Side by Side Endurance

Intro: I found a video on YouTube this week that I felt did a GREAT JOB capturing the entire situation of 2020 in just 1 minute’s time...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tnl6m8vUGWk

OK… this isn’t REALLY footage of 2020… this is Hurricane Irma in 2017… but it seems pretty accurate, right?

He says, “This is the longest 15 minutes of my life!”

I’ve heard many people say that they feel like they’ve lived about 6 years in the last 6 months.

And when we are going through a time like this, it is really important that we know how to stand firm.

Notice what the reporter in this video is doing… he is constantly checking his position to best resist the force of the wind and rain that is driving against him.

And in the church, especially in a year like 2020… but really at all times... we need to constantly be checking our own footing to make sure we will stand firm no matter what comes against us.

We are in the final two weeks of our study through the book of Philippians that we’ve called “Side By Side for the Gospel.”

We got the title of the series from Philippians 1:27, which is the theme verse - “Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are STANDING FIRM in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel,” (Philippians 1:27, ESV)

Paul is writing this letter to the Philippian church so that they would STAND FIRM… stand side by side... in one spirit… one mind… so that the faith of the gospel will continue to bear fruit in their own lives… and will continue to go out to more and more people.

We’ve stated the goal of our study in Philippians this way: Partner together in the pursuit of knowing and proclaiming Jesus.

That sounds nice. It’s easy to say. It’s easy to nod our head in agreement with.

But here’s the reality: this goal is SO IMPORTANT that the enemy will throw anything at us with hurricane force in order to stop it.

The enemy will barrage us with false teaching… with persecution and the fear of sickness and death… with temptations that arouse the selfish desires of our flesh.

And Paul acknowledges right there in 1:27 that striving side by side means that we will need to stand firm...

And as we break into the final chapter of this book today, he is going to repeat this theme… stand firm… side by side… and make it very practical for us...

Here’s our big idea for today:

Big Idea: Stand firm, side by side in the Lord.

That’s the WAY that we stand firm: IN THE LORD!

Read with me in chapter 4:1-9

I can’t think of a better gift for God to give us this week of a hard election and toward the end of a hard year than Phil. 4:1-9.

Friends, the reason we like to preach verse by verse and passage by passage is because God plans better than we do.

And he gave us this passage for this week.

Explain: Philippians 4:1 is a transitional verse in the letter… Paul is in this final section of “remaining matters” that he wants to address in their church.

And the first word we read in this verse is “therefore.” So what’s the question we ask when we see the word therefore? ______________

“Therefore” almost always points us back. In this case, it points us back to the section we studied for the last two weeks:

Just to refresh your memory: there is a threat to the joy of the church in Philippi… and that is Judaizers.

People who would say that in order to be “in” in our church, you need to EXTERNALLY CONFORM to our rules that are based in the Old Testament Law.

We don’t really know how much of this teaching was actually going on in Philippi… the way Paul talks about it, it seems like it may be pretty minimal at this point… but it was likely to come because it had been a problem in a lot of the other churches.

And so Paul says “LOOK OUT for these false teachers! They stand in the way of your JOY in the Lord. They will take your confidence away from Jesus and make you rely on your flesh.”

And as he corrects them, he shows them a better way…

He shows them how HE PERSONALLY counted all of his external performance as LOSS… as a DISADVANTAGE… as REFUSE… and he left them behind for the sake of knowing Christ Jesus his Lord.

THAT was what meant everything to Paul.

The fact that he was made righteous as a gift of God through faith in Jesus Christ alone… the fact that Jesus had made him his own…

THAT KNOWLEDGE made Paul STRIVE with everything he had to know Jesus MORE with every fiber of his being.

But this wasn’t just a personal goal that Paul had for himself… this was Paul’s goal for the whole church…

He says in 3:17 that every believer should IMITATE HIM in this unrestrained pursuit of knowing (and then proclaiming) Jesus.

Church, this is not just for the super-spiritual… this is not just for the pastors and elders… this is for all of us!

That we would run through this life with our heavenly citizenship as our defining identity...

That we would pursue knowing Jesus like we will know him in heaven… as our supreme Savior and Lord.

And because THAT is our calling, it is all the more urgent that we would stand firm, side by side, in the Lord.

That’s what brings us to this THEREFORE.

“Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.” (Philippians 4:1, ESV)

Notice how Paul refers to the Philippian Church with such affection: my brothers (or brothers and sisters… my family)… those whom I LOVE and I LONG for… my beloved...

He’s pointing to the unity and fellowship and love that he has with them in Christ.

And then he uses two other words: My joy and my crown...

Don’t miss what he’s saying here: he’s saying “When I see Jesus face to face (which he was just talking about in the previous verse)… when I see Jesus face to face, the thing that I’m going to be most excited to present before him is how I loved and cared for and discipled YOU.”

Listen: when we stand before Jesus and he’s rewarding our faithfulness, he isn’t going to be asking how successful our kids were in their academics… he isn’t going to be asking how awesome we were at our jobs or hobbies… he’s going to be asking how we stood side by side for the gospel with his church.

And the way that we love and care and invest in and endure with Christ’s family will be the joy and crown that we get to present to him on that day.

But sadly, many people give up on the church… and they give up on discipleship… which is really giving up on Christ himself.

Sadly, many people allow disagreements and offenses and differences to keep them away from Christ’s church.

They allow trials and hardships to knock them off the pursuit of knowing and proclaiming Jesus.

They allow false teachers to lead them down strange paths that drag their hearts away from the central mission of the gospel.

And that’s why Paul is calling the Philippian church… and every church since… to STAND FIRM.

But how do we do it? How do we stand firm, side by side, in the Lord?

I believe that’s where Paul takes us next.

So far the letter has been mostly theoretical… now it’s going to get intensely practical.

I believe in the rest of verses 2-9, we see…

Four Ways We Must Stand Firm

1) Agree in the Lord's Calling (v. 2-3)

So imagine you are a part of the Philippian church… and your leaders have called you together because Epaphroditus has just come into town, and he’s got a letter from PAUL!

You are so glad to see him because last you heard, Epaphroditus was deathly sick.

And even more, you are excited to hear a report from Paul because you gave some money and sent your greetings to him when Epaphroditus went to go visit him.

And so you all find a seat in the courtyard of Lydia’s house because that’s where your church regularly meets…

You find a seat next to your good friend Euodia. As you catch up on your week, you can’t help but notice another woman across the room staring at the two of you.

Her name is Syntyche. Things have been… tense.. with her and Euodia lately… ever since the days Epaphroditus first left to visit Paul.

And it’s causing a little tension with you as… it’s not as bad with you... because you can sort of see things from her side.

Mostly you’ve just tried to keep your nose out of it because it seems like its’ none of your business...

And yet if you’re honest, it’s making things awkward in the whole church.

Your mind is replaying the little bit you DO know about the situation when one of your elders tells everyone to find a seat and starts reading the letter.

It’s a pretty typical letter from Paul... it’s meaningful and theological and deep and challenging… but it would be easy think about it merely as THEOLOGY or THEORY.

And then your elder reads chapter 4 verse 2 (which of course you don’t have those chapters and verse numbers): “I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord.”

There’s a pause that feels like an eternity.

Euodia shifts in her seat. You look across and Syntyche does the same. THIS. IS. AWKWARD.

As you try to make sense of this, you remember that word “agree.” It’s actually the same word Paul has already used a few times in his letter when he said that all of you were to “have the same mind” instead of looking to your own interests.

It’s the word that he most recently used of the false teachers when he said, “Their MINDS are SET on earthly things.”

You immediately realize that this isn’t some THEORY that Paul is talking about… this is REAL LIFE. And your friend’s disagreement is HARMING the mission of the church.

So what are you supposed to do?

The elder continues reading: Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women, who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.” (Philippians 4:2–3, ESV)

OK, Come back to the 21st century.

Explain: Now we don’t know who the “true companion” is… but it’s obvious that the Philippian church knew… and it’s obvious that this disagreement needed to be dealt with at all costs.

It was evidently causing enough of a disruption that Paul needed to call it out in front of the whole church… that is RARE for Paul to do.

If he wanted to send a private thing, he’d do that like we read in Philemon this week.

But this is in the letter to the whole church.

AND it was keeping these women… and the church... from standing firm, side by side in the Lord.

In the past, both of them had stood side by side with one another AND with Paul… and there was unity with them and with a guy named Clement and others that resulted in all of them KNOWING and PROCLAIMING Jesus more effectively…

And Paul’s like, “Ladies, can we can over this thing and get back to that?!?!”

Whatever THIS disagreement was… it was distracting them from their calling. And THAT was tragic.

Too often, we allow SECONDARY disagreements to disrupt our PRIMARY calling.

Anyone afraid I’m going to start naming names right now? Don’t worry, I don’t have any names that I know of right now.

But let me illustrate this for you… Imagine you are running a little late to a party…

And the person you are driving with is like, “I know a shortcut.”

And you are like, “OH NO, not another one of your shortcuts!!!”

And they take the shortcut anyway…

And you are right… it turns out NOT to be a good shortcut… and it takes you five minutes longer to get there (at least according to your estimation).

And this causes an argument to the degree that neither of you can enjoy the party because you are both distracted by your argument.

Now the whole point of this journey was to get to a party… a place of joy… and you both shared that mission… but because you disagreed on how to get there, and you were so concerned over being 5 minutes late… that mission was greatly harmed.

So often, we allow SECONDARY disagreements to disrupt our PRIMARY calling.

Apply: The primary calling of the church is to make disciples. Knowing and proclaiming Jesus until we see him face to face. That’s our common pursuit.

But we tend to elevate every disagreement we are passionate about to the level of that calling.

And don’t get me wrong… if the gospel is at stake, Paul is all for hashing out disagreements… remember, he JUST WROTE “Look out for the DOGS… Look out for the evildoers… look out for the MUTILATION.”

Paul is not against disagreement when the integrity of the gospel is at stake.

But we tend to elevate every disagreement we are passionate about to the level of that calling.

The think about all the ways that we COULD disagree on the way to that goal…

We could have theological disagreements on secondary matters...

We could have political disagreements on how America should be run...

We could have social disagreements on how to best show God’s care for lost people.

We could have philosophical differences on the best way to disciple our children or youth or manage a church budget… or do anything in the church.

We could have convictional differences on the best way to do church in a pandemic… or on what entertainment choices we should make… or on just about anything.

And how does the world handle those types of differences these days? They say, “We disagree… fine, then I’m going to cancel you. We can’t have relationship. I must be right, you must be wrong, and that must be a deal-breaker.”

Now I am not at all saying that these differences are not important or that we aren’t allowed to disagree or that we can’t have convictions about some things...

UNITY is NOT the same as UNIFORMITY.

But Paul is saying that we must AGREE in our CALLING in the Lord and elevate THAT above every other disagreement.

He’s saying to these ladies, “You USED to be focused on working side by side for the gospel… you used to be focused on your common calling of the resurrection life… that your names were written in the book of life... get back to finding your AGREEMENT in THAT… find your agreement in your common calling in the Lord.

When the winds of disagreement try to blow you from a standing firm, side by side in the Lord… AGREE in the Lord’s calling.

Get your mind back to what is primary. Partnering together to KNOW and PROCLAIM JESUS.

Expect and allow for disagreement on secondary matters so that the primary mission can go forward.

This is harder than it sounds. In fact, it’s impossible in our flesh.

Agreeing in the Lord means applying everything else in this letter when it WARS against our flesh...

It means REALLY believing the "To live is Christ, to die is gain.”

It means ACTUALLY applying Paul’s command to “Have this mind among you”… the mind of Christ that embraced humility and servanthood and suffering and death...

It means taking SERIOUSLY the call to “Work out your own salvation… for it is God who works in you...”

It means ACTIVELY “counting EVERYTHING as loss for the surpassing worth of knowing Christ.”

Listen: This is where the rubber meets the road on this whole study in Philippians. When REAL-LIFE disagreements arise, will you stand firm side by side in the Lord?!?!!

Apply: If Paul were writing this letter to Oak Hill, would he have to name you? To charge YOU to agree in the Lord?

Is there a secondary disagreement that you’ve allowed to fester and keep you from partnering in the work of the ministry?

If so, get it worked out. Humble yourself.

Start the path to restoring relationship and calling THIS WEEK.

Set aside your secondary disagreement for the primary mission of standing side by side for the gospel.

And if you need help, find a faithful companion… not one who is loyal to one “side” or the other… someone who is faithful to Jesus and his mission… find someone to help you.

Maybe you’re not the one in the disagreement… maybe you are the “faithful companion” that needs to HELP your fellow church members agree in the Lord.

Maybe you need to call two people together and get them to work it out because you are the one who is close to the situation.

If God has placed you near the situation, he’s likely calling YOU to be the minister of reconciliation.

No matter what, if something is hindering side by side partnership, we need to lay down secondary disagreements and find our agreement in the Lord’s calling.

If we don’t, our mutual joy in the Lord is at stake. Look at verse 4:

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand;” (Philippians 4:4–5, ESV)

As we Agree in the Lord’s calling, the second way we must stand firm is to...

2) Rejoice in the Lord’s Coming (v. 4-5)

Explain: Paul says, “Rejoice in the Lord.” He said the same thing back in chapter 3 verse 1. Joy has been a consistent theme in the book.

It’s not THE PURPOSE of the book like some would make it out to be… but it IS a secondary theme… it’s an OUTCOME of applying what Paul writes in the letter.

Now maybe some people in Philippi were thinking at this point, “REJOICE ALWAYS?!?!?!!! Paul, you just acknowledged how things have been a little tense around here.

“You just acknowledged that we face persecution and false teaching… YOU YOURSELF are in PRISON… how can you say REJOICE ALWAYS?!?!!”

And Paul anticipates this and doubles down - “Again I will say, REJOICE!”

Believer: God WANTS YOU… COMMANDS YOU… to express JOY… ALWAYS!

Now that starts with actually HAVING JOY always.

And he’s not MERELY saying, “Don’t worry… be happy.” Think positive thoughts.

Stick your head in the sand with all the bad things of this world and just force yourself to have joy.

He’s saying that even when things are hard… ESPECIALLY when they are turning out in ways you didn’t want them to… you can still have JOY!

He gives us the REASON we can have constant joy. He says “Let your reasonableness be known to all, the Lord is at hand.”

Be REASONABLE. Some of your translations translate that word moderation or gentleness or gentle spirit...

In other words: Don’t get agitated by the stuff of life. Consider the fact that the Lord is at hand.

In other words the Lord is with you. He is working for his glory and for the good of his people. He is COMING SOON. That’s all we need to know.

The reason that we find this command difficult or impossible is that we so often attach our happiness and emotions to the ever-changing, often failing, things of this world.

But when we set our mind on the truth that the Lord is at hand, we can have abiding joy.

This suffering… these trials that you are going through… they are REAL… but they are not ALL that is real.

The MOST REAL thing in your life is that the Lord is coming.

Believer: let that produce in you an unshakable joy that is known to EVERYONE!

We need to inform our emotions with that truth… and then ACTIVELY REJOICE!

Notice: the command isn’t JUST to be joyful… the command is to ACTIVELY REJOICE.

To lift up your voice and shout your joy!

To let your REASONABLENESS be KNOWN to ALL!

Joy that exists quietly in our hearts isn’t enough.

It needs to come out of our mouths and out of our lives.

There’s something that happens in your heart… and in the people around you… when you express joy!

Illustrate: On Friday afternoon, I was out taking a walk, and I ran into the neighbor across the street from the church here, Sam.

Sam is a believer and one of the most joyful guys I’ve ever met.

And so he hollers across the street… what do you think of this election??? (now at that point, no one had called any winner…)

And I usually don’t like to answer those questions because they get me into trouble, so I said something evasive like “Oh it’s something....”

But Sam jumped right in and he said, “I’m just tickled about it. The writing’s on the wall that Jesus is coming soon.”

And I quickly realized that Sam wasn’t asking me about who I thought would win or should win… he wasn’t asking me about election fraud or the President’s speeches...

He was brimming with joy because he knew that Jesus had already won...

And that God was working out his plan...

And that we believe Jesus is coming soon.

And in further conversation, he wasn’t naiive that things will get hard… it’s just that his joy in seeing history progress toward Jesus coming was INFINITELY greater.

And him REJOICING out loud with me has left me with a memory of joy that has helped my soul stand firm multiple times in the days since.

There’s something that happens in your heart… and in the people around you… when you express joy!

Were you ever singing beside someone in church and they are singing the song, “Rejoice”...

And they are like, [bummed voice, bored face] “Rejoice… come and lift your hands and say rejoice...”

Or maybe in kids’ worship… You’re singing “I’ve got the joy, joy, joy joy, down in my heart”...

And we all respond… “WHERE?!?!?! Because I’m not seeing it! Maybe get your heart to tell your face!”

Paul is not ONLY commanding us to HAVE JOY… he’s commanding us to EXPRESS JOY.

Apply: I believe REJOICING is ESSENTIAL to standing firm. When we REJOICE we remind ourselves and one another what is TRUE… where TRUE HAPPINESS is found!

REJOICING is making sure that JOY is the LOUDEST and STRONGEST emotion we are expressing.

Joy comes from a heart that anticipates the Lord’s coming… and REJOICING informs our hearts again of the same truth.

And that doesn’t mean we don’t ever feel sad or righteously angry or confused… or any other mix of emotions…

We are complex creatures… we can feel more than one emotion at the same time.

It simply means we keep the TRUTH of JESUS in front of us so that JOY is the emotion that rises to the top.

When we are feeling hopeless or depressed or bitter... we need to inform our emotions with truth that Jesus has died to save our souls… he has won the victory by overcoming the grave… and he is coming again SOON… “The Lord is at hand.”

How much will it stand out this week... when the whole world is FREAKING OUT about the election… for you to be gentle and calm and JOYFUL because YOU KNOW the Lord is at hand???

Now if you are still finding it hard to find joy… maybe you need to spend more time praying about it. Look at verse 6:

“...do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6–7, ESV)

To stand firm side by side, we need to agree in the Lord’s calling, rejoicing in the Lord’s coming… next we need to:

3) Rest in the Lord's Control (v 6-7)

Explain: Paul says, “Do not be anxious.” Instead of standing firm, often we get knocked off our feet by the ever-changing winds of anxiety.

Now saying “Do not be anxious” to someone who is anxious is like saying “Do not be hungry” to someone who hasn’t eaten in three days.

Hunger is a natural response to a problem… your body needs food.

And anxiety… stress... is a natural response of our body and soul to a problem that we see.

But often, when we are anxious, we tend to FEED OUR ANXIETY and STARVE OUR SOULS.

We dwell on the thing that is making us anxious...

We focus on the thing that’s causing the disagreement in the broken relationship...

We focus on fixing or controlling the problem that is making us worry...

We dwell on the “what if’s” and the “how then’s.”

We run to others to complain and vent about what is troubling us.

We consume more and more information hoping to pacify our anxious hearts...

Anybody ever use WebMD when you’re not feeling well… how does that help the anxiety?

Or did anyone turn on Cable News or Social Media when you were feeling anxious about the election this week? How did that go for you?

We feed our anxiety and starve our souls. And instead we need to starve our anxiety by feeding our souls.

Paul says, “Do not be anxious about anything.” And he doesn’t leave it there… he continues, “but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

Now Paul is NOT saying that if you pray about it, the thing you are anxious about will go away.

He is NOT saying, “Throw up an arrow prayer and your anxiety will magically stop.”

Like did you ever pray, and leave prayer thinking, “Well now I’m MORE anxious than when I started because my mind started dwelling on on the things that could happen!”

That happens because we misunderstand Paul’s call to prayer here.

We think of prayer as a one-sided conversation where we talk to God rather than a two sided conversation where God talks to us as his Spirit applies his word.

Paul is calling us to pray in the midst of anxiety because prayer is where we encounter God himself.

Prayer is where we surrender our perception of things to God’s perception of things.

Prayer is where we wrestle with our emotions and allow God to inform them with the truth of his word and the power of his Spirit.

Prayer is where we release our control to God’s control.

Think about how Jesus taught us to pray… he said, “Pray then like this…” n(ot an option… this is your commanded pattern for prayer by Jesus… start here):

Our Father in Heaven…

I mean, don’t those four words just calm you down from the gate? This is food for our hungry souls. God is a Father who LOVES us. And he continues.

HALLOWED be your name.

Here again: we serve a HOLY GOD who does things BETTER AND DIFFERENT than we could ever imagine.

That should calm our hearts. It should make us see that we don’t see everything as he sees it.

And in this request, it’s implied that we sometimes forget that he is holy… that we treat his name ad his character as less than hallowed and we need him to hallow it once again in our hearts.

Jesus teaches us to continue this way...

YOUR kingdom come… YOUR will be done... on earth as it is in heaven.

How many times are we anxious because God isn’t building OUR kingdoms the way WE WANT him to.

How much peace does it bring to stop fighting God’s Kingdom agenda with our own and surrender to him instead?

Now, we can summarize those first three parts of the prayer under the header, “He is worthy.” Recognizing the WORTHINESS of God begins to set our hearts at ease.

But Jesus also gives us the words to express our neediness which further invites his peace.

He is WORTHY… We are NEEDY.

Give us this day our daily bread.

I have some real physical needs Lord… I know you are good… I know you have everything I need. I’m asking you to provide.

And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors...

I have some real spiritual and relational needs Lord… and you have made a way through Jesus for those to be made right. Forgive and help me forgive.

Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil...

There is an enemy after my soul, Lord… but he’s an enemy you have already conquered… if I wear your armor, I will be safe.

Listen: If we pray the way Jesus taught us to pray, we can have PEACE… REST… SHALOM for our souls.

In prayer, we encounter God himself, and “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard [our] hearts and [our] minds in Christ Jesus.

Apply: Friends, When you are anxious, is your first impulse to encounter the Lord in prayer?

Do you take time to feed your soul with the full "kingdom-come praying” that Jesus called us to?

Or do you feed your anxiety instead?

We need to rest in the Lord’s control through prayer.

We need to fix our gaze on him… and when we do, this is what will consume us:

Look at verse 8: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.” (Philippians 4:8–9, ESV)

To stand firm side by side, we need to agree in the Lord’s calling, rejoicing in the Lord’s coming, rest in the Lord’s control… Finally we need to:

4) Apply the Lord's Character (v. 8-9)

Explain: If you look at that list in v. 8-9... and you really seek to apply it, you quickly realize that there are so many things in this world that do NOT measure up to that list.

Every day, we are flooded with images and experiences and thoughts and desires that are ANYTHING BUT true, honorable, just, pure...

We live in a world SATURATED by sin. And that is nothing new.

In Philippi, simply walking down the street would have left the believer with a deluge of temptations away from the character of God.

Idolatry… greed… sensuality… all of these things aroused the temptations of the first century church as much as they do today.

Don’t think that these are unique temptations to a modern age.

They have existed in every age because sin exists in every age.

Our hearts just find new ways to seek satisfaction for our sinful desires.

The reason that Paul has to COMMAND them to THINK ABOUT these things is because our default position is to NOT think about these things.

What’s right in front of us is what is natural and easy: things that are LESS THAN honorable… LESS THAN just… LESS THAN excellent.

And in order to live this out, it starts by ACTIVELY making the commitment of Psalm 101:3 -

“I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless.” (Psalm 101:3a, ESV)

Illustrate: Think about the “worthless things” that enter our view every day.… the things that have no eternal value and distract us from knowing and proclaiming Jesus…

In fact, just think about one sliver of that, this little device most of us carry in our pocket that gives us instant access to THOUSANDS of worthless things at the swipe of a finger.

And I’m not just talking about LUSTFUL images or SINFUL entertainment… though that’s included…

I’m talking about the mind-numbing endless scroll on YouTube or social media...

I’m talking about how many minutes in a day I personally can spend watching someone turn a piece of WOOD on a lathe...

I’m talking about the countless hours videos of people’s CATS… talk about WORTHLESS.

I like what John Piper says, “A steady diet of triviality shrinks the soul.

If we keep feeding ourselves with unimportant things simply because they are not sinful things, our souls will not have the capacity to appreciate the beauty of God.

We need to make the commitment: I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless.

But Paul knows we need more than that… he doesn’t simply tell us to AVOID sinful or worthless things… he tells us to THINK ABOUT holy things. Things that are consistent with the Lord’s character.

We don’t just “put off”… we also have to “put on.”

He says, “Spend time THINKING about what is true.”

Instead of WONDERING what is true in the propaganda of the media… set your mind on REAL truth… the truth of Jesus revealed in the scriptures.

He says, “Spend time THINKING about what is pure.”

So not just, “Don’t lust… think about what is untainted by sin. Think about the purity of Christ. If you are married, think about the purity of your relationship with your spouse.”

He says, “Spend time THINKING about what is excellent.”

Not just “avoid junk.” But PURSUE the excellence of Christ. Think about his EXCELLENCE in creation… his EXCELLENCE in his plan of salvation.

So Paul gives us this list, and with it he gives us two commands… and I want you to notice the order of the commands in these last two verses…

He says, “Think about these things.” And then he points to his own teaching and example and he says, “Practice these things.”

We are called not just to think and know, but to apply the Lord’s character.

Don’t miss this. We practice what we think about… what we set our minds on.

And we imitate what our eyes see.

We live in a hurricane of images and examples that are NOT godly. We have to ACTIVELY THINK ABOUT what IS godly. And then put it into practice. Apply it.

Illustrate: It’s like when you were a kid on the Merry-Go-Round...

And you spin around and around and around… and then you scream, “Let me off!!!”

And you get off and it’s like you forgot how to walk straight… everything feels like it’s still spinning and your feet feel wobbly.

But if you fixed your eyes on a point… like a big oak tree… then you could find the ability to walk forward.

And our lives are like that merry go round...

Apart from Jesus, we are spinning on an endless cycle of sin… we don’t even know there is a problem because it all feels fun.

And then Jesus gets us off the merry-go-round and sets our feet on solid ground…

And yet we still live in a world that is spinning...

The sinful temptations of this world are disorienting… they make it hard to stand firm.

But if we fix our eyes on Jesus… on his character and beauty and perfection… we can regain our legs.

We can fix our feet.

We can stand firm with confidence.

Sometimes we need tangible examples of that in our lives...

Paul says, “What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me… practice these things.”

The things that you’ve heard other believers teach… and you’ve seen them practice… don’t be embarrassed that you need to follow their example.

We don’t need to do this on our own! We are called to stand firm… and to do it SIDE BY SIDE!

Apply: Where will you look when the temptations of this world get dizzying?

Will you look first of all to Jesus as the standard and only source of justice and beauty and excellence and character and truth?

And then do you have other believers around you that will help you see Christ through THEIR teaching ad example?

The world is a hurricane. The winds are just kicking up. We NEED to stand firm… and we can stand firm, side by side… as we...

Agree in the Lord’s calling,

Rejoice in the Lord’s coming

Rest in the Lord’s control

And Apply the Lord's Character

Maybe one of these four ways that we must stand firm stood out today… that the Holy Spirit is urging you to specifically apply...

I want to give you some time to do that right now as the worship team comes.