10/13/19 Philippians 4:1-9 “Peace”

11 Oct 10/13/19 Philippians 4:1-9 “Peace”

10/13/19    Philippians 4:1-9          “Peace”

Peace to you all my sisters and brothers in Christ.  Shalom to you.  What a nice way to start a service!  We hear things like this and similar things all the time as we go about our week.  Peace is a greeting and a good one.  When I was younger, the standard hand gesture greeting was the peace sign.  Some of you may remember it.  To tell you the truth, after several years of flashing the peace sign I thought that it was getting kind of artificial.  It was getting pretty shallow.  However, peace is something that we should strive for all the time.  We all want international peace.  We want peace in our communities.  We want personal peace.  It almost makes me cry when I see people wanting peace and doing all the wrong things to try to get it.  Today Paul is telling us how to achieve peace.  And once again we have to rely on God and not ourselves.  Let’s take a look and see if we can better our lives a little with Paul’s directions.

Eldon Reich tells the story of a young husband who was henpecked to the point of seeing a psychiatrist about it.  The doctor told him, “Don’t let your wife bully you.  Show her who is boss!”  So the young man went home and slammed the door and growled to his wife, “From now on, you’re taking orders from me!  When I get home from work, I want my supper on the table.  I want my clothes laid out for tomorrow.  Now I’m going out with the boys and you will be staying home.  And another thing, do you know who is going to tie my tie?”  His wife answered, “Yes, the undertaker.”

Last week I started out with such a gloomy story so I decided to lighten it up a little this week.  I don’t think there will be any peace with this couple because they are looking in the wrong place.  Eldon Reich tells another story of a bank robber in Canada.  He was caught and sent to jail while the gun he used was sent to a museum.  He was sentenced to six years in jail for robbing a bank of $6,000.  He used a .45 caliber Colt semi-automatic, which was an antique made in 1918.  The pistol was worth $100,000.  If he had known this, he wouldn’t have robbed the bank.  He didn’t know what he had and what he had was all that he needed.  Sometimes we don’t know what we have and we also have all that we need.

Paul begins this section by talking about the peace we need amongst ourselves.  It seems that two women were fighting in the church at Philippi.  It is not important that it is two women or two men or one of each.  If these two ladies were here this morning, they would probably be quite upset because it is now two thousand years later and Paul didn’t even mention the cause of the dispute.  That is because it is not important.  The topic of much discord is often not important.

We really do have a tough time with peace.  In the last 4000 years there have been 8000 peace treaties made and broken.  There has only been something like 260 years where there has been world peace.  That is something like 5% of the time the world has not been in a war which I think is a staggering figure.  And this is probably only because it just took a little time between wars to percolate another one.  If you throw God out of our lives, then expect war all the time.

Churches are not immune either.  We fight over how and when we should we baptize.  We fight over how to take communion and who can take it.  We fight over what music is appropriate in our services.  I have even had people come and tell me that no one worships God properly except for their church.  Where does all this come from?  We have our eyes on everything but what is right.  Jesus Christ wants us to be obedient to Him in our hearts and he doesn’t care one bit of the types of burnt offerings you bring to Him.

And this is what Paul is saying here.  He tells a third party to come and help settle the disagreement.  It doesn’t matter what the difference is, just settle it.  And if you need a third party then go and get someone.  As long as you are fighting or disagreeing about your differences, there will be no ministry.

It doesn’t matter to the UMC or the Catholic Church or the Lutheran Church or to any church or to me if you want to sit quietly and worship.  It doesn’t matter if you want to stand and raise your hands.  We will baptize you in any fashion you want as long as it is appropriate.  Most real churches aren’t so much interested in how you worship but rather that you do worship.  As a church we want to be at peace with each other as we worship in ways that are pleasing to God.  It’s very simple but obviously very hard to do.

So Paul has told us to be at peace with each other.  Next he is telling us that we have to have peace inside of ourselves.  We are now starting to peel the onion back a little more.  He says in verse 4, “Rejoice in the Lord always.  I will say it again: Rejoice!”  This is one of my favorite passages in the Bible.  It doesn’t tell us to have sad faces.  It doesn’t tell us that we can never smile in church.  Paul is saying to be happy in the Lord.  A friend of mine once told me that his wife would kill him if he ever rejoiced.  When I asked him why, he said that his wife was named Joyce.

It is ok to be happy in church.  We can joke once in a while.  We do not have to be solemn.  We can let it out a little bit on Sunday morning or whenever you worship.  If you look right next to you, Paul is saying that the Lord is there.  Don’t be anxious about anything.  Once again he is telling us this.  This is one of the things that Paul likes to talk about.  We don’t have to worry when all we have to do is take all our troubles and worries to God in prayer and petition.  Ask God.  Do you remember in James 4 where he tells us that we do not have because we do not ask?  Here it is again.  If we follow what Jesus is telling us to do here through Paul, then we can have peace in our hearts.

I have known a lot of people in this world who have suffered from anxiety, depression, and all kinds of other problems.  And the science for many of these ailments has greatly improved.  And sometimes these remedies even work.  I know that these things will work even better if you have a strong faith in Jesus Christ.  God works in wondrous ways.  God will work through your faith, through your doctors and through your medicine.  Trust in God.  According to Paul and just about anyone who knows God, the peace and love we get from God are beyond our understanding.  You will never understand God in this world so just sit back and trust Him. Then you will be on the most glorious ride ever!

Unfortunately most of us have had a few setbacks in life.  We have had some tremendous losses as loved ones around us have died and gone home.  We have suffered through divorces.  We have suffered through wayward children.  We have suffered through various illnesses.  And here we are today, praising God because God is the only real constant that we have in our lives.  Please remember that.  No matter what happens to you, you need to keep coming back to get that inner peace that Jesus provides.  He is here today.

This all ties back to having peace with each other.  We cannot have peace with each other until we have peace within ourselves.  And we cannot have peace of any kind unless we have peace with God.  This all begins with our relationship with Jesus Christ.  If you haven’t asked Jesus to live inside of you and rule your life, then do so today.  None of the things we talk about here work until you have done this.  With this comes peace.  If you have no peace, if you don’t know where to turn, if your life is a mess, then come to Jesus.  Rest in His arms and let Him take care of you.  This is the true peace that you find in Christ.

Now for the rest of us who are there but still we waver a bit, Paul has some more words for us.  He gives us 8 things to think about at all times.  He says, “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things.”  These are the traits we should strive for in our thoughts.

First we focus on what is true.  God is true.  Jesus Christ is true.  The Holy Spirit is true.  I will never buy into the ridiculous farce that you have your truth and I have mine and that there is no universal truth.  Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life.  Paul is talking about what is spiritually true.  Keep your eyes focused on Christ.  Turn off those sleazy internet sites.  Turn off those gross TV programs.  Do not buy those fashions that flaunt more skin than fabric.  There will be times when we cannot help but see these things.  It is at these times we call on Jesus to turn our minds away from them.  There have been many, many a criminal who has patterned his behavior on what he has seen on TV or the internet.  Turn that garbage off!

Concentrate on what is noble and right.  This may be hard to believe but there is such a thing as what is right and what is wrong.  God has given us an entire book on how to do things right.  I remember the time when if you gave your word to do something, then you would do it.  Your word meant something.  Your word was your integrity.  We are losing that and corporate America has lost it.  Our last financial crisis about 10 years ago was a direct result of a bunch of liars and thieves running the corporations.  These CEO’s were despicable as are many of our elected officials.  If you don’t believe this, then look at the ridiculous salaries some of these people take home.

And it doesn’t stop there.  I get offers every day to spend $100-200 on something and then I can get something else free.  There is nothing free if I have to spend $100-200 first.  Corporations are even trying to turn a good profit on pastors and generally these offers come from so-called Christian companies.  We could go on and on with this but let’s get back and concentrate on what is right.  After all money experts don’t concentrate on fake money.  They study and know what the real money is.  So you should concentrate on what is right and just leave all the wrong stuff in the dust.

What is pure, what is lovely, what is admirable.  If we can take our eyes off of the newspapers and TVs, we will see these things.  Every Sunday morning for years I would get the privilege of standing in the pulpit and seeing what is pure, lovely and admirable.  It’s a little harder on the internet but I know you are there.  You all do things that are excellent and praiseworthy.  We don’t have to go far to find all of these traits.  They are here and they are all around us.

God is working in some of our churches.  I often feel this when we have or attend a baptism.  I can just feel the presence of God there?  There are days when His presence is strong in other ways.  I always feel so aware and alive when I feel the presence of Jesus in a gathering of people.  It’s wonderful!

And finally, Paul tells us to put this into practice.  Being a Christian isn’t a one hour a week job.  It is a job that is 24/7.  We come here to this service to get recharged by hearing the Word and knowing there are other believers listening also.  And then you leave here and go back into your mission fields.

And as we go I would like you to remember these three things we talked about today.  No matter who you meet or where you are, try to get along with the people that you meet.  I know that sometimes it is hard, but that makes it all the more worthwhile.  And if you are having struggles inside of yourself, take them to Jesus.  This should be the first stop in whatever you do.  Take your internal turmoil to Jesus and ask Him what to do.  He is pretty good at this stuff as He has been doing it for a long time.

And finally, if you feel that your walk with Jesus needs a little work, and I think we can all relate to this, then concentrate on what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy.  Forget all the trash that is out there.  Toss everything aside and think about all the blessings that Jesus has given you.  Do these things for a better life.  Jesus Christ loves you and only wants a better life for you.

If you remember Rick Warren begins his book, The Purpose Driven Life, by saying that ‘it is not about you.’  And it is not about me.  It is all about God.  God grants you everything that you have.  You would not even have life if it were not for the generous grace of God.  And God wants you to have peace.  I read a quote from Donald Grey Barnhouse in which he said, “Peace is love resting.”  Peace is love resting.  What a reassuring thought that is.  We are God’s people.  We are God’s love.  We are God’s peace.  Let us extend this to all we know and to those we don’t know.  Jesus Christ loves you beyond your comprehension.  Let’s spread this love around.  Peace, sisters and brothers.  And thank you Jesus for first loving us.  Let’s pray.