Philippians 4:2

I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord. Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women who have labored side by side with me in the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life. Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand. Do not be anxious about anything, 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 in Christ Jesus. 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. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:2-9)

Division breeds anxiety and steals our peace—but God offers a peace the world cannot give.

A Detour into Philippians

I decided to take a little detour from 2 Timothy into Philippians for three reasons. First, the Lord put it on my heart when I heard I was teaching today. Second, I got to teach this passage at Valley Center this July and loved it so much I wanted to share it with you. Third, I believe it is deeply relevant today.

Something I've been wrestling with over the last couple of weeks is the question, are we more divided now than ever? You can feel it if you watch the news. The country seems divided over certain issues, especially after this last presidential election and what happened over this weekend. It's good for us as believers to see what God has to say about it. We need to check ourselves: are we dealing with division in a godly, biblical way, or are we mimicking what the world does?

Here's the direction we're going. Division has always been with us, in the Old Testament, the New Testament, and our lives today. Division causes anxiety, anxiety causes fear, and as a result peace is left absent. I know this is real because antidepressants are among the top prescribed drugs in the United States. We live in a country with everything at our fingertips—jobs, opportunities, the chance to build our lives—yet so many people are anxious, depressed, and sad. God gives us a way to have that peace back. I want to convince you this morning that God is the only avenue to peace and joy in this life. Everything else is temporary.

Wherever Two or More Are Gathered

Paul writes this letter from his prison cell in Rome to the church in Philippi, which he had helped plant about four years earlier. Somehow, 900 miles away, he hears that two godly women, Euodia and Syntyche, are divided, and it's causing anxiety in the church. Bad news travels quickly—it did in A.D. 62, and it does now. Most headlines you scroll past are bad news, because bad news sells. They've also learned that fake news sells. Be aware that what you watch and listen to will affect you. We're like sponges, church. We soak up what's around us, what we listen to, and who we're around.

My wife and I used to joke that wherever two or more are gathered, there will be division. That's point number one. You might like decaf, I like regular. My wife loves essential oils, I love guns. You hear Yanny, I hear Laurel. A lot of the things we get anxious and divided about are silly things, and I try to stay lighthearted about that.

We don't know what these two women were arguing about. Paul was no coward—he never shied away from calling out sin or theological error. In 1 Corinthians 5 he bluntly tells the church to remove a man actively sleeping with his stepmother. So we know this wasn't a big sin or doctrinal issue in Philippi, because Paul doesn't address it as one. In fact, of all the New Testament churches, Philippi is the one I'd want to belong to, because there was no major sin or theological problem to correct. These were likely two key leaders, perhaps even there at the founding of the church. Whatever the issue was, it caused division, and division causes anxiety.

God Desires Unity

God does not like division in His church. Titus 3:9-10 says to avoid foolish controversies and quarrels, and to have nothing more to do with a divisive person after warning him twice. Romans 16:17 says to watch out for those who cause divisions and to avoid them. That's why Paul addresses this, and it leads us to point number two: God desires for His people to have unity. That's what should set us apart from the world.

Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity. (Psalm 133:1)

Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. (Romans 12:16)

I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. (1 Corinthians 1:10)

When disagreements arise—and they will—people tend to vote with their friends, not with the facts. We get wrapped up emotionally when people we love are involved, and sometimes we're not even hearing the whole story. We can't let others do our thinking for us. You're the average of the five people you spend the most time with, but you're also shaped by the social media you scroll, the news you watch, and what you read every day. Your phone even caters to what you already want to hear—talk about fishing, and fishing ads appear on Amazon. Be careful who is doing your thinking, because division leads to worry, anxiety, and frustration. Divisiveness is like a wildfire that spreads everywhere.

Unity Is Quickly Lost and Slowly Gained

That brings us to point number three: unity is quickly lost and slowly gained. A personal issue inside a church can quickly become a divisive issue. Why do we lose unity so fast? Because we talk to each other, post online, and sometimes gossip about what we heard. We have to be gracious when we say something or accuse somebody.

This is why Paul gives us an outline for handling division. He brings in a mediator: "you, my true companion, help these women" to get along. Commentators believe this was a trusted elder, deacon, or pastor—someone spiritually trustworthy and biblically knowledgeable—who could mediate at a biblical level and help them see whether the argument was a little silly.

What We Should and Shouldn't Argue About

As the family of God, we need ground rules about what we should and shouldn't argue about. There are primary doctrines we all must agree on: that Jesus Christ is Lord and God, one of the Trinity with the Father and the Holy Spirit; that He was fully man and fully God; that He was born of the virgin Mary, died on the cross for our sins, rose again three days later, and is our only way to salvation and our mediator between God and man. We teach those every weekend.

Then there is everything else—secondary and tertiary matters. Style of worship: flashing lights or none, contemporary or hymns, too loud or too quiet. We hear "it's too hot" and "it's too cold" in the same service. The rapture—there are great arguments that we'll be taken before tribulation, and great arguments that we'll go through it; it's fun to discuss, but we don't know. We do believe Jesus is coming back. The age of the earth, since it didn't come with a birthday. Schooling—homeschool, private, or public—all of which can produce godly people; my wife was homeschooled, I was in public school, and the Lord is still working on both of us. Politics, speaking in tongues, even the softness of the chairs. The point of these lighthearted examples is to show how silly many of our arguments are.

We do believe God can use anybody, including younger pastors, because once we're sealed with the Holy Spirit we can be called into ministry. I see little children come back from VBS and share the gospel with their families, and their parents come to believe. On methodology—how we do outreach, who we support around the world—we can discuss it, but ultimately we want people to meet, grow in, worship, and obey Jesus. Everything else, we just need to learn to disagree agreeably and be prepared to have mature conversations when someone disagrees with us.

In college, especially in the social sciences, you'd often have seventy percent of the class loudly holding one opinion and thirty percent more conservative students who never spoke up for fear of being ousted. There will always be disagreements, because God came to save the whole world—your neighbor you don't like, the family member you don't get along with, the person whose politics differ from yours. They'll have differences of opinion, but we have to agree in the Lord.

Rejoice, Be Reasonable, and Don't Be Anxious

Paul says in verse four, "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice." Paul knew we'd ask whether he really meant always, even when we don't feel good—so he repeats it. That's not easy, but the Lord enables it no matter our circumstances, even in the hospital or on the verge of death.

"Let your reasonableness be known to everyone." Another translation says gentleness. The first things to go out the window in a worldly disagreement are reasonableness and gentleness. The world argues and ends up hating each other, sorting people into "us" and "them," lumping individuals into groups and assuming they believe everything that group believes. We can't be like that. Many of us are guilty of getting flustered, sending a text or email, and realizing we just broke five of the Ten Commandments. We are sinners saved by God, being sanctified, so we must learn to be gentle, gracious, and reasonable with people who are also fallen and in need of a Savior.

Why do we deal with division differently? Because the Lord is at hand. As believers we represent the Lord—Christian means "little Christ." Paul means the Lord could come back now; nothing is holding Him back. That should radically change how we think. Once we're in heaven for eternity, there's no one left to share the gospel with—everyone there already knows Him. This is our time, right here in Escondido, in the jobs you're working now, where God has placed you with a purpose to reach people who don't yet know Him.

A Christian Prescription for Anxiety

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." Think how many decisions in our lives would have been different if we had simply stopped and prayed first. Prayer changes the way we think; it is interacting with God. This is our Christian prescription for anxiety: pray about everything. The devil's game plan from the beginning has been to drain the power out of prayer and the Word of God so our prayers feel meaningless.

Prayer is our open line of dialogue with God—you can pray with your eyes open, walking, or driving. Supplication is deeper: a specific request. Not just "Lord, I pray for the United States," but "God, heal my cousin Joey's knee this week." Supplication brings the pains of our lives and families before God and asks Him to meet us in those specific places—with thanksgiving.

Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. (Matthew 6:34)

Many of us worry about the future while staying stuck in the past, and so we become of little use to God in the present. My definition of anxiety is anticipating the future with the worst possible outcome and then freaking out about it—essentially making ourselves prophets of doom over our own lives.

Anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad. (Proverbs 12:25)

In the multitude of my anxieties within me, your comforts delight my soul. (Psalm 94:19)

We will always have a multitude of anxieties; that was nothing new for David and it's nothing new for us. We need to learn who comforts our soul, because every other avenue leads deeper into the pit. God says, "I am the only way to find this peace, comfort, and joy."

Anticipation Versus Anxiety

Anticipation is different from anxiety. The night before my wedding I was anxious, but for a good reason—I wasn't anticipating the worst possible outcome. Before my first memorial service my Apple watch told me my heart rate was 150; I was anxious, but not because I expected something bad. We need to anticipate what God is going to do in our lives every single day.

Anxiety can be triggered by traffic, finances, health, age, jobs, family, parenting, isolation, even doubts about whether we're saved—and if that's you this morning, please come pray with me. People who have anxiety often become paranoid and suspicious, and anxiety affects the body: insomnia, headaches, heart trouble, stomach problems, and ulcers are all found to be anxiety related.

What does the world say is the answer? Behavioral therapy, antidepressants, yoga, acupuncture, vlogging about how bad life is. I'm not bashing medicine—some people have a genuine chemical imbalance that needs treatment, and praise the Lord we have the knowledge to address it. But the Bible prescribes something different: "Do not be anxious about anything, 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 minds in Christ Jesus."

God Desires Your Peace and Joy

You might say, "Pastor, you don't know what I'm going through. I have a right to be anxious." I'm sure you have a lot going on, but God's Word says don't be anxious about anything. Come up and let's pray, because the peace of God is something you need. It's not something we can comprehend in our anxious state; it's a gift God gives us to do well in the midst of hard times.

That's point number four: God desires for you to have peace and joy.

The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace. (Psalm 29:11)

Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble. (Psalm 119:165)

Great peace belongs to those who read the Bible and spend time with God in prayer and in fellowship with His people. So my exhortation is simple: read your Bibles regularly, pray about everything, and be thankful for what you have.

Being thankful is tough. In Luke 17, ten lepers cried out to Jesus from a distance. Leprosy was a shameful, isolating disease; lepers were exiled and had to cry "unclean" to keep people away. Jesus told the ten to show themselves to the priest, and on the way all ten were healed. Yet only one returned to thank Him. We're often like the nine, because we quickly forget what we've been saved from—the filth of our own sin. We need to remember to be thankful for everything.

Think and Practice

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable...think about these things; and what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you." Paul commands two things: first think, then practice. Our minds matter. There is a real spiritual battle over our hearts and minds, and the devil is after what we dwell on. So examine your thoughts: are they true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, worthy of praise? If not, you shouldn't be thinking about them, because they'll do you no good.

Then Paul says, follow my example. He's writing to a church that never met Jesus, so he points to himself. There's almost nothing in Paul's life after his conversion that we could say he should have done better. Threaten him with jail, and he'd say, "To live is Christ—throw me in jail," where he'd convert the guards and prisoners. Threaten torture, and he'd say it was nothing compared to the glory to come. Threaten death, and he'd say, "To die is gain." There was nothing they could do to him. That hope is why we can have joy and peace today.

There are two distinctions in this text: the peace of God and the God of peace. The peace of God is a gift we can't fully understand, given through the finished work of Jesus Christ. The God of peace is the Lord Himself, who indwells us by the Holy Spirit once we receive Him and is always with us.

God Uses Ordinary People

Many of us shy away from being used by God because we're stuck in the past or anxious about the future. So consider the ordinary, sinful people God used throughout Scripture. Noah was a drunk. Abraham and Sarah were too old. Jacob was a liar. Leah was unloved. Joseph was abandoned, enslaved, and imprisoned. Moses stuttered. Gideon was afraid and least in his tribe. Samson had hair and woman problems. Rahab was a prostitute. Ruth was a young widow. David was a bad father and an adulterer. Isaiah preached naked. Jonah ran and was swallowed by a fish. Job lost everything. Peter denied Christ three times. Thomas doubted. The disciples fell asleep praying. Zacchaeus was too short. Paul was too religious. Martha worried too much. And if that's not enough to encourage you that God can still use you—Lazarus was dead. God wants to use you.

I'll close with this quote from Spurgeon: "Anxiety makes us doubt God's loving-kindness, so that our love for Him grows cold; we feel mistrust, and so grieve the Spirit, and then our prayers are hindered, our consistent example marred, and our life one of self-seeking. Such lack of confidence in God leads us to wander far from Him; but if through simple faith in His promise we cast each burden as it comes upon Him, we shall not be anxious about anything, since He undertakes to care for us, and will keep us in close communion with Himself."

You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. (Isaiah 26:3)

Closing Prayer

Father, Your Word is true. You keep him in perfect peace, You keep her in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because we trust You. Father, I pray that You would increase our trust in You this morning. I ask for anyone who is anxious that they would receive peace, that they would find joy in You today. Father, let them not wait to find this joy. And I pray that as we go out from here we would not only experience the peace of God, but share the peace of God with a hurting world. We pray all of these things through Jesus' good and precious name, and the church said, Amen.