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.