God’s Gracious Provision for Peace

Transcript

GRM 574
6/14/1998
Provision for Peace
Philippians 4:4-9
Gil Rugh

This morning I want to direct you to Philippians chapter 4. Philippians and the fourth chapter. A passage we’ve look at on other occasions. I was drawn back to this passage recently by a person from another state who had written to me about some concerns they had as a believer. Some difficulties they were working through, and wanted to know how to handle certain things biblically.

I just reflected upon Philippians, chapter 4, and was reminded of the gracious provision God has made in His salvation in Christ for us as His people. I think there is a danger that we, as the church of Jesus Christ, fail to appropriate what has been provided for us in Christ. Not only in the forgiveness of sins, but in the enabling provision of God in Christ for us for our daily walk and our daily life.

The church is taking on a worldly shape as it seems to be adopting many of the problems of the world and many of the solutions to those problems from the world. I think it’s good for us to be reminded as God’s people that He has made provision for us for our mental, emotional and spiritual well being. And I trust that you’ll understand what I mean by that as we move through this passage.

People of the world are overwhelmed by the problems of life. I’m not attempting to minimize those problems in any way. We have built in all kind of helps of counselors, and psychologists, and psychiatrists. and pills to enable people to cope with life. We’re constantly reminded that life today is filled with pressures. It’s much more difficult, and on and on we go. But I believe the scripture indicates that’s life is much as it has always been for fallen people. The provision that God makes for His people is sufficient for them to live lives that are filled with joy and peace. Even though God’s people have to experience pain and affliction and hardship, even as unbelieving people do. What is unique for us as God’s people, is not that we are spared the trials but that we have a God who has provided for us so that we might enjoy His peace. Experience His happiness, even in times of affliction and pain and suffering.

We’re going to focus on verses 4 to 9 in Philippians, chapter 4. In this section, Paul really brings together a series of rapid commands. In fact, there are six commands given in verses 4 to 9. And they are given without much elaboration since there’s not much space devoted to them. They would pick up concepts and ideas that he has dealt with in this letter or that these people ought to be familiar with as God’s people from their broader acquaintance of his writings as well as Old Testament scriptures. I just want to walk through these commands with you today, remind ourselves of what God says we must be and we must do as His people. It’s in this context that we see that He has provided a peace that is to characterize the heart and the mind of the people of God. I really believe if we are living in obedience to God’s word, functioning as He said, we will experience His joy and His peace. Which means something is wrong in the church today when we are running after the world’s solutions to our problems.

Let me just say one other thing about the introduction. I believe that the salvation that we have in Christ is of no real value if it is only helpful in the small, not so difficult, trials of life. The salvation we have in Christ is inseparably bound together, not only in providing forgiveness of sins and deliverance from hell, but in providing the enabling power of God to live lives that reflect His character and His work in us. If this salvation is only good to enable us through the not so difficult times, it is not a salvation powerful enough to be of any real help. Furthermore, if the power of God is only good to provide strength and enablement in the not so difficult situations, we lose any assurance that this is a salvation that is as glorious and wonderful for our eternal future as the scripture says it indeed is.

Look at these commands beginning in verse 4. “Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I say, rejoice!” This is a command given in the present tense. We might translate it, “Keep on rejoicing,” or, “be continually characterized by joy,” is the idea. It’s God’s intention that His joy characterize our lives and we enjoy that joy, if you will. We are commanded to keep on rejoicing, and it’s repeated. “Again, I will say, rejoice!” Rejoice always. God’s joy is to characterize us in all of life’s situations.

Now, immediately we run into a problem. We run into Christians, who are discouraged, downtrodden, who say, “I don’t have joy in my life. You can tell me to have it all you want, but it’s just not there. I’m depressed. I’m discouraged. Quite frankly, I’m miserable. Thank the Lord that there are certain drugs that can carry us through these times.” Well, I am concerned and I’m not getting into the drug controversy, but then why am I in it? Well, I’m just trying to protect myself. I don’t want to get into all the possibilities but I want to say, God’s provision for us is such that we are commanded to experience His joy. What God commands me to do, He enables me to do if I submit to Him and draw upon His power and His sufficiency. So, I am encouraged to have God command me to rejoice always. Because when I get down, when I am depressed, when I am discouraged, I can turn to the word and hear God say, “Gil, rejoice always!” And I say, “Well, then Lord, if I am drawing upon your provision, your joy will characterize me.”

Where does it come from? By getting a grip on yourself. No. I go to Galatians 5 and I am told, “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace.” We’re coming to peace in a moment. Joy is produced in my life as a result of the work of the Spirit of God. My submission to the Spirit of God and living in obedience to Him. Sometimes it involves my drawing upon His strength to do what I don’t want to do, to do what I don’t feel like doing, to do what I don’t have any interest in doing. And taking my attention off of myself and off of my circumstances and refocusing my life upon Him and what He has provided. So we ought not be walking around as downcast, gloomy, discouraged, disheartened people. We serve a God who has commanded us to rejoice always.

And we’re talking about a joy here that is to come from within. The fruit of the Spirit is produced from within the life. Not putting on a front because other Christians know you’re supposed to rejoice, so when I see you I have to smile. They say, “How are things going?” And I say, “Just wonderful,” and I can’t wait to get home and close the door so I don’t have to pretend anymore. I’m talking about the Spirit of God taking hold of me in the inner person as I submit to Him, and determine no matter what, I am going to allow Him to do His work in my life and produce the character of my God.

Nehemiah chapter 8, verse 10 says, “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” I love the way that’s put together. “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” Sometimes you feel like you can’t go on, don’t have the strength to do it. And I find out that His joy is my strength. Sometimes you are down and you get together with some others and they get you focused, and you’re laughing and you’re rejoicing in a good solid sense. You come away invigorated. There is something about the true joy of the Lord in the life because I’m realizing who He is and what He is doing.

Back up to 2 Corinthians. You know, being a pastor, I find that it’s very easy to give advice. Having been gone for a few weeks on vacation, I had opportunity to visit other ministries, and you look at things and you talk to people in other ministries. I said to Marilyn, you know, I think I’m about ready to go on the conference circuit because, you know, I like this idea. You go, you tell the person this is what the Bible says, this is what you’re to do. Do it! Then you get in the car, and you drive off down the road and you’re free. I think I feel called to that. Well, it’s good to have the real world around you where you not only have to share with other people what God says, but you have to put into your own life and practice what God says.

The Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians, chapter 7, look at the last statement of verse 4. It’s the end of verse 4 of 2 Corinthians chapter 7. “I am overflowing with joy in all our affliction.” And what encourages me is that the joy is provided in difficulty. Even the unbeliever, if he wins the lottery, is happy. You know, somebody is given a great inheritance. All of a sudden, at least for a period of time, there’s a smile on their face and the load is lifted. But it is unique when you read someone like the Apostle Paul saying, “I am overflowing with joy in all our affliction.” My afflictions, my trials, and they were multi-faceted trials that Paul faced but he says, “I am overflowing with joy in them all.”

Look over in chapter 8 of 2 Corinthians, verse 2, speaking of the churches of Macedonia, “that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality.” Isn’t it amazing? It’s not just for apostles. But the people in the churches at Macedonia were undergoing a great ordeal of affliction and they were in deep poverty. But they have an abundance of joy. You say, “This has to be God’s people! Because they are experiencing, not just affliction, but a great ordeal of affliction, and deep poverty. But their life is characterized by an abundance of joy.” You know, that’s a wonderful position to be in. Where the circumstances of life, the situations of life cannot impact or drain away the joy of your life. That’s what God says is our portion which must characterize us.

Come back to Philippians. He goes on in verse 5, and as we see how these build I think we get a more complete picture. “Let your forbearing spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near.” Second command. The first command was to “rejoice always.” The second command is, “let your forbearing spirit be known to all men.” “Let your forbearing spirit be known.” The word forbearing carries the idea of being willing to yield a person who will give up their own rights. Sometimes the idea of gentle or gentleness in your dealing with others is the idea of the word. The idea here is a willingness to not have it your way. The immediate context in the opening verses of Philippians 4 has been a disagreement between two women in the church of Philippi. So what Paul says here relates to what immediately preceded as well as the overall situation of the church and the responsibility of believers.

You know, sometimes the joy of my life is sapped because I am so concerned about having it my way all the time. Certain things are unchangeable. The truth of God is unchangeable. This is the way it must be. I’m not at liberty to make alterations to compromise it. But you know I don’t always have to have it my way. I have to have a willingness to yield to others. And you know, when your constantly driven by, “you must have it your way.” Pretty soon the joy of your life is gone because you’re irritated, you’re antagonized. It didn’t get done the way that you wanted it. We see it in our homes. It creates friction and tension between husband and wife. Why? It’s got to be my way. And if he doesn’t do it my way, if she doesn’t do it my way, then I’m irritated. When I’m irritated I’m unhappy. And no joy in my life.

That carries over to the church. Amazing! People get irritated about things. Basically it wasn’t done the way they wanted. “Well, is it a doctrinal issue? Is it a matter of faithfulness to what the scripture says?” “No. But why does it have to be that way?” Well, it probably doesn’t have to be that way, but why can’t it be that way? Pretty soon I’m all worked up, irritated, aggravated, I don’t have joy. And it all comes down to: I didn’t get my way. “Let your forbearing spirit be known,” note, “to all men.” Be willing to yield. “The Lord is near.” In other words, you live in light of the imminent return of Jesus Christ. Let that put life in perspective for you. You can yield on this point. You don’t have to have your way. The Lord is at hand and when He comes, He’ll work it out.

This kind of thinking is used elsewhere in the New Testament as well. James, chapter 5, verses 8 and 9. James warns his readers, “The Judge is right at the door,” so manifest patience and He’ll take care of things when He comes. So, “Let your forbearing spirit,” that takes the pressure off. You know, there’s certain kind of pressures that should be part of our lives, but there’s certain kind of pressures that I create in my own life by not functioning biblically. I’m commanded to have a forbearing spirit. Sometimes I get in a position where I really want it this way but it’s good for me to learn not to have it my way. It doesn’t have to be my way. I do all I can to help my wife to learn that. It doesn’t have to be her way. No!

Look at the next command, third command back in Philippians, chapter 4. “Be anxious for nothing.” It seems like it almost focuses in here to what really becomes pointed now. There’s a little bit more elaboration on this command. You’d say, “Don’t worry about anything.”

Now this word translated to “be anxious.” It can be used in a good sense and is in the New Testament, where there are proper concerns, a healthy concern. In fact, I believe, yes, back in chapter 2 of Philippians, verse 20, “I have no one else of kindred spirit who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare.” There’s a good, healthy concern. You know, sometimes you’ll meet a Christian who is almost flippant in his attitude. “Man, I don’t worry about anything, and I don’t let anything get to me.” Really, he has a flippantness about it. That’s not what the scripture is talking about, where there is not a place for a healthy concern about certain things. We’re not talking about indifference here. But what he is talking about as he uses the word in this context and many others in the New Testament is worry concerns. Where we’re fretting about things, troubled by them in the sense of fearful. “Be anxious for nothing.” Really we as believers are those who are called and commanded to live lives free of worry and fret.

Turn back to Matthew, chapter 6, probably the key passage on this subject. Matthew, chapter 6. And incidentally, this is the context of people who might be concerned about material things. And you have to be careful not to be focusing on earthly matters and earthly treasures because, “where your heart is, where your treasure is there your heart will be also,” verse 21 of Matthew 6 says. He warns about trying to serve two masters, living a life with a divided heart. Then in verse 25 he says, “For this reason I say to you, do not be anxious for your life.” Really, the command here would entail; I don’t have to worry about anything related to life. He goes on with examples, “what you eat, what you drink, what you wear, where you live,” all these kinds of things. Don’t worry about them. Don’t be anxious about it. You can’t do anything about it anyway, is his point, verse 27, anxiety changes nothing. And God makes provision. Look at the flower of the field. He made provision for them. That flower didn’t spend any time worrying about looking beautiful, but God did. The birds don’t worry, and God feeds them. Those kinds of examples.

You know the problem when we’re anxious and when we worry? I try to dress it up. You know, you’ve got to be realistic. This is a time to worry. No. The problem is we don’t have enough faith. We’re not walking with trust in our God. Look at the end of verse 30, “O men of little faith.” Don’t worry because when you do your not trusting. That’s the point. “O men of little faith.” The unbelievers he speaks about in verse 32, the Gentiles here, those outside the realm of where Israel had the promises of God and so on and His provision. They’re the ones who are worried about these things, whose lives are so absorbed, when things begin not to go right then they’re worried. Let’s face it. That’s what impacts us believers, isn’t it? If I just received ten million dollars from an uncle who passed away, I’m not really too worried about money. I just went to the doctor and I’m fine and in good health, and so is my wife and kids and grandkids and we’re all of good health. And I just received 500 thank you notes from people who just want to tell me how glad they are to have me as a neighbor and friend, I mean, I’m not worried much. But it’s when I’ve lost my job and the doctor’s found a lump or, you know, something’s not right or worse yet one of my kids. All of a sudden now things are getting shaky, and the things of life are beginning not just to be a concern but a worry. I’m beginning to fret. You know, sometimes when there’s trials and pressures I say to Marilyn, “I say you know what we ought to do? Let’s go to bed and have a good night’s sleep and wake up and worry about it in the morning.” And you know that really makes sense doesn’t it?

And, in fact, verse 34 tells us, “Therefore, do not be anxious for tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” In other words, God hasn’t made us to, and He does not intend us to take care of tomorrows in this sense. It doesn’t mean you can’t do any planning, that we’re not to be wise and so on. But it does mean we’re not to worry. God takes care of tomorrow and without fail all the worries of our life are about our tomorrows. Very few people are sitting here saying, “I’m really worried the ceiling’s going to fall on me any minute.” No. What do we worry about? Something that I’ve got to face this week, whether it’s an operation, whether it’s an unpleasant situation, whether it’s looking for a job, whether it’s a conflict in the home. These things, now, boy, how am I going to handle this Monday morning? What am I going to do when I get to work? What’s going to happen Wednesday when I go to see the doctor? The tomorrows of my life begin to eat away at me and yet I have the statement of Christ, “Do not be anxious for tomorrow.” I had enough food for today. I mean, the bills are paid enough for me to have had a place to sleep last night, to have clothes to wear to be here. All these things are cared for, but, what if? “Do not be anxious for tomorrow.” In fact, “Be anxious for nothing.”

Now, come back to Philippians, chapter 4. And note what he says here in Philippians 4:6. “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything,” and you note the contrast. “For nothing,” “in everything.” There is nothing that I am to worry about or fret over. I mean, that encompasses it. I don’t have to decide, is this of a magnitude to worry about? No. Is this a major enough problem to merit worry? No. Because I am to be worrying about nothing. But “in everything,” is there anything that’s too small or unimportant to include in this provision? No.

“In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” Here is the solution to my worries. You know, if I’ve lost my job and I don’t know whether I’m going to be able to make the next months rent payment and one of the world’s billionaires says, “I want you to know I have decided to take care of all of your needs.” I say, “Wonderful!” “I’m going to do it on a daily basis. So everyday I want you to feel free, you just come see me, tell me what you need and I will take care of it.” I’d say, “I’d like to work this out a little differently. Why don’t you just give me a check for $500 million? I’ll put it in my account and I’ll take care of it.” “No, I’ll tell you what. We’ll keep it in my account and you come see me everyday. And if it’s six times a day, you feel free to come, but I assure you I will take care of it.” You know, it wouldn’t be much reason for me to fret over next month’s paycheck. I mean, here’s a man who’s worth billions. He is irrevocably committed to take care of whatever my needs are. My rent payment will be $311. I hope he can handle it. Really! Do I have to worry?

Here I have a God who says the solution is don’t worry about anything. You just bring it to me. “In everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.” I come thanking, what? First of all, God for inviting me to come. Thanking Him for all that He has done for bringing me to this point. Thanking Him for being the God who is sufficient to meet my every need, to deal with every problem. So I come with a gratitude, of course! I let it be known to Him. Now you see why worry is really a breakdown of faith. I bring it to Him, but I wonder. Do you think He can handle it? Well, you stop, and you go home, don’t do it now. Some of you might. You start making a list of the things that God cannot handle, that would overwhelm God, that would tie His hands and leave Him helpless. What? Well, you know, some illnesses are really serious. You know, some people have the idea that if you cut your finger, God can take care of it. If you need open heart surgery you’d better get additional help. Well, you know, I want to realize, my God can handle everything related to me—little and large. There’s nothing that overwhelms my God.

So, if I respond in obedience to the command, “Don’t worry, but make your requests known,” and that’s another command, incidentally. In my list here it’s the fourth command, “make your requests known.” And the result is set forth in verse 7. “And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Quite frankly, it’s passages like this that cause me great concern with what is taking place in the realm of the, what I call the evangelical church, for lack of a better term. The church that professes to believe in salvation by faith in Christ. By people who believe that you are cleansed from you sin only by believing in the death and resurrection of Christ. Yet, somehow we are just as much at the end of ourselves, just as much in need of “professional help” as the world. We need the pills just as badly as the world does. It means, then, that the promise of God has failed. Don’t worry. “In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving,” turn it over to Me. “And the peace of God which surpasses comprehension.” In other words, there’s no good explanation for this. There’s no logical human explanation. The circumstances may not have changed. The trial has not gone away. But God’s peace is still standing guard at my heart and my mind. I picked up the emotional and mental well being of God’s people. My heart and my mind.

A military word here, “stand guard.” Like a sentinel on duty, protecting my heart and my mind from worry and fear. It’s God’s peace. How do you explain that? There’s no good explanation. If you give me the proper prescription and I take it, we’ve found drugs can give a sense of peace. That’s not anything new. I mean, back in the 60’s when I was a relatively young man, you know, we had the hippies and they were all floating on clouds. Nothing new here that you can bring a sense of well being and euphoria and artificial peace by the use of drugs and so on. What is new to this is it has become acceptable among the general population. Now people think it’s good to give it to their kids. Worst of all the church has accepted it as a prescription for peace. I mean, if God’s salvation that supposedly provides for His peace and joy in my life really does not work, why do you believe in that pie in the sky dimension that promises you endless joy and happiness through eternity? He can’t even provide it today! So the end result of the church’s denial of the work of Jesus Christ in it’s present dimension is it will conclude what the liberal church does--this is a salvation, really, of limited if any value in any dimension. Because no matter what you believe about Christ, you have just the same kind of problems and just the same kind of results of those problems as the world does and you need the same solution the world does. Your God and your Bible doesn’t provide the answer. This bottle of pills does. So let’s all admit it. We’re all in the same track. Freud was right and some people use religion as an opium. But let’s just go to the real stuff and be done with it. Quit living in a make-believe world.

Well, I don’t think you need to talk like that and you don’t put everybody who takes pills on the spot. Well, I’m not putting every person who does. I’m just want to tell you faithfully what God has said here. Does He not command us not to worry? And, furthermore, doesn’t He say, “Be anxious for nothing”? So that includes the problems my kids get into. I find it harder not to worry about my kids than I do about the problems I have. Now I’ve got double worries, because I’ve got to worry about my sinful kids doing the right thing with my grandkids. The problems of my life are multiplying and it’s getting worse because I can’t control it. And it’s even more pressure for my wife because she’s not only got the kids and the grandkids; she’s got me. And the reality, “be anxious for nothing.”

“But in everything,” roll it over on the Lord and what? “The peace of God which surpasses comprehension.” You want me to give you a medical explanation? I can’t. A good reason? No. This is a sovereign work of God. And be careful about creating a substitute. I realize the eastern religions through their meditation and yoga, and all this supposedly bring a sense of peace. Those are counterfeit. We’re talking about the genuine work of the Spirit in the heart and the church better not be opting for counterfeits. We let the devil in and invite him to sit down with us because he’s got a counterfeit that we like. The result is disastrous.

God’s peace, and remember, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace. And aren’t we concerned? That what are to be the identifying characteristics of God’s people, of the work of His indwelling Spirit in the life are lacking, but we want to mask it. And assume we’re still dealing with believers. Maybe we need to back up and face the reality of, in many cases, we’re not dealing with believers. So they do have the problems of an unbeliever because they are unbelievers, unredeemed people. Or we have God’s people who are in rebellion against Him and experiencing some of the difficulties that come as a result of not obeying.

You know, some parents don’t care enough to warn their children about what they should not do, what they should do. Some parents care enough, and their kids rebel and they experience similar kinds of consequences. Some parents never tell their children, “Don’t play in the street.” They get hit by a car. Some parents tell their children, “Don’t play in the street,” and the child disobeys and gets hit by a car. Well, sometimes we experience similar consequences even as God’s people that the people of the world are experiencing because we’re rebelling against God in an area. He tells me not to worry but turn it over to Him in prayer but I’m too busy worrying to pray. And I wonder why I seem to be getting more overwhelmed everyday and becoming more smothered, more suffocated.

You know, it happens in increments. That’s why I need to be careful in the little things of life. To develop the pattern of turning it over to my God, of talking about it with Him, of leaving it with Him. John, chapter 16, verse 33. There are many passages we could look at, but we don’t have time in these areas. John 16:33, Jesus says to His disciples on the verge of His arrest, being arrested and crucified, “These things I have spoken to you that in the, in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation but take courage. I have overcome the world.” It’s in the context of the tribulation and trials of this world that Christ has provided a supernatural peace. He doesn’t promise to take away the tribulation. He promises His peace in the tribulation. We get caught up with, “Lord, take away the pain. Lord, fix the situation.” He doesn’t promise to do that. He promises to give you His peace and joy in that if you just trust Him.

Come back to Philippians, chapter 4. This takes place in Christ Jesus, at the end of verse 7. All of these assurances are for those who are in Christ, have entered into the salvation that comes through faith in Him. Verse 8 gives the fifth command. It’s at the end of verse 8. “Let your mind dwell on these things.” Think on these things given as a command. Think on these things. So here you see what we do. I’m always rejoicing. I’m willing to let others have their way. It doesn’t have to be my way. I have not not anxious and worrisome thoughts because I turn those over to the Lord in prayer, thankful that He is a God sufficient to handle everything concerning me. What do I do from here? Well, the peace of God pervades this section because you’ll note down at the end of verse 9 he promises, “the peace of God shall be with you.” So, we haven’t totally moved to another subject. I’ve prayed about it. I’ve turned it over to the Lord. You know part of my trap is now, instead of doing some things I need to do in correcting what needs to be done or making proper preparations I continue to worry about it. Well, he tells me how I ought to think.

He’s got a series of six adjectives in verse 8 that describe our thinking. We don’t have time to do the details. We have on other occasions. But just note, “whatever is true.” You think about that. A sense of valid or reliable. It’s the opposite of falsehood. In other words the things that my mind dwells on are the things that ought to have validity, that are true. I often get in trouble worrying about what might be. It may not be true but you know it could happen or it might be a possibility. Well think about things that are true not things that are false. You know I get so worried about what might be. Well, just think about the things that are solidly true. Let your mind dwell on that. What if? Uh that keeps some of the turmoil out.

“Whatever is honorable,” honorable is worthy of respect, dignified, reverent. It’s only other use in the New Testament is in the Pastoral Epistles. It means that which makes you worthy of respect. So we think about people, we think about what is honorable relating to them and worthy of respect. That’s contrary to the world today. You know all the talk shows are driven by the opposite of this. Let’s spill out the dirt. That has become the thing and you’ve got people who can’t wait to get their face on TV to give an opinion of what might have been done by someone. We need to be careful because we as Christians fill our mind with this. Not only are we thinking about it we’re talking about it as fact and pretty soon believers are overwhelmed with how awful it is today. You know it comes with political leaders. And, boy, they may be involved in some immoral situations. Yes, but thankfully they’re not like the majority of the Roman emperors who were involved openly in homosexual marriages. I’m thankful it’s not as bad as it could be. They haven’t had to lead our President out of meetings stone drunk. Thank the Lord! I mean we think, “Well, what did he do here? What did he do there?” Well, maybe I ought to not be filling my mind with certain things. And that comes to with one another as well. We think about what is worthy of respect. There are no perfect people in this congregation, but maybe we ought to be thinking about the gracious work God has done in their life. And, uh, there are things about them that are very admirable. Dwell on those things.

“Whatever is right,” conforming to God’s standard, just and upright. Again, its no different than it was in Paul’s day in the Roman world. There was a lot of vileness around. Believers didn’t need to occupy their minds and fill their minds with those things. I’ve given up watching network news, non-network news for that matter, television news. I read the news. I can discern a little better there. I don’t need to be overwhelmed with these pictures and images of everything that’s going wrong and everything that might be wrong and everybody’s life in everyplace in the world. I don’t want to stick my head in the sand, but I do want to guide my thinking by what the Scripture says. Not overwhelm my mind and then wonder why I’m constantly distressed and in turmoil. Well, don’t put some of that in there. A person wrote to me. They were just in a dither about the year 2000 and everything they’ve been reading and hearing. My first reaction is don’t read anything more about the year 2000. That helps to correct it. Because you put it all in now you want me to help you get it out. My solution is close the door. Don’t let it in.

“Whatever is pure,” this is not just sexual purity but, it would include it, but whatever is not corrupted, that which is undefiled. We think on those things. Again, I don’t want to know the dirt of everybody’s life and everybody’s past. I believe it’s there because I believe in the sinfulness of people. There are times when I have to do it, have to know it because certain things like church discipline become involved and our involvement in one another’s lives as believers, but for the most part I don’t need to know it. And I definitely don’t need to know it about the unbelieving world. Unless I have a reason to be involved, I don’t even need to know it about a believer. We want as believers; we want to keep track. We become part of the tabloid society. And some believers are just as up on every possible hint of anything impure and any politician’s life for the last ten years. I think, “Good grief! How do you go on?” At any rate.

“Whatever is lovely.” Only time this word is used in the New Testament. That which calls forth love. We’re not to harbor the bitter, critical thinking but that which would draw out love. Think about your wife, your husband. You think about that which is loveable which draws you to have a true biblical love for them. They’re not perfect but there are many qualities in them, many things about them that, as you dwell on them, just cause you to appreciate and love them all the more. Think about those things.

You know when we were traveling we went and visited some old homes and went and visited the Biltmore house, a big house, all this gorgeous furniture, tapestries. You know all these old things are hundreds and hundreds of years old. I didn’t find people looking around and saying, “Oh, look at that. That canvas got a little fade mark. That’s so ugly. Why would you want a canvas with a fade mark in it?” Everybody’s saying, “Look at this tapestry. It’ s so beautiful. Look at the colors that have carried over in that. Think if that is done there you’d say look at this, that is wonderful.” But you know, some Christians would be there, “Yeah, that fade mark. I couldn’t have that in my house. That’d drive me crazy.” You say, “Get a life!” I mean we do that with one another. You’re sitting next to a wretched, vile, hell-deserving sinner, that but for God’s grace could be slobbering in drunken vomit! Aren’t you glad what God’s done in their life? Are you sitting there thinking, oh, what’d they wear those shoes for? Or why are they taking up the whole pew? Do they have to sit so close? You know the little things. We lose sight. Think on those things, which are lovely, that cause you to love that person more. So you go back thinking, I hope I get to see them next week. I hope they sit in my seat next week, kind of thing.

“Of good repute,” good reputation, well spoken of. Again, it doesn’t sell on TV. It doesn’t sell generally. But we as believers are not to be where the world is. I hope when we get together as believers our conversation is not about the latest dirt that may have been dug up on this figure or that person or this person. How’d you hear this? Did you hear what their lawyer said? Did you hear that? No, I just don’t want to think about that. I mean if there’s not a place for finding out if wrong was done, yeah, they need to find out was wrong done, but my finding out about it on television if wrong was done doesn’t help me solve the problem, quite frankly. And I don’t think it ought to be solved by a public opinion poll anyway. So, I just don’t need to be in it.

“If there’s any excellence if there’s anything worthy of praise, think on these things." Is there anything of excellence, worthy of honor, worthy of praise. Think on that. So, it helps me now. I’ve turned these things over to the Lord. I’m worried about what’s going to happen to our society, our school system, our politicians, the weather, health, you name it. But now I’ve turned it all over to the Lord. I’m not even thinking about those things. And I don’t have to keep daily touch with everything that might be wrong in the world today, thank you. My God is sovereign.

One more command, “Practice these things,” in verse 9, toward the end of the verse, “Practice these things.” It’s the sixth command. “Practice these things. The things you’ve learned, received, heard, seen in me, practice these things.” So it’s not just what you think about, it’s what you do. So put into practice the biblical things. That’s what Paul modeled. That’s the truth he conveyed. That’s what you heard from him. That’s what you’ve seen in his life. Now, you put that into practice. You know I don’t have to fill my life with all these other things cause that’s not the way I want to live anyway.

So, I put into practice what God has said. That becomes important here. You know I don’t want to leave it. So I get up from prayer when I’ve cast these things before the Lord, but I really don’t want to get on with it because I think I need to keep worrying about it. No. You know, “I can’t get out of bed, Lord. I don’t have the strength. I don’t want to face today. Well, Lord, you know I need to get out of bed. I can’t do what You’ve said is my responsibility unless I get out of bed. Furthermore, when I get out of bed I ought to put my clothes on. So, Lord, I know I should do that. Lord, I’ve got to just turn these all over to You and put one foot behind the other and do it and ask for Your strength. And not worry about what if I can’t make it today because I’ve already turned that over to You. I’m thinking about Your grace in allowing me to open my eyes this morning. And giving me a body that was healthy enough to get to the edge of the bed and stand up straight. And giving me ears to hear what’s going on,” And on I go with my life. Worried about whether I can’t do it whether it’ll happen? No. Well, I’ve got a lump in my arm. Should I make a doctor’s appointment? I’m gonna worry between now and Thursday. No. I believe it’s wise to make the appointment. I believe it needs to be taken care of and now it’s in the Lord’s hands. Thursday I’ll find out what the doctor says, then I’ll make the next decision. It’s in the Lord’s hands.

Now, let me say, this is the privilege of life for those who are children of the living God. This is like your physical children. That’s why we have these analogies used in scripture. It’s their privilege as your children to be under your care. You delight in caring for them. You don’t want your third grader worrying about whether they’re going to have dinner tonight. That’s part of your privilege as a parent to provide for them, care for them. It’s stupid for them to worry about it. I’m amazed what has happened to the whole concept of parenthood that we’ve got to pump pills at our kids because of the worries of their life. So it is with us spiritually. We’re the children of God and my God is sovereign, and He is flawless. He is all powerful. He is omnipotent as the all-powerful God, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent. He is everything. And He said He will be sufficient for me.

So I can trust Him. So if He is in complete charge and He says he will care for me and I’m to cast all my cares upon me because He cares for me, 1 Peter 5:7, Psalm 55, then I’m privileged to lead a worry-free, joyous life characterized by peace. If I’m not as God’s child, it means I’ve stepped off the path. Solution is to make the correction. But first you need to be sure you’re in God’s family. You know what I mean? You attend this church. That’s nice you attend this church but that doesn’t mean you’re in God’s family. You get into God’s family when you recognize that you are a sinner, separated from God. That’s the root problem of your life. And you turn from your sin and place your faith in Jesus Christ as Savior who loved you and died for you. Then you’re born again; you’re born from above. You become a child of God. Now, you come under His care. You have the Holy Spirit indwelling you. You have God providing the fullness of everything necessary for life and godliness. What a privilege we have as God’s people. I trust we enjoy in the proper biblical setting our life in Christ in the deepest most painful trials as well as the times of overwhelming blessing. Let’s pray together.

Thank you, Lord, for the richness of our salvation Jesus Christ. Lord, we acknowledge that we are undeserving, that we are unworthy, that all that we are and all that we have is a result of Your grace given to us in Christ and we give You the praise. Lord, I pray for Your children today gathered here, those who are experiencing misery, discouragement, depression, pain, trying situations and circumstances, feeling the loss of a loved one, the pain of physical difficulties, whatever, Lord, the situation. It’s good for us to be reminded that You are our Heavenly Father. We have nothing to worry about. You have everything under control. You are working all things for our good and Your glory. You are a God who is to be trusted. Lord, I pray, that we might get our focus corrected, that we might experience again the fullness of Your joy and peace. And I pray for those who are here who perhaps have masked the difficulty of their situation, the real problem of their life is they have never come into the salvation that only You can bring into a life. May they, by Your grace, come to trust in the Savior even today. And we ask it all in Christ’s name, Amen.
1