"Into the Word: Philippians: Part 4" by Hiram Kemp

the feeling like I'm leaving something behind, I'm forgetting to do something? That ever

happen to you before? Well, tonight I was walking in this building and Nadia said,

are we going to have a handout tonight? And that's when I realized we're not

going to have a handout tonight because I forgot. So yeah, that's all I can

tell you about that. But we do got the PowerPoint up there,

and Randy made sure that it's not in hieroglyphics or it's not weird.

So if you can write it down, you'll have a handout tonight.

Some of you are with us for the first time, some of our college students.

We've been doing a study we simply call Into the Word on Sunday

nights. We've done this at Lehman, but this is our first time doing it at

Cumberland Trace. Just an in-depth Bible study on Sunday nights, and Neil and I have

been walking through the book of Philippians together, and this is the last

class. This is the last night. So if you have your Bible, go ahead and

turn to Philippians chapter 4. We've said throughout these studies that

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

the major idea, the major thrust behind the book of Philippians is this

idea of Christians enjoying life or experiencing

joy through selfless service and sacrifice. And throughout the book of

Philippians, Paul has, yes, talked about joy, which the book of Philippians

is famous for, but he's talked about how to have and experience joy through

this selfless sacrifice and putting others above self. And you can

think about some of the things we've already talked about throughout the book. So chapter

1, he talks about himself as an example, And he tells us, make sure your

life, Philippians 1:27, is consistent with the gospel of

Philippians 1:27

Christ, that whether I come and see you or else be absent, I'll hear of

your affairs. You stand fast in one spirit, striving together for the faith

of the gospel. In chapter 2, he says, I want you to work out your

salvation together as a group, but he lifts up Jesus as an example and

Timothy, and he mentions Epaphroditus. And last week,

Neil talked about chapter 3, and he does several things in chapter 3 about how

to have joy through selfless service, but primarily Paul says,

avoid the bad examples of the false teachers.

Consider my life and everything I gave up to follow Jesus,

and I want you to do the very same thing. And now tonight, Philippians 4,

Paul basically puts all of that together and he talks about this

is how you overcome roadblocks that would try to get in your way of

everything that I've said so that you can experience true joy.

Now I'm just going to be upfront and honest with you tonight. What we're going

to talk about tonight is somewhat challenging. It's going to be difficult. And I don't

know, you probably get somewhere— maybe there are a few places today that we

know how to get to by heart. A lot of times we're using our GPS,

and if you put an address in, in your GPS— well, Apple Maps

does this for sure— it's going to give you more than one way to get

there. One way to avoid highways, another way to avoid tolls.

But the primary thing most of us are looking for when we put in an

address for a description on how to get to a certain place is we

want to know what What's the fastest route to get there? Just show me the

quickest way and then I'll get there. And we normally do that. As it relates

to joy, we probably think the same thing. If I was to say

tonight, who wants joy in this class? Every one of us would say we want

joy. The truth is though, and Paul's going to talk about this in chapter 4

tonight, when you type in joy in the spiritual GPS,

God only gives one route and it's always the hard way.

There's no shortcuts. There's no fastest route. The roadblocks Paul's

going to talk about in Philippians 4 are all challenging and they're all difficult,

but if we want want it. And God has wired us in such a way

that we should and that we do. We're going to have to take the difficult

route and we're going to have to take the hard road, but the end result,

as Paul's going to lay out, is for our betterment and our good,

and we should be glad about that. So simply tonight, I'm going to make

3 moves in Philippians that I think Paul does to talk about how to overcome

some of these roadblocks, and then the class will be yours. Let's start with

the first one. Number 1, it's in Philippians 4:1-3. And the first thing

Philippians 4:1–3

we've got to do to overcome roadblocks on our way to joy is resolve conflict.

Ephesians— Philippians 4, excuse me, starting in verse 1,

Paul says, therefore, my brothers whom I love, my joy

and my crown, whom I love and long for, my joy and my crown,

stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved. I entreat

Euodia 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. So, first things first, Paul starts

out by saying, therefore, kind of hinging 2 things together. The way Paul uses

therefore in Philippians 4:1, he's looking back and

Philippians 4:1

he's looking forward. So, when he says therefore, yes, he's summarizing everything he's already said,

especially what he had previously said right before this. So, look in

your Bible, Philippians 3:20-21, our citizenship is

Philippians 3:20–21

in heaven, From heaven we look for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

He's going to change this lowly body, and he's going to fashion it like his

glorious body according to the working by which he's able to subdue all

things to himself. So Paul's saying, hey, because that's true about you, you're getting

a new body, your citizenship is in heaven, therefore— and he's going

to lay out some things. But he's also looking forward to some things he's about

to say to these Christians about resolving a certain conflict. And notice

how he starts off in verse 1. Therefore, because all of this is true,

my brothers whom I love and long for, my joy and my crown,

stand firm thus in the Lord, my dearly beloved. Here's a question,

and you can probably already see it in verses 2 and 3, and we'll

talk more in detail about this in a moment. Paul's about to talk about a

strong conflict and an issue taking place in this church.

And I know in our minds we think the church at Philippi— joy,

happiness, harmony. But not necessarily.

Paul wrote to them to get to that point, but they had some issues and

some things to deal with. And in verses 2 and 3, Paul's going to talk

to them about how to fix it and how to figure it out. But here's

my question, looking at verse 1: why does Paul start out with,

in verse 1, all of these words and these statements about

his adoration and love and concern for these Christians? So just look at

a few of them. First, he says they're his brothers, talking about the spiritual relationship.

Brethren, brothers and sisters. Then what else does he say? My brethren,

and then what else? Whom I love,

and then what else? Who I long for.

He desires these Christians. He said in chapter 1, and then later on,

I hope to be released from prison in chapter 2 and see you. So,

who I long for, what else? Joy and crown,

and lastly, he says, my dearly beloved.

Here's my question. If Paul's going to talk to these Christians about some issues that

they need to resolve, Why not just get right to it? Why does Paul start

out with all of these adjectives of praise and adoration and

expressing his love and concern for the Philippians? Why would he start out

like this right before he's about to ask them to do a very difficult thing?

They're going to listen to him. Yes, he hopes that they will for sure.

Miss Kim, yeah, he wants them to listen to what he's saying.

What I'm about to say, I'm saying it out of love for you. Absolutely.

He wants to know that they're not doing everything wrong. What was that? They're not

doing everything wrong. He wants them to know they're not doing everything wrong. Paul had

a habit of doing this even with the Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians, he talks about

all the things they're doing, and then he says, hey, by the way, I want

you to know, I know you obey me in all things. And you're just thinking,

I just read 9 chapters about how terrible the Corinthians are doing. What does Paul

mean in all things? But Paul wanted them to know they're not doing everything wrong.

What else? Soften the blow. Yeah, he wants to

soften the blow. Paul is always doing this. I think Paul has 2 ideas in

addition to everything we said here as he leads leads out in chapter 4 this

way. First, Paul is always trying to encourage people through

positive reinforcement. Paul uses what you might call the sandwich method

in most of his epistles. Galatians is probably the only exception.

Paul will start out praising people for something good,

then he will talk about the problem at hand, and then he'll follow

that up with more praise. But Paul also does this

because he wants the Philippians to know, I'm about to ask you to do something

very challenging. But I believe in you.

He did this when he wrote to Philemon. You remember the book of Philemon,

one chapter book written around this same time as a prison epistle. And essentially

he's telling Philemon, you've got to receive Onesimus back as a brother into full fellowship.

And after he tells him a host of things in Philemon verse 21,

he says, by the way, I know you and you'll do more than I say.

He tells the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 3 and verse 8, now we

live if you stand fast in the Lord. If I get a good report about

you It makes me happy. It makes me pleased. And Paul believed,

hey, I believe you all can do this. What I'm about to ask you to

do, the way I'm about to challenge you spiritually, you're my longed for, you're my

joy and crown, you're my dearly beloved. I think you can do this. And he

wanted them to know, I believe in you, and through positive reinforcement,

I think you will accomplish the task. Now, let's deal with the issue at hand.

It's in verse 2. He says, I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to

agree in the Lord. Now, these 2 women are mentioned by name. Again,

sometimes we think the church at Philippi, no problems.

But evidently, these 2 women, only mentioned here in the New Testament,

were at odds with each other. Here's what we don't know.

We don't know what they were at odds with each other about. We don't

know what the squabble was about or what the problem was, but we do know

that they were at odds. And what Paul does in verse 2 is he uses

a word he often uses throughout the New Testament to call

somebody alongside. This word parakaleo, it means to call alongside.

I urge you, I entreat you. But here's what's unique about it

in Philippians 4 and verse 2. This is the only place I know of in

the whole Greek New Testament where Paul uses it twice in the same verse.

And if you notice how he does this in verse 2, he says, I entreat

you, and I entreat you. Basically, Paul's saying, I'm telling you, and I'm

telling you, y'all need to fix it. I love this. Why do you think Paul

uses 2? Paul's not taking sides. You could

say Paul's taking strides, not sides. Like, hey, let's take strides to fix this.

Paul doesn't care who's right because at all that

there's an issue between these 2 sisters, they're both already wrong.

In 1 Corinthians 6, he was talking about these Christians taking each other to court,

and he says in verse 7, 1 Corinthians 6:7, to have lawsuits

1 Corinthians 6:7

at all among yourselves is already a defeat for you. The fact that these 2

sisters are at odds Paul says this is just bad for Christianity and

it's bad for the church at Philippi. Paul says, I entreat Euodia and

I entreat Syntyche, both of you need to fix it and get it together.

Evidently, they were prominent women in the church. I mean, just imagine being them.

The New Testament's written, Paul's writing this letter, Epaphroditus brings it

to you, gathered in an assembly much like tonight. You start reading

through the book and you hear your name called, and the only time you're mentioned

in the New Testament is because the Holy Spirit wants to bring up Hey,

you need to get your act together. It's similar to Diotrephes in 3 John

10 and 11. His name's mentioned and it's not for anything good.

He's causing trouble in the church. These 2 women, they need to solve

it. All right, just look at verses 2 and 3 and I want you to

tell me, just nobody give them all, okay? One at a time.

Verses 2 and 3, what does Paul say or what kind

of devices does he use to try to help them fix this problem?

So I urge Ioudia, I urge or I entreat Syntyche, and then

what does he do? What do you see in these 2 verses that Paul is

aiming at to try to get them to come to a point of harmony?

Just whatever you see, point it out.

They've been harmonious before?

Okay, what else? What does he mention here that you think as a

literary device Paul said, hey, I want y'all to fix it, and if you think

about these things, it'll help you do it.

Agree in the Lord. That's first. You're both in Christ together.

First thing Paul says is agree together in the Lord.

Sometimes you might think to yourself, well, I don't like this person.

Well, I got good news for you. The Bible never commands you to like anybody,

but you got to love everybody, right? So agree in the Lord. If you actually

agree in the Lord, that'll solve it. First thing Paul says is think about the

Lord. That matters because when we're in conflict with each other We've

got to start asking ourselves, what wouldn't I do for Jesus?

See, there's a lot of things I wouldn't like to do and you wouldn't like

to do, but when you start talking about Jesus and you start saying, I really

don't want to, I don't feel like, but what if it's in the

Lord? What if Jesus was standing here and saying, now, hey, I know you hadn't

gone their way in 2 months, but would you do it for me? Could you

do it for Jesus? I entreat Ioudia and Syntyche,

Be of the same mind in the Lord. This is not Paul's request,

really. It's not from Paul. It's from God. First thing he says is agree in

the Lord. What else? Look at verse 3. He says they labor

together. Yeah, and I think that's what Roger was talking about. They've worked together before.

He's reminding them about times of previous harmony. What else? He also

asks the others to— he implores the others to help these 2.

Exactly. So I asked Grant after he read the Scripture, was he going to sit

in the splash zone? And he said yes, and now he's coming to my aid.

That's right. Yeah. He asked these others. What others?

Look at verse 3. He says, I ask, or I entreat

you also, true companion. The old King James has, I entreat you also,

true yoke fellow. We don't know who this person was, but Paul says, I want

you 2 to fix it. And then he calls somebody else in. He says,

I'm asking you to help these women who labor with me in the gospel

and with Clement. And then he says, with the rest of my fellow laborers.

So these 2 women are at odds. Paul says, you're in the Lord together.

But sometimes 2 people are never going to fix it themselves.

And so Paul says, hey, true yoke fellow, true companion, whoever this

person was in the church at Philippi, they knew who they were. And Paul says,

hey, I really need you to step up and help me and Clement

and the rest of the fellow laborers. Who could be who? The rest of

the church at Philippi. And then he says, this is the last thing I noticed,

whose names are in the Book of Life. That's Revelation 20 and verse 15.

Paul's saying, hey, if you plan to go to heaven together, your names are in

the Book of Life together, you should try to fix this because

I want you to be in harmony. Conflict hinders congregational

unity and joy. But what Grant said is very important.

Maybe— have you ever been in a congregation? Don't point at anybody, okay? But have

you ever been in a congregation where 2 people have been at odds? I mean,

2 influential people that, hey, both of these people contribute

a great deal to the kingdom, and right now they're not seeing eye to eye.

And what can happen in those moments— and maybe it's not happening here right now,

now, but I want you to put Philippians 4 in your back pocket for

if and when that day ever comes. What normally happens, unless the Holy

Spirit intervenes through passages like this and Spirit-led people, what's bound to happen

is people start getting in their camps and people start picking sides.

And if it ever happens here, rather than be a pot stirrer,

we should be a heart stirrer. Paul says, I entreat you and

you, I want you to fix it. But everybody else that's just sort of looking

around, everybody else that's just sort of maybe just cheering it on,

boosting up the fight, being ears to hear hear the gossip. He says,

hey, you have a responsibility to help them fix this. You see,

Paul could— and sometimes in hardship and conflict we bury our head

in the sand, but Paul was able to confront it. And he says, I want

you guys to get on the same page, and I'm hoping that the congregation will

help you do the very same thing. I entreat you also, true yoke fellow,

help these women which labor with me, because their names are also

in the Book of Life. But there is a challenge to fixing conflict.

Let me ask you a question. Just think about this intellectually in

your family, but primarily about the church. Have you ever been at odds with another

Christian? Shake or nah? Have you ever been at odds with another Christian?

And have you ever been at odds to the point where it's like, you know

what? I'm just not speaking to them. They're not speaking to me.

And maybe you don't even know what you did. You don't know what they did,

but you've been at odds and it can kind of start boiling and you get

to the point where you come to the assembly and you don't even want to

go their way. Or you start avoiding them, and this just kind of builds

up. What makes it hard to fix conflict once it starts? Listen,

I told you to start out— there's no easy way in this. This is the

difficulty. The pathway to joy leads— you've got to go right through,

I got to resolve conflict. If I want joy in my life, I've got to

resolve conflict. That doesn't mean dig up dead bones and issues,

but it does mean resolve conflict. But what makes it difficult?

What's one of the challenges to fixing conflict?

Pride. We make our issue— we single

our issue out and make it bigger than the goal of unity

in the body. I think that's a great point. Ian says we single out our

issue and we make it bigger than the goal of the body. We're just focused

on ourselves. Several people said pride. That's a cheating answer.

That just ends it all. That's really it. That's the heart of it. Joey?

Put somebody else's interest sometimes above your own. Putting somebody else's

interest above your own. Anybody else?

Who said it's uncomfortable? Yeah, sometimes you hadn't done anything

wrong, see, and I think some of the struggle can be,

I went last time, I'm not going. I said something first last time and,

you know, I don't even know what I did. I feel like they're acting funny.

I don't know what happened, but I'm just getting in my little corner. Or,

you know what, they started with me, they did it to me first, and it's

what everybody said right off the— right out of the gate. Is pride. How do

you know you haven't done anything wrong? And maybe you haven't, but Proverbs 18:17

Proverbs 18:17

says, he that is first in his own cause seems just until his neighbor

comes and examines him. You might think you hadn't done anything wrong and later find

out that you have. But if we're going to be God's people, we've got to

engage in resolving conflict. And this is what Paul's telling the Philippians.

This is one of the roadblocks on the pathway to joy that we've got to

overcome. Lucky enough for us, we're blessed. The New Testament gives

a host of passages, and I want to look at some of these quickly before

we move on to number 2. About how to address conflict as a Christian.

So I'm not gonna spend a great deal of time in any of these,

but hold your hand in Philippians, go to Matthew 5. I just wanna show you

some of these. You know them, but Matthew 5 is the first one. Jesus in

the Sermon on the Mount is talking about worship, and he says

something that's pretty interesting about when you're in conflict with other people, where the

priorities should lie. And it's important that you see these passages because Jesus

is gonna talk about what you should do when you're in the wrong and what

you should do when you're in the right. And just as a spoiler alert,

both times Jesus says, if you're my disciple, you should be going across

the fence first. But they never come if you belong to Jesus. That's why this

whole— Neil mentioned agree in the Lord. That's why it starts there. Because whether

or not you did anything wrong or not isn't the question. The question is,

do you belong to Jesus Christ? And if you do, you go first. Look at

Matthew 5:23. He says, so if you're offering your gift at the

Matthew 5:23

altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you,

leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled

to your brother and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with

your accuser while you're going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over

to the judge, the judge to the guard, and you'll be put in prison.

Truly I say to you, you'll never get out until you've paid the last penny.

What does Jesus say here? If you're on your way to worship, to the altar,

and there you remember somebody else has a problem with you, he says,

Stop. Don't offer the worship. Go and get it fixed and then come

back, because you can't be on good terms with God and on bad terms with

his people at the same time. It's that big a deal. God doesn't want your

worship if you know there's an outstanding issue. Sometimes we

say this, we get in a conflict and we're like, you know what, I'm just

going to come to church, sit on my pew, mind my business. That is the

unbiblical response. I'm just going to dig in, just me and

the Lord. And God's saying, no, we're not. Sometimes what we need is not down

the aisle, it's across the aisle. And when it comes to repentance,

sometimes it's not, God, I've sinned, it's, hey, me and this person have got to

get it together. And until that happens, our worship is not acceptable

to God if there's known conflict that we just won't resolve. Look at Matthew 18.

Matthew 18, Jesus is talking about specifically a personal

sin against a brother. In Matthew 18:15, he says, if your brother sins

Matthew 18:15

against you, Go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.

If he listens to you, you've done what? Gained your brother.

It can stop right there, but if he won't, take one or two others along

with you that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or

three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church,

and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you

as a Gentile and as a tax collector. Here's a question: what's wrong with Matthew

Matthew 18:15–17

18:15-17?

Nothing. But we don't trust Jesus.

When a problem comes, Jesus says, go to him. You go to Brother

A. You know who we go to? Brother Z. We skip

the whole alphabet. We go to everybody else. We start getting people on our side.

We can call it getting advice, but it's not the plot or the plan.

Like I said, maybe right now this is not applicable, but it will be

in our lives at some point. And the question will be, do we trust Jesus?

Do we really want joy? And if we do, Jesus says, go tell

them one-on-one and you probably solve it right then and there. But if they don't

listen, then follow these steps. Every time we deviate from this plan,

we mess up what Jesus is talking about as far as harmony and peace.

And maybe for a lot of us, the greatest spiritual battle we face is not

some egregious immoral sin, but it's the inability to listen to Jesus in

times of conflict and follow these steps and patterns. We say, listen,

I'm not going to tell anybody else, but I don't care what they say.

I'm telling you. And Jesus says, don't do that. Because every time you

do that, you break the cord of unity and resolving conflict and having

peace and harmony that God wants us to. Ephesians 4:1-3, we won't turn to

Ephesians 4:1–3

all these for time's sake, but Paul says there, endeavor to keep the unity of

the Spirit in the bond of peace. That means literally do whatever it takes to

stay unified in the bond of peace. Romans 12:18, I do want to turn to

Romans 12:18

that one. Go to Romans 12:18. Romans 12:18.

Romans 12:18 Romans 12:18

Again, all of these are passages about conflict resolution, and on the pathway to

joy, it's one of the roadblocks we've got to overcome. He says, if it's possible,

so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

And the reason why I have a question mark next to Romans 12:18 is

Romans 12:18

because I want to know, what about this first part in Romans 12:18?

Romans 12:18

If it's possible, so far as it depends on you. Why does Paul preface it

with that? If it's possible, as much as it depends on you.

Might not be possible. What, what else?

So what'd you say, Gary? Sometimes it just doesn't depend on

you. I mean, maybe you're familiar with Gary Chapman and the 5 love languages.

You know those, right? Quality time, physical touch. Well, sometimes there's a

6th love language, and some people, for them, it's just fighting. Some people

don't feel loved unless they're fighting, and they're just gonna fight you too. They'll start

a fight. They don't, they don't feel loved unless they're arguing. And for those people,

in that case, guess what? It doesn't matter what you do. Sometimes it

doesn't depend on you, and we've got to know when it's time to say,

okay, I've done all I can do. And then last one,

Hebrews 12 and verse 14. Let's look at that one.

Hebrews 12 and verse 14. Hebrews 12:14,

Hebrews 12:14

he says, strive for peace with everyone and

for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

So the Holy Spirit makes this a Judgment

Day gatekey issue. If you don't get this right and holiness, you won't

see the Lord. And so when there's conflict among brethren, you can't sweep it under

the rug. Paul is saying to these Christians on the pathway to joy,

iodeia and sentike, resolve conflict. And sometimes

we don't have joy in our lives because we say, well, I'm not confrontational,

I don't like conflict. And I think that's most people. I think that's biblical.

But we also don't like conflict resolution. And one of the greatest gifts

you can give yourself in life, and young people need to hear this as early

as they can, one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself in life

is the ability to learn how to skillfully and wisely have

hard conversations. The earlier you learn that lesson, it's inevitable,

it's going to happen, but people that say, I just don't like doing that,

I'd rather get a root canal than do that, I don't want to have that

difficult conversation, the earlier we learn how to have hard conversations

wisely and skillfully, where we can disagree or confront the issue

at hand and walk away peacefully and in harmony, the better off we'll

be. And Jesus is telling us through Philippians 4:1-3, you can't

Philippians 4:1–3

have joy without it. You've got to be able to resolve conflict, especially when

it's among brethren. And that's the first roadblock to overcome. Here's number 2.

It involves getting our minds right. Philippians 4:4-9.

Philippians 4:4–9

These are some of the most well-known verses in the book of Philippians, but I

think seeing them in their context, helps us to appreciate him even more. Starting in

verse 4, Paul says, rejoice in the Lord always, and again

I'll 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 heart and your minds in

Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true,

whatever is honorable, whatever is just, Whatever is pure, whatever is

lovely, whatever is commendable, if there's any excellence, if there's

anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these

things, and the God of peace will be with you. So maybe this doesn't,

this doesn't surprise you, but on this journey to joy,

one of the things you've got to do, you could just summarize verses 4 through

9 this way, is you've got to make sure you get your mind in the

right place. And Paul talks about it extensively in these verses. On how to do

it. The first thing he says is constantly rejoicing. Philippians 4:4,

Philippians 4:4

Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I will say, rejoice!

Is that possible to rejoice in the Lord always? How is it possible

to rejoice in the Lord always even when life is crumbling all around

you? Paul's writing this from where? Paul's life going perfect right

now? Perfectly right now? He's in prison. It's not going the way

he wants, and yet Paul's writing to them to say, Hey, no matter what happens,

always rejoice in the Lord. On this pathway to joy, one of the roadblocks

we've got to get past is I've got to get my mind in the right

place. And that starts with verse 4, rejoice in the Lord always. And again,

I'll say rejoice. Here's the question. Is it possible to do this?

And if it is, how do you do it? How do you Philippians 4:4,

Philippians 4:4

rejoice in the Lord always? And again, Paul says,

I want you to rejoice.

No matter what's going on, you still have the blessings in Christ. So thinking first

and foremost about What kind of blessings?

Spiritual blessings. Ephesians 1:3 says you have every spiritual

Ephesians 1:3

blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. How else? Rejoice in the Lord

always. And again, I'll say rejoice.

Thinking about the fact that Jesus is faithful. Yes,

he's always with you no matter what. Anybody else?

Rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I'll say rejoice. Tyler. It's a

conscious decision. You have to sometimes, through the pain, you just have to say,

you know, ultimately I've got what's better than what's going on right now.

And I think that's the heart of it. Tyler says it's a conscious decision.

What Paul says in verse 4 seems to be less of a mood and more

of a mindset. Rejoice in the Lord always. It's an imperative. It's a command.

Hey, do this. Make yourself do this. Put yourself

in the mood to do this. And it's not circumstantial. You know how it's not

based on circumstances? Because he says rejoice in who? In the Lord.

Not necessarily in your trials and afflictions and the things that are beaten down upon

you, but he's saying tie your joy to the Lord because one thing

that's never going to change in your life if you're a Christian is the constant

immutable nature of God and who he is. Chuck, go ahead. I think he's—

another way to say it, I think he's saying be happy in God.

Yeah, all the time.

All the time, for sure. And this isn't the only place where Paul says

this. 1 Thessalonians 5:16, he says, rejoice evermore.

1 Thessalonians 5:16

And 2 Corinthians 6, he's talking about real difficulty he faces, and then he says,

as sorrowful yet always rejoicing. And Jesus

told his disciples, you're going to have tribulation in the world,

but be of good cheer, I've overcome the world. John 16:33.

John 16:33

I've given you peace. In me you can have peace that the world can't

give you. John 14:27. If your joy is tied to the Lord,

John 14:27

it won't matter what else happens. Bad things will happen, difficult things,

even to a Christian, but joy can be yours. Second, in verse 5,

Paul says, I want you to be a person that— let

your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand. I want to talk

about this verse a little bit because not every verse handles verse 5 the same.

So this word epiekeis, everybody doesn't translate it the same way.

What do you have in verse 5? The ESV has, let your reasonableness be known

to all. What do you have? Gentleness. What else?

Moderation. So what is Paul saying? Rejoice always.

Also get your mind right by letting what be known to all people? We got

reasonableness, we got moderation, we got gentleness. So just put the translations

together. What do you think Paul's driving at in this verse about our disposition

that we've got to have to make sure our mind's in the right place?

Show care, kindness, patience, and love to everyone.

Exactly. So yes, so it's about this gentle, courteous spirit.

It's one of the qualifications for elders in 1 Timothy 3:3. In Titus

1 Timothy 3:3 Titus 3:2

3:2, Paul says, I want you to be gentle to everybody. Paul's saying,

this is what I want to be true about you in a world where most

people want to show you how tough they are. And we don't take anything from

anybody else. If you do this to me, I'll show you. Paul says, let your

moderation, let your reasonableness, let your tenderness and your yielding

spirit is really what's behind this word. Let that be known to all people.

Because the Lord is near and the Lord's at hand. This could mean,

yes, the return of Jesus is imminent. We never know when that's going to happen,

Mark 13:32. But it probably just means God is

Mark 13:32

always present, so make sure you're on your best behavior.

In James chapter 5, James talks about people that are grumbling because they're not being

James 5 · chapter mention

paid by their bosses, and he says, hey, don't grumble against one another,

brothers, because the judge is standing at the door. James 5

and verse 9. Maybe you didn't do this. I'm going to tell you what we

did though. Me and my brothers fought as siblings growing up. Okay. But my mom

was next door. So we had to try to fight quiet. You ever fought quiet

before? I mean, you hit people, but you don't say it like you got to

fight quiet. And occasionally we'd be fighting and guess who'd be at the door?

Kimberly Kemp be at the door. Yeah. That's what would happen. And Paul's saying,

listen, I want you to be gentle. I know people might be thinking they're

getting over on you. They're taking advantage of you. You're a doormat. He says,

hey, Let your reasonableness— he doesn't just say possess it, he says let

it be known to all people. Let this be the most dominant quality known about

you to everybody, because you know who's watching?

The Lord's at hand. God's near, and God's looking to see, I wonder

what kind of heart you have, what kind of qualities are true about you.

How do we develop this? In Philippians 4 and verse 5.

I mean, think about people in your life that possess this quality. You know

them for their gentleness. You know them for yielding. You know think about people like

that and then say, you know what? I want to produce this.

I want this to be a quality that's true about me. 1 Peter

1 Peter 2:18

2:18, he says, hey, I want you to submit to masters, not just to the

people that are gentle, but even toward the harsh. And we can get our minds

right when we say, what I want to be true about me for everybody to

see is how gentle and soft and kind I can be. And then he

says the famous Philippians 4:6, don't be anxious about anything,

Philippians 4:6

but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your

requests be made known to God. So Paul says, stop worrying, and I want you

to start praying. Paul says, don't worry about what?

Don't worry about anything. There's a difference though between genuine

concern and crippling worry. Go back to Philippians 2 and

look at verse 20, because in Philippians 2 and verse 20, Paul uses this

same word for worry, but he uses it in a positive sense for Timothy.

So you can be concerned about some things in a good way.

Philippians 2:20, he says, I have no one like him— that's Timothy—

Philippians 2:20

who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. It's the same word,

but it's in a different sense. It's one thing to be concerned about a thing,

but it's a different thing entirely to be crippled beyond belief with

worry and anxiety. And Paul says you trade those out. How do you fix

this? Don't be worried about anything, but instead pray about everything.

It's tied back to trusting in God. Look at what he says in verse 6:

But in everything, by prayer supplication, thanksgiving,

let your requests— Paul uses all of these different words for prayer,

and he says not that you don't feel this anxiousness in your life, but tell

it to who? Tell it to God. The worried person

that's crippled by worry is the person that's constantly looping inward

instead of looping upward. Looping inward is all of your prayers,

all of your supplications, all of your requests are about you. You're living as

if it's all on you. That's when you know you're beyond the point of concern

and you're into worry. The prayerful person, 1 Peter 5:7,

1 Peter 5:7

cast all of your anxieties on God because he cares about

you. Psalm 55:22, cast your burden

Psalms 55:22

on the Lord, he will sustain you. He'll never permit the righteous to

be moved. On this journey to joy, one of the roadblocks we've got to overcome

is I've got to get my mind in the right place, and the only way

to do that is I've got to be a person that stops worrying about everything

and starts praying about everything instead. And then he says, when you do this in

verse 7, The peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and

your minds in Christ Jesus. What does he mean by the peace of God will

surpass all understanding? What do you think that means?

Yeah, so for

sure. So Miss Laura says one of the ways we might look at Philippians 4:7

Philippians 4:7

is the peace of God that surpasses all understanding could mean— and this is how

a lot of people take this verse— that, hey, I'm in a circumstance, can't see

my way out, but somehow the peace of God that— no, you just can't even

understand it. I'm in the middle of a storm and somehow I'm able to sing

and dance in the rain. The peace of God surpasses all understanding. And that'll guard

your heart and mind. Colossians 3:15, it'll guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.

Colossians 3:15

And that's one way that Paul could be using this. But a second way that's

worth thinking about, the way that Paul uses it in this context, is this: the

peace of God excels, or it's better than all understanding,

which could mean instead of trying to figure it out, there's something

better than understanding everything God's doing. The peace of God

surpasses human understanding. I don't need God to tell me how he's going

to work it out. I don't need God to figure it out for me because

the peace of God's better. It excels human understanding. Some of us

say, God, I want you to bring me out of this, but I also

would love for you to provide the blueprint for how you're going to do it.

But the peace of God's better than that because knowing who God is

and what God can do and will do, it surpasses— it's better than

my human understanding. Some of us don't want peace, we want understanding instead.

And Paul's saying, hey, if you get the peace, it doesn't really matter how he

does it if you know him. And you know he's going to bring you through,

God, you don't have to tell me. You'll carry me all the way.

Miller, go ahead. I'm going to be honest. This is really hard.

This idea of not being anxious and

worried is really difficult.

And I think a lot of people suffer greatly from

anxiety, from issues in the family, from monetary

kinds of things. I think women are particularly susceptible

to that. They're worried about their families.

I don't know what to say other than that I find this particularly challenging

and it makes me feel when I am in that position

that I'm not a very good Christian. Okay,

we said this at the beginning. I told you at the beginning this was going

to be what? It's hard stuff. Miller, I'm glad you brought that up. I'm not

convinced it's just women, but I get what you were saying about the family.

And the reason why I'm saying that is several, but one is the man that

wrote this said in 2 Corinthians 11:28, Paul says, I've got daily

2 Corinthians 11:28

anxieties about the church. Paul said he had that even after he said, don't worry

about anything. The worst thing that can happen to a person reading

Philippians 4:6, I think, is to have anxiety about the anxiety.

Philippians 4:6

I don't think that's how Paul wants it to work. He's saying, hey, if you're

worried about stuff, start praying to God.

But yeah, I'm still worrying. When you're doing all prayers,

all supplications, all thanksgiving, even in the midst of the worry,

I believe you're being obedient to this passage. It doesn't mean that the worry will

evaporate, but it's already being processed in the heavenly realm, and somehow that

becomes good enough, even in the midst of hardships, even in the midst of difficulties.

And I think you're exactly right. Everybody in this room would confess, yeah, it's difficult.

And at different seasons of life, it's more intense. And being transparent

about how hard it is, I think that's a true and great response.

But I think what Paul wants us to see is more than worrying

about the worry. As we worry more, will we say our

prayers are increasing? Because that's what should be happening. The more things that

I'm anxious and worried about are the more things I should be taking before the

throne. But I think if we're honest, we've got to say sometimes I'm worrying about

more stuff and my prayers aren't necessarily matching up and evening out. I'm worrying

about more stuff, and instead I start plotting and scheming. I'm on the internet,

I'm figuring out how can I move this around, how can I do this.

And human ingenuity is helpful to a certain point, but I wonder if

as much as we're worrying, we're praying. And I think that's the challenge.

Yeah, well, here's the last thing,

and I don't know if I saw a hand or two. Here's what I'll say.

Miller says it makes him question his faith. I think we should

if our faith is primarily in ourselves. If our faith is primarily in what

we can do, and if we have this anxiety because— and most times it

is this. You list your issues on this side, and if you're being honest,

list any issue you've got right now and imagine it from this vantage point.

I wonder what on this list is hard for God. That's not why you're

anxious. You're anxious, and I'm anxious because we think this is hard for me.

And somebody says, my faith's struggling. It is, but it's not the faith in God.

It's the faith in how good is Hiram at rescuing himself? That's what

we're worried about. I think if you line up your issues and say, I wonder

if God— I wonder, oh man, is $50,000 a lot of money to God?

Is physical health or hardship? No, God's not going to struggle with any

of these things, but it's more about, I don't know if I can see me

through it. And Paul's stopping us and he's saying, you're seeing it wrong. It's not

about how good you'll be at coming through, but it's really about God. And so

I think the faith issue or aspect of it is rightly so.

I hope all of the faith that I have only and solely in myself is

crushed and dies so that it can be solely in Jesus. I think that's what

Paul wants. And you're right, Miller, easier said and read than done.

And yet it must be done. That's what Paul wants us to do. I think

it still, it still has to be done. There was a hand. Russell, go ahead.

I can only speak for myself, but I

think sometimes we

don't think God's going to take care of it to our satisfaction.

And that's hard to swallow,

that, you know, good enough for God is not

good enough for me.

And as Miller says, sometimes it's hard to swallow your pride.

Yeah. And sometimes it's hard to Submit

to God. It is, it is. And the

bottom— and the thing is, we know God's going to come through.

We just don't know if he's going to give me what I want. And sometimes

I really want what I want, and if God's not going to come through— but

Philippians 4:7, that's why this verse is important. The peace of God is better

Philippians 4:7

than human understanding. It is. It surpasses— this word Paul uses— it

excels it. I don't think Paul's saying The peace of God's so crazy you can't

understand. I think Paul's saying the peace of God is better than you figuring it

out. You know how many times Paul's back is up against the wall and Paul

doesn't know if this is his death or his release or his execution? But here's

what Paul knows: whatever God does is going to be right.

Not easy, not always welcome, but he's always going

to do what's right. And when we get to that point, our prayers start changing

and we start saying what Jesus said: not my will, but what?

It's not the first. We're not the first people in the world to face this.

People in the Bible did. And, um, the only way to get through— this is

why you got to get your mind right. This rejoicing in the Lord, everything's tied

to the Lord. But I think if you see that tether pulling— and Chuck,

I'm coming to you— that's where the issue comes. I'm rejoicing in

my circumstances. God's really good when it's going my way. My reasonableness

is known to all people. I'm really gentle when life's going my way. But when

the boat starts rocking and God doesn't answer in the affirmative just like I want,

that's when the anxiety starts rising. Is God going to do exactly what I want?

And he may not do that, but he is going to do what's good and

what's right. Chuck, and then I saw a hand in the back. I think,

like, reflecting on 2 Corinthians 10:5,

2 Corinthians 10:5

where it takes to take every thought captive and make it to

obey God, like, emotions are innately human

and we're always going to have them, but it's a process of pruning and consistent

pruning ourselves to the will of God over time. So, you know,

having those thoughts and those doubts of you being faithful and practicing

prayer, it's not just something we're going through overnight. So I

think it's important to remember, remember that we're in a process of pruning. I think

you're right. Tell me your name again. Addie. Addie, you told me this morning.

Yes, Addie, I think you're right. 2 Corinthians 10:5, we're bringing our thoughts

2 Corinthians 10:5

into submission. Feelings are real, not reliable.

Your feelings are real. I'm afraid of this, but not reliable. Chuck, and then

we got to move on because we got 3 minutes to do the rest,

guys. It's y'all's fault tonight. It's been great though. I'm not mad about it.

It's on y'all. Chuck, go ahead. I just think that the peace that passes

understanding is the Lord telling us, and about being anxious

for nothing, I will give you the power to not let worry

or stress or fear control your mind.

I will give you the power to not let worry,

stress, or fear control your mind. Like you said, in other words, we can't

stay in that state. He will give us

that ability. I think, I think you're right. And I think this verse is

in the Bible because no matter how much faith we have, God knows we're human

and we still struggle. But we need to make sure our God is as big

as the God of the Bible. And sometimes our God's too small. All right,

Philippians 4:8, Paul says, think positively and properly. You can look at these

Philippians 4:8

words, figure out what they mean, but essentially Paul's saying whatever

things are true and good and think positively. A friend of mine shared this quote

with me, and we've got time to do this, and then I will fly through

the last slide just so we can cover all of Philippians. But I think this

is helpful, and it'll come back to what Miller talked about with our mind and

anxiety. And this is the quote: if you can overthink the

worst, why can't you overthink the best? If it's possible for you to think one's

gonna happen, then B's gonna happen, then Z, and I'm off the cliff. If your

mind works in such a way and it's possible for you to overthink all the

worst-case scenarios, why won't you overthink the best case?

That's Philippians 4:8. Paul says, whatever things— what does that

Philippians 4:8

mean? The, the gamut is open. Whatever things are true and honest and

just and pure and good and lovely, whatever things good and virtuous,

meditate and ruminate on these things. What if it doesn't come through?

What if I don't get healed? But what if I do? What if I'm walking

again? What if I don't get the money? What if I do and there's a

surplus? See, you got to think like that. Paul, God gives you permission

to— more than that, he commands you to. If you can overthink the worst,

you could overthink the best. And then in verse 9, he says, it's not just

thinking. Those things you both learned and received and heard and seen in me,

do, and the God of peace will be with you. Tie verse 7 and verse

9 together. God's peace comes to the people that pray, and it comes to

the practitioners. You got to do stuff. Christianity isn't just thinking stuff. You've got

to get out and do it. Those things you both learned and received and heard

and seen in me, do. And the God of peace is going to be with

you when you get busy doing. Don't let your thoughts keep you on the sideline.

All right, quick through Philippians 4:10-13. This last section,

Philippians 4:10–13

Paul just talks about contentment, and you might be familiar with this. In verse 10,

Paul talks about— well, Paul uses what he's used before,

examples. And he's going to use himself and one more example

And he's gonna talk about how this can be done well. Philippians 4:10, he says,

Philippians 4:10

I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me

has flourished again. Not that you didn't desire to, but you

lacked opportunity. So Paul's glad that the Philippians are gonna be able to encourage

him again, and they wanted to financially, and now he's glad that

they gave. And then he talks about contentment. He says, not that I speak in

respect of want, but I've learned in whatever state I am therewith to be content.

I know how to abound. Paul says, I know how to have a lot.

And I know how to be abased. Everywhere and in all things, I'm instructed both

to be full and to be hungry. He says to have a surplus and to

suffer need. Contentment. And we were going to talk about what it means, but we

don't have time for that. But I will say this, it means just to be

at peace. Contentment, according to Paul, is a learned behavior. Not even Paul

had this all figured out. But I'll tell you this, if you go through a

few shipwrecks and if you get beat with 39 stripes 3 times and

bitten by a snake and People rob you when you're coming back with the missionary

money. Over time, you just start thinking, I've made it out of several

of these things. I really think it's going to be all right. Paul says,

I learned it. When I was in middle school, this was a common occurrence.

The report cards at the end of the year, the final report card always had

this at the bottom, either one of these 2 statements, retained or promoted.

If you didn't pass, it was retained. You've got to repeat 7th grade, 6th grade,

or whatever. If you passed, it'd say promoted. People didn't look at the

grades on the last report card. They wanted that— am I retained or promoted?

And I think we go through trials, and every time we fail,

God says, you can't graduate from this class. You got to be retained.

You haven't learned contentment. I'm going to keep putting you in circumstances

until you stop worrying. How many times are you going to worry about money in

your life? How many times are you just going to keep— God's going to say,

you're going to learn contentment, and I will not promote you. You're not

going to the next grade. You're not going to the next class until you learn

to trust me. And we got to get like Jacob in Genesis 32. God,

I will not let you go until you bless me.

And here's a test, a test to perform. If we're content people,

people shouldn't be able to tell by our disposition if we're up a

million dollars or if we're down to Lenten hope. If we're really

content people, our disposition shouldn't change if we were up a million

or down to Lenten hope, because at the end of the day, if God's got

you, he really does. Here's the last thing. How do you practice

contentment? Develop the it would have been enough principle. The it

would have been enough principle kind of works, and you can build your own list

of these. The it would have been enough principle is where you start saying,

God, you know, it would have been enough for you to give me daily bread

like you promised in Matthew 6:11, but you provided

Matthew 6:11

cinnamon rolls and coffee and good people for me to enjoy it with. God,

you've outdone yourself. God, it would have been enough for you to

provide for me a living and employment,

but I get vacation days. Some people in this room, I own a company,

I've got employees. You provided me. It would have been enough if you just would

have did this, but God, you really are the God that allows my cup to

overflow. God, it would have been enough for you to provide

us with a building to assemble in so we could worship, Hebrews 10:25, but God,

Hebrews 10:25

you've done more. There are padded pews, automatic doors, water fountains.

See, if you start living by the it would have been enough principle,

Everything else in your life becomes icing.

And you can make your own list. You could, you could say, God, it would

have been enough for our family to just have a place to live. But we

got multiple rooms. We live in a safe neighborhood. We've got all these. You see,

that'll make you content. It'll change you from entitlement to gratitude,

and it'll do the real work on your heart. The last thing Paul does is

he uses the Philippians as an example, and he says, hey, I've been using all

these examples. But now I want you to look in the mirror. You guys have

done great work because you've supported me. We're out of time. I just want to

say, everybody's life on the pathway to joy, you got 2 choices.

You get on the elevator, you press the button, it gets you right to where

you want to go quickly, and everybody wants that.

But Philippians 4 is just a reminder: you always got to take the

stairs. You can't run from conflict. You have to fight

to get your mind right. It's not easy. It's not set it and forget it.

You got to keep working at it. And contentment is a learned behavior,

and God will not promote us until we learn the lesson.

Thanks for your participation tonight. Let's end with a prayer. God,

we know you love us. Thank you for what Jesus has done for

us in sacrificing himself. Thank you for this study through the book of Philippians.

You want us to have joy. You've given it to us in Christ, but the

road there and the roadblocks we have to overcome are not easy things.

Help us to be courageous. To resolve conflict, to be peacemakers.

Help us to get our minds right, not overthink the worst,

but train our hearts and minds to always overthink the best.

Help us to be content, because it would have

been enough for you to have forgiven one of our sins, but you have forgiven

all of them in Christ and promised to never bring them up again. You really

have been better to us than we really deserve. Remind us of those realities and

help us to be selfless in serving others. As individuals that have received joy

from you. It's in Jesus' name we pray,