Philippians 4:1-9
1 Therefore, my brothers, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, that is how you should stand firm in the Lord, dear friends!
2 I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to agree with each other in the Lord. 3 Yes, and I ask you, loyal yokefellow, help these women who have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, 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.
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. 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.
In the beginning verse of this final chapter, Paul displays his affection to this congregation by telling them how he loves them in the Lord so dearly, he expresses his affection six different ways, “my brothers, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown… dear friends!” This is vitally important because in the following verses Paul will be giving them some practical and important last words, but first he wants them to know how he feels for them. It is always important to remember, if we want the words we speak to others to be taken to heart, the individuals receiving them first need to be assured that we love them and are genuinely concerned for them by what we say and if possible, by what they experience by our actions.
Another demonstration of Paul’s love and concern for this congregation, which was even more personal, we see in verses 2-3. Apparently, there were two women whom Paul personally knew and who had ministered alongside him when he was there in Philippi, who were at odds with each other. Because Paul was not able to be there personally to help resolve their differences, he solicits help from other leaders of the church. Wuest’s expanded translation says it this way; “Even so, I make request of you also, you who are a genuine yokefellow in deed as well as in name [knowing how to work harmoniously with others], lend a hand with these women in their efforts at settling the differences which they have between themselves…” Paul is demonstrating the same eminence of love that he did in his letter to Philemon in verse 8, “Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, 9 yet I appeal to you on the basis of love.”
In verses 4 to 9 Paul as he usually does in all his letters to the churches, begins to end his letter to this congregation with something similar to a bullet point list of short statements of what the Holy Spirit has inspired him to write.
Reading the verses that follow verses four to nine, it seems that it is very probable that there was a situation they were experiencing which could have been trying and pressing. Carefully looking at what Paul is telling them in verses 4 to 9 it looks like he is wanting to encourage them, to give them hope and a change of mindset.
Why would someone tell another, Verse 4, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!”? Could it be that they were downcast because of a problematic situation that they were facing? The opposite of “Rejoice” is regret, mourn, lament, complain, depressing, sadden, discouraged. We all know some people when they are in a difficult situation in which they need to be told to rejoice, because they are easily irritable or grumpy and not too gentle or kind as Paul is telling them which they should display to others. 5a, “Let your gentleness be evident to all.” Wuest in his expanded Greek translation says it this way, “Let your sweet reasonableness, your forbearance, your being satisfied with less than your due, become known to all men.”
Verse 5b, “The Lord is near.” Most of us have dealt with other Christians who were confronting a challenging situation and the furthest fact from their mind which should give all believers in Christ hope and reassurance, is that Christ’s coming for His Church is near, that is, His coming for us can occur any moment. 1 Thessalonians 4:13, “Therefore encourage each other with these words.” Please read 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.
Verse 6a even gives more evidence of the possibility that there could have been some kind of difficult situation that this congregation might have been experiencing, “Do not be anxious about anything…”. In the New American Standard of the Bible NASV it says, “Be anxious for nothing”. Wuest in his Expanded Translation says, “Stop perpetually worrying even about one thing”. Again, why would Paul be telling the church this? Was there a situation they were confronting that was causing them to be “anxious”? Some synonyms for anxious are nervous, apprehensive, concerned, worried, uneasy. Some definitions for “anxious” are 1) Troubled with cares. 2) Being worried or afraid about the present situation. 3) Being nervous or apprehensive about something that is going to happen or might happen.
We do not know what could have possibly been happening to the Philippian congregation that would cause them to be “anxious”. However, the antidote to their anxiety that Paul gave them, can also be applied to the lives of any believer in Christ today when they are or will be confronting a difficult situation that causes them anxiety, “but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
Apparently when a Christian forgets about God because of the difficult situation they are confronting, many times they also forget the five points that Paul is instructing the Philippians. These points of action that Paul is telling the Philippians to do when anxious is to act on faith in God.
Are we trusting in God with the confidence and the assurance that He will do what He said He will do in His Word? We develop an ever-growing level of trust or faith in God through our constant relationship with Him. The better we relationally and intimately know God and His word, the more we trust Him. We cannot trust God if we do not know Him.
Paul tells the Philippians there are four action points they can do which we can also do when we are anxious, “present your (our) requests to God.” How? “by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving”.
Many Christians think that is what they always do, however we must be aware that not all believers in Christ seek God out first when confronting a situation that causes them to be anxious.
The commentator Warren Wiersbe explains verse six which helps to clearly understand what Paul is telling us.
“Paul does not write, “Pray about it!” He is too wise to do that. He uses three different words to describe “right praying”: prayer, supplication (petition), and thanksgiving. “Right praying” involves all three. The word prayer is the general word for making requests known to the Lord. It carries the idea of adoration, devotion, and worship. Whenever we find ourselves worrying, our first action ought to be to get alone with God and worship Him. Adoration is what is needed. We must see the greatness and majesty of God! We must realize that He is big enough to solve our problems. Too often we rush into His presence and hastily tell Him our needs, when we ought to approach His throne calmly and in deepest reverence. The first step in “right praying” is adoration.”
So, looking at each of the points separately we can understand what they mean and how they work. Verse 6c, “by prayer”, it is addressed to God as an act of worship and devotion. When we worship God there are three important things to remember, the love of God, the wisdom of God and the power of God. Verse 6d, “and petition”, appealing to God for one’s own personal needs. Verse 6d, “with thanksgiving”, which is an expression of our gratitude recognizing who God is. Gratitude of what God has done in our lives in the past and will do in the future. In our expression of thanksgiving, we acknowledge what God said in His word and how it applies to us in the current situation we are confronting.
We need to be careful that we do not look at these points as a recipe or a formula that must be followed every time we pray to obtain the desired results. We need to remember we are in a relationship with God. Praying to God as Paul is telling us should become as natural as it is when we ride a bicycle with experience. At first, we had to carefully think out every move we made when getting on in order not to fall over. Then we need to carefully focus getting the bike to go as we begin to pedal without us falling over in the process. Then once we eventually get going, we need to be focused on our speed, avoid bumps and cracks in the pavement. Finally, we need to learn how to negotiate curves and how to turn around. After we have been riding our bike for a while everything becomes second nature. This is how it is when we pray, it might be challenging and uncomfortable at the beginning but after we have been praying for some time, prayer should become second nature.
Verse 7, And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Paul continues to tell us in this verse of the five things that God does in us when we pray instead of worry.
7a, “And the peace of God”. Peace is the fruit of the Spirit because we are in Christ Jesus His character is in us, Galatians 5:22-23. Peace is the fruit of believing prayer in the life of the believer in Christ who prays. The next three points is what “the peace of God” does in the believer.
7b, “which transcends all understanding”. Wuest in his translation says it this way, “and the peace of God which surpasses all power of comprehension” The Fire Bible commentary tells us the following about “the peace of God”. “This peace is an inner sense of calm and assurance delivered from Christ by the Holy Spirit within us. It is not based on emotions or circumstances, but on the solid foundation of our relationship with God. It involves a firm confidence that Jesus is near (with us) and that God’s love will be active in our lives for our good, Romans 8:28, And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
The word “transcends” in this context means that God’s peace exceeds, surpasses, goes beyond our limitation of thought or understanding. God’s peace is beyond all intellect, analysis, and insight. Therefore, God’s peace cannot be reproduced or fabricated by meditation or by any human effort because it comes from Him. God’s peace is the opposite of human anxiety. It is not based on emotions or circumstances, but on the solid foundation of who He is and our relationship with God.
7c, “will guard your hearts; 7d, and your minds”. Guard is a military term to mount a watch or be a sentry. What is it God’s peace is guarding? The answer is “your hearts” or our emotions. God’s peace stands guard over our hearts keeping worry, doubt and fear out that are caused by the lies of the enemy. If you know God, that is who He is, you know He is first interested in our well-being and how we feel. God knows that in some situations that we face, could bring about anxiety in His children, it is our hearts and minds that are the most susceptible to the attacks of the enemy and that is what He promises to “guard” or protect with His “peace”.
7d, and your minds”. This is our thoughts. Things that seem logical and are convincing to us and even to others such as the many things that secular majority say is right or contrary to God’s Word.
7e, in Christ Jesus. This is our union with Christ through our relationship with Him. We cannot expect to have God’s peace guarding our hearts and minds if we are not living in Christ Jesus, or in other words if we are doing our own thing living outside of His will and purposes for our lives. When we say relationship, it means a continual fellowship with Jesus of submission and dependency.
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. A believer in Christ who has their hearts and minds guarded by the peace of God will be someone not influenced or even controlled by anxiety because they are doing what Paul says, “think about such things.”
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. Understanding what Paul said in verse 8 about the eight topics of thought which Paul lived out when he was with them as he says in verses 9, do we realize that we too are an example to others not just of how we react in a in the middle of a challenging situation and or with a pending difficult situation? What we think, say and do, we must never forget that it always needs to be “put it into practice”.
Pastor John
