Sermon Tone Analysis

Philippians 4

 

*The Theme of this chapter is: *

 

The power of Christian living, which is:

 

*/Joy/*/------------------------------------the source of power/

*/Prayer/*/--------------------------------The secret of power/

*/Concentration of Christ--/*/--the sanctuary of power/

*/In Christ/*/----------------------The satisfaction of power/

 

! I.       Verse 1

!! A.    Paul is deeply in love with the Philippians church.

!!! 1.

The word “Beloved” here in the Greek is the strongest word for love.

!! B.    We are going to see in the upcoming verses how much Paul love and thinks of the Philippians.

!! C.    Paul longed to visit and fellowship with them.

!! D.    We read here the “Joy” which Paul had for them.

!!! 1.

The joy that they were saved.

!!! 2.     The joy that they were growing in Christ.

!! E.     The Philippians were his crown.

!!! 1.

The crown is not one a king wears, but one an Olympian would get.

!!! 2.     They were the proof of his effective ministry.

!! F.     Paul tells us to stand fast in the Lord and in the next verses to come his is going to tell us how this can be done.

! II.

Verse 2,

!! A.    Now Paul comes to the only problem in the Philippian church.

!! B.    It was not a serious problem, but a problem.

!!! 1.

The problem needed to be taken care of before it became a big problem.

!! C.    Two women had a problem and Paul know if it keeps on going it would grow into a big problem.

!!! 1.     *1 Corinthians 1:10*, Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and/ that/ there be no divisions among you; but/ that/ ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

! III.

Verse 3,

!! A.    Paul is asking, those in the church to help bring these woman back into fellowship.

!! B.    Both of these woman occupied a prominent place in the church and this another reason the problem need to be taken care of.

!

IV.   Verse 4,

!! A.    God is telling us not once, but twice that we are to rejoice in the Lord.

!! B.    Joy comes from the Holy Spirit working in ones life.

!!! 1.     Galatians 5:22, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, *joy*, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith.

!! C.    Who wants to be around someone who is mad, or always complianing about something?

!! D.    Why would we have joy in our lifes?

!!! 1.

We are saved and going to heaven.

!!! 2.     We can get victory over anything in our lives.

!!! 3.     We have the Holy Spirit praying for us.

!!! 4.     We have Christ on the right side of God making intersession for us at all times.

!!! 5.     We live under Grace.

!! E.     In verse 4 here the words mean; “repeated for emphasis in spite of discouragements.

Not in the sense of “Farewell” here.” in the Greek.

!! F.     The words in this verse expresses the Theme of Philippians

!! G.    Joy comes form putting your trust in God and knowing that everything is going to work out even thought we don’t know how it will work out.

!! H.

As I mentioned last Sunday, our happiness must rely on the Lord, many people try to put their happiness in their, job, or family, or home, or drinking.

!!! 1.     True happiness comes from trusting in God.

!!! 2.     Talk to people who are not saved and see if there they have happiness and if it is something they can have over a long period of time.

!! I.       Knowledge of God is the key to rejoicing.

Those who know the great truths about God find it easy to rejoice; those with little knowledge of Him find it difficult to rejoice.[1]

!! J.      *Psalm 1:1-3*,1 Blessed/ is/ the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

2 But his delight/ is/ in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

!! K.    Lets talk about rejoicing.

!!! 1.

What is rejoicing?

!!! *2.     *The emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by *the prospect of possessing what one desires[2] *

!!! 3.

So what it is saying is you might have trouble

everyway, but you are foucing on Christ which

                        producing joy in your life because He can change

                        things to the good in His will.

!!! 4.     So we can focue on Christ and we look to Him to help us with out problems and that gives us joy because we know He will do that.

!!!! a)     *Philippians 1:6*, Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform/ it/ until the day of Jesus Christ:

!!! 5.

So will we have days were we are unhappy?

Sure we will, but we can direct it towards the lord and when we do joy comes into our hearts because we know that God is in control.

!

V.    Philippians 4:5a, Let your moderation be known unto all men.

!! A.    Gentle Spirit means, more than any single word can tell us.

!!! 1.     /graciousness/—the graciousness of humility; the humble graciousness that produces the patience to endure injustice, disgrace, and mistreatment without retaliation, bitterness, or vengeance.

It is contentment.[3]

(Look at Phil 4:11)

!!! 2.     All this comes when we really trust God.

!!! 3.     Let me give you an example; my wife wanted to get a job back when I was in school.

We prayed about it and a lot of things opened up, but not the one we prayed about.

We had to wait on God and He did open the door for her to get that job we needed.

!! B.    Gracious humility runs counter to the cult of self-love that was rampant in ancient society, and is rampant in modern society as well.

But focusing on self-love, self-esteem, and self-fulfillment leads only to greater and greater instability and anxiety.

On the other hand, those whose focus is not on themselves cannot be knocked off balance by inequity, injustice, unfair treatment, lies, or humiliation.

They can say with Paul, “I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am” (4:11).

Spiritual stability belongs to the graciously humble.[4]

!

VI.

The Lord is near.

Be anxious for nothing, (4:5b–6/a/)

!! A.    “Worry about nothing; pray about everything.”

Prayer is the secret of power.[5]

!!! 1.

If we talk to God about every problem we have in our lives, there will be nothing to worry about.

!!!! a)     We leave it into God's hands to work it out.

!!!! b)     Think about this, if we leave the little problems to our selves and we keep adding to these little one, they themselves will over whelm us at some point.

!! B.    Tell God all that is in your heart, as one unloads one’s heart, its pleasures and its pains, to a dear friend.

Tell Him your troubles, that He may comfort you; tell Him your joys, that He may sober them; tell Him your longings, that He may purify them; tell Him your dislikes, that He may help you to conquer them; talk to Him of your temptations, that He may shield you from them; show Him the wounds of your heart, that He may heal them; lay bare your indifference to good, your depraved tastes for evil, your instability.

Tell Him how self-love makes you unjust to others, how vanity tempts you to be insincere, how pride disguises you to yourself as to others.

If you thus pour out all your weaknesses, needs, troubles, there will be no lack of what to say.

You will never exhaust the subject.

It is continually being renewed.

People who have no secrets from each other never want subjects of conversation.

They do not weigh their words, for there is nothing to be held back; neither do they seek for something to say.

They talk out of the abundance of the heart, without consideration, just what they think.

Blessed are they who attain to such familiar, unreserved intercourse with God.[6]

!

VII.

Verse 6b but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God

!! A.    The way we seem to do this is take our burden to God and set everything before hand, than when we are done we pick up all our troubles and take them with us.