Series: Epic Joy
November 18, 2018 | Dr. Wes George
Passage: Philippians 4:4-9
Keep peace in your heart 4-7a
6 Be anxious for nothing, . . .
7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Pursuejoyfulness4
Proverbs 15:15 but a cheerful heart has a continual feast.
Proverbs 17:22 A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.
Projectgentleness5
Pray with gratefulness 6
Keep peace in your mind. 8
8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.
Proverbs 23:7 As a man thinks in his heart so is he.
Psalm 119:11 I will hide Your word in my heat that I may not sin against You.
Keep peace by following good examples
9 The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!
5 Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near.
6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.
9 The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
7 Imperative verbs in these 6 verses.
Rejoice (twice in verse 4)
Let your gentle spirit be known 5
Be anxious for nothing 6
Let your requests be made known 6
Dwell on these things 8
Practice these things 9
Keep peace in your heart (4-7a)
6 Be anxious for nothing, . . .
7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Don’t worry or be anxious. At 3 we are afraid of the dark, at 13 we don’t fit in, at 18 we worry about our future, at 30 we worry about our children, at 60 we worry about our health. This is a command to not worry. Jesus taught us not to worry in Matthew 6:25-34. We should not worry about our physical needs (27), clothing (28), food or drink (31), or the future (34). Worry is assuming responsibility for what is not my responsibility. Someone has said that 90% of what people worry about never occurs. Worry can be caused by a lack of faith. Sometimes there is a fine line between worry and concern. Concern can move us to action especially in ministry to others. Worry paralyzes with no kingdom benefit. Concern motivates us. Worry stifles us. Concern leads to service resulting in joy and peace. Worry leads into darkness and depression.
Pursue joyfulness 4
Proverbs 15:15 but a cheerful heart has a continual feast.
Proverbs 17:22 A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.
Laughter is contagious. Don’t take yourself too seriously. Don’t focus on the negative and the bad. Someone said if you suppress your laughter it goes down and spreads your hips or for men in hangs over your belt.
Project gentleness 5
Epeikes means gentleness, forbearingspirit, moderation, whatis right or fitting, equitable, reasonable, serviceable.
Pray in gratefulness 6
Our prayer should be comprehensive “in everything.” There is really nothing that we should not pray about. This comprehensive nature of our prayer demonstrates our total dependence on Him.
Our prayer should be gratefulness “with thanksgiving.” Sometimes in all our asking, we are like little children who are always asking for more with no appreciation of all that they have received up to this point. For young children or our young grandchildren, that might be okay for a season of their early years. But as we get older, when we just keep asking with thankfulness then we are considered ungrateful. Prayer is a great opportunity for us to express our gratitude towards God. Also, our gratitude is good for us personally in working toward joy in our life.
Our prayer is directed to God. Our requests are made known to God. This is not to inform God of anything that He does not know already. It is for our benefit in detailing and expressing our needs before God. It reminds us of our need and dependency on God. It also reminds us of God’s ability to answer our prayers.
When we do this, we get the peace of God.
The peace of God surpasses all human understanding.
The peace of God keeps, protects, guards our hearts and our minds.
The peace of God is in Christ Jesus.
Keep peace in your mind. 8
8Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.
Proverbs 23:7 As a man thinks in his heart so is he.
Psalm 119:11 I will hide Your word in my heat that I may not sin against You.
Contrast whatever is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, good repute, excellent and worthy of praise.
Don’t think about whatever is untrue, dishonorable, wrong, impure, ugly, not a good report, poorly done and filled with criticism.
2:5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus
3:15 Have this attitude
Dwell on these things: think, reason, consider, ponder
Let your mind be filled with these positive and noble and spiritual things.
A great danger today is Christians without Christian minds. No Christian worldview. No biblical mind pertaining to holiness, humility, and morality. No wonder there is a conduct issue conflicting with our faith confession. Social media has given a platform to anyone with a Twitter account or Facebook that have followers and friends to pose as insightful, wise, even biblical when often times their 144 character sound bite is full of pride, poison, arrogance, ignorance, hate, garbage from a self-appointed social justice policeman that does not see the log in their own eye while searching for the specks in the eyes of others. When you watch Good Morning America, CNN, MSNBC, and even Fox News more than you think on these things that are good, right, honorable, pure in God’s Word and thinking about the beauty of Jesus and His bride; then you will have the wrong attitude.
Keep peace by following good examples
9 The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
Here we see the God of peace will be with us in a practical way, when we follow good examples like Paul. Paul appeals to the things they have learned, received, heard and seen in him. This last command simply says, do these things. Example are a lot easier to follow than a set of instructions. That is really the heart of discipleship. It goes beyond teaching. It includes teaching but it also puts in into practice as an example. Paul was saying, listen to your coach and trust your coach. Illustration: A team was in a tough spot. Their QB got injured. The second string QB was sick and did not dress out. The punter was the 3rdteam QB. He had no game experience. Their team just took over the ball with just over 2 minutes left in the game tied up on the 2 yard line. No time outs. The coach told the 3rdstring QB/ Punter, Okay, we are going to play it safe. Had it off to the fullback on 1stand 2nddown, then on 3rddown back up into the shotgun and punt it, they won’t be expecting it. We will make it to overtime. The first play the FB burst through the line for 50 yds. The second play he handed off to the FB and he went 45 yards to the 3 yard line. 1stand goal. The QB then backed up into the shot gun took the snap and punted the ball through the end zone. The coach was livid. He said what were you thinking when you punted the ball through the endzone from the 3 yard line. The Punter/ QB said, I was thinking what a dumb coach we have. What you think of your coach will determine the stress level of your life. We are not just intellectual students of the Bible, but we are followers of Christ. It is bad to spiritually empty-headed, but it is also bad to be spiritually egg-headed with no practical implementation of the Word of God.
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