Pastor Nate continues our study through the Bible in the book of Philippians.
[00:00:00] All right, today we're in Philippians chapter 4 verse 1-9. We're going to talk about an advancing gospel community, which is what we've been thinking about as we've been going through the book of Philippians together.
[00:00:11] And today we're going to be thinking about how an advancing gospel community requires ongoing maintenance.
[00:00:18] And I'm going to read through the text as we move through the teaching. So if you guys would pray with me, let's ask the Lord to speak to us from this text today.
[00:00:26] Lord, we come to you. Thank you, Lord, for your grace, mercy, goodness, compassion and love.
[00:00:35] And Lord, today as we open up your word, we pray that you would speak to us from it, that you'd teach us, Lord, and that the ongoing maintenance that we individually need,
[00:00:47] but also corporately, collectively, congregationally need, we invite that in, Lord, by your spirit.
[00:00:55] And so, Lord, we look to you. We ask that you'd speak to us this morning. And in Jesus' name, we pray together. Amen.
[00:01:04] Well, I don't know about you, but I'm a person, I'm a man who has never really enjoyed doing yard work. Any of you guys relate to me this morning?
[00:01:14] I know some people like they just swear by it. They love it. It's so therapeutic and they love gardening and weeding and planting things and all that.
[00:01:23] I don't know. Like maybe I was ruined in my childhood. My dad made me do yard work with him all the time and I just didn't ever like it.
[00:01:29] So maybe that is what is going on in me, but I just don't like yard work. In fact, I have a neighbor who lives across the street from me.
[00:01:36] And he's a single man, so he gets to do whatever he wants to do with his property.
[00:01:42] And he has my ideal landscaping situation. He has planted a couple of bushes that just, as far as I can tell, require maintenance once every six or seven years.
[00:01:53] And then he has rocks, just rocks, as far as the eye can see, these brown, beige landscaping rocks.
[00:02:01] And he just comes out once a year and he kind of sprays them with some weed killer or something like that.
[00:02:05] And I'm pretty sure that's about it. He's got a blower. He uses that every once in a while.
[00:02:09] That's the one thing about landscaping I like, so I'm into that.
[00:02:13] And that's about it. And I know the Bible says, the 10th commandment says,
[00:02:17] thou shall not covet your neighbor's house.
[00:02:20] But I really struggle with this one every time I look across the street.
[00:02:26] What is it that I'm jealous of?
[00:02:29] I love the no maintenance or little maintenance required yard work.
[00:02:35] But the reality of life, the reality of everything, is that maintenance is required.
[00:02:43] Our homes need it. Our cars need it.
[00:02:47] But our bodies need it. Our souls need it. Our minds need it.
[00:02:51] Our relationships need it. Our church needs it.
[00:02:56] Maintenance is continually required.
[00:02:58] And the reason I'm bringing that up today is because in this letter that Paul wrote to the Philippian church,
[00:03:04] this really is just that. It's a maintenance letter.
[00:03:08] He started this beautiful church 10 years before he wrote this letter.
[00:03:13] And now, 10 years later, he's in a Roman prison cell.
[00:03:17] He's heard reports of what's happening in the church in Philippi.
[00:03:22] It's nothing terrible, but he's heard the seeds of disunity have begun creeping in to the church.
[00:03:29] And so he writes this letter to help offer the maintenance that's needed to get them back on track to be the advancing gospel community
[00:03:37] that they were meant to be for the city of Philippi.
[00:03:41] In other words, for Paul, he felt if they could get back to being what they were supposed to be,
[00:03:47] then they would fulfill the mission that Christ, when he ascended into heaven,
[00:03:51] gave to his church to be salt and light to the world around us.
[00:03:56] Now, we're coming into the close of this letter, the fourth chapter.
[00:04:02] Next week, Lord willing, we'll finish our study of the book of Philippians,
[00:04:07] and then the week after that, we'll enter into a little Christmas series that I've called God is Love,
[00:04:13] where we're going to look at and think about the triune God and his involvement in the Christmas story.
[00:04:19] But here in Philippians chapter 4, Paul begins telling them specifically some areas of maintenance
[00:04:27] that he wants them to deal with.
[00:04:28] And he's been alluding to all these categories all letter long.
[00:04:32] But there's four categories we're going to look at today that needed maintenance in the church in Philippi
[00:04:38] and that we continually need to maintain in our own lives as well.
[00:04:42] The first category is the category of unity, the unity department.
[00:04:48] Paul was looking at the Philippian church, and he knew that they were in need of unity.
[00:04:52] If they weren't unified, they wouldn't be effective gospel ambassadors to their world.
[00:04:59] The second area that Paul felt that they needed to have maintenance in was in the joy department.
[00:05:05] I won't make you raise your hand this morning, but how many of you say,
[00:05:09] yeah, I need maintenance in that area of my life?
[00:05:11] You see, Paul understood that joy is mission critical in gospel advancement.
[00:05:18] Without joy, we won't be the light that we're called to be.
[00:05:22] We won't have the attraction that we're meant to have.
[00:05:25] And so he encourages them in this close of his letter to get back to joy.
[00:05:30] He's also going to thirdly tell them that they need to have maintenance in the dependence department,
[00:05:36] the dependence department.
[00:05:39] This is the text that we looked at last week with Pastor Jeff,
[00:05:43] and that was one of my favorite messages that I've ever heard you speak, by the way.
[00:05:47] And thank you for sharing personally about some of the anxiety that you felt over some issues in your life.
[00:05:54] It's good to see that an old dog can learn new tricks.
[00:05:58] That was a great word, man.
[00:06:02] But what was that passage about?
[00:06:04] About being dependent upon God.
[00:06:06] And the more independent we become, the more that we think we don't need him and his help and his power,
[00:06:12] his might, his strength, the less effective we'll be as an advancing gospel community.
[00:06:16] And then lastly today, we'll think about Paul's fourth category that needed maintenance,
[00:06:21] and it'll be the category of our mentality, our mindset.
[00:06:25] What are we thinking about?
[00:06:26] What are we putting our minds upon?
[00:06:29] You know, someone said one time, like,
[00:06:31] you can't control if a bird tries to nest in your hair,
[00:06:36] but you can keep it from nesting in your hair.
[00:06:38] Like, you can't control what thoughts are going to come in,
[00:06:42] but you can make some decisions on what you are going to be focusing your mind upon.
[00:06:48] And so Paul is going to deal with all four of those categories this morning,
[00:06:53] understanding them to be mission critical for us as a church.
[00:06:59] So let's think about the first one that I mentioned to you today.
[00:07:01] Number one, the unity department.
[00:07:03] Let's read verse one through three together in our text.
[00:07:06] Philippians chapter four.
[00:07:07] If you've got your Bibles, just follow along with me,
[00:07:09] or we'll put it on the screen for you as well.
[00:07:13] He says,
[00:07:13] Therefore, my brothers whom I love and long for, my joy and crown,
[00:07:19] stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.
[00:07:23] I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord.
[00:07:31] Yes, I ask you, true companion,
[00:07:35] help these women who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together
[00:07:39] with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life.
[00:07:47] All right.
[00:07:47] So the first thing I want you to see from this little cluster of three verses
[00:07:51] is that an advancing gospel community requires ongoing maintenance in the unity department.
[00:07:58] Now, all letter long,
[00:07:59] Paul has been hinting at some form of growing disunity in the Philippian church.
[00:08:05] They're not at all out war with each other.
[00:08:07] It's not crazy chaos in the church in Philippi yet,
[00:08:11] but he's seen the seeds of it somehow.
[00:08:14] But he hasn't alluded to,
[00:08:16] or he hasn't told us the specifics of the division that is happening there.
[00:08:22] But he does that right here.
[00:08:23] He jumps right into it.
[00:08:25] He starts naming names,
[00:08:26] which we're going to talk about in a second.
[00:08:28] But before he does that,
[00:08:29] Paul is sure to let them know and remind them how much he cares for them.
[00:08:34] He throws five terms of endearment at them.
[00:08:38] You're my brothers.
[00:08:39] And just to remind you,
[00:08:41] that's a Greek phrase that would mean family.
[00:08:43] You're my family.
[00:08:45] He loves them.
[00:08:47] He longs for them.
[00:08:49] They're his joy.
[00:08:50] They're his victor's crown.
[00:08:52] To him,
[00:08:52] he's like,
[00:08:53] I'm running a race.
[00:08:54] You are my medal.
[00:08:56] You are my gold medal.
[00:08:58] You know,
[00:08:59] just the fact of your existence as a church means so much to me,
[00:09:04] Paul is saying.
[00:09:04] And then he says,
[00:09:05] you are my beloved.
[00:09:07] This is Paul saying what he said at the beginning of the letter.
[00:09:10] Every time I think of you,
[00:09:11] here I am in prison.
[00:09:12] Every time I think of you,
[00:09:13] like if I need to cheer myself up in my chains,
[00:09:18] I think about the church in Philippi.
[00:09:21] So he loves them.
[00:09:22] And because he loves them,
[00:09:24] Paul urges them there in the first verse to stand firm in the Lord.
[00:09:28] That's a military term,
[00:09:31] to stand firm.
[00:09:33] He's saying you have a post there in Philippi.
[00:09:36] You have a responsibility there in Philippi.
[00:09:40] You are guarding something,
[00:09:42] the gospel there in Philippi.
[00:09:44] Don't abandon that post.
[00:09:48] But then he talks about two women who were in danger of abandoning that post.
[00:09:55] And I know all of you were curious how I was going to pronounce these names.
[00:09:59] Yodia and Syntyche.
[00:10:02] I don't think we have any of these ladies in our church today.
[00:10:05] But these two had abandoned their post.
[00:10:08] Now this is fascinating to me because from a thousand miles away,
[00:10:13] there in his Roman prison,
[00:10:15] a thousand miles from Philippi,
[00:10:18] in what I think he understands is Holy Scripture as he's penning this epistle,
[00:10:25] he names these two women.
[00:10:28] They had some debate, dissension against each other.
[00:10:33] And Paul encourages them to become one in the Lord,
[00:10:38] to agree in the Lord.
[00:10:40] Now the question, of course, that we want to know is,
[00:10:43] what was the issue?
[00:10:44] Like, what were these two ladies fighting about?
[00:10:48] And the reality is that the answer to that question is lost to history.
[00:10:52] We don't know.
[00:10:54] But what I want to say here is that I'm pretty sure that this is more than
[00:11:01] the equivalent of like two old ladies arguing in the church quilting club
[00:11:06] or something like that.
[00:11:07] I don't think that's what Paul is doing here.
[00:11:10] And I've heard pastors kind of joke in that kind of way,
[00:11:13] you know, like, oh, these ladies, they're getting after it again.
[00:11:17] These women were ballers in that church.
[00:11:20] They labored with Paul in the advancement of the gospel,
[00:11:24] along with this other figure named Clement,
[00:11:27] along with everyone whose names were written in the book of life.
[00:11:30] Paul thought highly of these women.
[00:11:32] And I think whatever their division was about,
[00:11:35] it was causing a disruption in the rest of the church.
[00:11:39] It wasn't this silly like, oh, you know Euodia and you know Syncdikey.
[00:11:43] They just get riled up about stuff.
[00:11:45] It wasn't that.
[00:11:46] It was they're influential.
[00:11:48] They're influencing division in the church,
[00:11:51] and people are beginning to have to choose sides.
[00:11:55] And Paul, with great tact, approached the situation.
[00:12:00] In fact, many point out that Paul used the word entreat twice
[00:12:05] when he addresses these ladies,
[00:12:07] because he doesn't want any of them to think he's chosen a side.
[00:12:10] Entreat or plead with Euodia,
[00:12:13] and entreat or plead with Syntyche.
[00:12:17] He's not, if he's got a side, revealing it,
[00:12:20] but he's saying they need to be a one or agree in the Lord.
[00:12:25] What does it mean, though, to agree in the Lord?
[00:12:32] He doesn't really say directly,
[00:12:35] but he stacks his whole exhortation with this backdrop of gospel.
[00:12:41] You know, he's saying, he's talking about the book of life.
[00:12:44] He's talking about working together to advance in the message
[00:12:48] or the mission of the gospel.
[00:12:50] He's talking about other missionaries
[00:12:52] who were joining with him in that work.
[00:12:55] And so I think Paul is saying,
[00:12:57] rather than bicker over something secondary,
[00:13:00] he wanted them to consider the primary reality
[00:13:04] of their shared identity, we're in the Lord,
[00:13:08] and their shared purpose, we're sharing the Lord
[00:13:11] with the world around us that they had in Christ.
[00:13:16] But this brings up a question.
[00:13:18] I'm going to talk about this for six minutes or so,
[00:13:21] so if this is not interesting to you,
[00:13:22] you can just tune out,
[00:13:23] and I'll invite you back into the sermon in about six minutes.
[00:13:26] But the question of what issues are worth dividing over,
[00:13:32] and what issues must we remain united in the Lord about?
[00:13:37] This is a tough question for Christians to answer.
[00:13:41] You know, you may have said sometimes,
[00:13:43] or even heard sometimes.
[00:13:45] You know, there are some doctrines that are worth fighting for
[00:13:48] and separating over,
[00:13:51] and there are some that are worth discussing,
[00:13:52] and there are some that are worth debating.
[00:13:55] There are some that some churches have to really stand for
[00:13:58] and kind of position themselves for,
[00:13:59] and there are others that,
[00:14:00] oh, it's okay, we can be more embracing of other perspectives
[00:14:04] in this doctrinal area.
[00:14:06] You might have heard that.
[00:14:06] You know, the categories of dying for a doctrine,
[00:14:10] dividing for a doctrine,
[00:14:12] debating about a doctrine,
[00:14:13] or discussing a doctrine together.
[00:14:16] But what are they?
[00:14:18] What are they?
[00:14:19] How do you answer that question?
[00:14:21] The Bible hints that there are doctrines of first importance.
[00:14:28] 1 Corinthians 15 verse 3,
[00:14:30] Paul includes the gospel in that.
[00:14:32] The gospel is of first importance.
[00:14:35] The life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus,
[00:14:39] that is first importance.
[00:14:40] But by saying that there are some doctrines of first importance,
[00:14:43] it kind of suggests that there are some doctrines
[00:14:45] of secondary or tertiary importance,
[00:14:48] just not as important as those front-level doctrines.
[00:14:53] So how do we make that decision?
[00:14:55] What doctrines are of most importance?
[00:14:58] Is it just, well, whatever ones I like?
[00:15:00] Well, that'd be a bad answer to that question, right?
[00:15:02] Just whatever ones you're into,
[00:15:04] those are the ones worth fighting for?
[00:15:05] No, that's not the answer.
[00:15:08] Theologians have wrestled with this,
[00:15:10] and one theologian I like named Craig Blomberg,
[00:15:13] he wrote a paper and gave a lecture about this subject.
[00:15:18] And in his paper, he asked a question
[00:15:22] that I think is helpful to help us form our grid
[00:15:26] for which things are of first importance.
[00:15:28] And here's his question,
[00:15:29] which was the subtitle of his lecture.
[00:15:31] The question is, when do Jesus and the apostles get really mad?
[00:15:37] And the idea is, is that as you go through the New Testament data,
[00:15:42] you discover all kinds of doctrines,
[00:15:44] all kinds of beliefs, all kinds of truth claims.
[00:15:47] But there are some where Jesus or the apostles
[00:15:51] or both are more vehement.
[00:15:54] In other words, they might allude perhaps to the consequences of this doctrine.
[00:16:01] They might talk about the eternal significance and weight of a particular doctrine.
[00:16:07] Or there might be a literal, like in the situation,
[00:16:11] maybe Jesus with the Pharisees or something,
[00:16:13] anger at something that is being done.
[00:16:16] And by looking at those categories,
[00:16:19] you might be able to decipher some areas that are of first importance.
[00:16:24] And by analyzing that data, Craig Blomberg gave us these.
[00:16:28] Here's a list.
[00:16:30] Number one, legalism.
[00:16:32] This is really important.
[00:16:34] You know, God is not into an over-reliance on the law for salvation or favor with God.
[00:16:41] A second one is ethnocentrism.
[00:16:44] In other words, privileging one racial identity,
[00:16:49] particularly in the New Testament context,
[00:16:51] Jewish ethnic identity as essential for salvation.
[00:16:56] Another one is inadequate Christology.
[00:16:59] Whenever someone has a lower view of Jesus' humanity or divinity,
[00:17:04] that gets a little more aggression or forcefulness in the New Testament.
[00:17:10] Another would be antinomianism.
[00:17:13] You know, those people who say, like,
[00:17:14] I've been saved by grace through faith alone,
[00:17:17] and so I can just now do whatever I want to do.
[00:17:21] The New Testament authors have a lot to say in direct terms about that kind of person.
[00:17:27] Divisiveness is another.
[00:17:29] People who cause division within the church.
[00:17:31] Hedonism or asceticism.
[00:17:34] In other words, two extremes.
[00:17:35] The idea that you can indulge extremely in your desires or that you have to banish yourself from giving in to any healthy and good desires that God has created.
[00:17:49] Idolatry and pagan practices are often directly rebuked.
[00:17:56] Rejection of Christ's visible future return is often rebuked.
[00:18:02] And then hypocrisy in religious leadership.
[00:18:06] Leaders failing to live up to their responsibilities or prioritizing external rituals over true goodness.
[00:18:13] Now, that data or that assessment is super interesting to me because it doesn't include things like the exact sequence of end times events.
[00:18:26] It doesn't include things like modes of baptism.
[00:18:31] It doesn't include things like church governance or your view of spiritual gifts or cultural practices like how you dress or how you do your hair.
[00:18:40] It doesn't include a specific interpretation of the Genesis account.
[00:18:45] It doesn't include anything about politics or evangelistic methods.
[00:18:49] But the reason I'm mentioning these is because for a lot of people, these are the things that they will divide over in our modern times.
[00:18:58] Soon, everyone who isn't a pre-tribulational, rapture-believing, tongues-speaking, young earth creationist who was fully immersed at their baptism and henceforth wears their Sunday best, votes in a particular way, and only evangelizes with the four spiritual laws is a heretic.
[00:19:17] And what I'm trying to say is we could do better than that.
[00:19:20] Amen?
[00:19:21] We could do better than that.
[00:19:22] The idea that Blomberg is putting forth and other scholars like him is that we want to note where the New Testament places its strongest emphasis and try to emulate not only the beliefs of the New Testament,
[00:19:38] but the tone and the doctrinal priorities of the New Testament.
[00:19:44] This is a challenge.
[00:19:45] It's hard to do, but it's just something that is worth considering about.
[00:19:50] So whatever the issue was in Philippi, I think we can rest assured it wasn't of first importance.
[00:19:56] Otherwise, Paul would not have just told them to get past it and agree in the Lord.
[00:20:00] Like, just think about Jesus, your unity in him, and move forward.
[00:20:03] It was one of these secondary things, and Paul wanted them to remember the importance of the gospel and move on together.
[00:20:11] And sometimes you just got to do that in the body of Christ.
[00:20:13] Amen?
[00:20:14] Sometimes we just got to say, I'm going to agree in the Lord.
[00:20:16] We're both Christians.
[00:20:17] Praise God.
[00:20:18] Amen.
[00:20:19] Let's move forward together.
[00:20:21] All right.
[00:20:22] The second thing I want to talk to you about.
[00:20:23] Okay.
[00:20:23] Six minutes is over.
[00:20:24] In case you guys are on the clock, you can come back to me, those of you who that wasn't interesting for.
[00:20:29] And the second category that an advancing gospel community requires ongoing maintenance is in the joy department.
[00:20:38] The joy department.
[00:20:39] Let's read verse 4 and 5 together.
[00:20:41] Paul says,
[00:20:42] Rejoice in the Lord always.
[00:20:45] Again, I will say, rejoice.
[00:20:49] Let your reasonableness be known to everyone.
[00:20:54] The Lord is at hand.
[00:20:59] All right.
[00:21:00] So the joy department.
[00:21:01] Now, where do we get that from?
[00:21:02] Well, it's obvious.
[00:21:03] Verse 4, he says, Rejoice in the Lord always.
[00:21:06] And then, because this is so central to Paul's thinking, he repeats it again.
[00:21:11] He says, Again, I say, rejoice.
[00:21:15] Now, it's clear from reading this letter and thinking beyond this letter in the New Testament that the joy that Paul spoke about was not connected to,
[00:21:27] is not necessarily connected to circumstances.
[00:21:30] Right?
[00:21:30] We've appreciated that about Paul.
[00:21:32] There he is in prison.
[00:21:34] His circumstances are not joyful circumstances.
[00:21:38] You guys with me right now?
[00:21:38] Nod your heads.
[00:21:39] Like, yeah, that's true.
[00:21:40] Like, you're not wrongfully placed in prison for obeying the God of the universe and thinking to yourself, this is so fantastic.
[00:21:50] That's not what Paul is going through.
[00:21:52] He's not joyful because of his situation, but despite his situation.
[00:21:57] He's joyful because of a person.
[00:22:00] And all throughout this letter, it's clear that Paul has abundant joy.
[00:22:03] He's joyful in 118 that the gospel is advancing.
[00:22:07] He's joyful in 1, 4, and 5 that the Philippians partnered with him in sharing the gospel.
[00:22:13] He's joyful in 228 and 29 over the sacrificial service of Epaphroditus,
[00:22:19] the guy who brought the financial gift of Paul in the first place from the Philippians.
[00:22:25] He's got joy in 123 that he would be reunited to Jesus if the Romans decided to take his life.
[00:22:34] He's joyful in 4, 10, and 19, which we'll look at next week for the financial support the Philippians showed him for his gospel work.
[00:22:42] And in 2, 4 to 11, the great Christ, Tim, he's just joyful because of Jesus.
[00:22:47] You know, he's like, Jesus came.
[00:22:49] He did this.
[00:22:49] I've got an incredible joy because of the reality of Christ.
[00:22:53] Paul was not brought down, in other words, by his circumstances, but was brought up by his relationship with the Lord.
[00:23:02] And I think what Paul does here, because the next thing he says is, let your reasonableness be known to everyone.
[00:23:10] So I think what Paul is doing is he's saying, this is what is produced by that kind of joy that just says, you know what?
[00:23:19] Like, no matter what's going on in my life, the source, the truest source of my joy is found in who I am in Christ.
[00:23:28] Christ, the fact that I've been invited into fellowship with the living God, that I've been cleansed and washed and redeemed.
[00:23:35] That's where my joy at the end of the day comes from.
[00:23:38] There are circumstances in my life that do cause me to go up or down, but at the end of the day, my truest joy is found there in Jesus.
[00:23:45] I think Paul understands that when that is happening in a person, reasonableness of life rather than agitation begins to come out of their lives.
[00:24:01] In fact, some of your Bibles probably translate that word reasonableness.
[00:24:07] If you've got like the NIV or New King James or something like that as gentleness.
[00:24:11] And the reason they're using that word is because the word that Paul used has attached to it the idea of non-retaliation.
[00:24:20] You know, there's something happening and you're not going to get riled up about it or retaliate because of it.
[00:24:27] And this was really important for the Philippian church.
[00:24:30] I mean, there they are, they're living in a hostile Roman world that is putting pressure on these early Christians.
[00:24:36] And they needed that non-retaliatory, gentle reasonableness to come upon their lives.
[00:24:47] And of course, in our time, with so much anger, so much hostility,
[00:24:52] Paul's exhortation is a great one that we should be people who are remarkable, remarkable for deep convictions and strong beliefs intermixed with reasonable gentleness.
[00:25:08] You know, there are so many voices trying to get us riled up unnecessarily.
[00:25:14] When I was a kid coming up, the band Public Enemy, Flava Flav, he had this one lyric where he said,
[00:25:22] Don't believe the hype.
[00:25:24] I mean, he said it like 150 times in the song.
[00:25:28] Don't believe the hype.
[00:25:29] And so often I think we just need that.
[00:25:31] Like as we're just going through life and these things are trying to get us agitated, don't believe the hype.
[00:25:38] Instead, get your joy where it needs to come from, from the Lord and be a source of calm, gentle reasonableness upon this world.
[00:25:48] And I think the reason that Paul is saying this is because he believes that this even-keeled version of Christianity is a good witness.
[00:25:56] That's why he said that we should let it be known to everyone.
[00:26:01] We should let our reasonableness be known to everyone.
[00:26:06] Now, what does that mean?
[00:26:06] Should we have T-shirts out on the patio that, you know, reasonable?
[00:26:10] You know, and you just cruise around like, Why are you wearing that?
[00:26:12] Well, I'm a reasonable person, and I wanted to let you know about it.
[00:26:15] No, obviously that's not what Paul is saying.
[00:26:17] He's saying our lives should be a demonstration of calm confidence in Christ.
[00:26:26] I think this is why for Paul, joy and reasonableness are combined.
[00:26:32] He knows that gentleness or reasonableness flows from joy.
[00:26:40] But the reality is when for a Christian, Jesus, the gospel is just like a footnote to their life and experience,
[00:26:50] it's real hard for that joy to be there, which therefore means it's going to be very difficult for that reasonableness to be there.
[00:26:58] No, joy fuels reasonableness.
[00:27:03] Reasonableness is joy on display.
[00:27:07] And both of them are insanely attractive.
[00:27:12] I think you can make the case that the church in Philippi existed because of this version of joy.
[00:27:19] Remember when Paul went to Philippi?
[00:27:22] Pastor Matt taught it a couple of months ago in Acts chapter 16.
[00:27:25] He goes to Philippi.
[00:27:27] He's wrongfully thrown into prison.
[00:27:30] There in Philippi and in the middle of the night, what's he found doing?
[00:27:34] He has joy.
[00:27:34] He's singing songs to the Lord.
[00:27:36] He's crying out to God.
[00:27:37] He's got his eyes upon the throne.
[00:27:40] And that joy was infectious.
[00:27:42] There was an earthquake.
[00:27:45] The bars of the prison were opened up.
[00:27:48] The jailer wakes up, thinks all his prisoners have just escaped, so he's going to take his own life.
[00:27:53] And Paul shouts out to him, don't harm yourself.
[00:27:55] We're all here.
[00:27:57] Like that's just extreme joy and extreme reasonableness.
[00:28:04] Like, hey, I want to talk with you right now.
[00:28:07] Don't hurt yourself.
[00:28:08] I'm prioritizing your well-being above my own life right now.
[00:28:13] I'm not making a run for it.
[00:28:14] And this jailer sees that joy and sees that reasonableness, and he gives his life to Jesus,
[00:28:22] and he becomes like ambassador number one there in Philippi after Paul departs.
[00:28:28] I think you could build the case that that version of joy actually launched or birthed the church in Philippi.
[00:28:35] But again, how does it arrive?
[00:28:37] It's centered upon the Lord.
[00:28:40] The joy of the Lord and the Lord being at hand.
[00:28:43] Close by.
[00:28:45] Near us.
[00:28:47] All right.
[00:28:47] Thirdly, I want to point your attention to verse six and seven, which Pastor Jeff shared with us last week,
[00:28:54] but I want to make a couple comments about it.
[00:28:56] We need to have maintenance not only in the unity and joy department, but in the dependence department,
[00:29:03] the dependence department.
[00:29:04] Let's read verse six and seven together.
[00:29:07] This is beautiful.
[00:29:08] He says, do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving,
[00:29:14] let your requests be made known to God.
[00:29:18] And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,
[00:29:24] will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
[00:29:29] I'm calling this not maintenance in the prayer department, but maintenance in the dependence department,
[00:29:36] because to me, this is prayer that is expressing dependence upon the living God.
[00:29:43] You know, the Philippian church, even though they lived 2000 years ago and they lived in a totally different culture than us,
[00:29:49] they were still human beings.
[00:29:50] They're just like us.
[00:29:51] And if you were to ask them, do you want to have the peace of God in your life?
[00:29:57] They would have said, just like we would say, yeah, I would love that.
[00:30:01] I would love to have more of God's peace come into my life.
[00:30:06] They would all want that.
[00:30:07] They would all crave that.
[00:30:10] But Paul understood that there was an enemy to that peace called anxiety.
[00:30:14] And I love the way Jeff described that last week with the Levi's jeans being pulled in two directions.
[00:30:19] That's anxiety.
[00:30:20] It is being pulled in two competing or opposing directions.
[00:30:25] And what he says to do with that anxiety is to take it to God in prayer, to bring it to the Lord.
[00:30:36] And if you do, then he says the peace of God will come upon your life.
[00:30:40] Now, what does that mean?
[00:30:41] Does that mean a feeling of being at rest?
[00:30:45] It might lead to that.
[00:30:46] But if you think about what the peace of God is, I think it's the peace that God has.
[00:30:52] You know, God is, sometimes you guys get, you know, we get riled up about the problems that we see, the problems in our lives.
[00:31:00] And we functionally act as if God does not know about those problems.
[00:31:08] But I assure you, he really does.
[00:31:11] You know, he's much more conscious of the brokenness, depravity, sickness, pain, agony of this world than you or I ever will be.
[00:31:23] I believe that on the cross, Jesus became conscious of the totality of the sin of the universe.
[00:31:30] And he has tirelessly worked to remedy that issue, albeit in his own way and in his own wisdom.
[00:31:41] But he is working to remedy the problems that exist.
[00:31:48] But despite all that God is conscious of, like, I'm so glad I have a terrible memory because I'm not even conscious of all of my own weird thoughts.
[00:31:58] And God knows just the Nate Holdridge data.
[00:32:02] Like, I'm sorry, God.
[00:32:03] You know, like, that's a bummer.
[00:32:05] He's conscious of all of these things, yet he is at incredible peace.
[00:32:12] He is unmoved.
[00:32:13] He is unshaken.
[00:32:14] He cannot defy his own nature.
[00:32:16] He is at rest.
[00:32:17] He is at peace.
[00:32:19] And I think that's what Paul is saying will come into us when we basically resign as commander of the universe in prayer by saying,
[00:32:32] Lord, here's what I'm anxious about.
[00:32:34] I'm giving it to you.
[00:32:36] And I'm trusting that that peace that you have, even though you're conscious of all the different avenues and all the problems that exist
[00:32:44] and all the pressures that the whole world, not just me, but the whole world is under, you're at peace.
[00:32:51] And I'm praying that you transfer some of that peace to me.
[00:32:54] That is the peace that passes all understanding.
[00:32:58] Human ingenuity can only bring so much peace.
[00:33:02] Human psychology and psychological studies can only bring so much peace.
[00:33:06] Human medication can only bring so much peace.
[00:33:09] But there is an understanding or a peace that is beyond human understanding that comes in this act of praying to God.
[00:33:21] And I love how Paul describes this prayer.
[00:33:23] He gives us all these different words to describe it.
[00:33:27] The word supplications.
[00:33:29] It's like a real Bible word.
[00:33:32] I doubt any of you at Life Group this last week were like, hey, why don't we have more supplication time?
[00:33:37] You know, like what is supplication?
[00:33:39] Supplication alludes to an intensity.
[00:33:42] You know, like there's an earnestness.
[00:33:46] There's a little, maybe even a little bit of freak out in the word supplication.
[00:33:51] Did you know that God can handle that?
[00:33:53] You know, a throwing, a casting of concerns upon him.
[00:33:59] Now, it's not that God is unaware.
[00:34:01] Like I said, it's not like he needs this holy 911 call where he's like, hello, dispatch.
[00:34:07] Like, whoa, there's a problem.
[00:34:08] Like, he knows what I'm saying is this is increasing our sense of dependence upon him.
[00:34:15] Like, this is the reality that we need him.
[00:34:18] Supplication helps us tap into that reality.
[00:34:21] Thanksgiving, by the way, happy Thanksgiving.
[00:34:24] But Thanksgiving, what is that?
[00:34:26] Well, it's a beautiful discipline.
[00:34:28] It protects us from idolatry.
[00:34:30] It protects us from joylessness.
[00:34:33] Some of you, you just have a hard, you're like me.
[00:34:35] You have a hard time just moving through life and pausing to be thankful.
[00:34:40] You know, they talk about those people that stop and smell the roses.
[00:34:44] I've always hated that.
[00:34:45] Like, I don't want to be that guy.
[00:34:46] I got places to go.
[00:34:48] I got things to do.
[00:34:49] I don't want to stop and smell the roses.
[00:34:51] But Thanksgiving is important in the Christian life.
[00:34:55] It protects us from a lot of idolatry.
[00:34:58] It's not that God needs to be flattered or something like that.
[00:35:02] Like, he's like, oh, wow, my self-esteem was low.
[00:35:05] But your thankfulness to me has really lifted my spirits today.
[00:35:10] That's not God.
[00:35:11] He's good.
[00:35:12] But it helps us understand how dependent we truly are upon him.
[00:35:17] Wow, you've been doing all this stuff in the background that I've not acknowledged you for.
[00:35:22] And then requests.
[00:35:24] Requests bring out a specific desire before God.
[00:35:31] Requests are important.
[00:35:33] Sometimes I've found that once I get to the point of articulating what it is that I'm requesting God do,
[00:35:41] I realize how dumb my request is.
[00:35:45] It's like just saying it out loud.
[00:35:46] It's like, oh, I'm sorry I'm thinking like that.
[00:35:49] I got to rework this request.
[00:35:51] Or sometimes as I'm trying to get to the request, I realize, oh, all I'm really wanting to do right now is have a big pity party.
[00:35:57] I don't even have anything I'm trying to ask you for.
[00:36:00] So request helps it get to this fine point.
[00:36:04] Now, again, it's not that God doesn't know what we need.
[00:36:07] God doesn't know what we want.
[00:36:09] God doesn't know what would be best for us.
[00:36:11] God's not like a clueless husband who's like, this Christmas I'm going to buy my wife a vacuum cleaner because that's what she would really want.
[00:36:18] And I just saved a fool this morning from buying his wife a vacuum cleaner.
[00:36:22] That's not what she really wants.
[00:36:26] God doesn't like that.
[00:36:27] Like, oh, I was going to get you a vacuum cleaner.
[00:36:29] I didn't know.
[00:36:30] That's not God.
[00:36:33] But what it does is it puts us in a mentality of saying, I'm dependent upon the Lord.
[00:36:40] All of this is maintaining our dependence upon him.
[00:36:45] Okay, let's close today by looking at one last department.
[00:36:50] I'm really sorry if you bought your wife a vacuum cleaner and I just called you a fool in front of the whole church.
[00:36:55] I repent.
[00:36:57] You might have really good reasons for doing that.
[00:37:01] Okay, number four.
[00:37:03] The mindset department.
[00:37:04] Let's read verse eight and nine together.
[00:37:05] 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.
[00:37:18] What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things.
[00:37:24] And resultantly is the idea, the God of peace will be with you.
[00:37:33] Okay, this is a big one for us.
[00:37:34] We constantly need maintenance in the mindset department.
[00:37:39] What's Paul doing here?
[00:37:40] He's encouraging them to cultivate actively their thought life.
[00:37:46] His emphasis is that what we think about, what we set our minds upon has great impact on what we become.
[00:37:54] And so that's why he says, first think about these things and then do these things.
[00:37:59] You've set your mind on them, but then you follow our example.
[00:38:02] You look up to godly people and you emulate their lives.
[00:38:08] The Greek word that Paul used for think, think upon these things, or is the word, it means to dwell upon, to like ruminate over.
[00:38:17] However, he's shooting for, in other words, an intentional, disciplined focus on these virtues.
[00:38:24] And it seems like a strategic list that he gives.
[00:38:27] Things that are true, that means things that correspond to reality in God's word and world.
[00:38:34] Things that are honorable, that means things that are worthy of respect.
[00:38:38] They befit a life of dignity.
[00:38:41] They're not in the gutter.
[00:38:43] Things that are just, these are thoughts and actions that conform to God's moral standards.
[00:38:49] Things that are pure, wholesome ideas, free from moral corruption.
[00:38:54] Things that are lovely would be things that inspire.
[00:38:57] They inspire peace.
[00:38:58] They inspire beauty rather than conflict.
[00:39:01] Commendable, these are constructive, positive qualities.
[00:39:04] And then he talks about things that are excellence.
[00:39:07] That means of moral virtue and goodness.
[00:39:10] And things that are worthy of praise.
[00:39:12] Things that just bring about in you a celebration of who God is.
[00:39:19] And what I want to say is that I think setting our minds on these things requires discipline and intentionality.
[00:39:28] Like for sure, we've got to be involved.
[00:39:30] We can't just be a backseat passenger to all this, letting whatever comes across our paths or our streams be the things that we think about.
[00:39:37] We've got to be actively engaged in this.
[00:39:40] But what Paul seems to say here, this is amazing.
[00:39:44] He says if we think about these things intentionally, and then we end up practicing these things,
[00:39:53] then the God of peace will be with us.
[00:39:58] It's quite a statement.
[00:40:00] I think what Paul is saying is all these moral beautiful qualities that I've just listed out for you,
[00:40:10] these are all things that emanate out of God.
[00:40:15] So if you're setting your mind on those things, it's like a crumb trail leading you to God.
[00:40:25] It's not that he's rewarding you for setting your mind on these things.
[00:40:30] It's that by setting your mind on these things, you're going to the source of these things,
[00:40:36] the creator of these things at the end of the day, you're going to God.
[00:40:40] If a farmer, I'm going to try this analogy out on you guys.
[00:40:44] If a farmer or a rancher goes to the hen house, he gets eggs.
[00:40:52] If he goes to get eggs, he is also at the hen house.
[00:40:58] That's the idea.
[00:40:59] If we pursue the things that are of this kind of moral quality and virtue and beauty,
[00:41:06] we will get God.
[00:41:07] If we go to God, we're going to be around these kind of things.
[00:41:12] Because he's the one that produces them in the first place.
[00:41:18] But we've got to have maintenance in this area of our lives.
[00:41:23] What we think about so often is what we become.
[00:41:28] Now, Paul tells us in Romans chapter 12 that we should not be conformed to this world,
[00:41:33] but be transformed by the renewal of our minds.
[00:41:36] And I think we'd all agree, like our minds need that continual process of renewal, don't they?
[00:41:43] They need that continual process of renewal.
[00:41:46] If you were to imagine a home that had been overtaken to a degree by termites but was still repairable,
[00:41:55] you might imagine the process that would be undertaken to restore that home.
[00:42:01] A good contractor would assess the damage first.
[00:42:05] Let's see where the termites have taken over.
[00:42:09] Let's begin fumigating.
[00:42:10] Let's begin some spot treatment to kill the termites.
[00:42:15] Let's eliminate conditions that are favorable to termites.
[00:42:20] So lots of moisture, dampness, or wood that's about, debris.
[00:42:25] Let's safely remove then the material that's been damaged, pulling it out without losing the structure.
[00:42:33] Let's renovate them.
[00:42:35] Let's restore them.
[00:42:42] Let's make sure that these termites have not yet returned.
[00:42:51] And I think that when we consider the things that Paul advised us to,
[00:42:57] our minds are continually renewed in a way that is similar to renewing a termite-infested house.
[00:43:07] The bad is going out.
[00:43:09] The good is coming in.
[00:43:11] And we're being protected from the bad coming in again.
[00:43:16] So what I'm saying is, though, ongoing maintenance is required if we focus on the right things.
[00:43:22] So much of the sickness and the toxicity will be replaced with health, and we will flourish.
[00:43:31] All right, so my hope is that this passage that we've looked at today has just kind of helped you say,
[00:43:38] yeah, ongoing maintenance is not a bad thing.
[00:43:42] It's not something that if I need it, I'm somehow a failure as a Christian.
[00:43:47] This is the biblical norm.
[00:43:50] From Genesis to Revelation, God is shown to be a God who is very willing to provide the ongoing maintenance that his people require.
[00:43:59] But what I'm trying to say today is it's of vital importance.
[00:44:05] The Father sent the Son.
[00:44:07] The Son obeyed the Father.
[00:44:09] The Spirit exalts the Son and invites the world to receive him.
[00:44:17] And then the Son sends out those who have said yes to that invitation into that world
[00:44:23] to give more invitations on behalf of the Father and the Son.
[00:44:28] And if we are not unified, if we don't have joy, if we set our minds on the wrong things,
[00:44:36] if we are independent rather than dependent upon the living God,
[00:44:40] we won't be able to carry out the mission that the triune God has given to us as his people.
[00:44:47] So ongoing maintenance is required and beautiful and important.
[00:44:53] And if you've ever wondered why we get together each week, this is a huge part of it.
[00:44:59] I've got like seven sermons that I preach over and over again from various passages in the Bible,
[00:45:05] but it's like the same message over and over again.
[00:45:08] Because we need ongoing maintenance as God's people.
[00:45:14] And if we are not, we're not going to carry out the same thing that we want.
[00:45:14] We'll be right back.