Over Anxious

September 23, 2018
Pastor Clint Ziemer

The audio of the sermon preached on September 23, 2018, at Cable Community Church, Sherrard, IL

Episode Notes

Over Anxious


Phil 4:4 - 9


    The jailer was near the end of a busy, stress-filled day.  It was almost midnight.  He was in charge of some “special” prisoners that night.  These two men had earlier been the cause of a major uprising in the city’s marketplace.  The jailer didn’t know exactly what the men had done.  All he knew was that they came into his prison bloody and beaten with a charge “to keep them securely.”  He knew what that meant.  These two had better not escape.  If they did, it could cost him his life.


    He knew what he needed to do.  He took these two, lead them to the innermost part of the jail, and chained them there, locking their feet securely into wooden stocks.  “Let’s see them escape from that,” he though to himself as he settled in for the night.  


    Sleep was slow in coming.  He got up, not once or twice, but three times to check on his prisoners.  These were an odd lot.  Each time he checked on them, he found them filled with joy; praying and singing.  One would think that they were safe at home, in their beds, and not bound in jail awaiting a morning trial.  At midnight, the jailer was abruptly awoken by the rumble and shaking of a great earthquake.  The trembler tossed him out of bed, and when he stood up and looked around, he saw that the quake had sprung open the prison doors.  “That’s it!”  He exclaimed.  “I’m done for.”  He assumed that the prisoners had all escaped, and he was sure that he had failed.  He thought that was as good as dead.  “Better to do the deed myself,” he said, as he drew his sword.  


This morning we are beginning a series brought about by recent events on both the national stage and in our local community.  Over the next four weeks we will be looking at the topics of Anxiety, Shame, Depression and Fear.  We will examine emotions that drag us down, and if left unchecked, can bring us - like the Philippian Jailer - to the brink of suicide.  Today we look at the subject of Anxiety.


Before we approach the topic, let’s define the word.   According to the dictionary, anxiety is “a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome.”  Let’s be clear that that anxiety is different from fear.  Fear is our topic in a few weeks.  Fear is defined as “an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat.”  While these emotions are related and often cause the same responses in a person, they are different emotions.  To contrast these two, fear is unpleasantness related to a known or definite threat.  Anxiety is often a response to an imprecise or unknown threat.  For example, one might be anxious to avoid the shady neighborhood where one imagines muggers and thieves would hang out, but one might actually fear those places where robberies and worse have actually taken place. 


In today’s text Paul claims that we can refuse anxiety.  He tells us instead to be joyful and have peace no matter what is going on and whatever we are going through.  As trite as it might sound to sophisticated, adult ears, I can remember when we used to teach a simple song in Sunday School.  That song said:


“I’m In Right, Out Right, 

Up Right, Down Right, 

Happy All The Time

(repeat)

Since Jesus Christ came in

And took away my sin, 

(repeat chorus)


Forgive me if the simplicity of this song offends you, but this will serve as the outline of our text today as we examine Philippians 4: 4-9


Read Text -- Phil 4:4 - 9

  1. Body
    1. In Right  (v. 4)
      1. A matter of emotion
        1. "rejoice" - enjoy a state of happiness and well-being
      2. Placed in the Eternal
        1. "in the Lord" - He can be either the object or source of your rejoicing.
          1. Rejoice BECAUSE He is the Lord
          2. He is your Lord and supplies your JOY.
      3. Always — Regardless of circumstances
        1. at all times
        2. In other words, never lose your joy in Christ
      4. Apply
        1. It doesn’t mean we have to pretend
        2. This isn’t one of those things where you’re supposed to “Fake it ‘till you Make it.”
        3. It doesn’t mean we don’t get upset (there is a time for mourning).
        4. It doesn’t mean we can’t get angry (even Jesus got angry.)
        5. It means that deep down, in the midst of even hardship and sorrow we can still rejoice in what God has done for us.
        6. No matter what happens, we still have that knowledge that God has saved us and one day we will live with Him in heaven forever.
        7. So even if, like Paul, we were to find ourselves chained up in a prison, even then we can lift up our voice and SING!
    2. Out Right  (v. 5)
      1. Allow your gentleness
      2. That inward quality of goodwill toward all
        1. this is fairness, friendliness - an attitude of kindness when the expected response was retaliation.
        2. It is opposite of claiming our rights over another.
        3. It is putting others ahead of ourselves. 
      3. To be seen by all men 
      4. Pivotal point -- WHY???  —  Jesus is near!
        1. Near, as in - at hand, nearby
          1. He’s near in a spacial sense.  He promised never to leave you nor forsake you.
          2. It is never easy nor good to drag Jesus into our sin. "Never forget the nearness of your Lord", Phillips.
        2. Near as in His return - He’s coming soon
        3. This always seems a crude weapon to use against our inclination toward selfishness, but - as the old hymn says, “Jesus may come today.”
        4. When he comes, in an instant - in the twinkling of an eye - What do you want him to find you doing? 


    1. Up Right  (v. 6)
      1. Don't let the cares of this world hamper your prayers
        1. The cares of the world can very easily squeeze in on us and affect the stability of our lives. 
        2. Jesus even warned that the cares of this age ("life's worries, riches and pleasures") can choke the life-giving Word from our lives. 
        3. For this reason, we need to pass those cares onto the Lord and leave them in his keeping. We can then respond with thanksgiving in the knowledge that he will carry our load.
        4. In the face of life's circumstances, do not have an overly anxious concern about the chaos of life, given that God is bringing all things into subjection to himself.
      2. Make all your requests about all circumstances with prayers
      3. with supplications and with thanksgiving with a thankful heart
      4. A verse like this can easily be used to promote the idea that Jesus will deal with all our concerns in a practical way when we bring them to him in prayer. 
        1. The problem is, it doesn't quite say this. Paul's exhortation is that we should not be focused upon and burdened by the cares of this world, 
          1. cf. Matt.6:25-34.  Jesus said….  Do not be anxious… about food or drink or clothing.  God provides for the birds and the flowers…  Your Heavenly Father knows that you need these things.  Seek first the kingdom of God…. 
        2. To achieve this state, "in everything", ie. in all circumstances, we should make our requests to Jesus concerning the circumstances.


      5. Remember that our God is Lord. 
        1. Take all your concerns to him in prayer and you’ll find that in the Lord troubles fade to trifles. In fact Paul promises that when we turn to God in prayer that he will answer by giving us his peace - a peace that surpasses all understanding (Philippians 4:7). We’ll get to that in just a bit, but… 
        2. Let’s be sure that we understand though that God did not promise to give us peace on our terms. Some times we think that we would have peace if only we had X amount of dollars in the bank, the assurance of a steady job, and good health. The truth is that you can have all those things but still not have peace. 
        3. God-given peace begins in the knowledge that in Christ our sins are forgiven and that the Lord is near to resolve the effects of sin on this sin-ruined world. 
        4. Therefore it doesn’t really matter how our health is or what our job situation looks like. It doesn’t matter that we may not be the best looking, smartest, or funniest person in our class. It doesn’t matter whether or not we have a date for Friday night or spend it at home all alone.  We have something much more precious in Jesus.
      6. Personal Illustration -
        1. Away at college I forgot about Jesus.
        2. In the third semester I considered how I might “end it all.”
        3. The solution, for me, was to get back home and get right with God.
    2. Down Right  (v. 7-9)
      1. The peace of God
        1. Question: what is the peace of God?
          1. It’s a quiet confidence within regardless of trials or circumstances
          2. It’s Peace beyond comprehension
          3. This peace of God is the result of the thankful prayer (verse 6)
        2. Explain:
          1. - God helps us have an inner calm even when things seem out of control
          2. - This is why it transcends all human understanding
          3. - People don’t get it when you don’t respond to situations in the way that they would. 
          4. When the anticipated response to what you are facing is anxiety and you have peace instead.
        3. Paul expects Christian behavior to break the bonds of normal behavior, and God supplies the resources that allow for that to happen.
        4. What does this peace of God do? It stands guard
        5. The peace of God, Paul says, will be like an armed sentry marching around your heart and your mind, literally fighting anxiety for you. Philippi was a city populated in part by a large number of retired Roman soldiers. Like any military community, Philippi would have known the language of the armed services, and would have quickly embraced the image of an armed sentry. Around their city would have been soldiers who stayed up all night to guard their gardens from rabbits, their homes from thieves, and their land from enemy attack.
        6. To guard the city, in the Greek, was to "phroureo" the city. And in this letter to military families, Paul says that God's peace will be your "phroureo." He'll guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Get inside God's city walls, so to speak, and God's peace will march like a sentry around your potential anxieties.
        7. Apply: As this peace guards our lives; it guards the 2 things that create worry
          1. Will guard your heart
          2. - our hearts – the source of wrong feelings
          3. And guard your mind
          4. - our minds – the source of wrong thinking
      2. The God of peace
        1. Where do we focus our minds?  Thoughts?
          1. Things that are true, honorable and just
          2. Things that are pure, lovely and commendable
          3. Things that are virtuous and praiseworthy
          4. In our postmodern, media-saturated world, where truth is relative and morality is up for grabs, the most common response is either rejection or absorption.  Instead of either of those, Paul calls for discernment. Paul encourages us to embrace what is good wherever we find it, but to do so with discrimination.
        2. What should we do?
          1. What we have learned — heard and seen.
          2. Our thoughts affect our actions.  When we’ve focused our thoughts, our good deeds will follow.
  1. Conclusion
    1. There once was a man, said teacher Calvin Miller, who wanted to teach the sparrows in his garden to sing. The sparrows knew only chatter, no song at all. So he bought a canary with a beautiful song, and hung its cage in his backyard.
    2. And there, among the chatter of the sparrows, the canary sang. The bird sang and sang and sang, but the sparrows only chattered. And because he didn't watch closely enough, the man discovered a sad truth a little too late. Within a very short period of time, the constant chatter of the sparrows so discouraged the canary . . . that the bird lost its song. In fact, he knew only the raucous speech of the sparrows.
    3. You and I do not live in a vacuum. We are surrounded by birds of all kinds of feathers, and only a few of them know how to sing. But those who sing? They'll sing no matter the weather, no matter the circumstances.
    4. Tell me, where is your focus this morning?
      1. Are you over anxious or over being anxious?
      2. Is your heart filled with anxiety or guarded by God’s peace?
      3. When we sing the little kids’ song, in right, out right, up right, down right, Happy all the time — Did that make you cringe or make you smile?


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