Philippians: Learning How to Live a Life of GENEROUS Friendship

Today, we finish our series on Paul’s letter to the Philippians. Over the last three weeks, we have been exploring the connection between Christian joy and suffering. Paul’s letter to the young church in Philippi is inspired teaching for us about how to go through tough times. Which leads me to our question for today…do we have a theology for suffering? I’m not asking whether we can explain suffering from a philosophical perspective because, and to be perfectly honest, philosophy rarely helps people who are facing trials and tribulations. I know we often have the greatest of intentions when we offer comfort but oftentimes that comfort is discomforting and causes more pain. Instead, I am asking whether we, as followers of Jesus, can go through hard times in a Christian like manner. I think this gets to the heart of what Paul is getting at and may very well be the subject of Paul’s letter to the Philippians. It is about the Holy Spirit speaking to us about finding joy in Jesus through good times and bad.

Today we will look at the fourth and final chapter of this great letter. Our overarching topic today is: learning how to deal with tough times by living a life of generous friendship. As we look at this fourth chapter, there are some main points I want for us to highlight...

Agreement in our Fellowship as we work toward a common mission

Rejoicing in God’s gifts regardless of whether we are going through good times or bad

God’s peace is available for all of us

The “whatever’s” of life pull us away from God but not Paul’s “whatever’s”

So this leads us to our first line of discussion for this morning...

Fellowship in a common mission

In what we heard for this morning, Paul takes time in this teaching letter to urge two women in the church at Philippi to “be of the same mind.” It’s important that we agree with each other as we work toward our common mission. God’s people should learn how to get along with one another! Don’t get me wrong, there are going to be times when we disagree about where to go or what to do, however when it comes to our greater mission in the world, there is no room for disagreements.

Here’s what Paul is referring to in this section of the letter is a disagreement between two women who have spent an enormous amount of time working with him to establish this church in Philippi. Unfortunately, they have begun to argue about what they are doing. Now, Paul has already cautioned us to beware of bad theology. And it is bad theology that has caused the rift between these two women. Here Paul is talking about Christian harmony. “Harmony” is a musical term; when we are talking about Christian unity, it is much like a musical piece. Just like most music, it’s possible to get the words right but to get the music wrong. When that happens there is often discord. When our fellowship is like this, in discord, our relationships with one another suffer and more importantly, our greater mission suffers because we need to stop and correct this discord before we can move forward This is what he is addressing as he speaks about Euodia and Syntyche.

I want you to notice, too, that Paul does not only ask these two women to get along. He asks other leaders in the church to help them agree with each other. You see, Christian unity is everyone’s business. We all have a stake in our unity. When we see our siblings in our churches that cannot agree with one another, our response should not be to merely shake our heads or to judge them for their weaknesses. No. We should help them to agree with one another. This is vitally important to our work. If we are not working together, there is absolutely no way anyone else will ever see the gifts that God has given us...

Rejoice in God’s gifts

The next thing I want us to notice is that Paul does not say “cheer up!” He says, “rejoice” because rejoicing is something else altogether. Joy is the evidence of the Holy Spirit at work in a group of people. Joy is a sign of God’s kingdom made manifest here on the earth, right now. Joy goes beyond mere happiness and imparts the substance of Heaven. Joy is serious business! And joy helps the whole community grow. We are also not talking about never being unhappy or only being happy about everything, we are talking about the joy that comes in having a right relationship with God and with others.

Also note that Paul is urging the people of Philippi to rejoice in the Lord, not in their worldly possessions or the things that they can acquire from their good life. He is telling us that our joy comes from the relationships we have with God and one another. The world will tell you that there are many things capable of giving us joy. But ultimately, our joy must rest in the Lord, and nothing else. There is a progression here, a wisdom from the Spirit that Paul is sharing with us. Can you see it? We must live together in Christian unity. The wonder of Christian unity is that it gives us the ability to rejoice in the Lord together. Which brings us to the third point in this passage.

God’s peace

Verses 6 and 7 are famous verses.

Philippians 4:6–7 CEB

Don’t be anxious about anything; rather, bring up all of your requests to God in your prayers and petitions, along with giving thanks. Then the peace of God that exceeds all understanding will keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus.

Listen, it’s impossible to live in anxiety if you are surrounded in joyful agreement with your siblings in Christ. In fact, Paul says, “don’t worry about anything but in everything with prayer and thanksgiving”. This clearly means that we should let our requests be made known to God. Now, this is useful advice for us as individuals—but it is extremely powerful advice for us as a community of believers.

Have you ever noticed how anxiety and worry can take hold of an entire community of people? It’s like a social virus: consider a herd of cows grazing close to an electric fence. If just one cow brushes up against electric fence and receives a shock, the whole herd is startled! You can watch the surprise and fear work its way through every cow. My point is not that we are like cows, but rather simply to suggest that together we should not worry about anything, but together we can, through prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let our requests be made known to God, and together, we will experience peace.

The wonderful result is that the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Together! It is good news that the peace of God can guard my heart and mind individually. It is even more wonderful news that the peace of God can guard all of our hearts and our minds together, as a community of believers. How powerful is the testimony of a peaceful and joyful community at rest in the goodness of God. In whatever difficulties or hardships our local community faces, a congregation can be an example of Christian joy and peace.

This is important because one person who is at peace can be dismissed as an exception. But you cannot dismiss an entire congregation of peaceful and happy people who live without anxiety and live in harmony toward a common goal and mission. This kind of community life is an example of the kingdom of God here, now, on earth, as it is in heaven and it is God’s peace that allows this to happen. The Christian life is good for me as an individual. And the Christian life is impossible apart from me living in Christian community. With me on this? The world at large, however, sees things vastly different...

The ‘whatever’s’ of life

The word “whatever” is part of our common slang these days. It’s a way of dismissing the importance of something. But here the apostle Paul gives us a new way to think about “whatever”, listen to it again...

Philippians 4:8–9 NIV

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

These “whatever’s” are not like the world’s whatever’s. The world’s whatever’s teach us to minimize and completely disregard life-giving behaviors. But this list in Philippians is a life-giving list! These whatever’s teach us to be like Jesus, and we should think on these things. (What’s more, we should do it together.) One person may find purity and beauty and nobility and truth during a walk in the woods. Another person in our congregation might see the very same qualities in a popular movie. Still another person in our community may learn these admirable and praiseworthy traits through prayer and fasting.

What makes these “whatever’s” so powerful is that we can share them with one another when we come together. (Remember that this chapter is about living lives of generous friendship together, in a Christian community.) If God speaks anything noble or right or lovely or admirable or excellent or praiseworthy to one of us, it only makes sense that he or she should share with all of us.

Honestly, this really sums up the whole of the letter to the church in Philippi. Paul wrote it to comfort and encourage a group of people who were traveling through a tough time. They were in disagreement with one another about what their real purpose was in life. While we are not the church in Philippi, we are a group of believers who have struggled through many things and will struggle to go through other things in our life as well. The important piece of this for us today is this…we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us as long as we remember to live our lives as fellow believers and in generous friendship with each other.

Let us pray...

God, remind us each day that we are in this together. Remind us of our mission when we lose sight of the goal and strengthen us for our journey as we travel together…Amen.