Guarding Your Heart

Hook

A.W Pink once said,

For the Christian to keep his heart… means for him to pay close attention to the direction in which his affections are moving, to discover whether the things of the world are gaining a firmer and fuller hold over him, or whether they are increasingly losing their charm for him.

I think that is a great quote, and it fits really well with the theme of what we have been talking about throughout this series, but also what we are going to be looking at today, which in a way is sort of an answer to everything we have covered up to this point. This letter has addressed a lot of tough topics, both for the believers in Philippi in the first century, and for us today. We’ve been forced to talk about things like our conduct and behaviour as Christians, the importance of unity as a church, humility, not fighting or grumbling, the importance of letting God change you, and the fact that compared to what we have in Jesus, everything else in our lives is worthless. Finally, last week, we were forced to ask ourselves what we are truly pursuing in life? What are we putting all our energy, time and money into?

This week is a reminder that we need to be mindful of what is in our hearts and in our minds, because that will play a big part in what comes out into our lives as well. It is, in a way, the answer to everything we have learned about so far. And that answer is to Guard your Heart.

Our passage today is Philippians 4:1-9, and I am reading from the New International Version:

Philippians 4:1–9 (NIV)

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends!

I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you, my true companion, help these women since they have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life.

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Verse 1

So through this series, there have been hints that there was some conflict or disunity among the congregation, and this passage presents the only tangible evidence as to what the problem MIGHT have been, but even here it is pretty vague, so we just don’t know.

But let’s start going through this passage, starting in verse 1. You may have noticed that Paul uses two adjectives to describe the Philippian believers, and I want to discuss those just for a minute. He says,

Philippians 4:1 (NIV)

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown...

He calls them his joy and crown. Now of course, we know that Joy is not an uncommon theme in Philippians.

When I first said to Sherrilyn that I was going to preach on Philippians, the first thing she said was “Joy”! But this particular use of the word here is unique. Because in all the other instances, it is referring to Joy found in the Lord. But what Paul is saying here, is that the CHURCH is his joy. He of course doesn’t mean that they replace or are better than the joy found in Jesus! But his life is better, BECAUSE he knows them.

Then he calls them his crown as well. The imagery around the crown speaks both of the fact that they were a symbol of Paul’s success as a servant of Jesus, and the honour that he has to have been the means of founding such a church.

Then he gives this command:

Philippians 4:1 (NIV)

… stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends!

This language, “stand firm”, has military origins in Greek, and the literal translation is, “to be firmly committed in conviction or belief” So the church was not to be weakened by disunity, turmoil, or incorrect values. It was to stand together to accomplish God’s will.