Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Emotion Tone
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Disgust
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Fear
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Joy
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Openness
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Conscientiousness
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Extraversion
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Intro
4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!
5 Let your gentle spirit be known to all men.
The Lord is near.
6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
NOTICE: I am going to talk about something today that can be a touchy subject and at times can be taken wrong.
Depression, anxiety, and other mental health concerns can sometimes be misunderstood in the church.
I don’t want to treat this lightly and I don’t want to give the impression that I am judging or condemning anybody here who might struggle with any kind of mental health concern.
I know from experience that depression and anxiety can be difficult to overcome.
I don’t want to offer any trite solutions or make anybody feel like they haven’t done enough or had enough faith to overcome their own struggles.
I am not a mental health professional or a medical doctor.
I personally believe that depression and anxiety are complex and often require complex therapies, which include mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual aspects to lead one toward recovery.
That being said, I believe that scripture, and particularly Paul’s keys to personal peace, are ideal provide an excellent way to temporarily disrupt and redirect our negative pattern of thinking.
I. Rejoice in the Lord (v 4)
4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!
What is Joy?
rejoice - xαίρετε - chairete
Rejoicing here carries with it a feeling of joy, cheerfulness, and happiness.
rejoicing is something that you may feel internally but is also apparent to others.
By rejoicing “in the Lord” one can say that we choose to have joy because of the Lord and because we are in the Lord (and the Lord dwells in us).
Paul repeats his command as a way to reinforces and emphasize its importance.
Paul had many reasons to give up rejoicing.
He was most likely under house arrest during the time that this epistle was written.
He certainly was restricted in his travel and unable to join the church at Philippi in person.
Yet, Paul had come to the conclusion that there is no life situation that is out of God’s reach.
He believed that God was in control and directly involved in the life of the saints.
That’s where most of us fail in keeping our joy in the Lord.
We just can’t be really sure inside that God’s got our back.
So we let joy slip out of our grasp.
Joy is a gift from God to all of mankind.
Joy is a characteristic of Christians (Fruit of the Spirit)
TRUTH If you don’t have joy in your life then something is wrong that needs to be addressed.
Why does Joy get Disrupted?
Depression - A deep sense of despondency, discouragement and sadness, often linked with a sense of personal powerlessness and a loss of meaning in and enthusiasm for life.
Depression in the Bible
The word depression doesn't appear, but the sense is certainly there in words such as:
downcast
brokenhearted
troubled
miserable
despairing
mourning
Some biblical personalities that displayed symptoms of depression:
David
David expresses grief over the loss of his sons:
2 Samuel 12:15-23; 18:33
Psalms is full of David’s grief AND his joy.
“My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear.”
Ps. 38:4
“Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” Ps. 42:11
Elijah
“I have had enough Lord, he said.
Take my life, I am not better than my ancestors.” 1 Kings 19:4
Jonah
“Now O Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
Jonah 4:3
“…I am angry enough to die.”
Jonah 4:9
Job
“Why did I not perish at birth, and die as I came from the womb?” Job 3:11
“I have no peace, no quietness, I have no rest, but only turmoil.”
Job 3:26
“I loathe my very life, therefore I will give free rein to my complaint and speak out in the bitterness of my soul.”
Job 10:1
“Terrors overwhelm me…my life ebbs away, days of suffering grip me.
Night pierces my bones, my gnawing pains never rest.”
Job 30:15-17
Moses
Jeremiah (the weeping prophet)
Anxiety disorders, which includes depression, are the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting 40 million adults in the United States age 18 and older, or 18.1% of the population every year.
In fact depression and anxiety are often closely associated with suicide, which is also often misunderstood and wrongly shamed in Christian communities.
Causes of Depression
Life circumstances
Physical Illness
Exhaustion
Mental / Chemical Imbalance
Fear (or others or of failure)
Consequence of Serious sin
Loss of a sense of God’s presence
What can we do about it?
Requires Treatment
Emotional - Christian Counselor
Medical - Physician or Psychiatrist
Physical - Exercise and Rest
Spiritual - Pastor, Spiritual Adviser, Christian Counselor
Put Your Hope in the Lord (sounds trite, but it’s true)
Catch yourself in negative patterns of thought and redirect our thinking.
Redirect our thoughts to the very things God would have us reflect upon (see v 8).
Pray for relief and the Peace of God
What about the rest of us?
What can we do?
Care for our fellow man
Comfort the brokenhearted
II.
Let your gentle spirit be known to all (v 5)
5 Let your gentle spirit be known to all men.
The Lord is near.
ἐπιεικὲς - epi-ay-kays - no good English translation
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