Peaceful Praise - Philippians 4:4-9

Introduction

The offering. Next week.

Continuing with Praisedemic: Finding Your Praise in the Midst of a Pandemic.

A pandemic is when a disease, virus spreads over a large portion of land and affects a large population of people.

I don’t believe that pandemics are seen just with virus and diseases, but I believe pandemics are felt within many different spheres of life.

I see a pandemic to be any common struggle that we face physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

Over the past two weeks I told you to approach any sort of pandemic, like this, with a mind set to praise - knowing that God is going to deliver you and that He can use what we are going through for His purpose and glory.

Sometimes we have to wait for God to move, but while we wait praise.

Then train your mind to see the things that He is doing, a little bit at a time. When you see it, give Him the full expression of your praise.

What we want to be doing is praising Him at all times.

When more and more of God’s people do that, it can invite a praisedemic. Praisedemics begin one person at a time. It is shaped by how we face struggle.

But what if what I am facing (physically, emotionally, spiritually) is so overwhelming?

The physical sickness

Emotional weight

Spiritual attack

All of these can come on you at one time. It makes life unbearable, hectic, confusing - it makes it difficult to even get your thoughts together.

I’ve been there. Right there in that space.

I have come to learn that knowing what to do and executing it is difficult if I don’t have peace.

What is needed is some peace. You need some peace so that you can praise.

The one thing I want you to know.

God has given me a path to peace so that I can praise.

PEACEFUL PRAISE

We are going to set the conditions for praise. We are going to seek the peace that can lead to some praise!

Some of you this morning need some peace. You want to praise, but you need some peace.

Let’s set the condition for praise by finding the peace God has given.

The Philippians

Setting the conditions is what Paul the apostle sought to give the Philippian church.

They are a church who was dealing with struggle and Paul was a man of struggle

The book of Philippians was one of Paul’s prison epistles. That being the case, he wrote to the church in ancient Philippi in the midst of his suffering.

Some believe that it was written toward the end of his imprisonment, when his misery would had been at its apex.

But Paul understands that he is in Christ Jesus. For him that makes all the difference in the world with what he is facing.

I don’t know what you are facing today, but if you are in Christ Jesus - if you are a baptized and devoted follower of Jesus - it can make all the difference.

Paul understands that he can actually praise God through it, because he has some peace about it.

He wants the Philippians to experience the same peace so they can have the same praise.

So he gives them some encouragement through this letter that peace can lead to some praise.

Philippians 4:4–9 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. 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.

Rejoice Always

This section of scripture is led off by one of five imperative commands by the holy apostle.

v.4

Rejoice in the Lord always.

He tells them to rejoice. To be glad; to experience happiness and joy.

The Philippians are a church that would have been dealing with poverty, hunger, ostracism, heretics, and Roman rule, yet Paul tells them to be happy!

Joy is an emotion of praise and a by-product of peace.

And he tells them to experience the emotion - always.

Rejoicing is what happens in a praisedemic.

It’s more than always, its over and over - always.

Then he said it once more for emphasis.

But the rejoicing is to be done, in the Lord.

The phrase is almost exclusively Pauline in the NT.

The surrendered Christ follower is truly “in the Lord.” That’s the new identity upon one being baptized into Christ Jesus.

“In the club”

To the Philippians, he wants them to know that there is constant rejoicing that can take place because of the salvific benefits of being in the Lord.

1 Peter 1:8-9 - Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Do you ever stop and think about that?

Rejoicing (joy) and peace are by products of the Kingdom that we are delivered into because of Jesus.

What you are struggling with right now are the by products of another kingdom. The kingdom of darkness.

The turmoil, confusion, fear, doubt, worry, stress, anxiety, sickness, grief, pain, disappointment…those aren’t things that are from God. They are the cracks of a world that is broken. Perhaps the argument can be made for His allowance, but the cause is brokenness, devilsh, satanic, dark.

The Kingdom of God offers something else.

Romans 14:17 - For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

When you’ve come to know King Jesus and are part of His Kingdom, you truly can rejoice always.

You can always have the emotion of praise.

Be Gentle

v.5

The second thing Paul expresses to them is to let their reasonableness or gentleness be known to all.

Outward gentleness is a result of inward peace.

To start a praisedemic, let people see your peace.

This goes back to being in the Lord. We know our being in the Lord means something.

Furthermore, we know that whatever we face here, we face but for a moment.

2 Corinthians 4:17 - For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,

We also know that the Lord is at hand. The Lord is going to be with us, but it really means that He is coming back.

There will be a time when all of this is over. He is coming back and making things new. Revelation 21:5 - Behold, I am making all things new.

Be the most peaceful person anyone knows.

Calm is contagious.

Don’t Be Anxious

v.6-7

Anxious - merimaneo - care for. Don’t worry about anything. Don’t be dominated by worry/stress.

Remember, Paul is writing this from prison. He’s struggling. He knows they are.

He isn’t being idealistic. He’s being spiritually pragmatic.

He wants the alarm to ring as soon as they feel the pressure, that their next response is prayer...

When you set your house alarm. If it goes off, the automatic response is to alert the monitoring company. Sometimes they talk to you right through the system.

When the pressure starts to mount, your automatic response should be to start talking to the one who is monitoring your life.

A supplication is a specific and urgent request. RIGHT NOW! Like stop what you are doing and do it now.

With thanksgiving. This is a prayer with some praise in it.

Why thanksgiving?

While you are asking God to do something, I want you to focus on what God has already done.

Thanksgiving for the relationship that you have in the Lord where you can lay it out like that.

1 Peter 4:7 - casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

As a result, the peace of God which surpasses understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

This peace is of God. It is His peace.

John 14:27 - Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

This peace acts as a guard over our hearts and minds. To keep you in peace so that you can keep rejoicing, praising, being thankful.

Happens because you are in the Lord.

If I am in Jesus, I can experience the peace that can guard my life, through prayer(supplication) and thanksgiving.

Think About It

But, perhaps you are thinking that you’ve prayed plenty of times without experiencing lasting peace.

You have faith, but you don’t keep the peace.

The reason that is, is likely because you pray, feel some peace, then you go back to thinking the same thoughts you were thinking before you even prayed.

How am I going to get through this?

What if this happens?

What if that happens?

Said last week, to start a praisedemic, you have to replace the low thought with a high one.

v.8

True - What true things should my mind think on?

John 17:17 - Your Word is truth

Proverbs 16:20 -Whoever gives thought to the words will discover good and blessed is he who trusts in the Lord.

There is a pressing need to spend more and more time in God’s Word. The greatest danger in our hyper-busy world is not to have time for the WORD.

Honorable

Just/Righteous

How often is your mind on that which is righteous?

Difference between not on having it on things that are sinful and having it on things that are righteous.

Snoop Dogg illustration. Wu Tang

The mind should be on the things that produce righteousness. It should be a gospel-saturated mind.

Pure

How easy, in our culture for the mind to be on things that are not pure?

Lovely

Commendable - means “worthy of praise”

What praiseworthy things can you have your thoughts on?

This is where you praise in the midst of a pandemic.

Any excellence

Anything worthy of praise

Alludes to it a second time.

Think on these things…dwell on…logizomai- where we get the mathematical term logarithm.

It is a calculation.

I want you to have these things in your brain and calculate it.

Add all of those things and see what you come up with for your life.

v.9

You’ve learned, received, and seen in Jesus.

Practice it.

The God of peace will be with you.

Prayer (supplication) + thanksgiving + high thoughts = peace. Peace leads to praise.

Conclusion

What a great promise. The God of peace will be with us.

All circles back around to v.4

Peaceful praise in a pandemic because one is in Jesus.

Romans 5:1 -Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

The relationship with Jesus is why there is a praisedemic.

Solidify your relationship with Him today.

Because of King Jesus we can rejoice always.

We can pray in His Name and experience His peace as we reflect on what we are thankful for.

We can replace the low thoughts, with the high ones that we experience through Jesus.

We have the God of peace near us because of Him. No one comes to the Father except through Him.

Because of Jesus we can praise in the pandemic.

Not just praise, but peaceful praise.

Here’s peaceful praise...

v.11-13

WHAT ARE YOU ASKING THEM TO DO.

Rejoice always

If you are dealing with a struggle…pray right now.

Look at what God has already done, through Jesus.

Change your thinking and add the “high things.”

Follow the example of Jesus.