Character Matters
Father, by the power of your Holy Spirit, accomplish your will in us now, through your preached word, in Jesus’s name, amen.
This Spring I’ve been helping to coach four different sports teams — three baseball teams and a flag football team — and apart from having to keep up with 46 boys’ names, it’s been doable.
The focus has not been winning. One of the things I’ve told the guys since the start of the season is that the amount of games you win in middle school baseball is probably not going to make a difference in your life, but the things you learn might. The emphasis has been growth and development — not mainly in skills, but in character. What matters most is not winning but it’s who you are becoming — how you are learning to be.
And look, that goal has been put to the test because we’ve not been winning. Come to find out, the character development stuff has not just been for the players, but it’s been for coaches. I feel my own need to keep growing — “God is still working on me!”
And that’s what our passage is about this morning, Philippians 4, verses 4–7. Paul is landing the plane of this letter, and beginning in verse 4 he gives a rapid-fire list of commands connected to three character qualities.
And Paul ending a letter like this is not unusual. He does it in other letters. These are the things he wants to leave with the church. He’s saying: While I’ve still got you, before you go, take this with you — and these verses in Philippians 4 are all about these Christians being a certain kind of people, having a certain kind of character. Three qualities: joy, gentleness, and peace.
We’re going to look at each one of these this morning, but before we get there, we need to answer two preliminary questions?
How are these qualities connected?
Why do these qualities matter?
1) How are these qualities connected?
This is a tricky question because, at one level, we know that joy, gentleness, and peace are connected — they’re all fruit of the Spirit — but we’re not exactly sure how they’re connected in this passage. What is Paul thinking about their relationship to one another? Now, we could meditate on this, and put our sanctified reason to work, and we might say that …
Joy is most foundational. It’s at the heart, down deep in our souls, and then that joy is evidenced outwardly as reasonableness and experienced inwardly as peace.
We could try to make a case like that, and that is all theologically valid. But here’s the thing: the grammar of this passage does not tell us that. The actual wording of these verses doesn’t say anything about how these qualities are connected.
And so I’m reluctant to say a lot about that, at least in a sermon. Maybe in a different setting, or in a different kind of sermon, we could ponder the connectedness more, but my aim today is to give you an exegetical sermon.
That’s the kind of preaching that we do at Cities Church most of the time (not all the time; we’ve done some topical-theological sermons in the past), but most of the time we take a book of the Bible and we walk through it bit by bit, and we try to exegete or interpret meaning from the text.
The Bible says about itself that it’s inspired by God — breathed out by the Holy Spirit — which means that what the Bible says is what God says. Therefore the words really matter! We should never read into the text what we want, but we need to discover what the text says, and then sit under its authority as the word of God.
And when I apply that conviction to these verses, it means I’m going to explain each of the qualities as standing on their own, separate from one another, because that’s the way Paul writes it.
2) Why do these qualities matter?
What’s the point of character anyway? Why is it important to develop character and be a certain kind of person? Well, the truth is, for some people, it’s not important, but for Christians it is, and it’s all got to do with that short sentence in verse 5: “The Lord is at hand.”
When Paul says “the Lord” here he’s talking about Jesus, and the word for “at hand” simply means “near.” Paul is saying the Lord is near. Jesus is close.
Close to who? To doing what? Jesus is close to us right now in his activity and care — he has sent his Spirit here in us and among us — and he’s close to the event of this return. Jesus is always involved and at work in our lives and soon he’s coming back. And that is not a novel idea to Paul — but it’s the dominant theme in the entire New Testament. In fact, in several places when we’re commanded to live in a certain way, it’s connected to the event of Jesus’s return. Our behavior now is connected to the future coming of Jesus. This is like the air we breathe when we read the New Testament. For example, take what Paul says in Titus 2:11.
He says that God’s grace has appeared to us now, and it trains us “to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.”
Take what Peter says in 1 Peter 1:13,
“… set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be comforted to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.”
Take what James says in James 5:8 — even James (no offense, James),
“You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another…”
In other words, be a certain kind of person right now, church, because Jesus is about to walk through that door! He’s close. He’s right here, all the time.
And to clarify something for us, one of the things that we like to say a lot at Cities Church is that “Jesus is real.” And when we say that, this is what we mean.
When we say “Jesus is real” we’re not talking about his historical reliability or anything to do with apologetics (now we could talk about that, because it’s all solid and it can be helpful), but when we say Jesus is real we mean what Paul means here — the Lord is at hand.
Jesus is the greatest, most all-encompassing reality in the universe. He has already changed everything about the world, and one day he’s going to change it all for good, and out of all the things that we need to remember in life, THAT is the most important.
Jesus is real. The Lord is at hand. He’s close. That’s the biggest assumption of the New Testament, and it should define us as disciples of Jesus. That’s why you live a certain way now. That’s why you should be a certain kind of person.
We’re not really interested in moral improvement for the sake of moral improvement — better ourselves to better our world — okay, fine, but that’s not really the point.
Instead: Be a certain kind of person now, Christian, because your Christ is about to split the sky wide open and you will see him and you will stand before him and so live right now in witness to that wonder.
That’s why character matters. … even more than winning.
Paul exhorts us in three character qualities. Here’s the first…
1) Be a person of spiritual joy.
This is verse 4:
“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.”
Paul gives the command to rejoice twice in this verse, and it’s the same command he already gave in 3:1. In 3:1 he says, “Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord.” He uses the exact same words in 4:4 — and now let’s recall all the other places in Philippians where Paul talks about joy, like in … 1:18, when Paul rejoices that Christ is preached even though some of the preachers have selfish motives. Or 2:2, when Paul exhorts the church to complete his joy by being united. Or 2:17–18, when Paul tells the church to share his joy because they’ve shared in the same ministry. Or 2:29, when he says they should welcome Epaphroditus with great joy because he almost died for the work of Christ. Or in 4:10, which we’ll see later, when Paul says he rejoiced in the Lord greatly because of God’s provision for him through the church.
There’s a lot of joy in this book! It’s no wonder that commentators call Philippians the “epistle of joy.” And Philippians 4:4 is where it’s most emphasized, and some of you already know this …
“Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice.
Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice.
Rejoice, rejoice, and again I say rejoice,
Rejoice, rejoice, and again I say rejoice.”
Clarifying Spiritual Joy
That’s Philippians 4:4. Not only does Paul say it twice, but he says to do it “always.”
And that is “always” as in every circumstance.
Every circumstance as in your joy is derived from something deeper than your circumstances and it overflows from those depths into whatever you have going on. That’s why Paul says “rejoice in the Lord.” This is not just any kind of joy, but the Puritan Thomas Watson simply calls this “spiritual joy.” Watson says,
“Spiritual joy is higher built than [that which is built] upon creatures, for [spiritual joy] is built on the love of God, on the promises, and on the blood of Christ” (271).
That’s why he says it’s like a spring of water underground. It’s possible for this joy to abound in places the world would never expect it.
Because remember who Paul is talking to here. This is a small church surrounded by the encroaching forces of the world superpower. These Christians were the social underdogs. Life for them was not smooth. Their beloved apostle is writing from prison, awaiting a trial, and they could be next.
Paul is not saying to rejoice in their problems.
He’s not saying that they should be all “Gee golly everything’s okay” when everything is not okay.
Paul is not suggesting head-in-the-clouds escapism.
This is not the irrational denial of hardship.
But to rejoice in the Lord, means that whatever the hardship is, however painful the suffering may be, Jesus is who he is; Jesus has defeated sin and the grave, and Jesus will come again — so we rejoice in him. Always in him. Spiritual joy.
And this kind of character is so vital to our witness.
A friend once told me that the biggest hurdle in our evangelism is that we have a lot of sad Christians trying to convert happy sinners.
In on the Secret
But when we rejoice in the Lord, that’s different. This is at the heart of our faith.
Paul doesn’t talk about joy only in this letter, he talks about joy in almost all of his letters. One New Testament scholar has called Paul the “theologian of joy” and one of the most astounding truths Paul makes clear is that God himself is a joyful God.
We see this all throughout Scripture — but Paul says it plainly in 1 Timothy 1:11 — he says we’ve been changed by “the glorious gospel of the happy God.”
All of creation is the overflow of God’s happiness and our great end as God’s creatures is to share in his happiness. Everything, most ultimately, is from joy in God and for joy in God. God is the source of our joy, and although now we experience this joy dimly, it is real joy from God and one day we will have its full.
And when we know this it’s like being in on the greatest secret of the universe.
If you’ve ever thrown a surprise party for someone or given a surprise gift for someone, I think you’ll know what I’m getting at here …
I recently threw a big surprise moment for my oldest son’s 13th birthday. I had his grandparents surprise him from North Carolina, and in an unusual way. I had my dad meet Micah at a certain place, completely unexpected. I had planned the whole thing so that Micah would show up at this place and my dad would already be there, to Micah’s surprise.
And, in the weeks and days leading up to this moment, I got more excited. Because I knew what was coming. I knew it was gonna be good, and I’ll be honest, there was a kind of lightness to my step. Y’all know what I mean?
I knew something good was coming, and it gave me joy.
And truly that experience can be applied to the Christian life overall.
Because we know the truth about God and ultimate reality … Because we know that when Paul tells us to rejoice in the Lord he’s telling us to do what we’re made for … because we know God’s promise …
No matter what, we can look to the future and say, Something good is coming.
We’re in on the secret, except we don’t have to keep it a secret. We are headed to joy and we wanna bring people with us. And I know sometimes it doesn’t feel like it. A lot times maybe. Days can be long and dark. Terrible things happen in this world. Frustrations happen in this world. But Jesus is close. Joy is coming.
Like the psalmist says, “I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy!” (Psalm 43:4). In him we can rejoice.
Be a person of spiritual joy.
2) Be a person of obvious gentleness.
Verse 5:
“Let your reasonableness be known to everyone.”
The word there for “reasonableness” is also translated “gentleness.” That’s the way it’s translated in the handful of other places this word is used in the New Testament (1 Timothy 3:3; Titus 3:2; James 3:17; 2 Peter 3:18).
The main idea of this word is to be lenient. It’s the opposite of insisting on every single letter of the law — it’s the opposite of strict justice; it’s the opposite of being “stiff and bristly.” You’re not demanding, but it’s to be gracious and patient. Gentle. Lenient. A word we might use is “chill.” Or maybe even a better word to capture the idea is be flexible.
And we have to be careful here because right away, we can start thinking about this as a personality trait — it seems like some people are just wired to be this way more than others — but hold on. Remember: Paul is commanding this. He’s not commanding a personality trait, this is a character quality. This is a matter of the heart. It comes from the inside-out.
And honestly this is one of those unassuming qualities that’s easier to recognize when you see it missing.
For example, you are not being reasonable/gentle/flexible … If you lose your head because Chipotle added the wrong salsa to your burrito bowl. Or if you snap at someone in the kitchen because they’re in your way. Or if you immediately think of retaliation when someone crosses you. Or if you argue balls and strikes with a 14-year-old umpire in a youth baseball game.
You are not reasonable/gentle/flexible when you live in a constant defensive posture, when you are easily disappointed in others, when you are overly critical about everything, and when you are quick to be the victim.
Now I’m so glad that this doesn’t describe us or any Christians we know — but man, don’t you want to be different than that? Don’t you want to be large-hearted! Magnanimous! Reasonable! Flexible!
Well we’re called to be that, and we’re called to make it obvious to everyone.
We should think of this as foundational to our witness. It’s kind of like pre-evangelism. It’s necessary. Before you share the good news of Jesus with someone, how about you don’t shake your fist at them in traffic?
Look, what I’m about to say might blow your mind, but I think we’re ready for this. Here it is: You cannot treat someone like they’re a moron and then tell them that God loves them and has a wonderful plan for their life.
We’re talking entry-level Christian living here. “Let your reasonableness be known to everyone.” Be flexible.
Be a person of obvious gentleness.
3) Be a person of inner peace.
This comes from verses 6 and 7, and this quality is different from the others because we are not commanded to have peace, but peace is the promise if we obey the command to pray. That’s the shorthand way of putting it. Look at the language in verse 6:
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
This is a negative-positive command. It’s a put off/put on — don’t do this, but do this. And another way to say that last part is simply: Tell it to God.
Don’t be anxious, but in everything tell it to God — and tell him with thanksgiving, which is a fail proof to being a whiner. The best antidote to have a grumbling heart is to be mainly thankful. There are still things to pray about. There are still things you need and want God to do, but you ask God for those things in recognition of the past grace God has given you. We come to God, not with an attitude that says, “Ugh, he’s never done anything for me. Here goes.”
No, instead, we come to God, saying: I’m alive, right now, because of you. My heart is beating because of you. You’ve kept me all these years. You’ve always provided for me. Jesus Christ died for me. I know you love me, Father! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!
And then you let God know what you want. That’s the other side to not being anxious. Don’t be anxious, but in everything, with thanksgiving, tell it to God.
Now both sides of this negative-positive command give some insight to the other.
What does prayer tell us about anxiety?
Why are we anxious?
We’re anxious because we know we don’t have the control to make things go the way we want them to. And without that control, we fear the thing will go badly. I can’t make this certain thing happen, and therefore I’m anxious about it.
At one level, to be anxious is to be merely human. We desire things that we ourselves cannot create. That’s the human condition, and it’s hard, and you can see why throughout history, humans have tried to figure this out.
One alternative is to stop desiring things altogether. If wanting things and not being able to create them produces anxiety, then stop wanting things. That’s Stoicism. It’s indifference to reality.
The thinking is that: If you care, you get hurt and disappointed, so stop caring. Be apathetic. Walk through life shrugging your shoulders.
That’s one pagan way to live in our humanity, but Christian, don’t do that. And beware the Stoic mindset because it’s out there. But the Christian way to wrestle with the human condition is to pray.
Don’t be anxious, but instead pray. Tell it to God. You don’t have control to make things go the way you want them to, but you know the One who does have control — he is your heavenly Father and he loves you, and so ask him. Ask him. Let your requests be made known to God, and, verse 7, God will always give you exactly what you want — is that what it says?
No, the result of not being anxious, but praying is that “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
There’s a question here about the peace of God. Is this God’s peace, as in the peace that God has in himself? Or is this peace from God that he gives us? I take this latter view. I think this is the experience of inner peace that God gives us from himself as the God of peace.
And this kind of peace is greater than human thought. That’s what “surpasses all understanding” means there.
And this is important because a lot of times, in our anxiety, in life, we want to figure things out. We put our minds to work and we try to do the math and we think, think, think — but the peace God gives us transcends our ability to think. It means we don’t have to have it all figured out and we can still rest. We may not get the things we’re asking for, but we have peace.
And, as it turns out, this peace is what we’ve needed most all along. It’s a peace that guards our hearts and minds from anxiety. We know we’re gonna be okay. It’s gonna be okay. Even as we keep knocking, we keep asking, we keep telling it to God. And we do that with everything.
I want us, each of us, to be this kind of person. I want us to be this kind of people. When someone is carrying anxiety, it is always a fair question to ask them if they’d prayed about it. My great-grandfather used to love to sing the song, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.” And that first stanza just nails it:
“What a Friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer!”
If you’re anxious about something but you have not prayed about it, start there.
And an even better way to go about this as a church, is that when we meet anxiety in one another, rather than just refer people to God, let’s take people to God.
This is why it’s so helpful to pray with one another on the spot. It’s not just so that you don’t forget to pray, but it’s that you’re taking the thing to God right away and you’re bringing you’re brother or sister with you. Because Jesus is close. He’s right there. Tell him about it.
Be a person of abundant joy.
Be a person of obvious gentleness.
Be a person of inner peace.
Church, however many wins we get, character matters more. Let’s be this kind of people in Christ Jesus.
That’s what brings us to the Table.
The Table
The last three words in verse 7, “in Christ Jesus,” puts everything in perspective. The character we’ve been talking about is blood-bought. We don’t become this kind of people in order to earn God’s love, but this is because of God’s love. God has shown his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us! And his goal is to make us like Christ. He’s still working on me.
