Thanksgiving: Finding Our Joy in Christ - Philippians 4:4-7

Introduction

As we have gone through these first six chapters of Daniel, has it occured to you how amazingly calm and at peace Daniel has been throughout his time in Babylon.

How could someone, who endured so much hostility and fear, remain so calm and steadfast in his faith?

And he never riled against the powers of Babylon or Persia, but always remained gentle and peaceable, even while remaining firm in his convictions.

How do we remain calm, hopeful, and joyful in the midst of all circumstances, whether we are prospering or we are suffering?

I think we get an idea of Daniel’s joy and confidence in the midst of all circumstances, especially during his own trials and tribulations, as Paul writes to the church at Philippi.

Read Philippians 4:4-7

Philippians 4:4–7 (ESV)

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.

I. Joy is Not Found in Our Circumstances

A. This letter to the Philippians is considered Paul’s letter of joy

B. Paul is constantly talking about how joyful and thankful he is about this community of faith in Philippi

C. What is interesting is that Paul was writing this letter while he was imprisoned

2 Corinthians 11:24–27 (ESV)

Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.

By this time in Paul’s life, he is currently imprisoned.

He has endured lashings five times and beatings three times. He has been stoned, shipwrecked three times, adrift at sea, in danger from many people including his own people as well as from others who claimed to be believers.

And yet, this letter to the Philippians is filled with joy in spite of his circumstances.

D. When he tells them to rejoice always, he does not do so without the real knowledge and understanding that life is extremely hard and unbearable at times.

E. When he tells them to rejoice, he does not tell them to do so only when life is going well. Our rejoicing is to take place even when life seems to be at its worst.

F. If you believe the purpose of life looks a lot like the American Dream, then something that disrupts that or gets in the way will likely create despair and ingratitude.

Our joy will be disrupted when the stock market crashes

Our joy will be disrupted when we lose our job or position

Our joy will be disrupted when our favored political candidate does not get elected

Our joy will be disrupted when we encounter those who do not think or act like us

Paul was able to remain rejoicing because his joy was not based in his circumstances.

Much like Daniel was able to remain steadfast and joyful in his times of affliction and persecution because his joy was not in his circumstances.

II. Joy is Found in Gratitude To Christ

So Daniel’s joy and hope was not in his circumstances. If they were, he would not have much reason to rejoice and be grateful. The idea of a holiday like Thanksgiving would seem absurd to someone like Daniel living in tribulation.

Looking at what Paul is telling the Philippians, I think we get an answer to Daniel’s sense of peace in the midst of turmoil:

A. v. 6 - Do not worry about anything...

Again, there is this command not to allow the circumstances of life to get us down. Our joy is not based in our circumstances.

How do we not allow our worries and anxieties to get the best of us? How is it that Paul and even Daniel were able to live in joy and faith amidst the trials and persecutions that threatened their very lives?

Paul tells us to pray about everything and to present our requests to God. But he doesn’t stop there.

There is a specific way in which he tells us to pray, “with thanksgiving.”

B. Praying with thanksgiving

This means, to pray in an attitude of thanksgiving even before God has answered our prayers, we are to give thanks to Him for what He is doing and will do in our lives, even if what He does isn’t quite what we expect Him to do. Thanking God before the answer means that we are living in gratitude even if the answer He gives is a no.

Let’s look at an example of Daniel from chapter six, which we looked at last week:

Daniel 6:10 (ESV)

When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously.

The law had just been passed that anyone who prayed to anyone or anything except the king would be thrown to the lions. Daniel, in praying, knew he was forfeiting his life by disobeying this law and he had no guarantee that God would physically save his life from the lions. Yet he still gave thanks to God.

He might have been worried, but he prayed knowing that God’s presence would remain with him and that God would supply Daniel with all he needed during this time of persecution, so he prayed with thanksgiving.

This kind of thanksgiving will, as Paul says, lead to the peace of God to “guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

1. Be Thankful for the Right Things

Let’s look at Paul again.

In verse 4 he tells us to “Rejoice in the Lord.” We are thankful, not because things are goin well for us or because we are receiving certain blessings. We are thankful because we have the greatest blessing of all, the Lord Himself with us.

In fact, he tells us in v. 5 to let our reasonableness or gentleness be known to everyone. Why? Because the Lord is at hand! He is near to His people and anything we go through is not experienced alone apart from His presence.

Yes, we need to be thankful for how God has blessed us and has given us every good gift that comes from above.

However, even if all those good gifts were to suddenly disappear, we would still have all we need! Jesus Himself!

This is why Daniel was able to give thanks in the shadow of death in the lions’ den. This is why Paul was able to give thanks in his imprisonment. This is why you and I can give thanks regardless of our current circumstances.

The Lord is Near to His people!

2. True Thanksgiving Will Lead to a Change in Perspective

In chapter one of the letter to the Philippians, Paul talks about his rejoicing and thankfulness for the Philippian believers in spite of his own trials.

How can someone in the midst of being wrongfully imprisoned and accused remain so joyful and hopeful in his affliction?

Paul remained thankful for the right things. He was not thankful because of the things that benefited himself. He was thankful for the things that ended up serving the advancement of the gospel. Let’s look at his words in Philippians 1:12-14

Philippians 1:12–14 (ESV)

I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.

a. Paul - He was thankful for the hard things in his life because they were serving the greater good of preaching and proclaiming the gospel.

He was able to share of the goodness of Christ to those who had not heard before.

The brothers and sisters in Christ were also strengthened in their faith because of what God was doing through Paul in his imprisonment.

b. Daniel - While we do not know everything Daniel was thinking or feeling in his time of persecution, we can reasonably think that he was also able to remain in an attitude of thanksgiving to God because of what God was doing to bring glory to Himself through his time in the Lion’s den and even his friends’ time in the fiery furnace.

God’s presence was with the exiles in Babylon. He had not left them alone, even in the den of the beasts!

God was also in the process of revealing Himself and His power and goodness to pagan kings who probably came to a saving faith in Yahweh. Israel was being a blessing to the nations because of what God was doing through Daniel and his friends.

Often when we think of thanksgiving, we think of only the good things that have happened to us.

But what if, instead of focusing on what is good for us, we begin to be thankful for how God is using us for the good of others as He leads them to Himself?

It would lead us to be able to rejoice regardless the circumstances, knowing that God is good no matter what happens.

It would lead us to display the glory and goodness of Christ “who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

This kind of thanksgiving and rejoicing will lead us to display the gospel of the cross of Christ to those around us.

Ex. - Back in a former church family of mine, we had a sweet sister in Christ display what this kind of thankfulness and rejoicing looked like in the midst of trials and uncertainty.

She had been diagnosed with cancer. Not knowing how things were going to play out, obviously she and her family were not happy nor grateful for the diagnosis. However, she never lost her joy even in the midst of the cancer. How? She kept her focus on who God is, not on what her circumstances were. Every time she would go down to Houston for her treatments, she would always come back with some kind of testimony of how good God had been to her and to those around her. She would tell stories of how she got to share her testimony with her fellow patients and nurses or she would bring back prayer requests, not for herself, but for those who were in a worse situation than she was in. Her eyes were never focused on what was wrong in her situation, she was constantly focused on what God was doing in and through her for those around her.

Her perspective was fixed on God’s purposes and His glory. As we go into this Thanksgiving holiday, we need to remember that we have much we can be thankful for. But it is not just for the good things and circumstances that happen to us.

Conclusion

God often does His best work and pours out His best blessings in the midst of trials and hardship.

Daniel endured hardships and trials throughout his life, being taken into captivity at a young age, not for his own sins, but for the sins of his parents and grandparents. His friends faced the fiery furnace and he faced the lions’ den as well as a changing of the government, never sure what his future looked like. Yet, he remained thankful and rejoicing because he knew that God was accomplishing His good purposes in the life of his people and in the lives of the Babylonian and Persian kings.

Jesus remained ever joyful and thankful to His Father, even though he faced opposition from the religious leaders as well as other critics throughout Israel, including one of his own closest friends, being betrayed by him with a kiss. Jesus, “who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame,” (Heb. 12:2) because He knew that His suffering would provided the salvation that we needed from sin and death.

We can be thankful because we have a God who is near to us and is good all the time, even when our situations might not be good.

Because of the Gospel, we can be thankful for the good things that God has blessed you with. But we can also thank God for who He is and His own goodness, even when our situations and circumstances are not good. Get into the practice of thanking God even for the tough things in life that serve to display His glory and goodness, even if it is uncomfortable for us. Thank Him for His presence in each and every circumstance of life!