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Living in the Goodness of God's Peace Part 2

February 24, 2019 Speaker: Brian Wilbur Series: Philippians

Topic: Christian Life Basics Passage: Philippians 4:4–7

LIVING IN THE GOODNESS OF GOD’S PEACE–PART 2

An Exposition of Philippians 4:4-7

By Pastor Brian Wilbur

Date:   February 24, 2019

Series: Philippians: Gospel Partnership on Mission in the World

Note:   Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

 

THE SCRIPTURAL TEXT

This message will focus on Philippians 4:4-7, but we will begin our reading at verse 1 in order to set the stage for our passage. Holy Scripture says, through the apostle Paul:

“Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus I the Lord, my beloved. I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord. Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women, who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life. Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:4-7)

ALL OUR LIFE IS CENTERED IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST

Before we get into the specific instructions of verses 4-7, I want you to see two over-arching realities in Philippians 4:1-7. First, take note that as Christians our life is to be centered in the Lord Jesus Christ. Follow along with me:

  • Philippians 4:1 says “stand firm thus in the Lord” (italics added).
  • Philippians 4:2 says “agree in the Lord” (italics added).
  • Philippians 4:4 says “Rejoice in the Lord” (italics added).
  • Philippians 4:7 says “the peace of God… will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (italics added).

Do you see the recurring theme? Our stability is in the Lord, our spiritual unity is in the Lord, our joy is in the Lord, and our peace is in the Lord. Apart from the Lord Jesus Christ we have nothing of any eternal value, but in Him we have everything that truly matters! The simple repetition of this phrase communicates to us how important it is that we stay close to Jesus. He is our life (Colossians 3:4). He is our hope (1 Timothy 1:1). He is our peace, for He has reconciled us to God and brought us together as one body in Him (Ephesians 2:14). We are not in Him because we deserve it or have earned it, but because of the Father’s rich mercy to pardon our iniquities and make us alive by the power of His Spirit. The Lord Jesus Christ is “our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30). He is our Head who nourishes and strengthens us (Colossians 2:19, Ephesians 5:29-30, Philippians 4:13). Outside of Him it is a nosedive to the abyss, but in Him there is true life that never ends. Outside of Him there is no peace: ““There is no peace,” says the LORD, “for the wicked.”” (Isaiah 48:22) But in Him there is perfect peace: “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD God is an everlasting rock.” (Isaiah 26:3-4) Our life is to be centered, established, and rooted in the Lord Jesus Christ.

But by the addition of a single word, we must understand a second over-arching reality that is closely related to the first: All our life is to be centered in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let’s not merely assume the all, but let’s call specific attention to it because Paul calls specific attention to it:

  • Philippians 4:4 says, “Rejoice in the Lord always” (italics added).
  • Philippians 4:5 says, “Let your reasonableness be known to everyone” (italics added).
  • Philippians 4:6 says, “… in everything… let your requests be made known to God” italics added).

Do you see it? It’s not just that our life is to be centered in the Lord, it is that all our life is to be centered in the Lord. The entirety, the totality, the whole thing. There is no time that is to be unaffected by Philippians 4:4, because our rejoicing is to happen at all times. There is no relationship that is to be unaffected by Philippians 4:5, because our reasonableness is to be visible to every person we meet. There is no experience or circumstance that is to be unaffected by Philippians 4:6, because our grateful praying is to take all of it to the throne of grace. All our life, all our time, all our relationships, all our experiences and circumstances, are to be centered, established, and rooted in the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, no part of your life is to be disconnected from the authority and grace of King Jesus.

These two things – that our life is to be centered in the Lord, and that all our life is to be centered in the Lord – are the two things that hold Philippians 4:4-7 together as a unit of four verses. Verse 4 begins “Rejoice in the Lord” and verse 7 concludes “in Christ Jesus” – these are the two pieces of bread that hold the whole sandwich of verses 4-7 together. Then the all-ness of this Christ-centered life is emphasized throughout: “always” (v. 4), “to everyone” (v. 5), “in everything” (v. 6), and “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding” (v. 7 italics added). 

All our life is to centered in the Lord. And all our experience is to take place within the greater-than-you-can-understand-peace that is given to us in Him.

THE FIRST COMMAND: REJOICE IN THE LORD!

The first command is an exhortation to rejoice: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.” (Philippians 4:4) Paul not only repeats the command a second time within verse 4, but verse 4 itself is actually a repeat of the command given at the beginning of Chapter 3: “Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord.” (Philippians 3:1) The repetition is like a highlighter that says don’t miss this instruction, because it is especially important.

What does it mean to rejoice? Joy involves the affections and emotions. To rejoice is to feel a deep gladness and satisfaction. To rejoice is to have a bright outlook precisely because you are looking out the lens of God’s grace and generosity – and this bright outlook isn’t a mere mental agreement that certain things are true, but it is in fact a delighting in these things. Joy is what happens when you find a great treasure (Matthew 13:44). Joy is what happens when a shepherd finds his lost sheep, or when a woman finds her lost silver coin, or when a father finds his lost son (Luke 15:3-24). The absence of joy could be described either in terms of just feeling flat or in terms of feeling unsatisfied or upset. When true joy is present among God’s people, this joy will be expressed in our conversations, in our singing, and in our praying.   

Joy in Philippians

The apostle Paul models this true joy, and his rejoicing in the Lord permeates his entire letter to the Philippians. Near the beginning of the letter Paul tells the Philippians that he prays for them “with joy, because of [their] partnership in the gospel” (Philippians 1:4-5). Later in Chapter 1 Paul tells us that he rejoices in the fact that “Christ is proclaimed” (Philippians 1:18) – in other words, Paul is glad because the gospel is becoming more widely known throughout the world.

Near the beginning of Chapter 2 Paul tells the Philippians that the joy that he already has in them will be filled out and completed if they walk together in Christ-centered unity (Philippians 2:2). Later in Chapter 2 Paul tells the Philippians that “[he is] glad and [rejoices] with [them] all” (Philippians 2:17) even as he labors for their growth in the Lord.

Near the end of Chapter 2 Paul talks about Epaphroditus, a member of the Philippian congregation who had left Philippi in order to minister to Paul and, in the course of his ministry trip, had fallen ill. Now recovered, Epaphroditus is returning to Philippi and Paul says that the Philippian congregation should “receive him in the Lord with all joy, and honor such men, for he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me.” (Philippians 2:29-30)

At the beginning of Chapter 4 Paul calls the Philippian believers “my joy” (Philippians 4:1). Later in Chapter 4 Paul, having received a financial gift from the Philippians in support of his ministry, says, “I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me.” (Philippians 4:10)

Joy is Connected to Fellowship

What is so obvious from these many examples of joy in this letter is how rejoicing in the Lord is in many ways connected to our fellowship with God’s people. The portrait of joy in Philippians is not a picture of a man who stands alone before God; it is not a picture of a man who claims a close walk with Jesus but is relationally aloof from Jesus’ people; it is not a picture of a man who is over-spiritual and thinks it beneath him to find great joy in the fellowship of the saints. Instead, the portrait of joy in Philippians is the picture of a man whose highest joy is Jesus Christ (Philippians 3:3-9) and, at the same time, who knows and understands that Jesus Christ pours out His joy through the church. So this portrait of joy pictures a man who doesn’t stand alone, but who is “side by side” (Philippians 1:27, 4:3) with His Christian brothers and sisters. These “[partners] in the gospel” derive great joy from one another – from one another’s fellowship of love, from one another’s partnership in mission, from one another’s growth in the Lord, from one another’s gifts and acts of service. This deep joy is not disconnected from Jesus but is part of what it means for us to be connected together in Him. This deep joy is a big part of what it means for us as a church community to “[rejoice] in the Lord.”

Philippians teaches you that one important way to pursue great joy in the Lord is to immerse yourself in the one-another life of God’s people. Let your joy get linked up with their joy, and watch the spiritual temperature rise! For the spiritual fellowship of the church community is one of the joy-promoting resources that the Lord has given us for our good. Therefore, love each other for the sake of joy in the Lord!

Joy is Rooted in Faith

There is one other thing that we need to understand about joy. “[Rejoicing] in the Lord” is impossible to sustain without a vital and growing faith in the Lord. Paul connects faith and joy in Chapter 1. Paul says to the Philippians, “I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith” (Philippians 1:25). In this context, “the faith” could refer to the doctrinal content of our faith or it could refer to the disposition of believing and trusting God’s Word. But this is nothing to get knotted up about, because these are two sides of the same coin. True faith is not a vague faith in faith, but is actually faith in the Lord and in His Word. So we need to grow in our knowledge of the content of what God has revealed in His Word, and our confidence – our believing and trusting Him and His Word – needs to grow accordingly.

In a similar vein, Paul wrote in Romans: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” (Romans 15:13) Here we see that “the God of hope” fills His people with “joy and peace,” but He fills us with “joy and peace in believing” (italics added) – in other words, through believing and trusting God and His gracious Word. By faith we receive the “joy and peace” that God so generously gives.

This is a good reminder to us that “[rejoicing] in the Lord” is not something that we can do in our own strength, nor is it something that we can do on account of our intelligence. Paul is suffering as he wrote this letter to the Philippians, he is imprisoned, he has persecutors and ill-willed preacher colleagues who meant him harm, his beloved Epaphroditus had fallen ill and that made him sorrowful and even though Epaphroditus was now recovered he was also leaving, and yet despite all this Paul is full of joy. Why? Because he has an effervescent personality? No. Because he is smart? No. Because he is full of faith? Yes! Beyond the circumstances, he sees the good hand of his gracious God; beyond this fleeting age, he sees the blood-bought “Yes and Amen” to all the glorious promises of God; beyond the opposition of those who persecute him, he sees the preciousness of Christ; beyond the false hopes of this world, he sees the gospel advancing and bringing salvation to more and more people; and beyond the cruelty of men, he sees Christ’s beloved church with whom he enjoys rich fellowship and mutual service. And because he sees with the eyes of faith, he feels and feels deeply the great joy that is found in the Lord.

And since true faith is not a temperamental on again and then off again experience, neither is joy. True faith by its very nature is an abiding and persevering faith, just as Jesus taught us in Luke 8:4-15. Therefore the joy that comes from faith is also an abiding and persevering reality. “Rejoice in the Lord,” not every once in a while whenever you happen to decide that a little joy would do your soul some good, but “always” – “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.” (Philippians 4:4 italics added) Do you know what this means? Rejoicing in the Lord, a joy that is rooted in trusting God and is experienced as a blessed part of loving one another as one body in Christ, this rejoicing is supposed to be a continual and steady frame of heart that is felt “always,” at all times, in all situations.

If you’d like to hear more about rejoicing in the Lord, remember that I devoted an entire sermon to it on September 9, when I preached on the first part of Philippians 3:1, which also instructed us to “rejoice in the Lord.”

THE SECOND COMMAND: LET YOUR REASONABLENESS BE KNOWN

But moving forward in the present passage, we come to the second command, which instructs us to be known as a people who have a certain character and disposition: “Let your reasonableness be known to everyone.” (Philippians 4:5)

It is instructive that this four-verse passage, which is so focused on what is going on inside our hearts and our minds, should also include this instruction about our visible testimony to others. It reminds us that there is to be a harmony between the inward life of our heart and the outward life of our walk. It reminds us that the outward quality of our life is an important part of our spiritual life. In Chapter 3 Paul indicated how good it is that we walk in a visibly exemplary way so that others can imitate and follow our example (Philippians 3:17). Further, in Chapter 2 Paul had told us that “among” the “crooked and twisted generation” of sinners that are all around us, “[we] shine as lights in the world” (Philippians 2:15). A big part of our visible light-shining in the world is this: “Do all things [remember the significance of all in Philippians 4:4-7?!] without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation” (Philippians 2:14-15). How could we possibly do anything with grumbling or disputing if we are always rejoicing in the Lord, and offering grateful prayer to God in every situation?

Now in Philippians 4:5 we see that if joy (v. 4) and grateful praying (v. 6) are happening inside of us, then that internal reality ought to be expressed on the outside as we interact with other people – as we interact with one another as a church family, as we interact with other Christians from other places, and as we interact with unbelievers. “Let your reasonableness be known to everyone.” (italics added)

Strong’s Concordance indicates that the word that is translated reasonable can have the sense of “gentle, mild, forbearing, fair, reasonable, moderate.”[1] The English Standard Version has a footnote by the word “reasonableness” indicating that the word could also be translated “gentleness”. The New American Standard Version translates the word as “gentle spirit" (v. 5, NASB) while the King James Version translates the word as “moderation” (v. 5, KJV). Moderation, gentle spirit, gentleness, reasonableness – what is the picture here?

Well, let me tell you what it’s not like. Showing forth the goodness of God’s peace is not the way of freak-outs and meltdowns, not the way of griping and grumbling, not the way of sulking and pity parties, not the way of drama and temper tantrums, not the way of anxiety and dread, not the way of nitpicking and fault-finding, not the way of infighting and backstabbing, not the way of overreaction and hyper-sensitivity. It is, rather, the way of the level head, the sober mind, the calm spirit, and sound judgment. It is the steady way forward: “the God of peace” is with us (Philippians 4:9), “the peace of God” protects us (Philippians 4:7), we have peace with our brothers and sisters in Christ (Philippians 2:2, 4:2), and our days are filled with wholesome thoughts (Philippians 4:8), edifying conversations, and productive lives – all flavored with joy (Philippians 4:4), and all for the glory of God (Philippians 4:20). There is no good reason to be alarmed or shaken, because the risen Lord Jesus “has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.” (1 Peter 3:22) Thus in the midst of any and every situation, we can have a quiet rest that enables us to think clearly, speak constructively, and act courteously. Do you understand?

It has been rightly and helpfully pointed out that “the fruit of the Spirit” is a package deal. Part of the nine-fold fruit of Galatians 5 is “gentleness,” but it does not stand alone: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23) Likewise the sevenfold wisdom of James 3 includes gentleness, but here again it does not stand alone: “But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.” (James 3:17) All these things taken together show us the full-orbed “reasonableness” that we are to exhibit at all times.

Dear friends, we live in a political and media environment that is not characterized by gentleness and reasonableness, that is not characterized by civility and courtesy. It is a sad commentary on our culture that it took the death of a former president – President George Herbert Walker Bush – in order to get one week of respectable public discourse. Of course, it really is no surprise that so much of American public life is actually unreasonable, harsh, reactionary, and volatile. Why is it no surprise? Because that is how unredeemed sinners live – and things tend to go from bad to worse over time.

But in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are called to the Philippians 4:5 standard. When I was in college I heard a speaker use the phrase ‘sweet reasonableness’ to capture the idea of gentleness and reasonableness in this verse. Not an intellectually calculated reasonableness, not a stiff upper lip reasonableness, but a sweet reasonableness, a gentle and winsome manner that is like salt in a tasteless world. And we are to let our sweet reasonableness “be known to everyone.”

Husbands and wives, is your sweet reasonableness known to your spouse? Parents, is your sweet reasonableness known to your children? Children, is your sweet reasonableness known to your parents? Older siblings, is your sweet reasonableness known to your little brothers and sisters? Families, is your home known as a place of sweet reasonableness to everyone who enters it? When you are in your workplace, or out and about in the community, or at a sporting event (and the referee just made what you think is a bad call), or at a restaurant (and the waiter or waitress has messed up your order), or in a committee meeting or ministry team meeting (and frankly it has gotten off point and is taking way too long), or on the phone with a service representative (who speaks broken English all the way from Asia), are you known as a man or woman of sweet reasonableness? Are you adorning the gospel by your gracious and gentle manner? Does your patient spirit and glad countenance stand out?

Finally, we must ask ourselves if we as a congregation are living according to the standard of Philippians 4:5? By now you are well familiar with the fact that Jesus cares deeply about our congregational life, about our same-mindedness, about our unity of mind, heart, and soul (Philippians 1:27, 2:2, 4:2-3). So in our relationships with one another as a church family, and in our teamwork when we come together in ministry teams, and in the way that we relate to each other at worship services and at business meetings and whenever else we meet together, if there was an observer looking on – and there may be more observers than we think! – would that observer see a community of sweetly reasonable people who are happily walking together in the grace of God? Oh that the Oxford Hills would see the light of gentleness and reasonableness shining forth from the congregation of South Paris Baptist Church!

I recently read a quote from Elizabeth Elliott that had been shared on Facebook: “We should be the sort of people who walk into a room and bring the presence of Christ with us.” That’s the idea here! Live accordingly and “[let] your reasonableness be known to everyone.”

THE LORD IS WITH US

Between the second command about letting our reasonableness be known to all, and the third command about not being anxious about anything, Paul reminds us once again that our life is to be centered in the Lord. He writes, “The Lord is at hand.” (Philippians 4:5) What does this mean?

Well, it could mean one of two things. The word translated “at hand” means near – and it could refer to nearness in time or it could refer to nearness in space.[2] If Paul meant that “The Lord is at hand” in terms of time, then that could mean that the Lord’s second coming is imminent, on the horizon, about to take place. If this is what Paul meant, then he would be telling us to live in view of the Lord’s soon return. Defenders of this view might refer back to the end of Chapter 3, where Paul told us that “we await” (Philippians 3:20) the Lord’s return from heaven. It is true, of course, that we ought to live in view of the Lord’s return (e.g., Philippians 3:17-21, 2 Peter 3:11-14), but I doubt that this is Paul’s intended meaning in Philippians 4:5.

The other option is that “The Lord is at hand” in terms of spatial proximity, which is just a fancy way of saying that the Lord is with us now. I think this makes better sense in the immediate context. As we have seen, we live “in the Lord” now (v. 1, 2, 4); “the peace of God” stands near to guard us now (v. 7); “the God of peace will be with [us]” now as we walk in His ways (v. 9); and the Lord is present now in order to strengthen His people, just as He had been present to strengthen Paul (Philippians 4:13). Of course, there is an important sense in which the Lord is not with us now: He is in heaven now, and so “we await” His return. Even so, the Lord is spiritually present with us through the Holy Spirit, whom the Lord pours out upon His people. Precisely because the Lord is spiritually present with us right now through His Spirit, therefore we are strengthened by Him to be joyful, reasonable, grateful, and peaceful people. We are to live in the presence of the Lord who is present with us, and His Spirit’s encouraging and transforming work among us makes all the difference.

But if someone takes the other view and thinks that “The Lord is at hand” actually refers to the second coming, let our sweet reasonableness be known to each other just the same!

THE THIRD WORD: NOT ANXIOUS, BUT PRAYERFUL

Now we come to the third command in verse 6: “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” The all-encompassing, comprehensive relevance of verse 6 is clear: “not… anything” in the first part of the verse contrasts with “in everything” in the second part of the verse. There is “not… anything” about which you should be anxious, and “everything” is to be a context for grateful prayer.

What does it mean to “be anxious”? Paul is not talking about the exercise of proper concern in our field of God-given responsibilities. If your child suffers a severe injury and is unable to move, it is right to be concerned and take appropriate action. Likewise if you are driving on the highway and another vehicle swerves into your lane and is about to hit you, it is right to take care and beep your horn and move your car out of the way. Many such examples could be multiplied. But there is a world of difference between proper care and concern, and the anxiety and fear that the Bible identifies as sinful.

To “be anxious” is to be emotionally destabilized, preoccupied, and possibly even paralyzed by the threat of unfavorable experiences or circumstances. When you are in the grip of anxiety, these unfavorable experiences or circumstances – whether real or imagined – are troubling your mind, filling you with anxious thoughts, and dominating your emotions. You are worried. What we are talking about here is not the proper care and concern that flows from love, but improper preoccupation and nervousness that flows from unbelief.

The issue that gets to the heart of anxiety has to do with what you really believe – not what you say you believe, but what your heart really believes and responds to. The anxious heart believes the threat of the negative experience or circumstance, which means that the anxious heart is not believing the promises of God. For the anxious heart, the negative experience or circumstance is functioning as your god – and that negative experience or circumstance is a bad god that threatens doom, and you believe it and are therefore in a state of turmoil. The higher than expected bill, the cancer diagnosis, the dead-end job, the tragedy that has befallen your child or grandchild, the piled up responsibilities – the anxious heart believes that these are the god-like realities that really matter, and what harsh and uncaring gods they are!

By contrast, the heart that is trusting God believes His promise regardless of the experience or circumstance that you are presently facing. The negative experience or circumstance is really there, but it doesn’t have power over you because you do not believe the doom that it threatens. And the reason that you do not believe the doom that it threatens is because you know and have confidence in the good that God has promised.

Anti-Anxiety Theology

We are in great need of healthy doses of anti-anxiety theology. Take these four things to heart:

1) God is sovereign over all things. Scripture says that He “works all things according to the counsel of his will” (Ephesians 1:11).

2) The God who is sovereign over all things is for you and with you, if you are one of His redeemed sons or daughters. If you are a sinner who is still separated from God and therefore God’s wrath abides on you (John 3:36), then there is no comfort here – in fact, you of all people should be exceedingly anxious, because the God who holds all the cards is against you. But if you belong to God’s forever family through faith in Jesus Christ, then He is totally for you: “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32) He is “for us,” He has given us His very own Son, He has given us His very own Spirit, He has given us His everlasting and unfailing love, and He is with us. Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers, then falsely accused and thrown into prison, but “the LORD was with him” (Genesis 39:23). He will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5), and nothing can “separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39).

3) Adverse experiences and circumstances do not undermine God’s love to us, but are actually an important context of His love to us. In other words, difficulties and hardships are not outside of God’s love to us, but are actually part of God’s love to us. “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28) Under God’s gracious and sovereign hand, everything conspires for your everlasting good. So why are you anxious about something that God has promised to lead to a good end? “[We] rejoice in our sufferings,” says Paul, “knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:3-5) 

4) The sovereign God who is for you and with you, and who weaves all things together into a tapestry of love to you, has promised to take care of you. Jesus tells us: “do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on” (Matthew 6:25). And “do not be anxious about tomorrow” (Matthew 6:34) – don’t be anxious about tomorrow’s troubles or tomorrow’s bills. And why? Because “your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:32-33). You see, we get it backwards sometimes. We think that we must anxiously attend to “all these things” that we need, and afterward – if there’s time and energy left over – then we will do something for God’s kingdom. But God says, Put My kingdom first, and trust Me to look after your needs. Do you trust Him? Later in Philippians 4, Paul says: “And my God will supply every need of your according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19)

Brothers and sisters, we need healthy doses of this anti-anxiety theology. Note well, however, that knowing this theological information in your mental storage space is not the same thing as trusting Him. Pray, therefore, that these life-giving words of God would truly be at work in your heart, bringing you comfort and peace. It is not enough to have the right answers; God actually wants us to live in the goodness of His peace!

Praying with Gratitude

So the opposite of the anxious heart is the heart that is trusting God, and the heart that is trusting God will express itself in grateful prayer: “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” (Philippians 4:6 italics added)

The reason you have “requests” is because you live in a fallen world that is full of all kinds of difficulties and hardships. But instead of letting those difficulties and hardships be fuel for worry, let them be fuel for prayer. The words “prayer” and “supplication” and “let your requests be made known” are more or less synonymous: taken together, Paul is telling us to take our concerns – whether for ourselves, for our families, for our church family – to take our concerns to our heavenly Father and petition Him for help. Our prayers are not to be offered up with anxiety, which would mean that we aren’t really trusting God. Instead our prayers are to be offered up “with thanksgiving,” which means that we have a bright outlook even in the midst of our pressing concerns. And why not be thankful? Our heavenly Father has “[begun] a good work in [us]” (Philippians 1:6) and continues to work in us (Philippians 2:13) and has promised to bring this “good work… to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6). He has given us His dear Son as the incomparable gift who will satisfy us forever (Philippians 3:7-11), He has brought us into fellowship with one another by His Spirit (Philippians 2:1), and He makes straight our path (Proverbs 3:6) as we follow Jesus on the path that leads to final glory (Philippians 3:10-21) . We are in the faithful hand of the living God, who once said to His people:

“Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through the fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.” (Isaiah 43:1-3)

Whatever the concerning situation is, He has already promised to turn it for your good (Romans 8:28), and He has already promised to “supply every need” (Philippians 4:19). So pray accordingly, “with thanksgiving.” Then return to your task, without any anxiety. Or, if the day has drawn to a close, lay your head on your pillow and get a good night’s rest.

THE PROMISE: GUARDED BY GOD’S PEACE

Finally we come to the promise of verse 7: “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” While this promise is connected to all of the instructions in verses 2-9, it is most closely connected to verse 6. So here’s the flow of thought, going back to the end of verse 5:

1) “The Lord is at hand” (v. 5).

2) Since the Lord is present with us, “do not be anxious about anything” (v. 6). When the Lord Jesus was on earth he was able to sleep in the midst of the storm, and now He is in heaven ruling over every storm, so you can be at rest in Him.

3) So instead of being anxious, trust your God and pray about it – whatever ‘it’ happens to be. “[In] everything” (v. 6) – in every experience and circumstance – pray about it, entrust yourself and your concern to your heavenly Father, and do so “with thanksgiving” (v. 6) for all that He has done, continues to do, and has promised to do.

4) As a result of entrusting yourself and your concerns to God in this way, His peace “will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (v. 7). If you anxiously insist on sorting out all your problems on your own, if you nervously hold onto all of your concerns and attempt to fix them yourself, then you will not enjoy God’s peace. But if you will relinquish control and if you will trust Him, then “the peace of God” will envelop your heart and mind.

Your heart is the innermost part of you; your mind is the thinking part of you. Both at the level of your thinking and even more deeply at the level of your being, you need to be guarded by God’s peace. As God’s peace is standing guard at the gates of your soul, you are spiritually protected. If God’s peace is not guarding your soul, then you are vulnerable: your anxiety will tend to go from bad to worse; you are much more likely to exhibit unreasonableness and harshness in your relationships with others, which will bring about a deterioration of those relationships and increase your anxiety; you are much more likely to believe the devil’s lies that you are not God’s beloved son or daughter and that your negative circumstances are greater than God’s promises and that you must therefore take matters into your own hands; you are much more likely to turn to idols or false gods or false sources of comfort; and before too long you will run afoul of Philippians 4:8, and your thoughts will turn in an unwholesome direction; and in general your entire life will breakdown. That’s the reality of a soul that is not guarded by God’s peace.

God’s Peace is Greater Than Our Understanding

One final word. The promise of verse 7 makes it clear that being guarded by God’s peace is not just a matter of having good theology bound tightly around your brain. To be sure, God wants us to have good theology – it is very important. Bad theology guarantees the absence of God’s peace, but good theology doesn’t guarantee the presence of God’s peace. Good theology, sound doctrine, a true biblical understanding of things, is necessary but not sufficient. I say this because we do not want a peace that equals our understanding, as if the whole thing is just a matter of right thinking. God’s peace includes right thinking, but goes much deeper. As we see in verse 7, God’s peace actually “surpasses all understanding” (italics added).

We could teach an unbeliever all about anti-anxiety theology. But as long as they are trapped in their unbelief, as long as they are separated from God and outside of Christ, it will just seem to them an intellectual philosophy. How sad when professing Christians just treat it as an intellectual philosophy when what we are actually talking about here is life! Life! Not doctrine alone but doctrine ablaze with life and power! We are “in Christ Jesus” and His Spirit is in us! We have fellowship with God because we have been reconciled to Him through Christ Jesus. And now it is our privilege to live in Christ Jesus, and as we do so our heavenly Father takes care of us and guards us from any and every threat to our soul. So why would we want to live anywhere but in the goodness of His peace?

Anxious people try to sort it out and get their thoughts in order, but it is never enough. Instead we are called to trust God and, if we do, we shall find that His peace is more than enough. 

THE BLESSEDNESS OF BEING GUARDED BY GOD’S PEACE

Brothers and sisters, the more you live in verse 7, the more you will live in verses 2-6. The more you experience your heart and mind being guarded by God Himself, the more you will be peaceably and happily same-minded with your fellow Christians (v. 2), the more you will be able to “[rejoice] in the Lord always “ (v. 4), the more you will be able to exhibit gentleness and reasonableness “to everyone” (v. 5), and the more you will be able to rest in God’s promise when the next difficulty descends upon your life (v. 6). And the next difficulty, however small, is likely to descend on your life today! So be thinking about Philippians 4:4-7 and its relevance to you as you walk through your everyday life.

Finally, G. Walter Hansen helpfully points out that what Paul envisions here is the entire church community being guarded by God’s peace. Hansen writes, “… he [Paul] assures the church that through prayer, God will keep the peace in the community by guarding the innermost [hearts and minds] of the members of the community.”[4]

Brothers and sisters, let us live all of life in the goodness and guarding power of God’s peace. 

Let us pray.

 

ENDNOTES

[1] Strong’s Concordance via online Bible Hub for entry “1933. epieikés.” Available online: https://biblehub.com/greek/1933.htm.

[2] Strong’s Concordance via online Bible Hub for entry “1451. eggus.” Available online: https://biblehub.com/greek/1451.htm. The given definition is: “near (in place or time).”

[3] G. Walter Hansen, The Letter to the Philippians (Pillar New Testament Commentary). Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2009: p. 294.

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