Book of Philippians - Ch. 4, Vs. 1-23 (09/01/2019)

We're one minute late getting started. And if I were Otis, I would be really angry now.

But I'm not, so I am just as cheerful as can be. Brother David will be probably a little angry when

I run over. We're going to go into the last chapter of Philippians this morning, and there's a fair chance we'll get through.

Before we begin though, let's take a moment for a prayer. Most gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for this day and thank you for all the many blessings that you've given us.

Thank you for everything that you've given us, even our suffering and pain, we recognize is designed to make us conform more and more like you.

And that in itself is a good thing, whether we understand it or not. All things work together for those who belong to the

Lord. Bless us and keep us, go through all the services today. Thank you for your

Holy Spirit to guide us as we continue our study of the book of Philippians.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. So, I'll just begin by leaping off the first verse.

Therefore, my brethren, dearly beloved, and longed for, my joy and crown.

So stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved. This is not the only time that Paul refers to his fellow

Christians as his joy and his crown. If you would go to 1

Thessalonians, any place is okay.

1 Thessalonians 2, chapter, 1

Thessalonians 2, verse 12. He also refers to Christians as his crown of rejoicing.

He says, for what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not ye even in the presence of our

Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? For ye are our glory and joy.

So he's identifying Christian people as his crown of rejoicing.

It is about them that he is happy. It is about them that he is joyful.

Verse two, I beseech you, Odias, and beseech

Sinitchi, that they be of the same mind in the Lord. These are two women.

They were prominent in the church. They may have been among the women meeting for prayer when

Paul first preached the gospel in Philippi. If you'll turn to Acts, chapter 16, verse 13,

Luke is describing Paul's journey and first meeting with the

Philippians. And on the Sabbath, we went out of the city, the city of Philippi, by a riverside where prayer was wont to be made.

And we sat down and spake unto the women which resorted thither. So the women were holding a prayer meeting on the side of the river.

And Paul and his entourage, including Luke, went out to speak to them.

These two women were apparently leading two opposing factions in the Philippian church now, most likely over some personal conflict.

John Calvin said this, we must take note, however, that whenever he speaks of agreement, or when he said of the same mind, he is speaking of them being of the same mind in agreement, he adds also the bond of it in the

Lord. For every combination will inevitably be accursed if apart from the

Lord. And on the other hand, nothing is so disjointed that it ought be reunited in Christ.

So there's nothing too difficult to be put together if it's the bond is with Christ, and there's nothing that can be put together if the bond is not with Christ, that will stay together.

So the issue here is being of one accord. And how can we be of one accord?

If we are in accord with what the Lord asked us to do. And I entreat thee also, true yoke fellow, help these women which labored with me in the gospel with Clement also, and with other my fellow laborers whose names are in the book of life.

That's other Christians, other people that are chosen by God, by the

Son before time began. Names who are written in the book of life.

Rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice. Ben, I went back last week after you showed me the new websites, and I looked at,

I listened to mine, which were kind of like me, too much like me.

And I looked through Myron Goldman's. And one of the messages that Myron Goldman dealt with was the true meaning of Philippians 4 .13.

And he described in his context of this verse 4 .13,

he talked about this verse 4 .4. And he described it as maybe the most redundant verse in the

Bible. And to capture the thought, consider what the word rejoice means.

It means to have joy, but it doesn't mean to have joy for the first time. There's a re in front of it, so it means to have joy again.

Now, if you think of the word rejoice and think of it as have joy again and reread it, it will sound kind of like this.

Have joy again, always, and again, have joy again. So we're to have joy again and again and again.

Okay, he even says we're to have joy always. And the question is then, how is that possible?

How can we have joy always? How can we have joy just after a car collision?

How can we have joy in Texas today right after a mass shooting? That's right, you can have that much joy, but how can we have joy about the ones that are dead in the shooting?

How can we have joy when a hurricane is closing in on Florida and Georgia and the

Carolinas? How can we have joy in all of this? Only if we are in contact with the

Lord. It's only possible to have joy amidst the conflict if we are with Christ.

A joy that we stated last week unrelated to the circumstances of life, but related to the unassailable, unchanging relationship to his sovereign

Lord. John Calvin says this about that passage, the rejoice, and again

I say rejoice. The repetition of the exhortation serves to give greater force to it.

Jesus did this all the time. Verily, verily, I say unto you, verily I say unto you, that was strong.

I say unto you, the Lord is saying it, that's strong. Verily I say unto it, that's even stronger. Verily, verily

I say unto you, that's ultimately strong. And here we are again and again and again.

The repetition of the exhortation serves to give it greater force.

Let this be your strength and stability to rejoice in the Lord. And that too, not for a moment merely, but so that your joy in him may be perpetuated.

This is Steel Calvin speaking. For unquestionably, it differs from the joy of the world in this respect.

You can be happy in things that happen to you in the world. You can be driving downtown and just as you're coming up to a traffic light, it can change to green.

And you don't have to wait a second. You just drive right on through. And the next one can change to green. And you can have momentary joy that everything is just working out for you.

And then the next one you'll come to will turn red right in front of you and a train will be passing across and you have to wait for a long time and all the joy that you had is now gone.

Because it's dependent upon good things happening to you and good things do happen to you.

And when good things happen to you, you will be joyful. But that joy won't last. We know from experience that the joy of the world is deceptive.

This is Steel Calvin talking. I interrupted him. Frail is deceptive, frail and fading.

And Christ even proclaims the joy of the world to be accursed. Turn to Luke chapter six.

Luke six, picking up at verse 20. Now, the first is gonna be good stuff. My reference kicked me down to further down in Luke, but I thought it would be good to get the blessings before we get the cursings.

Luke six, verse 20 is where we begin. And so he lifts up his eyes upon his disciples and he begins talking and he says, blessed be ye poor.

Because some of them are poor. He didn't say that's bad, he said, blessed are ye that are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

Blessed are ye that hunger now, for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye who weep now, for you shall laugh.

Notice how everything is, you're poor now, you're hungry now, you weep now, but you will laugh and you will be filled, or you will be full and you will be rich.

Blessed are ye when men shall hate you and when they shall separate you from their company and shall reproach you and cast your name as evil.

For the son of man's sake, rejoice ye in that day and leap for joy.

When they cast you out, when they reproach you, they call you evil.

For the son of man's sake, what are you to do? You're to leap for joy. For behold, your reward is great in heaven.

For in like manner did the fathers unto the prophets. Now that's the blessing side.

Now, can you be blessed without all these bad things happening? You certainly can. But if the bad things happen, you still are blessed.

That's all it's saying. Bad things happen, I almost said to good people, but my answer to that always was, there are no really good people.

We're all, without the presence of God in us, evil.

We were born that way. And now for the other side of the coin, for the flip side.

Verse 24, this is where my, this is where my reference referenced me to. But woe unto you that are rich.

For you have received your consolation. You got your reward already.

You're rich, you lived the rich life. You've got your consolation now. Woe be unto you that are full.

For you shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now. For you shall mourn and weep.

Woe unto you when all men speak well of you. For so did their fathers to the false prophets.

This is back to Calvin. Hence, it is only a settled joy in God, which is such as is never taken away from us.

If it's a joy settled in God, it can never be taken away from us. If it is a joy that is dependent upon the world, it will be taken away from us.

Verse five, let your moderation be known unto all men.

The Lord is at hand. Okay, moderation means something different to us than it meant at the time of the translators.

They probably wouldn't have translated that way, let your moderation be known to all men if the word moderation meant exactly what we take it to mean now.

John MacArthur says this. This refers to contentment and generosity toward others.

It can also refer to mercy or leniency toward the faults and failures of others.

It can even refer to patience in someone who submits to injustice or mistreatment without retaliating.

So if something bad happens to you and you submit to it without retaliating, that can be part of moderation.

Graciousness with humility encompasses all of the above. So if you're gracious with humility in the face of all of these things, then that's your moderation.

And that's what you should show to all people. We should endeavor, and John, I can't help but every time

I see you comment on how much moderation you're showing in your pain.

Because I never see anything but a smile on your face. And I, if it were me, if it were me,

I would have to work very hard at having that smile all the time. And maybe you do too, I don't know.

But I do know this, I am just, your moderation is at least known to me and I think to Ron.

I think he just agreed with me. And I suspect all the rest of us do as well. Now, at hand, the

Lord is at hand. That can mean nearness in space or in time. Here, it suggests nearness in space.

The Lord is close to you. The Lord encompasses all believers with his presence.

If you're a believer, the Lord is near to you, no matter where you are. And if the Lord is near you, then you're blessed.

John Calvin said this. Here we have a most beautiful sentiment from which we learn in the first place that ignorance of the providence of God is the cause of all impatience.

If you're impatient, if you're angry, if you're not showing grace, it's because you're ignorant of the providence of God.

If you were aware of all the things that God did for you, you would be much more patient. And that, this is the reason why we are so quickly and on trivial accounts thrown into confusion and too often become disheartened.

Because we do not recognize the fact that the Lord cares for us. If you recognize that the

Lord cared for you, you would be more patient.

On the other hand, we learn that this is the only remedy for tranquilizing our minds.

When we repose unreservedly in his provincial care, as knowing that we are not exposed either to the rashness of fortune or the caprice of the wicked, but are under the regulation of God's fatherly care, and find the man that is in possession of this truth, that God is present with him, has what he may rest upon with security.

That was Joe Calvin. That was certainly not me. I could not possibly. Yes, I was back to Calvin.

I wanted to go back and make doubly sure that that's what I had done. Calvin's began, here we have the most beautiful sentiment from which we can learn in the first place, that ignorance of the province of God is the cause of all impatience.

That was Calvin, and it continued to be Calvin right on down to the man that is in possession of this truth that God is present with him, has what he may rest upon with security.

So we're now to verse six. Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known unto

God. That's saying don't worry, but that's much easier to say than it is to do.

But what it does say is, instead of worrying, try praying. If you wake up in the middle of the night worrying about something,

I do that all the time, and it's always right, at like two o 'clock in the morning. I can't do anything until morning.

I couldn't have done anything, and I sit there and worry about it. And if I'm not careful from two o 'clock to four o 'clock,

I will be going over and over and over this process, trying to solve it, understanding this, there's nothing

I can do until eight o 'clock in the morning, but I can pray. And if I pray, things will get better.

And when I pray all that I can pray, then it's time to go to the scripture and start reading.

And I have found this. There'll come a time as I'm reading the scripture that I'll quit worrying about whatever it was that I was worrying about, that I will either find the answer, or I'll find something more important to think about.

And then the Lord will graciously let me go to bed, go to sleep, and so instead of staying awake from two to four,

I only stay awake from two to three. Now, I have a question.

Does God answer all of our prayers? He does. We've asked that question too many times.

What I said is, well, yes, He does, but not necessarily the way we want them answered.

Now I'll ask you the same question a little differently. Does God always give us what we request?

The answer to that is no. He does not always give us what we request. He only gives us what we request if we request what

He wants to give us. So what does

He always give us? Always, He always gives us. We sit down to pray, He always gives us this.

What does He always give us? And don't say what He wants to give us. He gives us peace.

He gives us peace, and that's answered in the very next question. Now, the answer was,

He always will give us what He wants to give us, and one of the things He wants to give us is peace. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ.

That's what He gave me when I was reading the scripture at 2 .30 in the morning. He gave me peace.

He gave me peace to think about something that He wanted me to think about instead of the things that I was worried about that I couldn't do anything about anyhow.

And He says this along with that. It passeth all understanding.

You won't be able to figure it out. And nobody else will be either. They will look at you and say, how can that person be peaceful under the situation that he's in?

It doesn't make sense. And in the world, it doesn't make sense. John Calvin, again, said this.

It is on good ground that he calls it the peace of God, inasmuch as it does not depend upon the present aspect of things, and it does not bend itself to various shiftings of the world, but is founded on the firm, immutable word of God.

It is on good ground also that he speaks of it as surpassing all understanding or perception, for nothing is more foreign to the human mind than the depth of despair to exercise, nevertheless, a feeling of hope in the depth of poverty, to see opulence in the depth of weakness, to keep from giving way, and in fine, to promise ourselves that nothing will be wanting to us when we are left destitute of all things.

And all of this in the grace of God alone, which is not itself known otherwise than through the word, and the inward earnest of the

Spirit. You can't know this peace unless Christ is in you. You can't even know this peace reading the scripture if Christ is not in you.

And finally, my brethren, this maybe is a finally, finally, my brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things.

So what is he telling us to do? Think on the good things. Be positive, think on the good things.

There'll always be plenty of them for the believer. Yes, sir. Replacing those worries with these good things always helps, you're absolutely right.

It's a mechanism for pushing the worries of the world back where they belong.

And where do they belong? The worries of this world belong on the Lord, not on you. He can fix them, you can't.

Oh, there are things you can fix, probably things you should have done already yourself. But there are things that only

God can fix. Those things which you have both learned and received and heard and seen in me do, and the

God of peace shall be with you. We talked about this last Sunday as well, but it bears repeating.

Jesus, in some sense, was a man like us in that he experienced all the suffering and more than we suffer, all of the temptations that we do, but unlike us, he did not stumble even once.

And that made him the perfect God -man. Paul, on the other hand, was a man exactly like us.

And as such, he was imperfect, maybe a little less imperfect than we are, but imperfect nonetheless.

Now we need two models. We need a model of perfection which we can strive to conform.

And we have that in Jesus. And in fact, Paul tells us in Romans, for whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

And a couple of chapters later, he says also, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

That then is our goal, becoming as much like Christ as is possible.

And we need that perfect goal of Jesus. And I decided to use a sports metaphor here.

We need that perfect goal much as a sports team needs the goal, not just the goal of winning a state championship, which after all is attainable.

It is possible for a basketball team to win the state championship. It's an attainable goal.

We need an attainable goal, but we also need an unattainable goal.

That would be like playing a season of games without making a single mistake. That goal would be unattainable, but it still is a goal.

And we do in fact need both types. The unattainable goal of totally conforming to Christ, the model of perfection, and the attainable goal of conforming to an imperfect model such as Paul, or even as to the better aspects of one another.

Paul had many attributes that we can model over. Paul is not being saying, here I am,

I am perfect. Only Christ is perfect. He is saying the things that I have done, you will do well to model after.

And if you'll become more like me, you'll become more like Christ because I am becoming more and more like Christ every day as you should do as well.

Any comments about that? But I rejoiced in the

Lord greatly that now at last your careful me has flourished again, wherein ye also were careful but lacked opportunity.

Not that I speak of want. Paul is reminding the Philippians that his thankfulness for their giving wasn't because he was needy.

Even though at this time he was needy. But because it was good for the givers.

It was more good for the givers than it was for the receivers. For I have learned that in whatsoever state

I am, therewith to be content. That's not natural. Notice what he said.

He didn't say, I know in whatsoever state that I am in that I should be content.

He didn't say that. He said, I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content.

It's not natural for man to be content regardless of his condition. It's something that must be learned.

And it was something that Paul had learned. Therefore, he could say that his thankfulness was not based upon his own need.

And he can now say that he was content in his present condition, even his

Roman imprisonment. I know how to be abased and I know how to abound.

You have to know about Paul to know this. Paul at one time was a rich man.

Before he took up the ministry full time, he was a Pharisee of Pharisees. He was a rich man.

He was schooled in the head priest, the chief priest office.

He was a rich Roman and now he was poor. He was imprisoned in Rome waiting for Caesar to decide the outcome of his appeal.

So he was at one time one of the richer people in Asia Minor and now he is imprisoned in Rome waiting for Caesar to decide what his fate is.

I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound.

Everywhere and in all things, I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

Adam Clark, a Methodist Reformation minister said this.

See here the state to which God permitted his chief apostle to be reduced. And see how powerfully the grace of God supported him under the whole.

How few of those who are called Christian ministers or Christian men have learned this important lesson.

When want or affliction comes, their complaints are loud and frequent and they are soon at the end of their patience.

And so now we come to verse 13. This is the verse that Myron Goldman noted might be the most misapplied verse in all of the scripture.

I'm gonna read it exactly like it is translated and then I'm gonna read it again as maybe it would have been better to have been translated, which would put it better in context.

Here's what it says. I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.

Maybe a better translation of this verse considering the content or the context might have been this.

I can be content in all things through Christ which strengthens me.

You see the difference? Not that I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me, but I will be content in all things through Christ which strengthens me.

Then it would follow in context with all of the rest of the verses.

In this case, it would not so frequently be taken out of context by so many and misused to claim the power to be successful in all of their endeavors.

You see it printed on T -shirts. I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me.

So if I'm a basketball coach, I can win the state championship because God will be on my side.

Well, if that's the case, then there's only one person that can wear that T -shirt. Yes, sir. All the, okay.

Okay, I stand corrected. Everybody can wear the T -shirt, but only one person can actually win it.

It's not a verse that says I can do everything because God will help me to do everything.

It means I have what I have because God gave that to me.

He gave me a degree of intellect. He gave me a degree of failing.

He gave me handicaps. He gave me strengths. He gave me all that I am. And my job is not to do all things.

My job is to be content with all that he gave me. Then he goes on to verse 14.

Notwithstanding ye have done well that ye did communicate my affliction. And speaking of his abilities to be content,

Paul did not want to give the impression that the Philippians had somehow done something wrong in supporting him.

But there was a real sense in which the giving of the Philippians was better for them than it was for him.

Godly giving actually does more good for the giver than for the one who receives.

Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when

I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving but only you.

The Philippians were the only ones that supported Paul financially in this period.

And Paul especially remembered them, how the Philippians supported him when he was in Thessalonica.

And he goes on to say, for even in Thessalonica, ye sent once again unto my necessity.

So while I was in another city, you were sending help to me. They didn't, but you did.

Not because I desire a gift am I thankful, but I desire fruit that may abound to your account.

Paul wasn't so much interested in the gift for his own use, but in the fruit that abounds to your account.

Their giving increased the fruit in their account before God. And that's what made him happy.

That's what he was thankful for. He wasn't so much thankful for the gift as he was for the fruit that abounded to their account.

But I have all and abound. I am full having Epaphroditus, the things which were sent from you in order of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well -pleasing to God.

But my God shall supply all of your needs according to his riches in the glory by Jesus Christ.

Charles Spurgeon says this about that passage. You have helped me, but my

God shall supply you. You have helped me in one of my needs, my need of clothing and food.

I have other needs that you can't help me with, but God shall supply all of my needs and all of your needs.

You have helped me, some of you, out of your deep poverty, taking scant store, but my

God shall supply all of your needs out of his riches in glory. He said, I know that you're limited in what you can give me because of what you have.

You can't give me more than you have. But my Lord, which is going to supply all of my needs and will supply all of your needs, he has abundant supplies.

He has more than abundant supplies. He has an infinite set of supplies. Anything that you really need, he can give you, and he will out of the richnesses of his glory.

And now unto God and our Father be glory forever and ever, amen.

We say that all the time. This is not a throwaway line by Paul, casually made, as we in our

Christian culture so often do. We end a prayer and say, thank you, God, may all the power and glory be to you, amen, and we don't think anything about it.

Paul did. This is a sincere thought by Paul. He genuinely wanted God to be glorified and was willing to be used in whatsoever way

God saw fit to glorify him. Earlier in Philippians, we read this, in Philippians 1 .20,

according to my earnest expectation and my hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also

Christ shall be magnified by my body, whether it be by life or by death.

He is willing to do whatsoever the Lord asks him to do. Verse 21, salute every saint in Jesus Christ.

The brethren which are with me greet you. Now, you notice he didn't list a particular list of people like he so often does in his letters.

Here, it's a nonspecific group of people, a generic term implying all

Christians, the brethren, all Christians. All the saints salute you, chiefly they that are of Caesar's household.

There are a lot of commentators discussing a lot about whether it was actually members of Caesar's family or members of Caesar's household, servants and guards, for example.

I'm more inclined to believe that it's not members of Caesar's imperial family, not his son and his grandson and his wife, but the servants and guards of Caesar's family.

The servants and the guards that Paul had contact with daily. That's the Caesar's household,

I believe, that he's talking about here. The grace of our

Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Paul didn't simply say this to fill up the space at the end of his letter.

To him, Christian life begins and ends with the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So it was appropriate that his letters begin and end with grace.

And you see that in all of his writings. He begins with grace, he ends with grace.

That's because the Christian life begins and ends with the grace of God. And then there's one last word.

Amen. Let it be so. Any questions? Any comments?

Most gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for bringing us together. Thank you for giving us another precious letter to study, to obtain from it the lessons of life that you have for each one of us.

Help us to understand that the lessons that I receive and the lessons that other members of the church receive may be the same lesson or they may be different, but you will have the ability, you do have the ability to give each one of us the lesson that he needs to receive.

us and keep us as we go through the rest of the service today. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.