Online Bible Study Philippians | Episode 8

hi there and welcome to another mid-week bible study in the book of philippians we trust that you're going well even during this time of separation and lockdown today we are going to be looking at philippians chapter 4 verses 1 to 9 in a study that i've entitled three truths that lead us to joy so if you turn there in your bibles with me and follow along we're going to look at philippians chapter 4 verses 1 to 9. says therefore my beloved and longed for brethren my joy and crown so stand fast in the lord beloved i implore euodia and i implore syntici to be of the same mind in the lord and i urge you also true companion help these women who labored with me in the gospel with clement also and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life rejoice in the lord always and again i will say rejoice let your gentleness be known to all men the lord is at hand be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to god and the peace of god which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and mind through christ jesus finally brethren whatever things are true whatever things are noble whatever things are just whatever things are pure whatever things are lovely whatever things are of good report if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy meditate on these things the things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me these do and the god of peace will be with you three truths that lead to joy but before we get into those three truths mainly found in verses 4 down through verse i watched say an ad this past week and you've probably seen it because it seems to have gone viral the new qantas ad which is really advertising and the message really of the ad or the what they're trying to get people to encourage people to do is of course to get the govid vaccine and the kind of the idea behind that is that they marketed it in such a way that if we do this then we'll be able to enjoy some of those freedoms that we haven't been able to enjoy for a long time particularly around travel of course because it's qantas and they're an airline company but i found it interesting the way that they framed it and this is nothing new to advertising or marketing but of course they had very very sentimental and very real problems that people are facing at the moment in terms of their restrictions to travel one instance showed a man who was separated from his daughter and he wanted to go see her another was of a young couple who wanted to travel for a wedding another was a family that really wanted to go to disneyland something we haven't been able to do for at least the last year and a half but what struck me and this is not about whether or not one should get a vaccine or anything like that but it reminded me that the way that they framed this to try to convince people to do something was really through the avenue of emotion and it reminded me that really in our society we have really become a people who make decisions based upon feelings for example the ad would not be nearly as impactful or successful if they just had a doctor up there in a white coat reading a bunch of statistics and giving a bunch of reasons and and all of these types of things that wouldn't really have impacted people as much but it the the tug of the heartstrings is really what they're going for and again that's nothing new in terms of marketing or advertising that's been going on for a long time but it just really hit home with me that how much we have drifted as a society into the idea that we make our choices and we really live or have the tendency to live by our feelings rather than by our thinking that's really true i think and it does come out in to a degree in the passage that we're looking at today in how do we experience the joy that is for us in christ do we merely look at how we feel or do we try to fix how we feel at any given moment or do we really dig down into the heart of our worship and our thinking to make sure that it is embedded and trusting in the truths of god's word so as we look into this passage this is so important for the day and age that we live in you know if we think about the importance of thinking which really does come out here in especially verse 8 and how that relates to our anxieties that we experience day to day and week to week and month to month again i think is we have to realize that to really meditate and to think on the things that we are supposed to do takes time and it takes effort and it takes work something that we usually try to avoid we seem to have kind of um shifted our thinking or send that task of really thinking we've kind of shifted it offshore and want other people to do those things for us or we've substituted really deep meditation on god's word with scrolling through our social media feeds or watching little clips here and there rather than really digging down and meditating on the things of god and so that's kind of my desire for us in this study as we look at three truths that lead to joy that we would be encouraged and challenged to just set aside some of those things to engage in the discipline of biblical meditation and looking into and really thinking deeply about the things that will bring our souls and our hearts to a place of peace now remember the context of course of this book it's so important to remember that because if you understand that it does give you a bit of perspective on how paul is writing this and how the philippian church is receiving this paul is in prison in prison in social isolation in many ways not complete isolation but he's he's there in prison for his faith he's able to write letters praise the lord which some of which have become inspired scriptures and he sends them out to these churches to encourage them in their walk with the lord now remember the philippian church but don't think of you know the philippian church as kind of what we are used to in terms of our church like emmanuel baptist we have a nice big building and a beautiful cross on top and a big sign out the front that says we're emanuel baptist church and all the wonderful resources and blessings that god has blessed us with these people most likely would have been meeting in homes uh there was no public church building at that time in the first century as the church as christianity was just beginning to take form and to grow and so they didn't have all of the kind of resources and things that we have there was the constant threat of possible persecution ostracization from society because they've rejected their false gods and are worshiping the one true and living god and yet in all of that through the book of philippians the purpose and the main theme is finding our joy in christ so keep that in mind as many of us i'm sure are still wrestling struggling there's a lot of decisions that are being made at the moment a lot of things that are being imposed upon us that maybe we're not used to and it can cause us to lose that joy that we are supposed to be finding in god as we seek to minimize i guess or alleviate those feelings of anxiety and so i want this to be an encouragement for you there are three truths that i've come out of this passage with that will lead us to joy first of all there's a command here in verse 4 he says rejoice rejoice what does it mean to rejoice it literally means to be cheerful the idea of joy in this context is a calm delight a calm delight be cheerful a calm delight but not just rejoice for the sake of rejoicing this doesn't come by just telling myself i need to be happy i need to be happy i need to be happy he says rejoice in the lord not in our circumstances not in the government not in all sorts of things that are going on rejoice in the lord find your joy in the lord and he repeats it he says again i will say rejoice just do this in other words just rejoice just praise the lord just dig down and find your joy in god don't seek it in any other thing and i think this is one thing that the lord is teaching me especially during this time of lockdown is a lot of the things that i previously found a sense of joy in and it's not wrong to do so god has created a beautiful world he's created amazing things a lot of those things have been taken away and it's not wrong to find joy in our friendship and our fellowships and the beautiful things that god has created in this world but we are going to have to really dig down for the next couple of weeks and find our joy in the lord that is what's going to sustain us and bring us to a place of peace rejoice so christian are you rejoicing in the lord with your time that you have with the mental capacity that we have with the abilities that we do have are you finding joy in god then the second truth that leads us to joy a place of joy is rest now it's not stated here but i've kind of done this for alliteration's sake and he says in verse 6 be anxious for nothing be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to god and the peace of god which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through christ jesus be anxious for nothing you see the opposite of a calm delight in god is anxiety what is anxiety well we often describe or often describe anxiety as the emotion of uncertainty it comes out through our thinking of what if or if only what if things don't happen the way i think they're going to happen what's going to happen to me what's going to happen to our country what's going to happen to our church a lot of those things cause a feeling of restlessness and anxiety and we all feel it i feel it sometimes but here in this context the idea of being anxious or anxiety is actually not a feeling word at all it's actually a thinking word the word that is translate be anxious or anxiety here is really a word that describes a divided mind a mind that is in conflict with itself it lacks that clarity and it lacks that certainty now granted there are so many things in this world and especially at the moment that are causing us to have divided minds we're divided about all sorts of issues our country's divided about all sorts of issues and it causes you can see it this sort of social anxiety and unrest that is going on about us and even though there is so much division and anxiety going on in the world here is the opportunity for us as christians to avoid that to have a settled mind this doesn't mean that we don't have decisions to make this doesn't mean that we don't have to look at all the things that are going on and have some sort of conclusion or conviction about about what's happening that we just kind of go with the flow or whatever but it means that we are settled on the sovereignty of god the goodness of god the faithfulness of god and the hope that we have in the lord jesus christ how do we get you see this this is where it takes the battle away from our feelings and it puts it in the mind where we have to engage with the truth of god and what's happening around us how do we do this well what does he say be anxious for nothing but rather in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to god this is fascinating because he says the answer to all this is prayer now i know that may sound a little bit simplistic and i don't want it to sound simplistic in the sense of just you know you pray the pray the fear away type of thing or there's some sort of magic formula that you just pray in a matter automatically all your problems are solved or all of the dilemmas in our mind go away not at all but rather what is this saying prayer you see it's not just some sort of form of therapy to help us feel better but rather it is the humble acknowledgement and the entrusting to god things that are outside of our control it is entrusting those things which to god that that we maybe are trying to control ourselves there's a lot in life that we can control there's a whole lot more that we can't control and that can be frustrating at times that we wish we could control a certain circumstance or just or thing that's going on around us that was true of the philippian church that was true of the apostle paul he didn't have the choice to just go and be free like he wanted to he was restricted by being in prison for christ's sake but much of our anxiety and mind included often comes from us trying to control things that we have no control over he says let your requests be made known to god so there's a lot of things that we request isn't it we we have desires we we wish things would be a certain way and and we even pray in the will of god that his will would be done that righteousness would be done on the earth and we leave it with him and trusting that he will do that which is good and right and just and even if we never see that in this life god will take care of those things and what's the result he says and then the peace of god which surpasses goes beyond all human understanding why because peace in a human human sense is based upon circumstance it's based upon what's happening to me in the moment which makes me feel a certain way but this is the unique thing about a believer is because our joy and our hope is not in this world it's in christ this means that even in the midst of trouble and agitation there is a peace that surpasses and goes beyond the understanding of all men and this ought to be on display to our neighbors to our community and to our world around us that as they are crippled in fear and uncertainty and anxiety the christian is firm and steadfast and resolute as we trust in the lord this is what verse 5 says essentially let your gentleness that's peaceableness be known to all men the lord is at hand the peace which surpasses all human understanding what we'll do will guard your heart and your mind peace guards your heart and your mind from that anxiety and that restlessness which takes you down into a pit of despair and discouragement and uncertainty and worry it will guard that heart and mind it will keep you firm and strong in the face of adversity what a testimony this should be to such an angry divided and hostile world that we are resting in the person of god then thirdly the last truth which brings us to a place of joy is not only do we rejoice in the lord not only do we rest in the lord but we remind ourselves of the things of the lord verse eight finally brethren whatever things are true noble just pure lovely of good rapport if there is any virtue and if there's anything praiseworthy meditate on these things here is where the important battle takes place for all of us we are to meditate on these things what does it mean to meditate well it's christian meditation is nothing like eastern meditation where we try to disengage the mind from everything that's going on and escape to some sort of thoughtless nirvana or whatever it is that we are trying to achieve rather the word meditate essentially means to mutter to to mull over in your mind now here's a here's a reality all of us meditate okay now you may not sit in a corner and meditate by yourself or whatever here's the reality we all actually meditate we all have thoughts running through our mind constantly we all fixate on something we all mutter those things to ourselves all the time those thoughts are constantly running through our head and especially in a time now where we are have so much alone time our minds are constantly working and so here is the battle to experience joy and the peace of god we need a disciplined mind that meditates and mutters and thinks on the right things this doesn't mean that we close ourselves off from everything else that's going on in the world but what do we spend most of our time thinking about what do we spend most of our time researching when we spend most of our time doing where's our mental energy going he says brethren whatever things are true what does that mean stay in the truth okay stay in the truth with all the things going on seek the truth but then ultimately come back to the ultimate truth of god's word stay in that which is true guard your heart with the truth all those things that are noble what does it mean to be noble those things that are honest and honorable think on those things which are honest and honorable those things that are just those things that meet the holy standard of god of god's righteousness think on those things those things that are pure or innocent don't let your mind gravitate towards immorality or any of these lustful things that are so prevalent whenever things are lovely what does that mean does it mean that we just think about puppies and flowers all the time it it's towards things that are towards things that are friendly that are that are that are good that are pure and good and what things are of good report or well spoken of these things we are to meditate on we live in a world where there is a constant stream of new cycles it takes us two seconds to access all kinds of information it's information overload that wasn't necessarily a problem in the philippian church they didn't have social media and cable news and and uh and the internet and the constant things which bombard us with so much information and it's sometimes so hard to push those things away because we're so connected in so many ways but make sure we give our time and give our energy to meditate and to be quiet and to think on these things so that our anxiety and our anxiousness and our uncertainty in our divided mind is resting in the lord this is a discipline it's a disciplined mind that will lead to a steady mind and a settled heart and so can i just encourage you to meditate on the things that are true and good and righteous to rejoice in the lord just make yourself do it find joy in god to rest in him and cast all of your cares and your anxieties upon him this doesn't make all problems go away but it means that we can entrust these things to god and we're walking by faith just like the examples of old i want to finish just by quoting isaiah 26 verses 3 to 4 says you will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you trust in the lord forever for in yah or jehovah the lord is everlasting strength these are three truths that we need especially at the moment that will lead us to joy

Channel: Emmanuel Baptist Church

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Length: 22min 10sec (1330 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 14 2021