Philippians 4:4-5 ESV
“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone.”
This word “rejoice” literally means to be favorably inclined
towards (to prefer, to choose) God’s grace and to be glad for God’s grace (1).
So, what is God’s grace? It is the purpose for which he gave
his life up for us on that cross, and that was that we might die with him to
sin and live to him and to his righteousness (Rom 6:1-23; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet
2:24).
So, if we choose God’s grace, we are choosing to die with
Christ to sin and to live to him and to his righteousness. We are choosing to
walk according to the Spirit and no longer according to the flesh. We are
choosing to take up our cross daily to follow (obey) Jesus Christ.
And, if we are glad for God’s grace, then we are happy to
surrender our lives to Jesus Christ and to make him Lord (owner-master) of our
lives. We are happy to forsake our sinful practices and to walk in obedience to
his commands. We have great joy in submitting to Jesus.
And, do you know that this word “reasonableness” (often
translated “gentleness”) means fairness, sensibleness, wisdom, and equitableness?
It also has to do with what is appropriate or proper. And, it has to do with
being sound in judgment.
So, what does it mean to be sound in judgment? For one it
means to be wholesome, healthy, and unblemished. So, this would mean to
exercise the judgment (discernment) of God as taught us in his word, and to not
adulterate the word of God for sinful pleasures or for personal gain.
It means to teach the purity of the Word of the Lord (in
context), to do so in love, and with the heart of God. It is never lenient in
the sense of being soft on sin, or in coddling people in their sin and not
calling for repentance, but it is not so overly strict that it fails to show
love and compassion.
Where a moral law is not involved, reasonableness will often
follow the spirit of the law over the letter of the law in order to show love
and mercy and to do good to others, such as Jesus did when he healed people on
the Sabbath. Thus, we need to be those who exercise mercy in our judgment.
Philippians 4:5-7 ESV
“The Lord is at hand; 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.”
Fear is not a good thing. When we fear we lack trust in God.
We are saying to God, “I don’t believe you have this. I don’t believe you can
help me or save me. I don’t believe you are in control and that you are completely
sovereign over all that you created.”
Nonetheless, has being afraid or fretting ever changed
anything in your life for the better? It never did for me! It only made matters
much worse, for not only was I being faced with difficult and troublesome
circumstances, but I added fear on top, which just added more misery.
So, when the feeling of fear hits us, our immediate response
should be to pray, and we should ask others to pray for us, too, if feelings of
fear overwhelm us, or if we aren’t sure what to do, such as if a decision is
required of us, which it sometimes is.
But we need to immediately put our trust in the Lord, and
give it to him, and trust him to work his will in our circumstances, and then
just ask him for wisdom in knowing how to respond and to know what changes we
need to make, or to know what steps he would have us take.
And, when we give it over to him, and we trust him, and we
pray for his wisdom and guidance, and we don’t worry or take matters into our
own hands, then the peace comes, because we are resting in Jesus and we aren’t
fretting over our circumstances which are beyond our control.
Philippians 4:8 ESV
“Finally, brothers, 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.”
In 2008 my husband and I made the decision to examine the
things we were watching in movies against this passage of Scripture. We had
many, most of which were considered “family friendly." But when compared
to this Scripture, we ended up throwing them all out.
We can get so desensitized to the things we take into our
minds if we are avid TV and movie watchers, which we used to be. Or even if we
are big on social media in every respect and our hearts and minds are not
guarded, we can become desensitized to all the junk there, too.
Even children’s cartoons contain much that we, as adults,
should not be taking into our minds. Many of them can be very suggestive. They throw
in all kinds of stuff into these cartoons which are targeted towards the
parents of the children who are watching the cartoons with their children.
The point here is that we need to be very guarded about the
things we take into our minds on a daily basis. We can’t control every
environment we find ourselves in on a daily basis, but we do have control over
what we choose to read, to watch, to listen to, and to entertain in our minds.
Thus, we need to fill our minds with what is of the Spirit
of God, with the Word of God, with Christian music, and with encouragement from
other Christians which promotes holiness and godliness, and which does not
encourage continuance in sinful practices.
Philippians 4:9 ESV
“What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”
The bottom line in all of this is that we need to be
followers of Jesus Christ who not only read and listen to the Word of God, but
who do what it says. We obey the Lord in all ways, and we don’t resist him or
ignore him and his promptings in our hearts and in our lives.
We are good stewards of all that he has entrusted to us, we
aren’t lazy or complacent, but we listen for his voice and we follow his lead
and his urgings. We think on right things, and just things, and things which
are pure in heart and morally upright, and not on what is immoral and wicked.
We trust the Lord in all things, and we lean not on our own
understanding, but in all ways we acknowledge him and his path for our lives.
And, we put the word of God into practice in our lives and we do not make sin
our practice, for we love our Lord, and to love him is to obey him.
And, he will supply all we need to live holy lives for his
purposes and for his glory. We don’t have to do any of this in our own wisdom
and strength. Our dependency is in him alone, so he gets all the glory, honor,
and praise.
By Thomas O
Chisholm
Be with me, Lord – I
cannot live without THEE,
I dare not try to
take one step alone.
I cannot bear the
loads of life, unaided,
I need THY strength
to lean myself upon.
Be with me Lord, and
then if dangers threaten,
If storms of trial
burst above my head,
If lashing seas leap
ev’rywhere about me,
They cannot harm, or
make my heart afraid.
Be with me Lord! No
other gift or blessing
THOU COULDST bestow
could with this one compare –
A constant sense of
THY abiding presence,
Where’er I am, to
feel that THOU ART near.
Be with me, Lord,
when loneliness o’ertakes me,
When I must weep
amid the fires of pain,
And when shall come
the hour of “my departure”
For “worlds
unknown,” O Lord, be with me then.
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