December 8, 2024 • 40 mins
Prepare for peace by…
Looking to the right source (Philippians 4:6-7)
Living with the right mind (Philippians 4:8)
Learn from the right person (Philippians 4:9)
Be a disciple of Jesus by being the peace that comes from Him.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
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know, but we'll figure that out. If you have your Bibles, we'll be in Mark chapter 4. We'll
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also be in Philippians chapter 4, so if you want to find both and be extra special, that's
great. Have you ever had one of those days? You know what I mean? Just one of those days.
And maybe you've heard stories like this, but I want to read you a letter from a man
that wrote his insurance company that tells us, tells the insurance company about his bad
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day. He says, quote, I'm writing in response to your request for additional information. In
block number three of the accident reporting form, I put poor planning as the cause of my accident.
You said in your letter that I should explain more fully and I trust that the following details
will be sufficient. He says, I'm a bricklayer by trade. One of the, on the day of the accident,
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I was working alone on the roof of a 10 story building. When I completed my work, I discovered
I had about 500 pounds of bricks lift over. Rather than carry them down by hand, I decided
to lower them to the ground in a barrel by using a pulley, which fortunately was attached
to the side of the building at the 10th floor. Securing the rope at ground level, I went
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to the roof, loaded the 500 pounds of bricks that went back down to the ground and untied
the rope, holding it tightly to ensure the slow descent to the 500 pounds of bricks.
You will note in block 11 of the accident reporting form that I weigh 165 pounds. Due
to my surprise of being jerked off the ground, so suddenly I lost the presence of mind and
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forgot to let go of the rope. Needless to say, I proceeded at a rapid rate up the side
of the building. In the vicinity of the fifth floor, I met the barrel coming down. This
explains the fractured skull and broken collar bone. I continued by rapid ascent, not stopping
until the fingers of my right hand were two knuckles deep into the pulley. Fortunately,
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by the time I had regained my presence of mind and was able to hold tightly to the rope
in spite of my pain, at approximately the same time, however, the barrel of bricks hit
the ground and the bottom fell out of the barrel. Devoided the weight of the bricks,
the barrel now weighed approximately 30 pounds. I refer you again to my weight in block number
11 of the accident reporting form. As you might imagine, I began a rapid descent down
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the building. In the vicinity of the fifth floor, I met the barrel coming up again. This
accounts to the two fractured ankles and lacerations to my legs and lower body. The second
encounter with the barrel slowed me enough to lessen my injuries when I fell into the
pile of bricks, and fortunately, only three vertebrae were cracked. I am sorry to report,
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however, that as I lay there on the bricks in pain and unable to stand, watching the
empty barrel ten stories above me, I again lost my presence of mind and I let go of
the rope. I'm going to invite Alexander to come and read our passage this morning. He's
going to read from Mark chapter four. I'm going to ask him to light our advent candles.
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Go ahead. Do you need me to hold that? If anybody can make it awkward, it's Alexander's
sentence. I'll tell you that. Alexander's lighting two candles. Last week, we lit the
Hope candle, just reminding us that we are to be the Hope, the Hope that Jesus brings.
He's also lighting the second candle, which is the candle of peace, reminding us that
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we are to be peace to the world around us, and peace comes from Jesus. Congratulations.
You go, Alexander. Okay, is that high enough? Perfect. If you would honor the Lord as we
stand and honor his word, he's going to read verses 35 through 41.
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On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, let us go across to the other side,
and leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat just as he was. And the other
boats were with him in a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat
so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion,
and they woke him and said to him, Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? And
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he awoke and rebuked the wind instead to the sea, peace, be still, and the wind ceased.
There was a great calm. He said to them, Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?
And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, Who then is this, that even
the wind in the sea obey him? Amen. Let's pray. Father, I thank you for Alexander,
and I just thank you for what you're doing in his life. And I thank you for his willingness
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to read your words today. I pray that you bless him for it.
Father, as we look at this story that's familiar to us, I pray that you'll just speak to our
hearts. Be in our midst. We ask all these things in your name. Amen.
Thanks, Father. Now, if you think from the perspective of the disciples, you think from
the perspective of the bricklayer, that's a bad day. It's a bad day, right? But we all
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have bad days sometimes, don't we? Sometimes just like the bricklayer or the disciples,
it seems like one thing hits us after another until all we can do is lay there and watch
the next thing come. But is that all there is? Is that all what life's about? When you
look around the world, you see conflict and war and terrorism. When you look in our own
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community, you see drugs and crime and broken homes and abuse. Sometimes it can seem as
if everything in our world is in turmoil. Sometimes that feeling of chaos even spills
into the homes we live in, doesn't it? Everything is rush, rush, rush, rush, rush. Everything
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is busy, busy, busy, busy. The chaos of competing interests and schedules seems to have completely
taken over our lives, especially at this time of year. And that's in our homes where things
are fairly stable. What about when you add all the other problems that plague our families
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today? There's chaos and confusion in the world. There's chaos and confusion in our
country, in our community. Chaos and confusion are in our homes. It's in our lives. It's
just the world we live in. Bricks and barrels and ropes and pulleys and storms can seem
like they're coming at us from every direction at the same time. But is that the way it's
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supposed to be? Is that how it's supposed to be? Is that the life that God desires for
us? Of course not. While he was talking about orderliness in the church, Paul reminded us
of the nature of God. In 1 Corinthians 14, he wrote, For God is not the author of confusion
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but of peace. One thing you can be certain of, if there's confusion and there's chaos
happening in your life, that's not what God desires for you. That's not His plan. His
desire is for you to experience peace. Now, that doesn't mean that everything's always
going to be calm around you. What it means is that the Lord has made peace available
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to you despite all the chaos and confusion that's going on around you. I'm hoping that
the words of Paul will help us this morning. We're going to look at Philippians chapter
4, verses 6 through 9. And my hope this morning is that as we break down this text, that we
will see the value in pursuing peace in our lives. But we have to prepare for it. We have
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to prepare for peace. Peace is not naturally going to happen. In our passage this morning,
Paul is closing out his letter to the church at Philippi. And as he does so, he wants to
leave them with some sort of encouragement. Now, we have to understand that the church
in Philippi, their lives weren't much different than ours. Their lives were busy. Their lives
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were chaotic and confusing. But Paul knew that that wasn't God's desire for them. His
desire was for their joy, for their peace. The entire letter pointed them to the joy
of their salvation. Now, in these closing verses, Paul gives them encouraging ways to
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experience true God-given peace. And that's what I want for us here today. Now, as we
think about the season of Advent, I want us to overcome that chaos and business of the
season and truly experience the peace that comes from God. But it's not something that's
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just going to happen on its own. Just like most things that are of value don't just
happen. It's not going to prepare itself. True peace in your life won't prepare itself.
And so what do we have to do? We have to look for peace in three ways. So the first preparation
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for peace is to look to the right source. In Philippians 4-6 through 7, it reads, 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. And so if we look at those two verses,
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the first preparation for peace is to look at the right source. What a wonderfully familiar
verse. It's a wonderful thing, right? When a verse is so familiar to us that it just
kind of rolls off our tongue when we read it. Maybe many of you hadn't memorized, right?
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And it's just in you. You know what that verse is about. If you have that verse memorized,
that's great. If you haven't, I'd encourage you to do so. But there is a danger with familiarity.
It's like the songs that we know so well. We just sing Silent Night. We just sing the
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first Noel. We know those songs because we've been singing them for years and years and years.
We know them so well and we sung them so many times that the words have no impact on us,
do they? We really have to stop and think. They become so familiar to us that we are
in danger of not even paying attention to the words we sing anymore. Like driving the
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same stretch of road every single day. The newness wears off. It's almost like your brain
shuts off when you travel it. Have you ever been there? I can't tell you how many times
I've arrived to the church or arrived back home and like I have no idea how I got here.
Like muscle memory just kicks in and my mind is somewhere else. I don't even remember anything
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about the drive. If you're not careful, that can happen with familiar scripture passages.
The thing is, and all of our familiarity with this verse, most of the time, the focus is
on the wrong place. Yes, Paul is telling us the importance of prayer and supplication
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and giving things, but his focus here is on the who. The who, not the what. We pray to
God because he is the source of the peace that we are looking for. As a matter of fact,
he's the only source of peace we are looking for. But that's not what the world says, is
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it? People on one side of the political world will tell you that the only hope for peace
in this world is through military strength. People on the other side will tell you that
the only hope for peace is through appeasement and giving into your enemy's demands. But
what does the Bible say? What does the Bible tell us? The Bible says that our only hope
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for peace is through the blood of Jesus Christ. Colossians 1.20 says, and having made peace
through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself, by him
I say whether they be things in earth or things in heaven. The only source of peace in the
world is God through the blood of his son Jesus Christ. That's the only source of peace.
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But the world's a big place, right? It's a lot bigger than my life. It's a lot bigger
than your life. It's a lot further away. When you're in the middle of all the chaos and
confusion of day to day life, and you're just trying to make it through the day, you're
just trying to make it through the week, peace in the Middle East doesn't seem quite so important,
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does it? Remember who Paul is talking to here? He's not talking to Caesar. He's not talking
to some Roman authority. He's not talking to government leaders. He's not talking to
military people. Even though these principles can apply to all of them as well, that's not
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who he's talking to. He's talking to ordinary, everyday people. Ordinary, everyday people
just like you and just like me. And he says that even for us, there's only one source for
peace. He doesn't say peace is found in the psychologist's office. He doesn't say peace
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is found in self-help books. He doesn't say peace is found in a better job or more money
or a bigger house or a nicer car. He doesn't say peace is found in those things or it's
not found in people or places. Where does he say the only place of peace is? From God through
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his son, Jesus Christ. See all those other things, they might give you a taste of peace.
They might be able to give you a temporary relief to all the chaos and confusion that
your life has right now. But it's kind of like Pepto-Bismol, right? It's ugly. It tastes
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bad. And it only provides some sort of temporary relief. But if you've got the choice between
temporary relief of symptoms and complete total healing, which one are you going to
take? I believe I'll take the one that passes all understanding. The only one that comes
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from one source, the one that comes from God through the blood of Jesus Christ. True peace
only comes from that one source. So the first preparation for peace is to look to the right
source. Now the second preparation we need comes in verse 8. It says, finally brothers,
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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. The second preparation for peace is to live with the right mind.
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The right mind. Before we get into each of the words in this list, I want you to notice
something. Notice that this is a positive command to do something. It's a positive command
about how we are supposed to think, about the things we are to think about and make
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no mistake about it. The way you think will determine the way you act. When Paul talks
about thinking here, he's not just talking about thinking in terms of casual book knowledge.
He's talking about the kind of thinking that drives your actions. That's the kind of thinking
that he was interested in. Like I said, this list is positive. It's not negative. Paul
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says, think on these things. He doesn't say don't think on these things. Why? Because
if somebody tells you not to think about something, you can't help but think about it. How many
of you all were watching that stupid point setter while we were worshiping because I
asked you not to think about it? You were watching it. I guarantee some of you were thinking,
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well, I'll figure out a way to secure that thing. It's not going to vibrate off. You
know how I know that? Because somebody secured it last week because it almost fell off. Some
of you all might have been thinking, why did they even put those things up there if there's
a risk of them falling off? I don't know the answer to that. They thought it looked good.
He's talking about the kind of thing that drives our actions. That's the kind of thinking
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that he was interested in. Positive, not negative. Because if somebody tells you not to think
about something, you can't help but think about it. It's called the power of suggestion.
If I stand up here and tell you not to look at the point setters, not to think about the
point setters potentially falling off these subwoofers, how many of you all were thinking
about it? Liars? One person. Thank you, Corey. If I tell you, man, it really feels hot in
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here. You might not be hot at all, but all of a sudden you began to think about, hey,
it is kind of warm in here, isn't it? The power of suggestion. That's why Paul says, doesn't
say don't think like this. The Holy Spirit inspired him to give a list of positive commands,
positive commands about the way that we are supposed to think. First, he lists six characteristics
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of how we are supposed to think. Think on things that are true and honorable, just pure,
lovely, and things that are commendable. Notice what leads this list. Truth. The first thing
that we need to intentionally fill our minds with is truth. And where do we find the truth?
We find it in the Scripture. We read it. We study it. We learn from it. We meditate on
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it. We pray through it. Without the truth of the Scriptures, as the foundation of your
thinking, you have no hope of getting any of the rest of this list right. But if you
start with the foundation of God's words, it will shape the way you think about everything
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else. Think on things that are true and honest. Is there a difference there? Because I thought
if something was true, it was honest, right? Well, it's today's English. A better translation
in today's English would be to think about things that are respectable. Things that are
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noble, not things that are trivial, not things that are trashy. Not things that have no
merit. Not things that are worthless. Think on things that are true and honest and just.
The word translated just means righteous. Thinking that is righteous is the perfect
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harmony. Think on things that are righteous, that are perfect harmony with God's righteousness
that He shows us in the truth of the Scripture. It sees sin the way that He sees sin. Not
just sin that's outside of us, but also the sin that's inside of us. It also means we
think of and we see the sinner the way that He sees the sinner. Righteous thinking sees
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lost sinners as people Jesus died for who need to hear the Gospel. And righteous thinking
sees saved sinners as people who Jesus died for and is working in just like me. Think
on things that are true and honest, just and pure. Pure thoughts are holy thoughts. Thoughts
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that reflect the nature and character of God rather than reflecting on impure words. Impure
pictures, impure images. Think on things that are true, honest, just, pure and lovely.
What mental images that word carries with it? It's interesting that this is the only
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place this original word is used in the New Testament. It is a compound word with the
word for what we think of as brotherly love. It basically means to think about things that
make you pleasing. Think on things that make you pleasing, that make you attractive. Think
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on things that bring out the inner beauty that you have in you. Actively think about
things that will make you pleasing to be around. Think on things that are true, honest, just,
pure, lovely and a good report. Here's another word that this is the only place this original
word is used. It carries the idea of praiseworthy thoughts. Praiseworthy thoughts, not the kind
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of thoughts that are praised by men, the kind of thoughts that would be praised by God himself.
Paul wraps up those six kinds of thoughts by summarizing them. He wraps them up by two
overarching categories. You can think of them as two different filters. The first one is
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virtue. The first filter is virtue. The word literally means moral excellence. Filter your
thinking through the first filter by asking yourself, is this thought morally excellent?
That's the first filter we think through. Is this thought that I have in my head morally
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excellent? Would I say it out loud? The second filter is praise. Now before we talked about
the thoughts that would be praised by God, this filter is different. Filter your thinking
through this filter by asking yourself, does this thought bring praise and honor and glory
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to the Lord? So the first filter is this morally excellent. The second filter does this thought
bring praise, honor and glory to the Lord. Now what happens when you have a thought that
doesn't make it through one of those filters? What do you do with it? How can you not think
about it? The only way you can not think about it is to think about the things that Paul
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lists before. Think on things that are true and honest, just, pure, lovely. I mean that's
pretty abstract. That's not going to do me a whole lot of good when my kids are driving
me crazy. That's not going to do a whole lot of good when your boss is treating you badly,
is it? So how do we change our thinking? How can these abstract things help me? Because
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it's easy to say think on things that are true, but when you're in the midst of chaos,
when you're in the midst of temptation, when you feel that pull against you, it's hard,
right? It's hard to think about things that are pure and lovely. But the reality is they're
not really abstract. Who is the only person that is true? Who is the most honorable person
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to ever walk the face of the earth? Who is the only righteous and pure and lovely one?
Jesus. So when bad thoughts are getting caught up in your virtue and praise filter, think
on Jesus. Having a mind that's focused on Jesus is living with the right mind. So we
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prepare for peace by looking at the right source. We prepare for peace by living with
the right mind. And finally we see the final piece of preparation in verse 9. He writes,
what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things. And
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the God of peace will be with you. The third preparation for peace is to learn from the
right person. Now Paul wrote this letter to the Philippian church from prison. He probably
wrote it while he was in prison in Rome. It was fairly late in his ministry, probably
around AD 61. We do know that Paul spent a considerable amount of time face to face with
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these people. He was the one who planted this church during his second missionary journey.
He visited there at least twice during his third missionary journey. People from Philippi
came to visit Paul while he was in Rome. They knew him. They saw him in all sorts of situations.
He wasn't plastic to them. He wasn't just some guy on a screen. He wasn't just some
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voice on a podcast. He was real. He was genuine. They saw how he acted when things were going
really, really well. And they saw how he acted when things were bad. And it seems like you
learn a lot more about a person when things are bad, when things are at their worst, don't
you? You find out what's really important to them. You find out where their focus is.
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You find out if their beliefs are just words or if that's really who they are. So they
knew that about Paul. They knew him. They saw his words tested and tried in the crucible
of his life. So when Paul said, I want you to be like me, he wasn't boasting about himself.
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He wasn't putting himself on a pedestal. He was boasting in Christ. Paul had poured out
every ounce of his life for Jesus. In the last letter he ever wrote, he told his son
in the faith Timothy that his life was being poured out as a drink offering. Paul was empty
of himself. So when he told them, follow my example, he was telling them in the clearest
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way possible to follow Christ. Oh, that you and I, that you and I one day might be able
to point to that and confidently be able to say the same thing. Do these things as I do
these things. What I can do, what I can do today is point you to the word. And in that
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word you can see Jesus Christ, the God of peace. And the things that you learn and receive
and hear from his word do those things. That's what I feel like I do every week. Do you want
peace in your life? Look to the right source. The only source of peace is Christ. Do you
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want peace in your life? Live with the right mind. The right mind thinks thoughts that
are always focused on Christ. Do you want peace in your life? Learn from the right
person. The right person is the one who follows Christ, who does as Christ did, who walks
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as Christ walked. How do you prepare for peace this season? You look to Jesus. Think on Jesus.
Follow Jesus. It's that simple to say, right? It's much harder to practice. Where are your
eyes this morning? Are they on Jesus? Or are they on the chaos and confusion? Where are
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your thoughts this morning? Are they on Jesus or are they on the busyness? Are they on the
frantic activity? Did you have a debate with yourself this morning on whether you should
come to church because your schedule is so busy? Where is your walk this morning? Is
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it following him or chasing after vain activities of this world?
Let's go back to the story that Alexander read in Mark chapter 4. Let's read about Jesus
on the bow. Let's read it again and think about what part of their preparation for peace
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was missing. Mark chapter 4 is starting in verse 35. He writes, On that day when evening
had come, he said to them, Let us go across to the other side. And leaving the crowd,
they took him with them in the boat just as he was. And other boats were with him. And
a great wind storm arose and the waves were breaking into the boat so that the boat was
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already filling. But he was in the stern asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said
to him, Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? And he awoke and rebuked the wind
and said to the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.
He said to them, Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith? And they were filled with
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great fear and said to one another, Who then is this that even the wind and sea obey him?
So we have disciples, right? We have disciples who are with Jesus. They've been walking with
Jesus. His teaching, his healing, were drawing large crowds of people. As he was healing
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people, word would spread and more people would come. I mean, this had to be an awesome
experience for them. I mean, it had to be infectious to be around. It'd be like going
to a concert and thousands of people are there in that arena just to see you. And so there
was probably some sort of high that they were experiencing. Now, I've never been to a Taylor
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Swift concert because I'm not a teenage girl. But I have seen some videos of how they sneak
her into the arena. Have you seen those? They put her in this box that looks like a janitor's
cart. And they wheel her to the stage. So I want you to think about this. The only way
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for Jesus and the disciples to escape from these people is to escape through the sea.
They don't want to go through the crowds because that might be dangerous. They don't want to
go through the crowds because people aren't going to leave them alone. So they get in
their own version of a janitor's cart to get away from the people. Maybe we can get to
the other side of the sea before they do. And now they are alone. They're on this boat.
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Now they're alone. Now things are calm until it wasn't. And the disciples who had just
seen Jesus heal people. The disciples who had just seen Jesus feed thousands of people.
The disciples who had heard Jesus teach in a way that brought life began to panic because
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their peace wasn't in him. It was in something else. They didn't have the right mindset.
They didn't have the right mindset because all they could focus on was fear and what
was going on around them. Their peace wasn't in him because they didn't fully trust him
yet. So quickly let's put ourselves in that situation. Let's put ourselves on that situation.
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Let's put ourselves on that boat. You've experienced Jesus. You've heard the word.
You've been walking with him, some of you, for a long time. Do you only find peace when
everyone likes you? And there's constantly something going on. But when things get quiet,
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when things get calm, when it's just you, you begin to panic because the storms of your
life seem out of control. And so what you do is you get around more people because if
the people are loud enough and if the people can distract you enough, you won't be able
to focus on the storms that are going on inside of you. It is easy to be distracted when you're
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popular and everyone wants a piece of you. Do you have a difficult time when it's just
you and your thoughts? When the waves are beating against you, do you have a difficult
time thinking on things that are true and good or do you begin to think about all the
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things that are going on wrong around you? Where are your thoughts? And finally, do you
have someone who you can imitate as they follow Jesus? Because if you just trust yourself,
if you think that Christianity and walking with Jesus is an isolated thing, you walk
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in a little bit of danger. There's a little bit of danger in that. It's why I'm so grateful
for the elders of this church in my life because nine times out of ten, nine times out of ten
at least, they bring out the missing piece that I haven't thought about. They bring these
things to me. It helps protect me. It helps protect our church from the blind spots that
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I don't see. I need to be in community with people who have my best interests in mind,
who want to challenge me when they see me walking down the wrong path, when my thoughts
are in the wrong place. We need people like that in our life. We need accountability.
We need discipleship. We need somebody to model because at the end of the day, at the
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end of the day, this can't just be about us. We all need to be a disciple of Jesus by being
the peace that comes from Him. This cannot end with us. You can't do that. You can't
be a disciple of Jesus and give peace to everybody else if you yourself don't have it. But at
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the same time, you shouldn't just be waiting around until you have everything down perfectly.
Be the peace to someone in your life this week. Who in your life? Here's how the Holy
Spirit works because I'm about to ask a question. For some of us, somebody's going to come to
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our mind. Who in your life right now are you needing to give forgiveness to? What relationship
in your life needs to be reconciled? Can you be the person that people come to when the
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storms of their life are out of control and you can speak true to calm it down? Are you
that person? Jesus brought peace to this earth when He came and it is the expectation, it
is the command of all of us who are believers in Jesus to continue to bring peace to the
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world around us. Not add more chaos, not add more confusion. We are called to be the peace
to the world around us. How can you do that? Sometimes everything is going well in somebody's
life for the most part but they can't stop thinking about this one bill. They can't stop
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thinking about how they're going to provide for their family. Can you meet a physical
need this week to help bring peace to a family in need? If you have not experienced peace
in your lives, could you reach out and seek wise counsel? As you live your life, can you
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confidently say like Paul, hey all these things you've seen, all these things you've seen
me how I handle situations do the same? Do the same. This is not meant to terminate on
us, it's meant to be spread throughout the world. So as the Holy Spirit empowers you,
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as the Holy Spirit speaks to you, I'd be willing to bet and I'm not going to ask you to do
it but I'd be willing to bet when I ask the question what relationship in your life needs
to be reconciled? What person in your life do you need to forgive forgiveness to? I'd
be willing to bet that many of you had somebody come to your mind. So you want peace? Walk
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in obedience. Walk in obedience. We are to be the peace that comes from Jesus. Let's
pray. Father I pray right now that as we close, as we worship, as we respond, that you will
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speak to our hearts. God help us be like Jesus. Help us be like Jesus on that boat. That even
though there's chaos and confusion all around us, we're still able to sleep in peace because
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we find our peace in you, the source. You are the only source for peace. And so Father
I pray right now for the person that might try to find peace in every other place except
for you. They've never given you a chance. So Father I pray for salvation to come. I
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pray that they will call upon your name. Father I pray that you will help our thinking. I
pray that you will help us not see the negative but actually do the positive. To think on
things that are true and worthy and noble and just and pure. Think on those things Father.
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I pray that you empower us to. And I pray Father that you will help us see those around us
who are walking with you in a way that honors you. I pray that you will raise up more. Men
and women that are walking with you in an honorable way. Help us be those men and women.
So Father I ask for your spirit to fill this room. I pray that your spirit will minister
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to our hearts as we close out this service. Help us think on things that are praise worthy.
Help our thoughts be honorable. Help us walk in moral excellence. We give you this time.
I pray that you will hear your name. Amen.
know, but we'll figure that out. If you have your Bibles, we'll be in Mark chapter 4. We'll
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also be in Philippians chapter 4, so if you want to find both and be extra special, that's
great. Have you ever had one of those days? You know what I mean? Just one of those days.
And maybe you've heard stories like this, but I want to read you a letter from a man
that wrote his insurance company that tells us, tells the insurance company about his bad
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day. He says, quote, I'm writing in response to your request for additional information. In
block number three of the accident reporting form, I put poor planning as the cause of my accident.
You said in your letter that I should explain more fully and I trust that the following details
will be sufficient. He says, I'm a bricklayer by trade. One of the, on the day of the accident,
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I was working alone on the roof of a 10 story building. When I completed my work, I discovered
I had about 500 pounds of bricks lift over. Rather than carry them down by hand, I decided
to lower them to the ground in a barrel by using a pulley, which fortunately was attached
to the side of the building at the 10th floor. Securing the rope at ground level, I went
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to the roof, loaded the 500 pounds of bricks that went back down to the ground and untied
the rope, holding it tightly to ensure the slow descent to the 500 pounds of bricks.
You will note in block 11 of the accident reporting form that I weigh 165 pounds. Due
to my surprise of being jerked off the ground, so suddenly I lost the presence of mind and
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forgot to let go of the rope. Needless to say, I proceeded at a rapid rate up the side
of the building. In the vicinity of the fifth floor, I met the barrel coming down. This
explains the fractured skull and broken collar bone. I continued by rapid ascent, not stopping
until the fingers of my right hand were two knuckles deep into the pulley. Fortunately,
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by the time I had regained my presence of mind and was able to hold tightly to the rope
in spite of my pain, at approximately the same time, however, the barrel of bricks hit
the ground and the bottom fell out of the barrel. Devoided the weight of the bricks,
the barrel now weighed approximately 30 pounds. I refer you again to my weight in block number
11 of the accident reporting form. As you might imagine, I began a rapid descent down
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the building. In the vicinity of the fifth floor, I met the barrel coming up again. This
accounts to the two fractured ankles and lacerations to my legs and lower body. The second
encounter with the barrel slowed me enough to lessen my injuries when I fell into the
pile of bricks, and fortunately, only three vertebrae were cracked. I am sorry to report,
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however, that as I lay there on the bricks in pain and unable to stand, watching the
empty barrel ten stories above me, I again lost my presence of mind and I let go of
the rope. I'm going to invite Alexander to come and read our passage this morning. He's
going to read from Mark chapter four. I'm going to ask him to light our advent candles.
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Go ahead. Do you need me to hold that? If anybody can make it awkward, it's Alexander's
sentence. I'll tell you that. Alexander's lighting two candles. Last week, we lit the
Hope candle, just reminding us that we are to be the Hope, the Hope that Jesus brings.
He's also lighting the second candle, which is the candle of peace, reminding us that
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we are to be peace to the world around us, and peace comes from Jesus. Congratulations.
You go, Alexander. Okay, is that high enough? Perfect. If you would honor the Lord as we
stand and honor his word, he's going to read verses 35 through 41.
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On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, let us go across to the other side,
and leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat just as he was. And the other
boats were with him in a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat
so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion,
and they woke him and said to him, Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? And
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he awoke and rebuked the wind instead to the sea, peace, be still, and the wind ceased.
There was a great calm. He said to them, Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?
And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, Who then is this, that even
the wind in the sea obey him? Amen. Let's pray. Father, I thank you for Alexander,
and I just thank you for what you're doing in his life. And I thank you for his willingness
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to read your words today. I pray that you bless him for it.
Father, as we look at this story that's familiar to us, I pray that you'll just speak to our
hearts. Be in our midst. We ask all these things in your name. Amen.
Thanks, Father. Now, if you think from the perspective of the disciples, you think from
the perspective of the bricklayer, that's a bad day. It's a bad day, right? But we all
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have bad days sometimes, don't we? Sometimes just like the bricklayer or the disciples,
it seems like one thing hits us after another until all we can do is lay there and watch
the next thing come. But is that all there is? Is that all what life's about? When you
look around the world, you see conflict and war and terrorism. When you look in our own
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community, you see drugs and crime and broken homes and abuse. Sometimes it can seem as
if everything in our world is in turmoil. Sometimes that feeling of chaos even spills
into the homes we live in, doesn't it? Everything is rush, rush, rush, rush, rush. Everything
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is busy, busy, busy, busy. The chaos of competing interests and schedules seems to have completely
taken over our lives, especially at this time of year. And that's in our homes where things
are fairly stable. What about when you add all the other problems that plague our families
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today? There's chaos and confusion in the world. There's chaos and confusion in our
country, in our community. Chaos and confusion are in our homes. It's in our lives. It's
just the world we live in. Bricks and barrels and ropes and pulleys and storms can seem
like they're coming at us from every direction at the same time. But is that the way it's
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supposed to be? Is that how it's supposed to be? Is that the life that God desires for
us? Of course not. While he was talking about orderliness in the church, Paul reminded us
of the nature of God. In 1 Corinthians 14, he wrote, For God is not the author of confusion
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but of peace. One thing you can be certain of, if there's confusion and there's chaos
happening in your life, that's not what God desires for you. That's not His plan. His
desire is for you to experience peace. Now, that doesn't mean that everything's always
going to be calm around you. What it means is that the Lord has made peace available
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to you despite all the chaos and confusion that's going on around you. I'm hoping that
the words of Paul will help us this morning. We're going to look at Philippians chapter
4, verses 6 through 9. And my hope this morning is that as we break down this text, that we
will see the value in pursuing peace in our lives. But we have to prepare for it. We have
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to prepare for peace. Peace is not naturally going to happen. In our passage this morning,
Paul is closing out his letter to the church at Philippi. And as he does so, he wants to
leave them with some sort of encouragement. Now, we have to understand that the church
in Philippi, their lives weren't much different than ours. Their lives were busy. Their lives
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were chaotic and confusing. But Paul knew that that wasn't God's desire for them. His
desire was for their joy, for their peace. The entire letter pointed them to the joy
of their salvation. Now, in these closing verses, Paul gives them encouraging ways to
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experience true God-given peace. And that's what I want for us here today. Now, as we
think about the season of Advent, I want us to overcome that chaos and business of the
season and truly experience the peace that comes from God. But it's not something that's
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just going to happen on its own. Just like most things that are of value don't just
happen. It's not going to prepare itself. True peace in your life won't prepare itself.
And so what do we have to do? We have to look for peace in three ways. So the first preparation
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for peace is to look to the right source. In Philippians 4-6 through 7, it reads, 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. And so if we look at those two verses,
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the first preparation for peace is to look at the right source. What a wonderfully familiar
verse. It's a wonderful thing, right? When a verse is so familiar to us that it just
kind of rolls off our tongue when we read it. Maybe many of you hadn't memorized, right?
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And it's just in you. You know what that verse is about. If you have that verse memorized,
that's great. If you haven't, I'd encourage you to do so. But there is a danger with familiarity.
It's like the songs that we know so well. We just sing Silent Night. We just sing the
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first Noel. We know those songs because we've been singing them for years and years and years.
We know them so well and we sung them so many times that the words have no impact on us,
do they? We really have to stop and think. They become so familiar to us that we are
in danger of not even paying attention to the words we sing anymore. Like driving the
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same stretch of road every single day. The newness wears off. It's almost like your brain
shuts off when you travel it. Have you ever been there? I can't tell you how many times
I've arrived to the church or arrived back home and like I have no idea how I got here.
Like muscle memory just kicks in and my mind is somewhere else. I don't even remember anything
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about the drive. If you're not careful, that can happen with familiar scripture passages.
The thing is, and all of our familiarity with this verse, most of the time, the focus is
on the wrong place. Yes, Paul is telling us the importance of prayer and supplication
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and giving things, but his focus here is on the who. The who, not the what. We pray to
God because he is the source of the peace that we are looking for. As a matter of fact,
he's the only source of peace we are looking for. But that's not what the world says, is
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it? People on one side of the political world will tell you that the only hope for peace
in this world is through military strength. People on the other side will tell you that
the only hope for peace is through appeasement and giving into your enemy's demands. But
what does the Bible say? What does the Bible tell us? The Bible says that our only hope
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for peace is through the blood of Jesus Christ. Colossians 1.20 says, and having made peace
through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself, by him
I say whether they be things in earth or things in heaven. The only source of peace in the
world is God through the blood of his son Jesus Christ. That's the only source of peace.
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But the world's a big place, right? It's a lot bigger than my life. It's a lot bigger
than your life. It's a lot further away. When you're in the middle of all the chaos and
confusion of day to day life, and you're just trying to make it through the day, you're
just trying to make it through the week, peace in the Middle East doesn't seem quite so important,
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does it? Remember who Paul is talking to here? He's not talking to Caesar. He's not talking
to some Roman authority. He's not talking to government leaders. He's not talking to
military people. Even though these principles can apply to all of them as well, that's not
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who he's talking to. He's talking to ordinary, everyday people. Ordinary, everyday people
just like you and just like me. And he says that even for us, there's only one source for
peace. He doesn't say peace is found in the psychologist's office. He doesn't say peace
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is found in self-help books. He doesn't say peace is found in a better job or more money
or a bigger house or a nicer car. He doesn't say peace is found in those things or it's
not found in people or places. Where does he say the only place of peace is? From God through
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his son, Jesus Christ. See all those other things, they might give you a taste of peace.
They might be able to give you a temporary relief to all the chaos and confusion that
your life has right now. But it's kind of like Pepto-Bismol, right? It's ugly. It tastes
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bad. And it only provides some sort of temporary relief. But if you've got the choice between
temporary relief of symptoms and complete total healing, which one are you going to
take? I believe I'll take the one that passes all understanding. The only one that comes
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from one source, the one that comes from God through the blood of Jesus Christ. True peace
only comes from that one source. So the first preparation for peace is to look to the right
source. Now the second preparation we need comes in verse 8. It says, finally brothers,
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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. The second preparation for peace is to live with the right mind.
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The right mind. Before we get into each of the words in this list, I want you to notice
something. Notice that this is a positive command to do something. It's a positive command
about how we are supposed to think, about the things we are to think about and make
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no mistake about it. The way you think will determine the way you act. When Paul talks
about thinking here, he's not just talking about thinking in terms of casual book knowledge.
He's talking about the kind of thinking that drives your actions. That's the kind of thinking
that he was interested in. Like I said, this list is positive. It's not negative. Paul
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says, think on these things. He doesn't say don't think on these things. Why? Because
if somebody tells you not to think about something, you can't help but think about it. How many
of you all were watching that stupid point setter while we were worshiping because I
asked you not to think about it? You were watching it. I guarantee some of you were thinking,
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well, I'll figure out a way to secure that thing. It's not going to vibrate off. You
know how I know that? Because somebody secured it last week because it almost fell off. Some
of you all might have been thinking, why did they even put those things up there if there's
a risk of them falling off? I don't know the answer to that. They thought it looked good.
He's talking about the kind of thing that drives our actions. That's the kind of thinking
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that he was interested in. Positive, not negative. Because if somebody tells you not to think
about something, you can't help but think about it. It's called the power of suggestion.
If I stand up here and tell you not to look at the point setters, not to think about the
point setters potentially falling off these subwoofers, how many of you all were thinking
about it? Liars? One person. Thank you, Corey. If I tell you, man, it really feels hot in
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here. You might not be hot at all, but all of a sudden you began to think about, hey,
it is kind of warm in here, isn't it? The power of suggestion. That's why Paul says, doesn't
say don't think like this. The Holy Spirit inspired him to give a list of positive commands,
positive commands about the way that we are supposed to think. First, he lists six characteristics
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of how we are supposed to think. Think on things that are true and honorable, just pure,
lovely, and things that are commendable. Notice what leads this list. Truth. The first thing
that we need to intentionally fill our minds with is truth. And where do we find the truth?
We find it in the Scripture. We read it. We study it. We learn from it. We meditate on
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it. We pray through it. Without the truth of the Scriptures, as the foundation of your
thinking, you have no hope of getting any of the rest of this list right. But if you
start with the foundation of God's words, it will shape the way you think about everything
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else. Think on things that are true and honest. Is there a difference there? Because I thought
if something was true, it was honest, right? Well, it's today's English. A better translation
in today's English would be to think about things that are respectable. Things that are
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noble, not things that are trivial, not things that are trashy. Not things that have no
merit. Not things that are worthless. Think on things that are true and honest and just.
The word translated just means righteous. Thinking that is righteous is the perfect
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harmony. Think on things that are righteous, that are perfect harmony with God's righteousness
that He shows us in the truth of the Scripture. It sees sin the way that He sees sin. Not
just sin that's outside of us, but also the sin that's inside of us. It also means we
think of and we see the sinner the way that He sees the sinner. Righteous thinking sees
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lost sinners as people Jesus died for who need to hear the Gospel. And righteous thinking
sees saved sinners as people who Jesus died for and is working in just like me. Think
on things that are true and honest, just and pure. Pure thoughts are holy thoughts. Thoughts
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that reflect the nature and character of God rather than reflecting on impure words. Impure
pictures, impure images. Think on things that are true, honest, just, pure and lovely.
What mental images that word carries with it? It's interesting that this is the only
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place this original word is used in the New Testament. It is a compound word with the
word for what we think of as brotherly love. It basically means to think about things that
make you pleasing. Think on things that make you pleasing, that make you attractive. Think
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on things that bring out the inner beauty that you have in you. Actively think about
things that will make you pleasing to be around. Think on things that are true, honest, just,
pure, lovely and a good report. Here's another word that this is the only place this original
word is used. It carries the idea of praiseworthy thoughts. Praiseworthy thoughts, not the kind
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of thoughts that are praised by men, the kind of thoughts that would be praised by God himself.
Paul wraps up those six kinds of thoughts by summarizing them. He wraps them up by two
overarching categories. You can think of them as two different filters. The first one is
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virtue. The first filter is virtue. The word literally means moral excellence. Filter your
thinking through the first filter by asking yourself, is this thought morally excellent?
That's the first filter we think through. Is this thought that I have in my head morally
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excellent? Would I say it out loud? The second filter is praise. Now before we talked about
the thoughts that would be praised by God, this filter is different. Filter your thinking
through this filter by asking yourself, does this thought bring praise and honor and glory
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to the Lord? So the first filter is this morally excellent. The second filter does this thought
bring praise, honor and glory to the Lord. Now what happens when you have a thought that
doesn't make it through one of those filters? What do you do with it? How can you not think
about it? The only way you can not think about it is to think about the things that Paul
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lists before. Think on things that are true and honest, just, pure, lovely. I mean that's
pretty abstract. That's not going to do me a whole lot of good when my kids are driving
me crazy. That's not going to do a whole lot of good when your boss is treating you badly,
is it? So how do we change our thinking? How can these abstract things help me? Because
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it's easy to say think on things that are true, but when you're in the midst of chaos,
when you're in the midst of temptation, when you feel that pull against you, it's hard,
right? It's hard to think about things that are pure and lovely. But the reality is they're
not really abstract. Who is the only person that is true? Who is the most honorable person
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to ever walk the face of the earth? Who is the only righteous and pure and lovely one?
Jesus. So when bad thoughts are getting caught up in your virtue and praise filter, think
on Jesus. Having a mind that's focused on Jesus is living with the right mind. So we
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prepare for peace by looking at the right source. We prepare for peace by living with
the right mind. And finally we see the final piece of preparation in verse 9. He writes,
what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things. And
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the God of peace will be with you. The third preparation for peace is to learn from the
right person. Now Paul wrote this letter to the Philippian church from prison. He probably
wrote it while he was in prison in Rome. It was fairly late in his ministry, probably
around AD 61. We do know that Paul spent a considerable amount of time face to face with
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these people. He was the one who planted this church during his second missionary journey.
He visited there at least twice during his third missionary journey. People from Philippi
came to visit Paul while he was in Rome. They knew him. They saw him in all sorts of situations.
He wasn't plastic to them. He wasn't just some guy on a screen. He wasn't just some
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voice on a podcast. He was real. He was genuine. They saw how he acted when things were going
really, really well. And they saw how he acted when things were bad. And it seems like you
learn a lot more about a person when things are bad, when things are at their worst, don't
you? You find out what's really important to them. You find out where their focus is.
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You find out if their beliefs are just words or if that's really who they are. So they
knew that about Paul. They knew him. They saw his words tested and tried in the crucible
of his life. So when Paul said, I want you to be like me, he wasn't boasting about himself.
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He wasn't putting himself on a pedestal. He was boasting in Christ. Paul had poured out
every ounce of his life for Jesus. In the last letter he ever wrote, he told his son
in the faith Timothy that his life was being poured out as a drink offering. Paul was empty
of himself. So when he told them, follow my example, he was telling them in the clearest
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way possible to follow Christ. Oh, that you and I, that you and I one day might be able
to point to that and confidently be able to say the same thing. Do these things as I do
these things. What I can do, what I can do today is point you to the word. And in that
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word you can see Jesus Christ, the God of peace. And the things that you learn and receive
and hear from his word do those things. That's what I feel like I do every week. Do you want
peace in your life? Look to the right source. The only source of peace is Christ. Do you
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want peace in your life? Live with the right mind. The right mind thinks thoughts that
are always focused on Christ. Do you want peace in your life? Learn from the right
person. The right person is the one who follows Christ, who does as Christ did, who walks
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as Christ walked. How do you prepare for peace this season? You look to Jesus. Think on Jesus.
Follow Jesus. It's that simple to say, right? It's much harder to practice. Where are your
eyes this morning? Are they on Jesus? Or are they on the chaos and confusion? Where are
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your thoughts this morning? Are they on Jesus or are they on the busyness? Are they on the
frantic activity? Did you have a debate with yourself this morning on whether you should
come to church because your schedule is so busy? Where is your walk this morning? Is
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it following him or chasing after vain activities of this world?
Let's go back to the story that Alexander read in Mark chapter 4. Let's read about Jesus
on the bow. Let's read it again and think about what part of their preparation for peace
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was missing. Mark chapter 4 is starting in verse 35. He writes, On that day when evening
had come, he said to them, Let us go across to the other side. And leaving the crowd,
they took him with them in the boat just as he was. And other boats were with him. And
a great wind storm arose and the waves were breaking into the boat so that the boat was
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already filling. But he was in the stern asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said
to him, Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? And he awoke and rebuked the wind
and said to the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.
He said to them, Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith? And they were filled with
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great fear and said to one another, Who then is this that even the wind and sea obey him?
So we have disciples, right? We have disciples who are with Jesus. They've been walking with
Jesus. His teaching, his healing, were drawing large crowds of people. As he was healing
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people, word would spread and more people would come. I mean, this had to be an awesome
experience for them. I mean, it had to be infectious to be around. It'd be like going
to a concert and thousands of people are there in that arena just to see you. And so there
was probably some sort of high that they were experiencing. Now, I've never been to a Taylor
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Swift concert because I'm not a teenage girl. But I have seen some videos of how they sneak
her into the arena. Have you seen those? They put her in this box that looks like a janitor's
cart. And they wheel her to the stage. So I want you to think about this. The only way
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for Jesus and the disciples to escape from these people is to escape through the sea.
They don't want to go through the crowds because that might be dangerous. They don't want to
go through the crowds because people aren't going to leave them alone. So they get in
their own version of a janitor's cart to get away from the people. Maybe we can get to
the other side of the sea before they do. And now they are alone. They're on this boat.
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Now they're alone. Now things are calm until it wasn't. And the disciples who had just
seen Jesus heal people. The disciples who had just seen Jesus feed thousands of people.
The disciples who had heard Jesus teach in a way that brought life began to panic because
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their peace wasn't in him. It was in something else. They didn't have the right mindset.
They didn't have the right mindset because all they could focus on was fear and what
was going on around them. Their peace wasn't in him because they didn't fully trust him
yet. So quickly let's put ourselves in that situation. Let's put ourselves on that situation.
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Let's put ourselves on that boat. You've experienced Jesus. You've heard the word.
You've been walking with him, some of you, for a long time. Do you only find peace when
everyone likes you? And there's constantly something going on. But when things get quiet,
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when things get calm, when it's just you, you begin to panic because the storms of your
life seem out of control. And so what you do is you get around more people because if
the people are loud enough and if the people can distract you enough, you won't be able
to focus on the storms that are going on inside of you. It is easy to be distracted when you're
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popular and everyone wants a piece of you. Do you have a difficult time when it's just
you and your thoughts? When the waves are beating against you, do you have a difficult
time thinking on things that are true and good or do you begin to think about all the
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things that are going on wrong around you? Where are your thoughts? And finally, do you
have someone who you can imitate as they follow Jesus? Because if you just trust yourself,
if you think that Christianity and walking with Jesus is an isolated thing, you walk
(33:51):
in a little bit of danger. There's a little bit of danger in that. It's why I'm so grateful
for the elders of this church in my life because nine times out of ten, nine times out of ten
at least, they bring out the missing piece that I haven't thought about. They bring these
things to me. It helps protect me. It helps protect our church from the blind spots that
(34:17):
I don't see. I need to be in community with people who have my best interests in mind,
who want to challenge me when they see me walking down the wrong path, when my thoughts
are in the wrong place. We need people like that in our life. We need accountability.
We need discipleship. We need somebody to model because at the end of the day, at the
(34:43):
end of the day, this can't just be about us. We all need to be a disciple of Jesus by being
the peace that comes from Him. This cannot end with us. You can't do that. You can't
be a disciple of Jesus and give peace to everybody else if you yourself don't have it. But at
(35:11):
the same time, you shouldn't just be waiting around until you have everything down perfectly.
Be the peace to someone in your life this week. Who in your life? Here's how the Holy
Spirit works because I'm about to ask a question. For some of us, somebody's going to come to
(35:32):
our mind. Who in your life right now are you needing to give forgiveness to? What relationship
in your life needs to be reconciled? Can you be the person that people come to when the
(36:05):
storms of their life are out of control and you can speak true to calm it down? Are you
that person? Jesus brought peace to this earth when He came and it is the expectation, it
is the command of all of us who are believers in Jesus to continue to bring peace to the
(36:28):
world around us. Not add more chaos, not add more confusion. We are called to be the peace
to the world around us. How can you do that? Sometimes everything is going well in somebody's
life for the most part but they can't stop thinking about this one bill. They can't stop
(36:56):
thinking about how they're going to provide for their family. Can you meet a physical
need this week to help bring peace to a family in need? If you have not experienced peace
in your lives, could you reach out and seek wise counsel? As you live your life, can you
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confidently say like Paul, hey all these things you've seen, all these things you've seen
me how I handle situations do the same? Do the same. This is not meant to terminate on
us, it's meant to be spread throughout the world. So as the Holy Spirit empowers you,
(37:44):
as the Holy Spirit speaks to you, I'd be willing to bet and I'm not going to ask you to do
it but I'd be willing to bet when I ask the question what relationship in your life needs
to be reconciled? What person in your life do you need to forgive forgiveness to? I'd
be willing to bet that many of you had somebody come to your mind. So you want peace? Walk
(38:08):
in obedience. Walk in obedience. We are to be the peace that comes from Jesus. Let's
pray. Father I pray right now that as we close, as we worship, as we respond, that you will
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speak to our hearts. God help us be like Jesus. Help us be like Jesus on that boat. That even
though there's chaos and confusion all around us, we're still able to sleep in peace because
(38:50):
we find our peace in you, the source. You are the only source for peace. And so Father
I pray right now for the person that might try to find peace in every other place except
for you. They've never given you a chance. So Father I pray for salvation to come. I
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pray that they will call upon your name. Father I pray that you will help our thinking. I
pray that you will help us not see the negative but actually do the positive. To think on
things that are true and worthy and noble and just and pure. Think on those things Father.
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I pray that you empower us to. And I pray Father that you will help us see those around us
who are walking with you in a way that honors you. I pray that you will raise up more. Men
and women that are walking with you in an honorable way. Help us be those men and women.
So Father I ask for your spirit to fill this room. I pray that your spirit will minister
(39:56):
to our hearts as we close out this service. Help us think on things that are praise worthy.
Help our thoughts be honorable. Help us walk in moral excellence. We give you this time.
I pray that you will hear your name. Amen.
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