We are our focus verses today is continuing in Philippians chapter 4.
! So if you would take out your Bibles and your markers and your highlighters and your pens, whatever needs to take notes, we're going to Bible study today.
So Philippians chapter 4, and our focus is 2 through 9, which I will read momentarily.
Well, let's pray first.
Heavenly Father, we pray now for this time that we look into your work.
I pray that you would speak, that we would hear you, that you get the glory.
In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
So I want to open up first with, before we get into our focus passage,
and there's a verse I want to read to you to sort of frame our thinking on this particular passage.
It's from Luke chapter 6, verse 45.
It says,
The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good,
and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil.
For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth spees.
So Paul's encouragement to us today, Paul's going to go to a place that nobody else goes.
Nobody else goes in this whole world.
Your mind.
He's going to talk to us about what it is to think and to practice.
And so if you take this first verse and you think about our treasure,
what treasure do you have that out of the abundance of the treasure in your heart, the mouth speaks?
And that's what Paul's going to strike at in different ways when it comes to thinking and then practically in practice.
So unity, joy, gentleness, and a host of other thoughts are what we are going to look into here.
And on the day to day, what are your thoughts?
The things that just in regular daily life, what are you thinking about?
What do you focus on?
What do you meditate on?
And where do you camp, in other words, with your thinking?
Consider your inner treasure and your thoughts will follow and your actions also.
So let's read Philippians 4, 2 through 9.
Starts off with two ladies' names I'm going to mispronounce over and over.
So I just want you to understand that.
I urge Yodia 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 co-workers, whose names are in the book of life.
Rejoice in the Lord always.
I will say it again.
Rejoice.
Let your graciousness be known to everyone.
The Lord is near.
Don't worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition,
with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
And the peace of God, which surpasses every thought,
will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable,
whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely,
whatever is commendable,
if there's any moral excellence and if there is any praise,
dwell on these things.
Do what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me,
and the God of peace will be with you.
Now, I'm reading this out of
Holman,
our
CSB, Christian Standard.
So it's a little bit different.
If you're an ESV, there's a couple of those words that are different.
And there's very familiar wording in here,
like the peace of God passes all.
Understand.
Like that's one that we know and rejoice in the Lord always.
That's another one that we are very familiar with.
So we're going to dive into these things and see if we can understand a little bit more of what Paul's talking about.
The first thing is verses two and three.
We have Iodia and Sintch.
And these two ladies,
I've got some thoughts about this that I want to bring out.
Now, this there is I just want to say this particular passage,
as many of these is so rich.
We're only going to scratch the surface on some of these ideas.
But I just want to draw a couple of these things out to discuss today.
And so these two ladies,
if we look back at two and three,
I urge Iodia and I urge Sintch to agree in the Lord,
to agree in the Lord.
So they are disagreeing.
There's a problem.
There's something going on between them.
We're not sure exactly.
It's not specific.
It doesn't tell us what we do know.
Let's look at verse three.
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.
So these two ladies,
they they have contended in the gospel with Paul.
They've worked together at one point because they were working with Paul.
They were a group.
So they were side by side with each other as well.
They were faithfully working together.
Their names are written in the book of life.
These are two believing women.
They're,
they're two people in the church who trust in Jesus,
who believe in the gospel,
who have worked in the gospel.
And now they have sinned.
And what that has,
what,
what that has left them with is disunity.
There's disunity between them.
So the first thing,
first thought from this is that quote unquote,
good people fail.
We fail.
We sin.
Uh,
we will,
um,
we will cross our brothers and sisters from time to time.
Um,
we will,
we will sin against the Lord.
This happens.
We do this.
Um,
they,
we look back at this,
at this first century church.
And sometimes we,
uh,
you know,
not,
not in a real way,
but we kind of feel like how,
if Paul was your pastor,
which he was very close to them for a time.
Uh,
if Paul was your pastor,
it seems like everybody would be almost perfect.
Like they would just be like super Christians.
No,
they sin just like everybody else.
We all do.
And that happens.
Second thing.
And this is,
this is where the problem occurs is they haven't stopped.
They sin,
but they have not stopped.
Um,
now at this point in this letter to the Philippians,
they're singled out as they rightfully should be by somebody,
by,
by somebody faithful.
They should be singled out as two people who are unrepentant because the
disunity continues.
Because what Seth was talking about before our,
our time of Lord supper,
they did not reconcile.
And now Paul is calling them out.
And,
uh,
not addressing those issues between themselves as grown legs.
And the church feels it.
The people around them feel this disunity between these two women.
Their families probably feel it.
And Paul was in Rome.
So this word has traveled all the miles to Rome.
And now Paul feels this as well.
Where was their treasure?
These women,
the treasure in their heart at that moment was in their own thinking.
It was in their own sense of justice.
It was in their own sense of who's right and who's wrong of what I want and not
what someone else,
uh,
where I should consider them more significant going back to,
to,
uh,
chapter two.
So the first thing people say,
second thing,
stop before it continues.
Repent,
confess,
stop.
Third thing is they kind of fell on the wrong side of history.
In other words,
what are you known for?
If we put ourselves in this position,
in this same thinking.
So the first thing,
like,
uh,
if I could sum up what Paul is saying is ladies,
repent,
ladies,
repent.
Don't let this go on.
My companion.
Look at,
uh,
verse three.
Yes.
I also ask you true partner or true companion.
I think he has,
he has companion there.
Um,
this is an interesting little thing.
The word there,
and I'm going to mispronounce this one too.
It's a Greek word,
but,
uh,
syzygous is the word there,
which means companion or yoke fellow,
uh,
someone who goes along with,
um,
and the,
the actual text says,
uses that word syzygous.
And there are a couple of different ideas of who this person is.
Number one is a person named syzygous.
Uh,
like that's his name.
He was named,
uh,
that kind of like someone would be named hope or faith or something like that.
This person might've been named companion or yoke fellow.
Um,
that's a possibility.
Um,
that's a possibility.
The other one,
maybe Paul is talking to the pastor or,
or,
or a specific elder,
maybe that was close to these two women.
And,
uh,
he was,
he was referencing that person.
Hey,
will you help here?
Will you help them in what's going on?
That's another possibility.
Or maybe there was just an obvious person in the group,
uh,
that,
that had,
that was working with them in some capacity.
And he,
and he sort of,
uh,
said,
Hey,
will you,
will you take time and give them the help that they need to get through this,
uh,
difference that they have in their life?
So either way,
he asked for help from that person.
And the pastoral heart of Paul really comes across in what he's saying here.
If you look at it,
verse two,
I urge or I entreat.
Sintage agree in the Lord.
These are two people that Paul cared about.
And each he,
he spoke to each of them.
This,
this is what I encourage you to do because I love you.
We work together.
We,
we serve together and this is not good.
What's happening.
So each of you,
I want to speak to each of you here.
Um,
so you hear that,
you hear that shepherding,
you hear that pastoral heart that Paul has,
and then bringing in this other person to help them even further.
Pretty cool.
But we know nothing else of these two women,
except for their names are now in scripture.
The only thing that we possess physically that will go on eternity.
Their names are in it as being unrepentant sinners.
That's tough.
That is tough.
Not what I would want to be named for in scripture.
But I'm sure that we don't know how it worked out,
but I'm sure that this letter,
uh,
if they hadn't already,
I'm sure this helped.
And they,
they,
I'm sure were able to work this out.
Um,
but they wouldn't,
unfortunately,
up until this point,
let go of their own thinking.
And this led to broken unity in practice.
Their hearts,
their minds,
their thinking led to the broken unity in practice.
So we see how that works out.
Um,
and they are forever chiseled into the word of God.
Uh,
a similar example.
Jar Jar Binks.
Now you understand it is May the 4th today.
So,
uh,
you know,
anyway,
Jar Jar Binks was a mistake,
right?
This,
this was a problem.
And we know that because episode two,
uh,
Jar Jar had like one line,
right?
And he was the comedy relief and everything in the first one.
Now Lucas won't come out and admit that he made a mistake.
He still tries to make excuses,
but he did have a much smaller part intentionally.
So we,
it's sort of in a,
in a similar way,
though,
episode one will go down in perpetuity as having this problem.
Of Jar Jar Binks.
Uh,
anyway,
I wanted to share,
there may be more Star Wars references.
I don't know.
Uh,
here,
anyway,
let's think about with this,
with,
with these two ladies and what happened here.
I think about us and I don't know.
I don't think there is any fighting or,
or disunity in this sense among our group.
I don't know of anything like that.
Probably you don't either.
But what I would say is remembering where this disunity started,
started in their minds and in their hearts,
treasuring something other than Jesus,
one another,
and his word.
That's where it started.
Now,
what can be true of us today is that disunity can be there right now.
The seeds of what led to this problem practically and in practice can be there today in one of our hearts or multiple of us.
I think this is the caution that we take from looking at these two ladies and how that worked out in the church is we have to say,
okay,
if any of those type of disunity issues come up in my heart,
that's got to get squashed.
That must be repented of,
like we talked about this morning,
Seth did.
That must be repented of and dealt with right away.
What does that look like?
Well,
disagreements,
things where I have to have my way.
This has to go the way I think it should go.
I don't care what anybody else thinks.
Breeds disunity.
It breeds disunity.
Well,
let's go on.
What does Paul talk about next?
Verse four.
He says,
rejoice in the Lord.
Always.
I will say it again.
Rejoice.
Let your graciousness or gentleness or,
uh,
reasonableness.
I think also is one that's used there.
Um,
let your graciousness or gentleness be known to everyone.
The Lord is near.
Don't worry about anything,
but in everything through prayer and petition with Thanksgiving,
let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God,
which surpasses every thought.
I like that.
This particular,
the CSB on that,
that surpasses every thought will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
So,
rejoice always.
Rejoice in the Lord.
Always.
This type of rejoicing is what makes all circumstances to rejoice in possible.
The,
in the Lord.
that's what makes it possible.
Not rejoicing in a thing or a situation because those change,
a new job or,
uh,
a new house or,
um,
a new relationship,
things like that.
Those things,
uh,
rise and fall because we can move from that house.
We can lose that job.
We can,
uh,
separate,
you know,
across the miles from a relationship.
Those things will always change,
but joy in the Lord,
rejoicing in the Lord will not in his goodness,
in his power,
in his provision.
These are all the things that elevate our thinking beyond the now,
beyond the,
what happens to me right now?
How do I feel right now?
When it's in the Lord,
I can elevate beyond that.
And I don't worry about what I'm thinking or,
uh,
how I,
how I should say,
how I feel about something,
uh,
because I'm trusting in him.
The circumstance does not determine our heart's orientation.
And this goes back to what do we treasure?
If I treasure my,
the way,
uh,
I,
uh,
am comfortable and feel in creature comforts and things like that,
um,
then,
uh,
I may treasure,
um,
my air conditioning when it's hot.
And if I lose it,
maybe then I lose it,
right?
If that's what I treasure is my comfortability rather than rejoice in the Lord always and deal with things on his level,
uh,
especially things that are my circumstance that are outside of my control.
So I can rejoice in light of past sins.
Let's look at a couple of different verses here in Philippians,
in the book of Philippians.
Um,
so Paul rejoiced even in,
uh,
recounting his,
his previous poor behavior.
Look at chapter three,
verse four.
He says,
although I once had confidence in the flesh too,
the flesh isn't where we put our confidence,
right?
But he once had that.
If anyone else thinks he has grounds for confidence in the flesh,
I have more.
And then he went on to talk about all the different areas that he put his confidence and trust in himself and what he did and his works and those kind of things.
Sinful,
sinful,
not trusting in God in those occasions,
which is,
uh,
where's our treasure.
Second thing is we can rejoice in light of troubling situation with friends or,
or different troubles.
Look at chapter one,
verse 29.
For it's been given to you on Christ's behalf,
not only to believe in him,
but also to suffer for him.
Having the same struggle that you saw I had and now hear about me.
He's telling his friends and his church family and these,
these people that are dear to him,
that suffering is on the horizon.
It's going to be that way,
but rejoice anyway,
rejoice anyway.
Third,
we can rejoice in light of personal suffering.
If you look back at chapter one and verse 14,
he mentions this in different occasions,
but we know that verse 14,
most of the brothers in the Lord have gained confidence for my imprisonment and dare even more to speak the message fearlessly.
So there we hear his imprisonment.
We hear his life situation,
which obviously isn't good,
but he's also giving reason,
how he trusts in the Lord and what he's seeing from that fruit.
So,
uh,
any situation that we are in,
uh,
fruit of righteousness in any of these situations,
the fruit of righteousness,
uh,
of rejoicing,
I'm sorry,
in the Lord.
And not,
not just a faking of happy or rejoicing or something like that.
Um,
but the actual joy,
Galatians 5,
22,
joy is the fruit of this.
If we are in the Lord,
uh,
and joy is not just a face that's put on.
It's not just,
uh,
a,
uh,
a smile,
a happy face,
just trying to make everybody else think that everything is fine and good.
Actual joy is different.
It doesn't lack energy.
Uh,
when,
when we,
when we try to pretend joy,
or when we try to put on something,
this joy is just an example.
I mean,
this kind of works with any other fruit of the spirit as well.
But when we try to put things on that aren't true,
it zaps our energy because then we have to work so hard to look a certain way.
And that is transparent.
And we lose that.
We,
we,
our energy just drains from us.
And then frustration and anger and,
and maybe that's what happened to you at the instant.
I don't know.
It's possible.
True joy also comes with God's perspective.
So it'll,
uh,
the scriptural,
encouraging,
pure perspective of what God says,
that will be a part of joy,
not just a simple,
happy,
uh,
or smiley face.
He says,
rejoice.
And I will keep on saying rejoice.
If you look back at,
uh,
verse four,
rejoice in the Lord.
Always.
I will say it again.
And the,
the will,
there's like an ongoing,
like I'm going to keep on saying it because we need to keep on rejoicing.
The circumstances keep changing our life.
Uh,
we need this reminder over and over and over because,
uh,
circumstances change.
Rejoice because your name is written in the book of life.
As he told these ladies and Clement and the rest of the workers,
what a thing to rejoice about.
Ever think about that.
Ever think about your name as a believer in Jesus written in the book of life.
It's there right now.
Your name,
man,
it's incredible.
So it's an ongoing command from Paul and he's going to continue to say,
and then he says,
verse five,
let your gentleness be known to everyone.
Let your gentleness be known to everyone.
As I said,
reasonableness you may have in your Bible or graciousness in the,
and there's actually this particular word covers a lot of different words.
There's a lot of different translations.
And they're just some of the,
of the most common.
Um,
gentleness.
Really.
Uh,
I liked,
and,
uh,
it was a translation that I really appreciate.
Um,
the idea of gentleness.
Second Corinthians 10.
One said,
uh,
says I,
Paul myself entreat you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ.
The gentleness of Christ.
Matthew 11,
29,
take my yoke upon you and learn from me.
Jesus says,
for I am gentle and lowly in heart,
and you will find rest for your souls.
Jesus says,
learn from me in gentleness.
And Paul says in our,
in our verse here,
make this known to all people,
not just the brothers,
not just the people in the church,
make it known to all people,
wherever you go,
wherever you find yourself,
whatever you're doing.
Philippians 2,
14 and 15.
Do everything without grumbling and arguing.
So that you may be blameless and pure children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation among whom you shine like stars in the world.
Let your gentleness be known before all people.
And shine like stars in the world.
That picture,
I really held on to that this week in,
in studying this,
just,
just that thought,
let my gentleness be known to all people,
you know,
combining that with,
with the consider others more significant,
those kinds of things.
But I found myself just sort of repeating this.
And also another phrase I'll,
I'll talk about,
but this was one of the areas as you prep for lessons like this,
like God just sort of gives you certain things,
you know,
in the study.
And this was one of them for me.
And so I just can't drive that dry.
I drive a lot to go in different places and stuff and meet with different folks,
a lot of seniors.
I was a senior building and,
but I was driving there and I was just thinking,
let my gentleness be known to all people,
you know,
drive off happy about this,
thinking about it.
And so anyway,
so I got to the building that Bowen right over here,
Bowen town,
right here in Ray town.
And so I,
what I had going this particular day was I,
I made a taco bar and I had a trivia game.
So we did a little trivia.
And usually what I do is they,
they have to play a couple of rounds of trivia.
They can't just come eat and then go,
you know,
because I want to interact and I want to,
meet these folks,
you know,
and then if then at the end,
if they want to talk about home care,
then I'll talk about home care and give them material,
whatever,
you know,
but that that's why I'm there to meet folks and,
and see if I can help them.
So I had a little trivia thing and then a little break and have our tacos and
everything.
And then finish the trivia.
That was my plan.
Well,
I get there and there's two people.
And so I was like,
well,
let's scratch that plan.
Let's just do a little trivia.
So we had fun with that.
And then we started to have the tacos and people after that just was trickling in.
They were coming in.
And so another person or two would come in.
Well,
yeah,
come on.
And I put on my little,
my plastic gloves and I'm serving tacos,
you know,
giving them.
And so they,
they all come through the line and stuff.
And then a couple other people would trickle in.
It was like an hour.
We were,
it was like an hour and 15 minutes.
And I,
I,
okay,
maybe they're all done.
I think maybe that's all this kind of trickle in.
And so I went ahead and I packed everything up and I sat down at the table.
There was still a few left.
And we were just chatting about this and that.
And then a lady comes in and she said,
Oh,
I thought,
I thought it,
it was,
she was off and out.
She thought it was like 12,
15,
not one 15.
And,
uh,
in my mind,
I'm like,
well,
maybe she won't want a taco.
Cause I just packed it all up.
And,
you know,
I had it all,
uh,
put the spoons up and all that stuff.
Yeah.
So maybe she won't want anything.
And she's like,
can I have a taco?
Let your gentleness be known to all people.
So I said,
absolutely.
So I went over and dug everything out and got her a couple of tacos.
But,
uh,
you know,
it was just like a,
like a practical walking out.
It was perfect for me in that moment.
Now I will say that verse and that thought was not my first thought.
My first thought was a little more along the lines of,
uh,
well,
I've already packed it up lady,
you know,
no,
this,
this is where I want to go.
This is what I want to do.
So just,
uh,
again,
Paul puts this,
uh,
puts this to us to think this way,
to act this way and to practice this,
to put it into practice.
Where is our treasure?
Is it in Christ?
And therefore walking this out?
Or is it elsewhere?
Is it in my time and my energy?
And I don't want to dirty up another spoon or whatever the case is,
right?
We give.
Look at the next thing that he says there in,
at the end of verse five,
let your graciousness be known or your gentleness be known to everyone.
The Lord is near.
There is a vindication coming.
Everything as a believer,
when you follow,
when you listen,
when you are obedient,
and it's hard and it's hard and it's difficult and it's not what you would choose to do,
but you are obeying because you love him.
There is a vindicator coming who will set all things right.
Rejoice,
be gentle,
but the world may very well trample us.
The world may very well trample us and persecute us.
These Philippians were facing persecution to the point of deadly.
It was coming.
That whole world in that,
in that time,
it was coming shortly.
There is a vindicator.
The Lord is at hand.
His coming draws ever closer.
Ever closer.
First Peter 4,
7 says,
the end of all things is at hand.
The end of all things is at hand.
James 5,
8.
You also be patient.
Establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
Revelation 22,
12.
Behold,
I am coming soon,
bringing my recompense with me.
He's going to set it right.
To repay each one for what he has done.
We don't have to defend ourselves.
In our obedience,
in listening,
in the practice of what he's told us to do,
what he's commanded us to do.
We don't have to defend the gospel.
We don't have to,
in that sense,
we don't have to defend being righteous.
Now,
we may not get in this world what we,
what we would like.
We may get persecution back.
But he will set all things right.
Jesus does this for us.
We don't have to defend.
Do you remember when Ben Kenobi was fighting Darth Vader?
This is in episode four.
And at this point,
Ben Kenobi was still flesh and blood.
And he is fighting Darth Vader.
And it comes to this big fight at the end and everything.
And Luke and,
and Han Solo always says,
they're all running to the Millennium Falcon to get out.
Because they were in the Death Star,
which they were going to blow up later.
Spoiler alert.
But anyway,
so,
so they,
they're,
they're going to get out,
you know,
and Darth Vader is fighting Ben Kenobi.
And Ben and Luke make eye contact.
And then Ben just stands up straight.
And Darth Vader gets him.
And he just turns into,
well,
he just sort of vanishes really.
And just,
just a little pile of cloth right there.
Well,
the reason was in,
in,
in this is Star Wars speak is that he would then become greater than what he
was before.
Like he didn't have to defend himself because he sort of got more powerful.
I don't know.
It's make-believe.
I,
you know,
I don't know how this works,
but that was the,
that's,
uh,
made me think of this same kind of thing.
We,
uh,
power is in Christ.
It's not in us.
We don't defend ourselves.
The things that,
that,
uh,
when,
when he takes care of that,
there,
there's not something that we have to do to make things right.
And we'll talk a little bit about just in just a second,
like thinking on just,
um,
and,
uh,
how that's not for us.
Vengeance is mine,
says the Lord.
That's also in revelation.
If you would turn with me to Psalm chapter 24.
Psalm chapter 24.
I will admit maybe some of my examples with Star Wars.
I'm trying to stretch,
but it's,
it's,
it's May the 4th.
All right.
Psalm chapter 24.
And,
uh,
starting with verse seven,
lift up your heads.
You gates rise up ancient doors.
Then the King of glory will come in.
Who is this King of glory?
The Lord strong and mighty,
the Lord mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads.
You gates rise up ancient doors.
Then the King of glory will come in.
Who is he?
This King of glory.
The Lord of hosts.
He is the King of glory.
Matthew 24,
33.
Jesus says,
so also when you see these things,
you know that he is near at the very gates.
Jesus.
Okay.
This is the other thing that,
that really stuck with me this week.
His,
his second coming is near.
That's,
that's what we're told.
It's at hand.
It's near.
He's at the gates.
So in other words,
uh,
he's not far off that.
And he's got to travel like this long way.
And boy,
if he sets out now,
you know,
it might be another thousand years or whatever.
He's,
he's not far off.
And in,
in,
uh,
Acts 17 talks about,
he is near.
He's near.
He's not far from any one of us.
Matter of fact,
he's standing at the gates.
Think about Jesus,
not far off,
but standing at the gates.
He is able to step into this world at any moment.
Because he's there.
He's there.
He's not far.
It's at hand.
That thought,
that thought of,
of Jesus.
And,
and,
you know,
revelation,
uh,
on the horse.
And I was telling Stacy,
like,
like I kind of picture the gate and,
and almost like you can hear this.
I'm not going to do it,
but,
uh,
you can almost hear the snort of the horse on the other side of,
Oh,
ancient door.
Open up.
He's coming in like at any time.
And that struck me.
It struck me.
I think maybe I had a thought of him being a long ways off and traveling to us.
But it's not.
He's there.
The Lord is at hand.
Let's look at verse six.
Yikes.
Don't worry about anything,
but in everything through prayer and petition with Thanksgiving,
let your requests be made known to God.
So don't worry about anything.
This is from Spurgeon is a January 6th morning and evening book.
If God cares for you,
why need you care to?
Can you trust him for your soul and not for your body?
He has never refused to bear your burdens.
He has never fainted under the weight.
Come then soul have done with fretful care and leave all thy concerns in the hand of gracious God.
Can you trust him for your soul and not for your body?
Have you trusted Jesus as your savior,
but then worry about the little things that happen on a day-to-day basis?
I'll give him my soul.
Feeling?
Seems like it would be easier to worry about what I'm going to eat today or,
or thus and so with the children than it is my own soul.
I thought that was a good point.
Don't be anxious.
This same word anxious there can be used in good and bad situations.
In Philippians 2.20, he mentions Timothy that Timothy cares.
And so he was sending him because he cared.
The same word, though, can fall negative or bad, bad to the bad side.
It could be anxiously bad.
Or loss of peace is maybe a good fast definition for anxiety.
Loss of peace.
In anxiety, we look back to rejoicing in the Lord because he will vindicate.
If I know he's going to take care of it, then what have I to fear?
What have I to worry about?
What have I, like, that's a very serious connection there.
If I treasure him and know that he will do these things,
then anxiety doesn't have space.
Isaiah 41.10,
Fear not, for I am with you.
Do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you.
I will help you.
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
There's particular words here that are important, I think, to note.
Rejoice always.
No anxiety in anything.
Or have anxiety in nothing.
In everything, let your requests be made known to God.
Do you see the type of thought life Paul is describing here?
Do you hear the, not extremes, but what's 100%?
The what?
Absolutes.
The absolutes, yes.
Do you hear the absolutes?
This is all of these things.
Rejoicing always.
Anxiety in nothing.
And in everything, all of those things transpire.
Now there's fruit of all those things.
But all those things transpire in our own hearts.
It's all in our own hearts.
That's the kind of thought life Paul is describing.
The inner treasure of this person, this always, everything, and nothing person, this absolute person, treasures Jesus.
That's who they treasure.
Prayer and supplication with thanksgiving is where we go.
So don't worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
The posture here of these prayers is thanksgiving.
Piper breaks down.
This is a good thing I read with him.
Piper breaks down the thanksgiving into God is good and I don't deserve.
I see him as a good God, a gracious God, and I don't deserve what he has to give.
That puts me into a spot of humility.
That's thanksgiving.
The heart of humility approaches a generous, good father.
Taking the things that cause anxiety and the things that hinder gentleness and joy to God.
Don't worry about anything.
What is it that I might be worried about?
Well, I might be worried about my lack of gentleness toward others.
I might be worried about my lack of rejoicing.
What's taking that away?
What's, what's in essence stealing that from my life?
Take those things to, to the Lord.
Let your requests be made known to God.
I need strength to abandon these, these, uh, unbelieving thoughts in my heart.
I need strength to do that.
I need grace to be gentle and to live in joy.
I need grace.
So I take those petitions to the Lord.
I humbly come to him and ask him for those things.
And what happens when I do that?
Verse seven.
And the peace of God, which surpasses every thought will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
The peace is found after taking everything to God.
That's when it's found.
What do my thoughts get me?
Anxiety.
If left to myself and I start to make my own plans and I start to try to figure out my own answers and how I'm going to do this and how this should happen or, or what am I going to do with this financial state or this relationship?
If I do that on my own, what does it get me?
Anxiety.
Anxiousness.
That's the best I can do because I have no control at all.
Zero.
That's the best I can come up with.
The world comes up with its various answers to life's problems, whatever it might be.
There's a, there's millions of them.
We all can come up with different answers.
We do it all the time.
And then we have to reel back.
We have to reel ourselves back.
Go back to the prayer.
Go back and, and, uh, uh, ask him for those things.
That grace to, to think rightly.
Spurgeon said, beware of no man more than of yourself.
We carry our worst enemies within us.
When we sit with our own thoughts and we give them room to run.
And then we believe in what we came up with.
We live outside of the peace of God.
And, and unfortunately it's easy to do.
We start running on tracks that we ought not to be on.
And then the crazy thing is we'll turn then and believe that as our own truth.
And it's not, it's not true.
Anxiety, depression, fear, anger, doubt, contentiousness, disunity.
You, you looking at you.
Disunity, disunity, all are fruits of the flesh thinking on its own and trying to do the best it can do and what it can come up with.
But we ought to walk in peace, not anxiety.
The peace of God guards me.
What does it guard?
Your minds says, will guard your hearts and your minds.
Where that treasure is, what comes from that, what then is spoken in the practical that's walked out.
The thinking and the practice.
There's contentment within this peace of God.
1 Corinthians 7, 17.
Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him and to which God has called him.
This is my rule in all the churches.
Remaining in your calling with rejoicing shows the sufficiency of Christ.
A discontent, peaceless Christian sends the wrong message about God's provision and his goodness.
If I'm wringing my hands and worried, it sends the wrong message.
That doesn't speak the gospel.
Contentment in Christ not only glorifies God, but it also draws others to him.
Because they see that.
They see that.
And they're witnesses of a peace and joy that passes understanding.
Because I'm not taking the world's thoughts.
I'm not taking their answers to the problems of life.
I'm relying on a peace that passes all other thought.
Namely, my own.
So, think and practice.
Look at the last thing.
I'll close with this.
Verse 8.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable,
if there's any moral excellence, and there's any praise, dwell or think on these things.
Paul's getting into our private space here.
Think on these things.
And then 9.
Do or practice what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.
When you rejoice always, and then through prayer and supplication, find the peace that passes all understanding,
and your mind, he says, and your heart and mind will be guarded, not shut off.
Guarded to do what?
To think on these things.
Think on these different qualities of godliness.
I can think and practice on these things.
When I am out of the way, when I have abandoned my thoughts, and I trust in the thoughts that are much higher,
that on the answers that I can't come up with on my own,
peace.
And I will practice what I've learned.
Okay.
Consider your thought life.
What is your treasure?
Going back to that first verse from Luke.
What is your treasure?
What is springing from that treasure?
Is it your own thinking and failed solutions?
If it is, anxiety, fear, worry.
That's what you'll see.
There's fruit.
Do you treasure prayer and humility before God, leading to peace that passes all you thought you knew?
Do you dwell on true and lovely thoughts that bring about your gentleness before all people?
And the final thought is Jesus.
Is Jesus your treasure?
Let's pray.
!