Scripture: Philippians 4:1-9
Most of you know I’m a Georgia Tech fan… which means rejoicing in my team doesn’t come quite as easily for me as it has for fans of other universities nearby. Not just Clemson or UGA… but South Carolina! Three recent titles in women’s basketball! And a couple in baseball titles before that!
Nevertheless, God is merciful, and every now and then, he gives even us Yellow Jackets a glimpse of glory.
For instance… allow me share one of my favorite glimpses of glory… It was October 24, 2015—a Saturday night at Bobby Dodd Stadium. My son Townshend was fourteen, and he and I were sitting in the upper north end zone alongside thousands of mostly disgruntled fellow fans. We were struggling that season. Coming off 2014, our best year in decades, 2015 unraveled quickly—injuries everywhere, close losses, a losing record. And to my Gamecocks fans, I am heartbroken for you about yesterday!
We Tech fans know the feeling! And we knew that feeling in 2015!
And to make matters worse, the week before we’d lost to Pittsburgh on a last-second, 56-yard field goal—kicked by a man whose name, ironically, was Blewitt.
Yet, in spite of his name, he did not blow it against Tech. In fact, he nailed the field goal in the final minute, and we lost a heartbreaker.
So here we were, one week later, having fought heavily favored Florida State to an unexpected 16-16 tie, with seconds remaining in regulation. Except now Florida State is lining up for—get this—a potential game-winning 56-yard field goal… as time expires. And this time it wasn’t Blewitt—it was Roberto Aguayo, the best kicker in the nation. Florida State came in ranked in the top ten, undefeated, having won a national championship two years earlier, now riding a streak of nearly thirty straight ACC victories.
This moment felt like the cruelest kind of déjà vu.
But then came what’s known as “The Miracle on Techwood Drive.”
The ball was snapped… the kick went up… but not up high enough. It was blocked! The ball bounced around, and cornerback Lance Austin scooped it up at the 22-yard line and ran it 78 yards the other way—straight toward the end zone beneath our seats.
Townshend and I were watching Austin streak down the sideline, holding on to each other: “Is this really happening? Is this really happening?” And it was! “Are there really no penalty markers?” And there weren’t.
The stadium erupted. We won! We were high-fiving everyone, hugging complete strangers. We made our way from the upper deck down to the field. For several minutes, it was pure, unmitigated joy. And best of all, I was able to share that moment with one of my sons!
It was glorious! It was joy! It was, praise God, a foretaste of heaven, I’m sure!
But here’s the truth: That kind of joy—as great as it is—doesn’t last. It depends entirely on circumstances. One week you’re heartbroken by Blewitt. The next week you’re celebrating a so-called miracle. It rises and falls with the scoreboard, with the rankings, with the playoff committee—not to mention with the wildly emotional ups-and-downs of 18-to-22 year old kids!
Which is why Paul’s words in Philippians today should speak to us so powerfully:
Verse 4: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.” Let me underline the word “always.”
Paul doesn’t merely say, “Rejoice when the last-second kick goes your way.”
He doesn’t merely say, “Rejoice when your team finally turns the season around.”
He doesn’t merely say, “Rejoice when life hands you something worth celebrating.”
No, he says, rejoice in the Lord always… under any and every circumstance… rejoice in the Lord.
Rejoice literally means to find joy, to let yourself experience joy, in all circumstances. Paul is saying we can rejoice always because we always have reasons for joy! God is always giving us reasons for joy! Apparently, according to God’s Word, we Christians won’t experience even a moment of our lives when we don’t have reasons for joy—not joy in our circumstances, but joy in the Lord!
Which explains why Paul can say, in verse 6, that when we pray about stuff that makes us anxious, we should always pray with thanksgiving.
We always have reasons for joy and thanksgiving in the Lord.
But let’s be honest: When we are feeling anxious, the last thing we usually want to do is what…? Be thankful!
How are Paul’s words here even plausible? How do we always give thanks and always be joyful even when clearly bad stuff, painful stuff, evil stuff, happens to us—things we may not wish on our worst enemy?
I mean… for all we know, for instance, an hour after composing this joy-filled letter, Paul was led by prison guards to his own execution—which may have happened! We don’t know exactly when he was executed. Only that he was.
Yet when Paul says, “Rejoice always” and “always be thankful,” it’s not like he hasn’t considered the possibility that he might very soon be killed. He isn’t naive. He isn’t some wide-eyed innocent. He isn’t a Pollyanna when it comes to how difficult life can often be. You don’t have to turn to it now, but I invite you to read 2 Corinthians chapter 11 for some highlights of the many ways that Paul has suffered over the course of his apostolic ministry. This is not an exhaustive list, either. He composed this list about midway through his ministry! But listen:
Five times Paul received 40 lashes minus one; three times he was beaten with rods; once he was stoned with rocks and left for dead; three times he was shipwrecked; once he was adrift at sea for a night and a day; he was in constant danger from his enemies; at times he was hungry, thirsty, cold, and naked. He was imprisoned on multiple occasions.[1]
My point is, when Paul says we always have reason for joy, and we always have reason to be thankful, he has thoroughly put those truths to the test in his own life. And God has proven to Paul that these words are true. Paul knew that in each and every instance of pain and suffering, every setback, every obstacle to success, every crushing disappointment, every moment of grief, his almighty God was at work—using this otherwise painful experience to fulfill God’s purpose for Paul, using it to strengthen Paul’s faith, using it to help Paul grow closer to Jesus, using it to enable Paul to experience more and more of Christ, to know Christ more and more!
And since—as we talked about last week in Philippians 3:8… since “knowing Christ” is, for Paul, the greatest imaginable treasure… a treasure of surpassing worth… a treasure in comparison to which everything else is garbage… If this painful thing is what it takes to know Christ better, to possess more of this treasure, then so be it! God’s will be done! Praise God!
A difficult truth of God’s Word is that, like it or not, trouble in our lives is part of God’s plan for us!
Therefore, let’s not think for a moment that God has failed us, or let us down, or failed to love us adequately if he doesn’t deliver us from the experience of trouble.
There are so many examples in scripture, but consider Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego… Many of you know the story: three faithful friends in a pagan king’s court in Babylon refuse to compromise their faith in God by bowing their knees to an idol. As punishment the king is going to throw them into a fiery furnace.
Now, when we’re children and hear about this story in Vacation Bible school, we think of this story as a miracle about God rescuing these men from the fiery furnace. But the fact is, please notice, God allowed the three friends to endure the worst part of the furnace.
Why do I say that? Because, among other things, they had to anticipate the horror of the furnace: What would dying that horrible death feel like? Can you imagine how they felt walking with the guards to the furnace—how horrifying!
These three men wouldn’t know until after they were already thrown into the furnace that they would be okay. The worst part of the furnace is the anticipation, the fear. After all, the fire itself would kill them instantly—so that couldn’t be the worst part.
To say the least, God allowed them to experience an unbelievable amount of trouble!
Why? I’m not sure… except it must have been good for them to experience it!
Maybe we’re tempted to think that if God really loved us, he would protect us from trouble. In fact, the Bible says that God loves us too much to do so. He loves us so much, in fact, that he wants to change us… to make us better people… to give us the fruit of the Spirit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control… to make us holier people… Indeed, to make us more like his Son Jesus.
Allowing us to endure difficult trials is one way God does this!
C.S. Lewis put it like this: “We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be.”
The apostle James put his finger on this truth in his letter, in chapter 1, verses 2 through 4. Listen to what he says!
Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.[2]
Sometimes I think I learn nothing of value in life except through pain and suffering. And I’m at least ninety-nine percent sure that change only happens in my life through pain and suffering!
Let me give you one small example… I hope you don’t perceive that this is too trivial. Because for me this represented a lot of pain and suffering… But when I graduated from seminary in 2007, Lisa and I were about as broke as broke could be. As a result, we were driving two very old Hondas. And one of them, Lisa’s minivan, was demon-possessed. No, not really… But maybe… Anyway, we replaced the transmission in it three times in just over three years. I’m not kidding. Each time the transmission failed just outside of the warranty. How convenient! And that set us back financially, as you can imagine.
So one time the minivan was in the shop for yet another new transmission. It was 4th of July weekend in 2010. I was getting into my 18-year-old Honda Accord—which was just shy of 300,000 miles. And I cranked it. [Imitate crank sound.] Ch-ch-ch-ch It wouldn’t start. No big deal, I thought. This was a recurring problem. When it was really hot outside, for some reason, the car sometimes wouldn’t crank right away… If, unlike me, you know something about cars, please don’t judge me! So I tried again, Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch.
But in that moment, I was thinking to myself, “We are driving two embarrassingly old Hondas—trying desperately to keep at least one of them running—using bailing wire, chewing gum, and duct tape, if necessary—while the other car is facing yet another expensive repair.” And we’re driving these two old cars, holding our breath each day, hoping that they will get us from point A to point B. And at least the one I drove hadn’t had working air-conditioning in seven years!
So when that car wouldn’t start I was fed up! I lost it!
Why are we living like this, I thought?
Oh yeah… Because I decided to answer God’s call into ministry eight years earlier—completely unprepared for the huge financial sacrifice that it would ask of my family and me! And I felt guilty, too. Like, I’m the one putting my family through this!
So I’m sitting in my driveway, cranking my car in vain. Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch. Feeling sorry for myself. Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch.Thinking, “I was doing fine in my previous career as an engineer.” Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch. “We didn’t have to live on such a tight budget before.” Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch. “We could’ve bought a couple of new cars by now.” Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch. “We didn’t have these kinds financial worries back then.” Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch… Ch-ch.
So I go back in the house, and I’m beside myself with anger. And Lisa told me, among other things, that I did not trust that God would really take care of us—that, despite what I preach, I don’t actually believe these pretty words that I tell you each week. And she reminded me of how much God has taken care of us so far, how faithful God has been to us, how happy and healthy our family is, how nice our home is, how, in spite of all the challenges, we’ve made ends meet. And how, in spite of our car troubles, there hasn’t been a single time when we couldn’t get from point A to point B.
And she said, “Maybe God keeps sending us this car trouble, because he’s trying to get your attention—to teach you something about what it means to trust in him!” And I’m like, “Whoa!” I thought I was the theologian in this family! Her words literally brought me to my knees.
There is no question that this experience changed me for the better. Made me at least a little more faithful to God… a little more willing to trust in God rather than material things… a little more willing to stop bowing my knee at the foot of this idol called “Mammon,” or Money… that whether I’m “successful” in life has nothing to do with material wealth or career or status, and everything to do with faithfulness to God!
God knew that I needed that experience with that stupid old Honda! (By the way, God blessed me with a wonderful newHonda a couple of years ago… So I have nothing against Hondas!)
My point is, it goes to show that I could be thankful even for this car trouble!
Listen, here’s a hard truth we need to understand—and unless we understand it, we will have a hard time “rejoicing always” and “always being thankful”: If we are Christians—if we are children of almighty God through faith in his Son—the trouble we face never interrupts the “life we’re supposed to live.” It never interferes with the “life we’re supposed to live.” It never disrupts or derails the “life we’re supposed to live.”
Trouble, in this fallen world that our sin has created, is intended by God to be a part of our life!
Because… For those of us who are in Christ, not only does trouble not interrupt the life we’re meant to live. In God’s providential care, trouble becomes the means to greater life… to a more faithful life… to a more fruitful life… to a more abundant life.
Among other things, through trouble, we’re meant to grow closer to Jesus… In him the deepest desires of our hearts are fulfilled. In him our deepest hunger is satisfied by his heavenly bread. In him our thirst is quenched by that spring of water welling up to eternal life.[3] In him we get more of that thing—that Person—that we treasure above all other treasures!
For that we can always rejoice and be thankful… Right?
I understand that this is not the way we usually interpret trouble when it comes our way. Instead, we often get angry. Or we get anxious.
And please notice: anger and anxiety in the Philippian church are very much what Paul has in mind in this passage. For example, in verse 6 he writes, “do not be anxious about anything…”
And in verse 2, Paul is concerned ultimately about the sin of anger. Notice: when Paul refers to this unnamed conflict between two beloved Christian women in this church, Euodia and Syntyche, he doesn’t take sides. Whatever is dividing these two, it’s clearly not a matter of orthodox Christian doctrine—on the level of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, or justification by faith alone, or a church’s lax attitude toward sin—in which case Paul would loudly speak out about it, as he does in many other places in his letters.
No… whatever is causing this conflict is beside the point.
What matters for Paul is the deeper problem—which is, the anger underneath the conflict… the anger giving rise to the conflict… the anger which is fueling the conflict… the anger which is a potentially deadly serious sin in this Philippian church—or in any church, including our own.
Paul writes elsewhere, “And don’t sin by letting anger control you. Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, for anger gives a foothold to the devil.”[4]
And once the devil gets a foothold through anger, he will happily destroy lives, as we’ve probably seen from experience… he will happily destroy churches… or at least use anger to greatly hamper the church’s effectiveness or witness.
And by the way, let’s not kid ourselves about anger. And I say this as a “recovering angry person”… You’ve heard of recovering alcoholics? I’m a recovering angry person. I know from whence I speak… Too many of us have rationalized our anger by saying, “Everyone else’s anger represents a character flaw within them… but not my anger… Anger may be a problem in every other case… but not in my particular case. My anger, you see, is righteous anger. You know… like the way Jesus was angry when he overturned the money-changers’ tables.”
Uh-huh… If we’re tempted to say that our anger is not a problem because Jesus, after all, got angry, let’s just remind ourselves of this truth: “We are not Jesus.” Yes, by all means, Jesus could handle anger. You and I cannot.”
Anger is like radioactive waste. It’s too dangerous. Don’t mess with it.
By all means, we’re all going to experience flashes of anger from time to time. But what Martin Luther said of lust could equally apply to anger: “You cannot keep birds from flying over your head but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair.”
Euodia and Syntyche had built “nests of anger” in their hair, and it was harming their souls and harming their church!
You know what I’d rather have than anger or anxiety…? Peace… God’s supernatural peace… what the Old Testament calls “shalom”… this kind of peace surpasses all understanding… according to verse 7. “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
If we know this peace, we simply can’t be angry or anxious. This kind of peace replaces anger and anxiety! This peace takes their place, shoving anger and anxiety out of our hearts. This kind of peace will “guard” our hearts and minds when we start to feel angry or anxious!
In fact, I like the way pastor Chuck Swindoll puts it: “This kind of peace doesn’t simply extinguish the flames of anxiety—God’s shalom replaces the dry, parched conditions that ignite worry with the cool clear, nourishing streams of the river of life.”[5]
And how do we get this peace?
Through prayer… Verse 6: “in everything by prayer and supplication let your requests be made known to God.” Then Paul says, “And the peace of God”… et cetera…
Peace follows prayer. I’ve preached about prayer a lot recently. See my earlier sermons.
But there’s something else in addition to not praying that might be impeding our ability to experience this peace. Verse 8: “Finally, brothers [and sisters], 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’m preaching to myself when I ask this but… How are we doing with Paul’s counsel here?
For example…
Studies now show that heavy social-media use increases anxiety, depression, and stress. One 2025 study found that simply blocking mobile internet for two weeks measurably improved people’s mental health and well-being. And research on news consumption—especially 24-hour cable news—shows that constant exposure to breaking updates—not to mention people arguing politics 24/7—raises worry and robs us of peace.
In other words, the media we consume is not neutral; it is forming our inner life. And for many of us, whether we’re doom-scrolling on our phones hours a day or glued to cable news, the daily inputs we’re feeding our minds contradict the very peace Paul is calling us to. Paul’s challenge is simple but profound: Your mind will feast on something — so choose what is lovely, what is true, what leads to the peace of Christ.
Let’s notice one last thing in verse 5: “Let your reasonableness be known to everyone.” Reasonableness is difficult to translate it means something like gentleness. Unlike non-believers, we’re not letting ourselves get riled up; we’re not flying off the handle and taking it out on others; we’re not panicking.
Next Paul says that the Lord is at hand; do not be anxious… [dot dot dot]” You can read that as “The Lord is at hand therefore do not be anxious.”
The Lord is at hand… In other words, he’s right next to you. It’s as if his hand is on our shoulder, even though we can’t feel it.
So no matter where you go, and no matter what you experience, just think: the Lord is right by your side… Which means, the Lord is walking into that final exam with you… the Lord is alongside you as you’re wheeled into that operating room… the Lord is right next to you when you’re about to get the results of the biopsy… the Lord is sitting beside you as you’re being interviewed for that job you desperately want… the Lord can even squeeze next to you as you slide into that MRI machine… The Lord’s arm is around you as you have to have that difficult conversation… the Lord is at hand!
In which case, why should we ever be afraid?
And you might say, “But if only he could be here in person!” But don’t you see…? Because Christ is able to be with us through the Holy Spirit living within us, he’s able to be infinitely closer to us than if he were here in person!
Isn’t that good news?
Let’s pray… [invitation to the altar…]
[1] Summary of 2 Corinthians 11:24-27
[2] James 1:2-4 NLT
[3] John 4:14
[4] Ephesians 4:26-27
[5] Charles Swindoll, Swindoll’s Living Insights, vol 9 (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale, 2017), 89.