Christian Living: Phil. 4:1-9
Intro – There’s not much context here besides to know that Paul is writing to the church at Philippi. He’s writing from prison and Paul loves this church. He really looooves this church! We know that in ch.3 Paul was urging the church to know their secure by grace through faith and not works. He warns them of the “grace killers”, which were the Jewish leaders teaching that righteousness comes from specific religious practices; circumcision, the law and so forth. Paul assures the people that these things are good, but it’s not what makes you right with God. He explains that these good practices will automatically come out of knowing you are saved through grace. So, you don’t practice good works to become right with God. You practice good works out of knowing your right with God. He also talks about always reaching forward to the goal of knowing Christ more. Paul speaks of the people’s citizenship not being of this world, but of Heaven and for the people not to adapt to those of the world, but to stand out. Now in ch.4, Paul is informing the church how to live as a Christian, not only as individuals, but as a group.
Be United (v.1-3). (v.1-2) There is obviously a disagreement between two women in the church. You know, in the size of most congregations, it is almost impossible to bring that many people together and not have any disagreements. From experience I will tell you that it is okay to disagree, but when we become disagreeable is when we are letting little things that don’t matter start problems. Sometimes if the disagreement is not doctrinal or about “truth”, we just have to let it go…let it slide. I visited a church about a year ago up in Tennessee and there were two pastors wives arguing over the color of the new carpet they were going to have put in. These women are obviously being disagreeable. They were letting something so insignificant to get in the way of what is truly important. This disagreement that Paul is addressing is not doctrinal because if you know Paul at all, if it was about “truth”, he would have addressed the problem specifically right then and there. He didn’t even tell us what it was about which tells us it was something minor. (v.3) We can see here Paul is pretty much telling these ladies, “Look! Stop worrying about the small stuff that doesn’t even matter. Your names are in the book of life!” This also tells us that these ladies were not trouble makers, they were just being disagreeable.
Be Joyful (v.4). Paul is telling them to rejoice. He’s basically saying, “You are looking at the unimportant. Your names are in the book of life, rejoice!” Let me tell you all something. If you are a believer, you should not be some toad! You should not be a toad! This verse does not say, “Rejoice when you’re feeling good”. The verse says, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!” Now I’m not telling you to walk around here with a fake smile on your face because that gets on my nerves, but realize that even through our struggles God gives us the freedom to live “…more abundantly.” What Jesus did on the cross did not only secure our future, it did much more. It effected our past, present, and future. Our past is forgiven, it gave our present purpose, and secures our future. Live more abundantly.
Be Prayerful (v.5-7). (v.5) Paul is telling us to live, showing the grace we know we have received. The reason we are to rejoice always is because we have been saved from grace through faith. Paul is recommending that we ought to extend this grace to all men just as we have received it from Christ. He says, “Let your gracious spirit be known to all men.” Not to just family and friends and people in our church. This sounds a lot like the “Great Commission” to me. We do this to “all men.” Why would he say this? It is God’s will that all men see Christ in us so that all should come to repentance. Peter tells us in 2Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is long suffering towards us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” (v.6) This verse is probably a very familiar verse to all of you. Paul is telling us to be anxious for nothing. Now, I’m the kind of person who thinks I can figure it all out. If everybody would just back up, I can do it. You’ll just mess everything up. If I can get my hands around this thing, I’ll figure it out. Paul is telling us here to “be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” We are to put it in God’s hands. With God all things are possible. We are to take all of our needs to God in prayer. Paul is telling us that God wants to know our needs. I want you to see three words here in this verse.
- Prayer – We are to bring everything to God in prayer.
- Supplication – The word supplication just means “a petition” or “request”. God wants us to bring our requests to Him.
- Thanksgiving – We are to have a thankful spirit about us. This is another reason that we are to “Rejoice…always”. We are to be thankful that God is there for us. He is there to listen to our petitions. There is something about a Christian that just has a thankful and joyful spirit about them. One day my buddy and I were just driving down the road and laughing about something, having a good time. A guy drove up next to us and screamed out, “What are you in such a good mood for!” Then he rolled up his window and speed off. Now that guy was just having a bad day, but we as Christians ought to have that thankful spirit about us.
(v.7) Paul is just saying here that the peace that a “Christian” has, guards our hearts and minds. We have this peace about us along with the, joyfulness, thankfulness…we also have a peace in our hearts and minds. This peace comes from knowing we have God to come to prayer in, we have God to thank for this intimate relationship, we can rejoice through knowing our eternal future. Christ gives Christians a peace in their hearts and minds. We know we don’t always have to figure it out. We can bring it to God in prayer. He’ll figure it out. This peace surpasses all of our bad thoughts. Fix your eyes and mind upon Jesus.
Be Pure in Your Thinking (v.8-9). (v.8) Here, Paul is telling this church what kind of thoughts a Christian should have. He lists 7 aspects of a Christians thinking and says, “…let your mind dwell on these things.” Let’s look at them one by one.
- True – Is what you’re thinking true? A lot of what we are told is false information. So are our thoughts true?
- Honorable – Honorable just means respectful. Is what you’re thinking about respectful?
- Right – Our translations say right, but all Paul means by this is, is your thought “just” or “righteous” compared to God’s standard?
- Pure – Is what you’re thinking pure? Basically, is it sinful? This obviously overlaps with “right” or “just”. Is it sinful on God’s standard?
- Lovely – Is what you’re thinking lovely. I believe what Paul is saying is, “Does it show Christ’s love?” Does what you are thinking show Christ’s love?
- Good Repute – This phrase here means attractive. Is what your thinking, going to attract others for Christ? Paul is saying, “Does what your thinking bring God a good reputation?”
- Excellent or Worthy of Praise – Does what you’re thinking give God praise? Is it an excellent thought on God’s standard?
Then Paul says, “…let your mind dwell on these things.”
(v.9) Here Paul is telling them and us that if we do dwell on these things we will start to practice them. When we practice them, it will turn into a lifestyle. When this is a lifestyle, we have God’s peace in our hearts and minds.
Conclusion – Have you heard the saying “you are what you eat”? Well good thing that’s not true because I’d probably be an eggplant or something, but what is true is “you are what you think”. You are what you think, you are what you read, and you are who you hang out with. If you put garbage in, you’ll get garbage out. On my last road trip my wife and I stopped along the Mississippi River. It was beautiful, but it stunk. It is a pretty dirty river. Does anyone in here know how to clean out a river? You stop polluting it. You stop putting junk into it. If you do that the river will eventually just clean itself out. We are what we think, read and do. If we constantly dwell on these 7 ways to question our thought process, we will have clean thought. If we stop reading junk, listening to junk, watching junk, and associating ourselves with junk, than we will be able to begin the cleaning process of our mind. We are to be constantly renewing our minds. That’s why Paul tells in Romans 12:2, “…be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Listen guys, Paul loved this church in Philippi. These are good points. Instead of going back to your dorm or house today and switching on the television, dwell on Paul’s words. Paul tells us, “…let your mind dwell on these things.” When you dwell on these, you will begin to live it. Paul says, “…practice these things; and the God of peace shall be with you.”
