Additional Information:
includes Philippians 4:1-9
Transcript
Today we are finishing our series on Satan’s only Weapon Against a Believer in Christ. We started in Matthew 6:24-34. The words of Jesus in Matthew 6:24-34 that laid the foundation for this teaching that just went on throughout the early church and throughout the church down the ages. But its importance has been lost because of not understanding really what the warning and teaching and message of the Scripture is.
So Jesus, in Matthew 6:24-34 we saw three things. Number one, verse 24 of Matthew 6 Jesus said, A human being only has the capacity to serve one master. Not two. And I emphasize to you, this is very important, Jesus used the word serve. He did not say believe. He used the word serve. So a person can believe the right things in the Bible about what it says about Jesus, but not be serving the Lord with their daily everyday life. And we feel justified, we feel like we are okay, because we believe in Him, but we are not serving Him in what we do. So Jesus revealed that in verse 24 of Matthew 6, that a human being only has the capacity to serve one master.
And secondly, in verse 25 of Matthew 6 he says, Because of this, I am telling you take no thought for your life. The word thought is the word worry or anxiety. But literally in the Greek it means to occupy the attention of the mind. Not occupy the mind but occupy the attention of the mind. Since I only have the capacity to serve one master, I only have the capacity to focus and concentrate on one thing. What Satan does is he sees that once I have received Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, once I am saved, he cannot have me anymore. He cannot have my soul. My soul belongs to Jesus Christ. After I am saved God’s Spirit begins to work from within according to Romans 12:2 in order to transform or renew my mind. Heal me from the effects of sin. Once I am saved then it is healing, transformation, a new creation of my mind, on a continuous progressive basis. So what Satan does is he comes, and he says, “I cannot take your soul, your soul belongs to Christ. But what I can do is occupy the attention of your mind to take you away from God’s Word, away from service to Christ, and out into the world so that the world and the things of the world bring its stress and hardship upon you.” So Jesus said Take no thought for your life. Not even what you are going to eat, or what you are going to wear. Do not let it occupy your mind, because Satan will use that to take you away from Christ, mentally as far as your focus goes.
So He says in Matthew 6:33, Seek first the kingdom of God and everything else in life will be supplied. Everything. You do not have to worry about your food, your clothing, nothing. Seek first the kingdom of God because you only have the capacity to do one thing. Once you seek the kingdom of God, everything else is added that we need. You say, “Yeah, but I did not get everything that I need.” No. Well then, you did not need it.
So we saw in I Peter 5:5-9 that Peter picks up this teaching from Matthew 6 and Peter says, “Satan your adversary walks around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Therefore,” Peter says, “cast all of your thoughts, your anxieties, your cares upon the Lord because Satan is looking for ways to get you occupied, and to get you away from Christ.” So those are the basic principles.
Then secondly, we saw the problems. In Luke 8:1-18 in The Parable of the Sower, we saw in verse 14 that the seed fell in amongst the weeds, the thorns, and Jesus said this represents the cares, the wealth, and the pleasures of life. The word care is our word (merimna), occupy the attention of the mind. The Word of God falling in amongst the weeds – this is the person who hears the word and then goes out all week long and is involved with the cares, and the riches, and the pleasures of life; and it counters the influence of God’s Word in their life. So just coming and hearing once, not enough. It is continuous fellowship with the Lord and His Word on a continuous basis, keeping our focus on Him and not on the cares, wealth, and pleasures of life.
And then secondly, we saw in Luke 10:38-42 with Martha and Mary, Jesus teaching in Martha’s house. Martha is in the kitchen trying to get all the food together to feed all these people and her sister is sitting at the feet of Jesus and hearing His Word. She is all upset and comes in and asked the Lord to have her sister help her. And Jesus said, Martha, Martha you are anxious, there is our word (merimna). You are occupied with so many things. But Mary has chosen the one thing that you ought to be occupied with. See, even service to Christ can interfere with the hearing of the Word of God. So we have to be careful with that. Martha was occupied in serving Christ, but she was missing out on hearing the Word.
So those are the principles, and we saw the problems, and thirdly, the plan of God, how to handle all of this.
We studied from I Corinthians 7:29-35. Paul says, “I am giving you counsel and I am giving you advice.” And for all of us here, in all of the months and years that we have been fellowshipping together, I would tell you if you are going to take anything away from this ministry, is that we have encouraged you from I Corinthians 7:29-35, be reviewing that all of the time. That is God’s plan for handling life. Paul said in verse 35 of I Corinthians 7, “I am saying all this to you, I am not trying to put a noose around your neck, I am not trying to limit your life, I am not trying to take your life away from you, I am just trying to help your devotion to the Lord be without distraction.” Good advice. He said five things:
(1) Those who have wives should be as though they do not have. Follow Christ, no compromise. Be faithful to lead your family in the things of Christ and do not compromise for anyone.
(2) Those who weep as though they are not weeping. He did not say it is wrong to cry, or it is wrong to weep. It is just that if you are weeping, do not get into it. Do not let it consume you. Go ahead and get over your grieving process. Went through that this week, next door Derek and Melissa, his father passed away this past week and we talked about grieving. It is okay to grieve. It is okay to cry. There is a time to cry, Ecclesiastes 3 tells us. There is a time to laugh, and there is a time to cry. Go ahead and cry. Just do not get into it. Do not let it consume your life. Do not let it take over. Do not let it linger on. Do not let it master you. Go ahead and go through it.
(3) He says, For those who are rejoicing as though not rejoicing. We can be consumed in rejoicing too.
(4) He says, Those who purchase, as though they do not possess. It is not wrong to buy things. He says just do not let it possess you. Do not let it occupy your time and attention.
(5) Use the world but do not overuse it. Use it for your necessities, what you need to do, but do not overuse the world. Do not indulge in the things of the world. There is a balance there. Do what you have to do. Go through what you have to go through. Do not be consumed by it. Do not indulge in it. Do not let it take you over.
He said in verse 32 of I Corinthians 7, “I am saying all this so that you will not have care,” occupy your attention with these things. So we have seen the principles, and the problems that can ensue, and what God’s plan is.
But then it is also a benefit, or a profit. Last time together we saw from II Corinthians 11:22-30, we saw Paul listed all of the things that he had to suffer for the things of Christ. And in verse 28 of II Corinthians 11 he listed the care of all of the assemblies. He is constantly occupied with all the various churches, and the problems, and the spiritual needs.
And then he tells in Philippians 2:19-24, he told the church in Philippi that he was about ready to send Timothy to them. And he says, “By the way,” in Philippians 2:20 he says, “Timothy is the only one that I have is like-minded who will care about the things of Christ for you; because everybody else is so busy with their own things they do not have time to minister to people in need.” So Timothy is the only one that I have who is like-minded, who will actually be occupied with the ministry things that need to come to you. So there is a prohibitive there in the Scriptures: take no thought for your life, take no thought for life itself. But on the other hand, since we do only have that one capacity, be occupied with Christ and the things of Christ. Again, seek first the kingdom of God.
But today, the procedure for handling and what to do about being occupied with the mind. Philippians 4:1-9. You should have a study guide for that. How to handle care and anxiety. How do you handle it?
In Philippians 4:1 Paul starts out with the position of the believer. He ended chapter 3 of Philippians by talking about this position, that we are citizens of the kingdom of heaven. Remember that. In fact, that kind of summarizes everything. Do not get so involved here, you are not citizens here. You are citizens of the kingdom of heaven. So what happens here really should not matter. He is leading up.
The whole book of Philippians is about fellowship. And there are two women here that he is going to address, Euodia and Syntyche. Two women that cannot agree on something. Cannot get along, or whatever it is in the church. And so he wants to remind them, first of all, as we approach this situation and all situations, you are citizens of the kingdom of heaven. So having difficulties, and arguments, and struggles over the physical world that we live in; or even you wanting your own way, or the way that you think it should be, remember we are citizens of heaven. This is not heaven so do not make it be a big deal.
He says, So therefore my brothers, dearly beloved and longed for, the term longed for means greatly desire, people who are my joy and crown, so stand firm in the Lord. The word so means this way, as citizens of the kingdom of heaven, stand firm in the Lord my beloved.
Then verses 2-3, the procedure for fellowship. He says, I beseech, that is the word encourage. I encourage Euodia, and I beseech (or encourage) Syntyche, that they be of the same mind. Literally that they think the same thing in the Lord. Not be of the same mind, but to think the same thing. What does it mean to think the same thing? The word think means – (phroneō) and (phrēn), the Greek words that means have the same frame of mind together, frame of mind. It does not mean think the same thoughts or have the same beliefs. It means your attitude and your approach to life, what is your frame of mind? What do you want? That is the first approach to situations in life. What are you looking for? What do you really want out of this?
I told you about somebody that came to me once and wanted to know what the scripture says about them getting out of their marriage and they wanted to marry somebody else. Wanted to know if there were any loopholes in the scriptures that would let them do that. And my first response to this person was to ask them a question. What do you want? What are you looking for? What is your frame of mind? What is your approach to this whole thing? Are you looking for a way out, or are you looking for the Lord’s will? That really matters. What do you want? What is your frame of mind here?
This is the same word used but about Jesus back in Philippians 2:5 when it says, Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. Let the same frame of mind, same attitude, same approach to life as Jesus did. When Jesus came did He come to insist on His rights and His own way? No, He sacrificed Himself for our spiritual need. So basically two chapters later, Paul is picking up this same meaning, this same teaching by saying fellowship together involves having the same frame of mind. If you two women, Euodia and Syntyche, do both of you want what the Lord wants? To have the same frame of mind in the Lord. Do you want what the Lord wants? That is all I want to know. Because if you both want what the Lord wants it will not matter what your differences are. That they be of the same frame of mind in the Lord.
Verse 3, And I also entreat (or ask you) genuine yokefellow. I kept the translation yokefellow in there because that is pretty much – it is people who are yoked together. As you know I am an interpreter and translator of Scripture, and you can imagine that I go through some pretty funny times trying to deal with the original languages and texts. Because I really did not know – the word order here for yokefellow is: fellow yoke and yoke is plural. So I thought, fellow yokers would not – for some strange reason that just struck me funny, My genuine fellow yokers, and I thought, “A bunch of comedians over there.” But that is not what it means. So I kept yokefellow, so it would come across right. In other words people who are genuinely yoked, to yoke means to harness these two animals together. You are yoked together in the Lord. If you are saved and belong to Christ, then you are yoked to your fellow Christian believers and you are genuine.
Assist these women, he says, who have struggled together with me in the gospel. The word labored is the word athletic, with the preposition with. They have been involved, struggled with me in the contest, with me in the gospel. With Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the Book of Life. So he is saying I am addressing two women who are Christians, they are genuine sisters in the Lord, and they are really beloved and blessed people. They are fellow workers. They have struggled with me in the gospel like you guys have, and Clement, and all those who have. Help everybody, will you please? Because we are all yoked together in the work of the Lord. You have to assist and help these women to come to a point that you have the same frame of mind, you want the same thing, you want what the Lord wants.
So here are the four commands verses 4 through 7. The four commands for fellowship. And you have probably heard this one. In fact, they have a song, a chorus after it, Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice. I want to say a couple of things. First of all, the word rejoice in Greek does not mean happiness, it means satisfaction. Secondly, in the Greek text it is a present tense word, which means continuous action. And thirdly, it is a command. So it reads like this, Be continually satisfied in the Lord at every time, and again I will say be satisfied. Be continually satisfied. He says that is my answer for everything. If you have a disagreement or a dispute with somebody, find your satisfaction in the Lord, and want what He wants, and it will not matter what you want. Be continually satisfied. He must be our satisfaction. We cannot put our expectations on being happy and satisfied with what we want. “If I do not get what I want I am not going to be happy.” We have to be satisfied with Him. Want what He wants.
Secondly, verse 5, Let your moderation become known to all men. The word moderation means holding back, the opposite of indulgence. And the term make known has to do with reputation. Let your reputation be known as a person that is not indulgent in the things of the flesh and of the world. Because if you are somebody who indulges themselves in the things of the world and what you want, then you are going to be a problem in the church and in the church fellowship, because you are going to bring the same thing into the church. Not going to be happy unless you get your way. He says, The Lord is near.
Thirdly, Be careful for nothing. The word careful is our word (merimna). Again notice the literal translation: stop being anxious for one thing. Again, the word anxiety or carefulness means occupy the attention of the mind. Again, it is present tense, continually. And thirdly, it is a command. Stop being anxious for one thing. In other words, do not be anxious for anything, not even one thing. Do not let anything invade the attention of your mind.
But rather in everything by prayer and supplication (which means petition) with thanksgivings let your requests become known to God. That is the fourth command, Let your requests become known to God. What is the procedure for handling getting occupied? Whatever you are occupied with, whatever it is, give it to Him through prayer. Give it to Him.
In I Peter 5:7 we saw when Peter says that your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. He says, Cast all your care upon the Lord. The word cast in I Peter 5:7 is only found one other place, and that is in Luke 19:35 where it says that they cast, or put their clothes on the donkey, and then put Jesus on the donkey so that He could ride into Jerusalem. When you are laying your clothes, when you are putting the cloth upon the donkey, laying it, resting it right on the donkey. Put it right on him. So he is not saying pray about it. Because if you hold onto it, and pray about it, you have not cast it upon Jesus. Peter said, “You have to give it to Him.” It is like a hot potato. That thought will eat you up. Satan is looking for people who will get occupied with things, and it just snowballs on them, and takes over their life. Give it to the Lord. Get rid of it. Ask for Him to take care of it, and work out His will, and when you do that then you do not have to worry about it anymore. Then I can focus on the Lord and all the things will be added that I need.
So the promise in verse 7, And the peace of God that passes all understanding, that is the word perception, the peace of God will keep (or guard) your hearts and your minds (or your thoughts) in Christ Jesus. You get rid of it, you pray, and whatever it is you are anxious about, whatever it is you are occupied with, if you give it to Him – literally give it to Him – then the peace of God guards your mind and your heart. Because that thing is going to try to come back in again. Somebody once asked me, “How many times do you have to pray for things?” I do not know, how many times do you have to give it back to the Lord? We keep taking it back. We keep worrying about it. As many times as it takes to put it into His hands and leave it there. And the peace of God.
Look what it says in verses 8 and 9, the practices of Paul. Finally (or literally, in summary) brothers, listen to these eight things, as many things as are true, all these words by the way have to do with the Lord.
(1) As many things as are true
(2) as many things as are reverent, honorable to God
(3) as many things as are right,
(4) as many things as are pure,
(5) as many things as are pleasing, the word lovely in the King James is literally that which is in agreement with, that which pleases the Lord, that which He is pleased with.
(6) as many things as are of good report, I think we all need that. Do not tell me things, reports that are not good, if it is going to rub me wrong and make me worry, or whatever the case may be. I just want to hear good reports.
(7) if any virtue, that is excellence of substance. If there is any excellent substance to it.
(8) if there be any praise, anything that can be of praiseworthy to God.
Listen to this, think on these things. Literally, be meditating, again showing continuous process. Let your mind be meditating on these things.
I have no control over who comes to my door and knocks on the door. I have no control over that, unless I have a dog sitting out there that is going to chase them away. But I have no control, unless I put a big gate up, but normally a person has no control who comes and knocks on the door. I do have control over who I let in. A person has no control over thoughts that Satan would come and bombard you with. We do have control over whether we are going to allow them in and allow them to consume our life and our attention. We do have control. And Paul says, “Pray to the Lord.” You have to get rid of it because it is just Satan loading you down, occupying the attention of your mind, and taking your mind away from Christ.
In Isaiah 26:3, Isaiah says, Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is fixed on you, because He trusts in you. Just what Paul says, And the peace of God will guard your hearts and minds. Because we trust Him. That is what prayer is, trusting Him with things.
Paul says then, in our text in verse 9, What things also you have learned and received and heard and saw in me, these things be practicing; and the God of peace will be with you. Paul says this is the way in Christ you handle every situation in life.
In Philippians 4:6 he says, Do not be anxious. Stop being anxious for even one thing, but through prayer let your requests be made known to God. This is so that we can continue to focus on Christ, and not have our attention away from Christ. And it is just fixed on this worry, and these problems all day long. God did not intend for us to carry that around. And that is not trusting Christ when we carry it around. We can carry it around and be throwing up prayer saying, “Oh Lord, I am really worried and anxious about all these things.” We will be throwing prayers up in the air, but that is not praying. Prayer is when you literally take it and give it to Him. That is the Lord’s now. It is not your problem anymore. It is not your worry anymore. It is up to Him.
Paul shared with us in II Corinthians 10:3-5, Paul says, after giving the evangelical message that salvation is in Jesus Christ in II Corinthians 10:3-5 he says, “Now the battle is for your mind.” And Paul said he is fighting for Christians until every thought is brought unto submission to Christ. Every thought into submission to Christ. It is not enough to be saved. That is good, you are going to heaven. Your sins are forgiven. But right now, if you are miserable by Satan attacking you, and occupying the attention of your mind with everything, then he is taking you away from the growth process in Christ, away from serving Christ. Now you are serving your anxieties. Whatever we are occupied with, with our mind, that is what we are serving. We can believe the right things and be serving the anxieties of our minds. That is Satan’s only weapon, because God would have us have our minds to be changed and transformed. You cannot do that when you are occupied and worried about everything else, because we only have the capacity to serve one thing at a time.
Let’s close with prayer.
Our Heavenly Father,
Thank you for Your Word. Again, word of wisdom explains to us how we are created and how we are made. How we are made to function and what our capacities are. Satan knows us much better than we do. He knows that once we receive Christ, we belong to Christ and he cannot take us away; but what he tries to do is occupy the attention of our minds with the worries, and the cares, and the anxieties of life so that we are continually occupied, and we are not focused on Christ. We cannot even be receptive to His Word. We pray that you would cause us to see that it is really not something that we cannot do anything about. It is our decision. We cannot decide what Satan is going to bombard us with, but we can decide whether we want to entertain those thoughts or not. We pray that you would teach us how to pray and give it to the Lord. Cast all of our cares upon Him because that is what He is here for. He is here to relieve us of the burden of the attack of Satan upon the attention of our minds so that we can focus on Christ. Paul says that we are not ignorant of his devices. Help us not to be ignorant of Satan’s devices. Help us to be aware by your Spirit of various things during the day and during life that Satan gets us caught up in. We know that he scouts us. We know that he knows our weaknesses and he will try to exploit that and get the attention of our mind fixed on it to take us away from Christ. Help us to understand the enemy’s devices. Help us to understand what is happening to us when we are attacked and go through the hardships of life. And help us to trust You with everything, give it to You, so that our minds can be free not only to believe in Christ but to serve Christ. To be occupied with the things of Christ.
We pray all these things in Jesus’ name,
Amen.
