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Philippians 4:6-7

Wednesday Night Bible Study

November 24, 2022

Introduction

We can sure get caught up in worry and anxiety…

Illustration

This guy came home from the doctor looking very worried. His wife said, “What’s the problem?” He said, “The doctor told me I have to take a pill every day for the rest of my life.” She said, “So what? Lots of people have to take a pill every day their whole lives.” He said, “I know, but he only gave me four pills!”

Sometimes it’s not just the worry that causes us trouble, but how we handle it…

Illustration

Aunt Bessie loved to visit her nieces and nephews. However, she had relatives all over the country.

The problem was that no matter how much she enjoyed seeing them, she hated flying. No matter how safe people told her it was, she was always worried that someone would have a bomb on the plane.

She read books about how safe it was and listened to the stewardess demonstrate all the safety features. But she still worried herself silly every time a visit was coming up.

Finally, the family decided that maybe if she saw the statistics she’d be convinced. So they sent her to a friend of the family who was an actuary.

“Tell me,” she said suspiciously, “what are the chances that someone will have a bomb on a plane?”

The actuary looked through his tables and said, “A very small chance. Maybe one in five hundred thousand.”

She nodded, then thought for a moment. “So what are the odds of two people having a bomb on the same plane?”

Again he went through his tables.

“Extremely remote,” he said. “About one in a billion.”

Aunt Bessie nodded and left his office.

And from that day on, every time she flew, she took a bomb with her.

Tonight I want to talk about how to handle worry and anxiety…and the answer isn’t about bombs…

Let’s talk about “Finding Peace”

Philippians 4:6-7 Finding Peace

Let’s stand and read the text together …

(Philippians 4:6–7 NKJV) —6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

:6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;

:6 Be anxious for nothing

The word translated “anxious” is merimnao – to be anxious; to be troubled with cares

The word carries the idea of being “divided”, as if your thoughts are divided about what to do about certain things.

It’s a “command” in the present tense meaning that we should “stop being anxious”.

But that’s not always all that easy isn’t it? It’s not always easy to just turn it off.

And Paul doesn’t say “cut your worries in half”, he says to stop worrying about anything.

I don’t know about you, but I think that if “worrying” was an Olympic sport, I’d get a gold medal.

What are we anxious about?

Some of us are worried about marriage.

Is there a special person for me? Will I ever meet that person?

Maybe you’re married but you’re worried where your marriage is heading? Will you be able to work things out?

Some of us are worried about finances.

Will my job survive this economy? Will I be able to pay all the bills at the end of the month? Will I be able to find a new job?

Some of us are worried about our kids.

Will I do a good job as a parent?

What if my kids are not walking with the Lord?

Some of us are worried about health issues.

The older I get, the more health things worry about.

Like some of you, I’ve had a few health “events” over the last ten years and I know what it’s like to worry about another trip to the hospital.

Some of us are worried about the future of our planet.

We look at the news and worry about nuclear war, global warming, or the politics of our nation.

These are all pretty serious things, things that need worrying about right?

And yet Paul has the audacity to tell us to “stop worrying”.

Jesus had the same audacity.

Turn to Matthew 6 …

If you ever get to visit Israel, one of the places often visited in the northern Galilee area is called the Mount of Beatitudes.

It is thought that this might have been where Jesus gave His Sermon on the Mount.

The place most tours take you is to the beautiful church at the top of the hill, built by Mussolini (that’s another story). But hopefully you might get a chance to actually look at the field below the church, a field that is still farmed today.

How the field looks depends on what time of year your tour is.

If you go in the fall, after the harvest, the field is pretty bare.

If you go in the spring, the field is green and full of flowers.

Put yourself in the field and listen to what Jesus says about worry (and He uses the same Greek word for “being anxious” or “worry” – merimnao)

(Matthew 6:25–34 NKJV) —25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? 28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Lesson

Trust the Loving Father

If you take a step back and look at who God is, like looking at that field on the hillside in Galilee, you will realize that God is a loving Father.

If God cares for the birds, don’t you think He cares for you?

If God cares for the flowers and the grass, do you think He cares for you?

Even if you are in a “fall” season when things around you are dry or brown, you know that this season will pass and spring will come.

Your Father knows you.

He knows your needs.

Some of you may think, “God won’t get me through this because I’m a sinner who deserves this difficult time”

That may be true. You and I are both indeed sinners.

But there is a God who loved you so much that He gave His Son to pay for your sin.

God hasn’t given up on you.

Your difficult time may indeed have been caused by your sin, but it also may simply be a season in which God wants you to persevere and to simply trust Him.

Job went through the greatest of difficulties and his friends thought it must have been because of some secret sin.

But we learn from the book of Job that difficult times aren’t always a result of sin.

God was actually proud of Job. God wanted to show the world how a good man will endure difficulty and still trust Him.

:6 in everything by prayer and supplication

Paul is going to give us a prescription for worry.

It’s a pretty good prescription, and it’s “effective” 99% of the time, but don’t think that this is the only thing we can do about worry.

I’m not saying that prayer isn’t important, but there are going to be a few of us who will have a hard time getting this to eradicate our anxiety.

After forty years of ministry I’ve learned that there will be some folks who are going to need some help in putting this into practice.

I think there are going to be some folks who will need some kind of counseling or therapy, not because God isn’t big enough to help them, but because they are struggling with reaching out to Him in the first place.

I think there will even be some folks who have worried and fretted for so long that their brains are a little bit broken, and they may find benefit from medication.

Some folks need a little help to get their brains quiet enough to do what Paul is saying, and pray effective prayers.

If you are a person who needs therapy or medication, you are not a second class Christian. Just be sure that your therapy is aiming at the real goal, which is reaching out to God and receiving His help.

Paul uses two words here, both of which can describe prayer.

prayer – proseuche – prayer addressed to God

This is the general term used to describe prayer, like here…

(Luke 11:1–2 NKJV) —1 Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.” 2 So He said to them, “When you pray, say…

Then Jesus gave His disciples the “Lord’s Prayer”, as a pattern of the kinds of things that prayer can be about.

It’s prayer addressed to the Father.

It’s acknowledging God’s holiness.

It’s submitting to God’s will.

It asks for daily needs.

It reminds us of our need for forgiveness and to forgive others.

It asks for help against temptation and the devil.

All these things fall under the general category of “prayer”

In the same passage, Jesus went on to share a parable about a man who comes to his friend at midnight to ask him for groceries because he needs to feed a visiting friend …

(Luke 11:8–9 NKJV) —8 I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs. 9 “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

One of the things we need to learn is persistence in prayer.

Sometimes prayer isn’t answered just because we have “faith”, but because we “persist”, because we learn to keep asking the same thing over and over again until we get an answer.

Have you learned to persist in prayer?

I find it important to have a list of things I pray for, so I don’t forget to bring certain issues before the Lord every single day.

supplication – deesis – need, want

It’s based on the word that means “to want or lack”.

Though “general prayer” (proseuche) may contain adoration, submission, and confession of sin, this word speaks of the specific needs that we bring to the Lord.

General prayer sets the stage as we approach God, but supplication is about the specific things we are asking of God.

So let’s step back for a minute as we’ve been thinking about worry and anxiety…

What are you worried about?

Who are you worried for?

What do you wish would change?

These are all the kinds of things that ought to populate our daily prayer list. Learn to be specific.

In my prayer list I have a section for my family.

I have a section for my ministry/job

I have a section for my friends.

I have a section for myself.

Each section contains names of people and specific things that I’m asking God for. And I pray for these things every day.

:6 let your requests be made known to God

Of course God already knows what you need.

Prayer is not about me informing God about what needs to be done.

Prayer is about me taking the time on my side of the discussion with God to specifically make my requests to God.

It’s as much about me reminding myself that I am putting these things into God’s hands.

But I skipped a word in the verse. Did you notice?

:6 with thanksgiving

thanksgiving – eucharistia – thankfulness; the giving of thanks

This is the grateful acknowledgment of God’s mercies.

I have to admit, when I hear the word “thanksgiving”, I think of that holiday at the end of November. You know … tomorrow…

I used to think that this little phrase “with thanksgiving” was just something to pass over, but I’ve come to believe that it is one of the most important elements of prayer, especially if you want to get to that “peace that passes understanding” in the next verse.

For most of us, we usually think of saying “thanks” until after something good has been done.

But Paul encourages us to say “thanks” along with our requests, before God answers.

I believe that “thanksgiving” is all about expressing our “faith”, or our “trust” in God.

Have you ever said “thanks” to someone for something they promised to do, before they did it?

How about if you go out to lunch with a friend, and at the end of the lunch they ask if they can pick up the tab, you argue a bit, but in the end give in and simply say “thanks”.

You didn’t wait to say “thanks” until after they paid the check, you said it before they paid because you believed they would keep their promise and do what they said they would do.

King Jehoshaphat was facing an invading coalition of three kings.

The kingdom of Judah was panicked, and Jehoshaphat called for the people to gather, fast, and pray.

God spoke through one of the prophets,

(2 Chronicles 20:17 NKJV) You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you.”

So what did the people do? Did they go out to watch the enemy come in and wait for the enemy to be defeated? Perhaps they planned to have a party after God defeated the enemies.

No. They gathered to watch the invading armies, but they also sent the worship leaders out front and they began to sing,

(2 Chronicles 20:21 NKJV) …“Praise the Lord, For His mercy endures forever.”

They gave God praise before the answer, before the battle because they believed God would take care of the enemy, and God responded and defeated the enemy.

I’d like to suggest that when we learn to mix “thanksgiving” into our prayers, we are learning to pray better, learning to pray healthier prayers.

Lesson

Healthy prayer

So how do I learn to pray with thanksgiving?

Is this like saying, “Thank you God for my new Mercedes” before I get it? No.

Jehoshaphat learned to praise God for who He was.

He is a God of mercy.

I also think about how…

He is good.

He has plans for me.

He can do anything.

So I can trust His decisions.

Are those things worthy of thanksgiving?

Jehoshaphat learned to give praise because of God’s promises.

What does God promise to do for us? What can we give Him thanks for?

He promises to hear our prayers

(Jeremiah 29:12 NKJV) Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.

He promises to meet our needs

(Philippians 4:19 NKJV) And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

He is a loving Father who cares about His children.

(Matthew 7:8–11 NKJV) —8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!

Are those things that you can give God thanks for?

Sometimes we get hung up on thinking we have to “believe” that God will give us that new car that we’re “claiming” for ourselves. And if we just have enough “faith”, then we can twist God’s arm and ask for whatever we want. We start thinking that God is a magic “genie” at our disposal.

Illustration

A man is walking down the beach and comes across an old oil lamp. He picks it up, rubs it, and out pops a genie. The genie says, “Thank you for freeing me from the lamp … In return I will grant you three wishes.” The man says “Great! I always dreamed of this and I know exactly what I want. First, I want one billion dollars in a Swiss bank account.” Poof! There is a flash of light and a piece of paper with account numbers appears in his hand. He continues, “Next, I want a brand new red Ferrari right here.” Poof! There is a flash of light and a bright red brand-new Ferrari appears right next to him. He continues, “Finally, I want to be irresistible to women.” Poof! There is a flash of light and he turns into a box of chocolates.

If you still think that prayer is some sort of magic power and God is a genie in the bottle granting you three wishes, you are sadly mistaken.

Prayer is all about bringing ourselves into align with the will of Almighty God for our lives.

Jesus Himself taught us to pray,

(Matthew 6:10 NKJV) Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.

If you are asking God for a filet mignon for dinner, and all you get is a bowl of cold cereal, then I’d say that God has answered your prayer by meeting your “needs”, not your “wants”.

Part of growing up is learning the difference between “needs” and “wants”. God is a Father meeting His children’s needs, not a genie obeying his master.

I can thank God for hearing my prayer and promising to meet my needs. I can ask God for a filet mignon, but my thanksgiving is for Him promising to meet my needs, not for what I want Him to do.

Here’s the issue with “thanksgiving” and “faith” in prayer:

Do you believe that when you pray, God hears your prayers, and He is going to respond to your request according to what is best for you?

If so, then you can learn to say “thanks”

Be thankful that He hears your prayers.

Be thankful that He will do what’s best when it’s right.

This is the kind of prayer that finds God’s peace.

:7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

surpasses

will guard

:7 the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding

There is a peace that God can give that defies understanding, and I’m not going to try and describe it.

Everyone around you will see what is going on in your life and be worried for you.

Yet somehow you are no longer worried. You have God’s peace.

This is the peace that comes from putting something squarely into God’s hands and knowing that He will take care of it.

If my car is making some kind of strange sound, and I start worrying about it … I might try all sorts of things before I get frustrated and take it to my mechanic.

Yet when I take it to my mechanic, and he hears the noise, and says to me, “I know what that is, I can fix that” – there’s a “peace” that comes even though he hasn’t fixed it yet.