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Guest (Male): With a practical exercise when some perspective is needed, here's Pastor Thom Keller.

Pastor Thom Keller: When you get upset about something, picture yourself taking one step in the heaven at the end of your life, wrapping your arms around Jesus, looking over his shoulders into the glories of heaven, seeing all the saints there with you.

And then, as you do that, turn around one last time and look back across that veil once more, back to earth, back to the issue that you were upset about. Do you think you would really care anymore from that perspective?

Guest (Male): Perhaps you've heard the little ditty, to live above with saints we love, that will certainly be glory. But to live below with saints we know, well, that's another story. We're glad you've joined us on today's Study the Word with Pastor Thom Keller. We're making our way through the book of Philippians. In chapter four, there's practical help to be found for handling disagreements between saints we know. But Pastor Thom begins with these thoughts to ponder.

Pastor Thom Keller: There are four deep thoughts that I thought you might want to ponder this morning. Here's the first one: Only borrow money from pessimists, they don't expect it back. The second is a real deep question: How can you tell when you're out of invisible ink?

Third, depression is merely anger without enthusiasm. Pretty interesting, isn't it? Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm. And here's the last one: A conscience is what hurts when all your other parts feel good. A conscience is what hurts when all your other parts feel good.

Deep ponderables, but in today's lesson, Paul gives us a really deep thought to ponder: What kind of rewards will we get in heaven? And what will we do with those rewards? So, let's dig in. Because we had two teachings primarily on how to discern God's call in your life, followed by Palm Sunday, followed by Easter Sunday, I thought it might be good to do a quick review on the background of the book of Philippians.

We said this in the very beginning, but Paul wrote 13 or 14 of the epistles, uncertain on that one extra one because many aren't sure who wrote Hebrews. I personally feel that he did, many do, but it's 13 or 14 books. Of those 13 or 14 books, four of those books he wrote while he was in prison. Those are known as the prison epistles, and they are Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and the very short letter to Philemon.

Now, Philippians was Paul's final prison epistle. And it was on Paul's second missionary journey that he first visited Philippi, around 52 AD. And just for your insight, many believe that Paul was born around the year zero, and so Paul is about 52 in the year 52. And he dies somewhere between 60 and 65 by Rome, by beheading. So, that is about 10 years ahead.

And the reason Paul went to Philippi was because of a vision that he had. In Acts 16:6, we read about that: "Next, Paul and Silas traveled through the area of Phrygia and Galatia, because the Holy Spirit had prevented them from preaching the word in the province of Asia at that time. Then coming to the borders of Mysia, they headed north for the province of Bithynia, but again the spirit of Jesus did not let them go there. So instead, they went on through Mysia to the seaport of Troas."

That night, Paul had a vision, a dream of sorts. A man from Macedonia, Northern Greece, was standing there pleading with him: "Come over to Macedonia and help us." That is where Philippi is. "So we decided to leave for Macedonia at once, having concluded that God was calling us to preach the good news there." And that is why Paul went to Philippi.

And Philippi was a strategically located city for the Roman Empire. It was located on a pass that connected Europe to Asia. Additionally, Philippi was deemed to be a Roman colony, which meant that Rome would send veteran retired Roman soldiers to live in that city, usually 300 of them, along with their wives and children.

The reason is that these cities that were determined to be Roman colonies were so strategically located and yet far away from Rome that they wanted to ensure that it would not turn against Rome. And so, as a result, they would send usually 300 retired Roman soldiers who were very proud of their citizenship to these cities. And as a consequence, Latin would be the Roman primary language spoken in these colonies.

Roman dress was a fashion, Roman customs would have been observed. And one other important distinction concerning Paul's letter to the Philippians is that in this book, Paul does not address any grave concerns as he does in most of his letters. So with that quick review, let's dig in in chapter four.

Chapter 4:1: "Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stay true to the Lord. I love you and long to see you, dear friends, for you are my joy and the crown I receive for my work." Some translations say, "You are my joy and reward." King James, New Living: "You are my joy and crown." When we hear crown, we typically picture this.

Now in Greek, there are two different words that can be used for crown. The first word is diadem, which is a royal crown, like you see here. But that word isn't used here. The word stephanos is used, which was the crown awarded to athletes in the Greek games. That is the word used here when Paul says, "You are my crown."

Now, this crown was made of wild olive leaves interwoven with green parsley and bay leaves. And in Paul's mind, no doubt also was the banquet that would have accompanied the presentation of these victor's crowns and the great joy that would accompany these banquets. In our culture today, think trophy.

The Bible addresses this same idea elsewhere, First Peter 5:4. It says, "And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away." And First Thessalonians chapter 2, we read this: "After all, what gives us hope and joy? What will be our proud reward and crown as we stand before our Lord Jesus when he returns? It is you. Yes, you are our pride and joy."

Paul says to the Thessalonians, "You are my crown. You will be my crown as I stand before the Lord." And as a very practical application, every husband here this morning think long and hard on this thought. Will your wife stand before the throne of God someday as your trophy, as your reward, with you being acknowledged for having loved and nurtured God's daughter, protecting her, caring for her, washing her by the word of God as you present her one day to your Heavenly Father, which we're told will happen according to Ephesians chapter 5?

It says, "For husbands, this mean love your wives just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God's word. He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault."

The Bible says that we are to present our wives to the Lord Jesus Christ on that day in splendor, not having spot or wrinkle, but holy without any blemish, because you as her spiritual leader washed her by the water of God's word, because you as her spiritual leader nurtured her, cared for her, protected her. Again in verse 26 in the ESV it says, "That he might sanctify, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word."

You know, I've said this in before, but I imagine that as husbands when we get to heaven knowing how men think, we're going to want to rattle off a list of all the important things we did for the Lord while we were down here, the way men would prioritize, you know, one, two, three. And I picture starting my list and Jesus with that ever-present smile just kind of pushing that aside and saying, "Thom, that's okay. We'll get to that. There's nothing wrong with those things. But how did you treat your wife?"

"Well, but I did this and I did this and I did this." "We'll get there. But my first question: How did you treat your wife?" Because, men, I don't think there is a higher calling that God has on our lives. There is no higher ministry he calls us to than the ministry we have to our wives.

I've often said if you don't have a marriage worth keeping, you won't have a ministry worth having. If you don't have a marriage worth keeping, you won't have a ministry worth having. As husbands, I hope and pray that every one of us loves our wives, nurtures our wives, washes our wives by the water of God's word that enables her to one day stand before the Lord Jesus Christ as your trophy wife.

You know, in our culture, trophy wife has a bad connotation. But in heaven, it holds a beautiful meaning. It's you, husbands, receiving a crown for having loved your wife, cherishing your wife, being your wife's spiritual leader, washing her by the water of God's word. But there are other crowns, other rewards that are promised as well.

A high one is in Daniel chapter 12. It says, "Those who are wise will shine as bright as the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness will shine like stars forever." Those who lead others to Christ will shine like stars forever. Every Saturday, the evangelism team goes out, they're polishing those stars, they're adding stars to that promise someday.

In fact, the Bible says that you will be rewarded for every single act of kindness that you do. Matthew 10:41, Jesus said: "The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward. The one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person's reward. And here it is: whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is my disciple, truly I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward."

And what will we do with these rewards? What will we do with these crowns? We will lay them at the feet of Jesus, acknowledging that he is the sole source and reason for anything good we have ever done in our lives, ever at any time. It all goes to Jesus.

Revelation 4:10 says, "The 24 elders fall down and worship the one sitting on the throne, the one who lives forever and ever, and they lay their crowns before the throne and say: 'You are worthy, oh Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and they exist because you created what you pleased.'"

And Jesus tells us that we should be concerned about our crowns. In Revelation 3:11, it says this: "I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown." And believe it or not, the Bible even tells us when we will get our crowns and what they will look like, what these rewards will look like.

In First Corinthians 3:11, it says: "For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have, Jesus Christ. Anyone who builds in that foundation may use a variety of materials. You have people here, they have the right foundation, Jesus is their foundation. But they use a variety of materials. Some use gold, silver, jewels. Others use wood, hay or straw."

"But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person's work has any value. If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward, a crown. But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flame."

There will come a time that will test all that we've done with our lives. Did it have eternal value? This isn't a time of giving account for our sins; our sins are paid for at the cross. This is just receiving rewards. Did our life on earth account for anything that had eternal value? If so, you'll be rewarded. But for all those things we did that were really about us, just for us, it's all going to burn. It will have no eternal value.

So, what will be the basis of your reward? Well, let me give some examples in the church here. If you're a Sunday school teacher, your crown will be your Sunday school class, your students. If you're involved in Awana with Kingdom kids, your crown will be those children. Maybe some family or person that you helped financially, that'll be your crown.

Remember, if you give even a cup of cold water, you will not lose your reward. Maybe someone that you visited in the hospital or prison, maybe it's a family member that you cared for through a long illness. It will be your wife, your husband, your children, your crown, what you invested in them for the Lord. And here in the book of Philippians chapter four, Paul says that this Philippian church itself is his crown.

Verse 1 it says: "Therefore, my brothers whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved." "You are my reward and my crown," he says. And then Paul transitions from this glorious heavenly moment to a shameful, very carnal disagreement between two ladies that had taken place in the Philippian church.

Philippians 4:2: "Now I appeal to Euodia and Syntyche, please, because you belong to the Lord, settle your disagreement. I ask you, my true partner, to help these two women, for they worked hard with me in telling others the good news. They worked along with Clement and the rest of my coworkers, whose names are written in the book of life."

Paul says, "Settle your disagreements." Wow, can you imagine getting to heaven and meeting these two? By the way, Euodia means prosperous journey, and Syntyche means happy chance. Kind of positive names for what's going on here. But can you imagine seeing them in heaven, walking up to them and say, "Hey, I read about you guys in the book of Philippians. So what was that all about, anyway? What were you guys so upset about?"

My picture of Euodia would be, oh, she will say, "I was all wrong." And Syntyche, standing by her side, I picture her saying, "No, I was in the wrong. No, I was wrong. No, I was wrong." And you know, I suspect that there will be only two answers that we will offer in heaven concerning every disagreement we had while on earth, between parents, siblings, neighbors, spouses, bosses, coworkers.

Only one of two responses will come across our lips when people say, "What was that all about?" This is what they'll be: either, "I was in the wrong," or, "You know, it really didn't matter. You know, it really didn't matter." In heaven, do you really think you will still care that your sister got more of your parents' inheritance than you did? Or that Carl got the promotion at work instead of you? Or that you had to wear a mask for a couple months during the pandemic?

So practically, practically, how can the reality of that thought of the future help you here and now? Listen, when you get upset about something, picture yourself taking one step in the heaven at the end of your life, wrapping your arms around Jesus, looking over his shoulders into the glories of heaven, seeing all the saints there with you.

And then, as you do that, turn around one last time and look back across that veil once more, back to earth, back to the issue that you were upset about. Do you think you would really care anymore from that perspective? Folks, that is a practical tool. You get wound up about something, leave this world. Take one step into heaven, look into Jesus' eyes, wrap your arms around him, and then look back. It's not going to be that important. It just doesn't.

But these two women didn't do that. They're still on earth, and they're still arguing. Verses 1 to 3, he says: "I appeal to Euodia and Syntyche, please, because you belong to the Lord, settle your disagreement. I ask you, my true partner, to help these two women, for they worked hard with me in telling others the good news. They worked along with Clement and the rest of my coworkers, whose names are written in the book of life."

Now, do we know anything about these two women? Not much, except we're told here that they worked side by side with Paul as missionaries, telling others about Jesus. What was their point of contention? Well, the Cambridge Bible Commentary says this: "Perhaps their activity and the reputation it won them had occasioned the temptation to self-esteem and mutual jealousy, a phenomenon unhappily not rare in the modern church."

Lightfoot remarks on the prominence of women in the narrative of the evangelization of Macedonia, found in Acts 16 and 17. Lightfoot gives proof that the social position and influence of Macedonian women was higher in Macedonia than in most ancient communities. Vincent the commentator says the position afforded women in Macedonia was exceptional. In Greece, generally, a woman's standing was inferior.

But in Macedonia, statues were erected to women by public agencies. And in Macedonian inscriptions, records of male proper names are found formed on the mother's name instead of the father's. And also unique is that Macedonian women were permitted to hold property. Very rare. But how embarrassing for these women to have this squabble having been read in hundreds of thousands of churches for nearly 2,000 years.

And Paul admonishes them by saying, "I beseech you, two precious women, put this behind you." And here's a practical application for us. May I suggest that you and I make it a goal to get to the end of our lives—take this seriously, folks—to get to the end of our lives with as few unresolved issues with others as is humanly possible, as far as it depends on us to settle them.

Romans 12:18 says this beautifully: "If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone." Make this your goal to get to the end of your life with as few unresolved issues as possible. Barnes, a commentator, says of this Clement that it speaks of, Barnes says most of the ancients say that this was Clement of Rome, one of the primitive fathers. Barnes says but there's no evidence of this.

The name Clement was common, and there is no improbability that supposing there might have been a preacher of this name in the church of Philippi. But the timing could work out for this to be the Clement of Rome. Clement of Rome was born in 35 AD, which makes this a possibility. Alford the commentary says that the Clement here was a Philippian, not necessarily Clement, Bishop of Rome.

But Origen, who was born in 185, identifies the Clement here with the famous Bishop of Rome. So, you get to heaven, we'll figure out if that was him or not. And of these three and the rest of Paul's coworkers, he says their names are written in the book of life.

Guest (Male): We're going through Philippians one verse at a time on Study the Word with Pastor Thom Keller. You can hear this message again anytime of the day or night online at ccleb.com or subscribe to our YouTube channel at Calvary Chapel Lebanon. If you'd rather have a CD copy, call us at 717-273-5633.

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