00:00:00:19 – 00:00:24:11
Clint Loveall
Hey, everybody. Thanks for being back with us. Good to have you back. As we continue through Philippians, we are in the fourth chapter. Another short passage today, but, really packed. We’re coming off a section where Paul has spoken into what seems to have been maybe a conflict or a disagreement in the church family, encouraging people to work that out.

00:00:24:16 – 00:00:48:07
Clint Loveall
And without saying more about that, he he addresses it in very broad terms, as he calls people to, some of the attributes, or maybe we’d even say the virtues of Christian life. So read a few verses for you, then we’ll come back and we’ll work our way through them. Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again rejoice.

00:00:48:12 – 00:01:15:48
Clint Loveall
Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made to to known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. I think I have to think, Michael, that these are pretty well known verses.

00:01:15:48 – 00:01:42:27
Clint Loveall
These are some of the signature verses of Philippians. This letter is sometimes called the letter of Joy. And here we have it spoken twice. Rejoice in the Lord. And, in the Lord matters here. It’s not just rejoice. It’s not just, you know, suck it up and be happy. It is. Find joy in Christ always. I’ll say it again.

00:01:42:32 – 00:02:17:26
Clint Loveall
Rejoice. It is, I think, telling, and I think it is revealing and also, you know, very instructional that as Paul goes on this little section of what he hopes to see in Christian living, he starts with joy. I think that is a good reminder. I think that’s a good challenge. And certainly, though it is not easy for us, I think it’s good to be reminded that the cornerstone of how Christians are called to live their life is built on rejoicing in the Lord.

00:02:17:31 – 00:02:35:49
Michael Gewecke
We make a mistake in our culture of attaching the idea of joy to happiness that is not what is happening here, and we need to get that out of the way right away. Sometimes the context of a letter can be helpful in helping us understand what’s happening, and here I think Philippians is a good example of that.

00:02:35:49 – 00:03:05:33
Michael Gewecke
If you’ve been with us for the study, you’ll know that it is thought that Paul is writing this letter from prison lightly. Likely. And if that’s the case, then indeed this idea of rejoicing certainly here, but throughout the entire letter becomes a really interesting touch point for us. Because you can ask your question, how can a person currently in the middle of a very difficult situation writes so eloquently about having joy again?

00:03:05:33 – 00:03:39:57
Michael Gewecke
That’s what rejoice is. It’s two words together rejoice, have joy again, and fundamentally it is because of the Lord. And I think one of the things that we need to do as we enter into text like this is to realize that there is a new world that one enters into when one comes into the family of faith, and that that world is one in which we don’t just find today and its problems and its challenges, all of which are real, by the way, the anxieties, the fears, those things are real parts of our human experience.

00:03:40:08 – 00:04:01:06
Michael Gewecke
Jesus himself was hungry. Jesus himself wept out of grief. That’s the reality of living another day as a human. But here we see that in the Lord, and we have the Christ Tim, in the back of our minds. The fact that Jesus came down and then was raised up in the Lord were given access, were able to experience a kind of joy.

00:04:01:06 – 00:04:38:09
Michael Gewecke
Again, that isn’t just intrinsic to our situation, but it is rather intrinsic to the gift of God who lives inside of us. And you might think, well, that’s a great idea. And then you might think, you know, fundamentally, I aspire to do that. But realistically, you know, I’m not exactly sure what that means in my life. I think where Paul does us a real service is he continues on here and makes it clear that there are things that the Christian is called to live in, to real practical things that are part of the task of rejoicing.

00:04:38:09 – 00:04:56:25
Michael Gewecke
And that’s where I think we help ourselves to move away from. Joy is a temporary experience that I have because of my circumstances. Rather too, joy is a part of the Christian life, which is built up and strengthened by the choices and actions that we make.

00:04:56:33 – 00:05:19:21
Clint Loveall
Yeah, I think fair to say that joy is in some way our home base as Christians, and we should spend a great deal of time there. Obviously, it is very difficult to be joyous all the time, which is I you know why Paul says it twice, then he moves on. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. Gentleness here is a really interesting word.

00:05:19:25 – 00:05:53:06
Clint Loveall
It can be translated patience, moderation, fairness. So this is not just being kind. This is the ability to, be even tempered. It is the pot, the the ability to wait, to be patient with people. And that that should be evident to everyone, that that’s a wonderful challenge. Let your moderate ness, your gentleness, your patience, let your way of being be known to everyone.

00:05:53:11 – 00:06:47:58
Clint Loveall
And then the motivation for that the Lord is near. So because the Lord is near, others should see in us some evidence of that. Literally the word here. Let it be evident to everyone. Let your gentleness be evident or even evidence to everyone else that the Lord is near. Again, a wonderful challenge, as Paul calls these men and women in in Philippi to conduct themselves in such a way that their speech and their actions, their manners, all of it would be in some way able to point beyond themselves to Christ and, you know, we use that language a lot in the church, Michael, though, when you stop and consider that, I think most of us

00:06:47:58 – 00:07:08:49
Clint Loveall
are probably intimidated by the idea that there are people around us who might judge the quality of the gospel by the way that we act or live it out, and, while that is intimidating, certainly, certainly a great challenge and, a worthy goal for Christian people.

00:07:08:54 – 00:07:32:52
Michael Gewecke
If you are with us and you’re studying this text with us, and you thought to yourself, rejoice in the Lord always was an impossible command. If you thought that that was an untouchable reality, I would submit to you. It doesn’t get better. Yeah. Because as the text goes on, do not worry about anything at all. Just pause there.

00:07:32:52 – 00:07:57:22
Michael Gewecke
Do not worry about any Clint. For most of us, that’s a unbelievable statement, especially if you’re a person who who knows something of worry. And the thing about worry is that it gives one the illusion of control. It gives you the idea that you’re doing something even when you don’t have power. It’s still in the action that you’re taking.

00:07:57:27 – 00:08:26:27
Michael Gewecke
The illusion, of course, is you’re not making anything better, and you’re actually poisoning the well from within which the goodness of God lives. But realistically, this is not just a command without a Or. It’s not, a thing that we’re told not to do without any kind of positive suggestion. And here we go. Let your requests be made known to God and not just made known, but with thanksgiving.

00:08:26:27 – 00:09:02:09
Michael Gewecke
And that, Clint, I think Paul is teaching right when he talks about prayer, he’s is giving us a description of the goal within which we enter that prayer. So when you come to pray, look for the things to be grateful for. Identify the things that God has given you that you can be grateful for. Fundamentally, if the Lord is near to us, as we just saw in verse four, then we can trust that there is indeed something to be grateful for, no matter the legitimate difficulty and, the circumstance that we live.

00:09:02:20 – 00:09:20:15
Michael Gewecke
And then from that position, we can lift everything up in prayer and supplication that that’s the it’s far, too far to say that’s the recipe. It’s not the formula, but it is the nudge that that’s the road that we need to take if it’s going to lead us in the right direction.

00:09:20:27 – 00:09:47:43
Clint Loveall
So there’s some weird nerd stuff here that I think is helpful, that the word worry can also be translated anxious. And at its root it means to divide. So the idea was that an anxious spirit, a worried person, was divided internally. They are they are separated into pieces. And if you think about that image then what is it that would hold us together?

00:09:47:43 – 00:10:29:11
Clint Loveall
What is it that would be a push back to being divided. It’s prayer and gratitude. Prayer and thanksgiving keeps our spirits whole, not allowing the concerns of life to divide us up and make us lesser than than one. And I think that’s I think that’s helpful because clearly, you know, no one gets through life worry free. But in those moments, rather than focusing or giving in to that anxiety, to lean instead into prayer and gratitude is to see an alternate way it is to see a better path.

00:10:29:11 – 00:11:23:18
Clint Loveall
And again, I, I it seems to me at least that Paul is very careful in how he chooses his words and his images. And I think that is really good. And for Paul, it is that prayer and thanksgiving that lead us then to the closing verse we’ve read and the peace of God, which goes beyond understanding, which surpasses understanding, will guard your hearts and your mind in Christ Jesus, so that the result of rejoicing and gentleness and prayer and gratitude is peace, and not just a kind of things will be okay peace, but a peace that goes beyond our understanding and actually works as a protection, a barrier around our hearts and our minds

00:11:23:29 – 00:11:42:02
Clint Loveall
to keep us in Christ Jesus. This is, really interesting. Again, we’ve said this before, but in three verses here, Michael Paul has preached a very careful step by step mini sermon. And I think as you follow it through, it’s hard not to be impressed with it.

00:11:42:07 – 00:12:32:25
Michael Gewecke
Don’t forget. And not, you know, pull us back to things we’ve already talked through, but not forget we just yesterday or the last time we were together, we were talking about Paul urging working, in many ways, trying to help lead people to the resolution of conflict. Disagreement. And here we have this amazing exhortation, this amazing invitation, an encouragement that there is a way in which we can find, again in our own individual lives, the joy that comes from being in Christ, how we can give to God those things that weigh us down, how fundamentally, when we do that, God is faithful to give us peace, even the peace that we really

00:12:32:25 – 00:12:53:56
Michael Gewecke
can’t describe with words. And it’s that very thing that will guard us. I think, Clint, there’s two mistakes to make here, and they’re on opposite sides of the pole. The one mistake that you could make here, as you could say, this text is all about the individual and you can say it’s all about just you and and you’re not anxious.

00:12:53:56 – 00:13:17:57
Michael Gewecke
And the only guards you’re that you have to factor. This is also about the community. It’s about these women. It’s about the fact that there was conflict even in a good, healthy Philippi church. There’s still stuff that need to work through. And even in the midst of that messy human stuff we are commanded, we’re called to have joy again, and then ultimately to know that God is in our midst and to lift that up in prayer.

00:13:18:02 – 00:13:43:27
Michael Gewecke
I think the opposite mistake is we miss the personal invitation here, right? Is for us to just simply miss the fact that we are actually called to pray. We are actually called to give up the stuff that we have stubbornly decided we need to carry with us along our life’s path, that we are the ones who need to be responsible for all of our mistakes, or all of our misgivings, whatever that is.

00:13:43:31 – 00:14:06:13
Michael Gewecke
But friends, fundamentally, it’s the task of asking if the Lord is near. Are we going to invite him to be the one at the center? And are we going to live our lives in his kingdom as opposed to our own? And if we’re willing to do that, then you’re not going to find, I don’t think, a more beautiful promise really in the scriptures there.

00:14:06:18 – 00:14:28:04
Michael Gewecke
There’s so many promises. And yet this the peace of God which passes understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. That is beautiful. And that’s a kind of hope that we all should live into each and every day, because that’s fundamentally the work of Christ in and through us. And and in that case, it’s to him be the glory.

00:14:28:13 – 00:14:53:31
Clint Loveall
I think we would miss something pretty vital, Michael, if we treated these. And I and we, you and I have to take chunks each day to go through. But but if we didn’t connect this with what has gone before it, I think we would be short sighted. So Paul has this moment where he says to these two women who have apparently gotten sideways with one another, hey, be of the same mind.

00:14:53:36 – 00:15:23:00
Clint Loveall
And then he says to some other people, try to help them. And then he goes into this idea of rejoicing and patience and all the rest. And when you connect that to what we’re going to look at tomorrow, which I think finishes out this idea, it seems crystal clear that though he’s no longer naming people, he is sketching out a path to reconciliation.

00:15:23:00 – 00:15:52:17
Clint Loveall
I mean, it would be virtually impossible to commit yourself to what Paul is saying in verses four through nine and still be separated or have animosity toward one another. It he doesn’t have to. He’s not lecturing, but he is painting a picture of the path that they both need to take in order to move back to unity and oneness and reconciliation.

00:15:52:27 – 00:16:06:49
Clint Loveall
And I think, you know, it’s not it’s not sneaky, but it’s well done. I mean, it is, it’s shrewd, I would say.

00:16:06:54 – 00:16:19:04
Michael Gewecke
Yeah, I was gonna use the word it’s directive. It it does point the church in a direction which is carefully chosen because it means it’s not pointing in many other directions.

00:16:19:04 – 00:16:26:12
Clint Loveall
He’s no longer calling them by name, but having used their names, their names hang over this section.

00:16:26:16 – 00:16:49:25
Michael Gewecke
Yeah. And by the way, that gets really clear. When you have a section, let your requests be made known to God. You know, we have the opportunity and privilege to work in the congregation, and that means dealing with with people all the time, because that’s what the church as people and so often the places where we get caught at odds are places where we would have it one way and another person would have it another way.

00:16:49:27 – 00:17:10:42
Michael Gewecke
Sure. Fundamentally, the the road that the church is called to walk to work out those things and mutual forbearance is ultimately giving those things up to God. And where church is most frequent to get it wrong is when we hold on to those things. We make ourselves the standard bearer. We make ourselves the one who we often self.

00:17:10:42 – 00:17:42:37
Michael Gewecke
I aggrandize our responsibility and I’m the one to get this done. And then the moment that turn happens, that’s the moment where no longer is it the peace of God. Is it no longer our minds being rooted in Christ? No longer is that about the Lord being near. Now that’s about us and fundamental. I think you just see how Paul theology for Paul is not about thinking to thinking’s self, but for for Paul, thinking well is about having the mind of Christ, which means living rightly in the world.

00:17:42:37 – 00:17:57:12
Michael Gewecke
And that’s always a factor of how we behave in real human relationships. So this isn’t that kind of information that you write a paper about and forget. This is the kind of thing that is a creed for life. And we wake up every day choosing if this will be our creed or not.

00:17:57:12 – 00:18:26:40
Clint Loveall
Yeah, absolutely. Life in this world gives us no shortage of opportunities to be in conflict with others, to be afraid to be worried, to be anxious, to be fearful, to be sour. And so what is the work of Christ in us? It is to pursue rejoicing and patience and reconciliation, and ultimately a peace that passes human understanding.

00:18:26:40 – 00:18:59:40
Clint Loveall
And so Paul very much. Sketches for us a Christian life that is an alternative to the life that we see most common in the world around us. And he he, he very much sees that as a, an entirely different it’s not a variation on a theme. Yeah, it is something wholly and h o l y wholly other.

00:18:59:45 – 00:19:14:09
Michael Gewecke
I think that’s a great summary for today. Thanks for being with us friends here. If you found this encouraging, challenging and helpful for your faith journey, give this a like. It helps others find it in their own study. It might be a blessing to them. Subscribe so you don’t miss studies like this and we will see you don’t.

00:19:14:11 – 00:19:20:15
Michael Gewecke
Don’t miss tomorrow’s study. One of the most well known sections of Philippians is a beautiful text. I look forward to seeing you then.

00:19:20:15 – 00:19:20:52
Clint Loveall
Thanks, everybody.