How to Think (Philippians 4.2-9)

Paul writes this letter in confinement. He’s chained to a Roman guard. And as he is doing this there are folks in the community preaching in such a way as to do him harm. Not to mention a group of false teachers going about trying to lead people astray. The Philippians are facing some persecution, their church has been hit by disunity. Things aren’t rosy for them. I think we can gloss over things like this and distance ourselves. It’s easy to convince ourselves that our situation is unique and the Bible isn’t able to speak to our contemporary issues. Sure Paul had it rough…sure he can tell them to rejoice. But he just doesn’t understand my situation.

I read an interesting book a few years ago called The Narcissism Epidemic. What these researchers found was summed up by saying:

We are a nation fixated on the idea of being the exception to the rule, standing out, and being better than others—in other words, on being special and narcissistic—and we’re so surrounded by this ethos that we find it shocking that anyone would question it. Fish don’t realize they’re in water.

I remember this as a kid watching these cartoons. Only YOU can prevent a forest fire. Mr. T, “Be somebody fool”. Captain Planet telling us to reduce pollution down to zero. Our Saturday morning cartoons telling us that we can be whatever we want to be. Now there is something good and true about believing that we are unique and that God created us as a unique individual. That’s a good thing. But when our self-worshipping hearts grab hold of this? It’s not good. And what happens when such a person suffers?

Such a circumstance provides a great opportunity for a heart bent towards narcissism to fulfill its twisted desires. In times of intense suffering it is easy to feel that our affliction is unique and that we have been dealt a blow more weighty than other people. And so, somehow, even through our pain we find a way to worship. But we worship ourselves. Our worship is self-directed. Our wound the altar. Here we pay homage to our uniqueness. And here, in that moment when the sufferer adopts the label of “special” or “unique”, the downward spiral begins, cutting him/her off from hope and help.

And so you end up distancing yourself from others. “Nobody understands.” And you end up distancing yourself from God and His Word. Passages of Scripture that were once helpful no longer have bearing on your life. After all, you can reason that those Scriptures don’t apply because the biblical authors aren’t walking in your shoes.

Passages of Scripture that were once helpful no longer have bearing on your life. After all, you can reason that those Scriptures don’t apply because the biblical authors aren’t walking in your shoes.

Now every sinful response to your suffering is excused—at least in your mind. It’s not you, it’s the suffering. When the afflictions keep piling on (and usually a great portion of it the consequence of your sinful response to suffering) you conclude that God has forsaken you.

It is here that you will make your bed in ashes. You’ve spiraled into depression and self-pity. Here you will become jaded and your conscience seared. You, and you alone, have been abandoned and forsaken by the God who said that He wouldn’t forsake anyone. You’re stuck in this pit with no rope. You even lack the fingernails to claw your way out. You are hopeless.

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Now what’s interesting with all of this is that mental health statistics show that mental health issues are on the rise. 1 in 5 adults experience a form of mental illness in a given year. 1 in 25 will experience issues so serious that it will substantially interfere with their life. And 1 in 5 youth aged 13-18 will experience a severe mental disorder at some point during their life. That’s because everything is so bad, correct? What’s odd about this is that by the world health organization’s standards our world is actually better and more prosperous than it has ever been. We as a people—if given their metrics—are thriving. And yet we are miserable. Our circumstances are probably BETTER than that of Paul and the church at Philippi.

Even consider all the luxuries we have that they didn’t. No electricity. No running water. No internet!! And so it’s not as if these people are saying things in BETTER circumstances. It’s quite possible that the words that I’m about to read to you come from a man who is more acquainted with suffering than you and I will ever be. I say that not to diminish your pain but to give hope. These words aren’t coming from an ivory tower or from a man distanced from reality of harsh living. Paul had street cred:

So how do you counsel a hurting people, battling disunity (man doesn’t that really scream loudly in suffering?)

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Three things. The way to do it. And then give it a bit of a test drive.

Paul’s situation and the Philippians situation Discouragement. Fear of persecution.

Discouragement. Fear of persecution.

Rejoice instead of whining

gives us the story. After Paul and his friends cast a demon out of a slave girl, her owners get ticked off. So they “seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers”. They were unjustly sentenced and “had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in stocks”.

Rejoice always

Put yourself in this story, “you’ve been beaten, unjustly accused, and now you find yourself in prison chained up and your feet in stocks”. What would your attitude be? Would you be filled with joy? Would you start singing a song? Listen to what Paul and Silas do, “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God…” Somehow, Paul and Silas began doing what God is commanding the Philippians to do here, “Rejoice in the Lord always”.

modeled by Paul and Silas in prison

What this means is that the beauty of God shines brightest when in the midst of trials when “normal” people would be in despair the child of God shines brightly. We see to from that this type of thing is contagious. Just a few verses later the Philippian jailer asks them, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved”. Certainly, he saw their joy. Certainly, he must have wondered what type of really big God these men must have that we can beat them and yet they praise Him.

Rejoice in the Lord

So we see then the first thing about rejoicing and whining is that we have no excuses. This is not circumstantial, in fact it is often in spite of circumstances that we have joy. So, there is not a soul out here tonight that is above or below this commandment of God—be joyful, ALWAYS!

exclusivity. Solomon. Joy is only found in the Lord

possibility. Union with Jesus

The cure for a crushed and bitter spirit is to see Christ Jesus the Lord and then to rejoice in him. Lurking and nourished sins are always a sign that our vision of Jesus is dim and that our joy in him has evaporated with the morning dew. By contrast, the believer who practices rejoicing in the Lord will increasingly discover balm in the midst of heartache, rest in the midst of exhausting tension, love in the midst of loneliness, and the presence of God in control of excruciating circumstances. Such a believer never gives up the Christian walk. Resolve always to rejoice in the Lord. -D.A. Carson

2. Relax instead of warring

The word gentleness or reasonableness is a difficult one to translate. As one commentator noted the word refers to a “balanced, intelligent, decent outlook in contrast to licentiousness.” One other refers to it as, “the generous spirit that rises above offenses, or a forbearing spirit, of which Jesus provides the supreme example. Such a person does not insist upon rights”.

Basically what Paul is saying is make it evident to all that you’re not always bent out of shape when wronged. This command goes contrary to our nature. When wronged typically our first response is some sort of revenge. Whether it be passive or aggressive, our typical response to persecution is warring. The Lord is telling us in this text, do not do that—let your reasonableness be known to all.

How is this made evident? It’s when we are challenged. How do you interact with lost people. With brothers or sisters or fall and mess up? With those who disagree with you politically or theologically? Are you gentle? Are you reasonable? That’s how it’s made evident.

Also a connection here with “the Lord is at hand”. Spatially near or near in time. Either way But the overall concept is that our cause will be vindicated by the Lord. Therefore, do not live for your “rights” but live as a slave of God, who is one day going to fully vindicate us.

3. Request instead of worry

What do you worry about? Trivial things. .

Things which we have no control over.

Anything. Make your requests known to God. Pray. Hand it over to the Lord. Trust in his goodness.

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How in the world do I do this? It’s a battle. More on verse 8 tonight. But for now…the way you think. What are you filling your mind with? We will look at the specifics of this again tonight. But this is why Paul is telling them how to do battle in our minds. How to believe the goodness of God. Feed it. Train it.

But I think we can see this best by showing a model of this in the OT. .

In the first three verses of what we have is a contrast. In the first verse Asaph proclaims what people of faith have proclaimed for centuries. It is at the core of our testimony—that God is good all the time and all the time God is good.

But it is not only that God is good in himself—it is that God is good to his people. He does them good. This is the same thing that Paul would say centuries later in , “God works all things together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose.” God means to do us good and not harm. He is good and He does us good.

I love what Spurgeon says on this point:

It is well to make sure of what we do know, for this will be good anchor hold for us when we are molested by those mysterious storms which arise from things which we do not understand. Whatever may or may not be the truth about mysterious and inscrutable things, there are certainties somewhere; experience has placed some tangible facts within our grasp; let us, then, cling to these, and they will prevent our being carried away by those hurricanes of infidelity which still come from the wilderness, and, like whirlwinds, smite the four corners of our house and threaten to overthrow it. O my God, however perplexed I may be, let me never think ill of thee. If I cannot understand thee, let me never cease to believe in thee. It must be so, it cannot be otherwise, thou art good to those whom thou hast made good; and where thou hast renewed the heart thou wilt not leave it to its enemies.

God is always good. He is unshakeable in his goodness. His goodness never slips. It never falters. There is not one day that you and I will wake up and God will not be good and do us good. He will withhold no good thing from us. What a precious truth this is.

We must change our perspective before we make a charge to the goodness of God. When bad things assail us, when questions confound us, when we are overcome as Asaph let us adjust our thinking. You didn’t get that job promotion—don’t question God’s goodness, believe the truth that he will withhold no good thing from us. Perhaps that job promotion would have shipwrecked your faith. You don’t know. God will withhold no good thing.

This is an unfaltering truth. God will not stumble on this point. God is always good and always does us good. But we, like Asaph, are not unshakeable. Notice how he contrasts his own estate with the firm foundation of the Lord. But as for me, says Asaph, I just about fell and plummeted headlong into ruin. Verse 3 tells us why, “For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.”

This means that Asaph’s entire world was shaken in a moment. His strength and his understanding failed him. He looks upon the wicked and he sees their smiling faces and he almost gave up the whole thing. He almost gave up following the Lord and went after the world instead.

You can see the climax of this in verse 13-14. “All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning.” Following after the Lord has been pointless, says Asaph. It’s gotten me nowhere. He looks at his suffering. The way he feels every morning. The conviction he feels when he sins. The fact that his cup is dry and he’s scraping away in this life. He sees all of this—he looks at all the bad junk in his life—(while turning a blind eye to everything good) and then he looks with a glimmer in his eye at the prosperity of the wicked.

He’s likely been next to people when they die. He sees their agony. Followers of the Lord die and sometimes in painful and terrible and tragic ways. They have pangs in their death. And here’s Asaph seeing all of that and feeling the weight of it and then he turns to look at the wicked when they are dying. No pangs. Just a peaceful death as the drift off quietly into sleep. A wicked dude lives to be 95 cursing God and man until the day he dies—peacefully in his sleep. A loving mom, four kids, a whole life ahead of her suffers with cancer for years until she dies at the age of 38. That’s what Asaph sees and he says, “I want that. I want death without pangs.”

He looks at their bodies “fat and sleek”. That was a good thing back then. It meant they didn’t miss a meal. He’s looking at his table scraps, his empty bowl, or maybe even he was provided for but it was the same thing over and over again. It wasn’t luxury. It wasn’t the choicest of foods. He was eating bologna sandwiches and he looks over and sees the wicked guy feasting on prime rib. “I want the prime rib”. Why can’t I have the prime rib?

His life is filled with trouble. Can you imagine the insecurity of living as a Jew in this time? Are my people going to be driven away? Which king are we serving this week? There isn’t stability. It’s trouble all the day long. He doesn’t have freedom. He doesn’t have luxury. He has trouble. And he looks over at the wicked—the God-hating wicked that doesn’t keep his way clean—and what he sees is that they are stricken like the rest of mankind. They are living it up. Every day looks to be more joyous than the next.

And they wear pride as a necklace. Something within Asaph surely despises such a person—such an arroagant and haughty and brutish man. But yet there is something else within Asaph that wants that. I want that necklace. I want to have something to strut about. There is in 7-12 a record of the wrongs of this person. He’s a scoffer, his heart is filled with folly, he is malicious, he is oppressive, and he wags his tongue against heaven, and struts about the earth filled with pride. Our psalmist knows what the Lord says of such a man—he despises the prideful. God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.

He sums it up in verse 12. They are always at east and they increase in riches. Boy sure doesn’t sounds like the Lord is opposing the proud, does it? He’s envious of all the stuff they’ve got. He’s envious of these arrogant fools. And that’s why he says in verse 13 and 14 I’ve done all this for nothing. I’ve followed the Lord faithfully all these years. I’ve been the humble in that verse and I haven’t gotten grace—I’ve been stricken and rebuked every morning.

So what does he do?

You’ll notice back in verse 2 that Asaph says, “I almost stumbled, I almost fell”. We see his rescue here. In verse 16-17 our psalmist is overcome with trouble. Thinking through this is weary. It doesn’t make sense. If God is good then good stuff should happen to good people and bad stuff should happen to bad people. That’d make sense. That’d be simple. But it isn’t simple and it isn’t squaring up and so it’s a wearisome task says Asaph. Until…

Until he goes to the sanctuary of God. Here when he sees the eternal God, the holy of Holies, the everlasting God, it begins to make sense. His eyes change perspective. He stops looking at the fat on their tables and begins to see the famish in their souls.

They aren’t secure. They are set on slippery places and they will come to ruin in but a moment. Everything that they are hoping in and everything that is making them smile is fleeting. It doesn’t last. And here—I believe in our day and age is something that might seem even more perplexing. Again I turn to Spurgeon:

Surely thou didst set them in slippery places. Their position was dangerous, and, therefore, God did not set his friends there but his foes alone. He chose, in infinite love, a rougher but safer standing for his own beloved. Thou castedst them down into destruction. The same hand which led them up to their [high place], hurled them down from it.

Asaph saw that the prime rib was all that they had. The death without pangs was a mirage, because the second that they stepped into eternity they were met with the wrath and justice of God.

And now Asaph sees this. These brutish and ignorant men are consumed. Why in the world would he be envious of the arrogant, the foolish, the wicked, the scoffer? This is all they’ve got. They’ve only got this shiny stuff.

But wait, says Asaph. My soul was just like them. I too was embittered and it cut me to the core. I was pricked in the heart, he says. It tore me up. It made me miserable. Covetousness makes a man miserable. How much worse when it is covetousness of such a foolish variety—one where a man would see only the temporary blessings and say, “I’d like that”. That the same type of foolishness of Esau that would exchange his birthright for a pot of stew.

But here was Asaph he was brutish and ignorant—he was like a beast. And now he is acknowledging the foolishness of his thought. So why is Asaph different? Why didn’t Asaph stumble? Through his foolish thinking he found himself on a very slippery place. Just like the unbeliever. But Asaph didn’t stumble. He endured. Why?

Verse 23. “Nevertheless”. Oh, what a sweet word. Nevertheless. I was a brute. An ignorant fool that said, and thought, and felt, and entertained thoughts that are damned. But nevertheless…oh how sweet.

You are a great sinner…nevertheless…Christ died for the ungodly. Who will deliver me from this body of death, what a wretched man that I am…nevertheless…there is now no condemnation for those that are in Chris Jesus. Nevertheless, Asaph…”you hold my right hand”.

I want to close by looking at verse 26. Here Asaph says, “my strength and my heart may fail”. It happened to Asaph. His knees buckled. He was a stout and devout dude but all it took was one glance of his eyes to fixate on the forbidden fruit and he became like Eve—crippled by covetousness. And so friends we too may have seasons where our strength fails. But that’s okay because our strength is not our anchor. We too may have seasons where our heart fails. But that’s okay because our heart is not our anchor.

The Lord Jesus and his accomplishment is our anchor. It is because of him that we have a reason to sing. It is because of Jesus that the Lord is our portion forever. We inherit everything because of Jesus. It is in him that we have all the spiritual blessings. Everything that is good will be yours. He will withhold no good thing. Friend, there will not be a moment when you are in heaven and you think—ah, man I missed out on that. You’ll never say, “I lack. I thirst. I hunger. I want. I need.” Never. Because there will be no good thing that is not yours. Wrap your mind around that.

It is because of Jesus that the Lord will always do us good. It is because of the Lord Jesus that we are upheld by his right hand. It is because of Jesus that the Lord is our portion forever.