Joy in Peace- Phil. 4:4-9

According to the Anxiety & Depression Association of America, anxiety disorders are among the most common mental illness in the US, affecting 40 million adults (18.1% of the population).

These anxieties range, according to the ADAA, from generalized anxieties to panic disorders, from social anxiety to major depressive disorder.

The ADAA also states that depression (which is closely linked to anxiety) as the leading cause of disability worldwide.

In addition to the normal difficulties of life, many experience traumatic events (such as a crime, serious life event, etc.). Combining that with the complete upheaval of life as we knew it with the COVID-19 pandemic, and we have a stew of anxiety.

Perhaps you have struggled with anxiety yourself. Does the Scripture speak to anxiety? Or, should we turn to professional therapists and medication for help and hope?

These are important questions, and I want to offer some comments before we dive into our passage. First, I want to frame our discussion within a biblical view of humanity. We are human beings, created in the image of God, comprised of both physical and spiritual makeup. Because of sin, our physical bodies and spiritual souls have been affected. Just as our souls are, without the saving work of God, dead in trespasses and sins and subjected to the sinful desires, so too our bodies are subjected to death and decay.

We can see this in diseases such as leprosy, in individuals who are maim, and those who endure injuries.

Second, with the advent of modern medicine, and the increasing secularization of our nation and culture, scientists and doctors have separated the spiritual from the physical (a result evidenced by passages such as Rom. 1:18-32 and Eph. 4:17-19).

When individuals in our society approach anxiety, they do so while ignoring the spiritual sides of human beings. What we see in this passage, as in the Scriptures generally, is that God helps us with anxiety, expecting us to live lives with Christ-centered joy.

If you are to live a life with joy in peace, you must live a God-centered life. There is no way around it. You can treat anxiety with medication, but it will ultimately fail. You can replace anxiety with noise of all sorts, but it too will fail. Only the Lord and His Word will provide joy in peace as you center your life on Him.

I want to offer one more note before we dive into this passage. This passage does not teach, nor do I believe, that medication is wrong. We are physical beings, and sometimes our bodies can do things that cause our minds to be changed. For example, when a woman gives birth to a child, the woman can experience postpartum depression. A spiritual issue is not the root cause (although we could argue how the lady responds can bring spiritual issues), it is the result of the birth of a child.

However, we want to delve into the root cause of anxiety and address it biblically in order to have joy in peace. In a chapter addressing paralyzing fear, Dan Wickert says,

“Any counsel unhinged from the riches of the gospel and unplugged from the divine power of the Holy Spirit can only deal with surface issues.”—Dan Wickert

The secular and psychological world only deals with the surface issues. We are going to perform heart surgery on anxiety this morning, to show you how you can have joy in peace regardless of what you are facing.

I. Joy Comes Through Rejoicing in the Triune God—it is a way of life- 4:4

II. Joy Comes Through An Other-Centered Life—God is with you- 4:5

III. Joy Comes Through an Anxiety-Free Life—God rules and reigns in everything- 4:6-8

IV. Joy Comes Through Applying Gospel Truth to Every Day Life—it touches everything- 4:9

I. Joy Comes Through Rejoicing in the Triune God—it is a way of life- 4:4

We being this morning with Paul’s command to rejoice (repeated twice) and qualified in its focus: in the Lord. The command to rejoice means to be joyful.

This theme has been observed throughout this letter, and we need to keep in mind that Paul’s Spirit-given command is given by a joyful and imprisoned apostle. Joseph Hellerman reminds us,

“Christian joy is not temporal and fleeting, depending on circumstances, but is predicated, instead on the fact that they are ‘in the Lord.’”—Joseph Hellerman, Philippians

Also, lest we think that Paul is giving us a command that he himself is not practicing what he preaches, after being beaten and imprisoned, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God.

Joy comes through rejoicing in the Triune God. This does not mean that it finds joy in the pains and difficulties of life. No, it means finding our joy in the Triune God in the midst of those pains and difficulties.

This is truly the heart of the matter. The way of life for the Christian should be rejoicing in the Triune God. When we fail to do so, we forfeit our joy in peace, digging ourselves into the pits of anxiety. We will see this in the remainder of our time this morning.

I. Joy Comes Through Rejoicing in the Triune God—it is a way of life- 4:4

II. Joy Comes Through An Other-Centered Life—God is with you- 4:5

II. Joy Comes Through An Other-Centered Life—God is with you- 4:5

The second command Paul gives us to have joy in peace is to let our graciousness be known to everyone. Let your moderation be known. The idea is do not emphasize your rights over the good of others. We experience joy in peace when we live an other-centered life (a key part of following Jesus Christ). Paul adds a statement after issuing this command that changes everything: the Lord is at hand. He is near. In space and time, God is with you.

Now, what does this have to do with getting our way (by the way, the word used here means getting your way when it is right or legal)? We are so prone to please ourselves, and when given the legal ability to do so, we usually take full advantage of it. The Christian, contrary to the world’s way, is to live for others, even though they may have the right. The difference is the Lord is at hand. The Lord is near. He is with us, and that changes how we live. Christians in America need to practice this.

I. Joy Comes Through Rejoicing in the Triune God—it is a way of life- 4:4

II. Joy Comes Through An Other-Centered Life—God is with you- 4:5

III. Joy Comes Through an Anxiety-Free Life—God rules and reigns in everything- 4:6-8

III. Joy Comes Through an Anxiety-Free Life—God rules and reigns in everything- 4:6-7

Now comes the discussion on anxiety. Paul tells us that Joy Comes through an anxiety-free life. Now, I want to qualify this statement. By anxiety-free I do not mean to imply that we can never experience anxiety for the rest of our lives. Though this would be nice, we live in a fallen world with a fallen nature (all, by the way, through the hands of God’s wise counsel). Hannah has struggled with anxiety all of her life, and though she has had a greater peace as she has grown in the Lord, she still deals with it. In fact, this past week we celebrated Calvin’s first birthday.

At one point we though the Lord would take Calvin to be with Him. Anxiety seems like an insignificant word to describe our experiences. No, I do not imply that we will never experience anxiety again. By anxiety-free I mean free from its crippling, soul-sucking, and life-taking hold. This comes through the knowledge that God rules and reigns in everything. Let’s look at Paul’s words.

A. Step One- refuse to be anxious (6a)

Stop dwelling on the what ifs and the potentials. The Philippians have reasons to be anxious, humanly-speaking (1:27-30, 1:12, and 2:26). Anxious people are excellent meditators. (Meditation is a key part of following Jesus Christ). They meditate on the what-ifs, the potentials, what could go wrong. Stop it! Paul says. Now, he does not end there. He moves on to what you should do instead.

Before we get to that, I want to mention that many of us, when facing anxious thoughts, focus on them. In stead of proceeding to step two, we try medication or therapy. When we fail to approach the difficulties of life with God at the center, we will only deal with the surface issues. It is like putting a bandaid on an infected cut. It may provide initial soothing, but ultimately it does not address the root issue.

B. Step Two- be fervent in thankful prayer (6b)

We replace those anxious thoughts with thankful prayers to God. First, let’s look at prayers. Rather than focusing on the what ifs, replace it with fervent prayers. The way Paul writes this implies detailed prayers, not generalities. In other words, if you are beset with anxious thoughts about a medical issue, stop being anxious and replace it with prayers about that medical issue. If you are anxious about financial issues, pray to God about financial issues. Be fervent in prayer. Turn to God! By the way, this is the same God who, in chapter two, that Jesus is a man, and He knows, as the author of Hebrews wrote in Heb. 4:14-16, what life is like in this fallen world.

By the way, this put off, renew, and put on process is demonstrated in greater detail in Ephesians 4:22-24.

Be fervent in prayer with thankfulness, Paul writes. What does thankfulness have to do with prayer? Thankfulness reminds us who is God and who is not God. We are thankful to God (compare this to Rom. 1:21), because He is God, providentially guiding all things, including those painful circumstances such as the potential death of your newborn son, for our good (Rom. 8:28).

John Piper reminds us how detailed God’s providential hand is when he writes, “Every tiny, popping bubble in the foam at the top of a newly poured can of Coke. Every floating dust mote which you can see only in the early-morning bedroom beam of light. Every tip of every stalk of grain stretching across the endless Nebraska plains. All of them, with all their slightest movements, specifically governed by God.” This is the God, after forsaking your worries and anxieties, to whom you turn in prayer, thankful, fervent prayer.

C. Step Three- enjoy the incomprehensible peace of God (7)

When we, through the power of the Holy Spirit, engage in steps one and two, we will enjoy the incomprehensible peace of God. That is, step three falls naturally into place. Now, we need to break this down a little bit.

Peace is the opposite of anxiety. Anxiety (or, worry) is like the storm-tossed sea. Peace is like the gentle flowing stream. Anxiety is like a volcano erupting. Peace is the gentle breeze flowing across a sea of grass. It is, Paul tells us, the peace of God (or from God). Therefore, unsurprisingly, it boggles the human mind. It does not make sense to people who are not followers of Jesus Christ, in other words. It defies the experience and the senses.

We also need to remember that this peace is not the result of God answering our prayers. Though God is a prayer-hearing and answering God, He does not always provide answers (see Paul’s response to God’s negative answer, 2 Cor. 12:7-10). No, though answered prayer provides peace to be sure, the peace we enjoy comes from taking ourselves out of roles we were never meant to be fill (being anxious about issues out of our control) and through thankful, fervent prayer remembering that God fills that role.

As a result, that wonderful, incomprehensible peace will guard your hearts and minds. Your emotional and volitional seats, if you will. God’s peace, like the Queen’s Guard outside of Buckingham Palace, God’s peace will fortify your thoughts and emotions. Anxiety may come to seige your heart and mind throughout life, but as you stop worrying and engage in fervent, thankful prayer, you will enjoy the incomprehensible peace of God. And I mean enjoy it, like a kid enjoys an ice cream cone.

We lived near a strawberry patch in Virginia, and we took the kids to pick strawberries, after which we all enjoyed homemade strawberry ice cream. Well, London was worried about the ice cream falling on her hands, though she certainly enjoyed the ice cream. Soren, however, had ice cream running down his face and shirt and hands, and he did not care. He was enjoying that ice cream. That is the picture of the anxiety-free child of God enjoying the incomprehensible peace of God.

I. Joy Comes Through Rejoicing in the Triune God—it is a way of life- 4:4

II. Joy Comes Through An Other-Centered Life—God is with you- 4:5

III. Joy Comes Through an Anxiety-Free Life—God rules and reigns in everything- 4:6-8

IV. Joy Comes Through Applying Gospel Truth to Every Day Life—it touches everything- 4:9

IV. Joy Comes Through Applying Gospel Truth to Every Day Life—it touches everything- 4:8-9

We will not spend a great deal of time on this, however I do want to address this key point. What Paul has discussed up to this point can be summarized in verse eight. The idea is to be constantly filling your minds on these virtues and to regularly demonstrate this through our lives.

In other words, think about the things of God (generally) and do the things of God (specifically, following Paul’s example and working it out in our own lives).

To do so brings joy in peace (the God of peace). He changes everything.