Latest / HBCWestminster / 12.29.19 Philippians 4 Pastor Nathan Anderson

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12.29.19 Philippians 4 Pastor Nathan Anderson · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  Well, this morning we are going to be in Philippians chapter 4, and it is my desire to speak to you guys this morning on prayer. Prayer is something that is vitally important to the Christian, and yet often it doesn't hold necessarily the most prominent place.
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  in our lives. And as I considered what should we speak on as we come to a close in 2019 and we look forward into 2020, and I thought about what is it going to look like for us? What does 2020 look like for us as a group, as a church, and as families, and as a community? There are a lot of things, really, that we don't know about what 2020 is going to have. We don't even know if we're going to see 2021, right?
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  We don't know what tomorrow holds. There are many things, many situations that we're going to come in contact with in 2020 that we don't know yet. But as I think about this, there are two things that I know with all certainty about how God works and will work in 2020. If the Lord is going to use Highland Baptist Church...
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  our church, our community church here in Westminster in 2020 will most certainly be through His Word and through prayer. Right? If we are going to follow Christ, then we have to know Him, we have to know His Word, and we have to communicate with Him. Our study will take place mainly, as I said, in Philippians. We're going to be mainly in Philippians 4, 4-7.
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  We're going to ask three questions of prayer this morning as we look at this passage. We're going to look at what is prayer, what does prayer do, and what are prayer's benefits. What is prayer, what does prayer do, and what are prayer's benefits. Now this thing called prayer is one of the more incredible things that the Lord has gifted to the believer through his sacrifice on the cross.
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  I understand that in the life of a Christian there are commands and applications of promises which can at times feel distant and difficult to understand both their impact and their purpose, such as baptism. Why are we commanded to baptize? What does it do? I don't know exactly. I know it's an act of obedience. I know God calls us to do it. We are commanded to do it. Tithing. Other than supporting the church,
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  If God owns all things and needs nothing, why do we tithe? Why are we commanded to do that? Communion. I know it's about remembering, but I remember. So why do we do it? There are many of these things, when we look at the surface of them, they can look odd even to us or kind of peculiar. And I think prayer can be one of those things, one of those commands, one of those promises.
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  that can appear peculiar looking at a distance. We've heard it over and over and over again that we ought to pray, that we ought to pray without ceasing, that God answers prayer, and that we should make petitions known to God, and that prayer is powerful. We've heard these things over and over again, right? But I think if we're honest with ourselves, prayer can, at times, feel much the same as sitting in a room and talking to a door.
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  So as we begin, I understand that we all might come from very different places in our understanding of prayer, and might even come this morning with a bit of a coldness to it, feeling as though God hasn't answered some prayers that we have asked of Him. I believe this is why our study this morning is so important. This is why I want to ask those three questions. What is prayer? What does it do? And what are its benefits? Let's read our passage.
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  And we will pray and begin. Philippians chapter 4, verse 4 says this, Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand. Do 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,
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  will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Let's pray. Father in heaven, God, we need you every hour.
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  God, you are indeed the great I am as we sang this morning and as we pray, as we come to you this morning, we ask your Holy Spirit to illuminate your scripture, your words to us that we might be directed, guided, and encouraged and even challenged this morning to consider what area in prayer in our lives it needs to gain prominence. Lord, help us.
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  to see your word and your truth and your promises for what they are. Guide my words this morning, Lord, and guide our thoughts. May we commune with you this morning, in your name. Amen. E.M. Bounds is a man who had a very high regard for prayer, its place in a Christian's life and the impact that it can and should have. And of prayer, Mr. Bounds says this.
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  And he says, never used to the full measure.
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  of honoring God. E.M.'s words speak to the heart and passion he had for this powerful and awesome gift given to each of us as believers. This thing called prayer is truly one of the many inexhaustible blessings that the Lord has bestowed on us, the church, one that when practiced creates an immense appreciation for the awesomeness of our God and his goodness and grace to us.
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  But this only comes as we more deeply understand that we have access to this by the way of the mediator, Jesus Christ, and the power and words gifted to us by the Holy Spirit. And because of these things, we have access to commune with the creator God of the universe. My hope this morning is that as we answer those questions, what is prayer, what does it do, and what are its benefits?
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  That we would gain a greater appreciation and understanding of this awesome gift given to us, the church, so that what E.M. said of the church in his day is not true of Highland Baptist Church. So that we would understand and appreciate and experience the power gifted to us in prayer.
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  Let's first look at what is prayer. Verse 6 says, do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, he says, let your requests be made known to God. Prayer, in its most basic definition, is simply talking with God. Philippians 4, 6 says, let your requests be made known to God. It's speaking to God, talking to Him.
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  That's the most basic definition. It's just us sharing our thoughts with the Lord. But as we look closer at this passage and consider this question more thoroughly, we find some additional answers must be part of our definition of what prayer is. Paul, as he wrote to the Philippian church, did not just say to pray about it or just to talk to God about it. Paul knew experientially that prayer was more than just that. He says prayer, supplication, and thanksgiving.
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  Paul knew that praying involved all three of these elements because for us to pray is actually to worship God. Now, why would I say that from these three elements that prayer involves worship, prayer, supplication, and thanksgiving? Because if we are praying, we are expressing a trust in God, who He is.
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  and that he actually has the power to act into the situation that we are praying for. Worship, as we know, involves adoration, which holds in it that our thoughts are about God, his awesomeness, and his sufficiency. This then is to say that as we pray, we are confessing our faith, our trust, and belief that God is worthy and powerful enough to be prayed to.
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  If he's not powerful enough to be prayed to, why pray? If we take these things together, prayer then is communication with God because we have a right view of him, which is an act of worship. You see, we must see the greatness and majesty of God if we are to pray. We must see this because he must be a God big enough to answer. However, the reality is often, I think,
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  for us, in spite of the reality of how great and awesome our God is, we can often find ourselves in haste running into the throne room of God and throwing our asks down quickly and then leaving, as if staying was some kind of inconvenience to us. I know I myself often act as my kids do, coming back from school or camping where I dump my stuff off and run off.
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  I don't spend time, enough time with him. We ought to approach his throne calmly, in no rush, in deep reverence and adoration for the access granted to us by the blood of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit. So as we ask again, what is prayer? Prayer is talking with God in reverence for who he is and what he has given us. Prayer is adoration and expression of our view of God.
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  and his sufficiency and power to answer. And it is then supplication, requests, petitions, as stated here by Paul. Make your requests known to God. The word that Paul uses when he says prayer, by prayer, he says, but in everything by prayer, that word for prayer holds in it the idea of begging.
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  Now that is not to say that we have to beg God for some answer, right? We don't stand and beg God as a beggar does, but rather it's a view of who He is and who we are. His station is above ours, and thus He has the power and ability, as Paul says in Philippians 4.19, to supply every need of ours. Thus, prayer recognizes His position and ours.
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  As we are someone who has nothing, asks of one who has all, we fervently petition our loving Heavenly Father. So prayer is above all things. Focus also on thankfulness.
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  If we have the mind of chapter 2 and 3 of Philippians that Paul presents as Christ as the example of humility, and then as he goes on and he goes in chapter 3 and he identifies the fact that he has much to boast about, and yet he boasts about nothing except for Christ, Paul in these two chapters, 2 and 3, portrays humility. He portrays humility, a humble Savior and humble followers. And he does so.
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  I believe, to show us that humility breeds thankfulness, much as prayer shows us that God's station is above ours, and we beseech him who has all as ones who have nothing. We come with humility, and because of that, we have thankfulness. Thus, as we entertain this question, what is prayer?
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  I'll give you guys a final definition of what that is. Prayer is talking with our righteous and good Heavenly Father of whom we offer worship as we bring our requests to Him in humble but expectant joy and thanksgiving because we pray to a God who can act and will and hears us. That is what prayer is. It is talking with our righteous and good Heavenly Father.
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  of whom we offer worship as we bring our requests to him in humble but expectant joy and thanksgiving. Next, we need to consider what are the active ingredients or what does prayer do? What does prayer do? As we seek to answer this question, let's look at Philippians again. As he says in verse 6, do not be anxious about anything. Don't be anxious.
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  Paul says in verse 6, and 1 Peter 5, 7 says, casting all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you. In Matthew 6, verses 25-34, Christ tells the disciples not to be anxious, not to worry, because the Heavenly Father knows everything they need and has created it all. He knows what you need. Paul says, don't be anxious. Peter says, cast all your anxiety on Him.
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  And Christ says, don't worry. Now, as I say that, as we read that verse, as we read that statement, do not be anxious, the question really is how. You're sitting there, I'm sure, some of you are sitting there with the many life situations that you have running through your head right now, and you're saying, yeah, Nathan, I've heard this before. I've heard that we're not so supposed to be anxious as Christians. I've heard it. That's great. Good. Thanks for telling me.
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  But you have no idea what's in front of me. You have no idea the situations that I have. My family is broken. Maybe your father was abusive. And the holidays just remind you of those things. I have no idea. You might be saying, I have no idea how I'm going to pay rent next month because Christmas wiped me out trying to bless my kids. My son or daughter has rejected the Lord and I don't actually have any idea where they are.
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  My work is thinking about moving to another state and they told me I have to choose to move or lose my job. Or you might be sitting there feeling like one more fight with your spouse might lead to divorce. You might be saying, you stand up here, Nathan, you stand up there and say, don't be anxious. That's nice, but you don't know my life. I really have a ton to be anxious about. So how?
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  How can we not be anxious? Or how and why specifically does prayer remove anxiety? Prayer, as we just looked at, brings us into a right view of the Almighty God of whom we worship as we pray because He is powerful enough to act. As we enter into prayer, we become utterly aware of the reality, I believe, that Matthew chapter 6 presents to us. I'm going to go over there. I'm going to read a few verses.
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  Matthew chapter 6, Christ is talking. Verses 25 and 26 say this,
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  nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And then verse 30, But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Verse 34 says this, Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.
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  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. So I thought about this. I thought about what Christ speaks of in 6 and this call for us not to be anxious. I started to consider, why do we worry? Why do we get anxious about things? Our anxiety, I think, comes when we meet a situation of which we are uncertain of the outcome.
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  That can span a huge distance in the severity of that situation. It can range from me being in the store with my kids and them suddenly starting to throw a fit and me not having any idea where that's going to end. How severe are we going to get in this thing? And then also thinking about what are other people going to think of me as a parent as my child throws a fit in the store. But it can also range all the way to more serious...
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  situations, much more life-altering situations, such as hearing that you've recently been diagnosed with cancer, you're being downsized at work, or a beloved family member has passed away or even is headed to jail. These cause anxiety because we don't know the outcome, right? We're uncertain of what's going to happen. When the many situations life throws at us come,
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  I know this is true of me. I can often get distracted with the trees and forget who made the forest. So looking at Matthew 6, what is Christ doing as he calls for the people not to be anxious, not to worry? What is he giving to them? What does he give to us this morning? He gives us perspective. Perspective.
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  If God takes care of these animals of whom he did not die for, how much more will he care for and provide for us? Perspective. As we meet God in the throne room, as he invites us to present our requests to him, as we in adoration for who he is and what he has given to us, consider how majestic and powerful and sufficient our God, who is the creator of all things,
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  As we enter into that, there is a natural response. As we have a right perspective of who our Heavenly Father is, there is a natural response which wells up in each one of us, and that is trust. You see, as we believe the truth of who God is, we well up in our inner beings with trust for Him because He is trustworthy. As Psalms says so often, He is steadfast.
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  Trust which then can and does remove anxiety from our hearts, from our spirits, because God is in control. This comes as we allow the perspective Christ offers us in Matthew 6 to flood into our thoughts that we have a God who is good and who is powerful enough to act and He loves us. We then begin to grow in our desire to sit unhurriedly in the throne room with our Savior.
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  It becomes not a dumping off of our stuff, but a conversation filled with humble adoration and love for a Heavenly Father whom, as 1 Peter 5.7 says, cares. He cares for you and me. What better place when the troubles of life come than sitting at the feet of our Savior?
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  So what does prayer do? It removes anxiety through a right view of our God, who is powerful and able to act because he is the God of all creation. And he will act because he loves us. Recently, well, a year ago, I got a call from my sister up in Montana. So I was thinking about...
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  This about the anxiety, about the realities of the situations that we come in contact with. Watching my sister and brother-in-law go through this situation that I was made aware of last year really connected deeply with how God can remove anxiety in the most anxious of situations. Last year, about a year and a month ago, my brother-in-law got news that he had cancer.
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  It was very, very sudden. In fact, they rushed him down because he needed surgery almost immediately. He had had pain and had been ignoring it, and by the time they got in there and got to him, they said that if he had ignored it for even a couple more weeks, it was very possible he would have passed away. So the situation was very, very dire, very serious.
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  So Bethany called me and went up and stayed with them at the hospital for a few days. And as he prepared for surgery, I got to watch.
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  my brother-in-law go through one of the more disruptive things that we can have happen in our lives, this diagnosis of cancer, this uncertainty. The doctors really don't know. They didn't know if they were going to be able to save him. They didn't know what things were going to look like for him. They didn't know how much they were going to have to take out in order to try and save him, if they were going to be able to save him. And I got to watch my brother-in-law as he is going through this each and every time.
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  Every doctor who walked in, every person who walked into that room knew that he believed with all certainty that God was in control, that he loved him, and that he could take him or not take him. And it was fine because God loved him and he had saved him and it was going to be okay. He said over and over and over again, he said, you know, the Lord could take me. He said, I don't think he's done with me yet.
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  But I could be wrong. I could be wrong. The Lord amazingly has, through the doctor's work and through chemotherapy and all those things, praise God, he is cancer-free at this point. But even though the outcome is that, which is a huge praise, I am thankful, I love my brother-in-law, even without that, he was prepared.
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  He had no anxiety. He had no worry because he knew God was in control and he loved him. That is an example, I believe, of how the Lord can and does remove anxiety in all of our situation if we have a right view of him. If we truly believe he is who he says he is. Faithful, steadfast, and powerful. Lastly, prayer...
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  removes anxiety, but what are some of the benefits? What are some of the benefits of prayer? Jump with me to Philippians 4, 7. Philippians 4, 7, and it says, In the peace of God, it says, As we let our requests be made known to God, that the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds.
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  in Christ Jesus. This word Paul uses for peace in Philippians 4.7 is the same word used in Acts 9.31. Now you may wonder why I'm referencing Acts 9.31, which actually doesn't have anything to do with prayer, but it does speak of peace. Why would that be significant in the context of what we're talking about this morning?
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  Would you guys remember what Acts chapter 9 is? Acts chapter 9 is the conversion of Saul, right? He has converted, he has seen Christ on the road to Damascus, and now he is actually trying to come and be part of the early church. The early church is like, no, we remember what you were doing just a couple days ago. You were actually on the road to go kill some of us, to persecute us. We don't trust you.
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  So there's this continued contention. Barnabas stands up and he stands for Paul and vouches for Paul and says that the church can trust him. And so then based on Barnabas' statement, the church says, okay, and they welcome Paul in. And then in verse 31, after this has happened, it says, so the church had peace and was being built up. This means...
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  that the church was at rest. The Lord had taken Saul and the church, which were at odds to say the least. In fact, they were at war. Paul was at war with the church. The Lord had taken these which were at odds and had made peace with them. Peace with them. This, I believe, brothers and sisters, is an incredible...
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  of what happens for us internally as we seek God, as we pray to Him. The anxiety which comes as we meet these uncertain times and events in our lives seeks to take away the peace and comfort which the Lord offers. The enemy wants to seek and destroy. But through prayer, we can and will bring about... But prayer...
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  can and will bring about trust in our God because it comes from our right understanding of Him. And it will then bring about peace and comfort, just as it did for the early church, which had been at war with Saul. Think about that picture, that turmoil that Saul and the church were in. That is so true of us.
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  When we meet these times, right? When we come into a situation that we don't know what's going to happen, that turmoil, it's there, right? We feel it, that uncertainty. But through prayer, God says, as we make our requests known to him, he will give us peace. The enemy desires to take the peace and comfort of the believer away. But through prayer, that war is calmed. We are brought.
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  to a peace which only God can give. Prayer brings about peace as it removes anxiety and brings about trust in our God who is powerful, powerful. Another benefit of prayer is that we are guarded. We are guarded. Philippians 4.7 again says,
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  In Christ Jesus. Philippians 4.7 tells us that as we pray, God is guarding our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus. You might ask, guarded? Guarded from what? Why and how? Why do we need to be guarded? 2 Thessalonians 3.3 says, He will establish you.
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  and guard you against the evil one. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one. In Isaiah 52.12, God says, And you shall not go in flight, for the Lord will go before you. And then it says,
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  Brothers and sisters, we have a guard in front and a guard on the rear. God is guarding us on all sides. This idea of the rear guard presented in Isaiah
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  is one of gathering. As the armies would go forward, those left behind would be gathered. The rear guard would gather them up and bring them back into formation so that the rear was protected. They would do so, and they would fortify the rear front so that the leader, the commander who was charging forward, would not have to look back and worry.
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  Now here is the amazing picture that Isaiah presents to us in Isaiah 52.12, is that God is going in front and behind. If we have the God of all creation in the front and in the rear, do we have anything to worry about? Will he not supply all that we need in every situation? If we take Philippians 4.7 and 2 Thessalonians 3.3 and Isaiah 52.12 together,
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  Allow them to answer the guarded from what and why and how question. We are guarded from the evil one. How? We are guarded on all sides by God. Why? And for that, we go to 1 Peter 5.8. 1 Peter 5.8 tells us that our enemy is prowling around like a roaring lion seeking to devour us.
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  seeking to devour us, yet God has made a way for us to be guarded, to be protected on all sides, on all fronts, through the awesome power of prayer. So when Paul is telling us that as we pray in communion with God, we are guarded, he is telling us that we don't need to worry because the Lord is our defense against all.
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  of the enemy's attacks. All of the enemy's attacks. This again is part of what brings about peace in the believer's heart because we know that we are in the hands of our Heavenly Father and as we pray, we remind ourselves of this truth. We are guarded. We are guarded. God desires and does offer us peace. He's given us access to
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  His throne room through His Son, Jesus Christ. And because of this, we don't need to be anxious. So what is prayer? What does it do? What are its benefits? Prayer is the Christian's way of communicating with God. We pray to praise God and thank Him and tell Him how much we love Him. We pray to enjoy His presence and tell Him what is going on in our lives.
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  Because He wants us to. He desires us to do so. We pray to make requests and seek guidance and ask wisdom of the Creator God. God loves this exchange with us. God loves His children. He loves each one of us. As I think about this, I can't help but think about that picture of Christ and His disciples trying to push those little kids away.
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  All the while Christ says, no, no, no, bring them close. Bring them close. That's who we are. We're his children. He wants us close. Prayer brings us close. The Lord loves this exchange with his children just as we love the exchange with the children he's given us. Too often we lose sight of how simple and yet majestically powerful prayer is and is really supposed to be. I know this is true of me. There was years ago when...
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  Carla, we have three kids. I don't know if you guys know that or not, but we have Lucy, Jane, and Oren. Lucy and Jane, with both of those pregnancies, Carla had to be on bed rest at different points. She had complications each time. And so with Oren, we decided we were going to be really, really careful, or she was going to be really careful. I didn't do anything.
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  She wasn't going to drink caffeine. She was going to drink tons of water. She was going to be very, very careful because she didn't want to get on bed rest. She didn't want to have any issues. And so she had been really, really careful through all of her pregnancy. And actually with Oren, it had gone far better with him than with both of the girls. She had had no complications. It had gone amazingly. So much so, when she got pregnant with Oren, we had kind of always talked about only having three.
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  But as things progressed through our pregnancy with him, it was going so well, we both kind of were like, it does feel kind of weird just to stop at three, just to be done. And so we started to pray, and we said, Lord, just make it really clear. Just make it really clear if we're supposed to have more after this. And so we continued on, and we went and...
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  checked out the hospital where he was going to be born and got the tour and all of that stuff and started talking more and more about the possibility of having more kids because things had just been going so well. Well, throughout this process, we had shared with our oldest, Lucy, that mommy had had issues, right? That she had had issues with both of the pregnancies. She had to go on bed rest. And so we were going to be praying for Oren. We're going to be praying for him through...
• 39:01
  all of this. And so Lucy had been faithfully, just faithfully praying for him. And her prayer at that young age was just simple, that God would make him big and strong. That was her prayer over and over and over again. Well, he was born when I was at my previous job, and I was sitting in a meeting in a conference room, and I got a call from Carla, and I didn't
• 39:34
  She didn't usually call me, and so I figured I better take this. So I answered it, and her water broke suddenly. And we were in the middle of selling and buying a house at this particular time, trying to get it done before he was born. And she said, my water broke. I've got to go to the hospital right away.
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  what usually was about a 30-minute drive, I think I did him 15, got home. We hitched a ride to the hospital. They tried desperately. They shot her with all kinds of stuff, you know, steroids and all that, trying to make sure that he got a few extra things, trying to slow her down, but it was to no avail eventually. They just said, this is going to happen.
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  And then the nurse started talking to me about, he was going to be seven and a half weeks early. And so she started talking to me about all of these things that were probable in his future that he could.
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  have because he was coming so early. He's probably going to have hearing aids. He's probably going to have these things and all of this stuff. And it's just coming. And they say, well, also, we're going to have to do an emergency C-section because he's so young. We can't risk him being birthed normally. And so they whisk Carl off. They finish talking to me. I sign all the fun papers.
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  Get in there, and they won't let me look behind the curtain. They say, you just stay with her head. And they had prepared us for all kinds of possible outcomes at this point, because it was pretty early. He was born, and as they began to check him out, he was breathing on his own, which was a huge...
• 41:43
  yea, God, and then they kept checking him out, and the nurses kept saying, every nurse we met along the way, the nurses just kept saying, we just can't believe how strong his lungs are. We can't believe how big he is. He had to stay a short while in the NICU in order for him to learn to eat by himself and control his temperature. That was it.
• 42:16
  Never was on a breathing tube. It didn't take him long to learn to eat. So we kept hearing this. We can't believe how strong his lungs are, how big he is. He was bigger than a lot of babies that are born full term. I just was overwhelmed. I was like, man, this is a dad teaching moment. I'm going to show my daughter that God answers prayer.
• 42:49
  So we're in the kitchen and I knelt down and I just said, you know, sweetie, you've been praying for Oren, right? Do you know what I hear all the time at the hospital is that they just can't believe how strong his lungs are and how big he is. And you remember what you prayed? Yeah, daddy, I pray for him to be big and strong. And I said, isn't that amazing how God answered your prayer? And she just looked at me.
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  Totally matter of fact. And she was like, yeah, of course he did. That faith, that belief, that trust, that's what God offers us in prayer. That's what God offers us as we commune with him. She taught me and continues to teach me about real faith in a God who really will act. I hope this morning that as we answered...
• 43:59
  these three questions, what is prayer, what does it do, and what are its benefits, that we've gained a greater appreciation and understanding for prayer so that what E.M. said would not be accurate of our church, of our homes, and our relationship with the Lord. I hope that we have a deep understanding of the power of prayer
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  that we would experience its might in our lives, in the life of our church, and that we would be wholly aware of the power put into our hands as we have been given access to the infinite power of the omnipotent and good God. Because it is through this access which God will guide us in 2020 towards his plans and purposes for this church.
• 44:57
  for our families, for our community. Let's pray. God in heaven, we are astonished. I am overwhelmed by what you have gifted to us. You have put in our hands as believers divine interaction. God, we get to commune with the creator God, with you. You tell us, you exemplify for us a care, a listening ear.
• 45:32
  always available to us, God, willing to give us access whenever we ask to you through your Son, Jesus Christ, by the power of your Holy Spirit. God, I pray this morning that we would really be encouraged to use this promise gifted to us, prayer, in our lives, in our church.
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  that we might see great things as you answer, as you work, as you interact, because you are good, because you are loving. Amen.