Peace in Conflict | Philippians 4:1-9

You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun, in practical ways. Oh, good morning, good morning. We talked the whole good move do you and you do? Hey, hey that was a good one. A yeah, you really added something. You climbed up so awesome. Hey, good morning everybody, or good afternoon or good evening. We are the Bible Guys, and we appreciate very much you tuning in. If you're if you're a first timer with us today on the Bible Guys. Let me just tell you all the rest of our fans know, we just peaked right there that song. It's the peak of the week, is it is? It's the moment. Everybody loves it when Chris sings good morning. Even though we now know that most of our listeners listen the afternoon. Yeah, the majority listening more intense Yeah. In a few hours in the afternoon than it is most people driving home from work. I think that funny. Yeah. Hey, so we are in the middle of a series actually talking about God's promises. We've been doing this for what two weeks now, two weeks and this is the second week, and we are focusing on God's peace. Last week we focused on God's provision. If you didn't listen to that, go back and watch that or listen to them. But today God's Peace. But before we get into that, we have a segment that Desiree is calling the Praise Report with a twist. I loved this one. This one's fun. Each of you will share something you're grateful for, but you must describe it like it's a dramatic movie trailer. And then she gives an example of something in a world where laundry never ends, a woman finds a sock that matches that type of thing. Okay, so I use chat GPT. So did I? I did too. I dropped it in there. You want to do search, No, you tell is yours great? Mine's great? Okay, Well, then I'll tell you of mine and then you keep it off. Okay. So what I did is I drop that in. Each of you will share something you're grateful for, but you must describe it like it's a dramatic movie trailer. And I said, so, I'm thankful for my loving family, my great life of adventure, the people who trust us as leaders, and the impact of the Ministry. Guide has let me lead, You're grateful for four things. I'm grateful for four things. Wow, that's those are all encompassing, by the way, I mean that comfort compasses. I actually chose number one, one thing and very small things. So I did it two times. I did it one time in an epic cinematic way, and then I did it one time as like an over the top way. So I'm going to do the over the top way. So think in a world voice over guy meets mission impossible, trailer energy. Okay, what it says, right, So the epic movie voice thunder rumbling in the distance, in a world where chaos reigns, traffic never ends in your email box mocks you daily. One man dares to be thankful anyway, and then it says cut to slow motion, family laughter, kids running through sunlight, someone dramatically flipping pancakes. He says he has the family, he has the faith. He even has the air fryer. By day, he leads an army of world changers, and by night he grills chicken like a legend and still has time to pray for the nations. Cue the choir, an electric guitar riff from every nineties blockbuster ever. Wow, And then it says they said it couldn't be done. They said no one could juggle adventure ministry and family movie night. But they were wrong. This summer, one grateful guy will defy the odds, trust the process, and thank God like never before, coming soon to a grateful heart near you, the grateful life, because when God writes your story, it's always a box office hit. Wow. Huh, that's prettyuncomfortable. It was a good one. Yes, I like it so funny, and so we've done this before, and so. I like the guitar riffs from every ninety blockbuster movie. Yeah, it's great. Ironically, I really enjoyed you reading the in between stuff besides the narrative voice. Yeah, but I told mine not to do that. Oh you didn't want I told min My, just give me the words, Just give me the words. Yeah. So here's what I wrote, Okay. I said, give me a ninety second script in a dramatic movie trailer fashion, with the spoken words only that describes what I'm thankful for, no need to describe the setting or scene. That's I tried to delimit those things. Yeah, although I like yours, and I said what I am thankful for is our family used to drive terrible old cars that used to break down, but now we have the privilege of each of us driving newer, independable cars and make it funny. Also, okay, oh this is gonna be good. So it just says things like in between the narrative voice, it just says like pause for effect, voice intensifies, right, But I'll just do those things so it says the funny. It also always starts with in a world, In a world where engines coughed, sputtered, and died at every red light, one family dared to believe that one day they'd make it all the way home without calling a tow truck. They endured the dashboard lights of doom. They prayed through the mysterious check engine prophecies. They mastered the sacred art of pushing a car whilst steering it. But then something changed. After years of jumper cables and duct tape mirrors, came the dawn of reliable transportation. Now they drive without fear. Now, the air conditioning actually works. Now the radio plays music, not static or smoke. Because sometimes the greatest blessings aren't flashy or fast. They're just cars that start when you push the button. From the creators of We're Gonna Be laid Again and Pop the Hood. Maybe it's the battery comes a story of comes, a story of gratitude, redemption and premium unleaded hope. This Thanksgiving, we give thanks for dependable cars and the mercy of not walking to work any longer because miracles come with warranties. Now, that's it. I love from the creators of for the creators of We're Gonna Be laid Again and Pop the Hood. Maybe it's the battery comes the story of gratitude. That's it. Yeah, mindset from the creators of It's been a week exclamation point and the producers of we need more volunteers. So it's funny because this just highlighted like a significant difference because we're so similar in so many ways. Yes, but this highlighted significant difference between us, and I noticed it the last time we did something like this. Yeah, I tend to be very big picture on everything, just everything. What are you thankful for? I'm thinking for my family, I'm thankful for the adventure, I'm thankful for the church, thankful for the impact. And you're like, I'm thankful for cars that run. So you're you're very in the moment and very specific and I'm very big picture in general. Isn't that funny? Yeah, well, then that's how it works. And then also and by the way, that is absolutely true. But also I was thinking, I want it to be funny, and so what is a scenario that I can give chat GPT to make it really good? And the more narrow you give it, the funnier it is, because it could explore a funny option with sputtering cars versus reliable That's to be honest. That was part of my motivation too, right. But what you're saying that you do do that do that a lot where you're like a very specific story. I'm talking about a concept and you're like, that reminds me of a movie, or that reminds me of a story. This happened at my family, And it always takes you to very specific moment and I'm just thinking the idea itself, and yeah, isn't that amazing? Yeah, well you were talking yesterday, everything reminds me of a movie. Quote. What I'm trying to say is you complete me, Chris. That's what you try to say. Ja maguire by the way that's in the elevator you complete. Okay, so hey talking about joy? Okay, sure? Why not? I don't know. Do you know who was joyful? Yep? Paul was trying to challenge the Philippians to be joyful. Okay, all right, I'm the whole book. The whole book of Philippians is about joy. So he says this in chapter four, verse one. It says, Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stay true to the Lord. I love you and I long to see you, dear friends, for you are my joy and the crown I received for my work. Now I appeal to Yodia and Syntaiche, please, because you belong to the Lord, settle your disagreement. And I ask you, my true partner, to help these two women, for they worked hard with me and telling others the good news. They worked along with Clement and the rest of my co workers, whose names are written the book of life. Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again. Rejoice. Let everyone see that you are considerate and all you do remember the Lord is coming soon. Don't worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done, and then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right and pure and lovely and admirable. Think about these things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me, and everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of Peace will be with you. There you go, man, That's why I keep reading him. Yeah, well, you know what, last week we read the next verses, chapter verses ten, almost the yeah, yeah. You're right, we did. Yeah, And this is I love Philippians. In fact, I love all of Paul's prison letters, you know this whole, like Galatians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians. Excuse me. I love that stretch and and did you know that when he's when he's talking here, I love these set of verses at the very beginning because it talks about females who are actually helping Paul spread the gospel. And you know, we sometimes you know, overlook church contexts. You know, Oh, I guess women have to cover their heads and be silent and can't speak, you know. But Paul was very specifically referring to a specific scenario when he was saying those things. But there's so many references of females who help, and not only just help like you know by you know, making clothes and you know, cleaning and serving, although they did some of those things too, right, But in this case he said they were instrumental with me preaching the gospel, which is amazing and I love that, just just the idea that you know, women had spiritual authority and share the gospel. And and of course, of you know, they're not I don't think they're mentioned outside of this one passage. So I think it's interesting. The Book of Philippians is one of the few books Paul wrote letters that he wrote to the churches that isn't giving some kind of review theological correction, right, but Philippians doesn't have it. But what he is doing here is these challenging relationships. Hey, you can have your theology right, And both of these women are useful in serving God, They're useful in ministry, they're having an impact with their lives. But he's saying, hey, this relationship has to be fixed. That it's possible to love God and struggle in loving people. Right, that's what he says, man, you got to get back and this relationship is like the most important thing. Fix this relationship. And you know, if we're facing conflict, we can't let this tension keep building. It'll tear the church apart. I've spent a lot of time this summer working on trying to make peace among some key leaders right on the other side of the world. And even today, well yesterday had another thing blow up from people I didn't know but that are in the ministry, and so I challenged that a little bit in a way like this. And then today from the other side of the world, this leader reached out and said, hey, we should we should sit down and have a meeting, right, And I think that's the right way to do it. You don't just let these tensions out sit out there and build. It's going to tear up out the part the work of God. And so it's in the context of tension between good people. He's not saying, man, that Yodia is right in Sententikee's a jerk. He doesn't say that, does he. He's not picking sides. You just just settle it. He's just a you ladies need to deal with this. Just settle it. Don't let it tear apart your ministry. And it's in that context he says, as a matter of fact, if you're not careful, you're gonna lose all the next things. You're gonna lose the joy of the Lord. You're gonna start living in tension. You're going to be have all these these pure instead, he says, always then be full of joy in the Lord. And I say it again, rejoice. Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember the Lord is coming soon. You and I had a conversation just recently about the importance of no matter what's coming from the other person, if you're right on the inside, you can still choose to be a lady. You can still choose to be a gentleman. Yeah, that's right, you can still choose to the exterior. Outputs tend to drive. They put pressure on you, and what's on the inside gets squeezed out like a just like a tube of toothpaste. So if you're not right on the inside, and the pressure comes from the outside, you're gonna go back all over them. But if you decide I'm going to be a lady or I'm gonna be a gentleman, I'm going to it doesn't matter what kind of pressure comes from the outside. I'm going to do the right thing, he says. You know, let everyone see that you're considerate and all you do. Well, you have to be considerate before the problem comes. You have to decide you're going to be that kind of person before the pressure comes on. And remember the Lord's coming soon. Says. Hey, by the way, you're going to give an account. Yeah, so it's not like, oh, well, you know, I just have a temper. Yeah, he says. So make sure your reputation is that on the inside you're a considerate person, and then when the pressure's on, you are considerate, because there's going to be a day when God's not going to let you just get by on the idea that well, I'm just a hot headed person. Well, you know what's so funny is when I when I came to you for advice for that somebody had contacted me and I had a choice on how to respond and uh and uh And you said, well, I would respond, you know, like a gentleman, right because of these reasons. And I thought that was really good advice. And then what I ended up doing because I decided to go that way, and I was like, okay, because I wasn't gonna I was never gonna be rude. I was just gonna, you know, should I or should I not be nice? Right? And uh, you know, for different reasons, you know, just a big long history of reasons. Right. Well, pain, there's pain between Yodia and Sentaichi. Yeah, that's right, good pan and good people. So anyway, so I decided to respond in the gentleman way. And then I showed somebody really close to the situation and they said, man, you were overly gentlemen like you just you were just like flowery and nice and you just went online. And because I decided to go that way, I couldn't help myself. I was like, if I'm to be a gentleman, I'm gonna be a gentleman all the way through, you know. And so anyway, so I did. And so you're not being fake, you're just deciding, you know what the exterior, the exterior pressures aren't going to cause me to misbehave. I'm gonna do the right thing, going to be kind, and that now is going to be the as long as you weren't being fake. That's the reputation, is that you're choosing to be a person who's considerate and all you do. You know, the Bible says to rejoice with those who rejoice, and in that moment, somebody was rejoicing about a thing, So it's okay, rejoice with them back, all right, And so then he says, it's in those contexts then pressure in relationships between good people. These aren't like good a good person a bad person. These are good people, useful to the Lord and useful in ministry. And he says, so be full of joy, be people that are considerate, use good manners. And then he says, don't worry about anything. It's in that context. Don't worry about anything, pray about everything. So even in your situation like that, man, I didn't mean to unpack because I wasn't exposing that we were talking about a situation with you. I was just saying we talked about a situation, yeah, but you brought up so in that situation, then even when you were feeling, hey, tension between good people. You could be a good person to him. Yep, and then in those parts that were hard, you could take it to God. Yeah, right, and go. I still turns out I still have some wounds you mentioned, dude, these wounds are bigger than I thought they were. And so he says in that don't worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything, tell God what you need, and thank him for all he's done, and then you'll experience then. So after you've told him everything and thanked him for what he's already done, then you'll experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. So there's a qualification if then yep, then you'll experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. It doesn't make sense. I don't know why it makes sense, but I do know when I choose to be a gentleman, when I choose to be considerate, when I choose to be kind, and then i'm still frustrated, I go to God. I don't know why that peace comes, but it just does. You know what, This is a direct application to that situation, because I actually do feel a tremendous amount of peace in my response, and I really do. Yeah, And it was just it was like about all the tension you had before. Yeah, yeah, yea, yeah, it was it was a lot of anxiety. Yeah, it was anxiety. And that's you I mentioned yesterday. Remember we talked about peace yesterday and I said, I said, the body is a funny thing, isn't that. You know, stress can get you, anxiety can get you. And I'm just reminded of that because you know, sometimes you just you get bombarded and you're like, I'm not sure why I'm feeling this way, And all of a sudden, I had all sorts of weird thoughts, right, impractical things would even come into my brain and I'm like, I'm like, why am I even what is happening? Well, everything in you, every instinct we have is punish that person, reprosecute this issue one more time. I don't think you heard me clearly last time. Yep, right there, everything is, there's all this tension, all this and then when you go I am going to be considerate two good people. I'm going to be considerate. I'm going to be a gentleman. God. I don't really like how I feel. I don't know why I just got to trust you, and I'm gonna pray about everything and tell you what I need. And I am thankful how far you brought me and the circumstances of my life today and all the things you've done in my life have been good for me. Thank you. And then you get this you experience, he says, little you experience, this piece that goes beyond comprehension doesn't make sense. And it doesn't because my instincts tell me I'll be happier when I reprosecute and I accuse again, and I just am a jerk. And instead it says His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. It turns out when we choose to live like Jesus, everything is better. Everything is better, even though everything in us is screaming. You'll be happy when you scream at him, or you'll be happy when you embarrass him. Instead, when you go Jesus away, it literally says his peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. Did I ever tell you that one of the most powerful messages I've ever heard in my entire life had one sentence was one truth that was it, and the truth was would you rather make a point or make a difference? And it's just and it's the idea that, like, when it comes to strained relationships, all we really want to do is to say, you know, you know. And by the way, I talk about this often and celebrate recovery because you know, when it comes to making amends with people, and sometimes even in on divorce, you know, it's like, oh, it's like I would be okay if that person just acknowledged what they did wrong. They don't even realize what they did wrong, and I'd be okay as long as they just knew what they did wrong. But you know, we all know that forgiveness is for us enough for them and and everything else. But it's like it's the idea of like wanting to make a point, right, That's what you're talking about. It's wanting to make your point whatever it is like them to see, you know, like this the prosecution, or it's a reminding, or it's to send a message, or it's making a point, would you rather make a point or make a difference? Right, And in this case, difference of peace, difference of goodwill, difference of reputation, difference of you know, future interactions, the difference of I mean all good things, right, yeah, just like Olaf and Frozen, all good things, all good things. Everything reminds me of a movie quote. So then he goes and he so, now, dear brothers, after he's talked about how to have God's peace, which is the promise that we're reading today and we're talking about that's just God's peace. So if you pray about everything and tell guy what you need, and your grateful gratefulness opened so many doors in our lives with God, then you'll experience his peace and he'll guard your minds and your hearts. That's the promise. But then he goes and now, dear brothers, after this, so it's he's still thinking same way. One final thing, here's fix your thoughts. Remember yesterday we talked about it. It would have been great to fix y'all's thoughts on that big, old true idea. Would have been perfect for me. But he says, now, one final thing. So along those same lines, what he's saying is, I think you're thinking about the wrong stuff, right. You should be praying about it, you should be trusting God on it. You should be grateful for what God has done for you. You should be a gentleman. You should care more about the relationship than you care about being right. And he goes, but I think you're thinking wrong. So fix your thoughts on what's true and what's honorable. And what he's not saying is what you think is true. What we know is God's word is true. Jesus said those words. God's word is truth. So fix your words, or fix your thoughts on what is true God's word and honorable and right and pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me, everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of Peace will be with you. So when you change your mind and you change the direction of your thoughts. I can't tell you how many times I would be mad about something this whole summer. I was frustrated with that process. I was trying to work peace over in another nation, and I was frustrated with the whole process. I would get mad because this guy was I felt like. It turns out I don't think he was. I think it was just a difference in style, but I felt like he's being a jerk for a long time, and I would just be So I'd have spent an hour or two in my office in my home, and then I'd come out and like this, and I just realized, I'm obsessing. You know what I should have said. You know, I'm gonna go back. I'm gonna go back type this. I'm going to go back and write. I was building these arguments because it's all I was thinking about. And then I would realize, ooh, I remember this verse, and I God, I gotta give this to you again. You got to sort this out. You got to do what I can't do, and then you got to change me. I don't want to be this guy. And for me, cooking is a good thing because I follow recipes. I'm not just an inventor, so following the recipe, which then means it pulls me out of my normal world and a lot of precision and all this stuff. So I would go out in the kitchen, start chopping something, start whatever, you know, get get the grill going or and at the same time, you know, we'd have Alexa play and I'd turn on some worship music and they say, you know, I'm in there just singing at the top of my lungs in the kitchen. Nobody's in the house, and I've gone to something that's worthy of praise. I've gone to something that's good and noble, something that's beneficial. And you know, and you have chopped onion shop. Yeah, yeah, and cooking is is is. It's a neutral thing, but it's a good thing. It's a noble thing. And so it's not like just think about spiritual things all the time. It's go do something good. That's what he said. Just go hit your mind off of all this junk and just go do something meaningful and good, that's useful and beneficial. And then you know, I would add in some praise music or something, and it's amazing how in twenty minutes everything changes. So I'm gonna do something that I've never done before on the bibble, guys, I'm going to talk directly to my wife, because I'm not sure that i've Liz. I Liz. I'm not sure I've ever said this to her. Maybe I have, But when I think of this passage that we just read, every time I think of her. And part of the reason why is because she would quote it often, true and honorable and right. When I started dating Liz, she was sixteen, I was fourteen, right, and she was the first one to quote this passage to me, and she said how much she loved it. And so anyway, just in good fashion, I decided to bring up the King James version, which is how I memorized it. But it says, finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just? Whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely? I like that word. Whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things, those things which you have both learned and received and heard and seen in me, do and the God of Peace shall be with you. So that's really cool. Great, yeah, And so again, just translated slightly different, this says admirable. It does say lovely, honorable, right, excellent, worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all that you've learned and received from me, everything you've heard from me and saw me doing. And then it says, and then the God of Peace will be with you. And then interesting, So they start out talking about, hey, get this quarrel right, get them to you know, get them to work it out amongst themselves. It's causing disunity in the church, you think, right, you know, here, think on these things and then sort of the conclusion of the whole matter is and then and the God of peace will be with you. Right, Yeah, that's cool. Yeah, well, you know, I was just thinking and I want to say thank you because you know our longtime listeners. No, we don't rehearse this, and we don't even come in with show notes for ourselves. That's right, right, We didn't prepare and so when we open this up we started talking, you kind of well I mentioned it, but then you kind of unpacked it a little bit, and you're really vulnerable. And there's something about that when we choose to be vulnerable and open, we can help other people see maybe a path forward, because when they're in the middle of it, it's really difficult to see. When you can see somebody else navigate through it, you know, God's not going to waste our hurts. He'll use our hurts if we're willing to let a muse him to show other people the path that he brings us to peace. So good job that yeah, hey, well that is definitely our time, so hopefully we will see you tomorrow on the Bible Gush