WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:10.480 Continuing our study in Philippians, you'll recall that Paul is in jail, and he's writing to the church at Philippi to encourage them. 00:00:10.960 --> 00:00:14.480 He begins in verse 8 with the word finally. 00:00:14.560 --> 00:00:18.160 So he's wrapping up his letter to the Philippians. 00:00:18.320 --> 00:00:22.480 And what he wants to do in this passage and what he is doing is encouraging them. 00:00:22.559 --> 00:00:27.039 And so I want us to look at this passage together to see how he does that. 00:00:27.199 --> 00:00:29.440 But before we begin, let's pray. 00:00:29.760 --> 00:00:33.520 Heavenly Father, thank you so much for your love for us. 00:00:33.679 --> 00:00:47.280 Thank you for your word that you've given us your word to contemplate, to understand who you are, so that we can appreciate how much you love us. 00:00:47.520 --> 00:01:01.600 And I pray this morning, even as we we study your word, that you would move me aside, use me as you see fit, but more importantly, that you would speak to our hearts and change us even today in Christ's name. 00:01:01.759 --> 00:01:02.399 Amen. 00:01:02.880 --> 00:01:08.799 So we've got uh just two verses this morning, but in these two verses we've got a to-do list. 00:01:08.959 --> 00:01:12.879 I don't know if you noticed when Janine read, but there's a to-do list there. 00:01:13.200 --> 00:01:16.480 So how many of you are list people? 00:01:16.560 --> 00:01:25.040 And I'm not gonna make anybody come up here, so you can I see if you so how many of you like to-do lists? 00:01:26.239 --> 00:01:27.280 There are a few. 00:01:27.359 --> 00:01:36.959 And and I I'm gonna tell you I appreciate that because to-do lists are a nice way to organize or a nice way to kind of prioritize everything you need to do in the day. 00:01:37.040 --> 00:01:39.359 You can check off, make progress. 00:01:40.079 --> 00:01:44.239 I do not like to-do lists because they stress me out. 00:01:44.799 --> 00:01:56.319 Um in fact, I was I was kind of thinking about this some this week, and I I found that there's actually uh something called the Zagarnik effect that explains this. 00:01:56.480 --> 00:01:57.920 Anybody ever heard of that? 00:01:58.159 --> 00:02:06.239 Which simply means if you've got a list, you're more likely to remember the things that you haven't done than the things that you have done. 00:02:06.400 --> 00:02:08.719 And that's me at about 3 a.m. 00:02:08.960 --> 00:02:13.439 I'm thinking about the things I haven't done, and it's it stresses me out. 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:18.639 Um so I would just as soon not have a to-do list. 00:02:18.719 --> 00:02:20.159 In fact, I'm pretty passive about it. 00:02:20.240 --> 00:02:21.280 I ignore lists. 00:02:21.360 --> 00:02:24.639 And so if you want me to do something, don't put it on a list. 00:02:25.120 --> 00:02:32.960 Um anyway, Paul gives a list of eight things, and there are two things in there that are imperatives, commands. 00:02:33.199 --> 00:02:35.520 He says in verse eight to think. 00:02:35.919 --> 00:02:38.000 Um let's look at that. 00:02:38.719 --> 00:02:45.599 Um he goes through his list and he says, at the end of that, think about these things. 00:02:45.840 --> 00:02:53.280 And then in verse nine, he says, What you have learned, received, and heard, and seen in me, practice these things. 00:02:53.439 --> 00:02:55.759 So think and practice. 00:02:56.159 --> 00:03:03.520 Um we're gonna look more closely at those and at the list, but first look at the end of verse 9. 00:03:03.759 --> 00:03:08.800 He says, Practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. 00:03:09.199 --> 00:03:10.879 Um that's an important phrase. 00:03:11.039 --> 00:03:26.560 The God of peace is used eight times in the New Testament, once here in Philippians, but peace, interestingly, is 85 times that word is used in the New Testament, 41 times by Paul, and three times in Philippians. 00:03:26.639 --> 00:03:39.120 So this notion of peace is important, and here is the God of peace, and he says, it if you practice these things and think about these things, the God of peace will be with you. 00:03:39.680 --> 00:03:40.639 And what does that mean? 00:03:40.960 --> 00:03:45.919 Peace is something that, by the way, God invented. 00:03:46.400 --> 00:03:55.840 So it's tranquility, it's serenity, it's it's relief and it's rest, rest from worry, rest from stress and anxiety. 00:03:56.159 --> 00:03:57.680 I don't know about you, but I need that. 00:03:57.759 --> 00:04:01.120 And I think our congregation, that's something that we talk about a lot. 00:04:01.280 --> 00:04:08.080 So the God of peace being with us, that's important to me, and that's important to us. 00:04:09.360 --> 00:04:15.759 Anyway, he says if we think about these things, if we practice these things, the God of peace will be with us. 00:04:15.840 --> 00:04:18.319 So this let's look more closely at that. 00:04:19.120 --> 00:04:27.680 Um, it's hard to think positive, at least for me, about a list of eight things. 00:04:28.079 --> 00:04:33.519 Um I think list people will tell you that uh how do you get through a long list? 00:04:33.680 --> 00:04:38.160 Well, you prioritize and something's got to be number one. 00:04:38.319 --> 00:04:42.959 But I look at a list and it's just like stuff. 00:04:43.360 --> 00:04:53.759 But but in this case, Paul says, think about this list, think about these words, so at least let's let's do this to give it to do it justice. 00:04:54.000 --> 00:04:56.079 Let's let's think about some of these words. 00:04:56.319 --> 00:05:05.519 He says to think, and that word think is an interesting one because it's not like think how to build a building or put a puzzle together. 00:05:05.680 --> 00:05:13.839 It's think as in contemplate or muse over or just I think some versions say dwell. 00:05:14.000 --> 00:05:16.000 The word I like is imagine. 00:05:16.720 --> 00:05:19.680 Um imagine these things. 00:05:19.920 --> 00:05:24.720 Imagine if we lived in a world where everything was true. 00:05:25.040 --> 00:05:28.959 If we lived in a world where we could trust everyone. 00:05:29.759 --> 00:05:36.879 So that means maybe when I go to the airport I could walk away from my bags and be there when I got back. 00:05:37.040 --> 00:05:38.480 That would be nice. 00:05:38.800 --> 00:05:44.160 Or maybe we don't have to have locks on our doors, our houses. 00:05:44.319 --> 00:05:46.800 I don't have to have a key to crank up my car. 00:05:46.879 --> 00:05:49.120 I never lose my keys again. 00:05:50.079 --> 00:05:58.079 Umagine if everyone in the world were honorable and had the most honorable intentions. 00:05:58.879 --> 00:06:04.879 Um that means I could get my car repaired anywhere and it would actually work. 00:06:05.600 --> 00:06:16.319 That means maybe as I'm driving down the freeway I could leave more space between me and the car in front of me, and nobody's gonna pull in, which really bugs me. 00:06:18.240 --> 00:06:22.480 Imagine that everyone in the world is just and fair. 00:06:23.199 --> 00:06:28.160 That means there would be, we're standing in line, there are no line breaks. 00:06:28.399 --> 00:06:32.240 That means all of the checkout lines finish at the same time. 00:06:32.879 --> 00:06:36.959 That means no survivor television show. 00:06:37.600 --> 00:06:39.600 Anyway, just had to throw that one in. 00:06:39.839 --> 00:06:41.040 But but you get the idea. 00:06:41.199 --> 00:06:47.920 And so we got we go through the list and we imagine, which I think is a good thing to do, but then we think, but this is not reality. 00:06:48.160 --> 00:06:52.240 And I think that's uh that's kind of the world we live in. 00:06:52.399 --> 00:06:55.360 Reality is is I'm gonna wake up at 3 a.m. 00:06:55.519 --> 00:07:01.199 this morning in the morning and and remember, oh gosh, I forgot to be honorable today. 00:07:01.360 --> 00:07:03.120 I can't check it off my list. 00:07:03.279 --> 00:07:07.279 And so after a while that begins to get exhausting. 00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:13.920 And and it's hard because for me anyway, it's a little bit easier to think about the negatives. 00:07:14.399 --> 00:07:23.759 So if if you think, all of those words that we went through, what's true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, those are all positives. 00:07:24.399 --> 00:07:28.879 I tend to be more comfortable, or at least I do it, do it more, think more about the negatives. 00:07:29.120 --> 00:07:37.120 Um whatever is false, dishonorable, unjust, and pure, ugly, you get the idea. 00:07:37.519 --> 00:07:40.240 Um and it's kind of the world we live in. 00:07:40.319 --> 00:07:46.000 And even even this week, uh I'm thinking, you know, two sports figures. 00:07:46.240 --> 00:08:01.759 Um one, well, both very admired, very respected, um, one in jail, um, another just kind of humiliated, really, at his own falling. 00:08:01.920 --> 00:08:12.399 And and here I am, um, I don't know, maybe I have some kind of fascination with the morose, but here I am Googling, because I'm watching OJ videos. 00:08:12.560 --> 00:08:22.480 Here he is in his parole hearing, and I'm watching to, or I'm I'm I'm Googling, trying to figure out well, what exactly did Hugh Freeze do? 00:08:22.800 --> 00:08:24.399 And uh, you don't want to know. 00:08:24.560 --> 00:08:27.920 Um and who who said what to whom? 00:08:28.079 --> 00:08:35.279 And and I'm at the end of that, I'm thinking just about the the shame and the ugliness and the humiliation of it all. 00:08:35.919 --> 00:08:40.000 And thinking, um, you know, that's kind of where we live. 00:08:40.080 --> 00:08:45.919 And but we all know, I know I can do better than this, we can do better than this, and I want to. 00:08:46.240 --> 00:08:50.240 Um I think we all have a desire for a better life. 00:08:50.480 --> 00:08:52.799 We we desire something better. 00:08:52.960 --> 00:08:57.039 In fact, we call that this is the way I wish it could be. 00:08:57.440 --> 00:08:59.039 And we think about that. 00:08:59.600 --> 00:09:00.639 Um C.S. 00:09:00.720 --> 00:09:01.840 Lewis talks about this. 00:09:01.919 --> 00:09:06.320 He talks about desire, um, desiring a better life. 00:09:06.480 --> 00:09:11.440 He says, our whole education tends to fix our minds on this world. 00:09:12.080 --> 00:09:16.080 When the real want for heaven is present in us, we do not recognize it. 00:09:16.320 --> 00:09:26.799 Most people, if they had really learned to look into their own hearts, would know that they do want and want acutely something that cannot be had in this world. 00:09:27.039 --> 00:09:33.279 There are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep their promise. 00:09:34.159 --> 00:09:36.320 And Brian said this a couple of weeks ago. 00:09:36.480 --> 00:09:47.679 If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world. 00:09:48.639 --> 00:09:55.759 I really like that quote because it begins to explain that the things that I really want in life. 00:09:55.919 --> 00:09:59.600 I want a better life, but it's like I never quite get there. 00:09:59.759 --> 00:10:05.679 We fix up our houses, we put pictures on the wall, we get everything just so, and it's not right. 00:10:06.080 --> 00:10:07.679 I want a little bit more. 00:10:07.919 --> 00:10:16.080 So it's it's a clear indication that I'm desiring something beyond what I can actually do for myself, and that's exactly what C.S. 00:10:16.159 --> 00:10:17.600 Lewis is talking about. 00:10:18.240 --> 00:10:31.679 Um, Elise Fitzpatrick, I think even more graphically says it this way embedded in the DNA of homesickness is surrendering to the reality that this is not home. 00:10:32.080 --> 00:10:41.440 And once you surrender to that reality, you quit asking people, places, possessions, and experiences to be what they will never be. 00:10:41.840 --> 00:10:47.200 You become liberated from unrealistic expectations and the resultant disappointments. 00:10:47.519 --> 00:10:51.919 You are freed from being overly critical and unrealistically judgmental. 00:10:52.399 --> 00:10:56.799 You are progressively freed from a life of grumbling and complaining. 00:10:56.960 --> 00:11:03.279 You are freed from asking your spouse or your children to be the messiahs they will never be. 00:11:03.840 --> 00:11:08.000 Um surrendering to the reality that this is not home. 00:11:08.240 --> 00:11:10.799 And I ask myself, am I ready to do that? 00:11:11.039 --> 00:11:26.559 And I think, you know, as we think on this list, eight things that are positive, eight things that are good, um, the eight things begin to sound really more like one thing. 00:11:26.720 --> 00:11:29.519 They they begin to sound like the gospel. 00:11:30.639 --> 00:11:35.919 The gospel of the good news is true, it's pure, it's lovely, it's excellent. 00:11:36.240 --> 00:11:41.519 But even more so, that list begins to sound like one person, Jesus. 00:11:41.919 --> 00:11:48.799 Jesus is true, honorable, just, fair, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise. 00:11:49.360 --> 00:11:51.279 One thing, the gospel. 00:11:51.679 --> 00:11:53.600 One person, Jesus. 00:11:54.240 --> 00:11:56.000 That's what I need to hear. 00:11:56.080 --> 00:11:58.559 In fact, that's the gospel message. 00:11:58.720 --> 00:12:01.120 Um that's what I need to think about. 00:12:01.360 --> 00:12:03.519 That's what I truly desire. 00:12:03.600 --> 00:12:14.639 And I that's a little difficult for me because I I desire, I tend to desire, I think I desire what's in front of me, what I see, but that never quite meets the need. 00:12:15.440 --> 00:12:17.279 Jesus is who I truly desire. 00:12:17.360 --> 00:12:30.480 And I think for us to, um, for me anyway, to really begin to get my arms around that, it's it's what we're saying is it requires just a different way of thinking, a completely different perspective. 00:12:30.799 --> 00:12:36.720 Um I found an illustration I think that does a pretty good job. 00:12:36.879 --> 00:12:45.600 Don't know who wrote this, it's anonymous, um, but it's about a conversation between an unborn set of twins in the womb. 00:12:45.840 --> 00:12:49.039 So if you've ever heard it, if you if you haven't, you'll enjoy it. 00:12:49.279 --> 00:12:53.840 An unborn set of twins are having a conversation in their mother's womb. 00:12:54.080 --> 00:12:56.639 Tell me, do you believe in life after birth? 00:12:56.799 --> 00:12:58.000 asked one of the twins. 00:12:58.240 --> 00:12:59.840 Yes, definitely. 00:13:00.799 --> 00:13:06.720 In here we are growing and gaining strength for what will face us on the outside, answers the other. 00:13:06.960 --> 00:13:09.279 That's nonsense, said the first. 00:13:09.679 --> 00:13:12.000 There cannot be life after birth. 00:13:12.320 --> 00:13:14.320 How is that supposed to work? 00:13:15.039 --> 00:13:17.360 Well, I don't exactly know myself. 00:13:17.600 --> 00:13:20.799 It will certainly be much lighter out there than in here. 00:13:21.120 --> 00:13:25.679 And perhaps we'll actually be running around on our legs and eating with our mouths. 00:13:25.919 --> 00:13:27.840 I've never heard of such nonsense. 00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:28.879 Eating with your mouth? 00:13:28.960 --> 00:13:30.320 What a crazy idea. 00:13:30.559 --> 00:13:33.679 That's what we have umbilical cords for to fetus. 00:13:33.919 --> 00:13:36.000 And you want to run around? 00:13:36.480 --> 00:13:37.440 It would never work. 00:13:37.519 --> 00:13:40.000 The umbilical cord is much too short. 00:13:40.320 --> 00:13:41.919 It will work for sure. 00:13:42.159 --> 00:13:44.480 It will all be a little different. 00:13:44.879 --> 00:13:45.919 You are crazy. 00:13:46.080 --> 00:13:48.159 Nobody has ever come back after birth. 00:13:48.320 --> 00:13:50.159 Life ends with our birth. 00:13:50.320 --> 00:13:51.840 That's it, period. 00:13:52.639 --> 00:14:03.440 I must admit that no one knows what life will look like after birth, but I know that we will get to see our mother and that she will take care of us. 00:14:03.840 --> 00:14:07.519 Mother, are you trying to tell me you believe in mother? 00:14:08.559 --> 00:14:13.279 Well, um, where then is our mother? 00:14:13.759 --> 00:14:16.000 Well, here, all around us. 00:14:16.480 --> 00:14:20.559 We are alive and in her and through her, without her, we could not exist. 00:14:21.120 --> 00:14:21.759 Rubbish. 00:14:21.840 --> 00:14:24.000 I've never noticed anything of mother. 00:14:24.320 --> 00:14:26.480 Therefore, mother cannot exist. 00:14:27.120 --> 00:14:28.320 It's true. 00:14:28.559 --> 00:14:36.559 Sometimes when you're really quiet, you can hear or you can hear her sing, or you can feel when she lovingly caresses our world. 00:14:36.879 --> 00:14:38.639 So, perspective. 00:14:39.600 --> 00:14:43.679 Surrender to the reality that is this is not our home. 00:14:44.240 --> 00:14:47.279 Um, so maybe our perspective does need to shift. 00:14:47.440 --> 00:14:51.360 Um, there's, we began to look at scripture. 00:14:51.600 --> 00:14:54.080 There is much to look forward to. 00:14:54.799 --> 00:15:01.200 The reality is that we're in the midst of a drama that has been playing out since the fall. 00:15:01.759 --> 00:15:10.159 Um, God is determined to redeem mankind and to provide a place where he can be known and we can know him. 00:15:11.600 --> 00:15:13.759 And we are the objects of his quest. 00:15:13.840 --> 00:15:21.200 And against all odds, we have hit the biggest, the biggest lottery that can ever be imagined. 00:15:21.919 --> 00:15:28.639 So, no matter how difficult the circumstances, there's going to be a better day. 00:15:28.960 --> 00:15:34.399 No matter how good it is now, there is a day that is going to be infinitely better. 00:15:35.120 --> 00:15:38.320 A day that is more real than we've ever experienced. 00:15:38.480 --> 00:15:40.799 A day that will last forever. 00:15:42.559 --> 00:15:44.879 Only Christ makes this possible. 00:15:45.360 --> 00:15:55.039 It is his grace that we can know, and that while we are still living, even as aliens in a broken world, that this is the ultimate encouragement. 00:15:55.440 --> 00:15:58.159 This is the hope that we have as believers. 00:15:59.120 --> 00:16:09.919 So the next point is, he said, to think about these things or imagine these things, but also then how are we going to do that? 00:16:10.080 --> 00:16:11.759 How are we going to think differently? 00:16:11.919 --> 00:16:13.840 How are we going to think with a new perspective? 00:16:14.000 --> 00:16:16.960 So the next point he says is practice. 00:16:17.200 --> 00:16:19.200 And truly that is what it takes. 00:16:19.279 --> 00:16:20.159 It takes practice. 00:16:21.759 --> 00:16:27.360 It doesn't come naturally, I think, to think about one person, one thing. 00:16:27.600 --> 00:16:31.519 It just, we've got too much going on around us. 00:16:32.559 --> 00:16:43.120 But Paul says to practice, and I think if we practice one thing, the gospel, one person, Jesus, it begins to make sense. 00:16:43.679 --> 00:16:48.320 A person by the name of Milton Vincent calls this preaching the gospel to yourself. 00:16:48.720 --> 00:17:04.480 And he says this the gospel is so foolish according to my natural wisdom, so scandalous according to my conscience, and so incredible according to my timid heart, that it is a daily battle to believe the full scope of it as I should. 00:17:04.640 --> 00:17:16.160 There is simply no other way to compete with the forebodings of my conscience, the condemning of my heart, and the lies of the world than to overwhelm myself each day with the rehearsing of the gospel. 00:17:16.559 --> 00:17:20.640 I think that is a very wise thing. 00:17:20.799 --> 00:17:24.240 And I think that's something that we can tangibly do now. 00:17:24.720 --> 00:17:34.960 Learn how to preach the gospel to ourselves, learn how to begin to get that different perspective so that we can see that this truly is not our home. 00:17:35.359 --> 00:17:41.599 But at the same time, we've got something to look forward to that's beyond anything we can imagine. 00:17:42.160 --> 00:17:50.079 And then the last point think one thing, one person, and experience the God of peace. 00:17:50.559 --> 00:17:58.079 You know, our greatest desire, whether we acknowledge it or not, our greatest desire, our ultimate home, is Jesus. 00:17:58.240 --> 00:18:05.839 And I think that's one of my challenges, is that I don't always actually recognize that or actually see that. 00:18:06.240 --> 00:18:14.400 Um a woman by the name of Catherine Wolfe, 26 years old, had a stroke. 00:18:14.640 --> 00:18:19.279 Six months earlier, she had uh just delivered a baby, a little baby boy. 00:18:19.920 --> 00:18:26.319 And uh when she had this stroke, um pretty much paralyzed most of her body. 00:18:26.960 --> 00:18:38.079 Um she was in a coma for like three months, and then when she came out of the coma, she couldn't speak, uh, she couldn't move, she could not even swallow. 00:18:38.319 --> 00:18:52.880 And in the depths of her depression, um she was praying to Jesus that just take her because she was gonna be a burden on her husband, she couldn't be a wife to him anymore. 00:18:53.200 --> 00:19:03.519 She was gonna be a burden to her child, she couldn't be a mother, um, and she was uh she was in the depths of the depression when she couldn't even swallow. 00:19:04.720 --> 00:19:16.160 And she realized through prayer, it's like, do you want the things that Jesus gives you, or do you want Jesus? 00:19:18.880 --> 00:19:26.160 And for her, that was a watershed moment in in her life where she's partially recovered. 00:19:26.240 --> 00:19:32.160 She and her husband are still married, the little boy, I think he's about six years old now, maybe a little bit older. 00:19:32.799 --> 00:19:41.519 But they they minister to people with with hope that it's it's not about the things in this world that are going to give us fulfillment. 00:19:41.680 --> 00:19:44.880 That's that's not the desire that we truly want. 00:19:45.039 --> 00:19:46.000 It's it's Jesus. 00:19:46.160 --> 00:19:48.160 And what does that look like? 00:19:48.960 --> 00:19:55.039 Um that's a little difficult, but I think it's I think it's somewhat simple. 00:19:56.160 --> 00:20:00.319 It's a recognition that it's going to be okay. 00:20:00.960 --> 00:20:12.880 Um, even in the worst of times, it's going to be okay simply because no matter what happens in our life, there's a certainty that God loves us beyond anything we can imagine. 00:20:13.119 --> 00:20:16.160 And there's a certainty that he's in complete control. 00:20:17.279 --> 00:20:27.359 And if those two things are true, that God loves us more than we could ever imagine, and that he's in complete control, we're in pretty good shape. 00:20:27.599 --> 00:20:29.359 We're in pretty good shape. 00:20:29.599 --> 00:20:42.799 Um, I think more than anything else, God takes us through difficult times or allows us, better said, to go through difficult times, um, if for no other reason, so that we can know him better. 00:20:43.119 --> 00:20:47.759 Painful, but but glorious on that on the out on the backside. 00:20:49.680 --> 00:21:01.200 John Harper, before he passed his six-year-old daughter to his sister-in-law for them both to climb aboard a raft on the Titanic, said this. 00:21:02.720 --> 00:21:04.960 It will be beautiful in the morning. 00:21:05.680 --> 00:21:07.440 And he didn't make it. 00:21:09.039 --> 00:21:16.000 That was many years ago, but that's uh that's a quote that that uh I've come to love. 00:21:16.160 --> 00:21:18.079 It will be beautiful in the morning. 00:21:18.400 --> 00:21:31.279 I don't know exactly what that means, but but if God loves me to the degree that I know that he does, and if he's in control, and I know that he is, um, it will be beautiful in the morning. 00:21:31.839 --> 00:21:34.799 So think one thing, one person. 00:21:35.279 --> 00:21:36.799 Um it's going to be okay. 00:21:37.039 --> 00:21:38.079 Let's pray. 00:21:39.839 --> 00:21:50.480 Heavenly Father, um, thank you that you are a God of love, and thank you that you've accomplished more than we can possibly understand. 00:21:50.640 --> 00:21:57.519 But you've accomplished um redemption for your glory, but also for our good. 00:21:58.319 --> 00:22:03.920 And thank you that uh with your word we can begin to put that in perspective. 00:22:04.160 --> 00:22:18.319 And with your word, we can begin to know you more and more, and um the uh the uh relationship and the intimacy that we have with you can become more real and real in Christ's name. 00:22:18.559 --> 00:22:19.039 Amen.