“Pits & Wells”
(Title Slide) [Slides are available upon request, these cues denotes where slides are shown/used.]
It’s a common narrative to think that most of the news that you see on TV is bad news. Well, that’s not only a common viewpoint, it’s backed up by statistics.
Studies show that 90% of all news media is reporting “bad” news (which deals with crime, war, tragedies, high-tension situations or smearing of ideological and political counterparts)
Have you ever wondered, “why do news channels mostly cover bad news?” The short answer is that it sells. It generates higher ratings, more clicks online and more ardent supporters when it comes to politics. Negative news segments generate approximately 30% more views online than positive news stories. That’s why you see mostly negative campaign ads. They work.
Research shows that a whopping 1 out of 4 people who regularly watch ANY news media go on to develop anxiety issues. So not only is bad news more engaging, it can also damages us emotionally. It literally is like a drug. It’s worse for children, nearly 2/3s of children aged 12-18 who were studied while consuming a variety of news media ended their viewing time feeling worse than they did before they watched. It’s no surprise, right?
And where do millions of people get their news from? Of course, depending on your ideological slant you may get it from Breitbart, FOX, the Associated Press, CNN, MSNBC or maybe through an independent podcast. But many get their news from Social Media. It makes sense because Facebook and the app formerly known as Twitter are consistently in the top 5 of most visited sites worldwide. Their algorithms can be pretty gnarly. Facebook, YouTube and Twitter track what you view and interact with on their sites and promote other users and groups that are similar to your interests, not only that but to make sure you stay on their site, the algorithms are designed to show you users and groups that are more ardent or vehement within your ideological circle. Why? Because if you interact with that, you’ll spend more time on that social media platform. It’s a part of what’s called an echo chamber.
The algorithm not only reinforces your beliefs by sharing similar content to what you’ve already interacted with but it also shows more extreme users and groups to pique your interest even more, to give you that 30% jolt of addiction because most of these more extreme users are smearing their political and ideological opponents, trying to dig up dirt, cause chaos and spread conspiracy theories. So many get involved in these echo chambers that really no one on social media is immune to it.
It locks you in and makes it virtually impossible to see or understand a different viewpoint. You believe something and social media points you to other people who echo those same sentiments, hence an echo chamber.
That’s what I’m calling a pit this morning. Many of us go to the news, go to social media or spend time with negative people thinking where going to a well that will fill us but in fact it’s a pit that drains us. The dopamine hit is what we go for but what we leave with is more anxiety, more anger, more sadness and less joy, less of a feeling of certainty and control. It’s a vicious cycle.
The reason why that’s applicable to today’s passage is because Paul wrote the whole book of Philippians for one main purpose. The issue that the church in Philippi is experiencing is causing so much chaos that the elders of the church contact Paul for help, while he’s in prison!!
Imagine being part of a thriving church that was planted just a couple of years ago that has not only survived Roman but Jewish persecution but whose ministry grinds to a screeching halt because of two women. This clearly shows that even in a patriarchal society that women were extremely powerful.
But if you read the book of Philippians you’ll see that Paul is “preparing the soil”, if you will. He doesn’t go right to the problem but draws the congregants of the church in Philippi in with GOOD NEWS! By encouraging them to a greater expression of faith! He tells them that he is not only content but can rejoice that his preaching of the Gospel landed him in captivity. It shows that he preached the good news with no concern for his own well-being. He goes on to generically challenge them to “conduct themselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.”
All who read or heard this would be in agreement for this is the founder of this church encouraging his brothers and sisters.
(Scripture Slide)
In chapter 2, still speaking without specificity with but with a little more intensity, Paul challenges the church to "be like-minded, having the same love and to do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain concert. Rather, in humility, consider others above yourselves.” (2:2-3) He starts to reiterate the need for unity and the destructive nature of grumbling and arguing.
(Scripture Slide 2)
And then he continues to build this crescendo with what we talked about last week when he said that all of his credentials, everything that made him powerful and influential before Christ, all religious training, knowledge and zeal is skubala, is worthless, is trash compared to the righteousness God grants him through faith in Christ. The evangelist that is ultimately responsible for creating this fellowship in Philippi is humbling himself publicly. Telling them how ridiculous his confidence was in himself. Again, an implicit invitation for those reading or hearing the letter to do the same.
(Title Slide)
And now we get to chapter 4. As with custom, the elders within the church would’ve gotten the whole congregation together to read Paul’s letter publicly, out loud. This is where the rubber meets the road, no more talking in code, no more congregational instruction.
In verse 2, Paul names these two women for all to hear. Imagine the wide eyes and raised eyebrows in that crowd on that day!
It's safe to assume that this was not a moral, doctrinal or theological dispute between these two women. The issue at hand is probably something more akin to disagreeing about a board procedure, the color of the new carpet or whether they should purchase Wind & Hail coverage, etc. We can assume this because even though Paul doesn’t mention the details as to why these two women were in a spat, the previous chapters of Philippi don’t deal with false teaching and heresy. Remember, he has talked about being humble, united, concerned for others and the gospel.
Whatever the issue between these two women is, it’s relatively minor and doesn’t rise to the level of urgency for Paul to deal with the issue itself. He pleads with the women and a few others who should respond to this dispute and growing factions.
Now you may ask, if it’s nothing to do with the Bible or the deity of Christ or whether people should be baptized or the Lord’s Supper, then why waste time. Why not tell these ladies to move on, agree to disagree or to grow up? Telling someone to move on from something that has them emotionally engrossed is like telling a person to keep raking leaves when they have tiny splinters in their hands.
It doesn’t matter how small the splinter is, it’s a nuisance and can be painful until you deal with it. In fact, if the ministry of the church in Phillipi, if it’s preaching and reaching people with the gospel were a metaphor for walking, then this dispute is the pebble in the shoe that has stopped the church in it’s tracks from doing any ministry. Their calling is paused because of the disunity, because of in-fighting that has distracted them from their purpose. The church needs to deal with the splinter, needs to address the pebble.
Of course, when you’re in an echo chamber, when you have a group of people who agree with you, have encouraged you to stand firm, that want vindication for you, when you’re part of an echo chamber, it’s nearly impossible, like I said to see a different viewpoint. That’s why Republicans and Democrats find it so hard to work together.
(Scripture Slide)
I love how Paul encourages them to deal with this situation. He gets trusted people involved and he appeals to both of the women’s value when he says in verse 3, “they have contended at my side for the cause of the gospel…whose names are in the book of life.” In other words, Paul is reminding each of these women of two truths:
1. The person you opposing has the same vision as you to see people come to Christ. They work for the advancement of the gospel. And secondly,
2. This woman is also a child of God, by all accounts their lives show fruit of being saved and one day you’ll spend eternity in heaven with this person.
Wow. That had to be a mindjob to hear. But they needed to hear it. Disagreeing over the carpet or insurance coverages doesn’t mean that the person doesn’t value the gospel and people far from God. Also, we need to be reminded that to fight with a fellow believer is heartbreaking to God. That disunity is the exact opposite of the realized paradise we will experience in heaven.
Those words from Paul may help with these two ladies being able to humanize one another as fellow believers but it doesn’t address the pit, the echo chamber.
(Scripture Slide 2)
It’s in this context that he says that gentleness needs to become a common practice. I’ve heard it said that gentleness is “controlled strength.” It’s also in this context that Paul encourages the church to “not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
Anxious is not something you just decide not to be, it takes constant communication with God. Reminding of yourself of all that you have in order to spark gratitude, graciousness and thanksgiving.
(Title Slide)
I love this part, it’s so simple. It may seem corny but I’d like for you to humor me in a short exercise. If you have a piece of paper, your bulletin will work fine or if you want to make a quick note in your phone, that’ll do. Make a quick list of things that make you anxious, things you worry about, things that scare you. Take a few seconds and write those out but leave a space at the very top.
Ok, now with that space at the top, write these two words: Prayer List.
This is how you tackle anxiety by constantly putting the things that cause them where they belong, at the foot of the cross.
(Scripture Slide)
But that’s not all. In verse 8, Paul says that if you want peace, if you want a wellspring of joy, if you want unity, “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”
I know that sounds so pie-in-the-sky, Jesus holding a lamb on flannelgraph churchy but let me give you a few tidbits on how you can practice thinking about such lovely things. Here’s a few ways to train your brain.
(#1 Slide)
1. Consume less news whether on TV or social media, talk to people more
This doesn’t mean that you don’t watch the news at all or quit social media cold turkey. Just start practicing the art of not interacting with it. It will be difficult because you’ll want to feed yourself that dopamine hit but remember, if you find yourself scowling or berating others under your breath, its a pit. Turn the channel, scroll past without a comment. You can flip the script by watching something light-hearted, play a game.
(#2 Slide)
2. Consider those in your circle, if they complain a lot, so will you
Here’s another analogy. If you have a pit, it’s nearly impossible to make it into a well without a LOT of hard work. What do I mean? Think about it, a pit is a deep hole in the ground. You might say, well so is a well but there’s one main difference. The walls of a well are sealed with bricks or stones and mortar. A pit is just earth. If you fill a pit with water, the earth will sop it all up while the well will hold it the water in place. You may find yourself needing to consider your circle because they may be too addicted to the negative, they themselves are pits of despair and joylessness. I’ve had multiple mentors tell me that I am the average of those I spend time with. If I want to be closer to Christ, move positive in my outlook, I need to surround myself with those types of people and less time with people who aren’t.
(#3 Slide)
3. Seek good news, share good news
The good news is that the social media algorithms are mechanical and can change if our practices change. I mean that if you seek out and start to follow and interact with media creators who share videos about surprising the homeless with money or armed services members surprising their families with a secret homecoming or funny dog clips, then guess what, you’ll start to see more of that content recommended to you.
In real life, this works, too. If we turn ourselves off from gossiping and complaining and seek out good news and things that are encouraging, then that’s what will come out of us. Jesus says that the eyes are the window of the soul. We should be selective of what goes in, right? Also, Jesus says that “from the heart the mouth speaks.” Simply put, whatever we put in our system, it’s going to come out of us at some point. Seek good news so that good news (aka the Gospel) will come out of you.
(#4 Slide)
4. Have the tough conversation, assume that the other person is more similar to you than not
I’ve heard many, many leadership coaches talk about this point. At some point, you have to walk across the aisle, yes just like Republicans and Democrats do. Yes, they do it begrudgingly, too. But sometimes it’s the only way to move forward. The reason that animosity builds up and narratives run wild and ministry stops is because people won’t just talk to the person they disagree with. To not talk with them is to essentially demonize them, assuming they don’t share your value of the gospel and faith in Christ.
Remember, you’ll be in heaven with them one day so you might as well learn to live with them peacefully now before eternity, amen?
(Title Slide)
Paul is encouraging this interaction with mediation it looks like. Thank God for the Clements of the world who are willing to put themselves in situations like this between two offended women.
Let me close by saying this. It’s been brought to my attention that I have offended a few people with my preaching over the last month. Not counting the sermon about Jesus being the Good Shepherd that knows you, which didn’t offend anyone, all of the other sermons and scriptures were selected from the lectionary. It is not only unprofessional but completely inappropriate to preach at 1 or a few people. In fact, today’s message steps on my own toes. I’ll find it challenging to apply those 4 points I share with you at the end.
But with that being said, I wanted to offer a thought. What if someone has offended you and you need to call it out? What if we struggle with grumbling and complaining? It’s ironic that I got complaints about a sermon that centered around complaining. But here’s the key, what if we are like the church in Philippi that has a pebble in our shoe that has stopped us from going out and making disciples, what if we have a splinter that we need to do with in order to realize that what’s most important is the gospel and to value unity by seeing us other as believers or at least loved by God.
Recently, I have been personally convicted by what God has chosen to me to tell you, brothers and sisters. We’re in this together. But the only way to move forward, to progress as a body of Christ is to limit our time in the pits and find the wells of Living Water; to find Christ in more places and to pray to God the whole way through.
Let us pray.
