This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

I want to welcome you to Daily Drive Time Devotions. Hi, this is Pastor Tom, and
we are in week four, chapter four of our look at Philippians, the last chapter
in Philippians. It is a short book, but wow, is it packed with things that talk
about how God can work in new ways, joyful ways in our lives.

When we talk about joy to the world, we have to realize that that begins with
our individual lives, and Philippians shows us how to experience that kind of
joy. We found out as we walked through this book that joy isn't found in an
instant. It's found in a God-given process of life.

We've reminded ourselves that the places where joy is most often stolen from us
are the very places that God wants to give joy to us. In chapter one, we talked
about the fact that God gives us joy in the midst of our interactions with
people and with problems in our lives. Those can steal our joy, but that's also
a place where we can find joy.

We found out in chapter two that when we look at our own potential and the work
that we do, we can either lose joy or find joy there. Last week in chapter
three, we talked about our past accomplishments and our future plans, places
where you can either lose joy or find joy, depending on how you react to them.
And now we jump into chapter four, and in chapter four, again, there are two
major areas where you can either lose joy or find joy.

Your thoughts and your money, your thoughts and your finances. Now we are
getting down to it. These are places where we often lose joy, but it's
incredible to see as we look through this chapter that they're also the very
places where we can find joy.

Now, before we jump into the first few verses of Philippians four, have you
noticed something somewhat strange about this book? Philippians is called the
letter of joy. It talks about joy throughout, but right alongside that joy,
we've also seen imprisonment of Paul, jealousy of the Christians, the threat of
execution, a sickness almost to the point of death, deprivation, spiritual
danger, betrayal, failure.

It's a reminder of the fact that joy is not having perfect circumstances. Joy is
not smile and the world smiles with you. Joy is not every cloud has a silver
lining.

Some clouds, let's just be honest, some clouds do not have a silver lining. They
are big black dark thunder clouds, which are immediately followed by another big
black dark thunder cloud, not a serious silver lining in sight. Joy is not about
having perfect circumstances.

Joy is applying God's truth and power to our imperfect and sometimes terrible
circumstances to realize right in the midst of the storms, God is there. These
next three days, we're going to talk about how you find joy in your thoughts.
That's where the battle is often won or lost.

How to defeat three primary enemies of joyful thinking. Let me read for you
Philippians chapter four verses one to five. "Therefore, my brothers, you whom I
love and long for, my joy and crown, that is how you should stand firm in the
Lord, dear friends.

I plead with Eodia and I plead with Syntyche to agree with each other in the
Lord. Yes, and I ask you, loyal Yoke fellow, 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. Rejoice in the Lord always.

I will say it again. Rejoice. Let your gentleness be evident to all.

The Lord is near. " In these verses, Paul talks about one of the things that
causes us to lose joy in our thinking. He talks about attacking anger.

He's talking about anger that was resulting in the Philippian church from
personal conflicts, and that's a real joy stealer. If you've ever had a conflict
with someone and you can't solve it, you can't figure it out, it tends to steal
your joy. And he talks in these verses about three choices that you and I can
make every day in life to insulate your life from anger.

It begins with a commitment. He says you need to live in harmony in the Lord. He
urges these two women who have been struggling, arguing in the Philippian
church, to learn to live in harmony in the Lord, to find the point of agreement.

And that takes a commitment. You commit yourself. I will seek the common ground
and not the battleground.

And this all grows out of the way that you value others. Paul reminds these
women that they have shared his struggle for the cause of the gospel. Don't let
one mistake he's saying cause you to stop valuing that which is most important
in your relationship with one another.

So seek unity, not uniformity. Don't try to be the same, but seek unity. Learn
the lesson from the symphony orchestra.

In a symphony, you don't have to be playing the same note, or even the same
instrument to be in harmony. But you do have to be playing in the same key. And
you do have to be following the same leader.

You seek this unity in the Lord. To agree with each other, it says in verse 2,
in the Lord. He's the leader.

Same key, we have the same purpose, same leader, Jesus Christ. You make a
commitment to live in harmony with other people. It begins there.

But then there's a second decision we have to make, and that's the decision of
confrontation. Paul writes to a friend and says, "My loyal yoke fellow, would
you help these women? " Now, who is this person, this loyal yoke fellow?

There's all kinds of ideas, all kinds of thoughts about who this might be in the
Philippian church. The truth of the matter is, we don't know who it is. It's
just a friend of Paul's.

And by the way, it's okay to say we don't know sometimes. We don't know what
they were arguing about either, but we do know there was an argument going on,
and there was a friend of Paul in this church that he was asking to help. And
he's saying to this friend, don't just let it go.

Don't just accept it. Confront it. Help these women.

Get involved in helping others. That old phrase, "It's none of my business when
two friends are in a confrontation. " Paul is writing and saying, "Yes, it is
your business.

" The ministry of reconciling Christians to one another is an incredibly great
ministry. If you know of brothers in Christ or sisters in Christ who are in
disharmony with one another, you have, Paul is saying here, a responsibility to
be involved in helping them to get along again. And in order to do that, you
have to confront it.

You have to say, "Here's the situation. How can I help? " Confrontation doesn't
need to be an angry thing.

It should be a gentle thing. But you have to be honest about it. Compassion
doesn't turn its back on conflict.

It confronts it and it defeats it. Now, we don't know anything about the issue,
as I said a moment ago. We don't know which side is right or wrong.

We don't know the name of Paul's friend. The fact is, the truth that they were
battling is what we do know. And that became the most important thing.

That's what always happens in a conflict. However important you think your side
is or they think their side is, when two believers get involved in this kind of
a conflict, the only thing that's really important is the fact you're involved
in a conflict and everyone loses. When we as believers are mean-spirited towards
one another, that's game over.

Everyone loses. You lose your heart for Jesus. You lose your witness in front of
other people.

And so Paul writes and says, "Help these women. Confront this. " But then
there's a third key to attack anger and that is the character key.

We have to have a commitment to live in harmony. We have to confront it, help
each other. But also we have to have character.

And the character that's reflected here is the joy character. "Rejoice always,"
the theme of the book. But I want you to notice in these verses how Paul says
that happens.

"Rejoice in the Lord always," in verse 4. I'll say it again, "Rejoice. " And
then he says in verse 5, "Let your gentleness be evident to all.

The Lord is near. " Now there is the kind of character that can attack anger.
The key character he's talking about here is gentleness.

"Let your gentleness be evident to all. " Let the fact that you love the Lord
Jesus Christ and you have a strength in that be evident to everybody else. Let
it be gentleness.

I read somewhere recently, and I agree with it, that 90% of the friction in
everyday life is caused by the wrong tone of voice. We let a harsh tone come in
rather than a gentle tone. I mean, you just take two words like "all right.

" Your husband or wife, if you're married, says to you, "Hey, would you like to
go out on a date maybe sometime this week? " The way you say those two words
makes a big difference. If you say, "All right," and there's excitement in your
voice, then they feel one thing.

If you say, "All right," and it feels like it's the last thing in the world you
want to do, you've used the same two words, but the gentleness is not there. So
the character that's needed is gentleness. Jesus was gentle.

He wants us to be gentle. That attacks anger in relationships. The key word
here, I believe, is "evident.

" Let people see it. Let it be evident to all. Someone on our research team for
the book of Philippians wrote this about this particular verse.

Verse five is important to me personally because I tend to wear my emotions on
my sleeve, especially at work, which is not right. My emotions are often based
on my pride, I have to admit, not a gentle heart or humility. I need to work on
this.

And reading these two verses this morning was perfect. Well, maybe they'll be
perfect for you. Maybe they'll get you ready for this day in some way that you
would not have been ready otherwise.

The character is gentleness. The word is evident. Let other people see it.

But the key motivation is the Lord is near. There is a sense of security in that
that brings gentleness. Now, what does this mean, the Lord is near?

Some people think it means Jesus is near us all the time, and that is true. But
the way that Paul uses this phrase here has more the idea that Jesus is
returning again at any moment. His returning is near.

And so because of that, you and I can live life with security. If you know you
have a strength in your life, you're more easily able to be gentle. I remember
when my kids were little, five, six years old, we'd wrestle sometimes.

And when we were wrestling, they're that age. I was very gentle with them. I
could easily be gentle because I knew I could still take them at that age.

I knew I could beat them if I really wanted to. But because I knew I was
stronger, I knew I had a strength. I could easily choose to be gentle.

In fact, I could even let them win sometimes. I had to. They'd cry if I didn't.

I could let them win sometimes because I had a strength that allowed me to be
gentle. And Paul is reminding us here we have a strength, the strength of hope,
the strength of the fact that this world is not all there is, the strength of
the fact that Jesus is coming soon, the strength of the fact that you have a
champion nearby. And when you remember that, it creates a security, a strength
that brings gentleness.

Gentleness grows and flows out of strength. You want to attack anger? Paul's
reminder here is you've got to have the right commitment.

It's a commitment to live in harmony with others. It's easy to be angry with
someone. That's just the lazy, easy thing to do.

It happens naturally. It takes a commitment to live in harmony with people. Paul
says you've got to confront the problem.

And maybe there's someone you need to help. Or maybe there's a problem in your
own life you need to confront. That's where it gets tough.

In order to do that, you and I need the character that only Jesus can give, the
character of gentleness. And let it be evident because you have the strength of
knowing that he is near. This is one, I don't know about you, but this is one
that I need to pray about.

Not just read the verses and say, "Okay, that's a logical thing to do. " I need
to connect relationally with Jesus Christ about this. Let's do that right now.

And just take a moment in your heart to say to him, "Jesus, you know my heart on
this one. " And whatever level of struggle with anger you have, just say, "Here
it is, Jesus. " It's not very often.

It's every day. It's often throughout the day. "Jesus, I need you.

I need you to help me to have a gentle spirit rather than an angry spirit. " "I
need you to help me to have a sense of security in the fact that you're near. "
"I need you to help me with a friend or group of friends who are struggling with
a conflict.

" "Help me to have wisdom and to know what to do so that instead of increasing
the conflict, I decrease it. " "Jesus, you came into this world and you were
gentle. " "You came into this world and you showed humility.

" "Help me to do the same. " "Help me to attack anger in my own life first. "
"And then give me the opportunity to help other people to be reconciled to one
another.

" "I ask this, Jesus, in your name. Give me wisdom, I pray. Amen.

" Well, join us tomorrow. We're going to continue our look through this great
chapter, Philippians chapter 4. Look at verses 6 and 7.