A Loving Exhortation to Stand Firm (Phil. 4:1)

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A Loving Exhortation to Stand Firm (Phil. 4:1)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on October 15, 2023

Chuck Swindoll writes:

The neighborhood bar is possibly the best counterfeit there is to the fellowship Christ wants to give his church. It’s an imitation, dispensing liquor instead of grace, escape rather than reality, but it is a permissive, accepting, and inclusive fellowship. It is unshockable. It is democratic. You can tell people secrets and they usually don’t tell others or even want to. The bar flourishes not because most people are alcoholics, but because God has put into the human heart the desire to know and be known, to love and be loved, and so many seek a counterfeit at the price of a few beers.

With all my heart I believe that Christ wants his church to be unshockable, democratic, permissive—a fellowship where people can come in and say, “I’m sunk!” “I’m beat!” “I’ve had it!” Alcoholics Anonymous has this quality. Our churches too often miss it.[1]

As we look at today’s passage in Philippians we see Paul’s love for the church. It reminds me of the story behind the hymn: “Blest Be the Tie that Binds.”

BLEST BE THE TIE THAT BINDS

John Fawcett, 1740–1817

Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. (1 John 2:10)

“We just cannot break the ties of affection that bind us to you dear friends.” As Mary Fawcett assured the little congregation at Wainsgate, England, of the bond of love that she and her husband felt for their poor peasant parishioners, Pastor John decided to express his feelings in a poem about the value of Christian fellowship.

The following Sunday, John Fawcett preached from Luke 12:15: “A man’s life consists not in the abundance of the things he possesses.” He closed his sermon by reading his new poem, “Brotherly Love.”

At the age of 26, John Fawcett and his new bride, Mary, began their ministry at an impoverished Baptist church in Wainsgate. After seven years of devoted service in meager circumstances, they received a call to the large and influential Carter’s Lane Baptist Church in London. After the wagons were loaded for the move, the Fawcetts met their tearful parishioners for a final farewell. “John, I cannot bear to leave. I know not how to go!” “Nor can I either,” said the saddened pastor. “We shall remain here with our people.” The order was then given to unload the wagons.

John and Mary Fawcett carried on their faithful ministry in the little village of Wainsgate for a total of 54 years. Their salary was estimated to be never more than the equivalent of $200.00 a year, despite Fawcett’s growing reputation as an outstanding evangelical preacher, scholar, and writer. Among his noted writings was an essay, “Anger,” which became a particular favorite of King George III. It is reported that the monarch promised Pastor Fawcett any benefit that could be conferred. But the offer was declined with this statement: “I have lived among my own people, enjoying their love; God has blessed my labors among them, and I need nothing which even a king could supply.” Such was the man who gave us these loving words:

Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love! The fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above.

Before our Father’s throne we pour our ardent prayers; our fears, our hopes, our aims are one, our comforts and our cares.

We share our mutual woes, our mutual burdens bear; and often for each other flows the sympathizing tear.

When we asunder part it gives us inward pain; but we shall still be joined in heart, and hope to meet again.

Appreciate anew your Christian friends and fellow church members. Seek to show, as John Fawcett did, a loving concern for the needs of others.[2]

My theme today is:

A Loving Exhortation to Stand Firm (Phil. 4:1)

  1. Let’s begin with the context:
    1. In Philippians 1:1-11, Paul greets them and prays for the Philippians.
    2. In Philippians 1:12-18, Paul writes that his imprisonment has meant progress for the gospel.
    3. In Philippians 1:19-26, Paul writes about how he will live for Christ.
    4. In Philippians 1:27-30, Paul encourages them to walk worthy of the gospel.
    5. In Philippians 2, Paul wrote about unity and self-sacrificial behavior.
    6. In Philippians 3:1, Paul exhorted them to rejoice in the Lord.
    7. In Philippians 3:2-11, Paul warned them about people trusting in their righteousness. They were trusting in the Old Testament law.
    8. In Philippians 3:12-21, Paul wrote about progress in the gospel through Christ and not through the Law.
    9. That brings us to today.
  2. Paul’s love for the Philippians (Phil. 4:1).
    1. Philippians 4:1 (ESV)
    2. Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.
    3. This verse begins with an inference translated as “therefore” or “so then.”
    4. He is making an inference based on the previous verses.
    5. In the previous verses, he was writing about progress in the gospel through Christ.
    6. Given that he was writing about progress, now he writes about standing firm.
    7. This is mainly related to Philippians 3:15-16 regarding progress in the gospel because Philippians 3:18-21 is a concluding thought.
    8. Then, in the next few verses, he will get very practical about unity.
    9. Notice he calls them “brothers” or “brothers and sisters.” He is using familial language.
    10. This is also communal language. He is addressing the church. This makes sense when we see the exhortation to unity in the next few verses.
    11. Paul says that he loves them.
    12. Paul then says that he “longs” for them.
    13. He loves them. He longs for them.
    14. He is saying, “I love you Philippians.”
    15. In Phil. 1:8, he writes something similar.
    16. Paul emphasizes that his Christian brothers and sisters are “beloved” by repeating the word “beloved” twice in the same sentence. A major theme in Paul’s letters is how God demonstrates divine love for all believers in Christ. But here Paul is expressing his own all-inclusive, unconditional love for his brothers and sisters. Paul repeatedly tells his friends, “I love you. I really love you.” Not only does he love his family at a distance, but because of the distance they are longed for. This is the only time that this term occurs in the NT. “Its rarity perhaps adds intensity to the emotion of ‘homesick tenderness,’ especially to the pain of separation that Paul feels and expresses here.”[3]
    17. Remember, he is in a Roman prison. He is away from them.
    18. Paul calls them “his joy” and “his crown.”
    19. He also calls them, “his crown.”
    20. He is using a lot of modifiers to describe them. Fee: This profusion of modifiers reminds them once again of his deep feelings for them and his deep concern for their present and future.[4]
    21. How are they his crown?
    22. Could it be that they are his crown because they are evidence of God’s ministry through Paul?
    23. The Philippians’ spiritual success would be Paul’s “crowning achievement” (cf. 1 Thess. 2:19–20), and their perseverance and final salvation will bring him great joy (cf. Phil. 2:17).[5]
    24. The combination of joy and crown, my joy and crown, indicates that “Paul envisions a grand celebration, perhaps like that at the end of the Olympic games, where the victors are given their wreaths and there is much rejoicing.”[6]
    25. Since Paul refers to his friends in Thessalonica as “the crown in which we will glory in the presence of the Lord Jesus when he comes” (1 Thess 2:19), he may have the time of the Lord’s return in mind when he refers to his the Philippian friends as his joy and crown. [7]
  3. Stand firm in the Lord.
    1. He now exhorts them to “stand firm.
    2. Why?
    3. He is making the application from the previous chapter about persevering in the Christian life.
    4. He is building on what he has written.
    5. He is about to get very practical about unity (Phil. 4:2-3), anxiety, prayer, and living on less (Phil. 4:4-13). This means they must remember to “stand firm.”
    6. Stand firm recalls Roman soldiers who never retreated for fear of being killed while under assault.[8]
    7. How do we stand firm?
    8. We must stand firm “in the Lord.”
    9. We must stand firm in dependence on the Lord.
    10. We must stand firm in submission to the Lord.
    11. We must stand firm in the pattern of the Lord.
    12. Again, this means living the Jesus way. This means persevering in the faith.
    13. This means living Phil. 3:14-16.
    14. Philippians 3:14:
    15. 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 
    16. Hold true to the gospel.
    17. Hold true the idea that we are not saved by works, not saved by the law, not saved by being moral, but saved by the grace of Jesus (Eph. 2:8-9).
    18. We must live the Jesus way of Phil. 2:3-4, 14-15, etc.
  4. Applications:
    1. Paul calls them “brothers and sisters.” Paul writes, “whom I love.”
    2. Can we talk to other Christians as those we love?
    3. Can we address each other as those whom we love?
    4. Do we love each other?
    5. Are we a family with other Christians?
    6. Are we loving people?
    7. Paul says that he longs for them. Do we long for each other?
    8. Do we find joy in other people? Do we find joy in our Christian brothers and sisters? Paul called them “his joy.”
    9. Do we stand firm in the faith? Do we stand firm in the Lord?
    10. Can we hold true to Christ’s teaching?
    11. Can we hold true to the gospel?
    12. Can we hold true to the Christian way of not grumbling or complaining (Phil. 2:14-15)?
    13. Can we hold true to considering others more important than ourselves (Phil. 2:3)?
    14. Can we hold true to look out for the needs of others (Phil. 2:4)?
    15. Can we stand firm in unity (Phil. 4:2-3)?
    16. Can we stand firm?

IN ORDER for God to bring out the best in His children, He brings about scenarios in our lives to build strength and character.

When building our physical bodies, development takes on the form of pumping weights, running on a treadmill, and participating in activities that require tennis shoes. Workouts involve some sweat, heavy breathing, and perspiration because something is being developed. God allows trials and adversity to put us in gymnasium situations. Just like the Father did with His Son Jesus, He creates a workout scenario that includes a difficulty that we must work through.

A lady came to work out at the gym. Everything about what she had on said she was going to go for a killer workout. She wore the typical attire, the headband around her head, wristbands around her wrists, and had a water bottle on her side. She stepped into a clear area and bent down to touch her toes in order to stretch. This woman looked very serious about working out. She grabbed some dumbbells, walked over to a bench, and sat down. Lifting the weights, she did a couple of bicep curls, put the weights down, and wiped herself off with a towel. In an exasperated voice she said, “Whoof! That’s enough for today!” This lady looked the part but she had not truly come to the gym for a workout.

Many Christians come to church every Sunday looking like they are ready for a workout. We wear the right clothes, sing the right songs, and talk the right talk, but building real strength requires real effort and a little sweat.

God figures that we will not voluntarily go to a spiritual gym so He brings the gym to us. Adverse circumstances, cross-bearing situations, difficult scenarios, and problematic encounters all serve as opportunities for Christian growth.[9]

[1] Charles R. Swindoll, The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart and 1501 Other Stories (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2016), 92.

[2] Kenneth W. Osbeck, Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1996), 66.

[3] G. Walter Hansen, The Letter to the Philippians, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Nottingham, England: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2009), 279–280.

[4] Gordon D. Fee, Philippians, vol. 11, The IVP New Testament Commentary Series (Westmont, IL: IVP Academic, 1999), 167.

[5] Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 2286.

[6] G. Walter Hansen, The Letter to the Philippians, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Nottingham, England: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2009), 280.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Richard R. Melick Jr., “Philippians,” in CSB Study Bible: Notes, ed. Edwin A. Blum and Trevin Wax (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 1888.

[9] Tony Evans, Tony Evans’ Book of Illustrations: Stories, Quotes, and Anecdotes from More than 30 Years of Preaching and Public Speaking (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2009), 14–15.

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