Philippians 4 (Part 1) :1-9 • What we think about, long for and love

chapter four Philippians and we're gonna read through the first nine verses therefore my brothers whom I loved and longed for my joy and Crown stand firm thus in the Lord my beloved I entreat yo dia and I entreat cinta ki to agree in the Lord yes I ask you also true companion help these women who have labored side-by-side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life rejoice in the Lord always again I will say rejoice let your reasonableness be known to everyone the Lord is at hand do not be anxious about anything 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 in Christ Jesus finally brothers 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 think about these things what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me practice these things and the God of peace will be with you let's pray Heavenly Father as always we come before you with a desire to hear your voice but we recognize that it is a spiritual dynamic that we're entering into therefore we need the work of your Holy Spirit to awaken our hearts our spiritual eyes and ears we thank you Father God for giving us the ability to understand and to tune into your voice but so many times Lord it becomes very clouded by the things of this world and so we're asking you to help us to set those aside here for a bit as we take time to study your word be with us we pray father in Jesus precious name Amen as we get into the fourth chapter of Philippians where we're dealing with some really private matters intimate sorts of things because these first nine verses of Philippians chapter 4 deal with our thought life and that's pretty intimate you have to admit I can think something and you don't even know what I'm thinking you know you can't smell it on my breath it's not going to make me drive erratically well not usually and you know you can't you can't figure it out from a blood test but yet I can be thinking what I'm thinking nonetheless and it's really kind of between me and God you know and it's interesting isn't it that the Word of God doesn't just deal with how we act and what we say but how we also think what's in our hearts and so Paul begins this passage with some very very tender words for the Philippians some of the most personal words that we frankly find in his epistles he begins by saying therefore my brother's whom I love whom I long for he calls them my joy and my crown and then he refers to them at the end of that verse as my beloved you know those are pretty powerful things to say those whom I love the word comes from the idea of agape love unconditional love he says I desire those I longed for he wants to be reunited with these people he says you are my joy literally you are the source of my gladness he calls them his crown we'll talk about that in a little bit he talks it he calls them again at the very end of that verse verse 1 again his beloved it's frankly using the very same word that he used earlier and what we see in this as we see these repeated sort of terms that Paul uses is that these people had really captured his heart and and that's you know I I don't know if it surprises you or not to think of the Apostle Paul having been captured in his heart by these people but it kind of brings up the question in our lives what has captured our hearts what is our joy what has you know what do I think about you know you know again Paul refers to them as his crown interesting this word for crown refers to that reward that they would give to the Olympians back in those days you know they didn't receive gold silver and and and other kinds of metals for their placing and a race or whatever like that they received a leafy crown that was the reward and and so this word is the word that is given to a runner who has run the what race and won so its he says you are my reward I really find that interesting because I think to myself are the objects of my love and my longing something that the Lord could reward me for you know or are the objects and longings of my heart something that are just very worldly very fleshly very selfish you know that sort of thing the reason I'm bringing all this up and asking these questions is because you know it's it's it's just too easy for you and I to give our hearts permission to love and longed for and and and and think about the things of this world isn't it and and again we can look all holy on the outside you know carrying my Bible here see you there right there and I and but you know you you don't see what's going on in my heart you don't see what I'm thinking about what I'm longing for what I am desiring above all else well that's what this passage is talking about and sometimes the things that we love can actually be harmful let me show you a passage from proverbs chapter 4 verse 23 I like it in the NIV it says above all else guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life and usually when you and I read a verse like this we think about guarding our heart from all of the bad things that might come along bitterness anger jealousy I could go on rarely do we think about guarding our heart from things that we love or the thing from things that we might love that are contrary to the will of God see because this is something we don't often think of things that we love as things that be could be potentially bad for us you know what I mean because I love it you know and and if it's love can it be bad and the answer to that question is yeah it can and so when we see this exhortation in the word to guard your heart you know it takes on kind of a new dimension when we think about those things that we might love and longed for that are in fact dangerous and things that we need to say no to but we don't usually want to I want to say no to bad things I don't want to say no to things that I love that are bad anyway pretty pretty important thing question for us to to ask but you maybe think well how do you know how would I know if necessarily if something that I'm loving and longing for is bad well I think an easy test is to ask yourself the question when you are focused on that thing or person and you are loving and longing for that thing does it bring you closer to the Lord or do you find that it actually distances you from him as far as your time with him your time in prayer your time in the word stuff like that I have noticed in my heart in my life the things that God has convicted me of that I have set my heart on to desire and to long for that have not been according to his will those things pushed me away from him I don't spend as much time during the day thinking of him or his word I think I spend more time thinking about me and what I want when I longed for and I don't have the usual time that I might otherwise have for the things of the Lord and the Lord uses that in my life to bring conviction and to bring determination that it's something that I need to get get out of my life or at least to stop thinking about you know oh man that's hard stuff now we're now God is really meddling in our lives isn't he you know these these areas that we secretly longed for what is your heart think about when it is free to think about whatever it will where does it go where do you thoughts go what do they turn to when they are free to turn wherever they will those are important questions as Paul moves on here in verse 2 he says I entreat yo dia and I entreat sin to key the word entreat means to ask someone earnestly he says to agree in the Lord and he goes on to say and yes I ask you also true companion we don't know to whom he is referring help these women who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life so he's talking here yeah and I find this kind of interesting that Paul would stop addressing the church in a broader more general sense to pause here and address to women by name who apparently were great help to him in some respect related to you know the work of the gospel but for some reason or another are having a hard time walking in agreement and that happens sometimes these women were struggling to walk in agreement so Paul kinda calls them out you know right in these verses how would you like to have been in the Philippian church and gotten called out by name you know and and you can you can assume this letter was read you know in front of the entire church so that's that boy I test one way of kind of getting to the root of an issue isn't it just bring it read it in a letter you know to the whole church yeah that's not too much fun but Paul is calling upon some of the believers there in the church to to help these two women to walk in agreement because they were obviously clashing and and you know we we talk about these kind of clashes from time to time and we say why is it some people just can't seem to get along together you know and and we'll kind of chalk it up to personality differences you know well I just think we just kind of had a personality clash you know or something and as if that kind of just explains everything I think often it's because two people have very similar giftings in the Lord and particularly when the when they have leadership giftings and they're in the same environment of ministry neither one of them is necessarily in charge but they're working together it's not uncommon for things like this to kind of happen because you know when you have a leadership gift and you are a strong leader you tend to have a strong personality and when you have a strong personality you tend to have strong opinions and when two people come together with strong opinions Wham right a number of years ago Sue and I took a personality test I don't recommend them but we were talking with another Calvary Chapel pastor and his wife and they were telling us about these personality tests so we thought okay let's pick this post and so we did and we found out that we're identical we are in this this personality test called us both drivers and I thought man that answers a lot of questions you know because sometimes when we're in the car there's only one of us driving but the other ones a driver and and the word driver you know this means somebody who gets out and leads and and that's sue and I are both leaders and we're strong leaders and we have strong personalities and we have strong opinions but that can easily give way to stubbornness yeah and when you're stubborn that's when the flesh enters in to the strong leadership gifting right strong leadership giftings are from the Lord stubbornness is from the flesh and so you ended up having issues you know they have to resolve these women had issues they had to resolve what's the answer well in marriage in ministry in the church wherever you may be with somebody who you're clashing with the the solution is always love and I'm not trying to oversimplify it we are commanded to love one another and that that command to love comes with a description of what that love is supposed to look like let me put it on the screen for you you guys know this love is patient love is kind love does not envy or boast it is not arrogant or rude look at this it does not insist on its own way it is not irritable or resentful that's the kind of love we're called to show one another in the body of Christ and in the home even if there may be giftings that are very similar there as well moving on he says rejoice in the Lord always again I will say it rejoice and you'll notice he doesn't just say rejoice in the Lord he says rejoice in the Lord always and that's kind of the Bugaboo of that verse isn't it because you know most of us can find an opportunity or a time sometime in our day week year to rejoice in the Lord hey I just want to rejoice in the Lord today because and then we'll tell about something good that happened I just I just want to rejoice in the Lord you know and praise the Lord and rejoice in him and you know there's a but what about rejoicing in the Lord always when you don't have something to tell about that maybe has happened in your life that's what Paul is saying rejoice in the Lord always right you think wow that's kind of hard isn't it Paul isn't telling you and I to rejoice in the tragic errs rejoice in the bad or rejoice in the bummers it's not what he's saying because you'll notice he doesn't just say rejoice he says rejoice in the Lord and guys there's always something about the Lord that we can rejoice about even when you are going through a horrific situation let me show you a great quote that I found from Albert Barnes this is great he says it is the privilege of Christians to do this not at certain periods or intervals but at all times they may rejoice in the character of God in his promises and in intimacy with him if everything else changes yet the Lord does not change if the sources of all worldly Joy's are dried up there is not a moment of a Christians life in which he may not find joy in his God is that great there's always something in the Lord to rejoice about you know and I think that that quote pretty much says it all so if you and I are struggling to rejoice we may be looking in the wrong place verse 5 let your reasonableness be known to everyone your Bible may say gentleness if you have a different translation the Greek word refers to kind of a moderate temperament you know how we call people kind of a will say he's kind of just even keeled you know when it comes to emotions or something like that and and Paul is basically telling us here when he says let your reasonable reasonableness it's actually kind of hard to say be known he's saying as you deal with people as you relate to people you got a wonder if he's thinking of Yo dia and cinta ki here he's saying chill be easy to get along with be fair be drama-free right and what's the reason that he gives for it because he says the Lord is at hand in other words the return of the Lord is near you don't want him finding you causing trouble so he goes on verse 6 and 7 do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication which is the act of asking for something 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 in Christ Jesus I'm willing to bet many of you have committed these two verses to memory at the very least you probably wrote them down somewhere or underline them in your Bible very very wonderful promise maybe one of the most wonderful promises in God's Word because it's all about peace and peace is a wonderful thing but it's not just any peace you'll notice it's peace he says that surpasses all understanding what does that mean well he's talking about not peace that comes from circumstances but peace that comes from the Lord let me show you how Jesus put it on the screen from John 14 these are the words of the Lord peace I leave with you my peace I give to you not as the world gives do I give to you let not your hearts be troubled neither let them be afraid in that this is this is important this is all about the peace that surpasses understanding it's not like the peace the world gives the peace the world gives is based on something that good that happened when two nations decide to stop warring there's peace when two people decide to stop being antagonistic to one another and make up there's peace when you and I get good news when we were expecting bad news it gives us peace but those are peace those are instances of peace based upon circumstances Jesus is talking about and Paul is reiterating here to the Philippians about peace that is predicated on nothing more than Jesus Christ himself and therefore circumstances have nothing to do with it okay you see again there's really nothing wrong with circumstantial piece I suppose the problem is with it is that another circumstance could arise then the next minute to take your piece away if my piece is based upon the fact that my outwards environment is that piece that's great for as long as it lasts but as soon as something invades my environment again that that is chaotic or scary my piece is gone and so Paul talks about peace that surpasses understanding or it goes beyond understanding because he says it is the peace of the Lord and it can't be stolen because it's not based upon what's happening here it's what's happening here because it is peace from him it is not predicated on natural circumstances it is based in supernatural circumstances and it comes from the Lord I don't know if you've ever experienced it I haven't experienced it nearly enough I'll say that but I have experienced it at times and it's and it's it's weird that's my that's my expert observation it's weird it really is it's strange because when Paul says it surpasses understanding that means you can't really understand why you feel at peace you're in the midst of a situation for which you should be freaking out and you're not this news comes or situation comes into your environment that is chaotic and upsetting and scary and frightful and for some reason you're sitting there cool as a cucumber and you're like I shouldn't and people around you are kind of like they come to to you know to minister to you and you're kind of like I'm good and and I have had some people be able to recognize that enough to be able to say you know I appreciate what you're saying to me but you know I really have the Lord's peace Lord has given me peace about this situation and I can't explain it other than just saying he gave it to me because I know that I should be a mess right now but I'm not I'm peaceful I've I've had that happen I've had it happened on a few occasions and it is a wonderful thing and the only thing you can say is the Lord is gardening my heart right now I know there are all these enemies that are trying to press in and make my heart unsettled but for some reason God has put a shield a guard up around my heart and it's not getting in and that's what Paul promises here the peace of Christ which surpasses understanding will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus but I want you to understand something about this kind of peace it doesn't just happen there in other words what I'm saying is it's a it's it's a conditional peace God's love is unconditional but his peace has requirements that goes along with it look at verse 6 again do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving let your requests be known to God and then Paul goes on to give the promise and the peace of God right but the the condition is distance yourself from anxious thoughts spend time in prayer include times of Thanksgiving in your prayer that's tough to do when you're scared I mean when you're kind of a hot mess inside and you're and you're thinking okay I need to offer up a prayer with Thanksgiving okay you know but just spending time in praise can be just such a wonderful distraction and then he says as we make our request known to God as we lay out our petition before the Lord the peace of God which surpasses understanding will guard your heart and your mind and then the last two verses finally brothers 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's anything worthy of praise he doesn't say do these things does he oh we're back to them mind he says think about these things we're back to what we think about we're back to what's in our hearts think about these things and then in the last verse verse 9 he talks about the example that he has given and encourages them to follow it but this whole idea of what we think about is so critical here's another verse that you've probably committed to memory some of you about what we think about and you know our minds are not unlike a computer they're they're so much more superior to a man-made computer but but not unlike a computer in the sense that you know you kind of get out of your life which put into your mind you know the computers like that a computer can't can only do what it's programmed to do and a mind is operates in a similar fashion in the sense that what you put in is going to find its way out in the way in the things that your life produces I love how the New King James rather than saying think about these things actually says meditate on these things that's a good word the new American Standard Bible actually uses the word dwell do well on these things those two words are better than think because think could be a momentary thought that goes through your mind but to meditate and to dwell means to stay on something so Paul gives us these these these these eight things which he says are key to our growth and stability as a Christian how we think the things on which we dwell and meditate let's put them on the screen is a list for us here so we can kind of look at them together he says think about that which is true not false people can I just tell you some the the most powerful weapon of the enemy is to get you to meditate on that which is false because you see when he speaks he speaks his native language he lies Satan can't help but lie it's what he does it's who he is he is a lie whereas Jesus said I am the truth so you and I are to meditate on that which is true and that means we have to put out of our mind anything that we have entertained which is from the enemy and is just perpetuating falsehoods and false beliefs in our lives and there are many things that we ponder in our minds that we don't even think about or we don't even stop to consider is this true we have accepted it is true and it's usually something having to do with you and your failings or how much God loves or doesn't love you or something like and the enemy shows this seed of falsehood in your life and you meditate on it and guess what it affects the way you live it affects the way you relate to God it affects the way you relate to other people and those things need to be exposed and you and I need to say is that what the word says you know sometimes people will come up to me and they'll make a statement that I know the enemy has planted in their hearts and I'll ask them is that what the word says they'll say well no but it's what I believe yeah see that's a problem you've embraced a falsehood you've embraced a lie and it's going to affect the entire you know the whole stability of your Christian life so be careful what you meditate on what you ponder make sure it's true make sure it's also honorable worthy of honor the things that you're thinking about are they honorable how about just you and I don't usually use that word but it means morally right and fair when you stop and think when you meditate on something is it morally right is it morally fair is it pure because that's something else you and I are to think about and that and pure just basically means uncontaminated is it lovely or is it ugly if it's thought towards somebody else that's unbecoming it's ugly we're to think of things that are lovely is it commendable in other words something you could be commended for something the Lord would say well done in the thought process of that thing is it excellent of the highest level of quality is it praiseworthy these are important things Paul says that these in fact are the proper things for our minds to ponder and when we direct our thoughts in this way he says that we will be guarded by the peace of God one last passage to throw in the mix from Romans chapter 12 verse 2 Paul writes do not be conformed to the to this world which is the thinking the pattern of action and so forth but we're to be transformed by the renewal of our minds and this is this is one of those areas where we just have to kind of confess to the Lord you know I can be so worldly sometimes and my thinking it is just so bad so worldly so founded in the things of this life rather than the things for that are above I got to tell you I was really convicted even to get up and share this message with you because I'm just like you and my you know if let's just put it this way if all of us had our thoughts put on that screen we'd be horrified wouldn't we and I don't think there's anybody here that is immune to that whole thing so this morning before we left to come to church I I just grabbed Sue and we sat down on the couch and I said you just need to pray for me because I you know every once in a while I just have to come before the Lord and just say Lord I am so unworthy to share the truth of your word you know because just like Paul said in the last chapter brothers I would have you know that I have not attained to these things I've not arrived you know and I don't think there's one person in this room who doesn't deal at times with thoughts that are unbecoming a believer but God cares about what we think about because it affects the kind of people we are and it affects how we relate to him and it affects how we relate to others it affects our marriages it affects our child-raising it affects our work environment I believe it affects our physical bodies it's very very far-reaching and so what we think about what we love what we long for what we cherish in our hearts you

Channel: Calvary Chapel Ontario

Views: 28,822

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Keywords: Bible, Bible teaching, Thru-the-Bible, verse by verse, Calvary Chapel, Bible study, Christianity, New Testament, Old Testament

Id: oTiwXCMWHEg

Length: 32min 8sec (1928 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 09 2018