The Grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ Be With You All

In one paragraph

This final message in the Philippians series took the last three verses of the letter and used them to ask a bigger question: what is the whole book really about? Pastor Nathan worked through the closing greetings and the benediction to show that the heart of Philippians, and of the New Testament itself, is Jesus Christ. Paul's closing in Philippians 4:21-23 could easily be dismissed as a polite...

Read together

1. Psalm 95 The preacher opened the combined service by reading from it: 'Let us come to him with thanksgiving. Let us sing Psalms of praise to him.'
2. Philippians 4:21-23 The passage preached on: the closing greeting and benediction of the letter
3. Philippians 4:19 Recapped as the ending point of the previous week's sermon: 'my God will supply all of your needs according to the glorious riches of Christ Jesus'
4. Philippians 1:1 Cited to show the book opens addressed to 'all of the saints who are in Philippi,' mirroring the closing greeting
5. Philippians 2:5-11 Referenced regarding Christ's humility, equality with God, incarnation, and obedience unto death
6. Philippians 4:6-7 Quoted on anxiety and peace: 'in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God and the peace of God that passes all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds through Christ Jesus'
7. Romans 8:28-29 Quoted on all things working together for good and believers being predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ
8. John 14:6 Jesus cited as saying 'I'm the way, I'm the truth, I am the life' in the context of the exclusivity of the gospel
9. Revelation 22:21 Cited as the final verse of the Bible: 'the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all'

Talk about it

1. Paul greets 'every saint in Christ Jesus' at the close of his letter, including believers he had never met personally. What does it mean to you that all believers, imperfect and limited as they are, are still described as worthy of that warm greeting because they are in Christ?
2. Pastor Nathan pointed out that some people in Philippi were preaching for the wrong reasons, yet Paul still closes by saying 'all the saints greet you.' How do you hold together unity in the church with the reality that people around you are sometimes motivated by selfish or wrong reasons?
3. The quote from the pastor makes the case that the book of Philippians is ultimately about a person, Jesus, not a set of principles or themes. How does thinking about Philippians as being about Jesus rather than about joy or unity change the way you read or apply it?
4. The preacher noted that Paul presses the Philippians toward 'the homely duty of practical self-forgiveness,' grounding it in the example of Christ coming down from glory. Are there things in your past that make it hard to believe God could use you, and how does the grace Paul describes speak to that?
5. Pastor Nathan walked through how almost every New Testament letter begins and ends with grace and peace. He said that grace as a daily practice, extending unearned favor to people before and after they deserve it, is too abstract for many of us. What would it look like practically for you to start and end your interactions with people that way this week?