Phil 4:1-7 | Community and Prayer

Intro

Hey y’all, hows it going?

Everyone back in the swing of things.

Little bit of house keeping, next week, I need your help. I meant to tell you this last week, but next Wednesday, we are going to have have a chapel talk, but we are doing an Ask me Anything. With Me and Randy, Matthew, and Hannah. So wHat I need from you, is some questions. Adults, you are in on this as well. What ever question you have ever had, about pretty much anything, you can text it to me, you can respond on Instagram. You can email me, you can write it down and hand it to me. what ever you want. But we did this last year, and y’all seemed to enjoy it.

SO anyways, just wanted to let you know that.

So let’s get in to it.

How many of you have flown somewhere before?

I think Drew hold longest flight in here. Dude flew to Japan last year.

Did you ever stop and think what would you do if the plane had a problem? Some of us,

And I think I’m talking to the guys more than the girls, not cause girls don’t think this, they’re just smarter than us. but I’d probably bet the majority of dudes who have flown a couple times have sat back in the seat and thought, “I bet I could land this plane if I had to”

anybody had that thought. No? next time you’re on a plane, think about it.

But for me, growing up, I thought, I could do it.

And so, when I was in college, one of my friends dads was a higher up dude at delta, he was a pilot for years, then he became like a big wig as delta, and so, in my college Sunday School class, he got us a vip tour of delta, and then got us a whole afternoon where we got to get in the pilot training simulator and flight the sim.

Whole cockpit, every detail the same as a 747, it was super cool.

And we all took turns taking off, and stuff, and that wasn’t too bad. increase throttle, pull back on the stick. Boom you’re in the air.

Super fun, super cool.

Then it came time to do some landings.

and here I was, I bet I can land this plane.

So what do you think happened? Did I land it?

Not at all, I slowed down too much, and basically undershot the run way, which in was set to ATL airport, so I crashed in to 75, but right before we crashed I tried to pull up, but it just made us crash harder. I crashed so hard, they had to reset the sim.

This is why they have those things though, they put pilots in them for hours and hours, and they run scenario after scenario, of catastrophe, engine failure, solo piloting, weather, wind, you name they run it.

And the reason why is what they airline industry has found is, that Pilots, no matter how good they are when things are well, when things go wrong, when things get stressful, when the left engine blows out, Pilots always revert back to their training.

That’s true for everything we do, that principle applies, because how eve you have trained, that is what you are going to revert to when you have to react to something.

It’s like watching third basemen snap a ball out of the air, they have caught before they actually knew the ball was hit, that’s why Steph Curry still does dribbling exercises.

When you have to react to something, you will always revert back to the fundamentals, no matter how good or bad you are at them.

It’s the foundation.

So that is where I want to live tonight.

Context

Last week I had a plan for tonight, but today, I felt I needed to break this in to two sermons instead of one. I was going to do the whole of Chapter 4 of Philippians but now. we aren’t, gonna split it up.

There is just so much in the chapter I didn’t want to do a disservice to it.

So here is what this first part talks about, gonna be looking at the first 7 verses tonight.

It gives us a picture of how the Lord wages war against darkness in this world and within us.

Gives us some insight in to how our lives if we are following the Lord, joins in to the way God wages war against sin and brokenness in our world and in our own heart.

So if you have a bible, flip to the last chapter in Phil. Phil. 4, gonna be in the first 7 verses.

If you don’t have a bible, throw a hand up and we will get one to you.

Remember Last week we looked at the two kingdoms presented in scripture, the kingdom of God, and the kingdom of this world, that there are no neutral parties in this world, you are either a child of God, or are in open rebellion to the King.

And the king is waging war against darkness and the kingdom of this world.

and so let’s read this first part together. And then we’ll look at it.

but before we do that, lets pray for our time in the word.

pray

Okay cool, read this with me.

Philippians 4:1–7 ESV

1 Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved. 2 I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord. 3 Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women, who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life. 4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

P1 - Stand Firm

Okay so, what is going on here?

First thing we see is, we have a therefore.

So what do we do? See what the therefore is there for.

It’s a linking word.

So it’s linking us to what Paul just got to, linking us to last week.

So two kingdoms at war.

And look at this last part of verse 1.

“Stand Firm” thus in the Lord.

what does this mean to stand firm? be strong, have a good footing. Have sound foundation. This implies some physicality, which means some training.

So a couple weeks ago, I broke one of my rules at the gym, which is to not try and max anything. Cause I’m by myself, I don’t have a spotter. But have been doing some squats, and y’all I can’t squat very much, I look like I should be able, but I can’t, I’m not gonna tell you the weight, cause I know y’all can all prob squat more than me.

But I’m at the gym, I’m feeling good. Did my squat reps, and thought let’s see how much I can do. I put 50 more pounds on, got it off the rack, down, back up, Okay. That felt good.

Lets do 60 more pounds, so about 110 more than I normally, do. I get up under it. Okay, not bad, get it off the rack, cool. I get down.

And this is where gravity shows back up.

And my big self just goes to the ground, thankfully the bars are there to catch the bar.

I went down like a sack of potatoes.

Thankfully there just just another dude in the gyn who didn’t see me cause I wasn’t hurt except for my pride.

But what did I not have? A firm foundation. I was not able to stand firm. I had not gotten up to that weight.

SO this is what Paul is saying, have a solid foundation in the Lord.

This term Stand Firm also has connotations of military, to stand firm, next to one another.

cause the next verse Paul goes straight in to community.

And so this is the first part of standing firm, having a foundation in the Lord. It’s through the church. Side by side.

So who was the most powerful military at this time when this was history?

Rome. How did they fight? Cause some of the people in this would have been Roman.

Some might have even been legioners.

How did they fight?

They fought in what we would call a phalanx.

Other Armies had done this, the spartans were pretty famous for it, the greek hoplites were good at it, but the Romans, perfected it, with their spears and short sword. But what they would do, is stand side by side, shields up, but each shield was positioned so that your shield would protect the man next to you. And you always fought next to the same two people. And they moved like that, and they would just roll over armies. cause they were really hard to break. Cause if you brome the first line, they second line would just be there, so the Romans would break whole armies on the phalanx.

And this is the image Paul is pointing to, stand firm in the Lord. Sided by Side with your feet firmly planted in the Lord. That your life is melded with the Lord and his will.

That you are standing firm in community so that when trouble comes when the attacks come. You aren’t by yourself.

What would happen if just one Roman solider went to fight? he can’t phalanx. He’s done.

The way you did beat a Phalanx was to divide it and pick it off one by one, if you could split one, you could beat it.

Paul lis saying stand firm, don’t get bogged down in divisions that don’t matter.

P2 - How we argue matters

and this is where verse 2 comes in,

Cause when we read this it sounds clunky, “stand firm” now quit arguing.

So what is going on in verse 2? Paul writes Phil 4:2

Philippians 4:2 ESV

2 I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord.

So how would like to be Euodia and Syntyche? The most widly read book of all time and you get called out for arguing?

But what is he saying?

He’s saying, hey what ever y’all are doing, figure it out.

Take it to the church and let the church settle it and move on.

thats where verse 3 comes in to play, Phil 4:3

Philippians 4:3 ESV

3 Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women, who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.

We don’t know what the argument is, but we can deduce, it probably wasn’t theological, Paul would have hit that head on, it probably had most to do with something internal in the church.

But it was spilling outside of the church.

So Paul is saying look, y’all need to figure this out.

So this is what I want you to see.

How we argue matters.

Here is the reality, the church is made up of people, people who have different opinions and different views on things.

And so, what we need to think through is how do we argue and not damage the witness of the church? That is the Call from Paul here.

argue well.

And i think more than ever we need to heed this advice.

SO here is my fear.

What is happening at the end of this year?

Election.

If there is anything in ministry that is more of a minefield, it is the election.

So remember this when Nov come rolling around. Argue well.

because, and I know most of y’all were in middle school or elementary school, but what happened last time?

The world lost it’s mind. The world went crazy.

Guess who else lost their mind.

Church people. You know what we didn’t do? Argue well, we started looking indistinguishable from the world.

People in the church fought just as bad as people outside the church.

but this is what this does to us, when we do that, we look like the world.

We say to the world, we are just like you, we will act just like you, we will do and say things just like you, and we reveal out cards on where our actual hopes lie.

And what this does is gives the world a reason to not follow Jesus, because when we act up in here, and it spills out out there, we are not giving the world a compelling vision to follow Jesus.

We are playing in to the stereotype that all we want is to control morality and make sure the right side wins.

How we argue matters.

And the other side of the coin is this, there are things worth arguing about. There are things worth having difficult conversations about, that may not have anything to do with theology, and this is Pauls advice, handle it civilly, take it to a respected person, let the church mediate.

That is who this Clement guy is in verse 3, modern day scholars are unsure on who he is, but the people closer to the even said that this is Clement of Rome, who was a disciple of Peter, who we actually have his writings you can go and read.

Paul is saying, argue well, present a compelling vision for following Jesus.

One of the major themes in this book is humility, having the same mind. Service to others. So when conflict does come, be gracious, don’t air it everywhere.

Unity in community is how the church was designed to operate.

P3 - We wage war through prayer

Then Paul says, here is how you carry that out.

Here is how you stand firm, and here is how you handle conflict. verse 4

Philippians 4:4–7 ESV

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

And here we have not really a t-shirt verse, but a wall verse. People will put this on their walls.

And this verse has been used to mean a lot of things.

But let’s look at this in the context of what’s going on.

Often times when this verse is quoted to someone it is said as a cure all.

and I want to acknowledge something, anxiousness is a real thing. Anxiety is a real thing. It is not a sin to feel anxious.

This verse is more about prayer than anxiety.

But this is what happens, and we have all done this,

something is coming up, or there is some situation, or something.

And people will just say, just pray about it.

And what they mean is, well ask God to make it better.

Thats a shallow view of prayer.

you can do that, the Lord does invite us to ask for things in prayer. The Lord know what we need, and invites us to ask for them in prayer.

But if that is all prayer is, thats a shallow view of prayer.

And so when this verse is quoted, it is often quoted as this. Phil 4:6-7

Philippians 4:6–7 ESV

6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

and that’s not wrong, but do you notice anything there?

Where does that sentence start? the verse starts there, but Paul didn’t divide the verses when he wrote them.

It starts in verse 5, and I have no idea why the text is formatted this way, but listen to how the meaning changes.

Philippians 4:6–7 ESV

6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

when you quote this text in a vacuum, you make the person truly doing the action is you.

That’s not how prayer works. That’s not how God intended prayer to work. God is the after thought. We are the ones who can make God do something if we use it in a vacuum.

But look how the meaning changes when we use the context.

Philippians 4:5–7 ESV

5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Who is working? Who is doing the action?

The Lord. The Lord is the one working.

This is how prayer works.

The Lord wages war against darkness and we join with Him through prayer.

Paul is saying Rejoice, find your joy in the Lord.

Keep calm, let everyone see you as a non anxious presence.

The Lord is at hand. The Lord is working, so do not worry.

In this view, prayer goes from transactional, to formative.

Praying like God is control forms in to people who act like God is in control.

I like how Eugene Peterson puts this in the Message.

The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language Chapter 4

Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

We become a people who come to understand the peace of God, through deep communion with Him in prayer.

Prayer is how we are formed in this world.

Prayer is how we join God in waging war against darkness and brokenness.

Through Prayer our wants and desires are changed to His wants and desires.

We become like Christ, when we pray like Christ.

Do not worry for I the Lord is at hand.

P2Christ

and so, here is the question for you. what do we do with this?

Couple things to consider?

How firm are you in the Lord? Do you have a foundation?

What is your prayer life like?

Cause here is the deal, and I’ve hounded on this the whole time we have been in philippians, but all of us are being formed.

What are you being formed by?

Your Habits form you, the things you do, in the most mundane of things, that is where formation happens. What ever is normal is how you have been formed to be.

There is a leadership principal that says, “All systems are perfectly set to get the results it is getting.”

If you find yourself reaching for your phone to mindlessly scroll during down time, or while doing anything, you have been formed to do that, your habit, has made that normal.

So think, what is your prayer life like? Do you have one? Or do you just ask God for things when things go bad? Like God is your errand boy.

God is not your errand boy.

God invites us in to His peace through prayer. God compels us to sit and tell Him our lives, thought, emotions, anxieties, angers, joys, sadness.

God invites us to express all of those things, and though that we are invited to listen to the one who is in control.

Psalm 46:10 invites us to pray and in that prayer it says.

Psalm 46:10 (ESV)

10 “Be still, and know that I am God.

Be still, and know.

Know that God is at hand and BE still and hear from him.

So think, do I really pray like God is in control? Do I really pray?

Cultivate a habit of prayer.

So what I want to do is invite you, if you are a follower of Christ, think through your habit of prayer, do you have one? Do you have a deep walk with the living God? If not, start. come talk to me about setting up healthy rhythms of prayer.

And if you aren’t a follower of Jesus, you don’t have access to the father like we do. The invite is in to the kingdom, do you know Christ as Savior and Lord? Join the family and experience true peace in this life.

Come see Christ as Lord, come see christ as king.