Text: Philippians 4:4-9 Title: Unchained Joy I can t remember a time when our nation was filled with so much rage. People spew it all over social media. You can t turn on the television news without seeing protesters screaming about something. Someone has called this the age of rage. It s like the world has gone mad literally. And sadly, we as believers are not immune to that. I know many believers who are torn apart with anxiety, fears and stress. Wouldn t you like to get rid of the strife in your life? Well the Bible shows us how to do that. Let s open our Bibles to Philippians 4. Paul is writing from a Roman prison to his dear friends in the church at Philippi. He s learned that there s a lot of anxiety in the church, but we re not told exactly why. We know from reading in other parts of the NT that the believers in Philippi were experiencing great poverty. They may have been worried that Paul was about to die. We learn from Philippians 2 that one of their church members named Epaphroditus had gone to visit Paul in prison and had become ill and almost died. So there was plenty for them to be anxious about, but Paul wanted to unleash their peace and joy, so he writes them. Read Philippians 4:4-9. I read these verses and I see repeated references to joy and peace. Isn t it interesting that a man locked up in a Roman prison can write so freely about joy and peace? Joy and peace go hand in hand. Galatians 5:22-23a - But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness gentleness and self-control Those qualities describe inner life of Jesus. And they describe the inner life of those who are filled with the Spirit of Jesus. Does your inner life in any way resemble the inner life of Jesus? In these two paragraphs here in Philippians there are five commands (for you Greek students, imperatives) that show us the path to true peace and joy in life how to get the strife out of our life. 1. MAKE THE CHOICE TO REJOICE (v.4). Philippians 4:4 - Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
The Scripture hits us with a one-two punch here. Rejoice, and again, rejoice. So what does rejoicing look like? It means that we take delight in the Lord and what He is doing around us, even when it isn t always apparent. You can always find something to rejoice in. VIDEO ILLUSTRATION Some of you might have seen this on Facebook or on the television news. There s a pastor over in McKinney, TX who has had a hard life, but he s filled with joy after picking up a Honey Butter Chicken Biscuit from Whataburger. Watch this. Notice that we are to rejoice in the Lord, not necessarily in our circumstances. Our circumstances may stink, but when they do we simply overload our minds with what we know is true about the Lord. We delight ourselves in the Lord. When we find our souls infected with anxiety and rage, we deliberately focus on what we know is true about the Lord and rejoice in Him. Jesus had joy in the face of suffering because He had faith in His heavenly Father. On the night before He was crucified Jesus spoke of His joy to His disciples: John 15:11 - I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. So make a choice to rejoice. But if we are to get the strife out of our lives there s something else the Bible calls us to do: 2. TREAT OTHERS WITH GENTLENESS (v.5). Philippians 4:5 - Let your gentleness be evident o all. The Lord is near. That s the next command. Let your gentleness be evident to all. When we are filled with rage and anxiety it will show up in the way we treat others. We ll be short or abrupt with others. We ll feel the freedom to give them a piece of our mind. We ll walk around through the day on a mission to set everybody else straight. But when we are rejoicing in the Lord we ll treat others differently. ILLUSTRATION In his book Vanishing Grace author Philip Yancey tells about a woman who has a very unique ministry to telemarketers. You know, the kind who call at the most inconvenient hours and start unloading their sales pitch before you can even say a word. I have to confess that I haven t always been gentle with people like that. But this dear lady understands that they re just doing their job.
She knows that they often get cussed out and hung up on. What a rotten job! So she responds with kindness. She almost never buys what they're selling, but she asks about their personal life and how she can pray for them. And she s surprised how often the telemarketers take her up on that. That s gentleness! If ever there was a passage written for the volatile, raging climate in our country it is Titus 3:1-2 - Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men. Now in Philippians 4:5 the basis for this gentleness is the fact that the Lord is near. Whether I recognize it or not, He is near. He is working in even the most undesirable situations. So I can be gentle with others. But also the Lord s coming is near. One day Christ will return and He will set everything straight. I don t have to fret about evil in the world when I know that ultimately God will judge evil and reward good. So leave it in His hands. So treat others with gentleness. But there s more: 3. EXCHANGE YOUR WORRY FOR PRAYER (vv.6-7). Remember Paul had learned that was some anxiety among the believers in Philippi. And here s the solution: Philippians 4:6 - Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. There are actually twin commands here. Stop worrying. Start praying. Literally, Stop being anxious What does it mean to worry or be anxious. The word means to have a divided mind to be pulled in different directions. For example you may be sitting there trying to think about what I m saying what the Word of God is saying but then this feeling of dread comes over you like a dark cloud. You start worrying about something in your life a bill you can t pay, a surgery that you dread, a job you may lose. So your thoughts are divided by anxiety. So what are we to do when the worry comes to mind? We exchange that worry for prayer. Notice that we are not to be anxious about anything not one thing. Instead we are to pray about everything every single thing. When that
troublesome thought darts into your mind, take it to the Lord in prayer. Pray about everything. Here we have a description of the different shapes that prayer takes in our lives. The word prayer has to do with our approaching God turning our thoughts to Him in worship and adoration. The word petition is when we make a specific request like, Lord, give me strength. Give me wisdom. Take care of my sick child. Change the heart of my non-believing friend. Then this is blended with thanksgiving. It s faith that allows us to thank God even before we have seen the answer to our prayer. The last thing is to present your requests to God. Bring your specific requests about what worries you into the presence of God. 1 Peter 5:7 - Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. And here s the result: Philippians 4:7 - And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Make your request to God and receive the peace of God. The peace that God gives is greater than all of our efforts to understand and figure things out on our own. Push your anxious thoughts aside by prayer and thanksgiving, then see the faithfulness of God as a rush of indescribable peace comes in to guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus. Remember Paul is chained to a Roman soldier. He is guarded day and night by soldiers. That s the very word Paul uses here to talk about the peace of God that will station a guard around you to protect you from anxious feelings and thoughts. Isaiah 26:3 - You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. ILLUSTRATION After his children all perished in a tragic accident at sea Horatio Spafford wrote those amazing lyrics, When peace like a river attendeth my way; when sorrows like sea-billows roll; whatever my lot Thou has taught me to say it is well, it is well, with my soul. That s the peace that passes understanding. Now anxiety doesn t always go away easy, so Paul keeps hammering on it here. The next command is
4. FILL YOUR MIND WITH THE RIGHT THOUGHTS (v.8). We have the power to control our thoughts. And we are responsible for them. So we are instructed Philippians 4:8 - Finally, brothers, 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. There s the command: keep on thinking about these things fill your mind with these things. So here is this eight-part description of the kinds of thoughts that should captivate our minds continuously. It s the opposite of what untrue, disgraceful, impure, hateful, shameful thoughts that fill our minds much of the time. ILLUSTRATION Think of your mind as the garden of your soul. The seeds that you sow in that garden will eventually sprout into something. As someone has said, Sow a thought, reap an action. Sow an action, reap a habit. Sow a habit, reap a character. Sow a character, reap a destiny! And then the last way to win the battle with anxiety and to fill your life with real joy and peace is this: 5. FOLLOW EXAMPLES OF BIBLICAL TRUTH (v.9). Philippians 4:9 - 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. Paul is talking here about the biblical truth that he has imparted to them by his life and his teaching. Paul says, Put it into practice obey the truth of Scripture and you ll find the very real presence of the God of peace in your life. There is no joy and peace for the Christ-follower if we re not walking with God. But when we are living obediently out of reverence for the Lord it says the God of peace will be with you. ILLUSTRATION A few years visited Buckingham Palace in London, England. It is the primary residence for Britain s royal family. Someone in our group asked the guide if the queen happened to be present that day. The guide told us there s an easy way to know. On the roof of the palace is a flag pole. It the British flag is
flying the queen is not present. When the Royal Standard (flag) is flying above the palace the queen is present. Well, peace is the flag that flies high above the castle of our hearts saying that the King is in residence today. All is well. You know, on different occasions in the Gospel we see Jesus calming a storm. One time He was out on the Sea of Galilee with His disciples when a fierce storm arose. Jesus had fallen asleep and His disciples woke Him up and said, Jesus, don t you care that we going to die? Jesus got up and with a word calmed the storm. Then He asked His disciples, Why are you afraid? Where is your faith? Will you let Jesus calm the storm in your life today? LORD S SUPPER Hebrews 10:10 - And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. ILLUSTRATION At our Sportsman s Dinner last Friday night Navy Seal Chad Williams told of a battle his team was in in Fallujah, Iraq. One of the enemy combatants threw a grenade in the midst of the US team. There was no time to avoid the explosion. One of Chad s comrades yelled Grenade and threw himself on the grenade. You can imagine the rest. He absorbed in his body all the deadly force of that grenade saving the rest of his team. That s what Christ did on the Cross. In His body He absorbed the force of God s holy wrath against our sin, and in doing so saved those who put their trust in Him. Hebrews 9:14 - How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! NEW MEMBERS PRESENTED