How To Be Stable In Unstable Times - Philippians 4:1-9 - Pastor Jason Fritz

[Music] uh all right good morning everybody good morning to those watching online good morning to those of you who are in the room so great to be with you today so if you got your bibles we're going to pick up where we left off last week we're in philippians chapter four and this is the part where the apostle paul as he begins to conclude this letter he wants to leave these first century believers with a word of exhortation and encouragement because here's the deal things are about to get really bad for this group uh if you know anything about history at this time there's this guy named nero and he's on the phone he's the emperor roman emperor and the guy's out of his mind the guy's insane he's a megalomaniac in just a short amount of time he's going to amp up his efforts in persecuting the christians essentially what's what he wants to do is he wants to annihilate christianity he wants to wipe christianity off the face of the earth and so these believers are in for some really really difficult circumstances you know it's like their world has been turned upside down and we can kind of relate you know i've been walking the earth for 50 years and i can't remember a time where it just seems like more things are becoming undone you know it's like we need this maybe now more than ever we need this stabilizing force you know without it it's just in these times it's just too easy to feel like you're just sort of the ship that's adrift getting tossed back and forth by the winds either of the culture the world society we need some kind of stabilizing force right now and you know before the invention of the compass or the sextant sailors used the north star also known as polaris i want to throw this photo up on the screen for you you know because of the north star's location in proximity to where the earth's axis is this is a time lapse photo here you can just see the north star in the center it just looks like everything revolves around that star and so for hundreds of years especially at night as sailors were trying to find their way they didn't have a compass they didn't have a sex and what they had was they had this one fixated point in the sky and by focusing on it they could determine are we on course are we off course which way are we headed it's like we need that north star let me ask you what is what is this stabilizing force what is the stabilizing person in your life see that's what the apostle paul is going to write about this morning as he prepares and equips these first century believers for some very very difficult times as if he's going to say here's what you need to know you can stand firm not because of the circumstances being pleasant because they're going to get bad but you can stand firm because there is this individual who enables you to stand firm when there seems to be so much chaos around you now the apostle paul knew a little something about living a turbulent life okay this is a man who at one point as he writes he says look i have been beaten i have been tortured i am constantly on the run my life is always in danger remember as he's writing this letter he's in prison he's charged with being a dissenter why because he refuses to worship roman gods and that is a crime against rome if you don't appease the roman gods and make them happy then the roman gods are going to make it bad for everybody so they see paul is worshiping the one true god right the god of the bible he refuses to bow the knee also to caesar because back in the day they worshipped caesar as god and paul's like no that's not how we play it as christians we worship ben the knee only to the creator god and so he's in prison not knowing what the outcome will be as we said he's chained to a guard one of the praetorian guards imperial guards 24 7 he has no privacy he's not sure when the door opens up and it's like okay now um trial sentence you're about to die he doesn't know and yet the theme of this entire book check it out the theme of this entire book is joy and you're like how does that happen because over and over again we're going to read it today paul says here's where we find our joy it's in the lord it's not in our circumstances you cannot be held hostage to your circumstances if you try to find your joy in your circumstances you are going to be a wreck in life look around look what's happening to us now i'm telling you people say the bible is so irrelevant please so what happens here in this text is paul says i i'm kind of like this um i'm like this rock it's not because of anything in me it's because of who i know and because i'm this rock i can withstand the storms of life i want to throw this this picture up here another picture up here for you i used to have this as a poster in my office and it's basically it's a picture of a lighthouse and it's sitting in the middle of the ocean you can see yeah you can see it it's just i mean it's pretty incredible you all wonder how they built this thing in the first place right but look at this i mean you can just sense the power that this wave has it's about to crash over as it does crash over this lighthouse but you know that power is broken up because of the stability of the lighthouse and if you look real closely you see this dude just he just kind of opens the door he's like checking the weather yeah pretty confident because he knows he knows that in that spot he's safe and he's protected and paul says my life is kind of like that in fact at one point paul says you know i was lost at sea i was shipwrecked i spent a night and day in the deep getting tossed around by the waves but my life has this stabilizing force regardless of my circumstances and so this is what he wants to convey to these early believers and man they really need it and then paul gets highly practical okay so as he brings this letter to a close philippians chapter four verse one he says therefore my brothers i love you this is a pastoral heart and and i really wish i could be with you i love you i long for you you're my joy and crown paul treasured people people matter to paul stand firm stand firm thus in the lord my beloved i love it what does this mean you know this is one of those christian phrases you get short a lot it's like you know hey stand it first stand firm in the lord brother what does that mean well here's what paul's going to do it's actually quite brilliant i just need you to stay with me here because we're going to dig deep in this text it's super rich if we can mine this out it's going to have a huge impact on your life here's what he's saying he's saying in order for you to stand firm in the lord this is what he's going to flesh out now you need to start with the big and move to what is small in order to stand from the lord you need to start with the big and then you move to what is small let me explain so if you pick up a self-help book today what you're going to find is something like this it will tell you the exact opposite start with the small and then move to the big for example if you're experiencing anxiety in your life you might want to begin with something small and that might be just a a breathing technique if you're anxious if you're feeling that something is you know it is starting to unnerve you then a breathing technique is a simple way to start and maybe count to ten one two three hey you start with something small then we'll then we'll move to something that may be a little bit more challenging what we'll do is we'll look at your schedule and we'll try to find some ways to carve out some white space for you that's the thing right some white space because you need that mentally and then once we've done that we'll move on to something a little bit bigger and that is what we'll do is we'll begin to tackle your diet because it's important you know what you feed yourself your body with this kind of like fuel if you want to be able to handle the things that come your way you need to be healthy physically so we'll start with we'll move to your diet and then we'll tackle a really big thing and that is exercise daily vigorous exercise so we're going to start small and we're going to build and we're going to work toward the big the christian perspective is very different right paul's going to say you start with the watch this you start with the cosmic start with the big and then you're going to apply the big to the smaller things in your life so here's the the key in understanding our text it's wrapped up in that word therefore in verse one so the word therefore refers back to what paul has just written at the end of chapter three in the last two verses so basically what he's saying is because of this because of what i've just written to you you can stand firm now this is huge okay let's understand it in proper context so what does paul say in chapter 3 verses 20 and 21 he says but our citizenship is in heaven he's done this a number of times what is this big picture we don't start with the small things big picture our citizenship is in heaven in other words he says remember where you're headed because from heaven we're awaiting a savior that's the big picture jesus is going to come back he's going to judge all unrighteousness and more so look at this it's the lord jesus christ that we're waiting for and he's going to transform our lowly bodies our bodies are susceptible to disease covet death right but he says there's going to be a transformation that takes place when jesus returns and this is not what you're going to have our lowly body will be transformed like his glorious body by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself we talked about this a bit last week when jesus came on the scene it's like he commanded nature there's a storm and jesus is like stop and nature obeys him power over death raises a man who's been dead back to life that kind of power that's the power jesus has he's gonna extend it to us so in other words here's what he's saying your future transformation and destination is the foundation upon which you stand firm in the lord take a look at the cosmic picture of where you're headed you're a citizen of heaven you're going to be totally changed and transformed so many things in this life come to an end don't know this even the greatest things even the best marriages come to an end with the death of a spouse your physical strength will come to an end as you age it begins to happen you look in the mirror and it's god's way of saying you know you're temporary right right you know you're temporary you've got hair growing where it wasn't supposed to go you're you're looking at this gray it's like you wake up and you're like i didn't even exercise and i'm sorry and that's kind of god's way of going james says your life is like this it's a vapor it comes and it goes and that's your life so everything in this life comes to an end paul says can we just remember that there is a place that you will be where things get brighter things get brighter everything gets duller here there things get brighter they get newer they get fresher they get better and that's where you're going to be so paul says let's start with the big things and now let's look at our daily troubles our personal troubles in light of eternity so take this cosmic perspective whatever earthly struggle you're going through will can you just consider that in light of your true citizenship in light of the fact that whatever even physical ailment you might have it's going to be transformed and it's not going to be like that forever now now that we have this eternal cosmic perspective let's apply it to some of the things that you and i go through in life so now we understand what happens next in the text because a lot of people will read the next few verses and they're like man it seems like paul is totally stepping out of context here not at all because what paul does is he takes the eternal he's just set you up for the eternal and he's going to speak to two ladies in the church that are having a disagreement he's going to say in light therefore in light of your citizenship in light of what you have coming ahead of you he says he says this in verse two i entreat eudia and i entreat syndicate to agree in the lord is that interesting he's not changing subjects he's actually flowing right into it and it's brilliant cosmic perspective let's apply it to what you two ladies are going through right now because you seem to have a disagreement we don't get the details of this this agreement what we can what we do know is that it doesn't have to do it with anything that touches the heart of the gospel because if it did paul would speak directly to it previously we read paul saying false teachers bad really bad you got to deal with them wolves in sheep's clothing what do you do with a wolf you don't negotiate you put it down so if this was an issue of the gospel paul would have said okay we need to parse this out here because one of these ladies is teaching something that's wrong or believes in something that's wrong that's not the issue here it seems that there's just some kind of disagreement over what we here at illuminate refer to as an open-handed issue right good to have this conversation there are closed-handed issues and open-handed issues closed-handed issues these are the things that have been that have been spoken to by jesus directly right is jesus the only way to god yes closed handed that's what jesus said are we sinners separated from god did jesus death on the cross reconcile us to god yes that's not a negotiable that's what jesus laid down do we believe jesus is coming back and that he will make all things right and he will judge unrighteousness yes jesus said he would that's closed handed when is jesus coming back open-handed let's talk about it we can have the discussion we can agree in a way that is not contentious that's important because it sends a message to the world that on the secondary tertiary things that you we don't have to have complete and total agreement on the core things that touch the heart of the gospel yeah those are non-negotiable those are important things but there are secondary tertiary issues that we can choose to disagree agreeably and not be contentious the problem here with these ladies is they're not disagreeing agreeably and the the challenge for them is that they don't have uh the proper foundation the proper starting point for resolving this and what paul brings to them is hey remember ladies that someday you're both going to be in heaven together you're going to be transformed this is not all there is you're going to experience an eternity with your creator god in an unimaginably beautiful place now what was the issue you had here on earth do you think maybe you can't work it out cosmic perspective brought to this earthly problem so paul goes on in verse three he says yes we need a little help so i ask you also true companion help these women we don't know exactly who paul is asking here could be luke could be someone else but he says this about these ladies they've labored side by side with me in the gospel these are these are gospel-centered ladies together with clement and the rest of my fellow workers there's a ministry nonprofit ministry that exists called peacemakers and it's just a group of christians and essentially what they do is they enter into mediation amongst believers believers come to an impasse over something they will enter into that space and they will help bring reconciliation based on the scriptures but then look at this what paul says at the end he says and by the way these ladies they have their names written where in the book of life you know what that is what did paul just do he just drew the lens back out and he says ladies eternal perspective your names are written in the book of life what's the disagreement we'll get someone from the congregation we'll bring someone in we'll try to help mediate this thing but let's understand let's look at this temporary earthly problem in light of what lies ahead for you in your eternity it's as if he says listen if christians can't work out their issues here and now then that means that they have forgotten all that jesus has done for them to secure their future destination and their future transformation so is this disagreement at the heart of what is important in light of eternity and so when every watch this now when every moment of your life is viewed from this cosmic perspective this lens of eternity through this god who sits and thrown knowing that you will be with him that is the only way you will be able to endure life's storms cosmic perspective to earthly problems now some might say that's great for you jason but um i don't believe in god i just don't believe in god so two questions for you number one are you open-minded and number two are you asking the right question because the question is really at this point the question is not well does god care does god exist what will christianity do for me that's actually not the right question the right question is this is christianity true that's the right question because if christianity is true it's standard reason that it then it has a stabilizing influence and force in your life so the question isn't is what will christianity do for me how can it help me will it make my life better there are answers to that question but that's not the most important question the most important question is is it true because if it's true it changes everything and it commands demands your attention now someone will be quick to say now this is where i check out again because i don't like the idea that anyone would lay claim to the truth because what happens is when people become truth claimers they become dogmatic and dogmatism leads to divisiveness and disruption and so you know and for that reason things should just be relative right like beauty truth truth should be like beauty to the in the eye of the beholder no one should have the right to lay claim to the truth let's think about this if dogmatism is a bad thing then you have no you have absolutely no moral right to become outraged at injustice if dogmatism is a bad thing but here's the deal when you see injustice when you see people being mistreated what happens you do get angry you might say you're dogmatic why because there is a truth and that truth is this every man woman and child has created an image of god and therefore worthy of respect honor and dignity that is the truth and it's okay to be dogmatic about the truth if you're not dogmatic about the truth everything is relative for you if you say there is no god you actually have a bigger moral problem because a personal god demands justice a personal god is the one who says people are created in my image imago day so therefore if you're going to mistreat that person created in my image it's almost as if you're really you're mistreating me that is the truth to be dogmatic about and so paul says let's not be intellectually lazy here let's take the cosmic perspective realize that god sits on the throne there is a truth jesus came to die for our sins he secured our eternal destination so let's live today in light of our eternity that is the only way you can have an internal stabilizer i'm just telling you right now it is to look at the claims of jesus christ and to ask this question is it true is it true because you're not going to have peace in your life without truth so here's the practical way you get into your life verse 4 paul says rejoice in the lord always again i will say rejoice paul is not sitting on the beach with his toes in the sand he is a prisoner of rome and he's the guy who says rejoice always how because it's in the lord what does that mean it means that you look at jesus and you look at his you know jesus died for you jesus died for you jesus died for you and because jesus died for you you have these amazing things that are coming to you in the life to come and this is this fall saying this is the way this is how you can rejoice in regardless of your circumstances so let your reasonableness be known to everyone paul says this is actually reasonable because the lord is at hand which is another way of saying god is near do not be anxious about anything but in everything i read that too quickly do not be anxious about anything well that sounds ridiculous let's keep reading but in everything by prayer and supplication that's that's asking with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to god if you do this verse 7 that's how you get the peace of god and that kind of peace surpasses all understanding certainly all human understanding and then your your heart will be guarded and your mind will be guarded where in christ jesus so here's the help for your anxiety you ready for it come before god and pray isn't that just the routine christian answer christians are always saying that if you're anxious pray pray you might be a christian you might say you know what that doesn't work for me i pray a lot and i'm still really anxious that's always what christians say just pray it's not working for me you know why it's not working for you because you've got the wrong prayer notice carefully what paul says you pray with thanksgiving oh pay attention closely this will make all the difference you pray with thanksgiving now wait a minute how am i gonna pray and thank god not knowing the outcome fair question this is what paul is asking you to do christian i'm going to pray and thank god even though i don't know the outcome yes see it's the prayer that thanks god watch this now for every possible outcome why would you do that pray not knowing the outcome but you're thanking god for every possible outcome why because you know who god is you know that god is good you know that god sits on the throne and you know that he has your best interest in mind one of the most famous verses in the bible romans 8 28 recorded all the time and we know that for those who love god all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose god has your best interest in mind this verse tells us that god did not design the world as a mess sin entered into it everything got jacked up everything got messed up but god hasn't left us he's still on the throne and he has this plan wherein he redeems bad things and he uses those things to build you up and the cross is the greatest proof of that that guy could use a great tragedy for something that is great triumph i love what c.s lewis says he puts it in this perspective he says i believe in christianity as i believe that the sun has risen not only because i see it but because by it i see everything else so if god is the creator of the universe and he knows much more than we do we're kind of like oftentimes the little toddler that's trying to give a lesson in physics there's a lot that we don't understand isn't this what the book of job is about right this is one of the main themes where you have this guy job and he's got he's just like his life is just go he goes from a high to a low and he finds himself in this position of mourning and and he's just been laid low and he says god i've got some questions for you why this why that he begins questioning god he puts god on the witness stand and then when he's finished god says to him job are you done are you done asking questions now it's my turn to ask you questions i'm just going to ask you a couple number one where were you when i created the world job where were you when i put the stars in their place see what's happening all of a sudden he's getting a lesson in physics from the ultimate physics teacher he's the toddler it's like the finite trying to understand the infinite and so what happens is god says here's the thing if you continue to act like a toddler if you stand before me and say you have to explain everything to me otherwise i'm running away you will never develop the kind of faith that leads to maturity that sees god using unwanted circumstances for your good you can actually pray with thanksgiving for all of the possible outcomes that god would bring into your life knowing that ultimately they will be for your good oh this is you know spiritual roots are starting to grow deeper you can just hear them growing deeper so if you say there is no god you've got a bigger problem because suffering and evil are just objective opinions everyone does what's right for himself a personal god demands justice toward evil and again the cross proves that god can take what is horrible and turn it into something that is incredible so here's what's happening these ladies are still in this place where they need that cosmic perspective and so paul says can we be reasonable about this the word translated reasonable actually literally means to have an uncommon evenness of temper that's a really interesting word it literally means to have an uncommon evenness of temper i need more of this in my life i need more of an even temper in my life and paul says this is how you get it now i'll be coming see i get i get ben i get out of shape right a lot of stuff starts coming out of me that's not good when i'm facing an anxious moment and the cure paul says is to stop and thank god for all the possible outcomes and reflect on who god is so this is this is such a stabilizer because let's just let's tease it out for example you know you get a promotion you're like yeah i'm the man i got a promotion i did it well if god is the stabilizing force in your life you get a promotion and you say i'm so thankful i'm so thankful that i have this blessing so let's say you don't get the promotion and then what do you do you say you know what i can still be thankful let's say you lose your job you can say you know what i'm i can still be thankful you know why because listen my name is written in the book of life that's a pretty good deal for me yeah i don't have a job but i know where i'm going and my biggest problem that exceeds all other problems has already been solved by jesus so yeah yeah i'm not happy about it and i'll let god know you know this this is not this is not what i want but in the end what i realize is that cosmic perspective i win i win in luke chapter 10 jesus sends the disciples out and he gives them his power to do all kinds of things to perform miracles supernatural acts and so they go out and they come back and they report to jesus and they're super super excited they're like jesus we've been going around we've we've cast out demons in your name we i mean the demons submit to your name it's been an amazing experience for us we're super excited about this and jesus says you're excited about that you get excited over the fact that use my name to cast out demons jesus says don't get excited about that get excited about this cosmic perspective he says your names are written in heaven you see how this works all throughout the bible now you see this cosmic perspective that paul is trying to lift us out of this and say here are the lenses that through which you view all of your earthly problems and they're the lenses of eternity and that makes a huge difference to what you're going through now so rejoice in the lord always again he says rejoice give thanks let your reasonableness be known to everything paul says to these ladies ladies you've forgotten what lies ahead come to an agreement in the lord every day when the mind is placed on this it's going to bring calm into your life verse 7 and the peace of god which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in christ jesus so picture your heart there's these little guards that have been stationed there by god and they're protecting your heart from all of these anxious moments finally brothers verse eight whatever is true whatever is honorable whatever is just whatever is pure whatever is lovely whatever is commendable if there is any excellence if there is anything worthy of praise will you put your mind on them well is that the place can you just set your mind on these things what you have learned received and heard and seen in me practice these things and the god of peace will be with you there's a little bit of a play on words here paul's brilliant in verse 7 he talks about the peace of god do these things you know you'll have the peace of god then in verse 8 he flips it and he talks about the god of peace so maybe you're listening you're in the room and you feel like man i just you know i don't know i don't sense god's presence one of the primary reasons why is because right of this right here what we're reading are you thinking about what is true what is honorable are these the things that you're placing your mind on the things that are just the things that are pure are you absorbing what is impure what is unlovey unloving what is not worthy of praise all of these things what is not excellent if that's what we're absorbing our minds on you as a man thinks so he is we become what we think upon what we subject ourselves to this is why you know i my heart really goes out to and it's not just for a younger generation because it crosses generations but especially for the younger generation we have a generation that's being raised on a a on a what is essentially an addictive form of identity that's it is incredibly destructive right it's like click addiction and there's a constant tether to something that is shaping and forming their identities and that's why in large part you see such massive amounts of depression even suicide in a time like it's never been before why it's because we we have we live in this culture in this society that is just bombarding us and it's telling us this is where you find your identity meanwhile the words of scripture say free yourself from that think about what is lovely what is pure and what is honorable and then verse 9 look at it closely the god of peace will be with you i love what c.s lewis said again he said if you aim at heaven you're going to get earth thrown in but if you aim at earth you will get neither i always thought it was cool how if you look at the life of jesus his first miracle was to turn water into wine at a party jesus is going to host another party in heaven and and he there's it's going to be amazing all right but in between those two parties there's this other little bit of wine tasting that jesus goes through and it's actually the super bitter wine it was referred to as gall and he tastes that wine while he's being crucified while he's on the cross but you can't get to that heavenly party unless jesus first tastes that bitter wine and so when we think about what is pure and honorable and right and commendable and excellent there is one thing one object one event that stands above all others and that is the cross of jesus christ and so we're going to conclude our time by doing what jesus commanded us to do and that is to remember the excellence of his crucifixion so father as we enter into this time i pray everyone listening either online or in the room god i pray that by the power of your spirit you would begin to impress upon us that eternal perspective that we begin to see our problems today in light of where we're headed our transformation in our destination that is the foundation for our life today so god search our hearts continue to mold us continue to shape us father not just for our good but ultimately lord for your glory we pray it in the name of your son jesus christ amen

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Length: 33min 49sec (2029 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 28 2020