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Past Ponderings

Sunday, June 11, 2017

PONDERING... Will you live in Peace? (Philippians 4:4-7)

Will you Live in Peace?
GIST: In the midst of trials, we need the peace of God to guard our hearts and minds, so we must rejoice continually, forebear gently, and pray thankfully.
SCRIPTURE: Philippians 4:4-7
4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

We’re nearing the end of this brief look at “How should we live in the face of trials?” This is by no means meant to be taken as an exhaustive study, but as I prayed about this short study, these were the texts that came to mind. And honestly, as I have studied them in preparation for these lessons, I’ve been struck by how much more is packed into these verses than I’d expected.
Today, in the morning and evening services, we’re going to look at another familiar passage. There is so much that could be said about these verses, and I’ve read a lot of those things this week. However, in the context of our focus, I just want to zero in on this: In the midst of trials, we need the peace of God to guard our hearts and minds, so we must rejoice continually, forebear gently, and pray thankfully.

  1. WE NEED THE PEACE OF GOD
Context and Connection- I think, in general, Philippians is thought of as a book of encouragement. Verses like “rejoice in the Lord always” (4:4) and “I can do all things from Him who strengthens me” (4:13) are among the most recognizable admonitions in the letter. However, we have to keep the context squarely before us. They are given many encouragements because they needed them in the face of their many discouragements. Just a cursory glance at the four chapters will show you they were dealing with things like false teachers, persecution, financial issues, personal sins, and disunity within the church. They needed the peace of God. And before we go any further today, we need to realize we do, too. Just look at that list again, don’t we face these things?
False teaching- The world is full of false teachings, and these not only come in direct opposition to the church, but they also seek to invade our minds.  
Persecution- We might not be experiencing persecution in our country like these Philippians believers were, but persecution to the point of death is still a very present reality for believers all over the world, and even here in the United States we encounter social persecution and ridicule for our “repressive and harmful” beliefs.
Financial Issues- I don’t feel I even need to explain this one. If you are not touched by financial strain personally, you need not look far in this community to see someone who is.
Personal Sins- Romans 3:23 “23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”, and this can consume our lives. If you’re saved, your sin will bother you deeply--and Satan will do all he can to agitate that. If you’ve not given your life to Christ, sin is controlling your life. (Man, we could camp out here all day--and probably need to at some point. Take time to really think about this.)
Disunity- Look at the verses which provide the most immediate context for the one’s we’re looking at today. “2 I entreat Euodia [You-au-dia] and I entreat Syntyche [Sun-tuk-hey]  to agree in the Lord. 3 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.” (Pronunciation guides added...and hopefully accurate :D). It is a heart wrenching reality that division within the church is commonplace. I cannot even begin to relate how many times I have heard about internal conflicts consuming the life of a church and its people. This simply should not be. Oh, Satan wants it to happen. What better way to destroy the church than from within? What better way to discredit our message than to let us get caught up and consumed by silly quarrels with ourselves?
So that’s the context here. Like us, this church is surrounded by false teachers, persecutions, financial issues, personal sins, and internal disunities. And like us, it needed the peace of God. So, how does that happen?

  1. SO WE MUST REJOICE CONTINUALLY, FOREBEAR GENTLY, AND PRAY THANKFULLY
Rejoice Continually- “4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.” Again, we’re looking at one of the most well known passages in the Bible here, so we could camp out on these implications all day. But let’s just take a few of the practical applications of this command (because it is a command, not just a suggestion).
First, joy puts trials into perspective. It almost goes without saying that it is hard to be sad when you’re happy. However, rejoicing goes much deeper than mere emotional happiness, which is transient. Nonetheless, I don’t think it would be helpful to split hairs and play too much with semantics here. The message of this command is the same as we see in James 1 “2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” We rejoice in the good and bad. Why? Because God is still God. Because God is still working. Because we know there is more to this life than we see. That is why knowing the truth is so vital (which we’ll be talking about tonight). How you feel is informed by what you know is real. Know the truth about Jesus, then we can sing that Matt Redman song (Blessed Be Your Name) in earnest:
Blessed Be Your Name
In the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name
Blessed Be Your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed Be Your name
Joy puts trials into perspective. Likewise, continuous joy in the Lord is positively contagious. Sour attitudes can very easily pull your day down. When you’re surrounded by people complaining about their families, and their jobs, and their churches, it places a general gloom over your mind. It’s disheartening, and I know we’ve all been there. However, haven’t you ever been having an absolutely terrible day and encountered someone who’s just irritatingly happy? How do you react to that? Well, you can either fight them or join them, but you can’t be indifferent to them. But here’s the truth of the matter, it’s easier to be drawn down into someone’s despair than lifted into someone’s joy...because we’re sinful by nature. Which is all the more reason for us to rejoice together. One joyful person in a room of Debbie Downers is an irritant. An entire congregation fueled by the joy of Christ is absolutely contagious--and something you’ll want to catch.
And we cannot miss out on the focus and source of our joy. This is not just circumstantial happiness, but a joy rooted in knowing Jesus. Charles Spurgeon put it like this, “Joy in the Lord is the cure for all discord.... Joy in the Lord is one of the best preparations for the trials of this life. The cure for care is joy in the Lord!
Forebear Gently- 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The word translated reasonableness in the ESV is a hard one for Biblical translators to narrow down. In fact, most of the time it’s used in the New Testament, it is translated as gentleness. The idea behind this word is probably best expressed as gentle forbearance. “The Greek word denotes the generous spirit that rises above offenses, or a forbearing spirit, of which Jesus provides the supreme example (2 Cor. 10:1). Such a person does not insist on his rights (2:1–4).” (Reformation Study Bible). Remember the beatitudes? “9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” This verse commands us to let our forbearance be known to everyone.  I think these concepts are all interconnected. In facing trials, we don’t need to get so wrapped up in getting what we want. Rather, we should be peacemakers, and then people will know we’re God’s.
This is so much like what we talked about last week, but I won’t rehash that here. We need to be like Jesus so the world can see Him.
Pray Thankfully- The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  There are a couple points to make here.
Compassion≠Anxiety- This verse starts by telling us not to be anxious, which does not mean “don’t care about things”. If we love as Jesus has commanded us to love, we will care. However, there is a difference between compassion and anxiety. I know I’ve quoted this before, but it’s good, so I’ll say it again. My little grandma had a ton of pictures hanging on her walls. Behind her rocking chair/glider in the kitchen was one that said something like this: “Worry is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but doesn’t get you anywhere.” Being anxious is concern without trust. It tears you up inside and makes you unbearable on the outside, therefore accomplishing the exact opposite of everything else in this verse. Never will it be beneficial to face a trial by adding to the trial.
Pray about everything- Nonetheless, worry is natural, so we’re given a response to worry, not just an admonition not to do it. Don’t worry, pray...about everything. Again, I wish we could camp out here longer. The idea is that nothing is too small too bring before God. So, instead of being burdened by the concerns of this life, whatever they may be, bring them to the Lord, who is “at hand”.
Pray with thanksgiving- And lastly, here we see an instruction on the nature of this prayer. When it says pray thankfully, it does not mean “pray and when you get what you want, say thank you.” The attitude of our prayers should be expectant gratitude. We may not always get what we want, or think we need, but we should still be grateful. Why? I love Tim Keller’s paraphrase of Romans 8:28 (28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.) He essentially says, ‘God will give you what you would have asked for if you knew everything He knows.’ If I would have gotten everything I was asking for when I was 16, I never would have been preaching in this pulpit, and never would have been able to work with all these youth here. In fact, if I only got what I asked for when I was 16, I probably would never done anything because I was so incredibly shortsighted and egotistical. I think most of my prayers were… “Ok God, please don’t let me do that again.” But we can and should come to God with thanksgiving when we pray knowing that He’s working out the answer in a way far better than we ever could have formulated.

  1. THEN HIS PEACE WILL GUARD OUR HEARTS AND MINDS
So, that is the formula. Here’s the result: 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Two thoughts here, then we’ll close.
Peace Inside and Out- The nature of this peace is twofold. First, it’s spiritual. That is, we will literally have the peace of God within us-the Holy Spirit working within the lives of His people. Yet, the effect of this peace inside is a peace outside. Not only does this give you the strength to endure a hostile world, but it unites the Church. Remember Euodia [You-au-dia] and Syntyche [Sun-tuk-hey]? If they both are rejoicing, forbearing, and praying in the Lord, what happens to their conflict? You want peace within the Body of Christ? Then let the whole congregation be living with the peace of God guarding their hearts and minds.
Guarding Hearts & Minds- And that brings us to this last observation. The word guarding is literally the word for a garrison--troops stationed in a town or fortress to defend it. So literally this says, rejoice continually, forebear gently, pray thankfully, and the Peace of God will form a garrison around your heart (emotions--what you feel) and mind (thoughts--what you think). Is that not an encouragement in the midst of trials?

TAKEAWAYS:
  1. What is disrupting your peace? Lay it at Jesus’ feet.
  2. Are you rejoicing continually, forbearing gently, and praying thankfully? Examine your life.
  3. Are you resting in His garrison of peace? Because you can.

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