The Antidote to Worry

INTRODUCTION

This morning we are taking a serious look at what Paul says next in Philippians chapter 4, particularly verses 6-9

So please take your Bible this morning and turn to Philippians 4.

We’ve already looked at verses 1-5 where Paul wants the Philippians to stand firm by living in harmony with one another, by rejoicing in the Lord and by letting their gentleness be experienced by others

All three of these areas were threatened because there was a problem between two women: Euodia and Syntyche

They weren’t living in harmony and therefore that affected the churches ability to rejoice and manifest gentleness

When there is division everyone suffers not just those that are directly involved

But that obviously led to another problem: worry and anxiety

So Paul tells them to...

I. Stop Being Anxious (v.6)

I’m reading it like this because this was already going on

Maybe they were worrying about the conflict between Euodia and Syntyche and the problems it was causing in the church instead of praying and helping to restore them

The two words “Be anxious” is actually one word in Greek

It’s the verb merimnao

It is translated “anxious” as we see here and “worry” in Matthew 6:24.

If you parse or break down this verb, this is a present, active, imperative

Let me tell you what each of those terms mean as it relates to this word

The present is talking about tense and it means it’s ongoing

It started in the past but was ongoing in the present

Active is referring to the action the subject is causing

The Philippians were causing this action

In other words, they were presently worrying or being anxious

The imperative is a command

So according to this verb, they were already being anxious and Paul is commanding them to stop!

Whatever they were anxious or worried about, Paul uses the negative adjective “nothing” (medeis) which means “not one”

They were to “be anxious about “not one” thing

The words “one thing” or “nothing” appears first in the verse so that it literally reads “Nothing be anxious”

It appears first for emphasis

You and I justify being anxious or worried

I do realize that some anxiety is medical but not all of it

This is that which weighs down the heart like Proverbs 12:25 says

Proverbs 12:25, “Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs it down, But a good word makes it glad.”

Jesus said in His Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6, not to worry

He said it 3 times

Matthew 6:25, “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?”

Matthew 6:31, “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’”

Matthew 6:34, “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

So don’t worry about what you’re going to eat or wear or about tomorrow

In each of those verses the underlying thought is to not worry but trust God

He will feed and cloth you

And He will take care of tomorrow too

He also said in verse 27 that worrying is pointless because you can’t “add a single hour to [your] life” (Mat.6:27), so why worry?

He even told His disciples when it came time for them to be persecuted to not worry

He said in Matthew 10:19, “But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say; for it will be given you in that hour what you are to say.”

So trust Me, Jesus says

Trust God, Paul says

Worry therefore is a sin since we’re commanded not to worry

And worry is the results of not trusting God

Worry has nothing good to offer so why do we do it?

I think because it’s part of our fallen nature

It’s something we inherited from Adam

Helen Steiner Rice insightfully said…

12091 Worry? Why worry? What can worry do?

It never keeps a trouble from overtaking you.

It gives you indigestion and sleepless hours at night

And fills with gloom the days, however fair and bright.

John Scott agrees and says “worry doubles trouble”

He says...

“Each day has troubles enough of its own.” So why anticipate them? If we do, we double them. For if our fear does not materialize, we have worried once for nothing; if it does materialize, we have worried twice instead of once. In both cases; it is foolish: worry doubles trouble.

The main problem with worrying is it’s “an indication that we think God cannot look after us” (Oswald Chambers)

James Boice said...

“If you’re worrying, you’re not trusting; and if you’re trusting, you’re not worrying.”

John MacArthur says...

Worry strikes a blow at the person and character of God.

Boice again says...

We commit sin when we worry. We do not trust God when we worry. We do not receive answers to prayer when we worry, because we are not trusting.

So worry then “is sin against the loving care of the Father” (E. Stanley Jones)

Worry shifts the focus of attention from the all sufficient power of Christ to your human insufficiency and insecurity. Ultimately, worry can undermine your Christian witness by presenting God as impotent and unworthy of praise.

June Hunt

“Worry [then] is practical atheism and an affront to God” (Robert Mounce)

So stop worrying!

Listen to this one beatitude someone wrote...

Blessed is the man who is too busy to worry in the daytime and too sleepy to worry at night.

Unknown

Amen!

So what are you to do then?

You can do what one man did...

A man was worrying all the time about everything. He was a chronic worrier. Then one day his friends saw him whistling. “Can that be our friend? No, it can’t be. Yes it is.” They asked him, “What happened?” He said, “I’m paying a man to do my worrying for me.” “You mean you aren’t worrying anymore?” “No. Whenever I’m inclined to worry, I just let him do it.” “How much do you pay him?” “Two thousand dollars a week.” “Wow! How can you afford that?” “I can’t. But that’s his worry.”

Anonymous

Paul now gives the antidote to worry. He says to...

II. Pray (v.6)

Paul says, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

Every time you’re anxious you are to pray

Paul says “in everything by prayer and supplication”

“Supplication” are specific requests we make to God

“Requests” is the subject

“We are to pray and not to shrink from petitioning and to let ta aitemata, the actual things asked for, be ever and ever made known to God. Then no worry will ever be able to arise” (Lenski)

Lenski asks, “In what better hands can any trouble of ours rest than in God’s hands? Paul’s very words contain the assurance that God will attend to all that we ask by either giving this to us or giving us something better above what we ask or think.”

“Paul’s language is deliberately all-inclusive; there are no restrictions on applying it” (Sproul)

Albert Barnes says, “Everything in reference to the supply of your wants, and the wants of your families; everything in respect to afflictions, embarrassments, and trials; and everything relating to your spiritual condition. There is nothing which pertains to body, mind, estate, friends, conflicts, losses, trials, hopes, fears, in reference to which we may not go and spread it all out before the Lord.”

David called on God in Psalm 139:23–24 to search and know his heart

He said, “23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; 24 And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.”

His prayer was for God to “try” him and “lead” him in the right way because left to himself he would never get there

He would worry and so would we

We, like him, have to run to our heavenly Father who cares for us

In the words of 1 Peter 5:7, we come to Him “casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.”

We can come to Him with our “supplication” or “petitions” knowing He hears our requests

We can also come to Him with grateful hearts because He cares for us

Our lives are in His sovereign hands

We “walk by faith and not by sight” (2 Cor.5:7)

We are to “trust” the Lord as Proverbs 3:5-6 says

There are many things to thank God for:

knowing that God will supply all our needs (Phil. 4:19), that He stays closely in touch with our lives (Ps. 139:3), that He cares about us (1 Peter 5:7), that all power belongs to Him (Ps. 62:11), that He is making us more and more like Christ (Rom. 8:29; Phil. 1:6), and that no detail escapes Him (Ps. 147:5). (MacArthur Jr., John. Anxious for Nothing, p. 39)

The list doesn’t end

Albert Barnes said “We can always find something to be thankful for, no matter what may be the burden of our wants, or the special subject of our petitions.”

So Paul says we are to pray and we are to pray with thanksgiving

This is the antidote to worry…thankful prayer

Paul called for this kind of praying throughout his letters to the churches

He said to the Ephesians in Ephesians 5:20, “always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father;”

He said to the Colossians in Colossians 2:6–7 “6 Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.”

He also said it in Colossians 3:17, “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.”

He said it in Colossians 4:2, “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving;”

He said it to the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 5:18, “in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

So we should “always” be “giving thanks” “overflowing with gratitude” in whatever we do either by word or deed

Our “attitude” is to be that “of thanksgiving”

Again this is in “everything”

Daniel was able to do it when he heard that a law was signed saying that prayer was to be only made to the earthly monarch

Daniel 6:10, “Now when Daniel knew that the document was signed, he entered his house (now in his roof chamber he had windows open toward Jerusalem); and he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God, as he had been doing previously.”

Jonah did it after being swallowed by a big fish (Jon.2:9)

Paul did it throughout Philippians even though he was suffering hardship and in prison

If they all could do it, so can you!

Paul says when you pray with thankful prayer...

III. God’s Peace will Guard You (v.7)

Paul says in verse 7, “And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

God promises His peace when you cast your anxiety on Him

He promises to “guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

The word “guard” (phroureo) is a future, active, indicative

Future is just what it means

Active is referring back to the subject

In this case it’s God causing the action

Indicative is stating this as a fact

When you pray with thanksgiving, God’s peace watches over you

Psalm 29:11 “The Lord will give strength to His people; The Lord will bless His people with peace.”

That’s a promise you can count on!

David also says in Psalm 119:165, “Those who love Your law have great peace, And nothing causes them to stumble.”

Right praying not only brings about God’s peace but it also leads to...

IV. Think on the Right Things (v.8)

Paul says in verse 8, “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.”

We are the products of our thinking (MacArthur)

Proverbs 23:7, “For as he thinks within himself, so he is...”

So what we think matters

We are to guard the mind and the heart

Proverbs 4:23, “Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life.”

Romans 12:2 says we are to “be transformed by the renewing of your mind...”

Renewing your mind involves not just memorizing Scripture but also meditation on it

We are to think on the right things

God, in essence, said that to Joshua in Joshua 1:8, “This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.”

To be “careful to do according to all that is written in it,” involves what Paul says in Philippians 4:8.

So our ability to trust God and not worry is based on what we think on in verse 8

Notice what Paul says...

We are to think, dwell or meditate on...

“Whatever is true”

“Whatever is true” is found in God’s Word

Jesus said to the Father in John 17:17, “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.”

The truth is also found in Jesus Himself who is the embodiment of God’s Word

He is the “word made flesh” (Jn.1:14)

He said of Himself in John 14:6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

We are to fix our eyes on Jesus because He not only is the truth but everything He said is truth because His Word is truth!

That says a lot in a world that doesn’t seem to know what is right or wrong or who are denying truth like Pilate did when he asked Jesus, “What is truth?” (Jn.18:38)

The Philippians were, according to God’s Word, “be true to their engagements; true to their promises; true in their statements; and true in their friendships. They were to maintain the truth about God; about eternity; about the judgment; and about every man’s character” (Barnes)

Next. We are to think on...

“Whatever is honorable”

“Honorable” refers to what is “noble, dignified, and worthy of respect”

We are to think on things that are worthy of awe and adoration and to “show respect to all the venerable and proper customs of society, when they [do] not violate conscience or interfere with the law of God” (Barnes)

This is meditating on the sacred instead of the profane (MacArthur)

We are also to think on...

“Whatever is right”

This speaks of thinking on righteousness

“Our thoughts are to be in perfect harmony with the eternal, unchanging, divine standard of our Holy God as revealed in Scripture” (MacArthur) so that the believer is just or right in all his dealings

Albert Barnes says, “If a Christian would make an impression on his fellow-men favourable to religion, it is indispensable that he manifest uncorrupted integrity in his dealings”

Next we are to think on...

“Whatever is pure”

This refers to something that is morally clean and undefiled

We are also to think on...

“Whatever is lovely”

This means things that are “pleasing” or “dear to anyone” (Barnes)

Next we are to think on...

Whatever is “commendable”

Whatever is “excellent”

Whatever is “worthy of praise”

Since there are so many excellent and worthy things out there, we are to focus on all of them

Focusing on godly virtues will affect what you decide to see and say

That’s because your thinking affects your desires and your behavior

Jay Adams said, “Whenever you catch your mind wandering back into the forbidden territory (and you can be sure that it will—more frequently at first, until you retrain and discipline it …) change the direction of your thought. Do not allow yourself one conscious moment of such thought. Instead, crisply ask God to help you to refocus upon those things that fit into Paul’s list recorded in Philippians 4:8–9. The attitude must grow within you that says: “So if I have a fear experience, so what? It’s unpleasant, it’s disturbing, but I’ll live through it—at least I always have before.” When you honestly can think this way without becoming anxious, you will know that the change has been made.”

Paul concludes this by telling them to...

V. Practice Practice Practice (v.9)

Paul sums it all up in verse 9 when he says, “The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”

You can’t just know these things by theory

You have to “practice these things”

When you do, “the God of peace will be with you”

Paul already alluded to this in Philippians 3:17 when he called for them to “join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us.”

He made this same appeal to the Corinthians (1 Cor.11:1) and the Thessalonians (1 Thess.1:6)

When he calls for them to “practice these things,” he is in essence saying what James said in James 1:22, “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.”

So then brethren “rejoice, be made complete, be comforted, be like-minded, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.” (2 Cor.13:11)

1 Thessalonians 5:23, “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

CONCLUSION

So stop being anxious, pray, God’s peace will guard you, think on the right things, practice, practice, practice!

So what are you doing? Worrying or praying?

Are you praying with thankful prayer or with selfish prayer?

Are you trusting God knowing that He will not give you more than you can bear (1 Cor.10:13)?

Or are you weighed down with worry?

John MacArthur says, “God’s Word cultivates the godly attitudes, thoughts, and actions that will keep trials and temptations from overwhelming us. Right attitudes and thoughts must precede right practices. Only spiritual weapons will help in our warfare against the flesh (2 Cor.10:4). By avoiding anxiety through prayer and making other such attitude adjustments, we can take “every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (v.5).

Do you know Jesus today?

If not, you have no eternal peace from the Father

The Bible says “There is no peace for the wicked” (Isa.48:22)

Come to Christ and be forgiven of your sin and receive His peace

Romans 5:1, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,”

Let’s pray