Transcript
What a joy to be here this weekend. I have had such a wonderful time on Friday night and then yesterday morning and now today to lead you and lead us all together in a study of St. Paul's last letter that he wrote to a church, which is the book of Philippians. And today we look at the fourth chapter of Paul's letter to the Philippians. It's just a vintage St. Paul. It really is. This is more than
a chapter that closes the book. It really is St. Paul sharing his whole philosophy of life, sharing what makes him tick, what gives him meaning to his life, and he does it in this final chapter to a church he loves very much. And I think you're going to enjoy this chapter. Here's how it starts. It starts, Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and I long for, my joy and my crown. The word for crown
there is not diadem. That would be the word for the crown of a king. It's stephanos, which is the crown of an athlete. So Paul doesn't have delusions of grandeur, but he is proud of his race that he ran. And so in effect he's saying, You're my gold medal. You're my silver medal. You know, I got a medal. And you're it. It's really neat. That's what he calls these Philippians. That's how much he likes them. So
he says, You're my crown and my joy. And then Paul always has to give advice. Stand firm, Therefore, in the Lord, my beloved. All right. Now there is a problem at Philippi. You know, Karl Barth says there is no New Testament letter written apart from the problems of the church. And that that's kind of nice to know if you when you read the New Testament to know that every single letter, there's some problem that Paul has
to or that John, when he writes his letters, there's some problem that has to be faced up to. Now at Philippi, there are two women, Euodia and Syntyche. And then there's a man that's mentioned there, too. But there's two women that evidently are having an argument. And they're going to get in the New Testament that way. By the way, the only way to get the New Testament is to either be so great and so marvelous that
they were one of the heroes of faith or such a problem that Paul has to mention their names in connection with their argument. So but they get in the New Testament that way. And these two women, Euodia and Syntyche, are evidently having an argument. And Paul has heard about it. Maybe Epaphroditus, the young man they sent to help him, told him about it. But, you know, gossip goes fast. Anyway, everybody knows about it. Have you heard
about the problem over at First Church? People say that. Nobody likes it. That's why I don't want to go to Presbytery, because at Presbytery somebody will say, oh, gee, you hear the problem over it. So I don't know. There's a problem at First Church Philippi, and it's these women that are having an argument. Evidently, watch how Paul handles it. I want you to watch what he says and what he doesn't say. But here it is. This
is the next verse. I urge Euodia and Syntyche to agree in the Lord. That's the actual word he uses, omelogia, to agree in the Lord. And I ask you, true yokefellow, that's another, he uses a singular, yokefellow, but he's referring to the whole church. I ask you, true yokefellow, help these women. The word help, notice he doesn't say, here are seven steps of church discipline I want you to follow with these women. Instead
he says help them. He leaves it all in the hands of the church. And by the way, the word help means lift, lift with them, lift them. Lift these women, help these women, for they have competed side by side with me. He uses the same word, sunathleo, if you were in my class yesterday, you know that Paul used the word earlier in this book, when he called us fellow competitors. It's an athletic image. He's already given
you one, now the stephanos image, now here's another one. Sunathleo, they are competitors with me, or in other words, teammates. They're teammates with me. So they have become teammates with me, together with Clement, now whoever he is. For the sake of the gospel, and along with all the other workers too, and their names are in the book of life, he says. Okay, now watch what he says and what he doesn't say. First of all, he names
names. He doesn't want to spread more gossip by saying, I understand there are two people having an argument there, then everybody's going to wonder who are the two people that Paul has to mention. He mentions their names, that's a great risk he takes, but he mentions their names, Euodia and Syntyche, then he does not side with one side of the argument or the other side of the argument. In fact, he doesn't even get involved in the
argument at all, and that's not a bad idea. Instead, Paul says to the women, I ask you women, find the place where you can stand together in the Lord. Find an agreement in the Lord. Find your deepest place to stand together. You may differ on the color of the carpet, which may have been the argument, who knows, that splits a lot of churches. Or it may be something else, what's going to happen with this room or
that room, or maybe theological debate. But he says, I'm asking you two women, find a place where you agree in the Lord. Find that. And then I ask the rest of you to help them. Again, he doesn't give specific instructions or anything. I ask you help them. And don't forget something about them. Don't forget that they're teammates with me. They're my teammates. Okay. And they have labored side by side with me. And along with Clement, whatever,
maybe he's one of the argument in the argument, too. We don't know. But they have labored side by side with me. And don't forget this. God carries their picture in his wallet. Their names are in the Book of Life. You know, that kind of upgrades these two ladies, doesn't it? It upgrades the Clement, too. Their names are in the Book of Life. We sang a song about that. Our names are graven on his hands. Don't forget
that. That means you're going to treat people a lot differently, if you know that. And then he drops it. He doesn't say anything more after that. Okay? So there's this problem with these two women. And he asks them to find an agreement in the Lord. And then he tells the church, don't forget these two great facts about these people. They're teammates with me. And their names are in the Book of Life. Now comes a very famous
verse in Philippians that everybody loves. In fact, a lot of young people, I've written it, too, and written this in their Bible. Philippians 4:4. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say rejoice. Wow. I love that verse. But why does he overdo it? Why doesn't he just say rejoice? That's enough. Paul doesn't ever waste words. Just rejoice in the Lord always. That's enough. But he doubles it. And in both Hebrew and in Greek, if you
double something, there's a reason for it. Why does he say rejoice in the Lord always? Again, I say rejoice. I came up with my own, this is kind of maybe a little bit off the wall interpretation now. But I came up with the idea that maybe he does it twice because they're not necessarily in the mood to rejoice. Now that all the dirty laundry of the Philippian church has been put out in the open. Now everybody
knows there's an argument in the church. And though they've been asked to help and all. And now that's out in the open. You think about it. Every translation of the Bible from then on is going to have these two women's names in it. And it's going to tell about the big argument down at Philippi. It's going to be in the RSV. It's going to be in the King James Bible. It's going to be in the Jerusalem
Bible from then on. How do you want to be known that way? You want to be known as a church that has an argument going. And so maybe they're not in the mood to rejoice. So Paul says rejoice in the Lord always. Kind of looks around in his head and says, I'm not sure they're in the mood for that right now. I'm going to say it again. Rejoice in the Lord always. Well, now we're ready to
continue with the rest of the book, but at least he had to say it twice. Though I kind of, I made a little joke about Euodia and Syntyche when I wrote my commentary in that book. I made a little joke about him. I said, well, the Philippians are probably going to obey Paul now and rejoice in the Lord always because he told him to do it. And how can you go against that advice? But you know,
they're going to get even with Euodia and Syntyche. So here's a warning. If you start arguments, be careful. If you start arguments and get known for your arguments, then people are not going to name their children after you. You think about that for a minute. When you're thinking about what you're going to name your new daughter and you think about your sorority and all the people in your sorority, you think, oh, I don't want to name
her her. I don't want to name her her. That was a terrible girl in my house. Or a terrible guy in the dorm. I just can't stand him. I'm not going to name my son after him. So we got even with Euodia and Syntyche. I have never met anyone named Euodia. I have never met any Syntyche. Have you? I've met a lot of Marys, a lot of Martha's, a lot of Sarah's, a lot of Elizabeth's. They're
all the great people of the New Testament, but no Euodia or Syntyche. So be careful. If you start arguments, if you're cantankerous, then nobody's going to name their children after you later on. So so we got even with it. So don't start arguments. But on the other hand, they were competitors with Paul, even with their strange names. And so was Clement. And so Paul is able to say, rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say rejoice.
OK, I'm going to read now the rest of the fourth chapter. It's great. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say rejoice. Let your gentleness. Actually, the word there means moderation. Let your moderation be known to all people. The Lord is nearby. I love that verse. OK, let your moderation. He doesn't say your zeal. He doesn't say your bravery. Yet yesterday we talked about Paul being brave and wanting him to be brave out in the open.
But now he says in the tough time in which they live, Nero is the emperor is a very tough time. He says, let your moderation be known. You know what I think the word epicast really means? It means to be unflappable. Remember yesterday, if you were in my class yesterday, we saw that Paul did not want them to panic when they saw danger. Don't panic. Turo is the word he uses. Don't panic. That's like a horse
that's spooked. Don't be spooked when you see something that's unusual or dangerous. So he says he doesn't want them to panic. Now here's the opposite of that. The opposite of panic is to be unflappable, is to be moderate and not panic. So he says, let everyone know your unflappability. Let everyone know your moderation. The Lord is nearby. We'll reflect on that in just a few moments. The fact that the Lord is nearby makes that possible. And
then comes a great section, a few sentences on prayer. He says, do not worry. Don't be anxious about anything. But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And then he makes a promise. And then following that invitation to prayer, he gives them a biblical doctrine of meditation and urges them to meditate on something. So listen to this. He loves lists. And he loves what you might call hypothetical
lists. He did this earlier in Philippians 2. He said, is there any encouragement? Is there any love? Then have this mind that I want you to have this mind among yourselves so that you're not competing with each other but have the mind of Christ. So he starts that with if, if, if. He does the same thing here now. Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is
commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about those things. There's the biblical doctrine of meditation, not the empty garden. He doesn't say empty your head. It's not an empty garden where you have a mantra and you say the mantra so you can have an empty garden. No, it's not that tradition of meditation. It's the focusing tradition of meditation. In fact, the word think here is logisthai in Greek, which means
compute, compute that, figure it out, work with it and put it into practice. That's what he comes with next. So think about these things. That's the biblical doctrine of meditation. You get it from the Psalms all the way through, that's the Judeo-Christian understanding of meditation. It's the tradition of meditation that when you're meditating, you focus on what is true. Like in Psalm 77, which is a grim Psalm at the beginning where the psalmist is feeling
that no, there is no hope for anything. I feel I can't even sleep, he says. And then in the middle of the Psalm, he stops and says, but I will remember that God with an outstretched arm brought us out of the land of Egypt. And earlier we sang this great song, rather in the prayer of confession. You started the prayer of confession with lamentations. Lamentations three is a grim lamentation. You didn't read the grim part, but
it's a grim lamentation by Jeremiah where he's talking about the wormwood and the gall. That's what we feel. That's all we've been tasting since the city of Jerusalem has been destroyed. But I will remember that God's mercy lasts beyond the destruction of this city. And then comes that great sentence. Because of that, I'll say, great is thy faithfulness. And that song we love to sing, great is thy faithfulness comes from that song. That's a meditation song.
That's Jeremiah meditating, focusing on what is true in the face of things that are not so true, not so good. And that's what Paul's next piece of advice is. Now the next part of the fourth chapter is autobiographical. This is the third place where Paul is autobiographical in the book of Philippians. And here he says, I rejoice in the Lord greatly now at length that you've revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me,
but you had no opportunity to show it. I have to explain that after Paul went down to Jerusalem with the offering he was taking, which he collected throughout the Mediterranean world. The Philippians contributed to it. He took it to the Jews who were already beginning to suffer because of Roman persecution in Jerusalem. And then he got arrested while he was there, and he was put in a dungeon actually in the castle that belonged to Herod the
Great, which was rented to the Roman governors down in Caesarea on the Mediterranean coast. If you go to Israel, you can see that it's been fully restored, the great palace of Herod the Great on the Mediterranean. The harbor has completely been restored. And Paul was kept there for two years. And he got bored. He couldn't write books there. He was really incognito. And so he appealed to Caesar for a trial. And that's why they sent him
on a ship, a prison ship, which crashed in Malta and finally he ended up in Rome. And now he's in Rome and he's in a fatal imprisonment in Rome. He's never going to get out of that prison, but he just couldn't stand staying down in Caesarea for more than two years. So the Philippians couldn't help him, though they helped him all the time. They couldn't help him when he was there. Now, when he got to Rome,
was in the Roman prison. They found out they sent Epaphroditus to help him. So that's what he's referring to. I rejoice Lord greatly now at length. You revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned, but you had no way of doing it, showing it. But then he says, but not that I am complaining out of want, for I know how to have little and I know how to have a lot. In any and all circumstances,
I have learned the secret of facing plenty and want, of being abased and abounding. I can, and now comes this famous line, I can do all things in him. And that's the Christ that he talked about at the beginning, the Lord, in him. I can do all things in him who strengthens me. By the way, do, the word do there means I can take in stride. I can take in stride all these things because of Christ
who strengthens me. He shares that with him. I know how to be abased. I know how to bound. I know how to have plenty. I know how to want. I have, it's interesting, the RSV uses an interesting word there. I know to have plenty and want. In all circumstances, I've learned the secret of facing plenty and want. I am content in whatever state I'm in. By the way, the word content is, I have to give you
one more word study. The word content is autonomous in Greek. We talk about patient autonomy, sometimes they use the word autonomous to refer to you and to how you feel about yourself. Did you know that in classical Greek it's the word for sanity? In other words, Paul says, I know how to stay sane in the midst of all these abrupt things I've had in my life. Plenty and want, being abased, and after all he was beaten
several times. Wants my rods. All these terrible things I've gone through, a shipwreck. I know how to handle all these things. I can take them in stride. I can keep my sanity. I'm content. I can keep my sanity because of Christ who strengthens me. All right, then there's one more passage and then we're going to reflect on it. He says, you Philippians, indeed you know that in the early days when I left you and went over
to Thessalonica, you stayed with me and you gave me help over and over again. But not that I seek the gift. I seek the profit that accumulates on your account. I have been paid in full and have more than enough. I am satisfied fully from all that you gave me through Epaphroditus. You know, I love that as a thank you letter. It's not a thank you letter that puts an envelope in to send the next offering.
It's just saying you did plenty. You did all you need to do. Epaphroditus gave me more than enough. I love that. It's a nice, clean thank you. By the way, you know, it's nice thing to learn how to say thank you. Nice and clean. It's like if you get a letter from your grandmother and she says, oh, thanks for writing that note to me. But you did misspell four words. Don't do that. Just say thanks for
writing. Don't say you misspell four words. Who cares? But some people don't know how to give a clean thank you. You ever notice that? They say thank you. They've got to add one more thing to keep in control. And Paul does not do that here. I want to read that to you again. Notice what he says. He says, I have been fully paid and more than enough. I am fully satisfied having received from Epaphroditus all the
gifts you gave. And he follows that and my God is able to fulfill all your needs as well. And then he says, greet every saint in Christ. The friends greet me. Join with me in greeting you. All the saints greet you. And here comes an interesting one liner, especially those in the emperor's house. I already pointed out to you yesterday that one clue Paul gave as to what prison he was in in Rome. There were five
prisons in Rome for a century. One of the prisons was actually in the precinct of the Roman emperor himself. Don't ask me why, but that's a weird thing about antiquity. If you go to any palace or any castle in Europe, there's always a dungeon. That means that the prince that owned the castle wanted to have a dungeon with people where he could see him being tortured or something. It's very perverse, but that's the way it was.
If you saw Lawrence of Arabia, remember the Ottoman prince had his castle and poor Lawrence was down in the basement. He went down and saw him being whipped. And Nero had in his palace, there was a dungeon underneath where prisoners were kept. And Paul says, the Praetorian guard knows about my imprisonment. And the Praetorian guard is the guard that always guards the emperor. And so here he says, I'm sending greetings to you. And by the way,
the saints send greetings to you, including those in Caesar's household. He's won some of the guards to him. I already told you he's very effective with guards. He's very effective with people like that. And then his last line, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you in your spirit. OK, now I want to make a reflection on the secret of St. Paul. He says, I have learned the secret of handling all these things and
of keeping my sanity. What is the secret to his moderation? Where he says, let all people know your moderation, the Lord is nearby. And Paul has won this secret and he's learned it himself. What I'm going to see in this text, there are six markers. I'll take you through them very quickly. Six markers that will help you understand the secret of St. Paul. The first marker is the most important of all. Let all men know your
moderation. The Lord is nearby. If you knew that Jesus Christ was alongside of you, then what in the world are you afraid of? If you're riding on Aslan's back, are you afraid of lions and tigers and bears? No. If you're on Aslan's back, if you're an Arnea fan, you're safe. You're safe. And that's what Paul says. Let everyone know your moderation, the Lord is alongside of you. And if the Lord is alongside of you, then what
are you afraid of? It keeps your sanity. It keeps you from panicking. It keeps you moderate. And that's his secret. The first is because Christ is alongside of him. I can take in stride all things because of Christ, who strengthens me. Second, comes right out immediately after that, when he encourages us to pray. St. Paul prays a lot. He gives you three words, three of the great prayer words are in this text. He says, don't be
anxious about anything, but with prayer, that means simply to ask with asking prayer and supplication. Now supplication in the Old Testament, the word palal, which is translated supplication is literally the Hebrew word for think. So in prayer, it's with your mind as well as your emotions. You ask, that may be very emotional, but you think with God. That's when you're doing intercession. That's why you should never say, oh Lord, just bless everybody in Africa. No, no,
that's not intercession. It's when you name people you know or places that you know about and care about. Lord, I'm so concerned about so and so and so and so. That's intercession when you're thinking with God. And then three, with Thanksgiving. You do it with Thanksgiving, knowing that God hears you, that God's mercy is there before you ever started. So the secret of St. Paul is first, Christ is nearby and he knows it. Secondly, he prays.
He keeps in touch with Jesus Christ and prays. Third, the great meditation text. If there's any of this, if there's that, logisthai, think about those things, focus on those. He focuses his mind on the greatest truth in the face of all the other truths and falsehoods of his time. He focuses. That's that focusing tradition that goes from the Old Testament right straight through the New and Paul advocates it. But he also does it. And then four,
he knows how to handle both advantages and disadvantages. Because, and keep his sanity in the midst of advantages and disadvantages. That's the noise that I know how to be a base, I know how to bound. I can have plenty, I can have not much. And I can handle it. I can keep my sanity because of Christ who strengthens me. You know, it's one of the biggest secrets of life is how to handle your advantages and your
disadvantages. I'll give you an example. Think of Paul's advantages. One, he's very bright. That's an advantage. He has a tremendous understanding of Greek thought and Greek philosophy. That's an advantage. He, after all, grew up in Tarsus, which was a city of Zeno, the father of Stoicism. He comes from an aristocratic family. That's not bad. He had his Roman citizenship by birth. He didn't buy it. And his sister was in Jerusalem when Paul was arrested. And because
of her contact with the Roman legate, she knew the Roman legate. She was able to tell the Roman legate about Paul, the ambush attempt. You can read this in Acts 23. There was a group of terrorists who were going to ambush Paul. And she was able to tell the legate. And then he sent Paul down to Caesarea and saved his life. Of course, then he ended up in prison in Caesarea for two years. But his life
was saved because of her, of Paul's sister's contact with the Roman legate. Paul was a Roman citizenship. Paul also had an uncanny ability to make friends. Paul was able to make friends across every barrier. When he's on the prison ship, Julius, who's the centurion in charge of the ship, becomes his friend. And we're told by Luke that when the ship broke apart in sea at Malta, it's a Roman protocol that when prison ships go to fall
apart or sunk, the prisoners must go down with the ship so that no prisoners could ever escape. And the Roman centurion soldiers came to him and said, shall we kill all the prisoners now so they don't drown in a horrible death? Shall we kill them as the ship goes down? Because they asked him and the centurion said, no, let them all go. So let them swim to shore if they can. And Luke says he did that
to save Paul's life. Because Paul had become Julius' friend. Paul has an amazing ability to make friends. I love the guy. People loved him. He was likable. That's an advantage. All right, look at his disadvantages. He got thrown in jail over and over. He got beaten several times. Several mobs tried to kill him. And when he went to Ephesus, he wanted to teach in Ephesus. He was there two and a half years in Ephesus. And he
wanted to teach when the Jewish synagogue threw him out. So then he said, I'll rent a hall. And the only hall he could rent was Tyranus Hall. I've been to Ephesus seven times and I know the archaeologists are all desperately looking for Tyranus Hall. When the archaeologists find Tyranus Hall, they'll be very, very happy. But he rented it. Paul rented it for two and a half years. Tyranus Hall. But it was only available from 11 in
the morning until 3:30 in the afternoon. Who wants to go hear a lecture? Any of you want to go hear a lecture between 11 and 3:30 where there's no air conditioning? Where it's the heat of Ephesus? I've been there when it was 105 degrees. Do you want to go and listen to a lecture in Tyranus Hall? So no rich people are going to go. But guess who can come and hear Paul lecture between 11
and 3:30 and he was there two and a half years. You know who can come? The slaves. They can get off. And here's a surprise. You know who the intellectuals were in Ephesus during this great period? The slaves. They taught all the youth. All the youth of wealthy people were taught by slaves. Read Tacitus. Read Will Durant about the age of Greece. The slaves were the teachers. And Paul had amazing success with slaves. He won
them to Christ because they could come and hear him talk between 11 and 3:30. At night they had to be at their homes. And in the morning they had to get breakfast for the owners. But they could be free in the middle of the day. That's a disadvantage. But Paul used it as an advantage. He kept his sanity in the midst of advantages and disadvantages. Pascal put it well. Pascal, one of my favorite Pascal quotations.
In fact I've carved it on Driftwood. I had it in my office for a long time. Now I have it over my fireplace. Downstairs. I have a card with this. It's a Pascal quote. Do great things as though they were small because of Jesus Christ. Do small things as though they were great because of Jesus Christ. Notice Jesus Christ alongside you enables you to handle great things and small things. Tough things, good things. He can handle
them. He can take them in stride. Five, Paul has friends who watch out for him. You saw it. That's why I wanted to read all that text. Paul had friends who watched out for him. And I don't know, do you have friends that are watching out for you? Do you have somebody that's watching out for your back? You need it. One of the great values of coming to a wonderful church like this or being in a
small group is to have some friends who know your name. They're not just acquaintances, but they're watching out for you. And they know when you don't show up. And they try to track you down and keep track of you. Paul had some people who were keeping track of him. That's why they set Epaphroditus up to find him. And he's so grateful for it and it kept his sanity. It keeps your sanity to know you're not forgotten.
And then finally, he enjoys life. He starts and ends the whole chapter with joy. Rejoice, O Lord, always. Again, I say, rejoice. Paul loves being alive. Can you think, honestly, a better time to be alive than right now? I can't. I think this is the greatest time to be alive. But it's always been the greatest time to be alive. Because just being alive is a great time. But Paul enjoys it. He's not complaining. Notice he's not
complaining. That's the secret of keeping my sanity. I'm not complaining. Hey. G.K. Chesterton wrote a book in 1908 that had a great influence on C.S. Lewis. And I love this book. It's where Chesterton tells about becoming a Christian. And he titles it Orthodox. You're discovering the discovery of Orthodox faith, the faith of Jesus Christ. And it's a wonderful book. And at the very end of the book, listen to the way he ends it. I
love this ending. He says, The mass of men and women have been forced to be gay about little things, but sad about the big things. Nevertheless, I offer my last dogma defiantly. It is not native to man or woman to be so. Man is more himself. Man is more manlike. A woman is more womanlike. When joy is the fundamental thing in him and grief is the superficial. And then he says this, Melancholy should be an innocent
interlude, a tender and fugitive frame of mind. Praise should be the permanent pulsation of the soul. And here's the best one of all. Listen to this, especially for our age right now. You need this if you watch many talk shows this week. Listen to this one. I'll get you ready for it. You're going to love this last one. Chesterton will nail you. Here he is. Melancholy should be an innocent interlude, tender fugitive frame of mind. Praise
should be the permanent pulsation of the soul. Pessimism is at best an emotional half holiday. You know what he's saying? Don't give a whole weekend to pessimism. It'll take your sanity away. He's right. You should only give one day to pessimism. Never a whole holiday. Just half holiday. That's all. That's all it deserves. It's hope that gives you life, not pessimism. We need to hear that today. Pessimism is at best, he says sometimes it's not a
bad idea to be a little pessimistic for a while. It's at best an emotional half holiday. Joy is the uproarious labor by which all things live. And joy comes from God. Heavenly Father, thank you for this tremendous book. And thank you for Saint Paul, who gives us the secret of keeping our sanity, of staying mellow and moderate when everything around us is panicking, like the Roman Empire in the '60s when Paul was alive, the time that
these Philippians received this letter, when a lot of terrible things are happening. And yet, Saint Paul is able to keep his sanity, is able to keep his heart joyful because he knows about Jesus Christ and his love. So Lord, may we know that and may it make a big difference in our families and in our lives. In Christ's name we pray, Amen.