Anxiety: A Biblical Approach - Philippians 4:6-9

Today we are going to talk about anxiety and what the biblical approach is to this topic, a topic that has become a very touchy subject to many, and I’m going to warn you now. This is going to be a long sermon, because this is such a weighty topic that requires much discussion.

A few years ago I preached a sermon that touched on the subject of anxiety and depression. In that sermon I was so worried…you might even say anxious…about offending someone that I gave a million qualifications, hedged all my statements, beat around the bush, took forever to say what I believed that Bible actually taught on the subject.

I will not be taking that approach today.

I do, however want to avoid swinging the pendulum so far to the other direction that I become calloused to the experiences of others and mock those that struggle with anxiety. Such an approach is common in some circles today, especially if the person with such struggles is a male. “Just man up” and “stop being such a wuss” are not biblical ways to deal with our anxieties.

My goal, therefore, is to speak directly and forcefully to the issues at play, doing so with an attitude of love and gentleness. Here’s the reality of what Scripture calls us to:

We must speak the truth, but we must speak it in love.

We must love others, but that same love demands that we speak the truth.

I hope that such a mindset is revealed as we progress through our time today.

And I want you to know that I don’t stand before you as someone untouched by anxiety. I know what it’s like to lie awake for hours due to anxiety about a situation. I know what it’s like to have an issue become all consuming to life that it’s the only thing I think about night and day. I know what’s its like to allow anxiety to cripple me and prevent me from doing what I know needs to be done. I know what its like to beat myself up over the my state of mind, only leaving me feeling worse that I did before. Others have certainly had more severe anxiety that I, but I’m certainly no stranger to it and have to battle it myself.

I wanted to say that because if anxiety is something you struggle with, I’m going to say some difficult things today. I need you to know that I’m every bit of preaching to myself as I am to anyone else. I don’t stand here in judgment of anyone. I’m here today to bring you the word of the Lord, a word that I need to submit to myself.

Before our Christmas series wherein we were focused on the person and work of Christ, we were working through Philippians 4, and as we came to verses 4 and following we found that Paul was instructing the people to respond to their circumstances in ways that would be strange to a watching world. Rejoice always. Be reasonable and gentle in everything.

We talked at that time about the concept of indicative verbs and imperative verbs. Indicatives are verbs of declaration. God sent his son. Jesus loves you. They declare something to be true.

Imperative verbs are verbs of command. Be kind to one another. Husbands Love your wives. Do not murder, do not steal, etc.

What we find in the NT is that Paul always grounds the imperative commands in the indicative truths.

Reminder: Imperatives are always grounded in the indicatives

Reminder: Imperatives (commands) are always grounded in the indicatives (declarative truth)

Last time he commanded the people to rejoice always…even when you’re in the midst of suffering. He said to let your reasonableness, or gentleness, or levelheadedness be known to all...

How can you do this? how can you endure the pain, the suffering, the persecution, and respond with a measuredness and joy that seems to defy the circumstances?

The Lord is near.

He is at hand. Though his delay makes it feel like he slow, He is surely coming and it won’t be long before he returns and sets all things right. Whatever injustice we see before us, whatever wrongs are done against us, he will return, and he will judge, restore, and establish His Kingdom.

He is near. He is accessible. He will never leave us nor forsake us he is with us unto the end of the age. We can go to him in prayer and he will hear and answer us because he is near.

It is on the basis of this indicative statement about the nearness of our God that Paul then goes into the next command:

Look with me at verses 6 and following:

Philippians 4:6–9 ESV

6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

The first thing that we have to acknowledge if we are going to have any level of biblical approach to dealing with anxiety is that anxiety is sin.

The Root of Anxiety is Sin

We have to acknowledge this.

In the medical world, proper diagnosis is essential to proper treatment. The same is true for our spiritual lives. If we are to have a biblical solution to our problems, we must have biblical definitions.

Paul is giving a direct command. To live in disobedience to a direct command from God is sin. It is rebellion against God’s good desires and design for your life. There simply isn’t another way to put that, nor should we try to soften the blow.

We might be tempted to jump to certain places in our minds “but what about this…but what about that”

Hold on.

If we do not accept what God has said plainly and clearly in his word, we can never expect to see change and growth. Jumping to what you think might be an exception before dealing with the core issues is to miss the central things that we must grasp.

I’m convinced that all the “what abouts” will be addressed by God’s word, but if we jump to all those things before accepting what the Bible says, we will not see progress.

Consider the commands of Jesus himself in the Sermon on the Mount that we read earlier.The word for anxiety is used 6 times in that passage, and three of those times are the text says “do not be anxious”.

Knowing that anxiety is sin to be confessed and repented of can be a freeing thought.

The first step to dealing with our anxieties is to submit ourselves before the Lord, and confess that what he has said is true… When we allow ourselves to linger in anxiety, we are allowing ourselves to linger in sin.

Now, I plan to address some of the “what abouts” but there are other things we need to over first.

The Immediate Cause of Anxiety is Various

There are a variety of things than can cause us to have a anxious response.

Anxiety can stem from a traumatic experience. Things like PTSD, flashbacks, strong negative memories and associations can cause us to have an anxious response. I can’t help but wonder if some of the Philippians experienced some form of PTSD from their experiences as a persecuted church. Family members, loved ones being executed or hauled off to prison, Paul himself being the subject of multiple stoning attempts. I also think of David in the OT, and the horrors that he both inflicted and endured as a man of war. I’m not suggesting he struggled with PTSD, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he did due to his experiences. Many of David’s anxious thoughts…and how he dealt with them are preserved for us in the psalms.

Anxiety can stem from certain fears that we experience. Many fears are irrational, and yet they affect us. Social fears, situational fears, relational fears. Some fears can become so strong that we are willing to alter behavior to avoid the issue. It might be a situation, it might be a person, it might be a decision…we are afraid to make the decision, or afraid to confront an individual, so we avoid it altogether. I think of Timothy, a young pastor that Paul wrote to about how to handle various issues within the church. He had to confront error, lead a church, disciple others…In the second paragraph of the letter Paul reminds Timothy that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and self-control. I wonder if Timothy’s temptation was to avoid some of these issues out of situational fear.

There might be existential anxiety. These kinds of fears have to do with issues related to the question “why am I here?” What is my purpose? If I died would anyone care? Am I loved? Reading through the book of Ecclesiastes reveals that Solomon had to wrestle through these kids of things.

Some anxiety stems from dwelling on our fears of the unknown: What would happen if.... what if I get covid? What others I love get covid? What if the US goes to war? How am I going to pay my next bill? What happens if I get fired? We can let ourselves get caught up in thinking about possible futures that we ignore the present that is right in front of us. Jesus Himself addressed this in Matt 6

One of the “what abouts” that often gets raised is the issue of genuine medical conditions. There are some health condition where increased anxiety is a presenting symptom. In the biblical counseling world, one of the phrases that is embraced is this: When in doubt, check it out. Don’t ignore warning signals from your body that something is wrong.

Finally, there are times we might experience symptoms and feelings of anxiety, and there is no identifiable cause. The heart is racing, the panic attack comes in, and we don’t even know why. It seems as though the body is having a physiological response to something, but we don’t know what.

So there are many possible immediate causes. These things come at us from a variety of angels. And Paul knows this too.

His instructions indicate that there are a variety of causes: “Do not be anxious about anything” could also be translated “In every circumstance, do not be anxious” or “Be not anxious in any situation” Jesus when he spoke about anxiety touched on a variety of issues about our personal health and wellbeing. The Scriptures know that there are many reasons why we are tempted to give in to anxiety. But these immediate causes all have the same ultimate cause:

The Ultimate Cause of Anxiety is Distrust

The ultimate cause of Anxiety can be observed through what the Scripture calls us to in response to our fears: Go to God in prayer. Trust him.

If expressions of faith as revealed in our prayers is the solution, then distrust must ultimately be at the root of the issue. We are failing to trust that God is in control. Failing to recognize that God has allowed this into your life for your good and His glory. It is a failure to rest in the good God who loves you and desires to sanctify you through his word. The lyrics to “How firm a foundation” come to mind

“When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie

My grace all sufficient shall be thy supply

The flames shall not hurt thee I only design

thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.”

Failing to do and Paul commands reveals our own lack of faith on our God.

Alright. I’ve said many hard words. I’ve confronted us with our own limitations, we’ve defined it from a biblical perspective, but how do we deal with it?

That’s where I want to take the conversation now.

The Pathway for Joy through Anxiety

As I was researching Anxiety I found many quotes from pastors and counselors who have worked with people through these issues providing reasons why anxiety is such a negetive thing. For example, Charles Spurgeon--who was known to suffer from anxiety and severe crippling depression himself—once said “Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but only empties today of its strength”

On the one hand, this is a true statement. We can nod our heads at that and say, I can testify that that is true.

But if I were to guess, We don’t need to be convinced of the negative effects of anxiety. We don’t need a list of quotes or a scientific breakdown of how anxiety negatively impacts our health.

Whether or not we thought about it in terms of sin, we all know its bad and don’t desire it in our lives.

Anxiety is not like some sins that tempt us with some pleasure that it cannot deliever. Anxiety doesn’t promise us a better life. It’s not like lying, which we do in order to save face or get our own way. It’s not like lust that promises gratification. It’s not like slothfulness that promises rest and rejuvenation. It’s not like vanity that promises to increase feelings of self worth.

Anxiety seems to be a different kind of sin that arises from the absence of something, rather than the active pursuit of something enticing. As we’ve established from the Scriptures, at heart it is distrust. It is the absence of trust.

If the root sin is unbelief in God, then it follows that the solution is to trust.

But that sounds trite doesn’t it? One of the biggest complaints that I’ve come across in areas of anxiety is individual wishing that Christians would stop telling people “you just need to trust God more” “If you had more faith in God, your anxiety would go away”.

Honestly, I wrestle with this.

On the one hand, the reality is that our anxieties, whatever the source, are at rooted in an inability to reckon with the world rightly and trust that He will carry us through. We are believing a lie rather that the God of all truth.

But on the other hand, it can sound like flippant and trite advice, and it is if we leave it at that.

I don’t believe the issue is with the advice itself, but on an inability or unwillingness on that part oft he person giving the advice to help walk the person struggling with anxiety through taking the painful yet necessary steps to overcoming that anxiety.

We wanna be like Bob Newheart in that sketch he does where a woman comes in who has severe anxiety about being buried alive in a box and all Bob Newheart does is yell Stop it! Stop it! and eventually “Stop it or I’ll bury you alive in a box”

And I think that’s what it feels like when someone tells another person who struggles with anxiety “just trust God more.” its trite. Such flippancy minimizes and dismisses the real pain and difficulty that is being experienced.

We need something more robust than that to help us.

Pathway for Joy 1: Repent

Though the command and idea for repenting is not found in this text, it is implicit in how Paul calls us to adjust our behavior and is the correct response.

Any time we discover sin in our lives, we must always be people who are quick to repent, knowing that we have the promise of 1 John 1:9

1 John 1:9 ESV

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Any pathway forward must begin with the acknowledgment and agreement with God about what the problem actually sin. If we refuse to acknowledge our own sin, there is little hope for success in changing. This really is the first step.

This is implicit in how Paul tells us to address this matter: Do not be anxious, but instead let your requests be made known to God.

This is another example of what is called the put-off put-on principle. Paul uses the words “put off_____ (sin)” and then put on righteousness in other contexts. Here he uses the same principle without the language. There is sin to put away, but if we just try to set that down without picking up something positive instead, we will only go back to the old way. We have to replace that sinful behavior with righteous behavior. This is essentially what repentance does. We see that what we have is wicked, so we turn away from it and turn to that which is righteous. Repentance says “I’m going the wrong way, I need to turn around and go the other way” and then I do so.

There is little joy in this life apart from biblical repentance.

Pathway for Joy 2: Pray

Philippians 4:6 ESV

6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Prayer Talking to God. Supplications. this refers to a plea or a request. We are going to God and talking to him about our needs, our fears, our concerns. We are confessing our sin before him, and asking him for the strength that we need.

Let your requests be made known to God.

One commentator pointed out how this is phrased: Let your requests be made known in the presence of God.

Remember: the Lord is at hand! We stand in his presence. We present our requests to him, not because he didn’t know what we needed, but because when we do so we are assured of His knowledge knowing that we have laid it all before him.

The grammar of this text also speaks to the continual nature of the prayer.

This is not a quick shot up in prayer and then all done praying let me get back to my anxiety please. This is a season in continual prayer. One commentator translated it this way: Do not be anxious in any situation, but through prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, be continually bringing your requests before the presence of God.

This is important. Sometimes we must wrestle in prayer. I don’t know if you know what that feels like. When there is just something so heavy on your heart you laboring in prayer asking the Lord to grant you favor in a particular area.

My mind goes to Jacob wrestling with the angel of the Lord all night until daybreak. Sometimes when are dealing with anxiety we have to wrestle like that. It’s a fight and it lasts for hours.

But its worth the fight.

And I want to be clear. When we wrestle in prayer, we’re not wrestling with God. We’re wrestling against our own flesh.

Not long ago I was wide awake in bed and my mind was absolutely racing about a particular scenario that I could not get out of my head. My heart rate was accelerating and my mind running laps as I was fixated on this thing. I would pray “Lord, I don’t want this, I don’t want to be an anxious person, I want to trust you with this” and my very prayer itself was interrupted with my own mind in my flesh going “Oh wait! you didn’t even think about this terrible and very possible result” and then a few minutes later I catch myself and I have to start my prayers over.

It’s a battle. Its not a quick fix. It’s not easy.

But it is a necessary aspect of the pathway to joy through anxiety.

Connected with that is the issue of thanksgiving.

Pathway For Joy 3: Be Thankful

Paul says by prayers and supplications with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Often we want to ask and ask and ask and ask, but we don’t recognize what God has already done for you.

It interesting what modern science has been able to uncover about the effectiveness of gratitude. I was reading on some secular websites about anxiety. These websites never gave the first thought to what God would want. And yet they have discovered data that says people who show gratitude tend to suffer from anxiety less, and those with anxiety begin to improve when they intentional focus on being thankful as part of their daily habits.

Why is this so effective?

For one, it takes our minds off the negative things we are so anxious about and causes us to dwell on what God has done. Think about it just a moment. What has God done in your life? Just from the conversations and the fellowship that we have had in the short time we’ve known each other, I know from your own testimony that God has done great things in your life! When we are tempted with anxiety and we go to him in prayer, remember those things! Call them to mind! Write them down so you can review them if you can’t think of anything in the moment. gratitude causes us to dwell on what God has done.

Secondly, when we are thankful from a biblical perspective, we are worshiping God. We are honoring him as the one who has given us all things. We can even thank him for the current anxiety battle because it is revealing our own weaknesses that reveal our need for him.

As we pray, but not only bring our requests and pleas, but we do so with gratitude, knowing that he has done great things or us, that he hears our prayers for he is near, and knowing that he is at work even now.

Pathway for Joy 4: Pursue Truth

When we are dealing with anxiety about one thing or another, it is often that our fears are irrational. We can tell ourselves that these things will never happen and then our mind goes “yeah, your right........but what if it did, though”

The reality is that our fears speak lies into our minds. Anxiety is a lie. We are fixed on something that isn’t true. It hasn’t happened, it doesn’t happen, it is unlikely to happen, it will never happen, and yet there our mind is....focused on the, yeah but what if it did though.

Just as we dispel darkness with light even so we dispel our anxieties with truth.

Look with me at verse 8.

Philippians 4:8 ESV

8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

I just want to focus on that first word for a moment. Whatever is true.

So often when our anxieties get a hold of us we loose focus on what is actually true. We embrace a lie and magnify it a hundred times in our head.

We must combat the lies with the truth. Tell yourself what is true biblically until you believe it.

Pathway for Joy 5: Train Your Mind

Look at the rest of verse 8. It begins with the word “finally” but this word can have the sense of “moreover” thus connecting the previous passage with this one, and I think that’s what is going on here.

But we have this list of things.

True. That which is accurately. Not false. reject the lies, embrace true. God is truth.

Honorable. Worthy of respect. of good character. Noble. God is honorable. He is Noble.

Just. Right. As it should be. God’s is just. God’s justice is perfect. God’s justice was satisfied in Christ on your behalf.

Pure. Without evil. holy. unstained, untainted. Like a lamb without blemish or without spot.

Lovely. That which stirs our affections. Like our savior taking on humanity to save us.

Commendable. Worthy of receiving recommendation. It worth approving.

Excellence. This speaks of outstanding goodness or virtue. It speaks of high moral character.

Praiseworthy. Something worth praising, something I’d be glad to tell others about.

Years ago I memorized this list from the NKJV to help me shake a bad thought patterns. When I would catch myself dwelling on that which I shouldn’t, I could say to myself “No! Good Noble, Just Pure, lovely, good report, virtuous, praiseworthy. That’s what I need to think about. good noble just pure lovely good report.”

And then I could work through that list one by one. “What is something that is good? What makes it good? Why do I like it? Thank you God for this thing”

What is something that is noble, or honorable?

And you know what. By the time I got through that list, my mind was in a better place.

We have to train our minds this way. Memorize Scripture. Work it through in your mind.

Paul says to think on these things, and again, this could be translated “continually think on these things. This is another battle area.

Think on these things. This is training our minds to dwell on that which is good.

If a boxer loses a fight and then does nothing to train to improve his strength, his footwork, his agility, or his tactics between the last fight and the next one, we would not think him to be a very serious boxer. Perhaps he is merely a glutton for punishment. But a boxer who is serious about winning, he trains. He does hard work. He knows the pain of defeat and he wants nothing of it. Even though the training itself can be painful, he works through it so that he might stand a better chance the next time he gets into the ring.

For those of us who know that anxiety is a regular struggle of ours, we have to train ourselves. We have get our minds ready for action. The enemy want to keep us distracted. Our own flesh betrays us. What will you do in between battles? How will you strengthen yourself?

I would encourage you to memorize this passage as a start.

Because not only do we find that there is a pathway to joy through our anxiety in this text, but there are incredible promises here as well. If we do as this passage instructs, there are two major promises from God to comfort our souls.

The Promise: Peace

The first is in verse 7.

Philippians 4:7 ESV

7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Peace in some circumstances doesn’t even make sense. It surpasses understanding. It’s beyond our ability to comprehend. This is peace that has its source in God., such as only he can give.

This peace will guard your hearts and minds. Think of a soldier whose job to is keep watch over the sity and guard it. That’s what God’s peace will do, if we are going to him in prayer and thanking him for his goodness to us.

Look at verse 9.

Philippians 4:9 ESV

9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

Practice these things. Do them. work it out. These aren’t passive instructions. We have to actually do them. But if we do, here is this promise: the God of peace will b with you!

We get the peace of God and the God of peace!

We don’t have to live lives of anxiety! We don’t have to let it control and define us! We can live lives of peace when we are doing as Paul instructs here.

This is not an easy road. This is not a quick fix road. But it is the only road worth walking down because it is the only road that is divinely sanctioned by God and carries the double promise of peace. Paul doesn’t want to burden us down with heavy commands to make peace unattainable. These are doable things, even if it is difficult.

But what greater promise could you have:

The Peace of God and the God of Peace will be with you.

That peace is worth the effort.

As we move into our time of the Lord’s table, I wanted to t

What Abouts

What about medications? Don’t make changes in your medications without talking to your dr. Abrupt changes in such medications can be fatal or otherwise harmful. I’m not a physician. That being said, I do believe medications are over-prescribed and are not a long term solution. Modern studies seem to demonstrate that anti-anxiety medication works....and so do placebos. There are dangers in drugs in that they can be addictive and have many side effects, but perhaps most importantly, they dull the senses and make you feel like you don’t need to address the root issue. I think that is dangerous an unbiblical. But again. Don’t go making medication changes without consulting your Dr.

What about panic attacks. This is challenging. I’m not sure if you’re aware of this, but you can artificially trigger a full-on panic attack. Panic attacks can seem like they come out of nowhere, but often there are signs that one is coming on. Dealing with panics attacks seems to be more about managing it in the moment. So, Forcing yourself to take deep breathes for example. What I’m most concerned with is how can I strengthen myself beforehand so that when I sense a panic attack is coming on, I’m more equipped for the battle. Someone once said that a panic attack is like falling down a flight of stairs. You can’t always stop yourself from falling. But perhaps you can install handrails so that maybe as you fall you’ll be able to grab a hold of it and limit or avoid any damage. Scripture memory, reminding yourself of what is true, all the things we talked about today all play into that.

I’ve tried all those things and none of it works. Tell me more about that. Recite the passages you’ve memorized. Tell me what you thank God for in those moments. From my own experience and from those I’ve interacted with, this hasn’t genuinely been tried. Not for any length of time. What usually happens is quick prayer, nothing changes, so I give up. If someone says I’ve tried it, it doesn’t work” I’m going to call their bluff. I’m skeptical of that presentation. What I’m suggesting is not easy. It is hard work. But its worth it for holiness.

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