Peace, joy, contentment… everybody’s looking for them but it seems that so few find them. That search is what drives much of the advertising industry. I listen to CHML some of the time when I’m in the car and one to their major advertisers is Alarmforce. Alarmforce, and other alarm companies, don’t really sell alarm equipment. They sell peace of mind. That’s what the focus of their advertising is; that you can rest easy knowing that they’re monitoring your house.
Or you can buy the latest fast car and find joy in tearing down the open road faster than the next guy. (Sorry, that isn’t really the open road; it’s a computer-enhanced version of a professional driver on a closed course but they’ll still hold out that experience as something they can sell you.) If it isn’t cars, it’s clothes, or gadgets, or any number of other things that claim to be able to bring joy into our lives.
The retirement planning ads sell contentment. Join up with this plan and you can retire to spend your time at the cottage or sailing the world or whatever brings you contentment.
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again:
Rejoice! … 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, 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.
The Bible has a somewhat different take on things. Do you want peace? Then don’t bother chasing after the latest and greatest security equipment or the latest gadget or fashion statement. Try prayer and thanksgiving!
The most popular alternative to praying is worrying. Paul says, Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. “Don’t be anxious” (don’t worry) but instead “present your requests to God.”
The dictionary defines worrying as, “A lasting preoccupation with past or future bad events.” There’s nothing wrong with planning for the future and taking steps to safeguard yourself against possible bad events. It’s a good idea to lock the door when you leave your house. It’s when possible bad events become a “lasting preoccupation” that you start to have problems.
One of the things that I worry most about personally is that Marilyn or Sharon will get lost somehow. They both have terrible senses of direction and my temptation is to worry that they’ll get lost. Of course my worrying about it doesn’t actually make any difference. I can’t improve their navigational skills by worrying about them.
Another definition has worry as, “Any mention of concern, worry, or preoccupation without mention of a possible model to alleviate concern or to enhance understanding.” Worrying is just going back and forth over the same ground without coming up with any possible solutions. It’s focussing on the problem, not the solution.
A few years ago a singer called Bobby Mcferin had a hit single with a song called, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”
Here's a little song I wrote / You might want to sing it note for note / Don't worry, be happy // In every life we have some trouble / But when you worry you make it double / Don't worry, be happy.
Then it goes on to talk about your landlord kicking you out because you’re late with your rent and his response is, “Don’t worry, be happy.” The song is half right; the “don’t worry” half. But it’s also half wrong. “Be happy” doesn’t really count as a possible solution!
The Bible’s solution to worry isn’t “Be happy,” it’s, “pray!” Take whatever it is that’s worrying you and bring it to God. I’ve had to learn to do that when Marilyn or Sharon are travelling. Only God can protect them anyway so I might as well talk to him about it. If you’re not used to doing that it may feel a little strange talking into thin air, but he does hear you and it does make a difference.
Any solution that you come up with is going to be limited by your understanding and experience. God has a much better view of the situation and things are much safer in his hands.
So, instead of worrying about what might go wrong – pray!. And instead of complaining about what is wrong – give thanks!
…by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. (v6)
Complaining is like worrying. It focuses your mind on the problem, not the solution. Thanksgiving is the opposite, especially when you focus your thanksgiving on who God is and how that applies to the situation you find yourself in.
Thanksgiving is a way in which we can build our faith to ask the Lord for what we need.
If your need is financial then you can thank God that, as Psalm 50:10 says, he owns the cattle on a thousand hills or, as Haggai 2:8 says, the silver and gold are his.
If your need is health related then you can thank God that, as Exodus 15:26 says, he is the Lord who heals you.
If you feel you are in danger you can thank God that he is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. (Ps 46:1)
And the promise that comes along with prayer and thanksgiving is that, the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. If you give thanks for who God is and what he has done for you thus far, and you pray and bring your concerns to him, you will know the difference.
There are many things in the Christian life that require faith. We have good reason to believe that Jesus is who he claims to be, the Son of God. We have good reason to believe that his death and resurrection are sufficient to restore us to a right relationship with God. But we can’t prove those things. We take them on faith, and when we do, we discover that God meets us and changes us.
What Paul is saying here is that if we hand our worries over to God in prayer, thanking him for who he is and what he has done, then there is a promise that God will pour his peace into our hearts.
I’ve experienced that over and over again. I tend to be a worrier by nature and so I don’t always move immediately to prayer and thanksgiving. But I can testify that when I do, my heart is calmer and my mind is clearer and often, not always but often, I have a new insight into the problem that I didn’t have before.
That’s a testimony from my life, but Paul gives us a testimony from his life too.
The letter to the Philippians is a “thank you” letter. As a travelling missionary Paul often had to rely on the generosity of other people to supply his needs. So, in the same way that we support the Albinets in Istanbul today, the Philippians supported Paul in his ministry. (Actually, Philippi is only a few hundred kilometres from where the Albinets are working in Istanbul today.) There had been a gap in their support, we don’t know why, but when they resumed sending Paul money he wrote Philippians to say thank you.
10 I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have
renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you have been concerned, but you had no opportunity
to show it.
Paul is thankful for the support they are sending but he makes it clear that his contentment is not dependant on their giving.
11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.
So what is this “secret of being content” that Paul has learned?
I think it’s doing precisely what he has just told them to do, bringing everything to God in prayer and thanksgiving. The secret of contentment is prayer and thanksgiving. You see, Paul’s basic premise is our contentment is not dependant on our situation, it’s dependant on God. That statement, in verse 13 “I can do everything through him who gives me strength” is not about doing great miracles or healing people or casting out demons. It’s about being content in every situation, good or bad – specifically whether he has his needs met or whether he is cold, hungry and in a difficult situation – because he depends on God.
I had a friend in Youth With A Mission who used to say that financial security is not the state of your bank balance. It’s a state of mind. When we were in YWAM we spent months with no money, but I don’t think it ever occurred to us to complain. We always knew that whatever we needed, God would provide. Sometimes that meant that we did go hungry, like Paul. Other times it meant that we were incredibly well looked after.
Sometimes we survived on peanut butter sandwiches, or lots of potatoes and not much else. But other times we dined royally, like the time that our team was invited to Porto Rafti in Greece to perform for members of the Greek government and we had this incredible buffet at a home that looked like it came out of “Lifestyle of the Rich and Famous.”
“The secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want,” is thanksgiving.
That’s why Thanksgiving is important. Not because it is a time to get together with family, although that is a good thing. Not because we get to eat all kinds of great food, although we all enjoy that too. (That would fall into the category of “living in plenty.”) But because:
- even when there isn’t a lot of food,
- or things are not going particularly well,
- or you’re not sure if you can find a job,
- or you’re not sure if the job you do have is secure,
it is still good to give thanks, because God is worthy to be thanked. He’s worthy to be thanked because:
- He holds the universe in his hand.
- He keeps us alive. As the hymn “My Jesus I Love Thee” says, he “lends us breath.”
- He sent his Son to die on the cross for us to bring us back to himself.
- He has all the resources that we need to
get through the next day. And if we bring our days to him with prayer and
thanksgiving, he will give us the peace of God, which transcends all
understanding, [to] guard [our] hearts and [our] minds in Christ Jesus.
And he will enable us to do everything through him who gives [us] strength so that we are content in any and every situation.
That’s a promise from God that you can take into the next year and testify to next Thanksgiving.