Sermon text tonight comes from Philippians chapter four, verses four through seven. So if you will please stand for the reading of God's word. Philippians chapter four, verses four through seven. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Lord, we ask that you would work in our hearts and in our minds through your word and by your spirit as we trust you yet again. We ask that we would repent of our sin and that you would quicken our very cold and callous hearts. May we embrace you in all of your fullness and all of your goodness and all of your truth to do that which is impossible through the strength of Christ by the power of the spirit. And again, for your glory, heavenly father, we pray in Christ's name, amen. You may be seated. Who here is always glad? Who here is gracious to every kind of person that you meet? who here never, ever, ever worries. We may be tempted to think we do some of those things pretty well sometimes, but to think that we are always glad, that we are gracious and reasonable to every person that we meet, and that we never worry, that's a pretty tall order, I think. And yet it is a fruit in the believer's life to be producing things like this. Paul now is beginning to wrap up his epistle to the Philippian church. And he is now shifting into this sort of final section that he often does in his epistles. There's a lot of exhortations. There's many commands, sort of final last thoughts of what needs to take place in the church in Philippi. The last time we were in this text, we saw that Paul called two women to agree in the Lord, two women who needed to be reconciled, two women who were divided, who instead needed to be united. And tonight in verses four through seven, we work through some sort of exhortations of what I'm calling totality, almost constants for the Christian life, sorts of different alls that should be embodied by us as believers. You'll notice he says, do something in verse four, always. He gives another command that we should be doing things to everyone. And then he says, there's something that we should do, never. But instead, in everything, we should do something else. In many ways, there's these just big, all encompassing commands that are sort of finishing off the epistle to the Philippians. And these three totalities are what we're going to be looking at tonight. Three totalities of life as a believer. Number one, rejoice always. Number two, be yieldingly flexible to all people. And number three, always pray instead of panic. Always pray instead of panic. Some people think that these are completely unrelated, that they in no way tie to one another at all. And there is no sort of logical language that Paul often uses to connect his threads of thought. But however, as we read through them, as we think through these commands, there is some sort of internal sort of coherence and logic to themselves, as we'll see. So number one, always rejoice. Totality number one. And we're gonna look at what is it? Is always even possible? And then we're gonna look at the object of our rejoicing. So verse number four, rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say rejoice. And kind of like Pastor Eric did this morning, as he began to define and look at what is faith, I want you to think about what is rejoicing? If you had to really try to define crisply and clearly, what does it mean to rejoice? It's often a slightly fuzzy concept. One of the lexicons I was reading says the word rejoice in the New Testament is to express or to experience gladness. to express or experience gladness. And we often see in the uses of rejoicing in the New Testament that these are often accompanied by feelings of thankfulness, a gladness that is also celebratory. Say for instance, it's when somebody like the shepherd finds his lost sheep who has run away, the one in comparison to the 99. It's the gladness that the disciples should feel knowing that their names are written in the book of life in heaven. The gladness of the father when the prodigal son finally returns after being gone for so long. The gladness even of Herod and the fulfilled desire for a long time wanting to meet this character, Jesus, and finally getting to meet him though on a very strange day at his own court trial. And lastly, it is the gladness that even Abraham felt as we see in John 8. when he somehow, by God's revelation, looked forward and saw the day of Christ. That is what it means to rejoice, a celebratory, a thankful experience and expression of gladness. And we all know moments, sort of flashes of rejoicing. Whether it's finally completing that very, very tedious project. Whether it's finally, as only half of this room could ever know, getting through the labor of a baby. Finally finishing and completing the pushing. And the doctor says, well done you. I mean to see my wife. And her just experience of joy and gladness to get a child out really is amazing. I will never ever experience that. But the moments of joy are often rare, but they're very important junctures for us. Yet Paul says, always. Is rejoicing always actually possible? He doesn't say sometimes, he doesn't say when life is smooth or when we're killing it at our job and we have lots of energy. No, he says, always. And if you're like me, you might be tempted to think, well, that's a great, lofty ideal. But in many ways, to think that I could ever rejoice always is one unrealistic, and in some way, if somebody else told me, if it wasn't the Bible, if some other Christian told me, I'd think, well, you're, it's just a little naive to think I could ever, always rejoice. But I think a rebuttal question to that sort of objection is, why do we think it's not possible? What is the reason and basis for us assuming that we can't always rejoice? And I think most of us would point to the basic fact that reality, the world experience is fractured. There is brokenness everywhere. It is just hard to rejoice when you witness and behold your child acting very, very foolishly. when you are sick and have no energy whatsoever, when you think the people who should be ruling your land well are ruling it poorly, when somebody has been unfaithful who you deeply trusted, it is really not easy to rejoice in those moments, is it? And we don't rejoice, we often become weary and full of despair. And so the apparent implication from the experience of life would be that joy is the exception. not the rule and let alone always. Yet, does that fit the letter to the Philippians? Who's this person who's saying rejoice always? What's his situation? What's his experience each and every day right now? He's in prison. He's probably mistreated by very elite Roman guards. Somebody who is, again, under constant threat of impending execution. Who's he talking to? He's writing to a church who in many ways is suffering, full of opponents, division from within, people in their culture who reject them and hate them and think their religion is a joke. And so Paul is very well aware of the realities and the difficulties of life in his own experience and that which his readers are also going through. So what then is going on when Paul says rejoice always? You'll note the object of rejoicing in verse four. He says, rejoice in the Lord. So let me ask you this. What is bigger? What is greater? God's greatness or the world's badness? If I can use a very sophisticated term. What's bigger, is God's greatness or is it the world's badness? And I think all of us would very clearly believe and say in confession, he is greater than all the brokenness, he is greater in ever present in every way. If we were gonna put it in a sort of billboard slogan, the object of gladness is greater than the context of our sadness. The object of what we are glad in will always be greater than everything that is broken and harmful. And it's in beholding and rejoicing in him as the object that the context, the surrounding world begins to fade away. And we are able to find joy in the midst of sadness. It reminded me of Jacob when he was working for the thing that he loved. Do you remember? Works 14 years, not just seven. He signs up for seven years, but works 14 years for the woman that he loves, for Rachel. And what were they to him? Felt as but days. Because he loved this woman so much, the hard labor of 14 years seemed like nothing. The object in which he rejoiced overcame the difficult context that he was in. So we can rejoice always because we have a God who is always worth rejoicing in. I'm gonna turn to Jeremiah 9.23. You can go there if you'd like, no need to. Jeremiah 9.23. Thus says the Lord, let not the wise man boast in his wisdom. Let not the mighty man boast in his might. Let not the rich man boast in his riches, verse 24. But let him who boasts, boast in this, that he understands and knows me. That I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord. He is greater than anything, greater than the things you love dearly, greater than your wealth, your wisdom, your strength, your children, your family, your goals, your dreams. He is always greater and always worth boasting and always worth rejoicing in. So quickly trying to move through this point, if you know the Lord, You will always then know the Lord and you will always then have the Lord to turn to. You will always have him to plead with and love and care for and enjoy and therefore you will always have the opportunity to rejoice. You have a chance at the impossible because he has been impossibly great in his goodness and love for you. But now shifting to the second totality, our rejoicing in him always will create and sort of produce something within our hearts. We now have the opportunity in rejoicing in this great God to be yieldingly flexible with all people. The beginning of verse five says, let your reasonableness be known to everybody. Language is an interesting thing. Many of the seminary students in here have heard this many times. Though we sometimes in two different languages have the same word for the same object, such as light or a light bulb or whatever, a fan, there's many languages, or I should say many words in language that don't equate perfectly one for one to the next language. And there's often many words we need to use in one language to try to get at what one single word represents in another. And I think this word here for reasonableness in verse five is one of them. Translators give it their best shot with their kind of single attempt. Some use reasonable as you can see here. Some use gentle forbearance. Some use graciousness and some define it as the allowance of somebody to sort of trample on your own personal rights. And so I made my sort of foolish attempt by saying yieldingly flexible. Paul is calling the church to manifest and demonstrate their yielding flexibility to all the people around them. This is the opposite of being strict, the opposite of being fierce, the opposite of being quarrelsome, as you see in first Timothy. 3-3 or Titus 3-3. That's what this word is contrasted to. This is often used of a fabric that is woven between something stiff and hard because the fabric is flexible and can move. This is what you see when a tree bends and flexes in the storm and in a wind. It's the property of rubber that allows things to bounce off it and at once to absorb energy. I thought of a my inability to be yieldingly flexible when I was on vacation once. Two couples out seeing the world. Both had their sort of desires, the things they wanted to do. Now is your sort of one final shot to go see the sights. And what happens? Sometimes different people in the party have different plans and how you want to use your time, don't you? And you both think, well, we've spent so much money to get here. And now I'm just, I may never come back here for the rest of my life. So I want to see what I want to see. But somebody who is yieldingly flexible is willing to forego and sacrifice the things they so desperately love and hope for in order for the good of another. And please don't take Paul as saying, there's no time for being firm, no time for being unyielding. He's not saying that at all. But he is saying, be yieldingly flexible to all the people around you. And those who are rejoicing always, I think we'll be able to do this. those who rejoice in the Lord. And there's two types of people, I think, in which this is really pertinent for the situation in Philippi. Some within the church and some without. If you'll remember just two verses ago, Euodia and Syntyche are divided. They cannot agree. And I think from his more corporate command in verses 27 through 30 of chapter one, I think these two ladies are just a small microcosm of a larger problem within the whole congregation. And so think about this command for them. As we heard, both ladies, might have their own idea. Both ladies might have been a bit stubborn, but both ladies are commanded now to be flexible, to willingly sacrifice their rights and to be gracious, to be like Christ who himself stooped down very low to treat the other as more significant than themself. But in addition, I think this command would be very important for those in regards to the outside. There's opposition, remember, there's opponents, there's people teaching things that are false, people coming against the truth of the gospel. Even, again, Paul is talking about people who are preaching the gospel to try to hurt him somehow, and yet he still rejoices in that. But there are opponents in Philippi, there are pagans in Philippi that they are rubbing shoulders with all the time. And Paul is saying, even to your enemies, who are enemies of Christ and the gospel, and even to those who hate you, Be gracious, be reasonable, be patient with those who are deceived and those who are militant. She's not saying deny the truth, but embody the truth in such a way that is engaging, that is appealing, and that is curious. And this will result in the way it does for unity, for those two ladies. It will result for the church to those in the outside as again being lights, confirming the credibility and the reality of the gospel that they uphold. And those who rejoice in the Lord always, those who find their gladness in him, I think, will have far more of an ability to do this than those who do not. So rejoice always, be yieldingly flexible with all people. Totality number three, always pray instead of panic. We're gonna very quickly look at what not to do and why, what to do and how, and then the results that he talks about. Beginning of verse six, do not be anxious about anything. Well, that's an easy one, right? We talked about in the beginning. Do not be anxious about anything. Who here is prone to worry? I know you're out there. I know you're sitting here right now and you don't like this command and I get it. Who amongst you are a bit prone to get nervous? I think I would count myself on this list. What's interesting though is who here, though you're prone to get anxious, who here likes worry? Who here just loves to be full of that angst and dread? Probably none of you. And yet, for some strange reason, we continue to do it, don't we? We feed the beast. We all go through that nervousness. We all get those tight lungs and that sort of sunken stomach. It happens to the people who are strong. It happens to the people who are weak. Those who think they're made of steel and those who are well aware they're made of clay. We all have different thresholds and some of us are better at covering it up than others. But why do we worry? We heard about this a little bit last week. We're just going to very briefly cover it again. Why do we all worry if none of us like it? And I think the very basic answer is it's because things go horribly wrong. Things get terribly out of hand. And what happens is as that sort of broken reality argument again with rejoicing, because the world is hard and broken, our hearts shifts from a wise concern a wise attentiveness to the threats that might be coming our way to now a sort of all out spiral and tailspin. And that produces waves of this sort of chaotic self talk, where it's almost like I'm having 20 different conversations with myself at the same time. And one author who writes about this as we at the same time sort of become the false prophet and the fool simultaneously. As we see the risk and the threat that could be real or could be possible. We then begin to become a prophet to ourselves saying it will happen. God won't be there. I can't handle it. And it's not true. But notice the reason for why Paul says we don't need to worry. It's the beginning of the verse. Actually, it's at the very end of verse five. He starts by saying, the Lord is at hand or another way, put it, the Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything. The basis, the ground for why he says we don't need to worry is again, simply God is near you. God is close to you. Psalm 46 uses the language that God is our ever present help. The immediacy with which you can grab your iPhone, look at your watch is the immediacy of access that you have to the eternal all powerful King. Psalm 145, 18 says that the Lord is near to all who call on him. He is present and he sees. But you'll say, yes, I know all these things, but I can't still my heart. When I'm in the midst of a pool of sadness or angst, I cannot quiet myself. What do we do? Well, Paul provides a remedy. He shows what we must do and how. The second half of verse six, he says, Okay, again, do not be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And this is really, really simple, and I think really helpful. But he says, dump the burden off. My son loves dump trucks. I mean, he just has tons of dump trucks. And he lets us just load those babies up with dirt, drive them around, and then he gives some sort of dumping sound and all the dirt just comes crumbling out, doesn't it? And Paul is saying, dump it, let it go, shove it off all on God himself. You're weak. Yes, you can't handle the reality. You can't handle the brokenness. You are fragile. So why try to bear it on your own? Give it to him. He is strong. He is able. Very simply, when you are anxious, tell God and ask for help. shift from the lying self, I should say false prophetic self-talk and make it into righteous God talk. I was reading an article on the sort of hypersonic missiles that they have in Russia, and it's just amazing the technology that something can go Mach 10, and there's sort of no defense against these hypersonic missiles right now. But we have a defense against the hypersonic missiles, you could say, to be just semi-corny, of the angst and the worries that you have that just come at you over and over and over again, we have this ability to redirect the missile and send it to the one who can take the punishment, who can take the pain. It is God himself. Tell him what you are worried about. Scripture often uses this pattern of putting off and putting on. And so if you're thinking right now, yes, I need to stop worrying. I need to put it to death. but I don't know what else to do. I don't know how to stop. Again, he's saying, don't just try to stop, but you need to start praying instead. Don't just not be anxious, but be speaking to your Lord. Verse seven though, talks about the result of that. He says, and then the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Now, for a long time, whenever I would read this verse, I would think, okay, so I try to not worry, I try to tell God, and then the sort of peace that I don't really quite understand will come over me. And there's some truth to that, right? The peace that he's talking about is something we can't fully comprehend. But I think there's something even slightly different to it. The peace that he's talking about is a peace that is surpassing our understanding. Like we've been talking about in the doctrine of God class, the way that God transcends space and time. I think that's the way he's describing peace. The peace that comes from God for people who are anxious. This is a peace that is outside of your little brain, a peace that comes from God himself that transcends any of your anxious thoughts. And then he uses this language of guarding. And that's the peace that God gives to those who seek him when they are worried. And that is the peace that will guard their anxious and fretful hearts and minds to protect us as believers from ourselves. It reminded me of Proverbs three, five through six, right? Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Do not lean on your own understanding, but in all your ways, acknowledge him and he will make your path straight. We must surrender all in prayer to the one who understands all things and who gives us peace beyond all understanding. And if you are trapped, if you're stuck in your head, just get out, walk it off, talk to God, plead for help. and he will bring the peace that you need. So on the one hand, all these things are impossible to do perfectly, aren't they? None of us will be able to never ever worry again. None of us will be fully flexible and gracious again. None of us will be able to fully rejoice perfectly until the day that we die. And yet on the other hand, God has provided a way, hasn't he? God has made a perfect provision for that which is impossible. He has provided the perfect one. Jesus himself is our help for the impossible. And just even thinking of his own example first, right? He was the one who was full of angst, the one about to be crushed, the one who was anticipating the hot wrath of hell and damnation on the cross. All of your shame, all of your abandonment, all of your pain, And what does he do the night before? How does he seek to spend his time? It's in prayer. When he is full of the difficult life within his heart, he prays and makes his requests known to God, though he is not given deliverance for our sake. He is the one who is yielding when he is even before Pilate. Think about how gentle God is with this sort of quasi Roman governor questioning him. The way that he is caring, careful, the way that he is so good. And Pilate sees and he witnesses that there is something very, very different about this man. And he is always full of joy, even as we read in Hebrews 13, enduring, bearing the cross in joy for us. And thus he is the example of Paul, the great sufferer, who, as he even pens this letter, continually says throughout, I rejoice, I rejoice, I rejoice, following the example of his savior. Jesus is the one who does the impossible thing. by living, dying, rising from the grave, so that we might begin to taste and have some obedience in these impossible things, finding joy in the midst of sadness, being yielding with every kind of person, even our enemies, and not being anxious, but finding security in pleading with God himself. Our prayers, when we do these things, when we speak, when we seek, when we try to find help, are heard because it is Christ's lips that speak them as he intercedes before the throne for us. It is by his spirit then that he sends his peace. It is by his spirit that he makes us gentle. It is by his spirit that he grants us joy. And so there are three totalities of life. As a believer that Paul ends with here, we must rejoice always because we know the true God. We must be yielding because Christ has been gentle with us as his enemies. And we must pray rather than panic because we have Christ voicing our concerns to God before the throne who will send help in time of need because he loves you. Let's pray. You are the God of the impossible, Lord. You have even saved us. May that remind us of how you do what is impossible, that you have changed us, that you are sanctifying us, and that you will glorify us, that one day we will not be afraid. that one day we will not be full of despair and sadness, that one day we will not be so bright that we cannot lay down our rights for the good of another. We ask for your help, we ask for your power, and we ask that you grant us great joy and satisfaction in doing all of these things. For the good of our neighbor, for the sake of your name, and all out of love because we have been saved. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.