Joy, Peace, Purity
Notes
Transcript
1 In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: “We have a strong city; he sets up salvation as walls and bulwarks.
2 Open the gates, that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in.
3 You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.
4 Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.
Isaiah
Prayer
Introduction
We are getting towards the end of our study through Philippians. Just a couple more weeks to go. I want to take a second to remember one of the central points that we have discussed on and off through our study. We have talked a lot about indicatives and imperatives, and I quickly want to give you a refresher on what those are and why it matters.
Indicatives are statements that “indicate” the way things are while imperatives are commands. The important key to this is that God never gives imperatives – commands without grounding them in an indicative – what who He is and what He has already done. We have seen that throughout this letter. The majority of the first half of the letter is mostly indicative – reminding the Philippians who they are in Christ, and now as we come towards the end of the letter, we will see more imperatives- more commands since Paul has already laid the indicative groundwork.
I say all that because this passage today is long on commands, but I want to make sure from the outset that we recognize that those commands are grounded in the completed work of Christ.
Passage
Our passage this morning is . If you are able, please stand for the reading of God’s Word. We do this to show appreciation to God for His Word, and in recognition that these are among the most important words we could hope to hear today. says,
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.
8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
“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. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”
Thank you, you may be seated.
Paul really is an enigma. Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say rejoice! Let’s take a minute to remember who Paul is writing to. The Philippians are in a very precarious position as a people who live in a Roman colony but cannot proclaim the Caesar is Lord. They are ripe for persecution. They are worried about Paul who is in prison. They are concerned for Epaphroditus who is in with Paul, but they had heard he had nearly died. They are in the midst of some sort of disunity within the church. We will talk a little more about their anxiety in a moment, but let’s stop right there and realize how out of place a command to rejoice must seem.
Let’s put this in our world. If you were in the hospital, about to have major surgery and I came to visit you just before you went back, and just as they are taking you back, I called out, “Rejoice, I’ll say it again, rejoice!” – You would likely be confused and think that maybe I had lost my mind. But the reality is that joy is actually exactly what is needed in the Philippian’s situation.
Why do the Philippians need to be reminded to rejoice? Because as one commentator put it, “The fulfillment of all other goals in the Christian walk flows out of the practice of rejoicing in the Lord.” That may sound like an overstatement, but let’s think back quickly to the rest of Philippians. Every time Paul commands the Philippians to rejoice, it is connected to their specific situations. Look at
18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice,
2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.
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17 Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all.
18 Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me.
We could continue, but I think you get the point. In this case, Paul is connecting rejoicing with the unity of the two sisters who were at odds with one another, while at the same time expanding it to include “always”.
Let me put all of this another way. Joy in the Lord is connected to unity in the Church… and every other aspect of Christian living. Look again to , Paul connects having joy with reasonableness, or forbearance, or gentleness. Paul isn’t impulsively telling people to rejoice; Paul understands, and wants the Philippians to understand that joy is connected to unity – and everything else. How can we be at odds with our brothers and sisters in Christ if we are rejoicing in what God is doing in their life? If you are joyful in the Lord, you don’t have to insist on your own way. Why? Because joy breeds contentment. And that contentment, that reasonableness extends not only to those people we like or our family or friends, but should be known to everyone.
I mentioned a minute ago that the Philippians had a whole lot of things to worry about. They had real, severe reasons to be anxious. Paul here tells them not only to not be anxious, but to stop being anxious.
I want to take a minute to really unpack this, because anxiety and depression and other similar mental health difficulties are real and are a struggle for many people. For people who struggle with anxiety, Paul gives real help here. I don’t want to oversimplify the issues. Sometimes there are chemical imbalances which contribute to anxiety and depression, but what Paul tells the Philippians here is a valuable weapon in our battle against anxiety. Even if you do not generally struggle with anxiety, there will be times in your life that you are prone to worry, and these verses are a powerful help.
The first thing Paul reminds the Philippians is that the Lord is at hand. Paul is grounding his command to not be anxious in the indicative – in the reality that Christ is at hand. The first thing we must do to war against worry and anxiety is to stop looking at the situation and instead look to Christ. I know that is easier said than done. I know that those concerns cry out and clamor for your attention but try to look above it to Christ who is at hand.
Secondly, resisting anxiety is connected to rejoicing. When we intentionally are rejoicing in the face of trials and struggles, we place ourselves in a frame of mind that is inhospitable to worry. To be clear on this issue. Many people who struggle with anxiety look to be happy on the outside, while inwardly are being eaten away with worry. When I talk about intentionally rejoicing, I don’t mean pretending to be happy by putting on a smile. What we are called to do is be caught up in joyful worship of Christ.
Connected to the rejoicing is thanksgiving. Paul tells us to make our prayers, supplications and requests known to God with thanksgiving. This is so important. The heart that is deeply thankful to God is a heart that is less prone to anxiety.
While I am praying about my concerns – those concerns which are causing feelings of anxiety. If I’m praying about them with a spirit of thankfulness – recognizing that these trials are from God for my good. Recognizing that all things work together for good. Recognizing that God only gives good gifts. If my heart attitude is thankfulness – even for the difficulties, that disempowers anxiety. It sweeps the legs out from under worry.
Notice also that Paul says, “but in everything, in prayer in supplication”. There is not worry that is too big, or too small. Sometimes we think God is too busy to hear or anxious cries – we might think they aren’t important enough to bother God with. That’s absolutely false. God is a good father who wants to hear all of your hurts and concerns and relieve you of them. That doesn’t mean they necessarily go away, but that you are relieved in them.
I want to take a second to try to thread a needle here regarding anxiety and sin. It is a difficult topic because many people who are struggling with anxiety or depression do not need additional guilt heaped upon their heads. So, if you are here and you struggle with anxiety, but you are warring against it. You are using the tools God has given you to battle it, even if you feel like you aren’t winning that battle – I’m not seeking to heap condemnation on you. Please understand that. But, sometimes people wallow in their anxiety or depression. Instead of using the tools God has given them, they are content to remain where they are – always anxious and rarely rejoicing or giving thanks. If that is the case, it is probably a sin issue. Paul is commanding the Philippians – and by extension us – to rejoice and to not be anxious. We cannot ignore these commands – we must utilize the weapons we are given. If you are utilizing the weapons and tools God has given you – even if it feels like you are losing the battle, keep up the good work, and keep fighting for joy.
I also hope that you have not heard what I have said about battling anxiety as if it is as simple as these three easy steps. It isn’t. Fighting anxiety is hard. Being joyful in dark situations is hard. Giving thanks to God in the midst of trials is hard. Make no mistake. Paul wouldn’t have needed to tell the Philippians to do so, if it was easy – they would have already been without worry. They needed to be reminded and possible corrected, just like we do.
What is the outcome of joy and thanksgiving? What is the purpose of not being anxious? When we let our requests be known to God in thanksgiving, we are promised that the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. This is why I used the battle metaphor earlier in my discussion of anxiety. The peace of God will actively guard our hearts and minds. This is not a passive feeling of peace, although we might feel peaceful. It is an active guarding from God. Listen, even on our best days, our hearts are prone to worry, but God protects our hearts with His peace – and that comes through prayerful thanksgiving.
So, how important is prayerful thanksgiving in the life of the believer? I would say that it is very important. It is both the weapon against anxiety and a shield against it.
Let’s look now to verses 8-9.
8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
Here Paul really just gives a long list of various words that all mean generally the same thing. They are basically synonymous. We shouldn’t read differences between them, instead, Paul wants us to understand that they all have a similar moral dimension to them. Paul is calling the Philippians to live, think and act morally. When our minds are free from worry and anxiety, we can better think about, meditate on that which is good. Do you see why this matters? I don’t want to beat a dead horse, but anxiety has an overwhelming ability to take over. Worrying about things uses massive amounts of our mental and emotional resources. When we are free from worry, we can better focus on the things that matter most.
To go a step further, not only are we called to think on those things, but we are to emulate righteous behavior. We saw this last week, we are placed as part of a church body so that we can see righteous behavior and follow it, and so that we can be that example to others. We also should not miss the point that when we think about, observe and practice righteousness, the God of peace is with us. Yet another weapon against anxiety, then is to focus on good, moral, righteous things – in community – and to practice those things in community.
I hope you see how all of this is interconnected. Thanksgiving, rejoicing, living righteously, not being anxious, prayer, peace, it is all connected. And more important than that, it is all predicated on the fact that the Lord is at hand. Would we be found walking in sin? Would we be found in disunity? When Christ returns, do we want to be found worrying about things that are outside of our control, but fully in His?
Here is the 2 a.m. test. If you were to call me at 2 am and ask what the sermon is about, I should be able to give a short answer so I can go back to sleep. Here it is: The Lord is at hand, and that affects the way we think, live, and pray. We are a joyful, thankful, worry-free, righteous people because of Christ, even if we often have to fight for that reality.
If you are here this morning and you are not a believer, the return of Christ is not good news for you. When Christ returns, He will do so in perfect judgment. If you have lived a life in rebellion to Him, you will receive the just reward. But if you will repent of your rebellion and sin. If you will place your faith in Christ alone for the salvation of your soul, you will be saved. All of the promises and tools we mentioned this morning will be yours through Christ. If you do not know Christ, you have much to be anxious about. But in Christ, you can know perfect peace.
Brothers and sisters, believers in Christ, let us remember where we are to focus our attention. Not on the worries of the day, but on Christ, the Lord of our lives. We are called to battle against worry and anxiety. We are called to observe and walk in righteousness. We are called to rejoice in all things. We can only do that if we are rightly seeing Christ for who He is. If we rightly see that God gives us only good gifts in Christ. This whole sermon is based in the centrality and supremacy of Jesus Christ our Lord, so let us worship Him in joy. I leave you with this final quote, “People caught up in joyful worship of the Lord are united in heart and lifted above the circumstances of life in a vision of the awesome majesty of the Lord.”
We are about to transition into a time of worship. We believe that any time a person hears the Word of God they respond either in worship or in rebellion. Let us reject the rebellion which incites us to cling to our sins, our worries, and our ingratitude. Instead, et us be caught up in joyful worship of the Lord.
I will be on the front row worshipping with you. If you would like to talk with someone or need someone to pray with you, I would be delighted to do that, just come on up and talk to me. If you are struggling with anxiety or depression or anything else, do not be afraid to reach out now or some other time. I would gladly help you bear that burden. The front is also opened if you would like to pray up here. Please join me in prayer.
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