How to Resist Anxiety & Joylessness

The Call to Rejoice in the Lord Always

Hey everybody, I'm Pastor Jeff Durbin with Apologia Church. I want to thank you all so much for watching the content right here on Apologia Studios channel. What you're about to watch is a sermon, a message from Apologia Church's worship service.

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So thank you again so much for watching these and sharing them. God bless you. Open your Bibles to Philippians. Philippians chapter 4. We're in this final chapter here. We have been going through a series called the Kingdom of God.

It's an exposition of the gospel according to Matthew. We finished the section of the Olivet Discourse, the Great Tribulation, and I'm taking a sidestep series through Philippians. It's a letter written by the apostle Paul while in chains.

And it really is a letter that you cannot avoid seeing joy and rejoicing in. The constant challenge to not be worried, to not be anxious. It's a challenging letter because it's very short and it's written by a man who, as I often say, did not choose his best life now.

It's written by a man who was lowered out of windows, who started riots as he preached the gospel. He was beaten so many times that he actually forgot how many times he was beaten. He was falsely accused.

He was slandered. He was in constant danger and he calls all of it a light and momentary affliction compared to this eternal weight of glory ahead of him. It really is a powerful and challenging letter and we chose as elders to go into this letter for the health and life and transformation of our body.

You see, there's one thing. We're good Calvinists here. Amen. Yes. Oh, come on, that wasn't good enough. Yes. Yes. Okay, good. Calvinists are notorious for being good at theology, strong reformed theology.

We care about, you know, crossing the t's, dotting the i's, but a lot of times reformed folks are just.

Jerks.

Not happy, right? Sad saps, right? A lot of theology, not a lot of life at times. That doesn't go for everybody, but it can be a theme, is that you sort of love to talk about the finer details of theology, but you can't live the life that the apostle Paul lived knowing that reformed theology about the sovereignty of God, his sovereign grace to elect, his powerful saving grace, the fact that Jesus is a mighty and perfect savior, that he keeps all of his people, that Jesus had a perfect atonement.

Paul knows all that. Paul taught all of that, but Paul lived a life of authentic joy, and he's challenging the church to live that life of authentic joy. And as we go to the text here in Philippians 4, this is now the application portion of this particular text.

I'm going to go a couple different places to try to say, how do we apply what we've learned thus far, because we're almost done with the letter. But as we come to this, I want to challenge you, as I have, that the call to joy and rejoicing and to not be anxious cannot be merely external for a believer.

And you know that I've challenged myself and you, as my brothers and sisters, as the body here at Apologia, that we cannot be the kind of believers who see this and we come to church or to fellowship, and we put on the shell, the outside, the external, the plastic smile.

Right? We see the call to joy and rejoicing in the Lord always. Again, I will say, rejoice, and at times, believers can say, well, deep down, I don't have any of that. I'm struggling. I'm in darkness.

I'm lonely. But I'll come to the gathering of God's people, at least for a little while, out of obedience, I'll pretend. Well, brothers and sisters, pretended obedience is hypocrisy. Pretended obedience is hypocrisy.

So if the challenge from the Apostle Paul is to rejoice in the Lord always and to be anxious for nothing, then we need to be transformed as God's people. We need to dig deep and be willing to be cut and challenged and really receive the conviction of the Holy Spirit and then actually move to the place where we're transformed and renewed.

I've pointed back to this a few times already, and I want to challenge you with this. Pastor James really encouraged us a couple of weeks ago on a Sunday with a message that really talked about the Apostle Paul in this particular letter, not looking back, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.

He presses on towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. And our pastor challenged us, do we think like that every Lord's Day? Do we come to the worship, the gathering of God's people, and do we actually reflect on how have I been transformed over the last week?

How have I been changed by God's word and in relationship to my Savior since last week? Or do we think that this is it? I'm saved. I'm regenerate. I have a new heart and a new mind. But this is sort of my baggage that I'm never getting rid of.

Pornography, addiction, anger, and wrath towards my spouse or my kids, impatience, anxiety, loneliness, depression, sadness. Are these just part and parcel to our lives as saved, redeemed children of God?

It's something we're never really going to get over. We hate it. We're convicted over it. We want to get free from it. But we just sort of said, I guess this is about as far as I'm going to go in my walk with the Lord.

He loves me and I love him. But I cuss a lot. You ever seen that shirt? Like, I love Jesus, but I curse a little, you know? Sort of thing. Like, you know, just sort of accept it. It's just the way things are.

It's just the way things are. I want you to think about that as we talk about application today of what we've done so far throughout this amazing letter. Philippians chapter 4, starting in verse 4. Hear now the words of the living and the true God.

Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say, rejoice. Let your gentleness, reasonableness, be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Thus far as the reading of God's holy and inspired word, let's pray. Father, please bless the proclamation of your word and the teaching of your word.

Pray,.

Spirit of God, that you would challenge, convict, change us. All of us come to you knowing that we, apart from you, can do nothing. Nothing. And so we ask, God, that you would get the pastor out of the way today, that you would teach.

You let your word.

Be what challenges us and transforms and renews us. We pray that you would expose any idols in our hearts and any unbelief, and help us to put that unbelief to death for your glory and in the name of Jesus.

Amen. So this letter, short, four chapters, of course, those weren't there when the apostle Paul wrote them. It's a letter, he says that he's riding in chains, and as I emphasize and have been continually emphasizing, the apostle Paul keeps talking to this church while in chains about having joy and rejoicing in the Lord always and not being worried about anything, not anxious.

And you sort of have in this letter things that from a human perspective do not make any logical sense. Anybody else who thought that this is all that we have is this life, this world, would not be in the kind of position the apostle Paul is in, in constantly encouraging other people to rejoice in the Lord.

Don't be worried about anything. All this is working out exactly the way God wants it to. You see, the apostle Paul isn't looking at what is seen, but what is unseen. The apostle Paul is a changed man.

Of course, he was the man who was trying to destroy the church. He says that, I tried to destroy the church. That's how zealous I was. He didn't believe in Jesus as the Messiah. He's an antagonist towards the Christian faith.

He meets Jesus alive from the dead, and his life is fully transformed. And he continued to be sanctified and grown. And what we see here, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God, is a man who is in Christ just like you.

You gotta accept that. He is saved by the same blood as you and I. Filled with the same spirit of God as you and I. Is this inspired revelation from God? Yes. Is that special? Yes. But what does Paul have that you don't have in terms of a righteousness that is from God, that is not his own?

He's in Christ the same way you are, and dwelt by the same spirit. And here is a sanctified man who lived a life of poverty, difficulty, beatings, and all the rest, and ultimately had his life taken because of his faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and King of the world.

Here he is telling us in chains to rejoice in the Lord always. So I've talked about authentic joy, not the plastic smile, not the pretend hypocritical kind of joy, where we think this is sort of a Christian cultural thing.

We should be joyful. So we'll come in here and pretend like all is well. We'll put on the plastic smile. We'll pretend like our families are doing well and my life is fine. We'll pretend like I wasn't up all night last night, fearful and anxious and worried.

We'll pretend like I wasn't this week drinking heavily because I was lonely and in despair. I'll come and pretend like all is well because there's a command to be joyful, to rejoice in the Lord. That's not what authentic joy is.

That's hypocrisy. It's a mask. It's a pretender, which is what hypocrite means in this book. It's an actor. It's a person who wears a mask and plays a part. You know that the person is not really that character because they wore masks.

Hubakrite. It's an actor, a pretender. Not pursuing authentic joy means we are pretending to obey. But what is the source of authentic joy? I've tried to highlight as much from the text as I possibly can gather.

How does he have it? Why is he asking us to have joy in God, to be glad in God? I've talked about three things. Number one, God's character. The apostle Paul is constantly pointing to and standing on in the midst of very, very violent and difficult circumstances God's character.

That's the anchor for the apostle Paul. Get this. It's not his circumstances because there isn't anything to rejoice in when you're being beaten with rods in that moment. The circumstance is painful. The circumstance is bloody when you have shackles around your wrists and ankles and you're standing in a little hole in the ground where you can barely get up all the way without banging your head against the ceiling.

In the circumstance itself, that's not a joyful thing. It doesn't feel good. But the apostle Paul is constantly pointing as a source of his rejoicing to the character of God. What else does he point to?

Well, throughout his letters and in this letter, he points to God's promises. Just as an example, we can't redo the whole letter again today, but you know I'd love to. Philippians chapter 1. As the letter starts, just take a peek back for a second.

If you look at what he says here in Philippians chapter 1, as he starts in verse 6, he says, and I am sure of this that he, that's God, who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

So the apostle Paul is saying be joyful, rejoice in the Lord always. You're like, but wait, you're in chains? Wait, you've been beaten? Wait, you're about to be killed for your faith in Jesus and rejoice?

He says yes, because he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. He is going to finish what he started. You see, that's essential for the Christian position. You've got to get this. Man-made religion doesn't like this message.

It can't embrace this message. At times it despises this message. Even people who put the veneer of Christianity over their religion and use Jesus speak, they talk about Jesus, they talk about biblical language, all the rest.

They don't have a perfect Savior like Paul. When people talk about, oh, yes, we need to believe in Jesus, but you know, our ultimate salvation is based upon a life well lived. My Savior is so much better than that.

His righteousness is so much better than that. The life that he gives is eternal life. When he saves a person, he saves them perfectly. Are there false professors out there? Yes, the Bible talks about that.

They went out from us, John says, in order to show they were never really of us. If they were of us, they would have remained among us. Because God saves perfectly. Paul knows the promise of God. He started it.

He's going to finish it and nobody's going to thwart his purposes. That's my God.

Is he yours?

That's the God that we're talking about. Authentic joy in the midst of difficult circumstances. I know what is unseen here and that's behind this is an eternal first and last, none before, none after, beginning in the end, sovereign God who can't be thwarted.

And in the midst of a fallen world, he is working out his perfect plan over everything and then on a micro level, he's working it out in my life. He will finish what he started in my life. Nothing's going to stop him.

The apostle Paul is also pointing in this letter to God's plan for the future. What is God going to do? He has promises. We can hang on to that. But he also has a plan for the future. History is going somewhere.

You may have seen the video that we dropped today responding to the looting and the riots with the gospel, not with social justice, not with critical race theory, not with neo-marxism and what comes from the Frankfurt school.

You're going to need to know all that stuff in the days ahead, brothers and sisters. You are going to need to know it. But ultimately what we have is a world around us that talks about chaos. It's chaos.

It's time and chance. There's no sovereign God wielding this thing. It's chaos and what we've seen all this week and the week prior and really the last couple of months is sort of a moment where it appears the Lord has sort of drawn back his hand for a moment to show you the sinfulness and depravity that has actually been underneath the surface all along.

It's not new. God in his grace restrains people from their evil, but.

God.

In his perfect justice can release his hand and allow everybody to see the sin and the depravity that is there the whole time. And when you have a world view that ultimately says everything is chaos, then ultimately that is what will come out of you in your life and you'll see it in culture and society round about you.

The apostle Paul knows history is not just time and chance acting on matter. Get this, because it is the glory of your worldview and the beauty of this book. There is a storyteller of history and there is a story of history that he is telling.

He's in control of the narrative and history is going somewhere. He keeps his promises and even in the midst of difficulty, brokenness, death, viruses, looting, rioting, this God is not thwarted by any of that.

He is sovereign and Paul knows in the midst of his very difficult circumstances at the genesis of the Christian church in the kingdom of God in the first century, he knows that God has told us history is going somewhere.

Jesus is the resurrected God-man and we are going somewhere in history where he is going to transform this into a body like his and in that I can rejoice. You can take my body, but Jesus is going to raise it again.

There is no grave that can hold this body down, Johnny Cash. It's a good song. You should get to know that song, right? Go listen to it on the way home. We'll all pump fists together alongside Antifa or whatever.

See, God's character is the root of authentic joy. God's promises are the root of authentic joy and God's plan for the future is the root of authentic joy. Paul says here in Philippians 4, he says rejoice in the Lord always.

Rejoice in the Lord always. I've tried to emphasize this. It's just a bullet point on this. It's hard to embrace that. I talked about tragic circumstances in our life as believers. And by the way, I need to say this because I was reflecting on it this week.

You understand brothers and sisters in our body as we walk with Jesus together, we're going to face more grief, more death, more difficulty together as God's people. All of our suffering is not just behind us.

We have more to come. This is a fallen world and we're going to die. We are. We're going to be at each other's funeral. If this is where God keeps you, this is where we're going to be together. We're going to grieve alongside one another.

We're going to hurt together. We're going to suffer. We are. So we have to get a hold of this. What does it mean to rejoice in the Lord always? I shared with you a story of losing a little boy in our congregation instantly without notice and I shared the most amazing moment of my life, my Christian life, in seeing a mother and a father rejoicing in the Lord in the midst of the most tragic circumstance imaginable, the death of their son.

She comes into the hospital room singing about the goodness of Jesus. She was rejoicing in the Lord, not the circumstance. She knows who her God is. He's the faithful God who raises the dead. And this call to rejoice in the Lord always is not a call to pretend rejoicing.

Like for example, I love Pastor James said in a debate before, it's not like stubbing your toe and God's saying you better rejoice in that. You're like, oh praise God that hurt, right? You know, that's not the kind of rejoicing that we're talking about.

You're not rejoicing over the pain and the grief and the agony. You're rejoicing in the Lord because he hasn't moved. And he's sovereign over that, even that. He declares the end from the beginning. So every event in history has purpose and meaning.

There is no meaningless suffering. There is no purposeless evil in this world. All things work together for good for those who love God and are the called according to his purpose. That's my God. And that's the source of our authentic joy and the source of where we can say it makes sense to rejoice in the Lord.

The rejoicing is in the Lord, not the circumstance. It's because of who he is. So let's talk about it quickly. Number one, when we talk about God's character, what's he like? What's he like in comparison to the false gods and the idols of our day?

He is unique. He is incomprehensible, but he is apprehendable and he has revealed himself to us. He's made himself known. He is the only God. Isaiah 43 10. Before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.

I, even I, am the Lord, he says, and besides me there is no savior. I am the first and I am the last. Besides me there is no God. Is there a God besides me? Indeed, there is no other God. I know not one.

He sets himself apart from the idols of the nations in Isaiah chapter 40 through 46. Go read it later by saying, I'll tell you the future before it happens because he wields it and he says, and I can tell you the past and why things happen the way that they did.

False gods can't do that because they don't talk about the future because they don't do a lot of talking in the first place and they can't tell you about what happened in the past because besides being dumb and mute They don't control history.

They have no explanation for the evil that's happened in the world, but God says he'll tell you why things happen the way that they did. The Bible tells us that God is holy. What's his character like?

Isaiah 6 is this glorious scene. If you haven't read it, go read it. John says that Isaiah saw Jesus in this moment but you have this scene where you have the angels and they're saying holy,.

Holy,.

Holy is the Lord God almighty. God is the thrice holy God. He is perfect in all his ways. He is holy, holy, holy. Now hang on to that. You may have heard that. Maybe you have it on a t-shirt. Maybe you've read holiness of God, you know that book and you know that truth, but can I just have you embrace this for a second?

Will you talk about rejoicing in the Lord always and not being anxious? Do you know one of the major things we fail in in those moments of struggle and difficulty? Let's be honest is that we often think that God is like us.

Right? My moment is terrible. This is traumatic. This is horrible. This seems like darkness. I feel alone and we immediately flee to the darkness in that moment and we embrace it and we soak in that moment.

Why? Because deep down we think that God is like us, that he fails, that he's sinful, that he turns, that he has inconsistencies. Well, the Bible tells us about God's character. He's not like you and he's not like me.

In that moment where you're struggling with those thoughts, you are struggling with unbelief. You are not being righteous. You're not even being honest. God is holy,.

Holy,.

Holy. He keeps his promises and he cannot fail. That's the God of this book, this revelation. He is not like you and he is not like me. He doesn't have bad days and good days. He doesn't have flashes of his temper.

Even, get this, even God's wrath and yes,.

God has wrath.

Even God's wrath is not an out-of-balance, broken response to something. Even God's wrath is his settled opposition against evil. It's a settled opposition against evil. He's not like you. He's not like me.

And I want you to see these. I'm going to give you some references so that you know where they're at. You're going to need these in your arsenal. Go to Psalm 18. Psalm 18. These can be multiplied over and over, but I wanted to give you some verses to put into your heart, to treasure up.

Psalm 18. My wife tells me I need to give everyone more time to get to their.

Verses.

Trying to honor that. Psalm 18.

30.

The psalm says, This God, his way is perfect.

The word of the Lord proves true.

He is a shield.

For all those who take refuge in him. His ways are perfect. Not like mine. He doesn't have my inconsistencies. He doesn't have my failures as a father. He doesn't hold those. I know that I'm a failure as a father.

I know my dad was a failure as a father because I know what he's like.

Did you get it?

We have all this trauma. We have all this hurt that takes away our rejoicing in the Lord in our lives. We say, well, I had this traumatic experience as a child. I had a really bad father. I've had these experiences and all of this and my life's in shambles, all the rest.

And I say amen to that and hallelujah. Praise God. It's all true. But his ways are perfect. You know your ways are not because when you put it up against the measuring rod of him as father, as him as unchanging, of him as holy, and him as perfect, you fall short.

You only know that you're broken because you have him as the standard. He does not change. He does not move. He's perfect. The Bible says that he doesn't change. God doesn't have inconsistencies, good days and bad days.

And let's be honest, in the moments of darkness and loneliness and despair, truly, isn't that how we see him? He feels far off, not because he is far off. I feel sad and lonely, not because I ought to or am lonely, but it's because of how I'm actually lying about God in that moment and disbelieving his word.

He says he doesn't change. Malachi 3, 6. I am the Lord. I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob are not consumed. I am the Lord. I change not. He does not change. He is not like us. Therefore, we can rejoice because we can trust him.

His way is perfect. In James 1, verse 17. Some of these will go fast and some of them we'll hang out together in. But James 1, 17 says this. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the father of light, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

That's our God. Do you believe it? Do you believe it? Do you believe it on your good days and your bad days? Because you see, that's the source of the authentic joy. It's not in you. It's not in your strength.

It's not in your ability even to interpret the circumstances correctly and somehow shape them the right way. The answer to authentic joy and not being worried is in this God. He does not change. Isn't it amazing?

You'll have these moments of spiritual highs as a Christian. I had one Friday. I did. I've been praying for this meeting with this senator for a long time. Had an amazing moment with him. God was all over it.

Huge encouragement, answer to prayer. I'm crying in the meeting. I have a problem. You guys know that. I go home. I'm driving from Snowflake, Arizona home, and I'm probably about half of that drive. I'm crying.

And I felt like I was driving in a car being carried by God. I was so in awe of his faithfulness and this just crazy providence. And it was a moment of a spiritual high, right? And we're thinking to ourselves as Christians, right?

How do I get that all the time, right? Where do I inject that? Who's selling that, right? That's what I'm supposed to have, right? That kind of authentic joy and want to feel God's presence. And the truth is the reason we have that experience as believers is not because all of a sudden God has decided to condescend because he was far off before and in that moment he says, okay, I'll show up for a moment here.

That's not the God who is. It's just in that moment my mind and my heart is focused so deeply on him and who he is and his faithfulness in that moment that in that moment, that's where I get to experience all of that joy.

It's not like all of a sudden God has changed and been better to me in that moment. He's never moved. And this is why it's something I often say. It does not make sense as a child of God who's regenerate with a new heart to sit in the presence of the eternal God who says he sings over you, declares his love for you, has declared you not guilty, says there is no more condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, says you have peace with him, eternal life.

He's going to finish what he started. He calls you his child. It makes no sense for you to sit in his presence and be sulky. Imagine, imagine a child in a home and the father is just boasting over the child saying you're lovely and wonderful.

I'll give everything for you. I'll do anything. You are so wonderful and so perfect. And the child sits there with his head down,.

Sad,.

While the father declares the love. At some point you're going to take that child and you're going to say, hey, pay attention to what's being said to you or else you'll get a spanking. You see, the God that we're talking about, he keeps his word.

Go to Numbers 23, 19. Again, these are verses to arm you with as a believer, as a child of God. This is what's true, not your experience.

Numbers.

23, 19. He keeps his word. God is not a man that he should lie or a son of man that he should change his mind. Here it is. Ready? Remember this when you're broken at two in the morning. Remember this when you get the phone call.

Remember this at the hospital. Remember this in the darkness of this world. Has he said and will he not do it? Or has he spoken and will he not fulfill it? That's our God. He keeps his word. He doesn't change.

His ways are perfect. His word is sure. It is certain and true. When God says something, he does it. That's our hope. He's not like you. He's not like me. He is sovereign. A couple verses here. Psalm 115, 3.

Go there. Record it. Make a note. Psalm 115 and verse 3. Here it is. It says our God is in the heavens. He does all that he pleases. That's a sovereign God right there. You know what? You're going to hear this.

You really need to come back and you need to listen to this because this is vital. It's really the difference between every other man-made religious concept of God and the biblical God. The biblical God is the sovereign God over every detail.

Dr. R .C. Sproul, the late Dr. R .C. Sproul used to say there's not a maverick molecule in the entire universe. Man-made religion hates that. They want to give excuses to God. They want to give excuses for the evil that happens in this world and they want to say things like God's got nothing to do with that.

He's not in control. Ultimately, you know, these are people and they're quote unquote free will and they're doing what they want and God's just trying his best and he's trying his best and he's trying his best and he just can't do anything because the almighty powerful will of the creature.

And it's difficult because the moment we're in right now, you look at a global pandemic,.

Allegedly,.

And you look at the rioting and you look at the looting and the difficulty and you look at retired police officers murdered in the streets. You look at business owners losing property and money and you look at the wickedness on display all around us.

You know, listen, you're going to have a true perspective that comes from God's revelation about what's happening in the world and what he's doing and you're going to have man-made religious philosophies bootleg worldviews to try to respond to what's taking place around us.