#404 - Joby Martin // Mat Carriers

We keep walking Philippians verse by verse and land on Paul’s deep affection for the church in Philippi, a bond forged through shared grace, shared suffering, and shared gospel work. We challenge you to find and become the kind of “mat carrier” friend who serves shoulder to shoulder, prays with purpose, and stays when life gets hard.
• Paul’s language of affection and what it reveals about real Christian friendship
• Why men need mat carriers and foxhole brothers to live the Christian life
• How friendships form through serving together and suffering together
• Shoulder to shoulder mission over forced circle-style connection
• Practical steps to find these friends by being this friend first
• The difference between praying for, praying with, and praying over your brothers
Before you go, if you want to help equip other men for the fight, share this podcast around and leave us a five star rating and review.

Transcript

Welcome And Spiritual Fight Frame

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to the Daily Blade. The word of God is described as the sword of the Spirit, the primary spiritual weapon in the Christians' armor against the forces of evil. Your hosts are Joby Martin and Kyle Thompson, and they stand ready to equip men for the fight. Let's sharpen up.

SPEAKER_01 0:20

All right, welcome back to the Daily Blade.

Why Philippians Verse By Verse

SPEAKER_01 0:23

As I've told you before, I'm just walking through the book of Philippians verse by verse. I have no long, no idea how long it's gonna take. I also do want to say, though, I kind of love the one-two punch going on with the Daily Blade right now. I've loved Kyle's stuff a couple of few weeks ago when he's walking through some of the heroes of the Crusades. Um as I am recording this, he is walking through really God's sovereignty over Satan in the scripture. I love that. That takes a lot of preparation, a lot of creativity, a lot of uh spirit-inspired imagination. And so you're gonna get a week of that. And then just kind of verse by verse through the Bible. And so I hope you're into it. If so, please let us know. I'm up to Philippians chapter one, verse seven.

Paul’s Affection And Shared Grace

SPEAKER_01 1:05

Again, this is Paul writing to the church who is in Christ at Philippi 1:7 and following says this. It is right for me, that's Paul, to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you were all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness how I yearn for you with all affection of Christ Jesus. And

The Need For Mat Carriers

SPEAKER_01 1:37

it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more. All right, gentlemen, we're going to talk about it once again, mat carriers. I know we talk about it all the time, but the reason we talk about it all the time, one, is because it's so very important. And secondly, I'm only gonna talk about it as much as the Bible talks about it. And over and over and over, what you are going to see is that to live this Christian life, we need each other. And what you see here is that the Apostle Paul has a deep and abiding relationship with the people in Philippi. These are not just people that he's seen once, but he has an affection for them. Now, let me ask you this: do you have an affection for the men in your life, the brothers in your life, the foxhole members of your life, the Mac carriers of your life? Now, feelings are not bad. Feelings are just not enough. And so, do you have friends that feel this way about you? Now, this language might not be the kind of language that we use today. I love Kyle so much. We talk on the phone, I don't know, every week or other week. We pray for one another. Never once have I said, Kyle, I yearn for you. You know, that's kind of not the kind of language I would use. But do you have friends that feel this way about you? And if not, why not? Because this should be the normative in the Christian life that you grow these kinds of relationships that accompany these sort of heart feelings with friends that you serve with and suffer with. Notice how these relationships were born. He says, I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. Why? Because of both in my imprisonment and defense and confirmation of the gospel, you were

Serve Together Suffer Together Pray Together

SPEAKER_01 3:16

partakers of me in the grace. Let me tell you how men grow relationships. Kyle's talked about this about a million times, and I appreciate it so much. You know, if your church says, hey, you need to join a man's group because what we're gonna do is sit in a circle and we're gonna love on each other. I don't love that kind of what does that mean, man? That's weird, all right? But the way that men grow in these kinds of friendship is that we serve together and we suffer together and we pray for one another. This is what he's saying. He's saying that we grow, I have grown with you through my imprisonment and defense and confirmation of the gospel. That means we serve the king together, we learn how to suffer together, and this is how men grow in relationship together. It's not so much face to face, it's a lot more shoulder to shoulder with a common cause. And the common cause of the Apostle Paul in the church at Philippi was the gospel. And Paul is going to pray for his friends. Let me ask you, do you pray for your friends? And I don't mean pray about, I mean pray for them. One of the prayers that God loves to answer is this Dear God, would you please send me some friends like this, some Mac carriers? That's a prayer that God wants to say yes to. And the reality is, is if you are involved in a Bible-teaching, Jesus-loving church, you are surrounded with these kinds of men.

Three Steps To Find Brothers

SPEAKER_01 4:32

Step one to find these kind of men in your life is be this kind of friend to somebody else. Go put your arm around somebody and say, hey, bro, let's serve together. Let's go do hard things together. And then step two, if you believe them to be a Mac carrier in your life, tell them, deputize them. And then step three is pray for, pray over, and pray with one another. One of my dear friends, Josh Howerton, reached out to me yesterday, and he's going on a really, really big podcast, big national, one of the most famous ones. And he says, Hey, bro, will you pray for me? I'm going on this podcast, and I just want to make sure that Jesus is glorified. And so I texted him back. I said, When you get two minutes, call me because praying over is probably more important than just praying for. And so he gave me a call, and I just prayed over him. And I'm telling you, when you suffer together, when you serve together, and when you make supplication for your brothers, this is the guts of how men develop these kinds of relationships

Praying Over A Friend In Public Moments

SPEAKER_01 5:33

where you can be partakers of the grace together through suffering, through serving for the confirmation of the gospel. Be these kind of men, find these kind of men.

SPEAKER_00 5:45

Amen.

Final Charge And How To Help

SPEAKER_00 5:47

Thank you for listening to today's episode. Before you go, if you want to help equip other men for the fight, share this podcast around and leave us a five star rating and review. Stay sharp.