Philippians 4:4–7 Give Thanks Series
Pastor Ron Koehler
Grace—Tucson, AZ
October 4, 2026
TURN WORRY INTO PRAYER There are some Bible verses that seem almost designed to be printed in that font. You know the one I mean. That swirly, handwritten, farmhouse-looking script that people use with their Cricut…the one on everything at Hobby Lobby. The one used on words like:
I am very familiar with at least one house that has a few of those on the wall! Here’s what you do if you can’t find what you want at Hobby Lobby—pick out a favorite Bible passage, put it in that font. Cut it out of white vinyl. Stick it on a piece of distressed wood, and there you have it—your own trendy Christian home décor. For example, what an amazing barnwood, farmhouse-font piece Philippians 4:4 would make! “Rejoice in the Lord always!” Boy, you add a daisy next to that or leafy branch underneath… perfect! But a Bible verse that looks nice on the wall is sometimes hard to live. Here’s why: because Paul does not say, “Rejoice in the Lord when life is going pretty well.” He says, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” And then, just a couple of sentences later, he says: “Do not worry about anything.” Now the picture on the wall starts to feel a little confrontational. Because we know ourselves. We do worry. What’s on your worry list? Is it your health? Is it someone that you care about and the trouble they’re going through? Finances make a lot of our lists, I know. Do you worry about things that have happened…or might happen? I’ll confess that this last week I worried about conversations that didn’t go well the day before and about conversations I was going to have the next day. Do you do that too? There is such a variety of things that get our minds going, and sometimes we can’t stop. It’s interesting and can be helpful to know and remember that these words were not written by a man whose life was comfortable and carefree. The Apostle Paul had made enemies simply for sharing Jesus with people. As he wrote, he was under house arrest in chains and faced an uncertain future. This guy…in that situation…wrote: Rejoice. Don’t worry. Pray. Give thanks. And then the extraordinary promise: Peace. He doesn’t say that everything is going to be ok, that your problems will disappear, that you’ll get what you want, or that you’ll get an explanation. He says you have the peace of God. He does not tell us to just not think about the things that worry us. He doesn’t say, “Just cheer up!” He tells us what to do with the worries. He says to TURN WORRY INTO PRAYER. And he tells us how.
Rejoice in the Lord You notice that Paul didn’t say, “I think you should try rejoicing instead of worrying.” Or “Have you thought about maybe rejoicing over the hard things going on?” He is giving us a command! “Do this!” Rejoice in the Lord always! I will say it again: Rejoice! And just a heads-up for the rest of these verses and this sermon. The other things he tells us to do are all command words too. But Paul is not just barking out orders to all the people in the Roman military retirement city of Philippi with an expectation that they just fall in line like good soldiers and do the right thing. He is telling Christian people who already know God how to live out their faith. These things they are to do are not to win God’s forgiveness if they get it right. These things flow from faith in the God who has forgiven them and hears them and has given them peace. So, Rejoice…in the Lord. Does it help to know that he doesn’t say, “Rejoice in your circumstances.” Sometimes our circumstances are terrible. They’re miserable. We’re not always just being whiny, sometimes things are legitimately awful. It’s not that we rejoice over the circumstances—as if we’re supposed to always have a smile on our faces or expect that everything will work out the way we want. Sometimes we are hurt or are sad and things don’t always work out as we wish. Joy does not mean pretending. We are not told to fake happiness. Jesus cried. Paul will tell you about his tears if you keep on reading the letter. The psalms are full of pain and loneliness and confusion. Our joy is not joy in the circumstances we are in. Our joy is in the Lord. Imagine you’re riding your bike and you need to get all the way across campus and the front tire on your bike falls right off, and then there is an absolute downpour like earlier this week, and someone yells out to you, “What a blessing that you still have one good tire on your bike!” Technically true. Not especially helpful. Christian joy is not like that— a desperate search for one positive detail in every disaster that is supposed to make us feel ok. No. Christian joy says: Whatever else changes, my Lord does not. Whatever garbage is going on in my life, God is with me. When my plans change, God doesn’t. When my health changes, God doesn’t. When friends disappoint and leave, God doesn’t. Our Savior does not leave us and that brings us joy. That’s super encouraging…I hope. But do you feel a little guilt over not thinking of that in the first place? And feel a little bad about finding your joy in the good things and the smooth times rather than in the Lord? Sometimes we have made the gift more important than the Giver. Sometimes we want God’s blessings more than we want God. And, you know, God has every right to strip every idol from our hands. We have not loved him above all things. We have not trusted him above all things.
But God did not abandon us. He did the opposite, didn’t he? He gave us the greatest possible reason for joy. That Reason came into this world to do what worrying, selfcentered, world-obsessed, ungrateful sinners fail to do. Jesus willingly trusted, obeyed, loved, prayed perfectly. The cross held that perfection for a handful of hours—all our complaints and worry and doubting God’s care and trust in ourselves. And that perfection, given in death, paid for all those failures of ours. Then he rose. It’s that payment and that resurrection that make Paul say, Rejoice in the Lord. We are forgiven…and that brings us joy. We find joy in knowing that things are okay with us and God. We are his children and heaven is ours. What Paul means when he gives the command Let your gentleness be known to everyone, is that Christians who have this joy are to express it by putting others first. God has been gracious with you, you can be gracious with others. You do not always have to win or have the last word or draw the attention to yourself. Why? Because the Lord’s return is near. Our time here is short. We don’t need to spend our time in loveless, joyless bickering—and, in fact, it is sinful if we do. How much better to Rejoice in the Lord and have that spill over into our lives as we all wait for the Lord to return! Bring everything to the Lord This next command might sting a little bit: Do not worry about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. Do not worry. Wouldn’t it be great if it was that easy? Paul is not saying that a Christian will never experience anxiety. His point is this: worry cannot take the place of trust. Our anxiousness about things cannot pull our hearts in different directions. And worry does that, right? Part of me says, “I know God will take care of me.” The other part of me says that I need to think obsessively about this and lose sleep and be upset because I can’t find the solution (but I can think of every worst-case scenario—over and over!). Worry divides my heart. Worry can get so bad that it can lead to unbelief, because worry says: “God, I am not sure you know.” “God, I am not sure you care.” “God, I am not sure you can handle this.” Since this is such a big problem with potentially terrible consequences, Paul tells us to TURN WORRY INTO PRAYER. And he piles up several words to explain: Prayer is simply talking to God, petition means to bringing a particular need to him. With thanksgiving—that’s the kind of heart we speak to God with.
And here’s the command: Let your requests be made known to God. When God tells you to talk to him about all the stuff in your life, why would you not? When you are concerned about something, why would you not ask God for help? And with thanksgiving does not mean, “Thank you, Lord, that something terrible is happening.” It means that even while asking for help, faith remembers who is listening. The One hearing your prayer is the God who has already given you his Son. Think of it like this: thanksgiving looks backward even while your prayer is looking forward. Prayer says, I don’t know what’s going to happen but I know what you’ve already done. You sent your Son for me. You made me your child in baptism. You have kept me in the faith. You have done all of this for me, so I am trusting you with this issue in my life. Rest in the Peace of the Lord Then comes the promise: And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Paul does not promise that prayer will immediately remove the problem. He does not promise that you will always receive exactly what you asked for. He does not promise that God will explain himself. And—listen closely to this—Paul is not saying that IF you perform well enough, IF you pray hard enough, IF you find the tipping point of less worry and a higher percentage of trust, THEN God will reward you with peace. Prayer does not purchase God’s peace. As God’s people, we already have that gift of peace. Prayer is us taking our fears and worries to God who has already made peace with us through Christ who has forgiven our sins. We’ve been told that we have been declared “not guilty” because of him. You can have this quiet confidence that God remains your gracious Father even when life makes no sense…or you don’t know what to do…or what’s coming next. That’s the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding. So, when the loneliness is getting to me…the diagnosis is frightening…the future is uncertain…the relationship is strained…the prayer has not been answered yet…the believer says, “I know that my Father has me.” And check this out—this is so cool. Paul says the peace of God…will GUARD your hearts and your minds He picked that word guard on purpose! It’s the word for soldiers guarding a city. As he’s writing, he is chained to a Roman guard! And again, he is writing to people in a city populated by retired Roman military veterans! So, they could easily picture—and now you can too—God’s peace like a soldier at your side! But this one is not punishing you; this one is protecting you! When the devil approaches causing fear and your sinful nature comes forward with guilt and worry, God’s peace is there to push them back. The peace of God standing guard says, “This one is in Christ Jesus.” This is why we can Rejoice in the Lord always! This is why we can TURN WORRY INTO PRAYER. Amen. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.