Sermon 7-15-18

Overview

Working Backwards Through Philippians 4: From Peace to Joy

Reading Philippians 4:4–7 in reverse opens a fresh perspective on a familiar passage. Beginning with verse 7, we are met with a stunning promise: "The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." This peace is not simply the calm we long for in busy lives or the absence of conflict between nations. It is the Old Testament shalom—completeness and wholeness, the kind of peace Adam and Eve knew when every need was satisfied and creation lived in perfect communion with God. That same peace is promised to us, and it stands guard over our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, because our salvation has already been secured by His sacrifice.

Because Christ has reconciled us to the Father, we can pray boldly. Ephesians 3:12 tells us we have access to God in confidence through faith in Him, and Hebrews 4:16 urges us to draw near to the throne of grace to receive mercy. We need not be "holy enough" to pray—our access depends not on our goodness but on God's grace through Christ. Nothing is hidden from Him (Hebrews 4:13; Psalm 44:21), so we can lay everything bare. Prayer is simply talking with God; supplication is begging Him in our weakness. Sometimes the most faithful prayer we can offer is Peter's three words as he sank: "Lord, save me" Matthew 14:30. Jesus warns us against showy, flowery prayers and instead gives us the Lord's Prayer Matthew 6:9–13—seven petitions that cover all of life. And when words fail, Romans 8:26 assures us the Spirit intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

This is why Paul can command, "Do not be anxious about anything... the Lord is at hand." Fear so easily becomes an idol; the devil uses it to paralyze us. But Jesus Himself faced fear in Gethsemane, sweating blood as He prayed—and He did not stop. We can cast our anxieties on a Father who is not distant but present. When fear loses its grip, gentleness becomes possible (verse 5)—a reasonable, clear-minded posture toward others. And when we are no longer ruled by anxiety, what remains is joy: "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice" (verse 4).

Read backwards, the path is this: peace in Christ enables confident prayer; prayer dispels anxiety; freedom from anxiety produces gentleness; and gentleness opens into joy. Our beginning and our end are the same place—Christ Jesus. This is not abstract theology. It is the lived testimony of believers who, even in unimaginable grief, can give thanks and rejoice because they know their God has heard them and has already saved them. No matter how dire the circumstance, we can pray simply, give thanks honestly, and rest in the shalom that surpasses understanding.

Transcript

If you would open your Bibles to Philippians 4 to follow along, but we're going to follow backwards. 0s

And I know that doesn't make a lot of sense, but this is a really, really beautiful text. 10s

And it's one that we, you're kind of a lot. 14s

It comes up that might pass through it when we're doing devotions or read through it as we're just flipping through scripture. 16s

And it's beautiful and it's amazing. 23s

And as I was looking at it this week, I started looking at it in reverse. 26s

And I know that sounds kind of weird, but sometimes we get an interesting perspective if we look at it from a different light or different angles. 32s

So we're going to start from the bottom of it. 40s

So we're starting with verse 7. 44s

And it's, it's so exciting because when we start with verse 7, we start right out of the gate with a promise. 46s

And there is nothing better than a promise from our Lord in its such an incredible promise that is just for you. 53s

It says the piece of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 61s

In this verse, right from the start of it, we are promised the piece of God. 72s

What is the piece of God? 81s

Well, first of all, we know from this text, we know that the piece of God is surpassing. 84s

It's greater than any understanding that you or I may have. 89s

And the piece of God is greater than any injustice or greater than any justice in human being existence. 95s

It's greater than any ceasefire between any warring nations. 104s

It's greater than the calm that we seek in our busy lives. 108s

The piece of God is greater than all that. 113s

It's so passes any idea that we could ever have in, in the Old Testament, this piece is known as Shalom. 118s

And this piece, this Shalom really gives a picture of completeness, of wholeness in God's peace. 128s

In that Shalom, all needs are satisfied. 139s

Shalom is what Adam and Eve experienced. 145s

They had absolutely no needs. 148s

They lived in perfect communion with God, with one another, and with all of creation. 152s

It was peace. It was complete. It was whole. 161s

And we are promised this piece. 166s

We are promised this completeness. 170s

We are promised this wholeness. 173s

And we're promised that this piece will do something very, very specific. 175s

The piece of God, the Shalom, the completeness, the wholeness that we can't really understand. 181s

It will guard our hearts and it will guard our minds. 190s

How is that piece going to guard our hearts and our minds? 196s

It tells us in Christ Jesus. 199s

We are guarded by Christ Jesus because our salvation has been secured in Christ Jesus. 202s

And He bears our sins. 210s

He's our advocate before God because of Christ's sacrifice on the cross. 212s

We've been reconciled to God. 219s

He forgets our sins. 221s

And when we're set free from our sins, we're also set free from that mental burden and the guilt that a company sin. 223s

And it's through the blood of Jesus that we're allowed to speak with the Father. 234s

In Ephesians it says that in Jesus we have access to God in boldness and in confidence through faith in Him. 239s

So we can speak openly with the Lord. 248s

And we speak openly knowing that everything is already known to God. 251s

There are no secrets from God. 257s

Good or bad. 259s

We cannot keep secret from our Lord. 260s

And Hebrews it says before Him, no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account. 264s

In Psalm 44 it says he knows the secrets of the heart. 272s

We have access to God in boldness and in confidence through Jesus Christ. 278s

And we have absolutely no secrets hidden from the Lord. 284s

So then we continue with Hebrews where it says let us confess with confidence. 288s

Or let us let us then with confidence drawn near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. 292s

So remember we are promised peace. 302s

We're promised peace that will guard our hearts and guard our minds. 305s

So what do we receive when we approach this throne of grace? 309s

Mercy. 314s

We receive mercy from Jesus. 315s

And through mercy of Jesus we have that peace that is promised to us. 318s

When is that peace promised to us in our time of need? 325s

In our time of need we draw near to the Lord, making our requests known to Him. 331s

And in Philippians verse 6 that second half, it says in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. 339s

Our requests to the Lord are made known through prayer, through supplication. 351s

We know what prayer is. 358s

Prayer is simply talking to God, right? 359s

It's just conversation. 363s

And sometimes we try to tell ourselves, just not holy enough. 365s

I'm not good enough to talk to God. 370s

I can't tell you how many people have come to me since I've started seminary. 372s

I'm done. 377s

I'm done with seminary. 377s

But since I started seminary, people have come to me and say, can you put in a good word for me? 379s

Can you pray for me? 384s

Can you talk to Jesus for me? 385s

I want to be with you when you go to heaven so you can put in a good word for me. 388s

And I try to explain to them over and over and over again, I have no greater access than you do. 393s

You have the same access that I do through Jesus Christ. 400s

I am not any holier than one of you. 406s

You are not any holier than one another or the me. 410s

We are all accessible or we got as accessible to us all through the blood of Christ. 415s

So we don't have to be holy. 424s

We don't have to be holy. 426s

We don't have to be good in order to pray because our prayers are not dependent upon us being good. 427s

Our ability to pray to the Father is dependent on God's goodness and His grace and His mercy. 436s

And we have access to God through Christ Jesus. 444s

In Ephesians, remember it says, we have access. 448s

We have access in boldness and confidence through faith in Jesus. 451s

And we're commanded to pray. 457s

We're commanded to talk with God our Father in the Gospels. 460s

Jesus says, ask. 465s

Ask. 469s

And it will be given you. 470s

The second commandment, you shall not take the Lord's name in vain. 472s

Or you shouldn't misuse God's name. 476s

So how are we to use it? 479s

Luther's explanation is that we use the very name in every time of need to call on it, to pray to, prays and give thanks to God. 481s

We have a command in how to use the name of the Lord, but something we can't dismiss is that it's presumed we will use His name. 492s

In the commandments, God doesn't say, if you're going to use my name or when you're going to use my name, he's saying, you're going to use my name. 503s

And this is how you use it. 512s

You talk with me. 514s

You praise me. 515s

You give thanks to me. 517s

And just as it's presumed, we're used His name. 521s

It's presumed that we're going to pray, that we're going to talk to him in our Gospel that we read today. 523s

Jesus does not say, if you pray, pray like this, he says, when you pray, when you pray, pray like this. 529s

And Jesus says to call on the name of the Lord in this way, and every need will be heard. 543s

And it's in our need that we make the distinction between prayer and supplication. 550s

Prayer is talking to God. 556s

Splication is begging. 561s

It's pleading with God. 564s

Sometimes our prayers are just that. 566s

Just a plea, a plea for help, a plea for forgiveness, a plea for safety. 571s

We beg because we don't know where else to turn. 579s

We don't know what else to say. 584s

I know that I am not the only one here who's experienced a time where I have no prayer other than help me, Lord. 588s

Help me, Lord. 599s

And I'm weak in that prayer. 603s

And I'm begging in that prayer. 606s

And I'm pleading in that prayer. 608s

And when we're weak, when we're in need, we are given assurance that we are heard. 613s

Even when we have no other words, one of my favorite pieces of scripture to go to is Romans 8. 620s

Romans 826 says the Spirit helps us in our weakness. 628s

And it's in our weakness that we lay it all on the table. 635s

Right? 639s

It's when we are weak that we pour it all out. 639s

We lay ourselves bare in supplication and we hold absolutely nothing back. 643s

But we're not supposed to hold anything back. 651s

Remember, no secrets are hidden from God. 654s

He knows ourselves better than we know ourselves. 658s

He knows our prayers before we even have a glimmer of uttering them. 661s

In our desperation, we lay it all out. 667s

And Jesus teaches us to pray. 670s

He teaches his disciples to pray. 673s

And he covers it all. 676s

In everything by prayer and supplication, let your requests be made known to God. 678s

Jesus teaches us how to make known the very requests we have. 685s

When we make our requests known to God, Jesus tells us to ask for these things. 690s

These are in the Lord's prayer. 695s

He says may we help God's name? 697s

May God's kingdom come to us. 700s

May God's will happen here on earth as it does in heaven. 702s

Lord give us our daily bread. 707s

Care for all our temporal needs. 709s

Forgive our sins. 711s

Help us to forgive those who have sinned against us. 713s

Let us not fall into temptation and deliver us from evil. 717s

That's everything. 725s

That's all of life encompassed in those seven pleas. 727s

Those seven requests. 733s

And Jesus knows it before we utter it. 736s

And He tells us the words to speak that will be our plea and our prayer to our father. 739s

In our Philippians text, and in Jesus' teaching of the prayer, there's no detail or a special specific circumstance that's given for these requests. 746s

It says, in everything, in everything, let your requests be made known to God. 758s

Everything is all of our lives. 764s

It is our physical needs. 767s

Our emotional needs, our spiritual needs. 769s

And our prayers don't need to be elaborate. 771s

I know we've all heard some good prayers. 777s

I know a woman, I loved her, pray. 779s

I could just sit and listen to her pray for hours. 783s

So eloquent, so beautiful. 787s

And I get to pray next to her after her. 789s

And I kind of clunk along. 793s

And it's not elaborate, and it's not beautiful, and it's not necessarily profound. 795s

But that's okay. 800s

Because I'm speaking to the Lord. 802s

I'm speaking to the Lord. 805s

We're called to talk to the Lord. 806s

And Jesus actually warns us against getting really flowery with our prayers. 808s

In case we get showy with our prayers, and we show off, and we want to pray for other people to hear us. 814s

And we want to sound fancy, so we can get that nice pad on the back for how beautifully we pray. 822s

But in that, our prayer is lost because we're speaking to ourselves. 827s

We're speaking for show, and we have our reward when we speak for show here. 834s

But when we pray, we pray to the Father. 841s

We pray to the Father. 844s

We're invited to pray simply. 846s

We're invited to pray clearly. 849s

One of my favorite prayers in all a scripture is when Peter utters 852s

Lord saved me. 857s

Three words. 859s

Three words. 860s

So simple. 861s

Very direct. 862s

Very clear. 863s

His request is being made known. 864s

Lord saved me. 866s

He's about to drown when he's walked out on the water to Jesus. 867s

Peter was praying in a moment of desperation. 873s

In our desperation, our Lord hears us. 878s

He hears us, and it doesn't need to be fancy. 882s

Lord saved me. 885s

And we're heard going back to that Romans text. 889s

The Spirit helps us in our weakness. 893s

For we do not know how to pray as we ought. 895s

But that very spirit intercedes with size too deep for words. 898s

And God who searches the heart knows what is the mind of the Spirit. 906s

Because the Spirit intercedes for the saints, you and I, according to the will of God. 910s

God in his amazing and incredible mercy has put the prayers into our mouths. 918s

The words into our mouths. 924s

And sometimes that prayer is Lord saved me. 926s

And there's a lot of comfort knowing that even when we don't know exactly what our requests are. 929s

Even when we don't know exactly how to formulate those words. 935s

And we don't know how to put it into words. 941s

The Holy Spirit does. 946s

He does, and He steps in to pray for us and with us. 949s

And knowing this, knowing this truth, it makes a lot of sense to add that caveat that Paul does. 954s

In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. 960s

Let your requests be made known to God with thanksgiving in every prayer we are to be thankful. 966s

And we can be thankful in the very fact that we are invited to pray that we are invited to approach the throne, approach our Lord and speak with him. 972s

And it's not so difficult to approach our Lord when we know that He's listening to us. 984s

When He has told us that He is listening to us and this leads us to the next verse in our reading, the beginning of verse six, 990s

do not be anxious in anything. The Lord is at hand. 997s

Don't be anxious about anything. 1003s

If we have a father who is promised to listen to us, why? Why would we be anxious or worry? 1005s

We spend so much time in our lives, making idols of our fear. 1012s

We're shipping and bowing down to our anxieties. I actually have a friend. 1019s

And I laugh about this because she's half kidding. 1025s

And half not, she says her spiritual fear or her spiritual gift, one of her spiritual gifts is the gift of fear. 1029s

And she sits with that and kind of clings to it. 1034s

And we talk through it. And she knows she's half kidding, but she's half serious. 1037s

But there's no need for that spiritual gift of fear. 1044s

There's no need of anxiety. 1048s

The struggle of life is very, very real. 1053s

And the Lord knows that we have difficulties. 1058s

And quite honestly, God has never, ever, sugar-coded what we will experience in this life. 1063s

He's never sugar-coded the reality of our lives, the reality of our fears. 1069s

And Jesus also experienced fear. 1076s

Think about the night that He was handed over. 1080s

The night that He was handed over, He was praying to the Father. 1084s

He was praying through the anxiety of what He was about to go through. 1088s

He prayed so hard that He swept blood. 1091s

And the amazing thing with our fear is that the devil uses that to paralyze us, 1097s

to make us stop, dead in our tracks, and sit, and stew over our anxiety. 1106s

Can you imagine if Jesus had been paralyzed in his fear? 1114s

If He had stopped, dead in his tracks, and didn't go on? 1119s

You'd be in a lot of trouble. 1124s

We would have no hope at all. 1127s

Jesus knew He was about to face the wrath of God. 1131s

He absolutely could have been paralyzed in his fear, but He wasn't. 1135s

Because He knew He would overcome the punishment of God's wrath in order to serve as the only perfect sacrifice to sin. 1139s

God knows our fears, and God knows that our fears are not too great for Him. 1149s

So we cast our anxieties on Him. 1155s

He invites us, He commands us, to cast our anxieties on Him, 1158s

making our requests known to Him in prayer and in supplication, 1165s

and the Lord is with us. 1169s

When we pray, God is not far off. 1172s

Sometimes we think He's distant, kind of amused with our little words that we're speaking. 1175s

But He's not. 1182s

We're promised that He's right here. 1183s

It is written. 1184s

The Lord is at hand. 1185s

The Lord is right here. 1187s

When we pray, we are in the presence of the Lord. 1190s

The Lord is near to give us patience to give us wisdom, to give us help. 1194s

Have you ever prayed? 1199s

You've just been washed over with the presence of the Lord. 1200s

If the Lord is with us, as He is promising to be what is there to fear? 1206s

Nothing. 1215s

Absolutely nothing. 1217s

And when there's nothing to fear, we come to that next verse, verse 5, 1218s

let your gentleness be known to everyone. 1222s

Gentleness that brings up an idea of mildness. 1225s

It's easy. 1230s

It's reasonable. 1231s

When we're not fretting, when we're not stewing over what's going on in our lives, 1233s

we're gentle. 1239s

We're reasonable. 1240s

When we're not worked into that frenzy, we have a clarity of mind, 1241s

and we can work through whatever we face without panic. 1245s

When we have no need to fear, when the Lord is at hand, 1250s

when we have clarity of mind, what is left, but to rejoice, verse 4. 1254s

Rejoice in the Lord always. 1261s

Again, I will say, rejoice. 1263s

So what is the point in praying? 1267s

We're going to think over this text one more time. 1270s

We speak with the Father. 1272s

We're assured of the forgiveness of sin. 1274s

We receive His promised peace. 1276s

We're in the presence of the Lord. 1280s

We're relieved of our anxieties and our fear. 1283s

So the point in praying is that the Lord hears us. 1288s

The Lord promises to hear us. 1292s

The point in praying is that the Holy Spirit prays with us, 1295s

regardless of what we're going through. 1300s

God is with us. 1303s

The point in praying is that we are made aware of His presence, 1306s

and we are given peace, 1310s

shalom, that we can only receive from Him. 1313s

Working through the text backwards gives us new perspective. 1318s

Beginning with the end, what is our path? 1323s

We begin with the peace of God that will guard our hearts and our minds and Christ Jesus. 1327s

And if we're guarded in Christ, we can go to the Lord and prayer confidently, 1332s

and with thanks. 1336s

And if we are making our requests known to the Lord, 1338s

we have nothing to fear. 1341s

And if we have no worries, if we know that the Lord is to be near, 1342s

then we are of sound mine. 1348s

And when we're in our right minds, 1349s

there is joy in the Lord. 1351s

So when we started our end point, 1355s

we realized that truly our end is the same as our beginning. 1358s

We are in the Lord Christ Jesus. 1362s

And since I've gone through the text backwards, 1369s

normally we begin sermons with an illustration, 1373s

but I'm going to end with one, 1375s

just to keep with the theme of being backwards. 1377s

There's a little boy. 1380s

One of my nephews best friends, his name is Landon. 1382s

And he was born, his birth mother had abused drugs 1385s

and alcohol and he was born with major birth defects in his heart. 1391s

And the muscle was fine. 1397s

The muscle of his heart has always been fine. 1398s

It's the electrical system that tells his heart 1401s

when to pump, how to pump. 1404s

That's been affected. 1406s

And ever since he was an infant, 1409s

he has had open heart surgeries several times. 1411s

He's had several pacemakers. 1414s

He's been shocked. 1417s

He's been in the ambulance coding several times. 1418s

And always, he's lifted up in prayer by his family, 1423s

by his friends, by his friends, friends. 1427s

And he's always pulled through. 1430s

And last fall, he got an infection in his chest. 1432s

And they tried to get it with antibiotics. 1437s

They tried to conquer it through non-invasive means. 1440s

But by the time the spring hit, they said we really need to open up his chest again. 1445s

And so they did another open heart surgery. 1450s

And they had to leave him open for about a week to make sure that it all cleared up. 1454s

And it was clearing up. 1459s

They were able to close him up. 1461s

But he was still in the hospital. 1462s

And he had a lot of anxiety. 1464s

And part of that was due to the medications that they were giving him. 1465s

He had a lot of anxiety. 1468s

And his family is a faith-filled family. 1472s

And his friends pray with him and for him. 1475s

And he knows that he has extended brothers and sisters in Christ that have been praying for him. 1478s

And he was allowed to go home. 1486s

He still had his IV. 1488s

And he had a home health care nurse that would come every couple of days to flesh it out and make sure everything is going well. 1490s

And a few weeks ago he died. 1499s

But my little sister said that a week before he died, she was with him. 1506s

And her kids were playing with him. 1511s

And she said all of a sudden she was washed over with a sense of peace. 1513s

And she didn't know why. 1518s

I didn't know why she said I just knew he was going to be okay. 1520s

And his mom shared a story with my little sister and at his funeral that a few days before he died. 1528s

She overheard him crying. 1536s

And she heard him saying, Lord, I thank you for my pain. 1539s

I thank you for my family that loves me. 1545s

I thank you that you have taken care of me. 1549s

He had prayer in thanks. 1553s

And he had peace in that prayer and his family had peace in that prayer. 1558s

How do you have peace when your child died? 1564s

Only through God. 1569s

Only in a way that surpasses any understanding that you or I could ever have. 1572s

And his family had his funeral and they rejoiced not in his death. 1581s

They rejoiced in his eternal life. 1588s

And they rejoiced in the life that he lived here because it was a good life. 1591s

He was a good son. He had a good family. 1597s

And he knew Jesus. 1601s

And they could rejoice in the Lord because they knew they would be with him again. 1604s

So we can cast all of our anxieties. 1614s

All of our fears upon the Lord because we are promised no matter what the situation is. 1617s

No matter how dire it seems. 1624s

We can give thanks because we have a God who has heard us and who has already saved us. 1628s

And that is always, always good news. 1638s

Thank you. 1660s