Deep Joy: The Message of Philippians #10: "The Pathway to Everyday Joy" (Phil 4:1-9) AUDIO ONLY

The Pathway to Everyday Joy in Philippians 4:1-9

Philippians chapter four then, and verses one through nine. Second to last message in this summer series that we've been in called Deep Joy, the message of Philippians. Philippians chapter four and verses one through nine, if you've got one of our red giveaway Bibles, you're looking at page 1042, 1042.

Philippians chapter four, verses one through nine. And if one last time, I can invite you to stand with me out of reverence for God's word. Philippians chapter four and verses one through nine. Brothers and sisters, these are God's words.

So then, my dearly loved and longed for brothers and sisters, my joy and crown, in this manner, stand firm in the Lord, dear friends. I urge you all, dear, and I urge Syntyche to agree in the Lord. Yes, and I also ask you, true partner, to help these women who have contended for the gospel at my side, along with Clement and the rest of my coworkers, whose names are in the book of life.

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again, rejoice. Let your graciousness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Don't worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any moral excellence, and if there is anything praiseworthy, dwell on these things.

Do what you have learned and received and heard from me and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you. The gospel is the flower fades, but the word of our God will abide forever. Let me pray, ask for the Lord's help, and we will get to work in God's word.

Let's pray together.

Now, Heavenly Father, we thank you that we have this privilege of worship, even with technical difficulties and even with things that are going on, you still call us out of the chaos of the world out there to come into your presence and to hear you speak to us.

And so, Father, I ask that as we open up your word that you would indeed speak to us, that in the words of the old hymn, that you would enter every trembling heart, and that your gospel would comfort, it would strengthen, that your word would challenge us, it would call us higher, and that ultimately, we would be the kind of people who glorify you, not just one day a week, but every day of our lives.

Father, it's our habit to pray for other local churches during this time, and I especially wanna take a moment to pray for some brothers and sisters across the country, over in Kansas City, Missouri. My friend, Pastor Dan Michael Coggan, who today had the launch service for their church plant out there in Kansas City, Northtown Trinity Church.

Thank you for Pastor Dan and his desire to see the north side of Kansas City reached with the gospel. Thank you for the favor that you've given their core group as they've been meeting the last few months privately, and even today as they had their first public service.

Pray for the co-pastor that was installed to serve alongside Pastor Dan. I pray that as a plurality of elders, they would be able to serve that body well, they would be able to equip that body for the work of ministry.

Father, I pray for every person who has made the decision to be a part of Northtown Church. Lord, would you give them a vision of the church that transcends their own personal need, that transcends their own personal preference, but that they would, even as we'll read in this passage, be marked by graciousness, by a reasonableness that commends the gospel of Christ to the people of Kansas City.

Father, we pray that for them, and we pray that for even our own selves as we march through this portion of your word. We ask all these things in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen. Please be seated. Hopefully you grabbed a study guide when you came in.

You'll definitely need that today. On the study guide, you can see the title for this message that I've given it is The Pathway to Everyday Joy. The Pathway to Everyday Joy. Well, as I said a few moments ago, we are hitting the home stretch in our exposition of Philippians.

Actually, next week will be the last message. As we've made our way through this letter, I've made the point that each chapter has its own theme that orbits around this main idea of developing and cultivating joy.

So remember I said that in chapter one, you have joy through the single mind, the mind that is focused on the gospel alone. And then in chapter two, we saw joy through the servant's mind, the mind that is focused not on self, but on serving others.

Chapter three dealt with joy through the spiritual mind, the mind that is focused on Christ and Christ alone. And we saw from Paul's example, as he looked at his past, as he looked at his present, and he looked at his future, that he was focused on Christ and Christ alone.

And now we come to chapter four. And as we come to chapter four, we're focusing on what you could say is joy through the secure mind, joy through the secure mind, the mind that is focused on God's provision in Christ.

And where do I get that from? Well, I think in each major section of this, there is this theme of God's ability to supply his people's needs, and that's in turn providing security for his people. So look with me at chapter four and verse seven.

So chapter four and verse seven, Paul says, and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Look down at verse 12 and 13, which we'll look at next week.

Paul says, I know how to make do with little, and I know how to make do with a lot. In any and all circumstances, I have learned the secret of being content. Verse 13, I am able to do all things through him who strengthens me.

And then the final section, jump down right to the end of verse 23. He ends with his benediction, he says, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. In each section of this final chapter, there's an emphasis on something that God gives and that God supplies his children, which ought to keep their minds secure when everything else seems unstable.

And so we come to Philippians chapter four and verses one through nine, which really is the first section of this letter, of this chapter, I should say. So chapter four, one through nine is section one, 10 right through to 13, or 14, excuse me, is section two, and 15 to the end is section three.

We're gonna cover section one as its own, and two and three, we will finish off with last, excuse me, next week. On first consideration, the text in front of us might seem a little bit scatterbrained.

It might seem a little bit all over the place. You know, it seems when you read it, as though it's a bunch of different commands and there's no seeming center to all of these commands. It seems like he's here, and then he's talking about this, and he's talking about this, and then he's here.

But I actually do think there is a center to this passage. I think it's an implicit one. By that, I just simply mean that Paul doesn't tell us what the center is. But actually, I think you can figure out what he's doing just by considering the flow of this letter.

So think about where we were. Last week, we went to Philippians. So let me bring us back up to speed. End of chapter three, we have this rousing call from the apostle for God's people to pursue spiritual excellence.

And it ends with this reality that we have a citizenship that is in heaven, verses 20 through 21. But that whole section, it really begins all the way up in verse 12, and comes all the way down to the end of the chapter.

You can understand, put yourself in the shoes of the original audience for just a moment. They hear these words, and as they hear these words, what's the temptation that they might fall prone to? Wow, Paul, what you're saying, I hear what you're saying.

This sounds great, but heavens, who can do all of this? What you're calling for sounds like more than what we're able to do. You know, Paul, that's easy for you to say. You're the apostle. You're on this other spiritual level to all of us.

And I think what Paul is doing in these verses in verses one through nine is basically saying, this is what spiritual excellence looks like every day. I hope one of the things that grabbed you as you heard these commands read just a few moments ago, that one of the things I hope grabbed you was how ordinary they are.

Paul is not asking us to do anything that is super amazing. He's not asking us to do anything that is above and beyond the pale of normalcy, as it were. No, I think it's fair to say that what Paul is calling us to in these verses is pretty ordinary.

This is the stuff of Monday morning, if you will, Tuesday morning, pretty much any day that's not called Sunday, actually Sunday as well. The reality is what Paul is calling us to here is what does it look like really to pursue joy every single day?

That's why I've titled this message, The Pathway to Ordinary Joy. Because I put it to you that if you catch this, that this is Paul, essentially one commentary I read had the title for this section I thought was brilliant, Shepherding a Church's Heart.

Some of you may remember a book that was written a few years ago called Shepherding a Child's Heart. Really great book, I highly recommend it by Ted Tripp. But he admits he takes his title from that book.

But that's what Paul's doing here essentially. He is shepherding the heart of this church and reminding them that the pursuit of joy, the pursuit of spiritual excellence is not something that is impossible, far from it.

But it does take some work. If you will, you could put it like this. Paul is teaching us that Christianity, and I mean, when I say Christianity, the vibrant, joyful New Testament kind. That Christianity is not lived out in a few massive crisis moments.

You know what I mean when I say crisis moments, by the way? Those kinds of big, you know, some people call them mountaintop experiences. I'm not saying those are bad in and of themselves. But the reality is that's not where the battle of the Christian life is fought and won.

That's not where the day-to-day walk of being a believer in the Lord Jesus, that's not where that happens. Do you know where that happens? It doesn't happen in a few massive crisis moments, but it happens in a thousand steps of everyday obedience.

I believe it was the late Eugene Peterson who said that the Christian life is essentially, what was it he said? Long obedience in the same direction or something along those lines. I think that's what Paul's getting at here.

That the pathway to everyday joy doesn't happen, isn't just walked once. It's not just an event that takes place. It's not that there is some crisis event. I grew up in a tradition where they taught this, that there was this event called entire sanctification that happened.

That when that event happened, that's when the Christian began to finally be able to live the Christian life easily. And of course, it never actually worked. Because the reality is that's not how God has built the Christian life.

The Christian life is designed to be built, or it's designed to be walked, I should say, in a thousand steps of everyday obedience. And that should make some sense to us because think back all the way, those of you who were here to the very first message in this series.

Remember what I said in our very first message in the series about joy? Joy is a supernatural delight in the person, plans, pursuits, and people of God. Please pay attention to that word supernatural.

If it is that joy is something that is supernatural, it's not something that you can work up because it's not natural.

No, you cannot create joy.

But I think what Paul is teaching us that is, well, you can't create joy, but you can cultivate an environment in which joy thrives. So then that begs the question, how can we glorify God by cultivating the kind of spiritual environment in our lives that makes joy possible?

If the Christian life is not one or two or three or five or a dozen mountaintop experiences, but it's actually lived in a thousand steps of everyday obedience, and that is how we cultivate an environment in which this supernatural thing called joy can be cultivated.

If that's the case, well, how do we do that? You know, it kind of leads to my big idea for this message. My big idea for the message is very simple. Finding joy in the Christian life begins with deliberate decisions in our actions and our thoughts, very simple.

Finding joy in the Christian life begins with deliberate decisions in our actions and in our thoughts. See, the pathway to everyday joy, like I just said, is marked by a thousand steps of everyday obedience.

And I think what Paul is doing in this section is he is giving us some of those decisions that we have to make day in and day out, not just for a little bit, not just for a while, but over the course of our Christian lives so that we can cultivate deep joy.

Well, for the rest of our time,.

I want to consider seven intentional decisions that you need to make so that you can cultivate deep joy in everyday life. Seven decisions, which means I've got to fly through this material because we've only got so much time and I've got seven points to my sermon today.

So let me jump straight into it. If you're going to cultivate an environment in which joy can thrive, if you're going to pursue that life of daily joy, number one, point number one, ground yourself in the love of God.

Ground yourself in the love of God. Ground yourself in the love of God. So look with me at verse one. What does Paul say in verse one? So then my dearly loved and longed for brothers and sisters, my joy and crown in this manner stand firm in the Lord, dear for hence.

What's striking about this first verse of this section is just how warm Paul's words are. I mean, look at it again. Look how he describes them. He says, they are dearly loved. They are longed for, that they are his joy and crown.

I mean, think about the relationship that Paul had with these Christians. Paul was their apostle. He was their teacher. He had been their disciple. And over the course of years, as he had served among them and as they had gotten to know him and he knew them, that ministry had endeared these Christians to his heart.

What's beautiful about this is that Paul's love for them was a reflection, yes, a weak and imperfect one to be sure, but it's a reflection, a very real reflection of Christ's love for his people. Well, what is Christ's love for his people?

Christ's love for his people is a selfless, real love. It's a love that is ongoing. It's a love that is persevering. And that's why Paul can say, in light of that, in this manner. What manner? The manner you've just heard me describe.

In this manner, the love of God. In this manner, stand firm in the Lord, dear for hence. As people who have received God's grace in Christ, that love motivates us in our love for one another. And if we're going to glorify God in everyday life by the pursuit of joy, then we have to begin by grounding ourselves.

In the love of God.

I fear at times that in circles like ours, and let's be clear, I'm thankful for, I consider myself reformed in my theology. I'm thankful for reformed theology. I believe it's the clearest expression of what the Bible teaches.

But I fear that because other sections of the church, which are indeed the church, they're part of Christ's people, because other sections of the church sometimes overemphasize the love of God to the exclusion of everything else, we feel like we have to overcorrect the other way.

And so we almost feel suspicious of anyone who tells you too much that God loves you. But the reality is, God does love his children. God does love you. How do we know that? John 3 .16, for God loved the world in this way.

That he gave his only son. And so in a sense, we can never tire of being told the love that God has for us. That is how we stand firm in the Lord. And if you're here today and you've not come to understand this love, can I point to you that this is actually the heart of Christianity?

Again, I feel at times the church has not always done a good job of presenting the fact that Christianity is not a bunch of do's and don'ts. That yes, there is the call to obedience. There is, and we're gonna see some of that in this passage even.

But all of this is built on a firm foundation, which is not how hard we work and how much better we do. The foundation is God's love shown for us in Christ. Shown for us in the one who came and assumed a human nature, who grappled with all of the limitations of humanity, yet was without sin, who obeyed God's law perfectly, who went to the cross for us, who died and gave his life, paying the penalty that we deserved.

And then the father raised him up, demonstrating that he was truly righteous and that that penalty had been received. For us as believers, this is what gives us stability and security. And this is where cultivating an environment.

Where joy can thrive.

This is where that begins. It begins as you ground yourself in the love of God. So if you're going to cultivate joy in everyday life, it starts with grounding yourself in the love of God. But if you're going to cultivate joy in everyday life, not only do you need to do that, there will be times where point number two, you need to press through conflict with the gospel.

So number two there in your study guide, press through conflict with the gospel. Press through conflict with the gospel, verses two and three. So pick up with me in verse two. Paul says, I urge you, Odia, and I urge Syntyche to agree in the Lord.

Yes, I also ask you, true partner, to help these women who have contended for the gospel at my side, along with Clement and the rest of the coworkers, whose names are in the book of life. Now, this is not the sermon for a full take on what the Bible says about conflict, what it is, why it happens, how to avoid it.

And in case you don't avoid it, how to deal with it, I would need several sermons actually to teach that subject properly. But for now, I want to focus on just what Paul says here in this passage. We actually don't know a whole lot about the Odia and Syntyche.

This is the only time they're mentioned in the whole Bible. Apparently there were two ladies in the church. Everyone knew who they were, and they had some kind of issue that everyone knew about. Can I pause for a moment?

Can you imagine the awkwardness of hearing this read out loud if you were in the church in Philippi this Sunday?

You know, you're just reading this.

You don't know what's coming. So you've been hearing Paul kind of talk about all this stuff, and it's great, it's wonderful. Imagine if you're Odia and Syntyche in this moment. I urge Odia and Syntyche to agree together in the Lord.

Wait, what?

But it's interesting, moving past the, just the comedy of how awkward this is. Do you know that Paul doesn't say why they're fighting? We're not told why they're fighting. Paul doesn't even get into who's right and who's wrong.

Do you notice that in this passage? He just says, I urge Odia and I urge Syntyche to agree in the Lord, which means they want to agree, but beyond that, he doesn't get into, he doesn't turn into a referee.

He's not trying to arbitrate this discussion. He's not trying to figure out who's right and who's wrong. Because let's be honest, in most interpersonal conflicts, is that really the issue? Kofi, yes, it is.

No, it's not. Yes, it, no, it's not. Think about this. Why do Christians fight? You ever thought about that? Why do Christians disagree? In one sense, the individual reasons don't matter. It is what it is, like, you know, no two people see eye to eye on everything.

There will be moments where Christians don't agree. That happens. In one sense, the reasons why they don't agree, unless actual sin has taken place, usually don't matter. But there is a sense in which it does matter.

Kofi, are you contradicting yourself?

No, no, no, no, no.

You see, the individual reasons might not matter, but the root of the issue stays the same. Because often what we fight about, if we're honest, more often than not, think about, in fact, for a moment, think about someone you've had conflict with.

I won't ask you to name the person. Just for a moment, think with me. Think about the last person you were in conflict with. And let me ask you this. What was going on in your heart in that moment? The Bible might give you an answer to that question if you say, well, I'm not entirely sure.

You don't need to turn there, but I'd encourage you to write this down and go read it in your own time. James chapter four. You know what the Bible says? James chapter four. Well, what are the source of wars and fights among you?

James is writing to Christians. So in essence, he's asking, why is it that Christians are warring and fighting? James chapter four, verse one, he says, don't they, the wars and the fights, come from your passions that are waging war within you?

He goes on and says, you desire and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and wage war. You do not have because you do not ask. You see, let's be honest. What we fight over is often an indication of where our hearts are.

It's often an indication of what we place the most value on. If you can put it plainly, it's often an indication of what you want. I remember my pastor one day asking me, I was in a moment of conflict with another Christian and I wanted to deal with it.

So I went to my pastor and I said, this is PT, like this, this, this, this, this. And I was honest with him and told him what I thought was my side of the thing. And he didn't really say much, which is kind of his way in general.

And finally I got done and he said, this was before I started going about my middle name. So he called me Douglas. Douglas is my first name. His nickname for me was Douglas. Douglas, what do you really want?

What do I really want? He said, get out of this conflict. What do you really want?

I don't know.

A solution?

He said, no, you don't want a solution. No, no, I said, before I say anything, I'm gonna encourage you to go home, think about it and pray about it. What do you want in this moment? I'll be honest, the question stopped me dead in my tracks, but I'm glad he asked that question because when I went home and had time to think about it, I realized what I wanted.

It's the same thing, if I'm really honest, this has been a lifelong struggle for me. I wanted respect in that moment. I felt disrespected and I wanted that person to respect me. So I went back to my pastor, hey PT, I gave your question some thought.

I want respect. Okay, why do you think this person disrespected you? Well, exit. Eventually he said, okay brother, have you considered that that person maybe doesn't view what they did as disrespectful, but it is.

He goes, no, you think it is. And because you want respect, that is coloring the way you're viewing this. At the end of the day, conflict happens because something somewhere in our hearts, even if, think about this, even if we're in the right, remember what the Bible says about peacemakers?

I believe it was Lord Jesus, Matthew five somewhere. I think that was it. I think he said, blessed are the peacemakers. The reality is conflict happens because we want something more than we want.

Peace.

Well, again, Paul doesn't tell us what they're arguing about. So it's kind of hard for us to ask what they particularly wanted. But I raise all of that simply to say that conflict more often than not shows what's going on in our hearts more than anything else.

Well, if that's the case, well, how do we press through conflict? Not like the world deals with conflict, but as Christians deal with conflict, how do we do that? Well, two thoughts, letter A there on the point too.

First of all, remember the leveling power of the gospel. Remember the leveling power of the gospel. So looking at verse two of it, look what he says. I urge you, Odiah, and I urge Syntyche to agree in the Lord.

Now, there's a way to read this that kind of sounds like what my folks would do after my siblings and I would get into a fight where they would just kind of say, you be quiet, you be quiet, now get along.

That's not what Paul is doing here. Paul isn't just saying, now, now, ladies, sit down, shut up, and get along. That's not what he says. That's not what he means here. Very clearly, that horse had long left the stable.

They were disagreeing enough that everyone knew about it. What Paul says, again, look at verse two. He says, I urge you, Odiah, and I urge Syntyche to agree in the Lord. I might need to pause there though because that's not what he says.

The CSB translates the word agree, but actually you've seen this phrase before. It's not a word, it's a phrase. In fact, this one I want you to see for yourself. This should be just over the page in your Bible.

Look at chapter two and verse two. So we were in chapter two a few weeks ago. Remember he had those four gospel indicatives that should drive humility, encouragement in Christ, consolation of love, fellowship with the Spirit, affection and mercy.

Remember those four? Remember what his command was at the end of that? Philippians 2 .2. He says, if any of that is true, then make my joy complete by thinking the same way. That's the exact phrase in chapter four, verse two.

In fact, those of you who have access to it, if you look up the Legacy Standard Bible, that new translation, new update of the NASB and the Legacy Standard Bible, they pick up on that and they translate the phrase the same way.

So chapter four, verse two in the LSB says, I urge you, Odiah, and I urge Syntyche to think the same way in the Lord. Essentially, Paul is throwing a throwback to what he said originally. Those realities that I talked about?

Yeah, I need you to go back and revisit those. His point is not what we often tell people in conflict. Well, maybe you just need to compromise. Meet each other halfway. That's not what Paul says here.

Paul's answer to conflict is, no, you don't need to meet halfway. You need to meet at the foot of the cross. Think about this. How is it that warring Christians can think the same way? Clearly on the natural level they are, that's why they're fighting.

The answer to conflict isn't compromise. Compromise might work for a season, but the whole point of compromise is no one's getting 100 of what they want, so no one actually wins. And in conflict, one or both parties wants to win.

Let's be honest. No one has gone into a fight wanting to lose. No, you need something that transcends and trumps that innate human desire in all of us to win. And that is exactly what the gospel does.

As we remember the good news of Christ's obedience for us, of Christ's death for us, of Christ's resurrection for us, our shared need of that work and our shared need for the grace that flows from that every single day.

My contention is this, that as we reflect on that, the ground somewhat levels in front of us. And we recognize that whatever we are fighting about pales into relative insignificance. Let's be honest in our hearts, half the things we fight about are not that, they're just not that deep.

But it's easier said than done, ain't it? Paul can say, think the same way in the Lord. Think back upon the gospel. Remember the leveling power of the gospel. Paul can say all that. But isn't it often the case that at times we need some help in doing that.

That sometimes the internal motivation is not all that strong. It should be, that's the ideal. Guys who've been in my preaching group, remember I taught you guys about the real, the ideal and the optimal?

There's the ideal of a Christian life, what it should be. The real, what is actually happening. The optimal, what we hope will happen. And the reality is that we don't always live in the ideal. We live in the real world, don't we?

And in the real world,.

Sometimes the internal motivation to remember the gospel, ain't always that high in the moment of conflict. You're thinking about something else entirely. And so, not only do you need to remember the leveling power of the gospel, let it be, you need to remind each other of the gospel practically.

You need to remind each other of the gospel practically. So look at verse three. So yes, you're in Syntyche, you need, that's your responsibility. You need to think the same way in the Lord. You need to go back to the gospel.

But verse three, he says, yes, I also ask you true partner to help these women. We don't know who the true partner is. Commentators go all kinds of fun places with it. We just don't know. Whoever they were, Paul says, listen, whoever this person is, you need to help these ladies in this pursuit of the gospel.

And the reality is, just as it was true for you all here in Syntyche, it's gonna be true for us sometimes. There will be moments where, yes, individually, we need to remember the leveling power of the gospel, but there are times where we also need help and we need the body of God's people to remind one another of the gospel.

I know it's become popular in recent years to use this language of preaching the gospel to yourself and that's all well and good, and I'm all for it. But guess what? There also needs to be a part where we preach the gospel to each other.

Yes, we don't know who the true partner was in this passage, but we do know what his mission was, help them. As one commentator puts it, no Christian, we might say, is at liberty to stand aloof from the needs of another Christian.

We never get to say, well, that's not my problem, or I've got other things going on. Don't you know I've got problems too?

Yes, you do.

And guess what? Sometimes you need to put those aside and help somebody else. And no, this is not a calling to become a busybody and a gossip and insert yourself in situations. How many of you have heard my definition of gossip before?

If you haven't heard it, this is Kofi's copyrighted definition of gossip. Gossip is talking about something where you are neither the part of the problem nor part of the solution. You're not part of the problem, you're not part of the solution, which means you really don't need to be talking about this.

This is not what Paul is calling us to here, but it is the reality of when we know that there are challenges among believers, when we can see it, we should do something about it. And of course, Paul would do this.

It's very clear he knew these ladies. In fact, he calls them co-workers in gospel ministry. Oh, I wish I had time to unpack that Pandora's box. What does he mean that they were co-workers in ministry?

But for now, Paul says they were co-workers. In fact, he lists them with other co-workers in the ministry. These were believers. In fact, do you see what he says about them?

End of verse three.

He says, along with Clemens and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life, these are indeed Christians. And yet Christians have their moments where they need to be reminded of the gospel and they need to be reminded of the gospel in the place of conflict.