WWUTT 028 Peace That Surpasses All Understanding (Philippians 4:4-7)

The Bible says that in Christ, the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus.

And when we talk about this kind of peace, it's not just relaxation of the body. It's knowing that the wrath of God is no longer upon us.

We have peace with God through Christ Jesus, our Lord. It's that kind of peace when we understand the text.

My name is Pastor Gabe and you're listening to When We Understand The Text. Studying through the book of Philippians together.

And today we're back in Philippians 4 .4 because that's as far as we got yesterday. But it was necessary to talk about those things.

Understanding a theology of thanksgiving that Paul expresses constantly in his letters. And he is pushing the

Philippians toward having this mindfulness of joy. And so we need to build our minds around that concept as well.

In fact, he is so insistent on this reminder of joy that he reminds them in the same verse.

Rejoice in the Lord always. Oh, by the way, rejoice. So we come back to that verse again and maybe be able to get through that paragraph all the way through verse 7.

So thanks for being with me here. It has been a delight to be able to study these scriptures with you and to do this together.

Toward the end of this particular episode, we will come to another question about gifts of the Spirit. We addressed one yesterday.

We'll have another one again today. Before going to the text, why don't we come to the

Lord in prayer. Our gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for building us in the knowledge and instruction of your word.

You have loved us enough to send your son Jesus into this world. Not leaving us dead in our sins, but making us alive in Christ.

And we thank you for that, the continued grace that you pour out upon us. We ask also, God, that you give us your spirit because we need the spirit of God in order to understand the things of God.

So as we come to this word, as we seek and desire to glean from it your truth, bring it to us according to your spirit.

And in the name of your son, Jesus, do we pray. Amen. Philippians 4, 4 through 7.

Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I'll say it. 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 your minds in Christ Jesus.

Going back to verse 4, Paul again saying, rejoice in the Lord always.

And I will say it again. Rejoice. Man, as Christians, we've got to have this attitude of joy in our hearts.

It needs to show in our lives that we are completely satisfied in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, when I encourage you to display joy, like when you go to the workplace, there needs to be joy.

You cannot ho hum your way through work because then you show yourself not completely satisfied in Christ.

I'm satisfied in Christ and everything except my job. I just don't think he gave me the right job.

OK, that may not be what you're consciously thinking or what's on the forefront of your mind. But that's what it is that you display whenever you are not joyful in work.

I'm happy with everything except my job. And it communicates to your coworkers, even those people that you work around, that you're not completely satisfied in Christ.

Now, as I say this to you, though, I'm not pushing you to go display fake joy at work.

Hey, if you want to be a genuine, real, true Christian, you need to go be joyful at work. No matter what, you've got to display joy.

If that was what I was communicating to you, I'd be communicating law. I'd just be telling you, hey, the Bible says it.

So you've got to go do it, whatever it takes. Go do it. When Paul says rejoice in the Lord always, he's calling the

Philippians to genuine joy. He's not show your fake joy around to other people. You need to genuinely be joyful.

You need to understand what it means to have a joyful heart in Christ Jesus. And joy is not conditional on our circumstances.

In any and all circumstances, we can display joy in Christ Jesus, which was that instruction that Paul gave to the

Thessalonians. Be thankful in all circumstances for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.

So in all circumstances, we can display joy and thanksgiving. Happiness is conditional.

That's conditional on your circumstances. You can be happy but not really be joyful. But you can be sad and still be joyful.

We can be joyful when we're happy or when we're sad. Joy is not conditional on our circumstances.

We can be joyful in any and all circumstances as we should be. So when it comes to being genuinely joyful, we need to ask

God for a transformed heart. We need to go to the Lord and say, God, I desire to be joyful in the

Lord. But in this situation, in this circumstance right here, I just do not feel the joy of God. So please, you've convicted me of this.

So give me a joy that I know that comes only in the spirit. So that way when we're displaying the joy of God, when we express thanksgiving, it's real and it's genuine.

It's not putting on a facade. We're not wearing our mask. We're not ho -humming or faking our way through it because we think that we need to.

Then we're begrudgingly going through our faith. We are begrudgingly submitting to God.

We're only doing it because we have to, not because we want to. But it is the joy of the Lord that makes us want to be in the presence of God.

It makes us want to praise God and express thanksgiving to Him. So pray and ask for a joyful heart.

Don't fake it. Give it to people genuinely that you rejoice in the

Lord always. And again, I will say rejoice. I think of the book of Lamentations.

This would be a situation where the writer of Lamentations is not experiencing happiness but is still experiencing joy.

It's a book of lament. That's why it's called Lamentations. So, of course, the writer here is not expressing happiness.

It's actually deep sorrow for the things that they have witnessed happening among the people of God.

But read what the writer of Lamentations says here in chapter 3, verses 22 through 24.

The writer of Lamentations says, Therefore, I will hope in Him.

That's like the brightest spot in the entire book of Lamentations. Lamenting over the things that the writer has been witnessing among the people of God, but still being able to rejoice in the mercies of God, which are new every morning.

So that's an example of a display of hope in Christ Jesus. A hope that brings joy even in the midst of great sorrow.

Another place that I'm reminded of this is Psalm 13. A very short psalm. It is only six verses long.

But David here also expresses a joy in the Lord, even in the midst of suffering and longing.

As he says, How long, O Lord, will you forget me forever? In such a place of sorrow that he feels forgotten.

How long will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must

I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day?

How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? Consider and answer me,

O Lord, my God. Light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death. Lest my enemy say

I have prevailed over him. Lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.

Now hear what David says in these last two verses. But I have trusted in your steadfast love.

My heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the

Lord because he has dealt bountifully with me. So even in a time of great sorrow,

David still finds reason to rejoice. There is not a reason for us to not rejoice in the

Lord. We should always be expressing joy. Rejoicing in the Lord always. Always.

Not just when you feel like it. Not just when things are good. Not just finding a reason to be joyful when

I'm complacent. But we rejoice in all circumstances. Again, I will say rejoice.

Paul goes on. In light of this joy that we are supposed to have in the Lord. In all circumstances.

He goes on to say in verse 5. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone.

So again, we show with our whole lives that we are completely satisfied in Christ Jesus.

So it is reasonableness for us to be joyful if we've been completely satisfied. There's not a reason for us in our job to not be joyful.

Because we know that in all things we have been satisfied in Christ. So with our whole lives, we display this joy.

Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. Work seems to be the example that I have used here so far as we've been studying this today.

So let me draw your attention to something that Paul says in Colossians chapter 3.

Where he says that we are to obey in everything those who are our earthly masters.

Not by way of eye service as people pleasers. But with sincerity of heart. Fearing the

Lord. Whatever you do, work heartily as for the Lord. And not for men.

So as you do your job. As you go to work. You work as if you are working for the

Lord. And not for men. You give joy to God for the job that you have.

Because ultimately who you are working for. Is not your employer. And it is certainly not the approval of your co -workers.

You are working for the Lord God. Take joy in that. The job that you do is to give praise and honor to God.

And so in all things we are satisfied in Christ. Therefore let your reasonableness be known to everyone.

The Lord is at hand. Now the end of the sentence is in the middle of verse 5.

Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. Period. The Lord is at hand. Still goes with that verse.

But it's kind of the set up to the next verse. The Lord is at hand.

Do not be anxious about anything. So because the Lord is at hand. We need to rejoice always. We need to let our reasonableness be known to everyone.

And we need to not be anxious about anything. Because the Lord is at hand. Because we know that God is eventually going to come back.

And he is going to put all evil to an end. All right. I was trying to find the end of that sentence.

That was it. All right. God is going to put an end to all evil. He will make his enemies his footstool.

He will transform our lowly bodies to be like his glorious body. Which we read in Philippians 3 .21.

All of these things that we experience in this earth. We experience only for a limited time.

The Lord is at hand. He has promised these things. We are restored.

Renewed. We are built up in hope by these promises of God. He is at hand.

He's not just at hand when he comes back. He is at hand in our lives now.

And the promises of what he will fulfill reign in our lives in every single way.

The Lord is at hand. Therefore, we have no reason to be anxious about anything.

All right. Even when there's disagreement in the body of Christ. Now, I'm going to tie this back into what

Paul had said in Philippians 4 .2. I entreat Iodia and I entreat Sintesh to agree in the

Lord. Yes, I ask also you 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.

So, as Paul has just issued a spirit of correction to the Philippian church, he says that we need to let our reasonableness be known to everyone.

That's the next verse. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone.

So, even in correction in the body, even when it comes to displaying unity in the body of Christ, our reasonableness needs to be displayed.

If we are not reasonable, there will not be unity. In order to maintain that unity, that community that we should display with other

Christians and within our church, there needs to be a reasonableness. It is a disposition that seeks what is best for everyone.

Not looking after our own interests, but looking out for the interests of others. Remember that one?

Philippians 2 .4. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Do nothing from selfish ambition. The previous verse. Verse 3. Or conceit. Nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. In order to maintain that in the body, we need to be reasonable.

Jesus will return as the judge of this universe, and he will hold all people responsible for their actions.

Jesus said, you will have to give an account for every word. So, because the

Lord is at hand, that should make us check our behavior. But it will also display toward others a satisfaction that we have in all things in Christ Jesus.

Because the Lord is at hand, don't be anxious about anything. But in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

That attitude, that theology of thanksgiving, again, we see come back into these passages. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

If we are anxious, we are not trusting God. If we are worrying, we have not placed our hope in God.

And that anxiety will hinder our prayers. We will not take our prayers to God in the way that we need to express ourselves in a right heart before God if anxiety plagues our lives.

We've taken our situation upon ourselves and thinking we need to do something to solve it if anxiety plagues us.

So we need to give all things to God because 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.

So even when we're talking about Lamentations or Psalm 13 or any other psalm where David comes in lament before God, there is still that spirit of thanksgiving for having been dealt bountifully with, which is what we read in Psalm 13 6.

The Lord has dealt bountifully with me. He's given you great things. He has given you abundance, abundant life in Christ Jesus.

I have come that they may have life and have it more abundantly. John 10 10. There is reason to rejoice in Christ in all things and to not be anxious about anything so that our heart is filled with thanksgiving.

When we go to God with our requests, you come to God knowing that you can be fulfilled, that you are fulfilled in all things in Christ Jesus.

We come to God seeking the mind of God in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.

Let your requests be made known to God. And then if our hearts are filled with that thanksgiving, when we know that the

Lord is at hand, when our reasonableness is known to everyone, when we rejoice in the

Lord always, then we have the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding.

And it guards our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus. Whenever we're talking about peace with God, we're not just merely talking about a relaxation of the body.

Oh, I feel so at peace. I can finally relax. OK, I'm a

Christian, so I should be able to relax with my lemonade. Peace with God doesn't mean that we're relaxing in our lawn chair on our freshly cut grass out back behind the house that has no mortgage on it.

We have a car sitting out front that we owe no payments on. And there's a bumper sticker on that car with the name of the president that we voted for, who is now sitting in the

White House because God wants to give me peace. All right. That is not the kind of peace that we're talking about when we talk about peace with God.

Anytime we're reading about peace with God in the scriptures, especially here, we are talking about a peace that surpasses all understanding.

It is peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. God's wrath is no longer upon us because of our sin.

Peace with God means that wrath has been satisfied through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.

He took that wrath upon himself. It's no longer upon us. We have been justified and we are justified through faith in Christ Jesus.

And that gives us peace with God. There's now no longer this tension between us and God and fearing his wrath.

We don't have to fear his wrath if we're in Christ Jesus. We are at peace. We are secure in knowing that the wrath of God has been satisfied.

And that is a peace that surpasses understanding. It's beyond comprehension.

What was going on behind that spiritual veil on Calvary after Jesus died, spilling that last drop of blood for those whom he would call to himself?

What was going on in the spiritual realm? We don't know. But what we do know is that Christ died in our place when we owed a debt to God that we could not pay.

Christ paid for it in our place. And so now we have peace, a peace that surpasses all understanding.

Now that peace will, you know, kind of spread out into other areas of our lives.

Yes, but it doesn't mean that you're always going to be able to relax. Relax with a drink of lemonade in your hand.

You might be feeling sorrow the way that David felt it in Psalm 13. But you can have peace with God in knowing that our salvation comes not from anything that we do because there's nothing that we can do to save ourselves.

It is only by the work of Christ. And that gives us peace. We are safe.

We are secure in Christ Jesus. And that peace that we have with God surpasses all understanding.

It guards our hearts and our minds. We are able to defend ourselves from the temptation in this world.

We are able to guard ourselves from false knowledge and false teaching because of the peace that we have with God through Christ Jesus.

The assurances of the promises that he gave us, that he gives us in his word.

That is a peace that we have with God surpassing all understanding.

We won't be anxious about anything. We will express thanksgiving and joy to God in our requests as we come to him.

We will be reasonable. And that reasonableness being known to everyone. With those that we share the gospel with.

With those that we engage in church with. With other Christians that we may not be attending church with.

But that reasonableness is still there that binds us together in Christ Jesus.

Lord, as we have studied these things today, I pray that you fill us up with that joy.

And that peace of God which surpasses all understanding. Give ease to our minds and our hearts.

Help us to be guarded in Christ Jesus against the ways of this world. Let our minds be focused heavenward.

Knowing what has been accomplished in Christ. The Lord is at hand. We pray this in Jesus name.

Amen. In John 14 .12,

Jesus said that we would do even greater things than he did. But before you go trying to walk on the sea of Galilee, there is something to understand about the context of this verse.

On the night Jesus is to be arrested, he and his disciples are in the upper room where he is preparing them for what is about to take place.

And as he is speaking to them, he says, Truly I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do.

And greater works than these will he do because I am going to the Father. Now this verse has been used to say that we will do greater miracles than Jesus did.

But that is not the point at all. Jesus comforts his disciples by telling them that though he is going to his Father, that is actually better for them because he is going to give them the

Holy Spirit who will dwell inside of them. Jesus was later arrested, tried, put to death on the cross, then came back to life.

For 40 days he continued to preach. Then before ascending into heaven, he commissioned his disciples to go and make disciples of all nations, teaching all that Christ had commanded.

Through the Holy Spirit, the gospel would spread out further than ever. In fact, at Pentecost, more people were added to Christ's followers in one day than during Jesus' entire earthly ministry.

The more disciples, the faster and farther the gospel spread. And those are the kinds of greater works that Jesus was talking about.

More works of evangelism, places to teach, and deeds of mercy and compassion than even he did. Not speaking gibberish or claiming to do healings that aren't real.

That just draws attention to the self. But through the power of the Holy Spirit, clearly and accurately preaching the gospel, you also are part of that greater work when we understand the text.

Our question today has to do with that video. This comes from Trevor in Georgia. He says, Dear What. Thank you so much for your video on John 14, 12 where Jesus said to his disciples,

You will do greater works than I have done. That's one that has stirred a few debates between me and my friends.

I noticed that you featured what looks to be a painting of faith healer, Todd White, on the part where you say claiming to do healings that aren't real.

Some of my friends are big fans of White because they attended a conference where he was a speaker. Why would you say that his healings aren't real?

Thank you for your email, Trevor. Todd White is a con. He is a liar. He knows he's not healing anyone.

One of the most common tricks he uses, if you've ever seen him do this on YouTube, he'll go up to a person on the street and he'll say,

Dude, man, I'm getting this vibe from the spirit that you're having some back problems. And they'll always turn around to him and go,

Yeah, I am having some back problems. Look, I am a perfectly healthy adult and I have back problems.

It's a very common ailment. This is not some great revelation of the spirit here, but he'll have them sit down and extend their legs out and the camera will zoom in on their feet.

And one leg will be just slightly longer than the other one by like an inch or two. And he'll say, See, this is why you're having back problems because your legs are uneven.

And so he'll start to pray over the shorter leg. And as he's praying, he makes it look like he's growing that leg out and evening it out with the longer leg.

All he's doing is pulling the shoe out. It's a common gag, and you can find other people doing it on YouTube.

Todd White is lying, and I won't claim to know what his motivation is. I don't know if he's using it to get rich.

I don't really know what his lifestyle is. The likelihood, though, is that he thinks that as long as he's leading a person to Jesus or even giving them some warm fuzzies for a little while, he thinks he's doing something good for that person.

But I would hope that the problems with this are obvious right off the bat. OK, first of all, it's a violation of Scripture.

Ephesians 415 says that we are to speak the truth in love. If he's lying to a person, he doesn't actually love them.

We also have the prayer that Jesus prays for his disciples in John 17, where he says, Sanctify them in the truth.

Your word is truth. So if a person is lying, they're not speaking the truth of God's word.

All right. Here's what's probably more revealing, though, about Todd White. By lying to a person to lead them to Jesus, he's basically saying to God, Your word isn't good enough, so I have to spice it up a little bit.

I've got to tweak things a little bit to get a person to actually love you. And that's seriously awful.

And if White doesn't repent, he will be judged for that. OK, so do not follow what it is that he says.

He is a liar. There are plenty of great places to get an understanding of the gifts of the

Spirit and the truth of God's word from than listening to Todd White. Do not listen to him. The gifts of healing and the gifts of tongues,

I think, are two of the most misunderstood gifts that we see spoken about in Scripture. Yesterday we looked at 1

Corinthians 12, verses 4 through 11, and it's in verse 9 where we see that the Spirit gives to one gifts of healing to another working of miracles.

But notice that where it says gifts of healing, that's plural. So there's more than one kind of gift of healing.

Oftentimes when we talk about healing, we're thinking of laying your hands on a person and curing them of cancer, right?

But there's also an ability to heal a troubled mind or a broken heart. And I've known people who have that gift.

They can speak to a person and just know how to put them at ease. And if I were to say the same words that they said to another person,

I would not have the same effect. It's very clear that they have a gift of the Spirit in that way, an ability to heal a person's mind or their broken heart, all right?

But in any of these gifts, we need to understand 1 Corinthians 12, 11, all these are empowered by one and the same

Spirit who apportions to each one individually as He wills.

So it's still according to the will of God. It's not a person has a gift of the Spirit, and then they can go, boom, you're healed, boom, you're healed, boom, you're healed.

And healers like Todd White and other faith healers do it just like that. It's according to the will of man instead of the will of God.

This is still all according to God's will, and we still must be submissive to Him and His words.

So be very careful about those that you listen to. If it is not to the glory of God, if it is to the glory of man, if it is backed by lies instead of the truth, it is not of God, have nothing to do with it.

Thank you, Trevor, for your question. If you have a question that you would like to submit, visit our website, www .utt

.com. We're back with more of Philippians tomorrow. Thanks for listening in. You've been listening to When We Understand the

Text with Pastor Gabriel Hughes. Pastor Gabe wrote a book for a Bible study at our church that has since been taught on two continents.

It's a study through the book of 1 Corinthians entitled To the Core, great for a group study or for personal use.

It is available only in paperback, and you can find it on our website, www .utt .com.

Be sure to let someone else know about our program. We'll resume our study of Philippians tomorrow, rejoicing to hear