In a recent article on anxiety, I argued that not all anxiety is sinful. Actually, there is a kind of godly anxiety that we should express over the spiritual and physical good of others, especially our brothers and sisters in Christ (see 1 Cor 12:25). This kind of anxiety comes from a heart of love and demonstrates that we genuinely care for other people. If we don’t express some measure of anxiety over our family members, friends, and fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, our love is likely defective.
But there are forms of anxiety that do express a lack of faith in God and are therefore sinful. When Scripture says, “Do not worry” (Matt 6:25ff) or “Be anxious for nothing,” (Phil 4:6) it is confronting our tendency to fret over our present circumstances or potential future troubles in a way that denies God’s sovereign goodness and abundant promises. And it is this kind of anxiety that is often exploited by our enemy. If Satan can incite our fretfulness, he will hinder our spiritual effectiveness.
When we are wrapped up in worry, we become spiritually weak, hesitant, and fearful. When our minds are overcome with fear about the future, we are tempted to neglect our responsibilities and other important spiritual disciplines, like biblical meditation, worship, prayer, service, and evangelism. We can fritter away our time on entertainment out of a desire to sooth our anxiety or ignore the source of it. We can also become distracted and unable to focus our minds on the task at hand, thus becoming less productive. Anxiety is a serious spiritual issue.
Thankfully, God has given us multiple texts in the Old and New Testament that are designed to help us overcome sinful anxiety. We are told to not fret over evil doers, because God will take care of them at the right time (Ps 37:1; 9). We are told to not worry about life’s essentials, because God is happy to provide his people with everything we need to live and serve him (Matt 6:25ff). When we are challenged for our faith in Christ, we are not to be anxious but trust God to help us answer our accusers at the right time and in the right way (Luke 12:11-12).
In his letter to the Philippians, Paul introduces his readers to a precious Christian truth: those who are in Christ can experience something called the supernatural “peace of God.” In the following articles, we will consider five essential practices for enjoying the peace of God from Philippians 4:4-9.
Actively Pursuing God’s Supernatural Gift of Peace
You might object to the idea that our enjoyment of the peace of God requires five practices. “Isn’t the peace of God supposed to waft over me after I ask God for it,” you might say, “like the sweet aroma of chocolate-chip cookies baking in the oven?” The idea is that our enjoyment of God’s peace is generally passive: we ask for peace, and God gives it.
This approach to overcoming anxiety is a common one. When some Christians think about battling their anxiety, they often think exclusively of prayer as the solution to their troubled minds. Prayer is crucial, but God has not designed that we would experience the peace that surpasses all understanding apart from other vital practices. In other words, we don’t experience the supernatural peace of God by merely praying for it and waiting passively for it to fall upon us. No, God intends for other spiritual disciplines along with prayer to be the means by which he grants us his peace.
Each of these practices are essential to overcoming anxiety and enjoying the peace of God. Some of us, I’m afraid, read, memorize, and even apply verse 6 without giving heed to the surrounding context.
[D]o not be anxious about anything, 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 your minds in Christ Jesus (Phil 4:6).
In fact, the peace of God is the theme of both paragraphs—verses 4-7 and verses 8-9. Paul concludes the latter section in verse 9 by telling the Philippians to “practice” the instructions he just gave them. The result of their obedience? “The God of peace will be with you” (v. 9). The way Paul structures these two paragraphs, therefore, shows us that our experience of the peace of God cannot be divorced from the other instructions in this passage, starting in verse 4. If we are going to overcome anxiety by God’s grace, we must put into practice the practices he provides in verses 4-9. We will consider those spiritual practices in the following articles.
Distinguishing Between the Peace of God and Peace with God
Before we do, however, we need to address a small yet important word—a preposition that make a world of difference in how we understand Philippians 4:4-9. When we talk about enjoying God’s supernatural peace, we are not talking about enjoying peace with God. Peace with God is not achieved through any ongoing practices that we might perform. Peace with God is only achieved through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ who bore God’s wrath in our place. When we receive this free gift by faith, our peace with God is established for all eternity (Rom 5:1), and this objective status cannot change.
The peace that Paul is talking about in Philippians 4:7 and 9 is a supernatural sense that your heavenly Father is in full control of all things and that he will do all that is necessary for your ultimate good. Although our enjoyment of the peace of God is rooted in the truth of God’s Word and the work that Christ accomplished on the cross, it is subjective. That is, our experience of God’s supernatural peace ebbs and flows throughout our earthly pilgrimage.
As we will learn in the following articles, the peace of God is something that Christians—those who are already at peace with God—must diligently pursue by implementing the practices that Paul provides in Philippians 4:4-9. While peace with God is accomplished wholly by God apart from our participation, we experience the supernatural peace of God when we obey Paul’s instruction by the power of his Spirit.
But this peace of God is possible only because we have peace with God. Indeed, a person cannot really overcome anxiety in their life until they’ve dealt with the deepest cause of their anxiety, namely, that without Christ, God is at war with them. Only the gospel can solve the deepest cause of our anxiety. Then and only then can we address lesser causes of anxiety.
This truth is vital. Our subjective, day-to-day experience of inner-peace, the peace of God—what we will be considering over the next several articles—must be grounded in the objective, immovable, never-changing peace with God that was secured for all time in the death and resurrection of Christ. Because Christ has fulfilled all righteousness in our place and borne the wrath of God in our place, we are no longer at war with the living God. He views us as having kept his law perfectly—not because we did, but because we are united to Christ who pleased the Father in everything he said, did, thought, and felt (Rom 3:21-26; 5:12-21).
Conclusion
Over the next several articles, we will meditate on five practices that will enable us to experience the supernatural peace of God. We will see that in our quest for the supernatural peace of God, we must (1) rejoice always in the Lord; (2) pursue public gentleness; (3) resist anxiety through thankful prayer; (4) dwell on good things; and (5) follow the apostolic word and example. My hope is that through the diligent and Spirit-enabled application of these practices, you will consistently experience God’s supernatural peace.
