Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Work on Saturday at a conference for “Science & Faith” yesterday.

Co-worker invited me for dinner

Has a daughter who is absolutely adorable.

Well known for not being good with babies - didn’t like them but got fond of them over the years

One of the reason I do not like babies are that they always cry and need their parents around them

Noelle likes me - first time seeing me in her house - kept making eye contact all in the safety of her dad’s presence

how do I know?

Once I try to pick her up, she would demand to be brought back to her dad.

I felt played around because she showed interest in me but only when her dad was around

when he went to the bathroom, she followed him, etc.

This made me realize and kind of look back my childhood - very dependent on parents - only knowing that they were there

Mother’s day

appreciate our parents

How blessed we are to have parents but even more to have our heavenly Father - we have broken families

In today’s text Paul tells us that we need to stand firm - more precisely, we need to stand firm in Christ.

Why? Because, we all need a foundation in life and only Christ is the true rock on which we can stand.

So, today, we will go over why need to stand firm, why we need to stand firm in Christ, and how we actually stand firm in Christ.

Why stand firm?

The first question we want to ask is “Why stand firm?”

We are not even saying “in Christ.”

We want to consider the question why we need to stand firm in anything.

Back to opening example - we all stand on something

Believe it or not we are all dependent on something

Government

Providing infrastructure, services, safety, etc.

Nature

that earth will sustain us and stays calm and safe - no earthquakes, etc.

predictable

Own bodies

our mind and person can only live in our bodies - we depend on our instincts and natural body functions

Parents

Providing shelter, food, love

Example: Fences - the duty of parents

We see that many of these things we have stood on are falling apart

Even the definition of man itself falls apart leaving us nowhere to stand upon

People do not even know what politically correct is - anything can insult anybody

We are creatures, more importantly creatures that depend on many things - as mentioned nature, societies, especially closer relationships, knowledge - without any of those we could not survive.

The truth...

but the truth is - all of these things are falling apart, right?

Nature is collapsing under the greed of men just like societies and governments are

Relationship are destroyed by the introduction of social media

knowledge is more options than facts

It is not surprising that children and teenagers are more prone to depression and confusion in general in a society like this.

Paul also knew that the people of Philippi were suffering under such things were relationships and societies are falling apart, even amongst Christians.

When we read in verses 2-3 we see that Euodia and Syntyche were fighting and Paul is telling them to take care of them.

Stand firm in Philippi

Paul know that life which they are supposed to live is full of such things and just being a Christian, the initial justification won’t change anything.

The reason why Paul is asking for the 2 to be reconciled is because they are not by themselves.

The reason why Paul is saying that they should rejoice is because most likely they are not rejoicing because of all the problems that they are facing.

Life is full of such things where we wonder on what we stand and what we can trust.

That leads us to the next question: What do we stand firm on and why does it have to be Jesus?

Why stand firm in Christ?

So, why in Christ?

We already answered the first question that we all need something to stand upon in this life, but why Christ?

The answer lies in the word “therefore” in our passage in verse 1. Paul is continuing and concluding his thought as well as this letter with these last paragraph and formulates a grand conclusion here with the word “therefore” - why therefore?

What therefore?

The word “therefore” is a result conjunction that show the consequences of the previous content.

What did we talk about so far?

What did Paul teach these people here in Philippi?

Most likely the best summary is found in .

What does that mean?

Paul knows and refers to them as true Christians and as we have learned so far it is not because of any merit-bringing actions that we have done but only and solely through the grace and work of Christ Jesus our Lord, we are saved and redeemed and nothing can take that away from us.

He is talking to believing Christians and therefore, since Paul knows that they know about the Gospel, he is saying “therefore - stand firm in the Lord!” Don’t you know that the one who began will finish it?

No matter what circumstance you will face, Christ will finish it!

That is why Paul is giving his own life-experiences showing them as he stood firm in the Lord what has happened and therefore calls them to imitate him to do the same as him, here again in verse 9!

We are Christians and we have the promise of Christ and we already have seen Him working in our brothers and sisters.

All things may fall apart but His Word shall stand forever!

This is the reason why we should stand firm in Christ - because there is nothing else to stand upon at this point if you really understand the truth!

So, how can we stand firm in Christ?

Now, the next question is then, how can we stand firm in Christ?

We all know standing firm is a figurative call - which is an heart issue.

But how can we live it out?

First, rejoice and again rejoice.

Paul is repeating this two times for a reason.

Because joy is one of the best ways to stand firm in Christ.

Paul does not just say be happy and that’s it.

“Don’t worry, be happy” is a very famous catchphrase - but we know that this is not that simple because this phrase misses one essential point - why be happy?

See, people just say be happy ignoring the fact that happiness is a reaction, a reactive emotion.

This means there must be always a reason for that happiness.

The same goes with joy.

We cannot be just joyful.

So, why does Paul say “rejoice?” - because he says be joyful in the Lord - in the knowledge of our God, the Father who redeemed us through His Son - knowing this rejoice he is saying!

Second, be gentle to everyone!

Phillipians 4:5

He is probably referring this here to Euodia and Syntyche saying, why do you quarrel and fight?

Be gentle to each other as you stand firm in the Lord knowing that you are in the book of life as it says in verse 3.

In our knowledge in God and Christ we can do it because we know it is Christ who finishes the work for us but also because He tells us to love our neighbors.

Third, prayer, prayer and prayer.

Paul starts saying this:

Philippians 4:6

Do not be anxious about anything - why? First, because God is at hand and second, because related to the first point, he listens to us.

This also important to point 1 and 2 - without prayer we cannot rejoice, without prayer we cannot be gentle, without prayer we cannot be thankful.

Paul is talking about prayer - 3 times in 3 different ways - “prayer”, “supplication” which basically means in the Greek “to pray” and “let your requests be made known” which also is “to pray”.

The reason why this is so important to pray is because prayer is the outward action of our trust in the Lord that not only did He redeem us but as our Father He is always with us - “at hand” and always “listens to us”.

I mean think about it - it is like the example from before.

Knowing that your heavenly Father is constantly watching over you, there is not need to fear, no need to quarrel, no need to be anxious - just like a little baby trusting in his or her parents, we also must be like them - that is why Christ said, unless we are like those children we cannot enter the kingdom of God, which Jesus referred to their dependent character!

We need to pray more!

Pray, Pray, Pray!

Then, lastly, to have faith - as you can see all these points are interrelated - from faith to prayer to rejoicing - they are all intertwined.