Wednesday AM Bible Study; May 7, 2025 from Philippians 4:6-7

Theme: When we bring our concerns to God by prayer through Jesus, He guards our hearts and minds with Jesus’ own peace.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

Click HERE for the livestream archive of this Bible Study. ^[1]

Click HERE for the audio version of this Bible Study. ^[2]

In Philippians 4, the apostle Paul taught his readers how to put the experience of joy in Christ to work in daily Christian living. In our last study, we saw how this joy is to express itself in the life of a believer ‘externally’. In Philippians 4-5, he wrote,

Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand (Philippians 4:4-5).

But in verses 6-9, we see how this joy is to express itself internally in the life of a believer. And Paul begins in verses 6-7 by teaching his readers how to experience that joy in a way that fulfills one of the greatest internal needs we—who live in this dark and difficult world—could have. He wrote,

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus (vv. 6-7).

To experience freedom from worry—and instead to experience peace—is one of the greatest needs there is. It has been stated by some professionals in the field of mental health that psychiatric hospitals could be almost completely emptied—and their patients go on to live happy and productive lives—if they could be set free from anxiety. And this passage shows us how to do just that very thing—to be made free from anxiety.

* * * * * * * * * *

Before we explore this passage, it’s important to clarify things. The thing it teaches can be seriously misapplied if we’re not clear on what is meant by being “anxious”.

The word that Paul uses in this passage is merimnaō. And that’s a word that can mean either something good, or something bad, or something completely neutral … all depending on the context. For example, this word is used to describe something good in Philippians 2:20. There, the apostle Paul wrote that he wanted to send Timothy to minister to the Philippian Christians because, “I have no one like-minded, who will sincerely care for your state.” And in that case, the word speaks of a good and appropriate care that Paul and Timothy had for their brothers and sisters in Christ. This same word is also used in a neutral way in 1 Corinthians 7:32-33. Paul wrote to urge his unmarried brothers and sisters in Christ not to be too hasty in getting married again. During the times in which they were living, there were several trials and hardships; and he told them, “I want you to be without care.” They could have ‘concerns’ about things that might be either appropriate or distracting—neither necessarily good nor bad; and he didn’t want them to be unduly distracted. But in this morning’s passage, this same word is being used to describe a definitely bad thing—a thing to be avoided. It’s being used to describe a “care” or “concern” that is out of place and inordinate—a kind of “care” for things that takes a burden on one’s self that ought only to be borne by God. The best way to translate the word in this case would be as “worry”. It’s the same word that the Lord Jesus used in the Sermon on the Mount;

“Therefore I say to you, do not worry 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? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

“So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble (Matthew 6:25-34).

Most modern Bible translations of this passage have translated the Greek word by the English word “anxious”. But we must understand that carefully. Some people suffer a kind of ‘anxiety’ that’s mainly physiological in nature and that’s often outside of their willful control—a kind of ‘anxiety’ that involves biochemical imbalances that are best diagnosed and treated by a doctor. And that’s not the kind of “anxiety” that Paul is talking about in our passage—although what he says in this passage could do much to help.

The kind of ‘anxiety’ that Paul is speaking of—that is, anxiety as ‘worry’—is a behavioral practice that’s the product of a willful choice. It’s a habit of thinking that shows itself in such ways as being inordinately ‘concerned’ about things that are outside of our influence—fretting about them as if God did not exist—being fearful and apprehensive in our imaginations about things that might or might not happen—taking a burden of ‘care’ or ‘concern’ upon ourselves that was meant to be borne only by God alone. It’s a habit of thinking that doesn’t keep our heavenly Father in His proper place in our thinking, and that thus robs us of the peace and joy that God wants us to experience in Christ.

And as this passage shows us, when we bring our concerns to God by prayer through Jesus, He guards our hearts and minds with Jesus’ own peace. The problem of ‘anxiety’ becomes solved to the glory of God.

* * * * * * * * * *

So then; what does Paul tell his readers about ‘worry’? He speaks of (1) a thing to stop doing, (2) a thing to do instead, (3) the way this new thing is to be done, and (4) the results that are promised if they do it. First notice …

1. THE THING TO STOP DOING.

Paul writes, “Be anxious for nothing …” In other words, as an act of our will in obedience to God’s command, we’re not to worry about anything.

Think back to what Jesus said: “… do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.” No less of an authority than the Son of God Himself gave us, as His followers, complete permission—and even the command—to stop worrying about the basic things of life that everyone else in this world worries about. Our Father will take care of those things for us. It was this wonderful command from our Lord that Paul was affirming to his readers.

In fact, it gets even more wonderful when you look a little closer at the apostle Paul’s words. In the way that he puts it in our passage this morning, he gives emphasis to the things that we might try to worry about; and literally says, “In not one thing be anxious.” Not only are we to cease worrying about the basic things of life—food, shelter, clothing; but we are not to worry about anything at all—period!

How can it be that we are not to worry about anything? It’s because of the continually abiding presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you remember that Paul wrote these words in a prison cell? He wasn’t absolutely certain whether or not he would live or die. And yet, with complete confidence in the Lord, he could write,

For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain (Philippians 1:19-21).

‘Worry’ or ‘anxiety’ would be completely inappropriate for anyone who is abiding in a close relationship of love with the almighty Son of God. And so, because we’re commanded to walk in constant fellowship with Him, we’re to be—and indeed, are set free to be—’anxious for nothing’.

Now; when Paul wrote those words, he wasn’t merely telling his readers to ‘not start worrying’. He wrote them in a particular grammatical form (a prohibition in the present tense imperative) that suggested that his readers were already in a habit of worry … and that they were commanded to stop. But the apostle Paul rarely ever tells his readers to stop doing something without also telling them what to do instead—replacing a bad habit with a good one. And so, as we read on, we see …

2. THE THING TO DO INSTEAD.

After giving the command, “Be anxious for nothing”, he then went on to write, “but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” This is crucial in defeating the habit of worry in our lives. In order to cease doing what God says not to do, we must be intentional in doing what He says to do instead.

Notice first who it is that we’re to let our requests be known to. We’re to tell them to God our Father. This isn’t saying that we shouldn’t tell other people about our concerns. It’s often helpful to share our burdens with others. But the Person we must share them with first is our heavenly Father. Jesus told us, “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32). We can go right to Him for our concerns; knowing that He’s the one who is able to give us everything that we need.

And second, notice that Paul said to ‘let’ our requests ‘be made known’ to Him. We’re to actually and actively ‘tell’ them to Him. We might wonder why it is that we would have to tell Him when He already knows all things; and certainly one reason is because He commands us to. But it’s also because doing so keeps us dependent upon Him. That’s why the apostle Peter wrote; “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him”—using the same word we have been studying and saying, “for He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:6-7).

Now; the apostle Paul not only told his readers what to do instead of worrying, but he also told them …

3. THE WAY THIS IS TO BE DONE.

He told his readers, “in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving,” to let their requests be made known to God. And here we see four important points.

First, we’re to let our requests be made known to God “in everything”. That means that, in every situation, in every circumstance, with respect to anything that we might be inclined to ‘worry’ about, we are to make our requests known to God. We’re not to think of anything as either too big or too small to talk to Him about. If we consider that there’s even just one little area of our lives that we don’t need to talk to God about today, that one little area will most certainly become a seedbed for worry tomorrow. The only way to get out of the habit of worrying about things we shouldn’t worry about is by getting into the habit of turning every concern over to our heavenly Father consistently.

Second, we’re to come to God “by prayer”. And what Paul means here is not so much the ‘act’ of praying as the ‘manner’ in which we approach God in our prayers. So often, we come in a panicky state of mind, we end up forgetting that our heavenly Father is sovereign, that He already knows all things, that He is deeply in love with us, and that He is wonderfully able to meet our every need long before we even know to ask about them. We should always begin making our requests known to Him by first worshiping Him for who He is. This is a great way to defeat worry at its very beginning point.

Third, Paul says that we’re to come to God not only by prayer but also by “supplication”—that is, by specific statements of request concerning what we desire from Him. Far too often, we come to God with vague generalities when what He wants from us is clear specifics. He wants us to use the minds that He gave us, think carefully about who He is, consider what it is that He wants in the situations we face, adjust our concerns so that they match His own, and then ask specifically for what we see that He Himself wants to do. Generalities in prayer often come from timidness in our asking; and such timidness leads to vagueness in our expectations; and vagueness in our expectations leads to worry over the outcome. We do much to rid ourselves of worry when we get specific in our requests to God. He’s our loving Father! We don’t ever have to be shy about telling Him exactly what it is that we want!

And finally, Paul mentioned the all-important matter of giving God thanks. He wrote, “in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” To offer Him our thanks at the end of our requests means that we believe that He has welcomed us into His presence as His own dear children, that He has heard our specific requests, and that He will do what needs to be done about them in order to bring about our good and His glory. An attitude of thanksgiving drives worry out of the picture; because you really can’t “thank” God for the answer He gives and “worry” about the outcome at the same time.

So; in these words, we’re told what not to do, what to do instead, and how it is that we’re to do it. And finally, notice …

4. THE RESULT THAT’S PROMISED IF WE DO IT IN THE WAY WE’RE TOLD.

Paul wrote, “and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” The peace that we’ll experience is a peace that only He can give. It’s the peace that is the gracious “fruit” of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22). It’s the Spirit’s endowment to us of the very peace of Jesus Himself who said, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27).

And because it is the peace of Jesus Himself, it’s a peace that the people of this world cannot possibly understand. It’s a peace “which surpasses all understanding”. It’s a peace that doesn’t make sense to the people of this world; because it doesn’t depend on any of the changing circumstances of this world but rather on the unchanging character and goodness and power of our heavenly Father. It’s the kind of peace that is promised in Isaiah 26:3, “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.” It’s the kind of peace that unbelieving people will see; and that will move them to ask us for a reason for the hope that is in us (1 Peter 3:15).

This is a peace that truly conquers our tendency toward worry by actually ‘guarding’ our hearts and our minds. Our “hearts” here speaks of our inner man, and our “mind” speaks of the processes of our thinking. And so often, we worry because our inner man is in turmoil and because we thus fall into a downward spiral in our thinking. But the peace of God, as it were, stands as a “sentry” to our hearts and thoughts that stops anything from getting in that removes us from our trust in God. God not only gives us the peace of Christ, but graciously keeps us in that peace.

* * * * * * * * * *

Now; before we end our consideration of this passage, we should carefully note the closing words of Paul. They’re the words that set this whole matter in its proper context—that all of this is only possible “through Christ Jesus.” The peace of God that’s being promised to us in this morning’s passage cannot be ours in any other way, because it’s describing the experience of Jesus’ own peace in our lives that can only come through a personal relationship with Him by faith.

The promise that’s made in this passage is only for someone who has placed his or her faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord. Apart from a faith in what Jesus has done for us, we’re in a state of condemnation before God because of our sins—and that’s a completely justifiable reason for anxiety! But God sent His Son to die on the cross for us to pay for those sins; and by placing our faith in Jesus’ sacrifice for us, we then have peace with God. There’s no longer any condemnation. And once we have peace with God through Jesus, we can then freely experience God’s gracious gift of the very peace of Jesus.

AE