Philippians 4:4-7 “The Peace Of God”

1:34For the young people in this room, do you know why Gaston is the most peaceful Disney villain? Because he also won a no-bell prize. Couldn't resist. If there's anything in this world is seeking today, whether psychologically or emotionally, nationally or internationally, it is peace. Even in this gathering room, there are those who desire the peace that comes with the end of the Ukrainian and Gaza wars. Those who desire the peace that comes from the end in the political divide in America. There are those who desire the peace that comes with the end to marital or familial discord. There are those who desire the peace that comes from knowing what job or career path that they will have later. This year.

3:01And there are those who desire the peace that comes with the end of infertility, chronic pain, or debilitating illness. I want you to notice as we look at the peace of God is that the peace of God is not the peace that most of the world gives or most of the world seeks after. It is not a peace that springs from us, whether from our emotion, our heart, or our mind. It is not a peace that comes with a particular personality or character that you have been born with. It is not a peace that you acquire by means of meditation, penance, or labor. That's really not what we're talking about here.

4:04What we're talking about is the supernatural peace that comes from God, which leads many in this audience to think: how can this supernatural peace that comes from God be mine? The passage we are considering this morning sets forth five different things. Can do to obtain God's peace. The first is to rejoice always. The second is to be reasonable to all. The third is to be anxious about nothing. The fourth is to pray about everything. And the fifth is to be thankful for anything.

4:57If we do these things, we will find that they lead to a promise that the extraordinary supernatural peace of God will guard our hearts and our minds through Christ Jesus. So we're going to divide our passage into two parts. First, how to obtain peace, that's kind of our part, and the promise of peace, which is God's part. So, how do we obtain peace? The first thing we can do to obtain peace is to rejoice in the Lord always.

5:39Now, some of you might think it's kind of ridiculous to rejoice in obedience to a command. It is perhaps even more ridiculous to rejoice under all circumstances. Yet, here is Paul, whose Friends are suffering in this very epistle, Philippians 1, 29 through 30, and himself is now a prisoner facing possible death, rejoicing and commanding others to do likewise. To Paul, circumstances alone do not determine the heart, the condition of the heart in the mind. Paul knew that regardless of the circumstances of life, God never changes. People change, circumstances change, and life changes, but the Lord never changes, which is why we are told to rejoice in the Lord always.

6:49We should rejoice in who he is, what he has done for us, and what he is doing in our lives. Even if life is hard, remember that he has planned your path, Psalm 37, 23. He has promised to make all things work for good, Romans 8, 28. He has promised to go with you through everything in life, Hebrews 13, 5. And he has promised you abiding. Victory. Romans 8:37. God's peace is not given to those who fail to always rejoice.

7:45We are to rejoice always. The second thing we are to obtain peace is to let your reasonableness be known to all men. Now, there are several legitimate ways, and some of you with different translations in the audience, to translate reasonableness. It could be translated be gentle, be generous, be magnanimous in the way you deal with one another. But whatever translation is used, they all imply that in our dealings with one another, we are to be kind, gentle, generous, respectful, and reasonable. And the reason Paul gives for this is: because the Lord is at hand.

8:36So, what is Paul saying? It's as if Paul is saying, what would happen if Jesus walked into the middle of your dispute with a family member, a co-worker, or a fellow believer? Would you not immediately change your behavior and your attitude? I remember one of my daughters, we'll just call her Madison, in the days of the infamous landline. There are no cell phones, so we had a landline sitting right here, who would be routinely speaking meanly to one of her sisters or her parents, and immediately change to a sweet voice when the phone would ring. So it would be like she'd be sitting there going, Why are you in my room? You have no business being in my room. And then she'd hear mom or dad say, Well, you're not supposed to speak to your sister like that. Well, I can speak to my sister anyway. Ring, ring.

9:43Stone residence. Madison speaking. Oh, that was so. Being unreasonable does not lead to God's peace. As such, deal with one another with a kind of reasonableness that is drawn from the fact that you know that the Lord Jesus is coming at any moment. Rejoice always. Be reasonable. And the third thing we can do to obtain peace, according to verse 6b, is to not be anxious about anything. Brothers and sisters, we are anxious for all kinds of reasons. Sickness, financial loss, the death of loved ones, divorce, unbelieving children, the unfaithfulness of trusted friends. We are anxious about the future, our marriage, our family. We are anxious about education and promotions. We are anxious about loneliness and the prospect of death.

11:07William Ward said these words: quote: Anxiety distorts our thinking, it disrupts our work, it disquiets our soul, it disturbs our body, it disfigures our face, it demoralizes our life, it destroys our friends, it defeats our faith, and it debilitates our injuries, our energy. Anxiety is what causes the crease on your brow, what ties your stomach in knots, and what makes you irritable. Because anxiety determines God under Minds, godly faith and practice, Paul forbids it. Do not be anxious is a negative command. It's a prohibition.

12:14Brothers and sisters, it is not a suggestion. The Greek text is in effect saying, you are anxious now, stop being anxious now. Paul not only commands us to stop being anxious, he grants no exceptions. Be anxious about anything. Do not be anxious about anything. Brothers and sisters, why is it so wrong to be anxious? At its core, anxiety is unbelief, and unbelief is sin. Yet we as believers treat anxiety as something excusable before God. We hear people say, well, well, that's just me. Oh, that's just my makeup. That's just the way I am. I'm just a worrier.

13:15Others seek to convince themselves that certain kinds of anxiety are pious. Isn't it right to be anxious about our children? Isn't it spiritual to be anxious about having enough? Money to give to the Lord's work? Isn't it right to be anxious about our aging parents? The question is: when do proper concerns turn into sinful ones? Anxiety turns into sin when legitimate concerns take our eyes off of God. Sinful anxiety leads to carrying undue burdens, seeking or serving the wrong things, money, as an example, and not trusting God as we should. In other words, sinful anxiety puts worldly concerns and responsibilities before God.

14:18Allow me to make this more practical. Anxiety causes the Christian to stop believing in one or more of three truths. First, anxiety causes us to stop believing in God's love. We stop believing in God's love because anxiety implies that He cares little for us. He never did anything for us. He didn't send His Son to die for us. We forget about that. Have you stopped believing in the love of God? You are if you are anxious.

15:04Second, anxiety causes us to stop believing in God's wisdom. It's as if we say, God has no idea what I need and how to plan for me and how to care for me. He's clueless. We think that God has no idea, has no plan for us, and He doesn't love us. Have you stopped believing in God's wisdom? You are if you are anxious. Third, anxiety causes us to stop believing in God's power. We stop thinking that His grace is sufficient for every need that comes across our path. We forget that He is sovereign as in control. Have you stopped believing in God's power? You are if you are anxious.

16:05Brothers and sisters, do you see how anxiety is love? Anxiety causes us to stop believing in God's love, God's wisdom, and God's power. And when we experience anxiety, let us remember that God cares more for us than we could ever care for ourselves. Let us run to him in prayer. Because going to God in prayer is the antidote to anxiety. Listen to this very carefully. God promises grace not for our imaginations, but for the reality of events that we are forced to face.

16:57He does not give grace for that which we fear might happen. He provides grace for what we are dealing with when it does happen. When we pray, we are admitting that we are not God, that we are not in control, but that He is working out all things together for our good. God's peace is given to those who surrender their anxiety. Rejoice always, be reasonable, be anxious about nothing. And the fourth thing we can do to obtain peace is to pray about everything.

17:44Verse 6b says, But by everything in prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God. Now, there are some of you in this gathering room who are thinking, well, I do try and pray about everything, but what kind of prayer brings this peace that stops my anxiety? The simple answer is: prayer that prays for everything. Nothing is excluded. You do not take on your concerns yourself. You do not try to work out your concerns in your own mind and your heart. You do not try to solve the unsolvable. You do not try to meet the impossible with your finite mind, heart, and power. Praying about everything is bringing your concerns and giving them to God. Now, there are three different words used in Greek for prayer in this verse. The first is translated in English as prayer. The word is the general word for coming into the presence of the Lord. It's the idea of our acknowledging God and who He is. It speaks of adoration, worship, and devotion. It is the picture of a weak child seeking the attention of a powerful parent. The second word is supplication. This word refers to the earnest sharing of our burdens, needs, and problems. It's not flippant. It's not flippant prayer, but it's the prayers that arise out of the heart. And third word is requests. This word requires to detailed prayer about specific issues. So I invoke the young people to help me. I want to help you all and the young people to understand what a specific request looks like. So, young people, when you go to the grocery store with your parents, do you say, I want some food?

19:59No, you start listing off what you want, which is the requests are specific, brothers and sisters, and the children help you tell that. They don't come and say, I want food. They list it off. Likewise, our requests when we pray aren't, Lord, bless the missionaries, the pastors, the sick, the elderly, my family, and all Aggies. Our request should be specific. Now, someone in this audience is thinking, not so fast, my friend. Why do we have to let God know about things that He already knows about? Doesn't it say in the Bible that He knows what we're going to ask before we even ask Him? You are correct. We don't need to tell God things he knows. But when we bring our concerns to God, we are communicating to God the transference of our concerns to him.

21:13We are transferring our concerns from ourselves to God. Young people, allow me to explain what it means to transfer our concerns to God. Because you can help your parents explain this later, all right? Ready? Let's assume for a moment that your favorite toy, device, or automobile is broken. Okay? You give that toy, device, or automobile to your parents to fix. You transfer your problem to them. Likewise, when we transfer our concerns to God, we give those concerns to him for him to fix. But you know, everyone in this room, the sad thing is that most people and children, your parents are no better at this. Most people, including your parents, don't transfer their concerns to God. Let me explain. Young people, you have given your toy that's broken, your device that's broken, your automobile is broken to your parents. To fix one hour later, do you go back and take the toy back from them, the device back from them, the automobile back from them, so that you can fix it?

22:45No. Yet that's exactly what most people, including your parents, when they fail to transfer their concerns to God. They pray to God to fix a problem and soon after take the problem back and try and fix themselves, and the anxiety just runs rampant because they did not give the problem. They did not transfer it to God. Most of us struggle with transferring our concerns to God, and as a result, we have no peace. Rejoice always. Be reasonable. Be anxious about nothing. Pray about everything. And the fifth thing we can do is to obtain peace is to be thankful for anything. 6B states: But by everything in prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

23:50There are some of you in this room who are thinking, Mark, I've prayed exactly like what you have said, and I have not gotten what I've asked for. God is not answering my prayers. Let me ask you a question. Did you make your supplications with thanksgiving? This is because Paul says that the requests that you make known unto God are to be done with thanksgiving. That is, thankful prayer is to be thankful for anything. We are not only to thank him for what he's already done, but thank him for what he's doing and to thank him for what he's going to do.

24:36Now, brothers and sisters, we have to realize that we're not the center of the universe. We are to come to God saying, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done. We must not question God's wise providence. We also must pray according to God's will revealed in the Bible. We must not rush into his presence, demanding that he pay attention to our desires. Children may do that with their parents, but we cannot do that with our Heavenly Father.

25:15God will not hear the prayer of an ungrateful person. Gratitude is the necessary ingredient in effectual prayer. We come to God. Thanking him for his past mercies. We come to God thanking him for the present trials, which are for our good. And we come to him thanking him for what he's yet going to do. God's peace is given to those who are thankful for anything. If we rejoice always, be reasonable, be anxious about nothing, pray about everything, and/or be thankful for anything, God promises us the extraordinary, supernatural peace of God, which surpasses all understanding and will guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus. The promise is there for every believer. Unfortunately, most believers fail to experience this promise. Because if we aren't thankful, we won't experience the promise like God wants us to. If we don't pray, we won't experience the promise like God wants us to. If we are anxious, we won't experience the promise like God wants us to. If we don't cultivate reasonableness with one another, we won't experience the promise like God wants us to. And if we're not cultivating joy in the Lord in our hearts, we won't experience the promise like God wants us to. We need the peace. That God promises. But receiving that peace begins with cultivating joy in our hearts, with cultivating reasonableness with one another, with not being anxious, with praying about everything, and/or thankfulness for anything. Because we have a God that we know and cares, that loves us and cares for us. And when we do that, the amazing thing is that the Holy Spirit comes and gives direct testimony to our souls that God's promise is true and He gives us peace.

27:39What specifically is this peace of God? It is a peace that is divine in origin. It is a peace that cannot be disrupted by the problems, disturbances, and difficulties of life. It is a peace that cannot waver, that cannot be shaken, and that cannot be destroyed. What we cannot do in ourselves, God can do. This peace is a state of being where you are calm in the heart and mind, even though turmoil and strife are raging around you. God's peace guards our hearts, minds, emotions, wills, consciousness, and imaginations from anxiety. It is the kind of peace that surpasses all understanding.

28:36Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. In closing, allow me to address three misconceptions. First, God does not promise to answer all of our requests in the affirmative.

29:25God does not promise that He will give us a full understanding of all matters that we bring to Him in prayer. God only promises to give us peace. God always hears our heart, our prayers, and requests, and He grants what is ultimately good for us. He will grant our requests if they are in accordance with His will and if they result in our spiritual benefit. God's ultimate purpose in our eternal election. Is to make us holy and blameless, not rich, happy, or powerful. His purpose is to make us like his son so that we may enjoy eternal life with him. Second, there are some in this gathering room who are thinking, Mark, you simply don't know what I'm going through. You haven't a notion, and you are probably correct. I don't know, but Paul did.

30:39Wasn't he in prison when he wrote this? Wasn't he suffering? Wasn't he possibly facing the possibility of death? Brothers and sisters, the passage we studied this morning is not pinned by some bombastic preacher or mercy-challenged elder pontificating to you who you know, we don't have any clue what's going on with you. Paul, who wrote this, is a man who is suffering mightily. And he says, don't be anxious about anything, pray about everything. With thanksgiving. Making your request known to God, and the peace of God will flood your heart and your mind.

31:39Brothers and sisters, God does know what you are going through, and He gave you Paul as an example on how you are to face your trials, your anxieties, and your fears. Third, Paul's solution to anxiety is not for everyone. If you're here today and you're not a believer in Jesus Christ, Paul is not giving the encouragement you heard this morning to anyone except those who trust in Jesus Christ. Paul is saying, Christian, don't be anxious. You have no reason to be anxious because your heavenly Father knows you, knows your needs, and will take care of you. Just pray to him. Paul is actually saying exactly what Jesus said to his disciples in the Gospel of Matthew: don't worry. Don't be anxious. Don't be caught up in cares about what you're going to wear and what you're going to eat because your heavenly Father knows you and loves you and will provide for you. Paul is saying the same thing, but he's not saying it to everyone. You see, if you're here today and you're not a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you really have something to. Be anxious about because you've turned your back on the only one who can do anything about your anxiety. You have not trusted Him. You can't expect God to provide the supernatural peace that comes only to those who believe in Jesus Christ. But here's the good news: instead of turning your back on Him, If you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. Then you can cast all of your cares upon the Lord. You can rest in the Lord Jesus Christ. And you can know what it is like to live worry-free in a care-filled world. Because you have a heavenly Father who has forgiven your sins and has promised that He will provide for all of your needs, including peace through His Son, Jesus Christ. Let us pray.

34:21Father, we thank you that you are a God of love, a God. Of wisdom, a God of sovereign power. We who believe serve an incredibly mighty Father. We confess, Lord, that we are prone to stop believing in your love, in your wisdom, and in your power. We confess that we come to you and we forget what you have promised and who you are. And even when we give our requests to you, we take them back and try and solve those problems ourselves.

35:20But we thank you that when we effectively transfer our concerns, our fears, our anxieties to you, and don't take them back, you have promised that you will give us the supernatural peace that will guard our hearts and minds through Jesus Christ. There are many in this room who are struggling. Lord, we pray that they will find the peace of God by giving those. Concerns, their cares, their fears, their anxieties to you. I pray that those of us who are in the body of Christ will reach out and love and encourage those who are struggling with fear and anxiety. May we encourage and lift them up. May we point them to the very solution that will yield the peace of God.

36:31And we pray for those who in this room don't know Jesus Christ. May this message be used of the Spirit to open their eyes and to open their ears that the only hope in this care-filled world is to place one's faith in Jesus Christ and his work on the cross. And then the Spirit of God can work in their hearts to show your love, your wisdom, and your power to them every day. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

37:23Thank you for listening to the Sermon Audio from New Life Baptist Church in College Station, Texas. For more information or to support, Our ministry, visit us online at newlifecs.net.