Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Review

Last week we covered how Paul Addressed Division.

There was a conflict between two ladies.

It was not a gospel issue as they fought sided by side with Paul in advancing the gospel.

You’ll recall he pleads with these two ladies.

Second he asked for someone to get involved.

Third, he calls the church to focus on agreeing in the Lord.

Start with the Lord as your foundation.

After Paul address the conflict several ideas and commands flow together that center around or out of the idea of conflict.

Unity in the gospel is always at the forefront of Paul’s mind.

And out of

And He begins by asking the church to rejoice in the Lord.

Gentleness or in some translations reasonableness, let your gentleness be know to all.

This means self effacing…be known for the opposite of self seeking, and a contentious spirit.

Don’t be Anxious but Learn to Pray

To aid in keeping conflict at bay and aid in our rejoicing, we must not be anxious about anything but learn to pray.

Paul is not saying that you will not face anxiety.

Paul is not saying you cannot be diagnosed with anxiety.

What is the root cause of not being anxious…God is near.

It is almost like our society and the Philippian churches circumstances demanded that we worry.

For us, in particular, the amount of news, locally including neighborhood apps and city apps, national news, international news, bills, social media news, the radio, and tv…we are bombarded by everything.

And what sells is what is scary, heart wrenching, and all the rest.

Our current state of communications demand we worry about everything.

​Basics for Believers: An Exposition of Philippians Resolve Not to Be Anxious about Anything, but Learn Instead to Pray (4:6–7)Pressures mount and surround us and bully us, until even the Christian who hears the injunction of this passage (“Do not be anxious about anything”) smiles half bitterly and mutters, “You don’t understand; it can’t be done.”

What we overlook is that Scripture here tells us how to overcome our anxieties.

“Do not be anxious about anything” is not a naked prohibition; the alternative is immediately provided: “but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (4:6).Those of us who have been born into the family of God know about these things.

But knowing about them and finding them true in our experience are two different things.

When was the last time you prayed explicitly and at length over the things that worry you, trouble you, plague you?

Did you take them out and recount them to God, one by one, laying your burdens on him?

None of this should be misconstrued as a Pollyannish approach to life.

Christians are not ostriches with heads carefully buried in the sand.

None of this means that our paths will be smooth and edged with the sweetest smelling roses.

There is no hint that we shall live above the pressures of other mortals by escaping them.

Far from it.

It is precisely in the context of the pressures we all must endure that we find our rest in God.

If you worry little simply because Providence has so far blessed you with a relatively easy passage or if you worry little because you have a carefree personality, you know little of the truth of this passage.

This passage does not deny the existence of anxieties, it tells us what to do with them.

It does not tell us that if we have the right personality, we can live above tension; it tells us where we find strength and grace to help in times of need.

I have yet to meet a chronic worrier who enjoys an excellent prayer life.

Think Holy Thoughts

Do you grasp the power of thoughts?

I think of the times I have mentioned a restaurant or a specific food item only to have people in the church racing out the doors to go fulfill a desire that was planted with a simple example from a sermon.

Wrong thoughts about something or someone often become a false reality.

We must always remember that our thoughts are laid bare before the Lord.

Hebrews

Psalm 139:

In conflict, and in life real change begins with thoughts.

Just to put this into perspective let’s look at

The thought of anger is the same as murder.

Jesus elevates the inner life to be of equal worth to the public actions.

Murder can be traced back to hate, and adultery can be traced back to Lust.

What we think is at the center of not only conflict resolution but also at the heart of unity.

The current danger we all face in this fast paced, ever changing world focuses around time with God.

Our current danger is we make very little effort to think God’s thoughts after him, to hide his word in our hearts that we might not sin against Him.

(psalm 119:11)

We will spend just a moment going through the list of virtues, but spend a bit more time focusing on the application of these virtues.

Paul lists 6 virtues and 2 summary ideas.

The six virtues are:

Whatever is true,

Whatever is honorable,

Whatever is just,

whatever is pure,

Whatever is lovely,

Whatever is commendable,

The two summary ideas are

If there is anything excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on these things.

The command is to think or dwell on the things mentioned above.

This means we must give careful thought to these things listed.

It means to let one’s mind dwell on these things, to ponder what they are.

In our fast paced life we find it difficult to slow down enough to charge our phones, let alone have the time space and energy to think through such a list of virtues.

But the truth is, we must slow down and think right.

We cannot afford to ignore our inner thoughts and spiritual development.

Our bodies cannot handle the stress of continually being on the go.

We must no longer celebrate business, it is unhealthy.

Whatever is true…true means in accordance with fact, accurate, exact.

Thinking about truth

Whatever is honorable…whatever is worthy of respect, dignified.

Calling for a focus on what is honorable implies a deliberate turning away from that that is dishonorable, vulgar, and ignoble.

Think on things that life the mind from the cheap and poor quality to that which i honorable and good, having moral and worth.

Whatever is just…whatever is right, it means to uphold the customs and norms of behavior.

Jesus uses this idea when he tells the parables of hiring workers and at the end of their work days pays them what is just, what they agreed to.

Whatever is pure…think on those things that are morally blameless.

The purity of life begins with what we think.

Whatever is lovely…Think on things that cause delight, things that are agreeable.

The enjoyment of genuine beauty.

Whatever is commendable…Whatever is worthy of praise.

Learning to think the Gospel: Application