Father, we come to you tonight and Lord we thank you for your Word, your revelation of yourself to us. You do not hide from us, you reveal, you call, you command, you enable us to participate in this work that you have done. I pray tonight that your Holy Spirit teach us your Word, conform us more to the image of Christ, so that as we go out from this place, we show Christ and all his benefits to a world that is dying and lost. And it's Christ's name I pray. Amen.
You may be seated. Back on January 7th, I shared a message with you from a few verses above this. We looked from the book of Philippians, starting in chapter 3 verse 20 and walked down through verse, or chapter 4 verse 1, and what we looked at in that message was as we entered the new year that we were to be, excuse me, we were to stand firm in Christ. And the reason we used that text was we were entering a new year and we talked about all the changes that will come in a year and some being good, some being stressful, but Paul commands the Philippians, he commands us as Christians that we are to stand firm thus in Christ. Paul goes on then after that command and he starts to lay out to the church in Philippi and to us that there are actually means that we can participate in, ways that we can participate, that we can know we stand firm. The very first one, if you move down and look at verse 2, is a call for unity. And he stresses the importance of being unified in the Lord, and we could spend some time there, but it is are we unified in who truly Jesus Christ is. Not the Jesus Christ we want to make in our own minds to meet our own needs, but the one revealed in Scripture. And that is where we need to be as brothers and sisters in Christ, resting in the the Christ that God has revealed to us, so that when we get commands from the Apostle Paul and from Scripture, we're to deny ourselves and think of others more than ourselves. It is not out of just trying to be a better person, but it is actually modeling what the Savior and King of the universe has done, because that's what Scripture describes as Christ's work here in the earth. But as we move down through, there are some very intentional means that Paul commands the church and commands us, and that's what I would like to work through tonight.
There are four means together, but I'm going to combine two at a time. So what I would like us to look at is rejoicing and praying, and then also thinking or meditating upon and practicing. And there are very practical points that Paul gives us, gives the church at Philippi, how we can walk forward in this life that the Holy Spirit enables us to participate in, thus helping us stand in that firm position in Christ where we must be as the world comes at us. We sit and we look at these texts, and many times I think when we read them, we read them as just good advice, but these are practical commands given to believers so that you and I may refer remain firm in Christ Jesus. Tonight I pray as we review over these as Paul lays them out, that the Spirit will convict us and teach us not just to hear these truths, but to actually do these truths.
James in his letter in the first chapter, verse 22, states this, but be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourself. Paul is calling the Philippians, and he is calling us to do that which strengthens us individually as believers, but also corporately as a body, because in these commands we are also doing them together with each other growing up in Christ. So I pray that as we see those, or see these and work through them, that it helps us understand that in our standing we lift each other to stand in Christ also. So let's look at the first, rejoicing and praying, verses 4 through 7. We read, Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say rejoice.
Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Paul opens this section with a command, rejoice, and then immediately repeats it again a second time, rejoice. He is making an emphasis to the church at Philippi and to us that we are to be a joy-filled people rejoicing at all times.
I talked it back in on the 7th of January, where was Paul when he wrote this letter? He was in a prison, and he is writing, and he is telling people that even in prison he is joyous in the Lord. He is rejoicing, and we sit back, and I at least sit back and examine my life and how often I feel dejected or downtrodden because the world around me just seems to want to rob the joy out of our life. If you sit and think like I do, and a lot many times these messages are more for me, how can I be a joyful in a world that is in the condition it is in right now? How can I find joy in that? How, when it appears that the whole world is turning against Christ and the Bible and Christians, how am I supposed to find joy? How, when sin seems so rampant in our culture and everything seems so vile and it almost seems like it's winning, how can I be joy-filled? And I believe first and foremost we must answer the true question, what is joy, in order for us to understand what it is to be joy-filled and then rejoice? I think we, as even in the church, confused a feeling of happiness with what true joy is, and I'm not saying that joy is not an emotion, but I think it is a much deeper thing than just a human emotion. I actually went to Webster's Dictionary to make sure, and of course the very first definition said it's an emotion. I was like, well, I don't know, but then I read down two more and I got to number three and it said this, joy, a noun, a source or cause of delight. John MacArthur stated Christian joy this way, and I want you to hear this, it is the deep down confidence, the source or cause that God is in control of everything for the believer's good and for his own glory and thus all is well no matter what the circumstance is.
Does that sound familiar? We ever hear that anywhere? I would say that the Apostle Paul teaches that very thing in Romans 8 28. In Romans 8 28 Paul says it this way, and we know that for those who love God all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose. Do we truly believe that when we go to the doctor and get the diagnosis, when we set before our employer and they're terminating because the economy's had a downturn, when we're struggling with an issue in our family, when we're even dealing with the sin that we have committed and God is convicting and pulling us back to a himself and even the consequences that we deal with, do we truly believe at that moment as believers God is working those very events for your good and his glory?
It's hard, isn't it? But that's the truth that Paul proclaims. That is what John MacArthur is stating. No matter the circumstance, God is continually working for those who love him, those he has called and changed their heart that they can love him. He is working in those situations even if we brought that situation on ourself. He is working for the good of you, of his body, and for his glory and his namesake. God doesn't hide this either.
It's not, where can we go to see examples? It starts in the very book of Genesis and we see it carry on through all of Scripture. Genesis 37 through 50, the life of Joseph. Joseph is taken by his brothers, sold into slavery. He's a good slave.
Potiphar loves him, gives him charge of his house. He's accused falsely, thrown into prison, and forgotten in prison. But in prison, Joseph ministers to people. He teaches them of God. God brings him up out of prison and raises him to a position in authority so that he can save those very brothers who threw him in the pit and pulled him back out and sold him. And as he restores and saves their lives, they are so worried that he is going to bring retribution to them for what they've done. And he makes the most astonishing, astonishing statement in chapter 50 verse 20 when he says, as for you, you meant this for evil, but God meant it for good. And he goes on to say, by bringing about that many would be saved and kept alive as they are today, God took that whole terrible situation, which I am sure Joseph wasn't thrilled with for many parts of his time. And he not only was for the good, but brought about the saving and the keeping of his people.
If you think to the Exodus and the crossing of the Red Sea, if you think Daniel and his three friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, you can move from there and look at Daniel and the lions then. Over and over, situations where none of us would want to be, where the consequences would appear to be devastating, God uses not just to work good for the person, but most times to work good for the corporate body of his people. Acts 2 23, probably the best example. When Peter is preaching the sermon at Pentecost, he says, this Jesus, and you would think he would go on to say that you killed, he said this Jesus, who was delivered over by the definite plan of God, you killed by the hands of lawless men. Even in the most vile act of sin by man, God was working your and my salvation.
He was working all things to the good, and it was his plan. We see that fully laid out for us in Revelation chapter 1. John writes this, and starting in verse 17, when I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead, but he laid his right hand on me, saying, fear not. I am the first and the last and the living one.
I died and behold, I am alive forever more, and I have the keys of death and Hades. God worked for the good of his people, for the good of his corporate body, for you and I, that this Jesus, who they delivered over by his plan, that we see as a terrible injustice, the very salvation that we rest in. We see then that our joy is not a happy feeling, it's not the sunshine today where we had three days of rain, so let's be joyful.
It is that our joy and rejoicing is a founded upon one source, and that source is God and his greatness. This is why then when Paul moves to telling them not to be anxious about everything, but by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, to go to God, because we know that we are going to the God and the King of the universe, who is fully in control of every aspect of life. No matter the situation we are in, if you are Christ, Christ is in it with you and seeing you through. Whether that is the deathbed, the sickbed, the loss of work, financial instability, Christ is with you and working in you. So as we go to pray, we are not going to hopefully get some kind of good outcome, because God has told us he will provide the outcome that is right.
It may not be what we want to happen, but it will be for our good. It will honor and glorify Christ. We think, and the best example that I, as I was writing this, is Gethsemane, where Jesus seeing the full man there, laying out on the ground saying, if this cup could pass for me, but not my will, thy will. In our times of difficulty, in our times of distress, we are assured no matter what the answer is, the answer is going to be for the good of ourselves and for the glory of God, just like it was in that, in Christ Jesus giving himself over. When we truly know God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost as he reveals himself in Scripture, then we are able to rest. He is not a God who lies. Titus chapter 1, I do not lie. He is the God that does not change.
Malachi 3, I the Lord, I do not change. These truths we can rest on. These acts that he has accomplished already give us the confidence that we are serving the God that controls all things in the universe for his glory and for his, our good. We can go boldly into prayer as the scripture commands us and Christ tells us, Luke chapter 18 verse 1, it says this, and Christ told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. Paul in 1st Thessalonians 5 17, he says, pray without ceasing. By our prayers we rest assured that no matter what the answer is, we are standing in the right and good no matter the circumstance or situation if we are praying that God's will be done. We are allowed to request our thought of will, but as long as we rest in that prayer that God's will be done, God's good will work for us and for his glory.
We can stop being anxious because we know that God is holy, he is right, he is good, he is loving and kind and he is working all these things for our good and his glory and therefore I implore you that we must walk in these means of rejoicing in prayer and doing that God will strengthen us not just individually but as the body of Christ to stand firm in him. The final two that Paul shares with us comes from chapter verses 8 and 9 and chapter 4 and this is we're called to think upon and to practice. Paul tells the Philippians 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. God through Paul is calling us to these two final means which will strengthen our ability to stand and then the very first one he calls us to do this we are to think on or meditate upon those things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, praiseworthy.
When I say those, what comes to your mind? There are some secular things that meet some of those criteria. There are works of art out in our world, there are pieces of music that lift and move us that meet some of these criteria but as you walk through those criteria things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and praiseworthy. I believe that this passage is directing us to meditate upon God and his word. The psalmist in Psalm 19 starting in verse 7 says this about the Word of God. The law is perfect reviving the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean enduring forever. The rules of the Lord are true and righteous altogether and he goes on to say more to be desired are they than gold even much fine gold sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. We are called throughout the text of scripture to be people of God's Word. I'm asking you tonight as you sit here are you in God's Word reading and meditating upon who God is, what he has accomplished, who his son Jesus Christ is, what he has done for us. I shared with the presbytery yesterday just a small meditation that came to me yesterday morning and I first of all shouldn't do this in a sermon but I want to thank you all because your prayers were tremendously helpful and my wife was one of the greatest supports I could have before I went to committee on the 4th of January my wife shared with me Exodus 14 14 where God tells the Israelites as they're looking at the Egyptians coming in the sea in front of them and God looks at them and says stand fast be quiet I will fight for you and that was a wonderful text to use to give me encouragement but it went through my mind when she shared that the question went through my mind why am I worth fighting for so as I was preparing yesterday and I was making my breakfast I just going through some of the questions that might come I knew they might ask a messianic Psalm so I said Psalm 22 and what makes the the Psalm messianic there is my God my God why is thou forsaken me that's the opening of the Psalm and when I said that and I would say it out loud because I'm quizzing myself when I said my God my God why is thou forsaken me the Holy Spirit checked my spirit my heart and said Jay there's an answer to that question they answered the question has you ever thought about that when Christ cried out from the cross my God my God why are thou forsaken me we understand that that is the point where the judgment and wrath of God the Father falls on the son for our sin but when Christ asks him the question why is thou forsaken me have you ever meditated on what that answer is he's done it because of his love for us but God being rich in mercy that's how much God loves you that God himself suffered the eternal punishment that you and I deserve and even questioned that punishment as it was being inflicted to God the Father and God the Father said because we love this creature that hates us and we are going to redeem him to redeem Jay I'm not worthy to be fought for his love for me is what makes it were me worthy his love for his son his son's obedience and love for the Father the Holy Spirit moving and convicting us that is what it is to meditate on the scripture when we come to the Lord's table next Sunday that is what you should be meditating on it is God and his work it is Christ and his obedience it is the Holy Spirit and their love for us to do what you and I could not do do we find ourselves to be people of this word meaning that we meditate and think upon it Paul doesn't end there he goes on to tell us that we are also to practice it and I want you to understand that none of this is meritorious to meditate upon it doesn't merit you anything in God's grace to practice it doesn't merit anything from God's favor but what it is doing is building us deeper and deeper into Christ and it is conforming us so when Paul in other places or when we read Peter and just different commands and we sit and look and say how can we put that into practice I want you to I want you to hear some of them Paul tells us earlier in Philippians that we are to consider others before ourselves we hear Jesus deny yourself take up your cross and follow me we here remove the log from your own eye before you worry about the speck in your brothers we here love the Lord your God with all your heart soul and mind love your neighbor as yourself and many times at least in my mind I've said do you know my neighbor and then what my check was yesterday was God loved an enemy of his a rebel who spit in his face so much that he suffered the very thing I'm supposed to suffer to bring me salvation so that's the application of these things when we rejoice when we pray when we meditate on the word it allows us to practice because it puts the right perspective of who we truly are and we see God's grace compared to our loneliness and therefore we can respond by the Holy Spirit strengthening us to work in this truth the amazing thing God also has an application as we do it verses 7 & 9 tell us God's application when we rejoice when we pray when we meditate and when we practice it verse 7 says this and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your mind in Christ Jesus God himself is going to guard your very heart and your mind no matter the situation or the circumstance you're in he working through you will guard your heart in mind in Christ Jesus and even more amazing than in verse 9 we read this what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me practice these things and the God of peace will be with you Jesus tells the disciples in Matthew 28 to go therefore into the nation's baptizing them and teaching them everything that he commanded and at the end he says what I will be with you the Holy Spirit is promised to John 14 and he comes and resides with us in John 17 the high priestly prayer Christ praised that very thing that we are in him as he is in the father God himself dwells with us in us the Holy Spirit that is what will strengthen and enable us to do verse 1 stand firm thus in the Lord these means these ways they're not suggestions they're God's revelation to us how we can remain confidently in Christ Jesus no matter the situation of the circumstance our God is an awesome God who loves and he promises that he himself will be with us I pray tonight brothers and sisters as we walk forward in 2024 that we using the means God calls us to stand firm in Christ so that we may honor and glorify his name let's pray father we thank you for your word we praise you that you do not hide that you reveal all that we need and more than that you not only reveal you enable us to participate and it is not because of any good of us it is not earning anything as we participate but it is building us to be more conformed to the image of Christ and to show glory and honor to you and Lord when we fail to do these things the amazing thing is your grace is sufficient father we just praise you and we thank you and it's in Christ Jesus name we pray amen
