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GRACE and GRATITUDE. Philippians 4:5-7. 01/24/2021. #18.
Philippians 4:5-7 [New King James Version]
5 Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. 6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
- Attitude check
- Four levels of struggle within us for attitude control:
- Temperament – each person has an personality quotient determined by genetics, hormones, influences, etc.
- Emotions – emotional and mental well-being can be influenced by others, events, illness, personality, perspective…
- Training – what one is taught and what accepts to be true impacts attitudes
- Outside pressures – circumstances, society, peers, and family impact attitude
- Natural demeanor determines level of struggle to maintain a proper attitude (intense vs. mild demeanor, optimism vs. pessimism, jealous vs. gracious, easily offended vs. placid, forgiving vs. vengeful; short tempered vs. forbearing…)
- Paul states that we can choose to have a Christ-like attitude (we can control our responses)
- More difficult for some than others
- Paul COMMANDS that we show grace
- We can control emotions and temperament
- Let all men see your GRACIOUS DEFERENCE
- Difficult word to translate into Eng. – translated as moderation, graciousness, gentleness; graceful forbearance
- Means forbearing and deferring to others
- Philippians 2:3 thinking on others first
- Not seeking the preeminence
- We have a tendency to want to promote ourselves and be first
- Seek the welfare of others above self
- John 13:1-17 being a servant of all (serving what is in their best interest; not always what they want)
- The Lord is near = with us, helping us, watching us, coming
- Do not be ANXIOUS (worry, fearful, burdened with care…)
- A difficult command = even Paul was anxious about Titus going to Corinth or Epaphroditis’s illness
- There are anxious times and then there is anxiety
- Trust in Lord means not fearing men or situations
- Four levels of struggle within us for attitude control:
- Paul’s remedy for anxiety
- Three steps to peace:
- Prayer and supplication = Paul admonishes us to continue to pray and beseech God in all things
- Expecting God to answer in his way and time
- James 4 submissive and not selfish praying
- Thanksgiving = God wants us to be grateful for who he is and even for difficult circumstances (I Thessalonians 5:18-20; II Corinthians 12; Romans 8:28)
- Believers are often ungrateful, taking goodness for granted and fussing about what we are lacking (Philippians 2:12-14)
- An ungrateful spirit is an affront to God
- Make your requests to God = talk to God; don’t try to go it alone and then seek God when desperate
- Prayer and supplication = Paul admonishes us to continue to pray and beseech God in all things
- Paul’s solution is constant communication with God where we are always praising him, sharing our and other needs with him and thanking him (salvation, family, home, food, trials…)
- Three steps to peace:
- Tranquility in the midst of turmoil
- An humble, thankful, submissive believer has a peace and joy that the world can’t have or ever understand
- Through faith in the midst of evil and pressure we have peace
- God is in charge and we trust him to lead us
- God not only knows our situation, he ordains it
Key verse: John 13:1-17
1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. 2 And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him, 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, 4 rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. 5 After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. 6 Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, “Lord, are You washing my feet?” 7 Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.” 8 Peter said to Him, “You shall never wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” 9 Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!” 10 Jesus said to him, “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.” 11 For He knew who would betray Him; therefore He said, “You are not all clean.” 12 So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. 16 Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.