Anxiety and the God of Peace: Phil 4:4-9

Well, this morning we continue on in our series.

For those of you who may perhaps new to APC, each month we have been seeking as our theme for the year to take a promise and to preach and then to spend the rest of the month praying in and praying in that promise in order that we might live it out and see it worked out in our lives.

And so we come again back to a promise that is found in Philippians 4, 4 through 9 this morning, and that is our scripture reading.

Hear now the word of God.

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.

Let's pray.

Lord, we uh thank you once again for the light that you send to us.

Lord, we ask and we pray that uh the light as revealed in your scriptures would come to to penetrate our own hearts this day, and through the power of your spirit would come to have a quickening effect within us, exciting us to you, to your glory, to your majesty.

And Lord, in all of these things, we know that we would praise you for the work that you would do within us.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

So as I mentioned, uh once again, we we come to a promise in this passage that we just read.

And uh like all promises, we're reminded that they are laid down for us in the scriptures for our benefit.

They are laid down in scripture for us to take up and to aid us in the Christian life.

They have a way of pointing us back to the glory of Christ and who He is.

And so we could say what a shaft of light is to the sun, so is a promise to Christ.

Every promise, like a ray of sunlight, can be traced back to the sun.

Every promise can be traced back to Christ as the source.

His nature, his character, his light and warmth.

And we see here in this promise this morning that in tracing this particular promise to the source, we see Jesus as the one who in himself possesses peace.

He has that quality about him.

How do we know that?

We know that because in verse 7, Paul on this particular occasion doesn't reference peace with God, nor does he reference peace from God, but he references the very peace of God.

And I trust that as we've been spending time and the promises over these last months, each month they're becoming more and more precious to you.

As we've been praying them in, seeking to live them out.

Because you see, to merely understand them won't necessarily make them precious to you, but to apply them and to appropriate them in the midst of life will prove their value.

And because it's a promise, there shouldn't be any if in it.

Because in it you know God's will.

When God gives us a promise, he gives us his will in it.

His will is in the promise.

And so all we need to do is to plead it and to keep on pleading it until he fulfills it.

If he didn't mean to answer or fulfill it, he wouldn't have given it.

And so there are many promises laid down in the scriptures for us to pick up and to take to him, this being one.

Charles Spurgeon, the Baptist preacher, boldly stated it this way.

He said, God does not give us his word merely to quiet our noise and to keep us hopeful for a while, with the intention of putting us off at last.

But when he speaks, he speaks because he means to act.

When he comes to the gate of mercy, forcible arguments are the knocks of the wrapper by which the gate of heaven is opened.

And so here we are once again with a promise.

Perhaps you have a wrapper, if you have an old door to your house, that you can still tap, tap, tap.

This is a promise to be used as a wrapper to tap on the gate of heaven until we see it fulfilled.

And so there are three things that we see emerge as we look to the text this morning.

We see, firstly, a call to joy.

Second, we see a way of life to adopt, and then third, a peace to possess.

Firstly, a call to joy.

The apostle here calls us in these words to rejoice in the Lord always.

And this is not a suggestion.

This is a command.

It's something that ought to characterize us as followers of Christ.

And if you think about it, it would be an exercise in drudgery if he exhorted us to be bored, or if he exhorted us to be dull or strict.

But I can't think of anything more pleasurable than to be commanded to be glad.

And if we think Paul is lacking in seriousness here, he he repeats himself again.

Again I said, rejoice.

And if we consider the life of the Apostle Paul, we remember that he was writing this letter in prison.

Paul had a tough assignment.

And yet, however, here he is, rejoicing and encouraging others, exhorting others to rejoice.

The reason he could do that is because Paul had broken the chain that linked his joy to his circumstances.

He had broken the chain that made his joy contingent on his circumstances.

That's what's so clear in this letter and his call to joy.

And the reason for his rejoicing in such a sorry state is because his clear-eyed faith in Jesus had given him many reasons to be joyful.

Jesus made it clear to the disciples, you might remember, that he did intend his joy to be ours.

If you have any doubt about that, just go back to John 15.

If we see John's words, Jesus' words in John 15.

We read here that immediately before his betrayal, he spoke to his disciples, assuring them that they would experience joy despite the grief that was about to come upon them.

And he explains at this time that the closeness of this union that he would have with them by the Holy Spirit in the days to come.

And saying this, he says, These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy might be full.

And what he meant by that is when his words came to abide in them, influencing the way that they think more powerfully than their circumstances, then their heart would be led to rejoice and could rejoice, no matter what they faced.

And so the apostle makes it clear that this is owing, that our fellowship to Christ is owing to our joy, and all that we are and all that we have in Him means that we have ample reason to be rejoy to be renewed in joy always.

I love that attachment, always.

He doesn't just tell us to rejoice, he says always.

Isn't that a precious thought?

Isn't that even more a precious reality?

Jesus always being at hand.

I mean, can a friend be there for us always?

Can a hobby be always pursued and live up to the wa under the weight of this expectation?

I don't care how how good even a good friendship might be, or a hobby or pleasure that you might pursue.

Only in the Lord is it able to rejoice in the Lord always.

I do believe that joy can be seen in the eyes.

It's instructive, actually, if you look at the Sermon on the Mount, prior to Jesus' words about anxiety, he speaks of what's in the eye.

Is it healthy?

Is it full of light?

Or is it beholding what's dark?

Why in this order?

Well, because every day, as we know, we don't have to be told this, every day is enough trouble of its own.

Every day is enough trouble, every day is enough stimulus in it to cause us to become anxious.

Which actually explains why we often find relief in nature.

Why do we oftentimes like to get away?

Well, the lack of stimulus can bring a sense of constancy and calm.

Though the world will present darkness to our natural eye, through the eye of faith, we have a light that though it comes to us is brought to live within us and serves our joy.

Transcending circumstances and being always within reach.

That's what he means you to have more of.

And so he says, again, I rejoice and would have you to rejoice.

But one of the wonderful things about the scriptures is that they don't only speak of high ideals without also being realistic.

And here we're confronted with this realism.

The Apostle Paul goes on to say, talk about reasonableness and in relation to anxiety.

And the term reasonableness here can be translated as gentleness.

Why is that?

Well, because it gives color to the nature of anxiety.

Right?

When we're anxious, when we get wound up, and in our angst and the power of our emotion, it can cause a real unsettling and disturbance to unity with others.

Think about how oftentimes the power of anxiety leads to words that we later regret.

Regrettable words that are said, or a fretfulness emerges, and it becomes contagious in that sense.

And what might begin from one then fills the whole household with kind of angst.

It's contagious in that sense.

And so the apostle is saying there's a need to bring this power to a point of sobriety and an ability to be reasoned with.

Anxiety is something that, as we know, none of us escape.

How often may a wife say to a husband, right, you seem anxious.

And the answer, no, I'm not anxious.

But the evidence, his his fingernail pro his fingernail marks are everywhere.

Control.

Trying to deal with life.

There are always those within our ranks who give the impression that they don't have any chinks in their armor.

But even the sailor who appears to ride on the top of rough seas may suffer nausea.

If his mind denies it, his body soon becomes his teacher.

Those who try to bulldoze over their anxieties soon find themselves learning from their physiological symptoms.

And there are those who say, well, even then I don't really deal with anxiety.

And I would say to you is don't be too quick to judge.

God may have weightier assignments for you yet.

The prison tests more than being at the poolside.

A household of guests adds more weight on the nerves than an entertaining only one.

Not all situations are alike.

And neither are all personalities alike.

So that ought to give us sympathy to those who suffer under such conditions.

As a child, my family and I would uh would would go sometimes to a place on vacation where we could watch people paragliding.

It's the ones with the big the big sails.

And it looked like a big parachute.

And it was used, it was fascinating to watch these people who were paragliding launch off this high mountain.

And then they would suddenly begin to look for these thermals, these warm pockets of ear where they could they could enter into them and then ascend even higher.

And you see them go up and up and up.

But then you would soon notice that when this air stopped, or when they found themselves outside of that warm air, they would begin to plummet back down to earth.

And likewise, who of us haven't been ushered into the heights of heaven riding the warm air of joy, only to be found moments later plummeting back to earth in stressful worry for reasons sometimes even unknown to us?

Who of us can claim to always ascend and never be robbed of joy?

And so the question then is, well, so what do we do with the anxiety that robs us of joy and quickly consumes us?

What do we do?

And to answer that, I think there are two questions to bring into the light.

The first is to ask, what is anxiety?

And the second, what's the prescription in dealing with it?

Firstly, what is it?

And as I examine the scriptures, there tends to be a common theme that lies at the root, and it's the basic desire to know God's care.

Anxiety being the sense of being alone in something too big for you.

Consider that situation that we just read.

Martha wanting to serve and be hospitable to guests, right?

One of which is Jesus.

And in preparing the meal, things just seem to be getting away from her.

And she becomes increasingly anxious, and the cry soon emerges, Lord, do you not care?

That my sister has left me alone to serve.

It's all about her desire to be cared for in that moment.

Or consider the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount.

How does he reassure the anxiety of his listeners?

How does he comfort them so that their focus is on the kingdom first and not on their own needs?

Well, he points out how the birds of the air and the lilies of the field, even though they don't sow or reap or gather into barns, even though they don't toil or spin, they are cared for by the Father.

And as such, we can trust Him to care for us.

It's about His care.

And then we have the disciples in a storm, somewhat amplified circumstances.

And here they are, experienced fishermen on the waters, somewhat familiar with.

But it's a new day, and the winds begin to chop up.

The winds begin to blow and toss the waves, and they become increasingly anxious with the threat of being swallowed up in a storm.

And though Jesus is in the boat, their response is to wake him up and to ask him, Do you not care?

Jesus.

Do you not care?

And isn't that where the root lies when it comes to our own anxieties?

I feel alone in something too big for me.

A health challenge, a job assignment, personal interactions.

There's plenty of stimulants in life to cause anxiety to rise within us.

We become impatient with God's ordering in our lives.

We struggle to make sense of his providence and orchestration and we wonder, what's going on?

Right?

Isn't that where our faith is often tested right at that moment?

Isn't that where it's challenged?

This seems to be going south.

I don't make sense of this.

And while we may not think it or even voice it, the question boils down to this do you care?

Things are stacking up against me.

And I feel unable to deal with it.

Lord, show me that you care.

That's what lies at the heart and the root of so much anxiety.

And so what's the prescription?

Well, the prescription is to give ourselves to prayer and supplication with thanksgiving in everything.

Notice that anxiety is not dealt with by suppression.

But the call here is not to manage or evade, but to be transformed.

How does that take place?

By an unburdening in conversation with God.

Prayer.

An orientation of ourselves to Him, inviting Him in, believing that He does care and that He is at hand.

What is sometimes the case with Christians who are even familiar with these kinds of passages is that oftentimes we come back to them after reading them and we say, Well, I shouldn't be anxious.

I should feel joyful.

I shouldn't feel this way.

And we try to, by power of will, suppress it and manage our anxiety.

Like a beach ball, you know, that we just try to push under the water.

But to suppress symptoms of any kind is just a form of escapism, an attempt to bypass.

The heart, and that always wreaks havoc.

Much more is gained when we honestly admit being anxious and yet bring it to God.

We say, we say, I'm feeling anxious.

But because I have the Spirit within me, I'm not resigned to living with it.

Faith, you see, always puts up a but.

Faith always puts up a but God.

None of us escape anxiety, but the concern here is that we not accept it.

That we not resign ourselves to the state and say, well, it's just how I am.

I'm just made up this way, and I just deal with it as life comes, and I'm always going to be like this.

No, faith always puts up a butt.

And so we hold conversation with God, knowing that prayer takes place in his presence and he cares for us.

One commentator says it this way he says, Anxiety cannot continue to breathe easily in an atmosphere suffused with prayer.

Not trite, but a careful, patient spreading of our needs before God, detailing our situation and our anxieties, casting our burdens on Him so that we are sustained.

And that means that one of the most helpful things that we can do for our spiritual life is to examine our thoughts.

We live busy lives and we we just go, go, go, go, go.

And we and we and we don't stop to think about the thoughts that are driving our anxieties.

To just reel off requests and expect worries just to vanish into thin air is not what is meant here.

When he says, by prayer and also supplications bring your requests.

So that when we're depressed or feel like a failure, when we're guilty or anxious, we need to ask ourselves, what am I really thinking in my heart that makes me feel this way?

And I'll ask you the same question this morning.

What are you laying out before him?

What are you entrusting to his care?

Are you holding in the weight of burdens that you were never meant to bear alone?

And suffering under it.

And it really is a suffering that we experience when we carry the weight of burden that we were never meant to bear.

And you may ask, well, so why is patience also required?

Because one thing that anxiety does is it draws us into the immediacy, right?

The immediacy of it all.

We're acutely aware of our present needs.

We're in that immediacy we can lose sight of and forget both past benefits and the fact of the present benefit of God being at hand to aid us.

The one who says, Seek me diligently and I will reward you.

And that's, to be honest, that's how you can tell between anxiety and desperation.

Anxiety keeps us focused on ourselves and what will happen to us.

The desperate person, however, is often very clear about what they need.

And so to bring our request to God is to remind him of what is on our hearts, knowing that he has cared for us in the past, and he will no doubt care for us once again in the present and in the future.

That is which moves us beyond anxiety toward the path of peace.

And so it leads us to ask the question so what is the reward of such trust?

And the reference here to peace in this instance, as I mentioned earlier, is not merely a peace with God, although that is certainly vital and important and to be cherished.

Nor is it a peace from God, but it is the very peace of God that we come to experience.

When the wind and the waves have arisen in my own heart, my own joy being interrupted, I've been led many times to this promise out of a sense of desperation.

This promise has been the wrapper for me in the door of heaven.

And God has been so merciful to open up that door to his comfort and his consoling peace through the power of the Holy Spirit in such times.

Sometimes this relief has come more quickly than others.

Because while Scripture gives us a path or a template, it doesn't give us a timetable.

However, in saying that the destination is always one and the same, an enjoyment of his perfect peace.

A calming of the storm within.

Oh, what comforting words they are.

Have you known this power and felt this life from his promises within you?

Have you known this cheerful work to be carried out in your own soul?

This peace that quiets the turbulent and the agitated heart with the same power that calmed a storm.

That's what's at work in you.

That same power that rose Christ from the dead is at work within you.

To bring warmth to your heart, to restore a sense of relief and calm.

His care delivering you from fear and distress.

Are you aware even now of this work within?

His ministry to rest you, his convincing you by promise that he truly does care.

And will continue to exercise his love and care towards you.

Know then that this is the Holy Spirit's influence, and may that add to your joy.

His presence to shear his peace.

Him in it with you, working for your repose, working for the freedom of your mind and heart.

Always at hand in whatever you face, bringing a lightness back to your spirit.

Because in him the eye is filled with light.

And in him, they are given back their shine.

Oh, what peace.

Oh, what a promise.

Amen.

Oh Lord, we praise you and we thank you for such promises.

Lord, we have basked even now in the light of your goodness, being reminded of your cure to us.

Lord, we thank you that you are not a God who is detached from the things that we suffer, but a God who is so faithful to transform us even in the midst of them.

So, Lord, where we have been slow to bring the things that weigh on us to you.

Lord, will you prompt us to be far quicker?

That we might bring them, believing your cure to us, to you, and that we might continue to be aided in the joy and the peace that you would have us to live.

Oh Lord, we thank you for your precious ministry to our hearts and to our lives.

We thank you for the reminder that you are a rock.

And in all this we give you praise.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.