Rev. David Holwick B PHILIPPIANS
First Baptist Church (adapted from May 24, 1998 sermon)
Ledgewood, New Jersey
January 14, 2018
Philippians 4:4-7
PEACE THAT PASSES UNDERSTANDING
I. Peace in spite of anything.
A. Words from an American martyr.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated 50 years ago,
way back in 1968.
Those from my generation remember those troubled years.
The day before he died, King had delivered his famous
"Promised Land" sermon at the Mason Temple in Memphis.
The final words of the sermon were these:
"I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will
get to the Promised Land.
And I'm happy tonight.
I'm not worried about anything.
I do not fear any man.
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord."
The next day James Earl Ray took his earthly life.
What allows someone to live in troubled times, with the threat
of persecution all around and yet live in peace?
For Martin Luther King, it was the peace of God.
When one is at peace with God, there is no reason to fear
anyone or anything.
The one thing that is most important -- eternal life -- is
the only thing that no one can take away from you.
If you really know God, you should know peace.
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B. Many people do not have peace, but anxiety.
1) Lots of people are.
a) Anxiety disorders affect 40 million Americans - almost
one out of five adults.
b) And I'll bet five out of five of us experience anxiety
on a regular basis.
c) Life is filled with pressures and deadlines and
obligations.
2) Pastor Mark Driscoll defines anxiety this way:
"Anxiety is anticipating the future in the worst possible
scenario and freaking out about it."
3) God doesn't want us to feel this way.
a) Jesus came to give relief and rest to our souls.
b) Here are some God-given principles for relieving stress
and gaining peace, from the book of Philippians.
II. Be happy about everything. 4:4
A. Rejoice!
1) Paul was in trouble when he wrote letter but he focused
on joy.
2) He was in prison and things in his ministry were falling
apart, yet he uses the words "joy" and "rejoice" 13 times
in this letter.
Christians in tough situations can feel the same way.
In the days of the Great Depression, the famous lawyer
Clarence Darrow, was addressing the members of a black
church in Chicago.
Most of these people were desperately poor.
They didn't have jobs and had little in which to place
their hope.
As Darrow came to the pulpit he listed their troubles and
then noted how joyfully they had sung.
Then he asked this pointed question: "What do you have to
sing about?"
A lady in the congregation jumped to her feet and said,
"We've got Jesus to sing about!"
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3) Joy comes from an attitude more than a feeling.
a) Our attitude determines our feelings, not feelings
that determine our attitude.
b) Definition by Gerald Hawthorne, my Greek professor:
"Joy is a settled state of mind characterized by
peace, an attitude that views the world with all
its ups and downs with calmness.
It is a confident way of looking at life that is
rooted in faith."
4) There is joy in being a Christian.
a) If you don't feel it, reflect on God's promises for you.
b) Remember what God has done in your life.
5) Always?
a) Christians believe God is always in control.
b) Even bad things can turn out for our blessing.
1> Whatever happens to us is for our good - eventually.
B. Be gentle. 4:5
1) Because we have joy in Lord, we don't have to lash out at
people.
a) Often in the Bible, gentleness is said to be the
attitude of persecuted believers.
b) We should pose no threat to people - God is threatening
enough to them!
2) If you show gentleness when everyone else is angry and
uptight, they will want to know how you got that way.
C. Focus on the Second Coming.
1) We have a hope beyond the uncertainties of this world.
2) Will Jesus come soon, or much later?
a) Christians from the time of the Bible have always felt
it would be soon.
b) Unless you think in terms of a 1000 years being
equivalent to a day, it obviously hasn't been soon.
1> But we can live as if it will be soon, and - who
knows - God might surprise us.
2> This expectation should motivate how we live now.
III. Worry about nothing. 4:6
A. Worry stifles our joy and pumps out stress.
1) People tend to be pessimistic.
2) In our age, we have even more to worry about.
a) Puny countries like North Korea have nukes.
1> I understand there was a false alert in Hawaii
yesterday that a missile was heading for them.
b) There are big worries that everybody worries about.
c) There are small worries that are personal to us.
1> But Christians can rise above worry.
B. You are not God.
1) Worry is assuming responsibility that God never intended
for us to have.
a) It's playing God, trying to control the uncontrollable.
2) Dr. Walter Cavert has done studies on your worries.
He has discovered that:
40% of our worries never happen
30% of our worries concern the past
12% of our worries are needless worries about your health
10% of our worries are insignificant or petty concerns
8% of our worries are really legitimate concerns
C. Worry is worthless.
1) It cannot change the past or control the future.
2) It only messes you up right now.
a) It is an incredible waste of energy.
b) It is stewing without doing.
D. Jesus himself said, "Do not worry about anything." Matt 6:25,34
1) Worry is not natural, Jesus is saying.
2) It is something you learn.
a) You have to practice to get good at it.
b) But if it is learned it can also be unlearned.
3) Leave your concerns with God.
IV. Pray about everything. 4:6
A. Replacing a negative with a positive.
1) Instead of worrying, pray.
a) If you stopped worrying, realize how much free time
you'd have.
b) It would create a great vacuum, a void in your life, if
you stopped worrying.
2) Pray during that time.
a) If those people who say "I don't have time to pray"
would spend their time praying instead of worrying,
they'd have a whole lot less to worry about.
B. "In everything..."
1) Some people think that God is only interested in you
praying about "religious" matters.
2) God is interested in everything in your life.
C. "Petition" is a specific, detailed request.
1) Get specific with God.
2) Tell him exactly what you want and what you need.
a) Most people's prayers are too vague, too general.
1> "God, help all the hurting people..."
b) Instead, pray for specific individuals by name.
D. Have a thankful attitude.
A pastor was visiting some of his parishioners.
He took his young daughter with him.
As they visited an elderly couple, the old man gave her a
handful of peanuts.
Expecting her to show a spirit of gratitude, the father
asked his daughter,
"Honey, what are you supposed to say?"
Sincerely, and with her eyes fixed upon the old man, the
little girl said, "You got any more?"
That sounds like many of us.
We accept God's gifts, never saying "thank you" but simply
asking, "Have you got any more?"
It is God's nature to give.
We need to acquire the nature of being grateful.
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1) The healthiest human emotion is the attitude of gratitude,
having a grateful heart, being thankful.
a) It actually increases your immunities.
b) It is a physical benefit to express gratitude.
2) Ungrateful people also tend to be unhappy people.
a) Nothing ever satisfies them, it's never good enough.
b) They are "when and then" people -- "when such and such
happens, then I'll be happy".
3) If you're stressed out, make a list of fifty things you
can be thankful for.
a) When you're grateful, it gets the focus off your problems
and gets the focus on the benefits in your life.
b) Develop the attitude of gratitude and watch the stress
level in your life go down.
1> There is always something to be grateful for.
V. Have peace in everything. 4:7
A. Not another admonition, but the result of following the above.
B. What is the peace of God?
1) The peace that characterizes God himself?
2) The peace of being brought back to God through Jesus?
3) Or the sense of inner contentment that comes from knowing
God?
a) Since the peace stands in contrast to the anxiety in
verse 6, inner contentment is probably in view.
C. Beyond our understanding.
1) Christians ought to be as worried and stressed-out as anyone.
2) Instead, God can give us a sense of peace in the midst of
turmoil.
3) Our inner peace is not logical but God-given.
a) It guards our hearts and minds with his power.
U.S. Army Rangers are not supposed to be afraid.
Nor cry. Nor panic.
Nor exhibit any emotion as they do their utmost to execute
orders.
But, as Ranger Jeff Struecker stared at his blood-soaked
humvee in the streets of Mogadishu, Somalia, he knew these
emotions raged in the hearts of each man in his team.
Men who had just witnessed the death of a fellow soldier.
Men who were now ordered to risk their lives again.
And he felt the same fear.
Strueker began to pray.
October 3, 1993, immortalized in the movie "Black Hawk Down,"
was the defining moment of his life.
How would he react in the heat of battle?
The raid into the dust-filled Somalian city on that evening in
1993 began as any other.
Struecker's team of humvees were to provide escape for the
"door-kickers" securing and subduing a building.
Only this night, the Somalis hit the Americans with more
manpower and firepower than anyone expected.
On the way out, it felt like everybody in the city had
opened up on them. Bullets were coming from everywhere.
The machine gunner in the back of his vehicle was shot in the
head and killed instantly -- the first death in action.
Panic ensued -- especially with the man sitting beside the
gunner. The entire vehicle was painted in blood.
The news soon worsened. A helicopter was shot down.
The team received orders to return to the fighting.
Strueker says he began talking to the Lord.
He thought he was going to die.
Feeling his fear grow, he began to ask God to protect him.
But his prayer soon changed.
He says, "I'll never forget this for the rest of my life.
A scene appeared in the landscape of my mind.
The scene was Jesus in the Garden.
Jesus clearly and honestly knew that he was going to die.
He also showed that he didn't want to go to that cross and die.
And I knew that I didn't want to die that night.
But Jesus courageously said, 'God, not my will, but yours
be done.'
Sgt. Strueker said to God, "If I die tonight, that's fine,
as long as your will is done."
For the first time in his life, Struecker -- who had been a
Christian since age 13 -- was prepared to die.
"God spoke to my mind and my heart and said, 'I've been
protecting you every day of your life.'
He did not tell me, 'You will live through the night.'
He simply showed me my life has always been in his hands."
Struecker returned to the field of fire in Mogadishu that
night and fought with a God-given courage.
In the midst of pandemonium, further firefights and an ambush
that nearly blew his humvee off the road, Strueker felt a
"supernatural peace."
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Do you have this peace? Do you know this God?
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
# 1722 “We've Got Jesus To Sing About!” by Donald F. Ackland, et. al.,
Broadman Comments 1991-1992 (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1991);
secondary source is Dynamic Preaching (www.sermons.com),
Fall 1991 "A".
# 2965 “You Got Any More?” by Ray Bowman, First Baptist Church of
Mantachie, Mississippi; secondary source is Dynamic Preaching
(www.sermons.com), Spring 1992 "A".
#16677 “Somalia Firefight Solidifies Soldier's Calling As A Chaplain,”
by Bryan Cribb, Baptist Press (with Crosswalk.com);
September 8, 2000; <http://www.baptistpress.org/>.
#34338 “He Saw the Promised Land,” by Rev. David Jeremiah, Turning
Point Daily Devotional; secondary source is Wit And Wisdom
by Richard G. Wimer, March 27, 2007.
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