Anxiety to Contentment
Philippians 4:4-13
Sermon by Pastor Brent Kompelien - May 22, 2022
INTRO (SLIDE 1)
We have one more week to finish our series called “DiscipleShifts” where we have been looking at the core transformations we need to make in today’s culture to be a gospel-centered and kingdom-minded disciple of Jesus Christ.
To wrap up our series next week, we will be having a guest preacher, Carlton Harris, who is the Executive Vice-President of National Ministries at the Evangelical Free Church, our denomination. He oversees all areas of ministry nationally here in the United States, especially focusing on developing healthy churches and developing leaders across our network of 1600 congregations. I’m excited that he will be joining us to preach on John 17.
But this week, we are going to build on our theme from last Sunday. If you were here last week, we were challenged to seek first God’s kingdom, and we started talking about the issue of anxiety as we navigate life in this world.
Friends, I want to start with an encouragement that needs to frame our whole time this morning: When you trust in Christ by faith, you are a beloved child of God, and it is a gift of God’s grace that you are adopted into his family and you have nothing to fear.
ILLUST — My younger brother Greg and his wife Alyssa have been fostering a 3 year old boy for the last year named Kayden. This little guy is so sweet and tenderhearted, and he comes from a very broken family, with both parents in cycles of addiction or in prison. For his whole life, Kayden has been moved from home to home, sometimes with his birth mom and sometimes with foster parents. Even at age 3, he has learned that life isn’t certain, he fears that adults may leave him, and that home is constantly shifting.
My brother and his wife were recently granted permanent placement after parental rights were terminated, and Kayden is now in the process of adoption with my brother’s family.
Kayden is learning a whole new reality: He now has a permanent family, a new father and mother, and a future that is solid and secure in an extended family that cares about him and in a loving community of a church family that my brother is part of.
But Kayden’s anxieties run deep. For years he has been worried that a knock on the door will bring a new social worker or a new foster parent to take him away.
Just a few weeks ago, my brother told me that he was putting Kayden down for a nap and Kayden asked, “Is anyone going to take me away while I’m napping?”
This was heart-breaking for my brother. He said to Kayden, “You’re not going anywhere buddy, we are your forever family. No one is going to take you away.”
Friends, the same anxiety can run deep in us, but expressing itself in different ways. We all come from an estrangement, a lostness, a separation from our true Father. Apart from Christ, each one of us feels a sense of uneasiness or fear that life is uncertain, that it all could collapse in an instant, or that a knock on the door will unsettle everything again. We feel an anxious fear that causes us to grasp for control, or guard ourselves from hurt, or we seek ways to cope with uncertainty.
Listen friends, in the gospel of Jesus Christ, you and I get to hear this same promise from our Heavenly Father: “My dear child, you are not going anywhere. You are in my forever family, and I will protect you and care for you, no matter what comes.”
This morning we will be focusing on the shift from Anxiety to Contentment. How do we move from anxious fear, which is pervasive in our culture and in us, to contentment, peace, and joy in the different challenges we face?
PROP — Here is the fundamental truth we need to grasp this morning: The presence of God is the only antidote for anxiety (SLIDE 2a), and you will only find true contentment when you trust in God’s power and God’s provision in all circumstances when you understand how deeply he cares for you.
Open with me to Philippians 4:4-13. (SLIDE 2b) We are going to read part of the Apostle Paul’s final encouragements to the church in Philippi as they face hostile circumstances in a city where these early Christians were under threat from all sides.
ORG SENT — We are going to see how God’s presence transforms our anxiety in two ways: (SLIDE 2c) First, Paul explains how God’s presence changes how we pray, think, and act (vv. 4-9). (SLIDE 2d) Second, Paul illustrates how God’s presence causes a joy that does not come from circumstances (vv. 10-13).
Let’s read. READ Philippians 4:4-13.
MAIN 1 — God’s Presence Changes How We Pray, Think, and Act (vv. 4-9). (SLIDE 3a)
This section begins with a call to praise, a call to worship! Paul says, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!”
This is the overarching posture of life that Paul desires for the church in Philippi. And it is the same for us. You and I were created on purpose, for a purpose: To bring glory to God is everything we do, and to rejoice in Christ as we find our satisfaction and joy in Him.
Now, there is one simple phrase that is the key to this whole section. Look at the end of verse 5 again: “The Lord is near” (SLIDE 3b)
IMPORTANT — I cannot begin to explain how incredible these few simple words are. How did we get to experience the distinct privilege, the utter wonder, the incredible beauty, and the glory of being near to God?
It is only because of the forgiveness and new birth that comes from the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross and his victorious resurrection! It is only through a righteousness that is received by faith; a free gift of being made a new creation and ushered into the presence of God!
This single phrase, “the Lord is near,” frames the whole paragraph, and it transforms three areas of life that illuminate whether we are living in anxiety or in contentment. These three areas are how we pray, how we think, and how we act.
FIRST: (SLIDE 3c) God’s presence transforms how we pray (vv. 6-7) — with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. WHY?
KEY: Prayer is fundamentally an expression of dependence on God.
Thanking God acknowledges his power, his goodness, and his sovereignty.
Making requests to God acknowledges your inadequacy, your need, and your desperation for him to act.
APPLY: These actions are like medicine for your soul. Prayer re-orients your heart, it begins to wear new grooves in your life, it makes a regular habit of acknowledging that Jesus is King and you are not! Prayer re-patterns your heart! And the result is that you will grow in contentment as you press deeper into dependence on God.
We are going to get an opportunity to put this into practice a little later this morning. After the sermon today, you will have an opportunity to receive prayer so that we can practice obedience to this right now, to present our requests to God and bring our anxious fears to him.
SECOND: (SLIDE 3d) God’s presence transforms how we think (v. 8) — fill your mind with good things.
Whatever is true — All good things flows out of truth.
Whatever is noble — Things with dignity, honor, and respect.
Whatever is right — We have an obligation to live justly, doing what is “right” in God’s eyes.
Whatever is pure — To be set apart, to remain centered on godly things.
Whatever is lovely — Things that are beautiful and good and express the wonder and majesty of God.
Whatever is admirable — To have attitude, actions, and words that people find exemplary for a follower of Jesus.
If anything is excellent — Anything that brings glory to God.
If anything is praiseworthy — Anything that brings praise to the name of Jesus.
KEY: We have to ask ourselves, “What are you filling your mind with?”
A friend of mine recently said, “I’m realizing that everything is formational.”
Are you filling your mind with things that are destroying your mind, poisoning your heart, or amplifying your anxiety?
Or are you setting your mind on things that bring praise to the name of Jesus?
THIRD: (SLIDE 3e) God’s presence transforms how we act (v. 9) — model your life after someone with a vibrant faith.
This verse describes a very hands-on, learning-by-doing discipleship. Paul invites them to a very practical “modeling” of following Jesus that uses multiple senses and faculties: Whatever you have learned, received, heard, or seen…put it into practice!
APPLY: Here’s a challenge for you. If you want to grow in contentment, find someone who exhibits godly joy, watch them, imitate them, learn from them, put into practice what they do when they encounter all kinds of circumstances.
KEY: You must put it into practice or it is worthless!
Did you notice the outcome when we press into the presence of God in these three ways? Paul repeated the same idea twice in verses 7 and 9, but the words are slightly different on purpose. (SLIDE 3f)
Verse 7 — (SLIDE 3g) “the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
Verse 9 — (SLIDE 3h) “and the God of peace will be with you.”
KEY: True contentment comes not only from a sense of peace in your heart and mind, but true contentment comes when the personal presence of the very source of peace himself comes near to be with you. In other words, you don’t just have peace as a feeling, but you have the peace-giver with you, the one who embodies peace as one of his attributes and offers you himself as the source of peace!
This is radical and profound. Other religions or false gospels or self-help books may promise a mere passing emotional feeling of peace, but in the gospel of Jesus Christ and by the Spirit indwelling in you, we have the very presence of the God of peace within us! That blows my mind!
How does this affect us in practice ways everyday? This is what Paul is going to turn to now in verses 10-13, because he wants us to illustrate how God’s presence causes a joy that does not come from circumstances.
MAIN 2 — God’s presence causes a joy that does not come from circumstances (vv. 10-13). (SLIDE 4a)
Paul expresses something that has become radically foreign to our culture: Paul says here that he is not emotionally dependent on whether his physical needs are met. He says that he has learned to be content whatever the circumstances. Look again at what he writes here. Let’s pick it up in verse 11: READ v. 11-12.
Did you see the word “learned” here twice? These are two different words in Greek.
“Learned” (v. 11b) = (SLIDE 4b) to learn by experience. It specifically refers to a hands-on and experiential kind of learning. He has a proven or “tried and true” knowledge. This is a hard-fought knowledge from the ups and downs of life.
“Learned the secret of” (v. 12) = (SLIDE 4c) a specific word used in Greek mystery-religion initiation ceremonies, similar to the free masons or something like that. Paul co-opts this word to says that he has “insider knowledge” of how to be content.
What is the secret? Listen, Paul is touching on a question that keeps a multi-billion dollar self-help industry alive: What is the secret to being content in any and every situation? People pay so much money to try to figure out that answer to that question.
Here’s the answer, and its a free gift: (SLIDE 4d) Strength that only comes from the presence of God! Give yourself wholly over to his care and his provision. Look beyond the momentary highs and lows of the material world and the superficial happiness that the pursuit of earthly pleasures attempts to offer you.
IMPORTANT: It was not natural for Paul to be content! How about you? Is it natural for you? Paul had to learn it by trial and error, through thick and thin, in plenty and in want.
Did you notice that he doesn’t just describe difficulties and suffering and poverty as the places our faith is tested? He views affluence as a trial too!
KEY: Paul handled poverty and plenty the same way: He is a child of God, his Father’s presence is near, and he can trust in God’s goodness no matter the circumstances.
APPLY: (SLIDE 4e) You see, we will only find contentment when we trust in God’s sufficiency, not our own sufficiency or in the sufficiency of any other person or thing.
REFLECT: Since our time together last Sunday, I’ve been thinking more about how anxiety plagues us in our culture. Why is it that we feel a great sense of anxious fear about life, often worrying like my brother’s little boy Kayden that we really aren’t safe?
I think anxious fear comes from a deep, sometimes subconscious, realization that the things of this world cannot carry the weight we place on them to provide us satisfaction, or enoughness, or contentment. Relationships with people, your reputation, your achievements, or the possession of material things were never designed to satisfy your soul! In their proper place, they are beautiful and good, as they serve to advance God’s glory. But on their own and as means to self-satisfaction or self-glory, they will never measure up and we sense it!
Anxiety comes from a deeply held fear that the things we count on are not reliable, that we aren’t safe, and that our needs may not be met. So we resort to self-protection.
But this is what Paul is saying in verse 10-13: In God’s presence, anxious fear melts away because you have the ONLY secure and reliable and safe and powerful source of satisfaction and peace. God is the only one you can count on! He is the only one who can carry the weight of satisfying your soul. You have the ONLY true hope and true joy and true glory worth pursuing: The God of peace who has drawn near to you!
This is why we can have a joy that is not based on circumstances. Just look at how Paul thinks about success and how he thinks about difficulty: He views them through the lens of God’s presence:
Verse 13 — I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
Paul just talked about his experiences in plenty and in want, being hungry or well fed, being content in all circumstances.
So Paul is declaring: God gives me strength to endure hardship, and to endure success. He gives me strength to remain faithful when I am in need or alone, and to remain faithful when I am well supplied and supported.
KEY: It is all about Christ’s strength to be sustained through whatever challenges come with following Jesus and being faithful to him!
And so, Paul’s secret to contentment that he has proven in his own experience is to trust yourself wholly to God’s care and provision, precisely because of this reality: the Lord is near…it is his presence that changes everything. When the God of peace is near, anxiety melts away and you will find assurance in your Heavenly Father saying, “I’m not going anywhere, you are in my forever family, and I will care for you, and no one is going to take you away from me.”
(SLIDE 5, blank) We are going to have an opportunity to put into practice the call to pray from this passage. When we move into the time of music, there will be a few people near the front of the room who would love to pray for you. I’m going to ask you to be bold! You can come forward to pray with one of our Prayer Team members, or you can raise your hand at your seat and someone nearby you can pray with you. Let’s put this into practice, verse 6 and 7: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Let’s do that now.