5 Marks of Spiritual Stability: Part I - Unceasing Worship

Being anxious has become an art form. It has been mastered by every walk of life and has become a contemporary topic that is encouraged as a coping mechanism in times of uncertainty. It is a familiar friend who encourages us to fixate our gaze upon the coming events of life with trepidation. It encourages us to have sleepless nights plagued by haunting questions that loom in our minds. And when we seek to flee from it, it deceptively connives us into thinking more upon our need to escape it and therefore has won our focus upon it.

However, anxiety is a deceitful foe of our own invention that rears its ugly head from our own hearts. It is a mirror of the state of our soul and reveals the true focus of our person. Yet it is not to be suppressed but annihilated. It is not to be called upon but cut from our core. We are to be anxious for nothing. It should be a term we know of, but to not know personally, and be deaf to its piercing call. For our joy lies not in it, but in the savior who redeemed us from its sinful clutches.

Philippians 4:4-7 ⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! ⁵ Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. 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 comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

The church of Philippi was a church forged from the roots of paganism. It was infested with Greek and Roman culture and never had enough Jews to be able to have a synagogue. Yet within this city a church was planted and filled with all classes of people. In Acts 16 we see Lydia, a wealthy woman whom came to Christ and whose home was used for the church. In the same chapter we see the Roman centurion whose citizenship to Rome was radically altered to citizenship in heaven upon an earthquake and the testimony of the gospel. Thus, the joy of the salvation of his entire family is etched into the pages of Scripture as a testimony that salvation is cross cultural and can pierce the most wretched of hearts. The church was thus filled with slaves and soldiers, wealthy and the poor, and Jew and Greek. It was a testimony of the how Christ can unite, and knit together, a people for himself of which the world cries to separate. Their citizenship in heaven transcends the color of their skin, the money in their pocket, or the paganism of which they were born. For all were saved by grace.

Paul writes to the poorest of all the churches at the end of his two-year imprisonment in Rome. They knew of his dedication to Christ through his imprisonment in Phillipi and saw first hand the physical repercussions of his beatings in their hometown. However, they were also being dealt the blow of persecution and death of which was far from its peak.

Leading up to Chapter 4 Paul spoke of his love of the work of Christ upon their lives, the supremacy of Christ in preaching, the call for Christ to be premier in all things, the humility of Christ himself upon the cross, and the sanctification Christ provides through faithful obedience to His Word. We know with absolute certainty that Christ was on the mind of Paul. He was the first and the last, the chancellor of the faith, the monarch of heaven, the centrifuge of righteousness, and the epicenter of joy. Paul knew the effects of sin all to well, yet it was a mere piece of straw compared to the infinite delight found in Christ Jesus. Thus, his cry to the church of Philipi was to remember Christ and rejoice in Christ alone, despite the afflictions of the depraved planet.

Thus amidst this strife Paul echoed a gift from Christ. Spiritual Stability.Despite the onslaught of hate upon the redeemed, Christ offered a way to stand firm.

Philippians 4:1 Therefore, my beloved brethren whom I long to see, my joy and crown, in this way stand firm in the Lord, my beloved.

5 Marks of Spiritual Stability

1. Unceasing Worship

Philippians 4:4 ⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!

Rejoice. Paul uses this term 8 times in Philippians and 25 times in all of his writings. It is the constant cry of his ministry to not suppress the souls response to Christ which is joy. It is not a selfish declaration of vain works, but a focused worship upon the one who breathed eternal life into the lungs of dead and depraved men.

The word Rejoice, (Kairete), is an imperative present active, meaning that it is a command for the redeemed to always be rejoicing. In what? IN THE LORD! (Kairete en kurio) REJOICE IN THE LORD. It is not the rejoice of self promotion or vain Glory but rather the Christ, the only son of God. The deceitful cry of the world clammers for us to rejoice in our personal accolades and to follow our own heart. And in churches across the globe we are called to give ourselves a spiritual pat on the back and rejoice for our choice of Christ and of life.

But Paul brings his call to rejoicing to the crescendo. Rejoicing in Christ's immutable person, his sovereign power, and his saving Grace. Christ is the supreme focus and not self.

In Addition this Rejoicing is commanded to Never Cease. Rejoice in the Lord, ALWAYS! Always means always. (Pantote) At all times. Never Ceasing. Thus, in times of heartache, affliction, persecution, temptation, and strife, Christ is always to be worshipped, and that worship is the product of joy in Christ. It is the unceasing worship of him that smashes the scales of adversity, and refines the sanctification of the humble.

But Paul doesn’t stop there. He says Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! This is the final time he mentions this term in the epistle and you can tell how important joy is to him. He hammers home this command of joy, for in his own life it destroyed his vanity and generated a boasting, a worship, that is in Christ alone.

It is a detriment to delineate the commands of Scripture, yet some seek to say they are not a list of do’s and don’ts. This is done to elevate self over Savior out of a fear of legalism. However they are a righteous list! Remember this is not your Mom or boss giving you a list of chores to do, but rather the creator of the universe commanding you for your protection from evil and sanctification of Christ.

Far too often do we take the commands of the Word and take affront to their call, but we are not rebellious 10-year olds, we are children of the most high God. And this is a command for joy! It is not a command for lament but joy in the victory of Christ over sin, and His resurrection from the dead.

This is not a worship to merely drown out the clanging gong of persecution, but in spite of it. Paul knew of the sinister forces that plagued the church and knew of his brethrens dealings with it. And thus he commands their UNCEASING Worship of a Holy God. This was not a new command for the soldiers of Christ, but rather one that has comforted and dominated the hearts of the followers of the one true God.

Isaiah 41:15-16 ¹⁵ "Behold, I have made you a new, sharp threshing sledge with double edges; You will thresh the mountains and pulverize them, And will make the hills like chaff. ¹⁶ "You will winnow them, and the wind will carry them away, And the storm will scatter them; But you will rejoice in the Lord, You will glory in the Holy One of Israel.

Trials and adversity have struck every man who has walked this earth, and the answer has always been the same. Rejoice in the Lord, and never cease. Paul understood full well what the Philippians were up against, for he tasted his own blood in their pagan city. Thus he pillages the hearts of fear of man, and directs them to a love of Christ. He has thus reminded them of the power and sovereignty of our Savior, and thus reminds them that despite how hare the world hits you, it never surpasses the greatness, glory, and sovereignty of Christ alone. For Unceasing Worship is a Fruit of the stable Christian.