Sermon Preparation Philippians 4:1-7 A Peaceful Easy Sermon 1) In verse 1, Paul described the Philippians as brothers, those he loved and longed for, his joy, and his crown. This is quite a description. Based on your study of the book of Philippians thus far, why did Paul describe the Philippians in this way? 2) If left unchecked, what aspects of a person s life will fear affect? Do fear and anxiety cause a person to have a selfish or selfless mindset? Explain. 3) The word Therefore in Philippians 4:1 indicates that Paul is writing in reference to what he had written in the last paragraph. With this in mind, reread Philippians 3:15-21 and Philippians 4:1. What is Paul specifically warning the Philippians about when he cautions them to stand firm? 4) Reread Philippians 4:2, and then go back and read Philippians 2:1-4. In this passage, Paul is pleading with Euodia and Syntyche to be of the same mind, what does it mean to be of the same mind? 5) What are the two commands that Paul gives in verse 6? see more at: www.graceinpagosa.org special thanks to Heights Church for their support 1
6) Read Mathew 6:25-34. Can you gain anything by worrying? In this passage, Jesus says not to worry; what reasons does he give for this? How much does relationship with God have to do with guarding your heart and mind from anxiety? Others Thoughts Excerpt From The Christian Atheist by Craig Groeschel The following excerpt is a compilation of multiple quotes from chapter 8 of The Christian Atheist, entitled, When You Believe in God but Still Worry All the Time. The quotes do follow the chronological order of the chapter, however, there are miscellaneous portions of the chapter that are not included. Excerpts from Chapter 8 When You Believe in God but Still Worry All the Time It happened again the other night. I tried not to look at the clock, but every so often, I just couldn t resist: 1:12 a.m. I calculated precisely how much sleep I d get if I could fall asleep now. What seemed just a few minutes later, I glanced again: 2:32 a.m. I adjusted my estimated sleep down an hour and twenty minutes. I wish I could tell you I was praying, meditating on Scripture, even simply basking in God s presence. But I wasn t. Though I was growing through my workaholic problems, I still had others. I was lying awake, sweating, drenched in worry My mom had just been released from the hospital (for the second time) for a series of small strokes. She had lost much of her eyesight. At first, the doctors told her it would probably all come back. Then they changed their diagnosis, saying it wasn t likely to return at all. More worry. Amy had battled chronic infections for years and was starting to get better. Then she suddenly got worse much worse. Even more worry. In the light of day, I m constantly encouraging people to trust God, no matter what. I can quote Scripture from memory without taking a breath. But when the night sets in, I stare at the ceiling, feeling alone, afraid to trust God completely. If I can be truly honest, I am often overwhelmed with worry. I know I m not supposed to worry. I try not to worry, but sometimes it s hard. Worry is bad for our health. In fact, our word worry derives from the Old High German wurgen, literally to strangle, constrict, choke. That sounds like see more at: www.graceinpagosa.org special thanks to Heights Church for their support 2
worry feels, doesn t it? Worry absolutely strangles the life out of me. But there are just so many things to worry about, how can I stop? When there s nothing to worry about, I worry about that: Uh-oh, things are too good right now. The other shoe s about to drop. And since worry is bad for my health, I worry about that. How do I stop?... The kids are growing up college and weddings inevitably loom ahead. And as if the basics weren t enough food, clothes, shoes, a roof over our heads in the times we live in, how do we keep our kids safe? We can pray for them and try to protect them from outside influences. But we re going to have to let them go out there into the world eventually, and it s rough. Kids little kids are into porn and drugs and sex. We try to protect ours. But what about all the other kids they know? And even those from our church? Are their parents protecting them? Or are our kids friends seeing things they shouldn t, then telling our kids about it? Our kids aren t the only family members to worry about; we also have our aging parents who are starting to need us more. How are we going to care for them? What if they get sick? Or maybe somebody we love, even someone who s always been healthy, has something unusual going on physically. So they visit the doctor for tests and are told the results will be back soon. That s when the waiting begins. Waiting gives us time to wonder, time to worry. I personally can t help but ask, What if? Then my mind races, keeping me awake at night. My chest hurts. My arms and legs twitch. I can t catch my breath and it feels like worry is eating me from the inside out. I m supposed to trust God, but it s often hard to do Worry reminds me of my feelings about snakes. I hate snakes. I hate them worse then Indiana Jones does. It was a serpent that seduced all of mankind into the fall, after all. Coincidence? I think not. Snakes in general freak me out, but bringing venomous vipers into the equation adds another diabolical dimension. My family lives in a heavily wooded area, where we re basically besieged by poisonous snakes. One day, when my son Bookie (whose real name is Stephen Craig) was about two yeas old, he was playing on our front porch. We were all doing different things around the yard when suddenly we heard Bookie squealing with delight. He was jumping up and down, calling out, My fwend! My fwend! Daddy, look! He s my fwend! I strolled over and asked, Bookie, where s your fwend? Is it an imaginary fwend? Bookie chirped, No, Daddy! and pointed excitedly. Look! My fwend! And there, directly at his feet, was a small rattlesnake. In case you didn t already know, a rattlesnake is not your fwend. I jerked Bookie away from the snake, then stomped on thesnake s head and crushed it immediately after I first cut off its head with a shovel. Many of us treat worry like our friend. We don t consciously think or talk about it that way, of course, but how we live tells a different story. see more at: www.graceinpagosa.org special thanks to Heights Church for their support 3
We clutch worry to our chests like our favorite stuffed animals from childhood. We have many different euphemisms to mask this sin: I m concerned about something. I have some issues I m working through. I have a lot on my mind. Using such substitute terminology makes me sound like I m really smart, like I m an important person with big things going on But no matter what you call it, worry is still sin. In Philippians 4:6, Paul tells us not to be anxious about anything. Romans 14:23 says, Everything that does not come from faith is sin. That s pretty clear to me. Worry is the opposite of faith; therefore, it s sin. When we live by faith, we believe that God has everything under control. But if we start to worry, how we live says the opposite. If we are worried about losing our jobs, we are essentially saying that our jobs are our providers. But isn t God our provider? What if God has something else planned for us? And what if, as unpleasant as it may be to think about, the path to that something else is through some pain? Will we still trust in God to provide during that time? Worry, in essence, is the sin of distrusting the promises and the power of God. It s choosing to dwell on, to think about, the worst-case scenario. It s faith in the bad things rather than faith in God. Second Timothy 1:7 says, God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline (NLT). In this verse, you could also easily translate fear and timidity as anxiety, tension, and worry. Fear doesn t come from God. It s a tool the evil one uses to distract us from our true purpose here Wisdom is all about the simple, often tiny, obvious things, done consistently, one at a time. Philippians 4:6-7 tells us, Don t worry about anything. And it doesn t just tell us what not to do. It tells us what to do as well. Don t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. If you do this, you will experience God s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus (NLT). That makes it sound so easy, but if we do what s wise, we can peacefully leave the rest to God. If you do catch yourself worrying even after you ve done what was wise, remember that God is bigger than our problems, and that he wants us to hand them over to him. Worry then becomes a signal alerting us that it s time to pray. Any time you hear the alarm start to blare, stop. It s time to stop worrying and start praying. When we tell God what we re worried about or what we need, we are giving our burden to him. We still have responsibility to do what we can, but doing what we can t isn t ours anymore. Anytime we try to take back God s responsibilities onto our shoulders, we remind ourselves, now that s his problem. see more at: www.graceinpagosa.org special thanks to Heights Church for their support 4
And we can breathe a sigh of relief. It s part of that supernatural peace he promised. (Phil 4:7) Honestly, do you want your worry back? It s not your fwend. The promise of Philippians 4:7 is that when you give it to him, you will experience God s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds (NLT). So stop worrying. And take advantage of what he s offering. Do what you can, and then trust God with what you cannot do Let s try a few simple dry runs. What if you or a loved one has cancer? What can you do? Well, you can go to a doctor, get advice, and pursue treatment. But ultimately, can you guarantee healing of the cancer? No. Can God? Yes. So give that one to God. If you do start to worry, that is your alarm to pray about it. In the end, you have to trust God to do what he s going to do. Can you protect your kids from all danger? No. Can God give his angels charge over your kids? Yes. So do what you reasonably can to protect your kids, and give what you can t do to God. Can you change your spouse? You hesitated; maybe you think you can. But you can t. Can God change your spouse? Yes. (And God can change you too, by the way. Just saying.) So give that one to God. Can your worry change anything? No. Can God change anything? Absolutely he can. Do what God tells you to. Give everything you cannot do to God Who do we believe in more? Ourselves or God? Our actions and decisions will reflect that. If God does what you think he should do, trust him. If God doesn t do what you think he should do, trust him. If you pray and believe God for a miracle and he does it, trust him. If your worst nightmare comes true, believe he is sovereign. Believe he is good It won t be easy, but once you ve walked with God for enough days and experienced his faithfulness time and again, you could actually stop worrying. Besides, we don t need to; as Jesus assured us that our heavenly Father cares for us. Proverbs 3:5-6 says it in this way: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your way acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. I don t know what you re worried about today, but I do know that worry distrusts the promises and the power of God. I believe in God, and I choose to live in a way that demonstrates my confidence in him. After all, he is wise. He is willing. And he is able. see more at: www.graceinpagosa.org special thanks to Heights Church for their support 5