Part 10

Church with Vitality

Paul writing to church in Philippi which seems to be a church with vitality / they’re a church that has the vital signs that a church should have / Paul is very positive about them as he writes to them / Remember chapter 1, he prays with joy because of them / He sees God working in them / confident that God has begun this good work / God will bring the work to completion.

But although they’re a church that has the approval of the apostle Paul, they’re still not perfect / one of the particular issues that Paul seems to address here is the issue of unity.

Our unity needs to be Gospel unity /  If you and I have a difference of opinion, that isn’t lack of unity / eg music and words etc / But that difference of opinion shouldn’t meant that we are lacking in unity /  The basis of our unity isn’t in the music / Chapter 1 vs 27 gives us the basis of our unity.

27 Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel

So whatever your preferences and differences are / When we come together on a Sunday morning / We have this amazing gospel in common / Regardless of our differences we should stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel.

Eg. Protestors around a cause / We need to be united around the gospel.

Last section ended chapter 4 vs 1.

1 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends!

Stand firm = persist / don’t give up / remain steadfast / this is something we as individuals need to do / also something we need to do together as a church / And we can only do that if we unite

1. Unite quarterly meeting: because unity is important. And their unity is around the gospel / So that’s what Paul is asking the Philippians to do / To stand firm together in the gospel.

4 vs 2 I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. 3 Yes, and I ask you, my true companion, help these women since they have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life.

So Paul has been writing about unity in this letter / And here’s a situation that he addresses where there is disunity / There were 2 ladies Euodia and Syntyche / We don’t know what their particular issue was / But it was serious enough for Paul to address.

He had probably been told about this issue through Epaphroditus.

So Paul pleads with them / be of the same mind in the Lord / He’s not asking them to agree on the colour of the church chairs / which night is the best night to do the Explore course / how many times you need to give a church finance report / although  it’s important to come to some sort of consensus / He’s asking them to be of the same mind in the Lord /whatever your disagreement, you are sisters in Christ / let’s establish that you agree on the gospel / Remind yourselves of the common ground that you do have and how great that is / it’s the gospel.

So here we sit this morning in church, a group of people / There are going to be clashes amongst us / But can I plead with you for the sake of the gospel / Be of the same mind in the Lord.

Paul commends these ladies as people who have contended by his side for the gospel. They’re gospel people /  Paul is talking here about what a gospel community should look like / should be something attractive about group of Christians / There should be a vitality that come from a group of Christians / Remember in Chapter 2 vs 15 where Paul says: Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky 16 as you hold firmly to the word of life.

4  vs 4 -7  

4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

It’s a stand alone passage that we can go to about anxiety / But it makes even more sense when you read it in the light of the rest of Philippians / Paul’s been encouraging them to stand together for the gospel /  to be unified / to be humble / To put their confidence in Jesus / To strain towards what is ahead / Keep their eyes on the goal / So far in Philippians, there has been a focus on Jesus.

1. Nominalism and Cultural Christians / Christians who call themselves Christians, but they’re not really committed to their faith / some have defined nominal Christians as those who claim to be Christians, but they’ve never truly repented.

If you’re a nominal Christian / What do you do, when life throws you a curve ball?  /  when tragedy strikes?

Paul in verse 4 says: Rejoice in the Lord Always. I will say it again, Rejoice.

If you have put your confidence in Christ, you can rejoice in the Lord / if you’ve put your confidence in Jesus / in fact you SHOULD be rejoicing in the Lord / always / You should constantly be mindful of what you have in Christ / the fact that you can know God because of Jesus / You are free from the wrath of God because of Jesus / You have the gift of eternal life because of Jesus.

I know we repeat this verse every week, but chapter 1 vs 21: / For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain / That is someone who’s rejoicing is in the Lord / Turn your eyes upon Jesus.

This means that many of us need to shift our focus.

You may not be a nominal Christian / but somewhere along the line the problems of this world got the better of you / you ask, when did life become about just trying to survive.

The person who has put their confidence in Jesus /  in the midst of the chaos of life and struggles and disappointments of life/ Rejoices in the Lord / Because they know that their hope was never in that thing that disappointed them in the first place / They see it as God’s plan for them as they strain towards what is ahead.

We need to shift our focus to one of rejoicing in the Lord, always / Pressing on towards the goal / Placing our hope in Jesus

verse 5:

Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.

Basically he’s saying, let others see this rejoicing / this gentleness / This life that has perspective /  the word for gentleness in the Greek means more than just gentleness / also means patience / softness / forebearance.

The Lord is near:

There are 2 things he could be saying here by saying the Lord is near / That Jesus is close / He could also saying His return is imminent.

And if you do that, here’s how you handle your anxiety vs 6:

6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

We all experience anxiety / you’re about to write an exam / when you have to have that difficult conversation with someone / you’re waiting for the email or that text that has information that will change the rest of your life / you’re just overwhelmed by everything and you’re about to go into fight or flight mode

When you’re going through that – Stop for a minute / Take a breath to calm yourself down / And take that thing that is bothering you / And by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

There are 2 words in verse 6 that I think we sometimes ignore when we take requests to God /  “with thanksgiving”.

Approach God thankful for what he has already done for you / he has already shown you mercy and grace that you don’t deserve / a God like Him has saved a sinner like you / you’ve been blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ / by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

sometimes we think that we can approach God with entitlement / an expectation that God better do what we ask.

Eg. Guy who said he couldn’t believe in God because God had allowed so much hurt in his life.

A truly saved believer takes those concerns before God / Saying “Lord, thank you for saving me” / the life you’ve given me that I don’t deserve / for everything I have that I don’t deserve / My Heavenly father, I bring before you this issue, this struggle / You’re in control, and that gives me great comfort / great confidence / reason to rejoice / Please help me in the midst of this / help me to keep my eyes on you / to handle this in a way that honours you / A way that will bring glory to you / Father I have a specific outcome that I would like / But not my will but your will be done.

If you have that perspective, and you rejoice in the Lord / This is what will happen: vs 7. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

The problem may not go away /God may not give you the outcome you desire / If you’re rejoicing is in the Lord and what he’s done / You will experience this peace.

Home Group:

Read Philippians 4vs2-7

1. What was the basis of the unity that Paul was pleading for in the dispute between Euodia and Syntyche? (vs 2)
2. What are some examples of disputes in our local church setting where we need to put our differences aside and heed Paul’s words to these women in Philippi?
3. How does vs 4 relate to vs 6?
4. Read vs 6 again and ask the question, “How do we sometimes get this wrong?”
5. How can we get this right?
6. What happens when we do get this right? Vs 7.

What are some of the anxieties that people are experiencing within your home group that you can present before God with thanksgiving?