2018-11-25 PHILIPPIANS 4: 4-5 STANDING FIRM (3): BY CONFIDENT REJOICING

STANDING FIRM (3): BY CONFIDENT REJOICING (Phil. 4:4-5) November 25, 2018 Read Phil 4:1-5 – “Stand firm.” Be a rock in your Xn walk. The world needs examples of stability in a turbulent world. Paul challenges us to demonstrate 7 elements of life that only citizens of heaven could do. Last week we saw – Be unified. Petty infighting is unworthy of God’s people. Today we’ll see two more – Be Joyful and Be Reasonable. These and all the ones that follow require one common element. They require that we have a Big God – or that we have a big view of a God who is awesome beyond description – but often shortchanged by our lack of faith. Most of us live pretty shallow, unstable lives because we don’t really believe in God’s greatness. How we view God determines how we live. If I were your bodyguard, you’d be pretty careful where you ventured, right? But if you had Superman you’d venture wherever you desired. No fear. And so how well we know, trust and view God will largely influence how firm we stand. So with that background, let’s look at these next two commands – Be Rejoicing, Be Reasonable. I. Be Rejoicing 4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Doesn’t it seem odd to command someone to rejoice. And even more unreasonable, to command it always, under all circumstances, even hard ones? Did Paul mean that? How about James when he says in 1:2: “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.” So, can you really rejoice when the memory of past sins threatens to overwhelm you, when dear ones are suffering, when you are facing persecution – possibly even death? Even then we are to “rejoice”? Paul did. He’s not asking something he didn’t practice. Past sins? He could have been buried. I Cor 15:9: “For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.” He knew the pain of past failure, yet knew God’s forgiveness. I Cor 15:10: “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain.” David did, too. Having confessed the sins of adultery and murder, he pleads in Psa 51:12, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation,” and God did. Some of us may need to pray that same prayer because the past has weighed us down. Can we see suffering in us and others and still rejoice? Yes. The writer to Hebrews reminds his audience in Heb 10:32 But recall the former days when, 1 after you were enlightened [saved], you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, 33 sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. 34 For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.” Could we do that? Joyfully accept the government taking our homes and throwing us in jail – just for claiming Christ? They could. In Acts 5 the apostles are called before the authorities for preaching Christ. The Jewish elders were furious, and having warned the apostles once, they now took action. Acts 5:40 and when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. 41 Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. 42 And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.” The practiced what they preached – and they did it right up until the day they were martyred for the sake of Jesus. So, it is clear. The command means exactly what it says. God even repeats it twice for emphasis: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.” At all times, given any and all circumstances – Rejoice. The text means exactly what it says. So How do we do that? It certainly doesn’t come naturally, right? The repetition itself indicates that it is not always easy to be joyful. We must rise above our circumstances to obey. Most of us think of joy as a purely human emotion. So how can God command an emotion. That’s something you either have or you don’t have, right? The fact that God commands us tells us that what He has in mind is something much deeper than mere emotion. I like how John MacArthur defines it. He says, “Joy is a deep-down confidence that God is in control of everything for the believer’s good and His own glory.” In fact, let me simplify it even further. Joy is the confidence that God is the blessed controller of all things. When that truth really captures our hearts, then, and only then will we be able to rejoice in all things. That is exactly what Paul means when he says, “Rejoice in the Lord.” That’s a far cry from rejoicing in the circumstance itself. Do that and you’re defeated before you start. But to rejoice “in the Lord,” is to say, in essence, this circumstance – whether good, bad or neutral, is just one more way that God is at work in my life and while it looks and feels awful to me, I choose to trust Him. Thus rejoicing is a choice more than an emotion. 2 This is where our view of God is really tested, do you see? If my belief in God is theoretical, and works for others but not me, I’m toast. If I see God as limited, uninterested, distant or distracted, I’ll not be able to trust Him when adversity strikes. But if I see Him for the all-powerful, all-wise, infinitely loving Father that He is, rejoicing will start to become a natural reaction. Adversity? I’m not seeking it, but when I run into it, I can say, “Bring it on. I embrace it as a necessary part of God’s wise plan for my life, and I rejoice in it.” The key to the whole thing – having a big God. Phil 1:29: “For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake.” The same God who graced me with salvation which I love, also graced me with suffering, which I also choose to embrace. Didn’t Paul practice what he preached. The Philippians knew he had a big God. They’d seen it. Arrested for exorcising a demon from a local medium, he and Silas were beaten with an inch of their lives, thrown, bloody and disgraced into the stocks of the Philippian jail, only to found singing at midnight just before God miraculously released them. And how about Christopher Love, a 17 century Welsh pastor, sentenced to death for his faith. He wrote his wife when all appeals were exhausted, “Today they will sever me from my physical head, but they cannot sever me from my spiritual head, Jesus Christ.” Onlookers reported that as he walked to his death, his wife applauded while he sang of glory. We’re pikers, Beloved. Let us be faced with a flat tire or a quarrelsome child or a criticizing spouse and you’d think our world had caved in. That may not be you, but it’s me. How convicting. We’ve a small God in reality, whatever we say in theory. So Why rejoice? Why would our big God not just take the trouble away?! Why do something so countercultural as rejoice when your world is falling apart. Sure we should rejoice at victories, right? Baptism of new believers – great time to rejoice. Got a promotion at work? Great time to rejoice. Son or daughter gets thru the temptations of youth and comes out the other side with faith intact. Sure we ought to rejoice. But what about when that doesn’t happen? When you lose a loved one in death; when the promotion is stalled because of your Christian commitment; when the son or daughter strays; your friend betrays you and worse betrays the faith. Why rejoice then? Rom 5:3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.” In other words, we rejoice in suffering bc it is one 3 way God is keeping us dependent on Him and building character into our lives. It’s a way he grows us; matures us. Right after James urges us to count it all joy when we meet trials, he adds in Jas 1:3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” So why rejoice at trouble? Because you know that even that is an evidence of God’s love and best plan for you. May not look like it at the moment. Certainly doesn’t feel like it. But behind the curtains God is pulling the strings for our ultimate benefit. Hard as it is to believe, God is using this nasty circumstance to our maximum benefit. And that is a cause for rejoicing, isn’t it? Charles Spurgeon, who, tho one of God’s most faithful servants, suffered many emotional and physical afflictions, said this: “Our afflictions are the health regimen of an infinitely wise physician. I daresay the greatest earthly blessing that God could give to any of us is health -- with the exception of sickness! If some men that I know of could only be favored with a month of rheumatism, it would be God’s grace to mellow them marvelously.” And Spurgeon meant that for himself because he said, “I’m afraid that all the grace that I have got of my comfortable and easy times and happy hours might almost lie on a penny. But the good that I have received from my sorrows and pains and griefs is altogether incalculable.” So – “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say, rejoice.” It’s a way to stand firm. It’ll change your life. II. Be Reasonable 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone.” Reasonableness -- ἐπιεικής – hard word to translate because there is no single English word that captures the breadth of its meaning. Most English translations use “gentle”. And when used elsewhere in the NT, it is universally translated “gentle.” Titus 3:2 is one example: 2 to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.” You can see in that context that it clearly speaks of bending over backward to treat others with dignity, respect, and forbearance. Some of the word used to translate it include yieldedness, non-retaliatory, big-heatedness, kindliness, geniality, magnanimity, and sweet reasonableness. You can see that it’s difficult to incorporate all of those into one word. What is clear is that if rejoicing is an inner attitude of complete trust in God, gentleness toward others is a logical outworking of that trust. That gets us 4 closer to the deeper meaning of the word. What Paul is getting at is, if you are truly trusting God, you don’t have to win every argument, exact every ounce of fairness or exert all your rights. It doesn’t mean that you don’t have your say and seek justice where possible, but not at the expense of harming others. Rather than constantly exerting your own rights, you are leaning over backwards to see the other person’s point of view. There is an unnatural gentleness and reasonableness about you that reflects outwardly your inward trust in God. This means that you are willing to absorb abuse rather than inflict it. Sweet reasonableness – in fact, beyond reasonableness. Perhaps the best commentary on this verse is found in I Cor 6. When the Corinthians had grievances against one another, they were marching straight off to court. They weren’t messing around. No one was going to deprive them of their rights. But Paul says in I Cor 6:5 I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers, 6 but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers? 7 To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? 8 But you yourselves wrong and defraud—even your own brothers!” Paul’s point is, you may win the lawsuit, but you defeat your greater mission – the gospel of Christ by which wretched sinners are routinely pardoned when they repent. Why not reflect that. Absorb a wrong rather than inflict one. This word “reasonableness” if about giving up one’s rights when it harms the cause of Christ to insist on them. Do you see how that applied to Euodia and Syntyche? Great! Do you see how it applies in your life? And do you see that Paul is not just applying that to believers but to “everyone.” Now comes the crucial question, right? How big is your God? Is He big enough to cover whatever loss you might suffer? In this case, we stand firm by standing down! Not long after Tim Keller started Redeemer Church in NYC a young woman started to visit – darting out quickly after each service. One day Keller caught her and she said she was exploring Christianity. When asked why she responded that she had made a big mistake at work one day that she thought would cost her the job. But her boss went in to his supervisor and took complete responsibility for what she had done. As a result, he lost some of his reputation and upward mobility. She thanked him profusely and said she had seen supervisors take credit for what she had accomplished, but never seen one take the blame for something she did wrong. When asked why, he modestly deflected the question, but when she insisted he finally told her, “I am a Christian. That means among other things that God accepts me because Jesus Christ took the blame for things that I have done wrong. He 5 did that on the cross. That is why I have the desire and sometimes the ability to take the blame for others." That’s why she ended up in church. That’s what it means to live out the gospel and absorbing blame rather than inflicting it – because the Lord is at hand as Paul reminds us in vs. 5. Beloved, one way we’ll know we are getting it right is that we will be known – at home, at church and in the world in general, as those who are fair, caring and committed to others before self. Our lives should reflect a supernatural willingness to be wronged rather than inflict wrong. That comes from the joy within, which comes from the greatness of the God we serve. Conc – A. W. Tozer once said, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” Most of us need a new view, Beloved. Most of our minds go to a reluctant, made-in-our-image God complete with all the limitations that implies. No wonder we’re not joyful within and reasonable without. Our God is too small. Billie Burke was a famous actress in the early 20th century. She was taking a transatlantic cruise one time when she noticed a man suffering a bad head cold. Asking if he was uncomfortable, she advised, “I know just what to do. Go back to your stateroom and drink lots of orange juice. Take two aspirins. Cover yourself with all the blankets you can find and sweat it out. I know what I’m talking about. I’m Billie Burke from Hollywood.” The man smiled warmly and replied, “Thank you very much. I’m Dr. Mayo from Mayo Clinic.” I’m afraid that’s us – spending overmuch time telling God how to do His business, or more likely how He has messed up and here’s what He ought to do rather than learning of Him and trusting all that we know and all that we don’t know. That’s the secret being rejoicing inside and reasonable outside. Let’s pray. 6