1910. A Proper Perspective

One of the pronounced themes about the book of Philippians is this whole idea of joy and rejoicing.

But why? I think this is a book, if you will, about having the mind of Christ. Thinking about real life circumstances in light of the thinking of Christ. I need to live with a gospel transformed mind. My perspective on the circumstances of life must be shaped by the gospel.

We are living in a day where we are blitzed with information all the time. And our brain is designed that in one way, shape, or form, it does process that information. And when it does, it informs or it transforms our perspective. And I am here to challenge us today that there are things in life that we need to at least understand whether my perspective on those things is informed or transformed. And so I believe in this book as we study it together. What is God saying should be my perspective on that.

And if I make the change from one to the other, will it result in me living a life that is marked by a peaceful, settled joy in God. Welcome to The Daily Platform, a radio program featuring chapel messages from Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. Today we're concluding the study series called The Mind of Christ from the book of Philippians. Dr. Alan Benson has been leading us in this study and today's sermon is titled A Proper Perspective.

Take your Bibles and turn with me to Philippians chapter four. I'm going to ask you a question. Are you deeply concerned about something this morning? And I want to ask for audience response.

You'd say, you know what? I am. I am deeply concerned about something. Something in particular this morning. Raise your hand with me.

I'm not putting mine up just as now. Like I'm yep, there is. There's something I'm deeply concerned about this morning. You know what?

That's okay. We're going to look at a passage of scripture. Some translations say be careful for nothing. Others say be anxious for nothing. And we're not careful. We can take a passage like that and say you being deeply concerned about something is sinful. And I want you to know that is not what this passage is saying.

It certainly isn't saying to us, you know what? You never need to be careful. I still take the second look after every single light turns green in Greenville. And all the way to yesterday morning coming to school, my wife and I don't normally ride together. I would love for us to go to heaven together at some point, but yesterday wasn't the day I wanted that to happen. But the car that ran through the intersection in front of us wasn't so sure.

I want to be careful. It's not saying that. So what is this passage of scripture saying to us? We come to Philippians chapter four in our journey through the book of Philippians and I timed it this way on purpose. I this morning completed my hundredth reading of the book of Philippians since we started this semester. Because I wanted these four chapters to again saturate my heart because I think that's what's necessary if we're actually going to live pursuing the mind of Christ. And so I want to encourage you that as we have started through this journey together that maybe it's an invitation for you to say now that we've done that and I've got context, I just want to pour these words into my own heart. And you know this time in doing that I haven't had to work really hard at re-memorizing the book of Philippians.

It's been a joy for me. But I want it to be an expression if you will of what I believe the psalmist is trying to communicate to us when he says to us, your word have I treasured up in my heart so that I might not sin against you. I have so saturated my heart with your truth so that when I live out the daily affairs of life I live in keeping with what I know you want me to do. This is what we're supposed to do with the word of God.

We've been talking about perspective and no we're not going to hold our fingers up again this morning. This morning I actually want to move from saying the right perspective on or the mind of Christ on to just I think in this fourth chapter looking at the proper perspective. In general, how should I live and I think that's what he's going to do in this fourth chapter and I wish we had time to work through the whole of it but as we come to it I hope you'll see the pulse of Paul as he comes to this last chapter as he's writing to these now somewhat disturbed troubled believers. And I'm not going to be able to go into expressing to you what he does in the first verse but I want you to know that as I have had opportunity to preach Paul's truth to you a similar thing has happened in my heart toward you as happened in his toward them when he writes in verse one, therefore my brethren dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown so stand fast in the Lord my dearly beloved.

And I'll cry if I say any more than that but I love you. And I want you to live the truth of Philippians. I want you to live at least longing to live with the mind of Christ. And the reality is that we long for that but we're fallen and we're broken and we live in a fallen and a broken world and we have fallen and broken relationships and when you put all of that together there's this constant disruption that comes to our pursuit of having the mind of Christ and it's almost like static. Have any of you recently made a phone call and it was like that's a bad connection. It doesn't happen often but I had it happen to me recently and it's like well I really want this is important. So I really need to make sure I understand. So important that I'm going to try and make a new connection because I really need this call to be clear.

That's a good picture for us. It's the idea that there's noise and disturbance and distraction that comes into even a longing heart that wants to have the mind of Christ and it's life. So I want you to see there are some key truths that Paul's going to point out in this chapter and the first of them is this what I believe is a formulaic expression with regard to resetting your perspective when in verse 4 he says rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice a verse that is familiar to all of us but again he's not just saying all right don't worry be happy he actually is calling us to a tangible formulaic process of resetting our perspective and I believe in this fourth chapter he's going to make it very real for us.

Here's a way that you can move from here to here in your perspective. Notice in the midst of this context then after the passage we're going to focus on he says in verse 11 very personally not that I speak in respect of one for I have learned there's a process there's been growth there's development in whatsoever state I am there with to be content. I think he is stating in his own words exactly the outcome that he wants them to see in the passage we're going to look at in verses five through nine. He says in light of challenges in life in verse 13 I can do all things through Christ what strengthens me. He has come to discover anew the source of the ability to live with the mind of Christ and then in verse 19 he turns that around to them with hope and says but my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus and so I hope you see in this fourth chapter he's kind of pulling all of this together in light of a central truth which we find in verses five through nine when he writes let your moderation be known unto all men the Lord is at hand. I'm not going to take the time to preach that but if you remember way back when I introduced this book we looked at this first verse first and the idea there of moderation isn't just balance it's actually in light of people looking at your life do they see you panicked do they see you overcome with care do they see you acting erratically as though there aren't any anchors and so your life is marked by confusion that is sourced in a sense of insecurity and what he says in light of the truth of having the mind of Christ I want you to be able to live so that your reasonableness or if you will through a reasoned process of evaluating truth that applies to your life even in a broken world that you can live with a displayed peace through a sense of security that only comes in Christ. Let your reasoned living be on display for all men be careful verse six for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known unto God and the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus finally brethren remember giving your attention to what is left the rest of the story here's something to focus on a takeaway whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any virtue and if there be any praise think on these things those things which you have both learned and received and heard and seen in me do and the God of peace shall be with you I think it's amazing that here in this section he is going to move from the peace of God being in you to the God of peace being with you and so I really want us to see two truths in light of Paul giving articulation now to a process of actually shifting our perspective to live with this mindset the proper perspective the first thing I want you to see is the normative truth normative is not a word we use every day but it's one you need to add to your vocabulary you can think of it this way as the standard truth that is established as a standard and then everything else must relate to that standard it is that which is going to affect practice and so here's truth he's going to give us what I think is a process for being able to live having our reasoned living put on display and it's found in verse eight and it's not rocket science but I want to walk you through this in a very practical way because this normative truth is the means of shifting our focus right we held up our finger and Alan's blurry right the finger is clear the finger becomes blurry Alan becomes clear remember shifting our focus how do I do that what is the practice of doing that and I think in verse eight that's exactly what he's going to do because here's the reality life is between me and God and life keeps getting noisy and so it naturally draws my attention there are things that we are deeply concerned about and if we live in such a way that they obscure my understanding of God supplying all my need I will not live in a way that I am content as Paul described it disrupts that flow and if I'm not careful once I get there I begin to think differently my thought patterns change my perspective on other things changes and I will begin to find the other factors in the book of Philippians becoming real all of a sudden there's this thing that I am overly concerned about and it has now shifted my perspective it has made me forget about who God is and what God is doing and how I should put this in proper perspective and I will find that somebody who doesn't understand really irritates me and so my relationships back in chapter one now begin to get all out of whack because I am self-focused on my problem and you don't seem to care there's some of you heading into the last week and a half of school and that is your opinion of your faculty member don't you know that if this exam doesn't go well I may have to take this class over again and you should do something about it and you're living with a mindset that says my faculty just don't care and what you don't realize is they have cared more all semester than you have you see this is the way this truth works and this is why we find ourselves in this sense of panicked living not reasoned and so what should I do and I want you to see how I shift my focus and I'm going to make these steps really practical I want you to see the first step is acknowledgement notice what he says be careful for nothing the language is literally around the idea of stopping no longer be or stop allowing yourself to be overcome with care and so you know what there's an acknowledgement here wait a minute that's where I'm at this issue this thing this relationship this position this problem whatever it is if I'm going to be honest right now I have to say it has shifted my focus so I need to come to the Lord with a humbled heart of acknowledgement that says all right I need this to change I want the proper perspective I need to get this back in line with the truth I claim to believe about who Jesus is so it's tangible Lord I need your help and if in that process of acknowledgement you're you're there and you say you know what it has been sinful for me I'm not saying that it is but if that's where you are and the reason you know that is because of how it's disrupted the other areas of your life the emotions and feelings that you've had towards people the things that you have said the way that you have responded all the things that we've seen in the first three chapters then you need to come back to God and say God I need your help please forgive me there's an acknowledgement that acknowledgement actually is understanding what this kind of overcoming care does to me you see friends this kind of unproductive worry is not just unproductive you need to realize and what Paul is saying is it's counterproductive if that's where I am exerting my energies it actually is keeping me from the kind of growth I ought to have this being overcome with care actually is causing me to run mental processes that that are unproductive and expending my energy both mental and emotional that I could be spending in growing in Christ's likeness it is counterproductive and that's why eventually it results in idolatry if we're honest if we look sometimes at the amount of investment we make in the problems that we can't change we might actually say I am guilty of that thing being an idol so there's an acknowledgement that then leads me to a process and he's going to use synonyms here for prayer but they are different words and I think they're here on purpose and so it moves me from this acknowledgement to what I'm going to call an approach in everything by prayer this is the most general word for prayer in the New Testament and I think it is that one which sets the stage of the conversation that I am coming to carry out a conversation with somebody that's greater than me that's why it's prayer and so I'm going to say this is an approach it is resetting my mind with regard to who God is and what God can do you see it's not wrong to be concerned about things but it's necessary that when we are concerned that we frame them in light of who my God is prayer is taking these concerns to God with an understanding that he's bigger than my problem and that he is able to give me peace in the midst of the trouble while I rest in his sovereign care and wait for the solution this is not coming to ask God to fix my problem it's actually coming and asking God to develop me while I wait for the solution prayer is acknowledging God so I ask you in the midst of your deep concern who is your God what does he think what does he do have you remembered that it's him that will supply all your need like Paul said do you remember that it's he who works all things together for good you remember that earlier in this book it's God that works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure who is your God you see we tend to forget that when I become myopic and egocentric about my problem so I want to challenge you when you find yourself in this place it's time for some Bible study sit down with a notebook in your Bible and actually use your Bible and let God tell you who he is remind yourself my God made all this in six days with nothing but breath my God opened seas my God knocked down walls my God healed the blind my God sent his son to die for me and you will begin to see your perspective shifting about that thing you're deeply concerned about that might be sinful because now you're beginning again to see your trouble in light of the truth the normative truth about your God so right approach but then secondly acceptance he uses the word supplication and this idea is an acknowledgement of my need my weakness my dependence upon God and so I take my burden to the Lord at some point I say God this is who you are and now in that prayer I say and God this is who I am God I am me I'm frail I'm dust I'm broken I'm not you and I love you and I trust you but I don't have any answers for this and God it is consuming me I'm really concerned God I need your help I don't need you to show up and change my flat tire on the car the vehicle of my life so I can get back in progress God I need you and this problem is reminding me that I need you because part of this has been that I've lived without a problem and I didn't need you God you're not some kind of spare tire it becomes really valuable to me when my tire blows I need you every day God I'm asking this is supplication this is real conversation this is way beyond our prayer ease prayer is that language we use when we pray this is me really talking to my God this is supplication acceptance of my need but then marked by attitude that's the fourth thing he says with thanksgiving that this is now an acknowledgement of who God is and who I am and I put them together and I say God you know what I wouldn't choose this way I wouldn't do it this way I didn't ask for this but you know what God you love me and your way is best and you are working out a perfect sovereign plan and I want to love you enough that I can rest in you when it doesn't go my way thank you for loving me beyond my comprehension with thanksgiving God I don't see all you're doing I don't understand your ways but you're eternal and I'm not and I do know from your word what your heart is like and I do know what your priorities are and I do know big picture what you are accomplishing my life for your glory for eternity and God I want that though it's really hard right now so thank you that you are doing that in my life you see I'm not saying God thanks so much for my problems problems are so good you won't find Paul doing that right Paul never says I am so glad that I got really good at being whipped but you know we can say I rejoice in the goodness of God and I could suffer with and for Christ for his glory because it made me more like his son that I may know him in the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable to his death so attitude that results then in real asking let your requests be made known unto God aren't you thankful and Paul doesn't give us a passage of scripture that says and stop asking those are so trite those little needs they don't matter get the big picture this is about living eternally so like forget about needing to pay your bill forget about the fact that you need 99 on this exam to get a C like that's not that doesn't Paul doesn't do that it does matter that it matters in perspective and so he says ask let your be your request be made known unto God the one that you've gone through the process of re-identifying who he is in your thinking and it results in assurance the peace of God which surpasses understanding an incomprehensible state of contentment that leads to reasoned living the second truth is this and I'm going to give it to you so that we can do with it what I say on the screen there's normative truth that results in a necessary takeaway and that is verses eight and nine think on these things when you go through this process now you need to fill your mind actively with thinking this way so I want to finish with this one statement so what if I go through all of this and the next thing I realize I'm overcome with care and it's affecting my living my relationships my thinking about God now what do I do I tried verse 8 I tried verse 7 those things I tried and they don't work friends there's a reason when a doctor gives you an antibiotic that he says take all of it our brokenness our flesh our concern our worry our altered perspective tendency is something we will live with till Jesus comes and this is a normative process that we must repeat over and over and if today in your being overcome that affects your thinking about God and others you need to do this seven times than do it seven times and by God's grace maybe tomorrow you only need to do it five but this is the standard we need to work and work and work at living with the proper perspective and that's how we ultimately will end up learning the mind of Christ father help us to think your thoughts after you bless these students I love them Lord but that's not the point you love them and I pray you'd give them the grace to live life with the mind of Christ in Jesus name we pray amen you've been listening to a sermon preached by Dr. Alan Benson and this concludes our study from the book of Philippians called the mind of Christ join us again next week as we'll hear more sermons preached from the Bob Jones University Chapel platform.