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Good THURSDAY morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends scattered around the world.
Today we have the privilege of looking at one of the most wonderful portions of God’s Word, Philippians 4:2-9, oh it’s a remarkable and wonderful few verses of hope!
I wonder if you see a great contrast between verse 2 & vs 4? Sadly, the truth is, in any group of human beings, there eventually arises disagreement and maybe even conflict. It happens in families, even in marriages, certainly in the marketplace, in schools, and too often even in the church. Evidently when Mr. Epaphroditus traveled all the way to Rome to bring Paul a report on the Christians in Philippi (Phil. 2:25), he included the sad news that two people, whom Paul knew, in the group of Philippian Christians, were at odds with each other. We get a peak in vs. 2: “I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to agree with each other in the Lord.”
Oh my dear friends, because we are human beings, we have a tendency to irritate each other sometimes,
don’t we? Because we have sinful natures in us that are still trying to control us, we say things and do things that offend, hurt, even deeply wound others, right? But here Paul calls us to recognize that…
Because we are fellow citizens of Jesus’ kingdom…
Because we are brothers and sisters in the family of God…
Because the Holy Spirit is alive in us, helping us to live God honoring lives…
We Christians have a great advantage!! Do you see it? Do you live in that assurance friends?
When we find ourselves at odds with another person, there’s a God given path to reconciliation and restoration of God honoring relationship. The secret power is Jesus! As two people in conflict BOTH draw close to Jesus, we will find the miracle that JESUS will intervene, bringing His truth, His conviction, His healing to our wounded, even angry hearts.
Have you found you can’t worship Holy God in Spirit and in truth, (John 4:24) and be angry or bitter or resentful toward a fellow Christian, while you worship? It’s oil and water. It just doesn’t mix. Either you are pretending in your worship, or you have the ability to set aside, even forget your anger, while you worship. You can’t worship Holy God and be angry at the same time!
Do you see Paul then makes one of his most famous statements next: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace that passes all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 4:4-7)You’ve heard it, maybe even you’ve memorized this powerful paragraph. But my friends, do we own it? Is it part of our DNA as “blood bought, followers of Jesus”?
I wonder what key phrase you would identify as the cornerstone of this great statement of Paul’s?
For me it’s four little words…do you see them? “The Lord is near.” We hear the word “Lord” so often in spiritual conversation or reading the Bible, that we don’t even take note of it, isn’t that right? Yet, “Lord” means King, Master, Sovereign!! In a kingdom, it is a wonderful thing when the King visits a town and his subjects gather around to honor him and receive from him what he has come to say or do. Yes, there are still some kingdoms in our world with real, live kings. Like Cambodia, or the UAE or Jordan where I was just a few weeks ago. And of course we’re familiar with royal family in the United Kingdom. But what about the “KING of kings and Lord of lords” (Rev. 19:16)? And who is this King of kings? As we’ve seen in Philippians 2:9-11, He is Jesus the Christ, the Creator and Sustainer of the world (Col. 1:15) and the Savior of all repentant sinners (Acts 4:12)!
While King Jesus is in heaven, He is also here, by the Power and Presence of the Holy Spirit of God, among His people! I wonder if you remember when Moses was meeting with God after the Golden Calf disaster and God threatened to send the rebellious people away from Mount Sinai WITHOUT Him! (Ex. 33:1-3) Moses response was this: “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that You are pleased with me and with Your people unless You go with us. What else will distinguish us, Your people, from all the other people on the face of the earth?” (Exodus 33:15,16) And God said to Moses; “My Presence will go with you and I will give you rest.”
My dear friends. As a Christian with the Holy Spirit of God living in you, you may confidently say, as Paul did… “The Lord, the King of kings, is near!” And that reality should change everything! Here are two more powerful promises from God… that He is watching over you and me and ready to strengthen us in our time of need (2 Chronicles 16:9 & Psalm 33:13-22).
Paul was profoundly confident that NOTHING happened in his life, good or bad, without permission of his KING, Jesus! That includes the beatings, the rejection, the shipwreck… King Jesus had permitted His ambassador Paul to experience those horrible things, but in them, Jesus was with Paul, and so Paul was able to bring honor and glory to Jesus by living the remarkable reality of what he writes in Philippians 4:4-7!
Now friends, do you see that the overflow from those four powerful little words “The Lord is near” flows out in all directions: causing ‘rejoicing always’ in vs. 4,5 and ‘peace filled anxiety management’ in vs. 6 & 7! Now watch this my friends… just as I told you that you cannot worship Holy God in Spirit & in truth and be angry with another Christian at the same time, so here you cannot celebrate the Presence of the King right with you in your circumstances, and be fretful, anxious, worried, fearful! If you have those very real and paralyzing emotions, then you may have disregarded the Powerful Presence of the King with you, and you are focusing on the problems, the circumstances… and you are concluding the King is not adequate, not sufficient, not powerful enough, and maybe even not Present with you! Now ponder that a moment. Our minds and hearts either focus on the KING or the problems, right?
While I know there are medications for anxiety, and all types of other debilitating emotions, do you see Paul’s promise that the powerful reality of the Presence of King Jesus can be enough to calm us in any tragedy, any worrisome situation. Now before we say “oh Paul, come on, you don’t really understand the stress load I deal with…” Remember where Paul is writing from… Rome, under house arrest, knowing any day a soldier could walk in and say “it’s over”. Remember Paul is writing TO his friends in Philippi, where he and Silas were beaten to a pulp and thrown in the dungeon (Acts 16) because of their preaching Jesus’ truth. I think no matter what the stress issues you and I face today, Paul has the right to challenge us to embrace the truths of Philippians 4:4-7, and experience, as he did, the miracle of the King’s Peace filling our hearts and driving out the anxiety!!
Now just in case you need more ammunition to battle the discouragement, or fear, or worry that is heavy on you today… Paul adds verse 8! “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, THINK about such things.” Ok friends… it’s a battle of the mind, isn’t it? You and I have the authority to decide what our minds focus on, every day, every moment, right?
If God wants to guard our minds with peace in vs. 6&7, then He also urges us to FILL our minds with those things that nurture peace rather than ignite the fires of fear or worry. So, I offer you two good questions to ask yourself often, perhaps several times a day:
1. “How’s my heart”? it means… what is the condition of my heart right now. Hard or soft? Tender or terrified? Teachable or Resentful? Confident in Jesus. or cluttered with the debilitating junk of our world?
2. “Where is my mind focused”? The dysfunction of our world or delight in God’s greatness? Worried about the future or remembering God’s miracles in my past? Fearful about things that might happen or confident in God’s Sovereignty at all times in all things.
And then friends, grab ahold of Paul’s final comment in vs. 9 “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me or seen in me – put into practice. And the God of peace will be with you!” Wow, now that is quite a statement! I don’t think I could say that. I wish I could, but truth is, there are things I’ve said or done that I would hope no one copies. Paul is not saying he’s lived a perfect life, but that he’s been very faithful in trying to ‘walk with Jesus’ in a way that others could emulate. Isn’t that a great ambition for all of us… live so we can invite others to walk in lock step with us, as we walk in lock step with Jesus!
Now let’s ponder all that, and talk with Jesus. . .
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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