A Response to Hardship (Phil. 4:4-9)

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A Response to Hardship: Rejoice, Be Reasonable, Pray, Give Thanks, Think on Good Things (Phil. 4:4-9)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on October 29, 2023

I am a worrier. I can worry about anything and everything. I worry about being sick. Let me tell you the internet is not the best place to go for advice on illnesses. Misery loves company and the internet is the company for misery. Just go to google and try typing in illnesses related to a symptom you have. Well, if you are not a worrier fine. If you are, don’t try that. I remember one time in 2010 when I was feeling sick. I went to the internet. I even went to the Mayo Clinic website. It is a really good website, but it just gave me more to worry about.

Mark Twain said: “I’ve lived a long time & worried a lot & most of the things I’ve worried about never happened.”

The illness I was worried about, it never happened.

A problem with worry, or let’s call it anxiety, being anxious can steal our peace away from us. Being anxious can keep us from rejoicing.

I want to read Phil 4:4-9 and I believe that you will see that giving God our needs with thanksgiving will allow us to have peace, rejoice and be kind to others.

My theme:

A Response to Hardship: Rejoice, Be Reasonable, Pray, Give Thanks, Think on Good Things

Philippians 4:4–9 (ESV)

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

  1. Paul starts out by saying to rejoice and to be reasonable.
    1. He says to rejoice in some NO! He says to rejoice in all things.
    2. I understand, and I think that Paul would also understand that sometimes it is hard to rejoice. Have you had times in your life when you felt there was nothing to rejoice about?
    3. When Paul was writing this letter, he was under house arrest. There were guards around him. We know there were guards because he says so in chapter 1:13 and following.
    4. Paul is writing this to the Philippians who were persecuted for their faith in Christ.
    5. The city of Philippi was a Roman colony. They were very Roman in culture; they probably even spoke Latin which was a little rarer at this point.
    6. By this point in Paul’s life he had already been shipwrecked, beaten, stoned, and so much more (Acts 14; 2 Cor 11).
    7. Yet Paul says to rejoice. Paul even repeats it twice. He might have repeated it twice thinking that they were going to wonder how he could ask them to rejoice in the midst of their troubles.
    8. They must have thought, “How can you tell me to rejoice? Look at the persecution we are going through. Look what you have gone through!”
    9. Prayer with thanks will give them the peace to rejoice and be reasonable. Reasonable, yes, that is the next part of this passage.
    10. Paul tells them to be reasonable or let their reasonableness be known to all. Again, Paul doesn’t say to let people know you are reasonable when things are going well, and people are nice to you. No, let your reasonableness be known to all.
    11. Some translations translate that word “gentle” not “reasonable.”
    12. Of course, when we are not reasonable, we are not gentle.
    13. This reasonableness/gentleness may be exactly why Paul could be a good witness.
    14. To be gentle likely means to be kind. So, they are to be kind in all situations.
    15. Again, the Philippians have faced persecution; how could he ask them this?
    16. Several reasons:
    17. Matthew 5:44: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
    18. Matthew 5:11: Jesus says that we are blessed when persecuted for Him.
    19. But I believe Paul gives one of the best reasons at the end of this verse. Paul says the Lord is at hand, or near. This can mean one of two things or both.
    20. The Lord’s second coming is close.
    21. Or, the Lord is near in Spirit.
    22. Jesus is with us always through the church. The Holy Spirit is within us.
    23. If Jesus’ second coming is near, judgment is near. This means Paul says, “Be kind to them even when they persecute you. Their judgment is near.”
    24. Either way, they had hope. The Lord was near to them. They were not alone. The Holy Spirit was with them.
    25. But I believe their help is in the next two verses. Paul’s told them to rejoice always, Paul’s told them to be reasonable or gentle to everyone, but how? Through prayer with thanksgiving.
  2. Paul tells them not to be anxious but to pray, giving their request to God with thanksgiving.
    1. Not being anxious is difficult. Like I said, I worry a lot. But Paul gives an antidote to anxiety and even to the time we are spending being anxious.
    2. The antidote is prayer, and Paul tells us how to pray.
    3. We pray in everything, not in some things but in all things. And we pray with petitions. This petition means that we have a list of needs that we are giving to God.
    4. Please understand: all prayer is not petition. Some prayer is just listening to God, worshipping God, praising God. But in this case, Paul says: pray and give your list to God. But Paul also says to do this with thanksgiving. Tell God what you are thankful for.
    5. I seriously believe that if I make lists of what I have to be thankful for I may realize how little I really need.
    6. A few years ago, I was counseling a student who was somewhat depressed. I had him list things to be thankful for; I think we thought of at least 50 things.
    7. We all have clothes, we have food, we have heat, we have a roof over our heads.
    8. But you know what, we usually forget the most important. We usually put the physical, felt needs in front of the spiritual.
    9. We have salvation in Christ. We have the Holy Spirit as our comforter (John 14). Jesus said not to fear the person who can harm our body but the person who can harm our soul (Matt 10:28).
    10. We can be thankful for our salvation, and we are to give God our needs in prayer with thanksgiving, and then God will give us peace which compels us to rejoice and be kind.
  3. Paul says they will have peace from God that passes understanding as a guard.
    1. This is not a peace as the world needs. This is not a peace from war. This is an inner peace which we receive spiritually.
    2. This peace will guard our hearts and minds. I think by saying that Paul is saying that the peace will guard our whole person.
    3. The term used for guard is a military term. This type of guard has to do with a soldier on wall guarding a city.
    4. The peace of God will guard us, and the peace of God is guarding us in Christ Jesus
  1. Lastly, Paul focuses on our thinking.
    1. Philippians 4:8:
    2. 8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
    3. We change our thinking to the positive.
    4. This may be easier to do as we give things to God and as we give thanks.
    5. These verses are like a machine gun: rejoice! Be reasonable! The Lord is near! Pray! Give thanks!
    6. Redirect your thinking!
    7. Then verse 9: And what you learned and received and heard and saw in me, do these things. And the God of peace will be with you.
    8. They have likely seen this example in Paul.
    9. The God of peace will be with them.
    10. Tim Keller writes about verse 8:
    11. And Paul also uses the word logizdomai to describe how we are to think about these things. That is an accounting word, sometimes translated “to reckon” or “to count up.”Paul is saying if you want peace, think hard and long about the core doctrines of the Bible. This is so completely different from what you will find if you walk into any bookstore and go to the section on anxiety, worry, and dealing with stress. Here is what you will never see: None of the books will ever say, “Are you stressed, unhappy, or anxious? Let’s start dealing with that by asking the big questions: What is the meaning of life? What are you really here for? What is life all about? Where have you come from, and where are you going? What should human beings spend their time doing?” Never! Contemporary books go right to relaxation techniques and to the work-rest balance. For example, they will say that every so often you should go sit on a beach, look at the surf, and just bracket out worrying and thinking about things. Or they will give you thought-control techniques about dealing with negative thoughts and emotions, guilt thoughts, and so forth.
    12. Christian peace comes not from thinking less but from thinking more, and more intensely, about the big issues of life. Paul gives a specific example of this in Romans 8:18, where he uses the same word, logizdomai, and speaks directly to sufferers. He says, “I reckon that our present sufferings are not worth comparing to the glory that shall be revealed in us.” To “reckon” is to count up accurately, not to whistle in the dark. It is not to get peace by jogging or shopping. It means “Think it out! Think about the glory coming until the joy begins to break in on you.”[1]

Keller writes:

Here is a metaphor for it. If you have ever been on a coast in a storm and seen the waves come in and hit the rocks, sometimes the waves are so large that they cover a particular rock, and you think, “That is the end of that rock.” But when the waves recede, there it is still. It hasn’t budged an inch. A person who feels the “peace that passes understanding” is like that. No matter what is thrown at you, you know it will not make you lose your footing. Paul of course is the classic example. He is beaten; he is stoned; he is flogged; he is shipwrecked; he is betrayed; his enemies are trying to kill him. There is wave after wave, and yet—there he is still. “I have found a way to be completely poised under any and all circumstances,” he said. All the waves of life could not break him. And he says it isn’t a natural talent of his—you and I can learn this. That is the character of Christian peace. It is an inner calm and equilibrium but also a sense of God’s presence and an almost reason-transcending sense of his protection.[2]

This only comes through living with Jesus.

This comes through the disciplines we have talked about today. It comes through trusting in Him. In comes from a life of self-sacrificial obedience to him. Many of us want it now. It is a continual life of living the Philippians way.

We must live Phil. 2:3-4.

We must live Phil. 2:12-15.

We must live Phil. 3:13-14.

We must live this passage of Phil. 4:4-9.

Prayer

[1] Keller, Timothy. Walking with God through Pain and Suffering (pp. 298-299). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

[2] Keller, Timothy. Walking with God through Pain and Suffering (p. 297). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

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