492: From Principal to Practice | Dave Sloop

Introduction

Good morning, good morning, thanks Bob. Well, we're excited that you guys are here today. We are entering into the last two weeks of our series on the book of Philippians. And I thought before we jump into chapter four today, I would bring us up to speed on what we have covered so far.

If you remember back, I don't know, eight or nine weeks ago, when we started this series, we didn't begin with chapter one, we began where? Chapter two, because. And it is where we learned first this principle. That is the first thing that we learned about.

And I have some slides that go along with this, but the principle that we learned is what? The J curve, the way up is down. And it is based on Philippians 2, starting in verse five, when Paul says, your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus, who, being in very nature of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but he made himself nothing, being made in human likeness.

Being found in appearances of man, he became obedient to death, even death on a cross. And therefore God has exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confessed that Jesus Christ is Lord.

That's the pattern of Jesus' life. And that is the principle that we are to live by. Sometimes it looks like we go down, and then we go up, and then other times, as Tim taught us, it looks like we go down so that others may go up, and then we go up.

This is the counterintuitive life because you see, we would think that the fastest way to get from here to here is here. But Paul says, that's not how Jesus did it, and that's not how you are to do it. The way up is down.

He gives us that principle, but then secondly, he gives us some people. He says, this is not just the shape of Jesus' life. It's the shape of Paul's life. It is the shape of Timothy's life, and it is the shape of Epaphroditus' life.

He gives us some living examples. It goes from Jesus to Paul to Timothy. And if you notice, they're getting a little bit more attainable, and then down to Epaphroditus, whose name is devoted to Aphrodite, this one who is a worshipper of pleasure. That's what his name means.

And though his name did not change, his life did. And it took on the same posture of Timothy's life who took on the posture of Paul's life, who took on the pattern and posture of Jesus' life.

He gives us the principle, he gives us some people. And then for the last two weeks, Tim has been teaching from chapter three, where we've been getting perspective. He's going to tell us in chapter three that this life, this J-curve life, it is worth it.

And he's going to give us perspective in two primary ways. The first thing that he's going to tell us is this. Christ is better now. He's going to say that there were some things, some strategies that he used to employ, this is Paul, to give him a sense of worth and significance and satisfaction, to borrow his language, to quiet the inner voice of self-reproach.

Paul had some strategies, you and I have some strategies too. But Paul, he was willing to let go, to trade up, which is the only way that you and I will let go of our strategies, is the moment that we begin to understand like Paul, that Christ is better than everything right now.

Anything that we could lay hold of in this life, Christ is better. And therefore, Paul says, what is more? I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus, for whose sake I have lost all things. I look at that stuff and I count it as rubbish. Why? That I may gain Christ.

That's the first piece of perspective that he gives. Christ is better now in the present. But there's something else that we learn. He's not just better now, he's better in the future.

Because you see, this life, the now, it is passing away. This is not the life that we were created to live in forever. This is not the world we were created to live in forever. It has been marred by the fall. And one day God will come to restore and redeem all things, and heaven will meet earth and we will live there forever.

And Paul says, as wonderful as Christ is now, the greatest thing that he gives us is not just peace and pleasure and joy and satisfaction and fulfillment in this life, all those things are true. But the best thing that he gives us, what is it? Access to the life to come. He introduces the ultimate binary of all human experience and existence. Life, death. Citizens of heaven, destruction.

Those are the two choices. And he says that Jesus Christ is the only one that offers access to that life. He's not just better now, he's even better in the future.

And so we look eagerly, we await for him to come from heaven, that place that we are presently citizens of.

He gives us the principle, he gives us some people, he gives us perspective. And then finally, this week, he's going to make it practical. He's going to take the principle and he's going to turn it into some practicals. These theological propositions are going to become spiritual practices. It is one thing to tell someone to do something. It's an entirely different thing altogether to tell someone how to do something.

And that is exactly what Paul is going to do in chapter four. In fact, I want to show you guys a video real quick to give you an example of this. Hold on, let's pause it for one second.

This is my daughter Libby when she's, I don't know, three or four years old. And I'm teaching her how to throw this big gigantic Frisbee. Sorry, you're going to have to go back, we'll start that over. But just notice Libby's experience with trying to throw this Frisbee. And then if we can bring the lights down, that'd be great.

Close, try again, just throw it hard. Okay, good, do that side. Then you can check. No, just throw it from there, honey. It won't matter where I stand. It's the same throw. Okay, all right, where do you want me to stand? Okay, come on. It's okay, honey, just try again. Do you want me to teach you? Here, try one more time, just throw it right here.

Can you hear and feel Libby's frustration? I can't do it. It isn't working. I wonder for how many of us, if we were really honest, that we would say that about our relationship with Christ. It isn't working.

It sounds so good when we're here on Sundays. It sounds so good when someone's talking from the stage. But then I get into my car and I drive down into my real life where there are people that I cannot stand. And there are bills that I can't afford and circumstances that I can't control, and temptations that I can't seem to resist. It isn't working.

See, chapter four is the acknowledgment by Paul that Christian ideas, if they're to be worth anything, they have got to survive the furnace of real life. We have to be able to do our doctrine. And that is precisely what Paul is going to teach us how to do in chapter four.

Chapter three is Paul telling you, it's worth it. Chapter four, it works. And here's how you can do it. Ready?

Verse one, Paul says, "Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and my crown, stand firm thus in the Lord." Stand firm, he says. You live in a world that's going to throw a bunch of stuff that let life knock you down.

You stand firm. Don't be like the guy in James chapter one who's unstable in all that he does. He's like a wave of the sea blown and tossed by the wind.

A few years ago, I went to the beach and it was one of those beaches where there's signs as you're walking in that say, when in doubt, don't go out. There are these pictures of these like little stick figures getting pulled away to sea and drowning. It's like the surf here is bad and dangerous. And if you're not sure, just don't go out.

Well, I sat there and I was keeping a close watch on my children to make sure that I kept them safe. But they seem to be doing okay. But then all of a sudden, I look over to my left and there is a woman probably in her 60s or 70s who was with some family. The family had gone out beyond the waves, but she got stuck in the surf right there in the shallow water. And every time she tried to get up, another wave would come and knock her down.

And then she tried to get up again and here comes the current undertow just pulling her back down. And I actually started to get a little worried for this lady. She seemed panicky and anxious. And so I get up and I start walking towards her.

And do you know what she did? When she saw me coming, she was like... (audience laughing) At one point, she even did this. She put her head on her hand as if I'm just doing this on purpose. This is just fun.

And so I went and sat back down and she continued to struggle for like five minutes until her family finally came and got her.

Listen, do we do that? Do we pretend we're standing firm? Is it possible to be a genuine converted believer, a follower of Christ, but not stand firm? You bet.

In fact, that's precisely why Paul says, in 1 Corinthians 10, 12, if you think you're standing firm, be careful that you don't fall. There is no guarantee that you and I will stand firm, but Paul's going to tell us today how you can do it.

There is a way to take the waves of life and not fall down. In fact, here's what he says. He says, stand firm, thus. The NIV probably gets it better when it says, that is how you should stand firm in the Lord.

In other words, he's connecting what he's saying now to something he already said in verse 20 of chapter three. And I want to remind you what he has already said. He says this,

Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

Paul is saying, there are some future promises that give you some power in the present.

In fact, I'm going to put this up on a chart. Here's the first future promise, heaven. He has gone to prepare a place for you. This fallen, broken, messed up world, that's not where we're going to stay.

In fact, it's a vapor. This is not where it's going to be like forever. What's the present reality? Citizenship. There are some present benefits to that future promise. What's the next one? The next one is, he's coming back. We eagerly await the Savior. Who is coming back?

We look for him to come. We're sure of it, we're certain of it, and therefore, here's what we get now. A posture of eagerly awaiting. Now, that might not sound like something that we get, a benefit that we get, but can I tell you something? About a year ago, Melissa and I went to St. Martin for a week.

Do you know when I started to enjoy that trip? The day I clicked purchase on the Airbnb, I started envisioning myself there. The moment that I knew about a future destination that I was going to go, I started to enjoy it. In fact, there's been studies done that show that our anticipation of a thing is sometimes even better than the thing itself, not in this case, but we begin to live in this posture of eager expectation in hope of a certain future.

What's the next thing? The next thing is this. It says that he's going to transform our lowly bodies to be like his glorious body. That's going to happen. You're going to get, you're going to shed this suit that is dying, that is in pain, and you're going to trade it in for something that's like his body that's going to last forever. It doesn't hurt when you get out of bed in the morning. In fact, you're probably not even going to need to sleep, just like him.

What do we get now? We get power now. I want to read that to you again. It says, "Who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body?" And then listen to this, "By the power that enables him to even to subject all things to himself."

What he's saying is that power one day is going to be used to transform your body. But that same power, it's in the present tense, enables him to bring everything into his subjection under his control.

All authority, he said, has been given to me. He is the king of our all creation. And as we eagerly await the Savior, we have access to his power now.

Paul said, you want to stand firm? You hold this reality in front of your face. You apply that truth to every situation, circumstance, relationship, every joy, every pain. That's how you stand firm.

That's the first thing. And then he's going to give you a practical example. He's going to talk about a conflict. In fact, this is a pretty strange transition. Here in verse two, listen to what he says,

I entreat Uodia and I entreat Cinta key to agree in the Lord.

Apparently, there was a conflict back in this church, between these two women, Uodia and Cinta key. Back in that day, this was back in the time when women used to not get along with each other. What? I'm just kidding, men don't either.

But there was some conflict and it was causing division. And what's interesting about this is, Paul doesn't even mention the nature of the conflict. But I want to show you how he encourages them to think about it.

In fact, I'm going to read verse one and two and I'm just going to take out what he mentions about the conflict and just listen.

My brothers, I love, long for my joy, my crown, stand firm, my beloved. And he says this, you've labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of the fellow workers whose names are written in the book of life. Your name's written in the book of life. You're his, you're a citizen of the king. You're going to be in heaven forever in his presence.

And then he says this, it is to agree in the Lord. Are you catching what he's doing? He's encouraging them to see this conflict in light of their citizenship.

In fact, I've put it this way. Policy, elevate your conversion and your calling above your conflict. He's not saying sweep it under the rug, but he's saying he's calling your mind to a higher place.

When you begin to realize that you're part of something bigger and that you've been saved from far worse than whatever that person has done to you, you start to look down and that conflict starts to look pretty tiny.

It puts it in context. Paul, he uses this word agree. It's translated most of the time throughout this book. He uses it 10 times and usually it's translated mind.

He wants you to have the same mind. Why? Because you're on the same team. You have the same spirit, the same savior, the same destination, and you guys have been called together to reach a world that doesn't know him.

And you know what will strip your credibility more than anything else? Your inability to get along. You got nothing to say to a lost and dying world. If you can't get along with each other, you know what's compelling to the world? A community of people that have no business getting along with each other, who look over their social and economic and ethnic and political differences to their citizenship that they share in common.

And it makes them able to love in a way that the world can't. In fact, this is precisely why Paul says in chapter two, he says, do everything without grumbling and complaining. He's talking about their loving each other in the community.

He says, do everything without grumbling and complaining. And then he says, and then you will shine like stars in a crooked and depraved generation.

Get along, elevate your calling and your conversion above your conflict. That's the first thing. Then he's going to take this principle and he's going to expand it to all of life.

Listen to what he says in verse four. Rejoice in the Lord, always. Say it again, rejoice, good, rejoice. Just listen to the audacity of what Paul is saying here, every moment in life, every circumstance that life throws at you can be, should be an occasion for rejoicing.

Now before you accuse Paul of just dropping some insensitive, trite, Christian-ese, I want to remind you where he's riding from. He's in chains, he's in prison. Paul has endured suffering that we will never know. And you know what he's doing? Rejoicing. Why, how? Because the very next verse says, the Lord is at hand.

You know what that means? He's coming. He's sure of it. He's coming back. And therefore throw whatever wave you want to throw at me. I'll be fine. I know where I'm going. My future is certain. And it gives me the ability to endure anything that the world wants to throw at me.

I say that with tremendous humility and sensitivity to some of the pain that I know exist in this room right now, that I know personally is going on in the hearts and lives of some of you.

Some of you are battling cancer and you don't know how that's going to turn out. Some of you are married to someone who has cancer and you don't know how that's going to turn out.

Some of you are in the middle of a failing marriage. Some of you have parents whose marriage is failing and you don't know what the future holds. Some of you might have lost your job. Some of you can't afford your life.

We had all kinds of pain. And what Paul would dare to say to you and to me is this, you can rejoice. You can rejoice.

The next sentence is interesting. He says, "Let your reasonableness be evident to all." It's a strange word. In fact, we don't have a great corollary in the English language for it. The NIV calls it gentleness. The ESV says reasonableness.

You know what the KJV, the King James version says? It says moderation. Here's the point. There is a posture that is reasonable in light of your future.

There's going to be some really good things that life throws at you. But you're going to look at those things and say, "Christ is better."

There's going to be some really difficult things that life throws at you. And you're going to say, "I know where I'm going." It is a posture that helps you not to take the good stuff and make too much of it.

And it enables you to look at the bad stuff and not let it crush you. In fact, do you know 2 Corinthians 4, 17? You know what that verse says? This is another play. If you're offended by this verse, let's know what Paul says here.

Your afflictions, they're light and momentary. Psh. But here's why he says that because they're preparing for you an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.

Paul was so convinced of this. He was applying verse 20 to every circumstance in his life. And so can you. And here's the other side of that coin.

In verse six, it says, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God." And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

What does that mean? What is he saying? Get this. And this is where it gets real practical, okay? He's saying, "Every anxious thought that has come into your mind because of some circumstance you didn't bargain for," guess what? That exact precise anxious thought can be turned into a prayer.

You throw it in the furnace of prayer and you know what it comes back as? Peace that you can't explain. Is that overly simplistic? This requires hard work, but it is a simple formula and it's true if you're willing to commit to it.

In fact, Colossians 3.15 has become a pretty important verse for my life. It says, "Let the peace of God rule in your hearts." That word in the Greek means like govern, arbitrate, referee.

And I read a book one time that encouraged me that every time I have an anxious thought it can be for me a referee blowing a whistle to remind me like, "Wait, I don't have to stay here." I can take that anxious thought out of my mind, turn it into a prayer, throw it into the furnace and it comes back as a peace. What kind of peace? A peace that you can't explain.

It's a peace that does not make sense in light of what you are suffering with and going through. Paul says it works.

See, Paul has just now given us two defensive strategies for how to navigate life by applying verse 20 to your circumstances. There's gonna be things that life throws at you and Paul says, "Look, you get into a conflict? Apply this verse." It's a defensive strategy. You got anxiety coming at you? Apply this verse. It's a defensive strategy.

But now in verse eight, Paul's gonna teach you how to play offense. Listen to what he says.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable.

If there is any excellence, sorry. Yeah, if there's any excellence, if there's anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Paul says there's some things you need to think about. Now that you've gotten all that anxiety out, your mind is clear, you need to direct your mind toward some positive things.

This is proactive disciplining your thoughts and it produces something. Paul says, "You get to control what you think."

Did you know that in 24 hours in a day, all of your waking hours, you are thinking about something. And either you're just kind of passively allowing thoughts to come in and that produces something too, by the way, or you are grabbing your thoughts and pointing them somewhere else.

And here's where he wants you to point them. Lovely, excellent, praise-worthy. What are you talking about? He's talking about Jesus. You point your thoughts at Christ.

That's the first thing. Here's the second thing. He says, "What you've seen, heard, and received from me? Practice these things." Think about these things. Practice these things in the same way that in a 24-hour period, there's a bunch of things you're gonna think about.

In a 24-hour period, there's a bunch of things you're gonna do. And he's saying, "You can practice some things that will produce a result."

In fact, maybe this is a good way to think about it. He's basically saying, "Take all your thoughts and recognize that every single one of them, and all your actions, they can be turned into a currency that can be traded in that gives you something in return."

In verses six and seven, your anxious thoughts become God's peace. What does it become in verse 10? When you direct your thoughts, and when you direct your actions on behalf of Christ and unto him, when you begin to live all of your life, unto him.

I mean, when I'm sitting there with another person, I'm thinking, "God, what are you doing here? What do you want me to say to this person? What am I, what do you want me to learn from this person?"

When you're walking, you're allowing your mind to be filled with thoughts of him. You know what happens? He says, "The God of peace will be with you."

You go from the peace of God to the God of peace. What does that mean? Do you know that Jesus Christ is not just somebody that we're waiting for? He is coming back.

But to the degree that we recognize that we can draw on His power now, we get to experience His presence now. I read a book when I was in college called "Practicing His Presence." Have you heard of it? There's an old version of this called "The Practice of the Presence of God" written by a man named Brother Lawrence who lived in the 1700s, I believe.

But the version that I read was called "Practicing His Presence" that includes the story of a man from the 20th century named Frank Lobok. And he was just a missionary and a pastor that realized that God's presence is something that He can draw to mind every second of every day.

And therefore, He tried to do it. And He began to experience not just the benefits of God, but God Himself. There is a temptation for you and I to move through life from growing crisis to the next. And when things get bad, we turn to God.

It's a very reactive and responsive kind of life with Christ. And He will meet you there and you'll get His peace. Paul is telling you that there's a different way to live that you can not just do defense, you can do offense, that even when life is going well, you can direct your thoughts and your actions towards Him and you get something better. You get His presence.

Every moment of life becomes an opportunity to see Him, experience Him, know Him deeper. You can practice His presence.

There's a phrase that's used three times in this passage. I don't know if you caught it. He says, "Stand firm in the Lord." "Agree in the Lord." "Rejoice in the Lord." This life that you and I are talking about right now, it is a life available to those who are in the Lord, in Christ.

To the Christian life, there are some practical things that we need, we can do. But this is primarily an extra, only available to those who have first gotten to know the one who made peace with God.

If you want to know the peace of God and the God of peace, you have to first understand who went before you to make peace with that God. You deserve destruction. But He came and He traded in His perfect righteous life. As Tim keeps saying, "For your spotted life," why? So you could get His peace and you could know His presence.

Do you know Him? You can know Him today. And for those of you that already do, there's more there. Let's pray.

Conclusion

Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for how it teaches us and instructs us. I pray, Lord, that more and more, we would appropriate your presence into our life, that we wouldn't just play defense, we play offense, that we'd experience your peace and your presence. We pray in Christ's name, amen.