perseverance

Phil. 4: 1-9

Paul says in verse one that the Philippians were his joy and crown.  And what he is referring to here with word crown is the crown of achievement, or the wreath that was given to the victor in a race.  This sentiment is the true passion of the pastor.  A pastor is crowned by his congregation.  If he is a true shepherd of the flock then their spiritual well being is his joy and crown.  Their spiritual maturity is what he is working for.  To see them mature, to come to completion, as we looked at last week.  To see them still standing firm for the faith some years down the road.

I’ve said before that one of my biggest disappointments and discouragements in the ministry is to see members of the fellowship fall away.  To see them become less than they should be.  To see them fall back into sin, to wander back into the world.  Or to see them opt out of the fellowship for a more socially palatable gospel.  They come so far with you, and then they get their feathers ruffled over something or another, and leave to find another fellowship where they can have their ears tickled.  That is very discouraging for a pastor and it was the great fear of Paul for the church at Philippi as well.

And so Paul is going to finish up this last chapter of his letter to the church at Philippi by encouraging them to stand firm.  He wants nothing more than to be able to hear a report in the future that they are still standing firm in the faith.  This goal may be expressed in many ways, but no matter how you say it, it all comes down to perseverance.  It is a common theme in all Paul’s epistles.  Because Paul realized that just because you became saved does not mean that the enemy gave up on you.  No, if anything, the enemy redoubles his efforts on the one that commits to live for Jesus Christ as Lord.  Satan wants to undermine your faith, ruin your testimony, hinder your witness, deceive you by false doctrine, and ultimately destroy your life.  He may not be able to destroy your spirit anymore, but he can definitely destroy your life, and in the process perhaps do more to hinder the kingdom of heaven through you than he did when you were unsaved.

 Paul realizes that is a very real danger for every Christian.  That’s why he started out the epistle in 1:27 urging the church to  “conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel.”    In chapter 2:16 Paul adds, “hold fast the word of life,” so that he would not have run in vain or toiled in vain in his leadership of them.

This admonition to hold fast, to stand firm, to persevere is often repeated in all his epistles because it is such an essential concern for all Christians.  In Rom. 2:7 Paul speaks “to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life.” In 1Cor. 15:58 he pleads with the Corinthian church to “be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.”  And again in 1Cor. 16:13 he warns them to “Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.”  To the church in Galatia Paul commands that  “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.” To the church at Ephesus Paul admonishes that they should “be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might,” and that they should “put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.”

And I would submit to you here this morning, to this church at Bethany Beach, to stand firm in the Lord.  Having done everything, to stand firm.  To persevere unto the end.  You’re going to be attacked.  You’re going to be knocked down from time to time.  You’re going to stumble from time to time.  You’re going to be discouraged from time to time.  But, I urge you, persevere.  Stand fast.  Keep on keeping on.  You will get tired, but don’t ever quit.  The prize of the upward call of Christ Jesus that we looked at in chapter 3 is coming soon.  It will be worth it all when we see Jesus.

So I urge you, I encourage you to persevere in the faith.  And in today’s text we will look at how Paul encourages us to persevere.  There are going to be attacks by the devil, there are going to be discouragements and distractions that will come.  But persevere.  And there is a secret to perseverance that Paul wants to share, and it’s found in three little words.  Those three words are “in the Lord.”  Verse one, Paul says “stand firm in the Lord.”  In verse 2, Paul says, “live in harmony in the Lord.”  In verse 4, he says, “Rejoice in the Lord.”  And in verse 6, he says “trust in the Lord.”  And if we can learn these principles, then we can learn the secret of perseverance.

First, let’s consider “stand firm in the Lord.”   There is a little Greek word that is almost overlooked in vs.  1 which is houtō.  It may be interpreted in your Bible as “so”, or “in this way.”  I like “in this way” because I think it is more descriptive.  The NIV renders it “that is how you should stand firm in the Lord.”  And I think that what is being said here is a reference to all that has come before this verse, and all that follows this verse.  This little letter of all these admonitions by Paul, these warnings are instructive of how you are to stand firm in the Lord.  He is referring back to chapter 3, saying that perseverance encompasses forgetting what lies behind, and pressing forward to what lies ahead, being conformed to the image of Christ, being conformed to the sufferings of Christ, being conformed to the death of Christ, all of which is part of truly knowing Christ.  Not just knowing only one narrow element about Christ, but knowing all that Christ was and came to do.

Many people fall away from Christ because they refuse to accept all that Christ is.  They may like the love part, but they refuse to accept the rest of what it means to know Christ.  That we are to be conformed to His death.  In other words, we die to sin.  We consider ourselves dead to sin.  And to know Christ means we need to be conformed to the power of his resurrection.  That means we need to live a new life in Christ.  Romans 6 says we aren’t to continue in sin so that grace may abound, but we are to live in the power of a new life.  Old things are passed away and all things become new.  So standing firm means standing firm in the knowledge of Christ.

And that brings us to the phrase, in the Lord. Standing firm in the knowledge of the truth about Christ. Jesus said “I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father except by Me.”  John 14:6.  Standing firm in the Lord is nothing less than standing firm in the truth.  Ephesians 6:13 talks about putting on the armor of God and says, “and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore, HAVING GIRDED YOUR LOINS WITH TRUTH.”  The truth of God undergirds our faith. It supports our faith.  It is the most essential part of our armor.  If we are to stand firm, then we need to know what the Bible teaches about Christ.

Last Wednesday night at our Bible study in 1 Timothy we saw at the end of chapter 3 that the church is to be the pillar and support of the truth. Rev. 14:12 says, “Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.”  Knowing the truth of Christ gives us the strength to persevere in Christ.

Listen folks, make no mistake.  Standing firm in the Lord means persevering in obedience to the truth of His Word.  It means deliberately, strategically, systematically putting yourself under the teaching of sound doctrine.  It means studying for yourself to find out what the Bible says concerning our faith.  It means being obedient to what God shows you in the Bible.  And it means being diligent about it.  You know, you can’t be a good athlete or a good business man, or a good salesperson, or whatever it is that you might aspire to be, you can’t be good at it without applying yourself to it diligently.  What makes you think that you can grow in the Lord and mature in the Lord, to be found faithful in the Lord unless you are also diligent about studying His word?  Far too many Christians come to  faith like my friend Dave alluded to the other day, they take a little of this that they have heard from over here, and a little of that that they have heard over there, and a little of this they saw in a movie, and a little of that they read in a book, and a dash or two of verses taken out of context from the Bible, and throw them all in a blender and that is their faith.  That’s not going to be the kind of faith that will persevere, that will stand firm against the schemes of the devil. The devil loves to come across those sort of blender Christians.  They aren’t committed to anything.  They  go here and there like Paul warned in Ephesians 4, they are tossed here and there by every wind of doctrine, and when the storm hits, they fall apart because their doctrine wasn’t founded upon the truth, but rather upon speculation and ear tickling false doctrine.  So to stand firm in the Lord we need to know the truth about Christ by knowing what the Bible teaches about the gospel of Christ.

Secondly, verse 2 teaches that in order to persevere, we must live in harmony in the Lord.  The word in the Greek for harmony is phroneo;  it means harmonious, of the same mind.  We don’t know who Euodia and Syntyche were.  We do know they were two women in the church at Philippi, and the implication is that there was a disagreement between them that had become so well known that it was disrupting the church.  It wasn’t a secret anymore.  In fact, there were probably others that had started to take up sides.  Clement is mentioned, as well as others that had been fellow workers there with Paul.  And it was tearing the church apart.

But rather than speculate about what might have been the problem between these two factions, let’s just focus on the solution to disagreements in the body.  There are going to be disagreements in the body of Christ, did you know that?  We may have been made righteous and perfect before God positionally, but practically, we are all still in the flesh.  And if we’re not careful, that old fleshly nature that we were supposed to daily put to death will come back with a vengeance and take us away from unity in the Spirit.  The solution is to sometimes agree to disagree.  When there are disagreements over peripheral doctrines, or some side issue, or you somehow felt as if someone slighted you, or whatever the problem may have been, you need to submit yourself to one another as unto the Lord and continue to persevere.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians in regards to people in the church arguing with one another and even taking one another to court, he says, “Why not rather be wronged?”  “Why not rather be defrauded?”  Listen, there is no wound that cuts deeper than that of a friend.  But Philippians told us in chapter 3 that we are to be conformed to the sufferings of Jesus, didn’t it?  Was Jesus slandered?  Yes.  Was Jesus insulted?  Yes.  Was Jesus taken for granted?  Yes.  So then, if you have gotten your feathers ruffled, then rather than defend your rights, be conformed to the image of Jesus.  Suffer in silence with Jesus.  Love those who mistreat you.  Forgive those who mistreat you.  Pray for them.   And above all, get the chip off of your shoulder.  Be sure you’re not going around looking for trouble or you will find it.

At the end of verse three Paul says, “their names are written in the Book of Life.”  Listen, if your name is written in the Book of Life and my name is written in the Book of Life, if God has combined us, and put us together in that way, then we need to be more understanding of one another.  None of us is perfect yet.  3:12: “Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.”  Christ Jesus laid hold of you to become part of his body, the local fellowship.  None of us are perfect yet.  But let’s press on together recognizing that God has saved each of us.  Perseverance requires getting along and not being distracted by petty grievances.

And then in verse 4 Paul says “Rejoice in the Lord.”  Some have said that rejoice or joy is the theme of this letter because Paul says it over and over again.  But discouragement is the opposite of joy.  Nothing will deter you from persevering like discouragement.  However, the secret to joy, the secret to rejoicing, is not our circumstances, but our Lord. This is another reason why we need to stay in the Word and in the fellowship of others in the Word.  So we don’t get discouraged in our circumstances, but focus on the greatness of our God.

I was very encouraged last night to get a phone call from Joe, who couldn’t wait to tell me how he came to know the Lord as His Savior.  And as I listened to his story, it reminded me of how great is our God, how wonderful is this God who pursued us, who never stopped loving us, who in spite of our sinfulness and willfulness continued to work in us until one day the Holy Spirit overwhelmed us in conviction and we responded in faith.  And when we responded in faith, God responded even more, and in Joe’s case he lost his job, his apartment, his girlfriend, and his ski pass all in the first week of his salvation.  And yet Joe wasn’t discouraged.  He was rejoicing because he knew that God loved him and had a plan for him and that all of this was part of God’s plan.  How wonderful that God loves us even when we are running away from Him and cursing Him and spurning that love.   And when we really see that then we have joy. When we are down and out, we need to get our eyes off our circumstances and back on Jesus and rejoice in all that He is.  Rejoice that in spite of how fallen we were that we were chosen to be like Him.

Vs. 5 says, “Let your forbearing spirit be known to all men.”  That word is epieikēs; and it means forbearing, or gentle or seemly, suitable, or equitable.   I think that is referring to those difficult circumstances that are going to come upon us all from time to time.  When things don’t seem to go right.  When life doesn’t seem fair.  When it seems we have been slighted or overlooked or taken advantage of.  Instead of being known as the guy that you better not mess with, or the woman that you better not cross, or the person that you better watch out for their temper,  instead you are known for being even tempered, for not letting things upset you, for not flying off the handle.  You have a settled quality about you.  You can rejoice in perseverance because your joy is not in your circumstances but in your Savior.

And the last phrase in vs. 5 is probably my favorite.  “The Lord is near.”  That can  have two meanings and either one of them may be applicable depending on the situation.  One is it’s referring to the day of the Lord being near. 2Pet. 3:10 speaks of the day of the Lord being near, “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.” Peter says we are to be living in such a way as those that are looking for that day to come and hastening for that day to come.  And this is in keeping with the context of what Paul is talking about in Philippians at the end of chapter 3.  This is the goal that we are to be pressing of towards; the upward call of Christ Jesus when He will come back to earth for us and judge the earth and it’s works.  We should rejoice in perseverance because the Lord could come back today.  There is nothing necessary to be done before He can come back.  He could come right now, and we should live in expectation of that day. That expectation should cause us to rejoice.

And then the other way of looking at that phrase is “the Lord is at hand”  And it can refer back to what I was talking about with Joe.  Joe left the beach and the teaching that we were giving him about truth and righteousness and ran away to Colorado.  And yet when he came to his senses and called upon God in Colorado, God was near, wasn’t he?  God was right at hand.  God is as close as a prayer, no matter where on earth you might go. Psalm 139:7 “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me.”  Your hand will lay hold of me.  That was echoed in  chapter 3 of Philippians verse 12 wasn’t it?  God laid hold of us.  That should make you rejoice.  That no matter where you are, God is near, He’s right at hand.  You can persevere because the Lord is near, the Lord is at hand, ready to help you in time of need.  He’s always with you.  The Lord is as near as a prayer.

And then the last one, and I’ll only just mention it today.  Perseverance is found by trusting in the Lord.  Next Sunday I’m going to preach on verses 6-9 particularly in regards to dealing with anxiety.  Those of you that know my testimony, know that about 15 years ago I started suffering from extreme anxiety attacks which lasted for several years.  It was so bad and lasted so long that I ended up losing my career, my home, my health, my cars and all my possessions.  I almost ended up losing my sanity through it as well.  And through all those years there was one passage of scripture in particular that I held onto, sometimes feeling like I was at the edge of insanity, and it was this passage.  God’s word kept me sane.  So if you know of anyone that is dealing with anxiety, depression, or any other type of psychological disorder that you think might benefit from this message next week, I encourage you to invite them to church.

But let me tell you the short meaning of these verses here this morning.  Perseverance depends upon you coming to the point of complete trust in the Lord; complete dependence upon Jesus Christ for everything.  When I thought I was losing my mind at one point, I imagined tying an knot to the end of my rope so to speak.  I had heard someone say that when you reach the end of your rope, just tie a knot and hang on.  And I had been hanging on for about a year or so fighting for my sanity and finally one night I couldn’t hold on anymore, I felt I was losing my grip on reality.  I felt myself letting go and for a moment imagined myself flipping over backwards into this bottomless chasm of insanity.  I couldn’t hang on any more.  And folks, in that moment of blackness, in that moment of abject terror, I found that Jesus Christ had laid hold of me.  I wasn’t responsible for holding onto Jesus.  Jesus was responsible for holding onto me.  And He would never let me go.

Jesus said in John 10:27 "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.  I and the Father are one."

Perseverance requires having that confidence which comes from proving that Jesus is faithful.  No matter what the circumstances.  No matter how it doesn’t make sense.  Jesus is mine and I am His.  Knowing what Romans 8:28 really means:  “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”  That doesn’t mean that God is going to work everything out according to my desires, according to my plans.  What that means is that when my plans become aligned with God’s plans, when my purpose is to glorify Him by my life, then God is going to use everything that happens in my life to work out for the purpose of glorifying God.  This is the perseverance of the saints.  Those that are called according to HIS purpose.  And when you get that perspective right, then God is going to work things out right and I’m going to be all right with it.

Folks, I pray that you will stand fast.  Having done everything to stand fast.  Don’t be taken in by the deceit of Satan.  Don’t allow yourself to become offended.  Don’t allow petty grievances to grieve the Holy Spirit. But rather rejoice in the Lord.  Trust in the Lord.  Don’t be anxious for anything, and let the peace of God rule your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  And having done all, stand fast in the Lord.