Peace (Philippians)
Notes
Transcript
Disrupting Peace
Disrupting Peace
Main Idea: We are to live in peace.
Well good morning Church!
Happy Palm Sunday!
I am Zach Klundt Director of Student Ministries.
I love be given an opportunity to speak in what I like to call big church.
So thank you so much for having me today.
We are going to be in Philippians 4 today.
So if you want to start flipping there or pulling out your phone and getting to the sermon notes now is the time to do so.
And we are continuing our series through the book of Philippians and we will be wrapping this up two weeks after Easter.
And as I was studying the passage this week this idea of peace kept coming to my mind.
Peace.
What is peace?
What is significant about Paul talking to the people at Philippi to hold on to peace?
And if peace comes up all over place in scripture, which it does— We then must ask the question:
Why would God want us to live in peace?
And that leads us to another question that if God wants us to live in peace then why don’t we live in peace?
What I want to challenge you with today is this idea that we are to live in peace.
But that is easier said then done.
Because living in peace requires us to actually choose peace.
I would love to say that I want to live in peace but my actions say otherwise.
Me: (I want peace but often times I choose the opposite.)
Have you ever lived in those places where life seems to be going really well and you think to yourself, don’t rock the boat?
Well you guys remember the pandemic right.
You know locked down— stay away from everyone— if you have a cough isolate yourself.
That was fun!
Anyway.
It was just Brittni, myself and our 2 girls.
Evey and Rosey who were (7 and 5)— we felt like life was pretty great and it felt like we were living in peace.
And when things are good why rock the boat right.
Well during this time My wife Brittni and found out we were expect a baby!
Yay! Awesome!
But that started to rock the boat.
We thought we were done but God had other plans for us.
And while we may have said hey let keep it peaceful— everything is going to be fine.
I mean its just a baby enter the world— while they are amazing and Theo has brought so much joy—
Here is a photo of him when he was born and now.
He’s so cute!
But it is hard to have three little ones— and if you have more then 3 God bless you and I’ll be praying for you!
So we know that this is happening— We know that we are going to be having a baby and the chaos of having a baby— little sleep— our other two kids who are getting more and more involved with stuff.
Ministry life is really busy as well!
Life is going to start getting crazy.
And while we may have wanted to have peace— and have everything been more chill.
You know what we did— I mean what could you add to your family that would cause more discord?
GET A PANDEMIC PUPPY!
So we welcomed our puppy Albus Thor into the mix.
We got him in July 2020
Here is a photo of him as a puppy and now.
And here is Albus and Theo
And we have been playing catch up ever since.
I feel like many times in my life I say I want peace but my actions say other wise.
We added a dog into what was already going to be crazy time with a baby coming.
We knew this and we thought we got it— we are in control of this.
But don’t we do this?
Things in life may be going really well and we are living peacefully.
And that is honestly what we say we want.
We want peace in our life— but we find that when we obtain peace that peace is not as exciting, it seems to limit us.
We: (We don’t like peace for peace is boring)
Now this may not be something we tell ourselves.
Heck you may not even believe this.
But hear me out.
Because if on the table in front of us was peace here and chaos here.
No one is going to knowing pick chaos.
We will pick peace.
What do we all want— Peace
However--
I believe that we are willing to trade peace for the exact opposite of peace
which is turmoil— chaos.
We all have areas in our life where peace gets disrupted.
We walk into many areas of our lives and we want it to be full of peace.
But instead it’s not.
And A lot of times it is because we are the ones not choosing peace.
Why is this?
I believe it has to do with us wanting to have control and be in control of our own lives.
And we justify this by saying, when we are out of control that is when stress and anxiety seem to really get at me.
So because of this we become experts of chaos.
And we can justify just about anything for the sake of control in our lives.
Think about this:
How about when it comes to our kids.
Do you tend to be a snowplow parent/ or a lawn mower parent?
We want what is best for our kids.
We need to have what is best for them.
So we get involved— and involved parents are why better then disconnected parents please hear we on that.
But we tend to want to control every area of our kids lives.
And so we get anxious about them getting a C.
And how that C is going to lead to another C— and that is going to affect them getting into the right college.
And they won’t meet that girl or boy they are suppose to marry at the college they can’t get into know since they have a 2 C’s.
Which means they won’t become the man or woman they are suppose to be.
And they will end up living in a van down by the river.
And For 18 years and then some we live in a state of worry and panic and do not know what peace is like when it comes to raising our kids.
Or what about that neighbor we can’t agree with anything on.
And instead of choosing not to fight with them, who cares if they mow your part of the yard— but we choose to fight instead.
We live in consist disagreement.
We want to be wise with our finances but we worry about our money.
But yet we don’t make a budget, or we do but we don’t stick to it.
We eat out, buy magic tricks, and stuff from info-mersals, and at the end of the month we wonder where is my money at— which causes us to stress over our finances.
Or how about wanting peace in our marriage.
That is what we say:
But at time in our marriages we get to a cease-fire situation.
As in you don’t push my buttons and I won’t push yours.
So instead we live consistently walking on egg shells around each other.
That’s not peace in your marriage.
OR what about disagreements we have at church.
Its not a sin issue or even a moral issue but we have this anxiousness that someone is trying to tear down the church and everyone in it.
Let me just put your mind to ease the God’s church has withstood greater threats then Annie May and her tambourine, or what color to paint a wall.
We combat with anyone and everyone so that we can get our way rather than slowing down and seeing what God is blessing and trusting in God’s way.
We say it is what God wants but truthfully we are only saying it because you want it our way and we can’t live in peace with others who disagree with us.
We say we want peace in all of these situations we mentioned but to have peace would mean to surrender these things over to God.
and that takes us out of control
To live in peace it would mean that we don’t have to worry anymore, we don’t have to stress anymore, we don’t have to fight anymore, and we go that sounds boring.
I mean peace sounds great but Like what Am I suppose to do with all my time.
Peace has no drama.
Peace has no disunity.
Peace has no turmoil.
Peace has no fighting.
Peace is not chaos
But if we can be truthful we are willing to trade peace for turmoil if it means I can have it my way.
And this is what I believe Paul is getting at here in the beginning of Philippians 4.
He is wanting the people at Philippi to do exactly what I am challenging you today with to Live in peace.
God: (God wants us to live in peace because living in peace is being dependent on him.)
Peaceful living is dependence on God
And Paul begin in verse 2 talking about two people who are not living in peace with each other.
Because not only does God want you to live in peace but He also wants you to Experience Peace with others.
Experience Peace With Other (4:2-3)
Let’s read Philippians 4:2-3
I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to agree in the Lord. Yes, I also ask you, true partner, to help these women who have contended for the gospel at my side, along with Clement and the rest of my coworkers whose names are in the book of life.
There were these two women who were having a disagreement.
Euodia and Syntyche are both being urged to agree in the Lord.
And Paul is asking that true partner, who was most likely the Pastor here, to help come along side of these two women and get this figured out.
Because their disagreement was causing disunity in the church.
It was causing turmoil in the church.
There was no peace in the chruch.
So Paul is asking them both to come together.
These are two women who were Christians.
Paul is like look they served with me!
They were partners in sharing the Gospel of Christ.
And these two women’s names are in the book of life.
Meaning they are saved!
They held an important role inside the church but there was a conflict that arose!
And Paul hears about it all the way from Rome where he is in prison and he’s like look both of you need to figure this out.
It is interesting that Paul uses the same phase “I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche.”
Paul is not showing favoritism to either one.
Which I believe shows us that this isn’t a sin issue or even a moral issue where someone is in the wrong.
But here is what they were doing they were choosing to live in opposition of each other.
And it was causing a rift.
And Paul is like that enough.
Some of us may say well whoever is more of the mature believer that person just needs to be the bigger Christian here.
Whoever it is either Euodia or Syntyche need to just give up and let the other win the agreement.
For the sake of unity.
And while that sounds mature.
I understand why we say this.
But let’s play this out a bit
Euodia comes up and is like okay Syntyche I will be the mature believer and we can go with the blue carpet will match the gray walls better.
I’m making up an issue that was not the issue I am sure of it.
And while this seems great here is what happens next time.
Syntyche gets her way again and again and Euodia becomes a push over for the sake of maturity.
And I’m sorry folks that is not how the Body of Christ operates.
Paul wants them both to agree in the Lord.
He wants them to come to a peaceful restitution.
And it isn’t even a compromise.
Nobody wins in a compromise but guess what it is not about winning!
Its about peace—
It is coming together, laying down control, believe that our fellow believer is not a monster—
but we know they love Jesus and they love the church and it is seeking what is best for the church— not for you.
That is what experiencing peace with other looks like.
Most conflicts happen because we allow selfishness to infiltrate our hearts and our lives and our relationships.
Lay down the selfishness and become selfless.
Paul wants peace in their relationships with each other.
And Paul doesn’t stop here with this idea of peace.
He continues into the next two verse:
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your graciousness be known to everyone. The Lord is near.
I believe that peace is a gateway to rejoicing.
Peace is a gateway to rejoicing (4:4-5)
This passage is coming down to the example that you set to the world.
Paul is calling the believers here to be joyful.
He says rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice!
He says it twice.
Actually he says in chapter 3.
Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.
Paul is really hammering this idea home that as believer there is something about rejoicing.
That a believer is to have joy
It is not an option it is imperative for the believer to rejoice.
Joy should be a distinctive mark of a believer in Christ.
And I don’t know about you but I have met some pretty sour believers in my life.
And they say with a scowl on their face I have no joy Zach and I’m like I know because you have no peace.
I often am just so heartbroken over it because that is not what God wants for their life.
But it is hard to rejoice when we don’t have peace.
God is calling you to live in peace in order that we can rejoice.
When life is in turmoil around me— I tend to not be very joyful.
I can fake it for a bit but eventually that gets old.
And I believe Paul keeps wanting to move his listeners into a place of peace in the Lord.
And as Paul then moves into verse 5 he states:
“Let your graciousness be known to everyone.”
And that greek word there Epi-Eikes doesn’t have a single word translation.
But scholars all agree that there is this element of selflessness that comes from this word.
It is this person who doesn’t insist on their own rights.
It comes back to the conflict of Euodia and Syntyche and Paul isn’t calling out one to live more selflessly then the other.
He is calling both of them to do it.
He is calling all believes to live and act this way.
To live at peace and to be selfless— why?
To be an example to others.
Jesus is going to return and your witness matters to others.
The way you live in a testimony to others.
The world will see your peace in the Lord through your joy and through your selflessness to others and want to get in on that action.
And then Paul moves into the state many of us find ourselves in today and that is worry and anxiety.
Because worry is something that will throw off our peace, our joy and our selflessness.
And Paul here says: Peace needs to be over worry.
Peace overcomes Worry (4:6-7)
Let’s dive into verse 6 and 7
Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Paul is echoing what Jesus had already taught the people years prior.
Jesus invites us to live in a state of no worry.
In Matthew 6 we see Jesus addressing worry in a similar way.
“Therefore I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing?
Jesus list several things that we tend to worry about.
Don’t worry about life, don’t worry about food, don’t worry about clothing, don’t worry about the physical side of your body, don’t worry about the future.
And I love how Paul is keeping it pretty simple here and telling the people don’t worry about anything
But we must be careful in how we say this.
Paul is not saying we won’t have worries ever again.
He knows we will but it is what we do with those worries.
He is saying, worries will come in but don’t be overcome by worry— give them over to God.
You have a choice on what you are going to do with your worry-
So when the worry comes in you can choose to keep it or you can choose to give it over to God.
Move it out of your control to put Him in control.
And through prayer what we are doing is giving up our worry to the only one who welcomes it and is capable of doing something about it.
Because here is what happens when we do this— we start to experience peace from God over our worries
We begin to see that peace trumps our worries.
We see that peace gives us clarity in our situation and the worry begin to just melt away.
That is what it looks like to give up our worries to the Lord.
and then Paul continues to verse 7.
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Paul makes three statements about God’s peace
Number one: It is divine— it is from God alone.
You can’t obtain it on your own it is what is given to us by God.
Peace is a characteristic of God.
And peace is to invade the believer.
Second: It transcends all understanding.
Peace excels over knowledge.
Knowledge at times will fail us.
Paul must have had in mind situtaions where he saw knowledge was insufficient— it can’t be explained.
It doesn’t logically make sense.
Sometimes you won’t be able to make sense of a situation— don’t allow your worry to overcome you
For peace is always appropriate and it meets the need of the heart.
And Finally peace will guard your heart and your mind.
Paul was speaking to a community of warriors.
They were involved with war and Paul is connecting to them.
What Paul is saying is that peace stands on duty keeping out anything that brings worry or anxiety.
If you are filled up with God’s peace
That alternative to anxiety is the peace of God.
Paul is saying when you submit your situtaions, your worries, your anxieties to God— you will receive peace.
And he will guard your heart and your mind — you will be protected but that means you have to give it over to him.
You can have peace because of what Christ did on the cross.
You can give up your worries because you have trust in the Gospel.
We worry when we begin to not trust God and we trust in ourselves.
We miss out on peace and the protection in which Christ provides.
The people here were called to peace and so are you.
The body of Christ is called to live in peace.
So how are you doing with peace?
Do you have peace or would you say that worry is what runs your life?
And look you can choose to not listen today.
You can poke holes in all the stuff I’m saying in order that you can keep your worries.
And Once we finish today you can go back to your worries and your disunity and keep living life for you.
But that is not what Christ calls us to do.
And that is not how we are to function in His Church.
You: (You can choose chaos but that is not the life God has for you.)
So what if you did something different?
You see this cylinder up here— let’s call it life.
And it can be a pretty nice life that we live.
But let’s say we choose to trade peace for turmoil.
It may just look like worry to us.
And these ping pong balls represent our worries.
they represent the choices we make from our pride, our selfishness and our need to control situations.
(Start to place ping pong balls in)
You begin to worry about your children
and then the bills,
and along with bills money.
you look back at the mistakes of our past and worry how that will affect our future
you gossip—its not enough for you to worry about just yourself but you are worrying about others.
you worry about the haters and what they think of me
you worry about work
you worry about if we are going a good job.
you worry about growing up
you worry about death
What people think of me
you worry if I am letting people down.
you worry about crime in our area
you worry about our pet’s health
you worry about our marriage
you worry about family
you worry about if I’m pretty or if I’m ugly
you worry about the world
you worry about the war
I can literally be here all day!
and before you know it— life is just full of these worries.
***And I am not here to discredit worries you have.
But what if instead of worrying about all of this stuff what if you did something different.
What if you begin to give control to God over these worries.
We: (What if instead of being anxious we choose peace.)
We go to God and we begin to give God some of our worries and God begins to fill you up with His peace.
And here is what being filled with peace begins to looks like:
(Pour a little bit of water in)
When we begin to give God a little bit of our worries, we begin to trust in His ways— and He gives us peace over our worries— he begins to fill us up.
And when He begins to fill us up we start to see the stuff that we were worried about start to flow out of our lives.
***This encourages us to keep giving God our worries because:
We begin to have peace in areas of our lives where we had no peace.
And we become joyful because our life is beginning to make room for what God is calling us to do.
When you turn of to God and we begin to give up control we will begin to experience peace over situations what tore us down.
We will live in peace and not turmoil because we are trusting the God of peace.
We can have peace in our life but it start with us deciding that enough is enough.
Let us lay down the selfishness and you choose peace.
For peace in God is anything but boring.
Will you pray with me: