©1999 Larry Huntsperger
Peninsula Bible Fellowship
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3/14/99
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No Talking Mirrors Needed
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Philippians 4:5
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3/14/99 No Talking Mirrors Needed
We are returning this morning
to our study of the 4th chapter
of Paul's letter to the Philippians.
By now you know
that this short letter
was written by Paul from prison
to his fellow Christians in Philippi
for the purpose of providing them
with a sort of survival manual
for the hard times in life.
We have seen throughout our study of this book
that Paul has tested every principle
in the crucible of real life -
sickness,
lies,
character assassination,
repeated attempts on his life,
loneliness,
rejection...
These are not platitudes,
they're not wise sayings
of nice things good Christians really should
do.
These are principles for dealing with real pain.
It's not surprising to learn
that it is in this letter
that Paul tells us there are times
when he would far rather
(Phil. 1:23)... depart and be with Christ,
for that is very much better...
He's putting into words
what everyone who has ever hurt deeply
has felt at times.
He's simply saying,
"Lord, sometimes I get tired of the pain."
And through this little letter
Paul allows us to step inside his heart
and his mind
and see what has allowed him
to not just survive,
but to actually thrive in the prisons
and the winters of his life.
Our study has brought us to the grand finale
of this short letter,
the few sentences in which
Paul summarizes the heart
of what he has been wanting to say
throughout the letter.
The passage begins in Phili. 4:4
and runs through 4:9.
It consists of mostly one-liners,
concise statements
each containing a single powerful principle.
We started with the first statement four weeks ago
and sort of got stuck there.
But it was a great place to get stuck.
The statement said,
Phil. 4:4 ¶ Rejoice in the Lord always;
again I will say, rejoice!
And in the weeks we spent on that statement
we saw Paul calling us to an approach to life
in which,
rather than beginning by looking at our
circumstances,
we begin by looking at our God.
Then, and only then
can we begin to relate to our circumstances
correctly.
This single phrase
is the most accurate litmus test I know of
for helping us to know
whether or not we are seeing God
correctly.
When we are seeing Him correctly
our spirit will rejoice in Him.
If we find any other response within ourselves,
if we doubt Him,
or are afraid of Him,
or question what He has said,
one thing we know with certainty -
we are not seeing Him correctly.
Do you remember that prayer I offered you
several months ago,
that prayer that I find myself praying
on an almost daily basis?
"Lord, let me know You this day."
That's where it all begins.
That's the foundation
of everything else that grows out of our walk
with God.
The more accurately I know Him
the more easily I can respond to Him,
and I will know when I am seeing Him
accurately
because my spirit will rejoice in Him.
And I dare not say any more
or we will spend the rest of our church life on
Philippians 4:4.
Now, the next verse contains two additional
principles.
In the New American Standard translation
the verse reads:
Phil. 4:5 Phil. 4:5 Let your forbearing
spirit be known to all men. The Lord is
near.
We'll start with the first
of those two statements,
the one that says, "Let your forbearing
spirit be known to all men."
This is another one of those powerful statements in
Scripture
that we rarely even notice
when we're reading through the passage.
The reason we rarely notice it
is because of that word "forbearing".
We don't really know what that even means.
In the most recent update of the New American
Standard Bible
the translators changed their mind
and opted for the word "gentle"...
Let your gentle spirit be known to all men,
probably because the other four places
in the New Testament
where this greek word appears
it was translated gentle.
The NIV translates the verse,
"Let your gentleness be evident to all."
The truth is,
none of those capture the heart
of what Paul is talking about here.
The Greek word being translated
as "forebearing" in this verse
comes from two words put together.
The first word is actually the little prefix "epi"
which is used to strengthen or intensify a
word.
We ran into it in the past
in a word study we did together
when Paul was talking about "epignosis".
Gnosis is the greek word for "knowledge"
and then both Paul and Peter
add the prefix "epi" to that word for
knowledge
to describe the kind of knowledge
only a Christian can have of God.
The closest we can get to it in English
is to translate it, "full or complete knowledge".
The "epi" intensifies the meaning in a unique way.
Well, this word we are dealing with
here in Philippians 4:5
adds that intensifier to the greek word for
"reasonable".
Literally the word means "full, complete
reasonableness"
or"sweet reasonableness".
You can see why the translators
ran into difficulty
finding an accurate English equivalent.
The word carries with it
a sense of tolerance,
of uncontentiousness,
being equitable,
fair,
moderate.
James uses this same word
in the third chapter of James, verse 17,
when he is describing how to recognize
the true wisdom of God.
He says,
But the wisdom from above is first pure,
then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of
mercy and good fruits, unwavering,
without hypocrisy.
Now that's a little more academic
than we normally get,
but there is something happening in this
phrase
that I want us to see,
something that Paul knows
is crucial to our survival in hard times.
In this phrase
Paul is talking to us
about the way in which
we conduct ourselves
with the truth our Lord
reveals to us.
One of the many things we enter into
when we enter into Christ
is the world of truth,
the world of absolute certainty.
Through our Lord
we discover a growing understanding
of the true nature of life,
and relationships,
and morality,
and a whole bunch of other
crucial issues
we could only guess at before.
And I'm not just talking about
some kind of blind, religious "faith" here.
The fact is,
through our King
we just flat end up knowing things.
Jesus said it so clearly:
John 8:31"If you abide in My word, then
you are truly disciples of Mine;
John 8:32 and you shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make you free. "
And, as always,
I need to make a distinction here
between knowing the truth
and learning a religious system.
There are lots of religious systems floating around,
filled with all sorts of beliefs,
and doctrines,
and prescribed life-styles,
and filtering systems
for knowing who's approved
and who is not.
That's not what we're talking about here.
Religious systems are something we're taught,
something we choose to accept.
The TRUTH Jesus is talking about here
is not a belief system imposed from the outside,
it is an inner certainty
given to us by our Creator.
We know it's true
not because another human being told us it's
true,
but because our God
confirmed its truth in our spirit.
EX. I remember talking years ago
with a young man who was working very hard
to create his belief system
that excluded God.
It was a rather elaborate intellectual system,
with lots of scientific "proofs",
and theories,
and explanations.
And when he had finished explaining
his philosophy of life
he said, "This is the way I really think it is."
I responded by saying,
"Yea, and that's the difference
between us - you THINK what you believe
is correct,
but, you see, I KNOW what I believe is
correct."
And just to clarify once again,
I'm not talking about all the little details of
doctrine,
I'm talking about the basic issues -
Who God is,
why we're separated from Him,
how that separation can be restored,
what are the basic moral absolutes of life,
and why God established them.
But, you see,
there is a problem that arises
with knowing the truth.
Knowing the truth
can be a dangerous thing
unless that truth is handled wisely.
We Christians hold a number of important roles in
the world.
Among other things,
we are God's ambassadors,
representing Him in a foreign land.
We are His priests,
standing between a lost and rebellious world,
and our Creator
who offers that world redemption
and reconciliation.
We are the resident, living proofs
of His reality here on this earth.
There have been times in the past
when we've spent weeks
on that remarkable statement of Paul's
in Ephesians 3:10
where he tells us that God called us to Himself,
and formed us into His Body...
Eph. 3:10 in order that the manifold
wisdom of God might now be made known
through the church to the rulers and the
authorities in the heavenly places.
The word "manifold"
means literally "many colored",
and the image Paul is creating
is powerful.
Prior to the creation of the church
the wisdom of God was a blinding beam
of pure white light
piercing through human society,
often terrifying those
caught in its beam.
But when God's wisdom
hit the church,
it was like a beam of light
hitting a prism,
and as it comes out the other side
it projects a beautiful rainbow display of color
for all to see.
Because of God's life through us on a daily basis,
all of creation is able to see a depth
and beauty to God's wisdom
unlike anything anyone has ever seen
before.
That's all part of the role we serve
in God's plan for us here on earth.
But there is another role we serve as well,
one that has a direct bearing
on this business of our knowing the truth,
and on our having
this "forebearing spirit"
Paul is talking about in Phil.
You see,
in a fascinating way
because we know the truth
we end up serving in the rather
unpleasant role
of conscience for human society.
We are the ones who constantly remind our world
that there are moral absolutes,
that there are righteous
and unrighteous choices,
and that each of us are held accountable
for the choices we make.
We do this most of all
not by what we say,
but rather by the way we live.
Ex. When a Christian teenager goes to school
and talks with his school mates
and the filth doesn't pour out of his mouth
the way it pours out of most of the other
students' mouths,
it drives the other kids crazy
because it reminds them
there is such a thing as morality.
Now isn't that fascinating?
When all the other waitresses
record just half the tips they make
so they don't get taxed on the other half,
and the Christian waitress is honest,
it drives the others crazy
because the righteousness of the
Christian
reminds her co-workers once again
that there is moral right and wrong.
Simply put,
whenever we choose righteousness,
whenever we choose not to gossip,
whenever we choose to respect the dignity of
another human being,
whenever we choose honesty
when dishonesty would bring a greater
profit,
whenever we choose to respect
and submit to the authority
God has placed us under,
whenever we choose faithfulness
to our marriage partner,
those right choices
remind our world
that there is moral right and wrong.
We become the conscience of the world
simply by living the way
our Lord leads us to live.
But here's the thing.
Paul wants us to understand
that even though we cannot avoid
being the moral conscience of the world,
we should never confuse that
with being the moral policemen of the world.
When Paul tells us to "Let our forbearing spirit be
known to all men",
he is saying we should faithfully live out
the high moral standard
our Lord has given us as His children,
but we should not expect
or demand that standard
from those around us.
Perhaps the best definition I found
for this word we have translated "forbearing" or
"gentile"
came from Vine's Expository Dictionary of
New Testament Words.
In that book
Vine defined the word as meaning,
"not insisting on the letter of the Law".
I need to say this carefully,
so that I don't suggest
that we shouldn't do all we possibly can
to support and encourage righteous
choices in the lives of those around us,
because we certainly should.
But maybe I could express what I'm trying to say
best this way-
there is no more powerful proof
of the reality of God in a person's life
than when those around us discover
that true righteousness
and true love
co-exist within us.
That's what Paul is talking about here.
Non-Christians expect Christians to be moral,
they don't expect them to be kind,
to be compassionate,
to be noncondemning.
Our world loves to portray Christians
as bigoted, judgmental legalists,
who frequently demand from others
a level of morality
they don't even maintain
themselves.
This phrase in Philippians
is the exact opposite of that.
It is showing true compassion
from a foundation of true righteousness.
This, of course, is where Christ caused so much
chaos
during His own life among us.
He lived a life of absolute moral perfection,
and yet He spent His time
loving,
and teaching,
and leading,
and living with sinners.
And it drove the legalists crazy
because they did not know what to do
with righteousness and love in the same
human being.
Maybe I could say it best
by saying that Paul is telling us
we are not suppose to be talking mirrors.
When I get up in the morning
and look in the mirror
I can see what's there.
I see there is less hair today
than there was yesterday.
I can see how much more of it has turned grey.
I can see all the wrinkles
and bumps
and blotches that didn't exist 20 years ago.
I can handle that.
The mirror provides me
with information I need to have.
But if I were to look in the mirror
and then, as I looked,
the mirror said to me,
"Hey Larry! You're looking pretty bad.
Wow, have you ever been ravaged by middle
age.
Not much to work with here anymore, huh?
You sure you want to go out in public?"
I guarantee that mirror
would not survive long in our house.
As God transforms our lives
into greater and greater conformity
with the image of Christ,
we will provide a more and more accurate
moral mirror for our world.
When that mirror is operating correctly
it allows them to see both
the bondage created by their own immorality
and also the hope of change
offered through our Lord Jesus Christ.
But when Paul says,
Let your forbearing spirit be known to all
men...,
he is telling us not to be a talking mirror,
but rather,
to let righteousness and love,
righteousness and kindness,
righteousness and compassion
coexist within us.