Philippians chapter 4 So as I was thinking about this Chapter and how we would deal with it I'm not sure if this is the best way to deal with it, but It's what I've come up with anyway, so What we're going to talk about and sort of the title of this sermon is act like Christians That's the title of the sermon you to act like Christians. So if I'm talking to a group like I am this morning, I'm talking to all of us, Philippians has been clear about that we do this together, then it's act like Christians. But when you are dealing with the Lord on your own, you act like a Christian. But before we begin to look at our text this morning, that bears some definition, doesn't it? Because There are a lot of different ideas about what a Christian is, aren't there? So some would say that a Christian is a very moral person. It's a morality that's somewhat made up of some rules. They're pretty clean cut sorts of people. They don't do all of the bad things that all of the world does. are for good things, they're pretty conservative people, so some people think that's a Christian, right? Other people think that Christians are basically people that are just difficult to get along with, they're just against everything in society, that they're constantly pointing out what everybody else is doing wrong and acting as though they're better because they don't do those things. that some people would call Christianity something that is very hateful because of the things that we think, but sometimes legitimately they would call Christians or those who would call themselves Christians hateful because of the way that they treat other people when they shouldn't, regardless of being in disagreement with them. The difficulty is, and this always bears thinking about, is what is a Christian, right? Well, we've been talking about that in this book. Paul and Jake were talking about, I mean, it's not Paul and Jake, well, Paul and Jake were talking about it, but Drew was talking about it, too. And the deal, you know, that Paul would tell these people they needed to imitate him, that they needed to consider Christ, and how he emptied himself and he bore the shame on the cross. Christians, in a nutshell, we can look in other places, but since we're studying this book, this book has good descriptions of what a Christian is. But Jake talked about it some last night, but just to be clear, before we get there, without taking too long to do it, What is Christianity based on? How does one become a Christian? What is the difference? And so you know this little formula that I use, many of you, but it's simple and it doesn't take very long. The idea is that the scripture would teach that God is holy and you are not. And so therefore you need to be rescued, right? And then we fill that out with Christ who lived a perfect life. and who became that perfect sacrifice, and he bore the wrath of God on a cross, and he defeated sin there, and it was proven that he had that victory in his resurrection. Well, okay, you told me what Christ did. How do I become a Christian? You repent and believe the gospel. You agree that just like Jake talked about last night, that all of these things that you think make you a good person and give you righteousness and give you standing before God and they give you identity in this world, you throw that away? And instead you say the same thing about yourself that God says about you? and he gives you a new identity. And you believe the gospel that Christ's righteousness has now been imputed to you, and you spend the rest of your life seeking him and rejoicing in that truth. That's what a Christian is, and we could flesh it out more. And before we get into the text, I just want to say that It is never wise even in a group like this to assume completely that everybody here understands all of that, or not just that they understand it, but that God has given them that gift, that it's been appropriated in their lives, that they actually know him and that he knows them. And so if you have questions about that, don't leave up here tonight, or this morning, I guess, without talking to somebody. So given that, I want to get into the text. We want to act like Christians, so we want to act like people who believe that gospel that we just talked about, okay? But Jake covered verse one yesterday, but I will read it before we get into the rest of this. Chapter four and verse one. Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved. And just to point out here, Paul's love his desire, his care, his affection for these people. He loves these people, loves them dearly, not in a superficial sort of a way. We're about to deal with a difficult situation in terms of a disagreement. He doesn't love these people in the sense that in order to love them, he has to think of them as being very perfect people who do everything right. And he loves them because of those perfections that he sees in them. No, he loves them because of what it is that he's seen Christ work within them. And he doesn't have to make things up about them. He knows them very well, right? Both the good things and the not so good things. The things that Christ has done and the things that they need to mature in more. And nonetheless, even knowing those things as being the planter of this specific church, he still yearns for them. He desires fellowship with them. Now he begins to give some commands. some commands and some entreaties, he begins to deal with some things. And so in verse two, I entreat Euodia and Syntyche to agree in the Lord. Yes, I ask you also, 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 there was a disagreement between two women. And we don't know, we're not told what the disagreement was. But we can see from some of the text, at least this is maybe some of my opinion, but I think the text would bear some of this out. These women are described as people who labored, they strived with Paul side by side in the gospel together. With the rest of those that started the Philippian church is basically the idea here. So they worked side by side with Paul as this church was being formed, and they labored, and they have a disagreement. So probably what that tells me, along with this, he doesn't say, one of you needs to knock it off because you're wrong, and one of you, you're right, and we need to go that direction. He doesn't say that. And so perhaps what that tells me is that this disagreement, though other people have preached this in different ways, I kind of would disagree with the way some of them have done it, I don't think this is some petty disagreement. And I don't think it's some obvious thing where somebody is denying the resurrection or is saying that we shouldn't give money to help poor people or spread the gospel or things like that, because Paul was perfectly capable of telling people when they were wrong. You can find that over and over again. And in this case, he doesn't tell people that they're wrong. What he tells these women is that we need to agree, and he says specifically in the Lord. And so my guess would be that this disagreement probably has something to do with maybe ministry that they're doing and the way that they're going to do it, right? Something that it might not be specifically scripturally laid out and a difference of opinion in terms of how you would approach it, perhaps. It could be a number of other things. But what Paul is urging is that they would agree, right? Now, I don't think that he means here that you have to agree on every detail, that you have to be in lockstep on every detail. I don't think it's that. I think what he's saying is that you guys need to come to a spot where you can work together in the fellowship within the body so that there's not a schism here, so that there's unity. We talked about unity before, that the church might be able to move forward. this companion, I ask you all true companion, actually think, just for sake of simplicity, King James would call that yoke fellow, who's he talking to? Well, I think that's actually the guy's name. So if you just put a capital C on companion there, you would get it. In other words, he's talking to someone. And he's saying, help, help them. They've labored side by side with me in the gospel and with Clement and with the rest of my fellow workers whose name are in the book of life the last part of that in verse three reminding these people that ultimately you guys are in the church you've been bought with the blood of christ he has worked his spirit is among you the gospel is being spread all of these things that you have been able to participate in because of christ's grace to you and giving and receiving and all of those kinds of things don't forget that so whatever this is over Figure it out. Agree. And so when we talk about the title of the sermon, what I want to get at for this part of it is just this. Acting like Christians means that you don't hold on to your pet so tightly that you can't be willing to compromise or to see something another way, right? We're not talking about doing things that are against scripture. We're not talking about doing things that would be harmful to other people. But there are different ways to do things, right? And you need to be agreeable, right? So I know some of you guys, and you're not like me. And some of you are not very easy to get along with, like I am. But you need to work at it a little bit, right? we need to work at it. Because the idea here is we have to do this together. Our problem is even in some minor disagreement often what we do is separate ourselves off and say okay fine you go do it your way and I'm going to do it my way. Right? No, we need to come together. And sometimes that takes a period of time to do. But it's being open and honest and caring about the other person. We talked about putting others above ourselves, considering them. That's how you get through this. So act like Christians, right? Your way doesn't have to be the only way. So then the next part, verse four. Rejoice in the Lord always, Again, I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness, or your gentleness, it could say, be known to everyone. 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. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. So there's quite a bit in there, but let's look at it. We heard last night a lot about Paul's joy, right? That he was joyful in all of the difficulties that he was going through because he saw God working in him. That he was joyful, that he was rejoicing in the work that God had been doing in the Philippian church there. Paul just had a lot to rejoice about. And so now he's telling these people, you rejoice. How often? Always. This is a supernatural command that is utterly impossible for people who are not regenerated by the Spirit of God. You cannot rejoice always. We're not talking about a fake sort of syrupy happiness that's more irritating than it is helpful most of the time. We're talking about people who know that their sins have been forgiven and that God is working in their lives. And because of that, they're able to rejoice all the time, through all things. And they are the people who are, at the same time that they are able to rejoice, they are able to grieve and weep and even lament, at the same time that the rejoicing is going on. This is not something that people in the world will understand necessarily. We are given a gift here and a command to rejoice that is a blessing to us. His commands aren't grievous, right? They're blessings that we would rejoice always. Again, I will say rejoice. Keep that in front of you. Know that we've talked about it. Bart has said it a couple of times now, that this is really good. But this isn't all there is. That there is coming a time when we will be in perfect fellowship with one another and ultimately with the Lord Jesus Christ for all of eternity. Do you have something to rejoice about? You do. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. Your reasonableness. The Lord's at hand. Don't worry. Act like Christians. It doesn't mean, when you're dealing with people, here's what this means. It means what he's talking about before, you know, when he's talking about dealing with these two women that have a disagreement. The way we deal with difficulties and struggles and, you know, tumult, all those kinds of things, Christians do that in a certain way. It isn't the way that you just give everyone anything that they want. It isn't just that you just say that everything's okay when everything is not okay. On the other hand, we have a way of communicating where we're concerned for the people involved and we demonstrate love towards them and we want to demonstrate a level of respect and we want to demonstrate a level of objectivity that comes from the scripture. We want to measure what we do by the scriptures because that's what Christians do. Christians are reasonable. It doesn't mean that we tolerate things that ought not to be tolerated but it does mean that We look at everything carefully and weigh it through what Christ has said about it. And if we do that, so don't worry. Don't be anxious and don't worry. Right. People spend a whole lot of time worrying about stuff that they can't do anything about anyway. When you actually realize how powerless you are to change much of anything, it will in some ways revolutionize your life, because what will happen is you'll quit worrying about things that there's nothing you can do anything about anyway. Christians don't worry, but instead, what do they do? Well, the next part of that, in everything, in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, so I'm going to pray, I'm going to ask, I'm going to be thankful, I'm going to let my request be made known to God. We're going to let our request be made known to God. Paul is setting something up here if you think about it, referring back to the disagreement. If you have people who are living like this, they're acting like Christians, disagreements many times will tend to take care of themselves. because we're petitioning the Lord, and we're thankful, and we're rejoicing always, and we're not letting it get to the point where we're worrying about it all of the time, but we're entrusting the circumstance and our very lives to Him and His will, and that makes disagreements smaller sometimes, and it makes them easier to come up with the way that we're gonna get through this as brothers and sisters. He says, the peace of God, the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. There is a peace that comes from these things and Christians have it. So people who act like Christians because Christ is working out his life within them have an opportunity to have a peace First of all, we know that peace comes with God. That's the most important part. We talked about the gospel earlier, but also, when we think about that peace, it's peace with one another, peace with those around us, and it passes all understanding. It tends to clarify the things, well, if we want to put it in more blunt terms, this peace, this prayer and supplication, this rejoicing always, tends to clarify the hills you want to die on and the stuff you can let go. This kind of thing will clarify for the Apostle Paul, is it worth it to keep pushing on Rome for the gospel's sake so that I'll be thrown in jail and ultimately executed? And Paul would say, yes, it is. But in that, I'll have peace, right? But some other things that maybe aren't so big of a deal, other things that I can give on or we can come together on, they begin to take their proper perspective. We can see them more clearly for what they are. The problem is, is when we have a disagreement, when we want our way in something, or when we have a worry about something, it tends to just become so big that it consumes a huge part of our thinking and our emotions. Paul is saying, let's let the focus and the thing that captures our thoughts and our emotions be Christ, and it'll put everything else into perspective. He says he'll, at the end of that, he says that he'll guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. And of course we know that's important that we have that happen. He guards our hearts and minds. What does it mean for him to guard your heart and mind? It means not so much, as maybe some of us have heard it, that we won't let a lot of these bad, horrible things come in there that shouldn't be in there and get there. Maybe that's a piece of it, but the bigger part of it is that our hearts and our minds, our souls, our being, our motivations, our priorities, and what we think about, the things that we value, When we are doing these things, we'll be guarded in such a way so that we'll become more mature in Christ. We will look at Christ, for example. We will look at those around us, as was said before, that are imitating Christ, and we will want to be more like Him. And because of that, our hearts and our minds, our motivations, priorities, those things that we care about will be molded into the same things that Christ Himself cares about. His priorities, His motivations. Because that's what we want, is to become more like Him. And in fact, that's our birthright. That's what becoming a Christian is, is more and more being conformed to His image. He will work that salvation out in us and He will finish it as we move forward. And we're thankful for that. Alright, verse 8. Finally, brothers, Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there's any excellence, if there's anything worthy of praise, think about these things. We'll get to nine in a minute. Now, we could spend time going through each one of these, but I don't know that that's going to be helpful. If you feel like you want to do that, you can do it later. Here's the thing that I want to point out. It all goes together. Christians use their minds to think about Jesus. That's what this is. And they don't just think about him in terms of a creation of their own mind. No, they think about him as he is revealed in the word of God. And they think about him in terms of his actions in the world and in the church and in people that they can see. So when they see things that are honorable, that are right, that are pure, that are lovely, they're thinking about the Lord Jesus Christ, things that are commendable. If there's excellence, if there's anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Of course, Christians do that. The thoughts and the intents of the heart work to make our actions different, right? Christianity, this is what we were talking about when we were talking about the legalism piece, the law that was coming from the outside, the law of Moses. Christianity is not, it doesn't come from the outside, it comes from a change on the inside that then affects what happens all around us and on the outside, right? So thinking about these things, now I do want to say, It isn't so much people take these things and they think, well, that means that certain things that we have, we should get rid of and we should get away from certain things and do that. And this is certainly a part of this. There are certain things that Christians shouldn't have any participation in. But it's not so much the negative. If you only do this thing where you get rid of all the bad things, then you miss the point of this whole verse because that's not what it's telling you to do. It's not telling you as much to deal with the negative. There are commands in scripture about putting off, but this isn't one of them. What it's doing is telling you, think about the Lord Jesus Christ. Think about his word from beginning to end. Think about his word from creation. Think about the promises through Abraham Isaac and Jacob and how they come through Christ think about David think about the prophets and how he promised Christ coming forward Think about the Lord Jesus in the Gospels when he was on the earth think about the church growing and moving forward as the gospel spread all along the known world and think about how the gospel has continued to spread since then and how people's lives have been changed and God has been glorified and even those people around you when you look around and you see that they're not perfect that they have problems and neither are you but nonetheless we see God doing things and working if you do that if you think that way you don't have to worry about all the bad stuff so much you have to push out focus on the big thing, and the things that aren't big or little, and they just go away. Right? That's the point. So, the last little bit here in verse nine, back to, we've talked about this before, what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. Paul is saying, we talked about it before, but he's saying, look, here's what Christians do. When people preach well to them, when they live well before them, when we see things that are helpful, we seek to emulate people who do those things. It doesn't mean that we emulate everything. In fact, I think that some of the way that a church is most healthy is when we see strengths in some of the sisters, some of the brothers, and we say, God has really done something there, and I want to get hold of that so that's in my life. And then there's another person over here, another brother or sister, and we say, this other area over here, I could just see God really doing some things in that. I want to emulate that. Paul says, just so that we get it, he said, you've learned it, you received it, you heard it, and you've seen it. I do want to make a point, just briefly here before moving on, in our theme of acting like Christians. Sometimes we can be real big on the learn and the heard part, and not so big on the seen part, particularly if it's us, right? For most of us, it is necessary for us to hear things and to learn them, to receive them. But ultimately, that's no good if they can't be seen in us, right? It's not helpful if that's not the way that comes out. Paul can say this of himself, and we want to be able to see it of ourselves as well. And he said, no, no, no, promise. The God of peace will be with you. All right, verse 10. Here's more rejoicing. I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now, at length, you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned, in whatever situation I am, to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. Any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Okay, Paul is saying, you made me rejoice that the idea was that you were able to give me this gift. But I do want you to know that I'm not in need There's a sense in which I'm never in need. I'll deal with whatever the Lord has given me. He said, I've learned in whatever situation I'm in to be content. To act like a Christian is to be content. It doesn't mean not to have any motivation, not to have any drive. You can have that if it's pointed in the right direction. But what it means is ultimately God is sovereign over all of that and how far you'll go in any endeavor. And you have to trust him in that and be all right with it. That's the contentment that he gives. Well, and what does he say? How is he content? Well, he knows how to be brought low, and he knows how to abound, right? He knows how to be sad through failure and lack of success, and he knows how to be full through great success and apparent abundance. He knows how to do all of that. And it doesn't impact him so greatly that he's seeking one thing versus another. I know how to grieve and I know how to rejoice, and I can do them at the same time, would be another way to say this. I've learned the secret, he says, of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can rejoice in the Lord if he gives me a lot. and I can rejoice in the Lord if He gives me a little. I'm content. Now this last verse, let's talk about that. Because that's Christian. This is how you act like a Christian, right? He says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. People like to quote that verse a lot. It doesn't mean that you can do everything that you decide that you want to do, right? You cannot leave tall buildings in a single bound through Christ who strengthens you. That's not how this works. The verse is in a context. And the context is this. Whatever is going on in your life, whether it's seemingly really good, and there's abundance and plenty there, or whether or not there's a lack of success, and things don't seem to be working out very well, and maybe not even enough food, and seems like people aren't listening very good, and you don't have very much influence at times. Whatever that is, he says, I can do everything strengthens me The all things Are related to Christ's priorities They're related to his sovereignty and the things that he brings into our lives They're not it's not a promise that Whatever it is you decide is the best things to do that. God will give you the strength to do that Because he may not But what he wants to do he will always provide provision for it When you act like a Christian, you believe that, and you live like that. I don't always know the way that he is going to accomplish things. I don't always know the way things are going to go. I think, I dare say, that many of you here this morning couldn't probably have imagined some of the things that are occurring in your lives even four or five years ago, and now they're here today, right? But you can do all things. through Christ who strengthens you, because he has sovereignly placed you in there. And even those things that you have made a mess of, yet he still can get glory out of it. And if your purpose is to give him glory, then you can do all those things through Christ who strengthens you. That's acting like a Christian. Well, he goes on with these Philippians in verse 14, and he says, yet it was kind of you to share my trouble. And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving except you only. Verse 16, even in Thessalonica, you sent me help for my needs once and again. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. I've received full payment and more. I'm well supplied. having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen. So in these verses, we see to act like a Christian is to give. where God would call us to give. To act like Christians means that we don't hold our possessions so dear that when we see that someone else is in need, or when there's an opportunity for God to be glorified through the gospel being preached somewhere, we give readily to that. And we'll give sacrificially to it when God calls us to do that. We give, we don't hold on to things too tightly. We'll give when it's necessary, and Paul tells us that when that happens, he is not so much seeking the gift, but the greater thing in his mind is that in that giving, the fruit that those believers' lives are producing because they're willing to give. They recognize that Paul has needs where he is now in this jail in Rome, and they want to meet those needs. And so they send to him, and they've done it before. over and over and over again and I'm thankful for this example that we have and where God has done some work with us in the body and these things we want to more and more be given opportunities to be helpful to those who need help and to support things that need supported with what God has given us. Paul tells him that he's received a full payment of that. He's well supplied. He's got the things that Epaphroditus brought at the risk of his own life. Then he uses some Old Testament language to talk about it's a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. Sounds a lot like worship, huh? Sounds a whole lot like the way worship was prescribed in the Old Testament. Giving is what Christians do. They see a need and they give. And they act like Christians. They don't hoard. And it doesn't mean that at times, we just read before, right? I want to be clarifying. It doesn't mean that at times there won't be great plenty in your life that you'll have more than you need. And maybe even more than that sometimes. And it might be a season of time before some need, some opportunity that the Lord would grant would come up. But when it does, God wants us to be people who don't hang on to stuff, but to give. You act like Christians, you help. And the last part of that in 19 is this. God's going to supply every need of yours, he says. He said, here's the thing, you're going to give, when the Lord puts it on you to give, but you don't need to worry about that because God's going to meet every need that you have. So he'll supply them according to the riches in order to his riches in his glory in Christ Jesus. So I just want to point this out in case there's a question about it. Christians recognize and this is why they're able to act this way. They know that their needs are going to be provided out of a storehouse that has endless abundance in it. You cannot exhaust it. It's constant, right? There is no end to the riches and glory in Christ Jesus that's being described here. None. You can't get to the end of that. And so if that's the storehouse that your needs are being met out of, you don't have anything to worry about. and you can act like a Christian. Well, we have this final little bit that Paul does and we'll finish up here. Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me greet you. All the saints greet you, especially those in Caesar's household. There are saints in Caesar's household. Christians and Caesars, how did there get to be Christians in Caesar's household? Well, there just happened to be the Apostle Paul who likes to preach the gospel in Caesar's household. There also happened to be that even before Paul got there, that through the preaching of the gospel, that the gospel had come to Rome. We talked about that as we're talking about Romans. So there were believers in Rome. Paul has much to be encouraged about and he's got his own set of people there with him who are encouraging him and who he's able to meet with and he's doing God's work where he's at. Now we end the book some ways the way we started it. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. The grace not just unmerited favor, but the power to live this life. The power of Christ to act like a Christian. Will you pray with me? Father, we are grateful for your word, Lord, we We know that we haven't come close to exhausting it or explaining all of it or even understanding it. But we are truly thankful that you work to continue to conform us to the image of Christ through it. And Lord, as we leave here, we ask that these things that we've heard, these things that we've thought about, these conversations and prayers and things that we've been able to engage in, that they wouldn't leave us soon, that we would have good times of praising you for your works and thanking you and worshiping you for your goodness to us. Thank you for another year to be able to do this. If it would please you, we would like to do it again next year. And all the honor and praise and glory to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's in his name that we pray. Amen.