By Rev. Dr. Brent Russett Asbury Free Methodist
March 6th, 2022
Philippians 4:1-9
Today we’re continuing our series “a walkthrough Philippians;” We are going to look at the first nine verses of chapter 4. As I was looking at these nine verses, there were about 6 sermons that I wanted to preach. But that would take us well past lunchtime, and so I will not inflict that on you. I want you to know that because there are so many things in this passage that we are going to pass over.
This morning I want to home in on praying through anxiety. I know what it means to be anxious, and I bet you do too. Some of you listening may even suffer from an anxiety disorder. If you know what it is like to be anxious, you will also know how unhelpful it is for someone to say, “don’t be anxious.”
I know some of you are going to be anxious as COVID restrictions are lifted. I know that some of you watch the news and feel anxiety over what is happening in Ukraine. I know some of you have family members who have chosen a destructive path, and that gives you anxiety. I know there are others of you who are in relationships that cause you anxiety. This morning I want to give you some handles on how to pray through your anxiety.
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Here is where I want to start. There are all kinds of things in our lives that we can worry about. There are things that can cause us fear. But here is what I want you to know; it is God’s will for your life that you walk in peace. There are some of you who are saying, “well yeah, duh.” There are others of you who are saying, “I am not sure if that’s possible.” For all of you, I want you to know that it is God’s will for you to walk in peace.
The Bible talks about two kinds of peace. There is peace with God and the peace of God. Peace with God is talking about salvation. We were once estranged from God. We were alienated from him. We had broken his law and rebelled against his kindness, and we preferred our darkness to his light. We wanted to go our way and not his way. We were enemies with God. We were at war with God in our rebellion.
But God, who is rich in compassion and full of mercy, sent his son to die on the cross for us that we might be forgiven. Jesus took our sin and gave us his righteousness. This is a gift that each one of us must individually receive. We need to put our faith in Jesus and trust that he has done everything that we need for our salvation. We also are planning to walk the rest of our lives in relationship with God instead of rebelling against him. When we put our faith in Jesus, we have peace with God.
Peace with God is the foundation for experiencing the peace of God. The kind of peace that I’m talking about today is only available to those who have made their peace with God. If you have not done that, I encourage you to do that even while I continue to talk.
Jesus promised this peace. He said John 14:27 (NIV)
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
If you are a follower of Jesus, he has promised you peace. This peace is different than how your non-Christian neighbours will experience peace.
With that, let us dive into our passage in Philippians chapter 4
Philippians 4:4–7 (NIV)
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
There are a lot of commands here, but please do not break this down into a formula. This passage was never meant to be a formula; it was meant to be a way of life.
So don’t say, it says rejoice in the Lord, so I am going to rejoice yay God! Now it says that your gentleness be evident to all – I am not sure about that one, so we will give that one a pass. Now it says the Lord is near, OK God, I acknowledge you are close. You get the idea of what not to do. This is not a formula to be plugged into your life or a magic incantation to be waved over your life; this is a way to walk with God. This is a way to abide in Jesus. It is a way to stay plugged into God and his power in the middle of a life where things have gone sideways.
Let’s start at verse 4.
Philippians 4:4 (NIV)
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
Here is the beginning of peace. Rejoice in the Lord always. This is not saying rejoice in your circumstances. It is saying rejoice in the Lord in your circumstances. In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, he tells them about all the hardship he has been through. He tells about the shipwrecks and the imprisonments and the beatings, and the challenges of ministry. In the middle of this list, here is what he says,
2 Corinthians 6:10 (NIV)
10 sorrowful, yet always rejoicing;
He tells the people at Colossae
Colossians 1:24 (NIV)
Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you,
Paul did not like pain. That is not why he is rejoicing. He had learned the secret of rejoicing in the Lord. The word carries with it the idea of a soul that takes joy in something. There is a sense of something good underlying all the stuff on the surface.
It is like being in the middle of the Rocky Mountains on a beautiful day. There is something awesome and majestic even if circumstances are not the best. Jesus is far grander than the Rocky Mountains. He is more beautiful than an incredible sunset. If you see him for who he is, you can rejoice in the Lord even when things are hard.
This is why authentic worship is so important. God does not need our worship, but we need to worship God. He is worthy of our praise, and when we fail to praise him, something within us is deadened.
Worship God even when you feel anxious. Worship God even when life is hard. Worship changes our perspective. Worship increases our faith. Worship brings the presence of God into our situation. Rejoice in the Lord always; I will say it again, rejoice.
Paul then goes on to say
Philippians 4:5a (NIV)
5 Let your gentleness be evident to all.
Some people divide their life. They have an emotional life. Then there is the way that they behave. They think that these two things are disconnected. Or if they are connected, my emotional life dictates the way I behave. But what you do matters. How you treat people matters. What you say to people matters. Let your gentleness be evident to all.
In case you don’t get that your behaviour affects your peace, Paul gives us verse 9.
Philippians 4:9 (NIV)
9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
Paul is saying, put into practice what you know. When you do that, the God of peace will be with you.
Now I find it interesting that at the end of verse 5, it says,
Philippians 4:5 (NIV)
5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.
It gives us an unqualified statement that the Lord is near. However, in verse nine, he gives this qualified statement put into practice what you know, and the God of peace will be with you. What is going on there?
God is everywhere present, and he is close by. When Paul says, “The Lord is near,” it is helpful to remember when you are worshiping and also when it comes to how you treat people. But when Paul says that “The God of peace will be with you,” he is talking about companionship. He is not just around, but the two of you are together. You are journeying together.
If you want peace, put into practice what you know. There are some of you who hear me say that, and you are overwhelmed. There are so many things that you know you should be doing, but sometimes it feels like getting out of bed in the morning is an accomplishment.
It is important to develop good habits like daily Bible reading and prayer, and worship. It is good to develop good weekly habits like taking a Sabbath day, attending church and being in a discipling relationship. It is important and good to develop good habits. But good habits are not developed overnight. It is really hard to develop a bunch of habits at the same time. And if you are overwhelmed by anxiety and buffeted by fear, then developing any habit is challenging.
Here is what you need to know about God. God has given you all that you need to follow his will today. I know many of us have a way of “shoulding” ourselves to death. I should do this; I should do that. God will not require you to do any more today than you are capable of doing. He probably won’t even require all that you think you are capable of doing today. His goal is peace in your heart through a deep relationship with him. So, he is not going to have you scurrying around doing this and doing that.
What do we do? We ask God, what would you have me do today? Sit with that question for a moment or two. You will find God bringing to mind what you are called to do today. Do that. Do not get into the shoulds and the ought to’s and the need to’s. Just do a God’s calling you to do today.
Well, let’s move on
Philippians 4:6–7 (NIV)
6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Paul says do not be anxious about anything. If you have been following along in this series, you may remember that the occasion for this letter was that Paul was sending Epaphroditus home after he had been sick. You maybe remember what he said
Philippians 2:28 (NIV)
28 Therefore I am all the more eager to send him, so that when you see him again you may be glad and I may have less anxiety.
One of the reasons Paul acted the way he did, was so that he would have less anxiety. Now he says, do not be anxious about anything. What is up with that? They are two different Greek words. We might better translate what Paul was having over Epaphroditus as anxiety and what Paul is saying in Philippians 4 as worry.
As you probably know, anxiety and worry are related but different. Anxiety is a state; worry is something you do with that state. You could go over it and dwell on it and slice it and dice it. But you don’t get very far with worry.
That is why Jesus says in
Matthew 6:25–27 (NIV)
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
When Jesus is talking about worry, he is using the same word the Paul used here is Philippians 4. He says your worry doesn’t do much. Trusting God instead of worrying is a much better way.
That is why a number of versions, including the NRSV, translate the verse like
Philippians 4:6 (NRSV)
6 Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
Instead of going over something in your mind 100 times, Paul says, let your worry be a prompt to prayer. Notice how to pray. You pray about something – so you are bringing it before the Lord. You are making supplication, or the NIV translates it, “petition.” This is humbly asking God for what you want.
Have you ever worried in prayer? I have. It is like we go over and over – Oh God, help. Oh God, do something. Worrying in prayer is a step up from just worrying, but that is not what this passage is saying. It is telling us to ask God for what we want. Lord, I am asking you to intervene and heal such and such, or Lord, I don’t even know how to pray for this – how would you like me to pray about this situation. Humbly make your requests to God.
It also goes on to say, make these requests in the contexts of thanksgiving. When you start to go over what God has done, it has a way of building your faith. When you give thanks for what God has done for you, it has a way of grounding you in him. So, whatever storms come, you know you are his child. You know that he is with you. You know that you have life both now and for eternity.
Thanksgiving gives context to your prayers. It places your requests firmly within the bounds of what God has done for you in Christ. That allows us to abide in Christ stay plugged into Christ, as it were. That allows us to face each challenge with is power.
Here is his promise to you as you present your requests to God.
Philippians 4:7 (NIV)
7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
The peace of God, which in the natural isn’t rational. It transcends understanding – it will guard your heart and minds in Christ Jesus.
That idea of guarding is the idea of a goaltender. The peace of God acts like a goaltender. It keeps the anxiety at bay. And if some worry slips past – that is a warning system for you. Reconnect with God again. Rejoice in the Lord; worship again. Ground your heart in the things of God again.
What would happen if you started to put this into practice? Where your worry was a prompt to rejoice in the Lord and remember that he is near. What would happen is you used your concern about the world about people about your own life to become a prompt for prayer.
Here is what would happen. You would become a person of prayer. You would listen to the news, and that would be prompt to prayer. You would talk with a friend and hear what is on their hearts, and that would be a prompt to prayer. You would become a person of prayer.
One of our goals for this church is that we would become a church of prayer. If we would all take the worries and anxiety that we have and that we see around us and use that as a prompt to pray – that goal would be met.
Philippians 4:4–7 (NIV)
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Sermon Questions – March 6, 2022
Praying through Anxiety – Philippians 4:1-9
Introduction
1. What are you thankful for today?
2. What are you praying about today?
Digging in.
3. Read Philippians 4:1-9
4. What is the difference between peace with God and the peace of God? Read John 14:27 and Philippians 4:4-7. What kind of peace is being talked about in these passages? Who is this peace for?
5. Read Philippians 4:4, 2 Corinthians 6:10 and Colossians 1:24. What do these verses tell us about rejoicing? Why is rejoicing in the Lord important?
6. Read vs 5. Gentleness is about how we treat people. Why does this matter to our spiritual lives?
7. Read vs 9. How does Paul connect our behaviour and God’s peace? This verse can be overwhelming to some people. How do you deal with the “shoulds” in your life? (I should be doing this. I should be doing that)
8. Read Philippians 4:6-7 and Philippians 2:28. Paul says, don’t be anxious and yet tells us about his anxiety. Philippians 4:6 cold better be translated worry. It is the same word that Jesus uses in Matthew 6:25-27. (read) What is the difference between anxiety and worry?
9. What does verse 6 mean when it says “prayer,” “petition,” and “thanksgiving?” (Define the words.)
10. What is the promise in verse 7. What does that look like in real life?
11. How can you use worry as a prompt to prayer?