Sermon

Stand Firm! (Part 1)

May 29, 2021 Pickens First Baptist Church

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General Thomas Jackson received the nickname Stonewall early in the Civil War.
General Bernard B. inspired his men on the field of battle by calling out,
Look men, there's Jackson standing like a stone wall.
Soldiers marveled at how Stonewall Jackson appeared so calm in battle after battle.
It seemed that he was unfazed in the midst of bullets flying, cannon exploding, and men dying all around him.
When he was asked how he could stand firm like that, this is his memorable response.
My religious belief teaches me to feel as safe in battle as in bed.
God has fixed the time for my death.
I do not concern myself about that, but to be always ready no matter when it may overtake me.
That is the way all men should live, and then all would be equally brave.
Jackson was a committed Christian who believed that God sovereignly guided everything that happens in this world,
including his life there on the battlefield.
He was convinced that God was in control and working in everything for his good purpose.
That's how he was able to stand firm in his faith in the midst of battle.
A soldier standing firm in the heat of battle was the image that Paul used in Philippians 4, verse 1

Philippians 4:1
to call Christians to stand firm in the Lord as they live for Christ in this world.
I want you to look at it there on the screen.
This is sort of a bridge verse,
recalling what he has said and preparing them for what he's about to say.
He says,
Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and my crown,
stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.
Paul loved this church.
I mean, they were his friends.
I want you to note, there is nowhere else in any of the New Testament letters
where Paul or Peter or James or anyone refers to a church family with such affection.
Just note, he refers to them, my brothers.
Some translations, my brothers and sisters.
That's what the word is inclusive there.
Whom I love and long for, my joy and my crown,
stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.
It's his favorite church.
His heartfelt desire for them
is to stand firm in their commitment to the Lord
and live the faithful Christian life
that he's been describing in the previous verses, chapter 3,
and will continue describing and calling them to in chapter 4.
We, right now, today,
we need to stand firm in our commitment to Christ
just as much or more so than those Christians
because of the day in which we live.
You know, if we'll be serious about seeking to stand firm
in our faith, in our commitment, in our service to the Lord,
it'll be obvious to people who know us, observe us,
that we aren't like the fake Christians
that Paul described in the middle of chapter 3.
Those who profess faith, had been, or were in the church,
they just live like people of the world,
very selfish and self-centered.
If we are standing firm in our commitment,
no one will ever take us for that kind of church member.
At the same time,
if we stand firm in what we believe and how we live,
it'll be obvious to everybody
that we are faithful Christians.
We're serious-minded
and that it is our goal and desire
to grow in our relationship with the Lord
and to grow in developing Christ-like character.
I want us to continue looking at what it will mean
for us to stand firm in chapter 4 now.
We have seen things in chapter 3.
Well, I want to go through chapter 4 this morning
and next Sunday morning.
And I want us to see some of the things
that Paul calls our attention to,
that we need to be firm.
We need to be committed.
We need to take a stand to preserve,
to maintain, or even to grow in.
Let's look at some of the ways
we need to stand firm as committed Christians.
Look first, verses 2 and 3 and 5,
stand firm for the unity of the church.
This is important.
We need to stand firm
for maintaining unity and good health in our church.
First of all,
that will involve helping people to solve conflicts.
We're going to read the verses
as we come to them this morning.
Look at verses 2 and 3.
He says,
I entreat, or I urge,
Euodia and I entreat Syntyche
to agree in the Lord.
Bomb, wasn't it?
Can you imagine
having this letter read
and all of a sudden,
whoever's reading it,
they call two women sitting there's names
and tell them to agree.
Now this was not done
in any mean-spirited kind of way.
He loves this church.
He loves these people.
Look what else it says.
Yes, I ask you also,
true companion,
help these women.
We don't know who that true companion is.
But Paul's telling somebody in the church,
most likely one of the leaders
that everybody knew,
knew who it would be,
maybe the one who's reading the letter.
He's asking this person,
get involved.
Help them.
Help these women
who have labored side by side
with me and the gospel together,
with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers
whose names are in the book of life.
Paul publicly calls out two women
who were having some kind of disagreement.
We have no idea what it involved,
but evidently,
it had the potential to disrupt the church,
to maybe bring about divisions among people,
people taking sides.
That's the only reason Paul would have confronted them publicly
and embarrassed them like this.
I mean, he refers to them,
look at it up there.
You have labored side by side with me in the gospel.
They've been involved with him in his ministry there.
Been involved as he preached and taught.
He knew them.
He loved them.
You know.
You know.
He got no joy out of calling them out
in front of everyone
and telling them,
you agree.
You don't cause trouble.
You don't hurt the church.
Now, Paul helps us see,
by doing this,
that serious problems
that threaten the unity and health of the church
must be dealt with.
They can't be ignored.
You can't just think,
well, you know,
I'd feel very uncomfortable doing that.
I might hurt someone's feelings if I did that.
You can't worry about that.
Paul lets us see here
that church health,
church unity,
is so important
that in a letter he writes
to his favorite church
about two women that he loved
and had worked with,
he humiliated them
by calling their name
over their disagreement
and telling them,
get together,
work it out.
It's important
that we,
today,
do whatever it takes
to maintain church health and unity.
Now,
by God's grace,
this church has a history
of worshiping
and working together
in unity.
Before I came here,
I checked out
the history of this church
just like the pastor's church committee
checked me out.
And I heard nothing but good
about the history of this church
and the unity
and the good fellowship
and things of that nature.
Well,
for the past 25 years
that I've been here,
we have enjoyed unity
and what we believe
and how we live it out.
Now,
when I say that,
I understand
not uniformity.
Everybody hadn't
dotted the same I's
and crossed
all the T's together.
But the differences
that we've had
have not been
disagreeable.
They've not caused
conflict.
They've not created
divisions.
They've not hurt
the church.
We have worked together,
believed together,
sought to live out
our faith together.
I have no reason
to think
it'll be different
in the future.
But
I want to encourage
everyone
and especially
the leaders
always
do the hard thing
and stand firm
against anyone
who would ever
create a problem,
cause division,
and hurt the fellowship
of this church.
You know,
nothing's happened
in the past.
I don't know
of anything brewing.
I have only positive
thoughts about what
will happen in the future.
But I know me
and I know you.
Every single one of us,
we are all
one
poor
decision
from ruining
our own
life
and home
and church,
aren't we?
it happens.
So we've always
all got to be on,
you know,
be on guard,
protect the fellowship,
protect the unity
of the church
and something
ever does happen.
You,
church family
and especially leaders,
get involved,
stop it,
do a Barney Fife,
nip it in the bud
and don't let it
get out of hand.
Now,
do it in the right way.
That's the next thing
we see.
Treat people
in a reasonable
or could be translated
gentle
or gracious
way.
Look at verse 5.
Let your reasonableness
be known
to everyone.
The Lord
is at hand.
If anything
ever does come up
and you have to deal
with somebody,
do it in a reasonable
or gentle
or gracious way.
And if push comes
to shove,
graciously
remove them
from membership
of the church.
It's that serious
to maintain
the unity.
But look at this.
Treat people
in a reasonable
or gentle
or gracious way.
Commentators tell us
that this word
translated
reasonableness
in the ESV
is hard to translate
and it's,
you can tell that
by the way
that different
translations do it.
The NIV uses
the word gentleness.
The New Living
Translation
considerate.
The Christian
Standard Version
graciousness.
Paul is saying
that we need
to have a reputation.
You and me
as individual
Christians in the church.
We need to have
a reputation
for treating people
let's just combine
them in a reasonable
gentle
considerate
gracious
way.
That's similar
to what he's
already said
in chapter 2.
Look at this.
He's already
told us,
do nothing
from selfish
ambition
or conceit
but in humility
count others
more significant
than yourselves.
Let each of you
look not only
to his own
interests
but also
to the interests
of others.
See what Paul
is saying here
in our relationships
with one another
don't just think
about you
about getting
your way
be more
others oriented
don't be selfish
be selfless
D.A. Carson
helps us
to see
what this
does not
mean.
Look at this
this gentleness
must not be
confused with
being a wimp
with the kind
of person
whose personality
is akin
to a wet
dishcloth.
What is in view
here is a certain
kind of willed
self-effacing
kindness.
Paul is not
advocating
that you don't
take a strong
stand where a
strong stand
is needed.
He did it
in the churches
that he started
where it was
necessary.
Jesus did the
very same thing
in dealing
with the Pharisees
but what we
need to do
is learn
to the best
of our ability
even in the
tough situations
to be as
gentle
as gracious
as reasonable
as we can
as we deal
with people
as we deal
with problems.
Do you note
the end of the
sentence?
He says the
Lord is at
hand.
The idea
may be that
we need to
treat people
in such a
way that
when the
Lord comes
and he sees
us treating
them that way
he'll be
pleased.
Or
treat people
the way
that you
want the
Lord to
see you
now
because he
is with
us
through his
spirit.
Let's think
about this
for a minute.
What kind
of reputation
do you have
for the way
that you
treat people
at home?
And you
think,
you say,
I wish you
hadn't gone
there.
That's hard,
isn't it?
What kind
of reputation
do you have
for the way
that you
treat people?
And let's
begin at
home.
You know,
that's where
it counts
the most,
but that's
where we
fail the
most too,
isn't it?
Sometimes we
don't watch
our words
or our
tone or
our attitude
with those
we love
the most,
like we do
with people
we don't
even like.
So,
think about it.
what is
your reputation
among your
family members
in terms
of the way
you treat
them?
What is
your reputation
about you?
What do they
think about you?
What's your
reputation
among your
coworkers,
classmates,
team members?
What's your
reputation here
in the church
and the way
you treat
people?
The way you
interact with
people?
What's your
reputation,
if we could
pool them all
together,
people that
you just
barely know
and you
know you
probably
not going
to see
them again
and you
know they
can't do
one thing
for you,
how do
you treat
them?
What kind
of reputation
do you
have?
Admit where
you blow
it the
most.
Maybe
your problem
is not at
home.
Maybe it's
the way you
mistreat
people at
work,
people who
work for
you,
people who
work beside
you.
Maybe
you're a
terrible
friend.
Think about
it.
What is
your reputation?
What do
people say?
What do
they think?
When they
think about
you and
the way
you treat
them.
Paul says
we need to
be reasonable,
we need to
be gentle,
we need to
be gracious.
Ask God
to help you
to work on
that if
that's what
you need
to do.
The next
thing Paul
says is
really one
of the
themes of
this letter
and we've
talked about
it before.
He says
stand
firm
in the
joy of
the
Lord.
Look at
this.
He says
rejoice in
the Lord
always.
Again I
will say
rejoice.
We have
noted in
other studies
especially at
the beginning
of this
series,
Paul makes
the difference
between being
happy and
being joyful.
joy.
Now most of
us do not
distinguish between
two words
and that's
okay.
Some people
talk about
being happy,
having joy,
they're talking
about the
same thing.
Well Paul is
talking about
a Christian
character quality.
We'll look at
in a moment
when he talks
about joy.
Happiness we
know it's an
emotion of
delight that is
dependent on
our circumstances.
When life's good
we're happy.
When life is not
so good we're
not happy.
Well Christian
joy is more
of an attitude
or a Christian
character quality
that is not
dependent on
our circumstances.
Christian joy
is similar to
the peace
that we
have in our
soul
when we know
we're just
right with God
and close to
him.
That's the idea
behind this
Christian joy.
It's not without
emotion but it's
not like happiness
in that it's just
up and down.
You know we've
looked at the
idea of rejoicing
in the Lord
throughout this
study and even
you know at the
beginning of the
study weeks ago
during a worldwide
pandemic.
We've looked at
this idea of
rejoicing in the
Lord in
circumstances that
are anything but
happy.
I mean the
pandemic has
messed up life
for everybody
hasn't it?
It's thrown
cold water on
everybody's party.
But Paul
I think it can
help us
thinking about
how life has
been for us
here lately
not what we
would want.
Well Paul
wrote that
and repeated
talked about
his joy
about his
rejoicing
and encouraged
Christians to
rejoice while
he was
in prison
chained to a
Roman soldier
awaiting trial
before Caesar
not knowing if
he would live
or die.
I think it's
important that
we understand
how Paul
what his
circumstances
were when he
talked about
his own
rejoicing and
encouraged us
to.
Christian joy
does not mean
that we'll
always have happy
feelings about
what's going on
in our lives.
Don't think
that way.
Christian joy is
more about having
a sense of
peace in our
soul because we're
right with God.
we're close to
him and because
of that he's
going to take
care of us.
He's going to
walk with us
through any of
the troubles that
we have to go
through.
So here's what I
want to ask you.
Are you right
now able to
stand firm with
this kind of joy
over your
relationship with
the Lord?
Now if you think
to yourself I
don't have a clue
what you're talking
about.
If you're thinking
I've never had
such joy in my
soul.
Ever.
Foreign concept.
That's a good
indication that you
don't have a
relationship with
God.
Paul writes in
Romans about how
we have peace
with God and
even the peace
of God through
a right relationship
with Jesus.
So it could be
that life for you
is just a
roller coaster.
When everything's
going well you're
happy.
When everything is
not going well
you're just down
in the dumps.
There's never this
sense of just
contentment and
peace and at ease
because you're
right with God,
you're close to
Him and you're
trusting Him to
take care of you.
So if that's the
case, this is
foreign to you,
admit, I don't
have a relationship
with God.
Something is
missing in my
life.
And if you want
that missing piece,
you want that puzzle
to be put all
together, admit
your need to the
Lord.
Humble yourself.
Repent of your sin
and call upon Jesus
to save you.
that's the first
thing, the first
step to experiencing
both the peace with
God and the peace
of God.
But you might
think, you know,
I know exactly what
you're talking about.
I know what it's
right to have this
sense of real
Christian joy.
Everything doesn't
have to go my way,
but you know,
there's a sense of
just being content,
at ease, and
knowing who I am
with the Lord.
But it hasn't
been that way in
a long time.
You may be
thinking, I wish it
was.
I know what you're
talking about.
I wish it was.
Well, what
happened?
Did you just sort
of drift away and
you've come to a
point and you don't
know why, what's
happened, but you're
just not close to the
Lord anymore.
You're missing that.
Or could it be you'd
say, I know exactly
what the problem is.
I've just turned and
walked away from the
Lord.
I'm living life my
way instead of his
way.
Well, I want to
encourage you, if you
know what the problem
is, because you put
other people and
things ahead of the
Lord in terms of
priority, or there's
just blatant sin in
your life, confess it
and repent of it.
Ask God for
forgiveness now.
And if it involves
somebody else, a
conflict or a
problem, go to them
and seek forgiveness.
If you don't know
what, I'm going to
what's wrong.
Just talk to God.
Take some time.
Go somewhere this
afternoon.
If nothing more, a
room by yourself at
home.
Go out somewhere and
just talk to God.
Lord, I want to have
this sense of just peace
and joy and contentment
in my soul.
I have had that.
I know what the Bible's
talking about.
But it's gone.
It's missing.
Help me to know why.
Help me to know what
to do.
Lord, draw me back to
you.
And if there's change
that needs to be made,
make it clear.
Help me to make those
changes.
You know, one reason
why you may struggle
with a lack of joy is
because you just focus
too much on the people
and problems in your
life and totally leave
God out of the picture.
It may be that you're
so focused on what you
can see and feel right
now with people and
situations that you
fail to look to God
and think of Him as the
sovereign God that He is.
And if you're a
Christian, you're Heavenly
Father.
Father, and it may be
that you just need to
turn your eyes to Him.
It may be that you just
need to change your focus.
Give Him your first
priority attention.
You know, one of the
most comforting promises
that God has given us in
His Word is Romans 8, 28.
A lot of times, if you
lose sight of this, it'll
rob you of your joy, of
your sense of security.
Look at this.
Paul writes, and we
know that in all things,
God works for the good of
those who love Him, who've
been called according to
His purpose.
If God is your Heavenly
Father, you can be kind
to Him.
That no matter what is
going on in your life, God
knows about it.
God has allowed it for
whatever reason.
God is involved.
Now, you may be suffering
because of sin.
You may be suffering because
of someone doing something
evil or wrong or bad to you.
God has allowed that, but God
has not caused that.
But God is going to work
somehow in your awful
situation and bring about
His ultimate good purpose.
We don't know when when
things like that happen.
There may be that we have
to just walk with the Lord
and depend on Him to hold
us up and get us through
for a very long time.
But we need to learn as
God's children to trust that
He is really in control.
He's sovereign God.
We're going to look to Him,
depend on Him, lean on Him.
But eventually, He's going to
bring about His ultimate
good purpose.
But note this.
A part of that good purpose,
the main part of that good
purpose is this.
God's going to make us more
like Jesus.
Look at this verse.
The next verse, Romans 8, 29.
For those whom He foreknew,
He also predestined to be
conformed to the image of His
Son.
Now, listen very carefully.
We're almost through.
I want you to listen to this
very carefully.
For this to be a comforting
thought requires that you
truly want to be like Jesus,
more like Him.
Develop His character.
If you don't,
if you're just really concerned
about living life your way
right now in this world,
and you don't have any concern,
interest in developing
Christ-like character,
then Romans 8, 28 is not going
to be a comfort to you.
In fact,
if one of your,
if your goal is not,
in addition to
the important responsibilities
you have in this world,
but if your ultimate goal
is not as a Christian
to cooperate with God
and actually experience
spiritual growth,
developing Christ-like character,
overcoming sin,
if that's not your goal,
it will be impossible
for you to find comfort
as a Christian
in a lot of life's hardships.
Because sometimes
the only thing
that we can hang on to
is that God is involved.
He's working for my ultimate good.
He is perfecting me.
And I want to cooperate with Him.
I want what He wants for me.
Do you have that desire?
Paul calls us to stand firm
in our commitment to Christ
and live like the faithful Christian
that God has saved us
and called us to be.
You know,
what Stonewall Jackson learned
that helped him stand firm
in the battles of war
is the same truth
that will help us
to stand firm
in our commitment
to follow Jesus Christ
and live like a faithful Christian
in this world.
Look at it one more time.
My religious belief teaches me
to feel as safe in battle
as in bed.
God has fixed the time
for my death.
I do not concern myself
about that.
But to be always ready
no matter when it may overtake me.
That is the way
that all men should live
and that all men
would be equally brave.
and all Christians
would be equally committed
and all Christians
would equally stand firm.
Let's pray together.
Dear God,
help us to evaluate
how we're standing
in this world
as your people right now.
Do we have that
soldier-like commitment,
determination
to stand firm
against sin, evil,
whatever may
try to drag us down
and stand firm
as we seek to
better know
and do your will.
Become more like Jesus
and live the
faithful life
that brings the most joy
and satisfaction to us.
Father, help everyone
in this room
to hear you
and respond to you
in such a way
that they are
committed
to standing firm
as followers of Jesus.
Let's just,
in attitude of prayer,
listen to the Lord
and respond to Him
as He speaks to you.
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