READ Philippians 4:5-7 KIDS Where was Paul when he wrote Philippians?

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1 Philippians 4:5-7 a thank you note November 18, 2018am Ne w Hope R oad Joelton, TN READ Philippians 4:5-7 KIDS Where was Paul when he wrote Philippians? My family loves to camp especially at our nation s national parks; so this article caught my eye some time ago, and I thought I would save it for today. The article was essentially about how spoiled we are as Americans, and it proves that point (as if it needed to be proven) by a list of complaints left at rangers stations in one of the national parks. This was not a Review Your Stay with Us kind of thing; these were just unsolicited criticisms. You may think these are fake or sarcastic, but I would encourage you to read ANY review/comment card from ANYWHERE, and you will find that these kind of answers are the norm. -The trails need to be wider so people can walk side-by-side, while holding hands -The trails need to be paved so they can be snow-plowed in the winter -The places where trails do not exist are not well marked -Please avoid building trails that go uphill. Corey M. Minter Page 1 of 9

2 -Chair lifts need to be in some places along the trail so that we can get to wonderful views without having to hike to them -Escalators should be installed at areas that are steep -When the trail ends, a restaurant would be nice -The coyotes made too much noise last night and kept me awake. Please remove these annoying animals. -A small deer came into my camp and stole my jar of pickles. Is there a way I can get reimbursed? Please call me at this phone number -There are too many bugs and spiders and spider webs. Please spray to get rid these pests. 1 Some of you would love the outdoors if it just weren t so outdoorsy. Well, as we focus our attention this week on Thanksgiving, I think it s important for us to realize that thanklessness is not just a list of complaints. Now, I know that most of us know what thankfulness is, but I wanted to try and get a good, succinct, working definition of what thankfulness is for our time in the Word today, but really, all I could come up with was antonyms: negatives what thankfulness is not. Some times that works for me. I better understand what something means by what it does not mean. Let me give you three: (Maybe I ve been preaching too long because they came out alliterated Ss) 1. Silence. You cannot be thankful and keep quiet. You may thank the person after the meal; you may write them a note after the gift, but if you never acknowledged what was given to you, you are not 1 Adapted from Mike Neifert, Light and Life (February 1997), p. 27 Corey M. Minter Page 2 of 9

3 thankful. Obviously right? But I got pretty convicted this week when I started to think of all the blessings of God that I take for granted. It s been a while since I have acknowledged some of those which means that I am not really thankful. 2. Self-sufficiency. You cannot be thankful and think that everything that you have is yours because you worked for it. It is the height of pride. It is the sin of Satan. It was what turned Nebuchadnezzar (one of the most powerful rulers of all time) to living out in the fields as an animal for seven years. Now, we are trying our best to raise self-sufficient daughters (giving them appropriate responsibilities, assigning daily chores, reading books about self-sufficient people), but really, our prayer is that it turns into a God-sufficiency. We can plan, work and have all the back-up plans in the world, but if God just turns the oxygen off for about 6 minutes, we see that He is really the Giver of all good things. 3. Squandering. You cannot be truly thankful and wasteful. How ridiculous would it be if you sat down at the Thanksgiving table this Thursday, fixed a big ol mounding plate of food, took one bite, threw the rest in the trash and went back to watching football? So much of living a life of thankfulness is centered on stewardship: managing gifts well. That ought to convict us all because how many of God s blessings do we waste on ourselves when He intended us to manage them for the benefit of others? Those were just a few of my antonyms to thankfulness, rooted (I believe) in Scripture but with no one passage in mind. If you disagree or Corey M. Minter Page 3 of 9

4 take issue with one of those, that s OK. It s just my opinion, and you can be wrong if you want (JK) However, Paul gives us one big antonym to thankfulness in Philippians 4 that I have struggled with over the last few days: anxiety/worry. 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. Before we get into the text, though, I think it s important to lay a little ground work to this letter to the Philippians. We spent about five months in the book last year, but a refresher is always good. Philippi was the first European church founded in the history of the world, and Paul was the church planter. Within this congregation was an eclectic group of believers. Acts 16 tells the story in full, but in this congregation sat Lydia, a very wealthy woman who overheard Paul teaching a women s prayer group by the river and came to Christ. Just down the pew sat a nameless slave girl who had once been possessed by a demon and mocked Paul and Silas until Paul finally gave her rest from the demon in Jesus s name. Finally, on a whole other row, taking up every bit of it, sat the Philippian jailor and his entire family. Once Paul healed the slave girl, her owners got angry with Paul that she no longer could do any fortune-telling; so they had he and Silas imprisoned. Well, Paul and Silas began one of the first jail ministries in history and started singing and praying around Corey M. Minter Page 4 of 9

5 midnight when all of a sudden a great earthquake knocked all of the jail doors off their hinges and loosed everyone s chains (that s a pretty specific earthquake to even loose chains huh?). Thinking that all of his prisoners had escaped in the darkness, the Philippian jailor was seconds away from committing suicide because he knew he would be tortured for allowing them to get out when Paul spoke up and assured them that they were all still there. So great was their testimony with the jailor that he (AND HIS WHOLE FAMILY) came to Christ and were baptized that very night. All of these and more made up the Philippian Church, and Paul writes the book of Philippians primarily as a Thank You note. You see, while we look back at Paul s ministry today, we are impressed with his boldness to travel anywhere and everywhere preaching the Gospel, but Paul was not the most popular person in the early church. In fact, much of his letters to churches (THAT HE PLANTED) involved his having to defend himself against those who had tried to discredit him. Paul writes Philippians from Rome where he has been on house arrest by the Roman government for almost three years for preaching the Gospel. We look at Paul s two Roman imprisonments (first=house arrest; second=jail), and we think that house arrest really was not all bad. However, under house arrest, Paul would have had to meet all of his own expenses (renting the house, food to eat, some speculate that he may have even had to provide for his guards who were monitoring him). No problem he was a tent-maker by trade, but part of house arrest meant that he could not go to the market to sell his wares. Corey M. Minter Page 5 of 9

6 Paul was not on anyone s payroll. In fact, he often times turned down gifts from churches because there were so many who accused him of profiting off of the ministry. With no way to sell his tents and no love offerings from churches, Paul was destitute in Rome. Well, surely the church there in Rome helped take care of him nope. Paul seems to indicate in verses 15 and 16 that even they had turned their back on him. So the Philippian church, hearing about his imprisonment, sent Epaphroditus to Paul with enough money to last the duration of his incarceration and several of his needs. Pauls writes back through Epaphroditus this Thank You note of Philippians. I think you can see where I am going with this. If anyone on earth, in history, ever had reason to be anxious, it would be Paul. Six years earlier, he wrote in 2 Corinthians about all the things that he had suffered for Christ s sake: Paul had seen more death than anyone would ever care to see Five different occasions Paul was whipped 39 times (the number 40 was tantamount to capital punishment unlawful; so they spared him 1). He was beaten with rods on three different occasions (there was no set number of times you could be beaten by a rod). He was stoned once (They thought they had killed him, and maybe they did, but he miraculously got back up and went back into Lystra to preach). He was shipwrecked three different times (One of those occasions, he spent a full 24 hours drifting in the sea). 2 Corinthians 11:26 in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, Corey M. Minter Page 6 of 9

7 in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27 in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness Like I said, that s not even an up-to-date list of all the things that he had suffered. That list was six years old by the time that Paul is sitting under house arrest, attached to a Roman guard, having to ask for a little more slack in his chains so he could finish up writing his thank you note. That s when Paul says: Philippians 4:6 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. I say again. If anyone had reason to be anxious for anything/ everything, it was Paul. Now, the reason that I said that I had been battling the last several days over this text is because I know a lot of solid, grounded and frankly more mature Christians than I who have been diagnosed with anxiety disorders. Those of us who do not share that diagnosis will probably never fully understand the battle they fight. I do not want this to be interpreted as a just get over your anxiety seminar. I have heard those sermons preached, and I do not find them correct or helpful. However, I do not think that anyone is exempt from the promise of the peace of God in verse 17; therefore, I do not believe that Corey M. Minter Page 7 of 9

8 anyone is exempt from the prescription of peace in verse 6. In fact, many of the Christians that I know who have battled some kind of legitimate anxiety disorder would testify that 7 the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. That s right. The peace of God guards our hearts and minds against anxiety. Essentially, Paul is saying that the Christian has no need to worry. We have no cause for fear. Why? Well there is an unfortunate verse break between verses 5 and 6, that for the life of me, I cannot understand why publishers put it there because it speaks to the why. 5 Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. 6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; The same Lord Who guaranteed Eve a Deliverer Who promised Abraham a child in his old age Who split the sea for Moses and the Children of Israel Who held the sun at bay for the battle Who snatched Rahab out of Jericho Who had his hand upon Gideon Who guided Ruth to her Kinsman Redeemer Who empowered David to kill the giant Who emboldened Esther to stand against a king Who walked with Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego in the fire Who shut up the lion s mouths for Daniel Corey M. Minter Page 8 of 9

9 Who urged Hosea to buy back Gomer Who saved a whole city through the message of a rebellious prophet Who stepped into human flesh to die for mankind The same Lord Who was near to arrested, beaten and chained Paul as he pens these very words is at hand for every child of God. Why are we anxious when God is so near, leaning in to hear the whispered cry of His child like any Good Father would do? Why? Because we do not pray or we do not truly believe in the will of God to answer prayer. Well, Paul says, PRAY and pepper your prayer with thankfulness so its not just a laundry list of needs. Pray and give thanks even when you do not feel thankful, and I promise you the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus this Thanksgiving and everyday. Corey M. Minter Page 9 of 9