A Peace-filled Thanksgiving

More than a few of us are questioning how we will manage to be genuinely thankful as 2008 winds to a close, aren’t we? Personally, it’s been a rough year for me. And I know for some of you here this morning, it’s been a long, difficult year, too. It’s not just the national issues that trouble us. It is things like cancer, divorce, job loss, kids in rebellion, pain in our hearts, and a temptation to doubt the very goodness of God.

TEXT - Philippians 4: 4-7

The Lord gave us wisdom for times like these! In our Scripture text, there are three robust commands which lead to a great result if we are faithfully obedient. When I read these lines, I want you to hear them, not in the soft, soothing voice of a therapist suggesting altering your behaviors towards a better outcome; nor in the pleading voice of a mother trying to get her kids to stop misbehaving. The verse are written as imperatives, rather like commands barked out by a military officer!

(Read these in your best command voice)

Rejoice in the Lord always!

Do not be anxious about anything!

Present your requests to God, thankfully!

(Ask the congregation to read them with you again.)

Before we read the entire text, let me set these verses into a context.

Paul was not writing them from a sunny beach at a Mediterranean resort! He was in prison, facing an uncertain future, because of false charges made by jealous people. The church receiving these commands was being persecuted. It was a church that had been born in persecution.

The church in Philippi was started by Paul. He came to the city, led a Bible study down by the river, where a well to do woman Lydia received Christ as Lord and gave her house to Paul for a meeting place. When he continued to speak in the city he was beaten and jailed. Acts tells us that despite their pain and problems, Paul and Silas sang in the night and the Lord brought an earthquake which ripped open the jailhouse doors. The jailer was converted that night.

So these people knew that Paul lived what he was asking of them! His words are packed with authentic experience.

(READ full text - 4:4-7)

Let’s start at the end! What is the promise that flows out of obedience?

"...the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:7, NIV)

I was studying that word, “peace” and discovered a great way to remember it. I associate it with my mother-in-law!

So, some of you are thinking, “Jerry, are you nuts? Peace and my mother-in-law could never go together.” Not your mother- in-law, mine! Here’s why. Besides being a grand lady, her name is Irene, which is taken from the Greek word that is translated ‘peace’ in this passage. That word is

“eirene” (pronounced iraynay) and meant to be serene, contented, or tranquil - in short, peace! So, every time I read this passage, I’ll think of Irene!

What kind of peace is promised?

“...you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand." (Philippians 4:7, NLT)

There is no rational explanation for this kind of peace. Normally peace flows from favorable circumstances. When we are well-fed, when there are no threats looming, when our health is good, when the sun shines - we normally experience a state of peace. But, if we practice the commands we read earlier, the Word says we can know tranquility that is a divine gift, that supercedes our situation!

How do we experience this peace?

First choice for peace is to

“REJOICE in the Lord!”

There is a little phrase tucked into this text that is the Truth that makes this choice sensible and possible for the Believer. What is it? “The Lord is near!”

Now you might be tempted to read that like this: “Jesus is close by, living in your heart.” That is a good thought, very Biblical, but it is not what Paul is talking about that makes us willing to rejoice when things are hard! When he says, “Rejoice in the Lord ... because He is near,” he is talking about the promise of His return with the full revelation of His kingdom!

This verse builds on two verses at the end of prior chapter. (Read 3:20-4:1)

Do not make a common mistake in which some Christians adopt a kind of Zen Buddhist attitude towards life - working at a serene detachment from the pain and problems that surround them! Zen attempts to reduce life to a contemplative reflection on philosophy. That’s not what authentic Christians do!

∙ They weep like their Savior did when people die!

∙ They feel the ache of guilt when they sin or when they see another falling for the Devil’s deceptions!

∙ They acknowledge their emotions and the very sorrow in the world in which we they live!

BUT, they also lay claim to the fact that Christ and His Kingdom will come and they rejoice that wrong will be made right, that injustice will be defeated, that death will be replaced by life. They rejoice in the Lord!

Second choice for peace is that

we refuse anxiety!

To hear some people talk about worry, you would think they have no control over it. Worry is not like breathing. It is a voluntary act. “Don’t be anxious!” we read. In Jesus’ Sermon on Mount, He said, “I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?" (Matthew 6:25, NKJV)

Pastor George Dillalunty quotes a study on worry conducted by a doctor named Walter Calvert.

“40% of the things we worry about never take place - so, there’s 40% of our worries that we don’t even have to worry about! Therefore, out of a list of 10 worries, we can throw 4 out because they don’t count!

30% of our worries concern the past - worry cannot change the past nor can it control the future - all worry does is "mess up" today! We can worry about the past all that we want to; but, it’s not going to change it - the past is past - it’s over - it’s dead - so, get over it!

12% of our worries are needless health concerns.

10% of our worries are insignificant and petty issues.

That leaves us with only 8% that are actual, legitimate concerns!”

Think about the things you fretted about over this last year. How many of them actually worked out just like you expected them to? How much did your worrying over them change the outcome, even if they did?

Americans are notorious for anxiety! Treatment for the various kinds of ‘anxiety disorders’ is the single greatest mental health issue in our country. Number one prescribed drugs are those for depression, which often is the direct result of anxiety! We have panic attacks, obsessive compulsive disorders, Post traumatic stress disorders, social anxiety disorders among others.

Anxiety produces stress which most medical doctors believe is one of the leading causes of heart disease as well as immunological diseases.

“Pastor, I cannot help that I am stressed out! Just look at what I am dealing with!” You know, I understand that statement, but I also believe that anxiety is a choice and that changing our response to the stressors in life is well within our power.

Ill. Since January, I have watched my Dad’s health deteriorate to a critical place. Virtually every Sunday evening, I get in my car and drive 3 hours to help with his care and to be with Mom and him for two days. Since he doesn’t sleep soundly most nights, I get maybe 4 hours of sleep during those nights. Then, I drive home and go straight to work here. Of course, Pastoring is a low stress job. I spend my days golfing, web surfing, reading, and listening to music, right? Sure, in between fielding calls from hurting people with all kinds of needs from marriage problems, to kid problems, to health problems. I get to go to a lot of funerals, too, which is lots of fun. I am the head of a corporation that employs more than 20 people with an income stream that depends on people’s gifts and we’re facing the worst economic times in a generation.

Then, too, I am always on call - weekends, nights, and even when on vacation. But, there is no stress in this work. Am I looking for sympathy? Of course not. I love this calling. My point is to help you to realize that I know what stress is. About 12 years ago, in another time and place in my life, I did not respond to it in a godly way and I was eaten up by anxiety, fell into a terrible depression, and was saved only by the grace of God!

God says, “Do not be anxious about anything!”

So, what do we do with the real stuff of life that can keep us awake at 2 in the morning?

The third choice for peace is

“Present your requests to God, prayerfully, in petition, and always with thanksgiving!”

The construction of this command is intriquing. Paul uses two words for our manner of presenting our requests to God.

The first refers to a general attitude of life that is inclined to God. A Believer who wants to live in the amazing peace of God must not walk far from God! Instead, with a child-like dependence, we live our entire life, leaning on Him. Keith Green, a songwriter who much inspired me as a young adult, wrote a powerful song that says,

Make my life a prayer to you,
I wanna do what you want me to:
No empty words and no white lies,
No token prayers no compromise.

I wanna shine the light you gave,
Thru your Son you sent to save us
From ourselves and our despair.
It comforts me to know you’re really there!

There is a wordless kind of prayer in which you and I live before the Throne. If we begin to do the acts of the sinful nature, if we indulge our Self, if we walk into pride, greed, lust; we grieve the Spirit and lose the comfort that comes to those who live near to the heart of God!

This passage also tells us to present our requests with petition! “Tell God what you need!” One of the great privileges we enjoy is that of prayerful petition. We can and we should talk life over with our Father in Heaven.

Hebrews tells us to ‘come boldly,’ full of confidence because of Jesus, our Savior. Do you petition the Father?

Telling the Lord about what you need; yes; even what you want; is the Believer’s privilege. Every good father wants to hear his child’s needs and desire. That father does not give his child all he asks for but he wants to know! God wants you to talk over the desires, needs, fears, hopes, and dreams with Him. This is the open secret of conversational prayer.

And then, there is this qualifying word in that passage - “with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”

Don’t whine and wheedle your prayers! That Believer who thinks that God can be convinced by begging reveals a great lack of understanding about the nature of their God and a lack of real faith. Here’s what Jesus declares:

“You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead?

Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not!

So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him." (Matthew 7:9-11, NLT)

The Psalms repeated urge us to come before God with thanksgiving and praise. For what? For Himself! We thank God that He is a good father, a just Judge, a merciful Master, a loving Lord! And because He is good, we are thankful... whatever the outcome!

Frame your prayer with thanksgiving, genuine worship and praise, for that will create greater faith and allow you to receive the promise of provision.

_________________

It is a crazy world out there! It’s a crazy world right here!

Self, Satan, and Sinful people conspire to destroy our peace, to keep us from knowing the birthright of the Believer, great assurance.

The Word commands us to this:

Rejoice always.

Don’t be anxious about anything.

Pray about everything, with thanksgiving.... AND

God will keep you in peace, a tranquility that supercedes normal peace!

Amen

Jerry D.Scott