Preparing For The Life Ahead | Philippians 4:4–9

Intro: Thank you so much, Leighton and team. If you have your bibles with you this morning if you could turn to Philippians 4 we are going to be looking at verses 4-9. One thing students in either the youth group here at Maynard or that are part of the Gordon State BCM have heard me say countless times is that one way you can tell you are growing up or getting older is because the decisions you make have a greater impact on the rest of your life. There’s very few decisions one makes in elementary school that are going to dictate the rest of that person’s life. Hannah, Steven, that’s not true of you anymore. You both are now deciding your plans for what comes after high school. You are choosing career paths. You are choosing where you want to live. Those are big decisions. And there will come hard decisions. Decisions where there looks like there is no good choices and decisions where you have to chose whether or not you will stay faithful. These are the kinds of decisions you are looking at. With this in mind, we turn to the text. The main idea of today’s text is that we should turn our attention to the things of God and allow Him to be our focus. We will see three things in today’s text. A call to avoid the worries of the world, a call to avoid the stumbling blocks of the world, and a call to follow Godly examples. As always at Maynard, would you please stand as we honor the reading of God’s Word.

Verses 4-7

Verse 4

Exposition:Our passage starts in verse four where Paul writes, Philippians 4:4

Philippians 4:4 ESV

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

Exposition: To truly understand the passage we are looking at this morning, we need to understand some things about the context from which Paul was writing. Philippians is a part of what New Testament scholars call the prison epistles, with epistle being another word for letter. They are called because wrote them from prison. While some have debated this, most scholars agree that these letters were written while Paul was on house arrest in Rome awaiting his trial before emperor Nero. Paul was literally chained to a Roman solider to make sure he would not escape, though there was no real risk of that. If you’ve read the book of Acts, you know that his one crime was that he professed Jesus as the messiah. His circumstances are unfair. But what does he still say. he says to rejoice. Not just to rejoice when life gives you things to rejoice about, but to rejoice always. The verb Paul uses is in the present tense. It requires continual rejoicing. In fact, he’s so passionate about this rejoicing, he says it again. Rejoice. How can Paul say rejoice always if he himself is in a circumstance that makes it really hard to rejoice. The only way that is possible is if Paul has an eternal perspective. If he knows that this world is not the final stop or is not as good as it gets.

Application: Graduates, there will be a lot to rejoice over the next few days and weeks. There will be parties and ceremonies and times with family. There will be lots to celebrate over. But that will not always be the case. You will walk through some really hard times at some points in your life. In those moments it will be tempting to just allow yourself to be defeated by the present circumstances. But for those that are in Christ, we don’t have to be dismayed by our present circumstances. We don’t have to think all is lost. We know we will experience eternity in heaven with Christ. Not just graduates, all of us who are in Christ, we do not have to be dismayed when life gets hard, we can rejoice at what is to come.

Exposition: Paul then goes on to write in verse 5 Philippians 4:5

Philippians 4:5 ESV

Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand;

Exposition: Some translations say gentleness, and one of the commentaries I looked at said that is probably the best translation. It could also be read as lenience, having tolerance of sight deviations from moral or legal rectitude. In the verses immediately before the passage we are looking at, Paul is asking two women who are leaders in the church at Philippi to put the differences aside that are causing them to be in conflict. That’s how he starts his final exhortations to the Philippians. Of these two women Paul writes Philippians 4:2

Philippians 4:2 ESV

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

Exposition: Some kind of conflict had clearly broken out between these two ladies and it was causing issues within the church. It is with that in mind that we see verse 5. Philippians 4:5

Philippians 4:5 ESV

Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand;

Application: Graduates, though there are some your age who they they should, not everybody is going to see the world the same way you do. People are not always going to have the same mindset about things. That is not an excuse for you to ever compromise on what the Bible tells us is truth. But the way we go about things as believers matters. Paul does not say to fight every battle as hard as you can and be prepared to die on whatever hill no matter how big or small it is. No, he says that a believers gentleness or reasonableness should be known to everyone. Graduates, church, and any other believer in the room, we should not be known as people looking for a fight. We should be known for our gentleness. Why? Because Christ is near. It is debated whether or not this means that Christ is near or that his return is near. But both are true. Christ is God. He is everywhere, he is always near. We should act as such and not like two bickering sibling when their parents aren’t in the room. And when Christ returns, we want to be found acting in a way that will draw people to him, not fighting every battle for the sake of being right. However Christ is near, we should show it with how we live.

Exposition: Paul then goes on to address something that is plaguing young people today. He writes Philippians 4:6

Philippians 4:6 ESV

do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Exposition: Anxiety is higher in our nation right now than it has ever been, especially among 17-18 year olds. But Paul speaks against this mindset. He says to be anxious for nothing. He gives no loophole here. He gives no reason that it is ok to be anxious. He’s not saying that anxiety should just go away. He’s not saying that we should just forget about it. I understand that there are many here who struggle with anxiety. I don’t want you to hear me this morning say that anxiety is not a real issue and that you need to pretend that it is not there. But I would also be unfaithful to scripture this morning if I just acted like there is nothing we can do about the worries we face in life. Graduates and anyone else listening. Life is hard. It’s really hard. There will come times where you fear you will go without. There will be times where you’re not sure the path you have chosen is one you can continue. There will be times you will be reminded just how uncertain life is. All of that is going to happen and in those moments you will be tempted to worry. But God has given us a way to handle those situations. He says Philippians 4:6 “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

Illustration:When reading this passage, I couldn’t help but be reminded of the old hymn, “What a friend we have in Jesus.” What a friend we have in Jesus All our sins and griefs to bear What a privilege to carry Everything to God in prayer O what peace we often forfeit O what needless pain we bear All because we do not carry Everything to God in prayerHave we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged Take it to the Lord in prayerCan we find a friend so faithful Who will all our sorrows share? Jesus knows our every weakness Take it to the Lord in prayer

Exposition: How true is this. So often the reason we get caught in anxiety is because we don’t take it to God in prayer. Instead we act like somebody reving their car up while still in neutral. There’s a lot of noise, a lot exhaust comes out sometime, but we don’t go anywhere. It doesn’t have to be that way. Paul says to go to God in prayer, and he uses some very specific terms. He says by prayer. Prayer is the most general term for communication with God. This should be a part of the lifestyle for every believer. Supplication comes from the root word that means to be deprived of. It’s where we look at what it is we lack and instead of just dwelling on what we do need and do not have, we god to God for it. But in this time of supplication there is also thanksgiving. Graduates, when you approach those moments in your life that lead to anxiety. Be thankful. Be thankful for all the ways God has been faithful in the past and be thankful for all the ways he will be faithful again. Then Paul uses the word request. Be specific in your prayers. Don’t pray vague prayers because you think there is a limit to what God can do. Pray specific prayers with the belief that He is God and He can answer in the way you need.

Illustration: Those in the youth group have heard this story 1000 times. But when I think about our need to be in prayer I’m reminded of a time in NC when I was having lunch with a young man from our church. I asked him what his prayer life was like. And he told me that he didn’t pray. I was shocked, I knew this young man was from a Godly home and had been raised in church. When I asked him why he told me, “God already knows what I need. Why do I need to ask?” As blunt as that was, I imagine he’s not the only person that approaches prayer in that way. I told him to imagine he was really sick and in need of a certain treatment to survive. The treatment was really expensive and he didn’t have the money to get it. But he had a really rich uncle who could pay for it. When somebody asked him why he didn’t just ask his uncle for the money his response was, “He knows what I need. Why do I need to ask?” When we put it in that context it sounds arrogant. But that’s how we treat our prayer life with the creator God. Graduates, and everyone here, be humble in your prayer life. Be willing to go before and almighty God that loves you and ask him for prayer. Because Paul tells us what the result is. He writes in verse 7

Philippians 4:7 ESV

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Exposition: The term for guard that Paul uses here is the same terminology used for a solider guarding a prisoner. It was the very thing that Paul was experiencing in his life in that moment. While Paul was chained to that solider, if he had broken character and decided to try and escape, it was not possible. What was also true was that if somebody tried to come do him harm, he was protected by the presence of that solider. When life gets hard. When we see everything that is going on in our lives and it all seems out of control. Or the situation seems too big for there to be any resolution. In those moments, instead of just being overwhelmed by overwhelming circumstances, we take it to God in prayer and place it on His shoulders. A peace comes that is unexplainable. It’s a peace that to the world does not make sense when considering the circumstances. As one commentator puts it, the only explanation is that god provides it. Folks, don’t walk around in life carrying a burden you don’t have to bear. Give it over to God.

Transition:The first thing Paul gives the Philippians advice on is how to avoid the worries of the world. Graduates, church, there will be worries that can pull your focus away from Christ, but there will also be potential stumbling blocks.

Verse 8

Exposition: Paul then goes on to prepare to close out this section. He writes in verse 8 Philippians 4:8

Philippians 4:8 ESV

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Exposition: When Paul writes, what ever is true, he means that which is faithful, distinguished from what is false or a lie. Our minds need to be fixed upon what is authentic. Young people there is only one that is always without falsehood.

Illustration: In golf, sometimes you hear the term true about a green It means that when looking at the undulations on a green, it breaks the way it appears to break. That what the golfer sees is how the ball will roll. Now if you just line up wrong or hit it past the hole as I typically do in the rare occasion I get to play golf, it doesn’t help you. But when I a green is true, you can trust what you see. God is the only thing that will always be what HE sees. He is the only one that will always be distinguished from falsehood. Trust His word and follow it.

Exposition: When Paul says honorable, he means that which hs noble, dignified, lofty, elevated and venerable. That which has lofty morality. Don’t be tempted to focus or yearn for things that are not of God. No, fix your eyes on the things of God with the knowledge that He is better.

Exposition: The better translation here and what may be in some of your bibles is whatever is right. Paul’s using a term that was known from the marketplace when buying grain. A standardized measurement was placed on a scale. And grain would be poured on the other side of the scale until it was balanced. They would know then it was the right amount. In our lives, the standard measurement is God’s Word and the way it calls us to live. Graduates, as you begin to set the course for your life, spend time in God’s Word. Learn to do what God’s Word says through the knowledge of what God’s Word says. This will only happen if you are spending time daily in His Word. If you want your life to resemble God’s standard, you have to know what God’s standard is.

Exposition: He then says, whatever is pure. It comes from the root word for holy. It means anything unmixed with moral impurities and is set apart. Students, don’t mix your thoughts with that of the world. Don’t look longingly at sin. Don’t glorify it and don’t try and see how close you can get to the line without technically going over it. That is not what purity is.

Exposition: Paul writes whatever is lovely. Paul here is talking about a visible attractiveness. Something that is pleasing to the world. There are physical wonders all over this world that put you in awe of who God is. It could be looking at the ocean or the mountains. It could be something like the Grand Canyon or Niagara Falls. Be in awe of God’s creation.

Exposition: Whatever is commendable. These are the things that are spoken highly of. Those things that are opposite from the things that you have to whisper when you talk about because it may not be something you want people to hear. Keep your thoughts from those things.

Exposition: Excellence is that of high moral value. It reflects the moral standard of God. Anything worthy of praise is just that. Something that can be praised by God.

Application: What does Paul say after going through this long list. Think about these things. He doesn’t just say to do them, he says to think about them.

true

honorable

just

pure

lovely

commendable

excellence

worthy of praise

Think about these things

Transition: One of the worst things somebody can do is tell you what, but not show you how. I remember being in english classes in college and the professors always stressing, “show me don’t tell me,” when reading essays and papers. That’s what Paul is saying he has done. He hasn’t just told them to do these things, but shown them how.

Verse 9

Philippians 4:9 ESV

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

Find mentors and imitate them

Conclusion: In his book Gospel Fluency, Jeff Vanderstelt has a chapter about the battle of the mind. He talks about how Satan tries to convince us to believe different lies and this leads to temptation because it can lead us not to believe God which leads to sin. In one part of the book he writes,

“The temptations come in all forms, but every one of them is an empty promise leading to an unfulfilled longing. Satan tries to convince us that there is a shortcut to deep fulfillment and satisfaction outside of God and his ways.” — Jeff Vanderstelt, Gospel Fluency, p. 108

p.108. When we are tempted to not rejoice but to be burdened by our situation, we are being tempted to believe Christ isn’t enough. When we are tempted to be anxious and not put our anxiety on God we are saying that God can’t handle it so we must just worry. We are tempted to focus on something other than the things Paul lists because we wonder if maybe just a little bit of something other than God’s standard is ok. What we are ultimately being tempted to do is turn our attention away from the things of God. Graduates, asl you begin to go into the real world, keep your focus on God and trust him in all things. Maybe you are here today and you have never trusted Christ. Maybe you have never placed your hope in Jesus but you are ready because you realize the ways of the world aren’t working for you. Christ died so He could have relationship with you. Let today be the day that begins. I will be up here in the front and would love to pray with you. Let’s pray.