If you have your Bibles, please turn with me to Philippians 4, and we’ll read verses 4-9. Speaking of sermon series, I’m kind of taking a risk doing this because these are really a set of verses that I could do a sermon series on. And I might someday. But for now, I think I’ll stick to doing just one sermon on this.
It’s a set of verses that I’m sure you’re familiar with. In fact, it’s really two sets of verses that are often used separately, but when I came across them, I realized Paul has a thought process here. So these two thoughts go together, so we’re going to delve into that today.
But first, there’s a story of a man who had bought a new gadget-unassembled, of course–and after reading and rereading the instructions he couldn’t figure out how it went together. Finally, he sought the help of an old handyman who was working in the backyard. The old fellow picked up the pieces, studied them, then began assembling the gadget. In a short time, he had it put together. “That’s amazing,” said the man. “And you did it without even looking at the instructions!”
“Fact is,” said the old man, “I can’t read, and when a fellow can’t read, he’s got to think.”
Which is exactly why it’s important to think about the right things.
A man by the name of Frank Outlaw said:
Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.
And that’s what we’re going to talk about today. Getting our minds centered on the right things. Let’s take a look at our scripture, Philippians 4:4-9.
Scripture: 4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
So today, I would like to talk about getting our minds straight. I’ve talked about this subject before.
It’s so hard not to dwell on the negative. Everywhere you go, people want to talk about the negative. I was just thinking about this the other day, how negative some of my passengers are. Whatever it is, it’s always negative. It could be a blue sky and they’d find a way to complain. Or it seems as if they just enjoy complaining, as if it’s what makes them tick or gives them a little spice to their day.
And it’s easy to get negative when life keeps getting harder. We keep getting nickel and dimed every time we turn around. There’s the news about the banks that are being bailed out, and we wonder, okay, is this going to lead to a recession? After COVID hit, it seems like it’s been one bad thing after another. There seems to be no hope in sight.
But does God want us to focus on the negative? No. Now I’m not a “think positive” preacher, and I’m not a ‘prosperity gospel’ preacher. But I can’t deny it. Paul says to rejoice always, pray, and––essentially speaking––think on the positive, and God’s peace will be with us.
Now, that’s a pretty simple and trite way of putting it, I know. Of course, there’s more to it, which will be the rest of this sermon. But that’s a way of putting these verses succinctly. Paul wants us to be positive people, not dwelling on or living in negativity. He doesn’t want us to be Eeyores. Can you imagine calling yourself a Christian but acting like Eeyore?
God wants us to exude this peace and gentleness that comes from Him for our own sake and to show others the way as well.
You’ll notice the first word here is Rejoice. And it’s followed in my Bible with an exclamation point. How would Eeyore rejoice? He’d very sadly say, “Rejoice.” And wave some tattered homemade flag.
But Paul wants us to emphatically rejoice. It’s hard to do when you don’t have anything to rejoice about. Or so it seems. There’s the old saying there’s always something to be thankful for. And we often miss those things because they’re the obvious, everyday things that are right in front of us. It’s not the lake house with the sports car and the expensive clothes. We’ve been watching reruns of Frazier recently, and I have to admit, I’m kind of jealous of his lifestyle. I’d love to have that apartment and those nice clothes.
I’ve mentioned this before, but I like to collect nerdy things like baseball cards, comic books, vintage records, and original movie posters…and when I do, these things end up in a box, not really being displayed. Some things are, but I’d have to have an addition to truly display everything. I get sort of excited when I see these things listed on eBay, but what happens when I actually possess these things? They end up in a box. And the excitement wanes.
I’m glad I have them, it’s a nice hobby, but are they the most important things?
Another show I’ve been watching lately is Smallville. I’ve looked up the actors and found a podcast by Michael Rosenbaum, who played the young Lex Luthor. He interviews a number of TV celebrities, especially his old Smallville cast members. You’d be surprised what they’re like in real life. Just normal, average, ordinary people. But it goes beyond that because they’ll give you a glimpse into their insecurities as actors and actresses. You think that they’d be the opposite––but they still struggle with self-doubt and all these other things. One cast member is in prison for sex trafficking because she was brainwashed by a self-help cult that ended up having this branch devoted to ‘empowering women,’ and let’s just say it did just the opposite of empowerment.
Kind of puts things into the proper perspective, doesn’t it? I’ve come away from these interviews feeling almost a desperate need to somehow reach out to these people who are just so lost, and they seem to be searching for the truth. Even when you are a celebrity on one of the longest-running primetime shows of all time––such as Smallville was; or Frazier, who was one of the longest-running TV characters of all time if you include Cheers––we want so much more. Kelsey Grammar, who played Frazier, is now in the movie Jesus Revolution, and he talks about his newfound faith in interviews. As Blaise Pascal once said, “There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of each man which cannot be satisfied by any created thing but only by God the Creator, made known through Jesus Christ.”
We want something that seems out of reach, but it is that thing that is so near and right in front of everyone. I was having a conversation one time with someone about how people are so flippant about going to Hell. And it’s like, ‘you don’t understand. There is nothing good in Hell. Whether there is fire or brimstone or not, there is nothing good there. You spend all of eternity there without hope of it getting any better. You can’t be rescued. You’ve denied the power that could rescue you and now it’s too late.’
I remember one time, maybe a year or so ago, I came across a song by Yoko Ono. For some reason, I was curious to see what she’s up to these days, and believe it or not, she’s still making “music.” I believe it was her latest song; it was a romantic song about one day she and John meeting in Hell and never being apart again. It doesn’t work like that.
Every good and perfect gift comes from God. When you are removed from God, you are removed from anything and everything good.
God is only good. He is the ultimate good. And he is the giver of all good things.
Jessica Udall on crosswalk.com said:
James is addressing the concern that some believers had while going through trials, wondering whether God was tempting them. By no means, says James. God is the absolutely holy Creator of all that is good, with no hint of darkness or fickleness. He will always be characterized by his goodness, both with regard to his character and with regard to his relentless desire to give good gifts to his children.
Jesus confirms this truth in Matthew 7 when he asks his listeners: “Which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:9-11).
We have a lot to be thankful for. We have a lot to rejoice in. What do we have that we, right here in this church can rejoice in right now?
We might not have a lake house, but we still live in the Finger Lakes, probably the most beautiful region in New York State. We can rejoice in that. We live in safe neighborhoods––trust me, I’ve been to plenty of neighborhoods in Rochester, Buffalo, and Syracuse that really puts Watkins Glen in perspective. We have family and friends that love us. We have lots of good memories. We have the love of God and access to God’s Holy Spirit at any time. Once we start thinking about the things we have to rejoice in, we can’t stop thinking about how the simple things are really great things that others with mansions still long for.
So when Paul says rejoice here, he follows that up with, “The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything.”
So it all goes together in thought. Rejoice. Why? Not only because there’s so much to rejoice about but mostly because The Lord is near. And because the Lord is near, we do not need to be anxious about anything.
Asbury Bible Commentary says, “Here is an appeal for the optimism of faith since being in the Lord is assurance of victory.” Paul sandwiches the idea of rejoicing in verse 4 and not being anxious about anything in verse 6 with an odd, seemingly random remark in verse 5. He says, “Let your gentleness be evident to all.” Then he says, “The Lord is near.”
Why does he add that odd phrase in between there?
Because our gentleness or our good character; or satisfaction; our peace that passes understanding; whatever it might be, is a sign to others that our hope is in the Lord, who is near and with us. God is not far off or aloof.
I remember a few months ago, one of my passengers that I mentioned, who is always negative, talked about how scared she was of COVID coming back and how the vaccine doesn’t work on the new variant. She went on and on, and she was working herself up, getting louder and louder and I was just as cool and unafraid as if COVID never happened.
Now, I couldn’t say anything to her; she was too worked up. But I hope that my calmness and my inability to become worked up and afraid like she was said something. I hope it maybe calmed her a little. I don’t know. But I had a peace that passed understanding.
If COVID numbers are going up again, I’m not the least bit afraid. When COVID came through in 2020, I was cautious but not afraid. And when I got COVID––twice, I was like, “oh great.”
I was annoyed but not scared. Why? Because the Lord is near.
Paul goes on in verse 6 by telling us what not to do––do not be anxious about anything––and then tells us what we should do instead.
“But in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
After that, in the next sentence, Paul tells us what the result of trusting and presenting our requests to God is. He says in verse 7, “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
So again, Paul is trying to refocus our minds from the things that cause anxiety to Christ, who is our hope and peace. Just before Jesus ascended to Heaven, he said to his disciples that he will bring a comforter for them, meaning The Holy Spirit. We have The Holy Spirit, our comforter within us at all times.
Psalm 46:1 says, “God [or we could say, the Holy Spirit within us] is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.”
Isn’t it great that we serve a living God and not just “follow the teachings of Christ?”
Paul isn’t just talking about anxiety or the fear that something might happen––God is our help in times of actual trouble. In times of actual fear. When fear is warranted.
There’s a famous saying from an unknown source. It says, “Sometimes the Lord calms the storm. Sometimes he lets the storm rage and calms his child.”
God doesn’t always take the problem away, for whatever reason, but he can calm us and give us peace in the storm. Maybe that’s the testimony he wants us to give in our situation. I think some pastors miss the point. God might not want to give us the testimony of healing or financial blessing or whatever it might be, but instead, he might want to give us the testimony of peace in the midst of the storm.
And as Paul mentions here, that peace transcends all understanding. It’s just as much a miracle, I believe, as the miracle of healing. It’s a conundrum for those who see our lives and even ourselves at times. We can only say that the source of our peace is God. And hopefully, that acts as a testimony and a witness to others who need that same peace in their lives. And experiencing that peace gives us something to rejoice––exclamation mark––about.
Then Paul instructs the Philippians to keep their minds on the right kinds of things. He doesn’t say to dwell on or participate in the gossip and negativity that surrounds them. He doesn’t say, “complain with everyone else about your poverty or being under Roman occupation or being persecuted or being a minority as a Christian believer.”
Have you ever heard people say things like, “Jesus stood up for the oppressed. Jesus was crucified under Roman rule because he stood up for the Roman citizens who were being mistreated.”
There are those who call themselves Christians who say these things. We’ve been watching and noticing in The Chosen how Jesus’ followers were expecting him to be this way, but he wasn’t. He didn’t come to speak out against the injustice of the Roman empire. He wasn’t crucified because he was a social/political activist.
He was crucified because he said he was God, which was considered blasphemy by the Jewish political council. This was not only a sin but a crime punishable by death. And they had to get Roman permission to crucify him.
Instead, Jesus didn’t speak politically, unless it was toward the Jewish council or the Pharisees and all of their religious regulations––but not the Roman council. Jesus never said anything––that I remember––about the Roman leadership other than “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s.”
Jesus told them, as we saw last week in the Season 2 finale, about the Beatitudes. The “Blessed are.” He tells them of God’s love and provision no matter the circumstance.
This circles back to what we began with. Rejoice. It’s hard to rejoice when our thoughts are full of our problems all the time. We can get into negative thinking habits, which is not good for anyone.
There’s another unknown source who said, “Let the mind of the Master be the master of your mind.”
Paul instructs us to rejoice––exclamation point––why? Because the Lord is near. And because the Lord is near, we don’t have to be anxious about anything. We can think about good things. We can “fix our thoughts on what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, and admirable.” We can think about things that are “excellent and worthy of praise.” Knowing that the Lord is near cheers us up, brings us a new and peaceful perspective on life and grants us the ability to think on better things.
But this doesn’t have to be done in order. That means that we should start thinking about “these things” no matter what. Maybe we have a hard time rejoicing; maybe we have a hard time not worrying. I know, we can’t just do these things quite so easily. But maybe we start with “thinking on these things,” and the others will follow.
Here’s another quote from an unknown source. “One of life’s great mysteries is that whatever you constantly think about and move towards will, eventually, also move towards you.”
The artist and writer Florence Scovel Shinn said, “The game of life is the game of boomerangs. Our thoughts, deeds, and words return to us sooner or later, with astounding accuracy.”
This is something, again, I’ve observed from my driving job. I’ve learned that the more negative people are, the worse conditions they live in. They can’t seem to break out of living in poverty or physical misery. I’m not sure how it relates psychologically, but it does. Mental poverty––if you will––equals physical poverty. It’s cyclical. You have to change your mental condition in order to change your physical condition. You have to change your thought habits in order to change your physical habits.
Just one more quote from an unknown source before we close.
Remember the acronym GIGO adapted from the computer programming industry. It stands for Garbage Input Garbage Output: meaning that you can only get from a computer what has been programmed into it. The same principle applies to our minds. Garbage input, garbage output. Some people brush this aside, saying to themselves, ‘what I watch or who I associate with doesn’t affect me,’ but think of it like this: Your mind is like a sponge. If you knocked over a glass of sour milk and you used a sponge to mop it up, what would happen if you squeezed the sponge? Would you get fresh milk, or would you get sour milk?
How we think has so much to do with how we live. It has to do with our mental health. It has to do with how we interact with others. It has to do with our witness to the world. It has to do with our relationship with God. Are we constantly complaining, or are we rejoicing? It’s okay to complain to God if we do it the right way. This passage says to take our requests before God. But in doing so, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,”
And what will happen?
“The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on First Baptist Church of Watkins Glen
Featured Image by Johannes Mändle on Unsplash
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