Do Not Be Anxious

I invite you to turn this morning in the book to the book of Philippians. The book of Philippians. And soon, I hope to be back on track in Acts. But I feel a bit like I'm in survival mode right now. So, Philippians is a book that I think gives us so much perspective. And especially chapter 4 as Paul is giving an answer here to the struggle of the early Christians in the church in Philippi. This is found on page 1250 in your pew Bible, 1250. We're going to read together the first nine verses. The text will be verses six and seven, the well-known section here on anxiety. This is the word of the Lord. Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved. I entreat Yodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord. 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. 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 when you have learned and received and heard and seen in me practice these things and the god of peace will be with you and there is the reading of god's word to uh appropriately appreciate this particular section of the bible in the book of philippians and what I just read in chapter 4, you have to see it as part of an answer that Paul has been working toward in this particular book to help the church in Philippi and to help the members who are facing a lot of conflict and a lot of problems. These people, of course, experience things that most of us in God's kind providence have never had to face living in our time and in our place, nor probably ever will. intense poverty and persecution there were other things of course that are much more common to the to the life of the church as we know it that are in this book that paul is addressing to the church in philippi a sick one a sick loved one named epaphroditus internal turmoil in the body of christ you'll notice here in a rare occurrence in the scriptures that paul actually mentions two women who were fighting in the church, Yodia and Sinktiki, and they had caused divisions in this fight and it was separating out the church this way and Paul addresses them and we still read of their names to this day. How would you like your name as a, by the way, trouble causer put in the Scripture? Suffering they faced. Pain. Paul is counseling them. Paul is giving them real help. This is probably in all of the Bible the most upbeat book you'll find. Happy, positive look at things. It is really a wonderful book to read and to consider providing them as Christians and this church, providing them help in how they go forward and handle these struggles. He gives that great command in verse 5. Again, I will say, notice he says, a second time rejoice in the Lord again I will say rejoice that is appropriately called the life of Christian joy that the Lord desires of us that we have that we have joy that we learn to rejoice in circumstances I could have an entire sermon on that this morning but that's sort of from that command there's an outgrowth here that I really want to focus on and bring to your attention something else that we are to have as Christians and that's what I want to focus on with you this morning in the time that we have. It's not only a life of joy, understanding and believing that I am in Christ, that I have this gospel fellowship that he talks about at the beginning of the book, that the mind of Christ is to drive us, Philippians chapter 2, that I am to think about living now in the sacrifice and service of each other's faith. In other words, I'm thinking of others other than myself life of joy in all circumstances when we stop thinking of ourselves and think of others it produces that but paul now says we are also to have a life of christian peace those are the two twin blessings that are here described in this book a life of joy and a life of peace and the apostle here is giving the remedy to the struggles and trials that we face and hardships and unexpected things that occur as we wait for the Lord's return notice that was connected there as a motivating factor the Lord's coming is at hand the Lord is at hand the Lord is coming and he says in the next breath that and this is the goal of this beautiful section that we all love this is probably one of your most favorite sections of scripture I would guess philippians 4 6 and 7 there because at the end of it he is getting to the goal of us to have real and abiding peace the peace of god which surpasses all understanding is going to guard you that is what the lord has for us what the lord desires for us as his people and that leads us this morning to consider these two very wonderful verses here that deal with the problem of anxiety so that's where we're going to begin and that's where i want to focus uh this morning beginning at verse six in the well-known verse i want you to notice as we read it here how direct it is and i'm sure some feel when they hear it beautiful but very simplistic i'm sure listen to it do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to god to which you say you've got to be kidding i've rarely known that in life right most of us are running and hustling about and we are anxious constantly and so i think it's important in the midst of seasons of adversity things come in seasons when seasons are hard to think a lot about this particular command that the scriptures give a lot more intention to than we that that we should give a lot more attention to than we do it is the problem of anxiety to which we also say when we hear this command can that even really be accomplished really in this life is it just that paul is saying these things and this is the ideal to strike for but he doesn't really believe that we could achieve this kind of anxiety free place in life it really does translate do not have anxiety about anything i don't i don't know what sort of further interpretation that needs i really don't uh he connected it with the lord is at hand And that means then that anxiety has this effect of taking us away from looking for the Lord, anticipating the Lord. He wants us focused. He wants us focused. What a statement. I heard last week someone, and it was just an offhanded comment, and it stood with me in light of this sermon. Someone described an employer who says he's a Christian. He's treating his employees poorly. And the reason came because he's all stressed out. And he was expressing this to a man, and the man said to him, the man said, if you're all stressed out, you're sinning. I got nervous when he said that. Do you say that? Do you say that? Can we say that? The word here is speaking of those things that make you full of care. Everything that makes us full of care. So that anxiety follows that brings all the stress and all the tension and all the weariness even causing us to be overwhelmed. Everything that completely distracts. What's interesting here is Paul, under the inspiration of the Spirit, Shows the very same word Jesus used in the Gospels in the Sermon on the Mount. The very same word. I think we miss it when we read Matthew 6. Because it says don't worry, which is the same thing. But if you hear it, which is the same word, said this way, listen to it for a minute. Therefore I, Jesus, Lord, Lord God, I say to 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 look at the birds of the air for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns yet your heavenly father feeds them are you not of more value than they which of you by being full of anxiety worrying can add one cubit to his stature you can't change a thing so why do you worry about clothing consider the lilies of the field how they grow they neither toil nor spin and yet i say to you that even solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these now if god so clothes the grass of the field which today is and tomorrow is thrown into the oven will he not much more clothe you oh you of little faith therefore do not be full of anxiety saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or what shall we wear for after all these things the gentiles seek for your heavenly father knows that you need all these things but rather seek first the kingdom of god and his righteousness and all these things that cause you to worry will be added to you. Therefore, do not be full of anxiety about tomorrow. For tomorrow will worry about its own things. Tomorrow will have anxiety about its own things. Sufficient is the day for its own trouble. Now, Jesus used the word here anxious numerous times throughout uh chose the word anxious numerous times throughout the sermon on the mount and in luke's gospel to speak of the things that that cause one to have this type of anxiety that paul is talking about he says it's wrong to do this in life your body your food your clothing all the things of course in a materialistic society that invade us but when paul employs the word anxious, he is really picking up on what Jesus said, do not be full of anxiety about tomorrow, for sufficient is the day for its own trouble. Paul is adding here and really commenting and expanding upon and giving answer to how we do this, how we avoid this, speaking upon the particular dynamic of what one pastor has designated, and I think he's absolutely right, the tyranny of circumstances the tyranny of circumstances there are certain things that happen to us that are absolutely beyond our control not much of course is ever in our control but you can't affect these things you can't change them and you know what they are ask um ask the widows sitting here if they could control the fact that their husbands got sick and died? Totally outside of them. Can a wife or husband change their spouse's abusive or neglectful way? Can a parent who sees a child rebel against the Lord or reject the Christian faith or continue to make one bad decision after another, can he really control the child's actions? Can one control the loss of a job? Can one really affect the bad things that happen to the loved one next to you can one change persecution we could go on and on death is something that strikes at the strangest of times in the oddest of ways often and you are unable in those moments when these seasons come to fix anything if we lost everything in a day as job did did he control a of it. Look at all the things that are beyond us. Life itself, your bodies, everything. They're all circumstances that you cannot affect as much as you would love to, as much as you try to. We're masters at trying to control life. We're masters at, we are all practical Arminians, trust me all of you today in some way are feeling the way exactly what i'm speaking of here to some degree and if not tomorrow you will be to a greater degree there's not a person here who's not been faced with with some kind of tyranny of circumstance that comes upon them that is totally outside of control and that is really attacking you it feels like an attack now as we reflect upon this and think about when these things occur. Paul had just called us to rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I'm saying it, lest you didn't listen to me, rejoice. You say again, how in the world do I do that? This has taken joy right out the window. And when these circumstances come, the first thing they do is is draw away our minds away from christ we forget joy and when they attack our hearts and our minds as we'll see paul deals with here in a minute they tear down our understanding of the gospel of god's love of god's favor all of that is gone and here is set this thing in front of us and we have a choice in how we are going to handle it well then we're on the path of solutions then we're on the path of solution we're going to do everything in our power to change the circumstance and we're going to live frantically until we do this becomes the drive of life i've seen it over and over again in the pastoral ministry i've seen it in me and i see it in the world every day we're going to give everything to get the best doctor we can to solve the problem sure nothing wrong with that but the tendency is we're now not going to live by the word of god but by doubt and by fear you know this here this is so real to life i don't have to make a justification for that the circumstances are often so far out of our control that it has taken its home in our hearts and in our minds that's why paul addresses that here in the heart the center of who we are and the worry of thinking about this all the time with all the what ifs that come and follow it it's consuming us it's with you all the time it's with you when you rise in the morning even to your sleep just go on and see what the medical field tells you anxiety does to the body all the way to irritable bowel by the way yeah now here it is jesus comes don't be filled with it anxiety is a gateway you know they say that about marijuana i suppose we're gonna have to give some instruction on that now it's legalized in california it's a gateway drug they say anxiety is a gateway sin it's what it is and it's at this juncture that we're opened up to everything here we run from this point into idolatry because it gives us some kind of relief here we feel like giving up here we fall apart here we stop attending church here we isolate ourselves into depression tells us don't worry i don't want you living and worry about these things because there then comes and is displayed a lack of trust that marks and is evident before you in the unsaved gentile world and you're no longer gentile anxiety is opening the door to unbelief because it displays a lack of trust that you have a God who is in control, who is sovereign, who does providentially order everything, who is holding your life in his hand, who does have purposes in what he does, who even feeds the birds of the air, and you're running around like that. Now, I think it's at this point, it's helpful to begin to consider Paul's answer here. That's the hard-hitting aspect of the law in this regard. I find it still, in the midst of all this, a wonderful, wonderful set of instructions and applications that he gives us in these kinds of moments. Jesus doesn't want us worrying. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that wonderful? That is a wonderful thing to think, that the God of heaven and earth doesn't want us worrying. You must have a good reason why, and you just heard. You just heard. It was Jesus who said, I don't want you to lose heart in this struggle. Remember that? So you should always pray. That was Luke 18. Don't lose heart in the midst of this. Men ought always to pray and not lose heart. How? Well, I think you know exactly how. in light of Philippians 4, 6, and 7. Listen to it again. Do not have anxiety. Do not be full of anxiety. Be anxious about nothing, but in everything. In prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. So the remedy is don't have anxiety about anything, but replace that anxiety with prayer and everything. And again, we're still sitting here saying, come on, Paul. Isn't that a bit simplistic? I could hear it already. Life's too complex, too complex to say that. We all know we struggle with prayer, even when things are going well. But how much more difficult is it when things are not going well? Prayer is hard enough when everything's good. But when full of fret, just pray. Is that how we hear this? fact is anxieties even seem to prevail over my desires to pray that's a problem and that's a real experience and how is that remedied notice what paul does here and how he then directs us and gives us help with the very struggle that i just described he says be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving make your requests known what a beautiful directive in how to pray look at the first two words everything by prayer and supplication he's he's made a distinction on purpose i don't think you can explain that away the first word is the basic word for prayer and the difference here as the jews understood it and how the word was often used is that the first word was speaking of a very devotional or sort of worshipful approach to God in prayer. You know what this is. The second is speaking of the specific burdens that come into the heart and into the life in the tyranny of circumstances that he is inviting us to cast upon him. One reason we struggle with prayer is because we often approach it all wrongly. What is the first thing we do when our hearts are troubled, when these things come upon us we pour out our distresses to him in prayer and it begins with the mind and heart shaken up and stirred with the problem and the statement lord why is this happening to me the Psalters say things like this the Psalters say that a question of why can be very helpful but the approach of i am miserable how could you let this happen why this thing and as the mind is fixed on this this is not prayer not in the sense that we should think about where our heart should be rooted as we come before the lord in what thoughts and and what should be in our minds and how we should address him we can come to god consumed with anxiety with no regard for him we're given more to our anxiety than we are to the lord i know that's real i'm not downplaying that but what paul is encouraging us to what paul is helping us with here us to do is to come to the lord first with a reverential worshiping approach to the way we approach god in prayer so much so that when things are overtaking us it's not best to start with the problem it's not best but first to enthrone the lord if you will who is enthroned this has to be at the root of all cries and prayers to the lord to to as the psalms do constantly to worship the lord in the beauty of his holiness lord psalm 90 you have been our dwelling place in all generations before the mountains were brought forth or ever you had formed the earth and the world even from everlasting to everlasting you are god this is where prayer is rooted and grounded your praise of the lord even the psalmist who cried out in psalm 22 and began with my god my god why have you forsaken me why are you so far from the words of my groaning then says this yet you are enthroned you are holy enthroned on the praises of israel in you our fathers trusted you hear it coming out now hear the worshipful approach in prayer in you our fathers trusted and you delivered them to you they cried and were rescued in you they trusted and were not put to shame that's changing him psalm 102 lays um one of the deepest laments in the Psalter listen to this for my days pass away like smoke and my bones burn like a furnace my heart is struck down like grass and is withered I forget to eat my bread because of my loud groaning my bones cling to my flesh I am like a desert owl of the wilderness like an owl of the waste places I lie awake I am like a lonely sparrow on the housetop and then comes this but you oh lord are enthroned forever you are remembered throughout all generations the the distresses in this altar and the anxieties are always then directed and corrected even psalm 77 you can look up that one where he begins with i i i i i and the whole psalm changes to you you you you that everything is rooted and then grounded in the worship of the lord that's why prayers must be with thanksgiving notice that's added um don't be anxious about anything but in everything with this worshipful approach to the lord acknowledging his his enthronement acknowledging his greatness acknowledging his wonders acknowledging his power start rehearsing how thankful you really have to be to him for all he's done to you fun for you thanksgiving as our heidelberg says is the chief way of gratitude but it's one of the chief ways of praising the lord it's one of the greatest bombs for you survey what god has done for you really has he ever failed you has he not proved his faithfulness has he not loved you has he not always answered you has he not always provided and cared for you You should be able to say, yeah, Lord, you preach the cross to me every week. Every week. You speak of the dying love of your Son to us. You have proved above all my circumstances and you've always done it for your people, your steadfast love, your covenant of grace, steadfast love. Thank you. Thank you. Now, in this prayer, this has really taken shape, hasn't it? It's begun with, you are enthroned, you are God, and I survey your wonderful works to me and to all of your people throughout history. And you've got a book of Psalms to read to see it. It's here that you begin to ask for help. It's here. He invites us to. Casting all of our cares upon him because he cares for us. That's an amazing verse in 1 Peter 5. Cast your burdens. In this way, joy is maintained, isn't it? There's a reason when Paul said, again I say rejoice, again I say rejoice, here is how that's maintained. So what Paul is saying to us is that even in our distresses, as we cry to the Lord, we must be filled with thoughts of His love and His mercy that we have already and always enjoyed from Him. And you must contrast your anxieties with his promises, with his love, with the bigger truth of his salvation and the fact that even though you don't understand why this or that is happening, his steadfast love has always been proven to you and you've proved it in the past. His saints have proved his faithfulness. It's then that prayer takes shape. Then. It's really wonderful what the Lord is doing for us here. God commands prayer not because he needs to know what we need. He knows before you ask. But He wants you to come tell Him. For the end that we would express trust in Him. Proverbs 3 just shines here. Trust in the Lord with all your might. Lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He's going to direct you. And did you see where we see the promise shine through? Does God answer? Does God do anything for us in these moments? Does God really answer us in these moments? absolutely he answers prayer that that garth brooks song is trash sometimes god's greatest gift is unanswered prayer i don't know that just came to my head he used to sing it as a kid god always answers your prayer and i'm going to show you i understand what he's saying that if it's selfish you may not want him to but listen to this don't be full of anxiety about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving cast your burdens on him let your request be made known to god verse 7 and the peace of god which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus? Well, you say, well, how does he answer? What's striking about it is what you would expect. Don't be anxious about anything, but by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God and he'll fix it. No. He'll change it. No. This is how we operate. We operate this way. This is how we think. This is one of the great problems in the way that we treat the Lord and look at the Lord. We think everything is good when the circumstance changes. When the trial's over. When the suffering or trial of my loved one is over. Yeah? We look forward to a resurrection. I am not downplaying that at all. But we're still here. Then I'll get calm. Then I'll be calm. Then, after this is over, I can get back to what I know to be a stable life. A good life. You notice how we're always looking for that. I want back to normal right now, let me tell you. I am so far out of routine. Driving to Arizona every week almost. Services, I'm tired of drama. The needs in the congregation right now are huge. Hardly keep up with all this. And I think constantly, I can't wait till all this is done. I cannot wait till all this is done. So I live this way, trying to beat the circumstance and just get through it. So we come to God thinking that God changed this then. You see? Our prayer, we say, changes things. And that's a way we box in God. We box in God this way to our wants and our desires and not realizing He has us in this place for His reasoning, even if I don't understand it. But I'm going to work hard to change in the midst of this if He won't change my circumstance, you see? This is what we do to Him. And yet God has you right here for a reason. It's often God's design specifically for you that you're trying to get out of. And you wonder why you're struggling, feeling God doesn't answer your prayer? It's God's will for you to go through it to find peace and joy in it. It's then evident who we're really trusting in instead of running. remember paul's thorn in the flesh i had this thorn in the flesh i pleaded with the lord three times that he would take it away from me take it lord deep pleading take it take it no my grace is sufficient my power is made perfect in weakness did you see what happened to that man after that answer well then i'm gonna rejoice in it i've always been amazed by the implications of psalm 23 you prepare a table before me where in the presence of my enemies why not take them away you could remove the enemies no no i give you a table in the midst of your enemies surely he didn't have to do that right you think of christ in the garden of gethsemane lord i pray this couple pass but not my will but your will and hebrews comes along and says he endured the cross for the joy that was set before him for you so what does he do for you notice what he says here's his promise and the peace of god that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Circumstances may not be changed, but God promises you something better. He promises you in looking to Him this way, He will pour out upon you real peace. What's that worth? You're not getting it running. You're not getting it doing it your way. He gives you calm. He gives you tranquility. It's a military word He chose too. the Spirit did, He will guard. He'll set a guard around where? Your heart and your minds. The very things that are in utter distress. That He will do when your circumstances rise up this way. He promises that whatever pain it is in the trial, God in the very heart and mind will place His power there so that even when you can't sleep and are constantly stirred up, He'll be there in his spirit guarding your heart and your minds promising to remove the anxiety yes that's what that is a promise of there is a promise here this is his will he doesn't want you to be anxious he'll answer that prayer this is what jesus was talking about when he said when you pray i will you will have it this is the kind of stuff he's talking about he has given you his spirit who is a helper guarding your hearts and minds from anxieties and pains that these tyrannies of circumstances bring upon us he'll calm your heart to see his sovereign gracious hand working peace my peace said jesus i give to you my peace i leave with you it must be something he wants us to have for he keeps telling us one of the continuing mediatorial works of his people through his intercessions is this way to guard you and to keep you i find it then just tragic for those who don't know the lord who are not in christ today look at them aimlessly walking through life full of anxiety and grief with no perspective always seeking and never finding always trying to fix their problems with no perspective and no joy no hope no comfort and jesus says you have a god who's answered you believe it he is your joy and peace i remember a lady i close with this who lost her husband years ago it was sandra de young she came up to me she said you know the doctors tell me all these things i need to do to numb it all i knew i had to face it. You're handing me all the medications after the death. Today, I have a painful joy in the Lord. I can't get that combination of words out of my head. A painful joy. What a choice of words, huh? Joy and peace of the Lord is there to sustain us. I trust this morning these wonderful words have encouraged you to live believing that god is in control of your life don't run into sin we do it so well at these moments learn to trust him with all your hearts to lean not on your own understanding and he has given you a great promise today he's promised to guide your path he's promised that on those paths he will give us the joy and peace of the holy spirit let's pray Gracious Heavenly Father, what a wonderful word to us. And we say with Moses, You have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, wherever You had formed, the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting. You are God. You are enthroned. We bow before You as our King and acknowledge You as God, Lord over all, and have given us everything in Your Son. Thank You, Lord, for life. Thank You for forgiveness because we have provoked You in terrible ways. Thank You for Your unfailing love. Thank You for Your kindness to us, shown to us throughout the whole courses of our lives. And if You were to open our lives and show all the ways which we've departed, even in the midst of that, it would be utterly shaming. but your love covers a multitude of sins and we've enjoyed it. So help us, Lord, to take anxiety away from our heart by surrounding our hearts and our minds with your peace that surpasses all understanding. And that we then, Lord, as we learn to pray, would receive an answer from you this way. And then whatever we have for us to go through, And we would not always seek to run away or get away from it, but to realize this is where You have us. And may Your strength and power and joy and peace of the Holy Spirit rest upon us in Christ Jesus. In His name we pray, amen.