Sermon Idea: Peace in the Christian life is offered by trusting God’s promises and living in light of them.
Introduction: Before we dive into Philippians 4, I want you to hear these words from our Lord Jesus in John 16, which describe how he prepared the disciples for the difficulty they experienced upon his death.
32 Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. 33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (Jn 16:32–33)
What strikes me most about Jesus’ words is that he does not comfort them with deliverance from trouble but promises peace in the midst of it. This peace will be found not in themselves but in Christ, who overcomes the world. They were to believe in Christ’s promise that he has overcome the world and live in light of it by taking heart, resulting in peace no matter the circumstance.
As Paul concludes his letter to the Philippians, he encourages them to trust God’s promises and live in light of them. The essence of these promises is peace from God regardless of the conflict, circumstance, or challenge. As you can see in the handout in your bulletin, Paul gives six commands that are rooted in three promises.
Doing so is part of responding to the many calls Paul has given us throughout this letter.
Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ… (Php 1:27)
12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (Php 2:12–13)
Everything we discussed this morning is only possible because of what God has done in Jesus Christ and is doing in us by his grace in the power of the Spirit.
However, what is heavy on my heart this morning is not a mere understanding of the structure and content. As someone who cares about preaching the text and not merely using it as a springboard to say whatever I feel, I spend a lot of time trying to communicate its meaning understandably and helpfully. I try to understand words and phrases and how they fit together. I want to get the meaning right and let the meaning of the text become the sermon’s meaning.
I don’t want you to know just what the text says—I want you to trust what it says! I want you to experience the promise of peace in your own Christian life, no matter the circumstance or challenge. I want you to know the God of peace speaking to you in this passage, believe in the goodness of his promises, and live by faith in pursuit of the peace offered to you.
This may mean we have to ask some painful questions at the start.
We should question what our absence of rejoicing reveals about the condition of our hearts and whether we genuinely trust that God will be faithful to all His promises.
We should consider what our lack of reasonableness and gentleness toward others reveals about where we have placed our hope.
We should examine what our anxiety reveals about whom and what we truly fear.
We should consider what our lack of prayer reveals about our true beliefs regarding God and His Word
We should reflect on what we think about the most and whether that reveals a desire for what is good, beautiful, and true—namely, God himself.
We should examine our practices and ask whether they resemble a life of godliness and peace in God’s presence.
I ask these questions with you, friends because I don’t want to settle for a mere understanding of the content and structure of these verses. I want to know and trust the God that promises peace as I live in light of that promise.
Peace in the Christian life is offered by trusting God’s promises and living in light of them.
I.) Trust God’s Promises (Philippians 4:4-9)
If we are to experience peace in our Christian lives, we must know God’s promises, trust them, and live in light of them. In these verses, Paul bases his six commands on three promises: the promise of the Lord’s return, God’s peace, and God’s presence.s
- God has promised the Lord’s return.
4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; (Php 4:4–5)
The phrase “The Lord is at hand” refers to the promised second coming of Jesus Christ. We live between the first coming, in which Christ came to give his life on the cross, died, and rose again, and the second coming, where the full victory of Christ accomplished on the cross will be realized. We see the same thing in James.
8 You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. (Jas 5:8)
This promise of Christ’s future coming is of such consequence that it informs how we think, speak, and live in the present.
to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ (Tt 2:12–13)
How does this inform our present lives? Christians can rejoice and live reasonably among all people because the world’s weight is not on our shoulders. We are not the ones who must correct every wrong, bring justice to every offender, or defeat every enemy that stands against Christ and the gospel.
We can trust that Christ will really right every wrong, execute justice perfectly, and eliminate every evil person and practice.
To state the obvious, we should not live or think about any circumstance of life as if Christ has not come, died, risen, and will not come again.
With Christians throughout the centuries, we cry out, Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus!
2. God has promised his peace.
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. (Php 4:6–7)
God’s promise of peace results from bringing your anxieties before God. It is a peace that guards our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus. This peace transcends our human capacities and intellect.
When we pray, casting our anxieties and worries before the Lord, we submit ourselves and our concerns to Him. Prayer acknowledges our weakness and powerlessness, demonstrating our dependence on God’s sovereign power for everything. Through this act, the peace of God guards our minds and hearts as we no longer carry the burdens meant for Him alone. Prayer allows us to receive the peace and rest that come from God shouldering our burdens. It shifts our focus from all we need to do to all God can and will do.
3 You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you,
because he trusts in you. (Is 26:3)
3. God has promised his presence.
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. (Php 4:9)
God promises to be with his people, and he promises to be with us as the God of peace. Throughout the New Testament, the name “God of peace” refers to all that God is doing through Jesus Christ to make peace. First, in Jesus Christ, God makes peace between God and sinners. Second, God makes peace between humanity.
23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. (1 Th 5:23–24)
20 The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you (Ro 16:20)
God promises the Lord’s coming, his peace, and his presnce.
Why is it crucial to believe and trust in these promises as we seek peace in the Christian life? If we do not believe God’s Word or trust his promises, we will place our trust in ourselves, other people, or the things that bring us peace. We will live for ourselves, other people, or other things. The result of that disordered living brings not peace but chaos.
How are we supposed to live in light of God’s promises? Paul gives six commands. Let’s take them one at a time.
II.) Live in light of God’s promises (Philippians 4:4-9)
- Rejoice in the lord.
4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. (Php 4:4)
Joy has been a prominent theme in Philippians, which is remarkable considering Paul wrote this letter from prison. True joy in the Christian life is found “in the Lord.” Those three words specify the source and reason for the Christian’s joy. Joy in the Christian is not based on circumstances. It is not based on money, possessions, or even health. It is in Christ so that no matter the circumstance, in riches or poverty, in little or a lot, we can rejoice because we are rejoicing in the Lord.
While serving in North Carolina, a homebound member named Carmosina Carlson was very dear to me. She was originally from Brazil and had served as a missionary with Wycliffe Bible Translators.
By the time I met her, she was no longer attending church, suffering from a debilitating auto-immune disorder. I would visit her monthly to talk, pray, sing, and share communion with one another. All the time I knew her, I never saw her leave a wheelchair except to lay in bed. She was thin and frail, almost nothing to her. There were many nights filled with great physical pain, little sleep, and even difficulty breathing.
She was honest about these things, but even when describing her pain, she would turn quickly to praise. Her communion with God, especially through suffering, shaped her so much that reports of pain led her to praise the Lord for his faithfulness, goodness, and care for her. She would raise her hands, tears falling down her face, and say, “The Lord is so good. Praise the Lord.”
Now, this sister is special. I have not met many like her, but that’s what we want to be more like, right? I hope to grow in my joy in the Lord so that I am not affected by my changing circumstances. Every time I left that woman’s presence, I thought about the glory of God in Jesus Christ. That’s the kind of person I want to become.
- Live reasonably before all people.
5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand (Php 4:5)
Perhaps some of your translations read, “Let your gentleness be known to everyone.” Peace in the Christian life comes by relating to others in a manner resembling Christ’s humility and self-giving. It is obeying Philippians 2:2-4.
3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. (Php 2:2–4
The lack of peace we often experience in our lives can result from fractured relationships that go unreconciled because of our own failure to be reasonable and gentle.
When we turn our eyes away from Christ and stop believing that he is near, we take matters into our own hands. We too easily justify unforgiveness, bitterness, resentment, and selfishness over the smallest transgressions.
Friends, love in the body of Christ is reasonable and gentle. It seeks to preserve the church’s peace by being Christlike toward one another.
- Don’t be anxious about anything.
6 do not be anxious about anything (Php 4:5–6)
Anxiety is the opposite of peace in the Christian life. To be anxious is to habitually worry, particularly about things that are in the future. The anxiety referred to here is the same as Jesus refers to in Matthew 6.
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious 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? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to his life span? (Mt 6:25–27)
Anxiety reveals a lot about our hearts. Biblical Counselor Jocelyn Wallace says that anxiety.
- Points to what you most want.
- Points to what you really believe.
- Points to what you really think.
Now, it is really important to see that Paul is not simply saying, “Stop it!” This is not a command to fix your own mental health but to pursue the Lord in prayer as a means of directing your worries to God. We are to be anxious about nothing but pray about everything.
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. (1 Pe 5:6–7)
- Pray about everything.
Peace in the Christian life comes in response to our prayers.
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. (Php 4:6–7)
Is it likely that many of the habitual problems in our Christian lives continue to unsettle us because they are not given to the Lord in prayer?
Here is the thing about prayer, though. It is only through prayer that a prayer life is deepened. God uses prayer to change us. Andy Davis describes prayer as a blacksmith’s furnace.
“Prayer is the furnace, the coal bed by which our hearts are heated up from their black coldness toward the things of God to desire what we did not desire before: His pleasure, his presence, his face, his glory, our neighbors, the salvation of lost people, relief for the poor, improvement in marriages, the establishment of faithful ministries, etc.”– Andy Davis
When will we stop settling for a bare minimum of God’s power and presence in our lives and cultivate a rich prayer life?
Does your prayer life reflect a belief that God promises a peace that surpasses all understanding?
- Think about what is good, beautiful, and true.
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. (Php 4:8)
- Practice the godliness of faithful examples.
Nathaniel R. Martin 