Stonebrook Church, Ames, Iowa, Sermons

This week, I reflected back on my 40 years of adulthood. Various trials I have gone through. My attitude towards them.

One topic that I have faced—as we all have—is finances. In my 40 years of adulthood, I cannot ever remember facing the pressure of joblessness or poverty. Nor can I ever remember having all the finances I could desire.

But I can remember many times when I was discontent about my situation. And anxious.

Another topic I thought about was health. In the last 3 years, my wife and I have faced some significant challenges with health. Over these 3 years, I can remember many, many days where both of us struggled to be at peace in our situation. To be content. Not anxious or complaining.

Contentment and peace in our souls is such a beautiful quality, but it seems so elusive. Like trying to grasp the vapor from our breath on a cold morning.

We are in the final week of an 8 week series learning from a letter the Apostle Paul wrote to a church in Philippi, a city in the Roman Empire. Such a beautiful letter. Personal. Warm. Yet very hard-hitting. Challenging.

Paul’s final words address this topic of contentment. And we will find inspiration from his example.

Philippians 4

Paul is bringing his letter to a close. As he does this, he changes topics. But he does not change his overall theme of the letter.

The theme still remains a life with Christ at the center.

Back in chapter 1, Paul said, “To live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

Life—as long as he lived it on earth—was centered around Jesus. Not centered around his own agenda or selfish ambition.

And if and when he died—even if it was martyrdom in a Roman prison—that would be gain. The best life.

Also back in chapter 1, Paul said this:

Philippians 1:27 ESV “Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel…”

This very well may be the theme of the book. As citizens—not of the Roman Empire but of heaven—Paul wants them to live their lives in a way that is worthy of Jesus. Jesus as Lord of heaven and earth is worthy of our devotion and our love.

He is worthy of our trust. He is worthy of our obedience.

This call to a life having Christ at the very center carries throughout the letter, including here in chapter 4.

Paul offers no commands in this section, only his testimony of God’s work in him.

Vs. 9

Look at vs. 9 in chapter 4. Dave covered this last week:

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.”

Paul’s life and heart and attitude is an example for us to follow. This final section of the letter will provide us that example.

Vs. 10

Philippians 4.

10 I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity.

We will see as we read farther that the Philippians sent money to help support Paul in his ministry.

In 1 Corinthians 9, written 4 or 5 years before this, Paul says that when someone’s fulltime job is preaching the gospel, they have the right to earn a living from the gospel.

1 Corinthians 9:14 ESV “…the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.”

In other words, just like any other job, they deserve a paycheck for their work that they can use to pay for food and rent.

So here in this chapter, the Philippian church had wanted to help Paul before this time, but for some reason they didn’t have opportunity.

Why not? We’re not told.

Perhaps the church was so poor they had not money to send. Or perhaps they had no good, safe way to send him money. It would take …

No matter how difficult life becomes, those of us who believe in Jesus can find exultant joy and unfathomable peace as we bring our fears, desires and passions to the Lord in prayer and as we remember who Jesus is and what He has done, is doing, will do.

What is your idea of “The Good Life”?  What way of life, or standard of living are you working toward? What end result are you running after? What is your goal? Another way of asking it: what would be the most disappointing thing that you could face? What thing are you trying to gain, or hold on to right now, that if you missed it, or it was taken away from you, would ruin your life. Would crush your hopes […]

We humans love to make classes of people: economic, ethnic, intellectual, and social classes. Such classes attempt to make us better or worse than others, depending where we land. The Apostle Paul makes it clear that the way to God is not by any such heritage, accomplishment, or classification, but only by Christ. The pursuit of knowing Christ and living for him was Paul’s great passion. Rather than glorying in his own merit, Paul gloried in Christ. As we stand firm in such a message, our lives will be changed and God’s name will be held high.

Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.

We often enjoy hearing the message, “You deserve this good thing.” Politicians and advertising specialists trumpet this message. However, God’s Scriptures and the gospel message take us in another direction. Through God’s mercy and grace to us in the gospel of Christ, the question we must answer is, “What does God deserve? What is he worthy of?” In our passage today, the Apostle Paul reveals the surprising but beautiful answer.

Think of a time when you were filled with joy. Cheerful. Happy. Deep down inside. I’m guessing it was a very exciting occasion. The day the Lord saved you. Graduation. A new job. Wedding day. Baby born. Your sports team won a championship. Did any of you think of your joy during a time of suffering? If you read in Acts 16, you can read the very beginning of a new church in a Roman city called Philippi. The Apostle […]

In his letter to the Christians in Philippi, Paul thanks them for their partnership with him in the work of preaching God’s word, and exhorts them to continue their faithful walk in following Christ, as citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, who live a remarkably different life from the rest of the world. In this first section, Paul greets and encourages the church and prays they would be full of love and unity that stems from a knowledge of the truth and discernment of error, so that God may be glorified and praised by the watching world.

We can have a love-hate relationship with money. Sometimes we love and long for more of it, but at other times we hate the stresses and worry that seems to accompany the subject. The Lord has direction for us with money so that it doesn’t steal our hearts from him and so that we can have lasting fruit in heaven because of our godly handling of it.

We know of one fundraiser in the New Testament; the apostle Paul took it upon himself to raise money for poor Christians in Jerusalem. He was led by the Lord to rally Christians and churches to give and was so successful that some gave generously out of extreme poverty.  We can learn a lot from Paul’s wise appeals that can help purify our motives and give us direction as we raise funds for Stonebrook’s Renew Campaign.