The Peace of God in the Church

This passage has always felt so uncomfortable to me. Can you imagine if I stood up here and called two people out for their disagreements in front of everyone? Now imagine the Apostle Paul doing that, forever enshrining your disagreement in the Word of God. But, that is exactly what Paul is doing. Paul’s whole point in this letter is the unity we have in Christ and how that should affect the unity we have in the church. And that unity is so important to him that he is willing to put his finger on a very specific disagreement between two women in that church.

It’s a passage that hits very close to home for me. Some of you, though not very many, remember 2020 and 2021 at OGC. They were the most tense years I have ever experienced in a church and about half our membership left. If not for a few key people, I’m not sure I would have kept my job here. Now, I’ll be the first to say that I wish I had done some things differently and I certainly learned some hard leadership lessons in that season. And I think I’ve either given apologies and/or received apologies from almost everyone from that season. It was a miserable two years and I don’t ever want this church to experience that again. And Paul’s words in this passage can help us to make sure we don’t.

Paul starts this passage off by saying ‘stand firm.’ This is something Paul says often in the New Testament and he says it in different contexts, but in every context, he’s creating the visual that we as a church have waves of opposition. Some of it is spiritual and invisible, some of it is worldly coming at us from outside our walls, and some of it is fleshly and growing inside our own hearts. And these waves growing in our own fleshly hearts are the ones Paul is addressing here. Waves of fighting and disunity among us that threaten our joy and our gospel witness in this city. And Paul’s hope is that whatever wave comes against us, that we would stand firm like a massive rock that the waves crash around.

So, how do we stand firm? Paul says we find peace. And he tells us 1) what he means by peace and 2) how we find that peace.

1. What Paul means by peace

I wish Paul could be here with us today and see how unpeaceful the church in the US is. I wish he could see the vehicles of gossip and slander that are X, Facebook, Tic Toc, and Instagram. The arrows we shoot at people we don’t even know without any desire or attempt to know them. The tribalism on our phones that creates division in our relationships. I wish he could see how spread out, isolated, and busy we are and the way that allows strife and bitterness to boil over. I just don’t think Paul could have fathomed how fertile the soil would become for division and how hard the ground has become for harmony. But even though the culture changes, the Word of God does not and Paul’s plea for peace applies effectively to every church in every generation.

Some people mistakenly say, “Look, Paul is calling out people by name so we should be courageous enough to as well.” That’s how peace comes. From calling out people the way Paul did. There is a narrative growing in our culture that to be a strong Christian, you need to fight. You need to be combative. You need to tear down anyone who sees things differently than you do. But that’s not what Paul is doing at all. We have to see that Paul isn’t shooting an arrow of division, he’s making a plea for peace. He isn’t casting people out, he’s bringing them together. And Paul DOES know these women. They aren’t strangers. He loves them. He says they are Christians and that they have labored together with Paul in the gospel. He knows these women, he loves these women, and he’s not firing shots, he’s pleading for reconciliation.

We don’t know who these two women were that had a disagreement and we don’t know what they were disagreeing about. We know the church in Philippi was started by Paul sharing the gospel with three women. Lydia is the woman we know about, but we don’t know the names of the others. Some have wondered if these two women are two of the first three converts in Philippi. Paul did labor extensively with them. Maybe that’s why their disagreement is so dangerous because they were so influential to that church. We don’t know, but clearly this rift is a big deal to this church and a big deal to Paul.

So Paul’s plea in verse two is to ‘agree in the Lord.’ That’s what Paul means by peace. This phrase ‘agree in the Lord’ is translated in other versions of the Bible as ‘live in harmony in the Lord.’ So you can see the connection to peace. But I think ‘agree in the Lord’ is a better translation because the most direct translation is ‘have the same mindset in the Lord.’

So what does that mean? I searched a ton of commentaries this week and they all agree on what this does NOT mean. Paul is not saying that these two women have to agree on everything. They don’t have to see eye to eye on every matter. They don’t have to be uniform in their opinions. What Paul is saying is that the only way they are going to find peace is to put their disagreement in perspective. Look at the great salvation they have received in the Lord. Look at where they are all going to be one day in the Lord. He knows that these two women are Christians. That’s what he means by saying their names are written in the book of life. That’s not being questioned here. Paul wants that reality to allow them to either agree to disagree or repent and forgive. I don’t know which because we don’t know what their argument was.

So much of our tension in 2020 and 2021 was actually a failure to both agree to disagree and repent and forgive. There were cultural, political, and racial issues that we all could have agreed to disagree on when we put them in perspective to where we will all be one day. But, there was also slander and gossip that we all could have abstained from or repented quickly of and forgiven each other.

And I should at least acknowledge that, yes, there are times when the disagreement is so significant that separation needs to happen. Paul says in Romans 12, “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” The principle here is you can only control you. Only you can examine your own heart, only you can repent of your own sin, only you can choose to forgive someone else, and only you can work your disagreement in your heart through the eternal, unchanging gospel of Jesus Christ.

But even when the other person won’t do the right thing, we can still have this kind of eternal perspective. We don’t have to gossip and slander the one we can’t live peaceably with. I was having lunch with a pastor a couple years ago who had a very public break up with another pastor who he had been very good friends with for over a decade, working together, preaching together, planting churches together, even vacationing together. From my perspective, the pastor I was eating with had done all the right things and the other pastor had not. We were talking about this and he said, “I believe [insert other pastor’s name here] is a Christian and I really believe that in the next life, we will be best friends. But on this side of eternity, I don’t see how we will ever talk again.” He was sad, but he wasn’t bitter. He was remorseful, but he was still hopeful.

The principle Paul gives for peace is to agree in the Lord. Then, Paul tells us how we pursue that peace.

1. How we pursue that peace

Paul doesn’t give us a five step process. He doesn’t give us a formula, he gives us a person. He says, “The Lord is at hand.” This means that the Lord is imminently near. He has all things under His control. Nothing catches Him by surprise. And He is near you and in you and He can guard your hearts. So, don’t be anxious.

I had to really mull over and pray about verse five: The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything. I have walked with people through crippling anxiety and this verse can be crushing for them. People with PTSD, panic disorders, or chemical imbalances who are begging God for the anxiety to end and who hear these words of Paul as a command they can’t do and feel beat down for their anxiety which makes them more anxious. And if that is you, I want you to hear Paul’s words not as “stop it!” but as gospel reorientation: God inviting us to turn our racing hearts toward Him. Paul isn’t saying, “Stop being anxious.” He’s saying, “You can bring those anxieties to God.” It’s not a command, it’s an invitation. He isn’t issuing a law, he’s holding out a promise. This isn’t a self-help technique, but a spiritual posture.

I don’t want this verse to feel crushing to anyone, but hopeful to everyone. But, I would be remiss if I stopped there because there is another group of people who need to hear this from a different perspective. There are those of us who fret about things we can’t control and instead of going to the Lord, we allow that fret to turn into anxiety when it otherwise wouldn’t have. And Paul is inviting you as well to bring those anxieties to the Lord. To not let them fester and grow, but to trade them out for peace. He’s inviting you to fight the spiritual war you are in. So, how do we do that? Prayer.

The Lord is at hand, so we go to Him in prayer. Same verse, but let’s keep reading. qThe Lord is at hand; 6 rdo not be anxious about anything, sbut in everything by prayer and supplication twith thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. - Phil 4:5b,6 We have an invitation to bring our heaviest burdens to the God of the universe who will hear them all. And it’s not that we can just approach Him, we can do so with confidence knowing that He loves us and has our best interest in His heart. This is why the author of Hebrews writes, iLet us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. - Heb 4:16 We draw near, not when we deserve it the most, but when we need it the most and what we will find is mercy and grace.

There was a man named Dr. Robertson McQuilkin who was president of Columbia International University. In 1990, he stepped down after 22 years as president to care full-time for his wife, Muriel, who was suffering from Alzheimer’s. In his now famous retirement speech, he said, “Muriel now in the last couple of months seems to be almost happy when with me, and almost never happy when not with me. In fact, she seems to feel trapped, becomes very fearful, sometimes almost terror, and when she can’t get to me there can be anger, she’s in distress. But when I’m with her, she’s happy and contented. And so I must be with her at all times.” As she lost control of her mind, nothing could make her calm except the presence of the man who had consistently shown her covenantal love and faithfulness. I don’t use this story lightly. But, I do think it shows us how the right presence can bring peace. And as powerful as it is, it is the faintest glimpse of the peace our God, through His covenantal love and faithfulness, can bring us as we enter His presence with prayer.

But, Paul doesn’t just say go to the Lord in prayer with your needs, he says to do so with thanksgiving. I’ve never been one who believes that the Bible and science are opposed to each other. Actually, I think the more we understand both the Bible and the world we live in, the more we see them in agreement. And Paul’s command to go to the Lord with thanksgiving is another example. I was looking at recent studies on gratitude and the effects it has on anxiety. I read four of the most recent and largest studies on the effects of gratitude and the results show that ‘gratitude is tied to better mental health, social well-being, healthier behaviors, and favorable biomarkers.’ So science is showing something that Christians have known for thousands of years.

There is something about gratitude in general that calms our minds and hearts and something about gratitude in specific to God that calms our souls. So, if you struggle with anxiety, here is one small practical implementation. What if each morning before your day gets going, you think of one or two things you are thankful for, bring them to God, and ask Him for the things you need? Acknowledge that you are not in control of these things and that He is and feel yourself letting go of that control and giving to the One who is. Each day for a month and see what kind of difference that makes.

And this ties into Paul’s larger argument because thankful, calm people are less likely to turn against each other. But, a fearful, bitter, anxious community will tear itself apart. This is essentially what happened in the Salem Witch Trials in the late 1600’s. Anxiety about disease, Native American attacks, and social change created fertile ground for paranoia in a small Puritan town. Then, when a few young girls claimed to be afflicted by witches, the fear of some invisible evil spread rapidly leading to over 200 people accused of being witches, 20 executed, and countless reputations and friendships destroyed. Fear and anxiety tore them apart.

But, a thankful, calm community will assume the best, repent, forgive, and grow in unity. This is exactly what Paul means in verse seven. 7 And uthe peace of God,vwhich surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. - Phil 4:7 We go to God consistently in prayer with thanksgiving and, day by day, the peace of His Holy Spirit wins the day in our hearts. Our God is the God of peace and there has never been a greater manifestation of this than in the gospel.

What do you think the opposite of peace is? I don’t think it’s conflict, I think it’s chaos. The Hebrew word ‘shalom’ is what we translate as peace. True shalom means that everything is the way it ought to be. Well, what is the opposite of that? Chaos. God created the world in perfect shalom, but our sin turned it into chaos. Instead of loving God and others, we love ourselves. Instead of trusting God, we trust in ourselves. Instead of building each other up, we build ourselves up and we break others down. Instead of rejoicing, we fret, fear, and grieve. Instead of widespread peace, we have conflict.

But, God had a plan for that. Jesus, who is perfect shalom in bodily form, entered into the chaos of this world and took on the ultimate chaos of God’s wrath that we deserve to bring us into God’s shalom. A shalom we feel when His Spirit moves into our hearts. Jesus is how we make peace with God. In Jesus, we can see God’s heart posture of peace toward us who made Him our enemy.  

So why don’t we only experience peace in this world now? Why does it still often feel like chaos around us and inside us? Because the minute you make peace with God, all of God’s enemies turn against you. If we believe peace is the absence of trouble, when trouble comes we will be discouraged constantly asking, “Why me?”. The peace Paul is talking about is not the absence of trouble in this world, but us being able to stand firm against it. And we can only do this when we understand the spiritual battle we are in and experience the full peace of God through His Holy Spirit.

Understanding all of this, we can better understand verse four and five: 4 pRejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness4 be known to everyone. - Phil 4:4,5 We can stand firm as a church and rejoice together in the Lord. It doesn’t mean that we are happy clappy Christians who just smile through every hard thing we experience. It means that we are one big rock that all the waves of chaos in this world crash around as we stand firm. And God even uses the chaos of this world to show us how much more of his peace we need. And there IS a limit to the chaos of the world, but there is no limit to the peace God offers us.

Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. You can only truly be responsible for yourself, so put your reasonableness on display. Others can hang themselves if they must by putting their unreasonableness on display. Growing up, whenever unreasonableness seemed to be reigning, my grandmother would often say, “Jim, we aren’t the only smart ones around.” What she meant is that we need to take a deep breath and let our reasonableness shine and all will be ok. Reasonableness in a community can be not only attractive, but contagious. It creates peace inside the church. I think this is why Paul says 9 What you have learned5 and wreceived and heard and seen xin me—practice these things. - Phil 4:9

And what is reasonableness? It’s the actions that come from a right mind. Now, we are never going to think well with our minds if we aren’t experiencing peace in our hearts. But, Paul has already addressed our hearts. When our hearts are growing in peace our minds can think more properly. We can put reasonableness on display. So we set our minds on the best things. 8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. - Phil 4:8

What our minds focus on affects the peace in our lives. Can you see how this kind of thinking can heal divisions in the church? But, this kind of thinking doesn’t just bring harmony and peace, it maintains it. Paul says that when we think in this way, the God of peace will be with us. We don’t just get the gift of peace, we get the Giver Himself. The God of the coming kingdom is already with us, shaping us, and bringing with Him the shalom of the new creation. The kingdom that has yet to fully come. A kingdom where there will be no strife. There will be no division. There will be no anxiety. And there will be no sin. We get to taste that kingdom tangibly now. And the more we taste it, the more temporary the troubles of this world will seem. Instead of tossing us like driftwood floating on the ocean in a hurricane, those troubles will crash like waves on an immovable rock. A rock that will endure the storm. A people who will grow in harmony until the dawn of the world to come.

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