Introduction: Grace be to you and peace, from God our Father, and from our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Our text is from the Epistle Lesson, Phil. 4:5-7, and reads as follows:
“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, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” THIS IS OUR TEXT.
Dear fellow disciples of our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ:
- A couple of weeks ago I was watching a television show in which a family was celebrating Thanksgiving. The principle purpose of their celebration, which they made clear over and over again, was their thankfulness to themselves for all the work they had done in order to provide the meal they were eating. I must say, it was rather striking and shocking that anyone could be so completely unaware that Thanksgiving Day has the purpose of giving thanks to God!
- I suspect, however, that their understanding and celebration was not that different from most people today. Whereas Thanksgiving used to involve large attendance at worship services, today very few find time to stop and actually go to a church to give thanks and praise to God for the blessings they enjoy every day.
- This is troubling, and portends much more trouble for these people as time goes on – especially if we should have to endure more disasters and difficult times. For such people are attempting to live without benefit of faith and trust in God, and are instead living in false “faith and trust” in themselves and in their material resources. Obviously, these things are not almighty or infallible; earthly wealth and our abilities can vanish quite rapidly!
- And if people are not teaching proper faith and trust in God through genuine thanksgiving to God to their children, their children will be clueless as to where to turn to when times are tough. And all of us will eventually go through tough times, even those who are wealthy and rely upon themselves and their money. We all go through illness and injury, aging and death.
- This is not God’s will for His people, that we live in false hopes or in anxiety. And so, through His Word, He gives us assurances and promises that will sustain us at all times and give us “THE PEACEFUL LIFE OF FAITH.” This is His will for us, for all Christians, and it is really at the center of our lives in this world. For:
I. Christians Know That Man Lives, Is Truly Blessed, By God’s Word Alone
Deut. 8:3 “God humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.”
Statement: And God can surely humble us again in order to teach us this lesson – for our own good and benefit, so that we return to faith and trust in Him. But just as this would not be our preference, neither is it God’s primary will that we should require His discipline in order to receive His blessings!
Application: So let us humble ourselves even now and acknowledge that if there are any good things that we have and enjoy, these have all come to us by the hand of God. And let us give Him our thanks and praise! This is a most blessed posture toward God, and enables us to receive many other blessings from God, for:
II. Believers Look To God For All Blessed Things
Text: “But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
A. We Especially Pray To God For Forgiveness And Salvation
1 John 1:8,9 “If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us, but if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
1 John 2:1,2 “But if anyone does sin we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous One, and He is the blood atonement for our sins, and not for our sins only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”
B. We Also Look To Him For All Other Good Things
“In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
James 1:17 “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights.”
Statement: Those who have no faith and trust in God must struggle with the issue of our sin – for if there is no forgiveness from God then one is doomed and even life in this world is utterly futile. Yes, the unbelieving can work to justify themselves and rationalize their sin and guilt, but this doesn’t get rid of it – and deep within, all people know this. We however know God’s grace, mercy, forgiveness and love – and His gift of justification and eternal life in Christ Jesus. And once we know the depths of His love for us in Christ Jesus, then we also recognize that everything else in life comes to us from His loving hand. This is, after all, His creation, His world, His cosmos – from its inception at creation to its conclusion on the Last Day.
Application: God wills for us to know this, so that we do not squirm and worm around in our sin and guilt, and so that we are not crushed under an assumed responsibility for things far beyond our control. We can perhaps influence, but we cannot control how much wealth we have, or whether we have enough to survive. And we certainly do not have power or ability to keep ourselves from all sin. So we need His grace and mercy, and assurance that He is in control, and that He is love, and that He will provide for us.
And if we are willing, in this way God grants His people of faith the best earthly blessing of all, for:
III. Through Faith And Knowing His Love For Us, God Gives Us His Peace
A. So That We Have No Anxiety
Text: “Do not be anxious about anything.”
B. So That We Live In Constant Assurance Of His Love And Blessing
1 Phil. 4:19 “And my God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
2 Cor. 9:8-11 “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. As it is written, ‘He has distributed freely, He has given to the poor; His righteousness endures forever.’ He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.”
C. And His Peace “Guards” Our Hearts And Minds – And We Give Thanksgiving To God
Text: “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Text: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication WITH THANKSGIVING let your requests be made known to God.”
Statement: Human beings end up having a great variety of ambitions, but all of these ambitions are really engaged to achieve our one greatest ambition – that of having peace, joy, security, contentment, and happiness. This blessing, however, is found only in the peace of God, the peace which He gives. And this blessing of God is received only through the Word of God, which when received by faith, produces this blessed happiness and joy within us. The evidence that we have received this most blessed gift from God is a life of humble thanksgiving and praise to God. That so many people live with an absence of this is evidence that we often have more faith in our ambitions than in the Word of God and God Himself.
Application: So if we are to achieve our ultimate good and goal in life, the path is found in the Word of God – by which we all live. His Word assures us of His love, mercy, forgiveness, and blessing. His Word seeks to remove anxiety and fear from us, and to bless us with His peace. It is in this way that God Himself leads us into “THE PEACEFUL LIFE OF FAITH,” a blessing that He wills for all people to enjoy.
Conclusion: This morning you are here receiving this Word, and in a moment, the “visible Word” of His own Sacrament, by which He seals to us forgiveness and eternal life. You are receiving that through which God gives and seals His peace in our hearts and minds. He is enabling you even now to live “THE PEACEFUL LIFE OF FAITH.”
The evidence that you have received His peace and are living by means of His Word is the thanksgiving and praise that you even now render to Him! And this is a blessedness that continues no matter what our circumstances may be – thanks and praise be to God.
Contrast this blessedness with the family I described earlier – which had nothing to do on Thanksgiving Day but to thank themselves! And consider how many poor people there are in this world who have only themselves to celebrate and be thankful for! What a dreadful and wretched pity, and a waste of God’s goodness!
We pray that God would continue to grant us the great blessings of faith and trust in Him, the life that comes by His Word, and deep-seated and heartfelt thanksgiving to Him! Amen.
Votum: And the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds in the true faith, which is in Christ Jesus, even unto life everlasting, Amen.