“The Call to Live a Biblical Life”

“The Call to Live a Biblical Life”

Philippians 4:1-9

Introduction

Purpose: How to help the church deal with internal conflict biblically.

Big Idea: (homiletic subject): How and why is the church called to live a biblical life amongst conflict?

Poetic statement: We are called to live a biblical life in thought and behavior for the sake of the gospel.

I.Conflict can be dealt with through a right relationship with Christ first (Phil. 4:1)

A. In a concluding comment from Paul to the church of Philippi in general, he commends them as a whole church.

1. “My brothers whom I love and long for” - a sense of oneness and acceptance

2. “My crown and joy” - crowns were given to winning athletes, a reward. The church gives him joy even as he awaits trial in Rome.

3. “My beloved” - words of affirmation

4. “stand firm in the Lord” - encouraging statement

B. It’s been said that “Joy is the flag which is flown from the heart of the castle when the King is in residence there.”1

1 Paul Lee Tan, Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times(Garland, TX: Bible Communications, Inc., 1996), 679.

The kind of joy Paul is alluding to throughout this book is not a feeling, it’s a state of mind. There are two kinds of “joy” - as a feeling of happiness and the kind that causes one to rejoice even in the midst of trials.

The True Source of Joy

God doesn’t ask us to rejoice over nothing; He gives us ground for our joy. What would you think of a man who seemed very happy to-day and full of joy, and couldn’t tell you what made him so? Suppose I should meet a man on the street, and he was so full of joy that he should get hold of both my hands and say:

“Bless the Lord, I am so full of joy!”

“What makes you so full of joy?”

“Well, I don’t know.”

“You don’t know!”

“No, I don’t; but I am so joyful that I just want to get out of the flesh.”

“What makes you feel so joyful?”

“Well, I don’t know.”

Would we not think such a person unreasonable? But there are a great many people who want to feel that they are Christians before they are Christians; they want the Christian’s experience before they become Christians; they want to have the joy of the Lord before they receive Jesus Christ. But this is not the Gospel order. He brings joy when He comes, and we cannot have joy apart from Him. He is the author of it, and we find our joy in Him.1

1 D. L. Moody, Moody’s Stories: Being a Second Volume of Anecdotes, Incidents and Illustrations (New York; Chicago; Toronto; London; Edinburg: Fleming H. Revell, 1899), 94–95.

* Personal story: Explain the “joy” I could never describe to my mom on my way home from WTM meetings

C. It is clear from this single verse (4:1) that Paul has a close relationship with this church. In the same way, as members of the church, we are called to be in right relationship with Christ firstin order to experience the joy that unites us.

II.Reconciliation is necessary to be able to stand firm in the gospel (Phil. 4:2-3)

A. “of same mind” – first encouraged in Phil. 2:2, 2:5 and now begins to allude to this “same mind” in 4:2-3 personally

1. (v. 2) Paul entreats or exhorts/encourages two specific women of the church to agree

a. with one another in the Lord/gospel – The triangle: In order for these two women to be of “same mind”, God needs to be at the top.

2. (v. 3) How does this triangle come together? Paul appoints the leaders of the church to be mediators (reconciliation within the body of the church)

a. Clement, fellow workers with these women (side by side with me in the gospel – same mind) THERE IS AN EST. RELATIONSHIP

b. all of who’s names are in the book of life – same destiny

III. Commanded to Rejoice and be gentle with one another (Phil. 4:4-5)

A. (v. 4) We are commanded to “rejoice in the Lord” but what does that look like? We now know it is not necessarily a feeling of happiness, but a state of mind.

B. (v. 5) It looks like Christ – “gentleness” with one another, not concerning yourself with YOUR personal rights, but others – Titus 3:2

C. It is His nearness (whether immanently or in the hope of His Second Coming) that allows for us to express “rejoice” by being gentle/reasonable with one another

Illustration on “Rejoicing in the fullest” - Perfect Peace

John Henry Newman wrote: “What is fulness of joy but peace? Joy is tumultuous only when it is not full; but peace is the privilege of those who are ‘filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.’ ‘You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.’ ”[1]

*This brings be back to that “joy” I could not explain to my mom. I was being filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord” – I felt God’s peace.

I have a dear friend who just found out that her husbands’ cancer has spread drastically. She just recently posted this on her page after sharing his terminal results: “Nothing will cause us to lose hope in Jesus. Our hope is firmly rooted. We’ve anchored deep! We will praise him no matter what…no matter what. Might that be hard? Yes. But our witness of Christ’s love for us will not waiver.” This is “rejoicing in the Lord”.

Application: It is impossible to express this kind of joy that comes from Christ unless we are IN Christ. Why? Because that He is the source of it? It is his characteristics that are showing through.

Sunshine and Nahum: Why me? I have said it numerous times since March 27, 2021. Why me? Why Nahum? Why us? I say it often. I have only said it to God because He is the only One with the answer, but I haven’t really asked it expecting an answer. I have not said it accusatively as if God is unjust or unrighteous in His dealings with us. Each time my heart has whispered these words I have uttered them in wonder and in awe. Why would God choose to give us this behind-the-scenes tour of His grace? Why would He let us experience this peace that passes understanding in the midst of a very challenging trial? Why would He let us taste of Him and see that He is truly this good? Why would He snatch us out of our backyard and let us speak His name to so many people that we otherwise never would have met? Why would He let us know the fellowship of His sufferings and the power of His resurrection? Why would He let us know in such a real way that He is a safe place when the nightmare becomes reality? Why would He give us so many friends from across the country and around the world to walk with us through this valley and love Nahum and our family so beautifully? Why would He grant us the treasures of darkness and the hidden riches of secret places? I have many more of these questions and none of the answers, but my heart is filled with wonder and awe at Him, the God Who does wonders.

Perhaps David had the same feeling when he danced before the Lord with all his might and insisted to his wife that he had danced before the Lord and played his music before the Lord. David had an audience of One . . . “before the Lord.” He understood long before Paul wrote it down in Colossians “that in all things he might have the preeminence.” I, too, want all of my energy and all of my life to be given in worship to the Lord. David said that there is none like the Lord, and I concur. He is the audience, and I long to be abandoned to Him in surrender and worship.

Traumatic brain injury, like your trial, has so many layers and variations . . . so many lessons, so many griefs, so many joys, and so many reasons for thankfulness. The overwhelming emotion of the past eight weeks is not sadness but gratitude to the Lord for Who He is. I want to be careful as I see smiles on Nahum’s face and his little-boy laughter and other signs of healing as God gives them that I don’t attach the goodness of God to my circumstances as if God is only good because my circumstances are improving. God isn’t good because Nahum is smiling and laughing; God is good because He is. God isn’t good because Nahum’s stomach issues seem to be improving; God is good because He is. His goodness and holiness and kindness aren’t propped up by my circumstances; they are part of His character. He is Who He is regardless of my circumstances. The fact is that God would be equally good and holy and kind if we had buried Nahum in the past eight weeks.

Application: It is impossible to express this kind of joy that comes from Christ unless we are IN Christ. Why? Because that He is the source of it? It is his characteristics that are showing through.

IV. To be in Christ Paul instructs us in thought (Phil. 4:6-7) How can we begin to rejoice?

[1]G. Curtis Jones, 1000 Illustrations for Preaching and Teaching (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1986), 272–273.