One week before Christmas, on December 17, 2006, is the 3rd Sunday in Advent with the following three assigned readings: Zephaniah 3:14-20 (Sing daughter of Zion); Philippians 4:4-7 (Rejoice in the Lord always) and Luke 7:18-35 (Is Jesus the Coming One?). Philippians 4:6 is the passage to interpret and apply which reads, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.”
The apostle Paul tells the Philippians not only to rejoice always in the Lord but also to be anxious for nothing. On what basis is our anxiety taken away? Perhaps the whole verse provides the answer. Is it that by our prayer and supplication in letting our requests be made known to God that He will answer our prayer and take away that which causes us anxiety?
Perhaps we are anxious about finding a job, passing a course, getting married and the list goes on and on. Then does it mean that when we pray, God will find us a job, make sure we pass the course and provide us with a spouse? Today such a theology is referred to as the “Word-Faith” movement. Such a theology teaches that if you only have sufficient faith, whatever you ask in prayer will be given. If it is not, that means that you do not have sufficient faith!
However, the king of theology–context–contradicts such a conclusion. For verse 5 reveals that “the Lord is at hand” and verse 7 reveals that not God’s answer to our prayer but His “peace” which “surpasses all understanding, will guard and keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Thus, regardless of how God answers our prayer, we are to be anxious for nothing because God is at hand and His peace guards us!
Under the Law our anxiety levels are in dependent as to how we regard the treatment we are receiving from God. If things are lousy, we are anxious; if things are turning out okay, we are no longer anxious. You see everything depends then on our perception. But the Christian’s anxiety disappears not because of the evidence that we perceive God is with us but rather because of the faith that trusts His promise that He will never forsake us and that His peace guards us through Christ Jesus.
Not by sight but by faith (trust) in the presence and promises of God results in our anxiety levels as low. For the greatest despair that could ever come upon us is being forsaken by God Himself. That will never be experienced by the believer because Jesus took upon Himself being forsaken in our place! Realizing that all the promises of God surround the believer at all times, we are moved to rejoice always not in the sense of being happy and giddy but of being content and able to cope with all that the world, the devil and our flesh throws at us. With the Lord at hand along with His peace, nothing can separate us from the love of God. We are anxious for nothing!
Name:Tom Baker
Though I understand this in my mind and find it comforting, that entire grasp between a theology of glory Vs. suffering, how do you deal with the fact that in hard and bad times the Christian still can be anxious or at least down about it? Or am I confusing “anxiety” of a thing with the “suffering” under a thing?
Thanks,
Larry
KY
PS: Unrelated but another question. What’s the best book/study/treatise for grasping the Lutheran understanding of “in/with/under” in the Lord’s Supper. Sometimes I think I’m just about able to understand it, like its on the “tip of my tongue”, so to speak, but then I loose it.
I’m not quite sure I understand your question Larry. However, we would both agree that Jesus was never a theologian of glory. However, in the Garden of Gethsemane, He definitely was cut to the heart until an angel came to minister to Him. Yet He was not anxious in the sense of not trusting in His Father that all things were still in His control. Anxiety becomes sin when faith is absent.
In my opinion, anything written by Herman Sasse or Chemnitz on the Lord’s Supper would be well worth your time in reading. Thanks for the questions.
Dr. Baker,
“Anxiety becomes sin when faith is absent”
That made it click. I was trying to understand what is the difference for two people, one a believer and the other not under the same suffering.
Thanks much for the help and the recommendations.
Larry