Fruit of the Spirit: Peace (Philippians 4:4-9)

This sermon was preached to Grace Church Guildford on 16 July 2023. The audio recording of the sermon can be found below along with the transcript.

We live in an age of anxiety. In 2018, a study showed that the UK was experiencing such a significant increase in cases of anxiety, that some were calling for a national emergency to be declared. Between 2008 and 2018, the number of both men and women between the ages of 18-24 with generalised anxiety disorder tripled, and the number of those affected by it between the ages of 24-34 doubled. Factors contributing to this rapid rise included the effects of the 2008 financial crash, the unhealthy impact of social media and political issues such as climate change and Brexit. And remember, that that study was only up to 2018. Since then, as a nation, we have passed through a global pandemic and are currently experiencing a cost-of-living crisis, both of which have only further accelerated the demise of our national mental health. Well-known charities have found that this year, in 2023, nearly 75% of UK residents have felt anxious in the last two weeks, with one in five saying that they feel anxious most, if not all, of the time.

Beyond all doubt, statistics show we live in an age of anxiety. And of course, we know this, not only through statistics, but also through the stories of those around us. We will all know those who are struggling with their mental health, overwhelmed by anxiety. Indeed, there will be many of us in this room today who have personally been affected these things. And those of you who interact with young people, know that it is particularly prevalent amongst them. It is clear we live in an age of anxiety. And so surely, an important question we all need to find an answer for, indeed the key question it seems our country needs to consider today, is ‘Where can we find peace?’ How is it possible for you to experience peace in an age of anxiety, a time of great uncertainty?

That is the question that we will set out to answer in our sermon this morning. If you have been with us over the last few Sundays, you will know that we have been considering the fruit of the Spirit together, those nine qualities Paul tells us in Galatians 5 are the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. The Bible teaches all Christians experience the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Triune God comes and lives and works within us. And part of that work is the cultivation of these nine characteristics. Just as fruit grows on a fruit tree, these qualities will grow up in the lives of Christians. For Paul tells us in Galatians 5:22, ‘the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.’ Having already considered the first two, ‘love’ and ‘joy’, this morning we turn to consider the third quality in the list: ‘peace.’ And we will do so from Philippians 4:4-9. This paragraph, read earlier in our service, is packed full of the fruit of the Spirit. It is a bit like a spiritual fruit salad! We saw last week it begins by mentioning joy in 4:4, but it also speaks of gentleness in 4:5 and other fruit such as love, patience and self-control are seen elsewhere in the chapter. However, this morning, we will focus on what it tells us about peace, about this quality that perhaps above all others, so many seem to be missing in their lives today. I wonder if you noticed, our passage makes two striking references to peace. Peace is mentioned in two places. In 4:9, Paul promises the Philippians that ‘the God of peace’ will be with them. And in 4:7, he says that ‘the peace of God’ will guard them. And we are going to spend our sermon this morning thinking about those two phrases together: (1) The God of Peace; (2) The Peace of God.

1.     THE GOD OF PEACE

I wonder what peace looks like for you. Maybe peace for you would be a full night’s sleep with a lie included. Or a relaxing beach holiday in the sun. Or just an hour to put your feet up and watch your favourite TV programme. If you have a baby or toddler right now, you might find that just going to the toilet can be a time of peace, a chance to simply sit and do not very much! Each of us will picture peace in many different ways. However, theologically and biblically, the picture we are given of perfect peace is God himself. Christianity tells us of a God of peace. Before time began, before the creation of the world, God existed in perfect peace. The three persons of the Trinity (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) lived in total harmony throughout all eternity. There was no bickering, no disagreement, annoyance or frustration within the eternal Triune God. There was only peace, unspoilt and undisturbed harmony. And so, we are unsurprised that when God created the world, he created it in perfect peace. The Bible tells us that mankind, in the persons of Adam and Eve, were placed within a peaceful paradise, more relaxing and refreshing than any holiday you could ever imagine. They were set in the Garden of Eden, and the peace of that place, and the complete harmony they had in their relationship with the God of peace, is underlined by the fact that he himself used to come and walk with them in the cool of the day. Oh yes, we now live in an age of anxiety. However, the Bible tells us that there was once a period of peace, a time of total harmony between the Creator and his creation. Christianity teaches us at creation, there was literally not a single worry in the world, there only was perfect peace.

How is this then that we now live in an age of anxiety? What brought this period of perfect peace to an end? Well, the Bible explains that the God of peace was betrayed by his own creation. A rebellion started in heaven by the Devil and his angels, and it was joined on earth by Adam and his descendants. When the Devil tempted Adam and Eve to take fruit from the tree that God had forbidden to them to eat of, he wasn’t fooling around, playing a kind of childish prank. No, he was recruiting them for his rebellion, drawing them into declaring war on the God of peace. And when they ate that fruit, defied God’s command, they began a war that we have all been waging ever since. For we, like them, also rebel against God’s rule over us, and act as disturbers of the peace in his world. Friends, sin is the source of all strife. If there was no sin, there would be nothing to worry about. For it is sin that turned this world from one of perfect peace, into a place of wars and worries. And each of us are still responsible for that today, for we continue to sin, disturb the peace of God’s world by sinning against him and one another.

As God explains in Isaiah 48, ‘If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your well-being like the waves of the sea.’ And yet, because we all ignore his commands and live our own way, the Lord declares that a very different future awaits us. Not one of unending peace, but one of no peace. As he puts it in Isaiah 48:22, ‘There is no peace...for the wicked.’ For this God of peace is also a God of justice. And one day, he will win this war with those who have rebelled against him and punish all who have ruined the peace of his world. He will sentence us to an eternity of suffering, in a place called Hell, where we will know no peace. In that place, there will be no peace for the wicked. Oh yes, we like in an age of anxiety. And yet, no matter how many worries and cares we have to carry in this life, if we remain opposed to God, continue to wage a war against him through our sin, then the worst is still to come. Even if we find there is little peace for us in this life, there will be no peace for us in the next. For we have rejected the God of peace and so will be without his peace forever.

As we have seen, we live in an age of anxiety. Yet, paradoxically, we also live in a period of unparalleled peace. The 20th century began with WWI and WWII, which were the worst conflicts in human history. In those two wars, around 75 million lost their lives. And yet, since those conflicts ended, fewer people have died through war than in any other period in history. The worst wars in history have given way to the most peaceful period in history. How? What is it that transformed a time of war around the world into a period of unparalleled peace? Well, it was of course the sacrifice of those millions of soldiers, who laid down their lives and paid the price of peace for us. And the good news of Christianity is that something very similar has happened for us in our war with God. Yes, we have rebelled against the God of peace. And so, we deserve to have no peace for all eternity. And yet, the good news of Christianity, as Peter puts it in Acts 10:36, is “the good news of peace through Jesus Christ.” The Bible teaches that the God of peace put in place the greatest peace plan in history. For though we rebelled against him, he sent his Son as our saving sacrifice, to reconcile rebels and purchase peace for his people. Is that not what the angels announced when Christ was born? In Luke 2:14, we read that they sang to the shepherds, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth among men...’. Jesus Christ was sent to bring peace, and indeed he did, for the Bible teaches that when he died on the cross he suffered the punishment for the sins of his people. As we read in Isaiah 53:5, ‘the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.’ That is why Paul can describe what happened on the cross in Colossians 1:20, as God ‘reconcil[ing] to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace by the blood of his cross.’ Oh surely, this is why Isaiah 9:6 calls Jesus the Prince of Peace, and we are told ‘of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.’ For a warring world is reconciled back to the God of Peace through the Prince of Peace. And all who believe in him will one day leave this age of anxiety behind and enter into a period of unparalleled peace forever. When all wars and worries will cease and we will be with the God of Peace, the Prince of Peace, for all eternity.

Friends, we live in a world at war with God. Each of us stand today as his enemies deserving of his just judgement. And yet, do you see that by believing in Jesus Christ, by taking this Prince of Peace to be your Lord and Saviour, you can once again enjoy peace with God. As Paul puts it in Romans 5:1, ‘being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.’ Without Jesus, there is no peace. And yet, if you come to Jesus, you will not only be reconciled back to the God of peace, but you can experience the peace of God now and forever.

2.     THE PEACE OF GOD

For we see here in Philippians 4, that peace is not only something that God has, but it is also something he gives. That’s why it is a fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5, for the God of peace provides that peace to his people. As the well-known pastor, John MacArthur put it, Christians can have ‘an inner calm that results from confidence in their relationship with Christ.’ That is what the peace of God is. It is an inner calm, a certain confidence and contentment we have because of Christ. As we’ve sung, it is a peace that we can have even when sorrows like sea billows roll. Because it is well with our souls, we can have peace in the most uncertain circumstances. Friends, see here that Christianity offers an alternative to the worries of the world and the anxiety of this age. That there is another way, a better way, to live your life. For if we are at peace with God, we can experience the peace of God.

In 4:7, Paul says two striking things about this peace of God. First, he explains it ‘transcends all understanding.’ Brothers and sisters, that means that even when you have good reasons to be worried, feel legitimate concerns, you can still experience this peace, for it is above and beyond our understanding. In the same way, you can also experience this peace when you don’t understand your situation. The peace of God does not depend on our ability to understand, for it transcends all understanding. We can experience this peace even when we don’t understand. Christian, can you see how attractive this peace would be in an age of anxiety? Can you see how this perfect peace is the kind of thing that will catch the attention of a watching, worried, world? When redundancies are announced, or you are under extreme pressure at work, and your colleagues see you at peace with the situation, is this not the kind of thing that might cause them to ask about the hope that is in you? Or when you are diagnosed with a serious illness and have to go into hospital, will this perfect peace not bear witness to your unbelieving family members, the medical team, the other patients around you? Will it not show that there is something more to life? That there is something real about Christianity? Oh brothers and sisters, if we live in an age of anxiety, then surely one of the clearest ways we can witness to a worried world is by enjoying this peace that passes all their understanding.

Secondly, Paul explains in 4:7, that the peace of God ‘guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.’ This peace is a peace that protects, keeps our hearts from being overwhelmed by worries, our minds from being overrun with anxiety. It is not just that we have the option between either peace or worry. No, this peace is what keeps us from worry. This image and language that Paul uses here is that of a military garrison. Paul is saying in the same way that soldiers occupy a city in order to protect and defend it, the peace of God occupies our hearts and minds to protect and defend them. God puts his peace in our hearts and minds so we can resist the assaults of anxiety. In a world that is full of worries, Christians are protected by the peace of God. Their hearts are so captured by the certainty of the Gospel. Their minds are so occupied by the truths of their salvation, that when anxiety assaults us, when fears cause us to fret, the peace of God can drive them from our hearts and minds. Oh, see how precious the fruit of peace is, for it protects our hearts and minds, from all the worries of this world and anxieties of this age.

Because Christians are at peace with God, they experience the peace of God. The peace that passes understanding and protects our hearts and minds. And yet, if we are honest, our experience sometimes seems so very different. Often it can feel more like it is anxiety and worry that is occupying our hearts and minds, rather than the protecting peace of God. The financial pressures that we feel, the difficulties we have at work, the tensions that exist in our families, the health problems that never seem to go away. A Christian is not immune to the worries of this world. We can suffer from anxiety like everyone else. And yet the difference is that a Christian always has the possibility of experiencing the peace of God, even in uncertain circumstances. And here in Philippians 4 Paul tells us how we can pursue this peace. Paul here provides a prescription for the problems of worry and anxiety. Now it is important to say that sometimes it is right for Christians to also take actual prescriptions, that is to seek medical help for anxiety. Whether it is following doctor’s advice to spend more time outside, perhaps exercising or on a walk with friends, or to actually take certain medication they prescribe to help with your anxiety. Those kinds of medical prescriptions will sometimes be appropriate. And yet, for Christians, the spiritual prescriptions that Paul gives here will always be appropriate. Did you get that? Medical prescriptions are sometimes appropriate, but these spiritual prescriptions will always be appropriate. And it is on the latter I want to spend the rest of our time. Christian, how can you experience the peace of God? Paul here points to three pathways we can take to this peace.

A. PRAY – BRING YOUR BURDENS TO GOD

This is the most obvious one we see in the text, isn’t it? There in 4:6-7 we read: [READ]. Last week we heard that because each segment of this fruit of the Spirit is from God, we can ask God to give it to us, to cultivate it in our lives through his Spirit. Just as we can do that for love and joy, we can do that for peace. We can ask God to fill our hearts with his peace. That’s what Paul asks for the church in Romans 15:13, where he prays, ‘May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him...’. However, here in Philippians we see that prayer is not only a way we can receive this peace, but prayer itself will also produce this peace. For the main prescription Paul gives for anxiety is prayer. In 4:6, Paul tells us to stop worrying and start praying. He teaches that we should not be ‘anxious about anything’, that is we shouldn’t have a single worry. Why? How is this possible? Well, he says if you do not want to be anxious about anything, you should pray about everything. That whatever we are worrying about, is something we should be praying about. For Paul tells us that prayer takes our worries and turns them into peace. As we sang earlier in our service, ‘Oh what peace we often forfeit, oh what needless pain we bear. All because we do not carry, everything to God in prayer.’

You see, the world’s ways of dealing with worries is often to distract yourself (watch movies, eat food, do what you need to do to take your mind off the problem). However, Paul doesn’t tell us distract ourselves. No, he tells us to divest ourselves. To bring whatever burdens we have to God, to cast our cares on him. It is so easy isn’t it, when we have worries and concerns, to cling onto them, to let them linger in our minds and hearts. And yet, Paul says instead of holding onto our worries, we are to hand them on. Pass them to God in prayer for him to deal with. By way of illustration, I want you to imagine a house with young children in it. And one day, one of the children notices a letter coming through the letter box. They pick it up and see that it is addressed to where they live, and so open it up and discover that it is the latest electricity bill and that it requires the immediate payment of a sum far too large for them to ever pay from their piggy bank. What should that child do? How should they react in this situation? Well, of course they should simply take that bill and hand it to one of their parents, pass it on to those who have the responsibility to care for them. It would be silly for the child to get all worked up and worried about how they are going to pay the electricity bill! And yet, do you see that is exactly what we are often tempted to do? Brothers and sisters, when a financial burden, or health crisis or relational tension looms large in your life, don’t hold onto it in your heart, hand it over to God. Instead of fixating on it in your mind, you need to go and find your Heavenly Father, the one who has promised to care for his children, and pass it to him. Bring him your burdens, talk to him about your problems, let him know your requests. And Paul says that the peace of God will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. As the Psalmist put it in Psalm 55:2, ‘Cast your burdens on the Lord and he will sustain you, he will never permit the righteous to be moved.’ Grace Church, do you pray about things more than you worry about them? Do you talk to God about your concerns more than, or even before, you talk to others? For see here that prayer is the pathway to peace. That we will be most at peace when we have been most at prayer.

B. PONDER – FIX YOUR MIND ON GOD

That’s what Paul goes on to say in 4:8, where we read: [READ]. Again, sometimes the world tells us to find peace by emptying our minds, clearing our heads and hearts of the stresses and pressures we feel. However, here Paul tells us not to just empty our minds, but to fill our minds. To fill it with thoughts of what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy. Interestingly, these eight virtues in Paul’s day weren’t unique to Christians. Indeed, many Roman and Greek Philosophers also spoke about these qualities. And by this, we are reminded we can find good things to fix our minds on outside of that which is obviously ‘Christian’. You don’t need to be in church for this, you can do it in that school play you are sitting through, or work event you are attending. You can fix your mind on the best parts of the world around you, whether it is loyal friendships you enjoy, a praiseworthy film you see, or an excellent meal you eat. By looking for the best in the things around you, rather than focusing on the worst parts of this world, you can enjoy a measure of peace. There is peace to be found in a good night’s sleep, a walk outdoors, or watching your favourite TV show. And yet, just as we saw last week that lasting joy is only found in the Lord, lasting peace will only be found in him as well. For it is only when we fix our minds on the one who is always true and noble, perfectly pure and lovely, completely right and admirable, excellent and praiseworthy in all he does, will we be able to enjoy perfect peace that passes all understanding.

Practically what does it look like for us to fix our minds on the Lord? To pursue peace in this way? It means to soak yourself in God’s Word, read it in the morning, meditate on it during the day, memorise it so you can come back to it again and again. If you are feeling a bit unsettled at the moment, anxious and worried about what is happening in your life, two great questions to ask is (1) How is your prayer life? (2) How is your time in God’s Word? For I think you will find the proportion of peace we have will often be in direct correlation with those two things! If you want more peace, then we can pursue it by praying more and pondering God’s Word more! We can also read Christian books, and immerse ourselves in Christian relationships, in those relationships where we are continually reminded of the Lord. Brothers and sisters, that is a key role we play in one another’s lives, reminding each other of that which is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy about our God! We should never be embarrassed to speak to one another about the Lord, for drawing attention to his perfections and blessings is often the quickest way we can provide others with his peace. We fix our minds on God when we sing together, or sing or listen to Christian music by ourselves. Afterall, there is a reason why, when the Titanic started to sink, and those on board began to lose hope of rescue, the band struck up the tune to Abide with Me. And it is because singing about the Lord forces us to fix our mind on him and so fills us with peace, even when we start to sink beneath the waves. For as we heard at the start of our service from Isaiah 26:3, ‘You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you....’ (ESV)

C. PRACTICE – REST IN OBEDIENCE TO GOD

In 4:9, we read: [READ]. How will the peace of God guard our hearts and minds? When will we enjoy the presence of the God of peace in our lives? Paul says that it will not only be through prayer and pondering, but also through practicing, that is doing what we have been told to do. Paul says that obeying God, following his commands and the faithfulness of those who have went before us, can also produce this fruit of peace. Is this not similar in ways to what many athletes experience when a race doesn’t go their way? Even if they are disappointed with the final result, if they trained exactly how they were supposed to, and gave their all, did their best, on the day, then even though they didn’t win the race, or the get the prize, they are able to rest in the knowledge that they did everything they were supposed to, they can find peace in the fact that there wasn’t anything else left for them to do. And Paul says it is similar in the Christian life. When we follow Christ’s commands, serve him in the ways he has set out, then we can rest safe in the knowledge that we are simply obeying orders. No matter what happens to us, we can find peace in the fact that are just following our Saviour, who we can trust to lead us in the best way we can go. Christian, if our God is all-good, all-wise, all-powerful, then walking in his way, obeying his commands, should bring us great peace. For even when we find ourselves surrounded by the storm, we can trust that our God planned for us to be there and has a purpose in that particular struggle or suffering. Even if life doesn’t go how we want, or we don’t get what we want, if we are trusting in Jesus, following him as our Lord and Master, we can enjoy peace. Indeed, as we heard from Isaiah 48:18, if we pay attention to his commands, our peace will be like a river, our wellbeing like the waves of the sea.

Oh brothers and sisters, is this not the reason why Paul himself is experiencing such great peace as he wrote this letter? As we heard last week, when he wrote these words, Paul was imprisoned awaiting execution simply for spreading the good news of the Gospel. And yet, despite the terrible circumstances, he seems to be filled with calm and contentment, possessing a peace that is beyond all human understanding. And here we can see why, for though he has come into great suffering, he is simply practicing what he was told to do, obeying the God who he trusts completely. Paul could fall asleep in that prison each night in perfect peace, because he was laying his head down upon the soft pillow of God’s providence, and here we see that you and I can do, should do, the very same.

CONCLUSION

Where can we find peace in an age of anxiety? How can we be at peace in a world of worries? I’m not sure what stories stand out from your childhood, what books you read, or were read to you when you were little. Perhaps you remember the Tiger who comes to tea or the Hungry Caterpillar. Me? I remember a book called ‘Peace at Last’. My granny had an old, battered copy of it, and she used to read it to us when we visited her each week. If you don’t know the story, it is about a family of bears (as all good children’s stories are). And it is getting late and time for the bears to go to bed. The only problem is that Daddy Bear can’t get to sleep, because Mummy Bear is snoring. And so he goes to Baby Bear’s room, only to find Baby Bear has no interest in sleeping and is loudly pretending to be an aeroplane, and so he can’t get to sleep there either. So he tries to sleep on the sofa downstairs, but the clock is ticking too loudly. He tries to sleep outside but the owls are all twit-twooing. He tries to sleep in the car, but by this time the birds are all up and chirping. And eventually he goes back up into his bedroom to find Mama Bear is no longer snoring, and so lying back in his bed he sighs ‘Peace at Last’ and falls asleep.... only to be woken five minutes later by the sound of his alarm. It is silly children’s story, but it makes a very simple point: it is possible to look for peace in all kinds of places, and never find it. I wonder if that is you this morning? Are you looking for peace, but have been unable to find it so far? If so, see here that by turning from your sin and trusting in the Saviour, by taking the Prince of Peace to be your Lord, you can be at peace with God and enjoy the peace of God.