Book: Philippians

Joy: Your Right and Responsibility
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Summary

Joy is not merely a feeling but a command from God, rooted in salvation and sustained by our relationship with Christ. Philippians 4:1-4 calls believers to rejoice always — not as a suggestion, but as an imperative. We are reminded that joy is not dependent on circumstances but on the eternal reality of belonging to Christ.

Key Lessons:
1. Joy is a command, not a suggestion — failing to rejoice is disobedience to God’s word, and we must treat it with the seriousness of any other biblical command.
2. True joy is rooted in a Person (Christ) and not in our circumstances — it is eternal, given by God, and anchored in our salvation rather than in temporal blessings.
3. Affliction and trials are instruments God uses to deepen our joy, produce holiness, and equip us to comfort others who suffer.
4. We must guard our joy by meditating on godly things, praying through everything, and resting in God’s nearness rather than being consumed by worldly concerns.
Application: We are called to pursue joy intentionally in every circumstance by meditating on things that honor Christ, praying through every situation with thanksgiving, and remembering that the Lord is near. We must stop focusing on the temporal and fix our eyes on the eternal source of our joy.

Discussion Questions:
1. If joy is a command, how should we respond when we realize we have been joyless — and what practical steps can we take to access the joy God has already deposited in us?
2. How do trials and affliction produce joy rather than bitterness, and can you identify a time when suffering drew you closer to God’s word?
3. In what ways do good things and blessings sometimes distract us from the true source of our joy just as much as hardships do?
Scripture Focus: Philippians 4:1-4 provides the central command to rejoice in the Lord always. Romans 5:1-5 grounds joy in justification and tribulation. Psalm 119:67-72 and James 1:2-4 show how affliction produces growth. Habakkuk 3:17-18 models rejoicing in God’s salvation amid total loss. Galatians 5:22 identifies joy as a fruit of the Spirit.

Outline
Introduction

Man, well, good morning again.

I’m going to need your help today. Our sermon topic is joy, your right and responsibility.

Joy is a very broad topic. People say we’re just scratching the surface. I’m just showing you the surface. We’re not even able to scratch it today.

We’re going to be going through a lot of scripture, especially in the second half. I don’t want you trying to turn and chase and find every single reference. I’m going to read everything to you. I have them all.

If you miss something, you can come to me and ask me, you can email me, text me—just don’t call me. You can get the reference, but it’s better to listen and hear God’s word than flipping the pages or asking, “What did you get that one? What’s that?”

I want to make sure that everybody is focusing on what God has for us. Today, we’re going to be looking in the book of Philippians, Philippians 4.

If you have the Pew Bible, it is on page 1,177.

Background of Philippians

So with the book of Philippians, and we say book, it’s really a letter. Many of the books in the New Testament after you get past the book of Acts are letters. They’re usually written from an apostle to a fellow apostle or to an elder or pastor at another church, with a couple exceptions.

Here we have another one of these letters. It’s fairly short and it’s a very practical letter. I’ll go back and forth saying book and letter. Paul had many practical reasons for writing Philippians.

One, he wanted to update them on his imprisonment in Rome. We see that in the first chapter. He wanted to thank the Philippians for their support of him both in sending someone to minister to him and also sending a monetary gift.

“Paul had many practical reasons for writing Philippians.”

He wanted to explain why Epaphroditus, the person who carried the gift to him and was sent to serve him, came back.

He wanted to encourage them to live a life that honors Christ, especially with regards to unity.

He wanted to warn them about false teachers.

But outside of urging them to be unified, there really are no corrections in this letter.

And there’s not much hard doctrine that’s being discussed.

The Church at Philippi

There’s not a lot of major points of doctrine discussed in the book of Philippians, with the exception of details in the second chapter about Christ and his incarnation. This church is one of the early churches. It was founded when Paul took a trip around Asia Minor to spread the gospel, and about AD 49 is when this church was established.

This was the first stop. You may remember his time in Philippi because he was beaten and jailed. In the jail, this is the famous part where at midnight they sang praises and prayed, and there was an earthquake that came and they were freed that way. They were able to preach the gospel even to the jailer, and he got saved.

So this is kind of the backdrop for Philippians.

“At midnight they sang praises and prayed and there was an earthquake… and they were freed.”

Reading of Philippians 4:1-4

And we’re actually going to look a little bit more when we talk about joy into some of the things he had to say to them. But our text today is going to come in chapter 4 and we’re going to look at the first four verses, focusing on the fourth, and that reads Philippians 4:1-4.

Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters whom I long to see, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way. My beloved, I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to live in harmony in the Lord. Indeed, true companion, I ask you also help these women who have shared my struggle in the cause of the gospel, together with Clement as well as the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say rejoice.

Let’s pray.

Philippians 4:4: “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say rejoice.”

Our eternal and gracious God, we thank you not only for the command to rejoice but for giving us the reasons to rejoice. We thank you God for providing Christ.

We thank you God that you provide relationships and moments that bring us joy. And we just pray right now that as we look into your word, you would speak to each one of us and that you would cause us to be joyful and to spread joy to others. We ask this in Christ’s name.

Amen.

Paul’s Joy in the Philippians

So Paul refers to this congregation as his joy and his crown.

What he is saying here is the salvation of those in the church. It caused Paul to have great joy as he thought of them and saw their growth, especially as he founded this church. Then Epaphroditus comes and brings him this message, and he starts telling him about what’s going on in the church.

You can imagine someone who hasn’t been here for several years, and you go and talk to them. This kid is grown up, and this one is doing this. Remember little David? Oh, he’s off to seminary now. You weren’t that little when you were here, but this is what happens, and we start doing it.

My wife even remarked she hadn’t been here for six months, and praise God she was able to be here today. She saw one of the children and said, “You’ve grown so much in the last six months.”

Paul is hearing these reports, especially about their spiritual growth and their development and the way that they want to serve. It’s causing him great joy, and he says, “You are my crown.” Because he was part of them hearing the gospel—even the ones who never even met Paul heard the gospel. Paul gave the gospel to many, they received Christ, and then they spread that to others.

So he had a huge part to play, and God used him greatly in their conversion and even in their sanctification.

“The salvation of those in the church caused Paul to have great joy.”

Unity Before Rejoicing

And we see similar words that he uses to the Thessalonians as well in 1 Thessalonians 2:19. But not everything was perfect. The first thing he does before he gives the command to rejoice in this passage is in verse two he urges these prominent women in the church to live in harmony or to be of the same mind.

It’s the same phrase that we see in Philippians 2. These two had a disagreement. They weren’t getting along for some reason.

We don’t know exactly what it was, but it was probably over something we would call a philosophy of ministry—how to carry out the particular commands. It probably was not a point of doctrine that they disagreed on because Paul never gives an answer.

If it was some doctrine that they had a question and they had two different viewpoints, he would have just said this is the right viewpoint. Either you’re both wrong, you’re both right, or you’re both misunderstanding something and let me just clarify it. He did that a number of times in his letters when he heard or understood that they were believing one thing and he said, “Well, let me offer a point of correction or a further explanation so you can better carry out what God is commanding here.”

But here, he doesn’t do that. He just says, “I’m urging them to be of the same mind. I’m urging them to live in harmony.” Whatever it was, it was sharp enough to be mentioned in scripture. He could have just told Epaphroditus, “Hey, when you get back, bring those two in a room and tell them they need to get along.” But he actually wrote it in this letter. It’s part of God’s word.

Almost 2,000 years later, we’re talking about it.

“Whatever it was, it was sharp enough to be mentioned in scripture.”

Can you imagine if Brian and Mike just have a small disagreement and in the year 4,050 there’s someone standing up talking about that disagreement? This is exactly what we’re doing today—talking about two ladies in the church who had a disagreement over 2,000 years ago.

Thinking the Same Way

In Philippians 2:1 and 2, Paul says, “Therefore, if there’s any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.”

This exhortation, even in our text in chapter 4, is to think the same way. Now thinking the same way may not always lead us to the same conclusion about our issue, but our goals and our motivation ought to be the same.

There are some issues where there is not one clear direct command in the Bible that addresses this and says you must go this exact way. In that case, as long as people who are trying to obey are faithful, they may differ a little bit in how to apply it. We’re trying to be faithful, especially in those areas where there isn’t a clear command or clear prohibition and there is a disagreement. You’ve got to put those aside.

This is what Paul is saying. You can’t let those little things trip you up in your ministry. You can’t let those things rob you of joy and peace, especially when they’re not doctrinal.

“You can’t let those little things trip you up in your ministry or rob you of joy and peace.”

Consider whether we should start the service at 11 o’clock or 10:30. You’re arguing about that, and the 10:30 group is talking and they don’t like the 11:00 group because they think the 11:00 group is just lazy and they don’t want to wake up early enough. The 11:00 group says the 10:30 group doesn’t have anything to do Saturday night, so that’s why they can get to church early.

We’re sitting there going through that, and Paul is saying, “How are you supposed to function in ministry?” We have to make sure that anything that can cause bitterness, anything that can grab hold of us and cause us to look at our brother and sister in an ungodly way, is dealt with immediately.

Before he even talks about rejoicing, before he talks about later having the peace of God, he says, “Okay, these two have to get this right.” These were prominent members of this church, and according to verse 3, they have shared in his struggle. They have fought alongside him in the good fight, and this can’t be their legacy. They have to end well.

So Paul needs the church to help them. He says in verse 3, “true companion.” We’re not sure if this true companion is an actual name or if it’s just someone he is saying, “You’re my true companion,” or if it’s someone’s name and their name means true companion. But he’s writing and saying that you need to help them because they’ve shared his struggle.

They ministered together with Paul and Clement. We have to make sure that they are holding up the name of Christ now.

The Responsibility of the Whole Church

And now this wasn’t just to one person.

The entire church is reading this or having this letter read to them. Now it’s everyone’s responsibility to serve these two and to make sure that they are of the same mind and to make sure that they are not adding fuel to the fire.

“Now it’s everyone’s responsibility to serve these two and make sure they are of the same mind.”

He says that these workers are those who have their names in the book of life along with the others who have worked with him diligently.

Disagreement Does Not Erase Salvation

And that is such a beautiful thing even with this going on. Even though their disagreement, their argument, their possibly sin over it is not affecting their eternal status.

Paul isn’t saying, “Look, they’re in danger of going to hell now. They’re going to lose their salvation and lose all the benefits.” He’s saying their names are still written in the book of life, but they’re going to miss out on joy. They’re going to miss out on peace. They’re going to miss out on fully being able to be used by God.

“Their names are still written in the book of life, but they’re going to miss out on joy.”

And so you have to help them.

The Command to Rejoice

Then he issues a command to the church and to all of us today: Rejoice in the Lord always.

“He issues a command to the church and to all of us today: Rejoice in the Lord always.”

And it sounds like a simple thing, but it’s not a new message.

Joy Throughout Philippians

In fact, the idea of rejoicing or having joy appears many times throughout this letter. We’ll look at some of them. In Philippians 1:4, he says, “Offering always offering prayer with joy am I every prayer for you all.” Verse 18: “What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in this I rejoice.”

In verses 25 and 26, he writes, “Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, so that your pride in Christ Jesus may be abundant because of me, by my coming to you again.”

In chapter 2, he says what we just read: “Make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.”

In verses 16-18 of chapter 2, he continues, “Holding firmly the word of life, so that on the day of Christ, I can take pride because I did not run in vain nor labor in vain.”

“But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all. You too, I urge you, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me.” Verse 28.

Therefore, I have sent him to Epaphroditus all the more eagerly so that when you see him again, you may rejoice and I may be less concerned about you.

Then in Philippians 3:1, he starts off a new section and says, “Finally my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things again is no trouble for me and is a safeguard for you.”

Then in chapter 4, he says, “Therefore my beloved brothers and sisters, whom I long to see, my joy and my crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.”

Then in verse 10 of chapter 4, he says, “But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last you have revived your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned before, but you lacked an opportunity to act.”

And then we have the passage we’re looking at today. Verse 4: “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I would say rejoice.”

I think Paul was pretty concerned about them having joy and them rejoicing.

“I think Paul was pretty concerned about them having joy and them rejoicing.”

And this is the beauty of God’s word.

This is why I find it so great because if Paul said, “I’m going to sit down and write a religious text,” we wouldn’t have most of this in it. This is God using the relationships and the affections and the love of the Apostle Paul for these people to generate this.

And so we see this beautiful call to love and to serve and to have joy all coming from his heart. If we’re just writing a list of dos and don’ts, you don’t get that.

Rejoice Is an Imperative

So, as I alluded to earlier in calling it a command, this word rejoice is an imperative. It is a command. It’s not a suggestion. It’s not a wish. It’s not “oh man, I wish your life was going better. I wish you could be happy.” This is a command. If you are not rejoicing, then you are sinning. You are breaking a command from God.

“If you are not rejoicing, then you are sinning. You are breaking a command from God.”

Now, it’s one thing we have to look at what rejoicing is and what it isn’t. The word translated rejoice in the Greek is the word chara, and it means to enjoy a state of gladness, happiness, or well-being. I think the key there is “a state of.” So it’s not momentary. It’s not just something that you get in and get out of like many other emotions that can come and change in the moment.

There is an aspect of joy that can be momentary, and that is a great blessing from God because we have these moments that are very high highs, these points of celebrations. We have marriages and new births and graduations and milestones like anniversaries that come up, and we can have joy in those times. We can be happy in those moments.

We can rejoice that our kid that we didn’t think was going to make it has graduated, and we thought they were going to drop out, but they made it through. We can rejoice in those things. We can rejoice that these people are getting married. We have four couples so far getting married this year. That’s a reason to rejoice.

A Church That Gave Joyfully in Affliction

So remember about this church—we talked about it a little bit at the beginning. This church had its founders beaten and thrown into jail, and also had two of its prominent members in a disagreement so strong that it made it to scripture.

They’re reading a letter from the founder of this church, from the one who gave the gospel and discipled some of them who is currently in jail in another city.

And listen to what Paul says. If you want, you can turn to 2 Corinthians 8. Paul has something to say about them when he is actually issuing an encouragement to the Corinthians.

In 2 Corinthians 8, the Corinthians made a promise to Paul and to others that they would financially support the church in Jerusalem. The church in Jerusalem had been through a famine. There was also a lot of strife there because the believers who came to Christ were ostracized. They were kicked out of their families, kicked out of their homes. Many of them lost their jobs and their way of surviving, and they had to depend on the kindness and the gifts and the ministry of other believers and other churches from different areas.

The Corinthians promised but they had not given what they had promised. In chapter 8, Paul uses another group of churches as an example, and he says, “Now brothers and sisters, we make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia.” Macedonia is the area where the Philippian church was.

He says that in a great ordeal of affliction, their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality. That’s a lot. What he’s saying here that I think is important for us is that he’s about to tell you what the churches of Macedonia did, including the Philippian church. They had a great ordeal of affliction and they had deep poverty.

But in verse 3 he says, “For I testify that according to their ability and beyond their ability they gave voluntarily, begging us with much urging for the favor of participation in the support of the saints.”

“And this not as we had expected but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God.”

So he’s saying these people who are in great affliction and in deep poverty—not just gave, but they were looking for opportunities to give.

“These people in great affliction and deep poverty were looking for opportunities to give.”

They didn’t have to be asked. They volunteered.

And verse 4 says they were begging and urging Paul to let them give, and not just of their money but of themselves.

So when we think about what that church was going through—having seen Paul and Silas being beaten and thrown in jail in front of them, experiencing this sharp disagreement between two prominent members, experiencing great affliction on their own, and dealing with deep poverty—they still had joy and they still were able to give.

Why Joyful People Still Need the Command

But even in that, these are the people that Paul is urging to rejoice and to be joyful. That amazes me for two reasons.

The first reason that amazes me is because everything they went through, it would seem if somebody tells you they had gone through all those things it’s kind of like everything that Job went through and it’s like someone coming to him and saying, “cheer up.” I would be afraid to tell them to rejoice because they would look at me as someone who’s just dismissing all their problems.

But the second reason why it amazes me that he issues the command of rejoice and he talks about joy so much is because Paul also wrote that letter of Second Corinthians that we looked at.

He holds them up as an example of people who had joy in the midst of problems, in the midst of trials. It seems like the congregation has already demonstrated their joy. And so what does he tell them to do? This joyful congregation he says rejoice.

Why? Because this is something that ought to be in our lives at all times.

And he said, “It’s nothing, no big deal for me to tell you to rejoice again, to write it again. It’s not a big deal, but it is a safeguard to you because at any moment, something or someone can come and rob you of that joy.”

“At any moment, something or someone can come and rob you of that joy.”

But we can’t have that happen. So I’m going to tell you over and over and over about the joy of the Lord and that you can rejoice.

The Source of Our Joy

Now the source of our joy, we talked about some of the things—celebrations and that which make us happy and that bring us joy, the birth of a new child or grandchild and we’re excited about that. But the source of our joy, we are not told simply to rejoice and then left to find our own motivation to stay happy all the time.

We are told to rejoice in the Lord. So we see here joy is rooted in a person, not a prognosis.

Our joy is founded in our savior, not in our situation.

“Joy is rooted in a person, not a prognosis. Our joy is founded in our savior, not in our situation.”

It was a commentator, Andrew Nolles. He says joy is the deep satisfaction that comes from belonging to Christ and being united in his love and purpose.

And in Romans 5:1-2, it puts it this way. It says, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we also have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand and we celebrate in hope of the glory of God.”

So our joy comes from our sins being forgiven and having a right relationship with God. It comes from now being adopted into the family of God. We were once his enemies and now we’re his friends.

And we’re actually going to be able to celebrate that in a symbolic sense after the sermon celebrating the Lord’s table.

For this truth shall put us in a permanent state of joy that the world can’t take away.

In Luke 10:20, Jesus says, “Rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.” So again, this isn’t temporal. This isn’t something that comes and then when the moment is over, it’s over. This isn’t, oh, I’m in the running. I’m a finalist for this job. I might get this big opportunity.

And then when we don’t get it, now the joy departs.

This is joy in our savior and in our salvation.

John 15:11 records this. Jesus says, “These things I have spoken to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be made full.” So after promising the disciples that they would bear fruit as long as they remain in him, remain in Christ, Jesus explains to them that he and all that it means to abide in Christ will be their source of joy.

So the source of joy is our relationship with God. It is what was done on the cross. It is something that is eternal.

The Quality of Our Joy

Now the quality of this joy is not merely happiness or the absence of grief or even denying what our true emotions are so we can put on a happy face.

But this joy is eternal. In Psalm 16:11 he says, “You will make known to me the way of life. In your presence is fullness of joy. In your right hand there are pleasures forever.” This joy is something that we are given now and we will carry with us throughout eternity.

Psalm 16:11: “In your presence is fullness of joy. In your right hand there are pleasures forever.”

So it is eternal. It was given by God.

Romans 15:13 says, “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

This is not something we have to build up or muster up or lock away all of our other feelings and then we are left with nothing but joy. But this is something that God implants deep in us and because of that it cannot be taken away. Because of that it can’t be shaken and it’s also rooted in salvation.

We looked at this earlier. I’ll repeat it just so you have it in this context. Romans 5:1-2: “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand. And we celebrate in hope of the glory of God.”

We are able to celebrate because we have been justified by faith. And because we have peace with God, a God that we once doubted, that we once questioned, that we once hated, we now have peace with him.

And that is the cause for the joy.

So the quality of this joy is eternal. It is given by God and it is rooted in salvation.

Joy Produces Holiness

And this is where we’re going to spend much of our time. The extent of this joy, how far does it go, where does it reach, how long does it last? We looked at that a little bit. One of the things we see about this joy is that it produces holiness.

Psalms 119:67 says, “Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I keep your word.” Get the distinction here.

It doesn’t say, “I learned your word.” The assumption here is that the psalmist knew at least some of the commands and willfully chose to violate them until affliction came.

He says, “I went astray before I was afflicted, but during and after that affliction,” he has time to really wrestle with the word of God and think about it and apply it to his life.

“The psalmist knew the commands and willfully chose to violate them until affliction came.”

Now he keeps your word. We’ll find later that he’s joyfully keeping the word. He’s not keeping the word just to avoid affliction again because he doesn’t say I was afflicted and I’m no longer afflicted. He doesn’t say I got out of the affliction and because you let me out now I’m going to rejoice and now I’m going to obey.

But it’s the affliction that causes us to look at God’s word, to look at our heart, to want to put off sin, and want to put on righteousness.

Rejoicing in Tribulations

In Romans 5, we’re back there again. Now we look at verses 3-5.

It says, “And not only this, but we also celebrate in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance, and perseverance, proven character, and proven character, hope, and hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

He says that we’re not just celebrating in the hope of the glory of God. We’re not just celebrating in our salvation and that now I know I’m going to heaven. But we celebrate in our tribulations because they cause holiness.

They cause us to reflect on ourselves. They cause us to reflect on God. They cause us to depend on God. When you have nothing else, all you have is God.

When money can’t save you, when the best doctors can’t help you, when grief is too hard to bear and nothing you can do can bring that person back so that grief isn’t going anywhere, you have to call out to God. There is nothing else you can do.

Romans 5:3-4: “We also celebrate in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance.”

Those tribulations, the trials, the afflictions, they all cause us to look at God as our great provider and our sustainer.

It is a beautiful thing. It’s hard to go through. It’s hard when we’re dealing with it. And sometimes we don’t even know what it is.

We don’t even know why. We don’t know if we’ve sinned in some way. We don’t know if this is just an attack of the devil and he’s busy right now. We don’t know what it is, but we know that God will use this for his purposes and his glory.

We can rejoice because we know that we are being kept by a God who is all powerful and gracious and loving.

Trials Lead to Maturity

James 1:2-4 says, “Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters.” Hopefully he’s going to tell us something good. He says, “Consider it all joy when you encounter various trials.” Here he goes.

“Knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance and let endurance have its perfect result so that you may be perfect and complete lacking in nothing.”

This idea of growing and being mature and being complete in Christ—if I asked you all, do you want that? I’m sure everyone would say yes. I want that. I want to be as close to Christ as I can. I want to live like Christ. I want to look like Christ. I want to speak and act like Christ.

And then if I tell you the way to get there is to have trials. When you encounter various trials, you should consider it joy because you just told me you want to be like Christ, and this is how you’re going to get there.

“The way to be like Christ is to have trials — so when you encounter them, consider it joy.”

We should consider it joy. This joy isn’t something that just comes when good things happen.

Because we have this joy embedded in us, it overflows even in the middle of trials and tribulations and affliction.

By extension, it drives us to focus on God’s word. And this is where the growth really happens.

Affliction Drives Us Deeper into God’s Word

So, back to Psalm 119. Just a few verses later, the psalmist says, “It is good for me that I was afflicted so that I may learn your statutes. The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces.”

The wealth that is in the word of God is so rich and so beautiful and so powerful that the psalmist says, “I’m glad that I went through that affliction because that caused me to dig deep and discover it. That caused me to be even more open to hear God’s word.”

And we’ll see in a minute how sometimes even the good things take us away from God’s word, which is another reason why we rejoice when affliction comes.

Psalm 119:71: “It is good for me that I was afflicted so that I may learn your statutes.”

Joy Enables Us to Comfort Others

It also allows us to comfort others.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 says, “Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in our affliction, so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” That was a lot, and it gets tricky sometimes. I went to public school, so bear with me.

What he is saying here is that sometimes you go through trials, you go through something bad, and then you’re comforted by God. That happens to you not only for you but for other people’s benefit.

So when they’re going through something similar or even different—he says any affliction doesn’t have to be the same thing you dealt with, but what it feels like to suffer. What it feels like to call out to God late in the midnight hour. What it feels like to have stress and anxiety. You may even know what it feels like to not know how you’re going to make it through the month on the little bit of money you have left.

And then God is a provider. So when someone else is going through something where they need to know God as a provider, you can speak to them. You can combine your experience with the scripture and you can say, “Look, this is how I applied this in my life and this is how I got through this,” and maybe you’ll even have some practical help for them as well.

This is why, or one of the reasons why, we are afflicted. But it’s only if you handle that affliction and deal with that affliction with a joyful heart that these benefits will come. If you develop bitterness in your heart because you are going through something, or “why me,” or “it’s always something,” or Murphy’s law, or any other ways that we describe suffering in this world, then we won’t be able to comfort because we will never be comforted.

We never allow the joy of Christ to flow in our hearts and overflow into our thinking and our meditations. We focus on our issues. We focus on our problems so much that now we can’t be a help to anyone else. Now we don’t get the benefit and blessing of knowing deeper and richer God’s word and being able to apply it, being able to speak life into other people because of the life-giving word.

It’s only when we allow God’s joy to overtake us in those moments that we can then apply these truths to others.

“It’s only when we allow God’s joy to overtake us that we can apply these truths to others.”

Joy in Times of Abundance and Lack

It also strengthens us to trust in God during times of loss, lack, or even abundance.

One of my favorite passages is Proverbs 30. I won’t be able to read it all just for the sake of time.

Proverbs 30:8-9 says, “Keep deception and lies far from me. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with the food that is my portion so that I will not be full and deny you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’”

Here we see that we are even to rejoice in the Lord in the good times. Why are you even saying this? Why are you wasting my time right now telling me to rejoice when things are good? You’re rejoicing in the Lord. You’re not rejoicing in the good time. You’re not rejoicing in the thing that you’re receiving that you say is a blessing.

That is not what you’re rejoicing in.

Now the king understood that having an abundance can take our eyes off of God just as much as having lack can, just as much as affliction can. Sometimes having the blessing and the abundance of blessing can take our eyes off of God and we focus on the gift and not the giver.

“Having abundance can take our eyes off God just as much as having lack can.”

Worshiping the Gift Instead of the Giver

When I think about this, I picture a vast ocean full of water that’s clean enough for us to drink, and that’s the joy of the Lord.

He’ll give us these moments. He’ll give us these things—births and anniversaries and even our team winning championships—because they’ll give us momentary happiness or even joy if it’s more meaningful, like relationships. These are blessings from God, but they’re like taking a picture from that ocean and then drinking out of that or pouring it into a cup and drinking that.

We don’t want to focus on a picture. We don’t want to focus on this when we have an entire ocean. Because then when that picture dries up, how do I get more? I forgot the ocean exists because I sat and put the picture on a pedestal and I began worshiping that.

I began worshiping my child. I began worshiping my status. I began to define myself by what people told me and how they said I looked great or sounded great or whatever it is. I like that attention. I liked the money, and that is the thing that gives me joy and that’s the thing that gives me security.

Understand, God gives us the emotions to fill these things. God allows us to experience true blessing from these temporal things that come in our lives, but they’re to send us deeper into worship of the true God.

Every time I get that picture, I’m supposed to be thinking of the ocean where that water came from.

“Every time I get that blessing, I’m supposed to be thinking of the ocean where it came from.”

And that makes me reflect all the more on the goodness of God and the mercy that he gives us.

Rejoicing When Everything Fails

And this isn’t just in our personal lives, but this is even when we see things going around us. It’s an interesting passage in Habakkuk 3:17-18. Habakkuk 3:17-18 says, “Even if the fig tree does not blossom, and there is no fruit on the vines, if the yield of the olive fails, and the fields produce no food, even if the flock disappears from the fold, and there are no cattle in the stalls, yet I will triumph in the Lord. I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.”

Again, what is his focus? He’s in a famine. Everything we’re trying to grow is withering. Nothing is growing. Nothing lasts. We can’t even get oil from the olive tree. Everything that we depend on for our sustenance is failing.

And he doesn’t even say there “the God of my provision.” He doesn’t even say what we like to say a lot—Jehovah Gyra. We talk about that God, our great provider. He doesn’t even call him that. He says “the God of my salvation.”

He’s rejoicing in his salvation. Now, salvation there is twofold. We look at salvation as being rescued from either eternal damnation in hell or even being rescued from a temporal event. But who is he focusing on? He is not focusing on the farmer. He is not focusing on the king and saying the king’s policies are bad and that’s why we don’t have any oil and that’s why we don’t have any crops now. His focus isn’t there. His focus is on God.

God is our provider. God is our sustainer. God is my salvation.

Habakkuk 3:18: “Yet I will triumph in the Lord. I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.”

And because I know I have salvation in Christ, bringing it to the modern times, we know we have true salvation that we can put our lives in, we can put our trust in Christ. We can put our spirit in him.

We can rest. All those things are taken care of.

Our healing—ultimately, we all will be healed. We all will have bodies that don’t break down. We all will have bodies that don’t bear disease. And we can rejoice in that even now. We can rejoice in it, looking forward to that. I won’t have this broken back anymore.

And let me just say while I’m here, y’all should—I should not give me a mic. I think I was the only elder who put back his chair in there just with my broken back. I just want to point that out since we’re talking about rejoicing. Just rejoice in that. I don’t know how to tie that in, but I just want to say that.

Victory Over Death

But these things that we deal with, these temporal things, these pains, even grief, even death—Paul said, “Death, where’s your sting? Where’s your victory?” Even that thing that separates us is not something that is victorious because why? Death was swaddled up in victory.

Because Christ has given us the ultimate victory over death by dying on the cross and then was raised from the dead. What we just celebrated last week proves that he had victory over death and over sin. And that is why we can worship with such confidence.

That is why we can have joy no matter what is going on in life because we know where we are headed. We know where our life is. We know it’s in the hands of God.

“We can have joy no matter what because we know where we are headed and our life is in God’s hands.”

I love when simple songs, especially things for kids, give such powerful messages. As a kid, they sing this song: “He has the whole world. He’s got the whole world in his hands and he’s got the little babies in his hand and this and that.” And we’re like, “Oh, that’s just so cute.”

That truth will keep you. You are being kept and held in the hands of the creator. There is no better place to be.

Why We Must Be Commanded to Rejoice

How do we think about this?

What is a practical application we can give to this to have joy? It sounds like a big thing, and it is. Maybe it’s something that we should all study. Maybe we should put that on the agenda for the next elder meeting. Then maybe we ought to have the church study joy together.

But what do we do? One thing I want to point out here is that we’re given joy by God, but we’re also given a command to rejoice. So if we have it already, why do we have to work towards it? Why do we have to be told to rejoice if joy is something that already has been deposited in me?

It’s like that illustration with water. We can have it, just like peace. We have not just peace with God, meaning in our relationship with God we are at peace, but we have the peace of God, which he’ll actually talk about later. We have the peace of God, but many times we still deal with anxiety and stress. We still worry.

It is possible for us to ignore the very gift that God has given us, the thing that he has deposited in us. The only reason why we can love and obey Scripture’s command to love is because God has given us the love and then modeled that love. Because that love has been poured in us, now I can love you.

But we’re still commanded to love because there are times where we don’t, or we don’t as we should, or we do it impartially, or we change the definition of love so we don’t actually have to change our behavior.

The same is true about joy. There are many times when, even though we have joy in us, we take our eyes off of Christ and we place them on earthly things—whether earthly good things, blessings, things that make us happy, or trials that cause us to despair. We take our eyes off Christ. The joy is still there.

Galatians 5:22 tells us that joy is a fruit of the Spirit. So it’s still there. God has still deposited it in us, but we have to access it. We have to use it. We have to meditate on it. We have to think about what Christ has given us and who he is.

“Joy is a fruit of the Spirit — God has deposited it in us, but we have to access it and meditate on it.”

We see the same thing with many of the gifts that God has deposited in us. Now we allow the cares of this world to come and they diminish our ability to access or use those gifts. We focus on the temporal things instead of the eternal things.

Rest in the Presence of God

As Paul moves on in Philippians 4, there are a couple of things that he says. First, he says to rest in the presence of God. In verse 5, it says, “Let your gentle spirit be known to all people. The Lord is near.”

Now, he didn’t just throw that in because he needed four more words to hit his word count in the essay. The Lord is near is what allows every other truth to be so meaningful in what he says.

We can rejoice because the Lord is near. We can have peace because the Lord is near. We can put all stress and anxiety aside because the Lord is near. We can be confident in our prayers because the Lord is near. And we can even think on the right things because the Lord is near.

So that is the basis of everything. But only to those who know Christ. If you don’t know Christ and haven’t received him, the Lord is not near. Or when he comes near, it’s in judgment. It’s not for salvation until you put your faith and trust in him.

“We can rejoice because the Lord is near. We can have peace because the Lord is near.”

Pray Through Everything

He says to pray through everything.

Philippians 4:6-7: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and pleading with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.”

We’re praying through things that are good, things that are stressful, things that will cause us to be anxious. We’re giving thanksgiving as well for the things that we see are blessings. We’re praying through everything and acknowledging that everything is a gift from God.

In verse 7, it says, “And the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” That is a promise.

Philippians 4:7: “The peace of God which surpasses all comprehension will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

If you want to have joy, you first rest in the presence of God. Remember the Lord is near.

Second, you pray through everything and you put off any anxiety, any fear, any worry or doubt because you’re in the hands of the great creator and savior.

Third, he says to meditate on godly things.

Meditate on Godly Things

Verse 8 says, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, and if anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” How often can we say that’s true about us in our thoughts?

You can’t have joy when you’re thinking about or meditating on things that don’t produce joy. It seems simple, but we all do it. We all get swept up in other things, even things that seem good.

We don’t spend enough time meditating on the truth of God’s word. We don’t spend enough time meditating even on the things that God has created, on the beauty in God’s creation. We don’t spend enough time meditating on whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely or commendable.

Too many times we think we’re doing that, but instead we’re focusing on everything that’s wrong with the world and shaking our head. Look what the world is doing now. Look at what they’re doing. Look at where they’re going. We’re watching every bit of news about every negative thing that’s happening in every nation in the world.

We’re sitting and looking at every law that’s passed and we’re studying all of this and we’re reading those things more than we’re reading scripture. Then we wonder why we don’t have joy. Focusing on what’s happening in this world is not going to give you joy.

That doesn’t mean you have to be ignorant of everything. But that means your focus and your foundation has to be in Christ and his word and the things that he provided that will sustain the joy that he has already given you.

“Your focus and your foundation has to be in Christ and his word — the things that will sustain your joy.”

Let that be our mission. Let that be what we resolve to do: that we will pursue joy in every circumstance, that we will meditate on things that honor Christ, that we will pray through everything, and that we will remember that the Lord is near.

Now, let’s go to the Lord in prayer.

Closing Prayer

Our wonderful eternal God, we thank you that you are near and that we can know you. We thank you, God, that you have called us into your family. We thank you, God, that you have given us salvation in your son.

We thank you, God, that that salvation is free. There is nothing that we have to do to earn it because we couldn’t. We just thank you, God, that you give us reason to rejoice because even when we are afflicted, we know that it will glorify you and it is for our good.

We pray that you would help us to maintain this desire that you’ve put in us to seek you. We pray, God, that you would help us to love you with our whole heart, our mind, our soul, and our spirit.

We pray, God, that you would get the glory out of our lives and out of our relationships. We ask you to be with us even now as we celebrate the Lord’s table together and continue to worship you. We ask all this in Christ’s name and for his sake.
April 12, 2026
When Living Is Christ Then Dying Is Gain

In this sermon, our Jews for Jesus missionary Dan Sered examines Paul’s profound statement in Philippians 1:21 that “to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” After explaining the meaning of this verse, Dan Sered shares his personal testimony and urges believers to embrace Paul’s same attitude.

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Note: This rough transcript was automatically generated by YouTube’s AI algorithm. We provide it here for your convenience, but know it will surely contain errors as it has not been proofread or edited by a human.

everybody oh my gosh we got to do better than that can we try that again Shalom everybody Shalom much better thank you shalom it’s great to be with you especially um it’s a privilege to um to come and to worship together to uh open the word of God thank you so much for your prayer thank you so much for your partnership and for your support and Pastor Bobby thank you so much for your faithfulness for your um dedication um always such an example of um you know word of God believer brother Pastor so thank you so much Calvary it’s really a privilege and a joy to be here and to be your missionary to Jewish people with Jews for Jesus you know Jews for Jesus and we let me put this on here we relentlessly pursue God’s plan for the Salvation of the Jewish people you know it’s not us who really save anybody it’s only the Lord who does it all that we do really is come alongside what God is doing pursuing God’s plan for the Salvation of the Jewish people what is God’s plan for the Salvation of the Jewish people well in case you have any doubts it’s exactly the same Plan of Salvation that God has for all people it’s only through faith in the Messiah of Israel the Messiah Yeshua Jesus who came died for our sins and Rose on the third day you know there is a lot that God is doing among Jewish people and all across the world and if you miss Sunday school I think and we have that recording for you maybe and you can watch and it was uh really great to uh to bring a report of of of a lot of what God is is doing and among Jewish people across the world and but I want to highlight for you um a Ministry that we have in Israel that is so near and dear to my heart and I know also to God’s heart as well you know most Jewish people in this country are more affluent and but in Israel um it’s not so the case in Israel like in so many other countries there’s an entire population um of those who normally um are un seen by the average people you know who I’m talking about the homeless addicts those who are trafficked there is a large population of those in Israel today you know prostitution in Israel is legal it’s accepted and we have a Ministry that we have began and I want to show you all about that my name is Mayan shashani I am a missionary with JS for Jesus in we serve the population struggling with drug addiction alcoholism prostitution and [Music] homelessness and we’re Team of four and what we do is we serve food just because that’s a basic and physical need that there is um in the area of South T Aviv with most of these people it takes time to build trust because they’ve been so hurt so we give out food so we build relationship with these people ever since I was a young girl I always remember seeing those that Society considers as unseen and I remember always seeing that and volunteering in those places wanting those people to know that they are seen in the eyes of God these women need the gospel because there’s no other hope for them what they they’ve been through the trauma the pain the hurt their soul is still so so hurt and needs healing and we can make that place and find that place for them to be at ease from what they have been through by God’s grace we are in the process of opening a safe home just for women together we can share with these broken women God is with us and he is a God who sees them and loves them and when we share this good news with them it’s amazing to see how surprised they are that Jesus came to know them thank you because we are able to do what we do and lives change now we have four ladies who live in um in our women shelter in Tel Aviv and um some of them have already come to Faith they’re being discipled and growing others are still in the process and none of that would have been possible without your prayers without your partnership and support so we thank you so much we know that your heart is like ours to make disciples of all Nations and that’s certainly what we’re seeing through the women shelter and through the women Ministry the um the ministry to the homeless addicts traffick in Tel Aviv so thank you so much for partnering with us thank you so much for your um your support and when you entered the um the service um this morning you should have received one of these cards did everybody get one of these can you take it out for me if you didn’t get one and you raise your hand um and aser will give you one okay take those out right now and when you take it out if you would have fall the um the top portion here okay and then you can tear it okay so you have two portions of this cards in your hand the picture our family picture would you take um our family home with you would you please keep this in your Bibles and remember to pray for us as your missionaries to Jewish people remember to pray for the Salvation of the Jewish people so that’s for you to keep this card and the other portion is not for you to keep if you fill out your um contact information email address we’ love to send you our prayer updates in our newsletter so that you would know more about our ministry and what’s happening with us so um please fill out this card there’s a box in the back as you leave church this morning and that that that has a label there for the guest speaker so if you just drop this card we would love to send you our free prayer updates our free newsletter so you may know how to pray for us and now besides putting us in your Bible if you want you can also put us on your refrigerator I’ve got some magnets on the on the table on the resource table in the back so as you as you leave and as you fell L you can please um take one of these and another way of how you can partner with our ministry of course is um through personally supporting us as well and you have the QR code on the screen you can do that it’s also on the on the magnet and if you indicate the amount of your gift on this card if you give um cash or checks and make payable to CHS for Jesus you can just will be glad to um properly uh thank you and receit you for your gift thank you so much for your prayers your support your partnership with our ministry choose for Jesus it’s such a privilege to serve the Lord it’s such a honor to make disciples to preach the gospel to people you know we have hope we have hope for the future there is so much that’s happening in our world today but no matter what is happening in the present we have hope because of Jesus and that hope that we have knowing that it is the only solution really propels us motivates encourages us to share the gospel Jesus brings our hope for the future and that is the essence of missions you know the greatest Jew for Jesus missionary that ever lived was the Apostle Paul now obviously I’m uh saying this you know tongue and cheek I’m kind of joking around JS for Jesus as a Ministry we just celebrated our 50th anniversary just actually a week ago um of course uh Paul wasn’t you know um has been dead for a while now has been with the Lord for a while now and but after all the Apostle Paul is a Jew and he was for Jesus and he’s certainly the most famous missionary we all know his impact for Christ now you know the Apostle Paul had to pay a great price for believing in Jesus for following Jesus and for serving Jesus but Paul was willing to pay that price because he knew that Jesus and the gospel is the only hope that Humanity has for the future and he summarized it I think perfectly in this one verse that’s on our screen in a way that both explains his reason for for devoting his life to the Lord’s service and at the same time challenging us to do the same so um you can open your bibles if you want to Philippians chapter 1 and we read the context the passage but let me expound a little bit on this you know when Paul wrote the letter to the church in Philippi probably around 62 ad he was actually in prison he was chained to a Roman guard now it’s strange that therefore the overall theme of the letter is actually one of joy and encouragement to the church even though Paul was in the midst of paying the cost for following the Lord Paul was suffering for his faith yet here in this letter the book of Philippians we find a conscience summary in one verse a concise summary in one verse the real meaning of life as well is death to a Christian and the very important personal choice that makes it all possible here we find why Paul is living the way that he’s living serving Jesus and giving Jesus all he got in this verse Paul not only explain why it is worth any cause to follow Christ but also the future hope that is found in Jesus verse 21 chapter 1 for to me to live is Christ to die is gain to live is Christ that was Paul’s commitment that God would be glorified and the gospel of Christ spread through everything that happened in his life and he summarizes that commitment here in a very succinct Way by saying for to me to live is Christ that’s a good summary he says the bottom line for me is that no the bottom line for me is that to live here on this Earth means that I get to further the cause of Jesus Christ through whatever ability I have and through whatever happens in my life to live as Christ Paul says how much can I praise him how many people can I share him with how many can I teach about him how can I further his kingdom and glory with my life Paul says my whole life is measured not by what other people may call success but by what I am able to do for Christ while I’m I’m here to me to live is Christ you know um I’m sure many of you um you know are aware that the um NFL season has just begun right you guys aware of it maybe maybe some of you like football anyway um just uh recently through my travels um actually it was at the end of last season but um I was traveling and I um I was um I I ran into this story of a young man who was a huge not just a huge football plan but he was just this huge fan of the Green Bay Packers okay now in this course of his conversation with the interviewer you know this young man wearing one of those big cheese hats do you know what I’m talking about here well anyway this is what he said and it was so surprising to me I actually took it down he said this he says I live for the Green Bay Packers he said if it promotes the Green Bay Packers in the world I’ll do it if it doesn’t promote the Green Bay Packers I won’t do it for me the question in everything is always does this promote the cause of the Green Bay Packers I’m not lying to you this is a true quote now when I read that I thought wow man this young man he is committed he’s committed obviously I think that he’s committed to the wrong thing right I mean I don’t even think the Green Bay Packer made the Super Bowl I mean it’s like it’s ridiculous right we don’t live for sports or anything else we are to live for Christ but you know I thought to myself also man we can take this young men’s this kind of commitment that this young man had for his team for the Green Bay Packers and we need to apply it to our own lives and Christ as Christ disciples our question with every activity we participate in and every decision we make should be does this activity further the cause of Christ if it furthers Christ I’ll do it if it doesn’t further Christ I will not do it in any decision we make in life our single most important criteria should be does this help the cause of Christ if it does we’ll do it if it doesn’t we won’t do it because for us to live as Christ we make our decisions by whether it benefits him and advances his kingdom it’s not do I want to do it it’s not does this make me money it’s not does it make me feel good it’s not do other people want me to do it or is everyone else doing it no the question for us is does this further the kingdom of Christ in the world that is the way we are to make our decisions in the world as disciples as Christians because like Paul for us to live as Christ the Reason God has Us Alive here on this Earth is to glorify and serve him we need to remember that we’re alive right why because God has a purpose for us now we may not live in as lives as dramatic a fashion as Paul but we are alive none none nonetheless God has seen fi in his Providence to Keep Us Alive so we need to ask ourselves for what purpose has God kept me alive why am I here what is his purpose the short answer to that question is right here in this verse to live is Christ God has not giv us a life or something as shallow as following our hearts or chasing our dreams he has not spar us so that we can waste endless days you know watching TV or playing games or seeking entertainment he gave us this life to glorify him to live as Christ that is what we are to live for not to make a name for ourselves not to spread the fame of our favorite sports team or even our church any other cause but God gave us this life to glorify ify him by spreading the gospel of Christ this is the purpose of life that is what God has you here for your goal is to do that the best way you can with the particular gifts and abilities that God has given you make no mistake your purpose in life is to further the name and Kingdom of Christ to be able to say for me to live is Christ so Paul says his life is all about living living for Jesus so that he can say to me to live is Christ but he also says and to die is gain now to a lot of people that sounds even more odd than to live is Christ someone might think okay well maybe to you um to live could be Christ but to say to die is gain now that’s a different thing isn’t it not too many people really think that way most people think of death as the worst possible thing that can happen to anyone but Paul says no to die is gain now the word gain here in the Greek and in the Greek Bible is the word keros which means prophet in the parable of the talents in Matthew 25 Jesus says that the slaves invested their Master’s money and they made a profit with his money that is the word that is used here it’s a business word it means to make a prophet so Paul is saying here hey death is not something I’m afraid of he says I will actually profit if I die it will be better for me if I die than if I live in fact Paul elaborates on that in the next verses of this passage as we read where he talks about the tension between whether he would rather stay here and continuing serving on Earth Earth or if it would be better for him to die and he says in verse 23 I have the desire to depart from this life and be with Christ for that is very much better now we need to look closely at this expression very much better because it is incredibly strong it Stacks two adjectives and an adverb right on top of each other very much better the first word Polo means many much a multitude the second Malone means more than better rather than something else and the last word Christen means better stronger more excellent so Paul of course under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit just stacks these comparatives one upon the other to just emphasize this to die and be with Christ is the multitude more EXC excellent better than life poon Malon chren much more better to die than to live here on this Earth he says it is a gain it’s a profit for him that is the Christian attitudes towards death honestly I don’t think most people have this attitude it goes against our natural inclination and God has instilled within mankind a powerful desire to live which is a good thing but our faith in God’s word tells us that there is something much more better waiting for the Christian person after death than anything we know here on Earth and that’s something that is so much better is God himself no dispel doesn’t say just say I want to die and go to heaven because that is so much much better he doesn’t say I want to go and see you know the streets of gold and or the Pearly Gates because that is much more better he doesn’t say I want to go and ride you know that perfect perfect White Horse you know through The Meadows or maybe play that perfect round of golf in the sky because that is much more better he says I want to depart and be with Christ be with Christ Christ for that is much more better see it is Jesus himself who is the go it is the Lord who makes Heaven much more better this go back to the very heart this goes back to the very heart of the Gospel that God made us specifically for himself as CS Lewis said God designed a human machine to run on himself himself is the fuel and our Spirits were designed to burn just like a solar powered machine is designed to run off of the Sun so we were made to be empowered by the glory of the face of God but we weren’t that when we sinned against God and a shadow fell across our relationship with God that cut us off from him in his glory Romans 3:23 says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God that is what that verse means that by our sins we separated ourselves from the glory of God that we were made to thrive off of but God still loved us even though we sinned and He sent Jesus to die on the cross to pay for our sins so now we will repent of our sins and come back to him and ask him for his forgiveness we can be forgiven and know the glory of God again we can begin to taste that Glory right now in our personal worship and in our worship with others and then when we die die or when Jesus returns we will bask in the presence of his glory forever with no sin with nothing to hinder us from all the blessings of his glory face to face amen this is what David is talking about in Psalm 17:15 when he says as for me I Shall Behold your face in righteousness I will be satisfied with your likeness when I am awake David says one day I will awake in heaven and I’m going to be satisfied with your likeness he says I will be fully satisfied with the glory of the face of God he says in Psalm 1611 in your presence is fullness of joy in your right hand there are Pleasures forever the glory of the face of God himself is what is waiting for us in heaven and Paul says that glory and pleasure and joy will be much more better than anything we have ever experienced here here on Earth we need to learn to really believe like Paul did that as a Christian to die is gain it is much more better that is our hope that is our hope our Eternal secure hope for the future you know sometimes the smallest words have the biggest impact and that is true here in this verse Paul says here that the statement is not true for everyone look what he said you know Paul could have said for all to live is Christ and to die is gain is that what the verse says no notice he said to me he said to me this was true for him for Paul but it wasn’t and isn’t today true for everyone it is only true for those who have genuinely committed their lives to Christ and decide to live in this way like Paul did for one not everyone can say for to me to live as Christ most people don’t live for Christ so they can’t say that to live as Christ they aren’t spending their lives advancing his kingdom in the world they aren’t telling anybody about him for them to live is not Christ for them to live maybe it’s just themselves their will their pleasure their own way what about you what about me is for us to live Christ certainly should be see this is not true for everyone this is a personal conscience choice you have to make that for you to live is going to be Christ you have to choose to make Jesus your own personal Lord and Savior and commit your life to follow him you have to choose that whatever situation or circumstance you come into you’re going to glorify him and that your circumstances are going going to be your witness stand for Christ This is a personal choice you have to make for me for me and how many people maybe even those of us here this morning how many really see death as gain what Paul says here is not true for everyone it is only true for those who have made the personal decision that for them this will be true it is a personal decision for me he says for me this is a p a personal choice for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain that’s Paul’s invitation to all of us will you make that personal commitment and choice as a Christ disciple that for to me to live as Christ and to die is gain you make that choice you know when I came to Faith In Jesus as a young believer I didn’t really know that that was going to be a choice I’m going to have to make I was born and raised in Israel in a typical Israeli Jewish Home secular home my parents are atheists but even as a young boy I never really bought into my parents atheism I always believed that God was real each year when we would celebrate the holidays I believe that God was really there for example in Passover delivering us out of Exodus as we celebrate when I started going to public school in Israel and from the first grade we studied the Old Testament scriptures and as I read um in the Bible there I I I read about God and I believe that God was really real and true but I didn’t really know what to do with my faith in God my parents being atheists and then when I was 14 in the middle of 9th grade my dad’s job moved us from Israel to New York and actually we moved to Long Island Nassau County I graduated from sassad high school and After High School I started attending Stonybrook University majoring in math I have a Bachelor of Science in mathematics and while going to school and I decided to to earn some some money and so I became a tutor and I tutored students who needed extra help in math one day I was helping this girl with her math homework and as I’m helping her she recognizes my accent in English and she asked me if I’m Russian and I said no I’m not Russian I’m Israeli she got excited she said oh wow I’m also Jewish so had something in common we continued um you know continued talking and then at some point in the conversation she tells me that she believes in Yeshua now being fluent in Hebrew right away I recognize the word Yeshua the word Yeshua is the Hebrew word for salvation but I’ve never heard of that word as a name no one in Israel today is named Yeshua so I ask her Yeshua who is this Yeshua that you believe in and she tells me that it’s Jesus wow wow I was shocked for two reasons first of all I never knew that Jesus’s real Hebrew name was Yeshua was salvation second of all I never met a Jewish person who believed in Jesus she was the first one so I was naturally curious so I wanted to know more so a few days later we met for lunch and it was during that lunch that she opened the Old Testament scriptures to me and she shared with me prophecies about the Messiah and then she showed me in the New Testament how Jesus how Yeshua fulfilled each and every one of those prophecies and it made perfect sense praise God a few days later I prayed with her to receive the Lord now two years later we got married okay this is Dena my wife praise God for that as well yeah absolutely now you know when Dena when when it all made sense after I saw those prophecies I said to Dina hey what are my parents going to think about this you know and she was honest she said hey I’m not so sure what they’re going to think about this you know and so it took me a little bit of time but I did commit my life to the Lord not before telling my parents and you know praise God my parents first response to me telling them that I now believe in Jesus was one of um disbelief um misunderstanding they didn’t really know what to do with it so they said something like okay we’re not worried you’ll grow out of it you know I think they thought it was something like puberty you know they didn’t really understand so they’re like okay well that’s crazy but whatever which was great for me I was able to get discipled and I was growing in my faith it was after my baptism three months into my faith that my parents realized that this was serious and it wasn’t going to pass and that’s when they started trying to do everything they can to stop me from believing in Jesus they sent me to CN anti- missionary Rabbi who was trying to convince me that Jesus is not the Messiah they thought I was crazy so they sent me to say psychologist and a psychiatrist they were convinced that I was a part of a cult so they had a family intervention and they brought a specialist in Cults and in brainwashing to talk to us they did everything they can and nothing worked of course it was very difficult so I am I was disowned and I had to leave the house and I’ll never forget the day that I came to pack up my stuff and to leave the house and my dad was there my dad is not a violent man but he lost it and he beat me up pretty severely you know we had to call the police you know my parents and I didn’t have a relationship for many years when it was time for us to get married they didn’t show up to the wedding you know it’s very difficult Jews for Jesus we go out on the streets we hand our tracks we talk to Jewish people about the Messiah Jesus so many of our staff you know we get hostility it’s not easy we get persecution I’ll never forget the one time and one of the times that I was Hing out tracks you know just outside of an army base outside of Tel Aviv you know in the morning just greeting soldiers or they’re coming to their base I’ll never forget a bunch of Orthodox Jews saw us they weren’t going to serve they were just there going their away and they started picking up stones and throwing them at us one time I was leading a team here in Brooklyn to um to speak to the Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn you know they came at us with knives they cut our track bags I can go on and on and tell you stories and stories you know is it all worth it is it all worth it well let me just tell you that from my point of view absolutely absolutely you know there is a price to pay there is a price to pay there is a cost to follow and to serve Jesus Church Brothers and Sisters more and more here in this country we’re seeing this cost is it worth it is it worth it may we be able to say like the Apostle Paul yes yes 100% yes why because for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain let’s pray Lord Jesus God we we know Lord that to follow you there is a price to pay lord it’s not because we are so great we’re not but it’s because Jesus you pay the price you paid the ultimate price none of us none of us will ever fully know the price that you paid but God we do know that while yet we were your enemies you came and you died for us for each one of us Lord so Lord help us to take that reality help us to um apply to our lives help us Lord God to stand with the Apostle Paul and to say for to us to live as Christ and to die is gain God that’s my prayer for my brothers and sisters here that’s my prayer for myself Lord may we be found worthy of the calling and worthy of the Gospel help us God we love you so much in Jesus name we pray God’s people said amen let’s stand sing

September 24, 2023
The Secret of Contentment

In this sermon, Pastor Dave Capoccia looks at Paul’s teaching about contentment in Philippians 4:10-13. Paul clarifies three parts to the secret of contentment so that you also will find true contentment in Christ.

Introduction: Renewed Partnership Brings Joy in the Lord (v. 10)
1. True Contentment Is Learned through Practice (v. 11)
2. True Contentment Endures Poverty and Prosperity (v. 12)
3. True Contentment Only Comes in Christ (v. 13)

Full Transcript:

I am mostly done with our series on the Disciplines of Grace. I would like to talk about the discipline of evangelism, though that’s kind of different than the other disciplines, so I will come back to that at some point. But I was really intrigued just as we were looking at the discipline of the church over the past few weeks, so many times seeing the words and the life of the Apostle Paul, and just an amazing man that the Lord used. I wanted to see a little bit more of what made this man tick, and so I think the passage has something to do with that today.

Well, let’s pray before we take a look at it. Lord God, You are our hope and our joy. There are so many things that would move us from rejoicing in You always, and this joy is not inconsistent with sorrow. Lord, we are knowing sorrow in a fresh way in these days, but that need not diminish our joy. If we have you, God, we can be joyful in all circumstances. Show us more of that today via Your servant Paul, as You’ve written in Your word. Teach us, Lord, speak to us. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Well, here’s perhaps a strange question to get us started today. What is the world’s happiest animal? Back in the mid-2010s, many on social media gave the title of world’s happiest animal to a not-so-well-known creature, the quokka. Also known as the short-tailed scrub wallaby, the quokka is a cat-sized marsupial that mostly lives on islands off the coast of Western Australia. Quokka is an herbivore and a nocturnal animal, but what earned the quokka the title of world’s happiest animal is its cute looks, its general friendliness toward humans, and the fact that it almost always seems to have a smile present on its face. Many people have traveled to the quokka’s main population site on Rottnest Island to take pictures, even selfies, with these creatures, and the quokkas frequently oblige. Had to show you. Now, scientists are quick to point out that the animal is not actually smiling. Quokkas don’t have a capacity for smiling like we humans do. It’s just its face structure. But it sure looks like it, right? Sure looks like it’s always smiling, always happy, just enjoying its marsupial life.

But what about people? What about us? What about you? Are you happy? Are you satisfied with your life? You may experience times of sorrow, but do others find you, like the quokka, generally friendly, at peace, even smiling much of the time? Another way to ask these questions is, are you content? Or is a more accurate way to describe you discontent, dissatisfied, depressed, agitated, angry, anxious, fearful, even despairing?

When it comes to finding contentment, the world, in its wisdom, offers us basically two main paths. The first is the pursuit of desires. The world tells us that the reason we’re feeling dissatisfied, discontent, is because we have unmet needs and desires, and the solution is easy. We must go and get our desires fulfilled, and then we’ll be content. These desires might be for something physical, food, shelter, intimacy, possessions, or something more abstract, love, respect, acceptance, security, control, justice, meaning. But whatever it is, no problem, says the world. You want it, go get it. Then you’ll be satisfied. And perhaps that’s the way that some of you are even thinking this morning. You can think about some problem in your life that you just wish would be changed, or something that you really want, you feel like you need. You say, if only I could have this good thing, then I’d be content. Or maybe you do feel content, and you say, as long as I have this good thing, I can be content.

Well, unfortunately, the pursuit of desire’s path offered to us by the world is doomed to failure, as we should know from Solomon and Ecclesiastes. This is a world fundamentally broken by sin, where nothing lasts and nothing ultimately satisfies. So even if you do get that good thing in the world, whether it’s tangible or abstract, it’s not going to last. It’s not going to satisfy you, and you’re going to have to find more, or you’re going to have to look for something else. So pursuing desires is not going to make you content.

An alternate path that the world offers is the suppression of desires. A less popular path, but some in the world, either from religion or philosophy, they tell us that our desires are the problem. And the real way to be content, to be satisfied, is to get rid of all your desires. By withdrawing from the world, by intentionally afflicting yourselves, or by vigorous rationality and mental discipline, you can become satisfied by indifference to the shifting circumstances of life. Accept the disappointing nature of reality. Voluntarily conform yourself to fate. Become like a rock that is unmoved, whether the waves crash against it or gently lap at its base.

May sound kind of promising, but it also is not a path that works. None of us are able to totally free ourselves from desires. And is shielding against life’s griefs really worth giving up its joys? There’s a reason this second path has never taken off in popularity. While self-styled gurus, philosophers, and psychologists will continue to offer us their theories, expound their theories regarding how we humans can find lasting satisfaction in a broken world, the truth is no one by the world’s wisdom has discovered the secret of contentment. You might therefore conclude that there is no way to contentment. There is no secret. We are all doomed to live a restless and perhaps miserable existence.

But the perfect revelation of God proclaims otherwise. You see, the God who made all things, and who knows all things, not only revealed Himself to us in the Bible, but He also declared to us that there is a secret of contentment. There is a way to be satisfied in your life situation, no matter what it is or how it changes. And though this is a secret possessed and practiced by only a few, it is an open secret. God is quite willing to share and is even eager that we would know and experience this secret of contentment for ourselves. For in so doing, we will not only find the satisfaction for which we long, but God will also be exalted in the worship and glory that He deserves. What is the secret of contentment?

We find the answer in a passage of the Bible that is often quoted but seldom understood. Please take your Bibles and open to the book of Philippians. Philippians chapter 4. If you’re using the Bible in front of you or next to you, it’s page 1177. The title of today’s message is The Secret of Contentment. Philippians chapter 4. You may remember that the book of Philippians is the Apostle Paul’s letter to a church that he founded at the city of Philippi, an important city in the Roman province of Macedonia. Paul writes to this church as Paul awaits trial by Caesar during Paul’s first imprisonment for Christ in Rome. Learning of Paul’s imprisonment, the Philippians had sent one of their own, a man named Epaphroditus, to find out how Paul was doing and to deliver to him a gift of money. Paul sends Epaphroditus back to the Philippian church with this letter to encourage them that Paul is joyful in the Lord and God is using the imprisonment for good, to exhort the church to continue in holy unity until Paul can visit them again, and to thank them for the gift of support that they sent him.

Chapter 4 is the end of Paul’s letter, and in between exhorting the church to peace by joining the Lord in verses 1 to 9, and giving his final greetings in verses 21 to 23, Paul, in verses 10 to 20, he finally and officially thanks the church for their gift. He expresses his appreciation, but he does so in a very careful way, emphasizing that his joy at receiving their gift was not about the gift itself, not about the money. It was about their affectionate fellowship and partnership in Christ. Therefore, even in his words of appreciation and thanks, Paul provides himself to the Philippians and to us as a model of joy in Christ. Very practical.

Now, Paul’s thanks in verses 10 to 20, they can be divided into three sections where Paul expresses appreciation, but then gives some explanation or qualification. I’m not going to look at all three of those, just the first. The first section of appreciation and explanation in verses 10 to 13, because it’s here that God reveals through Paul what is the secret of contentment. So let’s read our text now. Philippians 4:10-13,

But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at last you have revived your concern for me; indeed, you were concerned before, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

What is the secret of contentment? That’s actually the wrong question. Who is the secret of contentment? Because that’s, as we see the answer in verse 13, is Christ. Christ is the secret of contentment. Through Him, or rather in Him, you can have full contentment for every situation of life. Let’s see how the Apostle Paul develops this short but profound aside. It’s really just an aside in his longer section of thanksgiving. Here’s the main idea. In Philippians 4:10-13, Paul clarifies three parts to the secret of contentment, so that you will find true contentment in Christ.

Verse 10 serves as an introduction to the three-part explanation, and that’s the way I’m going to label it in my sermon outline. Let’s start working our way through the verses. Introduction, renewed partnership brings joy in the Lord. Introduction, renewed partnership brings joy in the Lord. First part of verse 10 again. Paul says,

But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly,

After starting a new topic in this letter, Paul says, I rejoice in the Lord greatly. And if you’ve read or heard the rest of Philippians, you know that joy, and particularly joy in the Lord, is a prominent theme in this book. Sixteen times Paul mentions joy or rejoicing in the book of Philippians. And the most recent one is just back in verse 4 of this same chapter, where Paul says,

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!

It’s pretty emphatic. You want to have peace in your life and even harmony in your church? Well, then Paul says, Rejoice in the Lord always. Let your Lord, your Savior, let Jesus be the center and fountain of your joy. But Paul doesn’t just preach one thing and do another. No, in verse 10, Paul reports that he rejoiced in the Lord when he received the Philippians’ gift, via Epaphroditus. Now notice Paul adds the word greatly. I rejoice in the Lord greatly, megalos in Greek. Paul didn’t simply rejoice in the Lord a little at the arrival of the gift. No, it was a great amount of rejoicing. He was profoundly encouraged. He was extremely gladdened and thankful.

And why? Well, let’s look at the next phrase. He says, That now at last you have revived your concern for me. This is an important clarification because Paul didn’t rejoice greatly because Paul loved money or what money could buy him. Great, finally, they sent me money. No, that’s not what it was about. His great joy was over what this gift of money represented from his Philippian brethren – revived concern. Notice the phrase in particular, now at last. This is indicative that Paul had been looking forward to some expression of brotherly concern from the church at Philippi for some time, but he hadn’t seen it. When he finally did, it caused him to rejoice greatly in the Lord.

And now notice the phrase, you have revived. This is a beautiful phrase. The Greek word for revived more literally means cause to grow again or bloom again. It’s a verb that was used to describe plants coming back to life in spring after a winter of being dormant. And what was coming back into bloom again for the Philippians? Well, it’s what Paul says next – your concern for me. At last you have revived your concern for me. And concern is a good translation of the Greek word here. The word literally means thinking, but it has the idea of care involved with it, kind of like our words thoughtfulness or concern. The Philippians had revived care-filled thinking for Paul, newly blossomed thoughtfulness toward Paul, and that was the reason for Paul’s rejoicing in the Lord.

And this botanical phrasing carries an important implication. Paul didn’t think that the Philippians’ concern for him was dead. It was just in hibernation. And this image of hibernating concern rather than lost or dead concern is exactly what Paul spells out next, that the Philippians don’t get the wrong idea. After all, when Paul says, at last you’ve renewed your concern, some in Philippi might have taken that, if all by itself, as reproof, as if Paul had been stamping his foot and saying, what took you so long? But that’s not Paul’s intent, because he uses that botanical metaphor and also because of what he writes next in verse 10,

indeed, you were concerned before, but you lacked opportunity.

See that word indeed there? That’s emphatic. Paul’s absolutely sure that this was the case. They were concerned for him before. Actually, we could translate the verbs even more literally here. They were being concerned, imperfect tense. It was an ongoing state in the past, a continual thing. They were being concerned, but, next verb also in the imperfect tense, they were lacking opportunity. So both things were happening at the same time. Poor Philippians, they were wanting to show their love and concern toward Paul, but they were also lacking any way to do so. They were like plants that were ready to bloom again, but they just never found the right conditions.

Now, if you glance down to verses 15 and 16, you’ll notice that the Philippians had actually regularly supported Paul with money in the past, which is remarkable for several reasons. One, the Philippians were the first church that Paul started in Europe. So moved over from Asia Minor, came to Macedonia. They were the first church. But even as new Christians, they immediately began giving to Paul support for his ministry, so that others could hear the gospel.

A second remarkable reality is that the Philippians were not likely a rich church. Paul actually boasts in 2 Corinthians 8 about the churches of Macedonia, where Philippi was, regarding how the Christians there were so eager to support their fellow saints by giving, even though, Paul says, they were very poor themselves. Even though they were in deep poverty, Paul says, they begged for the opportunity to support fellow saints. So that’s remarkable too. But they were giving Paul gifts of money more than once.

There’s a third reason why that’s remarkable, because as we saw together last week, Paul normally did not accept financial support from churches. You even see that in the verses that come later. He says, you were the only one, Philippians, who shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving. Paul, it was his practice to support himself with his own hands, his own work. He wanted to give the gospel free of charge. He didn’t want anybody to accuse him of greed. He wanted to provide an example of hard work to believers. But somehow, the Philippian church was allowed to give to Paul. How did that happen? Why did Paul make an exception? We don’t know. But perhaps it was like Paul said in 2 Corinthians 8, the Philippians were so generous, so full of love in the Lord, that even though Paul didn’t ask for money, the generous Philippians, they begged him for the opportunity to support him so much that they prevailed on him. However it happened, the Philippians had a unique relationship of gospel support and partnership with Paul. They blossomed their Christian love again and again toward him and to those whom he ministered, even by tangible gifts of support.

But then, suddenly, everything stopped. We don’t know what happened, but for some reason, after regularly supporting Paul for a time, the Church of Philippi just stopped sending gifts to Paul. Why? Was it because of new financial hardship in the Philippian church? Was it because of bad weather on the high seas? Was it because Paul was seized in Jerusalem and they couldn’t find him? Can’t say for certain. But there was certainly a considerable gap in support, even communication, between the church at Philippi and Paul. And this may have gone on for a few years. And you can imagine how perplexing or discouraging it might be to suddenly lose your most passionate ministry supporter without any word or explanation. Yet how encouraging would it be, what joy in the Lord would it be, if that group that had suddenly disappeared suddenly showed up again with revived concern, newly blossomed concern, explaining, Paul, we hadn’t forgotten about you. Oh, we were looking for an opportunity to send support again, but we never found one. But now we have it. We’re here to support you again. Please accept this gift. Surely that would indeed be a cause for great rejoicing in the Lord.

And even though it was the Philippians themselves expressing this concern, we can even see by the way Paul frames his joy, it was the Lord Jesus who was ultimately doing this. It was Jesus moving in them, working through them, to show even God’s loving concern for Paul through the Philippians. So Paul rejoiced in the Lord over their gift.

Now, as I said, verse 10 is introductory to what we’re really intent at looking at in verses 11 to 13, but let’s not miss at least one important implication before we move on. That’s this – never underestimate the encouraging power of even a small act of service or little gift that is given in genuine love and concern to your brethren. Because it’s never about the gift. It’s never about that specific tangible act of service. It’s about the love of the Lord that is demonstrated through your gift or service. You may think you have little to give to others, and maybe in a certain sense you do, but when that little you give in whatever form, whether it’s sending a text message or praying with someone, giving someone a meal, or just showing up to your small group, when that little gift you give is given in genuine love and concern for another, it can lead the one who receives it to rejoice in the Lord greatly and even overflow to God in thanksgiving. Your little gift can do that. Don’t underestimate its power. So that was introduction -renewed partnership brings joy in the Lord.

But now we arrive at a more major clarification from Paul about his joy and thanks in the rest of the verses, verses 11 to 13. As much as Paul rejoiced over the Philippians’ gift, he now wants to remind them that he didn’t really need it. And why not? Because Paul has learned to be content in Christ. We’ll break down Paul’s explanation of contentment under three headings, three parts to the secret of contentment, so that you will also find true contentment in Christ. Number one, true contentment is learned through practice. True contentment is learned through practice. Look at the first part of verse 11,

Not that I speak from want,

Paul says. You see the word want? This is not the want of desire. This is the want in terms of need, lack, poverty. Paul is clarifying for the Philippians, don’t get the wrong idea. I wasn’t rejoicing over your gift’s arrival because I had some important financial need that you were fulfilling. And to this we might ask, did Paul have no financial obligations? No, he actually did. According to the book of Acts, he had to pay for his own quarters in his house arrest, and he probably had to pay for his own food. So he did have needs. Well then, did Paul have some other source of income, some other notable source of sustenance besides the Philippians? Probably not, because that’s not what Paul mentions. I didn’t speak from lack because other people gave to me. That’s not what he says. Instead, he says, as we go on in verse 11,

for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.

And note this verb phrase, have learned. There’s a very important nuance with this term that we should appreciate. The type of learning indicated by this Greek word is learning that is accomplished over time. This is not simply learning theological facts one time, like Jehovah Jireh means the Lord will provide. That’s not the kind of learning we’re talking about. This is the kind of learning that is becoming convinced of the truth of a theological fact through testing, experience, and practice. So, to go back to the previous example, this would be like saying, after all I’ve been through, I’ve learned the meaning of Jehovah Jireh, the Lord will provide.

So what has Paul learned in this training or practice over time? To be content in whatever circumstances. The Greek word for content means just that, to be content. You could also translate it self-sufficient or independent. But not in the way that the Stoic philosophers of his day would have understood those words. Yes, they would say, we also want to be self-sufficient and independent, but in a very different way than Paul has in mind here, as we’ll see later. But Paul tells the Philippians, thank you so much for your gift, but I was not in any true need, for I have learned by practice and experience to be content in whatever circumstances I face.

And someone might ask, well, what kind of circumstances do you mean? And Paul’s going to show us. He’s going to illustrate in the next verse, and he’ll also show us another part to contentment. Number two, true contentment endures poverty and prosperity. True contentment endures poverty and prosperity. Look at the beginning part of verse 12,

I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity.

You may notice from this first part of the verse that we have two parallel statements that represent ends of an extreme. And we’re going to see more later in the verse. The grammatical term for these kinds of things is a merism. That’s where you have an expression of two ends of an extreme that implies everything else in between. A to Z, right? That includes all the other letters. Well, same thing here. We’ve got two ends of an extreme, and it describes all the circumstances in between. And the first merism, the first illustration of these two extremes, is the one we just read. Notice the verb that Paul uses for both sides of it, I know how. This is in the perfect tense in Greek. That emphasizes that something took place in the past, and it continues into the present, or it has an effect into the present. And this makes sense because Paul’s already told us that he learned contentment over time. It took a while, but now that learning is manifesting in a new approach to life. A new, ongoing know-how.

What does Paul now know how to do? Well, first, he says, how to get along with humble means. We could also translate that, how to be humbled. How to be low. There’s an aspect of lowness or humility in this word that is key, because Paul is stressing that he hasn’t simply faced difficult circumstances where he lacked things, but actually humbling circumstances, even humiliating circumstances. I mean, there’s a certain way we can approach lowness, right, with pride. Say, look at what all I’m enduring. He says, that’s not the kind of ones that I faced. It wasn’t simply deprivation. It was also dishonor. He was put into those kind of situations, and he learned how to get along. That was on the one end.

But then on the other, he says, I also know how, I’ve also learned how, to live in prosperity. And the word for prosperity here, we’re going to see it used again later in verse 12, it means to abound, to have abundance, even to be rich. Now, we haven’t heard about this very much in Paul’s testimonies in the Bible. He often talks about his sufferings, but not so much his good times, but he had apparently experienced them. He had experienced times where things were going well. He had everything that he wanted or needed. And amazingly, catch this, Paul says he had to learn how to handle, to deal with both circumstances. Poverty and prosperity, lowness and abundance, humiliation and riches. He says he had to learn it, and he says he did. He now knows how, so that he doesn’t really have needs anymore.

Now to that, perhaps we might think to ourselves, low circumstances would be hard, but prosperity and riches, that sounds just fine. I can handle that. Actually, you know what? The opposite is often the case. There are plenty of people, fine Christians, who do really well when enduring hard circumstances in their lives. But when things start to go well, that’s when those Christians go off the rails. And this is not a new problem. This was what happened to King Uzziah in the Old Testament. You may remember him, righteous king, mighty king, faced a whole bunch of challenges that really caused him to depend on the Lord. But according to 2 Chronicles 26, when things started to go well, this righteous king, when things became so successful and he was really strong, it says he departed from the Lord. Turned his back on God and was judged for it. God warned Israel about the same thing in Deuteronomy 8 before they went into the Promised Land. He’s like, you’re going to experience all these blessings, and when you do, don’t turn your back on Me. But they did. They also failed when tested by prosperity.

And what about us? Is it not so that many times when God blesses us with success, honor, riches, health, or some other blessing, we do not humble ourselves in thanks? We continue steadfastly to depend on God? We instead use the very blessings that God gave us to commit spiritual adultery. Start trusting in ourselves. Start trusting in our abundance. And actually turning from God to seek further the treasures of the world. Oh man, these riches are coming in. I really like that. I think I want riches instead of God.

There’s a reason why the writers in the New Testament, Paul included, they give humbling exhortations to the rich. It is possible to be rich and be a Christian, but you have to do it the right way. You have to learn how to be content as a rich person. You have to learn not to trust in your riches or to glory in your prosperity. Rather, as James 1:10 says in his exhortation to the rich, that the rich are to glory in their humiliation. In the fact that their riches ultimately mean and provide nothing without Christ. And also, Paul himself writes in 1 Timothy 6:17 that the rich need to continue to depend on God as the real provider for their lives. Not themselves, not their riches, and show that by continuing to be generous. Rich and good works, he even says. We need to learn how to get along in prosperity. And Paul certainly did too. We have to, and Paul had to, get along both with poverty and prosperity. We need to learn to be content in both situations, both extremes, and all the ones in between.

And Paul gives further illustration of true contentment in these kinds of situations with an intriguing line in the second part of verse 12. Look at verse 12b. He says,

in any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret…

We’ll just pause the line right there. I’ve learned the secret. Now first notice how emphatic Paul is about the constant nature of his learned contentment. He says, in any and every circumstance. That’s all of them. It’s basically all of them stated twice. This is a comprehensive contentment. And he says, I have learned the secret. Now this is a very interesting Greek word. It’s actually just one word in Greek. You need several in the English language to translate it. The word is mu’eo. It is a technical term that usually describes someone going through the initiation rites to join a secret society. Now Paul is not saying that Christianity is a secret society and we need to have some sort of hazing ritual or something like that. No, but he uses the terminology of this initiation into a secret society, and he and the Philippians would both have been familiar with that. These things were kind of popular in that day. He uses the terminology to communicate something about how Paul learned the secret of contentment. It was as if by initiation rites. He had to go through something or he had to experience something.

What did Paul have to go through? Well, exactly what he tells us right next in the verse. He says,

I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.

So these are similar merisms, those words that have the two extremes, those phrases. These are similar merisms to the one we saw at the beginning of the verse, but they’re a little bit more specific. And these are, of course, illustrative. They are illustrations. They’re not exhaustive. These aren’t the only kinds of extremes that Paul had to deal with, but they are two major ones. First merism here at the end of the verse is about food. The second one is about wealth.

Paul says he learned the secret of being filled, that is, being full of food. Paul was no ascetic. There were times when he ate well and was satisfied. Nothing wrong with that. But Paul says he’s also learned the secret of going hungry, of not having enough to eat or even anything to eat, which I know is a bit hard for us prosperous Americans to contemplate. Most of us have never tasted the bitterness of involuntary hunger. We might choose to be hungry for some health benefit or even as a spiritual thing, but most of us have never faced hunger forced upon us. But many Christians in history have and still do around the world today. And Paul was one of them. Hunger became a necessary part, along with fullness, of Paul’s learning contentment by practice, by experience. Paul had to go through these times to truly realize where his real source of contentment is. You’ve got these changing food situations. Where’s your satisfaction?

And it’s the same with the second merism. Paul says, having abundance and suffering need. And we’ve actually seen the two terms that are used here already in the previous verses, the one that’s translated having abundance is the same word for prosperity that we saw earlier, and the one for suffering need is the same word that we saw in verse 11, want. It’s the same word. These are both economic terms referring to quantity of wealth and possessions. Paul says there have been times when he has been abundantly supplied with possessions. He had all that he wanted or needed. And if you look down again to verse 18, Paul says he’s about to go into one of those times again. I mean, their gift has basically supplied him in abundance. He’s experienced times like that. But Paul says there have also been other times when he didn’t have all he wanted or needed. He was suffering lack. He was impoverished. He was poor.

Thus Paul again was learning the secret of contentment by facing a variety of circumstances, even two extremes, having not enough, having everything you want. This again was part of Paul’s learning. Learning that his sufficiency cannot come from his circumstances, but from God. And Paul could have, of course, added other sets of extremes to the examples here. Just by perusing his other letters, we know that Paul had times of honor, times of dishonor, times of safety, times of danger, times of health, times of sickness, times of success, times of failure, and much more. All these Paul experienced, much like we do, but Paul says, by that phrasing about learning the secret, these became for him like initiation rites, a set of ordeals that Paul had to go through if he was going to join a secret society, not actually, but as it were, a secret society of those who are truly joyful and content in the Lord.

And we can’t escape the implication. If Paul had to go through these before he really learned, and he was an apostle, is it going to be any different for us? I think all of us confess that we want contentment. We know we ought to have it, especially as believers. We want and we know we ought to have satisfaction, lasting satisfaction in our lives in Christ. And to a certain extent, mentally, we believe that we do have that. We say, yes, Christ is all I need. But do you understand that to really know that truth and apply it into your life, it’s not going to be easy. There’s no quick zap that just makes you content in all circumstances, even in Christ. It comes by training. It comes by initiation into a profound and valuable secret.

And who’s going to provide that training? Who’s going to initiate you into the secret of contentment? Our sovereign God. Our good, wise, loving, all-powerful sovereign God. This is not something that you really have a choice with if you are truly a believer. And it’s something you should want. But you can choose either to profit from the training or to reject it. You can kick against the goads. You can choose to resist, but it’s not profitable if you do so, because what will be the outcome? You won’t learn the secret. You won’t learn how to be content.

Paul has shown us two parts of the true contentment that is in Christ. Now in the last verse, he plainly identifies for us where true contentment comes from. Number three, true contentment only comes in Christ. True contentment only comes in Christ. Verse 13,

I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

We finally come to the famous verse. And I hope that you can appreciate, as we’ve actually looked at the context, that the way that most people use this verse has nothing to do with what it actually means. Philippians 4:13 is not about God enabling you to accomplish whatever you dream. It’s about contentment. It’s not about you receiving empowerment from God to score touchdowns. Actually, it’s about your being content both when you score the touchdown and when you don’t.

See the verb phrase at the beginning here, I can do. That’s a good translation. The idea is that Paul has the ability or power to accomplish something. What can Paul do? All things, he says. More literally, just all. I can do all. All what? Well, the answer is what he’s just been talking about. I can be content in all situations, whether good or bad, whether lots of food or no food, whether have enough or I don’t have enough. Paul says, I can do them all. I can face them all. I can be content in them all.

How? Through him who strengthens me. Or more literally, in Him who strengthens me. Now you might say, through him, in him, what’s the difference? Actually, it’s kind of important. Through him might sound smoother in English. It’s not a bad translation. But the phrase in him, well, it has considerable theological weight in Paul’s letters. Because you might know, when Paul says, in Him, in the Bible, to whom is Paul usually referring? To the Lord Jesus Christ. I know the ladies are starting Ephesians soon. The beginning of Ephesians is all about all the things you have in Him. Who is that? Jesus. Even in this letter, he talks about in Him, and he’s referring to Christ. So though the antecedent of him is not explicit in the context here, the implied antecedent surely is, as it’s translated explicitly in the King James Version, when it says, I can do all things through Christ. The Him who strengthens Paul, who is strengthening Paul, is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

And Paul actually often links Jesus and strengthening together in his letters. I’ll just give you a few examples. Christian strength comes from the Lord Jesus’ own strength. Ephesians 6:10, finally, Paul says,

be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.

1 Timothy 1:12,

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has strengthened me.

2 Timothy 4:17,

but the Lord, (that’s Jesus), stood with me and strengthened me.

For believers, according to Paul, our strength for holy living, even for contentment, it comes from Christ Himself. But it’s not just about source here. There’s something else important about this preposition in, because it doesn’t simply imply where does it come from, but also how it comes. How does a believer find strength for contentment? Not just through Christ, but in Christ, which is shorthand in Paul for by union with Christ. By union with Christ.

You say, what’s union with Christ? It’s only one of the most profound realities of our salvation. If you are in Christ, if you have repented of your sin and believed in Jesus as Lord and Savior, and thereby found salvation, a profound spiritual change has taken place with you. A change that cannot even be fully comprehended or described. We’ve just taken on faith according to what’s revealed in the scriptures. The Bible says that when we believe, when we believe in Jesus, we are spiritually joined to Him. We are spiritually joined to Christ and made one with Him, so that it is accurate to say that He is in us and we are in Him.

And just as in marriage, where two are joined to become one and thereby they share everything together, so it is with our becoming one with Christ. Christ now shares all that is His with us. Our eternal life? We have it, but how do we have it? By union with Christ. Christ shares His eternal life with us. Our experiencing every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places? That’s Ephesians 1. How does that come to us? By union with Christ. It is in Him. Christ sharing all His own blessings with us. And what about strength for holy living? Where do we find that? Where do we even find strength to be content in all circumstances and in all things? It’s the same as the others. It comes about by union with Christ, in Him. Christ shares His own strength with us. Even His power, His victorious power, His resurrection power, He shares it with us.

If that’s indeed where strength for contentment comes from, well then no wonder Paul was able to be content in all circumstances. Paul was continually being strengthened by Christ’s own power through spiritual union. Nothing can overcome the power of Christ. It truly can make you content whether things are going well or things are not. It can make you trust, depend, love, keep clinging to your Savior. And because we who have believed have inherited the same salvation as Paul, we likewise have been joined to Christ as Paul was, the same power is available to us. Christ Himself will be our sufficiency and will continually strengthen us so that we too may be absolutely, fully, truly content, whether filled or hungry, whether prosperous or poor.

Now you might ask, is the power unto contentment automatic for Christians? Well, yes and no. It’s 100% available. It’s yours. If you are a Christian, it’s present, but it’s often not activated. Because if it were, well, there’d be no reason to learn the secret of contentment, would there? We’d all already be content, Christ’s power working it in us. That’s just not the case. So how do we activate the power of Christ which we already have? How do we appropriate the strength of Christ for ourselves even to be content? Well, the answer is simple. It’s by faith. It’s by belief that you have His strength, that you are fully enabled by all that He is and has promised to you in Himself. When you believe the Lord’s word that He is indeed your treasure, that He is your life, that He is your joy, that He is your strength, guess what? Now you are strong enough to be content. Because you’re believing what’s actually true.

And this strength, it’s not just momentary. It’s not just for a short time. It’s not just for right now while you’re feeling extra pious being in church. No, it’s an ongoing strength. It’s an everyday strength. It’s a strength with power enough for every situation in which you might be tested, whether by prosperity or by trial.

Truth is, you will not know or experience the power of Christ unto contentment if you refuse to practice faith, if you refuse to live by faith. If you just give in every time you’re tempted to be discontent, every time you’re tempted to go away from the Lord, to chase after the riches of the world, the treasures of the world, or trials that make you want to withdraw from God and pity yourself or do something else. If that’s what you do instead, then the power and contentment that is available to you in Christ will be unknown to you. It will forever remain a secret that you do not know. Contentment in Christ, hear me, it is a learned practice. It takes practice. You must keep applying faith as God brings you into different situations. The more you turn to Christ in these different situations that you face, the more you believe what Christ says about Himself, even through Paul in this letter, Philippians 1:21,

to live is Christ, to die is gain,

or Philippians 3:8,

I count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

The more you believe that, rest in that, trust in that, trust in Him, well then the more strength you will find and the more content you will be. It’s there. It’s there for you if you will believe. As God puts you and me through the necessary initiation rite by giving us both abundance and lack, if you by faith learn to say, all I need is Christ and whatever Christ deems in His goodness to give me, you’ll experience, you’ll see it work, Christ’s supernatural strength, unto contentment. It will be a contentment that doesn’t make sense to other people around you. Hey, you’ve got all these nice things. Why are you so devoted and dependent to Christ? Or, hey, everything is going terribly for you. Why are you so satisfied and content in Christ? It won’t make sense to people, but that will be the power of God manifest in you.

And notice that all this is not becoming indifferent to the world or its changing circumstances or even casting away all your desires. This is not Stoicism. For those who are content in Christ, there will still be causes for joy and grief in the Christian life, legitimate. And you won’t just be putting on an act. You will have real joy and real grief, but those moments by faith are transformed into worship so that in good times you will say, thank You, Lord. This was so kind, but You are still my treasure. And in hard times you will say, thank You, Lord. I know You’re using this for good and You are still my treasure.

You will still have desires as a Christian, even desires for good things, things that God even calls you to desire, things like I want renewed partnership with my brethren in the gospel. I want the encouragement of their love. That’s a fine desire to have. It was Paul’s desire. But all our desires, if we’re truly content in the Lord, they must be held with a loose hand where we can say to God from our hearts, Lord, I desire this. Won’t You give it? If not, I know You have a good reason and You, my God and Savior, are still enough for me. Your will, Your way, always.

Brethren, this is the secret of contentment. It is the only true way, lasting way, sure way to contentment in this world because it’s not dependent on the world. It’s not dependent on ourselves who live in the world. It’s dependent on Him who is beyond the world. So let’s return to where we started. Ask yourselves, are you content in the Lord in whatever your circumstances? Are you experiencing poverty, deprivation, lack, trial? Or are you experiencing success, prosperity, blessing? Are you content in Christ amid either of those? Do you still think that there’s something you need in this world, even a good thing, that’s not Christ Himself? That you can’t be happy at peace or secure until you have it or if you lose it. Do you still think you can find satisfaction by withdrawing from the world and extreme self-denial? Neither of those will work.

So the other question I ask is, are you willing by faith to enroll in God’s school of contentment? Telling the Lord from your heart, I believe Your word that You are enough, but I know I will need to learn that fully by the different circumstances You bring me through. Bring me through them, Lord, as necessary. Teach me so that I really know. If You will uphold me and supply Your own strength in each of those situations, God, then I know I can both learn and practice the secret. After all, smiling animals like quokkas, they only look content. But Christians can truly be content no matter the circumstances. So let’s do that. Let’s do that together for the glory of God and our own good. After all, we can do all things in Christ who strengthens us.

Let’s pray. Lord, it’s so true what You declare through Paul in Your word. There is a difference being able to say, yes, I assent to that. That’s true. Christ is sufficient. He is my sufficiency. It’s different to say that in church than to say that when we face the different situations of life. The situations, Lord, where we are tested to say, is that what you really believe? Is that really true? Is that something you know for certain? Lord, we believe, we believe what Your word says that You are sufficient, that You really are the fountain of our life and joy. If everything else is lost for us, or if everything else is gained for us, that doesn’t matter because You are our treasure. But Lord, we know we need to learn that better. None of us relishes the idea of trial, of testing, but as it is necessary for us, and because greater joy is at the end of it, teach us. Teach us the secret of contentment so that we really know it, so that we really display a firmness of heart that is such a testimony to those around us that God really is a rock, a savior, a shelter, a treasure, so that everything else in the world is not something we need. Thank You for Your kindnesses in the various provisions You’ve given us in the world, Lord, but it’s ultimately about You. Let us know that in a greater way today and going forward, in Jesus’ name, amen.

September 4, 2022
Stand Firm in the Lord

In this sermon, Khaleef Crumbley teaches from Philippians 4:1-9 how a Christian stands firm in the Lord. Khaleef Crumbley explains six principles from the text:

1) Live in harmony with other believers in the Lord
2) Always be joyful
3) Cultivate a gentle spirit
4) Do not be anxious for anything
5) Pray transparently to God in all matters
6) Meditate on God and the things of God

Full Transcript:

Good morning Calvary. It seems a little different to be not able to see your faces and hear you. I was looking at the livestream earlier and just appreciate all those who have been praying, praying for me, praying for us as we try to bring this to you, just praying that God’s will will be done. We appreciate all of you.

You heard our Scripture, Philippians 4:1-9. I actually had something else in mind to preach about, felt it was important for us to see what the Lord has to say about our current situation. Greg has given us some great things to think about how to respond to this as Christians. So we are going to continue to look at some of those things.

So this passage is probably most famous for verse 6:

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

But the key to understanding this actually lies in verse one. In verse one, we receive a command to stand firm in the Lord. The picture of standing firm is really what Paul expands on throughout the rest of this chapter, but particularly the first 9 verses. What does that look like for a Christian to stand firm? We get this picture and actually in Psalm chapter 1, we’re going to look at it a couple times today. Psalm 1:3 lets us know that the righteous:

will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither;

So we have this picture of the righteous one being like a tree that can’t be moved. It’s firmly planted. There’s that word again. We’re to stand firm. Not only is it firmly planted just to some random place, but it’s by streams of water. So it’s getting nourishment. That nourishment allows it to yield fruit in its season. The things that are supposed to be developed in this tree are developed at the time that is supposed to be developed. This is really important for us as believers to look at. So with this image in mind, we need to go to the Lord in prayer and we going to look at what it looks like to be a Christian that stands firm, that is spiritually mature, spiritually stable, that is immovable no matter what’s going on around him.

So first, let’s approach the throne. Our Father God, we just want to thank You for Your Word, that it can give us hope, that it brings life and encouragement. We pray, God, that You would move our hearts that we can obey the commands that are found here. We pray that not only would we be able to obey them, but that we would be able to encourage others to do the same. So we pray that You’d use us for Your glory. And I pray right now that You would speak to us, Lord. Give us what we need in this hour. We ask this in Christ’s name and for His sake. Amen.

So Paul lists five, some will say six ways that we can stand firm. Starting in verses 2 and 3, the first thing he says is to live in harmony with other believers.

I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to live in harmony in the Lord. Indeed, true companion, I ask you also to help these women who have shared my struggle in the cause of the gospel, together with Clement also and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.

So the first thing he says is: if you’re going to stand firm as a believer no matter what’s going on around you, the first thing you have to do is live in harmony with other believers. Now he says that these two women share his struggle in the cause of the gospel. Then he said them and others find their names in the book of life. He’s talking about believers. He’s talking about strong believers who worked alongside of him in the struggle to bring the gospel to many, and then probably even to minister to those who came to faith in Christ. But there is a problem. Something happened and they’re not getting along. The issue is so big. The issue was so dramatic that it got back to Paul. These believers who fought alongside Paul for the sake of the gospel now aren’t getting along, so much so that it gets back to Paul who’s in another country right now. He calls them each separately and says: I urge you and I urge you to come together. Then he calls his true companion, who most think is one of the elders in the church, and says: you need to step in and make sure that they restore fellowship.

So we see how important it is to Paul that before we talk about anything else about standing firm, you need to have a right relationship with each other. It is so opposite of what the world’s reaction is, especially at a time like this. Usually the world reacts to uncertainty with angry attacks or blaming others or trying to take advantage of others. Even at this time now with the Coronavirus spreading and all of the things happening that we have to do to prevent the spread, we see these things. We see people are throwing angry attacks at each other. We see if you go on Facebook and the other social media, every other post is some sarcastic meme about people who are trying to be prepared and how they’re overreacting. Or they’re being hypocrites because they’re not worried about the flu. Or they’ve taken toilet tissue, even though the the symptoms don’t involve anything with a gastric system. We see all these things coming out of it and that’s not what should be true of us. As believers, we should not be having angry attacks toward people, no matter what they’re thinking. Even if they did something to us, and we’ll look at that in a minute, but Paul says no matter what the issue is, you need to live in harmony with each other.

Notice what he says: live in harmony in the Lord. That’s very important. This love and harmony must come from my heart. This isn’t just: I’m going to avoid that person but you know what, we don’t work well together. So I just will never work with them. That’s not what the Bible is calling for. That’s not what Paul is saying that a Christian should do when they want to be mature. I want to stand firm. He said this needs to come from your heart. This needs to be in the Lord. It’s not just saying: I’ll keep my comments to myself, or I’ll share them with other people that I know won’t get back to them. This is actually our hearts resolving ourselves to going after this person in love. We have the love of God inside of us that we can love each other. Jesus said that’s the way people will know My disciples – by your love for each other.

So the first thing is to live in harmony with other believers and to pursue this. The second thing he says is to always be joyful. Always be joyful. Verse 4 says:

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!

He says again as if that’s the first time he said it, as if he said it there in verse four and said: okay I’m going to repeat myself here. But if you go back to chapter 3 verse 1, he says it there. In chapter 3 verse 1, he says: I don’t mind repeating myself. Back in chapter 3, He says: I don’t care about repeating myself to tell you to have joy. That’s not a big deal for me, and it’s a safeguard for you. So he comes again in chapter 4 and says: I want you to stand firm. What do I have to do this? How do I stand firm, Paul? You don’t know what’s all going on around me. The first thing is you get along with each other, and you pursue that. You pursue living in harmony, being able to work together, to think together.

Then you’re always joyful. This rejoicing is a command. What do we call it when we have a command and we don’t follow that command? I can’t see you but hopefully everybody’s typing in the word “sin”. So if you are not rejoicing, you are in sin. Now, joy has many meanings even in the Word of God. So we need to make a distinction here. There is a feeling of joy which is not what’s being commanded. Feelings or emotions are usually a reaction. You don’t go to someone in mourning and say: you should be showing joy. You should be feeling joy that your loved one has passed away. You should be feeling joy that this dreadful thing has happened. That’s not what the Bible is saying. Actually in the book of Ecclesiastes, it says that the time of morning is better than a time of celebration. So it’s not talking about this feeling of joy, but is talking about an action. Rejoicing – we’re commanded to rejoice. No matter what the feeling is, we are commanded to rejoice.

How can we rejoice? Well, look at what it says. What are we rejoicing in? We rejoice in the Lord. Not rejoice in your circumstances, rejoice in your bank account, or rejoice in the fact that you can work from home for the next couple weeks. You’re rejoicing in the Lord. Notice how I didn’t mention anything about kids being home, because I don’t think any parents are rejoicing about that right now. But the Bible calls us to rejoice in the Lord, and and that’s what’s key. We’re not rejoicing in the situation. We’re rejoicing in spite of it because we have a God that’s bigger than the situation.

We kind of see this play out in Matthew chapter 5, in the section that’s normally called the Beatitudes. Verses 11 and 12, Jesus says:

Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.

He calls them blessed, but what does he tell them to do in verse 12?

Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great;

He says when you are insulted and persecuted and people will say evil false things about you, you in your response should be to rejoice. Just like back in our text in Ephesians 4, we are to rejoice no matter what’s going on around us because we are rejoicing in the Lord.

My wife the other day shared with me that some clever Christians have decided to take you know, Coronavirus is being called COVID-19. They decided to take that to mean “Christ Over Viruses and Infectious Diseases”. So I guess we should make some t-shirt or something like that about Covid and how kind of like Y2K was “Yield to the King” and do something like that.

But this is the attitude that we have to have, while being wise and taking precaution. We have to remember who’s on the throne. And we rejoice because we are in the Lord. This isn’t for everybody. If anybody is listening to this and watching this and you don’t know the Lord, you don’t know. You don’t rejoice. You have nothing to rejoice in, except maybe the fact that you’re hearing this and you can still come to faith in Christ, and you’ll have time. But those of you who are in the Lord, who are in Christ, not only can we rejoice, but we are commanded to rejoice.

So the first thing you want to do is live in harmony with other believers. The second thing is to always be joyful, always be rejoicing. The third thing, and I’m going through these quickly because I want to focus on the fourth thing, is cultivate a gentle spirit. In Ephesians 4:5, the first part of it says:

Let your gentle spirit be known to all men.

Now, the word translated gentle here is “epieikes”. It’s a very difficult one to translate. Now I’m not great at translating Greek, but it’s difficult even for the scholars. So much so, I looked at 5 different Bible translations and got five different words in english for this. One translates it a gentle spirit. Another says reasonableness. Another says moderation. One says graciousness. And another said gracious spirit. But from those five, you kind of get the idea. It’s a few things that are packed into this word. One is the idea of being reasonable when someone is dealing with you or requesting something from you. So this idea that you’re easy to work with. Again, what are we talking about? Being able to stand firm no matter what’s going on around you. And what does Paul say? You have to be easy to work with. It doesn’t seem like it would fit. You would just think he would paint everything as a soldier, like he did in Ephesians chapter 6, when he said put on the armor of God to fight against spiritual attacks. But here, he tells us to cultivate gentle spirit.

So be easy to work with. Be someone that is a pleasure to work with, to request something of. There’s a selflessness that comes from this, that when you ask something of me, my first response isn’t: what do I have to lose? What am I giving up? That’s the attitude. That’s this beauty, the sweetness behind this type of person.

It also counts the idea of being considerate of others, to the point of waving your own rights. In this country, we are very very very high on the idea of rights and exercising our rights. Is there many things that you have the legal right to do, but that are ungodly. There are many things where you may actually be right in a situation, but you should still humble yourself to the point that you accept less than what you think you’re owed or think that you’re due. There are times where you may have a right to claim something, and it could be something small.

I was in the nursery last week. One of the kids kept playing with a toy. Whenever he would play with any type of toy, there was another kid younger that would come and try to take it. And this child was two years old, just kind of sat back and let them. I want to play with this right now and I grabbed it first, so I technically have a right to it. But this person wants it and I’ll just let them have it. Okay, go ahead. Take the toy. You play with it for three seconds, slobber on it, and you’re done. And then I move to a new one and you come and slobber on that one. A two year old gave us a great example of what it means to have this gentle spirit, to consider others more than ourselves, which is also another commandment in Scripture.

There many of us out there who are doing things simply because we have the right to do it, not because they’re the most godly way to handle a situation. We must step back and realize – we’re not doing what God commands. I am not being the type of person who can stand firm when something happened. It’s not just about catastrophes going on around us, but when something comes against us personally, are we going to revert to anger or frustration or discouragement, or are we going to be godly in those time? That’s also what it means to stand firm.

Also, we have to be gracious to those who have wronged us. Even when someone now owes us something because they have wronged us, many times we can look at the grace and mercy of God and we can decide that just because someone deserves something, so to speak, because they did something to us, it doesn’t put us in a place to now exercise that judgment. We are sinners and we sinned against God in ways that we can’t even fathom. We can’t imagine how horrible our sin is to a perfect, holy, good, just, righteous God. And God still gave us mercy. Then we saw Christ come down and bear the penalty, bear the wrath of our sin so that we can be with God now. And now we want to hold petty grudges against other people. So Paul says: don’t be that type of person. Don’t do that. And we have the gentleness of Christ. We have the grace and mercy of God, to look at His example.

So first, we live in harmony with other believers if we want to stand firm. We should always be joyful. Third thing is we should cultivate a gentle spirit. Now fourth: he says don’t be anxious. If you want to be able to stand firm in the Lord, don’t be anxious. Look at the end of verse 5 going into verse 6:

The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

I have to say, I kind of wish that the division of the verses was a little different here, so that “the Lord is near” and “be anxious for nothing” were together. But it was just a choice that someone made. To be honest, it fits in both places by the fact pretty much every command that we have, the Lord is near can be attached to it and it would make sense.

This idea of nearness is talking about the Lord actually physically being near to us. It’s not the Lord is near because He’s coming. This is happening soon. This is the Lord is near to you. In John 15, He says abide in Me as I abide in you. This whole picture of a vine and branches, all over the Bible we get this picture of calm and ease because the Lord is near to us. Just one in Psalm 119:151, it says:

You are near, O Lord, and all Your commandments are truth.

Here we see the Lord is near to us. What does it mean? Everything His Word says is true. We know that, right? We say that. We know the Bible is true, right. Great. Thanks. I woke up early, tuned in to hear the Bible is true. But what he is talking about here, what is brought out, is everything about God’s character – His strength, His power, His wisdom, His goodness, His love towards His children, the promises are all true. He is trustworthy, and we should take comfort in that. Why? Because we have a God that not only is powerful enough and is willing, but He’s able. We don’t have a God that just sits there and He doesn’t care what happens on this earth. He cares greatly. He cares about each one of us. And that should give us comfort to know that He cares about us and He’s powerful to step into our situation and gives us grace to handle it. Even if He doesn’t change the situation for us, we get grace to handle it. And we know we can because we are in Christ. Psalm chapter 1 again, verse 2, says that the believer’s delight is in the law of the Lord. And it says:

and in His law he meditates day and night.

So He doesn’t meditate on news. He doesn’t go to CDC’s website ten times a day, trying to get the latest update. He isn’t reading everything he can get his hands on about the coronavirus. It’s good to be wise, but the meditation is on the law of the Lord, because he loves it. And we are to meditate on it day and night. We’ll see that this comes up again a few verses down, this concept of meditating and thinking on the things of God.

So another thing we’re to do here, part of not being anxious, is to pray with transparency. So the first is just to remember that the Lord is near. The second part of not being anxious is to pray with transparency. We are to, in everything, let our requests be made known to God. If you are a part of the top-ranked home group, the Somerset home group, you know that we have been going through prayer. And almost every time we have a discussion about prayer, we talk about transparency and praying everything that’s in your heart to God. Every fear, every anxious thought, every frustration, anything that we have that we feel, every bit of anger that we have, every question, every doubt that we feel, we are to be praying these things to God.

There’s two things that he mentions in prayer. Well three. The first two he says we offer, the Greek definite article is there, so we offered the prayer and the supplication. So the prayer is just a general prayer for blessing. You’re asking God to come into a situation, or you asking for God’s wisdom. The supplication is to ask for deliverance from or to avoid altogether a negative situation. That’s usually what the supplications is for. We can ask for blessing in that as well. But the supplication is more direct. In it though, the word that’s used for supplication actually has the idea of begging in it. It usually has this picture of someone who’s in distress, begging God to come into a situation, thanking God for deliverance or begging God to hold off something from happening.

In Ephesians 6, at the end of this great discourse about spiritual warfare and the armor of God, Paul says in 6:18:

With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints.

The word there “petition” is the same word that’s used for supplication. It’s this idea of, again, begging. So we see this here, prayer and supplication, prayer and petition.

And in all these prayers, what should they have in it? Thanksgiving. We are to approach God in every prayer with thanksgiving no matter what we are praying about. In 1 Thessalonians 5:18, it says:

in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

The promise here is that when we bring everything to the Lord in prayer, we will experience God’s peace. Now this is different than the idea of having peace with God. That really talks about us being God’s enemies and being able to now sit with Him as friends and sons and daughters and have peace with Him. There’s peace between us and God now when there wasn’t before, when we had God’s wrath over us. But here, he’s talking about a peace that fills us. We can experience God’s peace. And what does he say about this peace? He says it surpasses all comprehension. It goes beyond any human logic. You can’t convince someone enough to have this type of peace. I can’t go to you and give you enough data to tell you there’s something great coming. I can’t give you enough data to say you don’t have to worry. This peace comes from God and it surpasses all human logic and understanding. We don’t even know how we can have peace. We look back at situations and say: I don’t know how I made it through that without having a nervous breakdown. I don’t know how I was able to sustain myself. You weren’t. God sustained you with this peace that you can’t even understand. We should be meditating on God’s Word and praying about everything with thanksgiving. And when we do that, our anxiety will be replaced with peace. It’s not peace alongside the anxiety. The anxiety will go because he says this peace will keep watch over our hearts, guard our hearts and minds, so that the fear and anxiety can’t come back. It get kicked out and then God puts guards up in front of our hearts and it can’t return as long as we’re doing these things.

But the moment we start focusing on everything around us and we forget about God, we forget about His promises, we forget about His goodness, then the anxiety returns. And then we have to go through all of this again. Or when sin enters our life and we’re not in fellowship with God, then the anxiety and the fear and the doubt and the mistrust comes back. And then the angry thoughts come back. Then we start questioning ourselves and then we start saying: we can’t cope. We can’t make it. Then we start looking for worldly ways to get around it, and worldly solutions to our spiritual problems.

So in order for us to stand firm, we need to live in harmony with other believers. We need to be rejoicing at all times, no matter what our emotions say. We need to cultivate a gentle spirit. And we need to not be anxious by remembering the Lord is near and by praying to God with transparency. Then the last thing is that we need to meditate on the things of God. Because if we don’t, those feelings will come right back.

So in verse 8, he says:

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

I wish I had a whole sermon just to unpack each one of these things, but I don’t. So let’s look through what he wants us to think about. What are the things that we should keep in our minds that will help us to stand firm, to help us to be stable, to help us to be immovable? Whatever is true. In John 17:17, Jesus is praying to the Father and says:

Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.

Right there, what do I meditate on? You meditate on the Word of God. You think about the Word of God. I wish I had a sermon for this, but when we come to the Word of God, whether it’s hearing it preached, reading it, or in any other form having it explained to us, we are to meditate on that. Don’t hear a sermon from your local church, from your pulpit, and then run and say – now what Greg told you about John macArthur speaking today may be a little different because it’s something very specific- but don’t run and say: now I got to listen to John MacArthur. And then every day this week, I’m going to put on five different podcasts. And let me hear what Al Mohler has to say in his briefing about this. Let me watch Wretched Radio and watch some guy walking around in a furnished room that nobody sits in. Let me do all of these things and absorb this and all the podcasts that I have and then all the blog posts. And we do that and we don’t meditate. No, those things are good resources. They’re nice. But meditate on the Word of God so that it can actually come into our hearts. What does it say in Psalm 119:11:

Your Word have I hid in my heart,

You can’t hide something in your heart if as soon as you hear it, you’re on to the next thing to hear. Hiding it in your heart takes time. And why did he have it hidden in his heart? That he wouldn’t sin against the Lord. So we meditate on the Word of God. We think about it. We wonder. We ask questions about it. We pray about it. We read about it. We talk to people about it until we really understand it to the point that it’s in us, and it’s impacting our desires and even our reactions.

Whatever is honorable – this really means worthy of respect or dignified. So things that are sacred and godly, not things that are base and profane, things that are low as far as their value to us. We should think about what is right, what conforms to God’s standards. Think about those things. I think this brings a lot of wisdom to the idea of consuming sin for entertainment and the question of if I’m not sinning and I’m not being affected by it. Well, the Bible tells us what to meditate on, what to think about constantly, what to have going in our minds if we want to stand firm. And so I’m not saying no one can ever watch whatever. I’m not here to judge all the things you watch and don’t watch or listen to or anything else. But keep this in mind. Is the bulk of your thoughts and your meditation on these types of things, or is it on things that are frivolous and just a waste of time and will just burn away? They’re like chaff that just blow away in the wind.

Whatever is pure – so whatever is not mixed with impurity. Whatever is undefiled. That’s what you should be thinking about if you want to stand firm. Whatever is lovely, whatever it is kind, or whatever promotes peace. Whatever is of good repute. The things that are spoken well of or thought well of. Now we don’t just take the world’s standards. We’re not talking about spiritually righteous things like speaking out against sin and the world thinks that’s evil. But if the world thinks if something is evil, typically we should stay away from it unless it was commanded by Scripture to do it. You know, there’s things that the world says is wrong and Christians want to do. Just like Dave mentioned in his sunday school, in 1 Corinthians 5 when the man was sleeping with his stepmother and they didn’t want to kick them out of the church. And Paul even says: this is something that even the unbelievers won’t speak about, it’s so evil. Those in the church were doing it and were proud of themselves that they were allowing it.

Paul sums up this list with two words – whatever is excellent, whatever is worthy of praise. And that’s what we should be meditating on. That’s what we should be thinking about. Meditating on these will cause us to have a life that pleases God in our thoughts, emotions, reactions, speech, and ultimately our behavior. Then in verse 9, he says, which is kind of a sixth thing which I would just say obedience to God, but I’m not treating it as a sixth thing. You can keep your list of five. I hate lists that have even numbers. It’s just so wrong. So keep it at five, but just remember verse nine:

The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

How do you get the peace of God? It’s not just right thinking. That’s not good enough, but it must lead to right living. We can’t just be hearers of the word, but we have to be doers of the word as well. We can’t just hear what God says. We can’t just know it, but it has to be part of our lives. It has to be what we live out. It has to be the way that we react to things.

The last thing he says here is the God of peace will be with you. Now why is that important? He’s showing us how to drive away and how to keep away anxiety this whole time. Listen to this promise: if we cultivate godly characteristics with the help of the Spirit and the direction of the Word of God, we cultivate godly thinking and godly living, our hearts and minds – this talks about the totality of us, who we are, will be guarded by the peace of God and the God of peace. That sounds really deep. Our hearts and minds will be guarded by the peace of God and the God of peace. Anxiety, fear, doubt, worry can’t stand in a situation like that.

This is how we can have comfort, calm, and confidence no matter what’s going on around us. It’s not by ignoring the things. That’s not by saying it doesn’t matter. It’s not going to happen. Who cares, it’s not a big deal. And it’s not by saying: we’re panicking, worrying, and I have to use earthly measure in order to combat this thing. It’s not that either. But it’s trusting in the Lord and using the means He’s given us around us, being wise, and ultimately seeking to bless others as well with this. My prayer for all of us is that the God of peace will guard our hearts and minds as well. I’ll just show you how important this thought is. Paul closes so many books with that, and we’re actually going to close this with that. Hebrews 13:20 says:

Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord,

In Romans, he says in 15:33:

Now the God of peace be with you all.

Romans 16:20:

The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.

1 Thessalonians 5:23:

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely,

2 Corinthians 13:11:

and the God of love and peace will be with you.

Calvary, as we go through this time, as we go through any time in our lives, just remember we have promise that the peace of God will guard our hearts and minds and that the God of peace will be with us. And if that doesn’t dispel your anxiety, and I’m being serious, if that doesn’t dispel anxiety, then look into your heart and go to God in prayer. Go through these things and make sure that you’re doing each one. That you’re living in harmony with other believers, that you don’t have any sin between you and someone else is keeping you from the Lord. Always be joyful. Cultivate a gentle spirit. Don’t be anxious. Bring everything to God in prayer, transparent prayer, remembering He is near. And meditate on the things of God. Amen.

Let’s go to the Lord in prayer. Father, we just want to thank You for Your peace. Thank You God, that we can know You as the God of peace. We thank You God, that we can experience peace in our hearts when everyone and everything in the world around us is telling us that there will be calamity, that there will be the stress. I pray, Lord, that You will help us cultivate the attitudes and characteristics, the mindsets that are in your Word so that we can be guarded by Your peace. And I pray that You will bless us all to stay connected to You and connected to each other, even as we’re meeting virtually. And I pray that You will be glorified and in Christ’s name. Amen.

March 15, 2020
Becoming Like Jesus

Answers Bible Curriculum Year 3 Quarter 4 Lesson 10

This week in Sunday school, we’re taking a closer look at what the New Testament epistles have to say about the Christian’s growth in holiness. What is the difference between positional and progressive sanctification? How is your own effort key in the process of becoming holy? Why is the battle for holiness in the Christian life so important? Please join us as we consider these crucial questions and more.

Our main texts for this lesson are 1 Peter 1:13-16, Philippians 3:12-16, and Ephesians 6:10-20.

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idea of children of God being a child of God and then there’s also the term slaves one who has been bought by Christ wholly belonging to him fully serving him that’s another way to describe Christians but one of the most common terms if not the most common term is actually the term saint now biblically what is a saint if someone tell me it’s another term for believer but it’s the idea of holy one it means someone who is holy or set apart so a saint is a holy one and the term is used throughout the New Testament and even the Old Testament to describe believers and the meaning of this term has become mutilated a bit through the ages today in a Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches a saint is someone who’s been formally recognized and voted on canonized as a super holy person he does he’s done miracles he or she and he has earned great religious merit before God and so these churches the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches they believe that Christians should venerate and pray to these superhero Christians these things supposedly because of their great standing with God they are able to intercede for regular believers lower believers with God and cause God to provide for the needs of those those Christians of course these beliefs are wrong at multiple levels but they have effective what our society thinks of when it comes to Saints to most people a saint is someone who is super holy who has arrived to a level of godliness that mere mortals dare not even dream and even if someone insists that he’s a good person he will say but I’m no saint no one would want to claim to be a saint and yet I think as you’re already familiar listen to how the Bible uses the term Saint a Roman 1615 Greek fella lukas and julia nereus and his sister and olympus and all the saints who are with them or Ephesians 1:1 Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God to the Saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus Ephesians 3:8 to me the very least of All Saints this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ or Ephesians 4:11 to 12 and he gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as pastors and teachers for the equipping of the Saints for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ or Hebrews 13 24 actions these first three commands and reactions have to do with holiness well notice the latter two commands these second are these fourth and fifth commands they’re introduced under the metaphor of the family Peter says as obedient children children to whom about children to God here again we see that theme we’ve talked about previously as Christians we have become children of God and therefore ought to be obedient to our Father what does this obedience look like the two commands that follow clarify that for us and they both have the idea of conformity on the one hand Peter says do not be conformed to the former lusts in your ignorance I’m not the passive verb here that Peter uses do not be conformed so the actor is not the Christian it’s someone else trying to conform the Christian the Peter’s indicating there are forces or people or entities trying to conform you to your old lusts that characterized you in your ignorance now when we’re Christians ignorant and conformed to their old lusts what what was this former state this characterized the person before he believed in Christ this is the person before salvation Peter says don’t sit by and let forces try to push you into that old mold of what you were before you were saved don’t be conformed back into the image of your previous life where you followed your lusts and ignorance instead gird up your mind be sober grasp your short hope don’t let yourself be pressed into the old image of sin and slavery to your fleshly desires and notice the term ignorance that Peter uses he’s making clear for us that this old way that we lived this is before we understood the truth before we understood a reality before we understood what life really is before we actually encountered God Peter says don’t go back that way don’t be conformed into the image or the mold of that old way now if he has to say this that implies that there’s a need for this command this says this is a problem for Christians we’re going to experience this these forces trying to do this to us we can’t just sit by it we can’t just be passive or else we’re going to be at the mercy of these forces we see then that and that’s the sanctification process that is really being discussed here there’s not one where the believer can afford to be passive he must actively resist conformity to his old life and this fits with that idea preparing your minds for action you’re gonna have to actively resist being pushed back into the old mold but it’s not just resistance because notice the second part says do not be conformed to your former way but be holy yourselves in all your behavior be holy be set apart be pure be righteous and what parts of Lux in all parts because he says in all your behavior this is to be comprehensive well why notice the answer that Peter gives we have a new pattern of conformity don’t be like your old evil ignorant self led away by unthinking desires but be like what be like the holy one who called you be conformed to the image of God this has always been the pattern of God’s people Peter ends this little section by saying by quoting you shall be holy for I am holy now where does that appear in the Bible that concept appears in many places but it goes all the way back to the Pentateuch most famously in Leviticus God gives these various commands about cleanness and uncleanness or now what is right and what is wrong for the people of visual to do and then he follows it up by saying be holy for I am holy I am the Lord your God I am holy therefore you are to be God’s designed for his people has always been an is always that they should be conformed to his image not to the image of the world not to their old image that they followed when they were ignorant in their lusts they are going to be conformed it’s the image of his holiness I would made these observations let’s now take some of these details we have observed and try and answer some questions of interpretation what is the revelation of Jesus Christ in verse 13 this is not referring to the Word of God in the sense of the Bible this is referring to the second coming of Christ when he is revealed because he appears on the earth Peter says set your hope on that that’s the grace at that time you’re going to be experiencing the grace the vindication the blessing the redemption the glorification because Christ himself will come he will be revealed to all the world that’s what Peter’s talking about there and you can see the connection to apocalypse is very apt actually in that sense second question why the emphasis on the inner man in these verses what does that have to do with the topic at hand says gird up the loins of your mind be sober and set your hope this is instructive because it shows us that sanctification even progressive sanctification is a process that must be led by changes in the inner man you have to orient your thinking in a certain way if you’re going to proceed forward on the path of holiness this corresponds well with what Paul writes in Romans 12:2 Romans 12:2 Paul says and do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may prove what the will of God is that which is good and acceptable and perfect we’re going to be holy it’s got to start in the inner man I’ve got to start in our minds hearts Souls those are all terms that describe the inner man the inner person so Peters exhortations to that end they’re very important for us now what is the true standard of holiness for mankind in this passage we can see that it is God Himself being holy or set apart does not mean really becoming good in the eyes of man or meeting some man-made standard what does it even mean fulfilling various Old Testament and New Testament commands you can fulfill certain commands in the Bible and still not be holy because to be holy really means to be like God God is the standard of what is holy and right and good joy if you want to know what God wills for you how he designed you to think believe feel say and do as one of his followers and you must ultimately look to God himself he is the pattern he is the standard this by the way is the reason why all of us are condemned outside of Christ none of us can reach the standard of God he’s perfectly good all of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God as Romans says this is why we need a substitute to protect us from God’s wrath he’s too holy he’s too good to accept anything that fails to meet his own standard cannot be with unholiness because he is so holy if he did he would compromise himself but God is not only the standard of holiness the goal of our sanctification is to be transformed into the very image of God he’s not just the standard by which we assess ourselves he is the goal he is the endpoint of our transformation we we desire we are designed to resemble it to become like the very image of God this is very similar to what Paul writes in 2nd Corinthians 3:18 so Corinthians 3:18 speaking of Christ Paul says but we all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory just as from the Lord the spirit what is the goal of our progressive sanctification it is to become like God it is to become like Jesus we are to resemble we are to reflect the image of God and wasn’t that our original design at creation we go back to Genesis 1 we hear that God made man in God’s image man is an image bearer of God he is to reflect the glory the nature of God he is a monument to display the Lord but that image bearing function was marred by the fall and by sin we couldn’t we couldn’t properly manifest the image of God because we had rebelled against God but through Christ as we are saved we are restored to that image bearing function we again can show God’s glory to the universe as we resemble God and as we seek progressive sanctification before God and as we’ve already seen that is our ultimate end what is the hope that John the Apostle directs us to in first John 3 he says when we look about what if when we look at consider our destiny in the future we don’t know what we will be but we do know that we will be like God why because we will see him as he is and that’s something to motivate believers one day we will be conformed fully to the image of God and His image is a beautiful image and we want to reflect it now bearing the image of God means that holiness should be an increasing reality in our lives but who’s responsible for this who’s responsible for our being conformed into the image of God from this passage what’s the answer we are we are responsible to be conformed into God’s image yes all the powers from God he’s the one who’s at work he’s the one ultimately he is conforming us into his image but our obedience our wills our striving is the means otherwise Peter wouldn’t be giving these commands he tells us you’ve got to buckle up your mind you’ve got to think soberly you’ve got to set your hope on Christ’s appearing so that you can pursue the hard work of progressive sanctification you have a responsibility in this if you sit back do nothing and wait for God to transform you you’re not going to be transformed into God’s image you’re going to be conformed back into the old image of your flesh because those forces are already at work against you if you do nothing to conform yourself into God’s image and the forces that are against you will conform you into your old image you see sanctification is not like recovering from an illness we’re resting and inaction is the key to getting well no sanctification as is made clear throughout non some of the metaphors the Apostles use sanctification is like athletic training strenuous activity is the way to your goal you must build up the muscles you must exercise you must strive if you’re going to be well so brothers and sisters at Calvary don’t let yourselves be conformed into your old image of sin but as God’s child be conformed into God’s image as you pursue holiness in your life this is something that you must do now if your own effort is key you might be asking can I strive enough to reach perfection or if not if I can’t become perfect no matter how much I try what point it’s the goal is to be like Christ if I can’t actually reach that goal then why even try well let’s now hear from Paul turn over to Philippians chapter 3 believers chapter 3 verses 12 to 16 we’ve been in Philippians lately so you might remember what this letter is all about it’s a letter of commendation and encouragement from Paul to the church at Philippi there’s a great relationship with this church Paul’s in prison but he’s commending them encouraging them also exhorting them to be unified and humble service and with the humble attitude of Christ there were some conflicts and divisions in the church that Paul wanted to address and in Chapter three of Philippians Paul warns the church against false teachers who want to add good works and ritual observance to the gospel of faith Paul counters in the beginning of the passage and right before our text true salvation only comes by faith in the righteousness of Christ on the believers behalf moreover Paul goes on to say that he himself has sought to get rid of anything and everything in his mind and in his life that prevents him from knowing Christ and being conformed into the image of Christ I’m laying everything aside so that I can be conformed into the image of Christ I want to know him and his power the power of his resurrection and the Fellowship of his sufferings and right after that is our text so look at verses 12 to 16 Philippians 3 verses 12 to 16 not that I have already obtained it where I’ve already become perfect but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus brethren I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet but one thing I do forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus let us therefore as many as are perfect have this attitude and if and anything you have a different attitude God will reveal that also to you however let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained let’s observe a few things on about this passage as we noted Paul has just been speaking about his desire to know and be conformed to Christ but Paul immediately in the beginning of our text denies that even he a chosen apostle great worker for the cause of Christ he denies that he has fulfilled his desires to become perfect he does not know Christ perfectly he has not been conformed to Christ image person perfectly three times he expressly denies that we might say oh how depressing not even you Paul you’re not conformed to the image of Christ perfectly what hope is there for the rest of us but notice Paul’s reaction to this he does not say yeah it hasn’t happened so I’m just gonna give up no we don’t see that from Paul we don’t see him become jaded we don’t seem become depressed we don’t see him become frustrated instead notice is firm resolve and incessant action verse 12 I press on verse 13 forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead verse 14 I press on why Paul watch so much effort if you can’t reach full perfection well he gives us some reasons verse 12 so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold up by Christ Jesus but verse 13 for the prize of the upward call of God and Christ Jesus he’s got reasons to keep going and he will keep going he will press on that’s pretty intense but someone might say Paul maybe it’s just you maybe he says if you have a different attitude God’s gonna show you and let’s keep living by the standard we’ve already attained so we’ve observed these things from Paul let’s ask some interpretation questions now Paul says he presses on to lay hold for the very reason that Christ laid hold of Paul so we should ask why did Christ lay hold of Paul he didn’t have a plan for his life what is Jesus’s plan for Paul’s life that he would suffer and be a witness right in holiness Jesus’s plan his purpose his goal in laying hold of Paul was to make Paul an image bearer of Christ who was going to display God’s glory through Paul is going to display salvation through Paul and he was gonna kind of form Paul into Christ’s image and this goes right along with some of the teachings that we see from Paul and others in the New Testament we were saved unto good works we are saved or being glory – glory to God we are saved to be conformed into Christlikeness that was the reason that Christ laid hold of Paul Paul says for that same reason I want to press on Paul says Christ purposed in saving me was so that I could display him be conformed to him I want to fulfill that same purpose not contempt to stay as I am Christ wasn’t content for me to stay as I was he saved me he began this process of sanctification and I want to continue in that process I wanted to fill the purpose for which I was called and for which Christ laid hold of me plucked me out of darkness I press on for that same reason and he also says forgetting what lies behind what lies behind for Paul to answer this question we need to remember what came before in the context when Paul says I have laid aside everything I counted all loss the sake of Christ now what was included in that certainly his old sins his failures his inability to reach God’s standard in the past he lays that aside but also his seeming successes his external achievements his his Jewish pedigree he lays that aside to his whole old life is being laid aside so that he might reach forward to what goes ahead what lies ahead anything that gets in the way of pursuing Christ Paul lays aside there’s no point Paul Paul indicates there’s no point in dwelling incessantly on the past either in its victories or in its failures the mind must continue to look forward onward is the heart cry not I can’t believe I did that terrible thing or I missed the good old days that’s not Paul’s attitude I press on he says for what lies ahead part of what lies ahead is the goal for the prize of the upward call now what is this Paul says he he strains ahead for the goal for the prize of the upward call well Paul’s goal was already stated again in the previous context he wants to know Christ and be conformed to the image of Christ that’s his goal but this goal is itself a prize he strains towards this goal strains forward to this goal of Christ’s likeness he wants that he desires that he sees great joy in that but there’s more you see the concept of reward for faithfulness to Christ is all over Paul’s letters as it is indeed all over the New Testament for pursuing Christ’s likeness there will be a reward you may remember Jesus’s words in the Sermon on the Mount he’s talking about the difference between a religious hypocrite and a truly righteous person and he says your heavenly Father who sees what is done in secret he will do that and then he will reward you when you don’t look for the reward of men you will be rewarded by God Hebrews 11:6 goes so far to say and without faith it is impossible to please him that is God for he who comes to God must believe that he is that his God is and that he is a rewarder of those who seek Him he who comes to God must believe that God is and that God is where water of those who seeketh that’s basic to being a Christian and to following Christ you stream forward for the reward that is with God what is their reward New Testament describes it in various ways as does the Old Testament various aspects to this reward there’s Christ’s commendation well tell him good and faithful servant their crowns of victory white robes rule with Christ forever that’s all part of it and of course being made into the very image of Christ and seeing Christ as he is having a seat at the table with Christ all of that is part of the reward that’s what Paul’s striving for he not only presses on in gratefulness for Christ’s saving him and not only presses on in a desire to fulfill the original purpose of his being saved but he also presses on in the process of progressive sanctification that he might obtain the great heavenly reward as with Christ the maximum reward so as Paul runs ever forward in the Christian race the eyes of his mind are always looking upward toward Christ and toward Christ reward now what is Paul getting at in verses 15 is 16 these verses are a little puzzling there are a couple different ways we can interpret them my view in these verses that Paul is being a little sarcastic because you see we’re in the context of dealing with false teachers and false teachers often claim that they are able to attain perfection either through unlocking some secret knowledge or by strict adherence to some law or to various rituals we can become perfect if we just try hard enough or if we have this secret knowledge the Paul says look if you guys were really perfect if you guys were really mature if you were really at a high level of faith and righteousness you would understand that this is the attitude that you are to have this is the way you should think and behave you should be following my example don’t tell me you’ve reached some special enlightenment and that you no longer need to pursue holiness that’s not what God’s mature people do and don’t tell me you’ve already reached sinlessness if you think you’re all if you think you’re sinless just wait for God to show you that you’re not him that you really just need to you need to get back to basic adherence to God’s standard look back to what you’ve already attained and just try and do that you’ll see that you’re not perfect Paul goes on to urge in verse 17 we didn’t read it but it comes right afterwards he says join and following my example and the example of those who think and act like wise follow the pattern you see in me and in those who are like me so then when we think about our own progressive sanctification today we see here our attitude should be the same as Paul’s we should be saying just as he did I’m not perfect yet I’m not where I want to be or even need to be no one can ever be perfect or fully sanctified in this life but I can progress I can fulfill more my calling in Christ therefore I’m not just gonna sit around I’m pressing on I want to please Christ I want to receive the prize I have no time to be caught up in my past successes or failures if those things are going to trip me up get me distracted I can’t state it I have to press forward now press on reach forward to what lies ahead I want to become more like Jesus that is the attitude that we are to have now just to reiterate progressive sanctification is not instant yes salvation is instant we are once and for all regenerated we are once for all save we are once and for all made holy by Christ there’s even an aspect of once for all in our repentance we lay aside the old way our our own kingship of our life but sanctification is a process of putting sin to death casting off wedding tangles and putting on righteousness it’s something that takes time and it takes much effort we’re going to need time to uncover the idolatrous desire and thoughts that are in our heart things that we didn’t even know we had but as we see them we we recognize them for what they are and we cast them away it’s gonna take time it’s gonna take effort to actually learn what is the Lord’s will for us and we learn that in the scriptures it’s gonna take time and effort to unlearn habits of sin and evil patterns of thinking that have become so ingrained in our lives because that’s the way we formerly live or we never had confronted those things before so they’ve become the automatic ways that we react to certain situations we have to unlearn those things and conversely or complimentary to that we need to become trained in righteousness if you look up the term training in the New Testament it’s instructive because you see that that’s that describes the progressive sanctification process we must become trained as disciples of Jesus and when we are fully trained we will be like him Jesus says we have to establish new patterns new righteous habits new righteous patterns of thinking that’s gonna take time that’s gonna take learning and that’s gonna take effort we need help it’s gonna take time and effort to seek the help of those who have understanding and experience and godliness they give this counsel in our walk it’s gonna take time to learn to pray to learn to be dependent on the Lord to learn to trust God in faith and to act on that faith it’s gonna take time for us as we do each one of these things to see Christ and His glory more clearly now that’s not to discourage us from proceeding on the path of progressive sanctification but it is an important reminder that it’s not gonna happen all at once it’s gonna take effort it’s gonna it’s gonna take you doing just as Paul did press on they’re gonna have to keep pressing on but you have God’s full resources to do this God has given you his body the church God has given you his word God has given you his spirits do these things that otherwise be impossible but we have these sources from God so that we can actually press forward we can make progress but the question is do we take advantage of the resources God is the evidence I fear that all too often we are too busy with life and we are too caught up in our own indulgent pleasures to truly pursue sanctification too often we do not have Paul’s attitude of laying aside all those things that untangle and pressing forward we don’t have that attitude and therefore we become ensnared and soon we afflict ourselves with many sorrows we miss out on Christ’s blessings we miss out on eternal rewards and some even become shipwrecked in faith brothers and sisters we have to understand that progressive sanctification is not optional it is not something for just all right that’s the pastor’s thing or that’s what the merit you know certain special Christians do know this is for each one of us you must proceed in this sorrow and joy is for alone blessing but so many sorrows and afflictions that we will experience if we do not you see sanctification is serious business and to emphasize that point a little bit more let’s go to our last passage turn over to Ephesians fusions chapter 6 verses 10 to 20 this isn’t somewhat famous section of Scripture where we hear the armor of God described but these verses are very worth very much worth another look you can close your look now this pastors a little bit longer than some of the other ones I won’t be able to analyze it to the same depth but I do want to point out a few things to you after we read it remember the context of Ephesians Paul is exhorting the Gentile believers in and around Ephesus to live in a way worthy of their great salvation and to overcome the powers of darkness set against them in chapter 6 Paul is giving his final exhortation and applications to this letter and the very last section of application is the one that we’re going to read verses 10 to 20 let’s read it Paul says finally be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might put on the full armor of God so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil for our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers against the powers against the world Force’s of this darkness against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places therefore take up the full armor of God so that you will be able to resist in the evil day and having done everything to stand firm stand firm therefore having girded your loins with truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace in addition to all taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God with all prayer and petition pray at all times in the spirit and with this in view be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints and pray on my behalf that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth to make known the boldness and make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador in Chains that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly as I ought to speak that’s nurse the two things about our passage here in Ephesians the main command over arching hovering over this whole passage is be strong in the Lord and in his strength you will not have sufficient spiritual strength on your own Paul says you need the Lord’s and gaining the Lord’s strength and involves putting on the full armor the full set of armor of God this is armor supplied by God it is armor that comes from God and it is for his people but why do we need this strength why do we need this armor Paul lays forth a very sobering situation in verses 11 to 13 we need this strength and armor because we need to be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil you mean the devil is scheming scheming against you and me scheming against various believers yes he is and I think we often forget this as conservative evangelicals we have a tendency to downplay the devil and the demons because on the one hand we live in a science obsessed society that sees anything involving the spirits or the supernatural to be naive superstition and to because we do know and we’ve heard of certain Christians who become so obsessed with the supernatural that and even the demonic that they cower in fear or they pursue outrageous acts that are never advocated in Scripture trying to exorcise demons are trying to bind Satan and do various things and we don’t want to be part of that and so we we downplay the demonic but brothers and sisters we’ve got to listen to the scripture it tells us here Paul tells us here the devil is scheming against us and notice he has schemes plural doesn’t have just one scheme or even two but many he has multiple angles of approach multiple angles of attempt he’s honed his craft over many centuries his different tried and true ways of getting at believers in fact Paul urges us to consider the real nature of our struggle in verse 12 he says it is not against flesh and blood a flesh and blood that’s just another another way to refer to people our struggle is not against people this is another thing we forget right our struggle is not against bad presidents evil dictators Muslims mass shooters abortionist fornicators political parties homosexuals or even religious skeptics yes they’re involved in our spiritual struggle but according to Paul those people are not our real enemies against whom is our struggle Paul says our struggle against the demonic rulers of this world the evil potentates the exalted spirits that are the ones moving the people of darkness in our world who are in control of this evil world system spirits so exalted in power and authority that they even dwell in heavenly places doesn’t necessarily mean in heaven itself but in though those exalted spheres in the heavenlies in the spiritual aspects in spheres of the universe these are very powerful and exalted beings and they are against us they are the enemies that are ready to assault us in the evil day they desire to ensnare us and they desire to rob us of all our salvation blessings they want to kill steal and destroy they want to deceive us I want to make us ineffective as Christ people and they are very active in their pursuit so what are we going to do we’re just gonna sit back twiddle our thumbs watch TV no we can’t afford that let’s get ready for battle we even must seek to become strong in the Lord we’ve got to put on his full armor you can see how this same truth is connecting to our other passages you cannot afford to be passive there are forces working against you so if you do nothing they will succeed we must become strong in the Lord so that when the evil days come well we do experience days of temptation intense assault we are pushed to doubt and to be discouraged and to be tempted away from the Lord we will not go that way but we will stand firm we will not yield the ground to the enemy we must become strong in the Lord and put on the armor of God now what does it mean to put on the armor of God we don’t have time to look at each piece specifically but I would say it’s a two-fold twofold truth the put on the armor of God means on the one hand to appropriate the gospel of Christ into your life you gird yourself with the Lord’s truth you gird yourself with the Lord’s peace Christ has made me a peace with him you gird yourself with the Lord’s righteousness I am fully righteous in the righteousness of Christ you gird yourself with the Lord’s body of faith you gird yourself for the Lord salvation he has saved me and you gird yourself with the Lord’s word so in one hand is appropriating the gospel of Christ to yourself but on the other hand it is the practical application of the Lord’s gospel in your life through sanctification it’s not only applying the indicative of Scripture to yourself but it is also applying the imperatives you gird yourself with truthfulness also because of the Lord’s truth you become truthful yourself you good yourself with a peacefulness you maintain peace in your relationships especially in the church you gird yourself with a life of righteousness you gird yourself with trust in God you gird yourself with faith you gird yourself with that confidence in the Lord salvation in every trial and temptation I know the Lord won’t tempt me beyond when I’m able to bear and he will provide the deliverance you gird yourself with the very wielding of God’s Word as a weapon against the lies of the devil you respond just as your Lord did when you see these here these think needs encounter these false statements made against God just as Jesus did in the wilderness you responded with Scripture and belief in that scripture you say no I’m not gonna rely on myself completely I know my own responsibility but the scriptures say I’m to live on the very words of God I’m to wait on the Lord’s provision I’m to be dependent on him so this both of these aspects that are involved in putting on our armor we trust Christ and we live out that trust in practical sanctification and in that way we were made able to stand against the devil’s schemes he’s not able to rob us of our blessings he’s not able to rob us of any of the joy that is following Christ the devil and his Co minions they will have to flee from us when we do this and we are able to stand firm even against their power because the power of God is with us now all of this must be coupled with and we see this in verses 18 to 20 and must be coupled with desperate constant and all-encompassing prayer and petition to God you know it’s really interesting and verses 18 to 20 there are no main verbs in the Greek they’re all participles they’re all ing verbs to use the English equivalent which means they’re only describing the way that we do the above actions that we become strong in the Lord and that we put on his armor this is not a separate act these things actually go together as you’re doing these things so that you can stand against the evil one you are to be praying and not just for yourselves you’re to pray for your brethren and to pray for your leaders notice Paul a specific prayer for himself it might be like what Paul come on your apostle you’ll need our prayers noises please pray for me pray that I’ll be bold mara Paul’s a prisoner at this time he knows that he has had many opportunities to speak forth boldly even before governors and he probably will be able to speak before Caesar says pray for me I need your help against the spiritual forces and this is true today too you know that your leaders your teachers they are a special targets or they are especially targeted by the enemy if you can take down the sergeant’s and the captain’s and all the other soldiers will be be discouraged and be hurt so Paul says pray for me we need to pray for our leaders and we need to pray for our brethren you know we sometimes forget when we use the battle analogy we think about the armor of God we think of it in a very individual fashion and it is individual to some extent we have a responsibility as individual soldiers each one of us must stand firm but you know what soldiers almost never fight by themselves they fight together with their comrades that’s what makes them secta fighting unit that’s certainly the way that the Roman soldiers worked it’s the same for us too we don’t fight alone we fight together with our brethren this is how we stand firm and so we’ve got to pray for one another if a brother falters we are going to be affected but for brother stands firm then we ourselves are going to be strengthened we’ve got to pray for one another continually and realized we don’t go into battle alone you can see why I say sanctification is serious business Paul tells us this is the reality our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the spirits of wickedness we need the Lord strength we need the Lord’s armor we need to pursue sanctification so let’s sum up what we’ve seen today from 1st Peter 1 verses 13 to 16 we saw that we can call to conformity to the image of God and this conformity comes through a reorientation of mind leading to wholly action from Philippians 3 verses 12 to 16 we saw that we’re never to end our pursuit of holiness though we have not and will not ultimately reach perfection until we see Christ we are called for the sake of the prize of Christ the sake of the purpose by which we were saved in the first place to be conformed more and more to the image of Christ and from Ephesians 6:10 2:20 we see that sanctification is serious it’s an ongoing war against the devil and his hosts we desperately need the Lord’s strength the Lord’s armor and the Lord’s ear in prayer if we are to stand firm against every evil scheme and keep hold of every blessing that is ours in Christ through salvation so what should be your application based on these fruits let me give you a few thoughts the form of questions for you to be thinking about as we close number one do you recognize your calling to pursue ongoing sanctification in your life God’s will is for each one of you to be more and more conformed into the image of his son do you confess such to be true and then does your life reflect that is this the reality of your life proceeding onward become more like Christ number two do you recognize that your own agonizing effort is critical in fulfilling God’s will for you yes we all want to avoid doing things in our own strength but one avoid legalism we want to avoid self-righteousness that’s good but that doesn’t mean that we just lay aside all effort if we believe God then we will trust the Lord and then proceed forward in obedience we trust that God is I go out to the battle you will provide the strength and you will provide the victory this is the same way that God worked with Israel in the Old Testament he said I’m gonna fight for you I’m gonna be the one that delivers you from your enemies but you need to go out to the battle sometimes he did it but after you going up and most the time he had them go out sometimes they went out and did nothing because then God intervened sometimes they went out and they they were wielding their swords and spears that’s the way it is for us our effort is God’s means of making us more like himself that comes from God it’s Hugh is that work in US but we must recognize our need to strive number three if you’ve reached a roadblock or a dead-end in your sanctification what do you think the Lord wants you to do you say I just keep struggling with the sin I can’t find any victory against it I just try and try and try and nothing ever changes what do you think the Lord wants you to do use the resources that he’s given you not just his word not just a spirit but his church God gave you all these other fellow soldiers to help you in the fight will you not take advantage of that say oh I don’t want to look bad in front of them I don’t want to discourage them listen which is more important you maintaining a facade of your own perfect righteousness everything being perfect in your life are you actually being faithful to God your Lord you’re saving don’t let pride prevent you from progressing the sanctification reach out to your brothers and sisters in the church and say it look so what’s going on my life I need some counsel I need some help show me what are some things that I can do to be free of this struggle or to make progress in holiness God gave us the church we ought to take advantage of it and if we don’t we’re just gonna keep afflicting ourselves listen keep afflicting our families now God’s gonna let that happen sometimes it says until you learn I’m gonna let this happen we need to humble ourselves before the Lord so that he can lift us up and of course this is all worth it but do you see that each one of the passages we looked at today sets progressive sanctification in the context of our great salvation what is already taking place and what will take place that’s to motivate us and to say yes I want to proceed in this no matter how painful or difficult or how how much hurt I must experience in order to progress it’s worth it but do you see that will you pursue holiness in your life with all your mind well you pursue Christ in your life with all your mind that’s what God made you for that’s why you saved you that’s it for this week but I do urge you to keep meditating on this next week become the last subject of our of our curriculums teaching in the last part of our chronological study of the Bible and that is we begin to look at the return of Christ so I hope you’d be with me next week let’s praise me close Lord this is this is serious truth or you have called us to be Saints to be set apart one’s to be holy once this is not something we can accomplish by ourselves I need you to accomplish this work but God we know that we are to have the same attitude as Paul to get ready for action to press on to lay aside all that entangles so god I pray that you would do that among the people at Calvary and all those listening today in Jesus name Amen no I’m went a little bit over extra today so I think you for your patience but I wasn’t like see you next week

June 3, 2018
Pray Without Ceasing

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welcome to sunday school we’re continuing through our study of the new testament especially the epistles and we’ve been examining some of the great themes that appear in the epistles and they really all flow into each other and you’ll begin to see that more as we look at today’s lesson we started by first looking at the relationship of faith and works we are indeed as believers saved by faith alone but that faith always produces a changed life it produces a life of good works we also talked about the concept of being children of god this was our most recent discussion we saw how we have been given the promise of fatherly care and of a future inheritance by way of adoption god has adopted us but we also saw that we’ve been given power to overcome sin by regeneration and the new birth we’re not just called children of god but we actually are children of god and as a result of our becoming children of god we do what really our class is about today we pray without ceasing one of the things that we looked at last time is that as children of god we cry out abba father and that’s really what we do in prayer just as a child constantly talks to and cries out for his parents so we cry out to god we pray to god now prayer should be one of the most central aspects of the christian life yet as you know it is often the most neglected the most underused there’s so much misunderstanding and confusion and even frustration when it comes to prayer thankfully the bible has much to say on the topic even in the epistles and so that’s what we want to do today here’s our agenda we want to look at two passages just small bits of the passages really we’re looking at philippians 4 6 and 7 and then first thessalonians 5 16 to 18.

we’ll talk about application and then we’ll consider some of the frequently asked questions when it comes to prayer we’ll see if we can answer them at least briefly let’s pray before we go further our lord and god our father i thank you for these people at calvary and i pray that you would grow them and that you would bless them i pray that this time now would be an edifying time for them that you would work in their hearts by your spirit encourage them convict them instruct them and form them help me to be able to speak well in jesus name amen so let’s take a look at these passages we’re going to start with philippians chapter 4. so please open your bibles there and let’s take a look philippians 4 6 and 7 is a pretty famous passage maybe even memorize these verses already but as always we don’t want to just be hearers or memorizers but actually doers of the word you may recall that the book of philippians is mostly a letter of commendation and encouragement to this faithful church and ministry partner to paul but there is one overriding concern that appears throughout the book of philippians what’s that concern that comes through in chapters two 3 and 4 in philippians do any of you do any of you know it’s the unity of the church in chapter 2 he talks about being humble having a regard for others as being more important than yourselves chapter three he talks about protecting against false teachers and following following the example of paul then when we get to chapter four he addresses a uh an item of contention in the church even more directly now we’re going to focus on just verses six and seven in this chapter but i want to read verses two to nine so you get some context and you see how this how this specific instruction about prayer fits into the larger purpose of the book so look at verse 2 or will we down to verse 9 of philippians 4.

paul the apostle writes here i urge eodia and i urge sintiki to live in harmony in the lord indeed true companion i ask you also to help these women who have shared my struggle in the cause of the gospel together with clement also and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life rejoice in the lord always again i will say rejoice let your gentle spirit be known to all men the lord is near 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 comprehension will guard your hearts and your minds in christ jesus finally brethren whatever is true whatever is honorable whatever is right whatever is pure whatever is lovely whatever is of good repute if there’s any excellence and if anything worthy of praise dwell on these things the things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me practice these things and the god of peace will be with you all right let’s study through this passage using our three part method starting with observations notice verses two to nine feature various commands and applications but there is one concept that keeps getting repeated what concept is repeated throughout these commands it’s the idea of peace notice verse 2 he says i urge these two women to live in harmony they need to have peace in their relationship or verse 5 he talks about having a gentle spirit a gentle spirit is for promoting peace verse 7 refers specifically to the peace of god and verse 9 calls god the god of peace so peace really pervades all of these commands now let’s look more closely at verses 6 and 7.

it says there two commands be anxious for nothing and let your request be made known to god now notice that these commands are contrasting but also complementary the first command is stated very emphatically be anxious for nothing in other words when you think about the category of what what oughts concern you make you fearful make you anxious there’s only one thing that should be in that category and that is nothing nothing should make you anxious now how’s that possible and there are plenty of things in life that we could think of that could make us anxious both in the short and long term but paul says you shouldn’t be anxious for anything the only thing you’re allowed to be anxious for is nothing and then notice the connection of this command with the next command and we’ll see it bit by bit it says but in everything but as a strong contrasting word and then everything is in direct contrast to the nothing at the beginning of the verse be anxious for nothing but in everything so if nothing is allowed to cause you anxiety what other whatever might have caused you anxiety is instead to be included in this category of everything what are we to do in this everything in every circumstance every concern every trouble every trial or situation we are to exercise certain means and notice what comes next in the verse by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving now these terms are all pretty related but they have different emphases prayer as a general word for communication to god supplication refers to a specific kind of prayer that is making requests letting your needs be known speaking in an urgent way please meet these needs that’s supplication and paul often uses these two terms together in his letters prayer and supplication and then thanksgiving thanksgiving is another kind of prayer refers to expressions of gratitude and praise for what someone has done or will do of course that someone in this case is god so paul says in everything in contrast to being anxious in everything we are to be exercising the means of prayer and supplication along with thanksgiving but what are we to do in utilizing all those things and we see that at the end of this command let your requests be made known to god instead of worrying believers are to make the request known to god in prayers and supplications with thanksgiving that’s pretty straightforward right no anxiety just asking god in every circumstance bring your request to god letting your request to god be known in every circumstance now verse 7 describes the results of such action the peace of god will guard your hearts and your minds now recall that heart and mind are essentially synonyms referring to the inner person he’s not making division between heart and mind it’s just a way of emphasizing your inner person the totality of you on the inside it will be guarded as a result of your not worrying but instead asking god your soul will be protected by god’s peace and notice the astounding nature of this peace as described by paul this piece not only surpasses comprehension it surpasses all comprehension no one anywhere at any time is able to fully understand or comprehend this peace it goes beyond the power of the human mind and then notice the final phrase in christ jesus this guarding of peace only comes through jesus well guard your hearts and your minds in christ jesus there is no peace and this is often that said there is no true peace outside the prince of peace now while this is pretty straightforward this is going to generate some questions so let’s move to the interpretation step we’ve made our observations looked at the basic facts of what’s presented here the details and now let’s see if we can answer some questions about it now our passage clearly presents prayer as a counter to anxiety why should prayer eliminate anxiety is that a hand wing i don’t know if you said anything i didn’t hear anything in response but why should prayer eliminate anxiety yes steve yeah absolutely this goes right back to the relationship that we have with god if god is our father and he is well we believe in jesus then when we pray to him we don’t have anything to worry about anymore it’s just like what jesus says in matthew 6 you remember he very emphatically deals with the issue of worry he says do not worry about your life what you will put on what you will eat or what you would drink because your father in heaven knows your needs and he will meet your needs so don’t worry it’s the same thing here because of our relationship with god because of what we’ve become in christ jesus we have no need to worry we can pray god is wise enough he’s loving enough and powerful enough to meet our needs perfectly and to answer all our requests the children of god ought to be anxious for nothing but christian experience shows us that though children of god may often pray to him they can remain anxious in heart christians can still be anxious even after they pray now why is that if this passage says don’t be anxious but let your request be made known to god i think i saw a hand behind steve but i can’t quite see who that is so i can only partially hear what you’re saying can you say that again just a little bit louder right i think you’ve hit on a major aspect of it and that is in many cases we remain anxious because we don’t actually believe god just as you were saying we go through the form of prayer we say words but we’re not actually exercising belief we’re double-minded as james says we’re honestly not sure whether god will take care of what we have presented to him we feel the need to continue to think through and ponder over all of our anxious thoughts we aren’t willing to let that issue go not willing to leave it with god and focus on something else we remain an unbelief now this is unnecessary as children of god and it dishonors our father we have every reason to trust the lord trust our father so that is one reason why we remain anxious even after we pray because we don’t really believe we are doubting the lord but another reason i think that we sometimes remain anxious is because we have idols still in our hearts we have these certain lusts these certain idols in our hearts because god has promised to meet all our needs but sometimes we think we need a certain thing in a certain way at a certain time we become obsessed with obtaining this thing and the prospect of not receiving it fills us with dread this is really what the bible calls an idol now god doesn’t promise to meet our idols doesn’t promise to meet our every desire and even those things he has promised to me he hasn’t promised to meet them according to the way we think immediately or in a certain way so when we pray about something that we think is a supposed need but is not guaranteed by god we know that there’s there’s a chance we might not get it and therefore our hearts continue to be anxious god hasn’t guaranteed it we think we need it we don’t know if we’ll get it and so we remain anxious the solution of course in such situations is to let go of our idols to let go of these strong desires and let god have his perfect way if god hasn’t specifically promised it we can’t cling to it but if he has promised it we got to let him do it in his way in his time because otherwise we will remain anxious so unbelief and idols they will continue to plague us with anxiety even after we go through the form of prayer now the direct opposite to anxiety is peace but in what sense is the peace that is described here the peace of god you may have noticed phrases that use of appear frequently in the bible they’re usually what’s called genitives in greek or hebrew and they can be understood in different ways depending on the context here this idea of the peace of god it certainly indicates to us the idea of source this is the peace that comes from god the origin is with god but there’s also the sense of possession here this is the peace that belongs to god it’s his peace it’s his unique powerful peace this may bring back to mind the words of jesus john 14 27 jesus says this to his disciples john 14 27 peace i leave with you my peace i give to you not as the world gives do i give to you do not let your heart be troubled nor let it be fearful so this is the peace from god it is god’s own peace but there’s also the idea of action in this phrase this is the peace that god makes where god brings about that god puts into somebody he brings this peace about he makes his people to be at peace in their hearts and minds through christ so this not only comes from god and is his but it is what he actively produces in someone and this is of course just as jesus says in john 14 a a kind of peace that is very different from the world’s peace this peace cannot be taken away though it can be given up through sin and unbelief and it also surpasses comprehension now in what sense does god’s peace surpass all comprehension there are at least two ways first of all because of what this piece is and where it comes from this piece is of such a magnitude that no person could ever fully imagine it or comprehend it the peace we have from god our father means we are ridiculously well provided for loved and secure other people in the world might experience certain measures of peace but nothing like the peace of god god’s peace is a soul peace a soul invading and filling peace that stretches into eternity and lifts up the soul no matter the circumstance such peace is incredible in our world which is so filled with art or with fallenness with tragedy and with confusion in one sense it’s not surprising that god’s peace should so surpass understanding because he himself surpasses all understanding it’s his peace that he’s given to us but there’s another sense here that that makes this peace go beyond comprehension and that this peace of god does not fully rely on man’s understanding one might expect that one could only be at peace in this world if a person knows exactly what’s going to happen in his life and how specifically god will protect and provide through every circumstance but the peace of god does not work this way how many godly men and women have testified across time i don’t know how god will provide but i know he will provide you see this is the peace of god it is a peace that does not rely on an exact understanding of circumstances or of god’s plans rather it relies on a simple understanding of who god is as heavenly father this may remind you of those verses and proverbs right do not lean on your own understanding but in all your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths this is also the incomprehensible nature of the peace of god and again the people of the world cannot know this peace because they do not know the god of this peace but we as children of god we know this peace even if we don’t fully comprehend it in all its magnitude now we noted that verses two to nine they discussed peace got to put that one up verses two to nine discuss peace both within a person and within the church what is the relationship between the believers inward peace and the peace with the brethren there is a strong connection right one leads to the other when people are at peace within there will be peace without and this is reflected very well in james 4 verse 1.

james asks there what is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you that is among you believers is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members that’s very interesting james says where did these quarrels and conflicts come in the church they come from the wars that rage within yourselves in the flesh overcoming the spirit you see experiencing the righteous peace and contentment of god in the heart is vital for securing harmony in relationships especially in the church consequently anyone who is caught in the grip of worry or who anxiously seeks after an idol he not only hurts himself but he hurts the whole church if there is no peace within how can there be maintained peace without of course god has given us the remedy for this pray to your father let your request be made known to god and believe in his good provision we are to do as hannah does in first samuel chapter one you may remember she was severely distressed she was barren but being provoked by her husband’s other wife she wasn’t even able to eat but says she prayed to god and then she went away and ate no longer sad she had not yet received the lord’s provision she didn’t know exactly what the lord would do but she prayed to god about it and trusted that god would provide an answer we ought to do the same so in summary when it comes to prayer in philippians 4 6-7 we we see that as god’s children we are never to be anxious instead we are to make our requests known to god by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving and being secured holy by the peace of god through christ this peace does not need to see with the eyes in order to wait confidently on god’s provision now from this teaching from paul it is implied that we will pray a lot i mean if we’re tempted to worry a lot and we’re instead to instead of worrying pray to god then we’re gonna be praying pretty frequently but how frequently let’s turn over to our other passage now turn over to first thessalonians 5.

first thessalonians chapter 5 and we’re looking at verses 16 to 18.

so just a little bit further forward in the new testament let’s recall briefly the context of this next set of verses first thessalonians paul is urging this church of believers to persevere in holiness through suffering in light of christ’s imminent return crisis is going to come back so keep going church in first thessalonians 5 12 to 21 we see a final quick series of applications and exhortations from paul to the church kind of like the the lightning round of the letter as it were we’re going to be focusing on verses 16 to 18 but as before i want to read some of the surrounding verses so you can see the context look at verses 14 to 24 and first thessalonians 5.

paul writes again this is paul we urge you brethren admonish the unruly encourage the faint-hearted help the weak be patient with everyone see that no one repays another with evil for evil but always seek after that which is good for another and for all people rejoice always pray without ceasing in everything give thanks for this is god’s will for you in christ jesus do not quench the spirit do not despise prophetic utterances but examine everything carefully hold fast to that which is good abstain from every form of evil now may the god of peace himself sanctify you entirely and may your spirit and soul be preserved complete without blame at the coming of the lord jesus christ faithful is he who calls you and he will also or he also will bring it to pass let’s observe these verses you may notice we could make a number of parallels from this passage to the philippians passage we just read i also notice that there is a repetition in both passages of the idea of peace not just inner peace but peace in the church this idea of gentleness and doing good to others in the body let’s focus on verses 16 to 18.

notice in these verses we have three commands given in quick succession rejoice pray and give thanks and notice how inclusive these commands are when are we to rejoice always why don’t we to pray without ceasing or without stopping without gaps why don’t we to give thanks in everything those are very striking commands the implication is that there is no situation in which rejoicing praying and giving thanks are not appropriate or necessary things are going well rejoice pray and give thanks things are not going well rejoice pray and give thanks and notice the reason given for what for fulfilling these commands verse 18 for this is god’s will for you in christ jesus god’s will god’s desire god’s plan for you if you are in christ and if you’re a believer you are in christ you’re in union with christ you’re attached to him god’s will for you is that you continually rejoice pray and give thanks so whatever situation you find yourself you not only know what to do but why you ought to do it rejoice pray give thanks because such is the will of god your father for all of those who are in christ okay again this is pretty straightforward but let’s ask some interpretation questions how literally should we understand these terms always without ceasing and in everything well common sense would tell us that these do not apply to every nanosecond of our lives after all you can’t do all of these things while you’re sleeping and even if you do try to maintain all these things while you’re awake well you’re going to neglect other commands of god and for for life and ministry because if you’re praying and you and you’re praising god in your prayer and you are um you’re filled with joy and thanksgiving you’re not able to rebuke others who are in sin or you’re not able to teach others about various things the bible because you’re off praying so we know that there is a limit to understanding the continual nature of these commands but paul is clearly emphatic about the constant nature of these activities each of them is to be unceasing these are not things that you and i can merely get around to every once in a while so how are we to understand this i think one way to help us is to consider our own lord’s life on the earth consider on the one hand though jesus was not doing each of these things visibly every moment they were the constant beating of his heart jesus always loved and delighted to do the father’s will he was in a constant state of communion with his god and he was constantly living in thankfulness to the father we could say jesus heart was continually rejoicing in praying to and giving thanks to god this was his unending heart attitude on the other hand though jesus had these constant hard attitudes he also frequently to the point of it being very noticeable even a habit of jesus he engaged in the activities of rejoicing praying and giving thanks listen to a few scriptures that describe jesus’s life luke 10 21 a at that very time he as jesus rejoiced greatly in the holy spirit and said i praise you o father lord of heaven and earth or john 15 11.

these things i have spoken to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be made full mark 1 35 in the early morning while it was still dark jesus got up left the house and went away to a secluded place and was praying there luke 5 16 but jesus himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray and luke 6 12 it was at this time that he went off to the mountain to pray and he spent the whole night in prayer to god john 11 41 so they removed the stone then jesus raised his eyes and said father i thank you that you have heard me and then john 6 11 a jesus then took the loaves and having given thanks he distributed to those who are seated so we can see from even this smattering of verses the jesus joy his prayer his thanksgiving they were not merely heart attitudes but they were constant actions typifying his life in every circumstance every situation jesus rejoiced jesus prayed and he gave thanks to their father we ought to do the same jesus has left us a pattern our hearts are to be in a continued attitude of joy communion and thankfulness to god but that heart attitude ought to manifest itself in habitual acts of rejoicing praying and giving of thanks no matter the circumstance no matter the situation in our lives now this of course raises a question how can we rejoice and give thanks even in the difficult times in the face of sorrow pain or even evil things happening to us well this again goes back to what we have become in salvation we are children of god this is god’s will these things rejoicing praying giving thanks this is god’s will for those who are in christ now if you encounter sorrow pain and hardship you encounter no more than your lord jesus did and yet his joy his peace his gratitude did not diminish in the slightest through these things he entrusted himself to his heavenly father and he knew that god completely understood his pain would meet his needs and would work all for the son’s good and the father’s glory the trinity’s glory really we have the same father if we are in christ therefore we have the same good hope christians will and they have and they do experience great pain and sorrow in the world such is our lives but we can and we must rejoice pray and give thanks even through these circumstances god in christ makes this possible for us it is god’s will that we will always do ourselves this good and do him give him the glory in each situation it is possible it has become necessary because of what we have become in christ we are the children of god he is still working good even through every hard situation so in some when it comes to first thessalonians 5 16-18 we can see that because we are children of god through christ we are not only to have continual heart attitudes of joy communion thankfulness but we are to actually do those things rejoice pray and give thanks in each circumstance of our lives right so we hear the teaching of the apostle what’s our application well we have to ask ourselves how does your life compare to the apostles teaching and jesus’s example when it comes to prayer are you given to faith-filled prayer instead of anxiety do you both have an attitude of prayer to god constant communion and the frequent habit of prayer in your life even through every circumstance now undoubtedly you realize that based on what we talked about today you do not pray as you should i think this is what we always realize as christians when we encounter the bible teaching our prayer we realize we’re not we’re not where we should be we don’t pray as we should so the more important question for us is what are you going to do about it do not merely tell yourself you know what you’re right i should pray more i’m going to try to do that no as in this area as in every other area of biblical application you need to get specific you need to be purposeful in your application you need to even ask yourself how am i going to bring this about what steps am i going to take being empowered by the spirit and being armed by the truth of scripture what specific steps am i going to take to make this a reality or more of a reality in my life what changes am i going to make you should ask yourself this question when it comes to prayer ask yourself the following even write down answers when it comes to these questions how can i cultivate a attitude a heart attitude of dependence on and communion with god my father how can i make my response to stressful situations to engage in believing prayer rather than anxiety how can i make prayer my habit when can i pray jesus carved out time from his busy life and ministry to pray what about you what will work for you maybe early in the morning maybe in the evening before you get too tired maybe when you’re driving on a long commute or when you have other regular wait times or maybe there’s some leisure activity that you currently have in your life that could be partly or wholly replaced by time in prayer each of us will come up with different answers these questions based on our differing life circumstances but it’s clear from the scriptures we must make prayer a priority and above all i urge you my brothers and sisters at calvary i urge you not to settle for oh i just talked to god throughout the day that is good if you do that but you need more than that you need a time of focused and disciplined communion with god just like your lord jesus you think jesus wasn’t in constant communion with god yet he’s still withdrew to be by himself and to speak to god without distraction if he needed and he desired to do this how much more you and i my brothers and sisters prayer is one of the easiest and hardest aspects of the christian life so frequently neglected to our own hurt do you want to be free from anxiety do you want to have your requests heard and granted by god do you want to have peace in your heart and peace in your relationships then do what is necessary to make the habit of prayer a reality in your life make those changes put a plan into place now perhaps all this talk about prayer has provoked a number of questions in your mind maybe you’re thinking to yourself i’d be more excited to pray if i just understood a little bit more of how to pray so with the rest of our time today i want to focus on some prayer faq some frequently asked questions when it comes to prayer and we’ll use the bible as our guide in answer and i won’t be mentioning specific scriptures for each one of these answers but this is based on the bible’s teaching and examples when it comes to prayer as a whole we’ll go through maybe eight or so questions first what is the physical form what is the external form that i should take when i pray what should be my posture well the traditional form in western christianity is kneeling with your hands folded head bowed eyes closed you might be surprised however to learn that this specific form is never mentioned in the bible rather this posture appears to have come down to us from medieval times or maybe even classical times as an expression of submission or surrender you see the folded hands that we have come to associate with prayer they signify a person’s readiness to have a rope or chains put around those hands by the hand of his lord so by assuming this posture when you pray you are supposedly communicating to god that you are completely submitting to him and to his will now if you wish to pray that way that’s totally fine but be aware the bible describes many variant forms external forms when it comes to prayer i mean people pray kneeling sitting standing bowing or even laying prostrate in the bible this is of course also one of my favorite positions you know say favorite because i use it frequently but just because it’s awesome first kings 1842 this is the elijah position it says but elijah went up to the top of carmel and he crouched down on the earth and he put his face between his knees that’s a prayer position so people they do all these different things they also pray with their arms spread out their arms lifted up to god or even their arms pounding the chest in contrition people pray with their heads bowed people pray with their eyes lifted up to god people pray with their face directed towards jerusalem people pray with their eyes open they pray with their eyes closed they usually pray aloud in the bible but sometimes they move only their lips or even pray silently in their hearts people pray secretly in a in a room of the house people pray in church people pray outside and people pray in public there’s all sorts of variation so what form should you take when you pray whatever form you wants but remember a few things the external form itself does not commend you to god god does not regard the prayer of somebody who’s prostrate more than the person who’s sitting now it’s not about the external form really the form is for you to communicate better what you feel to god be mindful then of what your form is communicating or what you intend it to communicate maybe you feel that you just really want to lie prostrate because you’re so overwhelmed by a certain thing or you you want to stand because you’re so filled with joy and you want to lift up your hands to god in prayer that’s fine you’ll probably find that different forms when it comes to your external posture they most capture what you’re feeling at a particular time use that to your advantage to help you focus to help you really get into what you’re saying that’s for you that’s an advantage to you but do keep in mind overall you want to use a form that helps you focus if you find for example that closing your eyes when you pray makes your mind wander don’t do that keep your eyes open now usually we close our eyes to help us focus but sometimes it works the opposite way so do what helps you but more important than any external form is the posture of your heart what is to characterize my heart when it comes to prayer you won’t be surprised at the answers here but things like the following belief and trust in god humility and submission sincerity and thoughtfulness joy and gratitude reverence and awe repentance purity forgiveness of others peace in relationship with others obedience and persistence in short the posture of our hearts is to be one of genuine worship to god this is far more important than any external posture you take in prayer now as a corollary to this if this inner posture is important for prayer does god then hear or hearken to the prayers of unbelievers if this inner posture is important does he hear the prayers of unbelievers well god is god he’s omniscient there’s nothing he doesn’t know there’s nothing he doesn’t hear when it comes to what people say on earth and god may for his own purposes grant what an unbeliever prays for but he is by no means obligated in fact the prayers and the supposed worship of an unbeliever or an evildoer according to the scriptures is offensive to god the prayers of an unbeliever are actually offensive to god because consider what proverbs 15 8 and proverbs 15 29 say proverbs 15 8 says the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to yahweh but the prayer of the upright is his delight for proverbs 15 29 yahweh is far from the wicked but he hears the prayer of the righteous the only prayer of an unbeliever that god enjoys and always regards is the prayer of repentance in faith that inner posture is of course critical for god hearing our prayers so we know a little bit about the form posture of our prayers but what should we actually say in our prayers well when we examine the bible as a whole when we look at the example prayers in the bible we can group the content of biblical prayers into four basic categories these categories follow an acronym the acronym is acts a-c-t-s what do these letters stand for you probably heard this before a is for adoration this is the kind of prayer that is simply meditating on god and praising god for who he is adoration the c refers to confession this refers to a kind of prayer that is characterized by a confession of sin asking god for forgiveness and expressing repentance toward god the t is for thanksgiving this is a prayer that thanks god for what he has done or what he will do and then the s is for supplication that’s a term we’ve already looked at today supplication is making requests to god based on his promises based on his character so a adoration c confession t thanksgiving s supplication now these four categories they don’t need to be in any particular order in your prayers it’s not like oh gotta start with a and go to c go to t you can do that but you’re not required to and these four categories don’t need to appear in every single prayer you make i mean they don’t in every biblical prayer but in general these four kinds of prayers should make up your prayers as a whole they should these different kinds of prayers should be in each one of your prayers and in your prayers in general because that’s that’s what biblical prayer looks like really every prayer of yours and mine should be a sincere act of worship expressing dependence to god this is an important thing for us to remember we must remember that prayer is worship has to be treated as such along these lines beware beware of praying formulaically supposing that god will hear you because you said all the right words and you fulfilled the correct ritual prayer is ultimately about your heart if you say all the right things but you have a distracted or sinful heart your prayer is at best meaningless and at worst it’s offensive to god so don’t do that instead pray mindfully think about what you’re saying and why you’re saying it for example when you call god by a particular title in your prayers when you call him lord when you call him father are you even thinking about it do you really mean it do you in that moment actually see god that way or when you say in your prayers in jesus name or amen do you really know what you’re saying do you really mean what you’re saying don’t just say words to god when you pray actually communicate your heart to god that may mean that you have to pray a little bit more slowly and it may mean you pray with fewer words but that’s better because then you actually mean what you say speaking of length how long should i pray how long should we pray well there’s no rule about this given in the bible and when we look at the example prayers in the bible we see great variance some prayers are quite long just look at some of the psalms and others including the model prayer that jesus gives for his disciples you know father who are in heaven hallowed be your name many prayers like that one are actually quite short more important than length is as i said your sincerity your mindfulness don’t do we’re specifically told don’t do as the pharisees did who prayed with long prayers supposing that by doing so they would force god’s hand they would earn god’s favor or they would impress other people don’t do that pray what’s on your heart regarding god regarding your circumstances regarding the needs of your brothers and sisters and a little more practical more specific piece of advice if you’ve not yet established a consistent pattern of prayer in your life start with a small and manageable goal when it comes to your prayers and then let your prayer times grow from there perhaps if you’ve not been engaging consistently in prayer you might set a goal for yourself of just five minutes of prayer at a particular time each day so you know i’ve not been really good at praying consistently but from now on at six o’clock or twelve o’clock or whatever time i’m gonna pray for five minutes i’m gonna pray for five minutes each day of course you can pray for more than one time a day and i hardly recommend you do so but if it hasn’t been your pattern just start with a small manageable goal or instead of a time time goal you might say i want to pray over a certain number of things i’ve written down these things that i want to pray for i’ve written down these characteristics of god i want to i want to think about i want to pray as long as it takes to pray through these things in a in a meaningful way that’s another good goal but start with something that doesn’t seem too intimidating and let it grow from there because we want to get as we’ve seen from the scriptures we’ve looked at today we want to get into a consistent habit of praying now should prayers be spontaneous that is not thought through beforehand until you actually pray them or should they be prepared oh really both are fine and we can see that prepared prayers they are totally consistent with scripture because some of the prayers of the bible are actually given to us as models and as prayers for us to use i mean again look at the songs these are prayer songs these are for us these for us to use ourselves to pray and sing to god so what’s the important part in terms of spontaneity or preparedness the important part is again that you mean what you pray spontaneous prayers can be very heartfelt and that’s why we tend to favor them i think as as baptist but prepared prayers are often very thought through and they are especially helpful for for declaring to god exactly what you mean and what is biblical and especially helpful for leading others in prayer so don’t say oh no if you prepare a prayer if you write down beforehand that’s evil no it’s quite good or can be quite good if you mean what you pray and even spontaneous prayers are not necessarily good if you don’t mean it both are fine both can be used but now two kind of bigger questions does prayer work does prayer work well it depends on what you mean plenty of people ignore prayer because they’ve tried prayer and it didn’t work but the bible actually gives a couple of reasons why prayer doesn’t work for people one you prayed for something outside of god’s will it’s not really that your prayer didn’t work it’s just that god answered your prayer in a way that you didn’t want that might be one reason why your prayer didn’t work another reason is that you prayed for something that was good but you prayed for it with evil motives james 4 3 makes it very clear that if your motives are impure then god is not going to listen to your prayer even if it’s for a good thing because he’s more interested in your heart and then number three sometimes your prayer doesn’t work because you prayed for something while you remain in sin remain in unbelief or remain in conflict with your brethren the bible makes very clear that these kinds of things will hinder or even wreck your prayers after all god’s a good father if he’s a good father how’s he gonna ignore all the disobedience and the barriers set up by his kids to a relationship with him or how’s he gonna ignore how one of his children is totally mistreating the other children in his family he’s not gonna say hey i’m just gonna keep giving you what you want no he’s gonna say look i hear your prayers but we gotta talk about something else first we need to deal with the issues and then we’ll get back to your request the truth is that prayer does work when asked according to god’s will as expressed in the bible and according to god’s way his timing his choice this is why jesus is able to make the wild claim that he does in chapters 14 and 15 of the gospel of john jesus says there multiple times whatever you ask is speaking to his disciples his believing disciples whatever you ask the father in my name it will be done for you that’s quite a guarantee and that’s why prayer should be the antidote to all our worries you know that god will hear and god will act now again his answer might not come the way you think or in the timing that you think but it will come and it will be perfect such has been the testimony of believers in the scripture and across the centuries god hears the prayers of his people when they pray according to the way that the bible instructs god is real his word is true therefore prayer does work but is it necessary it’s the final question i want to bring up to you in this faq is prayer really necessary well yes it is it’s commanded by god and actually it’s for our benefit it is a mercy to us and we sometimes use god’s total omniscience for his total sovereignty as an excuse not to pray if god already knows everything and has everything decided then what’s the use why pray but the truth is and you won’t be surprised by this answer because i’ve said things like this before the truth is god has already decided that your prayer will be the means by which you will provide what he already knows and what he’s already planned the means of fulfilling god’s sovereign will is actually your prayers that’s why james says in a rebuke to his audience you don’t have because you don’t ask you’re not receiving because you’re not using the means that god has sovereignly designed for you to use to receive your request now you want to test the lord by not praying you want to test the lord’s sovereignty you won’t be surprising god but you will be experiencing the sovereign consequences until you repent god is sovereignly designed says this is where my child is going to be disobedient and not pray to me and i’m going to allow him to continue in that and suffer the consequences until his heart is moved to repentance and he prays just as i always meant him to so we can’t use god’s sovereignty as an excuse not to pray on the flip side we we sometimes ignore prayer because acting ourselves seems so much more practical we say why pray to god when i can just take care of it myself it is good for us to recognize that we have practical responsibilities to be wise and to be obedient even while we pray and trust god but we are foolishly proud if we ignore prayer for the sake of so-called practical action we forget that god because he is god is able to make all our actions useless if he so chooses and we also forget that god is able to totally accomplish whatever it is we wish or need without our doing anything i mean consider israel’s experience sometimes god totally destroys our enemies without the israelites even going to battle sometimes he lets him go to battle but he’s the one who actually causes the enemy to be put to flight you see prayer is a humbling acknowledgement about who god really is he’s god he’s the one with the control he’s the one with the power not us he’s the one who makes things happen in the world yes we are the ordained means so frequently but he’s the one with the power therefore we must pray and not rely on our own practical action now it’s again worth emphasizing that prayer is for our blessing it is not to be a burden to us god is not some loathe somewhere or lonesome rather or loathsome he’s not some lonesome or vain being who just says i really wish they would pray to me because otherwise i’m just not going to be happy no god doesn’t need our prayers in order to be happy in fact the person who needs prayer in order to be happy is us we were designed by our creator god and our father who has given us new birth to pray to him continually that’s what makes us filled with peace that’s what guards us that’s what fills us with happiness if you ignore that design or if you reject it you not only dishonor god but you hurt yourself you can’t go against god’s design and win that’s true not just a prayer but really with everything so brothers and sisters at calvary let us pray let us pray without ceasing just as the bible commands now that’s it for this week if you have more questions about prayer you can of course email me i know again we’ve only broached the topic you can email me or you can talk to one of the elders i’m sure they would be happy to talk with you more about prayer and especially a prayer has been a struggle for you speak with another believer who has a consistent habit of prayer and asked them hey how can i make prayer more of a reality in my life what is it that you do that might be a benefit to me or give me some advice give me some counsel that is how we can edify one another now next week we’re going to take one more general look at the new testament epistles as we consider further what it means to become like jesus so i look forward to talking with you about that then let’s close in prayer lord god we thank you for prayer but you know god that this is an area where we are weak in our faith we are anxious instead of praying or we rely on ourselves or we excuse ourselves by your sovereignty and we don’t pray and we only hurt ourselves god i pray that you’d work in work in us so that we delight in praying to you that that is not only our heart attitude but it is our constant habit lord i pray that you would cause the people to think through practically what steps they can take to make prayer a reality a habit a frequent action of their lives so they can see their requests granted by you so they can have your peace they can be at peace with one another and they can be a shining light to the world i pray that you would do this oh god by your spirit amen all right thank you guys i’ll see you next week hmm

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