Introduction
Black Bart was a professional thief whose very name struck fear as he terrorized the Wells Fargo stage line. From San Francisco to New York, his name became synonymous with the danger of the frontier. Between 1875 and 1883 he robbed 29 different stagecoach crews. Amazingly, Bart did it all without firing a shot. Because a hood hid his face, no victim ever saw his face. He never took a hostage and was never trailed by a sheriff. Instead, Black Bart used fear to paralyze his victims. His sinister presence was enough to overwhelm the toughest stagecoach guard.
This is what Satan wants for us. He wants us to be so caught up with our concerns and worries that we never do anything for the Lord. He wants us to just be paralyzed like those passengers all were.
He wants us to lose hope and despair over everything. Here we are in a new year with 2 behind us that have caused much despair and anguish. Many are in fear and anxious. Many are living in a anxiety society and that is what Satan wants.
What this text will tell us is we can rejoice and have peace because God is with us. We can be gentle and reasonable with all because God is with us. We can Live with No Anxiety in Society and that is something to be thankful for.
Fear and anxiety are our Black Bart’s and we can overcome them with the Lord. In the text for today we will see that Paul speaks of the Lord in 5 of the 6 verses we will examine.
This is saying we can have peace and comfort in all things because of the Lord.
So today I want you to think of what the Lord can do for you if you will do all the things Paul says in these six verses from Phil. 4:4-9
4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
Philippians 4:4–9 ESV
First we see that there is…
Peace in the Knowledge of the Lord (4-5)
We can rejoice in the Lord. This is being in a state of joy and happiness and well-being. We have joy and well-being because of the Lord.
It is in Him where our rejoicing is found. In Him we can have joy in everything because He is the Lord and nothing can remove Him. It is because of this why we can rejoice in Him because He is our strength. We can be defiant in the face of every circumstance and difficulty we face because we can say, ‘Nevertheless!’ ” in the Lord we rejoice.” (G. Walter Hansen, The Letter to the Philippians, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Nottingham, England: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2009), 287.)
One commentator has said, “Our relationship with the Lord is so central and determinative in our lives that all other factors cannot shake our sense of enthusiasm in the Lord.” (Hansen, The Letter to the Philippians, 287–288.)
When we have a deep commitment in the Lord we can rejoice regardless what comes. It is in the Lord we can rejoice and be joyful but this only happens if you have a relationship with Him. When we have this relationship we will know that
1 The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad!
Psalm 97:1 ESV
And we will Ps. 100:1
1 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!
Psalm 100:1 ESV
When we are so enraptured–caught up in the worship of God, we will not allow a few minor things in life wreck us. By minor I mean anything life throws at us. Remember the Lord reigns over all and nothing in life is above Him.
When we rejoice in the Lord continually and praise Him always we will be able to be reasonable and gentle to all people. When we are rejoicing in the Lord we will not become bitter and snap at others over circumstances.
We will not insist on our own way and become angry when we get interrupted–this is an area that the Lord has been hammering me on during the prep of this message.
When we are rejoicing in the Lord and worshipping Him continually we will be committed to Him and we will be joyful and our character will be that of a reasonable and gentle person.
All people will see that there is something different in us. They will see that they can speak with us even they and we do not see things the same way. They will see we show true tolerance–the ability or willingness to tolerate something, in particular the existence of opinions or behavior that one does not necessarily agree with: allowing for something to exist but not affirming them.
This is to all people. We are living in one of the most divided times I can remember in this nation. If we are to live with no anxiety in Society we must be gentle with all but not unresponsive.
We respond with reasonableness and gentleness to all things in society. We do not affirm all things but we also do not attack or insult but we give a reason for the error. We do not attack and insult because we are not to judge those outside the church 1 Cor 5:121
12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?
Corinthians 5:12 ESV
We are gentle and open to help but not judgmental of them. The Lord is at hand and He is the judge. He will judge all. This term at hand means He is near and near to returning. When He returns He will judge and that is what we must always speak of. He will judge them but we will also be judged for what we have done or not.
If we speak ill of others rather than gentle and kind, we will hear of this in Matt. 12:36 we read
36 I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak,
Matthew 12:36 ESV
We must be reasonable with all and rejoice in the Lord in all situations because we do not fully understand why things happen how they do. We may have a person show up who is constantly critiquing our faith and mocking us. We stay calm and reasonable and rejoice in the Lord for this person because other people see how we act and that may cause them to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Not only this but knowing the Lord is at hand lets us know he is still with us and guiding us. When we know this and we rejoice continually we will give everything to Him and have His protection and with that we see that…
Anxiety Cannot Pierce a Guarded Heart (6-7)
If we allow for anxiety to enter rather than give it to the Lord and trust Him to guard us we are not exhibiting faith. Much like this story I have heard of a general of Napoleon and his troops. We see that…
The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith, and the beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety. George Muller Massena, one of Napoleon’s generals, suddenly appeared with 18,000 soldiers before an Austrian town which had no means of defending itself. The town council met, certain that capitulation was the only answer. The old dean of the church reminded the council that it was Easter, and begged them to hold services as usual and to leave the trouble in God’s hands. They followed his advice. The dean went to the church and rang the bells to announce the service. The French soldiers heard the church bells ring and concluded that the Austrian army had come to rescue the town. They broke camp, and before the bells had ceased ringing, vanished.
They allowed anxiety to enter and by that they were not in faith of their ability. On the other hand the townspeople had faith and assurance of the Lord.
They knew He was at hand and because of this they had assurance. We can have the same assurance if we will rest in the Lord by giving all to Him in prayer and supplication [urgent request to meet a need]. We do this through a thankful heart which means we are thankful to the Lord regardless what happens because we know He reigns.
When we do this and give it all to Him our hearts will be guarded by His peace through Christ Jesus in us. We have joy and peace that cannot be understood by the outside world. It is the knowledge of the Lord in us that gives us peace. He is at hand, He reigns, If God be for us, who can be against us?
Through this our hearts cannot be pierced by anxiety or stress or frustration at other people acting how they act. We must remember that even Christians are still in the flesh and not fully glorified. We must be gentle and reasonable with all.
When we are guarded by Him we can be this way. He is guarding and keeping our hearts and minds. But this only happens when we give it to Him.
So we give it all to Him for two reasons.
He is at hand and He is the Judge of all and will judge all who attack us whether saved or unsaved. He will perfectly take care of all bad and evil in the world. Let Him do this and we have peace and not anxiety.
His peace surpasses all knowledge. Through this we rest in all situations and can be gentle to all. We are then great witnesses of His. When we have this amazing peace we have something the world does not have.
With this peace we can do things that no one in the world can do without Christ. We can face all struggles and stand strong and not become bitter and hateful.
Much like a man named Brandt Jean. He was the brother of shooting victim Botham Jean. Botham was shot by an off-duty police officer after she entered his apartment thinking it was hers. She thought she caught a person in her apartment and then shot him killing him.
She was sentenced to a lengthy time in prison because of this. It was sad and certainly a horrible mistake that she should have been able to do differently. So it was an amazing act that occured at the trial that has shocked so many but should not shock a single Christian, sadly it does shock many believers though.
When Brandt got up to do his victim-impact statement he shocked all saying, “I love you as a person, and I don’t wish anything bad on you.” He then requested that he be allowed to give her a hug.
He forgave her for what happened. He showed exactly what a believer should do and he was only able to do this because he gave it all to God and trusts Him.
He had…
Peace Through Proper Focus and Practice (8-9)
When we focus on truth, honorable, just, pure, holy, lovely, commendable, excellent, praiseworthy things, our minds stay pure and will be out of the bitter hatred that the world says we rightly should have over things.
How many times have we heard someone say that so-and-so was angry and rightly so. Was the person right or just acting out of impure motives?
We must always ask ourselves these questions. I do. I get mad sometimes and it is over nothing but my own desires. I get mad over nothing and get grouchy.
When we fill our minds with good honorable and just things, things that are well-pleasing to the Lord, when we 2 Cor. 10:5 2 Corinthians 10:5 ESV
5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,
we will begin to act in that manner.
We need a strategy and a method for getting like this. We need to fill our minds with proper spiritual thoughts always. That means taking the teachings of Scripture and burying them in our hearts but not leaving them there as Paul says in verse 9.
In that verse we are said to practice these things and when we do the peace of God will be with us. We do not just go and take on everything unprepared and without strength that is a certain way to fail.
In 480 B.C. the out manned army of Sparta’s King Leonidas held off the Persian troops of Xerxes by fighting them one at a time as they came through a narrow mountain pass. Commenting on this strategy, C.H. Spurgeon said, “Suppose Leonidas and his handful of men had gone out into the wide-open plain and attacked the Persians–why, they would have died at once, even though they might have fought like lions.” Spurgeon continued by saying that Christians stand in the narrow pass of today. If they choose to battle every difficulty at once, they’re sure to suffer defeat. But if they trust God and take their troubles one by one, they will find that their strength is sufficient.
The Spartans used great ingenuity, and we can too if we are disciplined and ready to face what comes with the Lord leading.
This takes work because everything else is commanding our time. We must carve out time to learn the Word and grow in it. I have been reading a book about the biblical worldview and the stats are not good for us. In this country only 6% of confessing Christians hold to a biblical worldview. 6% that is low.
I believe it is because of the majority of the church is biblically illiterate. They have not thought on the pure and holy things of God. Nor have they learned and put into practice the things of God. Many do not know the things of God.
Is it any wonder why so many do not have peace or joy in this world. Is it any wonder why so many Christians are just like the world and we cannot tell them apart at all.
God’s word is the best cure for most everything we will encounter. He guides us and directs us in all manner of life in it. When we embed it in our hearts and then put it to practice, we will be able to rejoice in all things, be gentle with others, have an unpierceable heart, and we will have true peace.
Conclusion
I know when I am not in the word and thinking on the proper pure and spiritual things that I can become grouchy and bitter. I have experienced this before and still struggle with it. I break this by getting in the word deeper and seeking out God while reading it rather than knowledge. I seek transformation over information.
I pray to Him and give Him everything because cannot change anything on my own. I need the strategy of the Spartans and place myself in the narrow pass that is surrounded by the Lord. In His narrow pass only the godly and true can enter and there I am safe in His arms.
This is how we can live with no anxiety in society. This is how we can rejoice always in all things and be at peace and gentle with all. This is how we best witness to the lost world.
Rest in the Lord and He will give you peace in everything and all situations.
