Well, there couldn’t have been a more providential time for us to consider the sin of anxiety and worry could there?
“Anxiety”= it can put ulcers in our stomachs. It can zap our energy. It can cause us to want to jump off bridges. Also causes a multitude of other problems: worry about finances = greed, selfishness. Worry about what someone thinks = lying.
1st we want to understand the relation between these verses:
Verse 4 “rejoice” = to be in a state of happiness and well-being, rejoice, be glad. “in the Lord” = object, never changes. Therefore, it is always possible to be joyful, rejoicing because of Christ.
Verse 5 “reasonableness” = “not insisting on every right, yielding, gentle, kind, courteous, tolerant of inconvenience.” It is to be a point of your existence to be a testimony of Christ’s humility and selflessness in the lives of others.
Why? “because the Lord is at hand” = Because the Lord is going to return.
Appl.: Now is this really possible? Especially in light of our discussion last week, how can we be called to rejoice all the time, or as it says in James, “count it all joy my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds”? Hopefully we can bring biblical balance to our discussion last week because while some suffering and “soul pain” causes disequilibrium in our lives and disorients us in our walk with God, the process of lament is to bring your soul out of that state to the point of delighting or rejoicing.
We closed by noticing that while lament is the language of sorrow, praise is the language of joy. And so, praise and lament work as two poles keeping us in alignment with God through our prayers.
Transition: But the one thing that will rob our joy and hinder our praise is anxiety.
- Our Problem: Anxiety (vv. 4-6a)
A. A Command
Since these are commands, if we are not doing them, we are sinning. Not rejoicing= sinning. Lives not marked by reasonableness = sin.
Likewise, if our lives are marked by undue worry or fret or concern, we are sinning against God.
- Anxiety is nothing more than an attack against the character of God. “Worry is the sin we are not afraid to commit.”
- We do an injustice to ourselves by justifying it and not calling sin, sin.
- This command actually gives you freedom, because if you are commanded not to do it then it is possible for you to stop!
- It is not a personality trait which you have to live with, or something you can’t stop like balding! It is a sin you can overcome BGG!
B. Meaning
“Do not be anxious” = term for worry is used positively and negatively, both within this epistle:
Pos: Phil 2:20 “For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare.”
Here = “attend to, care for, be concerned about.”
So we must not see this command in Phil 4 as an excuse to be apathetic, to not plan, to not take steps that are within our control.
Neg.: “to be apprehensive, have anxiety, be unduly concerned, harassing care over things we cannot control, a worry that immobilizes us from doing the things we should be doing. Worry is characterized by obsession over things outside our control.
Easy question: Do I have responsibility in it? Can I do something? Yes, then do it! No, then we must not be in bondage to it!
Weather, car accidents, lightning strikes, economy failing, even the coronavirus. We may be able to mitigate the risk of some of these. Bring an umbrella, drive carefully, don’t golf in thunderstorms, diversify your investments, wash your hands.
But in an absolute sense these are beyond our control. And so where our responsibility stops, our concern must stop.
C. The Scope
“do not be anxious about anything” = this opens all doors, do not at all, in any way commit this sin!
Must come to the realization -There is no excuse, no time, no concern, nothing for which it is right for us to worry, nothing over which it is not sin for us to worry. No matter how big or small. That is what this verse means. Will you accept this?
Over everything that exists, there is somebody somewhere afraid of it. Naomi shared several weeks ago about some phobias. Some people don’t eat peanut butter because they are afraid of having their mouth sealed shut. Some are afraid of showers, sucked down the drain. Napoleon Bonaparte, emperor of France, suffered ailurophodia, fear of cats.
Ps 3:5 as he fled from Absalom and was surrounded by his enemies says, “I lay down and slept” sustained by the Lord.
Transition: Now remember the relation between these verses. Now that he has told us what not to do he now gives us a concrete plan!
Not trite, “don’t worry, be happy” or “don’t worry, it might not happen anyway!”
- God’s Solution: Appropriate Prayer (6b)
Before you think “I have tried this” let’s consider specifically what we are told to do. Like lament being the particular approach during times of disillusionment in life, there is an appropriate ordered response to worry:
- “but in everything”= instead of worrying, fretting, stewing over things which you have no control over…
- “by”= this is the instrument to use to bring freedom from worry into effect.
Step 1: Worship!
“Prayer”= petition addressed to a deity 1) Stresses reverence, adoration, worship
-This is the first thing we jump over- when we are anxious the first thing we do is bumble into God’s presence, we unload the prayer, and we go back about our business worrying away. No, no, no!
I am guilty of treating prayer like a fast food order of what I want.
When Aleece was pregnant with Lucas she began bleeding early in her pregnancy. We had already had our firstborn 10 weeks premature and had lost one baby through miscarriage and my mind immediately went there. He was due in April 2016, but in Jan we found out Aleece had placenta-previa. Her bleeding got worse, so she was put on bed rest. It was not slowing down or stopping. I soon faced the possibility of losing my wife as well as my baby. She was transferred to Ottawa and so for weeks I did the drive from Lyndock while my dad stayed with Eric and Titus, then 5 and 3. For me, this was the most stress I have faced in my life. Many of you have faced much more. The first few weeks were just matter of fact. I did what I needed to do in caring for my family. By the fourth week, every time I got home I was sick for several days. I am telling you I prayer. I prayed without ceasing, but I was sick with worry.
- What I needed, and where I eventually got, was to just back to worshipping, just back to thankfulness.
- Before we make any request, worship Him and adore Him.
Some think that worry comes from thinking too much. If comes from not thinking in the right direction. This is first because anxiety always takes hold because of an improper view of who God is.
Williams Wordsworth, Ambassador from Britain once said, “was God in control of the whole earth before you were on it? Will He be in control once you are gone? Do you not think He is still in control while you are in it?”
*Like lament, a major step is that We have got to refocus on who God is. Anxiety will always grow when we lose sight of the Almighty, anxiety is a symptom of unbelief.
Let me illustrate this:
Matt 6:30 “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”-They needed to exercise their faith by remembering who God is
1Pet. 5:6 “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”
“casting” = a participle dependent on main verb in verse 6. We must humble ourselves, how? By Casting our anxieties on him.
Appl.: Mind blowing moment here: Worship is not about being uplifted, it is about being humbled, humbled before almighty God!
- Conversely, Anxiety is pride in disguise. Taking mental responsibility for something outside our control.
- Humility is seen when we cast our cares on God therefore not casting our cares on God, is pride.
- It is pride because you see someone who is stronger and wiser and yet you insist on carrying all of those things yourselves.
George Muller, “Where faith begins, anxiety ends. And where anxiety begins, faith ends.”
Step #2 Thankful Supplication
“supplication” = urgent request to meet a need exclusively addressed to God.
“with thanksgiving” = gives the manner (in a thankful manner) the expression or content of gratitude, the rendering of thanks
-This is the key because where is the focus when we are giving thanks? It is on God.
Forcing yourself to give thanks to God in prayer gets your eyes off of your situation and on to God and His great character.
We will have to deal with our anger at God in this situation; we will have to admit that He is in control if we give Him thanks.
What do you have to be thankful for?
- Worry of ministry, think of Isaiah: “My word will accomplish all I desire”
- You have people seeking to bring you down, opposing you? Give thanks for the promise “if God is for us, who can be against us?”
- Growing old: Is 46:4 even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save.
- No progress in your faith: Phil 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
- Too weak for work or ministry, not prepared: “My grace is sufficient for you.”
- Come to God with prayerful thanksgiving.
- Prayer is not magical. Not like rubbing a rabits foot or rubbing a lamp as if we do these things the dreaded things will not happen. Rather in the midst of circumstances God will fill you with a peace and joy that will help you overcome any problem that comes your way.
- The Result: Peace of a guarded heart and mind in Christ Jesus (vv. 7-8)
- “peace of God”= state of wellbeing, concordance, harmony, tranquility. God can bring harmony to our headache ridden lives through our surrendering to him what we cannot control and thinking on His goodness.
- “surpasses all understanding”= it is beyond human comprehension, we cannot explain it! Not peace that you can get from sleeping pill, or taking a nap. This is deep down peace of God’s control, Fatherly care and power.
- “guard”= protect, provide security, fight off the attack of temptation to worry. Military term. Peace is dispatchment of soldiers. We are on the inside surrounded by worries and as they try to get into your life God’s peace dispels them from getting to you in discouragement or worry.
- “hearts”= seat of physical, spiritual and mental life.
- “minds”= the faculty of processing thought, mind, understanding
- Therefore all is protected from worry, there is no vulnerable area.
Conclusion: “in Christ Jesus” = We can have this peace because of Him. We have this peace through Him! We have this peace from Him. Christ is our all in all. In Him 2Tim. 1:7 tells us “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
So often the answer for us is so simple, yet so hard to master.Are you worrying? Does verse 8 characterize your thoughts?
- Our problem: anxiety, what we aren’t to do, have an undue worry about what is not in our control.
- What to do? Replace those cycles of thought, 1st with worship of God, 2nd bringing request with thankfulness.
- III. Promise? God will dispatch His peace like an army, and it will keep out all the distraction of life.
By His grace may we come to know this peace.