How to Have Stability in Life.
Sermon Notes
I have a couple quick reminders before we get into today’s message, and the 1st reminder is that me and my wife are starting an 11 wk Real Marriages study that had a major impact on our marriage several years ago. It’s a very real, raw, practical study that can help strengthen healthy marriages, it can help rebuild struggling marriages, and it can help build a solid foundation for anyone considering marriage. We’re starting it January 15th, but we’re asking for signups now so we can order enough study guides for each couple. So if you want more info, come see us at the guest services tent after the service, or you can email me at Louis@cityawakening.org...The 2nd reminder is next Sunday’s Christmas Eve, and we won’t be having our normal Sunday morning 10:30 service. Instead we’ll be having a special Christmas Eve Candlelight service Sunday night at 5:00, and on your seats are some invite cards. We want you to take a picture of those cards, share it on social media, text some friends, or just invite them in person. My family made some Christmas potpourri jars, we’ve attached invite cards to them, and we’re giving them to several of our neighbors that we’ve been building relationships with. We’re doing this because we know it’s invitations that leads to transformations. We know those invitations are more than just print on paper, they’re invitations for people to meet our Savior. So let’s invite as many people as we can to our Christmas Eve Candlelight service, and let’s pray for those we invite.
Now as for today we’re continuing our teaching series called The Prince of Peace. It’s a 4 week Christmas series where we’re exploring the question “How can Jesus give us the gift of peace?” The Christmas season is all about the incarnate birth of Jesus, and how he’s the Prince of Peace who came to give us the gift of eternal peace in heaven with him. Isaiah 9:6 states, “A child will be born for us, a son will be given...He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.” The prophet Isaiah was pointing to the incarnate birth of Jesus 700 years before Jesus was born, and he calls Jesus the Prince of Peace. He’s the Prince of Peace who came to give us the gift of peace, and everybody wants peace in life. Both skeptics and believers want peace in life, but the reality is we face things every day that threaten to rob our peace. Our daily lives are very unstable, we’re far too easily robbed of peace. So today we’re talking about how to have stability in life, so we can have peace in life. Let’s turn to Philippians 4 and get into it. You can find Philippians in the last quarter of the bible, and we’ll be in Philippians 4:1-13. Title of today’s message is How To Have Stability In Life. The big idea is that life is unstable, but there’s stability in our Savior...Life is unstable, but there’s stability in our Savior.
Here’s your context. Philippians was written by the Apostle Paul who at one point was an enemy and skeptic of Christianity. But then he meets Jesus, his entire life changes, he becomes a Christian, and eventually dies for his faith in Jesus. In fact he’s writing this letter while sitting in a Roman prison for his faith in Jesus, and he’s writing about joy. He’s literally sitting in prison facing the death penalty for his faith in Jesus, and he says in ch 4 he’s learned the secret to being content. He’s learned the secret to being at peace, in every situation. Let’s see what that secret is.
Philippians 4:1-13 states, “In this manner, stand firm in the Lord, dear friends.” Paul says in this manner, meaning he’s about to teach us how to do this. He’s about to teach us how to stand firm in the Lord, how to have peace and stability in every situation in life. It’s something we all need to learn, because we’re living in a world where there’s very little peace and stability. I mean most of us want peace and stability in 3 major areas of our lives, it’s our wealth, health, and family. Most of us would be content with life, if we had peace and stability in our wealth, health, and family. But you can’t find peace and stability in wealth, which you learn whenever there’s a decline in the stock market, the housing market, and inflation...You can’t find peace and stability in health, which you learn whenever there’s a decline in your health or a pandemic like Covid...You can’t find peace and stability in marriage and family, which you learn whenever there’s fights in your marriage and family...Those are 3 major areas we’re wanting peace and stability in our lives, it’s our wealth, health, and family. But all those things are very fragile and unstable, so we need to have peace and stability in something that can transcend those things, or else we’ll never have peace and stability in life. We need to have something that can give us greater peace and stability, because we’re living in a world that’s very fragile and unstable.
See our lives are a lot like an airplane that sometimes experiences turbulence. Sometimes we’re flying through life, and everything’s smooth. But sometimes we’re flying through life, and we experience turbulence. What we need, what an airplane needs to make it through turbulence, is stabilizers. Every airplane has stabilizers to counteract the turbulence in the air, and the same is true with a larger ship like a cruise ship. The reason a cruise ship feels mostly stable when you cruise around the sea, is because it has stabilizers to counteract the waves. When you’re on an airplane or cruise ship you sometimes feel the stabilizers working to adjust and stabilize things when there’s turbulence. What about you, what are the stabilizers in life?...When you’re going through turbulence, what are the stabilizers you have to counteract the turbulence?...You need stabilizers to counteract the turbulence in life, and you need stronger stabilizers than wealth, health, and family. Those things are good, but they’re fragile and unstable. So you need stronger stabilizers than those things, and Paul’s about to teach us 3 strong stabilizers for every situation. It’s 3 strong stabilizers, that’s helped him have peace and stability, regardless of the turbulence.
Again vs. 1, “In this manner, stand firm in the Lord, dear friends...4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your graciousness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. 6 Don’t worry about anything...” You know what that is?...It’s peace...To not have to worry about anything, is complete and total peace...This isn’t the kind of peace you get when you’re on vacation and you finally get to shut everything down. That kind of peace is good, but it’s fragile and unstable, because it only lasts as long as the vacation lasts. The kind of peace that Paul’s talking about here is a much stronger peace that’s allowing him to not worry about any situation in life, including facing the death penalty! I mean he isn’t writing this while he’s on vacation, enjoying an umbrella drink, and singing Bob Markey’s don’t worry song. Instead he’s writing this while sitting in a Roman prison facing the death penalty. He’s writing this as a man who’s faced a lot of turbulence for his faith in Jesus. He says in 2nd Corinthians 11, “I have suffered far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings and often near death. 24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews forty lashes. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked, spent the night and day in the open sea...27 In toil and hardship, through many sleepless nights, I was in hunger and thirsty. I was often without food, cold, and without clothing.” He’s faced a lot of turbulence in life, yet here he is in Philippians 4 saying don’t worry about anything. The reason he’s able to say that, is because his stabilizers are stronger than the turbulence...His stabilizers are stronger than the turbulence...
Again vs. 6, “Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” This is the 1st stabilizer. Paul’s teaching us the 1st stabilizer is to pray with thanksgiving...When you’re experiencing turbulence in life, the 1st stabilizer is to pray with thanksgiving. This is a very specific way to pray. There are all kinds of ways to pray, but this is a very specific way to pray that can give us peace. He says it’s to pray with thanksgiving. This is important because a lot of times when we pray we ask God for things and only thank God after we get what we want. But Paul’s saying we need to pray with thanksgiving AS we’re making our requests to God. He’s saying we need to be like “God here’s the situation I’m in and here’s my request. This is what I think is best for me in this situation, but I want to thank you in advance for whatever you decide to do. If you don’t do what I’m asking it’ll be hard to accept, it’ll be hard to understand why. But I want to thank you anyways, because I trust you know what’s best for my life.” This kind of prayer preps our hearts to be at peace with whatever decision God makes for our lives, because we trust he’ll always do what’s best for our lives. We trust God’s wisdom is far greater than ours, so he’ll always make the best decisions for us.
Listen if you believe God exists, then you should also believe God is infinitely greater in wisdom than you. But sometimes we act like a 4 yr old who thinks they know better than their parents, and a 4 yr old’s wisdom isn’t even close to their parent’s wisdom. They can’t understand why they can’t do whatever they want and eat whatever they want. They can’t understand why they can’t run in the street and eat the gum on the bottom of their shoe. They can’t understand those things, because they’re 4 and don’t have the wisdom of their parents. There’s a massive gap in the wisdom of a 4 yr old compared to their parents, and there’s an even infinitely greater gap in the wisdom we have compared to God. When God says no to something we asked for it isn’t to harm us, it’s because he knows it isn’t what’s best for us, even if we can’t understand it with our 4 yr old mindset. God always gives us exactly what we should’ve asked for, if we knew everything he knew...God always gives us exactly what we should’ve asked for, and would’ve asked for, if we knew everything he knew...The more you trust God’s wisdom in the decisions he makes for your life, the more thankful and at peace you’ll be in life. But the more you trust your wisdom over God’s wisdom, the more upset you’ll be in life and tantrum like a 4 yr old when you don’t get your way in life. Paul’s saying God knows so much more than we do, so we need to trust his wisdom and thank him for whatever decisions he makes for our lives. We’ll never be at peace in life, if we can’t trust God with our life. We need to pray with thanksgiving.
Again vs. 6, “Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. 8 Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any moral excellence, if there is anything praiseworthy, dwell on these things.” This is the 2nd stabilizer. The 2nd stabilizer is to think eternally... When you’re experiencing turbulence in life your 1st stabilizer is to pray with thanksgiving, and your 2nd stabilizer is to think eternally...Paul says we need to dwell on these things, and the Greek word for dwell means to think. He’s saying we need to dwell, think, ponder over things that are true and praiseworthy. We need to think eternally about the turbulence we’re facing so we’ll remember it’s only temporary. We need to remember this world isn’t our home, it’s temporary, which means the turbulence is temporary. Our 1st stabilizer praying with thanksgiving helps us focus on trusting God, so we’ll start thinking eternally again. It helps us start thinking and viewing our turbulence through the lens of eternity. Paul’s so at peace in life because he’s focusing more on the eternal than the temporal. He’s focusing more on the eternal, than the turbulence.
Now this isn’t the same advice our culture gives when people say “You need to think happy thoughts. You just need to train your mind to think happy thoughts. You need to think Hakuna Matata...” There are certain counseling situations where that’s helpful, but in most cases it isn’t helpful because it’s refusing to face reality. It’s avoiding your problems, instead of facing your problems, and we do this all the time! We try distracting ourselves by going out to eat with some friends, having a few drinks, going to the gym, scrolling through social media, or by binge watching something on Netflix so we don’t have to think and face the reality of our problems. But you’ll never have peace that way, because eventually the distractions will end and all the problems you’ve been avoiding will still be there. The kind of peace Paul’s talking about isn’t about avoiding reality, it’s about facing reality, and trusting God will help you make it through your reality. Christian peace isn’t about avoiding your problems, it’s about thinking eternally about your problems, and dwelling on the stability you have in God. We need to think eternally.
Again vs. 8, “Whatever is true...if there is anything praiseworthy, dwell on these things. 9 Do what you have learned, received, heard from me, and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.” This is the 3rd stabilizer. The 3rd stabilizer is to love Jesus fully...When you’re experiencing turbulence in life your 1st stabilizer is to pray with thanksgiving, your 2nd stabilizer is to think eternally, and your 3rd stabilizer is to love Jesus fully...If you notice Paul doesn’t say the peace of God will be with you, he says the God of peace will be with you. It’s because you can’t have the peace of God, without the God of peace. You can’t have the peace of God, if you don’t have a relationship with the God of peace. Who’s the God of peace? It’s Jesus...Remember Isaiah 9:6 says Jesus is the Prince of Peace...So Paul’s saying if you want to have the peace of God, then you need to have a relationship with the God of peace, the Prince of Peace, which is Jesus. You need to love Jesus fully, more than anything else in life, and that’s the secret to being content in every situation in life. That’s the secret to being at peace regardless of the turbulence.
But if you start loving other things more than him, that’s when you’ll lose your peace. If you start loving anything more than him, you’ll start living for those things, building your life around those things, making those things your stabilizers instead of him. You’ll make wealth your stabilizer, health your stabilizer, family your stabilizer, and when turbulence hits those things, you’ll lose your peace because they aren’t strong stabilizers. The secret to having peace and stability in life is to have Jesus as your greatest stabilizer. You’ll still face turbulence in life, but that turbulence won’t crush your life with Jesus as your greatest stabilizer. The point is if you define your peace in something other than the stability of Jesus, your peace will be like a house built on sand instead of solid rock. You’ll have all kinds of cave-ins that’ll keep robbing you of peace, and you’ll never be at peace. You’ll constantly worry about your mini sandcastle kingdom getting washed away by the waves. But if you’ve ever seen waves hitting rocks on a seashore, you know the rocks don’t budge. It doesn’t matter how vicious the waves are, the rocks don’t budge. Paul’s life is evidence that we can always turn to Jesus, to find peace and stability that’s solid as a rock. He’s been hit with wave, after wave, after wave throughout his life. He’s been beaten, flogged, stoned, without food or water, sitting in a prison while facing the death penalty. It’s been wave, after wave, after wave, but he’s still standing. still not broken, still at peace in life. It’s because he has the God of peace, the Prince of Peace, as his greatest stabilizer in life.
Vs. 12, “I know how to make do with little, and I know how to make do with a lot. In any and all circumstances, I’ve learned the secret of being content, whether well fed or hungry, in abundance or in need. 13 I am able to do all things through him who strengthens me.” He says the secret to being content, to being at peace in every situation in life, is to find strength and stability through him, meaning through Jesus. It’s to realize with Jesus in your life, you have everything you’ll ever need to make it through any turbulence in life. It’s the old saying Jesus + Nothing = Everything. With Jesus in your life, you have everything you’ll ever need to make it through any turbulence in life. Paul says he learned this secret, which means it’s something we can learn too. It’s something we learn as we go through some turbulence. It’s something we learn as we 1st pray thankfully, 2nd think eternally, and 3rd love Jesus fully, as your greatest stabilizer.
The big idea of the message is that life is unstable, but there’s stability in our Savior... Life is unstable, but there’s stability in our Savior...I know some of you are going through some turbulence right now, and it might feel like Jesus doesn’t care. But the entire Christmas message is about the incarnate birth of Jesus coming to die for your sins on the cross, so you can enjoy an eternal relationship in heaven with him. If Jesus didn’t care about you, he wouldn’t have died for you. But he died for you, because he cares about you. He’s the Prince of Peace can give you a much stronger peace and stability than anything else you’re trying to find peace and stability in. Our world is a temporary place with temporary turbulence, and Jesus is our greatest stabilizer. The same Jesus who cared enough to give peace and stability to Paul’s life back then, is the same Jesus who cares enough to give peace and stability to our lives today. The same Jesus who cared enough to die on the cross for our sinful lives back then, is the same Jesus who cares enough to restore our turbulent lives today. The more you trust Jesus with your life, the more peace and stability you’ll have in life. So keep trusting Jesus with your life, and when there’s turbulence, pray with thanksgiving, think eternally, love Jesus fully as your greatest stabilizer...Let’s pray...