Rejoice in the Lord and the Peace of God #2

Okay. Part 2 of Philippians chapter 4. I had Philippians 3 referenced in all my slides last night. Okay. And you know how that happened. Yeah. Here we are. So we're going to really concentrate on 6 and 7 this morning. Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving. Let your requests be known to God. And in verse 7, and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding or comprehension will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

And Bob, left side Bob, give me an email. Left side. Left side. Bob W. Yeah, right. that he likes putting, because scripture has no verse divisions, and it's a really good thing if you read it from 5, let your gentle spirit be known to all men, which we covered last week, and bringing in the Lord is near, the Lord is near, in context is very nice. And I could even, if you put it in blue before that, it makes it even clearer. It's very comforting when you think of that. And we'll look at that the Lord is near a little more today. And we really tackled that well last week, I thought.

Okay, so being anxious is an imperative command. We did first imperative was rejoice in the Lord from last week and then let your gentle spirit be known to all men. That's a passive, that's the Holy Spirit kind of bringing out that gentle spirit within us.

And then today we're on being anxious for nothing and that's a present text. as the command. And the present tense has a continuous action quality to it. And we'll cover also, let your request be known to God. So pray, that's prayer, and that's in the present tense as well. And that's the passive voice. function within your brains. So present tense tells us not to be constantly in the moment anxious, or worried, or concerned, or fretting.

Weist would have, what would he have? He would have... He has a strong, real strong beginning. Yeah, he has a real strong... Stop. Stop. Stop. And how else does he phrase it? Yeah, stop being anxious. Continually, but... I'll go ahead. If anyone has at least that word... I got it. Yeah, what is that? It's a stop worrying about even one thing. I know, I love that. Yeah, and usually he has perpetually or he throws in words like that. No, it's just a... he says stop worrying about even one thing but in everything by prayer whose essence is that of worship and devotion and by supplication Well, he's got a whole long version.

Yeah, I know. Maybe it's in the other of his word studies. Yeah, sometimes he'll let, you know, let me read that. Okay, so other synonyms for anxiousness. Being full of care. Sometimes you'll read it being, be careful for nothing, and that doesn't make sense. Because careful for us means being careful. But back in that day, it mean full of care. Exercising caution. Oh, here it is. I was smart. He's not perpetually worrying about even one thing. He uses that word perpetually. So that's the present tense coming through. And that's really the issue, right? Yeah, it is.

And Paul's mind is the same as Christ's mind. And I call this a proof text from Matthew 6, where Christ himself says, for this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life. That is the same in a word as what you will eat or drink, nor for your body, as to what you'll put on. For life is not life more than food and the body more than clothing.

Look at the birds of the air. This is a beautiful passage, by the way. That they do not sow or reap or gather into farms, and yet our Heavenly Father feeds those birds. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you, by being worried, can add one single hour to his life? And why are you worried about clothing? Observe. This is beautiful, too. And this is the main part that everyone knows. Observe how the lilies of the field grow.

They do day and thrown into the furnace, will he not much more clothe you, you of little faith? Do not worry then, say in command, say, what will we eat, or what will we drink, or what will we wear for clothing? For the Gentiles eagerly seek these things, for your Heavenly Father knows that you need all these things, but seek ye first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things. So do not worry about tomorrow. There he says it again. Do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will take care of itself. Each day has enough trouble.

Amen. So there is that I call the proof text because this is very woven into Christ's words here. And I was thinking about this eating and drinking and clothing. That's an easy thing. Who worries about that? You know, you can go to Costco, go to T.J. Maxx and get clothes. But back then, right, it was a huge... That's what they spent all their day doing, making sure they were fed and clothed. That was the world back then. Not so much more now, but we have other problems, don't we, in this day and age.

So the word for anxious is Marimna, and it's from a Greek word Maritsa. And I never knew this, but to be divided or separated into factions is to be worried or anxious. So anyone want to tackle how being worried is being split into divisions or factions? It doesn't quite match up, right, you think? Well, one of the things is we've got two natures, right? Yeah, two creatures warring each other, fighting against the Holy Spirit, aren't we?

Yeah, but I think I was thinking about this and what about inside of you, you have your present self, I'm here today, but if my mind is on tomorrow, worried about tomorrow, that's another faction, that's a division. So inside myself, in my mind and my heart, I'm living in two different worlds. The present and then the future, which I'm trying to... I'm living in the future right now. mapping it out and being worried about it.

Does that make sense? How's that? Well, we're just thinking about how many times, like with children, you say, you want them to pay attention, this fool, get your mind on it, and their mind's going some place else, to some other thing. They're divided, they're... Factionalized, or separated, and warring within themselves. When you, using that definition, separated into factions, when you have a problem in your life, There are several options. You just can't say, if this is a problem, this is a solution.

Yeah. You have to think, OK, what am I going to do? Am I going to do this, this, this, this? Just take it to the Lord. You have a whole menu of options and then you think of the outcomes of those options. You worry about that and anxiety. And what happens is people are constantly in this on this treadmill, like a rat. So you go see your psychiatrist.

This is a life, isn't it? Yeah. It's not a choice. It's a life. And, you know, let's take it to the Lord. I mean, that's what we're about day in and day out about every issue that comes up. But I mean, it's a life that's lived out in the new creations of your Christ. Yeah. And that's founded on on position, our position on earth. I mean, I think that it's got to be a constant reminder. These earthly choices relate to consequences. I really think it's a spirit led life. And I think it also goes back to that phrase, the Lord is near.

He's right there with us. We don't have to go looking for him. And he's not too busy to deal with us. He's right there with us. Well, think about the Lord Jesus Christ in terms of the only anxiety we really see is in the garden before he's going to the cross, because he's knowing, he knows he's going to be separated from the Lord Almighty.

But that was, in terms of his walk, there was no curiosity about what was going to happen. Where is he going to lay his head at night, right? weren't concerned about that. He obviously got sleep. But in the garden, he was anxious. He knew what was coming and he was, well, wasn't he perspiring blood? Yeah. I mean, which, but the day before, he was anxious at that moment of time.

And I found that Christ Like his parable about the sower in the fields, and he says some of the seeds will go, but it will choke out because the concerns of the day. You can have worries and anxiety, and he gives you that grace because he doesn't say that's a sin, but this this constant perpetual thing, where you're not in the new man, like Bob says. But this lesson is for me, not for you guys. I did the most of this lesson, so I'm on this trail. Before I studied this, I wasn't really taking advantage of this whole... I was So, I can't report to you next week, but I should be better. What about 1 Peter 5, 7?

Cast your cares on him because he cares for you. And the ordinary meaning for that word cast is to throw. But this Weiss says that this signifies a definite act of the will in committing to him our worries and giving them up to him. That means you're through worrying about the matter. And we will let God assume the responsibility for our welfare in the premises. And that is what he desires us to do, give it over to him. It is his care. It is a care for him concerning you. So it's his job, is what that's saying. Or familiarly stated, your welfare is his concern. So it's his job to take these things on from you.

Good Holly song, by the way, right? He ain't heavy, he's my brother. He has that line in there, his welfare is not much. Very good. That's what I thought about. So we being saved are now part of his family and he has undertaken the responsibility for our welfare. So when you think about it, it doesn't make logical sense. Here's something that's helped me sometimes.

I said, is God worrying about my situation? Is God of the universe worrying about in the sense that I'm worried? He's not. So why am I worried? I mean, I don't always follow that, but that logic helped me. Is God wringing his hands about my situation? No, he's not. But I am. Well, then I want to think like God thinks. You're back to who we are and what we're... I want to be... My mind needs to be... on you, and you're not worried, so why am I worried?

That's easy to say, harder to execute. You know, like Bob has reminded you that God is at hand or near. I mean, the condition of being anxious for nothing is the peace of God, and the qualifications for that are what's the next part of this verse, right? I mean, the answer is nothing but the peace of God. The issues are the things that occur in between. That's the outcome. Yeah, yeah.

So, Weist says in this Golden Nuggets book, there's a man back, probably before Christ, well no, not before Christ, because he was a heathen, a pagan, and he became saved. And this man would worry constantly. He was a worry, but he was a pagan. So after he became sad, they changed their names to something more, to more Christian, you could say. So his name was Tedidius, and then he was renamed Amaraminas. So you see that word Amaraminas? Look up to the word for anxious up at the top. Marimba. So you negate it. Negate it.

So he was known as the Dios, the man who never worried after he became saved. So that's kind of a golden nugget. That's good. And this is what I've had with the for nothing. I always say, well, if it's a yellow zone, if it's a DEF CON, then yellow. I can handle that. Green. These things... Do you handle green? The lower it doesn't need to be. I can, you know, it has it logically. But then when it gets to DEF CON, red. You want to explain DEF CON? Yeah. To tell you the truth, I just figured this out.

In my life, if you go back 20 years, I didn't have the for nothing, and I didn't have but in everything. And so that was, you know, it's my problem. But hopefully maybe some others have that problem too, and they'll learn something by this. And here we have being anxious for nothing, but it a lot. Nay, rather than everything, by prayer and supplication, we give thanks. So anxiety for nothing, but prayer for everything. And there's the contrast. Well, there's a saying that kind of goes from this verse, you know, pray about everything, worry about nothing.

It's kind of early on this verse. Oh yeah, that's good. And I've heard that before. Here's the iron side. The Spirit of God points the way out. He wants me to bring everything, the great things, and this is for me, and the little things, the perplexing conditions and the trying circumstances into the presence So that nicely ties that up, that thought with a bow. So by prayer and supplication, I just, I'm bringing up some points here is what is prayer? It's asking God, asking God for specific things with humility and dependence. The humility is important if you go back to that first Peter, what is that first Peter? It has humility.

If you look it up. Yeah. Great. It's in the spirit. That's an aspect of prayer. Asking with regularity in the name of the Lord Jesus. So perseverance in prayer is important. So I'm two for three there. Perseverance is a problem, has been a problem with me. Do you have that yet? Yes, I do.

It says, therefore humble yourselves unto the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you. Yes, our humility. Confess of sins. Oh, and that's, I didn't do that before we, in the prayer, because we were trying to get in that habit better now. Confessing sins.

So conditionally sanctified, important prayer, with an attitude of thanksgiving. And that's very important in the good things and the bad things. And prayer is correspondence with God. It's intercourse with God. So two way. Someone said that praying is you to him. The word of God is his message to you. In the will of God. that He and the Son be glorified through the petition, through that thing you're asking. Any other thoughts on prayer, or did I leave anything out, kind of the characteristics of prayer?

Well, how many of us really, you know, we throw all our care on God, we cast all our care on God. But how many of us really leave it there? It's so easy to take it back and worry. I'm guilty of that. We'll get to this too. The problem is still there. It hasn't changed.

So McIntosh says, prayer is the earnest breathing of the new man, drawn forth by the operation of the Holy Ghost. the Spirit, who dwells in all true believers. Hence, to find anyone praying is to find him manifesting the divine life, one of its most touching and beauteous characteristics, namely dependence. And there's dependence. There's living the life of, as Bob always points out, there may be a vast amount of ignorance displayed in the prayer. both in its character and object. But the spirit of prayer is unquestionably divine. And if I put in Romans 8 26, you know, sometimes we don't know how to pray, but the spirit helps our weakness. So that's referencing that there.

So what if God keeps the thing producing worry and anxiousness in place standing? which he usually will. That's kind of a fancy way of saying he doesn't fix our problems. He doesn't fix our problems. According to our view, what we want him to do. And Paul had that problem.

He asked three times to remove this thorn in his flesh. He was persistent about it. He just did it three times, and then if he didn't get the answer, he was done. Because I think he was settled that if it's three times, the Lord will have an answer for me.

So he says, Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weakness, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. So that was the outcome in 2 Corinthians 12, 9, that he came to. What Stoney says that through that, Paul was being transformed into moral correspondence with God's mind. If God doesn't change the circumstance, he will change you to transform you into that circumstance.

But yet he delights in us asking about these things. There's one story about George Mueller who opened these orphanages. Yeah, so he had 300 orphans in this one place and he wanted to get to a thousand, but he didn't want to just do it. He could do it, but he prayed about it for maybe two months, two and a half months. And he didn't tell his wife about this, too, but he was thinking, and he prayed, and he wasn't getting an answer, and he just kept at it, praying, praying. He didn't want to bring his wife into it, because his wife would have given him some outside influence, right? He just wanted to, so he never told her. And then, I think at the end, he did, or opened these additional orphanages, but he did it so carefully by being persistent about his prayer. He's also the one, I believe, that didn't have food one day and, you know, so he gave thanks with no food. And then the food shows up at the door. One of those incredible stories.

Maybe we're telling our wives too much. I'm going to remember that story. Yeah, and if you think about it, well, not to say that wives will have this, but they'll have... there's self-concern too, so that selfish motive perhaps that will come into your...

I think that probably works both ways. It does, it does. I mean, I wouldn't know. Well, it's usually the men who try and fix things. Yeah, yeah, we tried. So, not just the men, women have the same problem. It's a punch list for us, right? It's tough to say, because it does say that husbands, you're supposed to...

But sometimes it's, you know, those kind of things, you know, always fixing something, and then why don't you just stop and, you know, just stop fixing things and... and talk to the Lord about it. You know, just be busy fixing things, fixing things. I have to fix something. Do things God's way instead of our way. Right. That's hard. I think that's a good one. Busy. Busy, yeah. I'm busy. I'm fixing things. Are you fixing the right things? That's the question.

So Stoney says that this let your request be made known. it, putting meat on the bones of these things and really describing them well. But he says, bringing everything to God, he knows it, and it's not for his benefit, but know it's for your benefit. Know that you know that you told him about these things. So make sure, and again, I'm guilty. I don't quite know. I never really did that discipline of knowing that I've been to the Lord about a thing. So that you can say, I've been to the Lord about it.

And he says, pray studiously and pertinaciously until you know that you told him. And what does pertinaciously mean? tenacious. And Stoney's a gentle guy, but he has a tenacity. And prayer is asking, pleading, begging. Those are things that are worthy in prayer. Take this example in Luke 7, where Christ again hears another prayer example. And I won't read the whole thing, but suppose one of you has a friend. At midnight, he comes to you and wants you to loan him bread. And you don't want to get up and loan him bread. Your children are in bed.

This is from Luke 11, 5 through 13. But he persists. And out of that persistence, you will get up and give him as much as he needs. kind of, from our standpoint, just to get rid of the guy, right? And that could be the point the Lord is making, too. So in verse 9, he says, ask and you shall receive. Knock and the door will be open for you. So it's this discourse that he's giving.

Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish. He will not give him a snake instead of fish, will he? Or he asks for an egg. He will not give him a scorpion, will he? So we being weak and evil, as Christ says, give good things to our children. How much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? So there's the case for tenacious about prayer.

Stoney is a very good writer, but he has this which is very simple. I was shocked because it's so simple. So Stoney says, and think of this Luke 11 passage when we read this. One, I have a friend. My friend, he has what I want. I cannot do without it. And this is in a Stoney book, so you'd think it's so basic. Four, I have nowhere else to get it. And that's the quality of prayer that Stoney lays it out here.

He says, you are not really praying if you say, well, if that does not succeed, I have another string in my bow. I'll have another try with someone else. So he says, it's not only to tell him about the great things, but the little things as well. Tell him about everything. I may tell a friend everything, but he gives me no relief. Not so with God.

I can tell Allah out, but no one will relieve me but God alone. So very simply, kind of mapping out this And now we come to the peace of God. What do we get when we pray consistently and cast the anxiety upon God? We get the peace of God, which guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. That's the result.

And note that it's the peace of God Specifically in Romans 5.1, therefore we have justification. That's where the peace comes from. We have the peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. So he settled that well beforehand, that we have peace with God. And now we want peace down from him, or intimate If you've ever experienced this piece, it's a really... and I'm sure many of you have, if not all. And you can't... I can't describe it. You know why I can't describe it? It's indescribable.

So it makes my job easier. But yeah, you know it when you have it, and you know it when you don't have it, right? My peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful." Emphasis, nearness to God. And this is a really cool thing. I was looking that up, nearness, from last week. And the word near is in Goose, but it's based on this other word.

Encalé. So it's derived from encalé. And what encalé means is you find it one time. And it means this part of your arm where this crook is, right? So when you go like this, you're bringing something near to you. So you know where it uses that encalé word, bringing near. is in Luke 2, one time, where Simeon, in the temple, picks up the infant Jesus, and goes like this, brings him near, and says, now I've seen my salvation.

Isn't that cool? So that nearness. So, you think of the arms of God in there, and that enclave word. So that's nearness, but also near, as I was talking to Roy last week. There's that nearness, but there's also the fact that he's near to coming again. So, the rapture, and that's what he tells the Thessalonians to be comforted through that. Yeah. You know, Andrew, I was just thinking about this whole section. You know, I think it's not only the Lord is at hand, but also rejoice always, right? I mean, that's kind of an introduction to what you covered last week. Yeah.

But, you know, you can apply law to this, and that's maybe why the peace of God doesn't follow. And if we'll legally say, gee, I think we're going to just pray about this and thanks, Lord. And, you know, I mean, just kind of casually and in the flesh, there's no peace of God that follows that kind of transaction, right? No. Yeah. You know, not that I'd have any victory over this, but I always seem to be reminded that the Lord sees and He is righteous.

Yeah, and Miles has a good, Sanford had a, I didn't include it, but yeah, you have the peace with God in Romans 5.1. And that's the only way you can get the peace of God.

I should have put that in, but yeah. So it's that in recognizing that fact. And the world doesn't have this, do they? In fact, I was going to put it in a couple slides at the end of this addendum. of how to deal with anxiousness. So you go on the web and AI comes up and it's a pinpoint.

Boy, you got everything. Yoga. Right, all this stuff. Well, all this stuff to do. Yeah, centering. Seven to nine hours of sleep. Yeah, right, sleep, exercise, all that stuff. Yeah, right. Oh, and then I said, oh, anxiety drugs. Think of that. And I looked at it and it was three pages of anxiety. I thought there was maybe three, but it's three pages. And so that's all for the world. Andrew? Chocolate. My favorite verse on peace is Isaiah 26. You will keep him whose mind is dependent on you in perfect peace because he trusts in you. That was back in Isaiah. That was how many years ago? A few years ago.

Who's ever teaching next week has to remember that verse because that's next week's, that's next week's guide. But that Paul will tell us where your mind should be. We looked at this before at Stoney. He will give me his own state on the matter. And who made that point? Someone made that exact point. You did, Roger. He's not worried about it. Why am I? So that's his state. That's his reality. And he'll make that reality in your life.

Galatians 4, 6. Here's the nearness. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts crying, Abba, Father. So what is peace? Really fast. Here it is defined. It's not merely, I like this. uncomplaining acquiescence in the problem. It's divine tranquility in the matter. So you can get peace two ways. Through what we've been studying or Mr. Spock. Divine tranquility in the matter. Or other words for that, harmony or concord. And concord is a nice word because if you have concordance with him and his will on these matters that make you anxious, you're brought into concord or concordance with that. He'll do that. So this is the work of him doing this in your life.

To what extent, and we looked at this briefly before, it surpasses your ability to understand it. Stoney again. I know the trouble, but instead of getting the trouble altered, I get altered myself. To what extent? To an inconceivable extent. It passes all understanding.

What a condition, he says. But it is within the reach of the poorest, most And the newest believer, if they just go to the Lord about it. He says in another part, think of having the peace of God himself. I come back not untroubled, not untroubled, so I still have the trouble, but I'm unruffled, he says. You think, what does that mean? Well, here's how he describes it. difference between a land bird and a water bird. A water bird oils his feathers before he gets in the water. Not a feather is disturbed. I come out unruffled.

I have been with God, and the most marvelous alteration has taken place in me. Not in the circumstance, but in me, thank God. So more on this promise to guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. And what does this word to guard our hearts and minds mean? And Ironside explains it this way. I cannot obtain this peace for myself. I may tell myself over and over not to fret. And look how he describes this, because I've known this. I tell myself over and over not to fret.

But my thoughts, like untamed horses with bits in their teeth, run away with me. Or like an attacking army, and this is how the guarding comes in. Like an attacking army, worries crowd into the citadel of my mind and threaten to overwhelm me. So like a siege, but you have a guard. So isn't that, that describes it very well and I can't I can't do it better, so I put these in.

And he continues, but God, by the Holy Spirit, has promised to garrison my mind, there's a good word for this guard work, garrison my mind, and protect my restless heart, so that my thoughts will neither run away with me, nor overwhelm me. Every thought will be brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. 2 Corinthians 10, 5. Shall keep, your King James versions have the peace of God which surpasses all understanding. Shall keep your hearts and minds, and that's to mount a guard over God's peace like a sentinel patrols the heart, patrols before the heart.

I like that. Tennyson, You'll be encompassed by a faithful guard, a sentinel who moves about from place to place and whispers to the worlds of space in the deep night that all is well. That's a really colorful illustration. Dernal, this is from Bind. He is surrounded with such blessed privileges that he is as safe as one in an impregnable castle. And so that brings up that word guarding, which is, you can't say it better than that. Say Andrew?

Yeah. The peace of God will not always make your problems go away. No. your problems, or what we could call the enemy, will always be at bay by the peace of God. Yeah. And I've experienced that. One time I had these huge problems, but then the next day, everything, nothing was changed except, boy, and you can't describe it. Experiential peace. Yeah. So, Andrew, I hate to keep coming back to this, but I think it's so critically important. Will God keep your hearts and minds in or through Christ Jesus?

This is a life. It's a life that we live. And that has everything to do with this. My old man can go through these legalities of taking everything to the Lord. But my expectations are dampened because it's the source of my prayer and request, right? Yeah. I mean, this is a life that we're living in Christ Jesus, and that's who's going to guard our hearts and minds. It's not we ourselves. Oh, right. Yeah. Yeah. But I mean, I think that's so critical in verse seven. Your hearts and minds through or in Christ Jesus. Yeah. Well, yeah. And that's our positional truth of being in Christ.

That's the That's where it's, so if we live there and say she's not in our condition, but yeah, it is a life here. And that's, and when you, it's the answer to everything, isn't it? And it's his life. And his life isn't unruffled or It kind of reminds us of the Ephesians 6 battleground we're in all the time, right?

Things of the world of Satan and the flesh and the power of the Spirit in our life that, you know, circumvents that here as stated so clearly. Great lesson, though. Thank you. You know, it's just like what Bob just said. It's not our piece. That takes care of this. It's the peace of God. It's God's peace. And you know, the world system will never give you that peace. Satan will never give you that peace. Our flesh will never give us that peace. So again, I'm looking at myself, you know, 2 Corinthians 5, 19, we have yet made, and again, we knew no sin to be made righteousness for people. Right?

Except we begin there. That helps me a little bit along this passage about being anxious for nothing. And I fail it all the time. Let's show of hands who's successful. In 2 Corinthians, his strength is made perfect in our weakness. Oh yeah, there's so much grace in there and there's so much mercy too. Let's close here. We're late, but I think it was a worthy discussion. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for your words. Thank you that you give us this wonderful promise and to the Philippian church and how much it benefits us. May we live Christ's life in us so that we