I Have You in My Heart, Philippians, 1:7-8

One thing for sure, it's been an eventful week, right? A lot of things going on, both internationally and locally. A lot of folks, this has been kind of front and center. Things over in Iraq have been kind of focal point, and there's lots of fascinating things to watch. We live in a time, amazingly, when things that before would take days and weeks and rumor to get across, now we're seeing it as quickly as anybody in our front rooms. And it's an amazing time in that way, isn't it? We even have some that are friends and family of folks here at Holly Hills who are participating in the activity over there. What's often forgotten, though, is that here this nation, Iraq, that is now very much on the front page and on the headline news, It was a place that was the center of a lot of biblical activities.

And the truth is, here are these troops. I'm sitting here looking at the shots they're taking, these ground crews going across the land. And in fact, they're driving just day after day after day past all these biblical archaeological sites. And I'm sure that's not the forefront in their mind, but that's one of the thoughts that I had. Just one of the things that we see here.

Here's Basra that has now been, I understand, captured within the last 24 hours or so. And this is Baghdad where, of course, a lot of the initial bombing activity has taken place. But the truth is, this whole area, every one of these dots that you see here, those are all biblical archaeological sites.

And as a matter of fact, down here underline in the blue, that's where Abraham started off. That was hometown to him. Okay? And that's basically where they began this whole ground march. Here is Babylon, and that right nearby is, by the way, where they've just been crossing over the Euphrates. So it's amazing. All these sites are right here, right there.

Another one that comes up, here's Nineveh, right up here. You can imagine if Jonah went into Baghdad and said, hey, you guys, you need to turn around here. I wonder if Saddam would listen to him. Anyway, to me, I'm amazed when I think of it. This is rich with all sorts of things. Here's some examples. Here's Ur, where they had... This is one of the ziggurats there at Ur.

This is the Euphrates River. And by the way, Euphrates River is not only mentioned here in Genesis. Remember, it went through Revelation. Euphrates is brought up again. So this is a very... biblical place that all this is happening in. Down here below we have Babylon and some of it under Saddam, believe it or not, has been fairly well restored. One good thing he did, I guess. So it is amazing to me as I look at this, there's just lots and lots of biblical activity that took place in this very ground. I heard one person being interviewed that was from Iraq, living now in the United States, and she said that, oh, the people there are so tired of war. Iraq has been the center of war for thousands of years. Thousands of years. This is just but another. One of the other things that's happened, of course, not so internationally, but locally, there's been a lot of folks who have just seen nothing but white. Nothing but snow.

And as a matter of fact, there's some families that I'm glad to see here this morning. Even yesterday about this time, I wasn't sure if I would see them. So glad to have the Malloys and the Echols here. And then sorry if I missed some others that were also snowed in. One of the things that I also wanted to bring up here is that we've tried to make some changes to some of the presentation here. So I'd appreciate any feedback that you had. In the past, one of the suggestions that we had was maybe we make the print real small and that'd make people sit real close.

But then I thought we'd have a whole crowd full of binoculars and that won't work. So we tried that and thought, no, that's no good. No binocular Bible study. Now, the other thing, of course, we showed this up here one time where it's an optical illusion. And by the way, if you see any black dots in there in the middle, those aren't there. But the point being, as we're trying to present things up here, we're not trying to use optical illusions.

So, you know, if you find something a little hard to read, let me know. Sometimes I may be trying to do something that looks all right to me, but if you're back here having a hard time reading it, I need to know about it. So please let me know. And so the point is, you want words you can read, OK? So let me know if you have any difficulty reading anything.

OK. Roy's back there smiling. OK. He can read it, I guess. OK. Oh, one word before we move on here. In the marriage class afterwards, our planned babysitting arrangement fell through because of some illnesses. So if someone can volunteer to stay after with the potluck, free lunch, and help with the little kids, that would be appreciated. Let me know. Okay? All right.

Let's move on into our study of Philippians 1, 7 and 8. And we're kind of centering on this one phrase that shows up in that passage. It's, I have you in my heart. Now as we step into this passage here, Paul puts it this way. He's continuing on with kind of his introductory statements to them. And he puts it in verses 7 and 8 this way. For it is only right for me to feel this way about you all, because I have you in my heart. since both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers of grace with me. For God is my witness, how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus." Simple enough statements, right? Pretty clear. But we want to take one step, one little bit at a time here, and make sure that we get everything that's in this brief couple of verses.

One thing I think is helpful is Paul is a fellow who, as you may have noticed it here, uses a lot of for and because and since and things like that. What I've done here is to take verse 7 and just kind of rearrange it as an if-then or since-then logic statement, okay? So, taking it that way, Paul lays it out in this sequence of logic. Since you all are partakers of grace with me, okay, since that's true, both in the defense and the confirmation of the gospel and my imprisonment, see, in all those respects, then I have you in my heart. And as a logical moral deduction that goes right along with that, it is only right for me to feel this way about you all."

See, he's making a logical statement here. As we'll go through this, we want to make sure we understand the logic that he's laying down. He doesn't just spill out words and say, you'll figure out what it means. He's laying out a sequence here, and we want to make sure we catch on to this logic. We'll take a look at that in a little further detail in a bit. The next thing is, and we looked at this over the last couple of weeks, there's an aspect of it that he's going to add to here that I think we want to make sure we pick up on. The point we made is this, that when he first talked in verses 3 through 5, he talked about every remembrance. Remember that? I thank the Lord for you in every remembrance."

That was backward looking. See, right now he's writing this letter, okay? And then he's looking back in verses 3 through 5. And this was back at a time roughly a dozen years before. And he's saying from that very time when you began as a church, when you first believed, when the very first believers came into the church there at Philippi, Looking back from that time up until now, I thank the Lord." Okay, that was the backward-looking portion of Paul's view.

Then, remember, we looked, then he has this forward-looking view where he has confidence. He says, I have confidence that the Lord will continue on the good work that He began in you. Okay? That's the forward-looking aspect of it. And because of that, we had this picture down here. Here it was down by the river.

Which is, that was the first day, when the believers first came into the fold, as you will, at Philippi. And then now he's writing the letter, and he's looking forward to the day of Christ Jesus, when the Lord would come for his church. And so his perspective is from that very first day until the day the Lord comes.

But he doesn't stop there. He goes on one step further. He goes on and adds to there the present. What's going on now? He says, I have a look, a view, a perspective that looks back. I have a view and a perspective that looks forward with confidence. And I also have a present view. In all that perspective, here's how things stand right now. Do we see that? He's got a time view and so he He uses these present tenses in this passage.

Examples here, I thank my God, right now, present tense. I'm thanking Him right now continually, okay? He says, it is right, it's right right now, okay? And He says, all are partakers, not just back then, not just in the future, that's going to happen, but He says, right now, present tense. And so He uses these present tenses.

Isn't it amazing? I mean, He's just saying this sharing of ministry, that the Philippians have with Paul is all-encompassing. It's in the past, it has a future perspective, and it has numerous impacts and perspectives that count right now. His time view includes everything. The past, the future, and the present.

The other thing to take a look at here is, remember we've introduced in the past few weeks, there's this charis family of words, that is, words built around the Greek word that we translate into English, grace. This charis family of words, he introduces again. Here's now the fourth one, and we're only in the seventh verse. Here's now the fourth word of that charis family of words that he's introducing, and very explicitly, grace, he introduces in verse 7.

I think that's a part of the thing we want to look at here. It's a part of a fabric that he is weaving. And he consistently uses this thread of grace as he goes through the book writing to the Philippians. And take note, there's only four chapters. This is not a long book. But he packs it with significance, as we'll see as we go on here.

Philippians 1-7, and this is reflected also in your handout. This, by the way, is the clue that it's on either the first or the second page on your handout, so that you don't have to write madly and then find out that I've already had it printed on your handout. Save you a little time. Now, the first key word that pops out is here, it's right. It's right that I feel this way.

It's a Greek word, dikaios, it's just, and it's interesting, this is the same basic word or family of words that's used in Romans to say that believers have been declared legally righteous. So this is a significant word. This isn't just a word that sort of pops out there randomly. It has a legal significance. So when he says it's right, he's not just being nominal about it. It is exactly right.

The next word that he comes up with is, in the English translation from the New American Standard, it says feel. Some of the other translations say think. And we'll get into that in a minute. But the Greek word is phroneo. to have a mindset about something or someone involving the will and the emotions and the conscience, resulting in a proper course of action.

Now, that's a lot in a word, isn't it? One of the reasons you may ask, well, how come the translator, someone who will translate it, think here and feel in another translation, the reason is they have a hard time choosing because it means both. It is tough to come up with a one-word English equivalent because it is the full encompassing of the mindset, the thinking, the feelings, the conscience. All those things are included in this word. It's a meaning-packed word, and that's why it's important for us to take a look at it, but also recognize that it's just tough to come up with one English word that's an equivalent. I'm not sure we have one.

Now, this word freneo, we've looked at it here, it shows up here in this first time here in 1.7, but notice that the word keeps showing up. He's going to come back again to this theme, and you notice when Paul is writing this introduction, you notice how the words that he picks, he keeps coming back to? This is another one of them. He introduces the word here in the first chapter, but he comes back to it again twice in the second chapter, three times in the third, and twice again in the fourth chapter.

Not only that, here's this word phreno, which again, we have to remember, it means not just thinking, not just feelings, but actually both. It's a major theme to the church there at Philippi. As we go through the book, he keeps coming back to it every chapter, includes the word at least once. if not twice or three times. Next, Freneo is used in Philippians more than in any other New Testament book.

How about that? He is not only making it a major theme, in terms of addressing that, he comes to the Philippians, and we've only got four chapters here, we're not talking a long book, but he comes to the Philippians and he keeps zeroing in on this word and revisiting it. and teaching again from different aspects so that we get the big picture.

Paul has a purpose in introducing it here. It's not just an accidental or incidental word. He means what he says when he lays this out. So what Paul is doing is he's teaching them and us key truths about thoughts and feelings. He's laying this out. He says, I want you to understand this. So he's told the Philippian believers, and basically he's laid it out for us here as well, hasn't he? He wants to make it real clear, as we go through this book, what God's intent and understanding is on this. Now, so here's this Philippians 1-7, there's more key words, okay? We'll want to take a look at them.

To have, the Greek is echo, just like our, hello, hello, hello, hello, right? Okay? Sounds like that. It's echo. To have, but it goes beyond to have, the idea is to have and to hold. In some places it's translated to carry about. So this is not just sort of, okay I got it, casually, but the idea is you have it and you hold it, there's a possession of it, there's a continuance about it, is the typical sense of the word.

On top of that, this word heart, the Greek word Kardia, and of course we recognize that in a lot of our medical terminology, right? This word Kardia comes forth. To the Greek understanding, this was the seat and center of the human life, the seat of desires, and feelings, emotions, of the mind. That was the heart. When we look at these, we put these together, I have you in my heart." Okay? Echo, cardia, are the key words that show up there. And here's how it comes out.

Paul saw his relationship with the church as one of intimacy. When he thought of the church at Philippi, it wasn't a, okay, I got one over there, and here's the list, and check, and now I got it, and we've got the database covered. No, it wasn't like that, was it?

He instead thought of it These are dear, precious people. These are ever so dear to my heart. That's what he was thinking. That's what he was feeling. Remember he's expressing both. Not just thinking, not just feeling. Both are included. It didn't matter that there were miles that separated them. It didn't matter that he was, because of his condition, remember he's in prison. it didn't matter that because of his condition he couldn't get to them. He still says, because of your participation in the past, right now, I anticipate in the future, because of that there is this intimacy and this closeness of heart even if I don't even have the option of coming to see you right now. That intimacy is still there, Paul says.

Beyond that, This was something that was on top of, in addition to, the eternally secure position that Paul knew that he shared with them. He says, I have this position in Christ with those believers in Philippi, and that is untouchable, irreversible, in the heavens. And I've got that too. And I share that with you. He says, this is on top of that. This is incredibly wonderful.

Paul had a view of their participation in the gospel that included an all-encompassing time perspective, didn't it? In the past, in the present, in the future. The whole spectrum of time. Paul had that in mind. He says, these Philippians aren't just hanging in there with me right now. When I look in the past, they were. Right now they are, and I anticipate they will in the future. His time perspective was all-encompassing. There's more key words. Can there be more? Yes.

The next one is defense. The Greek word is apologia. Now, it means to give an answer or defense in speech. It was actually a legal term. In other words, if you have to go up before a judge or magistrate, what are you going to do? The Greeks would say, well, I have to give an apologia. I have to make a statement in my defense. This apo and logia, it's actually compound. Apo is the Greek from, logia, word, from the word. I have to make a defense from the word. Now, beyond that, he's got this confirmation. The Greek word is babiosis. Now, I know that sounds like a medical condition. You might be thinking something like, I've got babiosis. It's not like that at all. It doesn't have anything to do with medical conditions. This is just a Greek word.

It means establish, confirmation, corroboration. And it was actually another legal term. Boy, Paul's into these, isn't he? A legal term, it means to provide security. In other words, you're establishing the fact of something laying security down, putting some money down. So he had that as well. And by the way, we've got this one here off to the side at this point, because the next point is not written down. So just a little clue to you there.

Both of these words had a legal meaning, and they may have not only intended to talk about what Paul was intending to communicate to the Philippians directly, but with inference about his upcoming trial. He says, I know I've got to make a defense, and I know I've got this confirmation that needs to be made, but I'm going to kind of reflect off of that and talk to you about this, because ultimately we have a much larger defense and confirmation of the gospel. That may have been why he chose these legal terms. And by the way, he's not done using legal terms.

We'll get into that in a minute. Okay. Philippians 1-7, I'm afraid, folks, has more key words. Okay? Even more. Let's take a look at them. Partakers. The Greek word here is sukoinonos. These are fellow shippers together. And it's built on this word, remember, it sounds familiar to you perhaps, koinonia. We've already touched on that. What he did is he put a suffix in front of it, together with. Together fellow shippers. He's super emphasizing the word. Fellowshipping is already together, right? He's adding this together term in front of it to super-emphasize the word, to underscore its meaning, to give it the maximum depth that he can.

So you have these suikkononos, these fellowshippers together, one sharing as companions or partners, very much a together activity. Beyond that, this Koinonia family word shows up multiple times. Isn't this amazing? These words he keeps revisiting. Multiple times in Philippians.

Here in chapter 1, 5 and 7, we've already seen 5. In chapter 2, he visits once more again. In chapter 3, once more again. And twice again in chapter 4. So he keeps weaving that thread throughout the entire book. It's as if he's got this fabric of key themes and he's returning and revisiting these threads that are woven again and again and again through this brief but power-packed book. All right, now, let's take a look at some more here. Let's look at some of the phrases, try to pull together some of these key words we've looked at. Let's see if we can get the full sense of what Paul's saying.

It's only right for me to feel this way about you all." Or some translations would have you think. Remember, the word means both. First, it's important to recognize that the Greek word phrenaio, remember we mentioned that before, refers to the mind, emotions, and the will. It's much more all-encompassing than just thinking or feeling.

But notice, and this is very important, especially in our culture, The feelings are not given as the basis for what is morally and spiritually right. Isn't that interesting? He doesn't say, I feel this way, therefore it's right. Our songs and our speech and our culture are just saturated with that message. Feels right, must be, right?

Feelings are the final test, according to our culture. That's not what he says here. feelings and the mindset are instead the foundation for deciding what is right. He has determined what is right based on what the facts are, based on the biblical basis for measuring things. Now, our culture has lost sight of that, and it's really important for us to recognize that. Even a great percentage, I would say, of Christendom has fallen to the same idea, that feelings determine what's right or what's true. Paul does not appeal to that at all. He says, based on this, and this, and this logical sequence, and these facts, the feelings that I am having, along with the way that I'm thinking, remember he's using the word preneo, those things are all founded on facts, founded on what is true, founded on what is right.

And the feelings are not ignored, but they follow on the facts. Important point. Finally, Paul's feelings are based upon a series of for and because and since. You notice that? He uses words of logic before making the statement about what is right. He doesn't deny feelings. He puts them in the proper logical sequence. Keep your eyes open just a little bit longer. Okay? Hang in there. Can you do that? Just checking. Okay.

Alright, now we're going to move on to verse 8. For God is my witness, how I long for you all of the affection of Christ Jesus. Now let's take a look at that verse. There's more riches and depth in this particular verse here. And remember, what Paul is doing is he's He's building on a series of truths here. He started off, you know, introducing himself. He started off talking about, you know, you've been participants, and I thank the Lord for what you did in the past up till the present time. And as I look forward to the future, I have confidence in what the Lord is doing.

And then he comes in in verse 7, and he says, based on these things, it is right. for me to feel this way, to think this way, to have this perspective based on these facts. And now as he's moving on into verse 8, he is expressing more the intensity, the depth of his tender feelings for the Philippians. And here I think it's real important for us to take a note of something.

A lot of folks will look at some of Paul's writings and they'll think, Well, here's a guy, man, the guy just goes chapter after chapter with nothing but logic, and he sometimes makes such harsh statements, this guy is just cold-hearted and dead-headed. I just don't understand this guy. But notice, that's not the perspective you get as you look here at the first chapter of Philippians. We're only at verse 8 here, and what we're starting to see, this is a man, he's not dismissed his logic, he's not dismissed the facts, but he's a man capable of intense, and deep emotions, but it's not unfounded, and the emotions are not calling the shots. But they're real, and he does express them. As a matter of fact, the words that he's used here are some of the most intense words in the Greek language that he could have chosen. And we'll see that even more here in a minute.

He says, for God is my witness, and actually in the Greek, the word is is not there. So it comes across with this sense. There's real emphasis. For God my witness is the way it comes across. We put the is in there to kind of make it smoother in English. But the sense that he's coming across, he is being emphatic with them. He's saying, For God my witness. He's giving emphasis there by eliminating that little word that we call is. And he does it on purpose.

He is putting the focus on the Lord, and he is trying to convey to the church at Philippi, to every single saint there, and we'll see what I mean by every single saint. He's trying to convey to them, as he describes this, the depth and intensity of what he's feeling.

Now, let's take a look a little further. Here's this appeal to witness again, and that may in fact be another legal term. It may in fact be a reference with a backdrop of this whole legal trial that he's looking forward to, this court event. Now beyond that though, this is a term that he's used similarly as he's written to other churches.

Romans 1.9 is one that has a similar kind of appeal.

We also find in Galatians 1.20 and 1 Thessalonians 2.5. Thessalonica, by the way, was only a few miles to the west of Philippi. So it's a nearby town and similar kind of perspective. But one of the things I think to look at, this is something that Paul has said before. And in matter of fact, in another 2nd Corinthians passage, he kind of talks in terms where there's even life and death issues related to this verse. Let's look a little further here.

He appeals to the Lord, and one reason for appealing to the Lord, when it comes to the truth, the facts, God is clearly an unimpeachable witness. You might say, well, that guy I don't trust because I'm not so sure about him, and this guy over here, we need some confirmation.

If God's your witness, you don't doubt those things, do you? By appealing to God as his witness, there wasn't any higher authority to which he could appeal. It's as high up as you can get. The witness is unimpeachable. You don't question the veracity and truthfulness of the witness here.

The next thing, as to the extent of knowledge. God's knowledge is certainly far beyond what human beings can have. Beyond that, God's knowledge is of the heart. As a human being, I could testify this or that happened. The Lord can testify of the heart, can't He? So this is another very strong reason why Paul makes that appeal. He says, God is my witness, because nobody else knows what I'm feeling. Now, let's take a look a little further here.

The accompanying statement, or basically with that as a preface, he's saying, what I'm about to tell you is absolutely and unquestionably true. Most certainly true. And by the way, the cultural perspective of that time, if you appealed to God as your witness, then you were looking to God for punishment if you were not telling the truth. That was the cultural perspective. So Paul is saying, I am absolutely telling you the truth, or I have God to answer to. That was the cultural mindset as he draws this phrase out of phrases that they would have heard before. You can even see this from about 15 centuries earlier.

Genesis 31.50 is a place where a similar kind of appeal is made. So this has been something that's been handed down for centuries. Centuries prior. Okay. Now, then he says, how I long for you all. It's real interesting as we look at this phrase.

Philippians 4.1, he's going to say it again. He's going to use that term. Therefore, my beloved brethren, whom I long to see, my joy and crown in this way stand firm in the Lord, my beloved. It's interesting, at the beginning of the letter, here in verse 8, and then as he gets toward the close in chapter 4, he's going to bring that up again.

He underscores it with them. And by the way, no other church gets that word used twice. This is amazing. Paul has a connection and an intensity of feeling, even given the short letter, that he conveys so uniquely and so specially to these believers in Philippi. He'll start off saying, I long for you, and he'll finish off saying, I long for you. That's a neat thing. That's wonderful.

Now, you'll see this is a similar appeal They're in Romans and Thessalonians, 2 Timothy, in these passages. Paul longed to see the beloved saints at Philippi face to face. There was a deep longing for them personally. Let's take a look at some more here. With the affection of Christ Jesus. Now this is real interesting. It's fascinating. Let's take a look a little deeper here.

The word translated affection, and it's vowels in the King James Version, splank noise. Now it sounds like a noise a machine makes. It's sort of a splank noise, right? No. This is a Greek word. It refers basically just to the inner organs. The heart and the lungs and the intestines. The inner organs are included here.

And in the culture of the time, the idea is, boy, At the deepest places, I have this longing for you, this affection for you. It is the most intense Greek word for conveying the depth of personal tenderness and compassion. He couldn't have chosen one more intense. His idea was to communicate to them in no uncertain terms.

And do you notice he keeps coming back to this? It's like, how can I tell you how very deeply what you have done is continuing to touch me. I'm searching for every word that I can use to tell you that. And not only that, I'll take the most intense word that I can to tell you how deeply touched I am by the continuing fellowship that you have with me in this ministry. He says, I have this intimacy with you, even though we're separated by miles, and I can't go beyond these walls, and these chains hold me down. In spite of that, there is an intensity and an intimacy that I am stretching the limits of language to convey.

That's just a really deep thing, isn't it? Now, in English we might say something on the order of, from the very deepest part of my heart, Some words like that. Something that tries to give the sense of it's at the max. It's at the limit. I could not think of a way to tell you how deeply I hold this affection for you.

That's what he's telling me. Here's the key point. This incomparably deep affection he has isn't from him. It's from the Lord Jesus Christ, and he makes that credit. It has Jesus Christ as its source. So he doesn't say, boy, I have this deep affection for you, period. It's from Jesus Christ. It's the affection of Jesus Christ. The Lord is the one who holds that affection through me. That's what he's telling us. The Lord is the very one who is holding this affection for you through me. He gives the Lord credit. Isn't that what he did in verse 3? I thank the Lord for you. He points them to the Lord. He's saying even now this deep affection that I have for you is the Lord through me. Not just Paul. Not just me myself. It isn't just of human origin. This comes from the Lord. The Lord is the source.

There's more for us to look at here though. One of the things we pointed out just a couple weeks back when we were looking at verses 3 through 5 is here in verses 3 and 4, Paul points out using superlatives. All, always, every, and all in just 3 and 4. And we noted that before. Power-packed with superlatives. Superlatives are words that carry things to the limit. It's all, every, to the max.

And what he does is he goes in here now into 7 and 8, and what does he do? He uses some more superlatives. It's like he's telling them, he says, just in case you didn't know, I'm talking about every single one of you. Now, what we'll do here is just shift over into one more.

These first ones here in verse 3, you have all, in verse 4, always, in every... Those are really about Paul, isn't it? Those words are all about Paul, and what he's doing, and what he's remembering. Then, when we step into the end of verse 4, through the end of verse 8, what do you notice? You all, you all, you all, and you all.

And this isn't Texas, y'all. That's not that. He's emphatic when he says this, because he could have just said you and in the Greek you can just say you and use a plural you and he'd cover the bases, but he adds the word every time. And I mean every time, it's not interpolated here. In the Greek it's there every single time. You all. Every one of you. And he keeps coming back to it again and again and again and again. He super emphasizes that I think this has some really neat things to say.

One, doesn't this tell you that the church at Philippi was united? That there was unity among the believers there? This wasn't a percentage deal. Most of the believers at Philippi, they're kind of like this. He keeps coming back. There was great unanimity among the body there at Philippi. Paul didn't sense that there was, okay, we've got a nice group here, that's supporting me and participating, and that's really nice to have. We've got the missionary committee. Instead, what did he see? He says, I look at this church at Philippi, and every single one of them is participating with me. He says, I can tell it, I can see it. They're asking from one end to the other, how can I help, Paul? What can I do to participate? What do you need me to pray about? Can we get something for you? Can we send somebody to encourage you? Every single one Paul sees is participating in there. And he comes back and he's saying, you all, you all, you all, you all.

And it's so emphatic, it just hits home with me. Here is a church body where everybody is expressing the life of Christ directed to Paul. Everybody in the body is involved. And we're not talking about just activity, because you notice the you all isn't just in the activities. The you all is involved with Paul's affection towards them. The you all is involved with the affection of Jesus Christ. Do you see that? Every single one. Everyone. No exceptions.

Now, as we look at this passage, I think it helps to kind of step back, because we've kind of looked at a lot of parts and pieces. So what I'd like to do as we step through this is to just kind of expand on it a little bit. I'm not attempting at making a translation per se, but just to kind of bring it across in terms of what's Paul trying to say? What's the intent? So bear with me as we step through this here. Paul is saying to him this, and pardon the wordiness, but it's in order to get the full idea across.

For it is only morally and spiritually right for me to both have this mindset and to feel this way about you all. Not y'all, but you all. Because I have and hold you, or you could even say I carry you, in my very heart. How about that? I have and hold you in my very heart, in the very depths of me.

Since both in my bonded imprisonment, and by the way, the Greek word there, in some translations will have bonds and others will say imprisonment. It actually refers to the bonds. But the thing is, what they would do in prisons in those days, they'd do both. So imprisonment was frequently just called bonds. because they would put a person behind the bars and they would chain them up because earthquakes and things like that would shake the bars open, the prisons weren't all that solidly built. So they'd just do both. So he spoke here actually of these bonds and used them as a kind of a figure of speech for the whole experience of imprisonment. Okay.

Both in my bonded imprisonment and in the legal defense and confirmation of the good message, And notice something here. There is both a defensive aspect, and the confirmation is basically kind of an offensive aspect, isn't it? It's laying something down, saying, this is true, and now let's defend that truth. See, so both aspects are spelled out here. He lays them both out.

And the truth is, that's necessary for the gospel, isn't it? We have to not only say and establish the truth, we also need to defend it. There is a place for that. In Titus 1, verse 9, he talks about one of the qualifications for an elder being that they have to be able to both defend and refute, as well as establish and say what's true. So there's both those aspects, and he refers to those here.

And the gospel, all translated here, what comes out of the Greek, good message. You all are continually fellow sharers of this God-given gift of ministry with me. That's this grace. Of this God-given gift of ministry with me. For God my witness. God is my witness. My unimpeachable and all-knowing witness. How I long for you all is the deep-seated affection that has the person of Christ Jesus as its source.

I think one of the things as we look through this is, what does God intend in a church body? And what does God intend in our Christian lives? Does He intend for us to just go around and pack your head full of things? Just lots of information? Bible knowledge?

No. He intends, in fact, Paul makes it clear, this is a good thing, isn't it? This isn't just an accident. This is a good thing. As a matter of fact, he's delighted that all of the church is involved with this. He bases things on the facts, but never lets it stop there. Feelings are okay, founded on the truth, founded on the scriptures, okay?

And that's one of the things that he's spelled out here. This intensity of feeling isn't something he's having and it's apart from the Lord. He gives the Lord as the source. The perspective he has in mind, the perspective he has in his will, the perspective he has in his emotions, all those he's crediting the Lord with. The Lord is the source of all this.

And furthermore, you notice the you-alls that come up in this passage. I think one of the things that comes out here is the Lord is not looking for there to be kind of a core group in the church, and the others are just sort of hanging out about the edges here and there. It's intended that all are included, no exceptions. No exceptions.

As Paul puts it to the church in Colossae, he says in Colossians 1.28, three times, every man, every man, every man, that all inclusiveness is important. God never intended any peripheral Christians. God never intended there to be occasional believers. If a person is a believer in Christ, their position, every single believer, is identical. We share something that doesn't have gradations, folks.

And that's why He writes to them all here, And beyond making the distinctions of, you know, right at the beginning where, okay, you got some elders and deacons, he dives right in and says, you all, you all, you all, every single one. His intent is to include everyone. His intent is to involve and draw together everyone. And to thank the Lord as the source for it all. Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you as we look at the truth, that is built into these brief two verses. We thank you, Lord, that as we are beings of thinking and of feeling that you have designed righteous and proper in a good way that those be expressed and expressed in full measure. We thank you that each one of us is intended to be included, no exceptions. Lord, for every believer here, it is by your intent that none is a peripheral believer, none is incidental, and none is accidental either. We give you thanks, Lord, for what you have done and what you have accomplished and what you are doing. And we give you thanks even for those feelings and perspectives and mindsets that we have that come from you. We give you thanks in Jesus' name. Amen.