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Journey to Joy - Philippians 4:6-7 “The Cure for Worry”
FBC Canton - Sunday am - July 28, 2019 – Pastor Mike Roberson
Introduction: Worry can destroy you, but God saves you. He loves us so much that
He gives us loving commands to obey that will free us from years of destructive habits.
God knows we are filled with worry and anxiety. He lovingly calls to our hearts to leave
all our anxiety with Him! He’s got us!! He will never leave us nor forsake us!
We can humorously talk about worry:
We can find wisdom about how useless worry is:
But worry is serious: it can destroy us:
When worry is taken to professional levels:
Symptoms of stress are clear: sleep cycles change, withdrawal from others,
emotional outbursts, eating habits change, continual fatigue, all these and more
can lead to serious medical conditions, heart attack, stroke, diabetes, weight gain
or loss, panic.
The reasons for worry, stress or anxiety:
Internal conditions: biological causes; body chemistry changes, serious health
issues.
External conditions: financial, family, health, career, school.
The theological reasons for worry, stress, or anxiety
1. Not trusting that God is in control.
2. Not trusting in God’s love.
3. Not trusting God knows.
4. Not trusting God’s character.
Healthy Concern vs. Unhealthy Worry
I like to use the word “concern” to convey the positive aspects of focusing on a potential
problem with the intent to solve it in a beneficial way. On the other hand, I use the word
“worry” to convey the negative aspects of fretting over the future. I have found that God’s
Word also gives us a similar dichotomy.
In the New Testament the Greek word “merimnah” is often traslated as “worry” and
sometimes “anxiety” when it’s used in the negative sense. This is the case when Jesus says,
“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)
However when the same Greek word is used positively, it is often translated “concern”. This is
the case when Paul writes to the Philippians about Timothy’s concern for them. “For I have no
one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare.” (Philippians 2:20 ESV)
Below I list least three other passages in the New Testament that use the word “merimnah” in
a postive way and the general meaning of the word in those texts.
• Attention and care for your spouse. (I Cor. 7:32-35)
• Focus on serving the Lord. (I Cor. 7:33-34)
• Love and concern for other members of the church. (I Cor. 12:25)
One of the first things that immediately becomes clear as we look at the positive side of the
term “merimnah” is that it indicates an unselfish and others oriented focus. It shows genuine
care and concern for others and for the Lord.
Genuine concern and care for others is an attribute that we must cultivate in our lives. When
we begin to exhibit this kind of positive concern, it naturally helps us to overcome the negative
aspects of worry and anxiety.
Let’s look at the differences between genuine concern and worry.
Characteristics of Concern Characteristics of Worry
1. Focused on others. 1. Self-centered
2. Motivates us to serve. 2. Puts up barriers that keep us from
serving
3. Promotes constructive action. 3. Often paralyzes us.
4. Welcomed by others (most of the time). 4. Not welcomed by others.
5. Driven by love. 5. Driven by fear.
6. Goal is to help. 6. Doesn’t have a goal.
7. Strengthens relationships. 7. Tends to weaken relationships.
8. Tempered with faith. 8. Overwhelms faith with doubt.
One of the most striking differences between these two uses of the word “merimnah” is the
fact that genuine concern is always focused on others, but worry is not! In fact, worry is one of
the most selfish activities that we can engage in.
When genuine concern crosses over the line and becomes worry, it ceases to be motivated by
love and instead is motived by fear. When fear becomes the main motivator, the concern is
no longer the well-being of the other person, but rather a desire for control and safety.
In tough times, genuine concern asks, “How can I help you?”, but worry asks, “What will I do if
something happens to you?” Can you see the shift in focus from “you” to “I”?
How can you know if you have crossed the line from genuine concern into the realm of worry?
For starters, I’d suggest taking a look at the eight characteristics of worry that I just gave. If
one or more of these factors tend to describe your thinking, then your concern might be
turning into worry. If three or more describe you, then you are most likely engaging in worry.
We ought to be concerned about those we love but we should never let that concern grow
into a destructive fear. With God’s help we can focus our attention and our concern on others
in a way that is both helpful to them and healthy for our mind!
In order for a believer to overcome worry, God gives us 2 simple commands here
finished off with an incredible promise for the overcomer of worry. Let’s stand and read
and pray for the Lord to cure our worry today!
I. Worry about Nothing. v. 6
a. We are commanded not to worry about anything. Matthew 6:19-34
i. Life, body, clothes, food, tomorrow, even what to say while
persecuted.
ii. Nothing is too small for God to care about, nothing is too big that God
cannot handle it.
iii. Joy is the source of power (the joy of the Lord is our strength), prayer
is the secret of power. This passage begins with worry and ends with
peace…the in between is prayer!
II. Pray about Everything. v. 6.
a. Some say praying doesn’t change anything. Wrong! Praying is asking
God to bring heavenly resources for an earthly need. We are asking God to
change something, fix something or do something down here from
heaven’s supply!
i. Hezekiah’s healing. II Kings 20
ii. Brings peace. v. 7
1. In this passage it proclaims prayer changes us, from worriers to
those with peace!
2. In the OT:
3. 4. In the NT:
5. b. Prayer is a method of worship. Luke 11, “The Lord’s Prayer”
i. c. Prayer is a means to state our needs: Supplication. James 4:1-3
d. Prayer is meant to be the way in which we ask for those needs to be
met: Requests.
i. Let me share with you an admonition by Fenelon, one of the mystics of the
Middle Ages, which seems to encompass what Paul meant when he said, “Pray about everything.”
Tell God all that is in your heart, as one unloads one’s heart, its pleasures and its pains, to a dear friend. Tell Him your troubles, that He may comfort you; tell Him your joys, that He may sober them; tell Him your longings, that He may purify them; tell Him your dislikes, that He may help you to conquer them; talk to Him of your temptations, that He may shield you from them; show Him the wounds of your heart, that He may heal them; lay bare your indifference to good, your depraved tastes for evil, your instability. Tell Him how self–love makes you unjust to others, how vanity tempts you to be insincere, how pride disguises you to yourself as to others.
If you thus pour out all your weaknesses, needs, troubles, there will be no lack of what to say. You will never exhaust the subject. It is continually being renewed. People who have no secrets from each other never want subjects of conversation. They do not weigh their words, for there is nothing to be held back; neither do they seek for something to say. They talk out of the abundance of the heart, without consideration, just what they think. Blessed are they who attain to such familiar, unreserved intercourse with God.
III. Receive Surpassing Peace. v. 7
a. Peace is a powerful guard.
c. Guard your hearts and minds: The word guard speaks of a military
action. This is something that the peace of God does for us; it is a peace
that is on guard over our heart and mind.
i. “Shall keep them as in a strong place or a castle.” (Clarke)
ii. When people seem to “lose” their heart or mind, it often is connected to
an absence of the peace of God in their life. The peace of God then does
not act as a guard for their hearts and minds.
b. Peace with God in salvation. Romans 5:1-5
i. “of Christianity, the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation
through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and content with its
earthly lot, of whatsoever sort that is”
a. And the peace of God: The Bible describes three great
aspects of peace that relate to God.
· Peace from God: Paul continually used this as an introduction to his letters; it reminds us that our peace comes to us as a gift from God. · Peace with God: This describes a relationship that we enter into with God through the finished work of Jesus Christ.
c. Peace of God Surpassing all knowledge. v. 7
The peace of God: This is the peace spoken of in Philippians 4:7. It is beyond “all mind”; that is, beyond our power of thinking.
i. “What is God’s peace? The unruffled serenity of the infinitely-happy God,
the eternal composure of the absolutely well-contented God.” (Spurgeon)
b. Which surpasses all understanding: It isn’t that it is senseless and
therefore impossible to understand, but that it is beyond our ability to
understand and to explain – therefore it must be experienced.
i. This peace doesn’t just surpass the understanding of the worldly man; it
surpasses all understanding. Even the godly man cannot comprehend this
peace.
And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ
Jesus [Phil. 4:7].
The Scripture speaks of other kinds of peace which we can understand. There is world peace.
We have the assurance that someday peace will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. It
will come through the person of Christ, the Prince of Peace. Also there is the peace that comes
when sins are forgiven. “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1). Then there is the peace that is tranquility. The Lord Jesus
said, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you …” (John 14:27). That is a marvelous
peace, but it is not “the peace … which passeth all understanding.” I do not know how to tell
you this, but I do know it is a peace in which we do not live at all times. I think it is a peace that
sweeps over our souls at certain times. I stood on the big island of Hawaii and looked out at a
sunset with Mauna Kea, that great snowcapped mountain out there in the tropics, in the
foreground. As I looked at the majesty of God’s creation, what a peace came to me. I can’t tell
you what it was—it “passeth all understanding.” And that same peace came when my heavenly
Father let me have cancer. I went to the hospital frightened to death, and then that night I
committed it all to Him and told Him I wanted to know He was real. He made Himself real and
that peace that “passeth all understanding” flooded my soul. I don’t know how to tell you what
it is; I can only say that it is wonderful.
This peace “shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” There are those who say
that prayer changes things. I can’t argue with that; prayer does change things. But that is not the
primary purpose of prayer.
Notice that we entered this passage in anxiety, with worry, and we came out of the passage
with peace. Between the two was prayer. Have things changed? Not really. The storm may still
be raging, the waves still rolling high, the thunder still resounding. Although the storm has not
abated, something has happened in the individual. Something has happened to the human soul
and the human mind. In our anxiety we want God to change everything around us. “Give us
this.” “Don’t let this happen.” “Open up this door.” We should be praying, “Oh, God, change
me.” Prayer is the secret of power. We enter with worry, we can come out in peace.
Joy is the source of power; prayer is the secret of power.1
Conclusion: Prayer is the cure for worry!
1 McGee, J. V. (1991). Thru the Bible commentary: The Epistles (Philippians/Colossians) (electronic ed., Vol. 48, pp. 91–
97). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
Worry vs. Concern: 8 Characteristics of Each
September 4, 2014 By: Barb Raveling
Today I’m happy to have a guest post by a blogger friend, Caleb Suko.
Caleb just published a helpful book on worry called, What If: How to Kill Worry and Anxiety Before They Kill You. This is a
slightly modified excerpt from his book.
Sometimes worry can be difficult to identify in our life. This is because we often feel like worry is something good! We
believe that if we love our child, then we should worry about them, we think that worry over a loved one’s safety is
justified and even proof of our love for that person.
It’s easy to ignore and justify our worry, even if it has grown into something so large that it occupies most of the space in
our mind and negativly affects the way we live.
So how can you know when your worry has spiraled out of control and become and unhealthy thought pattern in your
life? I suggest that you learn to diffrentiate between what I call “healthy concern” and “unhealthy worry.”
Healthy Concern vs. Unhealthy Worry
I like to use the word “concern” to convey the positive aspects of focusing on a potential problem with the intent to
solve it in a beneficial way. On the other hand, I use the word “worry” to convey the negative aspects of fretting over the
future. I have found that God’s Word also gives us a similar dichotomy.
In the New Testament the Greek word “merimnah” is often traslated as “worry” and sometimes “anxiety” when it’s used
in the negative sense. This is the case when Jesus says, “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)
However when the same Greek word is used positively, it is often translated “concern”. This is the case when Paul
writes to the Philippians about Timothy’s concern for them. “For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely
concerned for your welfare.” (Philippians 2:20 ESV)
Below I list least three other passages in the New Testament that use the word “merimnah” in a postive way and the
general meaning of the word in those texts.
• Attention and care for your spouse. (I Cor. 7:32-35)
• Focus on serving the Lord. (I Cor. 7:33-34)
• Love and concern for other members of the church. (I Cor. 12:25)
One of the first things that immediately becomes clear as we look at the positive side of the term “merimnah” is that it
indicates an unselfish and others oriented focus. It shows genuine care and concern for others and for the Lord.
Genuine concern and care for others is an attribute that we must cultivate in our lives. When we begin to exhibit this
kind of positive concern, it naturally helps us to overcome the negative aspects of worry and anxiety.
Let’s look at the differences between genuine concern and worry.
Characteristics of Concern Characteristics of Worry
1. Focused on others. 1. Self-centered
2. Motivates us to serve. 2. Puts up barriers that keep us from serving
3. Promotes constructive action. 3. Often paralyzes us.
4. Welcomed by others (most of the time). 4. Not welcomed by others.
5. Driven by love. 5. Driven by fear.
6. Goal is to help. 6. Doesn’t have a goal.
7. Strengthens relationships. 7. Tends to weaken relationships.
8. Tempered with faith. 8. Overwhelms faith with doubt.
One of the most striking differences between these two uses of the word “merimnah” is the fact that genuine concern is
always focused on others, but worry is not! In fact, worry is one of the most selfish activities that we can engage in.
When genuine concern crosses over the line and becomes worry, it ceases to be motivated by love and instead is
motived by fear. When fear becomes the main motivator, the concern is no longer the well-being of the other person,
but rather a desire for control and safety.
In tough times, genuine concern asks, “How can I help you?”, but worry asks, “What will I do if something happens to
you?” Can you see the shift in focus from “you” to “I”?
How can you know if you have crossed the line from genuine concern into the realm of worry? For starters, I’d suggest
taking a look at the eight characteristics of worry that I just gave. If one or more of these factors tend to describe your
thinking, then your concern might be turning into worry. If three or more describe you, then you are most likely
engaging in worry.
We ought to be concerned about those we love but we should never let that concern grow into a destructive fear. With
God’s help we can focus our attention and our concern on others in a way that is both helpful to them and healthy for
our mind!
Note: Caleb and his wife Christina are missionaries in Ukraine and live there along with their five children. If you’d like to
get in touch with Caleb, he blogs at sukofamily.org.
Slides from chuck Missler, Philippians session 6
Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your
requests be made known unto God [Phil. 4:6].
“Be careful for nothing” is sometimes translated: Be anxious for nothing, or not overly anxious. The fact of the
matter is that Paul seems to be making a play upon two indefinite pronouns: nothing and everything. Let me
give you my translation, which I call the McGee–icus Ad Absurdum. It goes like this: “Worry about nothing;
pray about everything.” Prayer is the secret of power.
“Worry about nothing.” In verse 4 we were given one of the new commandments God has given us:
Rejoice. Now here is another commandment: Worry about nothing; pray about everything.
Nothing is a very interesting word. If you have something, it’s not nothing—that is not correct grammar, but
it is an accurate statement. Nothing is nothing, and you are to worry about nothing. Does this mean we are to
look at life through rose–colored glasses, that we are not to face reality? Are we to believe that sin is not real,
that sickness is not real, that problems are not real? Are we to ignore these things? No. Paul says that we are to
worry about nothing because we are to pray about everything. Nothing is the most exclusive word in the English
language. It leaves out everything. “Worry about nothing.” I confess that this is a commandment I sometimes
break—I worry.
But the reason we are to worry about nothing is because we are to pray about everything. This means that
we are to talk to the Lord about everything in our lives. Nothing should be left out. Some years ago, I am told, a
dowager in Philadelphia came to Dr. G. Campbell Morgan with this question, “Dr. Morgan, do you think we
should pray about the little things in our lives?” Dr. Morgan in his characteristically British manner said,
“Madam, can you mention anything in your life that is big to God?” When we say that we take our big problems
to God, what do we mean? They are all little stuff to Him. And what we call little He wants us to bring to Him
also. As believers we need to get in the habit of bringing everything to Him in prayer—nothing excluded. When
I go on a trip in my car and it involves several hours of driving, I invite the Lord Jesus to go along with me. I
talk to Him and tell Him everything about Vernon McGee, things I wouldn’t tell you or anyone else. I tell Him
everything. I think we ought to learn to do that. We ought to pray about everything.
Let me share with you an admonition by Fenelon, one of the mystics of the Middle Ages, which seems to
encompass what Paul meant when he said, “Pray about everything.”
Tell God all that is in your heart, as one unloads one’s heart, its pleasures and its pains, to a dear
friend. Tell Him your troubles, that He may comfort you; tell Him your joys, that He may sober them;
tell Him your longings, that He may purify them; tell Him your dislikes, that He may help you to
conquer them; talk to Him of your temptations, that He may shield you from them; show Him the
wounds of your heart, that He may heal them; lay bare your indifference to good, your depraved tastes
for evil, your instability. Tell Him how self–love makes you unjust to others, how vanity tempts you to
be insincere, how pride disguises you to yourself as to others.
If you thus pour out all your weaknesses, needs, troubles, there will be no lack of what to say. You
will never exhaust the subject. It is continually being renewed. People who have no secrets from each
other never want subjects of conversation. They do not weigh their words, for there is nothing to be held
back; neither do they seek for something to say. They talk out of the abundance of the heart, without
consideration, just what they think. Blessed are they who attain to such familiar, unreserved intercourse
with God.
For many years I have carried this quotation in my Bible, and every now and then I take it out and read it.
Maybe you think it sounds very pious when I am willing to testify that I take my burdens to the Lord in
prayer. I must confess that after I spread everything out before Him, when I finish praying, I pick it all right
back up, put the problems back on my shoulders, and start out with the burden again. That is my problem. The
Lord wants us to trust Him so that we worry about nothing, pray about everything. I wish I could say to you that
I’m as free as the bird in the trees, free as the bees gathering honey. That’s the way He wants us to be.
We have a mockingbird in our yard. He gets my fruit, but I feel it is right for me to pay him something for
the song he sings for me in the night. Now, actually, he isn’t singing for me. I don’t think he cares much
whether I hear him or not. But he has a mate sitting on some eggs, and it would be a pretty boring job to sit on a
bunch of eggs. So this mockingbird sings to his wife all during the night. The other morning I awakened around
two o’clock, and my, how he was singing to her! How lovely. While sitting outside on my patio I noticed this
mockingbird. He looked at me with disdain, flew right over to my apricot tree and started to eat apricots. He
never asked me for permission to eat. He is free. He doesn’t worry about finding something to eat. He knows
those apricots will be there for him. My friend, do we really trust God like that? Worry about nothing and pray
about everything.
“With thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” Paul never lets prayer become a leap in the
dark. It rests on a foundation. “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” (Rom.
10:17). Prayer rests on faith, and faith rests on the Word of God. Now he says that when you go to God with a
request, thank Him. Thank Him right then and there.
I know some commentators who interpret this to mean that when you get your answer to your prayer, you
are to go back and thank God. Well, that’s not what Paul said. Paul was able to express himself in the most
versatile language which has ever been in the world, the Greek language, and he was able to say what he wanted
to say. What he says is that when you make your requests, right there and then you are to thank God for hearing
and answering your prayer.
Now perhaps you are thinking, But maybe God won’t answer my prayer. I have many unanswered prayers.
My Christian friend, I do not believe that you have unanswered prayers, and I think you ought to be ashamed of
yourself for saying that you have a heavenly Father who won’t hear and answer your prayers. You may have
prayed for a certain thing and didn’t get it, but you did get an answer to your prayer.
Let me illustrate this with a very homely illustration. My dad was not a Christian, but he was a good dad. He
ran a cotton gin, and the machine would always be running. I would go in there when I was a little fellow and
ask for a nickel for candy. He would reach down in his pocket and give me a nickel. One time I asked him for a
bicycle. He said he couldn’t afford it, and the answer was “No.” I can tell you today that I never made a request
of him that he didn’t hear and answer. Most of the time the answer was no. Actually, my dad’s no was more
positive than his yes. His no ended the discussion. In fact, I have never understood young folk today who keep
on arguing with their parents after the parents have handed down a decision. When my dad said, “No,” that was
the end of the discussion. I have learned now that the wise reply to most of my requests was no, although I did
not think so at the time. But the fact is that he gave an answer to my every request.
God has a lot of spoiled children. When He says no to them, they pout and say, “I have unanswered
prayers.” You don’t have unanswered prayers. God always hears and answers your prayers.
You can take anything to God in prayer, the big things and the little things. How can you sort them out?
They are all little things to God. Let me give you another homely illustration. At the time of the building of the
Panama Canal, after two or three failures, when the successful project was under way they wanted to go right
through with it, and so the crew had no vacations. To compensate for it, the workers’ families were sent down
to be with them. So a certain young engineer, his wife and little son were sent down. Because of the danger of
malaria, they were put out on a houseboat. Every afternoon that young engineer could be seen rowing himself
out to the houseboat. One evening he had those long blueprints all spread out while his little son with his toy
wagon was playing at his feet. Suddenly the child began to cry. A wheel had come off his wagon. The little
fellow had worked with it and tried his best to put it back, but it was a hopeless project for him. Now would you
think that the dad would shush him and put him out of the room—maybe tell the mother to come and get him
because he was disturbing his work? No. He just laid aside the blueprints of that great canal, picked up his little
boy and asked him what was the matter. The youngster held up his wagon in one hand and the wheel in the
other. The father took the wheel and put it on the wagon with just one twist of the wrist. He kissed away the
little fellow’s tears and put him back on the floor where he played happily. He was a good father.
Now, my friend, it is God who put that father instinct deep down in the human heart of man because He is a
compassionate Father. When a wheel comes off your wagon, it may look like an impossible problem to you, but
He will hear and answer your cry. If He says no, it is because that is the best answer you could have. After I lost
my human father, I lived several years before I turned to God and found that I had a heavenly Father. I learned
that I can go to Him with my requests, and He answers me, as my human father used to do. And many times His
answers are no.
When I was a young pastor in Texas, just married, I went to a certain city to candidate in a church. It was
considered a strategic, outstanding church. After I’d preached twice that Sunday, I was given a call by the
church. Then later they had to come back and tell me that the denomination would not permit them to call me.
As I said, it was a strategic church and they needed a church politician there—which I was not. I didn’t go into
the ministry for that purpose. But I felt that the Lord had made a great mistake by not letting me go to that
church as pastor. Several years ago Mrs. McGee and I went by that church just to see it. It had gone into
liberalism. Things have happened there that I’ll not mention. I said to her, “Do you remember years ago when I
thought I should have had the call for that church?” She said, “Yes.” Then I said, “I thank God that He heard
and answered my prayer the right way—not the way I prayed it.” I can look back and remember how I had cried
to the Lord. I told Him how He had failed me and caused me to miss the greatest opportunity I ever had. Oh, I
blamed Him, and I found fault with Him, and I actually scolded Him because He didn’t seem to know what was
the best for me! He had shut that door so tight that the resounding slam was in my ears for several years after
that. My friend, my heavenly Father had answered my prayer, and I am ashamed of the fact that I did not thank
Him at the time. My advice to you is this: Instead of saying that God has not answered your prayers, say, “My
heavenly Father heard my prayer, but He told me no, which was the right answer.” We are to let our “requests
be made known unto God with thanksgiving.”
And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through
Christ Jesus [Phil. 4:7].
The Scripture speaks of other kinds of peace which we can understand. There is world peace. We have the
assurance that someday peace will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. It will come through the person
of Christ, the Prince of Peace. Also there is the peace that comes when sins are forgiven. “Therefore being
justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1). Then there is the peace
that is tranquility. The Lord Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you …” (John 14:27).
That is a marvelous peace, but it is not “the peace … which passeth all understanding.” I do not know how to
tell you this, but I do know it is a peace in which we do not live at all times. I think it is a peace that sweeps
over our souls at certain times. I stood on the big island of Hawaii and looked out at a sunset with Mauna Kea,
that great snowcapped mountain out there in the tropics, in the foreground. As I looked at the majesty of God’s
creation, what a peace came to me. I can’t tell you what it was—it “passeth all understanding.” And that same
peace came when my heavenly Father let me have cancer. I went to the hospital frightened to death, and then
that night I committed it all to Him and told Him I wanted to know He was real. He made Himself real and that
peace that “passeth all understanding” flooded my soul. I don’t know how to tell you what it is; I can only say
that it is wonderful.
This peace “shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” There are those who say that prayer
changes things. I can’t argue with that; prayer does change things. But that is not the primary purpose of prayer.
Notice that we entered this passage in anxiety, with worry, and we came out of the passage with peace.
Between the two was prayer. Have things changed? Not really. The storm may still be raging, the waves still
rolling high, the thunder still resounding. Although the storm has not abated, something has happened in the
individual. Something has happened to the human soul and the human mind. In our anxiety we want God to
change everything around us. “Give us this.” “Don’t let this happen.” “Open up this door.” We should be
praying, “Oh, God, change me.” Prayer is the secret of power. We enter with worry, we can come out in peace.
Joy is the source of power; prayer is the secret of power.2
3. (Phl 4:6) A living prayer life. David Guzik
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let
your requests be made known to God;
a. Be anxious for nothing: This is a command, not an option. Undue care is an intrusion into an
arena that belongs to God alone. It makes us the father of the household instead of being a child.
b. But in everything by prayer and supplication: Paul wrote that everything is the proper subject
of prayer. There are not some areas of our lives that are of no concern to God.
c. Prayer and supplication: These two aspects of prayer are similar, but distinct. Prayer is a broader
word that can mean all of our communication with God, but supplication directly asks God to do
something.
2 McGee, J. V. (1991). Thru the Bible commentary: The Epistles (Philippians/Colossians) (electronic ed., Vol. 48, pp. 91–
97). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
i. Many of our prayers go unanswered because we do not ask God for anything. Here God invites us
simply to let your requests be made known. He wants to know.
d. Be made known: God already knows our requests before we pray them; yet He will often wait for
our participation through prayer before granting that which we request.
e. With thanksgiving: This guards against a whining, complaining spirit before God when we let our
requests be made known. We really can be anxious for nothing, pray about everything, and be
thankful for anything.
4. (Phl 4:7) The promise of peace.
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds
through Christ Jesus.
a. And the peace of God: The Bible describes three great aspects of peace that relate to God.
· Peace from God: Paul continually used this as an introduction to his letters; it reminds us that our peace comes to us as a gift from God. · Peace with God: This describes a relationship that we enter into with God through the finished work of Jesus Christ. · The peace of God: This is the peace spoken of in Philippians 4:7. It is beyond “all mind”; that is, beyond our power of thinking.
i. “What is God’s peace? The unruffled serenity of the infinitely-happy God, the eternal composure of
the absolutely well-contented God.” (Spurgeon)
b. Which surpasses all understanding: It isn’t that it is senseless and therefore impossible to
understand, but that it is beyond our ability to understand and to explain – therefore it must be
experienced.
i. This peace doesn’t just surpass the understanding of the worldly man; it surpasses all
understanding. Even the godly man cannot comprehend this peace.
c. Guard your hearts and minds: The word guard speaks of a military action. This is something that
the peace of God does for us; it is a peace that is on guard over our heart and mind.
i. “Shall keep them as in a strong place or a castle.” (Clarke)
ii. When people seem to “lose” their heart or mind, it often is connected to an absence of the peace of
God in their life. The peace of God then does not act as a guard for their hearts and minds.
Biblical Counseling—Common Cause with Creation Biblical Authority
by Heath Lambert on January 1, 2015; last featured July 21, 2019 Audio Version
The so-called “culture wars” have spilled into every field of study, not just origins. Heath Lambert, president of the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors, explains how his field faces the same core battle as creationists.
The debate between Ken Ham and Bill Nye got me thinking about the reason it is so hard for Christians to convince our culture about our views in any field, not just origins science. My own sense is that few minds are changed precisely because of what Ken Ham pointed out early in the debate, “Bill Nye and I have the same evidence—the same universe, the same fossil record, everything. Our disagreement is over the interpretation of that evidence based on worldview.”
As I have reflected on the debate between Ham and Nye, I have repeatedly considered the striking parallels with my own field of biblical counseling. The specific content of each discipline is rather different: origins concerns the existence of the created order, and counseling concerns how we help people who struggle with problems. But everything else is the same.
The most central distinction that Ham made throughout the debate was the one between observational science and historical science. Observational science, Ham argued, concerns the scientific method and the facts people can actually see and evaluate (that is, observe) from the world around them. Historical science has to do with the presuppositions people have about how unobserved things came to be in the past. Observational science is based on observable, repeatable experiments, while historical science is based on worldview commitments.
Observations and Interpretations
It is this crucial distinction between observation and interpretation—which Nye never really engaged—that is the reason few minds will be changed by debate alone. Despite the comments of evolutionists, which have filled the media, both men discussed a lot of facts. The reason for the staunch disagreement is that both men approach the facts from a different direction and interpret them through different grids. It is impossible for these facts to be understood independently. They must be interpreted. This is the same idea that theologian John Frame articulates in Doctrine of the Knowledge of God when he says, “The Common distinction between ‘fact’ and ‘interpretation’ must be rethought in the light of Scripture. It will serve us adequately if we think of ‘facts’ as the world seen from God’s point of view and
‘interpretations’ as our understanding of those facts, whether true or false . . . . We must insist that there are no facts utterly devoid of interpretation; there are no ‘brute facts.’”1
Counselors who take their cues from secular psychology accuse biblical counselors of rejecting science.
Evolutionists have created a cottage industry out of accusing creationists of being committed to magic rather than science. Such epithets miss the point. Both sides of the debate traffic in facts, but interpret those facts based on different sources of authority that inform their worldview commitments.
The authority an evolutionist uses to interpret the facts of the created order is the secular and materialistic worldview. The authority that creationists rely upon to interpret those same facts is the inspired and inerrant Word of God. Both sides share the same facts, but come at those facts from different worldviews informed by opposing systems of authority.
Evolutionists are wrong because they refuse to admit the truth articulated in God’s authoritative Word. They suppress the truth in unrighteousness (Romans 1:18–19). We will never be able to persuade evolutionists merely by a debate, regardless of length, because they need the saving grace of Jesus Christ to open their blind eyes and soften their hard hearts.
Origins and Biblical Counseling
When it comes to counseling, the debate between those committed to biblical counseling (as I am) and those committed to other approaches concerns whether the Bible is sufficient to inform the counseling task, or whether psychology provides a crucial adjunct to the conversations that happen in counseling. Those who believe that the Bible is not sufficient for counseling, and who argue for the necessary inclusion of psychological methods in counseling, point to the science of psychology to buttress their claim.
David G. Myers is one of the most influential leaders alive in the discipline of psychology. He is also a professing believer in Jesus Christ but is not convinced that the Bible has a role to play in counseling. In an article he wrote responding to the biblical counseling belief in the sufficiency of Scripture, he attempted to show why he believes the Bible is insufficient:
If people of faith can bypass the hard work of investigation and go straight to the answers, . . . well, why not? Just tell us how many neurotransmitters the body has; why electroconvulsive therapy is therapeutic for so many depressed people; what genes contribute to schizophrenia; whether hypnosis and multiple personality reflect dissociated states of consciousness; to what extent children’s developing personalities, language, and values respectively, are shaped by genes, parents, and peers; how best to understand the function of dreams; what long-term consequences (if any) there are to various forms of child abuse; and how one might best help someone conquer anorexia. . . . These are but a few off-the-top-of-the-head examples of nontrivial current issues. If God indeed gives inside answers to us people of faith, then let’s speak up.2
Myers suggests that biblical counselors “bypass the hard work of investigation” by denying objective facts. He unloads a flood of questions about factual and scientific realities to suggest that people cannot know from the Bible what biblical counselors claim they can. His tactic is akin to an evolutionist trying to embarrass a creationist by posing questions like, What do you say about the fossil record? What about carbon dating? Do you really believe that
some all-knowing, all-seeing Deity made all of this? Come on! You don’t really want to date the world from a book of the Bible, do you?
Creationists push back on such tactics by evolutionists, and biblical counselors similarly push back on Myers’s list and his presuppositions. Myers confuses fact and interpretation. There are some items on his list that constitute legitimate scientific pursuits that generate objective facts. His question about neurotransmitters, for instance, fits in this category. That is an area of scientific investigation.3
• Read a chapter about the sufficiency of Scripture for counseling from Counseling the Hard Cases.
His question about caring for someone with anorexia, in contrast, is much different. Treating such a person requires listening; understanding; exploring motivation and desire, which the Bible weighs in on; and answering questions about proper medical care, which require the supervision of a physician.4
All of the information we glean from our investigations into each of these categories (as well as many others) creates different types of information that then need to be interpreted. Any true information about neurotransmitters doesn’t stand alone but needs to be interpreted to discover its relevance for the counseling task.5 Wisdom received from the many voices weighing in on anorexia needs to be interpreted to establish its conformity with the authoritative wisdom we have in God’s Word about how to care for the physical and spiritual problems of people.6
Counselors who take their cues from secular psychology accuse those of us in biblical counseling of rejecting science. Just like with evolutionists in the origins debate, however, such accusations miss the point. I know of no single biblical counselor who rejects the scientific observations of secular psychology. Biblical counselors embrace the same facts as secular persons. Biblical counselors are not distinct from these other counselors in their embrace of the facts, but rather in their approach to and understanding of the facts. Biblical counselors give the Bible first priority in interpreting what facts are relevant and helpful for counseling.
Common Cause
Biblical counselors, biblical creationists, and biblical archaeologists (fill in the blank with any discipline of study) are in the same boat. We must continue to articulate the intellectual justification behind our deeply held convictions about the Scriptures. We do this work, however, understanding that the facts will never persuade anyone. To change minds and hearts we must probe below the facts to the worldview commitments that sustain the interpretations of those facts. You can’t change interpretations until you change worldview commitments. A change of worldview commitments requires an exchange of authority from prevailing secular and materialistic beliefs to the Scriptures.
In these kinds of issues we do not need more facts, but more of the grace of Jesus who alone opens eyes, transforms hearts, and brings profound change.
Dr. Heath Lambert is a professor at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Boyce College. He is executive director of the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (ACBC), associate pastor of First Baptist Church of Jacksonville, Florida, and editor (with Stuart Scott) of Counseling the Hard Cases: True Stories Illustrating the Sufficiency of God’s Resources in Scripture.
