Materials
Philippians Series: A Way Out of the Conflict
With Thanksgiving In Your Hearts
Philippians 4:1-9
by R. Todd Bouldin
Today we bring our Philippians series to an end. Some of you may have been surprised that a book you thought was about joy turned out to be a book about conflict – rejoicing is the prescription, but conflict is the description, of what is going on in this book. There are many causes of conflicts in churches, but Paul today gets very practical by getting to the heart of its resolution: thanksgiving.
Prayer - O God give us the freedom that comes from giving up our need to control your church and your people so that we can live lives of gratitude for who they are and what you are doing in our midst. Free us from worry, and set our minds on great visions of hopeful and true things. We trust today not in what we hold but in the Savior who holds to us. In the Name of our Savior, Amen.
Two men were walking through a field one day when they spotted an enraged bull. Immediately they ran toward the nearest fence. The storming bull ran after them in hot pursuit, and they realized they were not going to make it. Terrified, one man shouted to his friend, “Say a prayer, John. We’re in trouble!” John said, “But I’ve never prayed out loud before. I don’t know what to say.” “But you have to,” yelled his friend. “The bull is catching up with us.” “All right,” John said, “I’ll say the only prayer I know. My father used to say it at the table: Oh Lord, for what we are about to receive, make us truly thankful.”
John was stating a truth that Paul says is capable of freeing your life from worry, and he didn’t even know it. The prayer may not change the bull’s direction, but it will change you. A grateful heart is always forged in the toughest of life’s circumstances, because that is the only place where we can know we truly are thankful. Good times do not test our gratitude – conflicts and crisis always do.
Paul addresses this church conflict head on now in chapter 4 by calling names: “I beg Euodia and I beg Syntyche to agree with each other in the Lord.” (verse 2) From the best linguistic and textual evidence, these two individuals were women who were influential members of the church at Philippi, and they evidently – don’t be shocked but note for the record – they had been Paul’s partners in preaching the gospel. That’s what he says. These women were not baking cakes for the church bake sale – these women had “fought” Paul says for the preaching of the gospel. Beyond this, we know very little about these women other than that they were the center of a conflict that had ignited the church and motivated Paul to write this congregation from prison.
Paul begged the two women to agree with each other – not in substance, but “in the Lord.” This is important – we will not all agree on doctrine or on practice, but we all can resolve to agree with each other in the unity of God and who Christ is. From that foundation, we can begin to experience peace in Christ that is not dependent on the circumstances all being to our liking. These two women, human beings torn between their sinful selfishness and their spiritual humility – could not do it alone. They needed their fellow believers “to help them” to find again who God had made them to be and their great ministry that existed before hurt feelings and anger tore them and their ministry apart.
That is an interesting point: some people are more given to conflict than others – something about their personalities, past experiences, deeply held anger or pain, bad theology, or even sin takes over them in their worst moments – and sometimes the conflict can even be rightly motivated -- and then it gives way to despair, or anger, or suspicion. Next thing you know everyone is affected. What those who are at the source of conflict most need is not for their congregation to turn against them, scheme against them, or gossip about them. What they most need are for people to surround them in support and prayer until they can find their way again. That is exactly how God surrounds us when we hurt too.
Paul begins his instructions with an admonition to “stand firm in the Lord” (v. 1), then he elaborates on several practical ways this feuding family can again be of one mind. The church is to help its members live in peace with each other. They all are to determine to rejoice rather than complain. (v. 4) The believers should learn to be just but gracious and reasonable with one another – claiming rights, or fairness or justice is not always the best way in the kingdom of God where love dictates another response. (v. 4b with a word that is difficult to translate but means “gracious justice”). Then finally, Paul tells this church “not to worry about anything.” (v. 5).
Nothing will kill a church, or your soul, like fear. That is why Jesus makes some of his harshest statements against those who are afraid – because fear is so opposite of faith. If you have put your trust in a God who you believe holds the world, and your life, in His hands, then how can you go around wringing your hands and tied up in knots with fear? You wonder what is happening to your child because she seems so distant lately and she hasn’t gone to church in a month. You haven’t slept for nights worrying about where she is. You haven’t been able to concentrate at work for days because you are not sure where your life is going any more. You hate your job, but the bills have to be paid. You have a great decision before you, and you find yourself despairing because it is going to mean great changes no matter how you proceed. Your congregation has been going through some changes, and you wonder where it is going or what is happening. So, you fret, and worry, and speculate. There are a lot of things to keep us up at night if we let despair and fear take hold of our hearts.
There is another way. Paul instructs, “In every situation make your requests known to God by prayer and petition with thanksgiving” (v. 6). The way to be anxious about nothing is to pray about everything. Prayer is a conversation, a plea, and a request made to the God of the universe who can hear, know and care about the concerns that otherwise would sink you into despair. Just this past week, one of our women showed up at our prayer time exhausted from trying to make all the ends meet and from trying to get everything done. She said, “I didn’t know what else to do … there was nothing else I could do . . . but I can come pray.” Now that is what Paul is talking about here I think. The alternative to worry is prayer . . . but even then, not prayer weighed down just with requests and burdens, but alive with thanksgiving.
Gratitude in prayer is a choice. Even in prayer, some people seem to only focus on their loss, on their hurt, or what life has not given them. Every prayer becomes a request. Paul says let your prayers be characterized by thanksgiving because then you will begin to see life as the gift of God, and your perspective about everything else will begin to change.
We have an opportunity this week, both at our Thanksgiving service and with our families and friends this Thanksgiving, to give thanks. Those who choose gratitude choose not to be victims. They choose to determine their own response to the disappointments of life and they choose to defy their disappointments by finding reason to give thanks. It doesn’t matter how critical, or boring, or unpredictable your life becomes, don’t allow the circumstances to take over for you. Insist on your God-given freedom to choose your response to life. Choose gratitude. If for no other reason than because it feels better than whining. It certainly feels better to those around you.
Complaint and worry are the opposites of prayer and thanksgiving. We worry and complain because life seems out of control. Our homes are in a frenzy. The economy keeps dragging your company into the ground. Our church seems to be going in a direction that we do not understand. There is nothing that we can do. We have thought about it until we are exhausted, and no solution comes to mind. There doesn’t seem to be a way that we can possibly agree, persuade or win. And then in the midst of our fear, we hear, “As a result God’s peace which excels all human planning will stand guard over your thoughts and feelings in Christ Jesus” (v. 7). This is not peace that comes from God – it is peace that exists in God’s own being. That peace – the peace that characterizes the very nature of God – will come and the strivings of your heart, and of your family … and of your church … can come to an end. God’s peace is able to produce exceedingly better results than all of your effort and planning ever could have. The way to end the worry is to surrender your understanding at the foot of the peace God alone is capable of giving. It is peace that will guard your fragile emotions until they are still and calm with the presence of God.
It is easy to complain, to be cynical and to have a negative spirit in the whining culture of cynicism and irony in which we live. If we are to leave behind our negative spirits to live together in unity and peace, it will require that we focus our minds while God protects our emotions. In verse 8 Paul calls us to give full and critical attention to things that are honorable, and kind, and true, and high-toned, and gracious in the telling, and admirable. Fill your mind with these things. Think them over. Estimate people in the best way.
Tired of church conflicts? Are you exhausted from worry about where your life or your family is going? Stop worrying and start praying. Give thanks. Place your life in the person and life of Jesus Christ, and the peace that characterizes God himself will come over you. It’s so much better than any agreement or resolution you could have imagined. It certainly is better than your complaining and scheming. Thanksgiving is not just a holiday – it is the only way to living peacefully with those around you and with yourself. What is worrying you today? Give it over to God. You will be placing your worry into very capable hands, and then “the peace of God will be with you.” (v. 9).
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