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Philippians chapter 4, we'll
be looking at verses 2 through 7. As you're turning there, I
just wanted to also quickly read a brief letter to you. I should
have done this at the beginning, but I've forgotten. We had received
another generous donation from Larry and Lisa Dykstra. That
is Marybeth, her father and mother, Marybeth Hamel, of course, and
Marybeth, the former members of our church who are in Iowa.
And we just wanted to Just encourage you, it says, to Sovereign Grace
Church, greetings, remembering you and the gospel message you
are bringing to your community. Grateful for your faithfulness
to the message of salvation through Jesus Christ and no other. Remain
faithful to the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. May
the Holy Spirit lead you. We pray this gift will be a blessing
and useful in declaring Jesus as Lord in Christ's love, Larry
and Lisa Dykstra. So just wanted to encourage you
with that. Very generous of them to do that. We certainly miss
Kerry and Marybeth as well, and are thankful that the Lord is
with them there in Iowa. Philippians chapter four, verses
two through seven is what we'll be looking at for this morning. Let's hear the word of the Lord.
Philippians 4, verses 2 through 7. I entreat Yodia and I entreat
Syntyche to agree in the Lord. Yes, I ask you also, true companion,
help these women who have labored side by side with me in the gospel
together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers whose
names are in the book of life. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again,
I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known
to everyone. The Lord is at hand. Do not be
anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication,
with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the
peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard
your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Let's pray. Father,
as we look into your Word and considering these four exhortations
given by the Apostle Paul, we do ask that you would be pleased,
again, to bless us with your Holy Spirit so that we would
drink from your Word. where we would be fed by you.
We open up our mouths widely and desire to be fed by you. So please, Father, give us grace
to hear. Lord, we know some of us may
have had difficult weeks. We may be tired, Lord, wrestling
to stay awake. Whatever it may be, we ask that
you would lay hold of our attention. Give us grace to hear from you. And we pray that in all things
you would be glorified in the proclamation of your word and
that you would accomplish your perfect will in us. Please, Father,
Help us to take these things to heart. We ask in Christ's
name. Amen. Having worked through the
major themes of the book of Philippians, we come now to find the apostle
moving on to leave the brethren with a handful of closing exhortations
before concluding his letter. And so for this morning, we will
look at four out of the six exhortations that he leaves, seeking to draw
out relevant applications for us along the way. And so first,
by way of exhortation, we'll consider Paul's exhortation unto
unity in verses two and three. He says, I entreat Yodia and
I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord. Yes, I ask you also,
true companion, help these women who have labored side by side
with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of
my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life. And
so here, the Apostle Paul addresses two beloved women in the church
by name, Iodia and Syntyche, wishing to exhort them to work
together in cooperation, apparently in light of some disagreement
or disagreements that they have had. We're not given any specific
information about the issues that have arisen, nor is such
information really important for us to know, we're meant simply
to lay hold of the general principle that comes to the foreground
here and which has already been covered throughout the course
of this letter. In many ways, we're finding an application
to what Paul has already gone over in his agitation to these
two women. Well, that said, having been
given specific names, however, you might say, well, why would
he name these specific individuals? Well, so that they know, of course,
who he's speaking to. But it also provides us with
a practical real-life example which can serve to address all
examples concerning the very real disagreements that erupt
in all churches of all ages. We know that Yodi and Syntyche,
while we don't know the issues that are at hand here, we can
relate. And we know that all of us have
been Yodi or Syntyche at some point or another in the life
of the church. It's very common to have at times disagreements,
some level of contention, and it's important that we learn
to work together in dealing with those things. And so Yodi and
Syntyche, while real individuals who had some form of contention,
or disagreement in principle are any of us when we allow trivial
things especially to divide us. Paul is not telling them to agree
on things that are significant differences about major doctrines.
It's about trivial things that may divide them or may have divided
them that he's telling them to agree on. Some examples we might
think about in our own present context, not real examples, but
something we can relate to if it were the case, is Jodea thinks
that the chair should be arranged this way in the new building. Syntyche prefers it this way.
Yodia thinks the women should discuss godly wives at the next
Bible study that the women have together. Syntyche would prefer
that we address godly parenting. Yodia thinks that the church
picnic should be at the park in White House. Syntyche thinks
it should be in Gallatin, right? I'm just using some examples
of things that can be somewhat trivial, some things more important
than others, but there's nothing that's immoral in what they're
disagreeing about, but they're just disagreeing. All in all,
both Yodi and Syntyche apparently have strong personalities and
neither of their ideas are sinful or wrong. But for the sake of
the gospel, because of the greater glory of Christ, they must learn
to work together. That's one of the blessed glories
of life in the church, is you have people of different backgrounds
and different personalities and some people tend to be more stronger
personality than others and it's learning to work together and
to prefer one another and to come into agreement that's part
of the sanctification process and the beauty of the church
that seeks to glorify Christ. We must learn to agree and even
prefer each other over ourselves. Oftentimes there are many good
reasons to do many things in the church in different ways.
And it takes much patience, much putting others' interests before
your own, and a constant recognition of the fact that the glory of
Christ, magnified by the unity of the body, is always at stake.
So there could be many things we can talk about in the practical
outworking of life in the church. about matters that are not necessarily
moral, and as we work them out, we need to learn to put each
other's interests above our own and to consider the glory of
Christ, magnified by our unity. And so, for the sake of Christ,
the Church will only ever function well when its members have a
humble spirit that is set on putting the interests of others
first. We've gone over this, and here
we see the example as well. We will always have great and
different ideas about our moral, practical issues related to how
the church ought to function on any given occasion. And we
always have to be ready to strive toward agreement and toward a
win-win situation, whatever possible. Again, there are a lot of illustrations
we can use in going into the new building. Thankfully, we
have a unity and I don't see any issues with that. I'm thankful
for that. But there could be a lot of real serious problems.
There's a lot of potential fires that can erupt in how we set
this building up, what we do with the floor, what we do with
the ceiling, what we do with the chairs. How do we arrange
this? How do we arrange this? Those kinds of things can divide
and have divided people in churches throughout the ages. We are naturally
so vulnerable to allowing our pride to enter into decision
discussions about innumerable amount of issues, especially
when people have different opinions and or preferences that we do.
Right, we can say, hey, I suggest we do this. And somebody else
might say, well, it might be better to do this because of
this reason. And then the other person may say, well, what about
this? And rather than thinking about the practical issues and
just reasoning through it together and coming to agreement, it's
very easy to let pride get in there and to be, I'm offended
because I came with this idea and this person saw something
differently, right? And then it becomes an issue
of division, that pride sweeps in. And that's why the apostle
Paul here, I love the way he he appeals to them because it
says I entreat. Right. He entreats them. He's
not he's commanding them. Don't get me wrong, but it's
more of a of a plea in a sense. It's more of a gentle exhortation. He's saying, please, I'm pleading
with you, you know, work together. You're both wonderful, godly
women, but work together. And he entreats them, these two
beloved, godly and yet apparently strong willed women. He appeals
to them to agree in the Lord. He is saying, as it were, Yodi
and Syntyche, forget Yodi and Syntyche and come to agreement
and work together in the Lord. Work together on these issues. Lay yourselves aside in Christ
and come into agreement. But Paul doesn't only appeal
to these two women to work their differences out on their own.
Notice what else he does, and this is something we need to
appreciate. He further enlists another individual here, doesn't
he? Very likely it could have been an elder or a leader in
the church that he's speaking to here, but he calls somebody
else to aid in these women working together, to aid in this endeavor.
An unbiased pastoral mediator could be very helpful in nurturing
those who are in contention, helping to lead them in a God-honoring
direction, applying scripture to their hearts, and dealing
with the greater issues that are being revealed through their
differences that are more important than the practical issue that
they're dealing with at hand. And so it's good for someone
to come in, especially in leadership, to lead them onward toward maturity
and unto the preservation of the unity of the body. And so
Paul adds this. He says, yes, I ask you also,
true companion, help these women. Listen to how he describes these
women, too, who have labored side by side with me in the gospel
together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers whose
names are in the Book of Life. Now, there are different opinions
as to who this true companion might be here. In the Greek,
some people think that it's actually a proper name. He's speaking
of a man named Syzygous. That's the actual Greek word.
And it would be loyal Syzygous, this loyal person whose name
is Syzygous, which means, like many names, would have meaning,
which means companion or yoke fellow. something along those
lines so it could be an actual proper name or it could be one
of Paul's fellow laborers who are there on the mission field
who happened to be there at the church that he calls his yoke
fellow and tells him to work with them in my opinion and it's
just an opinion it's perhaps one of the elders in the church
that he's speaking to there's someone in leadership But either
way, whoever it was, it's not really relevant to us, right,
to know who this specifically is. The point being that this
individual was to help work with these women, serving as a means
of counseling and encouraging them toward being able to work
together in unity. These women had gifts. They were
certainly prominent in the life of the church. They served side
by side with the Apostle Paul. And you know, when you have people
who are very active and gifted in many ways, faithful women,
there's a tendency as well, and the enemy would love this, to
cause conflict between them. And so there needs to be, as
well, some counseling and nurturing these women to use their gifts
in the best way, but in such a way that they're growing and
able to work together and give preference to one another. But
before moving on then, I want to leave you with two applications
that we can take from this first exhortation. So we'll be using,
we'll be working through applications with each exhortation in this
particular message. First, notice again Paul describes
Jodea and Syntyche as those who labored side by side with him
in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of his fellow workers
whose names are in the Book of Life. Both of these women were
faithful servants of Christ who diligently labored alongside
of Paul and others. Now, I'm saying this to simply
highlight the fact that faithful Christians with servant's hearts
can come into conflict with each other at times, and they will.
Those who are faithful in the church, there will be the temptation
at times to grow cold or distant to others who are also faithful.
There will be conflict at times when you have people who want
to work because there's going to be different opinions on how best
to accomplish things. In other words, these were not
idle Christian women. These were not inactive pew warmers. These were not gossipers in the
church who were causing problems. These were not troublemakers.
They were women who were anxious to please the Lord. And yet they
had conflictive personalities and ideas and needed to learn
how to work together for the same cause. And so I point all
of this out to say that even among the best of saints, At
times, contention will arise over matters that are amoral,
indicating that learning to apply the principle of esteeming one
another above yourself will and must become a sanctifying pursuit
for all of God's people. Those who are faithful in the
church, those who are laboring hard in the church will be those
who are going to sin against each other in the process of
working for the Lord. And they have to learn how to
work together and to apply these principles. What we've been going
over in Philippians is for all of us, not just for the people
that we would deem to be not really involved in the church
or having some real serious sin issues or whatever it might be.
In this sense, in the Lord and for the greater glory of Christ,
we must learn to come into regular agreement with each other. Notice, Paul doesn't say, and
this is important, Paul doesn't say, well you both obviously
have conflicting personalities, so just stay apart and serve
in different spheres of the church. Isn't that sometimes how people
resolve things in the church? Pastors may come in and say,
well, you don't get along with this one. You just go over there and
you go over there, right? And you'll be OK. And you can
serve the church in that way. He doesn't say, right, the common
phrase, well, you can love that person, but you can't like them.
That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. But you can't like
them. No. He exhorts them to learn to work
together. Deal with the issues in your
heart. Don't separate. Work together as a critical part
of their own sanctification. And that by recalling their common
position in Christ, listen to this, who desires their union
even more than their service. God is more concerned with our
unity and our sanctification than He is with our service.
And believe it or not, it's by our service, our good service
in the church unto the Lord, that the Lord is bringing to
light some of the things in our hearts that need to be addressed.
We need sanctification, so we shouldn't be surprised when we
find good and faithful and active people in the church at odds
at times. And just getting caught up in
the very practical things that they're dealing with is not the
issue God is looking for. That's much less of a concern.
He wants to deal with their hearts and teach them to learn to work
together. That's the bigger issue that he's after. Secondly, by
way of application, We simply note again, the healthy place. for necessary third-party assistance
and counsel, even for faithful believers. Counsel is not merely
for troublemakers. It's not merely for those who
are depressed. It's not merely for those who
are in some kind of sin in the body and need correction. It's
not for those who are struggling in certain ways in their faith. It's not only for weaker or struggling
Christians. It is for good, faithful and
mature brethren as well who desire to grow in Christ. And we all
need to grow in Christ. Needing regular counsel to strengthen
a marriage, to work through challenging offenses, to learn to work with
others that may have conflicting personalities, does not mean
that such individuals are a burden to the church or immature believers. Sometimes we don't want to burden
the church or the pastors and we think like that. We say, well,
I'm expected to be this kind of person in the church. I'm
committed. The pastor knows I'm committed.
And even though I'm struggling and there's some differences
in my marriage right now, or there's some challenges that
I have with this person or that person, I don't want to be a
burden to the church. I don't want to be somebody like
those who others in the body who struggle with these things.
No, we all need counsel. We all need help at times. Very wise, fruitful, and faithful
Christians will all need counsel at times. And humility is required
to recognize that such counsel is not only not a burden and
nothing to be ashamed of, but it's actually very beneficial
for spiritual growth and sanctification. The last I looked in scripture,
every one of us was being sanctified. The last I looked in scripture,
every single one of these principles that are here and all that is
here that teaches us about our need to be sanctified and to
grow applies to every last one of us in this room. We all need
counsel. We all need to come together
and be able to work with those who we can confide in to grow
in the grace and knowledge of Christ. We all need it. And we
need to be humble and seek to receive counsel, which those
who do seek counsel all throughout the Proverbs teach us. They grow
in leaps and bounds, don't they? It's those who seek counsel,
not those who avoid it. Those who kiss rebuke. Those
who desire correction are the ones who grow in significant
ways in Christ. And so that is the first excitation,
excitation to unity. Secondly, The second exhortation
we're going to move into now is an exhortation to rejoice.
Verse four. We see Paul says this again.
Sounds familiar in this book, doesn't it? Rejoice in the Lord
always. Again, I will say rejoice. And
once again. We find Paul touching on that
key essential theme of this entire letter. This has been a key theme
of this letter, calling the brethren again to rejoice. It were as
if Paul just wanted to slip this command in here again, as a means
of ensuring that the Philippians get a thorough dose of the critical
reminder to enjoy, to enjoy their salvation in Christ. Sometimes
as Christians, we can be the most morose people in the entire
world. You say, do we really understand
the gospel? Do we really understand what we are and what we are?
And I'm talking about genuine Christians, right? What we have, what we
are in Christ. And we could walk around with our heads down. And
so Paul is saying, rejoice. Reading through this letter,
you might be tempted to say, why, Paul? Why, again, are you
emphasizing something that you've already beaten to the ground
ad nauseum? Haven't you beat this drum already?
And he's repeating this theme and he does it again even here
in a double way about rejoicing and about joy. But of course
we know it's intentional because again Paul knows, first off,
that they have great reason to constantly rejoice. That's first. Second, that there are many challenges
that will seek to quell our joy. That's a constant battle in the
Christian life. And then thirdly, that our joy
in Christ is the source of great power unto obedience and faithfulness
in Christ. When we are full of joy, we will
be obedient to Christ. We are most suited to be a witness
to others and to show others that we have something precious
that is in our hearts and in our lives that the world cannot
understand. And it gets them to ask, what are you so happy
about? I can remember my father. One
of the things about my dad is that he has always been a very
joyful person. Supernaturally so, by God's grace.
Always smiling. My father was a detective on
a college campus. He was a police officer, detective,
and one day he had to go to trial. Sometimes you have to go to trial
and testify. And so as he went there to testify, the district
attorney the defense attorney, sorry, spoke to him and addressed
him and said, you know, why are you smiling so much? He was trying
to shake him up or something. And my father said, I have a
lot to be happy about. And he had his joy, even in that
trial. Not that he was laughing about
what was going on, but he smiled. He was a happy man. And so Paul
laces this entire letter with direct statements and allusions
to the importance of joy and rejoicing in the Christian life
as a means of constantly urging them forth to this end. And here
he doubly commands it. Not only does he not get tired
of repeating it, he doubly commands his rejoicing the Lord always.
And again, I'm going to say it again, rejoice. And that's a
command. Well, by way of application,
brethren, then, let us simply note that Paul, remember, who
is presently in prison, he is under house arrest. He doesn't
know the outcome of his upcoming trial before Nero. Remember,
we saw that early on in the book. He doesn't know what the outcome
is. He thinks that God will ultimately release him, but he can't guarantee
that and whatever it is. He's happy in Christ, but he
assumes, think about this, he assumes that we can and ought
to strive to rejoice at all times. He's making that assumption here,
isn't he? He would not give the command to always rejoice if
it were something that were not possible at any given time, even
during difficult trials. And he could easily have left
out the word always. He could have just said rejoice.
Be joyful. But if he wanted to limit it
in some sense and to allow for times when there shouldn't be
joy per se or might not be joy, he could have limited the word
always and allow for the fact that there are times when rejoicing
in the Lord would be impossible or unwarranted. But he doesn't
allow for that. And so, brethren, I emphasize this not to come
down on any of us for the times we have lacked joy. I have lacked
joy in my Christian book at times. So I'm not trying to come down.
Every Christian at some time or another in the thick of trial
loses sight or can lose sight of the bigger picture. Perhaps
there are times when you may have even questioned your salvation.
That's a very difficult thing to go through. Good Christians
go through that and it leads them to lack joy. How can you
have joy if you're doubting your salvation? I'm sure that even
the Apostle Paul struggled at times, not necessarily with doubting
his salvation, but with lacking joy. In 2 Corinthians 1.8, he
does speak of a time that he despaired even of life due to
the nature of a trial that he had endured. They despaired even
of life, and I think he's talking about a trial he faced at Ephesus. And sometimes, brethren, this
is important, sometimes we can confuse a lack of happiness or
the presence of sorrow as an indication of having no joy. When in fact, underlying joy
in Christ, joy in the big picture, can still be present alongside
of very deep sorrow. Sorrow that accompanies present
pain or circumstances. I don't think it's unjoyful or
wrong to say that we grieve the condition of our nation. To say
that we look at even this recent debate and there's things about
it that upset us to some extent. Or to see that millions of babies
are being put to death at Planned Parenthood. I don't think that
that's something that we should be happy about, right? Or that
because it grieves us, that means we lack joy. We can have an underlying
joy in Christ and still have a sense of sorrow at the incompletion
of God's finishing this work in this world. To this end, in
fact, the Apostle Peter says in 1 Peter 1, verse 6, he speaks
of rejoicing in their salvation there, even though they were
grieved by various trials at the same time. He talks about,
in this you rejoice, although for a time, if need be, you are
grieved by various trials. Both of them can be together
at the same time. So we're not talking about just
giddiness or happiness. but there's an underlying joy,
a big picture joy that can follow us through at all times, even
present sorrows. All of that said, brethren, I
believe that Paul's point is not to rub our faces in the dirt,
when we fail to rejoice even at all times, but rather he wishes
to call us to the big picture of who we are and of all that
we have in Christ at all times so that we can find joy always
recognizing that all present pains and sorrows are very temporary
and they're fitted for us by God unto a very specific purpose
of forming more of Christ in us. We can find joy at all times
if we call to mind our unchanging identity in Christ as children
of the living God and the fact that every fragment of pain and
sorrow that comes our way is divinely purposed for our good
and our growth in grace. We can rejoice. That's what I'm
saying. I'm not saying we always do, but we can. And so Paul His
second exhortation then is to rejoice always with a repeated
emphasis. Well, we come then to a third
exhortation. We saw the exhortation unto unity.
We saw the exhortation to rejoice always. Thirdly, there's an exhortation
to be gentle, to be reasonable. We find this in verse five. Notice
he says, let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord
is at hand. Now this particular excitation
has to do with approachability and what kind of demeanor we
carry as we interact with a sinfully offensive world. Paul exhorts
the Philippians to act in such a way that would present a smooth
path for sinners of all kinds within and without the church
of everyone to approach them so that everyone would feel comfortable
approaching us. In other words, in order to be
an effective tool of growth for other believers and a gospel
magnet for unbelievers, we have to be approachable. People ought
not to feel like they have to walk on eggshells around us.
And I know that there are Christians, I have experienced this many
times in my walk, who in my walk as a pastor even, you minister
to people and you know the limits that you can take and liberties
with different individuals, and there are some people you really
have to walk on eggshells with. There's a sensitivity there.
There's offenses, and they read into things, and they're defensive,
and so on. Well, Paul tells us here we must be reasonable. That,
as he means, we need to be gentle. We need to be those who are reasonable.
We must be known to be reasonable and gentle. Not just that we
must be it, but we must be known to be those things by others. In other words, regardless of
what we might feel, The perception that others have of us ought
to be a perception of gentleness and approachability. It's not
just saying, well, I think that everybody should feel approachable.
They can approach me freely and should be comfortable with me.
Well, it's good to think that and believe that. But what are
other people saying? Do we see that as the way people see us?
The opposite of this gentle demeanor would be a demeanor that is harsh,
that is rough, that is unreasonable, short-fused, quarrelsome, defensive,
and impatient. And so Paul exhorts, let your
reasonableness or your gentleness be known to everyone. In other
words, let that be one of the key qualities that radiates from
your very character in person. Be conscious about how you present
yourself. and how you respond to people
so that you know that you're responding in a way, even when
there's offense, that they know they would be welcomed to come
back to you and not feel like they could not come near you
in certain ways or under certain circumstances because they know
that they're going to get their head bit off. But then notice,
Paul also provides an essential motivation unto the conscious
pursuit of this end. He adds, the Lord is at hand. Right? Let your reasonableness
be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand. Now, there
are two ways that this can be understood, and I think it would
provide a sufficient understanding for us so that we know what he
means here. There are two different ways that you can understand
this as the Lord is at hand. I tend to lean more toward the
second. But the first is this. Paul could be speaking about
the imminent sense of Christ's return. In other words, we ought
to consciously strive to maintain a consistent spirit of gentleness,
always bringing to mind the fact that Christ's return is near. We're living in light of his
return. To this end, our responses to others are to be governed
by a much bigger picture, in the light of the ultimate end,
rather than the temporal emotional pain that we must endure because
of offenses. Offenses hurt, they trouble us,
but we can endure them because we're thinking of the bigger
picture of Christ's return. But then secondly, there's another
way he may mean this, and this is the way that I tend to lean,
but either way is sufficient. Paul could be speaking about
the fact that while we cannot see God or engage him with our
physical senses, he is always right there. In other words,
he's always close at hand. In this sense, we strive to live
Coram Deo. We strive to live before the
face of God, always conscious of his real presence, which ought
to compel us to strive to adopt the spirit of gentleness at all
times. You don't feel God, you don't
see him there, but we remind ourselves as we react, or as
we speak to others, as we communicate, the demeanor that we present,
we remind ourselves that God is always, always at hand, always
present with us. Well, in either case, Paul's
point is clear. We must arise above all that
is temporal and short-lived in this world, reaching into the
divine will and allowing that to govern how we respond to and
how we interact with others at all times. The world lives as
if everything only has meaning under the sun. And it responds
and acts in that way. We shouldn't be surprised when
people in the world respond in such a way that for them all
that exists and all that means anything is in this life. And
so we shouldn't be surprised. But Christians know and see the
bigger picture. And walking faithfully with Christ,
day by day, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, Christians
ought to rise above the sun, and behind all that is immediately
seen and felt, into the heavenly places, so as to walk according
to the Spirit's leading, and not according to the flesh. The
Christian knows that there are other factors at play here. that
there's a sovereign God who is at work here, that there is a
coming return of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that most people
are unsaved and are living within the context of a heart that has
fallen. And so we know better. And thereby,
We are to strive to respond to all people and providential circumstances
in a way that exemplifies our fear of God. And so Paul exhorts,
let your reasonableness, your gentleness be known to everyone. Always recalling that the Lord
is at hand. Fourthly then, the fourth and
last exhortation that we'll be looking at this morning. We saw
the exhortation unto unity, the exhortation to rejoice at all
times, And then the exhortation to be gentle or to be reasonable
at all times. Fourthly, there's an exhortation
not to be anxious. Look at verses six and seven.
Do not be anxious about anything. But in everything, by prayer
and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known
to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses
all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in
Christ Jesus. And so here the Apostle exhorts
the Philippians not to be anxious about anything. And he follows
this command up with a beneficial recourse. In other words, he
follows it up with a helpful means of quelling any temptation
toward anxiety because he knows that anxiety is crippling and
counterproductive. Anxiety cripples us. It keeps
us from doing what we ought to be doing in the present. most
more often than not because we're living in the past or the future. Indeed, anxiety generally brings
us to worry about things that are beyond our control, especially
concerning possible future outcomes. all of which ultimately belong
to God. We're worried about things we
can't control. Well, this being the case, what happens with anxiety
is we become paralyzed and ineffective in the present, which is where
we are useful to God. And so Paul exhorts, do not be
anxious about anything. I want you to notice here something
we've seen in particularly these last three exhortations. Once
again, we find Paul using this universal language here, as he's
been using with the two previous exhortations as well. And he
does this because we serve a God who leaves us no reason to ever
waver in any of these commands. This is not to say that we don't
ever waver, but we don't have to. In other words, God provides
everything we need in himself to rejoice always, right? He
used the word always there, rejoice always. He also provides everything
that we need so that we can let our reasonableness be known to
everyone, right? Again, he's using universal language
there, always, everyone, and not to be anxious about anything,
right? Paul takes us to the limits in
all three. of these exhortations. Well,
in recognition of God's all-sovereignty and in the certainty of His ability
and determination to rule over the future as He has ruled over
the past and as He rules over the present, we never truly have
anything to be anxious about ever. because he will direct
all outcomes both to the achievement of our good and his glory. God will direct all outcomes. We can concentrate on faithfully
serving God in the present because no matter how confused we are
about the future, it is entirely secure by the one whose will
must and will be done. We can focus on the present,
and that's the way God wants us. Anxiety is about control. It's about fearing the things
that are beyond our control. Anxiety exists because there's
a sense in which we want to be God, in directing all the outcomes
of things we're not sure about. We want all the answers now.
But knowing that we are in covenant with the Eternal God who is our
Heavenly Father, knowing that this is our Father's world, compels
us to leave all of the unknowns with the One who is all-knowing
and all-sovereign, which is where our present peace is always derived
from, as Paul is about to affirm. Right? Anxiety is generally about
the unknowns, what we don't know. We don't know where this is going
to lead. We don't know the outcome here. We don't understand this.
Well, we can trust in the one who knows all things, and who
is all sovereign. And furthermore, whatever the
future immediately holds for us, and that for our certain
good, we know the ultimate end of the story, don't we? When
the dust of this entire history settles, Christ will reign with
his people forever in a kingdom where there are no more tears,
sorrow, pain, or death. God has given us the end of the
story. We have to get there and he's
working us in our lives to get us there. He's directing our
paths, but we know the end of where this is going. And so Paul
commands, do not be anxious about anything, but in everything,
anything, everything, right? Again, he's using that universal
language. By prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. Rather
than being anxious about anything, notice, in everything without
limit, by means of prayer and supplication, we can access God
with all of our requests. And we do this, when Paul says
to seek God and lay our requests before Him, we do this not to
inform God about anything, as if He doesn't already know all
things, but rather to consciously commit and put all of our burdens
concerning the known and the unknown into His hands by faith,
entrusting the whole of our lives to the God who loves us, who
is in covenant with us and is able to use every page of passing
history as a tool of accomplishing his good and glorious will in
and by us. We commit it all to him. We have nothing to fear. To borrow,
in fact, and sanctify a very common phrase that is often presumptually
used in our day. You've heard it used many times
where somebody says, don't worry, I got this. Right? We've heard
that. somewhat of a presumptuous thing to say, and I'm not saying
it's terribly wrong when people say that and what they mean by
that. But we can say God has got this, whatever this is at
all times, we can say that. And so we have nothing to fear,
especially as we prayerfully committed to God. And then notice
how this remedies the anxiety. Notice how this remedies the
anxiety. In verse seven, Paul concludes, right, as we cast
our cares upon God, In everything we bring to Him in prayer and
thanksgiving. And we don't be anxious about anything. Notice.
And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard
your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. And so here then is the
remedy. As we commit our lives to God,
as we make our requests known to Him concerning those matters
that are beyond our control, His peace, that is God's peace,
which is authentic, certain, and eternally secure, it quells
our anxieties, and our worries, and our fears. The world does
not give us peace, but in Christ we have peace. Notice how the
apostle describes God's peace in such a way that ought to greatly
motivate us to receive his overall exhortation. Listen to how he
describes the peace of God. He describes it as a peace which
passes all understanding. The peace of God which passes
all understanding. Now what is this peace of God
which passes all understanding? Well, I want to suggest to you
that this piece proceeds both out of what the scriptures teach
us about how God relates to us. It comes from what the scriptures
say about how God relates to us, and also out of real divine
power that is exercised toward us as we prayerfully cast our
burdens upon Him. When we cast our burdens upon
Him, we have the assurance of the scriptures, but God meets
our faith with His blessing. He provides us with peace. And it is beyond understanding
because it's something that the unregenerate world could never
comprehend. It could never understand. And because even for the Christian,
being able to fearlessly face whatever lies ahead becomes an
experience that cannot even be completely explained. Because
it is clear that real divine power has met us, empowering
us to face what we know we could never face in our own strength.
How many times as a Christian did you have to, you got to the
place where you had to give it to the Lord and you were digging
your nails in for a while. You wanted to have control and
you wanted that absolute certainty about something, but you gave
it to the Lord and you found this peace and you just couldn't
even explain it. It was beyond understanding.
God had given you that peace. I believe He does that through
His Word, but I believe there's also power exercised where He
provides us with peace by His Spirit. First then, we notice
again how it proceeds, this peace, out of what the Scriptures teach
us about how God relates to us. I want to comment on these two
things. How God exercises divine power and how we get it from
the scriptures. So it proceeds out of what the scriptures teach
us about how God relates to us. We have nothing to fear ever
about what may or may not happen in the future because God's word
covers all possibilities. And for God, all possibilities
are divine certainties. Nothing is just simply a possibility
with God. Everything for him is a certainty.
And in union with Christ, we find a perfect and impenetrable
refuge, guaranteed that nothing touches us whatsoever, not a
speck of dust even, unless it is a necessary tool of providence
ordained to shape us more and more into the image of Christ. The unfolding of our lives is
the unfolding of God's perfect love plan for us in Christ. And this reality provides us
with a peace that passes all understanding and which none
who are outside of Christ could ever begin to grasp unless they
are brought into Christ themselves. through the gospel. It is the
perfect peace of an all-holy God directed toward imperfect
but redeemed sinners in, by, and for Christ. And in that sense
It passes all understanding. It's the unfolding, everything
that's gonna happen tomorrow and next week and next year and
years to come. For however God has you on this
earth is all limited to God's perfect love plan for us in Christ. It's guaranteed. But then secondly,
this peace proceeds firstly out of scripture, but it also proceeds
out of real divine power that is exercised toward us as we
prayerfully cast our burdens upon him by faith. By faith we
access divine power, and as we prayerfully cast our fears, our
worries, and our burdens upon God, As we relinquish our obsessions
over things we cannot control, delivering them over to God and
moving forward, we will access a peace that cannot be fully
understood or explained. All we know and can say is that
God has intervened, taking away our burden, allowing us to rest
in him no matter what divine providence may bring our way.
Now, we've seen this, haven't we, throughout our lives? We've
seen it in the lives of others. How many times have you seen
someone who's gone through a devastating trial? Maybe they lost loved
ones unexpectedly, or whatever it might be. And they're good
Christian folks who love the Lord. And you see this, you speak
to them, and you're saying, how can these people not be unwound? How can they not be just in a
corner, unable to get off the floor? But then you find them
saying, you know, God has somehow comforted me through this. I
can't even explain it, but he's given me comfort. He's given
me some grace in this to endure. And I can't even label it perfectly,
but I know he's done it. And so. As we prayerfully make
our requests known to God, expressing our faith and confidence in Him
by further giving Him thanks for what He will do. Don't want
to miss that in this passage, right? We make our requests known
to Him. We do that easily, don't we?
Giving thanks to Him. That's assuming that we're trusting
that whatever He does and all that He does is right and proper
and we can thank Him for that. We give Him thanks for what He
will do in accordance with His perfect will for our good and
for His glory. Isn't it a wonderful thing to
know? Sometimes we think about that. We say, well, that's for
God's glory, but that might not be for our good. Well, if you're
a Christian, your good always runs parallel with God's glory.
God glorifies himself at all times, and if you're a Christian,
that will always be for your greatest good as well. His peace passes all understanding,
we're told, and notice it will guard our hearts and our minds. in Christ Jesus. This profound,
glorious peace of God, provided both theologically by all that
is written in the Word of God and in the present exercise of
divine power, not only serves to comfort the heart and the
mind of all believers, but it further serves to guard to protect
their hearts and minds as well in Christ Jesus. In other words,
it preserves us from the attacks of the enemy and from the weakness
of the flesh so that our hearts remain steadfast and true to
Christ and our minds do not depart from the Gospel and sound doctrine
as we face any and all opposition that arises on the path ahead. God is preserving us. He is guarding
our minds and our hearts in Christ Jesus as we put our cares upon
Him. He will not allow us to go astray. He will not allow us to be attacked
in such a way that our faith will be moved. To be sure, anxiety
and fear, left unchecked, will often compel individuals to abandon
the truth. and to compromise their faith
as a means of striving towards self-preservation. When we rely
on ourselves, we don't cast our cares on the Lord, we don't cast
our worries on the Lord, and we want to rely on ourselves,
that will be something that will lead to self-preservation and
often leads those who are not truly in Christ to reveal their
true colors. The professing Christian in profession
alone, who is in truth a hypocrite, will often be exposed during
those times of trial. Indeed, opposition and tribulation
lead them to be withered by the heat of trials, compelling them
to apostatize because they have no genuine root in Christ. Remember
the parable of the four soils. The soil that has no genuine
root, right? It's through opposition and persecution
and trials that ultimately they are, they wither away from the
faith. But that is not the case for
the believer. In Christ, those who are in Christ
are kept. And he perseveres, they persevere
through all trial, having their hearts and minds protected by
the one with whom they truly relate to by faith. God's peace
goes with them and preserves them in Christ Jesus and they
finish the race. That's why in Christ Jesus is
important. They are rooted and grounded
in Christ. They are in union with Him. And
so they will finish the race. All in all, as they cast themselves
upon God and His grace, His peace, which passes all understanding,
leads them to overcome all of their anxieties and they endure
to the end. having been purified by the very
fire that threatened to harm them. I just want to close with
you now by reading, I want to read Psalm 23 and then just give
a summary conclusion. Steps. It'll be very quick. Psalm
23. Psalm 23 is a wonderful psalm because it reminds us of the
sheep, the defenseless sheep. Right. Sheep could be very terrified,
fearful and dumb in many ways. But when you have a good shepherd
who lays down his life for the sheep, you can you can go forward
without fear. Right. And live and eat and have
peace in him. Psalm 23. We've heard it many
times. Let's hear it again in this context of not being anxious
for anything, but casting our cares on the Lord. The Lord is
my shepherd. I shall not want. I will not
lack anything. There's no reason for anxiety
or fear. He'll provide. I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside
still waters. He restores my soul. He leads
me in paths of righteousness for his namesake. Even though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, that's a
pretty fearful place, isn't it? I will fear no evil because you
are with me. Your rod for discipline and your
staff for guidance, they comfort me. You prepare a table before
me, right? I'm able to eat a meal, which
is a place of rest and peace, right? In the presence of my
enemies. You know, when you're anxious,
what can't you do, right? What's the best diet out there?
Anxiety, right? You can't eat when you're anxious.
Well, you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil. My cup overflows. Surely, goodness
and mercy shall follow me. We don't follow goodness and
mercy, it follows us. All the days of my life and I
will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Well, brethren,
this far we have considered four of Paul's closing exhortations. An exhortation unto unity, an
exhortation to rejoice, an exhortation to be reasonable, to be gentle,
and an exhortation not to be anxious. Next time, Lord willing,
we'll consider his two final exhortations, an exhortation
to meditate on things that are honorable and good, and an exhortation
to follow the teachings and practices of the apostle. May God give
us grace to take hold of these truths, these exhortations ourselves,
as we all need them. Paul didn't just randomly say,
let me just throw these exhortations out there. These are so relevant
and practical and necessary for each and every one of us. May
God give us the grace to lay hold of them. and to put them
into practice in our lives and in the church. Let's let's pray.
Father, we give you thanks for your word. We thank you for these
excitations which have universal implications, Father, as we find
that we can or we have the right to rejoice always at all times,
that we can have a reasonable and gentle demeanor. In the in
the presence of all people, no matter how offensive they may
be to us, no matter what we may face, we can have that approachable
spirit that is gentle and reasonable and that we can be anxious, not
we can avoid being anxious, Lord, at all times and in everything
we can bring our our our fears before you, confident that you
will guard our hearts and minds in Christ. Father, we thank you
for these words. that are to be embraced by faith.
And we ask that you would enable us to lay hold of them by faith,
to apply them in our lives. And Lord, we ask again for those
who are in this room who do not know you, who do not have your
peace, who have every right to be anxious because they have
a fearful path ahead of them. They don't know what a day will
bring. They don't know when they will step into your presence
and when their last breath will be. We ask that you would bring
them to the place of rest and peace in Christ. lead them to
turn from their sins and to believe into Christ so that they might
be saved. Oh, Father, hear our prayers. We pray in Christ's
name. Amen.
Do Not Be Anxious About Anything
Series Philippians
| Sermon ID | 91624229541298 |
| Duration | 56:46 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Philippians 4:2-7 |
| Language | English |
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