When in doubt, Dwell
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
Camp Sunday is always fun. It is fun seeing you guys geta taste of what a camp chapel is like. It is good to get excited about camp starting for the year. In case you havent noticed our theme this year is based on Philppians 4:6-7. In our talks of what we want to focus on for this summer something that came up is the problems we are having with worry and anxiety. They are real problems and we are seeing more and more that parents are putting down on their forms that their kids are dealing with anxiety problems. I dont know what is causing all of this but it is becoming a problem.
I think one of the problems that we face is where we dwell, what we put our focus on. The bigger our problems seem the more we focus on them and lose sight of God. Le me use an imperfect example of this, look at this picture and tell me what it is?
You cant tell can you, what if I show it zoomed out a little bit. It is easier to tell what it is but not quite yet.
What about if we zoom out a little more yet, it starts to become more clear. can anyone guess what this is?
I think what happens is our problems become bigger when we focus on them and we lose sight of what we are to dwell on. And that is God. ANXIETY, DEPRESSION, WORRY, THEY ARE ALL VERY REAL PROBLEMS THAT ARE AFFECTING US AND OUR KIDS MORE AND MORE, SO WHAT SHOULD WE DO ABOUT IT? Philippians tells us that when we are in doubt, when we worry, when we are anxious bring it to God in prayer, to focus on Him.
But what does it mean to dwell on God? Are we dwelling on God in all that we do.
In this life as worries assail us we are caleld to dwell on God. We do this through practicing Christian virtues in all that we do. It is living a lifestyle of praise to the one who created us.
Unity in the Lord
Unity in the Lord
As You know I am a fan of context. And in the context of this whole passage we are dealing with positive Christian virtues, Moral values and putting them into practice. do you worry? bring it to God in Prayer. Are you struggling to work together in unity as the body of Christ?
Agree in the Lord and contend togetehr for the gospel and there is more. What you have learned, you must put into practice because of who God is and because He is coming again.
It is a series of Christian morals we are to live our lives by. Not a complete list but nonetheless a good list to follow.
These are given with the understanding that you are already a follower of Jesus, if not then we will get to that in a little bit.
We have gone through Philippians before, and if you remember the main theme we see running through the book we can find in verse 21
20 as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.
21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
To live is to live for Christ, to live is to seek to be found in Christ, to die is but gain. this is our eager expectation. but with this we move on.
We start with 2 women who were partnered with Paul in Ministry. It does not say what they did with him, nor should we try and exegete some sort of theology of womens role in ministry from these two short verses. But what we do know is they had a problem agreeing on things it would appear.
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.
To stand together for the gospel is what we are called to do. To stand firm on the gospel, to stand firm for the gospel, to stand together for the sharing of the gospel. The first virtue that we are to put into practice as we struggle through this life is unity together for the gospel. This is one step in dwelling in the Lord.
This is something that is often done one quarrel at a time seeking reconciliation with eachother. When we stop dwelling on Jesus, we start to dwell on our problems and worries and often what suffers in this is unity. So then what we see is that as unity falls, so does the sharing of the gospel.
We need to remember that Anger in the church can destroy the testimony of the church in the community. If they see that we can not get over these minor things then why would they want to be a part of us.
Other Christian Virtues
Other Christian Virtues
From Unity, Paul continues to exhrt us followers of Jesus to dwell on and pursue Christian virtues.
4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.
The thing about learning to rejoice always is this means not just when times are good but when times are bad as well. Always we are told to rejoice inthe Lord
But how is it we can rejoice in our difficulties? We do this by dwelling on the Lord and what He has done for us. We rejoice because Jesus died on the cross for sin so that we might have freedom in Him. Yet we are not immune to sorrow, nor should we be insensitive to others sorrow. Yet we can help others see the true Joy they can find only in Jesus.
Our joy is not a temporary Joy that comes and goes with the cirtcumstances that we go through, but rather it is a joy that comes from our relationship with the Lord. But when we do dwell on our cirumstances joy comes and goes and is fleeting, that joy will never last.
5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand;
When we find our Joy in the Lord what people will see is our graciousness, or reasonableness.
This is apperantly a hard word to translate. This is seen in the Lord setting us free from sin when we turn to him when we deserved death. It is to be shown to all. When the normal response is retaliation, our response is to be gracious. It is the yielding of ones personal rights for the well being of others. even to people who may be making our life miserable.
Remember this is not at the sacrifice of truth, we are to still stand firm on the truth but we must also learn to deal with others in Grace as we stand on the truth.
23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.
This is the hard part, but a gentle spirit will do much in disarming those that come against us. We do this because we are reminded that the Lord is coming soon. We are reminded that this world is not our home, and while we are here temporarily, we must do all that we can to point other people to Jesus while we are here.
6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
That is easy enough to say, do not worry. Sometimes like saying to someone with a broken leg, walk it off bud, you will be fine. Or at least it feels that way sometimes.
But we know that to stand firm in Christ together we are to not worry. But how do we do that? but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Through getting on our knees before God. Through constant prayer, petition and thanksgiving we are to make our requests know to God.
Anxiety, worry, depression is a real thing. There are those out there that would say it is not real, but rather a lack of faith. That is not true. We deal with anxiety and the like because we are in a fallen world. To overcome we are told to bring it to the Lord in prayer, to focus and dwell in Jesus.
SO again how do we get rid of worry in our lives and learn what it means to have joy? We do not. You have no hope of getting out of your worry and despair on your own so do not even try.
But in everything that happens, make it known to God. Not just our petitions and requests but also our thanksgivings and praise as well. And the healing that happens might be miraculous, it might come through talking with a professional or other friends, it might come through the help of docters, there is nothing wrong with that but it must start with making our requests known to God.
7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
But what is the result of doing this, bringing our worries to the Lord?
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
There are times where do not feel too much like being Joyful. Like an artist who wrote a sad song about Joy in the Lord. The truth is that I was terribly and profoundly sad. The reality of grief had not even entirely hit me yet. But at the same moment I had a deep sense of peace. (My Dad) was no longer in pain. He was no longer sick. He was free from all his ailments and restored
The peace found in dwelling in Jesus, in pursiuing Christian virtues as a child of God is a peace that doesnt make sense to the world around us.
In this life as worries assail us we are caleld to dwell on God. We do this through practicing Christian virtues in all that we do. It is living a lifestyle of praise to the one who created us.
We receive a peace in our hearts and minds, a peace that will guard our hearts and our minds. This is not a normal type pf peace that well beyond the understanding of man. A peace that does not make sense but comes from the Lord.
Christian Joy is not the worldly kind of joy that will come and go depending on the circumstance that we may face. Rather it is a joy that is grounded altogether on our relationship with the Lord. Because it is grounded in our relationship with the Lord an abiding Joy, despite the circumstances we go through.
Dwell on these things
Dwell on these things
Stand firm in the Lord together, learn to work together for the Lord by not constantly arguing. Learn to not worry by finding a joy in the Lord that is predicated on our relationship with the Lord.
All of this works together, All of this comes from knowing Jesus our not worrying, Our joy, our unity.
As we learn what this looks like we can start to think this way by filling our minds with things of the Lord instead of things of the world.
8 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.
What is morally and spiritually excellent, dwell on these things. but not only that we are to do, not just to dwell but to put in to action.
9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
There need not be any contradiction between what we say and what we do. The way we think about God, the things we say we do must be wroked out in the way that we live our lives.
But this is sometimes where reasonableness or graciousness comes into play. We will all sometimes fail, we will all sometimes fall but as we stand on the truth and learn to work together show grace and love to one another as we lead eachother back to the way of truth.
So What?
So What?
This summer we are going to be bringing in kids fromthere homes, to a place where our goal is to point them to Jesus. But they deal with so many issues, as do we. so what we tell them is who God is and as we learn to dwell on Jesus it tsarts with
Remember who Jesus is.
Remember who Jesus is.
When in doubt, when you are struggling remember wer can find peace and joy and unity because of who Jesus is and what He has done for us. Jesus died on the cross for our sins to brewk the chains that bind us the hopelsseness and despair that holds us down.
Jesus is coming again one day, or we may go to see Him sooner and we must strive to live for Him. He is sovereign and merciful and invites us to bring our requests to Him.
When in Doubt, dwell on Jesus.
When in Doubt, dwell on Jesus.
when you lose focus on Jesus and start to dwell on your problems, take a step back and remember how great a God it is that we serve. Bring it to God in Prayer. And as we do that live your life for Jesus. Learn to dwell in Jesus, Learn to rejoice in the Lord, to stand together in unity and love without sacrificing the truth.
You can find joy in any circumstance by seeking Jesus in all things through prayer. A peace is waiting for you that goes beyond the understanding of man.
Have you found this joy in despair? Then share with people what God has pulled you out of. Be vulnerable with people so they to can find joy when it seems impossible to them?
If you do not have a relationship with Jesus, come ask me more about how you can do that after, start now. Receive the peace that goes beyond the understanding of man.
whatever is in the word of God for us, whatever is pure, dwell on these things. and not just dwell live it out.
When in doubt, dwell on Jesus.
