Paul now states a tremendous promise. No matter what my circumstances are, no matter whether I can understand how it happens or not, the God of peace can be with me, and His peace can guard by heart and mind. What an attractive, tantalizing promise! And this is not some superficial, sentimental slogan that is vague and ultimately unhelpful uttered by a wealthy man living a comfortable lifestyle. Paul is imprisoned and facing possible execution when he says this! His theology is not some abstract concept that we cannot attain; it is sustaining him in one of the truly lowest points of his life.
These two passages answer two key questions about God's peace: What is it? How can we access it?
Jesus helps to answer this question during His last conversation with His disciples before He went to the cross. He told them that they would soon receive His Spirit, and this His Spirit would provide them with all of the resources they needed to carry out His will (see John 14:16-18a). One of those resources was what Jesus called "My peace."
Read John 14:27. His peace is not like the world's peace – merely an external absence of war or hostility, something very fragile and superficial. The Roman world was experiencing that kind of peace under the "Pax Romana", a 200 year period of stability and prosperity – but it was wholly inadequate.
In a commentary on the Gospel of Luke, Greek philosopher Epictetus (55-135 AD) wrote, "While the emperor may give peace from war on land and sea, he is unable to give peace from anxiety, grief, and envy. He cannot give peace of heart, for which man yearns more than even for outward peace."
Instead, Jesus' peace supernaturally replaces panic and dread regardless of adverse circumstances, which sounds like what Paul is writing about in Philippians 4:7. Read John 16:33. Again, Jesus' peace is not the absence of affliction, adversity, or difficult situations; instead, His peace provides supernatural courage to face those things victoriously.
God's peace is His Spirit imparting a deep assurance that He is with you and will see you through even when your world is being shaken, disrupted, and broken. This peace is both supernatural and experiential. Who would not want this? This claim leads to our second question:
Another passage about God's peace that gives us the basic answer to this question is Romans 15:13. This passage repeats what we have already learned – that God's peace is experiential, like hope and joy, and that God's peace comes by the power of the Holy Spirit. But it also teaches that God's peace is given to those who trust in Him. So ultimately, our lack of peace signals a lack of or an inadequate trust in the God of the Bible. What does this "trust in God" look like? The rest of this text provides several practical answers.
Read Philippians 4:4. Paul said something like this earlier in Philippians 3:1. "Rejoice" is in the present tense, as in to "keep rejoicing", and "always" – this is to become a habit, practiced by choice each day. It is a safeguard to be reminded to do this because we naturally neglect or wander away from doing this.
"Rejoice in the Lord" is an Old Testament technical term that means to recall and ponder how God has saved me, and to praise and thank Him for this (see 1 Samuel 2:1, Isaiah 25:9; 61:10; Psalm 40:16, 63:1-8; 94:17-19; 116; 130, and131).This salvation includes not only rescue from God's judgment and our sin-induced lostness, but also the many other spiritual blessings God has showered on us through Christ. In his book, The Call To Joy & Pain, Ajith Fernando, a Sri Lankan writer and teacher of the Bible, summarizes some of these blessings: "We can describe the joy that the gospel brings as 'the joy of the Lord' (see Nehemiah 8:10) or as 'rejoicing in the Lord' (see Philippians 4:4). This joy has as its base some great truths that strengthens our lives:
These wonderful truths and many, many others are the basis upon which we have built our lives. They open the way for a love relationship with God. While this relationship is essentially an experiential love relationship, the basis of our relationship is this list of objective, unchanging truths. We can cling to them when everything about us seems gloomy. The almighty God loves us and looks after us. We have something more reliable than fickle, circumstantial experiences. Our life is founded on unchanging truths that open us to a love relationship with an unchanging God. What good news this is in a world characterized by so much uncertainty!"
Of course, it is impossible to rejoice in the Lord for your salvation unless you have actually received this salvation! The Bible teaches that you can be saved only through Jesus (see Acts 4:12) because only Jesus has paid the penalty for your sins. The Bible also teaches that you will be saved if you simply call upon Jesus to save you (see Romans 10:9). One of the first things you will notice when you do this is the ability to do what seemed strange before – to personally appreciate and thank Him for saving you!
Unfortunately, Christians often do not continue to rejoice in the Lord. Instead, they take their salvation for granted, and as a result, lose the peace of God. But Paul, whose heart was guarded by God's peace although he was imprisoned, did this regularly and proactively (see Ephesians 1:3). In fact, rejoicing in the Lord was so central to him that he even interrupted his letters to do this (see Romans 5:1-5). Passages like this are great to memorize and meditate on! It is also great to summarize these salvation-blessings in your own words, like Ajith Fernando did .
How often do you rejoice in the Lord? Is there a connection between your answer and how much you experience God's peace?
Next, Paul gives us two important reactive ways to trust in God so we can have His peace.
Read Philippians 4:5. This is about how to reactively trust God when people annoy us. What is your natural response to annoying people? Mine is to try to get them to stop being annoying or to get away from them as soon as possible; but these responses are pursuing external peace, and they will prevent you from securing God's peace.
There is another response for those who know Christ. When we notice that someone is bothering us, we can remind ourselves that they are unable to define, control, or ruin us, and that God, who is very big and lovingly for us, is near to us. Then, on that basis, we can choose to express gentleness to them. This will result in God's peace replacing your annoyance.
Philippians 4:6 is about how to reactively trust God when we have anxious thoughts and feelings. What is your natural response to anxious thoughts and feelings? Mine is to ignore or suppress them, or, if that does not work, to obsess on them and sometimes medicate myself through drink, distraction, or some other vice. But, again, these responses are pursuing external peace, and they will prevent you from securing God's peace.
There is another response for those who know Christ. The moment we notice our anxious thoughts, we can take them personally to God by:
I can say from much experience that this requires determination, but that it will result in God's peace replacing our anxieties. This is how to "cast all your anxieties on to Him", as written in 1 Peter 5:7.
To be honest, there are times when I find myself unable to respond with this kind of trust in God. In these cases, I share with another Christian friend, pray with them about it, and listen to any counsel they may have. This almost always helps me to trust in God and begin to experience His peace.
In Philippians 4:8, Paul gives us yet another proactive way to trust in God. This is much more general than rejoicing in the Lord (Philippians 4:4). "Whatever" and "if there is any," and the long list of adjectives – true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, of good repute, excellence, worthy of praise – refer to all of the good things in our lives. This world is fallen and broken and has some terribly ugly things in it. But it also has much goodness – from a tasty cup of coffee, to a beautiful sunrise, to a pleasant greeting from your work associate, to a polite driver, to the good qualities in your spouse/child/friend, to the health our bodies have, to having a bed to sleep in, and so much more. The key issue is whether you will take these blessings for granted, or develop an increasing appreciation of them.
G. K. Chesterton was an author, philosopher, and a huge influence on C. S. Lewis. Chesterton became suicidally depressed in college and later said, "I hung on to my sanity by one thin thread of thanks. I had discovered a way of looking at things, with a sort of mystical minimum of gratitude." This gratitude for his existence eventually led him to faith in Christ. He practiced Philippians 4:8 like few others besides Paul. Here is an example:
Here dies another day
During which I have had eyes, ears, hands
And the great world round me;
And with tomorrow begins another!
Why am I allowed two?
"Dwell on" is an accounting term, meaning to count or to enter into a ledger. This may be where the phrase "count your blessings" comes from. What are you going to keep careful track of – the bad things or the good things in your life? Most of us naturally feel entitled to good things, so we keep track of the bad things. This produces a negative disposition, sense of discontent, anger, self-pity – all of which are antitheses of peace, and are highly toxic to our souls and others.
Instead, Paul says we need to actively look for every good thing that God freely pours into our lives, ponder these things, and consciously give thanks to God for them. This focus is a form of trust in God's goodness (see James 1:17) – and it unleashes the Holy Spirit to mediate His peace into your soul.
How often do you do this? Is there a connection between your answer and how much you experience God's peace?
Read Philippians 4:9. This is not just a super-general exhortation to imitate Paul. It is, in context, a pointed exhortation to practice the above faith imperatives, as they saw Paul do this when he was with them. This is the path to increasing peace!
