Scripture:
Philippians 4:4-6
Rejoice
in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit
be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in
everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be
made known to God.
Insights: Verse four and six are taken out of
context more than most verses in the Bible.
We sing songs about rejoicing in the Lord straight from this verse and
there is nothing theologically wrong with rejoicing in the Lord. We also pray about all kinds of situations
and tell others we ought not to worry but to present our requests to God. Again, there is nothing wrong theologically
with that statement. The reason I am
overstating these concepts is because when we read the Bible, we need to do so
in the context of the passage. We can’t
just take verses out of there context and make them apply to whatever whim or
fancy we have. Verse four through six
come right after the verses we looked at yesterday regarding the conflict in
the church of Philippi. Paul told these
Believers to rejoice in the Lord always.
In other words, even in the midst of conflict. Verse five gives us the answer as to why Paul
would have told these Believers such a truth.
The answer is because the way we handle conflict can be evangelistic in
nature. As we learned yesterday,
conflict and disagreements are going
to happen in the church. We, however, do
not deal with our conflicts in the same way the lost world does. This past week we saw the deplorably tragic
murdering of elementary school children and that picture is the way the lost
world deals with conflict. All one has
to do is turn on the news and every other story is about some kind of
violence. Yet, Paul told these Believers
to let their gentle spirit be known to ALL men.
Here is what ought to happen: The lost world is going to know about the
churches struggles and difficulties because people talk. It is just human nature and lost people are
going to find out when there is a problem.
If the Believers are, by God’s grace, able to reconcile and be brought
back to that harmonious relationship with which Paul wrote about in verse one
through three, then the lost world says, “Hey, I need whatever it is they
have! Because my fights don’t end up
like that.” Our conflicts and
disagreements become evangelistic if we will surrender ourselves to Jesus. If we do, then we have reason to rejoice!
Questions:
- Are you able to rejoice in the Lord during times of
conflict?
- Are you displaying the gentle spirit of the Lord in
your life during the conflict?
Prayer: Father, the
lost world is watching Your children.
May we display that gentle spirit and proclaim the gospel of Jesus to
those who are observing the way we handle our disputes. Amen.
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