IN THE PURSUIT OF PEACE - II

Philippians 4:5
Bob Bonner
September 21, 2008

During the past two months, I have had the opportunity to attend services at two different churches, one on the east coast and one in Southern California. (I was not candidating or looking for a job. I was on vacation.) Both are good churches, founded upon the Word of God, filled with good-intentioned, good-willed Christians, who would tell you that to them the Gospel of Jesus Christ is paramount. However, in both churches I was made aware of conflicts among the Christians within. In one, the conflicts were severe. In the other, they were not life threatening, but if not resolved, could lead to serious negative consequences as to that church’s being effective for the cause of Christ.

From the first century, all churches have been filled with people who, although saved, can still sin against each other and have conflicts. At any point in time, the conflict thermometer will reveal some level of heat within. Sometimes it is intensely hot; at other times it is mild and observable only by those who are in the inner circle. All churches can experience conflict among staff, elders, ministry leaders, between staff and congregational members, between elders and congregational members, and among congregational members. Where sin exists, so does the potential for conflict. And when tensions rise between people, it is not only personally hurtful; it can become distracting to the rest of the church family, preventing the church from moving forward with its calling, the advancement of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

All churches face conflict as do all marriages, even good ones. So how do we successfully resolve personal tensions among Christians in the same church family so that God’s purposes can move forward, rather than backward, with people leaving or the church splitting or closing its doors? The Apostle Paul gives us the answer in our passage of study in Philippians 4. Here Paul shows the key to resolving conflict among those who attend and serve in the same church. He establishes four commands that can be interpreted as steps to pursue for peace among believers.

This morning we want to continue our study of these steps to peace as Paul lays them out in his letter to the Philippian church in Philippians 4:4-9. Interestingly, this letter was written around AD 62, to one of the first established churches in history, a church which had become embroiled in conflict that led to disunity and, in turn, an inability to move forward in the promotion of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. These steps were written by Paul to his dear friends in Philippi who had been caught up in this conflict to show them the way out.

A quick review of the context and what we have studied thus far is always helpful, so let’s begin our review at verse 1. In 4:1, the Apostle Paul is speaking to these good-willed, good-intentioned Christians, telling them what they must do to change their selfish and sinful ways so that the Gospel of Jesus Christ can go forth. He begins with an overarching command in verse 1, and follows with several instructions to show how this command is to be fulfilled in this church where the individual believers had lost sight of what is most important.

The overarching command in verse 1 is to “stand firm in the Lord.” In our previous studies we learned that this meant that they had to deliberately choose to humble themselves before God and each other to remain unified so as to work together for the cause of Christ. Following this appeal, Paul gives a series of imperatives, explaining what is necessary for them as a church family to stand firm. These commands begin with verse 2 and carry through to verse 9. This section of scripture has two major divisions. The first we have already covered in verses 2-3, where Paul exhorts them to focus on restoring the unity that was once theirs. 

Today we find ourselves in the second major division, verses 4-9, part of which we have studied already. It covers the subject of their need to maintain their corporate peace with each other. The obvious connection between Paul’s command to stand firm in the Lord and the command to be at peace with each other is that if there is no tranquility or peace between believers, it is very difficult, if not impossible to work together in a unified manner for the cause of the Gospel.    

Verses 4-9 are made up of two sections themselves. Both contain a promise concerning peace. Each promise is preceded by several commands, with the understanding that if you do these things, the promise is yours to claim. Presently we are looking at the first of these two sections, verses 4-7, and the promise of experiencing the peace of God, not the “peace with God.” I say this because these people are already at peace with God, and the focus here is their peace with each other. 

To experience peace with each other and to put the fires of tension between each other out, Paul gives four progressive commands, four steps to follow to restore peace with another. Each step builds upon the previous command.

Last time, we looked at just the first of these four commands that need to be obeyed if the Philippians are going to move away from the tension and distraction of conflict to the peace and refocusing on their calling to spread the gospel.  That command was, “Rejoice in the Lord, always.” We explained last time that this command to rejoice has nothing to do with feeling happy. This isn’t about any emotion, but rather the ability to make a choice based on a right mindset. And the correct mindset is defined by “in the Lord.” We are to choose to see life through Christ’s mindset: we are to focus on those things that are important to God. These things are God’s character, purposes, and promises and not our personal wishes, interests, or how we think life should be. In a way, this command to “rejoice in the Lord” is a challenge to resubmit yourself to the Lord’s purposes, and in doing so, to praise Him for His purposes and what He is doing in the world.  We are to “rejoice in the Lord always” even when it does not make sense at the moment. Rejoicing in the Lord, focusing on His calling for our lives rather than our hurts, and focusing on what He says is most important tends to take our eyes off the frailties of others.

For the Philippians, the original readers of this letter, what was happening in their midst didn’t make sense to them. They had developed deep personal relationships with one another over a twelve-year period only to find them severely strained. On top of that, one of their spiritual leaders, Epaphroditus, was thought to have died while doing God’s work. And then there was the reality that their beloved leader, the Apostle Paul, was in prison, facing what they believed at the time would be certain execution.

As a result of these things, confusion and doubt reigned. What was God doing? It made no sense.  Doing ministry together for the cause of the Gospel was no fun any more. In fact, doing ministry had somehow gotten lost. And it is at this very point that Paul lovingly slaps them with this command to “rejoice in the Lord.” They needed to refocus on Who is in charge and the fact that His purposes are to be held as most important, not their hurts or their expectation of how their ministry should be going.

Apparently, that was not happening in the church at Philippi. They were living with a great deal of disagreement and division, and it just didn’t feel good. Just as in a marriage where two people are committed to each other, life just doesn’t feel good when there is a serious disagreement. It is tense and uncomfortable when one or both are seeking their own interests. Hence, Paul’s point in these verses is to teach us that at those times when we clash, the way to peace and resolution begins with choosing to pursue the correct God-centered mindset, not one focused on our interests or how we expect a ministry to be run. Then we can get back on the right track.

Having reviewed where we have been, let’s reread the verses in this section, beginning in verse 4 and ending with a promise in verse 7.  We will then pick up our study in verse 5 with the second step, the second command.  Paul writes: 

⁴Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! 

⁵Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is

near. ⁶Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by

prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your

requests be made known to God. ⁷And the peace of God,

which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your

hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 

When Paul says, “Let your gentle spirit be known to all men,” it is not only a charge to the Philippians but is also a subtle warning. First, let’s consider the charge and then the warning. 

It should go without saying that Christians in a local church family are to treat one another with gentleness, even though those around them may be difficult to live with. And one of the reasons we are to do this, according to verse 5, is because others, both saved and unsaved, are watching, and they will be affected one way or another by how we treat those around us. We are going to “be known to all men.” And what others see in how we function together will either discourage or encourage them to draw near to Christ. So, for the sake of the Gospel, we are to approach those with whom we are in conflict with a gentle spirit.

That word “gentle spirit” or “forbearance,” depending upon your translation, is a unique word. It is not the same word for gentleness or forbearance or meekness that we find elsewhere in Scripture like in Ephesians 4:2 or Galatians 6:1. That word for gentleness refers to the approach being one that begins with humility. This Greek word has more than just humility in mind. In fact, this Greek word has a richer meaning than any single English word can convey. From my research, I have compiled the following list of what have been Greek scholars’ best attempts to explain all the connotations this word conveys: gentleness, generosity, goodwill, friendliness, yielding, kindness, patience, magnanimity, charity toward the faults of others, mercy toward the failures of others, indulgence of the failures of others, leniency toward the faults of others, patience enduring injustice without retaliation, bigheartedness, and lack of heavy handedness. This means that it keeps one from insisting on one’s full rights, demanding the pound of flesh from the one who has hurt or wronged them. Where oftentimes rigidity and obstinance in demanding an apology or discipline for someone who has done wrong is the typical fleshly response, gentleness lightens up and is willing to “take one on the chin” to keep the peace for the greater cause of the Gospel. A “gentle spirit” is the quality of sweet reasonableness. 

A “gentle-spirited person” describes one whose focus is not on himself or his rights or the justice due him, but on God’s ultimate purposes. Hence he is not easily knocked off balance by inequity, injustice, unfair treatment, lies, or humiliation that come unexpectedly from those closest to him. He still feels the hurt, but he just doesn’t react negatively to it. He doesn’t respond in a way that makes matters worse by causing further disunity.

Let me give you a true life example of what I mean. A number of years ago a godly man, dear to our family, learned the news that his wife was involved with another man. Our friend and his wife divorced, and she began her new life with her new husband. Years went by.

One evening our friend dropped by his previous home to pick up his young daughter for an evening out together and was met by this adulterer who was now the husband of his former wife. The man asked for a few minutes of our friend’s time and then proceeded to pour out his heart, sobbing and begging for forgiveness for the sin he had committed by stealing away our friend’s wife so many years before. He explained that he had grown up in a Christian home but had walked away from the Lord for years, and sin had entered his life. He was deeply grieved by the hurt his actions had caused others and wanted to be forgiven by the ones he had hurt the most.

Our friend responded to this broken man in a gentle-spirited way. He had privately forgiven this man years before and had chosen to rejoice in the Lord, even in the midst of his hurtful, confusing, heart-wrenching circumstances. As a result, he was able to embrace this man as a fellow sojourner and forgive him publicly that night. The Lord used his gentle-spirited actions and this public reconciliation to bring others to the Lord, as these two men later entered a public radio ministry together.

This expression, “gentle spirit,” reminds us of the humility of Jesus Christ that Paul mentioned back in 2:5-11. If Jesus had insisted on his own rights or demanded justice, we all would have been doomed to hell. There would have been no reconciliation between the human race and God. Likewise, if we insist on our rights and demand to be treated fairly all the time, then more than likely our insistence won’t result in unity or reconciliation in the church family. Rather, our insistence will lead to further disunity, angst, and nervousness among the rest of the church family. 

You can best visualize this in a normal nuclear family. What happens to the kids when they sense tension building or hear Mom and Dad fighting because one or the other is not getting their own way?  Depending upon their ages, the children get nervous and scared. Sometimes they begin to act up. They don’t understand what is happening. Angst builds up. What happens when teenagers fight with their parents in front of their siblings? It breeds further disunity in the family. Unrest in any of the key relationships of a family will always produce unrest in the entire family. And the same is true in the church family. When people fight for their rights and demand their own way rather than operate under a gentle-spirit, division and disunity result in the rest of the church. And further, typically the cause of Christ stops moving forward.

However when we are offended, being gentle-spirited is not usually our first mode of response. When hurt, we want to strike back or demand that the other person recognize their wrong, admit it, and bow before us to beg our forgiveness. After all, “it’s all about us” and our hurt. That’s the normal immediate response birthed in our flesh.

To be quite frank, to be “gentle in spirit” is humanly unnatural and impossible. This trait of being “gentle in spirit” is supernatural and thus requires that we be Spirit-controlled at the very moment we find ourselves surprised by the hurt of a fellow brother, the humiliating remark of a Christian sister, or the offense of another. That kind of perfect timing, to be Spirit controlled just as someone sticks you, just doesn’t happen often. However, when you are hurt by another and when you finally come to your spiritual senses, you will realize that your first desire to strike back or to demand your rights is wrong. Then, in order to respond as gently in spirit as possible, immediately turn to Christ, depend upon His enabling, and ask Him to live out His supernatural, gentle life through you so that you don’t make matters worse and bring harm to the cause of Christ.  

And this forces us back to the previous command in verse 4, and causes us to understand the importance of the continual attitude of rejoicing in the Lord. Being able to respond properly with a gentle spirit always begins with maintaining the correct mindset. The mindset or perspective that holds to the belief that living for what’s most important to the Lord and His purposes, such as working together for the furtherance of the gospel, is what is most critical, not making sure you get justice or your expectations are realized or that what gets done makes you feel good or important. 

When one stops to get perspective, or when some other fellow believer stops us and reminds us of what is most important, the cause of the Gospel, then we can turn to the Lord and seek His supernatural enablement to be gentle in spirit toward others with whom we find it difficult to live or work.

Earlier, I mentioned that there is not just a command here but also a subtle warning that should encourage us to take being gentle in spirit seriously when we feel tensions arise with others in ministry.  This subtle warning is found in Paul’s simple statement, “The Lord is near.”  This statement has two simultaneously intended meanings. First, it refers to Christ’s spatial nearness. He is right here. 

This statement, “the Lord is near” can be both good and, depending on your circumstances, not so good. In the good sense, to say “the Lord is near” reminds us that He is so close that He hears the cry of our hearts when we are in conflict with others. He sees what has brought about the conflict and has even allowed it. But He is not just here as an observer. He is also here to help smooth out the tensions, to heal the hurts, and to allow us to prove that we truly love one another, even when we are not so loveable. He is here ready to grant wisdom and to remind you of what Biblical principles to follow when you seek His help.

But there is also a subtle warning in the statement, “the Lord is near.” God, although invisible, is right here to take action against the saved who act in ways that cause disunity in the family. He is near and ready to discipline the brethren for the purpose of teaching them to grow up and keep their focus on what’s most important, which is not their being slighted. 

Don’t ever fall for the lie that just because He is invisible, God is not aware or involved in your life, whether through blessing or discipline. The Lord is near.

The second meaning of “the Lord is near” points to Christ’s chronological nearness--the reality that He can return in His second coming at any moment. And that’s good news because it gives us cause to rejoice even in the midst of tension with other Christians, knowing that what we may presently feel will be resolved forever on the day that Jesus comes. These types of uncomfortable times between people will cease to be, forever.  So knowing this tension with another will not be permanent makes it easier to patiently put up with the rough edges of those with whom you have been called to worship and serve together.

Do you feel that you are intimately connected to the One who loves you best when you are facing difficult circumstances in your life, or does He feel distant? Can you give a specific present or past example? Are you able to respond with gentleness to others who treat you unfairly, knowing that God is using your hardship that He might be known to all men? Can you think of an example when you could have, but did not or have not? Does knowing that the Lord will never leave you or forsake you make a difference in your thinking about your personal value even in the midst of hurts or suffering from injustices?

back to top