Latest / Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ) / "Into the Word: Philippians: Part 4" by Hiram Kemp

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"Into the Word: Philippians: Part 4" by Hiram Kemp · Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ)

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the feeling like I'm leaving something behind, I'm forgetting to do something? That ever
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happen to you before? Well, tonight I was walking in this building and Nadia said,
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are we going to have a handout tonight? And that's when I realized we're not
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going to have a handout tonight because I forgot. So yeah, that's all I can
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tell you about that. But we do got the PowerPoint up there,
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and Randy made sure that it's not in hieroglyphics or it's not weird.
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So if you can write it down, you'll have a handout tonight.
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Some of you are with us for the first time, some of our college students.
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We've been doing a study we simply call Into the Word on Sunday
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nights. We've done this at Lehman, but this is our first time doing it at
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Cumberland Trace. Just an in-depth Bible study on Sunday nights, and Neil and I have
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been walking through the book of Philippians together, and this is the last
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class. This is the last night. So if you have your Bible, go ahead and
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turn to Philippians chapter 4. We've said throughout these studies that
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the major idea, the major thrust behind the book of Philippians is this
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idea of Christians enjoying life or experiencing
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joy through selfless service and sacrifice. And throughout the book of
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Philippians, Paul has, yes, talked about joy, which the book of Philippians
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is famous for, but he's talked about how to have and experience joy through
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this selfless sacrifice and putting others above self. And you can
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think about some of the things we've already talked about throughout the book. So chapter
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1, he talks about himself as an example, And he tells us, make sure your
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life, Philippians 1:27, is consistent with the gospel of
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Christ, that whether I come and see you or else be absent, I'll hear of
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your affairs. You stand fast in one spirit, striving together for the faith
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of the gospel. In chapter 2, he says, I want you to work out your
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salvation together as a group, but he lifts up Jesus as an example and
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Timothy, and he mentions Epaphroditus. And last week,
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Neil talked about chapter 3, and he does several things in chapter 3 about how
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to have joy through selfless service, but primarily Paul says,
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avoid the bad examples of the false teachers.
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Consider my life and everything I gave up to follow Jesus,
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and I want you to do the very same thing. And now tonight, Philippians 4,
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Paul basically puts all of that together and he talks about this
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is how you overcome roadblocks that would try to get in your way of
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everything that I've said so that you can experience true joy.
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Now I'm just going to be upfront and honest with you tonight. What we're going
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to talk about tonight is somewhat challenging. It's going to be difficult. And I don't
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know, you probably get somewhere— maybe there are a few places today that we
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know how to get to by heart. A lot of times we're using our GPS,
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and if you put an address in, in your GPS— well, Apple Maps
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does this for sure— it's going to give you more than one way to get
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there. One way to avoid highways, another way to avoid tolls.
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But the primary thing most of us are looking for when we put in an
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address for a description on how to get to a certain place is we
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want to know what What's the fastest route to get there? Just show me the
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quickest way and then I'll get there. And we normally do that. As it relates
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to joy, we probably think the same thing. If I was to say
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tonight, who wants joy in this class? Every one of us would say we want
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joy. The truth is though, and Paul's going to talk about this in chapter 4
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tonight, when you type in joy in the spiritual GPS,
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God only gives one route and it's always the hard way.
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There's no shortcuts. There's no fastest route. The roadblocks Paul's
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going to talk about in Philippians 4 are all challenging and they're all difficult,
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but if we want want it. And God has wired us in such a way
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that we should and that we do. We're going to have to take the difficult
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route and we're going to have to take the hard road, but the end result,
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as Paul's going to lay out, is for our betterment and our good,
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and we should be glad about that. So simply tonight, I'm going to make
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3 moves in Philippians that I think Paul does to talk about how to overcome
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some of these roadblocks, and then the class will be yours. Let's start with
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the first one. Number 1, it's in Philippians 4:1-3. And the first thing
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we've got to do to overcome roadblocks on our way to joy is resolve conflict.
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Ephesians— Philippians 4, excuse me, starting in verse 1,
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Paul says, therefore, my brothers whom I love, my joy
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and my crown, whom I love and long for, my joy and my crown,
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stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved. I entreat
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Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord. Yes, I ask
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you also, true companion, help these women who have labored side by side with
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me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers whose
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names are in the Book of Life. So, first things first, Paul starts
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out by saying, therefore, kind of hinging 2 things together. The way Paul uses
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therefore in Philippians 4:1, he's looking back and
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he's looking forward. So, when he says therefore, yes, he's summarizing everything he's already said,
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especially what he had previously said right before this. So, look in
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your Bible, Philippians 3:20-21, our citizenship is
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in heaven, From heaven we look for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
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He's going to change this lowly body, and he's going to fashion it like his
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glorious body according to the working by which he's able to subdue all
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things to himself. So Paul's saying, hey, because that's true about you, you're getting
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a new body, your citizenship is in heaven, therefore— and he's going
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to lay out some things. But he's also looking forward to some things he's about
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to say to these Christians about resolving a certain conflict. And notice
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how he starts off in verse 1. Therefore, because all of this is true,
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my brothers whom I love and long for, my joy and my crown,
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stand firm thus in the Lord, my dearly beloved. Here's a question,
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and you can probably already see it in verses 2 and 3, and we'll
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talk more in detail about this in a moment. Paul's about to talk about a
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strong conflict and an issue taking place in this church.
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And I know in our minds we think the church at Philippi— joy,
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happiness, harmony. But not necessarily.
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Paul wrote to them to get to that point, but they had some issues and
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some things to deal with. And in verses 2 and 3, Paul's going to talk
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to them about how to fix it and how to figure it out. But here's
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my question, looking at verse 1: why does Paul start out with,
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in verse 1, all of these words and these statements about
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his adoration and love and concern for these Christians? So just look at
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a few of them. First, he says they're his brothers, talking about the spiritual relationship.
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Brethren, brothers and sisters. Then what else does he say? My brethren,
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and then what else? Whom I love,
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and then what else? Who I long for.
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He desires these Christians. He said in chapter 1, and then later on,
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I hope to be released from prison in chapter 2 and see you. So,
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who I long for, what else? Joy and crown,
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and lastly, he says, my dearly beloved.
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Here's my question. If Paul's going to talk to these Christians about some issues that
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they need to resolve, Why not just get right to it? Why does Paul start
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out with all of these adjectives of praise and adoration and
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expressing his love and concern for the Philippians? Why would he start out
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like this right before he's about to ask them to do a very difficult thing?
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They're going to listen to him. Yes, he hopes that they will for sure.
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Miss Kim, yeah, he wants them to listen to what he's saying.
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What I'm about to say, I'm saying it out of love for you. Absolutely.
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He wants to know that they're not doing everything wrong. What was that? They're not
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doing everything wrong. He wants them to know they're not doing everything wrong. Paul had
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a habit of doing this even with the Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians, he talks about
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all the things they're doing, and then he says, hey, by the way, I want
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you to know, I know you obey me in all things. And you're just thinking,
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I just read 9 chapters about how terrible the Corinthians are doing. What does Paul
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mean in all things? But Paul wanted them to know they're not doing everything wrong.
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What else? Soften the blow. Yeah, he wants to
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soften the blow. Paul is always doing this. I think Paul has 2 ideas in
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addition to everything we said here as he leads leads out in chapter 4 this
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way. First, Paul is always trying to encourage people through
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positive reinforcement. Paul uses what you might call the sandwich method
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in most of his epistles. Galatians is probably the only exception.
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Paul will start out praising people for something good,
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then he will talk about the problem at hand, and then he'll follow
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that up with more praise. But Paul also does this
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because he wants the Philippians to know, I'm about to ask you to do something
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very challenging. But I believe in you.
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He did this when he wrote to Philemon. You remember the book of Philemon,
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one chapter book written around this same time as a prison epistle. And essentially
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he's telling Philemon, you've got to receive Onesimus back as a brother into full fellowship.
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And after he tells him a host of things in Philemon verse 21,
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he says, by the way, I know you and you'll do more than I say.
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He tells the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 3 and verse 8, now we
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live if you stand fast in the Lord. If I get a good report about
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you It makes me happy. It makes me pleased. And Paul believed,
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hey, I believe you all can do this. What I'm about to ask you to
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do, the way I'm about to challenge you spiritually, you're my longed for, you're my
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joy and crown, you're my dearly beloved. I think you can do this. And he
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wanted them to know, I believe in you, and through positive reinforcement,
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I think you will accomplish the task. Now, let's deal with the issue at hand.
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It's in verse 2. He says, I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to
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agree in the Lord. Now, these 2 women are mentioned by name. Again,
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sometimes we think the church at Philippi, no problems.
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But evidently, these 2 women, only mentioned here in the New Testament,
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were at odds with each other. Here's what we don't know.
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We don't know what they were at odds with each other about. We don't
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know what the squabble was about or what the problem was, but we do know
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that they were at odds. And what Paul does in verse 2 is he uses
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a word he often uses throughout the New Testament to call
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somebody alongside. This word parakaleo, it means to call alongside.
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I urge you, I entreat you. But here's what's unique about it
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in Philippians 4 and verse 2. This is the only place I know of in
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the whole Greek New Testament where Paul uses it twice in the same verse.
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And if you notice how he does this in verse 2, he says, I entreat
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you, and I entreat you. Basically, Paul's saying, I'm telling you, and I'm
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telling you, y'all need to fix it. I love this. Why do you think Paul
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uses 2? Paul's not taking sides. You could
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say Paul's taking strides, not sides. Like, hey, let's take strides to fix this.
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Paul doesn't care who's right because at all that
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there's an issue between these 2 sisters, they're both already wrong.
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In 1 Corinthians 6, he was talking about these Christians taking each other to court,
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and he says in verse 7, 1 Corinthians 6:7, to have lawsuits
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at all among yourselves is already a defeat for you. The fact that these 2
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sisters are at odds Paul says this is just bad for Christianity and
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it's bad for the church at Philippi. Paul says, I entreat Euodia and
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I entreat Syntyche, both of you need to fix it and get it together.
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Evidently, they were prominent women in the church. I mean, just imagine being them.
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The New Testament's written, Paul's writing this letter, Epaphroditus brings it
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to you, gathered in an assembly much like tonight. You start reading
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through the book and you hear your name called, and the only time you're mentioned
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in the New Testament is because the Holy Spirit wants to bring up Hey,
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you need to get your act together. It's similar to Diotrephes in 3 John
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10 and 11. His name's mentioned and it's not for anything good.
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He's causing trouble in the church. These 2 women, they need to solve
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it. All right, just look at verses 2 and 3 and I want you to
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tell me, just nobody give them all, okay? One at a time.
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Verses 2 and 3, what does Paul say or what kind
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of devices does he use to try to help them fix this problem?
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So I urge Ioudia, I urge or I entreat Syntyche, and then
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what does he do? What do you see in these 2 verses that Paul is
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aiming at to try to get them to come to a point of harmony?
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Just whatever you see, point it out.
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They've been harmonious before?
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Okay, what else? What does he mention here that you think as a
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literary device Paul said, hey, I want y'all to fix it, and if you think
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about these things, it'll help you do it.
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Agree in the Lord. That's first. You're both in Christ together.
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First thing Paul says is agree together in the Lord.
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Sometimes you might think to yourself, well, I don't like this person.
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Well, I got good news for you. The Bible never commands you to like anybody,
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but you got to love everybody, right? So agree in the Lord. If you actually
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agree in the Lord, that'll solve it. First thing Paul says is think about the
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Lord. That matters because when we're in conflict with each other We've
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got to start asking ourselves, what wouldn't I do for Jesus?
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See, there's a lot of things I wouldn't like to do and you wouldn't like
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to do, but when you start talking about Jesus and you start saying, I really
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don't want to, I don't feel like, but what if it's in the
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Lord? What if Jesus was standing here and saying, now, hey, I know you hadn't
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gone their way in 2 months, but would you do it for me? Could you
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do it for Jesus? I entreat Ioudia and Syntyche,
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Be of the same mind in the Lord. This is not Paul's request,
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really. It's not from Paul. It's from God. First thing he says is agree in
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the Lord. What else? Look at verse 3. He says they labor
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together. Yeah, and I think that's what Roger was talking about. They've worked together before.
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He's reminding them about times of previous harmony. What else? He also
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asks the others to— he implores the others to help these 2.
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Exactly. So I asked Grant after he read the Scripture, was he going to sit
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in the splash zone? And he said yes, and now he's coming to my aid.
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That's right. Yeah. He asked these others. What others?
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Look at verse 3. He says, I ask, or I entreat
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you also, true companion. The old King James has, I entreat you also,
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true yoke fellow. We don't know who this person was, but Paul says, I want
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you 2 to fix it. And then he calls somebody else in. He says,
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I'm asking you to help these women who labor with me in the gospel
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and with Clement. And then he says, with the rest of my fellow laborers.
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So these 2 women are at odds. Paul says, you're in the Lord together.
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But sometimes 2 people are never going to fix it themselves.
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And so Paul says, hey, true yoke fellow, true companion, whoever this
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person was in the church at Philippi, they knew who they were. And Paul says,
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hey, I really need you to step up and help me and Clement
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and the rest of the fellow laborers. Who could be who? The rest of
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the church at Philippi. And then he says, this is the last thing I noticed,
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whose names are in the Book of Life. That's Revelation 20 and verse 15.
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Paul's saying, hey, if you plan to go to heaven together, your names are in
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the Book of Life together, you should try to fix this because
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I want you to be in harmony. Conflict hinders congregational
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unity and joy. But what Grant said is very important.
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Maybe— have you ever been in a congregation? Don't point at anybody, okay? But have
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you ever been in a congregation where 2 people have been at odds? I mean,
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2 influential people that, hey, both of these people contribute
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a great deal to the kingdom, and right now they're not seeing eye to eye.
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And what can happen in those moments— and maybe it's not happening here right now,
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now, but I want you to put Philippians 4 in your back pocket for
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if and when that day ever comes. What normally happens, unless the Holy
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Spirit intervenes through passages like this and Spirit-led people, what's bound to happen
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is people start getting in their camps and people start picking sides.
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And if it ever happens here, rather than be a pot stirrer,
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we should be a heart stirrer. Paul says, I entreat you and
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you, I want you to fix it. But everybody else that's just sort of looking
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around, everybody else that's just sort of maybe just cheering it on,
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boosting up the fight, being ears to hear hear the gossip. He says,
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hey, you have a responsibility to help them fix this. You see,
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Paul could— and sometimes in hardship and conflict we bury our head
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in the sand, but Paul was able to confront it. And he says, I want
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you guys to get on the same page, and I'm hoping that the congregation will
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help you do the very same thing. I entreat you also, true yoke fellow,
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help these women which labor with me, because their names are also
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in the Book of Life. But there is a challenge to fixing conflict.
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Let me ask you a question. Just think about this intellectually in
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your family, but primarily about the church. Have you ever been at odds with another
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Christian? Shake or nah? Have you ever been at odds with another Christian?
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And have you ever been at odds to the point where it's like, you know
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what? I'm just not speaking to them. They're not speaking to me.
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And maybe you don't even know what you did. You don't know what they did,
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but you've been at odds and it can kind of start boiling and you get
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to the point where you come to the assembly and you don't even want to
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go their way. Or you start avoiding them, and this just kind of builds
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up. What makes it hard to fix conflict once it starts? Listen,
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I told you to start out— there's no easy way in this. This is the
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difficulty. The pathway to joy leads— you've got to go right through,
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I got to resolve conflict. If I want joy in my life, I've got to
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resolve conflict. That doesn't mean dig up dead bones and issues,
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but it does mean resolve conflict. But what makes it difficult?
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What's one of the challenges to fixing conflict?
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Pride. We make our issue— we single
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our issue out and make it bigger than the goal of unity
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in the body. I think that's a great point. Ian says we single out our
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issue and we make it bigger than the goal of the body. We're just focused
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on ourselves. Several people said pride. That's a cheating answer.
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That just ends it all. That's really it. That's the heart of it. Joey?
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Put somebody else's interest sometimes above your own. Putting somebody else's
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interest above your own. Anybody else?
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Who said it's uncomfortable? Yeah, sometimes you hadn't done anything
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wrong, see, and I think some of the struggle can be,
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I went last time, I'm not going. I said something first last time and,
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you know, I don't even know what I did. I feel like they're acting funny.
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I don't know what happened, but I'm just getting in my little corner. Or,
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you know what, they started with me, they did it to me first, and it's
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what everybody said right off the— right out of the gate. Is pride. How do
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you know you haven't done anything wrong? And maybe you haven't, but Proverbs 18:17
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says, he that is first in his own cause seems just until his neighbor
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comes and examines him. You might think you hadn't done anything wrong and later find
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out that you have. But if we're going to be God's people, we've got to
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engage in resolving conflict. And this is what Paul's telling the Philippians.
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This is one of the roadblocks on the pathway to joy that we've got to
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overcome. Lucky enough for us, we're blessed. The New Testament gives
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a host of passages, and I want to look at some of these quickly before
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we move on to number 2. About how to address conflict as a Christian.
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So I'm not gonna spend a great deal of time in any of these,
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but hold your hand in Philippians, go to Matthew 5. I just wanna show you
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some of these. You know them, but Matthew 5 is the first one. Jesus in
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the Sermon on the Mount is talking about worship, and he says
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something that's pretty interesting about when you're in conflict with other people, where the
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priorities should lie. And it's important that you see these passages because Jesus
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is gonna talk about what you should do when you're in the wrong and what
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you should do when you're in the right. And just as a spoiler alert,
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both times Jesus says, if you're my disciple, you should be going across
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the fence first. But they never come if you belong to Jesus. That's why this
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whole— Neil mentioned agree in the Lord. That's why it starts there. Because whether
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or not you did anything wrong or not isn't the question. The question is,
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do you belong to Jesus Christ? And if you do, you go first. Look at
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Matthew 5:23. He says, so if you're offering your gift at the
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altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you,
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leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled
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to your brother and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with
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your accuser while you're going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over
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to the judge, the judge to the guard, and you'll be put in prison.
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Truly I say to you, you'll never get out until you've paid the last penny.
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What does Jesus say here? If you're on your way to worship, to the altar,
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and there you remember somebody else has a problem with you, he says,
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Stop. Don't offer the worship. Go and get it fixed and then come
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back, because you can't be on good terms with God and on bad terms with
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his people at the same time. It's that big a deal. God doesn't want your
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worship if you know there's an outstanding issue. Sometimes we
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say this, we get in a conflict and we're like, you know what, I'm just
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going to come to church, sit on my pew, mind my business. That is the
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unbiblical response. I'm just going to dig in, just me and
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the Lord. And God's saying, no, we're not. Sometimes what we need is not down
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the aisle, it's across the aisle. And when it comes to repentance,
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sometimes it's not, God, I've sinned, it's, hey, me and this person have got to
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get it together. And until that happens, our worship is not acceptable
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to God if there's known conflict that we just won't resolve. Look at Matthew 18.
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Matthew 18, Jesus is talking about specifically a personal
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sin against a brother. In Matthew 18:15, he says, if your brother sins
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against you, Go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.
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If he listens to you, you've done what? Gained your brother.
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It can stop right there, but if he won't, take one or two others along
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with you that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or
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three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church,
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and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you
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as a Gentile and as a tax collector. Here's a question: what's wrong with Matthew
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18:15-17?
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Nothing. But we don't trust Jesus.
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When a problem comes, Jesus says, go to him. You go to Brother
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A. You know who we go to? Brother Z. We skip
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the whole alphabet. We go to everybody else. We start getting people on our side.
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We can call it getting advice, but it's not the plot or the plan.
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Like I said, maybe right now this is not applicable, but it will be
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in our lives at some point. And the question will be, do we trust Jesus?
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Do we really want joy? And if we do, Jesus says, go tell
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them one-on-one and you probably solve it right then and there. But if they don't
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listen, then follow these steps. Every time we deviate from this plan,
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we mess up what Jesus is talking about as far as harmony and peace.
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And maybe for a lot of us, the greatest spiritual battle we face is not
21:05
some egregious immoral sin, but it's the inability to listen to Jesus in
21:08
times of conflict and follow these steps and patterns. We say, listen,
21:12
I'm not going to tell anybody else, but I don't care what they say.
21:14
I'm telling you. And Jesus says, don't do that. Because every time you
21:18
do that, you break the cord of unity and resolving conflict and having
21:23
peace and harmony that God wants us to. Ephesians 4:1-3, we won't turn to
21:26
all these for time's sake, but Paul says there, endeavor to keep the unity of
21:30
the Spirit in the bond of peace. That means literally do whatever it takes to
21:34
stay unified in the bond of peace. Romans 12:18, I do want to turn to
21:38
that one. Go to Romans 12:18. Romans 12:18.
21:43
Again, all of these are passages about conflict resolution, and on the pathway to
21:48
joy, it's one of the roadblocks we've got to overcome. He says, if it's possible,
21:51
so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
21:55
And the reason why I have a question mark next to Romans 12:18 is
21:59
because I want to know, what about this first part in Romans 12:18?
22:02
If it's possible, so far as it depends on you. Why does Paul preface it
22:06
with that? If it's possible, as much as it depends on you.
22:11
Might not be possible. What, what else?
22:14
So what'd you say, Gary? Sometimes it just doesn't depend on
22:18
you. I mean, maybe you're familiar with Gary Chapman and the 5 love languages.
22:21
You know those, right? Quality time, physical touch. Well, sometimes there's a
22:25
6th love language, and some people, for them, it's just fighting. Some people
22:29
don't feel loved unless they're fighting, and they're just gonna fight you too. They'll start
22:33
a fight. They don't, they don't feel loved unless they're arguing. And for those people,
22:36
in that case, guess what? It doesn't matter what you do. Sometimes it
22:39
doesn't depend on you, and we've got to know when it's time to say,
22:42
okay, I've done all I can do. And then last one,
22:45
Hebrews 12 and verse 14. Let's look at that one.
22:49
Hebrews 12 and verse 14. Hebrews 12:14,
22:53
he says, strive for peace with everyone and
22:57
for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
23:00
So the Holy Spirit makes this a Judgment
23:04
Day gatekey issue. If you don't get this right and holiness, you won't
23:07
see the Lord. And so when there's conflict among brethren, you can't sweep it under
23:11
the rug. Paul is saying to these Christians on the pathway to joy,
23:15
iodeia and sentike, resolve conflict. And sometimes
23:19
we don't have joy in our lives because we say, well, I'm not confrontational,
23:22
I don't like conflict. And I think that's most people. I think that's biblical.
23:26
But we also don't like conflict resolution. And one of the greatest gifts
23:31
you can give yourself in life, and young people need to hear this as early
23:34
as they can, one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself in life
23:38
is the ability to learn how to skillfully and wisely have
23:41
hard conversations. The earlier you learn that lesson, it's inevitable,
23:45
it's going to happen, but people that say, I just don't like doing that,
23:48
I'd rather get a root canal than do that, I don't want to have that
23:51
difficult conversation, the earlier we learn how to have hard conversations
23:55
wisely and skillfully, where we can disagree or confront the issue
23:59
at hand and walk away peacefully and in harmony, the better off we'll
24:03
be. And Jesus is telling us through Philippians 4:1-3, you can't
24:07
have joy without it. You've got to be able to resolve conflict, especially when
24:12
it's among brethren. And that's the first roadblock to overcome. Here's number 2.
24:15
It involves getting our minds right. Philippians 4:4-9.
24:19
These are some of the most well-known verses in the book of Philippians, but I
24:22
think seeing them in their context, helps us to appreciate him even more. Starting in
24:25
verse 4, Paul says, rejoice in the Lord always, and again
24:29
I'll say rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at
24:33
hand. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication
24:38
with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God,
24:42
which surpasses all understanding, will guard your heart and your minds in
24:46
Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true,
24:49
whatever is honorable, whatever is just, Whatever is pure, whatever is
24:52
lovely, whatever is commendable, if there's any excellence, if there's
24:56
anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
24:59
What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these
25:03
things, and the God of peace will be with you. So maybe this doesn't,
25:06
this doesn't surprise you, but on this journey to joy,
25:09
one of the things you've got to do, you could just summarize verses 4 through
25:13
9 this way, is you've got to make sure you get your mind in the
25:16
right place. And Paul talks about it extensively in these verses. On how to do
25:19
it. The first thing he says is constantly rejoicing. Philippians 4:4,
25:23
Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I will say, rejoice!
25:26
Is that possible to rejoice in the Lord always? How is it possible
25:31
to rejoice in the Lord always even when life is crumbling all around
25:35
you? Paul's writing this from where? Paul's life going perfect right
25:40
now? Perfectly right now? He's in prison. It's not going the way
25:43
he wants, and yet Paul's writing to them to say, Hey, no matter what happens,
25:47
always rejoice in the Lord. On this pathway to joy, one of the roadblocks
25:51
we've got to get past is I've got to get my mind in the right
25:54
place. And that starts with verse 4, rejoice in the Lord always. And again,
25:57
I'll say rejoice. Here's the question. Is it possible to do this?
26:01
And if it is, how do you do it? How do you Philippians 4:4,
26:04
rejoice in the Lord always? And again, Paul says,
26:08
I want you to rejoice.
26:11
No matter what's going on, you still have the blessings in Christ. So thinking first
26:15
and foremost about What kind of blessings?
26:18
Spiritual blessings. Ephesians 1:3 says you have every spiritual
26:22
blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. How else? Rejoice in the Lord
26:27
always. And again, I'll say rejoice.
26:30
Thinking about the fact that Jesus is faithful. Yes,
26:34
he's always with you no matter what. Anybody else?
26:38
Rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I'll say rejoice. Tyler. It's a
26:42
conscious decision. You have to sometimes, through the pain, you just have to say,
26:46
you know, ultimately I've got what's better than what's going on right now.
26:50
And I think that's the heart of it. Tyler says it's a conscious decision.
26:52
What Paul says in verse 4 seems to be less of a mood and more
26:56
of a mindset. Rejoice in the Lord always. It's an imperative. It's a command.
27:00
Hey, do this. Make yourself do this. Put yourself
27:03
in the mood to do this. And it's not circumstantial. You know how it's not
27:07
based on circumstances? Because he says rejoice in who? In the Lord.
27:11
Not necessarily in your trials and afflictions and the things that are beaten down upon
27:14
you, but he's saying tie your joy to the Lord because one thing
27:18
that's never going to change in your life if you're a Christian is the constant
27:22
immutable nature of God and who he is. Chuck, go ahead. I think he's—
27:26
another way to say it, I think he's saying be happy in God.
27:30
Yeah, all the time.
27:33
All the time, for sure. And this isn't the only place where Paul says
27:37
this. 1 Thessalonians 5:16, he says, rejoice evermore.
27:41
And 2 Corinthians 6, he's talking about real difficulty he faces, and then he says,
27:45
as sorrowful yet always rejoicing. And Jesus
27:49
told his disciples, you're going to have tribulation in the world,
27:52
but be of good cheer, I've overcome the world. John 16:33.
27:56
I've given you peace. In me you can have peace that the world can't
27:59
give you. John 14:27. If your joy is tied to the Lord,
28:03
it won't matter what else happens. Bad things will happen, difficult things,
28:07
even to a Christian, but joy can be yours. Second, in verse 5,
28:11
Paul says, I want you to be a person that— let
28:15
your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand. I want to talk
28:18
about this verse a little bit because not every verse handles verse 5 the same.
28:22
So this word epiekeis, everybody doesn't translate it the same way.
28:26
What do you have in verse 5? The ESV has, let your reasonableness be known
28:29
to all. What do you have? Gentleness. What else?
28:34
Moderation. So what is Paul saying? Rejoice always.
28:37
Also get your mind right by letting what be known to all people? We got
28:41
reasonableness, we got moderation, we got gentleness. So just put the translations
28:46
together. What do you think Paul's driving at in this verse about our disposition
28:50
that we've got to have to make sure our mind's in the right place?
28:54
Show care, kindness, patience, and love to everyone.
28:58
Exactly. So yes, so it's about this gentle, courteous spirit.
29:01
It's one of the qualifications for elders in 1 Timothy 3:3. In Titus
29:06
3:2, Paul says, I want you to be gentle to everybody. Paul's saying,
29:10
this is what I want to be true about you in a world where most
29:13
people want to show you how tough they are. And we don't take anything from
29:17
anybody else. If you do this to me, I'll show you. Paul says, let your
29:20
moderation, let your reasonableness, let your tenderness and your yielding
29:24
spirit is really what's behind this word. Let that be known to all people.
29:28
Because the Lord is near and the Lord's at hand. This could mean,
29:31
yes, the return of Jesus is imminent. We never know when that's going to happen,
29:34
Mark 13:32. But it probably just means God is
29:38
always present, so make sure you're on your best behavior.
29:43
In James chapter 5, James talks about people that are grumbling because they're not being
29:47
paid by their bosses, and he says, hey, don't grumble against one another,
29:50
brothers, because the judge is standing at the door. James 5
29:55
and verse 9. Maybe you didn't do this. I'm going to tell you what we
29:58
did though. Me and my brothers fought as siblings growing up. Okay. But my mom
30:02
was next door. So we had to try to fight quiet. You ever fought quiet
30:06
before? I mean, you hit people, but you don't say it like you got to
30:08
fight quiet. And occasionally we'd be fighting and guess who'd be at the door?
30:13
Kimberly Kemp be at the door. Yeah. That's what would happen. And Paul's saying,
30:17
listen, I want you to be gentle. I know people might be thinking they're
30:21
getting over on you. They're taking advantage of you. You're a doormat. He says,
30:24
hey, Let your reasonableness— he doesn't just say possess it, he says let
30:28
it be known to all people. Let this be the most dominant quality known about
30:31
you to everybody, because you know who's watching?
30:35
The Lord's at hand. God's near, and God's looking to see, I wonder
30:39
what kind of heart you have, what kind of qualities are true about you.
30:42
How do we develop this? In Philippians 4 and verse 5.
30:46
I mean, think about people in your life that possess this quality. You know
30:50
them for their gentleness. You know them for yielding. You know think about people like
30:53
that and then say, you know what? I want to produce this.
30:56
I want this to be a quality that's true about me. 1 Peter
31:00
2:18, he says, hey, I want you to submit to masters, not just to the
31:04
people that are gentle, but even toward the harsh. And we can get our minds
31:07
right when we say, what I want to be true about me for everybody to
31:10
see is how gentle and soft and kind I can be. And then he
31:14
says the famous Philippians 4:6, don't be anxious about anything,
31:18
but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your
31:22
requests be made known to God. So Paul says, stop worrying, and I want you
31:26
to start praying. Paul says, don't worry about what?
31:29
Don't worry about anything. There's a difference though between genuine
31:33
concern and crippling worry. Go back to Philippians 2 and
31:37
look at verse 20, because in Philippians 2 and verse 20, Paul uses this
31:41
same word for worry, but he uses it in a positive sense for Timothy.
31:44
So you can be concerned about some things in a good way.
31:47
Philippians 2:20, he says, I have no one like him— that's Timothy—
31:51
who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. It's the same word,
31:55
but it's in a different sense. It's one thing to be concerned about a thing,
31:58
but it's a different thing entirely to be crippled beyond belief with
32:02
worry and anxiety. And Paul says you trade those out. How do you fix
32:06
this? Don't be worried about anything, but instead pray about everything.
32:11
It's tied back to trusting in God. Look at what he says in verse 6:
32:14
But in everything, by prayer supplication, thanksgiving,
32:17
let your requests— Paul uses all of these different words for prayer,
32:21
and he says not that you don't feel this anxiousness in your life, but tell
32:25
it to who? Tell it to God. The worried person
32:29
that's crippled by worry is the person that's constantly looping inward
32:32
instead of looping upward. Looping inward is all of your prayers,
32:36
all of your supplications, all of your requests are about you. You're living as
32:40
if it's all on you. That's when you know you're beyond the point of concern
32:43
and you're into worry. The prayerful person, 1 Peter 5:7,
32:47
cast all of your anxieties on God because he cares about
32:51
you. Psalm 55:22, cast your burden
32:54
on the Lord, he will sustain you. He'll never permit the righteous to
32:58
be moved. On this journey to joy, one of the roadblocks we've got to overcome
33:02
is I've got to get my mind in the right place, and the only way
33:05
to do that is I've got to be a person that stops worrying about everything
33:09
and starts praying about everything instead. And then he says, when you do this in
33:12
verse 7, The peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and
33:16
your minds in Christ Jesus. What does he mean by the peace of God will
33:21
surpass all understanding? What do you think that means?
33:39
Yeah, so for
33:45
sure. So Miss Laura says one of the ways we might look at Philippians 4:7
33:47
is the peace of God that surpasses all understanding could mean— and this is how
33:51
a lot of people take this verse— that, hey, I'm in a circumstance, can't see
33:55
my way out, but somehow the peace of God that— no, you just can't even
33:59
understand it. I'm in the middle of a storm and somehow I'm able to sing
34:01
and dance in the rain. The peace of God surpasses all understanding. And that'll guard
34:06
your heart and mind. Colossians 3:15, it'll guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.
34:09
And that's one way that Paul could be using this. But a second way that's
34:13
worth thinking about, the way that Paul uses it in this context, is this: the
34:16
peace of God excels, or it's better than all understanding,
34:21
which could mean instead of trying to figure it out, there's something
34:24
better than understanding everything God's doing. The peace of God
34:27
surpasses human understanding. I don't need God to tell me how he's going
34:31
to work it out. I don't need God to figure it out for me because
34:34
the peace of God's better. It excels human understanding. Some of us
34:37
say, God, I want you to bring me out of this, but I also
34:41
would love for you to provide the blueprint for how you're going to do it.
34:43
But the peace of God's better than that because knowing who God is
34:46
and what God can do and will do, it surpasses— it's better than
34:51
my human understanding. Some of us don't want peace, we want understanding instead.
34:55
And Paul's saying, hey, if you get the peace, it doesn't really matter how he
34:59
does it if you know him. And you know he's going to bring you through,
35:01
God, you don't have to tell me. You'll carry me all the way.
35:05
Miller, go ahead. I'm going to be honest. This is really hard.
35:11
This idea of not being anxious and
35:15
worried is really difficult.
35:18
And I think a lot of people suffer greatly from
35:23
anxiety, from issues in the family, from monetary
35:27
kinds of things. I think women are particularly susceptible
35:31
to that. They're worried about their families.
35:36
I don't know what to say other than that I find this particularly challenging
35:40
and it makes me feel when I am in that position
35:46
that I'm not a very good Christian. Okay,
35:50
we said this at the beginning. I told you at the beginning this was going
35:53
to be what? It's hard stuff. Miller, I'm glad you brought that up. I'm not
35:57
convinced it's just women, but I get what you were saying about the family.
35:59
And the reason why I'm saying that is several, but one is the man that
36:02
wrote this said in 2 Corinthians 11:28, Paul says, I've got daily
36:06
anxieties about the church. Paul said he had that even after he said, don't worry
36:09
about anything. The worst thing that can happen to a person reading
36:12
Philippians 4:6, I think, is to have anxiety about the anxiety.
36:16
I don't think that's how Paul wants it to work. He's saying, hey, if you're
36:19
worried about stuff, start praying to God.
36:22
But yeah, I'm still worrying. When you're doing all prayers,
36:25
all supplications, all thanksgiving, even in the midst of the worry,
36:29
I believe you're being obedient to this passage. It doesn't mean that the worry will
36:32
evaporate, but it's already being processed in the heavenly realm, and somehow that
36:37
becomes good enough, even in the midst of hardships, even in the midst of difficulties.
36:41
And I think you're exactly right. Everybody in this room would confess, yeah, it's difficult.
36:46
And at different seasons of life, it's more intense. And being transparent
36:50
about how hard it is, I think that's a true and great response.
36:54
But I think what Paul wants us to see is more than worrying
36:58
about the worry. As we worry more, will we say our
37:01
prayers are increasing? Because that's what should be happening. The more things that
37:04
I'm anxious and worried about are the more things I should be taking before the
37:08
throne. But I think if we're honest, we've got to say sometimes I'm worrying about
37:12
more stuff and my prayers aren't necessarily matching up and evening out. I'm worrying
37:16
about more stuff, and instead I start plotting and scheming. I'm on the internet,
37:19
I'm figuring out how can I move this around, how can I do this.
37:22
And human ingenuity is helpful to a certain point, but I wonder if
37:27
as much as we're worrying, we're praying. And I think that's the challenge.
37:33
Yeah, well, here's the last thing,
37:36
and I don't know if I saw a hand or two. Here's what I'll say.
37:39
Miller says it makes him question his faith. I think we should
37:43
if our faith is primarily in ourselves. If our faith is primarily in what
37:47
we can do, and if we have this anxiety because— and most times it
37:50
is this. You list your issues on this side, and if you're being honest,
37:54
list any issue you've got right now and imagine it from this vantage point.
37:58
I wonder what on this list is hard for God. That's not why you're
38:02
anxious. You're anxious, and I'm anxious because we think this is hard for me.
38:06
And somebody says, my faith's struggling. It is, but it's not the faith in God.
38:09
It's the faith in how good is Hiram at rescuing himself? That's what
38:13
we're worried about. I think if you line up your issues and say, I wonder
38:16
if God— I wonder, oh man, is $50,000 a lot of money to God?
38:20
Is physical health or hardship? No, God's not going to struggle with any
38:24
of these things, but it's more about, I don't know if I can see me
38:27
through it. And Paul's stopping us and he's saying, you're seeing it wrong. It's not
38:32
about how good you'll be at coming through, but it's really about God. And so
38:35
I think the faith issue or aspect of it is rightly so.
38:39
I hope all of the faith that I have only and solely in myself is
38:42
crushed and dies so that it can be solely in Jesus. I think that's what
38:46
Paul wants. And you're right, Miller, easier said and read than done.
38:50
And yet it must be done. That's what Paul wants us to do. I think
38:53
it still, it still has to be done. There was a hand. Russell, go ahead.
38:56
I can only speak for myself, but I
39:00
think sometimes we
39:07
don't think God's going to take care of it to our satisfaction.
39:12
And that's hard to swallow,
39:15
that, you know, good enough for God is not
39:19
good enough for me.
39:23
And as Miller says, sometimes it's hard to swallow your pride.
39:27
Yeah. And sometimes it's hard to Submit
39:32
to God. It is, it is. And the
39:36
bottom— and the thing is, we know God's going to come through.
39:40
We just don't know if he's going to give me what I want. And sometimes
39:43
I really want what I want, and if God's not going to come through— but
39:48
Philippians 4:7, that's why this verse is important. The peace of God is better
39:51
than human understanding. It is. It surpasses— this word Paul uses— it
39:56
excels it. I don't think Paul's saying The peace of God's so crazy you can't
39:59
understand. I think Paul's saying the peace of God is better than you figuring it
40:02
out. You know how many times Paul's back is up against the wall and Paul
40:05
doesn't know if this is his death or his release or his execution? But here's
40:09
what Paul knows: whatever God does is going to be right.
40:13
Not easy, not always welcome, but he's always going
40:17
to do what's right. And when we get to that point, our prayers start changing
40:21
and we start saying what Jesus said: not my will, but what?
40:23
It's not the first. We're not the first people in the world to face this.
40:27
People in the Bible did. And, um, the only way to get through— this is
40:30
why you got to get your mind right. This rejoicing in the Lord, everything's tied
40:34
to the Lord. But I think if you see that tether pulling— and Chuck,
40:37
I'm coming to you— that's where the issue comes. I'm rejoicing in
40:41
my circumstances. God's really good when it's going my way. My reasonableness
40:45
is known to all people. I'm really gentle when life's going my way. But when
40:48
the boat starts rocking and God doesn't answer in the affirmative just like I want,
40:52
that's when the anxiety starts rising. Is God going to do exactly what I want?
40:56
And he may not do that, but he is going to do what's good and
40:59
what's right. Chuck, and then I saw a hand in the back. I think,
41:02
like, reflecting on 2 Corinthians 10:5,
41:07
where it takes to take every thought captive and make it to
41:11
obey God, like, emotions are innately human
41:15
and we're always going to have them, but it's a process of pruning and consistent
41:20
pruning ourselves to the will of God over time. So, you know,
41:24
having those thoughts and those doubts of you being faithful and practicing
41:28
prayer, it's not just something we're going through overnight. So I
41:32
think it's important to remember, remember that we're in a process of pruning. I think
41:37
you're right. Tell me your name again. Addie. Addie, you told me this morning.
41:39
Yes, Addie, I think you're right. 2 Corinthians 10:5, we're bringing our thoughts
41:43
into submission. Feelings are real, not reliable.
41:47
Your feelings are real. I'm afraid of this, but not reliable. Chuck, and then
41:51
we got to move on because we got 3 minutes to do the rest,
41:54
guys. It's y'all's fault tonight. It's been great though. I'm not mad about it.
41:57
It's on y'all. Chuck, go ahead. I just think that the peace that passes
42:01
understanding is the Lord telling us, and about being anxious
42:05
for nothing, I will give you the power to not let worry
42:09
or stress or fear control your mind.
42:14
I will give you the power to not let worry,
42:18
stress, or fear control your mind. Like you said, in other words, we can't
42:22
stay in that state. He will give us
42:26
that ability. I think, I think you're right. And I think this verse is
42:30
in the Bible because no matter how much faith we have, God knows we're human
42:33
and we still struggle. But we need to make sure our God is as big
42:36
as the God of the Bible. And sometimes our God's too small. All right,
42:39
Philippians 4:8, Paul says, think positively and properly. You can look at these
42:43
words, figure out what they mean, but essentially Paul's saying whatever
42:47
things are true and good and think positively. A friend of mine shared this quote
42:50
with me, and we've got time to do this, and then I will fly through
42:53
the last slide just so we can cover all of Philippians. But I think this
42:56
is helpful, and it'll come back to what Miller talked about with our mind and
42:59
anxiety. And this is the quote: if you can overthink the
43:02
worst, why can't you overthink the best? If it's possible for you to think one's
43:07
gonna happen, then B's gonna happen, then Z, and I'm off the cliff. If your
43:10
mind works in such a way and it's possible for you to overthink all the
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worst-case scenarios, why won't you overthink the best case?
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That's Philippians 4:8. Paul says, whatever things— what does that
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mean? The, the gamut is open. Whatever things are true and honest and
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just and pure and good and lovely, whatever things good and virtuous,
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meditate and ruminate on these things. What if it doesn't come through?
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What if I don't get healed? But what if I do? What if I'm walking
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again? What if I don't get the money? What if I do and there's a
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surplus? See, you got to think like that. Paul, God gives you permission
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to— more than that, he commands you to. If you can overthink the worst,
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you could overthink the best. And then in verse 9, he says, it's not just
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thinking. Those things you both learned and received and heard and seen in me,
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do, and the God of peace will be with you. Tie verse 7 and verse
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9 together. God's peace comes to the people that pray, and it comes to
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the practitioners. You got to do stuff. Christianity isn't just thinking stuff. You've got
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to get out and do it. Those things you both learned and received and heard
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and seen in me, do. And the God of peace is going to be with
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you when you get busy doing. Don't let your thoughts keep you on the sideline.
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All right, quick through Philippians 4:10-13. This last section,
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Paul just talks about contentment, and you might be familiar with this. In verse 10,
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Paul talks about— well, Paul uses what he's used before,
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examples. And he's going to use himself and one more example
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And he's gonna talk about how this can be done well. Philippians 4:10, he says,
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I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me
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has flourished again. Not that you didn't desire to, but you
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lacked opportunity. So Paul's glad that the Philippians are gonna be able to encourage
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him again, and they wanted to financially, and now he's glad that
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they gave. And then he talks about contentment. He says, not that I speak in
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respect of want, but I've learned in whatever state I am therewith to be content.
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I know how to abound. Paul says, I know how to have a lot.
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And I know how to be abased. Everywhere and in all things, I'm instructed both
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to be full and to be hungry. He says to have a surplus and to
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suffer need. Contentment. And we were going to talk about what it means, but we
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don't have time for that. But I will say this, it means just to be
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at peace. Contentment, according to Paul, is a learned behavior. Not even Paul
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had this all figured out. But I'll tell you this, if you go through a
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few shipwrecks and if you get beat with 39 stripes 3 times and
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bitten by a snake and People rob you when you're coming back with the missionary
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money. Over time, you just start thinking, I've made it out of several
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of these things. I really think it's going to be all right. Paul says,
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I learned it. When I was in middle school, this was a common occurrence.
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The report cards at the end of the year, the final report card always had
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this at the bottom, either one of these 2 statements, retained or promoted.
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If you didn't pass, it was retained. You've got to repeat 7th grade, 6th grade,
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or whatever. If you passed, it'd say promoted. People didn't look at the
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grades on the last report card. They wanted that— am I retained or promoted?
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And I think we go through trials, and every time we fail,
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God says, you can't graduate from this class. You got to be retained.
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You haven't learned contentment. I'm going to keep putting you in circumstances
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until you stop worrying. How many times are you going to worry about money in
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your life? How many times are you just going to keep— God's going to say,
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you're going to learn contentment, and I will not promote you. You're not
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going to the next grade. You're not going to the next class until you learn
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to trust me. And we got to get like Jacob in Genesis 32. God,
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I will not let you go until you bless me.
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And here's a test, a test to perform. If we're content people,
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people shouldn't be able to tell by our disposition if we're up a
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million dollars or if we're down to Lenten hope. If we're really
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content people, our disposition shouldn't change if we were up a million
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or down to Lenten hope, because at the end of the day, if God's got
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you, he really does. Here's the last thing. How do you practice
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contentment? Develop the it would have been enough principle. The it
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would have been enough principle kind of works, and you can build your own list
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of these. The it would have been enough principle is where you start saying,
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God, you know, it would have been enough for you to give me daily bread
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like you promised in Matthew 6:11, but you provided
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cinnamon rolls and coffee and good people for me to enjoy it with. God,
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you've outdone yourself. God, it would have been enough for you to
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provide for me a living and employment,
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but I get vacation days. Some people in this room, I own a company,
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I've got employees. You provided me. It would have been enough if you just would
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have did this, but God, you really are the God that allows my cup to
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overflow. God, it would have been enough for you to provide
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us with a building to assemble in so we could worship, Hebrews 10:25, but God,
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you've done more. There are padded pews, automatic doors, water fountains.
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See, if you start living by the it would have been enough principle,
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Everything else in your life becomes icing.
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And you can make your own list. You could, you could say, God, it would
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have been enough for our family to just have a place to live. But we
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got multiple rooms. We live in a safe neighborhood. We've got all these. You see,
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that'll make you content. It'll change you from entitlement to gratitude,
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and it'll do the real work on your heart. The last thing Paul does is
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he uses the Philippians as an example, and he says, hey, I've been using all
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these examples. But now I want you to look in the mirror. You guys have
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done great work because you've supported me. We're out of time. I just want to
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say, everybody's life on the pathway to joy, you got 2 choices.
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You get on the elevator, you press the button, it gets you right to where
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you want to go quickly, and everybody wants that.
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But Philippians 4 is just a reminder: you always got to take the
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stairs. You can't run from conflict. You have to fight
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to get your mind right. It's not easy. It's not set it and forget it.
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You got to keep working at it. And contentment is a learned behavior,
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and God will not promote us until we learn the lesson.
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Thanks for your participation tonight. Let's end with a prayer. God,
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we know you love us. Thank you for what Jesus has done for
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us in sacrificing himself. Thank you for this study through the book of Philippians.
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You want us to have joy. You've given it to us in Christ, but the
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road there and the roadblocks we have to overcome are not easy things.
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Help us to be courageous. To resolve conflict, to be peacemakers.
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Help us to get our minds right, not overthink the worst,
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but train our hearts and minds to always overthink the best.
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Help us to be content, because it would have
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been enough for you to have forgiven one of our sins, but you have forgiven
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all of them in Christ and promised to never bring them up again. You really
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have been better to us than we really deserve. Remind us of those realities and
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help us to be selfless in serving others. As individuals that have received joy
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from you. It's in Jesus' name we pray,