Sermon on Philippians 4:6-7 "Peace" | The Peace of God that Passes Understanding

I do hope that you will keep your Bibles open at Philippians in chapter 4 this morning we're going to look at one of God's greatest but also most misunderstood gifts as we look at this marvelous subject of peace now I once a straightaway that I know that we are a congregation of people many of whom have young children at home many of whom have business deadlines to meet at work all of whom live in a competitive culture and environment that can sometimes be very cutthroat indeed and so while peace may seem very attractive to us it can often seem very remote indeed rather like a day in a lounging chair by a lakeside with a good novel the sort of thing that might happen a few days in a year but only a few days in a year and the rest of the time we have to live in the real world many of us here this morning will be engaged in some kind of interpersonal conflict and that even those running at the back of our minds we wish that it were not so but it is a few of us may be involved in or facing the prospect of some kind of legal action and it's not easy for us to see at all as we come to church this morning how we could know anything about peace just the other week we were looking at how every Christian is involved in a spiritual warfare in which every day we need to put on the whole armor of God and even now as we gather together for worship our nation is engaged in war and many people are afraid even of opening their own mail so what can it mean for us today in this world in which we live to no peace now the Bible speaks very directly and pointedly to this issue Jesus on one occasion gathered his disciples together he said to them I want you to know it's recorded in John chapter 16 and verse 33 he said in this world you will have trouble now you can't get a plainer statement than that got to know this he says to his disciples but in the very same breath Jesus also said to them I tell you these things so that you may have peace now that takes us to the very heart of the question we face this morning how can you have peace at the same time as you face trouble now before we can get to how we have peace it's important for us to understand what this peace that the Bible speaks about actually is and the first thing to say is that the peace that the Bible speaks about is obviously not the absence of conflict or trouble that's clear from the statement of Jesus you will have peace but at the same time you will have trouble these two things exist together now I want you to see from Philippians as you have the Bible open in front of you here that that was the case even as Paul was writing this letter for example if you look at chapter 4 and verse 2 we're introduced there to two ladies in the church who evidently had fallen out and couldn't get along with each other and the Apostle writes I plead with Judea and I plead with sin Turkey to agree together in the Lord they're probably best remembered under their other names onerous and soon touchy because that seems to pin their character and evidently these two battle-axes had been slugging it out for some time and everyone in the church knew about it and to the great exasperation of the Apostle Paul when he writes to the church he's saying I plead with you two ladies can't you get it together can't you bury the hatchet can't you agree together in the Lord so he's writing to a local church in which there was some clear interpersonal conflict secondly if you just glance at chapter 3 and verse 18 you'll see that writes out of a broken heart he speaks that about enemies of the cross of Christ people in the church whose behavior was causing deep damage to the cause of Christ and Paul had dealt with the situation in you the church in Philippi and he begins to write about these folks and you know even as he wrote and thought about it he broke down in tears he actually says that that in verse 18 he begins thinking about those whose behavior is damaging the church and he says even though as I say with tears he brought down with his pen in his hand so here the Apostle is speaking to a congregation where there is interpersonal conflict he writes out of a broken heart because of damage that is being done to the cause of Jesus Christ by certain people's behavior within the church and as we saw last week as he writes is actually chained to a Roman guard he's a prisoner he refers to this in Chapter 1 and verse 14 and he is facing the prospect of a violent death executed eventually in Rome so the piece that he is talking about is not the absence of conflict or of trouble this is not some academic writing in an ivory tower about theoretical ideas this is an imprisoned pastor writing to an ordinary congregation with interpersonal conflict feeling a broken heart and facing the prospect of an imminent violent death now I want just to have emphasized that for a moment because it's very easy when we hear about the subject of peace for some of us just to Choong out straight away because when we hear the very word peace and especially when the Apostle talks about peace that passes understanding what gets into our mind is the image of some reverent gentleman from some other world of theories and ideas in some flowing garment which if they were only white would make him look something like an angel with his hands aloft mumbling you know maybe the peace that passes understanding God your hearts and your minds and so forth and it's so otherworldly that you say what does he know about it so you need as you open your Bible to know that the Apostle Paul knew what he was talking about he lived in the world of conflict that you and I live in and when he talks about a peace that passes understanding he's talking about something that we desperately need to discover precisely because we live in a troubled world of conflict now what is this peace that is talking about it's not the absence of trouble what is it well as many of you know the Hebrew beautiful Hebrew word for peace is the word Shalom and what it means literally is the way things ought to be so if someone says Shalom to you what they're really saying is may things be with you the way they ought to be it was very interesting when you understand that - look at verse 9 and to see that the Apostle describes God here as the God of peace and what that means therefore is that everything in God is exactly as it ought to be there is nothing disordered nothing out of place out of control or out of character in God he is who he is everything in God as I did ought to be and when God created the world therefore he created the world with this mark and stamp of Shalom about it he created and saw that everything was good just as it ought to be the man and the woman walked with God in the garden just as it ought to be the man the woman were in sync together in their relationship just as it ought to be the man and the woman experience Pro find joy and satisfaction just as it ought to be but then as we have seen when sin entered the world Shalom was lost nothing was as it ought to be Shalom was lost at three levels things were no longer as they ought to be between the man and God or the woman and God things were no longer as they ought to be between the man and the woman and things as a result were no longer as they ought to be within their own hearts the Shalom of God was broken in these three places and so the story of the Bible is how God restores that Shalom in the three places where it was broken how God makes a way for things to be right between us and him God makes a way for things to be right between one another God makes a way for things to be as they ought to be within our own hearts as we look towards the day when God will create a new heaven and a new earth and everything will be as it ought to be in the home of righteousness now each of these three levels are clearly referred to in Philippians in chapter 4 and I want us to look at them together and to see the order in which they come because if you think of it this way when we're looking for this peace that can exist in the middle of trouble the Apostle Paul is telling us that it is built on three levels of foundation it rests upon other things that must be put in place if you're to experience peace in the middle of trouble so I hope you have your Bibles open as we look at these three conditions three foundations of this peace of God that passes understanding and it begins in chapter four and verse four with the opposed speaking to us about how you have to be in a right relationship with God rejoice in the Lord always he says I will say it again rejoice now that's exactly how it was at the beginning of the Bible story when God placed the first man and the first woman in the garden he gave them just one commandment they had a wonderful relationship with him and with each other they walked with God God appeared to them in visible form he shared their life their work was all discussed with him they rejoiced in the Lord that's how it ought to be but then when they chose the path of disobedience as we have seen the first way in which this shalom was broken was that they hid from the Lord God in the garden Adams first instinct was that he did not want any longer to be near to God he could no longer rejoice in God he wanted to hide from God so he runs from cover and the Lord God is calling out to Adam looking for him in the cool of the day and all of us have ever played hide and seek even as children know that when you're hiding and someone comes close by to where the place where you're hidden and you don't want to be found your heart starts thumping and if you've ever been in a situation where being found would really matter you will know that fear of that moment that was Adams first experience of fear he lost his peace hiding from God Francis Thompson the poet catches I think the flavor of this hiding from God in his poem the Hound of heaven brilliant poem the pictures God as relentlessly pursuing us in love and he begins the poem this way he says I fled him down the Knights and down the days I fled him down the arches of the years I fled him down the labyrinth and ways of my own mind and in the midst of tears I hid from him that takes a lot of energy and it costs you a whole lot of peace and as long as a man or a woman is resisting the commandments of God the lordship of Jesus Christ you cannot know peace this is the foundation on which the peace that passes understanding actually rests God has made it very clear there is no rest no peace for the wicked instead the wicked are like the waves of the sea tossing backwards and forwards and the great invitation of the gospel is that Jesus Christ invites you to come out of hiding and into as it were the embrace of the God who seeks you he came into the world to create peace Shalom he died the just for the unjust in order to bring you to God he died so that you would not be condemned to continuing some unwinnable war of disobedience towards God he came to restore the Shalom that Adam lost and Paul has been reminding us in this letter of Philippians that there is nothing greater in all the world than knowing this in Jesus Christ he says though it's cost me all things that I once held to be so dear I wouldn't change anything for Jesus Christ and now he's written about all these problems in the church and the things that break his heart and he's been very open about the prospect of imminent death and he comes back in chapter 4 and verse 4 and he says but let's not forget this I'm rejoicing in God and you should do the same for whatever happens nothing in all the world is like knowing this restored relationship with God the relationship that Adam lost but I've been brought back into it in Jesus Christ I rejoice in God and hiding from him he is the joy of my life now that's the foundation have you come there or are the shady areas of your life that you're hiding from God the very foundation of peace is when we come out of that hiding give up our rebellion against his commands and submit to his lordship and his rule over our lives but then there's a second thing on which this peace that passes understanding rests see it doesn't just happen they the Apostle is making the case in this chapter that the peace of God that you can know in the middle of trouble actually rests on certain things the first being a right relationship with God the second is in verse 5 let your gentleness be evident to all you have to show gentleness to others now we've seen already that in a fallen world it is simply not possible for everything to be right in every relationship conflict will end when Jesus Christ returns but that day has not come as yet and when Jesus said love your enemies he implied very clearly in that statement that we would have some enemies - love if we think therefore of peace as being the absence of trouble we will simply never find it for in this world we do have trouble I truly wish that everything would be as it should be with every other person I know in the world but it is not there are some things that I do not have the power to change conflict is if you like a two-way street and sometimes there are some crazy drivers coming down the other side of the road I don't know some of them in your life now the Bible recognises this and never suggests to us that somehow everything has to be right in every relationship before we can know the peace of God but what it does say to us is that you must do everything in your power to be a peacemaker Paul speaks about this particularly in Romans chapter 12 and verse 18 which is a verse well worth considering in times of conflict he says if it's possible as far as it depends on you live at peace with everyone and do not take revenge at least as far as your side of the road is concerned your part in the situation of conflict let your gentleness he's saying here in Philippians be evident to all let your contribution not be to inflame the situation but rather be to reduce it that you must do and as you pursue that you lay a foundation for the peace of God that passes all understanding which will truly rest upon it now notice the way around that it is here the Bible starts with peace with God it then tells us to pursue peace in our relationships and then it leads us thirdly to the experience of peace in our own hearts if you listen to the talk shows and the psychology of the world you will find that usually it is the other way around that it starts with me although the first thing is I've got to be at rest than myself and then I can maybe think about other people then maybe I can find someplace with God the Bible says no that's completely the wrong way around the first thing is that you must be in our right relationship with God the second thing is that you have to look at how you are relating to other people because you'll never know peace in your own heart until you're a person who pursues peace in your relationships that's simply the way it works that's why he comes straight to this point let your gentleness be evident to all he's going to talk in a few minutes about prayer but all the way through the Bible we find very clearly that prayer is going to be ineffective if it is not based on seeking to do what is right in our relationships which is why Jesus says if you're coming to worship you reminded as you come of some conflict just leave your gift by the altar and go and see what you can did put it right then come back and worship it'll be meaningful then or the Apostle Peter says to husbands you be very careful considerate he says about how you treat your wives treat them with respect why so that nothing may hinder your prayers in other words if a man is harsh towards his wife and then comes out to a prayer meeting he's wasting his time because his prayers will be utterly ineffective they will count for nothing with God spirituality must never be used as a kind of cloak or cover for shoddy attitudes towards other people the Bible is very clear about this all the way through if you're wanting to know peace in your own heart you need to approach this indirectly by putting the foundational pieces in place you need to have right relationship with God you need to be showing gentleness in this harsh world towards other people who are difficult in your life now this word gentles a difficult one isn't it it kind of sounds a bit soft let me try and get it its meaning with a simple illustration one of the most striking things to me about American cars is how good their suspension is I remember when we bought our van thinking this is like floating on air compared to the car we owned in Europe unbelievable well five years later fifty thousand miles down the road an innumerable number of Chicago potholes crossed the van's not quite so good I was talking with the mechanic who keeps us rolling the other week and we were just talking about what might be done on the van over the next year or so and he said to me you might like he said to consider renewing the shock absorbers it's not essentially said but it'll give you a much smoother right now think about the shock absorber that makes your ride home today so comfortable it provides some give some give between the harshness of the road and the experience of the driver it plays a crucial role in softening what otherwise would be a very uncomfortable right gentleness is the shock absorber of the Spirit and the Apostle says let that gentleness that give be evident to all and the problem for some of us is the we've become in our spirits like the shock absorbers in my van rigid rusted up no give and so as we go through a harsh world what happens is that we transmit the harshness that we experience on to other people now the Apostle says don't let it be like that here's what you're to cultivate at the relational level let your gentleness be evident to all let there be some give let there be that shock-absorbing character within your nature as a Christian in a harsh world I do not have to push every argument to the last ounce you know what I mean I don't need to drive every deal to absolutely have everything that I want I don't need to present this I'm right in every respect and you're wrong in every respect let your gentleness be evident to all when you find yourself in a situation of conflict try to think of every reasonable defence every extenuating circumstance every possible excuse for that other person's behavior put yourself in your mind in the rule of that person's defense attorney be as creative as you can in thinking of every possible area in which you could create some room some space some generosity of judgment you'll be amazed at how much it softens your spirit years ago I heard a pastor who's now with the Lord tell the stories help me so many times I pass it on he spoke of how at one point in his ministry a deacon in the church became extremely difficult this man became an absolute pain to the pastor and his colleagues found him to be strangely difficult as well he became a burden to the whole leadership of the church sometime later this was a number of years ago the man died when he died the medics discovered that in fact unbeknown to anyone he had suffered from a tumor on the brain and from its size they estimated the time at which it had begun to grow the time at which his behavior seemed to change I remember the pastor saying if I had known one fact more it would have changed my whole attitude towards this man try to remember in any situation that there may be one fact more that you just don't know but thinking of the shock-absorber try to apply a generosity of spirit in a harsh world think of Jesus on the cross Peter says he left an example for us to follow in his footsteps when they huddled insults at him people ever said unkind things about you boy you can think of 10 unkind things to say about them but when they hurled insults at Jesus he did not retaliate in fact he created room he said Father forgive them because they do not know what they're doing he acted almost as if he was their defense attorney let your gentleness in this harsh world be evident to all I was speaking to a Christian leader just a few weeks ago he told me a story about when he was on television in a live debate with a member of the ACLU this was a pretty tense situation and arguments were being presented either way this man said to me he said it was marvelous he said I just wiped the floor with this lady he won hands down he demolished everything that she threw he said I went home that night and I had the video and I played it to my son who hadn't seen the program I said to him afterwards what did you think and he was very quiet so I said to him tell me what do you think I want to know what did you think and he said you won the argument but you didn't show her Jesus now the rightness of your cause never justifies the harshness of your spirit and where our spirits become harsh or rigid like the shock absorber that needs changing in my van we lose our peace for the peace of God that passes understanding actually rests on this foundation but a rest on a third thing that we have to come to now quickly look at it there in verse 6 the apostles now coming beyond our relationship with God beyond our attitude towards others he's now coming right into the Citadel of our own heart and he says do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and petition with Thanksgiving present your requests towards God now the first thing that we need to know about this very relevant subject of anxiety that saw assails our hearts is that anxiety of course is a mighty power it works away in the speed of our mind it works away in the sphere of our heart it's particularly productive at night have you noticed it thrives with the person with an expensive imagination and it makes us easily captives and slaves to fear now the Apostle is saying you must not give in to this mighty power it's a real battle this battle with fear and worry that gets inside of our very souls but he doesn't just tell us not to worry he tells us what we're to do to fight back against this power and he says to us the way in which you fight back against this power of worry anxiety that is assailing you in the Citadel of your heart is that you pray now again this is one of these words where prayer yeah I've prayed and I don't know I didn't seem to make that much difference by the little boy who went to school for the first day and he said I was fine but I'm not going to go back again and I want to ask you honestly if you have prayed about the things that are worrying you the way the Apostle talks about prayer here notice what he says he's not talking you see about some kind of expression of panic on our knees he's not talking about some fraught desperate yell he's not talking about an exercise which amounts to no more than worrying on our knees what he says is this it says first prayer now prayer is this general word that speaks of entering into the presence of God and filling our minds with the knowledge of who God is and that's where you start you don't start by coming to God and telling him all your worries you come into the presence of God and you fill your mind with who God is that's what we try and do and worship together when you're preparing a meal sometimes you might marry and eat the meat beautiful word that and what you do you take a piece of duck and you immerse it in some orange juice and you leave it there I mean for hours and the idea of this mariya nation is that the flavour of this juice should penetrate into every part of the meat so as to begin to characterize or flavor it now that is what Paul is talking about really here when it talks about prayer so filling our mind with the truth of who God is that it Marian eats the recesses of my mind God is sovereign God is good god is for me God is with me get that saw soaked into your mind he says that's where you've got to begin some of us have never really discovered the reality of prayer because we didn't begin there but then he goes on to say something else you fill your mind with God absorb who he is the truth about him but then he says go on to another thing then bring your petition and this is the very specific word that identifies our requests before God think of your worries as being like a great pack on your back and it's loaded up and you're carrying it there and if I said to you what are you worried about you say oh I don't really know I can't really say well Paul says that's no good get that pack off your back open it up and take out and expose what's in there put words on what's worrying you and bring these words to God face your fear don't hide from it it will grow as you hide from it face it openly Lord I'm terrified that this might happen tell him bring your request open it up and then he says a third thing do it with Thanksgiving Thanksgiving expresses acceptance of a situation it says God I know that you're with me I know that my life is in your hand I know that I can trust you I'm grateful that I belong to you whatever happens I'm your child is it possible that you have underestimated and under practiced prayer Oh what peace we often forfeit Oh what needless pain we bear all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer the biggest anxiety that you shared with your friend have you shared it that specifically with God think about that Paul says you do this and I'll tell you what happens you build a foundation in your life of being rightly related to God in obedience under his lordship you begin showing gentleness towards others in a harsh world of conflict you learn how to pray in such a way that you soak your mind in the reality of who God is and bring your particular worries to him in prayer and get them out the bag and bring them before the throne of grace you know what will happen he says and the peace of God that pass is understanding will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus the problem for many people today in our anxiety-ridden society is that we're looking for that peace we wanted in five minutes and we're not the least bit interested in the three things that it rests on Paul says the peace of God that passes all understanding it's not some quick fix it is this peace is the fruit of the Spirit it is the outcome of a cultivated life that is committed to living in obedience with God that is characterized by sowing gentleness towards other people that is permeated with the reality of authentic prayer that addresses the real issues of my life and where these three things are being cultivated and built in life he says in the middle of the most extraordinary trouble you will find the peace of God that passes understanding you will you see the reality for some of us when we're looking for peace is very simple that there are whole areas of our lives where we have chosen not to obey God and there are some people who have been pretty harsh with us and we have decided that we will be equally harsh back and if you ask the honest truth about our prayers there hasn't been a whole lot going on and you know what's going to happen if no peace Paul says to a congregation in a troubled world you can know this but you've got to approach it indirectly you start with committed obedience to Jesus Christ you advance with a commitment that in a harsh world you'll be like the shock absorber your gentleness will be evident to all your going to bring your anxieties authentically to God in prayer and the Apostle with a chain on his hand and a broken heart and many burdens upon him says I'll tell you this from my own experience you do these things and the peace of God which passes understanding will guard your heart and your mind through Jesus Christ our Lord let's stand we'll pray together and then we're through and as God has spoken to us from his word about how pieces to be found and on what it rests let's respond to him with three very clear commitments for these days the lie head Lord we need this peace in a troubled world and so we renew our commitment to walk in obedience to your commands to end those areas in which we hide from you to rejoice in you and to walk through faith in Jesus Christ in that relationship with you in which things are as they ought to be father we renew a commitment today that in a troubled world where there's lots of conflict we will show gentleness we will we will be the shock absorbers of the Spirit help us whatever's coming down the other way on the road towards us as it were grant that things may be as they ought to be on our sight help us to be like Jesus grant that a soft answer may turn away anger Grantha we may not be transmitters of harshness but those who absorb and soften for others commit ourselves anew to prayer to authentic prayer as you Vaughn revealed it to us in your word and look to you as we cultivate these things that more and more the peace of God that passes understanding may rest upon our lives and guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus until the day when the conflicts of this world are over and Jesus Christ is revealed and you take us into the new heaven and the new earth and everything is as it ought to be but until then let the world see the difference in your people who in following Christ have discovered peace and so as we renew our resolve before you this morning we ask that you truly would part us with your peace through Jesus Christ our Lord and all God's people together said

Channel: Unlocking the Bible

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Keywords: pastor colin smith, philippians 4:4, unlocking the bible, sermon on philippians 4:4, rejoice in the lord always, philippians 4:6-7, sermon on Philippians 4:6-7, the peace of God, learn the bible, understanding the bible, bible verses about peace, bible verses on peace, scriptures on prayer, prayer bible verses

Id: gkgWDGl0ajc

Length: 43min 39sec (2619 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 26 2012