The Path to Peace

1:15The group that was hardest hit is the group that comprises the largest component of our community and of our church, and that's young adults ages 18 to 29. Now, you have to keep In mind, these are not merely people who are reporting that they feel anxious, not merely people who are reporting that they feel discouraged or depressed. But according to the survey, these are the same questions they would use in a counselor's office to determine and assess a clinical level of depression.

1:47And that's not just counting the people who are discouraged, down, anxious about life and life's normal problems. And so I wonder about you. Whether you're exploring Christianity or you consider yourself a Christian, whether you're watching at home or whether you're here with us in person today, would you say that you are experiencing peace? Could your day-to-day life over the last several months be described as peaceful? Or would you, like a majority of these people in America and a majority of people who might be in that same age range that we talked about, are you experiencing anxiety at a higher level than you've ever experienced it before?

2:38You see, for a lot of us, myself included, I think we would say that our average day isn't marked by the kind of peace that Jesus promised to give us. Maybe our life couldn't be described as abundant in the way that Jesus said that he came to bring that kind of a life to you and to me. Want to experience those things, but if we're honest, we're just not. Well, friends, in the city of Philippi and the church there, they also were not experiencing peace at the level that Jesus had promised.

3:17There was division and relational conflict, there were trials and there was persecution. There were a lot of believers in the church that were simply losing the battle of the mind on a day-to-day basis. And so, Paul wants to outline for them: this is the path to peace. And if ever we needed a path to peace in our church, in our community, in our world, it's now. And so, what we're going to learn today as we explore these verses in chapter 4 is that the peace of God comes through obedient faith in the God of peace.

4:01So, let's take a look now at verse 2, chapter 4. The outside of this section, we learn that there is some sort of a conflict between two female leaders in the church, Euodia and Sun Tuke. Now, we don't know the nature of the problem because Paul doesn't tell us why these two leaders are at odds with each other. All we know is that there is a conflict of some kind, and that that conflict has Come to an impasse.

4:33And clearly, Paul considers it a big enough deal to mention their conflict in a letter to the entire church. And that's understandable because, as we learned in verse 3, these ladies labored side by side with Paul in the gospel. Anytime there's conflict in the church, that is a sad and unfortunate situation. But when it involves visible leaders like these two women who worked to advance the gospel with the Apostle Paul, it's an even bigger deal. And so I want to take some time to reflect on this situation and consider how it speaks to our church and how it speaks to all churches in the world today.

5:19As Christians, we hold our leaders to high standards and rightfully so. When we read Scripture, it's abundantly clear that leaders, especially leaders in the church, should meet a very high standard for both character and conduct. But I also think that a lot of times many believers forget that leaders, even godly leaders in the church, are sinners who are going to get into relational conflict from time to time, just like every other believer who is in the middle of their own sanctification.

6:00When we started this series back in June, I took us back to the book of Acts because I wanted to give you guys the background of how Paul came to Philippi and planted this church. And I reminded you at the time that that missionary journey got off to a really rocky start. Let's take a look at Acts 15. And after some days, Paul said to Barnabas, Let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord and see how they are. Now, Barnabas wanted to take with him John called Mark, but Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. And there arose a sharp disagreement so that they separated from each other.

6:46Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and departed, having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. Now, what an unfortunate situation. Here you have not just two godly leaders, but you have two apostles, Paul and Barnabas, commissioned by the Holy Spirit and sent out by the church to carry the gospel to the nations. And they got into such a bitter conflict, such a sharp disagreement, that they decided not to work together anymore.

7:27Now, I've heard people try to whitewash this situation. Because in their minds, there's just no way that this could be what it seems to be. Specifically, there's no way that the Apostle Paul could have gotten into such a bitter conflict with another godly leader that it led to them deciding not to work together any longer. But, friends, only Jesus was perfect, only Jesus was never at fault in any way for any relational conflict that he was a part of.

8:03Every other godly Christian leader is going to get into relational conflict from time to time, and in almost every case, they will both bear some of the blame, whether that's from sin or from errors in judgment. And so, we absolutely should hold Christian leaders, especially leaders in the church, to a very high standard. I mean, that's what Paul does here with these leaders. He doesn't just overlook their conflict and pretend it's not there. But let's not forget that every Christian leader is also a sinner who is in need of a Savior.

8:40They're a brother or sister in the middle of their own sanctification. And so these leaders are at an impasse, and Paul knows that's a problem. So what does he do? He entreats these two women. He earnestly asks them to do something, and that is to agree in the Lord. Lord. Now, that's the same phrase that he used at the beginning of chapter 2 when he urged the Philippians to have the same mind as each other with respect to suffering for proclaiming the gospel. And now he's appealing to these two women in the same way to have unity, to walk in unity.

9:20And what I want you to see here is that Paul doesn't make any attempt to play referee. He doesn't call fouls. He doesn't try to determine who's right and who's wrong. He doesn't try to say, this person sinned or this person sinned more than this person. No. Friends, you know from your own experience that there are lots of situations in life where people are just never going to agree about who's right and who's wrong in a particular conflict.

9:57You can meet dozens of times. You can go back and forth over email. And still, at the end of the conflict, a lot of times the two people in conflict are just going to disagree about who's right and who's wrong. And the reality is, in most every conflict, both of the parties bear some of the blame, whether that's from sin or from errors in judgment. And so for Paul, who's right and who's wrong in this conflict is largely irrelevant to him.

10:31What is relevant to Paul is that these two women needed to be reconciled. They needed to be able to walk in unity. And, friends, what that may have involved is both of them coming to the table and saying, I may not agree that I wronged you, but the relevant fact is that you feel hurt. You feel wronged by my words or my actions or both. I am so sorry that I hurt you, and I humbly ask you to forgive me.

11:10Jesus taught that if our brother or sister has something against us, it's incumbent upon us. It's our job to go and seek reconciliation. But again, apparently these two women are so stuck at this point in the conflict that they're not doing that. And so Paul writes in verse 3: Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women. Now, this phrase, true companion, it's translating this word in the Greek suzagos. It's hard to interpret because it's not clear if he's talking to a specific person in the church or if he's kind of talking to the church in general.

11:53But really, the good news is that we don't have to know who exactly Paul is addressing to understand. What he's asking and why he's asking for it. Paul is asking a third party to step in and help these leaders agree in the Lord because they're in conflict and they're stuck. And that's a problem because these ladies, along with Clement and the rest of Paul's fellow workers and Paul himself, their names are all written in the book of life together.

12:30Every one of these people had been saved by grace and through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ. They had all been adopted into God's family as brothers and sisters, and so they were going to be family forever. So the church or someone in the church had to step in and help them find a way forward. Because you see, when believers aren't living in unity, there's no peace. And when there's no peace, the church's effectiveness in discipleship and evangelism is compromised.

13:10We all want to experience the peace of God. But if we want to experience the peace of God, it means that we have to pursue reconciliation with each other when we're in conflict. There can be no peace apart from unity. But as we know, internal conflict is only part of the challenge that you and I face as Christians. We also deal with external conflict in the form of trials and in the form of persecution. And that's what Paul addresses in the next section. Let's pick up in verse 4.

13:56Paul writes, Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand. 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 your minds in Christ Jesus. See, Paul was no stranger to trials or persecution. He dealt with those things almost his entire ministry.

14:41And when he brought the gospel to Philippi, you'll recall that he and Silas were arrested, they were beaten, they were thrown into prison despite doing nothing wrong and despite receiving no trial as Roman citizens. And it's highly unlikely that that person. That they experienced had died down after Paul left. There are indications in chapter one of this letter that they were still experiencing persecution from many opponents. He writes that down. So, what does Paul call the Philippians to do in the face of trials and persecution? Rejoice in the Lord. When?

15:24Always. And just in case we missed it, he repeats himself: we are to rejoice in the Lord no matter what. And he follows that up with this statement: let your reasonableness, your gentleness, your forbearance, your graciousness, let your reasonableness be known to everyone. That's everyone outside the church, in the community, in the city. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. Well, church, there are just so many verses in Scripture that we could look at and read and say, you know what? That's just the opposite of how our society functions. And if that is ever true, it is in these two verses here.

16:13If a 21st-century person who has been discipled by social media and the cancel culture were to write these same instructions, how would they read? Probably like this: complain in the flesh. Always. I will say it again: complain. Let your outrage be known to everyone. Is that not the case? We are a culture that is defined by complaining. We greet one another with complaints. How are you? Oh, no, no, no, no, the weather is so bad, and we can't watch any sports. There's only professional cornhole on TV and the COVID and whatever. You know, every single thing that we say when we greet each other is some form of complaining.

17:06I mean, what percentage of social media posts would you say are negative, are complaining about something, are spewing outrage of one form or another? I mean, I already battle a complaining and negative spirit to such a degree that I don't need an ounce of encouragement in that direction. I'm going to go full-on Joel Osteen. I don't receive that for my life. Okay? I don't need any more help. I am already a complaining person. And so, friends, in the midst of an outrage culture, a cancel culture, a culture where complaining is the norm and sarcasm has been substituted for real humor, we're called to be different as followers of Jesus. We're called to be marked by two things: joy and reasonableness.

18:01Many people in our lives know nothing of joy. They know something of happiness, of temporary satisfaction that's been brought on by experiences, food, drink, fornication, shopping, but they know little or nothing of joy. We, as followers of Jesus, have the opportunity to show them what it is to have a deep and abiding joy, a contentment and a satisfaction that is not dependent on our circumstances, our grades, our income, our relational status, or what political party is in charge at the moment.

18:47And many people in our lives know nothing of reasonableness. Their version of tolerance means that we not only agree with their perspective, but that we celebrate it. And if we will not agree and celebrate their perspective, we have to be canceled. We can show them, we can show our culture, our friends, our family, what it is to be reasonable in the face of trial, in the face of persecution and mocking. We can show them what it is to be truly tolerant. That we don't have to agree.

19:30That we don't have to hold the same opinion as them to love them, to serve them, and to pray for them. That doesn't have to be true. But how is that possible? Well, Paul hits on that in verse 5. Look at what he writes at the end: the Lord is at hand. I believe Paul means two different things when he says that. First, I believe he means that the Lord is near. In other words, in every trial, in every persecution, we are never alone. God is with us and not just with us, he's indwelling in us, he lives in us, he's near.

20:17But second, I believe that Paul means that Jesus is coming soon to righteously judge all people. When Paul uses that phrase elsewhere, he's usually talking about Jesus' second coming. So, if Jesus is in fact near to us, and he is in fact coming soon to righteously judge all people, we don't have to be anxious about anything. According to Jesus, worrying is dumb. That's my paraphrase, but I think that's faithful. Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, which of you by worrying could add a single hour to your Span of life. Not only can you not add any time to your life by worrying, every moment that you spend worrying is a moment lost. It's a moment that you can never get back.

21:13Worrying is the worst way to waste your time. And I am a professional at it. So I'm speaking from experience. Instead of worrying, what are we called to do? Verse 6. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything. By prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. Instead of worrying, we should pray. Why? Because God actually exists. Because He is actually our good Father. Because He actually listens to us when we talk to Him. Because He promises to answer us when we pray.

22:02Friends, praying is the only activity that makes sense to do when we are anxious and worried and scared. And if we do this, if we urgently make our requests known to God with thankful hearts, we have this fantastic promise that a lot of you probably have memorized, verse 7, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your Hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen. Friends, we have to take these words to heart. We can't just know them, we have to believe them. When we feel anxious and worried and scared, we need to remember that God is near, that Jesus is coming back soon to make all things right. We need to remember that the only thing that makes sense to do, the best thing to do, is to go to God in thankful prayer. Listen to me, we will not experience peace through worrying.

23:08We will not experience peace through planning. We will not experience peace by checking our preferred news site for the 17th time today to find out what the latest updates on COVID or the November elections or whatever else is. We will only experience peace through thankful prayer to the God who is near and who is returning soon and who promises to guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus. I want you to get that picture because they live in this Roman colony where there's a fortress and 24-7. They have sentries outside of this fortress. They are always Guarding, always making sure that only the right people get in and only the right people get out.

24:07That's the word picture that Paul wants us to have about what God, through the person of Christ, through the Holy Spirit, is doing for our hearts and minds when we go to Him in thankful prayer. This kind of peace that we're promised doesn't come through positive thinking, it doesn't come from pretending that our problems and trials and persecutions aren't real. His peace comes from the fact that He's near and it has no natural, materialistic explanation. The peace that He promises is a supernatural gift that's bestowed on us through thankful prayer.

24:53So, the path to peace is through pursuing unity with each other, and it's through going to God in thankful prayer anytime we feel anxious. But, friends, there's one more part on the path to peace, and that is what I would call winning the battle of the mind. That's what Paul addresses in the last two verses. Let's look at verse 8. 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, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

25:49What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. We learn from Scripture that the fall and our sinful nature has affected every part of us. It's affected our bodies and how they function. It's affected our consciences and what we think is right and wrong. It's affected our hearts and what we desire. And it's affected our minds and how we think. So, as a result, we need to be, as Paul says in Romans 12, transformed by the renewal of our minds. So, how is that going to happen? Well, it's obviously not from thinking about and meditating on sinful and ungodly things.

26:52It's not going to come from emptying our minds like Eastern meditation practices encourage us to do. That's not going to work. According to Paul, the way to be transformed by the renewal of our minds is through thinking about and meditating on whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, and commendable. You see, friends, our minds are like sponges. They soak up whatever is put around them. So I was looking at this recent study about media consumption. Prepare yourself.

27:37It found that the average American, so this is not like younger people, teenagers, college students, young adults with kind of like more free time on their hands. The average American spends over four hours a day watching shows and movies. The average American spends more than two and a half hours per day on social media. So if those two things are separate activities, you've got nearly seven hours a day. I don't get that much sleep a night. More than seven hours a day watching shows and on social media. Even if we assume that they are scrolling through social media while simultaneously watching TV, which is not out of the realm of possibility, then we're still talking about four hours a day consuming media. Now, listen, I'm not on a crusade against social media.

28:30But I think that you should soberly assess how much time you're spending on it and what it's doing to your heart and your mind. I'm not on a crusade against Netflix, but I think that you should seriously ponder the wisdom of allowing a platform into your home that promotes that much ungodly content. I just want us to consider that if we are called to be transformed by the renewal of our minds, and the way that that is going to happen is through thinking about these things, meditating on these things, then friends, if we are less holy, less obedient than we want to be, should be, or are called to be in Scripture, then we've just got to really consider what we're allowing our minds to marinate in for over four hours a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year.

29:37A lot of times when we have guests over to our house and we're going to eat dinner together, Kendra says, hey, let's make burgers. And that's great with me because I love burgers and I love to cook out. But one of the things that I always find humorous is that often when we're sitting at the dinner table enjoying those burgers, the guests will often turn to me and say, these are fantastic. Let's be honest. What I did, I created a fire and I set the meat over it for 10 minutes and then I took it off. That's what I did. Any awesomeness is not a result of something that I did. All of the awesomeness has to do with what Kendra did. She is the one that made those patties and then soaked them in the marinade for hours so that the meat took on the flavors that she included.

30:34I want you to get that picture because our minds are just like that. They're like those sponges that are soaking up whatever is around them. And so, if we are letting our minds marinate in social media, in Netflix, in everything that our world is throwing at us and offering us, if we're doing that for hours a day, hours and hours a week, hundreds, thousands of hours per year, and we're only reading and studying God's Word for a few minutes here and there, could we be surprised that the way that we think has been impacted by that?

31:14Is it really a surprise that we're not going to experience the peace that Jesus promised? Of course not. Our society, including much of the American church, is divided. And anxious. And people who are divided and anxious tend to lash out at one another in anger. We all want to experience the peace of God, but friends, to do that, we've got to win the battle of the mind. We've got to ask ourselves, what are we allowing our minds to marinate in day after day and week after week?

31:53And winning the battle of the mind doesn't just stop with whatever we think about. Look at the last verse. Paul says, What you've learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. I want you to take your pen and underline those three words or highlight them, write them in your journal. Practice these things. Because you see, the struggle for a church like ours is not that one day you're going to come here and we're going to have a false teacher standing up here saying all kinds of unbiblical stuff.

32:37The struggle for a church like ours is not that we're going to start dishing out five-point sermons on how to have a better life. The struggle for a church like ours is that we are all going to come to worship and class and life group week after week, year after year, and we're going to agree with everything that is being taught. And we're not going to be taught. To put it into practice. That's the struggle for a church like ours. Look at what the promise actually says. When will the God of peace be with us when we practice these things?

33:17And that begins with winning the battle of the mind. Think, dwell on, meditate on these things, and then put them into practice. So, church, I know that we are in a tough season. The pandemic has been really hard. We can't meet together very often. Some people can't meet together at all. But God, in His infinite wisdom, has ordained this pandemic in our lifetime, in our generation. And He does not intend us to put our discipleship on hold until there is a vaccine for COVID-19.

34:03We have to be extra diligent in our individual spiritual disciplines. We have to be extra diligent with people who are isolated right now to pastorally care for them. We have to be extra diligent in the work of discipleship and evangelism, even if that means a Zoom meeting every day or multiple Zoom meetings every day. So, friends, tonight we're going to be resuming our weekly prayer meeting online. It's on Zoom at 5 p.m. I know you're not excited about that.

34:40But I want you to be there because we need to urgently make our requests known to God. Next week, we're going to be resuming our life groups. Here is the marketing major in me. They're going to be disappointing. That's the advertisement. We are going to not be able to meet as frequently or in person. When we meet in person, we're going to have to have masks and social distancing. You know the drill. We've been doing it for half a year. It's not going to be the same. But, friends, we need community. We need each other more now than we have ever needed each other in our lives. And so we have to make it work.

35:34So let's not make excuses for why we're not practicing these things. Let's win the battle of the mind and help each other win the battle of the mind by filling them with things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Let's resolve to be joyful people, reasonable people whose lives are marked by constant, thankful prayer to God. Let's resolve. To live in unity because we are brothers and sisters whose names are all written in the book of life because we've exercised faith in the person and work of Jesus.

36:15We all want to experience the peace of God. But the peace of God only comes through obedient faith in the God of peace. Let's pray. Father, in the midst of such a difficult time, where so many people, both inside and outside the church, are reporting feeling anxious and depressed and discouraged and afraid, we pray that you would pour out your peace on us because we want and we need to experience it, but also because we desire to have something to Offer this world that is not experiencing peace in any form.

37:37We pray that you would use us to be the joyful and reasonable people that you call us to be, so that we would have opportunity after opportunity to point people to Christ and the hope and the forgiveness and the community that He offers. The gospel is always relevant, but my goodness, Lord, it is so relevant today. So we pray for your help. In Christ's name, amen. Thank you for listening to the sermon audio from New Life Baptist Church in College Station, Texas. For more information or to support our ministry, visit us online at newlifecs.net.