A sermon from Brent Kercheville.
Three Challenging Commands (Philippians 4:4-6)
There are places in the scriptures where God gives us commands that we can read quickly past and miss their importance and their difficulty in following. I would like for you to open your copies of God’s word to Philippians 4:4-6 and we are going to read three commands that Paul strings together for these Christians. First, in Philippians 4:4 we read, “Rejoice in the Lord always!” Second, in Philippians 4:5 we read that our gentleness and reasonableness is to be known to all people. Third, in Philippians 4:6 we read, “Do not be anxious about anything.” Now it is easy to read these commands quickly but I want us to think about how challenging these commands are. Rejoice in the Lord always. Everyone should see and know your gentle, gracious, and reasonable spirit. Do not worry about anything.
As you read these commands, I think every Christian would agree that they want to do these things. We want to have these qualities in us. We want to rejoice in the Lord always. But I don’t know how to get there. I don’t know how I can be rejoicing in the Lord in every situation. We want to be gentle and reasonable. We want people to see us about being gracious, reasonable, and considerate. But I don’t know how to be gracious, gentle, and reasonable. I am trying but I am don’t seem to be getting there. We want to stop worrying. We do not want to be anxious about anything. But I don’t know how to get there. I know I should not worry but I fall back into it. As we begin what I am wanting us to see is that I think we want these characteristics and we know we are commanded to do these things, but we also can admit the difficulty of becoming joyful, gracious, anxiety-free people. So how can we get there? What is the path of transformation that God is working in us so that we can fulfill these scriptures?
The Solution (Philippians 4:6)
Please carefully look at the instruction given to us in Philippians 4:6. “But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” What I am wanting us to see is that the path to this transformation is prayer with thanksgiving. But I want us to consider something important that Paul says. Paul does not say that the path to rejoicing in the Lord always, be gentle people that all can see, and living an anxious-free life is prayer alone. Paul does not simply say to just pray. Please notice that there is a posture and a mentality that Paul needs us to have for our prayers. Our prayers and requests are to be saturated with thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is often the missing ingredient in prayer. Why is it critical for our prayers to be prayed from a spirit of appreciation? Why is Paul constantly talking about how he is always giving thanks to the Father (cf. Romans 1:8; 1 Corinthians 1:4; Ephesians 1:16; Philippians 1:3; Colossians 1:3; 1 Thessalonians 1:2; 2:13; 2 Thessalonians 1:3; Philemon 4)? Why is Paul always telling Christians to give thanks always and for everything to God (cf. Ephesians 5:20; Colossians 3:17; 1 Thessalonians 5:18)?
Thanksgiving transforms the way we pray. Appreciation changes everything about how we will talk to God. If we desire to pray properly to the Father, not selfishly or wrongly as James 4:3 warns us, then our prayers must be saturated with thanksgiving. Please think about all the things that pray with thanksgiving does for us so that we are approaching our Father in the right way.
First, prayer with thanksgiving requires me to recall what God has done for me in the past and how God has blessed me in the past. When I am entering prayer with thanksgiving, then I am not allowed to forget all that God has done for me before. Thanksgiving is drawing back into my mind how God has been there for me in the past and has helped me in the past.
Second, prayer with thanksgiving changes my focus from what could go wrong to what has gone right. We lose our gentleness, lose our joy, and become anxious when we are thinking about everything that is wrong and or everything that could go wrong. But prayer with thanksgiving changes our thinking to what God has done right. Look at all the things that have gone right. Look at how God has brought us through questionable and difficult times. When our prayers are filled with appreciation is when we are able to defeat worry and seek the Lord to help us like he has helped us before.
Third, prayer with thanksgiving changes my perspective to see what I have, not what I don’t have. Worry rises and joy is stolen from our hearts when we look at what we do not have. When we look at what is missing or what we want things to be, then we lose our joy, lose our gentleness, and become consumed with anxiety. But prayer with thanksgiving moves me to see what I have. I am about to make my request to the Lord, as he told me to, while I am thinking about all that I have right now. So we are giving our concerns to God. We are casting our anxieties on him (cf. 1 Peter 5:7). But when we do this with thanksgiving, we are able to see what we have right now rather than just focusing on what we do not have or what we are afraid we are losing.
Finally, prayer with thanksgiving prepares us for what is coming. We are preparing our hearts to receive whatever God gives us and whatever way God chooses to answer our prayers and petitions. When we offer prayers with appreciation, then we are ready to appreciate any answer that God is going to give. If God says yes, then blessed be the name of the Lord. If God says no, then blessed be the name of the Lord. If the Lord gives or the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord. I am in the position to receive whatever God has in store for me when I am approaching him with my earnest plea saturated with thanksgiving.
Three Questions
So I want to challenge us with three questions this week in which our country stops for a time of thanksgiving. First, what do you have to be thankful for? If we cannot quickly answer this question, then it reveals that we have our mind in the wrong position before the Lord. We can be thankful that we are alive right now. We can be thankful that we can worship God right now. We can be thankful for our salvation. We can be thankful for the people in this room who care for you, love you, and will walk faithfully with you. We can be thankful for the people sitting close to us. We can be thankful for the relationships with that we have. We can be thankful that God has provided for us to bring us to a week like this in which we have a place to live, food to eat, and clothes to wear. What do you have to be thankful for?
Second, are we only telling God what is wrong and not thanking him for what is right? There really is so much that is right in our lives. Yes, there no doubt that we can all point to things in our lives that are not going right. We can point to things in our lives that are painful. We can point to the hurt. We can point to our difficulties. We can point to some serious issues that we are trying to navigate. But even with all our troubles and problems, there is so much that God has done that is right in our lives. We must remember what Job understood during his suffering. We start with nothing and we end with nothing (cf. Job 1:21). Therefore, everything in our lives is simply God’s blessing to us.
Third, what are we carrying that we are not giving to the Lord? Our inability to be free from anxiety is because we are carrying our worries rather than giving our worries to the Lord. Peter says to cast those anxieties on him because he cares for you (cf. 1 Peter 5:7). Give those concerns to him. We see Jesus do this. In Matthew 26:38 we read that Jesus tells his disciples that his soul was overwhelmed with sorrow. In Luke 22:44 we are told that Jesus was in agony before his betrayal and arrest. The intensity of his anguish was so great that Luke describes his sweat being so heavy that it was like drops of blood falling from his head. So what did Jesus do? Did Jesus just suck it up or grin and bear it? Did he just keep calm and carry on? No, we are told that he prayed to the Father three times. The solution is to take it to the Lord in prayer, wrapped with thanksgiving to our Father.
Friends, thanksgiving does not change our circumstances. Thanksgiving changes how we live in every circumstance. Go back to Philippians 4:4. How are we going to rejoice in the Lord always? By filling our prayers and requests with thanksgiving. How will our reasonableness, gentleness, and graciousness be known to all? By filling our prayers and requests with thanksgiving so that will be filled with gentleness and reasonableness. How can be not be anxious? By filling our prayers and requests with thanksgiving. Please notice that is the conclusion the apostle Paul draws in verse 7. “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Prayer with thanksgiving is the path to the peace of God that we all desire. So when you pray, saturate your prayers with appreciation and thanks.