Previous Articles in this Series
- A Good Kind of Anxiety
- How Can We Enjoy the Peace of God?
- Five Essential Practices for Overcoming Anxiety, Part 1:
Rejoice Always in the Lord - Five Essential Practices for Overcoming Anxiety, Part 2:
Practice Public Gentleness - Five Essential Practices for Overcoming Anxiety, Part 3:
Thankful Prayer
Overcoming anxiety and experiencing the peace of God doesn’t “just happen.” There are spiritual practices we must pursue in order to experience this peace. Yes, the peace of God is a gracious gift that cannot be earned. Nevertheless, God has ordained that we receive this gift to us as we pursue particular disciplines.
In the last several articles, we have learned that overcoming anxiety requires that we rejoice in Christ (v. 4), exercise gentleness toward other people (v. 5), thankfully make our requests to God (vv. 6-7), and dwell on good things (v. 8). In this final article, we will see that enjoying the peace of God also requires us to follow the apostolic word and example. This apostolic word is the gospel and its entailments, and it is given to us in Scripture.
What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
Philippians 4:9
Although we covered this point in a previous article, it bears repeating: we cannot enjoy the supernatural peace of God apart from the gospel. The gospel was of the message of “first importance” that the Philippians would have received from Paul (cf. 1 Cor 15:1-4). We cannot experience the peace of God until we are at peace with God through faith in the gospel of Christ (Rom 5:1).
This forgiveness happens all at once (Col 2:13-14), at the moment of faith, as we are declared fully righteous by God (Rom 3:25). Our justified status is unchanging and cannot be lost. Without these truths planted deeply into the depth of our souls or we won’t be able to enjoy the supernatural peace of God.
But neither can we enjoy God’s peace while resisting the entailments of the gospel, which are given in New Testament instructions. Happily, God has provided us a gospel that washes away our sins and give us directions for how to live a life worthy of that gospel. And to aid us in our pursuit of a godly life, our Father has also supplied us with examples of what such a life looks like.
Paul was an example to the early church, which is why he exhorts the Philippians to follow him as he followed Christ (1 Cor 11:1). But he wasn’t the only example. In his letter to Titus, Paul speaks of older men teaching younger men, and older women teaching younger women (Titus 2:1-6). Timothy was to be an example to the flock (1 Tim 4:12). The author of Hebrews instructed the Christians to whom he wrote to follow the example of the godly leaders among them (Heb 13:7).
Enjoying the supernatural peace of God and effectively overcoming anxiety cannot happen in the life of a professing Christian who is not immersing himself in the apostolic gospel and walking in accordance with it. And Paul knows that walking in accordance with the gospel is aided by example.
The logical question, then, is: Who are you surrounding yourself with? Are you surrounding yourself with those who will build you up in the faith, rebuke you when you are in sin, and encourage you to pursue good things? Are you placing yourself in the midst of faithful brothers and sisters who are pursuing Christian maturity and who will encourage you with the gospel and correct you when if you stray? Enjoying the peace of God requires that we walk in accordance with the truth, and we can’t do this alone.
It should be clear, then, that we can’t enjoy the peace of God apart from the local church. That’s God’s design. The practices that Paul lays out in vv. 4-9 cannot thrive without the support and godly examples of your brothers and sisters in the local church (see also Heb 3:12-15; 10:24-25). If you are away from fellowship or hopping from church to church, you probably won’t be able to enjoy the peace of God that surpasses all understanding, at least not for very long or with any kind of consistency. Typically, those who are not well-grounded in a local church tend to be anxious people.
But when we, by God’s grace rejoice in the Lord (v. 4), practice gentleness with others (v. 5), make thankful requests to God (v. 6-7), dwell on good things (v. 8), and walk in accordance with the gospel and godly example (v. 9), God will bless us with supernatural peace that far surpasses anything this world might offer: The peace that only comes from knowing that our Father is in full control of all things, that he loves us, he hears us, and he is working everything out for his glory and our good.
