Would you please stand with me now for the reading of God's holy word? We'll first turn in our Bibles to Proverbs chapter 2 as we read verses 1 through 6 together. Proverbs chapter 2, verses 1 through 6. The Word of the Lord says, beginning in verse 1, My son, if you receive My words and treasure My commands within you, so that you incline your ear to wisdom and apply your heart to understanding, yes, if you cry out for discernment and lift up your voice for understanding, if you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures, Then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom, from his mouth comes knowledge and understanding." May God add a blessing to the reading of his word. Now would you join me in Matthew chapter 6, verses 25 to 34. Matthew chapter 6, verses 25 to 34. beginning in verse 25. Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you, by worrying, can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they neither toil nor spin. And yet I say to you that even Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Have God so clothed the grass of the field which today is and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? therefore do not worry saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or what shall we wear for after all these things the gentiles seek for your heavenly father knows that you need all these things but seek first the kingdom of god and his righteousness and all these things shall be added to you therefore do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient the day is its own trouble. All flesh is like grass, and all of the glory is like the flower of the grass. The grass withers and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord abides forever. And all of God's children said, Amen." Please be seated. Would you join me in prayer once more? Lord God in heaven, we ask, Lord, that according to your grace and mercy, we, your people, as flawed and sinful as we are, that you would help us, Lord, to hear from you. Lord, that we would believe what you say, that we would rightly apply to our lives what Your Word is calling us to do, and that we would do so by faith. I pray, Heavenly Father, that You would help me to explain the Word of the Lord in a way that would bless Your people. I pray, Heavenly Father, that if there's anything that may distract us from hearing from You, I pray You would take from us. We pray these things in Your precious Son, Jesus Christ's name we pray. Amen. If you have not done so already, I would like to invite you to turn with me to Philippians chapter 4, verses 6 through 9. Philippians chapter 4, verses 6 through 9. And I have entitled this sermon, Spiritual Stability. Spiritual Stability, Philippians chapter 4, verses 6 through 9. Our society, by way of introduction, admires people to some degree or another who stand firm. Those who hold to their convictions as long as you don't push your convictions on them. Those who are courageous, the bold, Those who cannot be bought. Those who cannot be intimidated or defeated. Those who cannot be derailed or the decisive. A man by the name of Rudyard Kipling. born on December 30th in 1865, and he died on January 18th, 1936, was a poet. He was a journalist, a novelist. He wrote short stories. And out of everything that he wrote and created, his most famous work is a book that we are all familiar with, entitled The Jungle Book, published in 1894. The other work that Rudyard is famous for is a poem entitled If. The point of the poem entitled If is a description of the kind of men that everyone looks up to. Let me read just a small portion of this poem. He writes, If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs, and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, but make allowance for their doubting too. If you can wait and not be tired by waiting. Okay being lied about. You don't deal in lies. Okay being hated. Don't give way to hating. And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise. If you talk with crowds and keep your virtue, or walk with kings nor lose your common touch, if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, if all men count with you, but none too much, if you can fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds' worth of distance run, your is the earth and everything that is in it, and which is more, you'll be a man. my son." With courage of conviction, of integrity, of credibility, and an uncompromising devotion to virtue are admirable qualities for people in the world. How much more essential are they for us as believers in Christ? The New Testament reportedly commands believers to follow Him by standing firm in our submission to Jesus Christ. Galatians chapter 5 verse 1 writes, Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Ephesians chapter 6 verse 11, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 1 Thessalonians chapter 3 verse 8, for now we live if you stand fast in the Lord. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 15, therefore brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or by epistle. Finally Hebrews chapter 3 verse 6, "...but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast, the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end." Ball's concern here in Philippians chapter 4 verses 6 through 9 is that the Church, both in Philippi and over all time in the Christian faith, would be a people of an unwavering faith, a commitment to Jesus Christ, a growing maturity in Him. In other words, the issue for us in our text this morning is to be the kind of maturing Christians that is growing in stability and will not waver in devotion to Christ in any area of our lives. Paul gives three principles for developing and maintaining spiritual stability. And the issue is, why is Paul needing to address this within us and in the Church of Philippi? Because instability and immaturity in the faith leads to doubt. It leads to God's people being easily discouraged. It leads to crushingly being unprepared for trials that the Lord sovereignly allows in our lives. The issue that Paul does not bring up, however, is that this is not a self-help lecture. What Paul is discussing with us is the reality that we both grow as the Spirit works in us and with an effort that we put forward at the same time. And he lists these things very easily for us. So the idea here, if you were to walk away thinking anything from this sermon, do not come to the conclusion that we are somehow describing for you, from God's Word, a self-help, motivational speech, that if you work harder, you will somehow end up more mature in the faith. Because what Paul is actually describing is that because of the work of the Spirit of God sanctifying us and drawing us closer to Himself, we are motivated both to submit ourselves to Him and that work within us, as well as work that we must pursue so that we might glorify Him and look more like His Son for His glory. First of all, then, in verses 6-7, Paul talks about a reaction to problems with thankful prayer. Secondly, in verse 8, the thinking on and pursuing godly virtues. And thirdly, verse 9, obeying God's standards. Would you please follow along with me as I read God's word for us? Philippians chapter 4, verses 6-9. He writes, Be anxious for nothing, 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 minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you. Amen. May God add a blessing to the reading of His word. We begin this morning at verses 6 and 7 with Paul's encouragement as we mature in the fighting of our anxiety with thankful prayer. Let me read it for you again, verses 6 and 7. He writes, Be anxious for nothing 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 minds through Christ Jesus. To understand what Paul is addressing here and discussing with us, let me reread the scripture from Matthew chapter 6 that had been read in the reading of God's Word. Jesus says, Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is life not more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns that your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you, by worrying, can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they neither toil nor spin, and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Or if God so clothed the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow was thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? What is it that the Apostle Paul is teaching that confirms what our Lord taught in Matthew chapter 6? To bring it to a point, at the heart of anxiety is the disbelief that as the Lord our God promises covenantally to take care of His own, that He will somehow neglect to take care of me. Anxiety is the belief that what God says in His word will somehow escape me, that I won't somehow be taken care of by God. Notice that Paul writes, rather specifically, a command that we are not to be anxious for anything. He says, be anxious for nothing. But in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God." This command to be anxious for nothing is not a helpful suggestion. It is the idea that as growing, maturing Christians in Christ, that we will, over the course of our lifetime, grow in the stability of our faith. and that over our lifetime deal less and less with anxiety. Notice that the exhortation is not that we will never worry. It's not that we won't have times of anxiety. Paul is not arguing that if you struggle with anxiety that you're somehow cut off from the people of God. It's that as we grow in Christ's likeness through the sanctifying work of the Spirit of God, that we should feel anxiety less concerning the many facets contained within our lives. We aren't, as we can imagine, not trusting that things are going to work out as we would have them every single time an issue comes, but we are trusting that God will sovereignly work out His will, and it will be for our good and for His glory. Amen? We know that to be true because God is a covenantally faithful God. Says, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. What Paul gives us now is the way in which maturing Christians should react in times of great stress and anxiety. He writes with prayer, with supplication and thanksgiving. The idea here is that we would learn to pray in times of great stress and anxiety, that we would offer up supplication, and that we would be thanksgiving rather than being the type of people that complains or dwells or stews in our anxiety. What he gives us here are three synonyms. They mean the same thing. They aren't three different things we're looking to apply to our life. They are specific and direct petitions to God because as brothers and sisters in Christ looking to mature in the faith, we know that we don't face issues that God sovereignly allows in our lives and then automatically doubt God or question God or even blame God. In other words, We trust that God did sovereignly allow these things in our lives and therefore we lift up prayers of thanksgiving because they are working in us a maturity that without them we would not see. Therefore, we are thankful for the trials that he allows us to have. 1 Peter chapter 5 verses 6 and 7, the apostle Peter writes, Therefore humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time, casting all of your care upon him, for he cares for you. The issue within our context is that excessive anxiety and fear come from a heart condition of not trusting the Lord as he allows these struggles to sovereignly enter into our lives. The interesting thing here is that when you offer up prayers and supplications because of God's sovereignty, his providential care for you, his eternal life, We begin to focus on His eternal attributes, His purposes are for our good. We somehow, through that prayer, refocus our attention on what God's Word says concerning who He is, His character, and we take our eyes off of things that seem to consume our minds and our hearts and cause us to doubt Him more and more. Notice something very interesting, it says, be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. The idea there is very simply that the Apostle Paul affirms the fact that God wants us to continue to seek after him in the recognition that we are struggling within our flesh. In other words, the Lord isn't encouraging us here to somehow be stoic warriors who fight this fight of faith on our own. The point is that God does very much want to hear about your concerns. The problem is that those concerns don't grow to somehow overtake you, and that we begin to doubt who God is according to the word of the Lord. It's interesting, verse 7 says, we, instead of being anxious, we buy everything, prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. Notice what he says, verse 7, the result of that is the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. The peace of mind. This is the inward tranquility of a maturing Christian who knows that God, in His sovereignty, is watching over you and taking care of you. Isaiah chapter 26 verse 3, the Word of the Lord says, That is a promise from the prophet Isaiah that when his people trust him, that he will keep you in perfect peace. John chapter 14 verse 27, Jesus Christ says to his disciples, Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. You notice that Paul says that this peace will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. surpasses all understanding," he writes. The point here, very simply, is that the Christian looking to grow in Christ-likeness and mature in the faith has a peace that transcends people's intellectual analysis and human insights. Understand what he's saying, that when we make Christ to be our everything and we look to trust him and affirm what his word says to us, rather than giving ourselves over to anxiety, he gives us a peace that cannot be understood by the world. Notice also that peace passes all understanding and it also guards your hearts. To guard, the Greek word is a military term. It describes soldiers on guard duty. It is the picture of a guard protecting a city. And the idea is that God's peace guards and protects believers who confidently trust in him. The question is, protect us from what? And that is the flesh. It protects us from our minds wandering off into thinking things that are not so, that are not biblical. He protects us from our emotions and our doubts and from thinking un-biblically. Do you understand what Paul is saying here? That if you and I want to grow in the faith, that the response of a maturing believer in Jesus Christ is not to give way to thoughts that are not rooted in God's Word. It is the fighting of our flesh so that we may think on what is true according to the word of the Lord. And when we do and we fight and we fight until it becomes a normal part of our life, His peace will protect us from continuing on into thinking things that are not so. And why does He do it? Because He is so perfectly and beautifully merciful to us. Secondly, verse 8. Paul's second encouragement as maturing believers is our thinking on godly virtues. Let's read verse 8 together. Paul writes, Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things. Paul begins this little section, verse 8, with the word, finally. You may not know it, but beginning all the way in chapter 4, verse 2, Paul is describing for believers what it is to shoot for and excel in, by God's grace, a maturity that causes us to look more like Jesus Christ. So when he says, finally, here in verse 8, what that means is that he's bringing this list to a conclusion. These are the final things that he would like to say concerning this particular issue. You notice here, verse 8, that he writes this list of things that we are to think about, rather than giving ourselves over to our anxiety, but he writes, meditate on those things. Paul's point here is an important one, because the word meditate is an imperative, meaning it is a command. This is something that the Apostle Paul is describing for Christians that we need to pursue. It's a command. meditate, logisme, meaning to evaluate, to consider, to calculate. It's an important idea because spiritual stability, maturity, is the result of how a person regularly, routinely thinks. What we must think on has to be edifying to our hearts and minds in Christ. Believers are to consider the qualities that he lists here and to think about them and their implications. Something else to understand about this word meditate is that the verb calls for the habitual discipline of our thinking. In other words, it isn't just something we consider one day out of an entire month, it is something that we consistently think about as the Lord brings it to our attention. What Paul is saying here can be summarized in the popular expression, garbage in, garbage out. Amen? Just like a computer output is dependent on the information that is put in, so people's actions are the result of their thinking. The focus in today's world is based entirely upon emotions. We don't ask if something is true or based upon the Word of God. Rather, we ask, does it work and how will it make us feel? Truth has become whatever works or produces the most positive emotion. And what God's Word is calling us to do is to understand both what the Word says and how it applies to our life so that we might honor Him in the way that we think. Psalm 119 verse 34 says, Give me understanding and I shall keep your law. Indeed, I shall observe it with all of my heart. Romans 8, verse 5, "...for those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit." What we need to do as believers is discipline our minds to think about what is true according to the Word of the Lord. So Paul isn't describing for us the power of positivity. He isn't describing for us thinking high and lofty thoughts about our self-esteem. What he's saying is that when anxiety comes and it causes us to doubt his goodness, that we take our eyes off of what we're thinking and we fix them upon the word of the Lord that we might learn to live step by step by faith for his glory. Notice what he says here, verse 8, and we're just following along with him. He says, The idea here is because of passages like Psalm 19 verse 9, it says the judgments or the word of the Lord are true. John 17 verse 17, Jesus says your word is truth. Psalm 119 verse 51, all your commandments are true. When Paul says, finally brethren, whatever things are true, what Paul is pointing out to us is that we need to meditate. on what God's Word says. Secondly, whatever things are noble. The word noble from the Greek word semnos, to revere or worship. Interestingly enough, these are words that are used throughout Scripture. One of them is used to describe the dignity in someone who is called by the Lord to serve in the local church as a deacon. in 1 Timothy 3.8, or the disposition of an older man who has matured in the faith in Titus 2.2. The point here is that we cannot think about what is trivial, or our emotions, or the temporal, or the mundane, or the common only, but what is worthy of awe, and adoration, and praise. Thirdly, whatever things are just, just, just, by chaos, an adjective that means righteousness. The Word describes whatever is in perfect harmony with God's eternal, unchanging, righteous standards as revealed in God's Word. Fourth, whatever things are pure. Idea here is that our thoughts about whatever is holy and morally clean and undefiled, in other words, believers are to think on things consistent with the law or the word of God. It says whatever things are lovely, lovely meaning sweet, gracious, generous. The idea here is simply that we must think about what is pleasing to God. 6, whatever things are of good report, describes here what is highly regarded or well thought of He says, whatever things are of good rapport, if there is any virtue, if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things. The beauty here is very simply that Paul doesn't just command us not to think about the things that cause us anxiety and worry. He actually tells us what to think about. that take our eyes off of the darkness in this world, all of the many things that are happening to people that we love, culture as a whole, our society, what's happening in the world, what is happening in my life that so easily seems to put me in some kind of a downward spiral that I begin to lose focus on His goodness and His mercy and His compassion. Rather than fixing myself on that such to the point that I begin to doubt him look rather to his word Let it fill up my heart and and my soul Verses six and seven we discuss the nature that we get in our minds what makes me anxious by praying about the goodness of God. Verse 8, look at thinking about the good things of God. Thirdly, verse 9, Paul's encouragement to maturing believers in obeying God's standards. He says, the things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you. Paul ends his discussion here in Philippians chapter 4, rather, this little section with an interesting look and an admonition and encouragement by looking at his life. How these things apply to his life. because the kind of spiritual stability and maturity that we are talking about leads to godly behavior. His encouragement is to get right in the area of our thinking, and now he dives into righteous behavior. Understanding and embracing God's law comes first, followed by the conduct habitually controlled by that devotion to the truth. In chapter 3, verse 17, Paul writes to the Philippians, he says, That exhortation is repeated here in verse 9. Paul's life exemplified the spiritual duties to which he called the church to pursue. These terms, learned, received, heard, and saw, each focus an important aspect of Paul's ministry to the Philippians. He says, these things which you learned. Learned has to do with the instruction that he offers the church. The beautiful thing about his instruction to the church is that the Apostle Paul in all of scripture views that instruction not as simply imparting information to people, but a discipleship, nurturing relationship where the truth that is contained in the word of the Lord transforms the way we think and how we live. He says, these things which you learned, the idea is from him and other men who proclaimed the word, he says, and received. received as the technical term for God's revelation. God gave Paul specific instruction, revelation to the church that he now imparts to the body of Christ. He says, "...and heard those things that Paul taught." But it also refers to an understanding of the way that he lived. In other words, how he lived matched up with the message he proclaimed. and saw in me." That is the observance that Paul literally did what he tells us to do according to the revelation that our Lord gave to him. The issue as it applies to our life is a very simple one to describe and yet very difficult to live up to. Because the idea here, moving forward as His disciples, looking to grow up, so to speak, in the faith, is that as God's Word teaches us, what it does is it challenges and it changes and transforms how I view what's happening in my life. And because I know He is sovereign, again, according to His Word, we know that He is covenantally faithful. We also know that these things coming into our lives, as scary as some of them might be, as stressful and as difficult as they may seem, are for our good at His glory. And because His Word changes the way we see things that are happening in our life, our resolve when they come isn't to tailspin into doubting the goodness we know He is in our life, but rather thrusting forward towards Him, knowing that He will take care of us. Because these things are for His good and for our glory. So the question is, will more of our energy be spent on worrying? Or will our energy be spent on diving into the word of God and prayer and being thankful and meditating on what is true? See, it's simple to say, but it's hard to live out, amen? The reason that we look at this on the sacrament, the day of remembrance of what Jesus Christ has done for us, is very simple. As his redeemed children, by God the Holy Spirit, we have a power to fight our flesh and to make thinking about these things a reality. Because the Lord has so worked in us in his regenerating work, sanctifying work, we are not like the world who's stuck in that tailspin. We have victory through Jesus Christ our Lord for his glory and our good. Some of you will recognize the name Kitty Dukakis. I've only met two kitties in my life. That's got nothing to do with anything. I'm sorry I brought that up, but Kitty Dukakis. Years ago, interviewed by Barbara Walters on 20-20, it was a very interesting interview that Barbara conducted with Kitty Dukakis. Because the whole point of the interview was for Kitty to divulge what it is that she had been struggling with. See, this woman, because of stress, I don't know if she's walking or was walking with Jesus Christ on this side of eternity, but when stress came into her world and worry overtook her, the thing that she turned to was alcohol. And in this interview, Barbara Walters is firing away questions that look to reveal the depth of the struggle that was in Kitty's life. At one time, she admitted in the interview to being so desiring drunkenness that she sunk to drinking rubbing alcohol and nail remover, just to remove just a fraction of the struggle that she was feeling in that moment. What's interesting, however, about the interview is that years after the fact, after this interview had been conducted, do you know what Kitty Dukakis had to say regarding what the interview meant for her? What she revealed is that it wasn't until she openly admitted, which was the point to the interview, the depth of the struggle that she had in her life. See, moving forward, this is not about you and I working harder. What this is about is humbling ourself before the mighty hand of God Almighty, creator of heaven and earth, and acknowledging before Him by His grace that worry and anxiety and stress reaches levels in our hearts and minds that we at times in our flesh cannot handle. So Lord, help me. But to get there, we have to acknowledge that this thing is harder and harder for me to contain. So what is it that we're actually being encouraged to do? before our brethren and in the privacy of our relationship with the Lord our God, if this is something you even see needing to be fought in your life. is first and foremost, go to that private place that you have with the Lord and acknowledge that I'm in need of your grace and mercy in this area. And then as soon as the stress comes, and your natural inclination is to complain about yourself for days, or to wallow for days, or to feel defeated for days, You realize, oh God, how I need you in this moment. Help me to open this thing up and to think about what is true so that your peace might guard me. Amen. Let's pray. Oh God in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you for your grace and your mercy. We pray, Heavenly Father, that you would transform the way we, your people, think, that we would give you glory. We pray, Heavenly Father, that if your people hear anything from your word, that they would hear that we're encouraged by the Apostle Paul, lovingly encouraged that like him, who by your grace and mercy fought his flesh so we can fight ours. Lord, help us. We are in need of you. Be near us that we might glorify you. For it is in your precious name we pray. Amen.