(A) Introduction

Paul tells the Philippians: Do not be anxious about anything. v6. He is telling them not to worry! I have found that nothing annoys some members of our congregation more than to be told not to worry. Warren Wiersbe in his commentary on Philippians, 'Be Joyful,' has an excellent passage on this advice of Paul's. I am indebted to him for the main points of this exposition. The Greek word translated, 'anxious', means to be tugged in different directions; to be literally torn apart.

A few years ago I was on my way from Bury St Edmunds to Walthamstow in North London. I had been asked to conduct services at the Walthamstow Grace Baptist Church by my old friend, Stanley Knight. I didn't like driving in London but I had been there before and knew the way. Unfortunately I took the wrong exit off the M11 and ended up in a part of London that was quite unfamiliar to me. I found myself driving down the Romford Road with no clear idea of how to get to Walthamstow. I pulled over and got out my map of the capital whereupon some lady banged on the window of my car for reasons that remain obscure. I was anxious. I was torn apart by conflicting thoughts and emotions. I was furious for making a mistake. I began to imagine that I would arrive late for my preaching engagement. I blamed myself for making such a stupid error. I visualised getting hopelessly lost and never arriving at Walthamstow. I wondered why the women had banged on my window. Was I going down a one-way street? The word, 'worry,' is derived from the Old English meaning, 'to strangle.' That is exactly what was happening to me. I was being strangled. I was losing control, threshing about in all directions, panicking and on the point of giving up the struggle.

I needed to feel less and think more. Then I had to focus on the only thing that really mattered - getting from where I was to where I needed to be. I had a map and I must use and trust it. Finally, I could do with some help to follow the map and the road signs for the rest of my journey. I had someone I could ask to help me with the navigation. The Holy Spirit is there at need and actually, 'Navigator,' is not a bad name for him.

When I was anxious my heart had overwhelmed my mind but by the time I resumed my journey my mind was in control and with God's help I completed it successfully.

(B) Paul's promise

Paul enjoins us not to worry because it renders us useless and impotent. We can't achieve anything when we are anxious because we are not thinking straight. He also tells us not to worry because of what we can have:

(a) The peace of God, which transcends all understanding v7. This is the sense of well being that God gives that is beyond all human comprehension.

(b) A guardian of the mind and heart. He promises the Philippians that the peace that passeth understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. The sense of well being that the Holy Spirit gives to the believer protects hearts and minds. It keeps us thinking straight and delivers our minds from the tyranny of harmful emotions.

(c) The presence of God. Paul consoles the Christians at Philippi with these words: And the God of peace will be with you. v9. Christians know relief from worry when they are conscious that Jesus is near and that God, their heavenly Father, is watching over them. I calmed down and got on with my journey to Walthamstow when I trusted the Holy Spirit to be my Navigator.

I can almost hear someone say to them selves, "Paul's promises are too good to be true; I worry all the time. God has never given me the peace that passeth understanding." God does not give it like a doctor prescribing what my aunt called her, "Happy pills." God does not give something for nothing! Certain conditions have to be met. I can hear another reader muttering cynically, "I knew there was a catch." Well most things worth having usually require a bit of effort and self-discipline on our part. The peace of God is conditional upon:

(C) Right praying - but in everything, by prayer and petitioning, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Paul uses three words for prayer in this verse all of which have something to tell us:

(a) By prayer. This is prayer that acknowledges God's greatness. Jesus taught us to say, Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done. This is the right place to start - with God's power, wisdom, holiness and compassion. I do not find myself starting here naturally. I more often than not start with me. I have to make a conscious effort to start with God. It is important to commence with God; to remind ourselves that nothing is too hard for him. See Jer32v27 - "I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything to hard for me? Consider how Paul commences his prayer for the Ephesians: For this reason I kneel before the Father from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being. We need to acknowledge in our prayer life that God can use his glorious riches to do for us more than all we ask or imagine.

When I was a young man I fell in love with an attractive Christian girl. I prayed a lot about this. A habitual refrain in my idealistic prayer was that God knew what was best for both of us and that God's will be done. I did what I have rarely done so much since - acknowledged God's wisdom. The girl married someone else! However, because I had prayed the way I did, God spared me the wretchedness that often ensues when a person is disappointed in love and as the years passed I came to see that God did, indeed, know best. Many years later I fell in love again. I knew what God's will was from the start and my prayer was a very different one: "Lead me not into temptation but deliver me from evil." It was a much greater emotional struggle the second time because sometimes my prayer lacked conviction. Nevertheless it was answered.

(b) And petition. This simple means that we make our needs known to God. Paul encourages us to make any request to God. He writes in everything....present your requests before God. I certainly do follow Paul's advice in this respect and it has saved me much anxiety and heartache. On one or two occasions in my career as a schoolteacher I have been in trouble with the headmaster due, amongst other things, to my bad temper and undisciplined tongue. I probably deserved to be in trouble more often than I was! I was always asked, when summoned to appear before the head and his deputy, if I wished to bring a union representative or friend with me. I declined because I had asked God to support me. I wanted him to help me to put the situation right. On those occasions when I involved God that is just what he did. It is a pity I did not always pray for guidance and grace in tough situations. I often acted in haste during my career and repented at leisure.

(c) With thanksgiving. It is relatively easy to pray with thanksgiving after our prayers have been answered. I don't think this is what Paul meant. We need to pray with thanksgiving when things are going badly as this is an antidote to anxiety. After my father died I needed to get back into teaching. I took a temporary post in Haverhill and applied for three full-time jobs. I had three interviews in three days - all at different schools. I was turned down for the first job. I found it very difficult to pray with thanksgiving. I was in a terrible mood and right depressed. Next day I was offered a teaching post at Debenham High School. I wrote in my diary, 'Thanks be to God. I think God has made the right decision - I left it in his hands.' I can say in retrospect that God certainly did make the right decision. It is a pity I didn't show more confidence in God on the day I was rejected! I needed to be rejected at that first school to be available for the job at Debenham. In trying circumstances we need to look back over our lives and to thank God for the way he has led us hitherto. My friend and fellow elder, Edward, loves to quote in prayer from John Newton's fine but little sung hymn:

Did ever trouble yet befall And He refuse to hear thy call? And has He not His promise passed, That thou shalt overcome at last? He who has helped me hitherto Will help me all my journey through, And give me daily cause to raise New Ebenezers to His praise.

If I have a difficult visit to make or a funeral to conduct I do pray with thanksgiving. God has helped me in the past and that gives me confidence of his help in the future.

(D) Right thinking: 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. v8.

Paul is sure that we can save ourselves from useless anxiety by correct habits of thought. We need to think about:

(a) Whatever is true. This is very helpful whenever we worry about the future. We do not know what the future holds. We get anxious about what we imagine will happen in the future. This is not true. There is no way it can be true. Only God knows the future. This was Moses' problem when God asked him to go back to Egypt to free the Israelites from slavery. Moses anticipates the future, "The Israelites will want to know who sent me. They won't believe me. I won't be able to speak fluently enough." Moses was so apprehensive of anticipated difficulties and problems that he says to God, "Send someone else." I have to say, Moses was singularly articulate with his objections! He should have focused on what was true. God told him, "I will be with you." That was true. God's promises cannot be broken.

My father wasted many hours worrying about his financial situation in old age. I think he expected to die in penury. He imagined that the Government would stop paying the Old Age Pension as soon as he became eligible for it! The one thing he need never have stewed about was his material well being in retirement. Jesus summarises a truth we need to meditate: "So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."

(b) Whatever is noble, or fair, and right. I am afraid we sometimes get very anxious and troubled about what others say and think about us. I know a lady who is a very capable, intelligent, speaker. However whenever the Vicar speaks at the Women's Meeting that she runs he is very reluctant to share the service with her. The Vicar is tall and elegant and my friend is very short and, well, less elegant. The Vicar is not happy about standing alongside a person with visibly less presence than himself. Now this causes much anxiety, self-doubt and resentment in my friend. However she should not dwell on the opinions of the Vicar because they are not fair and right. She should think about the words of Paul: There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Gal4v28. There is, certainly, neither tall nor short, elegant nor inelegant, distinguished nor undistinguished in Christ Jesus. This is the truth and to think on it will keep us from dwelling on ignoble and unfair judgements.

(c) Whatever is pure, lovely and admirable. It is possible to worry about the weaknesses of our fellow Christians as they affect us. I know that insularity and partiality can cause a lot of distress. My mother wept buckets because she felt an outsider at the village church she attended where everybody else was inter-related. Another lady would go home every Sunday morning and weep because the Minister's wife had once again ignored her. Paul encourages us to be positive and to recognise good qualities in those whose conduct is liable to make us anxious. In every Christian there is something that is pure, lovely and admirable. We will be saved from a lot of dissatisfaction, frustration and misery if we concentrate on what is admirable. I was helped, for a long time, not to worry too much about Jack Finch's thoughtlessness because I remembered how hard he tried to look after his handicapped sister-in-law after his wife's death.

(d) Whatever is excellent or praiseworthy. I phoned up an old colleague a few years ago. She had been widowed for a year. I asked her how she was getting on. I said, "I expect you feel lonely." She replied, with her customary spirit, "I had 47 years of happy married life. I keep thinking about that - how fortunate I have been. I'm not going to moan to you now about how lonely I am." And she didn't. Helen kept thinking about the excellence of her long marriage and her praiseworthy husband. She thought about what made her glad and didn't allow her self to worry about being lonely.

There are plenty of Christians who worry about the state of the world. My friend Stanley said, "The world is a bad place - and, it will get worse." We can worry about the world getting worse! I have just finished reading a book by Cherrington about farming in the 1920's and 1930's. The rural poor had a dreadful time during this period. The work they did was physically demanding and monotonous. Fancy pulling out thistles all day! Crop yields were low. The labourer's diet was meagre and monotonous. Few opportunities existed for a bright youngster from a farm worker's family to better him or herself. The village cottages were over crowded and ill lit. Washday was a nightmare. In many respects the world is a far better place than it was in the early years of the 20th century.

Paul does not advocate that we bury our heads in the sand but he does urge us to adopt a positive outlook and to recognise all those aspects of life that are excellent and praiseworthy.

(E) Right living: Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me - put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. v9.

God informs the Philippians that the best way to ensure the presence of the God of peace is to practice the truth. We shall enjoy the peace that passeth understanding if we live right. The truth can be acquired by listening to a Godly preacher or observing a Godly example.

I was on holiday in North Devon a few years ago. On the Sunday I attended a Pentecostal church and the minister spoke with clarity and power on Jesus words, "Come unto me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls." Mt11v28. God is with the meek and lowly of heart and gives them peace.

One afternoon I went for a walk with my friend George. I accompanied him as he pushed an old lady in her wheel chair. Each week he takes her out and makes a fuss of her. George was setting me a good example. God gives us satisfaction, contentment and happiness in helping others.

When I was a teacher I never worried much about exam results or inspections because I knew that I was doing my best. I think if we do our best as Christians we have no cause for anxiety. We can leave success and failure to God. Whatever trials we face - if we pray right, think right and live right - the God of peace will guard and garrison our minds and hearts and give us the peace that transcends all human understanding.