloved,  

was to make worshipers. And when we worship we are  to worship in truth, that is we are to worship God   truly as He is. So we are worshipers, to worship  God forever and ever and ever and ever and ever. Paul to the Philippians even identifies  and to us this God. He says, "Now to our   God and Father." Our God, what do you  mean our God? The God of Christians,   the only God, the only true God, the God  of all saints. And the term "our" simply   personalizes...our own personal God and  the true God is implied in the term theos,   the true God, the one God, the God who made  heaven and earth and all that is in them. So we are to worship the true God in  a personal way because He is our God.   Beloved, you can't worship the true God unless  you know who He is. That's why Hosea says in   chapter 6 verse 6 that God delights in the  knowledge of God, rather than burnt offerings.   God does not want ignorant sacrifices, He wants  worship out of the knowledge of who He is. You   cannot truly worship God if you do not understand  who God is. When we think about idolatry,  

we usually think about a primitive pagan in a mud  hut, bowing down to some little god on the ground,   or we imagine some gross pagan temple with  elaborate ornate idols and burning incense.   But listen, that is creating a false god and  worshiping him. It is equally idolatrous to   identify the true God but not understand the  truth about Him. Idolatry goes beyond the idea   of creating a false god, fundamentally, listen  to this, idolatry is thinking thoughts about God   that are untrue of Him. Or entertaining thoughts  about God that are unworthy of Him. That's equally   idolatrous. And I submit to you that the  blasphemy of the sanctuary far exceeds the   blasphemy of the street. A.W. Tozer summed it  up well. He wrote, "The history of mankind will   probably show that no people has ever reason  above its religion. And man's spiritual history   will positively demonstrate that no religion  has ever been greater than its idea of God."

Worship is pure or base as the worshiper  entertains high or low thoughts of God.   Then he says, "For this reason the gravest  question before the church is always God   Himself. And the most portentous fact about any  man is not what he at a given time may say or do,   but what he in his deep heart conceives  God to be like," end quote. Exactly right. You cannot worship unless you worship the true  God in the true way. Worship is always a response   to truth and doctrine. And the doxologies of  the Scripture...go through the New Testament   and find the doxologies and they are outbursts  of praise in response to great truth about God,   truth which settles the issues of the heart. The  only way to know God and understand all that is   revealed about God is to make the knowledge of  God the primary pursuit of your life, it must be   the primary pursuit of the church. You cannot have  a man-centered theology and be a true worshiper.

Furthermore, not only is doxological praise the  response to the truth about God, but to the truth   about God that God is the resource of His people.  If I am not overwhelmed alone by who He is,   I certainly can be overwhelmed by what He  has done in providing His bounty for me,   and that lies in the heart of Paul as well. He  is not only praising God because God is a God   who can supply everything, He is praising God  for God is a God who has supplied everything.   It is not only who He is and what He is capable  of, it is who He is, what He is capable of and   what He has already done. So wonderfully  do we praise God in truth and truth alone. But Paul doesn't stop there. He says, "Now to  our God and Father." That's a wonderful addition.   There is a sense in which throughout the New  Testament God is called Father, related to being   the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. Frequently  the New Testament writers speak of the God and   Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that is  intended to lead us to understand that He and God   are equal...God and the Father of our Lord Jesus  Christ, equal in essence, bearing the same deity,   the same common life. But Paul's point here  is that God is our Father in a filial way,  

in a family way. Unlike the pagans, we don't  go fearfully, shamefully, threateningly before   some deity. We go to one who loves us and is  our Father, we go as little children. That's   different than the worship of the world. That,  by the way, is even different than the worship of   the Old Testament where God is never identified  as the personal Father to an individual Jew. If   He's called Father at all in the Old Testament  and it's very infrequent, it is only insofar   as He fathered the nation Israel. Now all of a  sudden, God is so personal that He is our God   and our Father. And we go to Him to worship one  who is personally attuned, sensitive to our needs. Back in chapter 1 verse 2 it's the way he started,  "Grace to you and peace from God our Father." God   our Father, and he has that same thing in mind  here. What a joy it is to realize that the God we   worship we don't worship out of fear, we worship  one who is related to us in a family way as our   loving Father. And because of that Paul said of  the Galatians, we can cry Daddy, Abba Father, we   can go without fear to that great God. Why does he  add that? Because to contemplate our God would be   lost in the wonder of His majesty, and might leave  us a bit at distance, might lead us to conclude  

we better not approach such an infinitely wondrous  majestic and holy God. And so when adding the word   "Father" he immediately closes that gap between  the sinner and the awesome holiness of his God. Sainthood involves a proper worship...a proper  worship, a worship in response to who God is and   what He is able to do and what He has done for us.  Beloved, you cannot worship any other way rightly,   you must worship the true God according to  the truth about Him revealed in Scripture.   The pursuit of your life then, to be a true  worshiper. In order to be a true worshiper,   you must pursue the knowledge of the revelation  of God so that you can worship Him in truth.   The focus of the church must therefore  be Godward, Godward, Godward, Godward,   always looking at God, always looking at God. You  say, "How do you best understand God?" Who came   into the world to reveal God? Christ...to know  Christ, to know Christ is to know God. And so   we will teach and preach on the character of God  which character is marvelously, perfectly, holy   manifest in Jesus Christ. And to that doxology  Paul adds "amen." Amen, that is a confessional   endorsement, a confessional affirmation, it  underlines the truth, it's saying "so let it   be." That's the worship of saints. We aren't  worshiped, we worship. That's a way of life.

The third thing that I would say Paul opens  up to us about sainthood is the fellowship of   saints...the fellowship of saints. Would you  notice verse 21. "Greet every saint in Christ   Jesus, the brethren who are with me greet you,  all the saints greet you..." Stop at that point. There's a lot of greeting there.  Three times the word is used,   it's the verb in each of those three  statements, it's all about saluting   each other...the old way to translate it. But  what does it mean? Is it a simple "hello," a   simple sort of mundane common "how are  you?" What's implied in this greeting? Well a bond of fellowship is certainly implied  in the terms here. Let's look a little deeply   and see if we can't see it. The simple verb  translated "greet" or "salute," although that   has so many military connotations we don't use  it anymore, the simple verb means to say "hello"   but not just in a vacuum, it implies a note of  affection and a desire for one's well being.   And here we could assume that Paul is saying  affectionately, "I want you to express to all   the saints how much I desire their spiritual  well being. Share my love and passion for their   spiritual development." That's really what's  on his heart. It says I care, I care about you.

Would you notice he says "greet every saint." He  doesn't say greet all the saints in sort of the   collective way. Instead of using the collective  "all" he uses the individualistic word "every."   And here he is noting for us that every saint  is worthy of Paul's concern, Paul's care, Paul's   affection and Paul's wishes for spiritual well  being. Now this is a monumental and unique element   of the Christian faith that we are to love one  another the same. We are to consider others better   than ourselves. There is no stratification in the  body of Christ. There are to be no favorites. God   is not a respecter of...what?...of persons. We  are not to elevate some over the other. And what   Paul shows us here that is...in his affectionate  desire for the spiritual well being of the saints   he included everybody. This is his heart. This  is what he was after in chapter 2 when he said   to them, "If there's any encouragement in Christ,  any comfort of love, any fellowship of the Spirit,   any affection and compassion, please make my joy  complete." Why? "By having the same mind, loving   everyone the same way, being united in Spirit,  having one purpose, not being proud but humble,   regarding one another as more important than  yourself and not looking on your own things but   the things of other," namely, having the mind of  Christ, the mind of humility. That's fellowship.

The fellowship of the saints is that we're not  elevated above each other. A saint is not one   who has lived an unsurpassable devotion  to Christ. A saint is not a super-person.   We're all saints and we're all worthy to be  called saints. And listen, if we are worthy   to be called saints by God, then we are worthy  of the affection and the love of each other,   true? And any stratification or isolation or  separation from other saints is contrary to   the intention of the Spirit of God, unless  we are following instruction with regard to   avoiding them because they are sinful. Now the  injunction here in verse 21 is directed at the   church leaders who will get the letter. And when  he says, "Greet every saint in Christ Jesus," he   is telling the pastors and elders and deacons to  go greet the people on his behalf individually,   assuring them of his love and his desire  for their spiritual well being. This is the   way it is with Christ. He had a heart for the  individual. I remember Mark 5:31 where out of   the midst of the multitude He felt the little  lady who touched His garment. He always had   that sense of being touchable. So it is in the  church. There's no stratification, there's no   elevation. We're all commonly saints. None of us  is superior to or inferior to the other, we are   what we are by the grace of God, 1 Corinthians  15:10 says, and only because of His grace.

This is further elucidated in the  second sentence in verse 21. He says,   "The brethren who are with me greet you." Now  I want you to know that while he was a prisoner   in Rome for this time writing this letter, he  had some pretty formidable folks coming to see   him. He calls them the brethren who are with me  and they send you the same desire for spiritual   well being and affection and they're the ones  with me. These are his specific coworkers,   as opposed to all the rest that he mentions  in verse 22. And doing a little bit of   background on this you find out who they  were...quite an amazing group of people. For example, we know that during his imprisonment  Timothy was with him because he refers to him in   the letter clear back in chapter 1 verse 1, then  in chapter 2 verse 19. Timothy was his protege,   his son in the faith, a very gifted, great,  godly man, thirty years the junior of Paul   but nonetheless a very unique and gifted man.  There was also Epaphroditus, that godly saint   who had come from Philippi, he too was with  Paul, and you know the character of that man,   it's mentioned at the end of chapter 2. He was  such a devout Christian that he came close to   death for the work of Christ, risking his own life  just to serve Paul. That is a sacrificial man.

So Timothy was there, and Epaphroditus  was there. Chapter 1 and verse 14 also   indicates to us that there were some other  brethren who were courageously preaching   the Word of God without fear, so there were a  group of other preachers there, evangelizers.   In addition to that it's very likely that Tychicus  and Aristarchus were there, well known and noble   Christians. There are many who would tell us that  Luke was there and Mark was there. If we compare   all the data we have, and that's a formidable  duo, namely the two who wrote the two gospels,   Mark and Luke. And some have suggested it's very  likely Onesimus was there, the runaway slave who   ran into Paul and was converted to Christ, who  went back then to serve Philemon. Others would say   a man named Jesus Justus was there. And then there  are some unnamed brethren who were there with him. The point that I want you to see is very  interesting, it's this. That as high up the   ladders of stratification as they might be, these  gentlemen are only described as the brethren.   And again we pull them down from any supposed  rank and we talk again about the commonality   of sainthood. Timothy may have been unusually  gifted, and certainly was. Epaphroditus may have   been a noble Christian soul, and certainly  he was. And among the preachers at Rome,  

there were unquestionably some extremely gifted  men. And no one would argue about the spiritual   qualifications of Tychicus and Aristarchus, given  that they had spent a lot of time with Paul. And   who would question Mark and Luke's character?  But as formidable as they were, they need only   be associated with such sort of non-descript and  troublesome characters as Onesimus. And they are   all pulled together in one term "brethren."  You see, the fellowship of saints is a common   bond without strata. There weren't any backward  collars in Paul's group. There wasn't any...any   liturgical, clerical priesthood. There isn't any  stratification here. This is the common identity,   the brethren who are saints, those others who  love Christ. The fact that they were gifted in   different ways doesn't make them any superior at  all. In fact, Paul when identifying himself said,   "I am the least of all Apostles," and in another  epistle he said, "I am the chief of sinners."

Is it any wonder that Jesus Himself in Matthew 23  said to the Jewish leaders and to the Apostles,   "Don't call any man father?" Don't let any man  pass himself off as superior to the brotherhood.   You're brothers. And then further opening up to  us the window on fellowship, in verse 22 he says,   "All the saints greet you," and he just  wraps his arms around the whole Roman church,   all the people in Rome that were Christians...the  wider circle of Christians, they send their love   and their affection and their wishes  for spiritual well being and growth. Beloved, that's the heart of Christian fellowship.  We're all saints, none superior to the other,   though differently gifted and at points in our  life differently faithful. But we are all one   brotherhood, we are all one fellowship, we are all  one body in Christ. And the less comely members,   Paul says to the Corinthians, are not less  significant, but are perhaps in many cases more   significant, as the less beautiful members of your  body are more significant than those ones which   receive all the kudos. And so we find here that  the fellowship of saints is a very simple thing,   it is the sharing of common love and the desire  for spiritual well being. The Christian singer   is not a soloist, he's a member of a choir.  The Christian soldier is not solitary figure,  

he's a member of an army. The Christian scholar is  not a privately tutored leaner, he's a part of a   class and a school. The Christian son is not just  a lonely child, he's a member of a family. The   Christian runner is not an individual performer,  he is a part of a team. That's the fellowship.   Saints are not some group of people exist in  isolation, as cold as the stone that marks   them out. They're common possessors of the eternal  life of God who share their love with each other. So sainthood is characterized then by being  separated from sin unto God for holy purposes   through faith in Christ. The worship of  saints is godward praise in response to   truth and blessing. The fellowship of saints  is a loving and non-discriminating mutual care.

Number four, the joy of saints. Paul opens a  window to that for us in verse 22 and I think   he must have had a gleam in his eye as he penned  this with his own stylus. He says in verse 22,   "All the saints greet you, especially those  of Caesar's household." And I just think he   loved to say that. Why? Well this is the joy  of the saints. You say, "What is the joy of   the saints?" I'll tell you what the joy of the  saints is. In Luke 15 Jesus told a story about   a lady who lost a coin, looked all day, found  the coin, called her friends and rejoiced. Then He told a story about a man who had  sheep, lost a sheep, found the sheep,   called his friends and they rejoiced. Then He told  a story about a man who lost a son, found the son,   called his friends, had a feast, they rejoiced.  And through that fifteenth chapter of Luke the   Scripture says that when a soul is saved there  is joy in heaven. The theme of Luke 15 is the   joy of heaven over the salvation of a soul. And  may I say to you that that's not the only place   where there's joy when a soul is saved. What is  the joy of the saints on earth? The greatest,   highest joy we have, isn't it, is to see someone  come to Christ. In Acts chapter 15, we rejoice   on earth as heaven rejoices in the salvation of  a soul. Listen to Acts 15:3, speaking of Paul   and Barnabas, it says, "They went on their way  passing through Phoenicia and Samaria, describing  

in detail the conversion of the Gentiles...listen  to this...and they were bringing great joy to all   the brethren." Why? Because it is always the  joy of the brethren to see souls saved. And now   Paul knows what joy this will bring when he says,  "Especially those of Caesar's household." Why so?   Because Nero was the Caesar and everybody knows  what Nero thought about Christ and Christians.   Nero had fancied himself a god, a competing deity,  a competing lord and demanded that the people in   the Roman Empire worship him. Now the household  of Caesar would not just have been his own family,   the household of Caesar is a word to indicate  all who were in his direct employ. And if you   study history you find it's a very interesting  group. You can do reading on it yourself. You   will find it included courtiers, princes  and higher ups in his personal court,   judges. It included cooks, food preparers,  tasters who tasted the food to make sure he   didn't get poisoned. Musicians, custodians,  builders, people who attended to his stables,   it included soldiers and those who led them, it  included people who managed his financial affairs.   All of those people who were in any  sense a part of the direct system,  

they would have been by our definition today  government workers, a large group of people.   And I believe that because Caesar and his whole  enterprise was the direct counterpart to Christ,   that there was some special exhilaration in the  heart of Paul when somebody in Caesar's household   became a Christian...when they turned their backs  on emperor worship and embraced the true Christ. Now to whom is he referring? Who are these  who got saved? Well, two groups. First of all,   those who had come to Christ in Caesar's household  since Paul had become a prisoner. Paul being the   instrument of God that he was, you can be sure  that the Roman soldiers who had been chained to   him heard the gospel. In fact, if you have any  question about it, I remind you of chapter 1   verse 13 which says that since his imprisonment,  the gospel of Christ had become known throughout   the whole Praetorian Guard and to everybody else.  The Praetorian Guard or the Roman soldiers were   exposed to Paul...it's one thing to be chained to  Paul, to guard him, it's something else to have   Paul chained to you. Talk about not being able to  get away. And the result was people were coming to   Christ in the Praetorian Guard. So some of those  in Caesar's household that you can rejoice over   are converted soldiers and others who heard the  Word, too, who were part of serving the Caesar.

But there's something else here as well.  There's no reason to assume that it doesn't also   include people who were Christians before Paul's  imprisonment. The gospel had already come to Rome   and many had come to know Christ. J.B. Lightfoot,  that great New Testament scholar, has a marvelous   treatment of this whole idea of the Christians  in Caesar's household. And studying all kinds of   lists that have been discovered archaeologically  that give us names of Caesar's household, and   they've found them in archaeological digs, he has  taken all the names on all those lists that have   been discovered, gone over those names to see if  he can recognize any of them, and found amazingly   many parallels on the list of government workers  with the list of names in Romans chapter 16. You   remember when Paul was writing the epistle to the  Romans and the sixteenth chapter he commends many,   many people who helped him. Many of those names  appear on the lists of Caesar's household. In   fact, Lightfoot concludes that Romans 16 should  studied that way and that it's pretty clear   that people like Ampliatus, Apelles, Stachys,  Rufus, Hermes, Tryphaena and Tryphosa, at least,   and maybe others, were very, very much a part of  Caesar's household. So you have some people being   converted out of Caesar's household while Paul  was a prisoner. You have some who were already   Christians before that. And now Paul just loves to  say, gathering up both groups, all the Christians  

in Caesar's house send their love. How wonderful,  how thrilling that the household of Caesar,   the enemy of Christ had yielded up many souls  to the conquering Christ. The crucified Galilean   had already begun to rule the governments of the  world spiritually. Surprising joy, surprising joy. What is the joy of saints, beloved? The joy of  saints is to add to the ranks, is it not? The joy   of saints is to see someone else come to Christ.  The joy of saints is to see one won to the cause   of Christ. And when they are won from the pits of  darkness and the depths of sin, our joy is great.   John Calvin wrote, "This is a matter worthy  of notice. For it is no common evidence of   divine mercy that the gospel had penetrated  that sink of all crimes and iniquities. It   is also the more wonderful because it is a  rare thing for holiness to reign in courts,"   end quote. We are thrilled with the joy of  the saints when someone comes to Christ.

Finally, the resource of saints, verse 23.  Listen very carefully to this, this is the   last word. "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ  be with your spirit." There is something we need,   saints, something we definitely, desperately need.  What is it? Grace. You say, "Now wait a minute,   I already had that. I had grace when I was  saved. Grace was the unmerited favor or better   the undeserved beneficent love of God to me in  Christ that redeemed me. Grace was the starting   point of my redemption when God in Christ  forgave my sin." Yes, but it's not the end of   grace. That's the beginning of grace, and you are  still in need of grace as much as you were then. You want to hear something, you didn't deserve to  be saved and you don't deserve to be kept saved.   Do you understand that? You are no more worthy of  your salvation now than you were then. And so you   are sustained by grace just as you were saved  by grace. It is grace by which our whole life   exists. That's why Paul says in Romans 5:2, "This  grace in which we stand." We live in it. Our life   is governed by grace, guided by grace, kept by  grace, strengthened by grace, sanctified by grace,   enabled by grace. Listen, if God only gave us now  that we're Christians what we deserve, we'd still   be damned to hell. It is the constant grace of  forgiveness, the grace of enabling strength,  

the grace of comfort, the grace of peace,  the grace of joy, the grace of boldness,   the grace of revelation and instruction.  We are dependent on all of it all the time. He started out in chapter 1 verse 2 wishing  them grace. He ends up wishing them grace   and again comes full circle. He says  the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be   with your spirit. What do you mean by that?  Your spirit, your person, your inner man,   the real you...may you know the fullness of grace,  that purifying, beautifying, sanctifying grace. Can I give you an interesting footnote?   Every single epistle Paul wrote ends the same  way...every one of them. First Corinthians,   2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians,  Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians,   1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, every single  one ends with a wish for the grace of Christ to   be theirs. Why? Because when the letter is over  the life goes on and the life is dependent on   grace...undeserved beneficent love from God to an  unworthy sinner. And you never cease to be what   you are by the grace of God. Paul says my longing  for you is that you might experience the fullness   of this grace. That's the resource of saints,  unending grace. And who's grace? We end with this,  

listen very carefully. It is the grace of the  Lord Jesus Christ. Oh what a statement. Listen,   He's the theme of this whole letter, did you get  that? The name of Christ is mentioned 40 times in   these four chapters, one every couple of verses,  He's the heart of the whole thing. He is central   to it. Paul began by describing himself as a slave  of Jesus Christ. He addresses the Christians as   saints in Jesus Christ. When referring to his  imprisonment he says my bonds are in Jesus   Christ. When he speaks about life he says for to  me to live is Christ. When he speaks about death   he says for me to die is Christ. When he exhorts  people to godly conduct, it is to be like Christ.   When he calls for proper attitudes, it is to have  the mind of Christ. When he speaks of choices and   desires and hopes, he says they are to be built  on trust in Christ. When he speaks about joy   it is the joy of Christ. When he speaks about  strength it is the strength of Christ. When he   calls for power and knowledge and fellowship, it  is the knowledge of Christ, the power of Christ,   the fellowship of His sufferings that he longs  for. And when he looks for eternal hope and glory,   he says I am looking for Christ. And when it's  spiritual steadfastness he needs, it is in Christ.   And when it is sufficiency he wants, it is in  Christ. It is Christ, Christ, Christ, Christ.  

And he says greet every saint in Christ and  remember you're dependent on the grace of Christ. Our whole life is Christ, beloved. If you get  nothing else, get that out of Philippians.   Called by Christ, saved by Christ, to have the  mind of Christ, to serve the way Christ served,   to become like Christ. That's the message. To be  like the beloved Redeemer. We are saints, not yet   all we should be, but moving to become like the  one who called us saints. Let's pray together. Thank You, Father, for our time this morning,   for this clear Word reminding us of who we  are in Christ. We pray in His dear name. Amen. You've been listening to John MacArthur,  Bible teacher with Grace to You. For free   access to all of John's lessons and a listing  of Study Bibles and books available for sale,   visit Grace to You's website at gty.org.  John MacArthur and Grace to You reserve   all copyright protection under applicable  law. Our copyright policy is available at   gty.org and it includes instructions for and  limitations on duplicating this digital file.