Philippians 4:2-9

Exhortations

2I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to agree with each other in the Lord. 3Yes, and I ask you, loyal yokefellow, help these women who have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.

4Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.



Dig Deeper

When I was teaching, I used to try to get my students to focus on things that were positive and that would drive them along to success rather than the many things that might draw them into negativity and failure. I would tell them we were going to do an exercise, then I would say, "Don't think about red fire engines. Okay, whatever you do, do not think about red fire engines for the next minute. Just stop thinking about red fire engines." Of course, what happened? They all thought about red fire engines. What I wanted them to see was if they focused on the negativity in their lives and the obstacles they had coming up against them, those things would no doubt seem much bigger than they had to be. Whatever our thoughts dwell on will tend to manifest in our lives. If we constantly think about the things that make us anxious, or worry, or the negative things, or the sins that we struggle with, those things will tend to dominate our lives. Instead, we need to train ourselves to focus on the things that will lead us in the positive direction, things that are worth thinking about. This doesn't mean that we stick our head in the sand and ignore our problems but that we focus on solutions and the positive aspects of the situation rather than the problems and all of the negatives.

In this section, Paul encourages the Philippians to learn to rejoice despite the many difficult situations they may face that could easily cause them anxiety. If they fret and worry and obsess about those things, that's all they'll likely think about and they'll become virtually paralyzed in their own web of negativity and self-focus. Rather than doing that, they should learn to think differently. To control their thought life, which in turn, will lead their entire lives in the right direction. In fact, in many ways, one of the most important aspects of the Christian life is to learn to transform our minds away from the thought patterns of our old selves and towards those of the life of Christ.

Paul has mentioned, throughout this letter, the need for the Philippians to be like-minded and to put the interests and needs of others above their own. Now, we see that there may have been a specific situation which instigated his emphasis on those subjects. Two women whom Paul greatly admired were evidently mired in conflict. The specific mention of Euodia and Syntche by name indicate that they were important members of this community and that their disagreement had the potential of doing damage to the entire church. So, Paul mentions them by name in a public letter, something that horrifies our modern western sensibilities and sense of privacy. We simply do not know the nature of this disagreement, but we do know that Paul has great faith in these women. They have contended at his side in the cause of the gospel, a phrase that has the strong force of a fierce athletic competition. They are also fellow workers of the likes of Clement, someone who has been lost to history but was clearly a well known and highly respected worker in the gospel in Philippi. Finally, he says that their names are in the book of life., an honor usually bestowed in Jewish literature on those who had remained faithful despite persecution (Dan. 12:1; Rev. 3:5; cf. Isa. 4:3; Luke 10:20).

Because of his great faith in their dedication to the Lord, Paul appeals to them with the realization that this disagreement probably won't be worked out by any normal human means or attitudes. Instead, he urges them to agree with each other in the Lord. In other words, this disagreement will only be resolved if they both realize the call to live the life of putting the interests of others ahead of their own, the life of Christ. To facilitate this reconciliation, Paul calls on his loyal yokefellow, to mediate the situation. Evidently, it would have been obvious to the Philippian community and to the unnamed worker. Speculation has led to people surmising that Paul may have been referring to Epaphroditus or even Luke, who may have been in Philippi at the time, but ultimately we will never be sure who he was addressing.

Instead of becoming a community bogged down in internal strife, they should realize that they are in a constant battle against evil and persecution and focus on dealing with that in a godly manner. Understanding the terms that Paul uses here allows us to gain clearer insight as to what Paul is addressing in this situation. "Rejoice" was a term that meant having a public celebration so that others could see that you had a cause to rejoice over. When he says to let your gentleness be evident to all, he uses a term that was used of displaying an attitude of kindness where the normal response would have been expected to have been retaliation. He also urges them to not be anxious about anything. This term was often used in the context of not worrying about persecution because they know that God will vindicate them one day. When we add this all together we realize that Paul is telling them to be the type of community that joyfully and jubilantly celebrates the life of the gospel despite persecution and hardships. Whatever trials they may face, whether the difficulty comes internally or externally, he calls them to display the life of Christ.

Rather than focusing on the negative, Paul calls them to three positive actions. The first is to go to God in prayer and petition. They should present their requests to God, with positive thanksgiving in their hearts, not negative defeatism. When they do that they will find that rather than being gripped by fear and anxiety, they will find that the peace of God will guard their hearts against these sorts of worries. They needn't dwell on or become obsessed with what is going wrong or what could go wrong. Instead they should come to God in a fashion of celebratory thanksgiving, not to pretend like everything is okay, but they can come to God in prayer realizing that He will give them the peace of knowing that He is in control. This kind of peace cannot be attained through normal human efforts, this is why it is a peace that transcends all understanding.

The second positive action is to allow the peace of God to guard their minds as well as their hearts. The word rendered "finally" in the NIV, would better be understood to read "in addition to." Thus Paul continues the thought of guarding their minds with the peace of God. The method of engaging in that process is to think on things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy. The key here is to realize that a proper thought for the people of God needs to meet all eight criterion. It is quite possible for something to be "true," for instance, but not meet any of the other eight standards. How could they possibly celebrate and announce the new world of the creator if they only fed their minds on things that were false, trashy, unjust, impure, ugly, or shameful. The only way to truly demonstrate the life of Christ to the world around us is to first learn the discipline of guarding our thoughts and filling our minds with things that please God.

The final positive action that Paul mentions here is to put into practice the things that they have learned, received, or heard from him. This is an incredibly demanding request, but one that is more so on Paul than on the Philippians. Can you imagine making this request of a group of Christians? It probably sends a few shivers up our spines to imagine making such a statement concerning our own lives, yet Paul was able to write this without hesitation, so committed was he to the genuine life of Christ. This is a standard that truly calls us higher in the way we live and challenges us to live lives worthy of imitation.



Devotional Thought

How well do you control your thought life? Do you truly apply Paul's standard here to every single thought that goes through your mind, or do you often allow yourself to focus on negative or anxiety-inducing situations? How can you let the peace of God dwell in your heart and mind?