STANDING FIRM IN THE LORD
Philippians 4:1-9
October 6, 2002
INTRODUCTION:
Too many Christians are failing to stand their ground on the spiritual battlefield of life. We want our Christianity to be soft and easy. We want our spiritual development to be quick and painless. And so when difficulties or challenges come our way rather than standing our ground we simply slide along with the popular current.
Paul addresses this very issue with the Philippians in 4:1 which forms a bridge between his discussion in chapter 3 and his exhortations in chapter 4. Here Paul writes: “that is how you should stand firm in the Lord, dear friends!” (4:1). The Greek word for “stand firm” is a military term referring to a soldier standing his ground in battle. The Philippian church is in a spiritual battle not only for their souls, but also for the souls of mankind. And so when they face opposition they dare not back down, but must stand their ground.
The tide of popular culture today is flowing against the truth taught by the historic Christian faith. Unless we stand firm in the Lord we will ultimately be swept away by it. Swimming against the current is no easy task to be sure, but overcoming difficult obstacles can only make us better and stronger. William M. Batten said: “When I hear my friends say they hope their children don’t have to experience the hardships they went through -- I don’t agree. Those hardships made us what we are. You can be disadvantaged in many ways, and one way may be not having had to struggle” (Fortune). I believe that our Heavenly Father would agree with Mr. Batten. God does not allow trials to come our way because He likes to watch us suffer or struggle, but because He knows it is the only way to grow us into strong, productive Christians.
Please follow along in your Bibles as I read Philippians 4:1-9 and we will discover six things that we must do if our church is going to stand firm in the Lord.
1. Enter into a Partnership. (vv. 2-3)
In verse 2 Paul writes: “I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to agree with each other in the Lord.” In verse three we see that these ladies once worked side by side with the apostle Paul in the work of spreading the gospel. We are not told what their specific role was, but that is beside the point. Something has occurred that has caused they to disagree with one another so much so that they are no longer working together. Once again we are not told any of the details of this disagreement because that is also beside the point. The point is they need to come to an agreement so that they can once again be partners in the work of the gospel.
In the CEV this verse reads: “I beg you to stop arguing with each other.” We can’t take a stand against the enemy when we are too busy arguing or fighting with each other. Many times in the Old Testament we read of occasions when God defeated Israel’s enemies in just this manner -- He caused them to fight against one another. When they did that they killed themselves off and all the Israelites had to do was collect the plunder and celebrate the victory. Satan is no fool and he is trying to do the same thing with the church today. If he can get us fighting against one another then he doesn’t have to defeat us because we will defeat ourselves. In fact this is the only way that Satan can hope to defeat the church because he can never win an out right battle because greater is He who is within us that he who is in the world. And Jesus said the gates of hell would never be able to prevail against the church. Since Satan knows he can’t destroy the church, he will try to get the church to destroy the church. It is his only hope.
How many times have we unwittingly partnered with Satan in his plot to destroy the church? Every time we have gossiped about someone else in the church. Every time we have held a grudge against someone in the church rather than forgiving them. Every time we argue over disagreements about things that are nonessential to Christian doctrine. Paul says we need to “agree with each other in the Lord”, we need to partner with each other in the Lord.
The word for ‘agree’ refers to a way of thinking or a disposition. Christians should be predisposed to agreeing with one another. This type of agreement can only come “in the Lord.” God is the glue that holds us together. He is the tie that binds us together in love. Anytime Christians begin to drift apart and break partnership with one another, we know that it is because they first began to drift away from the Lord. We need to partner with the Lord so that we can partner with one another. Back in 2:2 Paul wrote: “Then make me truly happy by agreeing whole heartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one heart and purpose” (NLT). Working together with one heart and purpose is the perfect definition of Christian partnership.
2. Come to God with our Praise. (v. 4)
Calvin Miller wrote: “I have never forgotten that Daystar began his Great Insurrection by frowning and skipping his morning Alleluias. It must have seemed minor at the time, but hell grows out of paradise gone sour. Joy is a discipline, and fallen angels were always those who grew negligent with their praise” (Calvin Miller, The Valiant Papers, p. 18).
Hell grows out of paradise gone sour. We know that we are going sour when we fail to worship as we should. Joy and rejoicing are disciplines. Paul tells us that we are to discipline ourselves to rejoice in the Lord always. First, rejoicing comes from the word joy and has a much different meaning than to merely be happy. We are happy when our circumstances are good. However, joy is an underlying positive attitude in the face of even negative circumstances. The prophet Habakkuk wrote: “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stall, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior” (Habakkuk 3:17-18). I am quite sure that the prophet was not particularly happy about any of those things, but he had a joy in the Lord that enabled him to praise God anyway. The surest way to lose that joy is to stop praising God. When we stop worshiping we lose our joy and we grow sour. Think about that and the fact that on our church health analysis we scored 10 out of 100 for ‘inspiring worship’. If worship is the antidote to growing sour and if we are not worshiping, then just where does that leave us? It is imperative for our church that we learn how to rejoice in the Lord even when all the circumstances are not as we would like them to be. The alternative is to grow sour and rather than standing our ground we will rot or worse yet rebel.
3. Learn to be team Players. (v. 5)
In the NIV verse 5 says, “Let your gentleness be evident to all.” What does that have to do with being a team player? Well, let me explain. The Greek work for ‘gentleness’ is translated in the RSV as ‘forbearance’ and in the Amplified as ‘unselfishness’. These words speak of not insisting on your own rights. In the Berkeley translation the word used is ‘considerateness’ which speaks of looking out for the rights of others. When we put this all together we learn that we are not to look out for number one, but to look out for the needs of others. In other words, we need to be team players. Perhaps the Message sums up the meaning best: “Make it as clear as you can to all you meet that you’re on their side, working with them and not against them.”
There are many athletes in professional sports that play on teams, but they are not team players. They don’t care about the team and its success. All they care about is their personal stats and their personal success. They are star players, not team players and their teams never win championships. As we attempt to stand our ground in this spiritual battle we must understand that there are no Rambo’s in this war. If we are going to stand firm in the Lord it will take a team effort and that requires team players.
We in the church could learn a lot about teamwork from geese.
Winging their way to a warmer climate, they often cover thousands of miles before reaching their destination. Have you ever studied why they fly as they do? It is fascinating to read what has been discovered about their flight pattern as well as their in-flight habits. Four come to mind. 1. Those in front rotate their leadership. When one lead goose gets tired, it changes places with one in the wing of the V-formation and another flies point. 2. By flying as they do, the members of the flock create an upward air current for one another. Each flap of the wings literally creates an uplift for the bird immediately following. One author states that by flying in a V-formation, the whole flock gets 71 percent greater flying range than if each goose flew on its own. 3. When one goose gets sick or wounded, two fall out of formation with it and follow it down to help and protect it. They stay with the struggler until it’s able to fly again.
4. The geese in the rear of the formation are the ones who do the honking. I suppose it’s their way of announcing that they’re following and that all is well. For sure, the repeated honks encourage those in front to stay at it. As I think about all this, one lesson stands out above all others: it is the natural instinct of geese to work together. Whether it’s rotating, flapping, helping, or simple honking, the flock is in it together...which enables them to accomplish what they set out to do.
(Chuck Swindoll, letter, October, 1991)
If you think that you can’t be a team player because your not talented enough to have anything to offer, let me tell you another story.
There’s a wonderful story about Jimmy Durante, one of the great entertainers of a generation ago. He was asked to be a part of a show for WW II veterans. He told them his schedule was very busy and he could afford only a few minutes, but if they wouldn’t mind his doing one short monologue and immediately leaving for his next appointment, he would come. Of course, the show’s director agreed happily.
But when Jimmy got on stage, something interesting happened. He went through the short monologue and then stayed. The applause grew louder and louder and he kept staying. Pretty soon, he had been on fifteen, twenty, then thirty minutes. Finally he took a last bow and left the stage. Backstage someone stopped him and said, “I thought you had to go after a few minutes. What happened? Jimmy answered, “I did have to go, but I can show you the reason I stayed. You can see for yourself if you’ll look down on the front row.” In the front row were two men, each of whom had lost an arm in the war. One had lost his right arm and the other had lost his left. Together, they were able to clap, and that’s exactly what they were doing, loudly and cheerfully.
(Tim Hansel, Holy Sweat, 1987, Word Books Publisher, p. 104-105)
If we will only work together as team players we will be able to stand our ground and accomplish much more than we ever dreamed we could. And I believe that God, like Jimmy Durante, will be moved as He watches his less than perfect children partnering together to praise him.
4. Eliminate our anxieties through Prayer. (vv. 6-7)
Paul says that you should “not be anxious about anything” but that you should “present your requests to God.” The CEV words it this way: “Don’t worry about anything, but pray about everything.” And I really love the way the Message paraphrases it: “...let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers.”
I’m afraid that too many of us know too little about prayer. Sometimes it seems that we are like two men who were walking together. The first challenged the other, “If you are so religious, let’s hear you quote the Lord’s Prayer. I bet you $10.00 you can’t.” The second responded, “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my should to keep. And if I die before I wake, I pray the Lord by soul to take.” The first pulled out his wallet and fished out a ten dollar bill, muttering, “I didn’t think you could do it!”
Paul says that we are to come to God with our prayers and petitions. What is the difference? Prayer is more general than petitions and is based on God’s promises. It involves worship and devotion. We pray for forgiveness because it is promised to those who repent. A petition is a special request in time of need and appeals to God’s mercy. We petition God for the healing of an ill child. This petition is appeals to God’s mercy because such healing is not promised in the scriptures.
When we come to God with our prayers and petitions we are promised that His peace will guard our hearts and minds. The Greek word for ‘guard’ is a military term referring to a soldier standing on guard duty. If we will come to God in prayer during times of crises, we can be sure that His peace will protect our hearts and minds, our emotions and thoughts during the trial. This is vitally important because if Satan can control how you feel and what you think I guarantee that he will control how you act. We can only trust such control of our lives to God himself. As the CEV says, “And this peace will control the way you think and feel” (v.7b).
If we are going to stand our ground and win the battle, we must pray. A.C. Dixon put it this way: “When we rely upon organization, we get what organization can do; when we rely upon education, we get what education can do; when we rely upon eloquence, we get what eloquence can do, and so on. I am not disposed to undervalue any of these things in their proper place, but when we rely upon prayer, we get what God can do” (A.C. Dixon, Evangelism, A Biblical Approach, M. Cocoris, Moody, 1984, p. 108). Sidlow Baxter said, “Men may spurn our appeals, reject our message, oppose our arguments, despise our persons -- but they are helpless against our prayers.”
5. Focus our thoughts on what is Positive. (v. 8)
If we pray, God promises to guard our minds with his peace, but that does not eliminate the responsibility that we have to watch what we think about. In verse 8 Paul tells us that we need to think about things that are positive or good. This is just what Peter was trying to do in his letters: “Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking” (2 Peter 3:1).
As Christians we know that we need to act right, but before that we must first think right because to a great extent our lives are shaped by our thoughts. The idea behind the word for ‘think’ is to take into account in such a way that the object of reflection shapes one conduct. Someone once said: “Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny” (Frank Outlaw). Someone else said, “Let the mind of the Master be the master of your mind.” That is the best way to think the right thoughts which will in turn give birth to right actions.
If you want to act right, think right. Henry Ford understood this concept. The story goes that Henry Ford once hired an efficiency expert to evaluate his company. After a few weeks, the expert made his report, which was highly favorable except for one thing. “It’s that man down the hall,” said the expert. “Every time I go by his office he’s just sitting there with his feet on his desk. He’s wasting your money.” “That man,” replied Mr. Ford, “once had an idea that saved us millions of dollars. At the time, I believe his feet were planted right where they are now” (Readers Digest, August, 1981). If you want to act right, you must first think right.
6. Turn our learning into Practicing. (v. 9)
Paul says that now that you have learned it it’s time to do it. The word ‘received’ is considered to be a technical term referring to the receiving of authoritative teaching. In 1 Corinthians 11:23 Paul wrote: “For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you.” It refers to the receiving of authoritative teaching prior to the development of the New Testament canon. So when we receive scriptural teaching we are obligated to put it into practice. For if we fail to do what the Bible teaches we have no hope of standing our ground. In fact living our lives according to what the Bible teaches is the essence of standing our ground. The Phillips paraphrase says, “Model your conduct on what you have learned from me.”
Imagine, if you will, that you work for a company whose president found it necessary to travel out of the country and spend an extended period of time abroad. So he says to you and the other trusted employees, “Look, I’m going to leave. And while I’m gone, I want you to pay close attention to the business. You manage things while I’m away. I will write you regularly. When I do, I will instruct you in what you should do from now until I return from this trip.” Everyone agrees.
He leaves and stays gone for a couple of years. During that time he writes often, communicating his desires and concerns. Finally he returns. He walks up to the front door of the company and immediately discovers everything is a mess -- weeds flourishing in the flower beds, windows broken across the front of the building, the gal at the front desk dozing, loud music roaring from several offices, two or three people engaged in horseplay in the back room. Instead of making a profit, the business has suffered a great loss. Without hesitation he calls everyone together and with a frown asks, “What happened? Didn’t you get my letters?”
You say, “Oh, yeah, sure. We got all your letters. We’ve even bound them in a book. And some of us have memorized them. In fact, we have ‘letter study’ every Sunday. You know, those were really great letters.” I think the president would then ask, “But what did you do about my instructions?” And, no doubt the employees would respond, “Do? Well, nothing. But we read every one!” (Chuck Swindoll, Living Above the Level of Mediocrity, p. 242)
In many ways we are too much like the people in this story. As someone once said, “We are educated far beyond the level of our obedience.”
CONCLUSION:
We, as a church, must stand our ground on the spiritual battlefield of this life. We cannot afford to allow ourselves to become apathetic bystanders.
When Rosina Hernandez was in college, she once attended a rock concert at which one young man was brutally beaten by another. No one made an attempt to stop the beating. The next day she was struck dumb to learn that the youth had died as a result of the pounding. Yet neither she nor anyone else had raised a hand to help him. She could never forget the incident or her responsibility as an inactive bystander.
Some years later, Rosina saw another catastrophe. A car driving in the rain ahead of her suddenly skidded and plunged into Biscayne Bay. The car landed head down in the water with only the tail end showing. In a moment a woman appeared on the surface, shouting for help and saying her husband was stuck inside.
This time Rosina waited for no one. She plunged into the water, tried unsuccessfully to open the car door, then pounded on the back window as other bystanders stood on the causeway and watched. First she screamed at them, begging for help, then cursed them, telling them there was a man dying in the car.
First one man, then another, finally came to help. Together they broke the safety glass and dragged the man out. They were just in time -- a few minutes later it would have been all over.
The woman thanked Rosina for saving her husband, and Rosina was elated, riding an emotional high that lasted for weeks. She had promised herself that she would never again fail to do anything she could to save a human life. She had made good on her promise.
(Bits & Pieces, June 24 1993, pp. 20-21)
How long will we continue in our apathy? How long will we remain on the sidelines while the battle rages? How long will we stand by and watch as the people of our community are swept away by the current into hell? How long?
It is time for us to end our apathy. It is time for us to get involved. It is time for us as individuals and as a church to take a stand for Jesus. It is time we...
enter into a partnership
come to God with our praise
learn to be team players
eliminate our anxieties through prayer
focus our thoughts on what is positive
and turn our learning into practicing.
Steve Dow
Heritage Wesleyan Church
www.forministry.com/80909hwc
heritagewesleyan@hotmail.com
Please email me if you use this sermon or a revision of it. Thank you.
