Paul and the Jail house Ministry (Part 8)

Introduction

Good morning everyone!

Let me start off with a question: How was your week?

What challenges did you face this week and how did you face it? - Meaning, did you seek to handle the situation yourself or did you seek to handle it with His help?

Why do I ask you that?

I want us to always, myself included to look to Jesus and not ourselves when we face difficulties. When we need to make decisions and when we need guidance.

Jesus stands ready to help us always!

This morning we come back to the book of Philippians, and today we start chapter 4 we see the overall theme is that we are called to stand together for the sake of the gospel.

Now pay attention to the thought of standing together… that my friends is important for us as well.

If we cannot stand together, we will not be able to move forward for the sake of the gospel. The gospel is our purpose, for every life, for every community and every country.

So lets look at our text this morning …verses 1-9

Philippians 4:1–9 ESV

1 Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved. 2 I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord. 3 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. 4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 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. 9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

We are nearing the end, but Paul has really taught and encouraged us along our journey through this book. I hope you are enjoying this series… So lets begin today with these thoughts..

Stand firm, 2. Rejoice in the Lord, 3. Prayerful in all things and 4. Practice godliness....

So lets begin with that first thought today....

1. Stand Firm....

As Paul prepares to close this letter to his brothers and sister in Philippi, He offers some very strong and encouraging words.

Right off the bat, we see that word “Therefore” Paul is pulling all those things he has already said.. because of this my friends, we are to act accordingly...

And look at this, Paul makes three statements concerning those there in Philippi.

He calls them “brothers” - they were not only the ones who were literally bothers and sisters to Paul and all those in Christ Jesus. But more importantly when we consider the term “brother” we see the oneness, the unity they shared gave them a common goal and practice… their lives were lived like Paul for the sake of the gospel.

Then Paul says "Whom I love and long for”… - so break that apart, the first part “Whom I love” speaks to a godly, an agape type love that we are to have for all people, more especially our spiritual family. Paul had a genuine love for them.

And then the second section, Paul says he longed for them.... Consider my friends how we longed to see each other, the beginning of this Pandemic, it separated us, and we worshipped from home. How good it is for God’s people to gather together. We longed for each other… Paul’s use of that phrase, longed for.... it is only used here in the whole NT, but we understand Paul loved them and wanted to gather with them.

3. Finally. Paul calls them his “joy and crown”....Joy in that, his life was better for knowing them and walking with them.... The crown speaks to the end times if you will, the church at Philippi were a crown for them. He sacrificed and served the Lord faithfully, their faith and service were a crown Paul could give to the Lord.

And with all this, Paul admonishes them to stand firm in the Lord. To be steadfast, unmoveable in their faith and practice. Remember my friends, that Paul is speaking to people who are from military family, the Roman army was know for being unmoveable against the enemy… The church was to be the same… We cannot give up, we are stand against the evil of this world.

Lets ask ourselves a couple of questions… Do we long for and love each other like Paul loved those believers? Do you long for each other to gather and grow together in Jesus?

And are you practicing steadfastness? My friends, as the children of God there are some things that cannot be ignored by us, the church. We must be steadfast and unmoveable in our faith and practice.

Be Christlike in all things… work in Unity for the sake of the gospel, that would be the unique issue of verses 2 and 3 with the two ladies who have been in some issue where as they disagreed with their respective views on a particular issue that is at hand....

Be steadfast and unified in all that you do my friends.....

And this brings us over to my second thought for today....

2. Rejoice in the Lord…

Remember we have already discussed this already in this study, (Chapter 3, verse 1) and it is repeated again by Paul here, why?

I believe there is a necessary push for us to always be mindful to understand the nature of joy. Our Joy is Jesus.

Lets go back to out text and see Paul’s command in verse 4

Philippians 4:4 ESV

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.

Now I just mentioned to you that this phrase is a command. Paul is emphatic in what he is telling those believers at Philippi. He tells them this and then repeats it immediately.

“Rejoice in the Lord always....and again I say rejoice…” Paul wants them to know that true life changing joy isn;t in the circumstances around them, true joy is found in Him.

For these first century believers, their circumstances were often changing, for the most part they had experienced a bit of neutrality, temperaments regarding Christianity had fluctuated … but soon things were gonna change, in just a few years a new Emperor would come to the throne and Christians would begin to suffer like they had never known before

What would be their mainstay in difficult times… Jesus. Just Jesus!

If you fall back and look at the end of chapter 1, Paul has already alluded to suffering, suffering would come...

It’s during these times they could remember the words of Paul… Rejoice in the Lord, again I say rejoice...

Nothing in this life is beyond the Lord’s help.... We can always rejoice in the that my friends, nothing is better than Jesus.

We wonder at times my friends what our outcome might be… no matter the current tides of trouble that ebb and flow in the our lives, Jesus is our Savior, he will sustain and keep his church.

In that we can rejoice.

Now I want to take you just a step further here, there is a second command in this section, verse 5 where by Paul commands us to be gentle.

In a world of difficult circumstances, if our focus is Jesus to the point whereby we can rejoice, then we will also have a gentle spirit.

Look at verse 5

Philippians 4:5 ESV

5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand;

The word reasonableness , means to be gentle, to have a merciful spirit to others, especially those disagree with us, those who deviate from the truth in small ways.

Listen we are all failures....but we are to be gentle to all… remember the woman Jesus caught in adultery, she was guilty, there was a guilty man as well. but instead of condemning her, Jesus forgave her and told her to go and be different.

We are to exhibit that love, that mercy to others… this is not some elite game we live whereby we are better than anyone else.. no! We are all sinners asaved by grace.

But if found in sin, we are to do our best to live for God, trusting Him and not ourselves.. rejoicing in Him, that He will take care of us and our needs.

My friends, no matter our plight today… we can rejoice for Jesus is never changing....

Rejoice in the Lord.

Are you able to rejoice in the Lord is all circumstances,? If not… seek Him and ask Him what needs to change in your heart.

Now this takes us to our third thought...

3. Prayerful in all Things....

Let me being here by asking you a question....

How often do you find yourself worrying? It really doesn’t matter what the issue might be, there are a multitude of life events that that captivate us and our mind.

When we consider our daily lives it is easy to find ourselves in a state of confusion and worry…

Family, children, finances, our home, health, our country…so many things can hold our attention...

And If you remember in Matthew chapter 6, Jesus shares some of the same things that mankind are concerned about… food, clothing, life itself.

Paul knows life is full of hardships, difficult days that make living tough at times, troublesome. So what do we do?

The call is to be prayerful instead of anxious! Lets look at our text, verses 6-7

Philippians 4:6–7 ESV

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

Look at Paul’s formula for life, instead of anxiety, instead or worry- which are both negative actions, the call is to act in a positive way..

So take all that is negative all that brings anxiety and turn all that into prayer, see Paul says but in everything… everything means life, finance, family, friends, relationships, home, politics..

Paul knows what he’s talking about, God has been directing in along this path a lot ---listen

Eph 6:18 Paul says praying at all times in the Spirit with all prayer and supplication.

And in Col 4:2 Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.

So Paul says .... Take it all - through prayer and supplication… and with thanksgiving.

So we take our life and we lay it at the feet of Jesus. all that we are concerned, all that we are worried about… we share that and we are also mindful of praising him for who He is, for what God has already done for us in Christ.

You see my friends, when we can take our whole life and lay it at his feet, I believer our perspective changes. It changes in so many ways… but verse 7 is the full outcome..

The peace of God.

Philippians 4:7 ESV

7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

I do not think that Paul is envisioning a situation where all our circumstances or external needs are being changed. But the peace of God is His divine characteristic that invades us, our lives and our circumstances..

The other characteristic is that It surpasses all understanding.... It is a excellent way that God works in us...

His peace is available to us… John 14:27

John 14:27 ESV

27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

What can we fear, what can we truly worry about, what can we truly wrestle with if the Lord is with us. Nothing...

Let he peace of God abound my friends as you live in a spiritual and attitude of prayer.

Is your heart filled with worry my friends, .. take it to Jesus....

Now we come to our last thought for this message...

4. Practice Godliness...

My dear friends, in a world that is every changing… we cannot allow our hearts, our minds to be conformed toward the ways of the world.

We are still called to be godly, we are still called to live differently, we are called to put on Jesus each day.. And Paul speaks to this in those last two verses our our text.

Verses 8-9 say

Philippians 4:8–9 ESV

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. 9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

Paul knew his life, his end was coming … he didn’t know the timing… And even realizing this was possible, he never changed his way, his actions or His message. He just kept on letting Jesus shine.

So look at that Paul says… He lists two thoughts here.. the first one they were to “think about these things...”

So think about these qualities…

A. Pure… Holy, B. Honorable, that which is right, respectful, C. Lovely that which promotes or calls love to the forefront, D. Commendable or admirable, and it means what ever is praise worthy, attractive. E. Excellence speaks to that which is morally excellent, F. Praiseworthy,, means worthy of praising God.

These are the qualities of life that we are to think about, to put into practice, to literally chart their course by these actions.

My friends the world is just the opposite, the world calls for people to embrace darkness, to settle for sin thinking it is ok, embracing standards that are opposite of God.... and the world signs off on it and says what ever you want to do sweetheart is ok, we know your heart.

Well if you are doing it, your heart isnt right and God knows it. The world seeks to call a horse a cow and a cow a horse, they are perverting the things, the ways the glorious ways that God has given to mankind.

The church has to be different if we are going to show the world that Jesus is real. My friends the world hates our hypocrisy, they see it and they hate the double standards we practice that is why Paul reminds us to chart our course in a different way.

And then secondly Paul says this… verse 9

V9. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

What had Paul lived out in front of the church, what has the church learned, what have they received by his life and testimony? Paul says that you have seen, emulate, practice these things.

Paul says look at my life and let it be a model for Christian living!

Do you know a strong Christian you admire, you say… I want to be like they are in relation to their faith.

You can… practice. put your action to work… live it out. This would be the type of living that would result in the God of peace being with them.

Richard Melick says God’s peace especially resides in those who have ordered their lives in accordance with God’s will.

Are you practicing godliness?

We practice living every day, did you know that? we practice, keep striving to improve in our look, our cooking, are walking, our exercising.. just every area of life.. why not our Spiritual walk in front of this world.

There is a name for this… bearing fruit.

Are you bearing fruit. Practice godliness my friends

So this morning, how are you doing...

Stand firm,

2. Rejoice in the Lord,

3. Prayerful in all things

4. Practice godliness....

These are faithful practices for life.. so how do you add up. what needs to change? right now why dont you ask the Lord for help...

Pray