“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).

“Do not be anxious about anything,” Paul begins. Well, that’s quite a start. I must confess that I don’t know that there is ever a moment in my life where I am anxious about absolutely nothing. There are maybe, just maybe, about 5 minutes after I read a verse like this, where I am in a devotional space, and I read this text, I pray a prayer of surrender for whatever it is that has just jumped into my head as an example of how bad I am at being obedient to this command… And maybe for those 5 minutes after I can maintain the kind of non-anxiety Paul is talking about here. But once I’ve left that quiet devotional space, all of reality comes rushing back in to disrupt my nice pious resolution of mere moments before. Possibly you can relate. I suspect we are not alone.

Jesus offers a similar teaching as part of his Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s Gospel. Many of us are likely familiar with the text of Matthew 6 that begins “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life…” It continues to reflect on the birds of the air and the flowers of the field, God’s provision for them and for us.

In both passages, the Greek word for worry or anxiety is the same. And I don’t think either, in spite of how they are often read, is a judgment against worry or anxiety. As we have reflected previously this summer, Scripture’s commands against fear do not express finger-wagging disapproval, but rather God’s desire for his people. The command Paul gives in this passage is not “Do not be anxious about anything, you irrational and untrusting fools. Do you not know God at all?” No, Paul says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Paul is offering a way of transferring our anxiety and fear to our God, who promises to respond with his peace, so we don’t have to carry it alone.

Paul also calls the church to offer prayers with thanksgiving. This builds on the theme of joy which Pastor Michael reflected on yesterday. There are times when, as he described, thanksgiving is not a natural reflection of our circumstances, which may be tremendously painful. However, with the intimacy with God that comes through prayer, we can become people of joy and thanksgiving because of who God is–and who he has been and promises he will be–regardless of our present reality.

“Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Jesus Christ for you,” Paul reflects similarly in 1 Thess. 5:18. Thanksgiving and joy, not fear and anxiety, are God’s will for his people. But we don’t have to carry the burden of willing or working our circumstances into alignment. In the midst of trials and suffering, we don’t have to add the burden of positive thinking. Expressions of grief at what is wrong in our lives and the world is no less holy a form of prayer than joyful prayers in response to what is good, true, and beautiful. Prayer is not first about what we feel, say, or do; it is about who God is and what he can do. We may simply come before him, presenting our requests, and he will guard our minds and our hearts in Christ Jesus.

So as you journey on, go with the blessing of God:

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm. May he bring you home rejoicing; at the wonders he has shown you. May he bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near (Philippians 4:4-5).

Paul begins to wind down his letter to the Christians in Philippi by returning to his opening theme. In the first few chapters, he has told us of the mindset of Jesus (i.e. humbling himself to the cross and submitting himself to the Father alone rather than his own recourse). Paul wrote how he sought to live out of this mindset of Jesus. He also included how the Philippian church and those within it experiencing fights and division (like Euodia and Syntyche) should live out that Jesus-mindset, as Kyra elaborated on yesterday.

Having said all this, Paul returns to the theme of joy. This is where he began by mentioning his joyful prayers for the Philippian Christians. He was thankful for their partnership in the Gospel and for God’s work in them that God would see to completion.

Now he invites the Philippians into the same prayer saturated with joy. Today let’s reflect on the joy.

An antidote to the mistrust of fellow Christians that breeds division like that between Euodia and Syntyche is a healthy joy in the Lord. In the angel’s Christmas announcement to the shepherds, they said, the Gospel is “good news of great joy for all people”. When our joy evaporates or is replaced by fear, doubts, or suspicions, it is an indicator that our own heart needs tending in the presence of God. Only then can we engage fruitfully again with fellow Christians. We need to receive again the good news of great joy in our hearts. Then, as we encounter others, what spills out of us is a joyful, Gospel word.

How do we do that? Let me suggest a few ways. One is simply by practicing. If we don’t feel joyful, we should rejoice and giving thanks to God anyway. It’s often the case that working a habit like rejoicing, even when we aren’t in the mood for it, can serve to usher our emotions gently along until we do begin to feel it. We can use the last few Psalms to get started.

Another way to find joy in the Lord is to remember that “the Lord is near.” Even when everything else might feel like its coming undone or when it feels like there are enemies all around—a recognition of the presence of God in that place can change things. Even valleys of death’s shadow can be transformed into an experience of God’s care and provision when we remember that he is there, too. Meditation on Psalms 23 or 121 are helpful here.

A third way to renew our joy is simply by talking to God. We call that prayer. But that’s for tomorrow.

This kind of joy in Christ enables us to make known the mind of Christ to those around us. The Greek word translated as gentleness can also mean forbearance or tolerance. A willingness to let things go or to delay our reaction or desire for retribution. Doing so offers a gracious, merciful forbearance as God has done for us. Again, we can do this because the Lord, who has displayed his gentle forbearance with us, is near. It’s a cause of joy. A cause for taking on the same mindset.

So, rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

As you journey on, go with the blessing of God:

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm. May he bring you home rejoicing; at the wonders he has shown you. May he bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.

“Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends! I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you, my true companion, help these women since they have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life” (Philippians 4:1-3).

Paul begins this last section of the letter with a final encouragement to the community to stand firm in the Lord. Like many of Paul’s other commands, this is rooted in his love for them.

The remainder of today’s verses are interesting because they involve mention of a number of people found nowhere else in Scripture, and there isn’t a lot of detail given about the inciting incident prompting Paul’s response in the letter. Likely, the two women Paul speaks of are leaders in the Philippian church, and Paul is addressing a disagreement between the two of them. The fact that he chooses the public forum of a letter which would be read to the whole community to address this concern suggests that it is not merely a personal matter, but something affecting the whole community.

His plea that these two women be “of the same mind” is significant in several ways. It recalls Paul’s command to the whole church in chapter 2:2, where he called the whole community to also be of one mind. As we discussed with regard to that verse, Paul’s command is not that these two women come to perfect agreement, but rather that they prioritize a single-minded focus on the gospel and dedication to working out God’s mission in their context.

Paul also stresses the importance of these women in the community and their work for the cause of the gospel, demonstrating that, even in the midst of conflict, the community is to respect these leaders and recall the cause that they share as the foundation of their relationship and leadership.

Paul then notes other figures, including someone he calls “my true companion,” and a man named Clement, and other co-workers. The true companion may be a figure known to the community like Epaphroditus, Silas, or Timothy, or another church leader, called on to serve as a mediator in Paul’s place to deal with the conflict. The other figures may also be involved in the conflict or called to serve as additional mediators. Paul reminds the community that all their names are “in the book of life.” This may function as another reminder of what they all share in common even in the midst of differences.

Throughout these verses, then, Paul is encouraging the community and its leaders on toward unity by showing them the various ways in which they are already united–having a common cause in the advance of the gospel and their identity as those who have been given life in Christ.

Paul’s way of dealing with conflict in the church is instructive for us as well. In our own conflicts with our siblings in Christ, whether historically or currently, there is a temptation to highlight differences, to seek unity only with those with whom we agree. But Paul’s example, and his instructions to the Philippian church, ask more of us than that. We cannot afford to limit unity to a foundation lesser than the gospel. We are called to work harder at unity than is often comfortable. This requires humility, sacrifice, maturity–all the things we’ve highlighted as we’ve walked through this letter. But when we truly believe that our same mind is in the Lord, our identity is in Christ, and our shared cause worth contending for is the gospel, God will have his way in us.

So as you journey on, go with the blessing of God:

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm. May he bring you home rejoicing; at the wonders he has shown you. May he bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.

A Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings! The text is Luke 10:25-37. Dive In discussion questions are below for further reflection!

To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it here on YouTube. Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel: immanuelministries.ca

1. What is the lesson often given from this story? What is the question that propels Jesus to tell this story?
2. In what ways have you tried to “inherit” eternal life?
3. What is important about the summary of the law given in this story?
4. Who is the beaten traveler? Who is the Samaritan?
5. How can the church be like the inn and the inn keeper?

But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body (Philippians 3:20-21).

As we conclude this chapter, we build on Kyra’s reflections from yesterday. Paul writes with tears. Was some of the ink blotched because those tears had fallen while he wrote? His heart is grieved for all those who insist on opposing the cross of Christ.

Recall also that he does not name them ‘my enemies’. We do well to diligently follow his example. People are not the enemy. No matter how deep our disagreements, our struggle is against powers and principalities, not people.

Regarding these ‘enemies of the cross’, he says, ‘their god is their stomach’. Stomach stands in for all the desires of the body, the lusts of the flesh. Their chief concern is personal satisfaction. Their appetites dictate their lives; their minds focussed solely on this earth and this life; their vision to please the self in the moment. His warning is not against specific sins, but against the underlying sin of pandering to self.

On that score, are any of us innocent? Which of us Christ followers do not, at least on occasion, fall to a temptation of the ‘stomach’, pandering to self? Paul is reminding his readers that they themselves must remain vigilant. We do well to heed his warning; his tears fall for us as well. We must test our desires. In themselves, they are not necessarily bad. Desires for food, for friendship, for a healthy marriage or for rest are normally good. However, we can overindulge in food. Sometimes we can use friends to climb the ladder. Sometimes our desire for rest is just laziness.

Thus, Paul reminds us that our citizenship is in heaven. Our treasures, our desires, our goals for life are determined not by the desires of our bodies, but by the values of God himself. Philippi was a Roman colony, ruled by Roman law not by its own customs; its citizens were Roman citizens. Likewise, Christians live in this world, among human cultures and value systems, but our citizenship is in heaven. We derive our values from the cross.

When the truths of the cross and the return of Christ are grasped, a certain way of life naturally follows. What we believe changes our behaviour. We imitate Christ while longing for full redemption. When he returns, our Saviour will transform us so that our lowly bodies, often difficult to control, will then be subject to Christ giving glory to God.

Ours are lowly bodies because they are subject to sin. The body itself, as God’s creation, is good. But because of sin, we are frail and weak, easily seduced to engage in selfish activity. While our bodies remain ‘lowly’, we have not arrived at our goal. But one day, our lowly bodies will give way to the new spiritual body. Eagerly we await Christ’s appearance and full conformity to his resurrection body, forever in union with our God. We live in this world pressing on towards that day.

At that final day he will, from his exalted position where all things are subject to him, draw our lowly bodies up into his glorious existence. He identified with our humility so that we might in turn be identified with his resurrected body. Maranatha, come Lord Jesus.

As you journey on, go with the blessing of God:

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm. May he bring you home rejoicing; at the wonders he has shown you. May he bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.

“For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven” (Philippians 3:18-20a).

In today’s verses, Paul is building off of those previous. Having encouraged the Philippians to find models to imitate, they must also be warned against those in whose footsteps they ought not to follow.

The challenge is who these people are. You may recall that in our exploration of this letter, there have been several passages where Paul makes accusations and warns the Philippian church against groups of people. So is he referring to one of these already mentioned groups? Those preaching out of rivalry from 1:15-17? Those who oppose and persecute believers from 1:28? Those “judaizers” we discussed in the early verses of chapter 3, who advocated for circumcision among Gentile converts? Or maybe even those Paul briefly alludes to in 2:21, who seek their own self-interest?

The truth is that we really don’t know. And so we have to be careful about using this text to extrapolate into our context and pronounce our own judgment on those we consider to be “enemies of the cross of Christ.” In a divided culture, verses like this can be used in pretty self-serving and antagonistic ways, but that’s not the posture that the rest of this letter has been teaching us to take. So if we seek to avoid this error, what do these verses teach, even warn us, about?

The first thing we see is that Paul grieves for enemies of the cross of Christ. He is not making a triumphalistic declaration that those with whom he disagrees are enemies of Christ doomed for destruction. Rather, he grieves for those who are misguided, who do not know Christ, whose “mind is set on earthly things.” Paul’s is not a posture of hostility, resentment, or self-righteousness. He has the same kind of compassion for these enemies of the cross that Jesus had weeping over Jerusalem in Luke 19. A heart broken, not hardened, by the disobedience of others.

But what is it exactly that causes Paul to lament for this group of people? What do these verses say constitutes being an enemy of the cross of Christ? It is first necessary to highlight that he calls this group enemies of the cross of Christ, not just enemies of Christ. Some scholars suggest this may mean that those Paul is referring to are not pagan tormentors of the church, or those with lifestyles and belief systems diametrically opposed to followers of Christ. Rather, these may be believers, people who, as Pastor Michael described yesterday, maybe believe some of the right truths about Christ, but are opposed to the way of the cross as a way of life. They may claim salvation, but are unwilling to undergo the path of discipleship we have talked about over the last couple of days, and really throughout the whole letter to the Philippians.

The cross, for Paul, is the emblem of salvation, of knowledge of and participation in Christ. Cross-centred discipleship is the call of the Christian life. To crucify all privileges, status, wealth, perceived self-sufficiency in order to participate in Christ’s suffering and death is to affirm one’s heavenly citizenship. This is not a preoccupation with heaven to the neglect of life on earth, but a willingness to surrender all that is of perceived earthly value for the sake of Christ and his kingdom.

So where might you be resisting the call of the cross-shaped life? For whom might you intercede, even through tears, that they would come to know only Christ, and him crucified (1 Cor. 2:2)?

So as you journey on, go with the blessing of God:

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm. May he bring you home rejoicing; at the wonders he has shown you. May he bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.

So, all of us who are mature in the faith should see things this way. Maybe you think differently about something. But God will make it clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already reached. Brothers and sisters, join together in following my example. You have us as a model. So, pay close attention to those who live as we do (Philippians 3:15-17).

What is Paul getting at in these verses?

It’s helpful to recognize that Paul is picking up ideas from the beginning of chapter 2. There he says: “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.” The Greek word translated as “mindset” lies behind the phrase “such a view of things” and the word “think.”

In other words, Paul is saying: “All of us who are mature should take on the same mindset as that of Christ Jesus, even as you have witnessed me doing while I was with you.” Further, in considering everything a loss for the gain of knowing Christ, becoming like him in his death, Paul was practicing this mindset. In other words: to be mature in Christ is to have the mindset of Christ, as Kyra said yesterday.

Paul offers his own life and experience as a witness and pattern of this mindset. It humbly submits to God and gives up everything as loss. Maturing Christians are learning to say yes to Christ in every area of our lives every day – at home, at work, at school, in our leisure, in our finances, in our friendships. The task of the Christian life is to say, “Christ is my all in all, seeking him as a precious jewel.” This had become Paul’s life, full submission to Christ. And now he tells the Philippians: imitate me as I imitate Christ. Or imitate someone else whose life imitates mine or that of Christ.

If we know Christ, we will mature into living the life of Christ—that life of humble submission. If believing the right truths about Christ is as far as we get, then we have not yet grown up. This is an immature Christian life. Yet, as Kyra also mentioned yesterday, Paul remains “confident… that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6). Indeed, as he says: wherever your mindset differs from that of Christ Jesus, Paul trusts that God will make it clear to you.

Paul also encourages us not to go backwards. “Let us live up to what we have already attained,” he says. The goal is always to be straining forwards, looking ahead, keeping one’s eyes fixed on Christ—or at least on those ahead of you who are following Christ—so that all of us might increasingly run the race of growing up into Christ until we become mature.

Who are you following into this mindset and way of Christ—this way of the cross: of humility, submission, and loss? Who is following you? And what is God clarifying to you? What is the next step of submission for you? How is God calling you to go deeper into the mindset of Christ? Where do you need to mature in your Christian faith?

As you seek Christian maturity, go with the blessing of God:

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm. May he bring you home rejoicing; at the wonders he has shown you. May he bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.

“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:12-14).

Yesterday, Pastor Michael described the “upward spiral” of the Christian life, the continual dying and rising with Christ by which we are transformed more fully into his likeness. Today’s verses continue to unpack what this process looks like.

The letter to the Philippians talks a fair bit about having the same mindset as Christ. This, it seems for Paul, is the measure of Christian maturity, and we’ve seen some examples of his teaching in this regard already in our exploration of the letter. In today’s verses, he uses athletic language to describe this effort: “straining toward what is ahead” and “press[ing] on toward the goal to win the prize.” Just as an athlete trains for a grueling race, so too striving after union with Christ requires a single-mindedness and self-denial.

But is striving for perfection in every step the goal Paul is describing? I’m not sure that’s quite it. Paul notes that as he strives toward the prize, he must forget what is behind him. Think about Paul’s history. In an earlier chapter of his life, he had been a lead persecutor of followers of Christ. He certainly had been the antithesis of what he is describing in this passage. And yet he knows himself to have been taken hold of by Christ. Were he to dwell forever on the mistakes of his past, living a life of perpetual regret, he would not have been able to do the work God had for him to do. And the challenges don’t only seem to be in the past; the language of “straining” or “pressing” implies the kind of daily present hardships that Pastor Michael described yesterday.

So if Christian maturity Paul describes here is not past or present perfection, what is it? Paul locates the fullness of Christian maturity in the future–a divinely appointed goal to press toward. A goal toward which God has called, and thus for which Christ followers can expect to be supported by the Spirit.

What is perhaps most significant about what Paul says here is that, because Christian maturity is a future prize toward which a believer and believing community strains together with the Spirit’s help, Christian maturity is not, at least in this life, a final destination. If a believer is pretty confident that they’ve already reached the fullest extent of Christian maturity, that’s probably not a good sign.

If your past is full of failures or sins, or you consider yourself in a position now where you are still struggling, desiring faithfulness, but falling short–you’re not a liability to Christ. Because Paul teaches that Christian maturity is not confidence of full attainment already, but a desire to grow, to admit past failures but not allow them to compromise our present or future witness, and to trust in God’s calling and follow it with a single-minded focus and fervour. Like Paul, we do not consider ourselves having taken hold of all that is ours. Rather, we trust that our God is accompanying us on the journey, and there is much goodness that lies ahead.

So as you journey on, go with the blessing of God:

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm. May he bring you home rejoicing; at the wonders he has shown you. May he bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.