Philippians 4:4

Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say, rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true... whatever things are praiseworthy, meditate on these things. And the things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do. And the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:4-9)

The world considers happiness an inalienable right—but Scripture gives the prescription the world cannot manufacture.

The World's Pursuit of Happiness

In July of 2011, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution inviting its member nations to research the national happiness of their people, ultimately to help guide public policy. This resulted in the first World Happiness Report in April 2012, a second in April 2013, and a third in May of 2015.

The 2015 report, a 172-page document, begins by saying, "Happiness is increasingly considered to be a proper measure of social progress and a goal for public policy." The 2013 report stated, "Happiness is an aspiration of every human being and can be a measure of social progress. America's founding fathers declared it as an inalienable right to pursue happiness."

That same 2013 report observed, "Mental illness is one of the main causes of unhappiness. And by far the most common form of mental illness is depression and anxiety disorders." It went on, "It is hard, if not impossible, to flourish and to feel fulfilled in life when individuals are beset by health problems such as depression and anxiety." For once, I wholeheartedly agree with the United Nations—something you probably won't hear very often.

We've been talking about happiness in the book of Philippians, the New Testament book of joy, in a series called Happy and You Know It.

What I Am Not Saying

As we approach the topic of anxiety, I want to begin by clarifying what I'm not saying. I am not saying people suffering from depression or anxiety disorders should not seek medical help. I'm not saying medication for such disorders is wrong. And I'm not saying that if you are being treated and seeing a doctor, you should stop.

Many Christians are magnificently helped by science and medical technology in this area, just as in other medical areas like cancer treatment. Sadly, many Christians never receive the care they should because of social stigmas within the church—stigmas that often arise from convictions not firmly based in Scripture, or from bad teaching.

Scripture does speak to this. Proverbs 31:6 says, "Give strong drink to him who is perishing and wine to those who are of a bitter heart." The King James reads, "Wine to those who are of a heavy heart." Three thousand years ago there was a recognition that the medicinal use of certain substances was standard practice—not abnormal, not wrong.

So I'm all for a both-and approach. It's not either-or. If there is help to be found from science and medicine, get it. But if you're a Christian, you also have a responsibility to follow the prescription God gives in the Scriptures. And thankfully, there is one—a method prescribed for dealing with anxiety, found most notably in this passage.

A Look of Incredulity

Over the years I've counseled and prayed with people in the church facing anxiety, depression, and turmoil. When I share Philippians 4:4-9—just six simple verses—I often get a look of incredulity, a look of disbelief. People kind of balk: "Really? That's what you're going to tell me?" Yet 20% of Americans eighteen years or older deal with chronic anxiety or depression, and the Bible has something to say about it.

Rejoice—and Rejoice Again

"Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say, rejoice." This exhortation is so central that Paul has already said it once before, in Philippians 3:1: "Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord." In the ten simple words of 4:4, he begins with rejoice and ends with rejoice.

In the Greek, the word translated rejoice is in the present tense, active voice, and imperative mood. The present tense means you should be doing it right now, in whatever present circumstance you find yourself. The imperative means it's a command—you are commanded to be glad. The active voice means you must actively do it, not just think about it.

In Philippians 3:1, Paul says he writes these exhortations over and over to safeguard their faith. It's like telling a child, "Look both ways when you cross the street," repeated again and again so they don't get hit by a truck. Anyone who's been to London knows the signs painted on the pavement: "Look left." We Americans look the wrong way and get taken out by a double-decker bus. Like a good, loving father, Paul repeats it: rejoice in the Lord always.

A Life Without Anxiety Is Found in the Lord

In both passages the focus and source of this joy is the same: the Lord. Now, not every circumstance in life is joy-producing. Some of you are coming out of a hard week; some of you are heading into a week you're already anxious about. We go through things that are not happy.

There's a group within the big-C church that says Christians don't go through such things—and that if you do, you should never acknowledge it, but always make a "positive confession." So a person diagnosed with cancer says, "I don't have cancer, I don't have cancer," while the doctor says, "No, you have cancer." The world calls that delusion or denial—one of the stages of grief. Christians go through hard things. If anyone says otherwise, just say, "Then Jesus wasn't a Christian"—nor Paul, nor Peter, nor John, all martyred for their faith.

The man who wrote "rejoice" was in prison facing execution. Point one: a life without anxiety is found in the Lord—not a life without anxiety-producing situations, but the possibility of the mitigation of anxiety in Him.

Happy happenings can take pressing issues off your mind temporarily. Mood-enhancing substances can deaden anxious feelings for a time. Even laughter is good medicine; a funny movie or Tim Hawkins can make you laugh until you hurt. But Solomon observed in Proverbs 14:13, "Laughter can conceal a heavy heart, but when laughter ends, grief remains." Those things are temporary. Life without anxiety is found in the Lord.

A Reputation of Steadiness

"Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand." (4:5) That word gentleness is translated differently in nearly every English version—moderation, reasonableness, graciousness, mildness, patience. The translators struggled because there's no direct English cognate. The best way to read it in context is: have a reputation of steadiness.

Paul speaks of rejoicing in verse 4 and anxiety in verse 6, and we find ourselves pulled between the two. As one who has the Spirit of God, let your steadiness be known to all people. One commentator wrote that the word "means that which is fit and suitable for Christians"—those who indulge in no excess, who govern their appetites and restrain their temper, in view of the Lord's coming.

Christians face the same troubling storms as everyone else. We hear "cancer." We hear "there's no job for you." But there should be a difference in how the Christian walks through that storm. Think of a sailboat. Underneath, unseen, is a keel. Without it, the boat capsizes in the wind. With it, the boat rides steady and keeps its course as the wind beats upon it. The Christian is to have a keel—a reputation for steadiness between the anxieties and the joys of life.

What Do We Really Have to Be Anxious About?

"The Lord is at hand" means He is coming again. Every orthodox Christian for 2,000 years has believed this. So if you believe Jesus will return and that this life is not all there is, it's reasonable to ask: what do you really have to be anxious about?

Jesus said in John 14, "Let not your heart be troubled"—that is, anxiety—"You believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions... I go to prepare a place for you... that where I am, there you may be also." He's trying to get us to look in a different direction.

Please don't misunderstand. God knows our frame; He understands we are mere dust. He made us emotional beings, and events come into our lives that stir our emotions. We can't stop those events from happening, and it's almost impossible to stop the emotional response to them. Paul experienced this. Jesus experienced it to the point of sweating great drops of blood—an actual medical condition of severe stress.

These events are called stressors, and they cause stress—even good stressors like a new job, a baby, or a new house. Your body responds the same way whether the cause is good or bad. The question is not whether you'll respond, but how you'll respond to the response.

Trials That Teach Us to Trust

Consider how Paul dealt with it. In 2 Corinthians 1:8 he writes, "We do not want you to be ignorant of the trouble which came to us in Asia—that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life." He prayed the prayer of Elijah: "God, kill me." Those don't sound like the powerful words of faith we expect from Paul, yet that's where he was.

He couldn't stop the circumstance, and he couldn't simply make the emotional response disappear. But notice what he does. Verse 9: "Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead." Verse 10: "Who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us."

Point two: trying circumstances are often God's tools to teach us to trust. We sometimes wonder, "God, why don't You just take these things out of my life?" Some teach that becoming a Christian means you'll never face trials again—that sounds good, but it's false teaching. God allows the stressor for His purpose: to take you to another level of trust, that you would not trust in yourself but in Him.

Be Anxious for Nothing

"Be anxious for nothing." (4:6) This may be the most difficult command in the Bible. Every one of us perfectly follows the first two words—"be anxious." But that's not the command. The command is be anxious for nothing. Nothing.

Some of the most difficult truths to apply are the easiest to understand. You don't need the Greek here. The ESV: "Do not be anxious about anything." The New Living Translation: "Don't worry about anything." The Message: "Don't fret or worry." We've all broken this command already this morning in some small way.

Is Paul giving us an impossible command, empty words? It's like telling a soldier running into battle, "Don't be afraid"—thanks, that helps a lot. But as with all His commands, God gives us the enabling how-to, because He is a good and loving Father.

The Key to Peace Is Prayer

Point three: the key to peace is prayer. "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God." We can boil that down to one word: pray. Supplication, thanksgiving, and making your requests known are all just ways of saying pray.

It's right here that a struggling brother or sister rolls their eyes—"Thanks, pastor, I thought you could give me something to work with." Consider Naaman, the Syrian commander stricken with leprosy (2 Kings 5). When the prophet Elisha sent word to go wash seven times in the Jordan, Naaman was filled with rage. The man didn't even come out himself, and told him to dip in that dirty river—we have better rivers in Syria! He walked away angry. But his servant reasoned with him: if the prophet had told you to do something difficult, you'd have done it; why not just try? So Naaman went—one, two, three—"This is stupid"—and on the seventh time he came up clean.

So when someone says, "Be anxious for nothing, but pray," we go, "That's just so dumb, that can't help." But knowing something is quite different from doing it. I've had to counsel myself on more than a few occasions: "You need to pray." And my internal monologue answers, "Oh, come on, that's not going to help." You've been there.

God's Peace Supersedes Our Anxieties

Verse 7: "And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Notice what it does not say. It doesn't say God will remove all the anxiety-producing things from your life. The wind is still blowing; the floods are still rising.

Point four: through prayer, God's peace supersedes our anxieties. It's a greater force than your anxieties. Gravity is a sure physical law, yet the law of aerodynamics overcomes it—not by removing gravity, but by exceeding it. The same is true of God's peace; it's bigger than your anxieties, even apart from your understanding.

A Christian and a non-Christian can face the same terminal illness. The follower of Jesus, knowing the Lord is at hand, has a steadiness—"My life is hid with God in Christ"—and can say with Paul, "To live is Christ, to die is gain." The other person looks on and asks, "How did you get that?" This is one of the greatest evangelistic tools in our arsenal: a reputation of steadiness in the storm, because we have a keel.

Right Thinking Relieves Anxieties

Verse 8: "Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is anything virtuous, if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things."

Point five: right thinking and persistent prayer relieve anxieties. They don't take away anxious things, but they relieve anxiety. It would be time well spent to memorize and meditate on this verse for the rest of your life.

Many American Christians stumble at the word meditation—it sounds guru-ish, and we picture someone sitting cross-legged, bored, going "om." That's the wrong picture, and then people say, "I don't even know how." But listen: if you know how to worry, you know how to meditate. Worry is simply meditation on the wrong thing. Worry examines a troubling situation from every possible angle—"Can I get out here? No. Can I get out here? No"—until you're stuck. Depression is when you've examined it and become convinced there's no way out.

Meditation is examining what is true, noble, lovely, good, virtuous, and praiseworthy from every possible angle. So meditate on these things.

These Do, and the God of Peace Will Be With You

Verse 9: "The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do." Circle the word do. Apply them. "And the God of peace will be with you." The peace of God will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus when you rejoice in the Lord, bring your requests and thanksgiving to God, and fix your mind on what is true, noble, just, pure, lovely, good, virtuous, and praiseworthy.

These things are the things of God—they are not in this world. The world has a great lack of justice, truth, purity, and good reports. There's not much good news out there. If your daily routine is to come home and turn on the 6:30 news, I say stop it—it's a waste of your time. "But I need to know what's going on." Why? So you can be depressed about it? Give yourself a thirty-day moratorium on the news and see if your overall well-being increases. I've done it, and I'm the better for it, because I don't need to meditate on garbage. Garbage in, garbage out.

So the final word: rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say, rejoice.

Closing Prayer

Father God, thank You for Your word, and for the prescription that You give to us. I ask, God, that we take two a day and call You back in the morning. Help us to walk in these things, to do them for Your glory—that people would see in us a steadiness in the storm, because we have a keel that runs deep, and it's You holding on to our hearts. May Your peace guard our hearts and minds where all this anxiety and depression take place, through Your Son, Jesus Christ. Thank You, Jesus, that we have the sure hope and certainty that one day we'll be in Your presence, where, as Revelation 20 says, there will be no pain and sorrow and tears and death and sickness any longer—no anxiety. We look forward to that, Jesus. Lord, help us to experience that refreshing now as well, for Your glory. In Jesus' name. Amen.