Here Paul is writing to the Philippian church and he doesn t lay out a suggestion, he puts this as a command. A command to be anxious about nothing.

Transcription

1 An old Italian gentleman lived alone in New Jersey and he wanted to plant his annual tomato gardens, but it was difficult work as the ground was hard. His oldest son Vincent who used to help him was in prison. The old man wrote a letter to his son and described his predicament. Dear Vincent, I m feeling pretty sad, because it looks like I won t be able to plant my tomato garden this year. I m just getting to old to be digging up the garden plot. I know if you were here my troubles would be over. I know you would be happy to dig the plot up for me like in the old days. Love Papa A few days later he received a letter from his son. Dear Papa, Don t dig up that garden that s where the bodies are buried. Love Vinnie. At 4am the next morning FBI arrived, local police arrived. They dug up the entire area without finding any body. The apologized to the old man and left. That same day the old man received another letter from his son. Dear Papa, Go ahead and plant the tomatoes now, that's the best I could do under the circumstances. Love Vinnie. Philippians 4:6 7 (NIV) - 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

2 Here Paul is writing to the Philippian church and he doesn t lay out a suggestion, he puts this as a command. A command to be anxious about nothing. Paul wrote this from a dirty prison cell and yet he is not concerned about where he is, he was still able to find peace in God. How many of you can say pastor there are times I find myself being anxious? There are a lot of people anxious about some pretty irrational things. I know that most if not all of us have found times of anxiety and fears that may seem real, but in all honesty, are actually needless. I mean think about it if you have a fear of dinosaurs. That s needless they have been gone for a long time, and the ones you see in the museums well there is no skin or live in or on them their bones. If you are afraid of bugs, most of them are harmless little critters. The Greek word Paul uses here in Philippians 4 is merimnate and can be translated as needless anxiety or genuine concern. It is possible to have genuine concern and still not be anxious and trust God with everything. We need to have a mindset that says, it s just a thing. So many times, we cause waves of anxiety, by the way we respond. The storms may not be all that bad, but sometimes it is the way we respond to the storms. Mark 4:35 41 (NIV) - 35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, Let us go over to the other side. 36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The

3 disciples woke him and said to him, Teacher, don t you care if we drown? 39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, Quiet! Be still! Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. 40 He said to his disciples, Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith? 41 They were terrified and asked each other, Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him! Look at it verse 35 it said, let us go over to the other side. But something happened between those words and the other side. A storm arose. Listen church, I don t care how long you follow God. There will be times when a storm is going to rise up to get your focus off from what God had spoken to you. So here they were in the boat traveling to the other side. I m sure as fisherman they had seen storms before. They had been in the rough waters. Verse 37 tells us, A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped And where did they find Jesus? In the stern, sleeping on a cushion. Let me just pause here for a moment and say I believe there are some things we do to help cause some of our anxiety. We speak or think it: Sometimes the words we speak and what we think about create anxiety and fear. It has been said that what we think about you empower. I think that is why we need to as 2 Corinthians 10:5 tells us, to bring every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ.

4 What happens way too often is that when God tells us to do something, we have thoughts that tell us why we can t do the very thing that God told us to do. Listen church, if God tells you to do something He is going to empower you to fulfill what He called you to do. Our preparations sometimes cause anxiety: Sometimes it s not on what we need to do, but rather how we handle what we need to do. Sometimes it s the expectations we have: This one I can sort of lump with the other two. We don t expect people to like us (a thought) and so we don t expect anything good to come about it. So, we hide in our emotional turmoil expecting the worst. When God has already promised and given His best. So back to our story they find Jesus asleep on a cushion. And they ask this question, Teacher, don t you care if we drown? Maybe some of you have asked similar questions. Lord, won t you use me? God, do you love me? Lord, don t you care about my dreams? And to all those I say, yes, he will, and yes he does. What does Jesus do when they ask that question? He simply says, quite be still. And the waves calmed. I believe we can learn a couple things from this. First off Jesus modeled the authority we have, to calm waves that stir up in our life. We need to trust that when His word tells my peace I give you, that is exactly what He did. Gave us peace. James 1:6 (NIV) - 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.

5 Secondly, we can learn that the promises of God are yes and amen. Jesus had no intention of having the waves stop them from getting to the other side. His promises are true. He told them let s go to the other side. Jesus could sleep because He was confident in His Word that He spoke. The disciples had nothing to be anxious about. It was irrational they were with the very one that created the seas. Another lesson we can learn from this is that so many of our worries will never come to pass. If you are worried about being up-ducted by aliens, it will probably never happen. If your worried about what you will do with all that money you win on the lottery, that too will probably never happen. The disciples were worried about getting to the other side, but Jesus had already said let s go. Let me pause here for another moment. I think this relates. God will test you, but He will not tempt you. And there is a difference. You re in school let s say 10 th grade it is the finals week. Teacher hands out the final examine. Why? It is to see if you learned enough to advance to the 11 th grade. God tests you to move you forward. Satan tempts you to move you backward. God will sometimes let a test happen to see if you truly are dependent on Him. Back to the waves.

6 What we tend to do is shake God awake to calm the storm, when what He really desires is for us to awaken our faith and change the atmosphere of our hearts and speak peace over the situation we find ourselves in. Sometimes it is just as simple as remembering what He has done. Jesus up to this point at least what we read in this gospel, had driven out an impure spirit, healed Mary, forgave and healed a paralyzed man, and had healed another on the sabbath. Maybe the disciples had forgotten. We need to remember what God has done even if the situation is not the same it will help you to see past the storm. I mentioned that we sometimes think or speak into our anxiety. Paul goes on in this letter to the Philippians in verses 8 and 9. Philippians 4:8 9 (NIV) - 8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable if anything is excellent or praiseworthy think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. In order to cultivate the faith that we need to go through the storms that sometimes catch us off guard we need to make a habit of thinking thoughts that are of God. Fear and faith are both products of focus. Remember what we think about we empower. See here s the thing, we may not be able to control every thought we have, but we can control the thoughts that we hold on to. We need to think about those things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy.

7 It seems like bad news is everywhere. Turn on the news just for a second and you will hear it, have a conversation for just a few minutes with a group of people and it seems like bad news will be interjected into it. Hebrews 11:1 (NIV) - Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Faith will turn bad news into good, fear will turn good news into bad. In Numbers 13 the Lord tells Moses to send out some men to spy out the land of Canaan. This was the promised land that God had already given them. Look at verse 2 Numbers 13:2 (NIV) - 2 Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. From each ancestral tribe send one of its leaders. I'm giving you the land. It was promised. Look what happened verses Numbers 13:26 33 (NIV) - 26 They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 They gave Moses this account: We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. 28 But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan. 30 Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can

8 certainly do it. 31 But the men who had gone up with him said, We can t attack those people; they are stronger than we are. 32 And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. 33 We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them. A bad report was caused by fear, but Joshua had faith in the God of His word. Bad news is everywhere we turn and bad news is a pathway to anxiety. And yet Paul from his prison cell writes this letter to the church at Philippi. Whose report are you going to hold fast too? Let me try to bring this plane in for a landing. Paul from his jail cell writes: Philippians 4:12 13 (NIV) - 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength. Paul says I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation. You ready for the secret. Philippians 4:19 (NIV) - 19 And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.

9 When we realize that God will met our every need, not wants, but needs. When we learn to trust Him for what He said he will do, it becomes easier to not be anxious. But let me finish with this important piece. The end of verse 6 says: but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Pray, ask, and be thankful that s how we present our requests to God. We need to know that we know that we know, that God will see us through.