SPEAKER_02: So this morning we're looking at Philippians chapter four, verses two to twenty-three.
SPEAKER_02: I entreat Yodia and I entreat Syntachi to agree in the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.
SPEAKER_02: Rejoice in the Lord always.
SPEAKER_02: Again I will say, rejoice.
SPEAKER_02: Let your reasonableness be known to everyone.
SPEAKER_02: The Lord is at hand.
SPEAKER_02: Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
SPEAKER_02: And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
SPEAKER_02: What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
SPEAKER_02: I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at length you have revived your concern for me.
SPEAKER_02: You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity.
SPEAKER_02: Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.
SPEAKER_02: I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound.
SPEAKER_02: In any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.
SPEAKER_02: I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
SPEAKER_02: Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble, and you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except you only.
SPEAKER_02: Even in Thessalonica, you send help for my needs once and again.
SPEAKER_02: Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit.
SPEAKER_02: I have received full payment and more.
SPEAKER_02: I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God.
SPEAKER_02: And my God will supply every need of yours, according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Greet every saint in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: The brothers who are with me greet you.
SPEAKER_02: All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar's household.
SPEAKER_02: The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
SPEAKER_02: So read God's word.
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to you if you've joined us uh while we were singing.
SPEAKER_00: Uh my name is Mark, I'm one of the leaders here at City Church.
SPEAKER_00: You're very welcome, particularly if you're visiting uh with us.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, it is great to have you here.
SPEAKER_00: We are uh finishing our series in the book of Philippians today.
SPEAKER_00: We're doing all of Philippians chapter four uh in one go, which is a slight shame because it would be good to kind of slow down over some of the some of the things, but it's good as well to read the Bible fast and to read the Bible slow.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and so this is a bit more of a uh of a clip through the through the book, but it leads us into uh into a season of Advent, that expectant waiting that comes in the church calendar every year, where we anticipate the coming of Christ the King.
SPEAKER_00: And so we move into an Advent sermon sermon series.
SPEAKER_00: And so that's where we're going over the next little while.
SPEAKER_00: That'll close out our calendar year.
SPEAKER_00: But for now, we're in Philippians chapter four.
SPEAKER_00: Can I encourage you to have a Bible or pick it up on your phone if you need a hard copy?
SPEAKER_00: There's a couple down there that you can grab.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, if you're looking it up on your phone on Bible Gateway or on the U version app, we're reading from the English standard version.
SPEAKER_00: And so you can uh follow along there just to make sure that what I'm saying is actually coming from the text and it's not just coming from my brain.
SPEAKER_00: Um, double by way of preamble.
SPEAKER_00: Uh so let's uh let's get into it now.
SPEAKER_00: Let's think a little bit about um about this idea of peace of mind.
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever experienced peace of mind?
SPEAKER_00: Some of you might be sitting here thinking, I can't remember the last time when my mind was at peace.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, because actually there have been so many uh stresses and demands upon my time, anxieties crowding in around me, the peace of mind seems like wishful thinking.
SPEAKER_00: When was the last time you experienced peace of mind?
SPEAKER_00: Or put it another way, what do you pursue in order to give you peace of mind?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're a person who thinks, okay, if I if I focus on uh on my career or or particularly on uh on financial uh investment and planning, uh well, good luck right now.
SPEAKER_00: Uh but right, uh as long as my pension is secure, I'm not sure that too many people here in this room are too concerned about their pension.
SPEAKER_00: Um, but maybe you think, no, I've got to be planning for the future.
SPEAKER_00: I want to be uh I want to be the good squirrel uh that uh that puts away his uh his nuts for the for the winter.
SPEAKER_00: You think if I make that play, that'll give me peace of mind.
SPEAKER_00: Or maybe it's relational health.
SPEAKER_00: As long as my relationships with these particular people, maybe particularly people in my family, if they're okay, then uh then that will that will give me peace of mind.
SPEAKER_00: That'll give me security.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're the type of person who actually explores what people now call mindfulness techniques.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you think actually that idea of centering yourself, that's what helps to bring you peace of mind.
SPEAKER_00: Or maybe you're sitting here and you're thinking this is not something I've ever really thought about.
SPEAKER_00: Our minds can often be a bit of a uh a bit of a confused mess.
SPEAKER_00: They can often be a little bit chaotic.
SPEAKER_00: Our minds can also uh be, oh hello.
SPEAKER_00: Um also be a battleground.
SPEAKER_00: Can't there?
SPEAKER_00: We know that there are voices in there, the little characters in our psyche.
SPEAKER_00: Some voices are louder uh than the others, and so there can be uh tension that's created.
SPEAKER_00: We feel uh pulled in a in a couple of different ways.
SPEAKER_00: And actually, one of the things that we'll see is the word anxiety literally means to be pulled in two different directions.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, maybe that's how you feel about your inner life.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you feel that tension either from time to time or you feel it fairly constantly, and it's just of it's just different degrees of magnitude, but there's always a little, uh like a little kind of feedback hum on the speaker of your internal life that makes you think, am I doing what I should be doing?
SPEAKER_00: How are they perceiving me?
SPEAKER_00: There's just a constant low-level anxiety where you don't quite have peace of mind.
SPEAKER_00: Is Jesus concerned about your mind?
SPEAKER_00: Is Jesus concerned about your inner life?
SPEAKER_00: Or is Christianity just about uh tipping you into the kingdom, just making sure that you get to heaven when you die?
SPEAKER_00: It certainly is, uh, at the at the very least about that.
SPEAKER_00: And we encourage people to actually turn from their former selves in repentance and faith towards Jesus, but Jesus is concerned for your inner life now.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is concerned that you might know peace of mind.
SPEAKER_00: The gospel not only transforms our eternity, but our internality, who we are in the everyday.
SPEAKER_00: The Christian life has three main assurances attached to it.
SPEAKER_00: The Christian is first of all someone who is and has been objectively what Christians call justified, that is declared innocent, adopted by the living God.
SPEAKER_00: That if you're a believer in Jesus, that is who you are.
SPEAKER_00: You have been made innocent, a new creation in Christ Jesus, brought into the family of God through faith in his son.
SPEAKER_00: That is the first chief Christian assurance.
SPEAKER_00: The second is that one day you will be fully glorified, that just as God began a good work, he will complete it.
SPEAKER_00: You will be fully transformed, renewed, and made new.
SPEAKER_00: That just as Jesus was resurrected and had his glorious resurrection body, that yes, it still bore the scars of crucifixion, but it was fundamentally transformed and different.
SPEAKER_00: And the gospel, Christianity assures the believer that just as God has adopted you in the past, made you innocent in the past, he will see that work done and he will bring you refined like gold through the fire to his glory.
SPEAKER_00: That's the second assurance.
SPEAKER_00: The third is that now, in the overlap between those two points, you have the Spirit of God working in you to make you more like Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And this is what we've been seeing over the last couple of weeks, because Paul uh two weeks ago was saying, I'm not trusting in any of the things that I did, but in the righteousness that comes from Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm looking forward to that day when he's going to make me new, when he's going to make me perfect, and with my eyes set on that goal, what am I doing?
SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm striving with all of his energy that works within me, with all of his power to become more like him.
SPEAKER_00: And so the Christian life now is founded on these objective realities in the past and coming to us in the future, but is intensely practical right now.
SPEAKER_00: God, through his word, by the power of his spirit, is encouraging and enabling us to think and feel and act and emote and love differently.
SPEAKER_00: It changes us day by day.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you perhaps were brought up in church contexts or in families where uh where what happened on a Sunday never really uh fed into what happened the rest of the week.
SPEAKER_00: That as long as you went to church on Sunday and said the right things or participated in uh in the ritual, that that was enough.
SPEAKER_00: And that there was no material change on how you interacted.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you grew up in that family uh that experienced what we call the car park miracle.
SPEAKER_00: Car park miracle is where you're driving to church and the family's arguing and fighting, and the dad's shouting at the kids, and he's just not and they they pull up a church, turn the engine off, open the door, good morning, everyone.
SPEAKER_00: The gospel's not actually filtering down into the heart, into the mind.
SPEAKER_00: But Christianity is intensely practical, and the gospel pervades, excuse me, every aspect of our life and doesn't shy away from the awkwardnesses of life or the hard questions or the difficult situations and dilemmas.
SPEAKER_00: And we see that played out in this passage because what does this passage deal with chiefly?
SPEAKER_00: It deals with the issue of conflict and the issue of anxiety.
SPEAKER_00: It might come as a shock to you, but sometimes there's conflict within God's church.
SPEAKER_00: I know, shocking, I know.
SPEAKER_00: I'm glad you're all sitting down.
SPEAKER_00: That from time to time, Christians disagree with one another.
SPEAKER_00: That from time to time, Christians might not even like one another very much.
SPEAKER_00: Some people, I'm surprised to learn, don't like me.
SPEAKER_00: But you're all here.
SPEAKER_00: The conflict is a reality in our fallen world where we live in this overlap of the ages where sin is sin's power has been broken, but its presence remains, and and so we feel that civil war in us.
SPEAKER_00: And it's really refreshing and helpful, actually, that the Bible deals with these things head on, that it's not just kind of brushing it all over and say, Well, don't worry, because when you die, you'll all go to heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Paul wants to help us think through these issues that apply daily of conflict and anxiety.
SPEAKER_00: So let's look at those two chiefly and then we'll make some some final conclusions, as indeed Paul does.
SPEAKER_00: So we begin with this with this conflict that arises between these uh these two women.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, verse two, I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syndechy to agree in the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, I ask you also, true companion, that's whoever uh was responsible for reading the letter or in charge of the church at Philippi.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, help these women who have labored side by side with me in the gospel, together with Clement, again, another obviously prominent enough person in the church to have him named, uh, and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life.
SPEAKER_00: First thing to note is this is not this is not the dogs of chapter three.
SPEAKER_00: Chapter three uh begins with Paul saying, look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying, get away from those people.
SPEAKER_00: There's a fight to be fought with dogs and evildoers.
SPEAKER_00: You want to say, no, no, if you are twisting the gospel, saying that you need to uh live a good life, do good works, all of these things, in order to be a Christian, that's that's an evildoer.
SPEAKER_00: That's a that's a dog, and they need to be uh they need to be sent away.
SPEAKER_00: But that's not what's going on here.
SPEAKER_00: What's going on here is far more heartbreaking uh because these are these are two Christian women who have the same goal, who are laboring side by side with Paul and uh and have the desire to see the Philippian church grow and strengthened.
SPEAKER_00: And these are two godly gospel women on mission with the church, and there's a disagreement between the two of them.
SPEAKER_00: That something is has happened that has caused conflict to arise.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you've ever experienced that in the church.
SPEAKER_00: Certainly, that's not something that we are immune to.
SPEAKER_00: The people of good faith and in good standing with with the Lord Jesus and with their church family, they just they disagree, there's a personality clash, there's a there's a difference of opinion and perspective, and it can cause conflict and disagreement.
SPEAKER_00: What can happen is this.
SPEAKER_00: Well, look at what can happen and then what should happen.
SPEAKER_00: But what can happen, and perhaps you've seen it, is that each side begins to circulate their point of view to the people that they know, and it's it it begins to draw the the battle lines, who's on what side.
SPEAKER_00: Well, I spoke to to Synthy, and actually uh Yodia has been a bit of a wagon, so um, because that's what they would say if they were in Dublin, right?
SPEAKER_00: Um uh and you know, she said this and she thought that and she felt this.
SPEAKER_00: Uh and so how awful is is she?
SPEAKER_00: And then you've got Yodio in this in the other way.
SPEAKER_00: Well, well, if Cynthia hadn't uh hadn't excluded me from uh from that WhatsApp group, if she'd actually you know included me, then I wouldn't I wouldn't have been so so mean to her.
SPEAKER_00: And people are like, oh, you know, per Uodia, and other people are like, oh, per Synthy.
SPEAKER_00: And then the church leadership hears about it and like, oh my goodness, I can't believe I've got to take this to an elders' meeting again.
SPEAKER_00: Um and so people choose different sides.
SPEAKER_00: It's never happened.
SPEAKER_00: People choose different sides without without reference to uh to both parties or without uh full appreciation of what is going on on the ground.
SPEAKER_00: And then what happens from there is that it begins to spiral downwards, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_00: People begin to lose perspective on the on the argument, and some small thing becomes this this huge thing.
SPEAKER_00: Well, how did we get here?
SPEAKER_00: We could have nipped this in the bud right back here six months ago before it became such a big issue.
SPEAKER_00: But because it's been allowed to fester, it's like gangrene, it's just spreading throughout the uh the body of Christ in a church.
SPEAKER_00: It's like, but now it's a now it's a big thing that uh can disrupt the whole unity of a church.
SPEAKER_00: And once people get entrenched in their positions, what happens is that they refuse to yield any ground.
SPEAKER_00: It becomes harder and harder for them to see the other side, to display any humility or to concede that they have anything uh to repent of.
SPEAKER_00: They have no wrongdoing to confess.
SPEAKER_00: That is what can happen, and sadly, it does happen in the life of God's people.
SPEAKER_00: Now, what should happen?
SPEAKER_00: Paul points us in a couple of directions.
SPEAKER_00: He begins by saying, I entreat, that is literally I beg.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm on my knees here before these two women, saying, I'm begging you, Yuri and Syntachi.
SPEAKER_00: Agree in the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: That is literally to have the same mind.
SPEAKER_00: He's talked about in chapter two about having the the mind of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying, and so he's saying to you, Yodi and Syndache, you've read this, you've heard, you've heard what the Lord Jesus has done.
SPEAKER_00: You heard how the Lord Jesus set aside his rights, how the Lord Jesus set aside his entitlements.
SPEAKER_00: And I know that you might be be genuinely wrong, but if you're if you're both able to flex a little for the other person, if you're both able to have that mind of uh of Christ that isn't just about me and my heart, but saying actually I'm going to absorb that heart in order to maintain unity.
SPEAKER_00: If you can have the mind of Christ, I'm begging you, can can you see that?
SPEAKER_00: Can you begin to live in that way?
SPEAKER_00: Can you begin to move in that direction?
SPEAKER_00: Can you look to like Yodia?
SPEAKER_00: Could you possibly look to the interests of Syntachi?
SPEAKER_00: And Synthy, could you possibly look to the interests of Yodia?
SPEAKER_00: That's what I said in chapter two.
SPEAKER_00: Do you do you think that applies to this situation?
SPEAKER_00: What would it mean for for you to say, where's Yodia coming from?
SPEAKER_00: Where could I have where could I have hurt her?
SPEAKER_00: Why is she reacting like this?
SPEAKER_00: And again, Yodia going, why is Synthy responding like this?
SPEAKER_00: Why is she acted like this?
SPEAKER_00: And think, okay, how can we come together?
SPEAKER_00: You imagine how many disagreements could have been nipped in the bud and resolved quickly if each of each party sought to understand the other person's point of view.
SPEAKER_00: And do you know what?
SPEAKER_00: Just to really ground this, one of the things that we have a tendency to do uh in our day, and I feel this uh this temptation as well, is that when something happens, particularly when we uh are not speaking to somebody face to face, but we're reading something in a message or on an email or on a social media post, the thing that we default to do is reading it in the least generous light.
SPEAKER_00: We default to reading it in the most negative and critical light.
SPEAKER_00: We impute tone to it.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't know, I've certainly had the these experiences where I I've read a WhatsApp message and went, what do they mean by that?
SPEAKER_00: Why have they said it like that?
SPEAKER_00: They haven't said it like anything because I haven't heard their tone.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not looking at their faces, and so I've got a little bit of kind of head up and I've fired something a bit kind of sharp and snarky back.
SPEAKER_00: The elders can all verify this, of course.
SPEAKER_00: Um and then you talk to the person and say, No, that's not what I meant at all.
SPEAKER_00: We default to reading people in the most negative light.
SPEAKER_00: One of the things about having the mind of Christ might be actually to think, what's the most generous reading of this?
SPEAKER_00: Always assume stupidity before malevolence.
SPEAKER_00: Always assume assume that people that somebody has spoken slightly ill-advisedly before assuming that somebody has spoken wickedly.
SPEAKER_00: Assume stupidity before malevolence.
SPEAKER_00: They didn't mean it that way, rather than this person is the I thought I knew that person.
SPEAKER_00: He's the worst possible actor.
SPEAKER_00: I can't believe that he said that to me.
SPEAKER_00: Actually, is there another way of reading this?
SPEAKER_00: And could this person actually be concerned for my good?
SPEAKER_00: And that that's why they're saying it?
SPEAKER_00: Are they saying it to put me down or are they saying because they love me?
SPEAKER_00: It's part of what it means to have the mind the mind of Christ for one another.
SPEAKER_00: What's more, this disagreement seems to be pretty deep.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't seem to be a surface-level thing, and uh, and so Paul says uh to whoever he designates as true companion, uh, to help these women.
SPEAKER_00: But there are some disagreements that are complicated, and so it requires someone or trusted parties, maybe an eldership, maybe uh trusted friends, to step in and to arbitrate.
SPEAKER_00: Asking somebody to help in a conflict situation is not a failure, it is a right, godly biblical way of dealing with difficulty.
SPEAKER_00: I'm saying, look, I I feel I'm starting to feel so blinkered that I I can't see the other side.
SPEAKER_00: But we both trust you.
SPEAKER_00: Could you listen to both of us and with a fresh pair of eyes speak into this situation?
SPEAKER_00: And could you could you help us have that mind of Christ?
SPEAKER_00: That's not a failure.
SPEAKER_00: That's that's humility, actually, which is another thing that people need in conflict.
SPEAKER_00: It's just just a little modicum of humility.
SPEAKER_00: You know, that's that's why when uh when difficult conversations arise, that yes, you know, Jesus talks about this himself in Matthew 18, about you know, if you've got a conflict with your uh with your brother, you go and you say, Look, when you said this, did you did you mean it like this?
SPEAKER_00: Because this is the way that I this is the way that I heard it, and that was quite hard.
SPEAKER_00: Or when you did this, it kind of it kind of impacted me like this.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to give you a chance just to kind of hear that and speak into that.
SPEAKER_00: And the person might go, Oh, I had no idea.
SPEAKER_00: And then Jesus says, You've won your brother back.
SPEAKER_00: Or the person might go, pfft, whatever, I didn't mean it like that.
SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, that's that's all your stuff.
SPEAKER_00: And then Jesus says, Well, go and bring somebody else and see if they can bring it to together.
SPEAKER_00: Disagreements escalate when people refuse to think in a Christ-like way, setting aside their own rights for the sake of others.
SPEAKER_00: Disagreements can be resolved in a quick and and godly way when people have the bigger picture in mind.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, what is the what's true of Yody and Syntechy in Philippians chapter 4?
SPEAKER_00: But they they labored together for the sake of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: And so one of the things that Paul is doing is saying, look, ladies, let's remember why we're here.
SPEAKER_00: Let's remember what what Jesus is doing among us, let's remember this this kingdom obligation, these kingdom goals.
SPEAKER_00: That's not that's not at all him saying um what has gone on doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_00: But the gospel does relativize it.
SPEAKER_00: That actually we can come together because we have a uh a larger, a higher goal.
SPEAKER_00: And isn't it striking that actually, even in this context, he continues on in verse 4, after he's been dealing with this conflict, in verse 4 to say, rejoice in the Lord always?
SPEAKER_00: Again, I will say, rejoice.
SPEAKER_00: There is still a double command, even in the midst of the context of conflict, to rejoice.
SPEAKER_00: Why does Paul pivot from advice on conflict resolution to saying, Rejoice, Eodean Syntiche, rejoice, Philippian Christians?
SPEAKER_00: Why does he do that?
SPEAKER_00: Well, not only because the whole theme of the book is about joy and the fact that joy is possible in all circumstances.
SPEAKER_00: So he's reminding the whole church and saying, look, church, you need to not get too sucked into all of this or catastrophize it.
SPEAKER_00: So he's saying, church, continue to rejoice because you can, because your joy is not based on a circumstance.
SPEAKER_00: You just look at the church, you know, there's disunity, there's a bit of conflict in the church, and you think, oh, that's that is such a temptation to suck all of the oxygen out of a room and suck all the joy out of Christian life.
SPEAKER_00: And so Paul needs to say to the church, he's like, church, rejoice.
SPEAKER_00: Remember that your joy is not based on the circumstance.
SPEAKER_00: I know that this is difficult, but your your joy comes from a person.
SPEAKER_00: Your joy is placed in Jesus, and he's in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: So that's the first thing that he's doing.
SPEAKER_00: He's he's lifting our heads, but also I think he's again helping this conflict situation because mutual, unified rejoicing in the gospel is what will put conflict into perspective.
SPEAKER_00: It's what will soften hearts and generate grace, foster forgiveness and bring reconciliation.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, could you imagine the image that I have in my mind's eyes, just imagine in the in the Philippian church, uh they are they're singing, and Yodia is there, and she's she's worshiping Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: She has her hands raised, she's she's weeping.
SPEAKER_00: And just in a moment, she she opens her eyes and she looks across, and there's Cynthia, and Cynthia's doing the same thing, and she's weeping too, and she's worshiping as well, and she's she's crying out to the Lord, and something something softens in her, something softens in them both, something breaks because they're like, oh, hold on, we're we're both actually pointed in the same direction.
SPEAKER_00: So Euria moves over towards Synthy and they worship together, rejoice in the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Again, I will say, rejoice.
SPEAKER_00: What a beautiful thing that that would that that would be.
SPEAKER_00: The result of the rejoicing is that Paul says, and that your reasonableness will be known to any to everyone, literally your gentleness.
SPEAKER_00: It's this idea of a of an unabrasive spirit, especially, excuse me, under provocation.
SPEAKER_00: It's gentleness that is willing to let stuff go.
SPEAKER_00: Not because you're weak, not because you're a doormat, or not because you've been sinned against, but because the the ground that you're standing on is based on something greater that you know actually you've been forgiven much, and so you're able to forgive.
SPEAKER_00: I think one of the things that would commend Jesus to those who would not describe themselves as a follower of him in this day is this idea of forgiveness.
SPEAKER_00: Have you noticed how we more and more are living in a culture of one strike and you're out?
SPEAKER_00: That even if you've said something, posted something, tweeted something when you were very young and very immature, yes, it was wrong, yes, it was bad.
SPEAKER_00: But it gets dragged up 10, 15, 20 years later, and you're done.
SPEAKER_00: One of the things that that a culture is lost when it begins to live in a one strike and you're out sort of way is a culture of forgiveness.
SPEAKER_00: We all need to be forgiven things.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not even just talking in a cosmic level, though that is supremely true, but I'm talking about you and your life.
SPEAKER_00: That actually, if you're honest with yourself with yourself, there are things that you need to be forgiven of.
SPEAKER_00: There are things that you are glad that you have been forgiven of as you look back in your past and how you've interacted with people.
SPEAKER_00: And so you've been a beneficiary of forgiveness.
SPEAKER_00: So how awful would it be then to live in a culture where you're not prepared to then extend that to others?
SPEAKER_00: I think one of the things that will captivate and attract, or at least intrigue, people who are not Christ's followers is the idea that we forgive one another, that we don't live one strike in your eye.
SPEAKER_00: You know, Peter says to Jesus, how often should I forgive my brother seven times?
SPEAKER_00: That's a lot, especially today.
SPEAKER_00: What does Jesus say?
SPEAKER_00: Seventy times, seven times.
SPEAKER_00: From conflict, Paul moves to anxiety, and you can see how these two things are connected, can you?
SPEAKER_00: That you know, when there is relationship breakdown and conflict and disagreement, that's one of the most anxiety-producing things.
SPEAKER_00: And so you can see why he would move by easy stages into uh into each of these.
SPEAKER_00: But let me pick it up in uh in verse 5b.
SPEAKER_00: Oh well, I'll sorry, verse five.
SPEAKER_00: Let uh let your reasonableness, your gentleness be known to everyone.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord is at hand.
SPEAKER_00: Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be known to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: One of the interesting things uh for me this week is that believe it or not, I preached this passage in City Church nine years ago.
SPEAKER_00: Uh as it was one of our very first sermon series, and uh, and I finished off the series, and just reflecting on how much the anxiety issue has changed in the last decade, how much more of a uh of an epidemic, particularly amongst young people, particularly amongst young women, it has become.
SPEAKER_00: There seems to be many reasons for this, and I'm I don't have time, because I have a lot still to get through, to go into them in detail.
SPEAKER_00: Uh I would parenthetically um encourage you to pick up a copy of uh a book called Hope in an Anxious World by Helen Thorne, uh, which is a very short little book.
SPEAKER_00: But if anxiety is something that persistently is knocking at your door, um, Hope in an Anxious World, tiny little book you can get as an e-book as well, uh, that might just be helpful uh to you.
SPEAKER_00: But broadly, anxiety uh seems to arise within us when something we feel alone or we feel out of control or when we don't quite know when to turn.
SPEAKER_00: And so one of the things that happens is we come paralyzed, and then that begins to compound itself because we know that we're not moving forward, and so the pressure begins to mount, or perhaps it arises when we uh feel like or know that something is our fault, and maybe that has caused a relationship breakdown, or maybe you're scared that somebody will find out.
SPEAKER_00: It's also one of the consequences in our world of being told that you can be anything, to create your own identity, to forge your own way in the world, because what that does is it exerts immense pressure on us, and it leaves many of us feeling like we've failed that expectation.
SPEAKER_00: It's left many of us feeling isolated or out of place in community.
SPEAKER_00: Traditionally, our our place, our identity in community was uh was was determined by uh by our role within it.
SPEAKER_00: We knew where we where we stood.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not just saying, I'm not saying therefore we must go back there, but I'm simply noting that actually there was less anxiety uh in part because people knew who they were by virtue of the roles that they occupied, your occupation or your role within a family.
SPEAKER_00: But in rejecting those more traditional roles, the expectation or uh with the expectation of feeling more free has actually left us feeling more trapped, more trapped than ever.
SPEAKER_00: I think another another thing perhaps is that anxiety is constantly fed by your news feed, or by your Twitter feed, or by your Instagram feed, because everything is a crisis, everything is a catastrophe.
SPEAKER_00: We have an ever-increasing sense of omniscience that is that we know more, omniscience, all knowing.
SPEAKER_00: So we, because of the technology that's in all of your pockets or on your laps or in your hands right now, you are becoming more and more omniscient.
SPEAKER_00: You're aware of what's going on in the world, you're aware of all of the crises and catastrophes and all of the hurt and war and pain and famine and struggle and sex traffic and climate change and all of these things.
SPEAKER_00: And it all is coming at you all at once, all the time.
SPEAKER_00: But what you don't have is omnipotence, all powerfulness.
SPEAKER_00: And so what happens is you're getting all of this crisis and catastrophe bombarding you, and you're just feeling more and more and more helpless because you can't fix it.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have the power.
SPEAKER_00: And what does that give rise to?
SPEAKER_00: Increased anxiety all the time.
SPEAKER_00: It's part of what that background noise in our life.
SPEAKER_00: Like I said earlier in the introduction, the word anxious comes literally from the idea of being pulled apart, being torn in two.
SPEAKER_00: On the one hand, there are our circumstances, on the other hand, there is our eternal hope as Christians.
SPEAKER_00: But one of the things that you need to note right now, if you are, maybe in like listing all of that, you're like, oh, it's like no more caffeine for me today.
SPEAKER_00: You're feeling anxious.
SPEAKER_00: But one of the things that you need to know right now is that God sees you in your anxieties.
SPEAKER_00: God sees you in your anxieties.
SPEAKER_00: God knows, God loves you.
SPEAKER_00: God's word is speaking to you now.
SPEAKER_00: Not with platitudes.
SPEAKER_00: God's word is powerful.
SPEAKER_00: God's word is taken by his spirit and applied to your heart.
SPEAKER_00: That same spirit that brought order out of chaos in creation is at work in your anxious heart right now.
SPEAKER_00: You feel that internal chaos?
SPEAKER_00: Spirit of God, my prayer right now is that the Spirit of God would come as he hovered over those creation waters and begin to bring order out of that chaos.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: God sees his word is speaking now to our anxieties.
SPEAKER_00: And so, what does Paul say?
SPEAKER_00: How do we how do we move?
SPEAKER_00: Begin to move, and this might be a lifelong wrestle.
SPEAKER_00: How do we begin to move from anxiety to rejoicing?
SPEAKER_00: Well, the first thing that he begins before he even says the word, what does he say?
SPEAKER_00: The sentence begins, verse 5b The Lord is at hand.
SPEAKER_00: It's not a throwaway phrase, it's a game changer that forms everything else that Paul is going to say.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this can be taken in two ways.
SPEAKER_00: The first way is it can be taken in the sense of Jesus is coming back soon.
SPEAKER_00: Don't worry, Jesus is coming back soon.
SPEAKER_00: The idea that God will return and restore all things, that all of that which is sad and bad will come on true, that all of the on the injustices and unjust things and people that have uh that have carried out their wickednesses and sinned against you, that that none of that will go unanswered.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord is at hand, that the Jesus is the coming one.
SPEAKER_00: Behold, I am coming soon, he says.
SPEAKER_00: That's the first sense.
SPEAKER_00: I actually think that Paul has in mind this second sense.
SPEAKER_00: I actually don't think that that he means it.
SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm gonna use a big word, forgive me, eschatologically in terms of the end.
SPEAKER_00: There you go, you can write that down.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, don't ask me to spell it.
SPEAKER_00: Um, but that's what we mean.
SPEAKER_00: But he's not looking at the end.
SPEAKER_00: Paul, I think, is much more pastoral.
SPEAKER_00: I think Paul means it spatially.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord is at hand.
SPEAKER_00: What Paul is saying is the Lord Jesus is just within arm's reach.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord Jesus is right there with you.
SPEAKER_00: He's not far, he's not removed.
SPEAKER_00: His spirit, his very presence, is near to you.
SPEAKER_00: He means it spatially.
SPEAKER_00: That to the anxious heart, Jesus is within reaching distance, the Lord is at hand.
SPEAKER_00: And then he says, Anxious heart, could you pray?
SPEAKER_00: He exhorts us, he says, Don't be anxious about anything, but pray about everything.
SPEAKER_00: Do you see that connection?
SPEAKER_00: And Paul isn't so blind and blasé, because I know that some of you, particularly if you're just plagued and crushed by anxiety, but you but your response to Paul is, yeah, Paul, easier said than done.
SPEAKER_00: That's what I mean.
SPEAKER_00: That this could be a journey that you could begin today and we could support you in.
SPEAKER_00: And it might be a battle until the Lord returns.
SPEAKER_00: But he's saying, Look, could could you pray?
SPEAKER_00: Could you bring some of your anxieties to him?
SPEAKER_00: Because maybe you haven't.
SPEAKER_00: Because one of the things that anxiety does is it does paralyze you.
SPEAKER_00: The anxious heart is the heart that thinks that thinks much and acts little.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying, could could you pray?
SPEAKER_00: Could you pray about everything?
SPEAKER_00: Paul gives us a couple of words that that might be of benefit to you.
SPEAKER_00: He says to to pray, uh, to give supplications and to do so with thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_00: This idea, this first word, prayer, is specifically the idea of interceding for others.
SPEAKER_00: Do you see it?
SPEAKER_00: So he's not actually even beginning by saying pray about your circumstances.
SPEAKER_00: This is very interesting.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying, Could you, anxious heart, intercede for someone else?
SPEAKER_00: Why would that be the case?
SPEAKER_00: Well, because one of the things that that it that a chaotic mind does that an anxious heart does is it can't see beyond itself.
SPEAKER_00: Paul's saying, is there somebody else that you could stand in the gap for?
SPEAKER_00: And maybe they could stand in the gap for you.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe you could pray for them and you could watch, you could see actually the Lord's working in their life.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe that would build your faith that the Lord might work in yours.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe actually you can be helped in your anxieties by becoming a little bit more self-forgetful.
SPEAKER_00: Could you intercede for someone else?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe one of the things anxious heart that you could do today or after the service is go, how can I pray for you?
SPEAKER_00: Go to somebody.
SPEAKER_00: How can I pray for you?
SPEAKER_00: Lord willing, they'll reciprocate and go, well, how can I pray for you?
SPEAKER_00: And say, I'm one of those anxious people that Mark was talking about.
SPEAKER_00: And it just feels like that pressure will never lift.
SPEAKER_00: But I want to try.
SPEAKER_00: I want to try and move forward in faith, just a just like a baby step.
SPEAKER_00: And so, are there some things that I could pray for you?
SPEAKER_00: And maybe you could pray for me, and maybe we could wait and see what God does.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, supplications.
SPEAKER_00: That is the word of asking God for the concerns you have.
SPEAKER_00: So he's not saying forget your stuff.
SPEAKER_00: But he is putting them in an order, he's saying, Don't forget others, don't become so navel gazy that you, because that's not healthy for you either.
SPEAKER_00: So he's saying, look, look up, look out, pray for others, and bring your concerns, your requests.
SPEAKER_00: And remember Paul is confident that God who began a good work will bring it to completion, that God will answer those prayers.
SPEAKER_00: That you, Christ follower, with your anxious heart, one day anxiety will leave you and peace will reign eternally.
SPEAKER_00: He says to do so with thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_00: In one of the things that anxiety not only just saps our joy like an emotional vampire, but it it blinds us to gratitude, it makes us more discontent, more more grumbly.
SPEAKER_00: And so that's why Paul says to pray these ways and to thank God.
SPEAKER_00: Those objective things that we talked about at the start of the sermon of who you are in Christ, that who God is to you, that he's not some distant Lord but a Father, that the Lord Jesus is near, he's at arm's reach.
SPEAKER_00: That is something that is true, that you can thank him for.
SPEAKER_00: And the result Paul's expectant result is that peace, the peace of God would come and take up residence in your heart, in your mind.
SPEAKER_00: Anxiety is the state that the finite heart finds itself in when it cannot see all ends.
SPEAKER_00: It is the mind that cannot comprehend tomorrow.
SPEAKER_00: It is the hand that knows that it's not strong enough to hold on.
SPEAKER_00: But the God of peace.
SPEAKER_00: The God of peace is the one who knows all ends from the beginning.
SPEAKER_00: He is the one who sees all consequences, who comprehends from eternity all tomorrows.
SPEAKER_00: And he is the one who strengthens weary hands, but not only that, who holds on to weary people.
SPEAKER_00: All that the Father who has all that the Father has given me will come to me, said the Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And all who have come to me, I will never drive away anxious heart.
SPEAKER_00: He will never drive.
SPEAKER_00: Drive you away.
SPEAKER_00: And the amazing thing is that this God comes by his spirit and he invites you to enjoy this peace now.
SPEAKER_00: To live into it.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe it will start as a as a drip.
SPEAKER_00: Just just a little just a little refreshing while you battle, while we support you.
SPEAKER_00: And then it will begin to run like rivers into your heart.
SPEAKER_00: You can change.
SPEAKER_00: You can make progress in your in this area.
SPEAKER_00: I believe it.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know to what degree.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't know if you will ever be completely free of it, this side of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: I know that when Jesus returns, you will.
SPEAKER_00: But you can make progress.
SPEAKER_00: And we're here for that.
SPEAKER_00: We want to support you in that.
SPEAKER_00: Take heart anxious mind.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord is near.
SPEAKER_00: The final thing that Paul does in in order to help the anxious person is that he encourages us all, not just to pray, but to practice.
SPEAKER_00: The anxious person is, as I've said, somebody who often thinks much and does little because they feel trapped or paralyzed.
SPEAKER_00: But Paul actually moves and says, okay, you need to focus your mind.
SPEAKER_00: You know, those voices that are screaming, some of those need to be told to shut up, actually, because they're just telling you lies.
SPEAKER_00: And one of the ways that you do that is you focus your mind on certain things.
SPEAKER_00: So verse 8, finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there's any excellence, if there's anything worthy of praise, do what?
SPEAKER_00: Think about these things.
SPEAKER_00: It's not just a case that Paul comes along to you who are trapped in worry and anxiety and says, Stop it! Stop it.
SPEAKER_00: Don't know if you've seen that Bob Newhart video of the psychiatrist.
SPEAKER_00: Got two words for you, stop it.
SPEAKER_00: Great.
SPEAKER_00: That's not what Paul's saying.
SPEAKER_00: Paul's saying, not only do you need to turn from certain things, but you actually fill your mind with other things, with things that are pure, lovely, good, and true.
SPEAKER_00: I think actually you do that in the context of community, because you need to be helped.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you can't see.
SPEAKER_00: You're so blinkered by it.
SPEAKER_00: Think about these things.
SPEAKER_00: And then verse 9 says, Whatever you have learned and received and heard from me, not only think, but act.
SPEAKER_00: Practice these things.
SPEAKER_00: And what?
SPEAKER_00: Again, an assurance, again a promise.
SPEAKER_00: And the God of peace will be with you.
SPEAKER_00: Focus.
SPEAKER_00: Practice.
SPEAKER_00: Your mind is a battleground.
SPEAKER_00: People lose that fight every day.
SPEAKER_00: Don't give in.
SPEAKER_00: Dwell on these things, practice them.
SPEAKER_00: Bring your anxieties to the Lord who is at hand.
SPEAKER_00: And be expectant that his sovereign peace would reign in your life.
SPEAKER_00: I'm torn with what to do now.
SPEAKER_00: It's 1135, and we have over half the passage still to do.
SPEAKER_00: But I feel like that needed to be dwelt on.
SPEAKER_00: I'll make three final observations and then I'll be done.
SPEAKER_00: Paul then pivots to giving an example of his life.
SPEAKER_00: And he shows three things.
SPEAKER_00: He shows them his contentment, he shows them his gratitude, and he shows them his goal.
SPEAKER_00: His contentment, well, it's that in all of his circumstances, he is aware of Christ strengthening him.
SPEAKER_00: You know, Philippians 4.13, uh, you know, it's kind of a uh it's it's kind of the youth work verse.
SPEAKER_00: You know, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
SPEAKER_00: You think I'm gonna uh do Herculean binds across buildings.
SPEAKER_00: You know, uh are you going to are you gonna do are you gonna pass your exams?
SPEAKER_00: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
SPEAKER_00: Um but actually what Paul is saying is that whatever circumstance I find myself in, Christ is there with me.
SPEAKER_00: He's strengthening me.
SPEAKER_00: I'm enjoying his power.
SPEAKER_00: That when I when I have much, it's all about him and his kindness and his generosity to me.
SPEAKER_00: And when I have nothing, I still am rich because I have him.
SPEAKER_00: Now I've learned to be content.
SPEAKER_00: One of the things that drives conflict and anxiety is discontentment.
SPEAKER_00: Certainly happens in marriages.
SPEAKER_00: One of the things that drives marital breakdown is discontentment all the time about everything.
SPEAKER_00: Paul's saying, for me to follow Christ is to know that whatever happens, I've got him.
SPEAKER_00: He's at hand.
SPEAKER_00: That's the first thing.
SPEAKER_00: Not much more to be said about these things.
SPEAKER_00: Second, he talks about uh gratitude.
SPEAKER_00: Gratitude towards what?
SPEAKER_00: The Philippians' generosity.
SPEAKER_00: That even in the midst of the fact that everything's not perfect in the church, as we've just seen, they've still been so loving towards Paul and they've received uh uh Paul's received this financial gift from this church that wasn't particularly rich, and he's so grateful, not because he's got money from them, financial aid for them, but because of the heart that it reveals that they have.
SPEAKER_00: And so he thanks God for them.
SPEAKER_00: And again, I think one of the things that we can learn as followers of the Lord Jesus, as we're kind of reading people in a uh in a in a more compassionate and positive light, and as we're as we're trying to focus on on these things that are pure and good and lovely, one of the things that we can train ourselves in is more and more gratitude.
SPEAKER_00: Actually looking at the things that we do have and going, oh, the Lord has been super kind.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, there's stuff that isn't quite working right, yes, there's stuff to be concerned about that I need to pray about, yes, there's stuff that is threatening to steal my joy and that I'm worrying about, but actually the Lord has been so kind here, here, and here.
SPEAKER_00: To be gratif, to be grateful.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe even in uh in the Philippian side of things, to have that generous heart.
SPEAKER_00: And finally, Paul's goal is uh is not just their health, their well-being, though that is true, but it's God's glory.
SPEAKER_00: So he finishes in verse 22 uh to our God and Father be glory forever and ever.
SPEAKER_00: That's what he wants to pursue, that's what he wants the Philippian Christians to pursue, because that's the highest calling of your life, to give your life to the glory of God, to making him magnificent amongst us and amongst the nations.
SPEAKER_00: That is the final goal.
SPEAKER_00: That's why we have the mind of Christ, that's why we trust him alone for our righteousness, that's why we forgive and are forgiven, that's why we put away uh worry and anxiety and live with love and gratitude that God might be glorified among us.
SPEAKER_00: And what does he assure us that we have?
SPEAKER_00: We have grace.
SPEAKER_00: We have grace as we pursue him, we have grace as we move forward.
SPEAKER_00: And so he finishes the letter, very final verse, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
SPEAKER_00: You need to remember chapter 1, verse 2.
SPEAKER_00: Chapter 1, verse 2 begins, Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And then he concludes the very last verse: the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
SPEAKER_00: Grace to you, grace be with you.
SPEAKER_00: What's happened as the letter has been read and as we've studied it these last seven weeks?
SPEAKER_00: Grace has been flowing to you.
SPEAKER_00: Grace to you.
SPEAKER_00: Grace flows through the word of God to your hearts, as it's taken by the Spirit of God, and he shapes and he molds and he causes you to weep and cry out to him.
SPEAKER_00: Grace is flowing through these letters, grace flows through the word of God, and now Paul says, may it remain with you.
SPEAKER_00: You see, you are enabled this morning by the Spirit of God, graciously by his grace, to live for him.
SPEAKER_01: If you found this helpful or want to know more about City Church Dublin, please visit our website found in the link below.