Phil. 4- I have enjoyed preaching through this book of Philippians but while preaching through it it has also revealed just how much further I have to go as a person trying to live my life in such a way that it pleases our Heavenly Father. Every week has revealed shortcomings I see in myself that I need to work on. Which is actually good because if I were already perfect then life would be pretty boring. This morning Paul deals with the problem of worry. No doubt all of us struggle with worry more than we care to admit. While living in such uncertain economic times worry seems to grip everyone. (Recently- Swine Flu Pandemic- media loves to cause a panic) The words that Paul writes in Phil. 4 mean a lot to myself because I am a worrier. My mom always got on to me as a kid because I worried about everything. I really struggle when someone is mad at me. I worry about it to no end. I stress, get anxious, get singularly minded meaning that is all I can think about, talk about, and pray about until the conflict is resolved. I don’t fear conflict but I worry until it’s resolved. It is something I personally have to learn to overcome this sin in my life and this scripture this morning gives us the formula to do just that if we will let God do a work in us to overcome worry.
Reading the letters of Paul you don’t seem to get a sense that he was a man that worried a whole lot. He had incredible faith. He had a singular focus in his life. It was to love God, love people and serve the world. (Explain the 3) That is what he did day in and day out. He undoubtedly as a human probably at times struggled with doubt, anxiety. He may have had times where he questioned God and even worried about the unknown of his situation. His life was always in danger I can imagine that he worried at times if that day would be his last or not. Through it all Paul continued to rejoice in God’s goodness, forgiveness and eternal love. He continued to preach and put his life on the line for the Gospel. He continued to encourage other believers and build up the church.
I can’t speak for all of you of course but I know for me Paul’s level of faith greatly outshines my own. Which is why when I read this letter as a young pastor who will openly admit my own self-awareness in immaturity and lack of faith I recognize how much further I still have to travel in my relationship with Jesus.
Paul was not perfect but he walked with God. His character was righteous because of Christ working in him. His faith is greater than ours because he knew what really mattered in this life. Not money, not fame, not nice homes or nice cars, not sports, not jobs, not hunting, not college football, not position in the church. None of it mattered. What mattered was do you know God, do you love people and do you serve the world? Singular focus. Because of that he could rejoice through all trials, struggles, temptations.
Paul was so proud of this church because unlike the other churches he writes to in the NT this church had very little internal problems. They were of one mind, singular focus as the body of Christ and as individuals going through the daily routine of life. But no matter how focused we are on loving God, loving people and serving the world there will always come a time where sin will creep into our lives and into our church. It is guaranteed to happen. The closer we get to God the harder the devil fight us. Even in this church Paul had to counsel them in matters of internal conflict and he had to remind them of what matters most. Staying on course, singular focus of doing God’s work. That we need to always be rejoicing and quit worrying about everything which is what a lot of us do.
This same conflict will come up in our church and in us as individuals as well. Not because we have failed and fallen from grace but because sin and temptation still dominate this world. Each of us, every single day, has to make sin our slave by resisting it and putting God first. We will lose the battle at times but it is the one who knows how to deal with the sin and temptation that will come out of it as Paul did so many times, rejoicing and stronger in faith than when they went in.
In the beginning of Philippians 4 Paul deals very briefly with an internal problem happening he then gives some powerful words of encouragement that help remind the church and us today to stay focused on what’s most important in life. To not worry about anything struggle or problem but to rejoice in everything and focus on prayer.
Philippians 4:2-3- Everything we know about these ladies we know from these two verses. For some reason these ladies are arguing. Paul gets wind of this and is troubled because he knows that these women know better. They are leaders. They as Paul says, “…worked hard with me in telling others the Good News. They worked along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are written in the Book of Life.” These are women of faith arguing over what surely is something petty. Paul is telling them to solve their issues because people undoubtedly looked up to them. And because little arguments like this, especially amongst well-respected leaders, can have devastating effects on the whole body of Christ.
I said earlier in this series that to unify a church will take years but to destroy it only takes one person a matter of hours. What’s important to remember is that conflict is unavoidable at times. We are all like-minded and singular focused in loving God, loving people and serving the world but we will without a doubt disagree on how to make that happen. We all agree on the mission but our methods will differ. Pastors are appointed to lead the church but that doesn’t mean we are right about everything. I told a friend this week you can respect the position of pastor and still openly disagree with them on their methods. Paul’s urging of the church to be like-minded doesn’t mean we are supposed to be carbon copies of each other. It doesn’t mean we should never disagree or state our concerns. Those things will happen and they must happen. If one person or even an elected group of people are allowed to make decisions without question then some very dangerous and emotional decisions will be made for the church. There must be accountability. But in that accountability there must also be spiritual maturity and submission. You may not agree with the authority of the church but ultimately the authority of the church makes the final decision.
If they are good leaders they will take your concerns to heart, way the pros and cons and spend many hours in prayer before a final decision is made. Yes, we will argue and not get along but those who have the mind of Christ, and are singularly focused will be able to move past the pettiness of our arguments in order to continue doing the work that has eternal value. This is what I love about the church. We are all different yet we are still one. Our methods may differ but our mission is clear. We cannot allow pettiness and little arguments to enter the church. If you hurt someone’s feelings go apologize. If your feelings were hurt be honest with that person. If someone said something about you that wasn’t true go confront it. If you don’t like a decision the church leaders make then voice your concern to them. We let the devil win by letting our focus be taken off the mission and put on pettiness. Little arguments that do not matter and will only hurt the church.
Ask anyone that left a church angry why they left angry and I would guarantee 9 times out of 10 it would be a petty answer. Either they didn’t like the music or they didn’t like the preaching style or they didn’t like the nursery or children’s program. Or they didn’t like that someone didn’t greet them or the pastor didn’t say hi to them one Sunday. On and on the list goes. We let our pettiness blur our vision to where we lose focus on what matters. We are now guided by emotion rather than by God and the Holy Spirit and that is when sin and the devil begin to chip away and win. Paul urges these women to refocus. Get over your pettiness and move on to what’s more important.
To help them he gives them a reminder through words of encouragement. First in verse 4-5 he says, “Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! 5 Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon.” The person who constantly rejoices in the Lord probably isn’t going to be the one rocking the boat and causing conflict in the church. This is sometimes easier said than done because we don’t like to rejoice we like to feel sorry for ourselves. This is the book of Joy and Paul is saying that if anyone should be filled with joy it should be Christians. Why should we be filled with Joy? Because of what Jesus has done for us. Paul could rejoice in his sufferings because he knew this life was temporary and the pains and sorrow of this life were temporary; something even greater, beyond words was coming.
Paul believed the Lord was coming soon and that there was no time for us to sweat the small stuff in life. We needed to always be focused and reminded of what Jesus did for us. He saved us from hell. I think that deserves some rejoicing don’t you? You get to go to Heaven forever! Doesn’t that make you happy? I said doesn’t that make you happy? If anybody on this earth should be filled with Joy every single day it is us.
There should be no such thing as a depressed Christian. We have the guarantee of heaven waiting for us. We can get through all the trials and temptations of this life because Jesus has redeemed us and given us power to overcome it. That should bring joy to us. Usually there are 2 reasons why a Christian quits experiencing joy in their life. 1. Short term memories- We do a horrible job about remembering what God has done for us. We can only see what’s right in front of us. We stress over it, worry about it, question where God is. We fail to look back on where we have been to remind ourselves of how God has already seen us through so many times before.
(Interactive) I want you to take a second and think about a moment that happened in your life that at the time caused a lot of stress and anxiety. You lost sleep, your stomach churned; it’s all you could think about. Maybe you questioned God or got angry with God. Maybe at the time you thought, “I have no clue how I am going to get out of this?” How many of you have that moment in your mind right now? Now since that event took place in your life how many of you have looked back on that and could tell me now exactly how God worked through that for good? You had an AHA! moment and can see what God was doing there or how God worked through that or how it was good for you to go through that so something else could happen? Hands? One final question: Since that moment where you just admitted that you worried and stressed but could now see how God provided and worked through it, how many of you have stressed and worried over something new that happened after that moment you just thought about?
You see? We have short-term memories. We so quickly forget the provision of God and how God is working. We so quickly forget how God has worked in our lives in the past that we can only again stress and worry. Paul says, Rejoice! God has saved you, God has redeemed you, and God has promised you eternal life in heaven through Jesus. God has promised he will never leave you or forsake you. God has promised that he will make your paths straight if you trust in him. God has promised that although you walk through the valley of the shadow of death you don’t need to fear evil because He is with you. He has been with you before he will be with you now and he will be with you in the future. Rejoice! Don’t sweat the small stuff. Get out of your own way. Christians don’t experience joy because 1. They have short-term memories and 2. Controlled by emotions- If you worry all the time then you are controlled by your emotions. Joy is not an emotion. Joy is not something you can just produce. Joy is a fruit of the spirit. Joy is a lifestyle. Emotions are all over the place they make you go up and down all the time. Emotions are like a strong wind that blow here and there constantly changing direction. Joy in Christ is constant. It’s not an emotion, it’s a lifestyle. Joy is a choice as I have said before in this series. Paul says rejoice. That means regardless of the day, whether light or dark, good or bad, difficult or easy, whether it brings problems or temptations we are commanded to rejoice. When we are controlled by emotions we will be constantly be going up and down about whether God loves me or not. (Zippidi Do Da) “I am having a great day, good things are happening God is blessing and loving me!” Then tragedy hits. “Oh why me, God must hate me, what have I done to deserve this? Why is God punishing me?” A joyous Christian has real power because they are not swayed by the ups and downs of life. They choose to rejoice regardless. They give God the glory in all circumstances.
When you and I are letting God have his way in us then Joy will become our lifestyle. Our spiritual lives will quit going up and down all the time. Instead they will continue to rise. They may hit times of plateau but they do not go down. Christians lose joy because they have short-term memories and because they are too controlled by emotion. If you have a short-term memory and are still controlled by your emotions then God doesn’t really have full control of your life. Paul goes on in verse 6 to show us how to remedy that problem.
4:6-7 – Instead of stressing and letting emotions control you Paul says rejoice and quit worrying about everything. Instead try a new approach, worry about nothing. Does this mean we’re supposed to look at life through rose-colored glasses and never face the reality of our circumstances? Are we supposed to believe that sin isn’t real, and sickness isn’t real, and that problems aren’t real? No. Paul says worry about nothing but pray about everything. This means we are supposed to rejoice in what God has done for us through Christ and we are supposed to talk to God about everything in our lives. God cares about all your problems. I read a story about a woman who once went to a British pastor and asked this question, “Do you think we should pray about little things in our lives?” The pastor looked at her and said, “Madam, can you mention anything in your life that is big to God?” What we think is a big problem in this life in reality is nothing to God. That’s why Paul says don’t worry about anything instead pray about everything because everything we go through in this life, anything you could think of that would be the biggest problem you have ever faced is nothing to God. It is little, easily solved. That truth should make us rejoice. It should also make us take a second look at the arguments we are having with others right now in our lives. In light of eternity is what you are arguing about or mad at someone about that big of a deal? Is it really worth fighting over? Probably not.
If we want to be a people of one mission, singular in thought that would allow us to do God’s work with the most effectiveness possible then we have to be a people of prayer. We have to be a people who are on our knees talking to God about everything in our lives. Prayer humbles us. It reminds us constantly of who is in control. It changes us to be more like God. Prayer makes us patient; let’s us commune with the Father directly. I will confess that many times after I have finished praying I have picked my problem right back up and put it back on my shoulders. We have to learn to let God take the burden from us. It is not ours to worry about. He will guide our paths and help see us through the situation. We can do our part but losing sleep over it, being anxious about it does nothing but cause ulcers and quick tempers. Prayer builds faith in us to just know God is here and will see us through this difficult time. Our prayers rest solidly on our faith and on the evidence we have when we look back at our lives and our reminded of just how many times before this one, God provided exactly what we need. If he did it then he will do it today. So quit worrying, instead pray to God about everything and accept the answer He gives. He always answers prayers. There is no such thing as an unanswered prayer.
Just because the answer wasn’t what you wanted or were looking for doesn’t mean God hasn’t answered it. Many times if not most times God’s answer is probably no. A parent’s answer to their child is most always no not because they want to punish the child but because they know what’s best for the child. If God answered yes to all our prayers I think we would live life with a lot of regrets. I know there are prayers I prayed that I desperately wanted to happen but God said no. I was mad but now I am glad he said no because I can now see what would have happened if he said yes and I would have greatly regretted praying what I did. God knows what’s best for us. Rejoice in all things, worry about nothing, talk to God about everything. Paul leads us to a logical conclusion when we do those three things in life. Peace enters. Not just a peace like a world peace but also a peace that passes all understanding. It’s a peace that guards us, protects us, keeps us safe. Paul entered this passage with worry and left with peace.
That peace only comes through prayer. Prayer does change things but when we stop praying have things really changed in that moment? No. The storm may still be raging, the thunder still crashing in your life. It has not stopped immediately after prayer but something has happened; peace. In our worry and anxiety we want God to change everything around us. “Give us this.” Don’t let this happen.” “Open up this door for me.” We should be praying, “Oh, God, change me.” We enter with worry but we come out with peace because God has changed us. When we let God change us Joy will come in. When we let God change us then we can rejoice in all things. When God changes us then we will begin to see just how silly are the things we spend so much time fretting over and being anxious about. We will see just how much time we’ve wasted being angry with someone over things that just don’t matter. Rejoice in everything, worry about nothing, pray about everything and watch peace that is beyond your understanding enters your life.
To close this passage out Paul sums it all up 4:8-9 – I like how The Message translation puts it, “Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.”
Paul says, focus on what is good. Focus on what is most important. Focus on what matters most. Quit fighting, quit worrying so much, quit leading with emotion and short term memories and just trust God. Trust in Him for all things. Get on your knees in prayer. If a Christian is going to spend all his time with the dirt and filth and questionable things of this world, then there can’t be any joy in his life. When we only focus on what’s not happening or we focus on the unknowns and what ifs of life. When we focus on the petty arguments and disagreements we let ourselves get in then there can be no joy in your life. There can be no power in your life. The Holy Spirit can’t work where you don’t invite him to work. You have to give up all control and let God change you.
Practically this means taking the time to examine yourself this morning with a few questions? Am I letting my life be dominated by pointless worrying over something I can’t control? Is there someone that I need to forgive or need to ask forgiveness of so that I can have peace in me? Am I too often controlled by my emotions and too easily forget all that God has already done for me?
Here is what I would challenge you to do this morning. Paul gives us the main answer, prayer. Go to the lord in prayer this morning and confess that which is holding peace back in your life. Be it emotions, short-term memory, fight with another person, trying to control life on your own or worry and anxiety. If you worry about everything then you need to come up here this morning and release it to Jesus. Come to the cross and lay that at Jesus’ feet this morning. When you come make sure you repent and ask Jesus to forgive you for trying to control your life. Ask him to take the burden from you and to help you each day trust in him.
After you have repented you have an assignment I want you to do. (Prayer Commitment Cards)- Finally, make right what has been made wrong. Far too often we stop at repentance. I believe we also need to go back and make right what was wrong. Even though God has forgiven you I want you to go to the person you hurt and ask them for forgiveness. I want you to go and forgive someone that hurt you. I want you to go apologize to the person you spoke ill against behind their back. I want you to repay what you stole whatever that is. Do what is true, noble, right, excellent and praiseworthy. Go and do what will make God proud. Don’t just say you are a Christian show you are a Christian.
If you are not a Christian you can be today- Salvation through Jesus-
A worrying Christian is a faithless Christian. There can be no peace and joy in those of us who worry and fret and lead life with our emotions. I hope today you will come to the cross and release that anxiety to God. Let him have all of you then make a commitment for the next month which I believe will continue on after that to pray 10 minutes a day. Cast your cares on him and give him glory for his grace and goodness. As you get in that happen I want you to watch and see what will happen. Worry will slowly leave and peace and joy will take its place. If you want to come this morning and pray then please come, cast your burdens at the feet of Jesus, let your worries remain on this stage.
