Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayer for attention to Paul's epistle to the Philippines. Paul's epistle to the Philippines,
chapter four, is page 1093 in the Bible Box Bibles. Chapter four and verse five for
our text. Let your moderation be known
unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Philippians chapter 4 and verse
5. Our Lord Jesus Christ taught
that we should not make our religion to be seen of men in a way that
we're seeking that praise and honor that comes from men. He reproved the scribes and Pharisees
of his day, that they gave their arms and sounded a trumpet before
them, that they for a pretense made long prayers and standing
at the corners of the streets. He exhorted that they And the
true disciples of the Lord should take themselves into their closets
and pray unto God that is in secret and to have that which
is a religion that has praise of God and not of men. But what is very, very evident
from our Lord's teaching and from the apostles is that grace
and blessing that we receive of God in secret is actually
shown in our lives. It does profoundly affect how
we live and what we do. And many that do not read the
word of God and even are hostile to the things of God will then
see the lives of those who do believe and will glorify God
and receive the message of salvation or the message of the reality
of the work of God in the sinner's heart by what they see. And so throughout the Word there
are many exhortations as to how we should actually walk. This
is one reason why we read the portion we did in 1 Peter and
chapter 2. because we there read of what
the people of God are. In verse 9, ye are a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood and holy nation, a peculiar people that ye should
show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of nature's
darkness into his marvellous light. And a people that In time
past were not a people, but are now the people of God, who had
not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. And it may be,
some joining with us this morning, you say, well, now I am not the
people of God. I have not yet obtained mercy.
But every one of God's children walked this path, that once they
were not, once they had not obtained mercy, once they were seekers
of it, and then brought to be finders and to realise the blessing
of being a people for whom Christ has died and that he has wrought
and worked in our hearts to bring us to serve him here below. Well, the apostle here speaks
of the Lord in 1 Peter chapter 2 where we read of how the Lord
acted, how he walked here below. And he says that we are called
to walk in a similar path. Christ has left us an example
that we should follow his steps. Who did no sin, neither was guile
found in his mouth. And so when we realise the path
of our Lord, his sufferings, and the way that he walked here
below, then it should not be something that is insignificant
in our lives. but it should be something that
is prominent, that we do show forth God's praise. And our text
here speaks of a very specific way, an exhortation given by
the Apostle to the Philippians. Let your moderation be known
unto all men, believers, unbelievers, Jew and Gentile, all men, that
they might know our moderation and the reason the Lord is at
hand. And so I want to look at this
word this morning. This word that not only gives
us a reason that we are to let our moderation be known unto
all men, but also gives us a message in how we are walking that the
Lord is at hand. If we really believe the Lord
is at hand and what is encompassed in that, then our moderation
will show that forth. But we need to look carefully
at this word, and so I want to look firstly at the exhortation,
let your moderation be known unto all men, because we need
to understand what is actually being taught us here. And then secondly, a reason and
a message for the Lord is at hand, what is actually meant
there by the Lord being at hand. And then I want to just look
at the encouragement in the text. We do want to be encouraged in
the ways of the Lord, and especially where we have exhortations, we
know that by God's grace, that grace will be given. And sometimes
we might not see or recognise what the Lord has wrought for
us, especially if it's in a, we might say, a small way. But
there is that encouragement in the text before us. So I want
to look then firstly at the exhortation, let your moderation be known
unto all men. Well, what is the meaning of
this word? And I felt I wanted to look at
the original, the Greek is epikēs, and the meaning of it in Strom's
dictionary is appropriate That is, by implication, mild, gentle
moderation. And our translators have chosen
that particular word, moderation, to put in the text as describing
what the original means. Now, moderation in our English
dictionaries means avoiding excess or extremes, especially in one's
behavior. And then it adds all political
opinion. But it is very obvious avoiding
excess or extremes. What is very interesting, and
I do sometimes check and look and just see how other translations
of the English Bibles have actually translated a word and in many
times it is very similar, but in this case there is a lot of
difference between them. The New King James Version takes
the word gentleness instead of moderation. English Standard
Version uses the word reasonableness. The American Standard Version
uses the word forbearance. And the Good News Bible tells
us that we should have a gentle attitude towards everybody. And the Geneva Bible says that
we should have a patient mind, and the Derby mind Adabi version
and the NIV is gentleness. So they're all taking words around
what is the underlying word, which is appropriate, that is
by implication mild, gentle, moderation. But when we think
of moderation, that then encompasses all of these things in a avoiding
excess or extremes in really every aspect of our lives, not
just in how we are reacting to things, whether extremes of anger
or fretfulness or discontent or being hard and cold. but also in how we actually use
the things of this life, how we are perceived to be seen. And I felt very much that it
can be more powerfully illustrated by the opposite, by the opposite. The exhortation is let your moderation
be known unto all men. But the opposite would be if
we were really obsessed with something. If it was clothes,
obsessed with how we dress, the latest clothes, expensive clothes,
or if we're obsessed with our possessions. cars or things like
that. When I was young, before I was
called by Grace, then we had our cars and the amount of time
and effort we actually spent on them, they really took up
much more than was in moderation. Maybe it is our hobbies as well. It's right, it's good to have
a hobby. But if that becomes all-consuming
of money, of time, then it is not in moderation. We think of
if we were entertaining. You can entertain in a modest
way, a moderate way, but then it can be in a very lavish way. I sometimes think that is how
the Lord was reproving Martha. Martha had the Lord in the house. Maybe she felt such an important
guest, one she really loved, and she did, that she had to
go to the extreme to entertain him lavishly. But it was at the
expense of sitting and hearing his word. She wasn't enjoying
his presence because she was so taken up with the serving
and she even wanted her sister to lose that opportunity of sitting
at his feet and hearing his word. Martha, Martha, thou art careful
and troubled about many things. What a picture the Lord was picturing
and what could have been seen by others that were looking on
and saw these two sisters acting very, very differently. I've
no doubt the Lord would have said, well, just some simple
fare. That would have been quite all
right. Get it quickly done, and then you can hear my word. And so it is in that moderation. No doubt all of us have particular
views on many things that are happening in the nation. But what if we went to an extreme? that we were an activist, that
we were found on the streets, that we were going up to London
and we were making our views known for climate change or for
lockdown or whatever it was, that it was seen instead of in
moderation, instead of just having our view and opinion on it, it
was going to an absolute extreme. And so here is let your moderation
be known unto all men. Paul when he writes to the Corinthians
and he says to them in 1 Corinthians chapter 7 and if we have in verse 29 At
this I say, brethren, the time is short. It remaineth that both
they that have wives as though they had none, that they that
weep as though they wept not, and they that rejoice as though
they rejoiced not, and they that buy as though they possessed
not. And then he says this, and they
that use this world as not abusing it, for the fashion of this world
passeth away." And then he says, but I would have you without
carefulness. And you see the passage that
we have and where our text is, it is really joined between two
verses. In verse four, we have rejoiced
in the Lord always. And again, I say, rejoice. So on one hand there is a rejoicing,
a gladness, an extreme if you like. In the middle with our
text you have moderation. On the other side you've got,
the other extent from rejoicing, you've got one that is worrying
and careful about things. Be careful for nothing but in
everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. let your requests
be made unto God. The people of God are not to
be known to extremes, but the knowledge of God, the reality
of present things and things to come, the Lord's ordering
of all things in this world, and how soon this world was to
pass away, should have an effect upon what we do so that we don't
run to extremes, we don't use this world as abusing it. The Apostle says that having
food and raiment, let us therewith be content. No doubt we all know those that
we would say, well, they fulfill. this word here. A person that
we may know is wealthy. They don't lack for anything.
But we see them when they buy a car, they instead of buying
a new one they might buy a second hand one. They keep it for a
good while too and look after it well. They keep their houses
well. But you think actually with the
money that they had, they could splash out with a brand new car
every three years. They could have all the latest
things. But their whole life, it speaks of moderation. They're not using to excess. And our Lord speaks of those,
and the apostle, to exhort those that are rich to charge them,
that they be rich in good works, in charity, and that they do
not trust in uncertain riches. It is good that we have that
knowledge of the Lord that is, as it were, a real balance in
this world. It holds us as an anchor. It holds us and stabilizes us
so we're not tossed to and fro on every wind of doctrine. We're not tossed to and fro of
our circumstances and the things that happen and the things that
come into our lives. There's that which holds us and
that which is known and seen of all men in this way. Let your
moderation be known unto all men. It comes into many. different things. I remember
years ago when I was just a young Christian and started with a
firm as a draftsman and we were turning the drawings from imperial
measurements to metric and some in the workshops were tremendously
against that and I, the foreman especially, and he took every
opportunity to make my life quite hard. And one night coming back
very late at night from night school, I suddenly had this car
come behind me with great big flashing lights and I thought
it was the police. I pulled over and then they roared
past just laughing. I didn't see who it was but I
got part of the number plate. And then, miles down the road,
suddenly, after going under an overpass, this car came behind
me again. And the realization that this
person, whoever it was, had waited for me. And I tried to shake
them off before I got home. I was quite frightened. Phoned
the police, gave them part of the number. Well, next day at
work, and I mentioned to the girls at work And one of them
went out the back and then came in and they said, you know. And
she told me who it was. And it was this foreman. Well,
I was so angry. I had been so frightened. And
then to find out, he was actually driving the boss's car. And I
went out the back. And I really was so angry with
him. I told him off and told him what
a terrible thing that he had done, how dangerous it was. And
he just stood there, open mouth. But what he said to me afterwards,
he said, you were so angry, but he said, you never swore. And
it was the way that I was held to be angry, like the Lord says,
be angry and sin not. And you know, from that time,
he ended up one of my best friends in that firm. I used to do drawings
for him. and work on my car in his garage. And it was that that he said,
how that I could actually have moderation in my anger. And we are to do that in all
that we do. And the world notices. He did notice. And it had a profound
effect on our relationship from that time. May you be helped in that, to
have that balance and to have grace to serve the Lord in a
way that is noticed by the world. And whatever it is, and I feel
the way the translators have done it in their authorised version
and put moderation, it doesn't just confine it to forbearance
or gentleness. It confines it to each situation,
different situations, that the Christian comes into. And rather
than one extreme, or to the other extreme, he's holding on in a
moderation, as it were, a middle path. Let your moderation be
known unto all men. By nature we are changeable,
and we do react And we do sway from one side to another. And
yet there is to be this that is known of us. Let your moderation
be known unto all men. How do men look upon us? What do they see? What message
is being sent? So I want to notice then in the
second place a reason and a message. Our text says, The Lord is at
hand. The Lord is at hand. Does that
mean the end of the world? Does that mean that he is coming,
that death is upon the road? In one sense, yes. But there's
many aspects of it. Remember the Lord himself said
when he ascended up into heaven, lo, I am with you always, even
unto the end of the world. And of all people, the Lord's
people should realise the Lord is at hand. He is with us. And whatever the situation that
we are in, that that effect and realisation, thou God seest me,
thou art with me, Is it something that is causing us dismay? Here is the Lord at hand with
his grace, with his help. Is it something that we need
that help of the Lord in? Then he is at hand. We need not despair. We need
not be discouraged in that way. The Lord in the gospel according
to Luke, he spoke a parable which really comes to this point. We are to occupy till the Lord
comes. But how are we actually walking? In Luke chapter 12, we read from
verse 42, that the Lord says, and the Lord
says, who then is that faithful and wise steward whom his Lord
shall make ruler over his household to give them their portion of
meat in due season? Blessed is that servant whom
his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing. Of a truth I say
unto you that he will make him ruler over all that he hath,
but And if that servant say in his heart, my Lord delayeth his
coming, in other words, not at hand, and shall begin to beat
the men servants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to
be drunken, there's the lack of moderation, there's the excess. The Lord of that servant will
come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when
he is not aware, and will cut him in sundry, and will appoint
him his portion with the unbelievers. And so we are in that situation
that the Lord will come at death, the Lord will come at the end
of the world, and we are to live here below, realizing that the
Lord is at hand. We do not know what a day or
an hour will bring forth and our actions must give this message
that we believe what the Word says, that we are to be ready,
the Lord will come, that we do walk and do act as if the Lord
did see and know all of our thoughts and all of our actions and everything
that we did. And that should affect how we
do deal with one another, yes, with gentleness and forbearance,
and remembering that the Lord Jesus Christ himself had not
where to lay his head. He had not a home. He had not
a mansion. He had not that which to walk in in great excess. He did not use this world as
it were to make the most of it for temporal ends and needs. His father gave him a work to
do. And even at 12, wish ye not that
I must be about my father's business. And it is with this sense of
the Lord at hand that really is the incentive and a reason
why we should act as we do. When we have in Hebrews 11 that
list of those that walked by faith, that died in faith, We
have the effect of the faith on them in verse 13 of chapter
11. These all died in faith, not
having received the promises, but having seen them afar off,
and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed
that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they
that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And so if we are mindful of that,
if we really are strangers and pilgrims, if we are embracing
the promises that are far off and walking by faith, that will
affect how we are actually walking. And it should be a message for
those that look on, here is a people that though they may have opportunity
to use this world to its full extent, as it were, living life
to the full, yet their eye is upon a world to come. They're
walking by faith. They know the Word says that
this is not our rest, it is polluted, that it is corrupt, that there
is yet a life to come. The Apostle Paul says to the
Corinthians, if in this life only We have hope in Christ with
all men, most miserable. And we may ask ourselves then,
the way that we are living, are we giving the message that it
is in this life only that we have hope? And so we must do
this and that and make the most of it because this is the only
life that we have. So the reason is that the Lord
is at hand. And as one day is with the Lord
as 1,000 years, 1,000 years as one day, we do not know when
the end of the world shall be. We do not know when our death
shall be. And so how we live is to be in
this way that is set before us in our text is in a way of moderation. Let your moderation be known
unto all men, the Lord is at hand. And if that is our incentive
for walking this way, then that should then be the message that
is received by those that view us as well, that actually the
Lord is at hand. This person really believes that
God is, really believes the promise of a life that is to come, really
believes that this life is but as a vapour that passeth soon
away. They do hold these temporal things
with a loose hand. The Apostle Paul himself, he
says that he counted all things but loss. that he might win Christ
and be found in him, not having his own righteousness, which
is of the law, but that which is by faith in Jesus Christ. And the apostle, he says, that
I count not my life even dear unto me. The things that he did,
he did very clear, knowing that absent from the body, present
with the Lord, that he had in heaven a far more enduring and
eternal weight of glory that was waiting for him. And so that
the way that he walked and the way that he sits before the Philippians
here is that they are to walk in a way of moderation and that
be known unto all men. As we said at the beginning,
is to be careful how we are to actually pray to our religion. We are not to seek the praise
of men. But this is a way that is known
because it is how we actually live ourselves. We are exhorted
that we are to give a reason of the hope that is within us
to everyone that asketh us. And it is to be with meekness,
with fear. But why do people ask of the
hope that is within us, if it is not because of things that
they see that we do that they do not, or things that we do
not do that they do? It does affect our daily lives,
how we live, what we say, how we act. No one could accuse us of being
a hypocrite or not living out our religion if we're actually
walking in this way. Let your moderation be known
unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Well, what is the encouragement
that is in this verse for us? One of the things that the Lord
has promised to his dear people is his grace, and if any person
knew that, it would be the Apostle Paul. He was given a thorn in
the flesh, the messenger of Satan, to buffet him, and he sought
the law three times that he might have that taken from him. But
the Lord said to him that my grace is sufficient for thee,
my strength is made perfect, in weakness. And so that was
one of the reasons why Paul was pleased in the infirmities, in
weaknesses, in necessities. When he was weak, then he was
strong. Those things that he walked through
were things that gave him the opportunity, if you like, to
show forth God's help, God's grace. We're here again is a
way that we might say we do show forth God's grace in that moderation. We have something that is a balance,
is a help to us in our lives to live, you might say, in an
even keel, not tossed to and fro. The Apostle was, in a very
practical way, pointing these Philippians. And so when our
Lord says, seekest thou great things for thyself, seek them
not, when we have the apostles saying, can one sit one hand
and one of the other in thy glory, and then arguing amongst themselves
who should be the greatest, the Lord says, If you want a evidence
of grace, if you want a token of my work in you, let it be
known and seen, not in seeking great things, not in seeking
nothing at all, but in moderation. And you might think, well, where
is the evidence of grace in my life? Where's the evidence of
God's work? I don't seem to be doing many
great things, not used much perhaps in the Church of God. I don't
know how to be a real witness. I don't know how really to show
forth God's praises as Peter says, who hath called us from
darkness and into his marvellous light. But Paul would say, has
the Lord taught you moderation? It may be. That's been one thing
in earlier days when you knew not the Lord. You went from one
extreme to the other, took up with one thing and it was all
consuming. Dropped that, took up something
else, it was all consuming. But now the Lord has given you
another object that which you seek and look unto, that brings
everything else down onto, you might say, a much lower, moderate
keel, because you seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,
knowing that those other things, those things that are necessary,
God will provide for us and add unto us. So in one sense of encouragement,
the apostle, the Lord, in his inspired, infallible word here,
gives to his people something they may well have overlooked
of the grace and work in their hearts, something that is noticed
by the world. And it may be an occasional comment
or something that has happened and someone has said something
that has made you realise they have noticed in me and noticed
in my reaction to this thing that has happened in my life
that there is a moderation. There is something that checks
to all the extremes that others may run to. The other encouragement
is this. The Lord truly is at hand. We may get very low sometimes,
like dear Job was, and truly he did have such trials, such
losses in his life, and such trials, even with the friends
that came to comfort him. And at one time he said, oh that
I knew where I might find him. He looked on the right hand and
on the left, he could not find his God. But we are told this
truth, that the Lord is not far from every one of us. Paul said
to those on Mars Hill, in Him we live and move and have our
being. And our text says the Lord is
at hand. And may that be. A blessed word
from the Lord to one of you this morning. You may have felt the
Lord far off. He is not near. He is not helping
you. It is as if his ear is dull. The Lord is at hand. He is at hand to help. He is
at hand to bless. He is at hand to regard your
case. And may the Holy Spirit apply
that word and give the encouragement of it. That is what the Lord
meant when he said, Lo, I am with you always, even at the
end of the world. He is not a far off. He is nigh. Paul, when he wrote the Romans,
and he said that we are not to think, well, do we have to go
down into the depths or to ascend up into heaven? No, the Lord
is nigh, even in the word that we preach. There is where the
Lord is. And may we hear the Lord's voice
and hear his word. How many a Lord's dear people
have been troubled in that way, like again, dear Martha, if thou
hadst been here, if thou hadst been at hand, my brother had
not died. But then the centurion, He was
able to send to the Lord and he said, trouble not thyself.
Don't come to the house. Speak the word only and my servants
shall be healed. The blessed thing to realise
God is at hand. He does regard us. He regards
our prayer. He regards the trouble, the trial,
the difficulty, the need that you and I have this morning.
and he hears at hand, the Lord is at hand. And may that then
be not only an encouragement, a token for good, but it balances
how we act and what we actually do in our lives. Let your moderation
be known unto all men. May we not look upon our life
and say, well, what an average life that we've got. Like to
be used for this or that, but mine is such a mediocre life. The Lord says of his dear people,
they are blessed with faith, with grace. Then they have godliness. And they have godliness with
contentment. And they use this life, they
go through this life. as those that are looking for
that reward and blessing to be in heaven. And they're not giving
a false impression, but they're giving a real impression that
their hope is in the Lord. And then when the Lord does come,
and when those signs are ready for him to take his people home,
then they shall lift up their head with joy, and they shall
rejoice that the Lord's coming The Lord is at hand. Why, all that we have here below,
we cannot take it with us? We must leave everything here
below. We cannot, by our words, by our
actions, turn one hair of our head white or black. We cannot
make an ad to our height one cubit. We cannot do these things,
but the Lord can. And may our lives reflect this. We are dependent upon the Lord. And those things that the Lord
brings and those things that the Lord does in our lives, may
we be helped to react rightly to them. I think again of dear
Job. When all those things had happened
in his life and he reacts in this way, the Lord gave. and
the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord. Well, may the Lord bless this
word to us and grant us the encouragement in it, the help in it, and the
grace that it points to. Let your moderation be known
unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Amen.