Demonstrate Concern

Last week I concluded my sermon by saying, “mind your feet.” This was an allusion Isaiah made to Moses walking on holy ground when he first experienced God at the mountain time. This also being a lesson to us so that we would not just go because it is something to do, but that when we would tread life, we would tread in a way that was intentional and purposeful, meaning that we would exercise our faith to do what we are called to do and stretch a little further each time to keep a mind on where we are going and what we are doing. This brings us to Philippians 4, verse 8.

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. ⁹ What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:8-9)

When we talked about minding your feet, I talked about how we need to carefully decide where we need to tread in life in order to maximize what we are doing in Jesus Christ. Here we find ourselves having a conversation with the Apostle Paul where he says to “think about things that are worthy of being thought about” and in doing so, God will be with us. So the question that is immediately begged is this: what do we think about when the peace of God is not with us? What if my life or your life, or our lives feel like there is no peace? What do we think about then? First off, I want you to see that the Apostle is in not talking about literally thinking about things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, or worthy of praise. It is not an exercise in conceptual philosophy. What the Apostle Paul is positing for us is the practice of doing things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise. It means that we do things that are those things and that’s how we think about things. It should always be on our minds to do those types of things and every situation we are in should be an opportunity for us to do those things in demonstration of our faith.

Horatius Bonar, is a pastor from the 1800s who wrote a hymn titled, “O Love of God, How Strong and True” tells a story of a girl working at a camp. A college girl who was a fine scholar and had a noble spirit volunteered to be a counselor at a girl’s camp. Despite her abili­ties, she was required to peel potatoes in the kitchen. The head mistress of the camp, realizing that this was quite a menial task for such a talented and highly intellectual girl, exclaimed, “It’s too bad that a young woman of your education should have to peel potatoes.” The girl who was a splendid Christian looked up brightly and replied, “But, Miss Baldwin, remember, I don’t have to think about potatoes while I’m peeling them.” Whatever your situation you need to do that which is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise. So when life is tough and our circumstances dire because nothing has gone right, think about you, in your rough circumstance and dire needs thought about things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise. Then you need to turn around and do them. When we do such things, it is the grace of God made visible in our lives. If a talented person can find the work of God in doing something so menial, then I ask you, why can’t we? Are we above it all? We need to demonstrate concern. Let’s go to verse 10. ¹⁰ I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. ¹¹ Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. ¹² I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. ¹³ I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:10-13)

Let me tell you the perspective that the Apostle Paul is now writing from. It is pretty clear that up to this point, Paul wants us to demonstrate concern by doing what God would do and carry as Jesus would in every circumstance. The reason being that when we do such things, our lives are brought into a perspective which we would have otherwise missed. Hear that as: When we start deliberately doing things as God would, we see our life from His perspective and not our condition. This means that God isn’t as interested in our “well being” as opposed to His glory shining forth from our lives. I know I just said something incredibly loaded that you may or may not be dwelling on right now. But to make it clear, God doesn’t care if you’re broke and you’re unable to eat, or if you’re surviving off ramyun. Not in the least. What He cares about is how you do things despite your current condition. Look at what it says in verse 11 and 12. Paul says, “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and how to abound in any and every circumstance. I know the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need…” Here’s the key, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” You all know that verse. Paul knows what is like. You know what it is like. None of that matters says Paul. The only thing that matters is that Christ allows him to do things despite anything and everything. That means we need to constantly be doing, not surviving, but true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise things. Here’s the problem and this has always been the problem, most of us don’t want to be strengthened by God to do things true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise. Most of us just want those things to be given to us. But that isn’t faith. That isn’t how it works. It never has and never will. When you go to Genesis 12 and begin reading the story of Abraham, you don’t see those things given to Abraham. No, you see a bad situation arising from his journey of faith and God strengthen Abraham to see it through; he even goes as far as putting his one and only son to sacrifice so that he could do true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise things in the name of God, in whom he has faith. I am in no way advocating that you or I do such a thing if we hear God. What I am advocating is that God wants us to demonstrate concern for His glory and for His people in all of our circumstance and God will help you with the strength to see it through. I want to go six more verses today. Let’s pick it up in verse 14.

¹⁴ Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble. ¹⁵ And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except you only.¹⁶ Even in Thessalonica you sent me help for my needs once and again. ¹⁷ Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. ¹⁸ I have received full payment, and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. ¹⁹ And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. ²⁰ To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen. (Philippians 4:14-20)

Here’s where this passage is going: The Philippians’ relationship with Christ as that is evidenced in their partnership with Paul in the gospel. This is incredibly important for us as Christ followers to know. I’m not trying to get you to do more offering to the church. I am trying to show you how genuine the Philippians were in their demonstration of concern. They did when nobody else would and they did it in a way that was sacrificial for them. We are saved through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus, God’s only begotten son, died for us when he didn’t have to, so that we could have some good news in our lives for once.

The concern for sinners like you and me, people who are not deserving of such an inheritance came at an incredible cost. God demonstrates His love for us in sending Jesus to be our Christ. This is the greatest demonstration of love that one can exhibit. Through this act of sacrifice, we receive an inheritance so glorious that it boggles our imagination. If this is true, then the response the Philippians gave to Paul through their offering demonstrates how serious they were about the good news being spread through Paul’s ministry. How serious are we about the mission of this church? Are we willing to sacrificially get behind the mission and agenda of God’s church? I don’t just mean financially, but I also mean physically, mentally and spiritually. Will we be able to love people richly and generously in genuine concern for them like the Philippian church? Where people are in perpetual need despite their diligence, the church comes and supports, and we walk along with, and we encourage because that’s demonstrating real concern. This is what the Philippians did. We use the connections we have as privileged, wealthy men and women to help people find a way, whether that be job training or whether that be job placement or helping them learn a language. We come alongside—that’s demonstrating concern which is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise.

I want to leave you with this thought from Luke 6:38 about the demonstration of our concern and the depths by which we need to demonstrate it in our lives. The verse goes like this: “give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.” Now is the time that all of us demonstrate the level of concern our salvation warrants. It is not good enough to just mind our feet. We must demonstrate the concern we have for the glory of God in our lives. God supplies us with the strength to demonstrate our concern for the lost people in this world and demonstrate our concern for His glory. With that in mind, let us follow Jesus into offering sweet smelling sacrifices to our glorious God. God is love, and we are His children. Let us love with overwhelming concern and pursue unquenchable tenacity, the things that true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, or worthy of praise.