Episode 339 - "Be anxious for nothing . . ." - Philippians 4:2-7

Phil. 4:2 I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord. 3 Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women, who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

One of the things I love about Paul’s letters is their personal nature: writing to a group of friends and including messages directly to, or concerning, certain individuals. Here, we see Paul appealing for Euodia and Syntyche to “agree in the Lord.” Wow! There’s some good advice for us today. People are so divided over so many things. But in the church, our common unifying factor is the Lord. Jesus prayed that his disciples would “all be one” (John 17:20-23). This doesn’t mean we have to compromise our convictions and agree on everything. It means that since this other person or people have placed their trust in the person and work of Jesus on the cross, we need to look past our differences for the purpose of working together for God’s mission to the world. Paul adds a subtle, but clear, emphasis to remind them of the importance of this unity. They had “labored side by side with me (Paul) . . . and with Clement and . . . (other) fellow workers whose names are in the book of life. Paul is drawing from Old Testament passages speaking of a “book” in which are the names of people God has declared righteous and will receive eternal life. Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans that God demonstrated his love for us by sending his Son (Jesus) to die for us “while we were still sinners” (enemies) (Rom 5:8, 10). God didn’t wait for us to fix ourselves because it never would have happened.

Paul returns to his exhortation to “Rejoice in the Lord always” (Phil 4:4). When our focus is on the Lord and his love for us, what else can we do? If we cannot rejoice in that, there is something we are just not getting. When we rejoice in the Lord and believe that he is near, it allows us to let down our pride and our petty divisions, and it makes room for being “reasonable” (Phil 4:5).

It occurs to me that anxiety comes with conflict. When Paul writes, “do not be anxious about anything” (Phil 4:6), he can speak with some authority since he is incarcerated and is aware that he could be executed. But he is confident in the Lord. He knows his name is in “the book of life.” Therefore, he gives his readers helpful advice to pray, give thanks to God, and express their concerns and requests to God. The promise is that God will deliver peace to them that cannot be explained and calm their anxiety. The focus on Christ guards our thoughts and emotions. That is an encouraging itself.