Intro: According to the February 10, 2015 Huffington Post blot Valentine’s Day is big business. It grosses 17 Billion dollars. That is somewhere near 140.00 per person.
I am so glad that God didn’t just buy us chocolate and flowers to show that He loved us. When we hear the most precious word chosen we know He chose us in Christ. That cost him much more than $140.00. It cost Him pain and suffering and sacrifice. When we have the most precious attitude contentment we know it costs Him daily giving Himself to people who struggle with sin and selfishness.
John 3:16 tells us very clearly that God loved us so much that He gave us a valentine of Himself. He gave us the most precious word chosen, the most precious attitude contentment. Now for Valentine’s Day the most precious perspective confidence! What does God want to give you for Valentine’s Day is confidence! Confidence in His love for you, confidence in His care for you.
Maybe you face the worry or anxiety of treating your sweetheart just right on this Valentine’s Day. Maybe you anxiety and worry are about not having a sweetheart or having lost your sweetheart and having no one to share this day with. Maybe you anxieties and worries have nothing to do with the day but your children, the economy, the election in November. Regardless of what your fear Jesus has a clear word for you this morning. Confidence! (Everyone say that – Confidence)
If we have allowed our worries to cast a long shadow on our lives then this is a very powerful and personal word.
First we have to understand this is a letter that Paul wrote to the Philippians so that their joy would be full. It is a letter written from prison. So Paul is not sharing pie in the sky he is sharing the reality of what God desires to do for His children.
First we are given a command. Don’t worry. Wait a minute bro Bill, do you know what my life is like daily?! However the command is quickly followed with the capability to follow it.
First what is worry? A person, place, thing or idea that you are no longer dictating to it is now dictating to you!
Concern is some person, place, thing or idea that needs to be addressed. So you are in control of concern while worry is in control of you!
Paul gives us clear instruction destroy the mental monster of fear, worry or anxiety.
We will have to ask ourselves some questions in order to begin.
I. Should I ever be concerned?
There is legitimate concern and illegitimate anxiety. Paul’s command is be anxious for nothing. How does this compare to the rest of scripture?
A) Concern for others
1 Corinthians 7:33, 34 concern that a husband and wife have for each other.
1 Corinthians 12:25, 26 a concern that believers have according to God “equal concern for each other.”
B) Concern for the things of God
Matthew 6:33 Seek – be concerned about His rule and reign in your life and the lives of others.
When do concerns cross over into anxieties or fears? It is when concern of any kind begins to consume us. When a person, place, thing or idea begins to dominate your desires and decisions you have moved from concern to worry and anxiety. God loves you so much that He gave roadmap in this passage to a life that is not controlled by the cares of this world! So it’s time to ask another question.
II. Do I believe God can handle my fears (anxieties, worries)?
Do you really believe that God wants to step directly into your life and give you peace?
What is the sitz im leben. What is your situation in life? What are you going through? As you begin to trust God and look to His word you will learn how he rescues people.
1) He will rescue you out of it. Jonah
To be rescued means to be delivered. So God will deliver you from whatever is holding you down or holding you in bondage.
2) He will rescue in it -- Paul my grace is sufficent.
God does not want to pamper or please you! God is in the process of purifying you as you trust Him.
3) He will rescue you through it.
III. Am I willing to accept His answer to my fears? (His answer is His presence)
Do you notice that your fears aren’t taken care of because of God’s answers? There is no mention of God answering there is only mention of us asking!
Philippians 4:6-7 “Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.” The Message
A) Access not answers
John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Your heart must not be troubled or fearful.”
The peace promised in this passage comes from the access and ability to ask and request from God not get answers!
So often in our lives we want the product without the process. We want the home that our parents or grandparents spent 40 years getting. We want the business someone spent 40 years building. We want the reputation someone spent a life time building.
The same is true with us in spiritual things. We want the power Paul, Abraham, Moses and others had without spending the time in the wilderness, or being ship wrecked, beaten and left for dead!
God’s peace comes from His presence not His gifts!! It is the access we have to God not answers. We may never get answers for some things we ask or face. But we will always have Jesus!
B) Obedience not objects
Ask yourself am I willing to accept His answer and obey His direction even if it means I lose something important to me? Am I willing to accept His answer even if I have to wait for it? Am I willing to obey even when I don’t know the answers?
1) Rejoice in the Lord!!
This is a command to get your mind off the worries that weigh you down. This is a command to set your mind on things above!!
Isaiah 26:3 “You will keep the mind that is dependent on You in perfect peace, for it is trusting in You.”
This is a decision! Even though life seems to be attacking you and beating you up you have to decide to look beyond what you’re going through and rejoice in the one in control of it all!
Let me help you understand what it means to rejoice. If the AR Razorbacks won the national championship folks that are fans would rejoice. It would make some of you glad and you would let people know it. You would celebrate!
Church if Jesus saved you from your sin and sealed you with His Spirit stand up and shout!! If Jesus is your shepherd and is directing you celebrate.
This is a choice to celebrate in the Lord even if you feel like your life is in the cellar. David said, “Yeah though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil.” I will celebrate God with faith even when I walk in the valley! Why? Because if I am walking in the valley a Mountain must be coming!!
My celebration of Jesus isn’t based on what I feel or what I face. It is based on what I place my faith in. (This is a command to have a right perspective)
2) Reject anxiety
Yet again another command to a decision. All throughout the Bible we are called to decide. It is in the heart the inner man we decide to say yea or nay to God. He is calling us to say nay to anxiety.
Anxiety or worry comes from placing question marks where God has placed periods. (illustration or story)
Worry is faith in the negative, trust in the unpleasant, assurance of disaster and belief in defeat...worry is wasting today's time to clutter up tomorrow's opportunities with yesterday's troubles.
A dense fog that covers a seven-city-block area one hundred feet deep is composed of less than one glass of water divided into sixty thousand million drops. Not much is there but it can cripple an entire city. (Source unknown)
Worry steals precious energy that could be used for good. Jesus said can any of you worrying add 1 day to your life? Reject anxiety with rejoicing, reject anxiety with requesting. Paul says reject anxiety!! (If you accept anxiety you are rejecting
3) Request of the Lord
We can request anything of the Lord. Help, healing, hope, hair. We can ask for guidance etc..
Why do we not request of the Lord? Why do we continue to try to control our situations and allow our concern to consume our lives? You will do that when you don’t trust that God will answer your requests. You will also do that when you don’t think God’s answers are the best for your requests.
4) Recognition that God is good
Our requests are supposed to be insulated with thanksgiving! What is thanksgiving? The Hebrew word most often used for it in the Old Testament is Yadah. It means acknowledging what is right about God.
1 Chronicles 16:34 “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His faithful love endures forever.”
God’s goodness isn’t minimized by the bad situation you have been in, you are in or you will be in. His goodness and faithful love endures forever. Fear comes from forgetting about His goodness and faithful love.
Remember 1 John 4:8 “perfect love casts out fear.”
We offer our requests to the Lord with thanksgiving before we ever receive His answer.
Why? Because we are giving thanks to an all powerful God who is willing to step both feet directly in the middle of our problem!
How do we know that God’s perfect love will cast out our fears even if He doesn’t answer us right away?
You will know God heard your prayer not because He solved your problem! You will know God answered you when you receive His calm assurance in the chaos of life!
When you experience this peace it will continue to build your confidence in God so that you will continue to rejoice, request, recognize His goodness and reject anxiety. (Peace of God/Peace w/ God
