Philippians 4:1-9

Stand Firm and Live in Harmony

Paul Writes in his salutation to the church that they are his joy and crown. This shows that his efforts in Philippi were not in vain. The people at Philippi were remaining strong in the Lord. His efforts to spread the gospel and make disciples of Jesus Christ was fruitful. It was not a temporary movement, but one that would last and eventually make it into the Scriptures.

This is what it means to store up treasures in heaven. When we engage in the call of God in our lives that last forever. We may not be able to influence generations 300 or 400 years beyond our lives, but we can affect those around us today and those that come after us for the purpose of everlasting life.

Quarrel in the church

Paul knew that the church would be able to stand firm if it was united. Apparently there were two leading women in the church that were quarreling among one another. The Bible does not go into detail as to what they were quarreling about. The important matter was to get the quarrel resolved.

Paul calls on a true companion, Clement, and the rest of the church help these two ladies to resolve there differences.

Quarreling in the church threatens the solidarity of the church. It creates factions and breeds distrust. Typically when you have factions in the church people are forced to pick one side or the other. It is like a divorce. When a husband and wife divorce the family is forced to pick a side. This fractures the unity of the church and often times creates a split.

Church splits affect people spiritually. It breaks down our trust of others in the church and we find it difficult to love them because they are not on our side. Sometimes we will isolate ourselves from them and the relationship begins to break down.

Paul knew that the quarreling ladies posed a threat to the ability for the church to stand firm, so he calls on the church to help resolve the differences.

Rejoice In the Lord

Paul reminds the people at Philippi to rejoice in the Lord always. Notice that he doesn’t say rejoice in your circumstances or possessions. He specifically says rejoice in the Lord always. Many people can only rejoice when times are good for them. They are unable to rejoice when times get tough.

How can we rejoice in the Lord always? It is kind of like this: If I have a crummy day and everything goes wrong. I get to go home and be with Rachel. This makes my day so much better. It doesn’t matter what happened, I still have Rachel to come home to. This is how we can rejoice in the Lord! No matter what happens we know that the Lord is near and we can go to him at any time. This is cause for rejoicing.

Our intimacy with the Lord will dictate our joy. What I mean by this is the closer we are to God relationally the greater joy we will have in this life.

Be Anxious For Nothing

Paul reminds us that there is no need for worry. The reason being is that we can take everything to the Lord in prayer. We can express our concerns through pleading and making our request known to God. God hears our prayers and answers according to His will. If His answer is not in line with our prayer we must learn to trust Him because He is perfect and knows what is best.

This is difficult. When we make a request to God we expect Him to answer it the way we want. We think that s the only way we can be happy. This is not true. God knows what is best and we must trust Him when He answers differently than we request. This is how we grow in intimacy. When God doesn’t answer the way we desire, we can ask Him to show us His will in the decision He made. It may not be given right away but, He will make his will known.

It is the discovery of God’s will and trust in Him that brings the peace of God that surpasses understanding. Often our requests for God are based on our understanding of the situation and not His. It is the trusting in God when things don’t make sense that guards our hearts and minds.

Be Rightly Focused

1. Focus on truth. God’s Word is absolute truth. The principles and commandments that we find in His word should be what we focus, meditate, and apply.

2. Focus on what is honorable.- This means that we are to focus on those things that are worthy of respect. These are things that elicit the fruit of the Spirit

3. Focus on that which is right. This means don’t focus on what is wrong. Look for solutions not problems.

4. Focus on what is pure. This means that we are to focus on things that are not impure. We should not watch programming that instigates impurity. We should focus on things that bring about purity

5. Focus on what is lovely. Things like God’s creation. Not things that are gross.

6. Focus on those of good repute. This means we need to be watching those who are living rightly.

When we are rightly focused we will have peace. It is when we have our eyes on the wrong things that we will not have peace.