This morning we are going to look at the Bible’s prescription for overcoming a terrible illness called anxiety. “Anxiety,” is defined as a “concern . . . respecting some event, future or uncertain, which disturbs the mind, and keeps it in a state of painful uneasiness.”(1) Anxiety is much like a disease in that it causes great emotional and physical pain as the human body reacts to stress. Another word for anxiety is “worry.” Our English word “worry” comes from an Anglo-Saxon word that means “to strangle,” and worry certainly does strangle people physically, emotionally, and spiritually.(2)
In Psalm 37:7 we find an insight into worry in the word “fret.” We are advised, “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; do not fret.” What does the term “fret” mean? Well, have you ever seen a guitar before? On the neck of a guitar there are tiny bars that run cross-ways and parallel to one another, and they are evenly spaced all the way down. These little bars are called “frets,” and they are responsible for changing the note on a string when a player presses between them. Similar to when someone presses on a string between a fret, worry presses hard on us resulting in many of us becoming very “high strung.” Anxiety can make us feel as though the weight of the entire world is pressing down on us.
In today’s passage of Scripture, we will see how Paul was writing from within prison walls when he was under house arrest in either the city of Caesarea or Rome.(3) I would dare say that if one of us were to find ourselves behind prison walls this very minute that we would feel a bit anxious. Wouldn’t you agree? Paul, however, discovered the secret to remaining calm in the midst of difficult life circumstances, and even imprisonment; and he didn’t want the cure for worry to be kept a secret, and that’s why he shared it in Philippians chapter four. This morning, we are going to learn four principles to help us in overcoming anxiety.
We Must Have the Right Focus (v. 4)
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!
The first principle that Paul shares is that “we must have the right focus.” This principle takes the focus off of us and places it on God. Billy Graham said, “Anxiety is the natural result when our hopes are centered on anything short of God and His will for us.”(4) Many of us are worried simply because we want to know the outcome of the choices that we have made in life. We want to make sure that our decisions lead to a secure and bright future for self and family. However, when we think in this way, then we are placing too much emphasis on what we can do for self instead looking at what God can do. If we truly have faith, then we will trust God to provide for our needs instead of trying to make things happen through our own effort.
There are many passages in the Bible that teach us how our future will only be secure when we focus on God and seek His face, and Him alone. Psalm 37:4-5, in response to the problem of fretting, says, “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.” If there is anything that we desire for our life, then we need to first make sure that it’s God’s will; and then secondly, to “delight ourselves in the Lord” and “trust in Him” for the outcome.
We read in Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” We see here that our path in life will be a whole lot safer and clearer if we learn to trust and lean on God. Matthew 6:33 says, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” All the provision we will ever need in life will be supplied if we learn to focus first on the kingdom of God and His righteousness.
What is “rejoicing in the Lord” and “delighting ourselves in the Lord?” These statements mean that we have to stop and think about who God is - what His character is like. When we think on His character, then we can identify how He is omniscient, meaning that He “knows” our past, present, and future. Who better to trust our life to than someone who knows our future? Jeremiah 29:11 declares, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
God is also omnipotent. In Psalm 31:1-2, we see discover that when we focus on the Lord, that He is able to deliver us because of His great “power.” We read, “In [You], O Lord, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in [Your] righteousness. Bow down [Your] ear to me; deliver me speedily: be thou my strong rock, for a house of defense to save me” (KJV). God is even omnipresent; He is “everywhere” at the same time. He knows who is scheming against us, or who is planning to reward us, even while we are relaxing on the beach. We just need to trust that He will take care of us; and we need to learn to unwind from being so high strung.
We Must Have the Right Behavior (v. 6a)
6 Be anxious for nothing . . .
Next, Paul teaches that “we must have the right behavior.” A behavior is how we react or respond in certain situations. The wrong behavior we need to change is worry. Worry should be disposed of, because it is both useless and causes many problems. Worry is useless in that it can’t change anything. “An exasperated husband asked his wife, ‘Why are you always worrying when it doesn’t do any good?’ She quickly piped back, ‘Oh yes it does! Ninety percent of the things I worry about never happen’.”(5) Mark Twain once said, “I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.”(6)
Worry can cause us problems by wreaking both emotional and physical havoc on our body. “A doctor had just finished an exam and he talked with his patient, who was suffering from an ulcer. The patient was quite concerned, saying, ‘Doctor, I’m worried about the fact that worrying about my ulcer might make it worse!’”(7) “Peter Marshall, the late Chaplain of the United States Senate, once opened the Senate with this prayer: ‘Help us to do our very best this day and be content with today’s troubles, so that we shall not borrow the troubles of tomorrow. Save us from the sin of worrying, lest ulcers be the badge of our lack of faith’.”(8)
When Paul said “be anxious for nothing,” he basically said “just stop it!” This answer may sound simplistic, but the application can be quite difficult. It all boils down to a matter of determination. If we desire to alleviate a bad behavior in our life then we’ll do so. You may have heard numerous stories of people with an addiction who just woke up one morning and decided they were going to quit; and they kicked the habit, never to return. There are also stories of those who wanted to quit, but then had a relapse. There are no easy roads to quitting a bad behavior. We will only quit if we have the desire to do so; and our motivation should be first and foremost to rely on God in faith and please Him, and secondly to keep ourselves from spiritual turmoil.
We Must Have the Right Attitude (v. 6b)
But in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
Thirdly, Paul teaches that “we must have the right attitude.” In praying to God we recognize our “dependence” on Him. In giving thanks we express our “confidence” that He can get the job done. In 1 Peter 5:7 we read how we are to cast all our cares on the Lord, for He cares for us. If we place all our burdens on the Lord, then we are telling God that we need His help and that we can do nothing on our own. When we worry, we are trying to solve our problems through our own strength. This becomes too much of a load, and we tend to crack under the pressure and weight.
The foolishness in this is seen when we try to solve problems that have occurred in the past; and especially those in the future, even though they haven’t yet happened or may never will. The past and future simply are out of our control. God is the only one who abides in the past and the future; therefore, He is the only one who has control over what happens there. When we worry, then we are trying to control what’s not meant for us to control; and we are telling the Lord that we don’t have the faith to trust that He knows what He’s doing, and that He knows what’s best for our life. If we wish to alleviate worry, then we must become totally dependent on the Lord by submitting our every care to Him in prayer with thanksgiving.
We Must Focus on Right Subjects (v. 8)
8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.
Many of us are anxious simply because we carry around too many burdens and we tend to focus on those burdens instead of God’s blessings. When we focus only on the burdens, then we can get down in the dumps. Edward Hale advised, “Never bear more than one kind of trouble at a time. Some people bear three kinds: all they have had, all they have now, and all they expect to have.”
There is an old legend about three men and their sacks. Each man had two sacks, one tied in front of his neck and the other tied on his back.
When the first man was asked what was in his sacks, he said, “In the sack on my back are all the good things friends and family have done. In the front sack are all the bad things that have happened to me. Every now and then I stop, open the front sack, take the things out, examine them, and think about them.” Because he stopped so much to concentrate on all the bad stuff, he really didn’t make much progress in life.
The second man was asked about his sacks. He replied, “In the front sack are all the good things I’ve done. I like to see them, so quite often I take them out to show them off to people. The sack in the back? I keep all my mistakes in there and carry them all the time. Sure they’re heavy. They slow me down, but you know, for some reason I can’t put them down.”
When the third man was asked about his sacks, he answered, “The sack in front is great. There I keep all the positive thoughts I have about people, all the blessings I’ve experienced, all the great things other people have done for me. The weight isn’t a problem. The sack is like the sails of a ship. It keeps me going forward. The sack on my back is empty. There’s nothing in it. I cut a big hole in its bottom. In there I put all the bad things that I can think about myself or hear about others. They go in one end and out the other, so I’m not carrying around any extra weight at all.”(9)
Each of us carry sacks with us whether we realize it or not. Some of us place the heavy sack of negative thoughts in front instead of the lighter positive sack, and we are pulled face forward to smack hard against the ground. Some of us place the positive sack in front pressing forward, while still carrying a huge burden of negative memories that slow us down every once in a while. Then, there are those of us who carry only the sack of positive thoughts and we have no burden placed on our shoulders, because we have cut a hole in the sack behind. Those of us who carry only the positive sack are able to press forward without being hindered in any way. This insight brings us to our next principle.
The fourth and final principle that Paul teaches us is that “we must focus on the right subjects.” What we focus on will determine where we end up going in life. It will determine whether or not we live in anxiety or “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding” that Paul mentioned in verse 7, which we didn’t read. Allow me to share another illustration:
Tree-skiing may sound like a death wish, but some skiers love the risk of skiing virgin powder lying in a stand of aspen or spruce. The key, of course, is not hitting the trees! In Outside magazine, writer and skier Tim Etchells lays out the challenge. He says, “Even more so than in deep snow or moguls, what you focus your eyes on becomes critical in the woods. Look at the spaces between the trees - the exits where you hope to be traveling.” Extreme-skiing world champion Kim Reichelm says, “Don’t stare at what you don’t want to hit.”(10)
If we don’t want to get hit by worry and anxiety then let’s not stare at the negative things in life and fret about them. We need to focus only on the positive things. In the New International Version Paul’s words read as, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things.” Paul was saying, “Think about such things as these.” Notice how the words he mentioned are each positive and uplifting. “In the Greek [the word] “whatever” is plural, which suggests that several things [on which to think about] could be included under each heading.”(11)
Whenever worry, anxiety, or doubt start to flood our mind then we should sit down and think about, or even write a list, of all the good things that God has done for us. The New King James Version says that we should “meditate” on good things. At least two verses of Scripture plainly teach meditation. David prayed in Psalm 5:1, “Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation,” and Psalm 19:14 says, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.”(12) Whenever you become anxious, then meditate on the many blessings that God has bestowed on you, and your cares will begin to subside.
Time of Reflection
In the verses we read this morning, Paul revealed four principles for overcoming worry and anxiety. He told us that 1.) we must focus on God instead of self; 2.) we must stop the wrong behavior of worry; 3.) we must have an attitude of dependence on the Lord; and 4.) we must focus or meditate on the right subjects.
As a believer, we shouldn’t worry about the situations we encounter in life because we have Someone watching out for us and making sure that what we experience works out for our good. We read in Romans 8:28 that “all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Believers, I wish to conclude with a word of wisdom: “If you wish to be worry-free, then you need to occupy yourself with worshipping God instead of idolizing your problems.”
Those of you who don’t know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, you have a lot to worry about. The Bible teaches that without Him, you have no one to bear the burden with you; and without Jesus in your heart you are destined to go to hell when your soul departs from this present world. There are probably some individuals here today who are lost in sin, and you are worried about facing death because you know where you’ll wind up when you die. That worry can be alleviated if you will just receive Jesus Christ into your heart, and confess Him as Lord and Savior of your life.
Jesus wants to bear the burden with you; the burden of life and the burden of sin. He said, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).
NOTES
(1) Noah Webster, "Anxiety," 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language (San Francisco: Foundation for American Christian Education, 2002).
(2) Warren W. Wiersbe, Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines on the New Testament (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1992), taken from Logos 2.1 on CD-ROM.
(3) "Philippians," The New Bible Dictionary (Wheaton: Tyndale House, 1962), taken from Logos 2.1 on CD-ROM.
(4) John Maxwell, "How to Win Over Worry," (December 1991).
(5) Michael Dean, "You Don't Have to Worry," Baptist Hour, February 5, 1993.
(6) Bob Phillips, Encyclopedia of Good, Clean Jokes (Eugene, OR: Harvest House), 331.
(7) Houston Post, March 17, 1992, p. D.
(8) Maxwell.
(9) H. Norman Wright, The Perfect Catch (Bethany House, 2000), 28–29.
(10) Tim Etchells, "The Trees: Lovely, Dark, and Deep," Outside (November 1999), 128.
(11) John F. Walvoord, and Roy B. Zuck, The Bible Knowledge Commentary, (Wheaton: Scripture Press Publications, 1983, 1985), taken from Logos 2.1 on CD-ROM.
(12) Donald S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (Colorado Springs: Navpress, 1991), 71.
