Thanking God for You

Paul, as he begins writing his great epistle of joy, his letter to the Philippians, offers thanks for them. In Philippians 1:3, he writes, “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you.” They are part of the reason for Paul’s joy. Our fellow believers can also be part of our joy.

But in giving thanks, Paul is not thanking them. He is thanking God. These believers of Philippi were the results of God’s goodness and grace, so it is God Paul thanks. From before the foundation of the world, it was all God. Ephesians 1:4 says: “Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world.” It was God’s plan to save them from before creation. From eternity past, God chose His own. And God planned the way for us to be saved.

Acts 2:23 is from Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost as he preaches about Christ. Of Christ, he writes, “Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death.”

It was God who delivered Jesus up to be crucified – It was His plan from before creation. It was God the Father who sacrificed His Son to die in our place, to die for our sin. And it was Jesus, who willing lay down His life, shedding His own blood. It was the Holy Spirit who took the Gospel and pierced their hearts with conviction, taking away the blindness from their eyes, and convicting them of their sin. Salvation was all of God. Of course, Paul would thank God for them.

So yes, it is proper that Paul would thank God for the Philippians – or me to thank God for you. It was God who saved them, and God who transformed their lives. They are what they are because of what God did. If any of us are saved and sanctified, it is only because of what God did in our lives. Not any of it is of us. We are but beggars holding out empty hands to the King of kings to receive His salvation. All the glory goes to God. May we never take any for ourselves. May we never boast except in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.

But, remembering them led Paul to thanksgiving . What might he have remembered? Probably he remembered the beginning of his relationship with them. Paul was setting off on his second missionary journey, and he was forbidden to go anywhere else by the Holy Spirit except Europe. So his first stop in Europe was Philippi.


Paul records his first encounter in Acts 16:11-15:

11 Therefore, sailing from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace, and the next day came to Neapolis, 12 and from there to Philippi, which is the foremost city of that part of Macedonia, a colony. And we were staying in that city for some days. 13 And on the Sabbath day we went out of the city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made; and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there. 14 Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul. 15 And when she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” So she persuaded us.

Think about it: The city didn’t even have enough male Jewish believers to have a synagogue so Paul went down by the riverside to worship and pray with a group of women meeting there out in the open along the river. And one of the women, Lydia, a seller of purple, trusted Christ as her Lord and Savior. She was his first convert in Europe, and the church in Philippi was born.

But, Paul also probably remembered some bad times: like the time he cast a demon out of a slave girl, and how she had made a lot of money for her owner by her fortune telling. And he remembered how the owner incited a mob against him and had him arrested and beaten, and cast into prison - he and Silas. And he would have remembered how God intervened.

The intervention is found in Acts 16:25-33:

25 But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed. 27 And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself. 28 But Paul called with a loud voice, saying, “Do yourself no harm, for we are all here.”
29 Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized.

More people were added to the church in Philippi.

None-the-less, Paul was asked to leave town by the magistrates. Yet, his short stay there left behind a small group of believers. He left behind a church. And it was a good church, a faithful church.

They weren’t perfect. They were sinful people saved by grace, just like we are. They had their weaknesses and problems, just like we do. And Paul is well aware of that. But he looks beyond the problems, and he loves them anyway. He appreciates them with all their faults. Plus, he gives thanks to God for them. He remembers the good things in spite of the bad.

And there was much good to remember about the Philippians. For instance, the Philippians were the only ones who had helped Paul financially. Philippians 4:14-16 records:

14 Nevertheless you have done well that you shared in my distress. 15 Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving but you only. 16 For even in Thessalonica you sent aid once and again for my necessities.

They were the only ones who sent him money while he was in jail. As little as they had, they shared what they could with Paul. And Paul is grateful. They lived out what Paul wrote in Galatians 6:6, “Let him who is taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches.”

Paul had poured his life into them, and they gave of their livelihood for him. As Paul writes in 1st Thessalonians 2:7-8,

“But we were gentle among you, just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children. So, affectionately longing for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us.”

He had taught them faithfully from the Word investing his life into their lives. And so they provided for Paul’s financial needs. They were reciprocal blessings to one another.

When Paul was arrested in Jerusalem, these people lost track of him for two years. They didn’t know where he was, or how he was doing. But finally, they heard. Paul was in prison in Rome. Their hearts went out to him, and they immediately sent their pastor, Epaphroditis, with a gift to minister to Paul’s needs. This letter, was in part, a thank you to them for their generosity to him. But also, it was a thank you to God for them.