Oct 21,22, 2017 A Stable Church Part 2 Phil 4:5-6a 1 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ. Amen. Philippians 4:5-9(ESV) 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything. Paul wrote to the Philippian church from prison. The letter is filled with joy, the joy of the Lord. The letter is also filled with concern for the stability of the new church in Philippi. Every and any church can fall completely apart rather easily and rather quickly. In this last chapter of Paul s letter he states specific principles on how to have a healthy stable church. In last week s text Paul spoke of cultivating harmony in the church. There were two persons in the church whose unhealthy relationship could have brought down the entire church. Paul wanted the elders to step in and help the two women to let go of their resentments toward each other and get along. It is up to all of us to cultivate church harmony. When our lives are right with God our relationships one to another become harmonious. Proverbs 16:7(ESV) 7 When a man s ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. In order to have a stable church it is important to maintain a spirit of joy. Joy is that inner confidence knowing that whatever happens to you happens for your good and for the greater glory of God. Most often the opposite of joy is anxiety. The joy of the Lord trumps anxiety. The joy of the Lord is a fruit of the Spirit produced in you by the Holy Spirit. One s anxiety often arises out of wrongful thinking about God. Nothing is too hard for God and God is bigger, much bigger than anything you are facing. Maintaining a spirit of joy is a church stabilizer. The third stabilizing factor is learning to be content. Philippians 4a:5(ESV) 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. Friends, sometimes, most of the time, if not all of the time we need to give each other a break. If you are in a Bible study and someone says something that is not quite right, please be very patient with that person and do not begin to attack the person for saying something that is not quite correct. I seldom correct a person s comment during class. I wait until afterward and speak to the person and find out why they said
Oct 21,22, 2017 A Stable Church Part 2 Phil 4:5-6a 2 what they did and then I may choose to give them another point of view. Most of us are in complete agreement on the important doctrines of the Bible such as the Deity of Christ, the infallibility of Scripture, salvation is only through Jesus by His grace through faith, and one day Jesus is coming again. On the big doctrinal issues we are in agreement. In those areas where we disagree I want us to be reasonable with each other, gracious, and display Christian humility. The opposite of Christian humility is saying something like this. I m right and if you disagree with me you are wrong. Sometimes I will say to students. I have never thought of it in that way before. Thank you for expressing your point of view. And after class we will have a nice conversation and go deeper one on one. To be reasonable is to show charity toward the faults of others, mercy toward the failures of others, displaying a gentle spirit. It is just the opposite of being in attack mode just waiting for someone to say something wrong so you can correct the person. No, let your reasonableness be known to everyone, displaying a Christlike gentle spirit. People who are full of themselves just can t wait to correct people. Dr. MacArthur writes, On the other hand, those whose focus is not on themselves cannot be knocked off balance by inequity, injustice, unfair treatment, lies, or humiliation (Dr. John MacArthur, Philippians, pg. 276). They can say with Paul, I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am (4:11). Being reasonable with each other, displaying gracious humility stabilizes the church from being pulled apart by petty arguments. Christ is teaching us to be content, resting in Him to bring about the change that we see needs to take place in others. God is the changer of people and God has a lot of work to do in all of us. A fourth stabilizing factor in the church is resting on a confidant faith in the Lord (Ibid pg. 276). Paul writes, The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything (4:5b-6a). A great source of spiritual stability is the inner confidence that the Lord is near. I believe Paul is referring to the nearness of Christ s Presence, that fact the Jesus will never leave us nor forsake
Oct 21,22, 2017 A Stable Church Part 2 Phil 4:5-6a 3 us. Christ is with you always and He promises to be with us even more so when we gather together in His name. Christ is uniquely present as we worship Him and gather around His Word. When I was a senior in high school I had a life changing experience with God s Presence that lasted several hours. For numerous hours I had an intense and concentrated time of sensing God s Presence to the max. I have never again been touched in that way for it lasted for almost six hours. I call it my treading on air experience. What I remember most is how much God loves all of us. Every person I looked at I sensed God s unique love for that person, every person. God has no favorites and he loves us all equally. I was also very aware that we have God s full attention. There is never a time that God takes his eyes off of us. I have a mean streak in me and during this experience God would not let me be mean to anyone for God s love constrains us from striking out at others. A confidant faith means you are resting assured of God s love. That blessed assurance leads to incredible peace because Christ is so very near, as near as your next breath. Everything that happens to you Christ sees, knows, and yes, even filters. Nothing happens to you outside of Jesus knowing it all, even before it occurs. The Lord is at hand. I read a phrase several years ago that haunts me to this day. So often we as Christians live as practical atheists. Yes, we are Christians but things happen to us and we respond in a way that makes people wonder if we are even Christian at all. Something hard occurs in our lives and we do not even give God a thought or we seem to forget what we know about God. All our learning goes out the window and we grow anxious, very anxious. The peace is gone and the anxiety is overwhelming. It feels like God and God s help is nowhere to be found and you are on your own. Sinking into a pit of anxiety is an absolutely awful place to be. I know that young people these days deal with anxiety big time for more than us who are older ever did at their age.
Oct 21,22, 2017 A Stable Church Part 2 Phil 4:5-6a 4 Even strong believers who have walked closely with Christ for years are not immune from losing their confident trust in God, their self-control, and spiritual stability, and become defeated (ibid. pg. 277). The most solid of Christian can enter a season of severe doubt. King David who was known as walking very close with God became defeated in His walk with God. Fear and anxiety took over and he acted like a mad man on purpose to the king at Gath. When the crises past David had time to think about what He just did. Do you know what pulled him out of that pit of unbelief? I will tell you. Listen to what David writes in Psalm 57:1-3. 1 Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy! I look to you for protection. I will hide beneath the shadow of your wings until the danger passes by. 2 I cry out to God Most High, to God who will fulfill his purpose for me. 3 He will send help from heaven to rescue me, disgracing those who hound me. My God will send forth his unfailing love and faithfulness. What pulled David out of the pit of self-pity and anxiety was rightly thinking about God. His spiritual stability and his joy were restored. David writes, My heart is confident in you, O God; my heart is confident in you. No wonder I can sing your praises (Psalm 57:7 NLT). Right thinking about God puts us back in the right frame of mind. This is what it means to live by faith in the Lord Jesus. Faith is the inner assurance and certainty that God is who He says he is and that God s word is truth. 1 John 5:4-5(NIV) 4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. This is one of the advantages of being a Christian. Anxiety no longer has to reign supreme in our lives, that debilitating fear of the known or unknown. Faith leads to victory over anxiety when we rightly think about God. We are all too familiar with being anxious, fretful, worried, harried and more. I know I am and it can make us inconsistent in our walk with God and lead to instability in the church. I want to conclude this sermon stating healthy ways of overcoming unhealthy anxiety.
Oct 21,22, 2017 A Stable Church Part 2 Phil 4:5-6a 5 1. A certain amount of anxiety is normal. Anxiety can be healthy when it motivates us to do the right thing. Knowing I get to preach a certain amount of anxiety motivates me to study and work hard to get my sermon done. Since 5:30 on Saturday is always coming, I now finish my sermons on Friday and do I ever feel more peaceful than when I used to finish at 5:25 right before worship. In other words a certain amount of anxiety can be healthy if it motivates us to do the right thing that honors God to do our work as unto the Lord in a timely fashion. 2. So many of us these days carry with us a great amount of unhealthy anxiety. There are so many things that can make us anxious. Our political system is out of whack. The news goes from bad to worse and it weighs heavily on us. World events seem to be out of control. The list goes on. The good news is Jesus wants us to have His peace, his perfect peace that passes understanding. Jesus does not want us to be overcome by this world but to overcome. The Bible says, Jesus is our peace. No matter what bad news comes our way it is possible for us to live above our circumstances and not let our own emotions be determined by the news of the day. Faith gives the victory. Thinking rightly about God gives incredible peace. Yes, God is still in control. Jesus is near. God is telling us to look to Him for everything. This world will only drag us down but God will always lift us up. The Good News of Jesus does just that. 3. Corporate and personal prayer is so healthy for us who struggle with anxiety and I will say much more about that the next time I preach. On my most anxious days I call or visit people who love me unconditionally and will pray with me to cast all my anxiety on Jesus. They have just the right words to help think rightly about God. God knows exactly what He is doing in your life. 4. Corporate worship is a wonderful way to ease one s anxiety. God is so very present and we are all in this together. Seeing each other can bring great joy as we enjoy one another s company in Christ.
Oct 21,22, 2017 A Stable Church Part 2 Phil 4:5-6a 6 5. There are some persons who no matter what they do or no matter how rightly they think about God need medical help for high anxiety. It is not a lack of faith on their part. Certain chemicals in the brain produces debilitating anxiety. Anti-anxiety medication is absolutely wonderful for such persons and I believe a God send. It evens them out so they can cope in healthy ways to life s stresses. Cultivating harmony in the church, Maintaining a Spirit of Joy, Learning to Be Content, and Resting On A Confident Faith in the Lord are all ways of keeping a church from falling apart. There is more to come two weeks from today. Amen and Amen.