Be willing to respond to abuse with patience. Why? The Lord is near. Be willing to yield your rights. Rather.
Then demand them why the Lord is near. Be willing to be courteous when others are discourteous. Why? The Lord is near. Paul is writing this letter.
He is chained to Roman soldiers, and he effectively reminds you in that phrase: this is not the end of the story. Hang on. Keep an eye out, as it were, for the coming of the Redeemer. When was the last time someone described you as gentle? It's not a word you hear much anymore, is it?
in a culture that celebrates power, dominance and winning. Gentleness often looks like weakness. But for followers of Christ, it's one of the strongest marks of genuine faith. In Philippians 4, Paul gives a surprising command. Let your gentleness be evident to all.
What does that mean? And how can you do it? Today, Stephen Davies shows that gentleness is not a personality trait. It's about spiritual maturity. You're about to learn to live with the quiet strength of gentleness.
A magazine article that I read begins with this quote in bold capital letters. Half of all Americans are angrier today than they were a year ago. Probably true. He goes on to write: from their views on the state of the American dream, which is dead. And America's role in the world, which is not what it used to be.
To how their life is working out for them, which is not what they expected. More people than ever are viewing life Listen to this verbiage. Through a veil. of disappointment. Through a veil of disappointment.
Historian Daniel Borston suggests that the American culture. Is suffering this disappointment because of self-centered, and that's my additional word to his comment. He says, unrealistic expectations. In his book entitled The Image, He writes, We expect anything and everything. We even expect the contradictory.
and the impossible. For instance, We expect compact cars to be spacious. We expect luxurious cars to be economical. We expect to eat and stay thin. Let's move on quickly.
We expect to be constantly On the move, and yet? Good neighbors. We expect to go to the church of our choice. And yet accept its guidance. We expect to revere God.
And at the same time, to play God. No wonder, he writes, so many people feel deceived and disappointed. Never have people expected so much more than the world will ever be able. to fulfill. Into this culture of Disappointment.
Into this culture of unrealistic expectation. Frankly, into every generation, God has placed His church. His redeemed bride. And we become demonstrations of an entirely different set of expectations. Or we should.
We pursue an entirely different Objective. In fact, we define everything in life with a different dictionary. Then our world. We literally become, and we've rallied again together on the Lord's Day to be rehearsing this truth. As we'll go to scripture in a moment, but we should become to our dissatisfied world a picture of satisfaction.
To our deceived world, we ought to be a picture of truth. and reality to our Self-absorbed world. demonstrations of of greys. For the believer, probably. Never more than in this convictingly clear, rapid fire, staccato delivery.
Is Philippians chapter 4 needed? like today. If you have your copy of the New Testament, Turn there, and Paul is going to click off one imperative after another as we get back into this text. And by the way, each of these commands, he's going to rattle off several of them. Uh quickly He's going to fly through them.
They're all a volume of study. By the way, they're all a rich volume. And I'm kind of saying that because I'm going to admit to you up front that Paul is going to write them faster than I'm going to preach them.
Okay. If you were with us in our opening study of this chapter, you remember perhaps two women. At odds with one another. And Paul settles the dispute by asking. Uh not only these women, but the entire church.
to demonstrate grace in this disagreeable setting.
Now Paul is going to move on and talk about how we as Christians demonstrate grace. in a disagreeable Yind. And for today, Paul is going to touch on two things. Our resolution? and our reputation.
Let's pick it up at verse 4. Of Philippians chapter 4. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say, rejoice, exclamation point. This is a command.
So, number one, make it your resolution to be joyful. And you can't help, by the way, but notice that there aren't any loopholes in this command. He repeats it twice. And then he even adds the word, if you dare to underline it, always. He is in writing, rejoice in the Lord.
on Sundays. Rejoice in the Lord on happy days. Rejoice in the Lord. Always. And if you didn't get it the first time, let me say it again, Paul writes.
Rejoice.
Now, watch this. If Paul is commanding us here, if this is a command, then joy cannot be a feeling like. Happiness. You can't command somebody. to be happy.
In fact, life is filled with unhappy things. unhappy moments, unhappy experiences. unhappy disappointments, unhappy tears. Happiness relates to what is happening. And what's happening isn't always Happy.
Maybe you've seen the Charlie Brown cartoon that defines happiness as a warm puppy. I can remember growing up With my three brothers, our family dog that kind of grew up with us, Wags was her name, very creatively named. By us kids, she's wagging her tail. Let's call her wags.
So, wags it was. She had a litter every year, no matter what my parents tried to do. to somehow Keep that from happening. She had a litter. And I remember many times.
My mother waking us up in the morning by putting into bed. With each of us a warm squirming little puppy. Isn't that great? You'd never do that with a kitten, by the way, but a puppy. And we'd wake up, and that was a wonderful way to wake up.
Well, what happens when there is no warm puppy? You fill in the blank. When there's no money. When there is no success, when there's no popularity, when there aren't straight A's, when there's no girlfriend, no boyfriend, no rising career, no new car, no full shopping cart, what happens when there's none of that? We tend to be happy as long as we have that.
See, happiness is circumstantial. And it can't be commanded. Joy is internal. It is responding to the nature of God's Spirit within us. Joy is a settled conviction.
that God is in control of every circumstance and every event. And even as James would write, when trials come, we calculate it all to be a. A joyful Response. Keep in mind, by the way, you might think Paul's writing that because he's an apostle and apostles are supposed to say stuff like that because we're going to read for 2,000 years what they write. No, keep in mind that he's writing this command.
He is not, when he writes it, sipping coffee on the coast of Italy. overlooking the sea. He's riding this chain between two guards under house arrest who watch him 24-7. Rejoice! He commands.
Can you imagine his demonstration? Through this resolution to rejoice in his bonds, can you imagine the effect on these soldiers? that would take shifts every day. as they guarded him. You happen to be living in a very unhappy culture, right?
Surrounded by dissatisfied, disappointed, Human beings, and you become a demonstration of the grace of God and the gospel when you face all things at all times, always, this resolution to rejoice. The joy that is internal Comes to the surface. Don't be like so many Christians, one author wrote, whose joy is evidently so deep it never surfaces.
Now, I've waited until this text. To sort of flesh out this idea of joy. Let me give you four or five. features of joy. Rather quickly.
First, joy is given by God to those who are saved. Don't ever tell an unbeliever to be joyful. The best they can be is happy. Joy is bound up in the gospel. It is that resolution.
to respond in such a way that reflects trust and and submission to the will of God. I find it interesting that when the angel first described to those shepherds the message, which is effectively the gospel in Luke chapter 2, verses 1 to 11, that angel says.
So these shepherds. Behold, I bring you good news of great what? Joy. For today in the city of David is born to you a Savior is Christ the Lord. And by the way, after the shepherds left that outdoor delivery room, We're told that they return praising God, rejoicing.
And nothing, keep in mind about their dirty jobs had changed. Nothing about their income had been altered. Nothing about their status as ceremonially unclean, unable to enter the temple precinct. had changed. It was the gospel.
that would give to them This lasting joy. Do your own word study, and you'll find joy appearing time and time again. In fact, throughout the book of Acts says, the gospel is exploding. Gentiles and Jews who are being converted are beginning to rejoice. Even the apostles who leave.
The presence of the religious leaders who tell them if you speak in Jesus' name, we're going to kill you, and they leave. Rejoicing. It's impossible to separate the gospel we know and believe. From joy. Think on that more.
Secondly, joy is an ongoing production of the Holy Spirit. It's an ongoing production of the Holy Spirit. You're not going to get up tomorrow and say, I'm going to drink coffee tomorrow morning out of my coffee cup that has a smiley face on it because I'm going to be joyful. Go ahead and try it. This is the work of the Spirit of God.
In fact, Paul writes to the Galatians, the fruit of the Spirit. That is the outward manifestation of the internal work of the Spirit of God is, and he begins to rattle them off, love. What's the second word? Joy. Joy.
Happiness is very human. And we love those moments. Joy is supernatural. And in those moments it may not be happy. But we can have joy, the settled conviction That God is worthy of being worshiped.
Thirdly, joy is the result of receiving and obeying the Word of God. It is the result of receiving. and obeying the word of God. Jeremiah the prophet said this to God, your words were found and I ate them. And your words became for me a joy.
Have you ever been at a very discouraging point in your life and you've opened the Word and found in the Word? Joy. Of course you have. John the Apostle writes his inspired letters so that, among other things, his readers, joy may be made complete. First John.
1 verse 4. Fourthly, Joy is deepened as believers experience trials. You became imitators of us and of the Lord, Paul writes, having received the word, listen to this, in much tribulation and with the joy of the Holy Spirit. What a contradiction, 1 Thessalonians 1, verse 6. What a combination.
Uh much tribulation and Joy. Paul wrote to the believers in Corinth in 2 Corinthians 6 and verse 10: We were sorrowful, yet. Rejoicing. There's balance there and transparency in his writings. He's not a pietist.
He's not a mystical author of here's three ways to just keep a smile forever plastered on your face. We were sorrowful. There were things in life that didn't make me happy. My tears of sorrow, though, are mingled with Rejoicing. God is worthy of worship even then.
To put it another way, our inner Attitudes are not bound to outward circumstances. In fact, they don't depend on outward circumstances. Which is why Paul writes here in Philippians chapter 4, notice again, verse 4: we are to rejoice in our circumstances. No. We are to rejoice in The Lord.
are unchanging. Unwavering. Ever faithful. Rock. and refuge.
and source of joy. One more, fifthly, joy is motivated by thoughts of heaven. What keeps an athlete running is often Imagine in crossing the tape. It's going to be over. It's going to be over.
Paul is going to arrive at the same point here in his letter to the Philippians as we anticipate seeing Jesus. I'll get there in a moment. But let me allow the Apostle Peter to kind of chime in. Here's what he says. Though you have not seen him, the Lord.
You love them. And though you do not see him now, You believe in them. You greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible. 1 Peter 1:8 later, he writes, Even though you're suffering at the revelation of his glory, you will rejoice. 1 Peter 4.13.
Listen, the resolution to rejoice is not natural. It's supernatural. And to the depressed and despairing and disappointed human race around us, and even perhaps our own hearts this morning, we demonstrate.
Something so unique. Because they see in you as a Christian that your Christianity did not vaccinate you against sorrow. It didn't inoculate you against stress. And relational difficulties and frustrating illnesses and Financial losses and heartbreaking deaths of parents and grandparents and Maybe even children and grandchildren. But they see you effectively roll up your sleeves of faith.
And trust. Even when you don't understand it, you didn't expect it, you can't explain it, and you cannot escape it. There's something different about you. We are resolved. To rejoice in the trustworthiness of the Lord.
That's like. Paul saying here, you rejoice in the The Lord.
Sometimes That is all you have, and it is enough. A number of years ago I was handed a poem. which I kept. I would later use it. A number of years ago, when I was asked to preach at the funeral for a precious little four-year-old girl.
Before I chose to read that poem and my message. The lyrics struck me as deeper than normal, and I wondered about the author, and so I did a little digging and found that this had been written. In 1932, Written by a young pastor. He and his wife had three sons. Small children.
A fourth was on the way. There were complications, however, during her delivery and The baby died. And so did she. This young pastor called on a friend. Of his, another pastor to preach that funeral service, and he sat on the front row with his little children.
And this pastor noticed as he was preaching that the young pastor was just writing some things on a piece of paper. And he asked him about it later, and he sort of rather dismissively said, Well, I was just jotting down some poetry that had come to my mind. It has been kept since. The lyrics go like this. My father's way may twist and turn, My heart may throb and ache, but in my soul I'm glad I know he maketh no mistake.
My cherished plans may go astray. My hopes may fade away, But still I'll trust my Lord to lead, For He doth know the way. Though night be dark, and it may seem that day will never break, I'll pin my faith. my all in Him. He maketh no mistake.
There's so much now I cannot see my eyesight's far too dim. But come what may, I'll simply trust And leave it all to him, For by and by the mist will lift And plain it all he'll make Through all the way though dark to me, He made not one. Mistake. It's as if Paul tells the church in Philippi. Listen, all eyes are going to be on you.
What you have causes you. and enables you to supernaturally respond. With settled conviction, In this truth. Make this your resolution. It's why commands it.
Make this your resolution. It's not going to be natural. It's going to be supernatural. A resolution to be joyful. Secondly, Make it your reputation.
to be gentle.
Now, if you thought the command to be joyful was difficult, and convicting. As I did. Get ready for this one, verse 5. Let your gentle spirit be known. To all men.
Let your gentle spirit Be known to all men. I mean, seriously, have you ever studied the Bible and you've just sort of stopped and said, Really? I'm not supposed to do that. I'm a pastor, but I'm sure you do it. Actually, I did.
Really? Let your gentle spirit be made known or be Obvious to all men. Listen, you can't get a taxi if you're gentle. You can't make the football team if you're gentle. What does Paul mean here?
Let your gentleness Be known to all men.
Well, part of the challenge is... Over the last 500 years of the English Bible, it's been difficult to translate that rather rare word. And I got involved in more study than I'm ever going to bring to you. I'm just sort of going to bring you the top of. Of the barrel here, but I'm going to give you just enough to let you know how difficult it's been.
If you go back in time, in 1380, John Wycliffe hand wrote the first copy of the English New Testament from the Greek language, and he translated the word patience. I thought, okay, I can stay there. We can understand that. But William Tyndale, who printed the first English copy of the New Testament in 1525, translated it softness. And what's with that?
Softness. I have no idea what he had in mind there. The Geneva Bible in 1560, which by the way added verses and chapter numbers so you could study it. It's called the first study Bible. Shakespeare would quote from it hundreds of times, by the way.
It translated the word the patient mind. Let your patient mind. Be seen to all men. I'm thinking, okay. 1582, Reims translates it, modesty.
And that's difficult because those Terms change. In 1611, the King James Bible used the word moderation. And Later added in the margin the word gentleness, which my translation uses. More recent translations have used forbearance. Reasonableness.
Those are all excellent, by the way. They're trying to get at the nuances that are bound up in this very rich word. Aristotle used the word in the context of not insisting on the letter of the law. Has a legal nuance. And so Williams would paraphrase it, and I love his paraphrase where he says: this means you are meeting someone halfway.
It's the idea of the word. During the days of Paul, The Greeks used the word in contexts where people yielded their rights. Where they Bore abuse. Where they put up with other people's faults. Let the fact that you put up with other people's faults be known into all men.
That's a part of it. In fact, an article that I had filed a long time ago by Stanley Carville came to my mind and I pulled it back out. It was an article about the New England Pipe Cleaning Company. in Watertown, Connecticut. This three-man crew was Digging 25 feet beneath the historic streets in Revere, Massachusetts.
and they're trying to clean a 10-inch sewer line.
Now, in addition to the normal mess they expected to find, this three-man team ended up unearthing, this article read, 61. rings, valuable rings. Several old vintage Coins. even several pieces of valuable silverware. Which they were allowed to keep.
And Carville, and this is why I'm delivering this to you, draws the moral of the story by writing it this way: whether it's pipes or people. If you put up with some mess, sometimes you find real treasure. That good? Not a bad analogy. And if I could take that analogy and bring it back to verse 5.
When you're in the middle of a mess, You be. Treasurer. You be valuable vintage coins. You'd be like valuable silverware that's discovered in the middle of the mess. That's your word to be.
One recent author Complaining about our current spirit, he says it's anything but gentle. He writes that here in the 21st century, reason discourse is giving way to in-your-face sound bites. Playing hardball is the dominant metaphor for American public life. Our interchanges are confrontational, divisive, and dismissive. Balance and fairness are casualties.
On evening news shows, and you've watched them perhaps as two, three, sometimes four people contend simultaneously for the microphone. Volume and disagreement are the new. Civic Virtues. This command has never been perhaps more difficult. Be gentle.
to help us understand The word Paul uses it in Titus in chapter 3, where he contrasts the gentle person to the brawler, that is, the fighter. The argumentative. Person. James uses The word in his letter to describe someone who is willing to yield. And it gets back to you have your rights, but you're willing to back up.
There's a softness about you, there's a gentleness, there's a courtesy about you that brings a willingness to yield. And so, as I describe this and all the different nuances, you know immediately this is not an easy command to fulfill. Who in the world wants to yield their right of way. We have an illustration, by the way. right out here off the parking lot on Holly Springs Road.
You know, if you know this. Territory fairly well. You know, if you're taking if you're coming down Walnut Street, you know, you're leaving Chick-fil-A or somewhere important like that, and you're going to cross over the light, you're going to get on Ollie Springs. This two lanes really isn't two lanes. The one on the right is a turn lane into the church party line, but people don't know that.
And so there's people in that left lane have to yield when people finally discover: oh, this is going to run out. I've done my own little experiment. It's kind of fun. I don't get out much. This is one opportunity I have.
I'm coming down this road and I'm in that lane. In the right lane. And I'm just going to act like I've got a merge and I'm going to see what happens. And I kind of speed up. You know, the person doesn't ask me nine out of ten times, speeds up.
And then I speed up. And they speed up. I've had men and women floor it, and I floor it, and then I slam all the brakes and turn into the church parking lot. Yeah.
So much fun. I mean, I'm just like them, by the way. I don't want to yield. I got the lane. You shouldn't have owned.
You know, as I've studied all the different uses of this loaded word, it occurred to me that we actually happen to have in our English language the perfect. description of this Greek word. And it uses the word gentle. It's a word that's fading. It's the word.
Gentlemen. Gentlemen. What comes to your mind when you think of a man who is a? Gentlemen. You know, I just asked that question and scribbled down some thoughts.
Well, this would be a man who was courteous. And by the way, the counterpart, if you go back several hundred years to gentlemen, is lady. It it's it's a gentleman is courteous, kind. Modest. Yielding, opening a door.
For a lady. Or for someone. A gentleman doesn't come to blows. He backs away or meets someone halfway. Doesn't lose his cool.
He watches his words. He is an off-color. He isn't rude, he doesn't demean women, he doesn't disrespect. Peers He watches his actions. He's willing to yield.
A gentleman doesn't honk his horn. Because someone's driving too slow down Penny Road while he's trying to get to church because he has to preach. This comes to my mind. But never mind that one. See, Paul is effectively commanding us all to pursue a reputation.
That is soft in that regard. That is yielding. Pursue a reputation of being gracious, even when you have the right of way. Even when you're right. I love the way Peter Marshall is He's forgotten today, but nearly 100 years ago, he was the chaplain of the Senate.
He pastor at a large church in D.C., but his prayers were renowned. And if you've read his biography, He opened the Senate on one occasion by praying this great prayer, Lord. When we are wrong, make us willing to change. And when we are right, make us easy to live with. That's the idea.
Be a gentleman. Be a lady. There's a sense of decency and civility. bound up in this command. And do we ever have a need for a fresh demonstration?
today. In fact, I'll give you this fairly quickly. A recent poll underscored the real issue of the lack of civility. According to this poll, The percentage of Americans who think a lack of civility is a problem today. 89%.
The percentage of Americans who think mean-spirited political campaigns are to blame. 73%. The percentage of Americans who think graphic, violent rock music is to blame. 67%. The percentage of Americans who think brash talk radio is to blame, 52%.
The percentage of Americans who think their own behavior is uncivil. One percent. Yeah.
Yeah.
We we happen to be living at a perfect time And in the perfect generation, to resurrect what it means to pursue a reputation of civility, of graciousness, of. care of discretion. of gentleness. A resolution is to be joyful. Our reputation.
Just to be gentle. Why? Because our expectation is going to be realized. Notice how Paul drops in this ending phrase, verse 5: The Lord is. Near.
Fuck. Be willing to respond to abuse with patience while the Lord is near. Be willing to yield your rights. Rather Then demand them why the Lord is near. Be willing to be courteous when others are discourteous.
Why? The Lord is near. Be willing to be gracious when the world is unkind and merciless. Why? And for the Philippians, this would apply immediately.
The Lord is near. James speaks in a similar way in his letter in James chapter 5, verse 8: Be patient and stand firm, because the Lord's coming is. Near. The apostles all believed they would be alive when the church was raptured away. Paul is writing this letter.
He is chained to Roman soldiers, and he effectively reminds you in that phrase: this is not the end of the story. Hang on. Stay at it. Be joyful, be gentle, don't keep your eyes focused on the circumstances. Keep an eye out, as it were, for the coming of the Redeemer.
The Lord is near. He can certainly be interpreted in that light prophetically. Which is what I've just done. For you. But you can also interpret this phrase.
The Lord is near in terms of His immediate personal presence. Both could be in the mind of Paul. In other words, this isn't just a phrase of prophecy. This could be a phrase of proximity. The Lord is near to you.
Right.
Now. Right now. In the best of times. In the worst of times? The Lord is with us.
In every changing circumstance of life, one author writes, he is a friend for life. He is not only near when the sun shines, he is near when the storms rage and the hurricanes blow. I love this phrase, this author writes: the weather makes no difference to him. One of the driving principles that led one of my heroes, Hudson Taylor, to stay out of 50 years of pioneering work in China. More than a hundred years ago was this principle where he wrote, He counted Jesus as never.
absent. He counted Jesus as never. absent. He's near. Following these two commands Then come when we live in the light of eternity.
When we live as demonstrations to our lost and discouraged and disparaging. Or despairing world of these two qualities of life. And we might think, you know what, if I'm going to do something for God, if indeed as we launch this month, if I'm really going to advance the gospel, if I'm going to advance the church, if I'm going to advance the truth, if I'm going to advance biblical shalom, I mean, I've got to do something really amazing. I've got to do something very public. I've got to do something really wise.
Yeah.
Resolve to be joyful right where you are today. and pursue a reputation of being gentle. A gentleman. Today. Deliver to your world a demonstration of grace.
I close with this, one author. Right, so in fact it was Philip Yancey. who was once speaking in Toronto. It was a couple of years ago, and he's put it in his recent book. He was speaking on demonstrating grace as believers.
And he writes that at one point he just stopped and he asked the audience, it wasn't a large audience, he said, Why don't we just share together? Give illustrations of where God has allowed you to demonstrate the grace of the gospel. And he writes, one woman sort of shocked us, surprised us. or when she stood and said, Well, I believe that God is using me to minister. Grace to telephone marketers.
Yeah.
How many of you have done that lately? She said, You know, the kind who call at inconvenient hours and deliver their spiel, and they won't even let you say, I'm not interested. How many times have we all, the author sort of interrupted? responded rudely We're simply hung up. She continued, you know, all day long These sales callers here People Curse of them.
And Slam the phones down. I decided I would listen attentively to their pitch. And then I would respond kindly, even though I wasn't interested more often than not in buying what they were selling. and I would at some point try to interject a question or two about them. their time on the job.
What city are they calling from? What country? They're calling from. I would ask them about their lives, and then I would ask them as I tried to turn this corner if they had any concerns that I might pray about on their behalf. She said They're often totally shocked and They don't know what to say, sometimes a long silence.
Often they ask me to pray with them right then and there before we hang up. It isn't unusual for them to end in the conversation in tears. She said, you know, they're people. They're probably underpaid. And they're surprised when I treat them with courtesy.
And grace. Yancy Concludes, you know, I've wondered how often I've missed those moments in my own interactions with people. I marvel at this woman's gracious. Courtesy, and I think of the times when I've been irritated on the phone or irritated with employees on computer helplines that are calling me from a country where they can't even speak good English. I catch myself, Yancey writes, treating store cashiers and Starbucks baristas as if they are machines.
Subtly or not so subtly, I'm communicating that I matter more. that I'm being interrupted. that I need to get back to my life. And in the process, I am missing wonderful opportunities of dispensing. Grace.
Isn't that what Paul is commanding us here? To be joyful. Just spills out. to be gentle, just Spills over. Imagine.
The church. could be known as an assembly. of ladies. And gentlemen. Wouldn't that be remarkable?
who are resolved to follow. joyfully their Lord Who is near? And whose coming is nearer. than ever before. Perhaps in this way, these simple interactions.
We might truly advance the gospel, advance the church, advance. Truth. Advance. Shalom. for the glory of Christ.
Make this your resolution. Make this your reputation. For him. We need to be the kind of people who live joyfully and are known for our gentleness. It's our prayer for you that this time in God's Word has helped equip you to pursue just that.
We have many additional resources available, all designed to equip and encourage you in your walk with Christ. You can access all of those at our website. WisdomOnline.org The complete archive of Stephen's teaching is there, in both audio and written transcript. those resources are free. We also have books, commentaries, Bible study guides, daily devotionals, and more.
Go to wisdomonline.org to learn all about it. If we can help you in any way, please call us today at 866-48-BIBLE. We'd enjoy getting to know you. And we'd like to help you get signed up to receive a few sample issues of our monthly magazine. Call today, then join us again next time as we continue through this series here on wisdom for the heart.
