Philippians
4:2-7 I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord. 3 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.
4 Rejoice in the Lord always;
again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known
to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about
anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let
your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God,
which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in
Christ Jesus.
Paul’s only command for the Philippians that
seems to imply any problem is the encouragement of two women to agree in the
Lord. Earlier he had said that all of the Philippians should complete his joy
by being of the same mind. If these are the only problems the Philippian church
had experienced it was indeed a pleasant fellowship. We don’t know who Paul’s
“yokefellow”, or true companion, was. He probably was the pastor of the church.
Paul had pleasant memories of those who labored side-by-side with him in the
gospel. He was encouraged to believe that their names were in the book of life.
Paul encourages them to…
Rejoice
in the Lord always. Turn with me to James 1:2-4. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for
you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And
let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete,
lacking in nothing.
This is a difficult passage as it talks about
rejoicing when we meet trials. We are not naturally taught to be happy with
difficulties that come into our lives. In fact most of us were raised to be
very upset when we meet trials and difficulties. Paul had written to the
Philippians, “Rejoice in the Lord”. And in that phrase gives us the secret of
dealing with anxiety. We need to learn how to trust God! We have placed our
faith in him for salvation and yet can’t seem to rest on him for the every day
difficulties of life. It is, “in the Lord” that we can rejoice. It is not, “in
the trials and troubles” we rejoice. In fact, it is in spite of the conflicts,
trials and troubles of life that we are allowed to rejoice. Remember always
that everything that comes into our life serves a purpose in God’s plan. So
that testing our faith produces steadiness leading to being “perfect and
complete, lacking in nothing.” The difficulties of life, when handled by faith,
give us a steadiness and maturity which leads us to hope that does not shame
us. Such an attitude of rejoicing in all things allows us to recognize God’s
love that has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. (Romans
5:3-5) Not only are we to rejoice in the Lord always we are to also…
Practice
gentle patience. Turn with me to Ephesians 4:1-3. I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner
worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all
humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager
to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Letting our reasonableness be known to everyone
is a matter of living out the calling to which we have been called. The
Christian life should be marked with humility, gentleness, and patience. The
kind of patience a child of God has enables us to bear with one another in
love. Obviously, the words, “bear with”, implies we may not be completely happy
about the situation. However, when we recognize the presence of Holy Spirit in
our life we can allow God to take care of every conflict allowing us to
practice gentle patience because we are resting on him not ourselves. When we
do this we are able to…
Reject
anxiety. Turn with me to these words from the sermon on
the Mount located in Matthew 6:25-34. “Therefore I tell you, 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. Is not life more than food, and the body more
than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither
sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by
being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And
why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they
grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even
Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But
if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is
thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore
do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or
‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these
things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But
seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will
be added to you.
34 “Therefore do not be anxious
about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day
is its own trouble.
Paul’s command to the Philippians to, “not be
anxious about anything,” is very hard to obey. Anxiety seems to be written into
the script for most people lives. We turn to Jesus’ sermon on the Mount and
find him asking some serious questions. Isn’t your life worth more than food?
Isn’t your body more than clothing? Are you not more valuable than the birds of
the air? Can your anxiety add a single hour to your life? Why should you be
anxious about clothing? We should not be saying, “What shall we eat? What shall
we drink? Or what shall we wear?” Instead, we are to seek first the kingdom of
God and His righteousness. If we will seek first the kingdom of God, we will
have all the things that we need provided to us by our God. So long as we have
the right attitude of faith God will supply all our needs according to his
riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
When we consider Jesus’ questions they really
boil down to: do we really have faith in God? Will he really meet all our
needs? Can we trust God to know what our needs really are? And in every case
Jesus answers, “Of course you can!” We must remember that the Lord is at hand! He
is not out of touch with our lives.
Jesus himself said that he would be with us
always even to the end of the age! He also said that wherever two or three are
gathered in his name he would be with them. Now that’s an encouragement for
prayer meeting!
If we believe that he is always with us, and
that he cares for us, we are able to rest in his assurances. No matter what the
animal activists say we are more important than the birds of the air and our
Father feeds them. Our being clothed is more important than the lilies of the
field that God cares for. Knowing that he will take care of us we must simply,
in time of need…
Turn
to prayer. Turn with me to Paul’s words to Timothy found
in 1 Timothy 2:1-2. First of all, then, I urge
that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all
people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we
may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.
The words to the Philippians were not to be
anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication —
with thanksgiving – let our requests be made known to God! Paul writes to
Timothy and says that supplication, prayer, intercession, and thanksgiving, are
to be made for “all people” beginning with our rulers and continuing through
all people. The consequence of such a life of prayer is peace and quiet! A life
that is godly and dignified in every way! We are able to be anxious for nothing
because we have a God that we can go to in prayer knowing that he hears us and
will meet our needs according to his riches not according to our wants.
Remember, the Lord is at hand! Jesus said that
he would be with us to the very end of the age! If he is here, and he surely
is, we do not have to fear anything. There is a video on YouTube that shows a
bear cub being chased by a mountain lion. The lion clearly has the upper hand
and the cub hurries along a mountain stream being tracked by the lion. Just as
it seems there is no hope for the little cub suddenly the lion stops and is
obviously very hesitant then slowly turns away! Then the camera angle changes
and there on the edge of the stream is mama grizzly bear moving towards the
scene.
In exactly the same way our enemy, who is a
roaring lion, chases us with the intention of destroying us. Like the little
bear cub we do not have the ability to defend ourselves. But we do have a God
who cares about us! Whenever our enemy’s attacks push us towards anxiety our
God will protect us. Isaiah assures us that “when the enemy shall come in like
a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.” (Isaiah
59:19 KJV)
We may rejoice in the Lord always and be at
peace with everyone because the Lord is at hand and we do not have to be
anxious about anything. We can do these things…
And enjoy
the peace of God. Turn with me to Colossians 3:12-15. Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate
hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing
with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each
other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And
above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect
harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to
which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
There is a lot going on in this passage! Those
who come to Christ by faith are God’s chosen ones and have the privilege and
the ability to change their lives. We are able to put on hearts of compassion.
We are able to be humble and meek with patience. We are able to bear with one
another! And if we ever do have a complaint against another we are able to
forgive just as the Lord forgave us! As God’s chosen people we are able to put
on love as a binding around everything else in our lives. And then, above
everything else, we have the ability to let the peace of Christ rule in our
hearts. We must remember that a command to “let” anything in our life affirms
our ability to do so. We can allow, by choice, the peace of Christ to rule in
our hearts! This is not something that “just happens” it is part of the fruit
on the Spirit. The Spirit bears his fruit in our life. That fruit is, “love,
joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and
self-control.” (Galatians 5:22-23) This is not a list of things that we produce
by our own efforts. This fruit is the result of the life of God in us. If we
live in step with the Spirit these qualities will be manifest in our life
replacing all our anxiety. The peace that passes understanding will guard our
hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
We sometimes forget, or never knew, that we
really can have control over anxiety. Peace is not just the absence of
conflict. Biblical peace is a state of security, safety, prosperity and
happiness. The Greek word used here even has a medical meaning. The Greek word
for peace might mean, “binding up that which is broken so it can heal”. Many
times in our lives we have the opportunity to choose to let things heal. The
peace that is given to us by the God of peace allows us to enter into a period
of rest in our lives. Anxiety, on the other hand, takes away our rest and robs
us of peace. Since we have put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ we can have
the ability to put aside anxiety and wait on the Lord in every situation. We are
to be at peace in all parts of our life because we have a God who will care for
us in everything. If you have never come to the place where you have fully
trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ I encourage you to do so today! Today can be,
for you, the day of salvation. Trust in the Lord He will care for you.
All
scripture quotes are from: The Holy Bible: English standard version.
2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
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