Philippians 4:6-9 (Pray, Ponder, Performance)

Introduction

Before I begin, I’d like to quickly thank Pastor Kuhlman. I realize he just met my family and I; however, he has not been reluctant to counsel and build us up. Nonetheless, I will be moving to North Carolina but I am thankful for the relationship we have built in this short time frame.

My wife and I were saved in California and have served in local churches for nearly nineteen years, in several states, as the Marines Corps continues to move us around the country. I have had the opportunity to complete bible college while on active duty; however, I have not had formal training in preaching. I am thankful for men who have invested in me and allowed me to strengthen my preaching ability.

I recently can across this quote about William Carey and I can relate. “Though William Carey preached one of the most influential sermons of all time (‘Expect great things! Attempt great things!’), he failed in his first bid to become ordained. The reason: his preaching was boring. It took two years before the ordination committee was satisfied with his preaching.”

Boring…simply put: not interesting; tedious. I don’t intend be boring but I am not as experienced.

With that said, I’d like to draw your attention to the text.

Philippians 4:6–9 KJV 1900

6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. 9 Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.

I am sure some of you can easily quote this passage. It is a favorite of many Christians because it serves as a reminder to trust God. But what can we learn from this epistle and particular passage?

Paul was writing this epistle from Rome to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons (Phil 1.1).

Philippi is located in modern day Greece. It is approximately 1,300 miles in car from Rome. It was an important Roman colony in the province of Macedonia, where the Apostle Paul planted the church during New Testament times. The city was named after Philip II, father of Alexander the Great.

One of the supposed pastors of the church of the Philippians was Epaphroditus. (E-PAF-ROW-DIE-TUS).

The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Six: A Priceless Pair (Philippians 2:19–30)

Epaphroditus was a blessing to Paul. He stood with him in his prison experience and did not permit even his own sickness to hinder his service. What times he and Paul must have had together! But he was also a blessing to his own church. Paul admonishes the church to honor him because of his sacrifice and service.

This was a prison epistle but despite Paul circumstances, his joy is obvious, and infectious, making Philippians a joy to read and study. It has a reputation of being the epistle of joy. In fact, we read of joy or a form of it, such as “rejoice,” appears eighteen times in the epistle.

This theme can be seen in the key verse:

Philippians 4:4 KJV 1900

4 Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.

In addition to this being a prison epistle and the hardships one could imagine arising from out of a prison; we read two incidences of people quarreling.

This includes Paul facing division among the believers at Rome (Phil. 1:14–17) and Christians at Philippi; specifically, Euodia (YOU-OWE-DE-A) and Syntyche (SIN-TEA-CHEE) were differing with one another, and he was not there to help them.

We have no idea what Euodia (YOU-OWE-DE-A) and Syntyche (SIN-TEA-CHEE) were disputing about, but whatever it was, it was bringing division into the church. Along with the potential division at Philippi was the burden of the possibility of his own death.

What else could we learn from this epistle? He was writing during the reign of Nero: Emperor of Rome from A.D. 54–68. This epistle is believe to have been penned by Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit around A.D. 61 or 62.

The traditional view is Philippians was written during (probably toward the end of) the two-year Roman imprisonment described in Acts 28:30, 31. There are other views of when this was written and we must examine the matter carefully before attempting to settle the issue. The point is all of this must have weighted on Paul’s heart.

This leads to my first point, prayer.

Prayer

In our passage, we read “Be careful for nothing.”

Paul opens up our passage explicitly admonishing us to not worry. Basically, Paul says avoid the sin of worry. As we look at the meaning of careful in the Greek we get the idea of “be anxious about, worry, have anxiety, or be concerned.”

As Christians, we have no reason to be concerned or worried about things. Will we get down or depressed at times, yes. I trust we have all experienced driving in fog. I read “a dense fog covering seven city blocks to a depth of a hundred feet condensed into water wouldn’t quite fill a drinking glass. Like fog, our worries and anxiety can thoroughly block our vision of the light of God’s promises, but in the final analysis, they have little substance to them.

But we need to seek God’s help for strength. We don’t need to worry about anyone or anything.

Keep in mind, Paul had every reason to worry, yet in this short epistle, he focuses our attention on rejoicing in the Lord!

Dr. Wiersbe says, “Paul had a good excuse to worry—but he did not! Instead, he took time to explain to us the secret of victory over worry.”

The same idea or caution from worry can be found in Mt. 6:25

Matthew 6:25 KJV 1900

25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

Take no thought for your life; that is, avoid worry and distracting thought in the needs and difficulties of life. It is our duty and interest as Christians to live without care.

Matthew Henry said, “as a sovereign antidote against perplexing care he recommends to us constant prayer.”

Paul was known to urge people to pray.

For we read:

1 Thessalonians 5:17 KJV 1900

17 Pray without ceasing.

Again, we read:

1 Timothy 2:1–2 KJV 1900

1 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; 2 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.

In this passage, Paul uses four terms to describe the function of prayer. Three of them are used in our passage in Philippians.

It is best to regard these terms as aspects or elements of genuine prayer. It is highly probable each of these aspects will appear in every prayer.

I’ll quickly cover these to draw out the distinguishing features.

Supplications (deēseis): The root of this noun is the verb to need. It considers prayer as an expression of our needs, and implies the feeling of our great need of the gifts and blessing of God.

Keep in mind, Paul had real needs. We too are faced with real needs.

Prayers (proseuchas): This is the general term for prayer. It is always restricted to prayers directed toward Deity. The preceding word supplications had no such restriction. Hence, prayer is a sacred word, and refers to prayer as a coming to God. The ideas of worship and reverence are its distinctive features.

Intercessions (enteuxeis): This word occurs only twice in the New Testament, 1 Ti 2:1 and in 1 Ti 4:5.

It carries the idea “to fall in with a person, to draw near so as to converse familiarly,” indicating the noun denotes an approach to God in confident, familiar prayer. The description of prayer is that of free access to God with childlike confidence.

Thanksgivings (eucharistias): Thanksgivings should accompany prayer of every form (Phil. 4:6). No matter what his immediate condition, every Christian enjoys many undeserved blessings from God. Furthermore, unthankfulness is a great sin and is linked with unholiness by Paul.

2 Timothy 3:2 KJV 1900

2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

So, in our passage, Paul recommends to us constant prayer. He say, “but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”

This leads to another sin we must avoid that is implied in our passage and I am guilty of it. That is the sin of prayerlessness. All to often, we could easily find ourselves lacking in our prayer life. Let us look at the sin of prayerlessness.

We read in:

1 Samuel 12:22–23 KJV 1900

22 For the Lord will not forsake his people for his great name’s sake: because it hath pleased the Lord to make you his people. 23 Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the right way:

Notice Samuel does not say it is a sin against the individuals if he does not pray for others. He said it is a “sin against the Lord” if he does not pray for the people.

If we do not pray for each other, it is sin.

There is no way we can deny the fact prayer is a divine command of God.

We read of it in our text: “let your requests be made known unto God.”

Prayer is also a human necessity. The greatest privilege you and I have is to be able to enter into the very presence of God and to make our requests known unto Him.

The Bible says to neglect the performance of this command of God is sin.

Think about this…, “If we don’t want to experience God’s closeness here on earth, why would we want to go to heaven, anyway? He is the center of everything there. If we don’t enjoy being in His presence here and now, then heaven would not be heaven for us. Why would He send anyone there who doesn’t long for Him passionately here on earth?”

Prayerlessness is a sin seldom taken to heart or given concern. Most people would say they do not pray every day. Some do not really spend much time in prayer at all. They act as if it is no big deal. IT IS A BIG DEAL!

Most people do not pray an hour a week. Most of us are defeated in this area of our lives, and we do not take it to heart. Many are even upset about their lack of prayer.

This is why we need to ask God, first of all, to forgive us because we have all come short in the matter of prayer. I do not know one person who could say that “he knows he has spent the time in prayer God would have him to spend.”

Consider the following verses on the sin of prayerlessness.

1. Not praying is a sin of omission.

James 4:17 KJV 1900

17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

Prayer is doing a good thing. Prayer leads to the doing of many more good things. To abstain from praying will eventually lead to doing wrong because of a lack of courage.

Prayer gives us the courage we need to keep us from doing wrong and enables us to do right.

2. Not praying leads to spiritual poverty.

James 4:2 KJV 1900

2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.

God says you do not have it because you did not ask for it. How many more things would we have today if we had a regular time of prayer where we really prayed and poured out our hearts to God and asked for what we needed?

How many wonderful things could He do for us!

Jeremiah 33:3 KJV 1900

3 Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.

Praying, Bible reading, and doing God's work feeds, strengthens, and builds up the inner man.

Many people go around saying, “I pray. I pray.” The reality is they do not! Can I be transparent, I don’t pray as I ought too… This message is for me, as I believe, it ought to impact the preacher before it impacts you.

3. Not praying is disobedient to God's commands.

Luke 18:1 KJV 1900

1 And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;

1 Timothy 2:8 KJV 1900

8 I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.

All of God's commands are for our good and not to be neglected. Many will suffer if we neglect them.

The person who prays will get a two-fold blessing.

First, he is obeying God.

Secondly, his prayers will be answered. Now, it may not be answered right away, or in our liking, but reassured, God knows…

4. The sin of prayerlessness can lead to damnation.

Romans 10:13 KJV 1900

13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

The prayer for salvation is one prayer you need to be sure you have prayed.

This is important. After you realize you are a sinner and owe a debt for your sins and that Jesus’ precious blood paid the price for your sins, you cried out to God for mercy and asked Him to forgive you of your sin.

By faith, you received payment for your sin. If you are not saved, then you do not have a prayer life because you cannot pray. You must have a mediator. This mediator is Jesus Christ. If you are not saved, you are helpless and hopeless; and you have no power to change things.

The good news is all that can be changed, you can repent of your sins, realize your need, and trust God for salvation.

Ephesians 2:8–9 KJV 1900

8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Let me ask a rhetorical question: Do you worry? Let me be more specific, do you have a time of prayer? Pastor Kulhman asked us to start with a ten minute prayer time.

You don’t need to be a bible scholar to communicate with God. Simply acknowledge Him, confess your faults, offer thanks, and let Him know your requests.

Hebrews 4:16 KJV 1900

16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

So, I encourage all of us, myself included, not to worry, nor neglect prayer but come to God in sincere prayer.

In doing so, we will experience the peace of God. This peace is better than all our understanding.

Philippians 4:7 KJV 1900

7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

This leads to the next point.

Ponder

To ponder I mean to think. We are introduced to this in verse seven. Were we read

passeth all understanding

How far is Philippi from Rome? Where is Philippi today?

What is know about the church at Philippi?

As surprising as it maybe, the church was made of people. I beseech Euodias, and beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mind in the Lord.1

1 The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Php 4:2). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

Euodias and Syntyche, it seems, were (disagreeing or quarrelling) at variance, either one with the other or with the church1

1 Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: complete and unabridged in one volume (p. 2328). Peabody: Hendrickson.

Why did Paul have reason to worry? What can we learn from a proper prayer life?

Philippi, modern Filippoi, is located in modern day Greece.

Keep: Think of a sentry guarding a base. He is on guard to protect the installation from harm.

μανθάνω (manthanō). vb. to learn, interpret. Denotes the action of deciphering the meaning of information both practically and conceptually.

This word occurs in the nt mostly in the letters. In Matthew, Mark, John, and likely Revelation, the word has the sense of deciphering information (e.g., Mark 13:28). In Paul’s letters, it often describes learning how to act by example (1 Cor 4:6; Phil 4:9; Col 1:7; 1 Tim 5:4, 13).

What some things we can do?

Discipleship and imitation are inseparable. The call of Jesus to “follow me” (Matt. 4:19; Mark 10:21; Luke 5:27; John 1:43) demanded a life-long determination on the part of his disciples to pattern their values, beliefs, and behavior after their Master. For the Twelve this involved commitment to service (Mark 10:41–45; Luke 10:29–37), hardship (Mark 8:34–38), and renunciation (Matt. 19:27–29; John 12:26). For Paul too, imitation had a cruciform character (1 Cor. 11:1; cf. Phil. 2:5–8).1

1 Hubbard, M. (2000). Imitation. In D. N. Freedman, A. C. Myers, & A. B. Beck (Eds.), Eerdmans dictionary of the Bible (p. 633). Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans.

Ponder

Performance

Conclusion

If I were to leave you with something it is this…Don’t look at your circumstances, but look to the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord, pray in all things, and ponder positive thoughts, and perform actions please to God, for He will give you peace.