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Message
Philippians 4:6-7
You Can Be Calm
(this sermon uses some Greek and Hebrew - for those who don't know these languages I have put the way to pronounce in brackets)
The wonderful truth about being a Christian is that the transformation which comes to us in Christ is not just about us getting to have a place in heaven for eternity.
Jesus also walks with us to bring practical life changes.
To move from the old self to the new self.
To grow and mature and live … really live.
In Christ you can be a different person … a Spirit transformed person.
That is the motive which Paul has in mind when he writes Philippians 4.
This isn’t about setting out a new set of commands to cause you guilt when you fail.
It is about knowing that Christ loves us enough to want to help us in the journey as we make our way to eternity.
So, out of love, Jesus wants you to know that you can be calm.
Let’s read the verses.
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.
Philippians 4:6-7
Now, because we are not reading the original we do see it so easily.
But in Greek there is a verbal form called an “imperative”
For want of a better description the “imperative” is basically a call to change, or a command like instruction.
In the verse on the screen here is one of the imperatives (do not be anxious is underlined)
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.
Philippians 4:6-7
Do not be anxious … it isn’t offered as a useful suggestion.
In fact the way the Greek reads … if we want to go for a very literal translation … says
No more, and keep having no more, anxiousness about anything.
It is a command. Which is an interesting way to get people to stop being anxious.
One of our members, Kylie, is an air hostess. Imagine her giving the talk about wearing your seatbelt and how to put on a life jacket and all those safety things which won’t make a scrap of difference if the plane falls out of the sky.
Afterwards one of the cabin members comes to Kylie an says, “the passenger in 15C is a little anxious and wants to talk to you”.
So Kylie goes to old lady in row 15C and says, “Are you anxious dear?”.
“Yes, yes I am anxious”.
“WELL STOP IT. STOP RIGHT NOW!
Pull yourself together. You’re just being ridiculous”.
Is that what is going on here. Paul is acting like some air-hostess Nazi who couldn’t care less about how you feel?
Obviously it’s not.
There is a command - but the command is in a context.
The context is another imperative (present your requests is underlined)
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.
Philippians 4:6-7
Keep on coming back to God and let Him know what is going on … again it isn’t offered as a useful suggestion.
Similarly the literal translation says
Make known, and keep making known, your requests.
So what is the message coming through here from these verses?
You can be calm, but to be calm, you need to learn to pray properly.
Now you are thinking … but I do pray.
I do pray about the things that are on my mind and seek to hand them over to God.
I do regularly ask the Lord to give me peace I come to God and cast my cares on Him.
I’ve been asking Him to give me rest.
We do pray. But to remove anxiety God is looking for here is a specific type of prayer. We see what type of prayer is required by having a closer look at the “prayer words” Paul uses.
To help us to understand the meaning we will look at a Bible example of each.
p??se??? (pros-you-kay) = prayer
The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray.
1 Peter 4:7
The prayer being spoken of here is an “end of days” type prayer.
When everything has completely fallen apart.
The world is in absolute chaos.
You get down on your knees and cry out to God knowing that really all you have is your faith in Him.
It is ongoing, consistent, persistent. It is the opposite of what is sometimes called “fox-hole-prayers”.
In war the fox hole was the trench just before the enemy line. It was the place of danger. Fox-hole prayers say things like:-
• Lord, my son is in hospital because he has been run over; please heal him.
• Father, my husband has just walked out on me and I’m all alone with my three children. Help me.
• God, I’ve just lost my job and I’m 45. I can’t do this without You.
But when the son comes out of hospital, and the husband comes back, and a new job arrives … well, the prayers become far less frequent. That is “fox hole” prayer.
Prayer which removes anxiety cannot be just a series of “fox hole prayers”.
Anxiety is removed as we habitually come to God with all our requests, especially the small ones. For as we see God working and answering us in the small issues we are given greater confidence to trust that He will also answer when it comes to the big issues as well. We need to develop the habit of running to God always, not just running to God with our big problems.
And, as we see God constantly working, we will stop being anxious.
d??s?? (day-sis) = petition
Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved (Romans 10:1)
Paul has been preaching the Gospel for a decade or so.
It is about 25 years since Jesus rose.
1000’s … 100’s of 1000’s are coming to faith and repentance.
But not enough of them are of Jewish back ground. Paul comes to God petitioning Him about this situation.
If you want a sense of how much petitioning, and the way Paul would do this, you just need to read Romans 9:3 … I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race
This petition would be a daily petition … regularly on His mind.
This petition is not a “tacked-on-to-the-end-at-dinner” prayer … but a “get-up-early-and come-to-God” prayer.
And it keeps driving Paul forward to bring the Gospel with conviction.
Now apply that approach to the petition to “stop being anxious”.
Would those things that cause us anxiety be able to overwhelm us?
If we put the energy that we spend worrying into the energy it takes to petition … wouldn’t the level of anxiety be so much less.
Indeed we would be driven forward in the conviction that we don’t need to be anxious.
e??a??st?a (you-car-is-tea-ah) - thanksgiving
Paul here is reflecting on the attitude as we pray.
It is an attitude that comes by remembering the context in which we pray.
Colossians 2:1-3; 6-7 (read)
In the middle of the anxiety there is an unmoveable, unbreakable, unconditional truth.
We have Christ. This is an eternal truth which gives us a whole other perspective where anxiety fades into insignificance.
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom 6:23)
Sin is defeated. Death is defeated.
The anxiety that comes from sin, sickness, and death …. well its ultimately insignificant.
In 1 Corinthians 15:22 Paul affirms a similar truth “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.”
In Christ is the reversal of all that came because of the fall into sin … in Adam.
Brokenness is undone.
Relationships are restored.
Lack of security is turned to hope.
Prayer. Petition. Thanksgiving.
Bring them together when you are anxious and you will be learning how to pray in a way that you can stop being anxious.
When you do that … presenting the requests which cause you to be anxious … you find yourself in a place which is the opposite of a life of anxiety.
And that place opposite to the place of anxiety is the place of peace
That is important to remember.
The prayer to stop anxiety is not a prayer that removes the cause of the anxiety.
The prayer to stop anxiety is a prayer that brings us through the cause of the anxiety … without the response of anxiety.
There will still be pain and death.
There will still be relationship breakdowns and misunderstanding.
There will still be persecution and hatefulness.
There will still be bills, and unemployment, and MRI’s, and deadlines, and exams, and expectations, and vulnerability, and second guessing ourselves.
These things which can cause anxiety will still exist.
But when we pray properly our perspective changes.
We have peace.
To help you understand the meaning of this word let me tell you about a book called the Septuagint.
The Septuagint is a translation of the Old Testament from Hebrew into Greek. The translation was made by Jewish scholars.
It was written because of the influence of the Greeks where the primary language of many nations around the Mediterranean Sea.
So, even today, you can compare the Greek and Hebrew Old Testament and find out which Greek words were used to translate Hebrew words.
It is actually very useful at times because it helps really understand the meaning of some Hebrew words - when you see the choice the Jewish scholar made for the translated word.
In our text the word for peace is
e????? (eye-ren-ay) … consistently when this word is used in the Septuagint it is being used for the Hebrew word Shalom.
Shalom is the peace which comes despite the circumstances which are happening.
A spiritual peace.
A nothing-is-going-to-rock-my-faith peace.
A peace where my mind is safe, and I have a fullness of life.
That the perspective we are given … but there is more.
This peace transcendences.
Transcendences is a big word which most of us only have a vague idea to an actual definition.
In English the word means “an experience beyond the normal”.
You have peace beyond the normal. Which is ok.
But the original Greek word can have another sense. Let me read Romans 13:1 Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities
Be subject is the same word as we have in our text.
So the idea being expressed here is one of superiority or rank.
The peace of God will out-rank all understanding.
All the stuff that anxiety produces.
The negative thoughts … where our minds go in 1000 directions at the same time.
The fears and worries … where we can become blinded to realities.
The sense of insecurity and hopelessness … the tools of Satan to make us doubt God’s care for us.
Peace outranks them all.
Remember … it is not that the cause of the anxiety is taken away.
What we are getting here is a perspective to keep moving forward.
Peace will eventually outrank all of these anxiety challenges.
That the perspective we are given … but there is more.
Our hearts and minds are guarded
Remember Paul is writing in the first century.
So when you think of guarding I want you to think about a city with walls and gates.
Many cities were like that.
Very important to the city defences were the guards who stood on the wall or at the gate watching.
Their job was to keep an eye out for the enemy and then give as much warning as possible so the city could be prepared to defend itself.
That is the idea here.
Peace … superior peace … gives your heart and mind a warning so that it can be prepared to face the anxiety which is to come.
What a wonderful perspective to be able to have … because of who we are in Christ.
We can be calm …
We can have peace … and it is promised even when we do become anxious.
For you know …
And I know …
And every Christian worth their salt knows …
that there will be times when anxiety will get the better of us. Despite our prayers. Despite our thinking. Despite our actions. We done fulfil the command to “Stop being anxious”. Yet, even then, we can have peace.
God does not want to add to our anxiety … so He secured the way of peace.
Through the cross He gives a comprehensive answer to sin.
Through His Son God has enabled us to feel secure.
Through reconciliation we can have the peace of knowing that God is with us … in us.
When we become anxious that is our hope and our sure conviction. And when we keep coming back to that truth we will be calm.
Prayer
