God’s Got This
I remember singing songs as a very young kid in Sunday school. We would sing
songs such as Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, I’ve got the Joy Down in My
Heart, This Little Light of Mine and one that is pertinent to today’s subject, He’s
Got the Whole World in His Hands. This is actually a song that I would teach first
when giving guitar lessons a few years back. One session, I had a group of about
ten people that represented a wide range of ages (elementary to around 60 years
old) all with their guitars and we were playing and singing He’s Got the Whole
World In His Hands. The whole point of the song is simply this. God’s got this. Our
God is so big and so strong that He has everything under control. If we’re to be
honest with ourselves, there are times where it doesn’t feel like it. It doesn’t feel
like God is at work or present in particular moments in our lives. Life is hard. Some
days, you don’t know how you’re going to get through it and with all the strength
that you can muster up, you still feel like you’re barely hanging on by a thread.
And so we begin to worry, stress, become anxious almost to a point that is
paralyzing. We live in a society today defined by anxiety. A poll was taken by the
American Psychiatric Association for this year, and it shows that anxiety has risen
significantly in adults. Some of the primary factors that weigh on the minds of
people today are the economy, current events, safety of family, health concerns,
paying bills, climate change. Now, we can have a discussion about whether or not
some of these are legitimate causes for concern, but in any case, these were the
concerns that were reported. We are recovering from the social isolation that the
Covid pandemic brought about. From 2019 to this day, the prescriptions for anti-
depressant medication has skyrocketed. Now I am not here to downplay or
pretend that depression doesn’t exist. I am aware that chemical imbalances in the
brain contribute to depression and that medication is required to help bring
everything back into balance. However, at the same time, I believe as a society, we
have normalized going to the pills rather than to God.
“He’s got the whole world, in His hands, He’s got the whole world in His Hands.”
Who are we talking about? God or Big Pharma? And no I’m not pitting God andmedicine against one another. God can and has used medicine to accomplish His
good and perfect will. However, there is an order of operations that needs to take
place. What do you reach for first. God, with your hands raised in the air in a
humble submission and a prayer of petition, or your phone to call in a
subscription?
We’re coming up to our national holiday of Thanksgiving. Many of you will be
sitting around a table with some that disagree with you on a variety of matters.
You may find yourself under the same roof as those who voted differently than
you. You may be passing around food to someone that has wronged you or your
family in some way in the past. Conflict can be a great source of anxiety and worry
in someone’s mind and soul and this form of anxiety and stress is a deadly poison
that will eat away at you little by little. I’ve laid the foundation for our message
today. The question that we will answer, is “How do we navigate through life in a
world plagued with anxiety and worry?”
We’re going to be taking a look at Philippians 4:1-9. Paul is writing from prison.
He’s writing a letter to the Church in Philippi and there is a conflict within the
Church that he seeks to have resolved as soon as possible.
Philippians 4:1-2
Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm
thus in the Lord, my beloved.
2 I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord.
We are introduced to two women who are at odds with one another. I’m not sure
how Paul was informed about this conflict, however one can imagine one of the
elders writing to Paul saying, “Paul! Help us! These two women are fighting and
we don’t know what to do!”
Perhaps Paul was reminded of Jesus’ words when penning this letter. Let’s read
from John 17.John 17:20-23
20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through
their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you,
that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one
even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly
one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you
loved me.
Jesus’ prayer for the Church was that they be one. That they would be unified and
not for their own sake, but so that their unity could be a witness to the world.
Isn’t that what our prayer should be for the Church, locally and globally?
Remember that the Restoration movement is not a denomination in the
traditional sense. Rather it was a movement in the early 1800s that began out of a
desire for unity. There were Baptist, Presbyterian, and Methodist ministers that
came to the conclusion that the church was divided and their solution was a plea
for unity which has become synonymous with this term Restoration Movement.
How fitting that Union Christian Church is a Restoration Movement Church. One of
the slogan’s of our movement is, “We are not the only Christians, but we are
Christians only.”
We must remember that unity is not uniformity. Otherwise, our witness would
not be worthy of noting. These past several months we have been targeted
through tvs ads, social media ads and the mass media to be divided against one
another. The powers that be sought and still seek to divide us over public
education, climate change, politics, racial tension, sexual orientation so on and so
forth. But when you are a child of God, we gather together weekly to worship
under the same roof being unified together under this notion that we are all a
work in progress and that we are all in need of Jesus. And I just want to make this
point clear. This kind of unity is not one borne out of a place of compromise, but
rather a submission to the authority of God’s Word. Now the phrase, “God’s got
this” is making a little more sense.Now we understand why Paul is pleading for unity between these two women
Eudia and Syntyche. The longer this disunity lasts, the longer the witness of that
Church is harmed.
Philippians 4:3
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.
Paul is enlisting the help of the elders of the church to come together in order to
resolve the conflict between Eudia and Syntyche.
The Scottish Theologian William Barclay writes this,
“It is significant to see that when there was a quarrel in the Church at Philippi,
Paul mobilized the whole resources of the Church to mend it. Paul thought no
effort too great to maintain the peace of the Church. A quarreling Church is not a
Church at all, for a quarreling Church is a Church from which Christ has been shut
out, and to which He cannot gain access. No man can be at peace with God and at
variance with his fellow-men.”
No doubt the conflict was a great source of anxiety. Next we will read about the
biblical solution to such anxiety. Yes, the kind of anxiety spoken of here is one
brought out of a conflict between two individuals. However, what we read next
can be applied to anxiety in all its forms.
Philippians 4:4-5
4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be
known to everyone. The Lord is at hand;
“Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice. Rejoice, rejoice and again I say
rejoice.” It’s interesting how the songs we sang as children have stayed with us
and that the truth of those songs still ring true. Paul says to “rejoice.” And then
directly after, says, “the Lord is at hand.” God’s got this.” At first glance, do you
find it a bit odd to see that Paul’s first response to this conflict is to rejoice? “Heywe’ve got a scuffle going on over here.” “Okay, rejoice!” But now everything
makes sense. If God is in control we have no need to be anxious. The next verse is
the answer to our question of how we live in a world riddled with anxiety.
Philippians 4:6
6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication
with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
This is an imperative. Do not be anxious. My father-in-law always loves to say this
phrase. “Are you worried? Stop sinning.” Of course, this is tempered with love and
compassion and patience and grace. What we have to understand is that external
circumstances should not dictate our internal response. Yes, something worrisome
may happen, but that doesn’t mean we have to let it consume us. And let us not
take it to the other extreme where we are indifferent where you are numb to the
world and feel nothing. Rather, we as Christians have a peace beyond all
comprehension that can only be found in Christ. And in that place where
numbness or analysis paralysis may have taken up residence inside of us, it’s
replaced with the joy of the Lord because in any and all circumstances we know
that “God’s got this.”
Do not be anxious. But that’s not it. “In everything by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
What a Friend We Have in Jesus
O what peace we often forfeit
O what needless pain we bear
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer
Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged
Take it to the Lord in prayerThis is the true heart of Thanksgiving. It doesn’t have anything to do with Turkey
or homemade pies that were really bought at Walmart but transferred to a dish at
home. Thanksgiving has everything to do with the peace one can have in Christ
regardless of circumstances. And this peace can be had through rejoicing, and it
can be had through prayer.
Gareth Reece says this in his commentary,
Prayer is the antidote for worry and anxiety. Thanksgiving (eucharistias) says all
our prayers are to be made with a spirit of gratitude, acknowledging past favors,
present blessings, and firmly-grounded assurance for the future.
Orrin Root
“When we don’t have enough money to pay this month’s bills, when the body is
sick, when the baby’s temperature rises to 104, or when a dear friend turns
against you, we do not let anxiety paralyze us into inaction. We pray to our Father,
we tell Him all about our needs, and we don’t forget to thank Him for what He has
already done for us.”
Psalm 55:22: Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never
permit the righteous to be moved.
After bringing Josiah home from the hospital after his birth, JJ and I noticed he
wasn’t eating very much and his skin was cold to the touch. His feet were a dark
blue and purple color and so we called the doctor and they told us to bring him to
the emergency room. It was 2020 so only one parent could go into the hospital
with Josiah. I remember waiting in the car outside of Riley Hospital hoping that
everything would be okay. Then JJ called me and said to go home because they
would be there overnight. Then one night became several nights and I was at
home feeling helpless. And I can’t imagine how JJ felt being there with him,
holding him and feeling helpless as well. But as Christians, although we may feel
helpless, we are never absent of hope.
While I was at home, I had friends from the church come and visit to encourage
and be there for support. Some even brought me my favorite food, chicken wings.
That’s Christian community right there.I remember going over one of the songs I wrote a couple years prior.
It said, “The mountains may tremble and shake, and the lightning and thunder
they roll, but they declare your glorious name of how mighty and wondrous you
are.” The saying is true. The bigger our God is, the smaller our problems become.
And there was a perspective shift. It went from, how could this be happening to
my son who’s only been alive for a few days?...to thank you God for the fact that I
even have a son.
By trusting God and going to Him in prayer, His peace will replace the anxiety. The
amount of anxiety one has is inversely proportionate to the amount of trust you
have in God. The more you worry, the less trust. The more you trust, the less you
worry.
Staton
“God’s peace is the opposite of being torn apart by anxiety and going to pieces.”
Philippians 4:7
7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts
and your minds in Christ Jesus.
This surpassing of all understanding can refer to the fact that His peace is
unfathomable. That His peace is so deep and vast that we can’t possibly
understand its depths. It could also refer to the intellectual side, that God’s peace
will produce a higher satisfaction than anything we could ever plan or devise. In
either case, it is a peace that cannot be had apart from a relationship with Christ
Jesus.
On “guarding our hearts.”
Reese,
“Guarding hearts. Heart is a reference to emotions like fear or apprehension.
Intellect is the other object of this guarding or protection. ‘In Christ’ is the spherewhere such peace is available. God’s peace is only promised to those in Christ
Jesus. Outside of the closest possible union with Christ there is no protection, no
safekeeping by God’s peace. If any of Paul’s readers continue to indulge in anxiety
instead of with thanksgiving making their requests known to God, they too will be
without the peace of God that could guard their hearts and minds.”
Philippians 4:8-9
8 Finally, brothers, 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. 9 What
you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things,
and the God of peace will be with you.
Paul says, we need to be thinking about these things! Think about them. Why?
Because we know in principle and in life experience that thoughts lead to
corresponding actions. This is why Paul in his letter to the Romans says to “be
transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Our thoughts lead to corresponding
actions.
So we fix our minds on “whatever is true.” This includes the things God says is
true. Jesus is himself the “truth” (John 4:16). And so, in the words of William
Barclay, “A man should always set his thoughts on the things on which he can rely,
the things which will not fail him, or let him down.”
And we fix our thoughts on “whatever is honorable.” That is, things worthy of
respect and reverence. Reece states, “In an age noted for its flippancy and lack of
intellectual seriousness, and for its frivolity, whatever things are venerable surely
merit earnest consideration.
We fix our thoughts on “whatever is right.” It is those things are or upright or just,
conformable to God’s standards and worthy of His approval.
On “whatever is pure.” The Greek word Hagnos denotes a moral purity, that which
is undefiled. This world is full of things that are vile and tainted by sin that if one
fixates on these things, their minds become preoccupied with them and so
neglect our duty as Christians to be holy as Christ is holy.On “whatever is lovely.” This relates to whatever is pleasing, agreeable, winsome
according to God.
On “whatever is of good repute.” The phrase here translated to speak well of. The
things that are pleasing to God.
And then whatever is excellent and worthy of praise think about them! And
practice them, for if you do, the God of peace will be with you.
“Perhaps an illustration from the world of music will help. The pitch for a piano
tuner is taken from a tuning fork. The tuning fork for the Christian is whatever
rings true (judged by the biblical standard of morality –judged by God’s
righteousness itself). There are ever new and changing questions that have to be
tested by the Christian’s spiritual tuning fork. Just as the piano must be kept in
tune, so must our sensitive spiritual natures be kept clean and sweet.”
Let us be both encouraged as well as challenged by the words Jesus spoke in his
sermon on the mount.
Piano to play here.
Matthew 6:25-34
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or
what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more
than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they
neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds
them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious
can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about
clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,
29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30
But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is
thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31
Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we
drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things,and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the
kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious
for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
If you find yourself full of anxiety and worry, or if you have conflict in your life that
just doesn’t seem to be going away, go to God in prayer with a heart of
thanksgiving and He will give you peace.
God’s got this.