WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.259 We hope that you enjoy this teaching from Christchurch. 00:00:05.259 --> 00:00:11.580 This material is copyrighted and no unauthorized duplication, redistribution, or any other 00:00:11.580 --> 00:00:15.419 ! use of any part is permitted without prior consent from Christchurch. 00:00:15.419 --> 00:00:22.640 Please consider donating to this work in the San Francisco Bay Area online at ChristChurchEastBay.org. 00:00:25.620 --> 00:00:26.759 Good morning. 00:00:27.120 --> 00:00:32.460 I'm Julie Brown, and I am part of the Women Reading Women and Kensington El Cerrito groups. 00:00:33.660 --> 00:00:41.299 Today's scripture reading is from Paul's letter to the Philippians, chapter 4, verses 1 through 00:00:41.299 --> 00:00:43.480 9, as printed in your liturgy. 00:00:45.420 --> 00:00:48.579 A reading from Paul's letter to the Philippians. 00:00:50.820 --> 00:01:00.700 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm 00:01:00.700 --> 00:01:02.920 in the Lord in this way, dear friends. 00:01:03.840 --> 00:01:10.219 I plead with Eudoia, and I plead with Syntyche, to be part of the same mind in the Lord. 00:01:10.219 --> 00:01:18.799 Yes, and I ask you, my true companion, help these women since they have contended at my 00:01:18.799 --> 00:01:24.719 side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose 00:01:24.719 --> 00:01:26.640 names are in the book of life. 00:01:26.640 --> 00:01:29.799 Rejoice in the Lord always. 00:01:29.799 --> 00:01:31.140 I will say it again. 00:01:31.340 --> 00:01:31.980 Rejoice. 00:01:32.980 --> 00:01:35.900 Let your gentleness be evident to all. 00:01:36.519 --> 00:01:37.840 The Lord is near. 00:01:38.960 --> 00:01:46.439 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, 00:01:46.439 --> 00:01:49.359 present your requests to God. 00:01:49.359 --> 00:01:58.120 And the peace of God will transcend all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ 00:01:58.120 --> 00:01:58.560 Jesus. 00:01:58.560 --> 00:02:10.219 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever 00:02:10.219 --> 00:02:19.280 is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think 00:02:19.280 --> 00:02:20.719 about such things. 00:02:20.719 --> 00:02:29.079 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me or seen in me, put it into practice, 00:02:29.579 --> 00:02:32.680 and the God of peace will be with you. 00:02:33.919 --> 00:02:35.460 This is the word of the Lord. 00:02:36.500 --> 00:02:37.460 Thanks be to God. 00:02:38.180 --> 00:02:40.219 Thank you, Julie, for that scripture reading. 00:02:40.879 --> 00:02:41.800 It's good to be back. 00:02:42.120 --> 00:02:44.979 Thank you for letting me get away to guest preach somewhere else. 00:02:44.979 --> 00:02:50.959 It was nice to be at another church seeing what God's doing, but also, this is a much 00:02:50.959 --> 00:02:55.620 better crowd to preach to, so I'm thankful that you guys all listened to me. 00:02:56.839 --> 00:03:01.620 Let's open to God's word and dig into what he has to say to us this morning. 00:03:03.479 --> 00:03:11.339 Father, we so long to hear you speak because your word is life. 00:03:11.340 --> 00:03:16.460 Your word is truth, and Lord, to whom else shall we go? 00:03:17.800 --> 00:03:19.020 So would you do that, Lord? 00:03:19.099 --> 00:03:24.539 Would you, through the preaching of your word, speak life to us, speak peace, and would we 00:03:24.539 --> 00:03:29.879 receive it as those who love and embrace our Savior, Jesus Christ? 00:03:30.199 --> 00:03:33.439 Let's be honored in the preaching of your word, we ask in his name. 00:03:33.980 --> 00:03:34.319 Amen. 00:03:35.460 --> 00:03:40.819 All right, so we're finally in the last chapter of Paul's letter to the church in Philippi, 00:03:40.819 --> 00:03:45.539 and as Jonathan mentioned last week, this is easily his most joyful letter, right? 00:03:45.579 --> 00:03:51.780 Even as he's writing this, probably in chains, probably between two Roman soldiers, very likely 00:03:51.780 --> 00:03:55.979 on his way even to execution, Paul still has what? 00:03:56.039 --> 00:03:58.799 He has this inextinguishable joy, right? 00:03:58.840 --> 00:04:03.719 One pastor that I love to listen to, his name's John Tyson, he's out in New York City, he titled 00:04:03.719 --> 00:04:06.439 their series in Philippians, Defiant Joy. 00:04:07.019 --> 00:04:07.680 I love that. 00:04:07.680 --> 00:04:12.840 That defined joy, that's what Paul has here in his heart as he's writing to the Philippians. 00:04:13.319 --> 00:04:17.480 And especially here in the final chapter of his letter, he's not just saying that he has 00:04:17.480 --> 00:04:20.460 joy, but he's commanding the church unto joy. 00:04:20.600 --> 00:04:22.439 He says, rejoice, rejoice. 00:04:22.579 --> 00:04:23.660 And again, I say rejoice. 00:04:23.780 --> 00:04:27.960 Do not be anxious about anything, but rejoice with peace, he says. 00:04:28.860 --> 00:04:33.399 Now, you might think that such a passage of Scripture would be a delight for a preacher, 00:04:33.399 --> 00:04:38.379 like, nice, an upbeat, happy sermon today, or at least very straightforward, right? 00:04:38.479 --> 00:04:44.179 Like, deal with your anxieties by having faith, showing gratitude, choosing joy, pursuing God's 00:04:44.179 --> 00:04:46.060 peace, and then see you later, right? 00:04:47.560 --> 00:04:50.099 Isn't that all I'm supposed to come up here and say? 00:04:51.439 --> 00:04:54.759 Well, sure, but also not exactly. 00:04:54.759 --> 00:05:00.800 You know, truthfully, I've actually felt a lot of anxiety preparing this sermon on anxiety 00:05:00.800 --> 00:05:01.959 this week. 00:05:02.879 --> 00:05:08.420 And I think it's because preaching this passage feels to me like walking on a tightrope. 00:05:09.240 --> 00:05:11.980 On the one hand, this passage has history for me. 00:05:12.539 --> 00:05:17.019 I've seen it terribly applied, and I don't want to fall into the same mistake. 00:05:17.139 --> 00:05:21.599 Some of you have heard me share this story before, but years ago, there was this pastor's 00:05:21.600 --> 00:05:27.140 wife I know, knowledgeable, wonderful, respectable, well-meaning, trying to counsel a young woman 00:05:27.140 --> 00:05:30.379 in their church who is deeply struggling with anxiety. 00:05:31.180 --> 00:05:36.220 And you know, with every intention of being helpful and faithful, what this pastor's wife 00:05:36.220 --> 00:05:40.060 basically ended up saying, though, was, hey, anxiety, I got you. 00:05:40.379 --> 00:05:45.360 Philippians chapter 4, verse 6, do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation 00:05:45.360 --> 00:05:48.960 by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your request to God. 00:05:48.959 --> 00:05:50.620 Then you'll have peace. 00:05:51.120 --> 00:05:53.899 So pray, be thankful, stop being anxious. 00:05:54.039 --> 00:05:55.759 The Bible clearly says it right here. 00:05:55.819 --> 00:05:57.659 Just let go of your sin of anxiety. 00:05:57.839 --> 00:05:58.620 Just stop it. 00:05:59.000 --> 00:06:00.599 Just stop it, and you're good, right? 00:06:01.339 --> 00:06:02.839 Now, let me poll the audience. 00:06:02.939 --> 00:06:08.219 Does that sound more like helpful, Christ-like, Spirit-led biblical counsel or like gaslighting 00:06:08.219 --> 00:06:10.599 wrapped in a Bible verse, right? 00:06:11.379 --> 00:06:17.799 And some of you have shared your own experiences with me, similar experiences of Christian counseling, 00:06:17.800 --> 00:06:20.220 so-called biblical counseling, firsthand experiences. 00:06:20.900 --> 00:06:26.280 As you've struggled with your own anxieties and depression, you've been told by well-meaning 00:06:26.280 --> 00:06:29.860 Christians who love you that you just need to be more thankful, man. 00:06:30.480 --> 00:06:35.259 Practice gratitude, choose joy, have more faith, and that should solve it easy peasy, right? 00:06:35.259 --> 00:06:43.899 And yet, many of us have found such so-called biblical counsel to be ineffective at best and 00:06:43.899 --> 00:06:48.680 further damaging at worst, maybe even tempting us to doubt the genuineness of our faith. 00:06:48.819 --> 00:06:50.339 So let me be clear this morning. 00:06:50.420 --> 00:06:53.279 This is not what I want you to hear from this text. 00:06:53.360 --> 00:06:57.500 I want you to know that the Bible itself teaches us that the law, the commands of God cannot 00:06:57.500 --> 00:06:59.300 change our hearts or save us. 00:06:59.300 --> 00:07:03.340 You can't just thou shalt or thou shalt not someone into healing and wholeness. 00:07:03.840 --> 00:07:07.139 You can't thou shalt not the anxiety out of someone. 00:07:08.199 --> 00:07:13.160 And so on the one hand, I come to this passage like super aware and super sensitive to how 00:07:13.160 --> 00:07:15.660 easy it is to misuse and misapply this verse. 00:07:16.199 --> 00:07:20.139 On the one hand, I come to this passage like very anxious, honestly, about being the kind 00:07:20.139 --> 00:07:25.360 of pastor who just naively throws Bible verses at you and Bible bashes you over the head, 00:07:25.360 --> 00:07:30.540 expecting you to somehow get fixed because I threw a magical Bible verse at you. 00:07:31.800 --> 00:07:38.920 And yet, on the other hand, I still do want to affirm the sufficiency and the power of 00:07:38.920 --> 00:07:40.120 the Word of God, right? 00:07:40.439 --> 00:07:43.020 To truly address and calm our anxieties. 00:07:43.120 --> 00:07:47.259 I don't want to overcorrect so far that I end up sidestepping what Paul says here under 00:07:47.259 --> 00:07:49.280 the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. 00:07:49.360 --> 00:07:54.420 I don't want to shy away from the fact that this apostle of Christ, he does indeed command 00:07:54.420 --> 00:07:55.580 us to rejoice. 00:07:56.240 --> 00:08:00.660 He does command us to pray and give thanks and to trust and believe in the true efficacy 00:08:00.660 --> 00:08:07.259 of God's peace as a real and powerful resource for our hearts and our minds when we're struggling 00:08:07.259 --> 00:08:08.200 with anxiety. 00:08:09.379 --> 00:08:13.620 So I don't want to be simplistic or insensitive in how I apply this passage. 00:08:13.620 --> 00:08:18.879 I also don't want to be so overly cautious that I empty this simple passage of Scripture 00:08:18.879 --> 00:08:21.960 of its divine power for us. 00:08:21.959 --> 00:08:27.239 So that's the task for us this morning, to walk this tightrope, right? 00:08:27.719 --> 00:08:32.519 To neither weaponize this passage nor water it down, to take seriously the complexities 00:08:32.519 --> 00:08:40.139 of anxiety and to honor those complexities with compassion while still believing that God, 00:08:40.460 --> 00:08:46.220 through Paul's letter, is offering us something real here, something powerful, and not some simplistic 00:08:46.220 --> 00:08:51.980 spiritual fix, but a deeply and uniquely Christian way of addressing anxiety. 00:08:52.860 --> 00:08:53.960 So what is that way? 00:08:54.019 --> 00:08:57.940 What is this deeply and uniquely Christian way of addressing anxiety that I'm talking about? 00:08:58.000 --> 00:08:59.700 Well, let's start in verses 1 to 3. 00:08:59.899 --> 00:09:01.360 Look with me at your liturgies. 00:09:01.360 --> 00:09:03.539 Therefore, he writes, 00:09:03.539 --> 00:09:31.779 So just imagine this scene for a second with me, all right? 00:09:31.779 --> 00:09:36.839 Remember, these letters were read out loud in the churches, right, in front of the whole 00:09:36.839 --> 00:09:37.220 congregation. 00:09:37.339 --> 00:09:41.919 So here Paul is addressing his beloved brothers and sisters in verse 1, whom he loves and longs 00:09:41.919 --> 00:09:42.079 for. 00:09:42.159 --> 00:09:43.259 They're his joy and his crown. 00:09:43.539 --> 00:09:46.939 And then, oh snap, verse 2, name drops, right? 00:09:47.299 --> 00:09:49.500 He specifically names two women in the church. 00:09:49.559 --> 00:09:50.399 Can you imagine that? 00:09:50.860 --> 00:09:54.019 If I, in a sermon, name two people who are struggling in this church. 00:09:54.620 --> 00:09:56.519 Everyone's like looking at that side of the room. 00:09:56.720 --> 00:09:58.819 Other people are looking at that side of the room, right? 00:09:58.820 --> 00:10:01.640 Very awkward, but Paul goes for it, all right? 00:10:01.720 --> 00:10:02.800 Inspired by the Holy Spirit. 00:10:03.340 --> 00:10:06.180 And he specifically names Euodia and Syntyche. 00:10:07.020 --> 00:10:11.720 And he pleads with them both in front of the whole congregation and really in front of the 00:10:11.720 --> 00:10:14.300 rest of the church for the past 2,000 years, right? 00:10:15.080 --> 00:10:16.240 To be a what? 00:10:16.320 --> 00:10:16.800 To be what? 00:10:17.200 --> 00:10:19.260 Of the same mind in the Lord. 00:10:20.120 --> 00:10:24.660 Now, we don't have any context or information about what was going on here between these two 00:10:24.659 --> 00:10:25.279 ladies. 00:10:25.679 --> 00:10:28.120 So it's pointless and futile to speculate. 00:10:28.299 --> 00:10:33.519 But what we do know is how Paul addresses them and their relational anxiety within this 00:10:33.519 --> 00:10:33.819 congregation. 00:10:34.139 --> 00:10:36.059 Now, notice what he does and then what he doesn't do. 00:10:36.100 --> 00:10:38.959 He doesn't dismiss their disagreement as like, it's no big deal. 00:10:39.100 --> 00:10:41.019 Because honestly, it could have been a big deal. 00:10:41.879 --> 00:10:45.939 He also doesn't take sides and like provide a tie break for them or offer like a quick, 00:10:46.059 --> 00:10:47.799 authoritative, apostolic solution. 00:10:47.799 --> 00:10:50.279 Because honestly, it probably wasn't black and white either. 00:10:50.279 --> 00:10:53.839 He gets that this is a tough one, probably a painful one. 00:10:54.179 --> 00:10:58.220 And so he doesn't command them to just get over yourselves, become BFFs, and just do 00:10:58.220 --> 00:10:59.100 it because I said so. 00:11:00.019 --> 00:11:04.120 Now, even as someone carrying the authority of an apostle, he humbly comes to them. 00:11:04.159 --> 00:11:05.539 He pleads with them like a beggar. 00:11:05.600 --> 00:11:06.519 He pleads with them. 00:11:06.740 --> 00:11:09.639 And in both the Greek and the English, the word plead is there twice. 00:11:10.019 --> 00:11:11.659 I plead with you, Euodia. 00:11:12.159 --> 00:11:13.779 I plead with you, Syntyche. 00:11:13.779 --> 00:11:17.559 He addresses both women with dignity and equal concern. 00:11:17.559 --> 00:11:22.399 And most instructively, he doesn't just simply say, hey, just agree, all right? 00:11:22.439 --> 00:11:22.759 Just agree. 00:11:22.819 --> 00:11:23.139 Get along. 00:11:23.219 --> 00:11:26.379 No, he calls them to something higher than agreement. 00:11:26.579 --> 00:11:27.919 He calls them to a higher calling. 00:11:28.000 --> 00:11:29.859 He calls them away from what do I think is best? 00:11:29.899 --> 00:11:34.439 And he calls them toward what do we all know is best for the glory of God and the good of 00:11:34.439 --> 00:11:34.799 our neighbors. 00:11:34.899 --> 00:11:41.179 He doesn't call them to warm, fuzzy sentimentalism, but to their primary mission as Christ's witnesses 00:11:41.179 --> 00:11:41.879 in the world. 00:11:42.479 --> 00:11:46.639 He calls them to be of the same mind in the Lord. 00:11:46.639 --> 00:11:51.539 He reminds them of their identity as those who contended by his very side for the cause 00:11:51.539 --> 00:11:52.120 of the gospel. 00:11:52.659 --> 00:11:57.179 He reminds them that before they are women at odds in the church, they are united to the 00:11:57.179 --> 00:12:03.019 Lord Jesus Christ, co-workers in the gospel, and sisters whose names are both written in 00:12:03.019 --> 00:12:07.819 the book of life, meaning they are both destined for the same glorious end in Christ Jesus. 00:12:09.100 --> 00:12:14.439 And you see, what Paul is doing here is he's taking what might seem like a small interpersonal 00:12:14.440 --> 00:12:20.480 squabble, and he's putting it into the grander context of God's much bigger and much more 00:12:20.480 --> 00:12:21.620 central truths. 00:12:21.920 --> 00:12:24.900 Truths about who Iodia and Syntyche are. 00:12:25.520 --> 00:12:30.460 Truths about what God is doing in the world and about what God truly cares about more than 00:12:30.460 --> 00:12:31.120 anything else. 00:12:31.520 --> 00:12:33.120 And this is brought into focus even more. 00:12:33.120 --> 00:12:36.279 If you pay attention to what Paul says right before he addresses these two women, look 00:12:36.279 --> 00:12:36.720 at verse 1. 00:12:37.060 --> 00:12:40.799 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and my crown, 00:12:40.899 --> 00:12:47.419 that includes you, Iodia and Syntyche, stand firm in the Lord, my dear and beloved friends. 00:12:48.480 --> 00:12:49.600 Now, do you notice the repetition? 00:12:49.919 --> 00:12:52.019 I've been trying to emphasize it in verses 1 and 2. 00:12:52.120 --> 00:12:53.919 We'll see it later in verse 4. 00:12:54.399 --> 00:12:56.440 Stand firm in the Lord. 00:12:58.039 --> 00:13:00.379 Be of the same mind in the Lord. 00:13:00.379 --> 00:13:02.919 For Paul, this is the key. 00:13:03.240 --> 00:13:04.899 This is the key to our disagreements. 00:13:05.000 --> 00:13:06.500 This is the key to our anxiety. 00:13:06.679 --> 00:13:11.919 It's the big, central, foundational truth to all anxiety, not merely doctrine, but union. 00:13:12.259 --> 00:13:13.720 Union with Christ. 00:13:15.080 --> 00:13:17.039 Rejoice in the Lord, he will say. 00:13:17.100 --> 00:13:19.059 That's union with Christ language. 00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:24.399 And what I mean when I talk about union with Christ is it's like what Paul wrote in Galatians 00:13:24.399 --> 00:13:25.460 chapter 2, verse 20. 00:13:25.559 --> 00:13:27.000 I have been crucified with Christ. 00:13:27.279 --> 00:13:29.340 It's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. 00:13:29.340 --> 00:13:33.720 The life I live in the flesh, I now live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and 00:13:33.720 --> 00:13:34.920 gave himself for me. 00:13:35.180 --> 00:13:40.180 Union with Christ is the beautiful reality that is true of every Christian, that we are 00:13:40.180 --> 00:13:44.920 crucified and risen with Christ and that we are his and he is ours and we are not alone 00:13:44.920 --> 00:13:47.240 and we are not our own, but we belong to him. 00:13:47.440 --> 00:13:49.620 And that everything that is his is ours. 00:13:50.420 --> 00:13:55.660 His death and his suffering, yes, but also his life and his joy and his glory and his righteousness 00:13:55.659 --> 00:14:01.139 and his power, his peace, his future and his inheritance, even his very spirit is within 00:14:01.139 --> 00:14:04.799 us because we are united with Christ by faith. 00:14:05.839 --> 00:14:11.539 And you see, if we miss this, then we will totally miss the heart and the intention and 00:14:11.539 --> 00:14:16.719 the real power of what Paul is saying here to the church in Philippi in chapter 4. 00:14:16.720 --> 00:14:22.399 If we miss this little phrase, in the Lord, and if we miss the centrality of union with 00:14:22.399 --> 00:14:30.080 Christ as the antidote to anxiety, then everything Paul says here is just a Christian version 00:14:30.080 --> 00:14:34.580 of the vast array of self-help, stress and anxiety reduction techniques you can find at 00:14:34.580 --> 00:14:37.220 your local bookstore in that big fat old section, right? 00:14:37.800 --> 00:14:41.000 So many of these books simply spout, you know, lists of techniques. 00:14:41.399 --> 00:14:42.879 Try these relaxation techniques. 00:14:42.879 --> 00:14:44.100 Get more massages. 00:14:44.399 --> 00:14:45.600 Try these breathing exercises. 00:14:45.899 --> 00:14:47.580 Try these thought control patterns. 00:14:47.879 --> 00:14:49.320 Create more margin in your schedule. 00:14:49.439 --> 00:14:50.559 Go on vacation more. 00:14:50.899 --> 00:14:52.100 Get more work-life balance. 00:14:52.240 --> 00:14:53.000 Clean up your diet. 00:14:53.200 --> 00:14:54.080 Process your trauma. 00:14:54.480 --> 00:14:57.439 And don't get me wrong, I'm so for all these things. 00:14:57.519 --> 00:14:59.019 I'm not anti any of these things. 00:14:59.100 --> 00:15:03.259 I think there's a ton of wisdom, common grace wisdom and help and relief to be found in all 00:15:03.259 --> 00:15:03.500 of it. 00:15:03.759 --> 00:15:10.399 But what Paul and the rest of the scriptures point us to is that when it comes to anxiety, 00:15:10.399 --> 00:15:15.539 it's not enough to just master a list of techniques. 00:15:16.199 --> 00:15:20.199 And it's not enough to try to just curate your environment, minimize your triggers. 00:15:21.259 --> 00:15:26.459 No, rather than starting with practical techniques, Paul starts with principled truths. 00:15:27.220 --> 00:15:32.439 Truths about who God is, what kind of story he's writing, and how to get on the same page 00:15:32.439 --> 00:15:34.720 as the author and perfecter of our faith. 00:15:34.720 --> 00:15:39.920 For Paul, union with Christ is the central and controlling theme of all of that. 00:15:40.379 --> 00:15:44.639 And that's how we need to read verse 4, rejoice in the Lord always. 00:15:44.940 --> 00:15:46.660 I will say it again, rejoice. 00:15:47.879 --> 00:15:49.680 Rejoice in the Lord always. 00:15:50.820 --> 00:15:55.000 And again, this is where I feel the anxiety though, from verses 4 to 7, because it really 00:15:55.000 --> 00:15:58.720 sounds here like Paul, is he telling us how to feel? 00:15:59.680 --> 00:16:01.700 Don't tell me how to feel, right? 00:16:02.279 --> 00:16:03.060 Is he telling us how to feel? 00:16:03.059 --> 00:16:04.599 This is a huge no-no, right? 00:16:04.659 --> 00:16:10.019 In our heavily therapeutic cultural moment where emotional autonomy is sacred, right? 00:16:10.139 --> 00:16:15.179 And where our feelings are seen not only as valid, but almost as sovereign and untouchable 00:16:15.179 --> 00:16:16.059 truth, right? 00:16:16.139 --> 00:16:20.739 And where to question someone's feelings is to question their very identity. 00:16:22.239 --> 00:16:27.159 So maybe some of us in this room who feel like we have no reason to rejoice, and I get that. 00:16:27.239 --> 00:16:30.779 There are people in this room who I know feel no reason to rejoice. 00:16:30.779 --> 00:16:38.019 Maybe it strikes you as offensive and even insensitive of Paul to write such commands like rejoice and 00:16:38.019 --> 00:16:38.740 do not be anxious. 00:16:39.000 --> 00:16:41.500 Maybe you're thinking to yourselves, don't tell me how to feel. 00:16:42.120 --> 00:16:43.659 Don't invalidate my feelings. 00:16:43.740 --> 00:16:47.240 And you have no idea what I've been through or what I'm going through. 00:16:49.000 --> 00:16:50.919 Now listen, I promise I hear that. 00:16:50.919 --> 00:16:52.959 I hear that as your pastor. 00:16:53.000 --> 00:16:54.039 I'm the pastor of care here. 00:16:54.139 --> 00:16:55.259 I deeply hear that. 00:16:55.299 --> 00:16:57.699 I feel that when I sit with many of you. 00:16:59.019 --> 00:17:02.860 And in fact, if you're here today on the other side of this and you're rolling your eyes like 00:17:02.860 --> 00:17:04.220 snowflakes. 00:17:05.059 --> 00:17:05.899 Feelings are feelings. 00:17:06.099 --> 00:17:06.839 Facts are facts. 00:17:06.940 --> 00:17:12.899 If that's you, you need to hear that there's actually something healthy to this modern sensitivity. 00:17:12.900 --> 00:17:17.960 People should rightly want to be understood and to be treated as whole persons, human beings 00:17:17.960 --> 00:17:22.040 with complex stories of both victimhood and irresponsibility. 00:17:23.080 --> 00:17:29.820 And if you ever have had your grief or your trauma missed or minimized while simultaneously 00:17:29.820 --> 00:17:34.940 being told how to feel, it can be hurtful and lonely and can feel very dehumanizing. 00:17:34.940 --> 00:17:41.420 So I don't think Paul is simplistically just commanding people to rejoice just like that 00:17:41.420 --> 00:17:43.240 with a snap of his apostolic fingers. 00:17:43.360 --> 00:17:44.120 Just do it. 00:17:44.180 --> 00:17:44.580 Stop it. 00:17:45.440 --> 00:17:48.580 He's not saying feel happy or else you're failing as a Christian. 00:17:49.240 --> 00:17:53.360 He's not demanding fake smiles, inauthenticity, or emotional denial. 00:17:54.720 --> 00:17:59.480 And yet, he truly does mean it when he commands us to rejoice in the Lord always. 00:17:59.600 --> 00:18:01.559 And he says it again emphatically, rejoice. 00:18:01.559 --> 00:18:07.619 But again, the key here, and I think it's this, it's in the Lord. 00:18:08.299 --> 00:18:09.919 The key is union with Christ. 00:18:11.159 --> 00:18:15.319 It's almost as if Paul knew that apart from being united with the risen Lord, he could 00:18:15.319 --> 00:18:17.779 not even issue such a command to rejoice. 00:18:19.220 --> 00:18:24.279 But because Christ is risen, even while we may have much reason to grieve in Christ, there 00:18:24.279 --> 00:18:27.399 is always reason to rejoice as well. 00:18:27.399 --> 00:18:31.460 In Christ, it is always appropriate, even if it's hard, to rejoice. 00:18:32.159 --> 00:18:37.019 Because no matter how broken this creation is, Christ is risen. 00:18:37.799 --> 00:18:38.899 New creation has come. 00:18:39.220 --> 00:18:40.700 New creation is coming again. 00:18:40.819 --> 00:18:45.460 And if anyone is in Christ, if anyone is united with Christ, they are a new creation. 00:18:47.339 --> 00:18:49.460 And Paul continues this line of thinking in verse 5. 00:18:50.480 --> 00:18:51.220 Read that with me. 00:18:51.299 --> 00:18:54.519 Let your gentleness, or I like to translate this, let your quiet strength. 00:18:54.559 --> 00:18:55.419 I think that's a good translation. 00:18:55.420 --> 00:18:58.640 Let your quiet strength be evident to all. 00:18:58.720 --> 00:18:59.180 The Lord is near. 00:18:59.240 --> 00:19:04.420 See, for Paul, he knows that those who are united with Christ, they don't have to be reactionary, 00:19:04.800 --> 00:19:06.259 self-defensive, and controlling. 00:19:06.380 --> 00:19:11.240 They don't have to avenge themselves when they're wronged or grasp at what they think they deserve. 00:19:11.480 --> 00:19:12.519 They're united with Christ. 00:19:13.440 --> 00:19:13.980 They're good. 00:19:14.720 --> 00:19:15.820 And their Lord is near. 00:19:15.819 --> 00:19:16.960 He's near to the brokenhearted. 00:19:17.079 --> 00:19:21.359 He's near to return to right all wrongs and to ensure that the moral arc of the universe 00:19:21.359 --> 00:19:22.539 bends toward justice. 00:19:23.759 --> 00:19:27.159 And see, it's on the basis of all of this that Paul then says, 00:19:28.019 --> 00:19:29.980 do not be anxious about anything. 00:19:31.279 --> 00:19:34.559 The primary intention isn't to guilt trip you for your anxiety. 00:19:34.700 --> 00:19:37.819 This isn't Paul saying you're a bad Christian when you feel overwhelmed. 00:19:37.939 --> 00:19:42.859 No, it's Paul lovingly pointing you to the richness of your inheritance in Christ. 00:19:42.859 --> 00:19:47.899 It's less about looking inward and rebuking yourself for your anxiety and more about looking 00:19:47.899 --> 00:19:52.139 upward and reframing your anxiety in the light of God's truth. 00:19:52.199 --> 00:19:53.599 Imagine a mother, right? 00:19:54.139 --> 00:19:56.339 My child says, I'm scared. 00:19:56.699 --> 00:19:58.199 I'm scared of the dark, right? 00:19:59.139 --> 00:20:03.119 The child is afraid of the dark but needs to go to sleep, so the mother sits by her child, 00:20:04.379 --> 00:20:09.699 rubs the child's back in the dark, gently whispers into her ears the most frequent command 00:20:09.699 --> 00:20:12.039 in the Bible, fear not. 00:20:12.039 --> 00:20:14.519 Hush, little baby, don't be afraid. 00:20:14.639 --> 00:20:16.339 This isn't a rebuke. 00:20:16.960 --> 00:20:18.779 This isn't a reproof, right? 00:20:19.559 --> 00:20:23.759 So much as a tender, loving assurance of her parental presence. 00:20:24.839 --> 00:20:29.119 It's sympathetic comfort spoken to true and real concerns. 00:20:30.379 --> 00:20:35.559 You know, the verb Paul uses here for anxiety, like be anxious or do not be anxious, it's 00:20:35.559 --> 00:20:36.599 merim nao, okay? 00:20:36.599 --> 00:20:41.679 Merim nao, if you take that apart etymologically, you could understand it as meaning to have a 00:20:41.679 --> 00:20:43.259 divided mind. 00:20:43.740 --> 00:20:45.199 Merim nao, to have a divided mind. 00:20:45.259 --> 00:20:50.059 So for example, Jesus uses this word when Martha is like upset with Mary because Martha is making 00:20:50.059 --> 00:20:52.980 all these preparations in the home and Mary's sitting at the feet of Jesus just listening 00:20:52.980 --> 00:20:53.199 to him. 00:20:53.200 --> 00:20:59.480 Jesus says, Martha, Martha, you are not merim nao, or sorry, Martha, Martha, you are merim nao-ing 00:20:59.480 --> 00:21:04.440 over many things, he says to her, but only one thing is needed. 00:21:05.720 --> 00:21:09.620 And I think this so beautifully illustrates the point Paul is making here when he says do 00:21:09.620 --> 00:21:10.140 not be anxious. 00:21:10.240 --> 00:21:12.519 In one sense, it's not wrong to be anxious. 00:21:13.220 --> 00:21:16.039 It's not wrong to have many cares and concerns. 00:21:16.039 --> 00:21:20.220 In fact, the same word merim nao is used earlier in Paul's letter to the Philippians to speak 00:21:20.220 --> 00:21:23.720 about how Timothy, he merim nao's for the church in Philippi. 00:21:24.119 --> 00:21:27.099 He's spoken well of because of his merim nao-ing, all right? 00:21:27.899 --> 00:21:28.899 It's not wrong to care. 00:21:29.559 --> 00:21:30.819 It's not wrong to be burdened. 00:21:30.960 --> 00:21:38.079 But when our scattered concerns become disordered and our fears and our anxieties no longer coexist 00:21:38.079 --> 00:21:44.980 with our faith and trust in Christ, but actually eclipse Christ altogether, that is when our 00:21:44.980 --> 00:21:47.980 anxiety has turned into something problematic and sinful. 00:21:48.599 --> 00:21:54.819 When we let the many things overcome and outshine the one thing, and the one thing that Mary chose, 00:21:55.659 --> 00:21:56.159 which is what? 00:21:56.240 --> 00:21:58.419 Union and communion with the Lord. 00:21:59.519 --> 00:22:03.579 So when Paul says do not be anxious, he's not commanding you to suppress your feelings, 00:22:03.579 --> 00:22:08.079 and he's definitely not scolding you for being human and recognizing your mortality, 00:22:08.259 --> 00:22:11.859 your lack of control over the outcomes of your life, and all the uncertainty that surrounds you. 00:22:11.879 --> 00:22:17.619 No, he's simply inviting you to reorder your heart and set it on something far more solid 00:22:17.619 --> 00:22:18.699 than the creature. 00:22:19.379 --> 00:22:21.919 He's inviting you to lean back on your creator. 00:22:23.139 --> 00:22:28.039 And my question is, has that been your response to these anxious times that we're living in? 00:22:28.039 --> 00:22:34.539 As many of our Bay Area livelihoods are threatened with, you know, tech companies, governmental agencies, 00:22:34.779 --> 00:22:39.319 various other institutions going pretty lean, we all probably know someone who's lost a job recently 00:22:39.319 --> 00:22:44.779 because of all the cutbacks, others struggling to even find work, and then add to that all the 00:22:44.779 --> 00:22:49.839 geopolitical instability and chaos, the seeming triumph of injustice in many parts of the world 00:22:49.839 --> 00:22:53.299 leading to hunger and dispossession and trauma upon trauma. 00:22:53.299 --> 00:22:59.059 And then, even for the most fortunate and privileged among us, we're still trying to navigate all the 00:22:59.059 --> 00:23:03.399 ideological polarization, right, the division and the culture war that threatens our families, 00:23:03.519 --> 00:23:05.839 our churches, our workplaces, our friendships and institutions. 00:23:06.799 --> 00:23:11.919 And if all this, and you know, all this stuff that I just mentioned, it doesn't even account for 00:23:11.919 --> 00:23:18.019 our day-to-day, right, our hyper-specific, super-localized personal anxieties that we're all 00:23:18.019 --> 00:23:22.900 individually dealing with and the subtle idols that can often be attached. 00:23:23.039 --> 00:23:24.099 What if I lose it all? 00:23:24.660 --> 00:23:25.920 What if my kids don't turn out? 00:23:25.960 --> 00:23:26.900 What if I don't find love? 00:23:27.099 --> 00:23:28.299 What if I don't get into that school? 00:23:28.559 --> 00:23:29.759 What if I don't make partner? 00:23:29.879 --> 00:23:31.039 What if I don't get that promotion? 00:23:32.180 --> 00:23:35.839 There is a whole lot that warrants our anxiety. 00:23:37.279 --> 00:23:40.839 But the question isn't ultimately, should I be anxious or not? 00:23:40.839 --> 00:23:45.359 But what does God want me to do with my anxiety? 00:23:46.720 --> 00:23:47.539 Bow to it? 00:23:48.019 --> 00:23:53.139 Let it cripple and dominate me or combat it with and in the presence of the Lord? 00:23:54.959 --> 00:23:59.559 See, look, Paul doesn't just say, do not be anxious, but he gives us a positive command 00:23:59.559 --> 00:24:00.459 as well in conjunction. 00:24:00.619 --> 00:24:03.559 He gives a thou shalt not with a thou shalt. 00:24:03.839 --> 00:24:06.480 Thou shalt make your requests known to God, he says. 00:24:07.519 --> 00:24:09.679 This is what we're called to do with our anxieties. 00:24:10.839 --> 00:24:16.619 To be honest with them and to bring them to God and to do so with a posture of prayer 00:24:16.619 --> 00:24:17.919 and petition, it says. 00:24:18.119 --> 00:24:22.079 Basically, a posture of helplessness, need, and vulnerability. 00:24:22.619 --> 00:24:23.459 God is honored. 00:24:24.399 --> 00:24:29.419 God is honored when we come to Him with our anxieties in the same way we are honored when 00:24:29.419 --> 00:24:35.919 our children come to us entrusting themselves and their insecurities to us, seeking help with 00:24:35.919 --> 00:24:38.339 things that are too big for them to handle. 00:24:38.339 --> 00:24:44.559 While the world might tell us that making our neediness and our uncertainty and our vulnerability 00:24:44.559 --> 00:24:49.259 and anxiety known, while the world might tell us that that is an act of weakness, you know 00:24:49.259 --> 00:24:49.779 what God says? 00:24:49.819 --> 00:24:50.919 He says that's an act of worship. 00:24:52.819 --> 00:24:56.000 And I also don't want us to miss how Paul says that we're to present our requests in 00:24:56.000 --> 00:24:59.959 every situation by prayer and petition with thanksgiving as well. 00:25:00.639 --> 00:25:01.679 With gratitude, with thanksgiving. 00:25:01.680 --> 00:25:06.080 And maybe this sounds weird to you, like how can a beggar, a petitioner before God, like 00:25:06.080 --> 00:25:08.680 ask Him for something and then thank Him at the very same time? 00:25:08.740 --> 00:25:09.700 Isn't the usual order? 00:25:10.240 --> 00:25:11.500 I beg, I ask. 00:25:11.900 --> 00:25:16.480 And if and only if I receive, then and only then do I give thanks. 00:25:17.220 --> 00:25:22.480 But Paul is seeming to say here that we give thanks as we ask, not even knowing if we will 00:25:22.480 --> 00:25:24.100 receive what we ask for. 00:25:24.740 --> 00:25:25.460 What's up with that? 00:25:26.039 --> 00:25:26.660 How does that work? 00:25:26.660 --> 00:25:28.360 Why would anyone do that? 00:25:29.519 --> 00:25:33.779 Well, what if Paul is inviting us to give thanks not only after we receive what we've 00:25:33.779 --> 00:25:38.920 asked for, but even as we ask, like even before the answer comes, not because we know how He 00:25:38.920 --> 00:25:42.120 will answer, but because we know what kind of God He is. 00:25:43.060 --> 00:25:47.460 What if Paul is challenging us to give thanks even in the case that the answer might be no, 00:25:47.560 --> 00:25:53.380 but we give thanks anyway because we believe that the very outcome we didn't ask for is the 00:25:53.380 --> 00:25:57.220 exact thing we would have asked for if we knew everything that God knows. 00:25:58.460 --> 00:26:01.760 And maybe you're thinking, I could never have that much faith. 00:26:01.800 --> 00:26:02.860 I could never have that kind of faith. 00:26:03.400 --> 00:26:09.420 And you're thinking to yourself, like, I'm going to need a lot more than that from God 00:26:09.420 --> 00:26:12.900 before I trust Him like that, before I give thanks to Him like that. 00:26:13.740 --> 00:26:17.260 Well, the late Tim Keller, he gives this illustration about a four-year-old child, and he said, you 00:26:17.259 --> 00:26:23.440 know, if a four-year-old said, I have reason to believe that my parent is bad and an untrustworthy 00:26:23.440 --> 00:26:27.619 parent because they aren't doing the things I would have done the way I would have done 00:26:27.619 --> 00:26:32.640 it, and I don't understand why they've chosen to do things this way, we don't say, oh, wow, 00:26:32.700 --> 00:26:33.660 that's a really good point. 00:26:34.220 --> 00:26:35.640 Great logic right there. 00:26:35.680 --> 00:26:38.160 You have every reason then, little boy, to go ahead and run away. 00:26:39.160 --> 00:26:39.480 No. 00:26:39.480 --> 00:26:39.519 No. 00:26:40.240 --> 00:26:41.500 We might smile. 00:26:42.140 --> 00:26:45.920 We might give them a hug, come around them, be sympathetic, but no, we don't let them run 00:26:45.920 --> 00:26:50.000 away because we know that there are simply things that a four-year-old will not be able 00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:52.839 to understand yet about their loving parents. 00:26:53.960 --> 00:26:59.579 So for us to say, I know this God is bad and an untrustworthy God until He explains why 00:26:59.579 --> 00:27:05.380 everything happens and I can fully understand it, on that same basis, every four-year-old in 00:27:05.380 --> 00:27:07.279 the world has the right to run away from home. 00:27:07.279 --> 00:27:12.980 If we can accept that there are things a four-year-old might not yet understand about the plans and 00:27:12.980 --> 00:27:17.579 intentions of their loving parent, might we also be able to accept there are things that 00:27:17.579 --> 00:27:22.940 we cannot understand about the plans and intentions of our loving God and Father in heaven? 00:27:23.779 --> 00:27:26.779 Just because we don't understand doesn't make God less trustworthy. 00:27:27.759 --> 00:27:34.379 What if it just means that we are children who have a wiser father, a good father in heaven 00:27:34.380 --> 00:27:36.080 who loves it when we talk to Him? 00:27:37.380 --> 00:27:40.180 And this is why we are emphasizing prayer in this church. 00:27:40.280 --> 00:27:41.500 We want to see you in the boiler room. 00:27:41.880 --> 00:27:43.740 We want to see you on Second Wednesdays. 00:27:43.980 --> 00:27:47.460 Are we going to be a praying church who come into the presence of our Father? 00:27:48.160 --> 00:27:54.360 Or are we too busy to pray because we're spinning our wheels trying to rid ourselves of all our 00:27:54.360 --> 00:27:57.800 anxieties with active hands rather than folded hands? 00:27:59.040 --> 00:28:00.120 Are you anxious? 00:28:00.119 --> 00:28:00.519 Pray. 00:28:01.119 --> 00:28:01.559 Pray. 00:28:02.019 --> 00:28:05.599 And not because that's the secret Christian technique to fight anxiety, but because kneeling 00:28:05.599 --> 00:28:08.719 in prayer is kneeling in the presence of your Father in heaven. 00:28:10.219 --> 00:28:16.139 And man, if you accept that, if you can come to God as your Father in heaven, if you can come 00:28:16.139 --> 00:28:21.819 to Him in union with your big brother, Jesus Christ, as an adopted child of God, trusting Him, 00:28:22.159 --> 00:28:27.159 thanking Him, casting your anxieties upon Him, man, there is a peace that He has for you. 00:28:27.160 --> 00:28:30.180 And it's real and it's powerful and it's unlike anything else. 00:28:30.279 --> 00:28:30.880 Verse 7 says, 00:28:31.240 --> 00:28:37.300 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ 00:28:37.300 --> 00:28:37.660 Jesus. 00:28:38.900 --> 00:28:43.600 You know, so much of what this harsh world teaches us is that the only way to peace is 00:28:43.600 --> 00:28:44.300 to be strong. 00:28:44.880 --> 00:28:47.840 Like so strong that no one dares to mess with me. 00:28:48.440 --> 00:28:51.200 So strong that we can secure our own peace. 00:28:51.300 --> 00:28:54.660 Basically, the only way to peace is invincibility. 00:28:54.660 --> 00:29:01.880 But what makes the peace of God, the peace of Christ so utterly beautiful and unique is 00:29:01.880 --> 00:29:08.320 that it's a peace that does not require invincibility on your part or any power at all on your part. 00:29:09.600 --> 00:29:11.700 And that's how it transcends all understanding. 00:29:12.519 --> 00:29:17.440 It's even a peace that can be had in a storm, in chaos, in grief, in suffering, in pain, in 00:29:17.440 --> 00:29:17.800 turmoil. 00:29:17.940 --> 00:29:20.860 Remember again where Paul is writing this from, from prison. 00:29:20.859 --> 00:29:26.199 When so much of the world around us tells us that the way to peace is through fixing and 00:29:26.199 --> 00:29:28.679 reshaping the external world around us. 00:29:29.019 --> 00:29:32.419 Conforming the rest of the world to our will so that we can be at peace with it. 00:29:32.479 --> 00:29:36.059 Paul here is offering an alternative kind of peace. 00:29:36.399 --> 00:29:40.819 Not a peace that flattens everything else out, flattens everyone else out outside of us. 00:29:40.819 --> 00:29:46.259 But an internal peace, a peace that can guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus no 00:29:46.259 --> 00:29:47.960 matter what is happening in the world. 00:29:48.000 --> 00:29:53.139 A peace that can only be had in the Lord, in union with Christ. 00:29:53.200 --> 00:30:01.279 So my question, my question is do you want it for yourself, for your family, for your fractured, 00:30:01.559 --> 00:30:02.480 frantic world? 00:30:02.559 --> 00:30:03.439 Because it's available. 00:30:03.440 --> 00:30:03.519 It's available. 00:30:04.160 --> 00:30:06.880 It's available in Him, in Christ. 00:30:07.000 --> 00:30:07.980 All it takes is repentance. 00:30:08.100 --> 00:30:09.559 All it takes is to change your mind. 00:30:09.620 --> 00:30:11.960 Not emptying your mind, but filling it with Christ. 00:30:12.039 --> 00:30:17.799 Verse 8, finally he says, whatever is true, noble, right, pure, whatever is lovely, admirable, 00:30:17.799 --> 00:30:25.580 if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think, meditate, ruminate, ponder, and dwell upon 00:30:25.580 --> 00:30:26.799 such things. 00:30:27.460 --> 00:30:29.420 This is Christian mindfulness. 00:30:29.620 --> 00:30:32.080 Not the evacuation, but the elevation of our thoughts. 00:30:32.079 --> 00:30:35.359 Not the numbing of the mind, but the nourishing of the mind. 00:30:36.379 --> 00:30:40.439 You know, a lot of commentators mention how not exclusively Christian this list of things 00:30:40.439 --> 00:30:42.419 is that we're supposed to put our minds on, and it's true. 00:30:43.299 --> 00:30:49.460 A Christian should be able to admire and celebrate truth and purity and beauty and excellence anywhere 00:30:49.460 --> 00:30:50.980 and everywhere it can be found. 00:30:52.039 --> 00:30:57.480 But all such truth, and not just truth, but loveliness and attractiveness and praiseworthiness, 00:30:57.480 --> 00:31:01.439 it should always point us back to where it came from and to where it's supposed to be 00:31:01.439 --> 00:31:01.720 going. 00:31:02.439 --> 00:31:06.759 Whether it's the birds of the air, the lilies of the field, the quiet strength and the sacrificial 00:31:06.759 --> 00:31:12.539 love that we witness from time to time in our heroes, it's all from God, and it's all 00:31:12.539 --> 00:31:13.000 to God. 00:31:13.079 --> 00:31:19.379 It's all a picture pointing to the all-surpassing worth of Jesus Christ, who is the highest good, 00:31:19.679 --> 00:31:20.879 who is the truest beauty. 00:31:20.880 --> 00:31:27.300 And I love how Paul assures us that when we make this our mental habit, to dwell on whatever 00:31:27.300 --> 00:31:32.300 is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy, and when we let 00:31:32.300 --> 00:31:37.100 it draw our minds to Christ, and especially when we are memorizing the Word of God, meditating 00:31:37.099 --> 00:31:39.439 upon the soul-stirring Scriptures. 00:31:39.439 --> 00:31:46.039 Paul doesn't just repeat that the peace of God will guard our hearts against anxiety, but 00:31:46.039 --> 00:31:50.299 that the God of peace Himself will be with us. 00:31:50.299 --> 00:31:57.519 See, that is the power of union with Christ, the peaceful presence of God with us in Christ. 00:31:58.119 --> 00:32:02.980 It's the only kind of presence that can form us into the non-anxious presence the world so 00:32:02.980 --> 00:32:04.740 desperately needs. 00:32:05.240 --> 00:32:10.339 This is what God is offering us today, a non-anxious life. 00:32:11.660 --> 00:32:16.420 Not that we never feel anxious, or that we know and can control every outcome, but that 00:32:16.420 --> 00:32:24.480 we are invited to steadily practice the presence of God in every circumstance, unflappable, as 00:32:24.480 --> 00:32:29.039 witnesses to the serenity of our suffering Savior, who is now seated on high, witnesses to 00:32:29.039 --> 00:32:32.940 a one-of-a-kind peace that doesn't come from invincibility, but from intimacy. 00:32:33.839 --> 00:32:37.319 A peace that doesn't guard our circumstances, but guards our hearts and minds. 00:32:37.519 --> 00:32:41.380 A peace that surpasses all understanding because it's not based on the stories we would have 00:32:41.380 --> 00:32:45.660 written if we were the authors of His, my greatest fear, my greatest source of anxiety. 00:32:46.819 --> 00:32:52.819 But then he looked at the man who had lost his teenage son, and he said, but watching you, 00:32:53.799 --> 00:33:01.579 watching your peace, watching your hope, watching your quiet strength, I've seen something 00:33:01.579 --> 00:33:07.779 in you that tells me that even if I lost what I love most and what I probably honestly do 00:33:07.779 --> 00:33:14.099 idolize, I think I could still make it too as long as I have what you have. 00:33:14.099 --> 00:33:19.500 And that's the peace that surpasses all understanding. 00:33:20.740 --> 00:33:26.639 That's the presence of Christ making His people into a non-anxious presence in our super-anxious 00:33:26.639 --> 00:33:27.039 world. 00:33:27.039 --> 00:33:33.059 That's the peace that inspired Horatio Spafford, right, as he passed the watery grave of his 00:33:33.059 --> 00:33:35.980 daughters to write the song we sang earlier, It Is Well With My Soul. 00:33:36.039 --> 00:33:39.460 It wasn't stoicism or resignation or fake piety. 00:33:39.680 --> 00:33:44.559 It wasn't the absence of grief and heartbreak and anxiety. 00:33:44.559 --> 00:33:50.259 No, it was the presence of a Father in heaven who has also lost a son. 00:33:51.059 --> 00:33:57.259 It was the presence of Christ who was that son yet is now risen and exalted in glory. 00:33:59.019 --> 00:34:00.179 So that is the key. 00:34:01.379 --> 00:34:02.339 Union with that Lord. 00:34:03.139 --> 00:34:08.440 And there is no other kind of Lord, no other kind of God that can meet us in our anxiety. 00:34:08.440 --> 00:34:15.159 But He offers us something real and powerful and good, and it's free. 00:34:16.039 --> 00:34:17.300 It only cost Him. 00:34:18.440 --> 00:34:23.460 So we're about to come to this table where we will remember that the punishment that brought 00:34:23.460 --> 00:34:25.800 us peace was upon Him. 00:34:26.960 --> 00:34:31.519 And by His wounds, all our anxieties are healed. 00:34:32.220 --> 00:34:32.940 Let's pray. 00:34:32.940 --> 00:34:42.159 Oh Lord, we come to You as the God of all peace. 00:34:43.179 --> 00:34:48.500 Would You strike us with the profundity of what we do every week when we pass the peace of Christ 00:34:48.500 --> 00:34:49.099 to one another? 00:34:50.039 --> 00:34:55.539 That is a gift that only those who are united with Christ can offer in full. 00:34:58.119 --> 00:35:01.679 Oh Lord, convince us of this peace that You have for us. 00:35:02.940 --> 00:35:09.360 Help us to delight in the fact that we are united with the crucified and risen Lord. 00:35:10.380 --> 00:35:11.320 Make that our everything. 00:35:11.539 --> 00:35:12.340 Make us unflappable. 00:35:12.500 --> 00:35:18.159 Make us a non-anxious presence in the world and change the world because of it, God. 00:35:19.179 --> 00:35:21.960 Because of our union with Christ and our deepening communion with Him. 00:35:22.980 --> 00:35:26.840 So would that happen even now as we come to Your table, we ask in Your Son's name. 00:35:27.679 --> 00:35:27.920 Amen.