This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Philippians” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, April 14, 1991.
About this sermon
Peace comes before prayer as its presupposition, the reverse of what most people assume. Paul’s prayer holds supplication and thanksgiving together, a combination Christ’s coming makes possible at new depth. Christ shows himself in the very shape of Paul’s prayer as well as in its subject.
Sermon transcript
The first chapter and the first eleven verses of that opening chapter in Philippians. So we are reading there again this morning as we begin. Here are the words of Paul and Timothy, servants of Jesus Christ and all the saints in Christ Jesus, which are Philippians, with the bishops and deacons.
Praise be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God upon every remembrance of me, always and every prayer of mine for you all, making a quest with joy for your fellowship in the Gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing. that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Even as it is neat for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers of my grace. For God is my refuge. How bravely I long after you all in the affections of Jesus Christ. This I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment, that ye may approve things that are excellent, that ye may be sincere and without offense for the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.
Then turning over to the 4th chapter of Philippians, verses 4-7. Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The war is at hand. Be careful for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Let your requests be made known unto God, and the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” PRABHUPĀDA So anyway… I think that it goes without saying that all Christians are interested in prayer. All Christians are vitally interested in prayer.
We can think of those various patterns for prayer that have been given to us in Scripture. We can think of the prayer book of the Old Testament disciples. We can think of particular prayers that were uttered by servants of God. We can think of prayers uttered by Moses, by Hezekiah, by Nehemiah, and by a host of others. We can think of the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples, or his prayer as it is commonly called. Paul is a man of prayer. He gives to these Philippians in the fourth chapter Something of a pattern for prayer. We’ve read that passage, a very familiar passage for you. It’s a favorite text of many. Verses 4 through 7 of Philippians 8. There’s something about this text that draws us not merely attracted because of what is said here about prayer, but also because there is attached to false statements on prayer a message concerning peace.
I dare say that if there is something that Christians are more interested in than prayer, it’s peace. And I’m not talking about world peace, I’m talking about personal peace. Oh, that we have that tranquility. Oh, that we have that peace of mind. Oh, that we were at rest with ourselves. that we weren’t continually in a turmoil, distraught, strung out by worry, by anxiety, eaten up, in fact, by those very things.
So you hear what the Apostle says here in the fourth chapter as he speaks about prayer. Sixth verse, famous, favorite of many. The New American Standard translates this way, “‘Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God and the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” I want to say something at the outset of this message this morning about peace.
You see, I think that there is a mistaken notion about peace in relationship to prayer. Not that peace isn’t a byproduct of our prayer at times. Not that at certain times in our lives we throw ourselves upon the mercy of God, and the result of it is we are overwhelmed with a sense of peace and well-being, convinced that God in His Spirit is blessing us. That’s precisely what Paul has in mind here as he speaks about prayer and its relationship to peace in this context.
He doesn’t have in mind here some sort of by-product, something that is produced as a result of your praying. He’s actually talking about something here that is made application in and through your prayers. In other words, it’s not a matter of you getting something you don’t got. It’s a matter of you using something you have.
Now, I think that that would help a great many people in their prayers just to grab hold of that truth. We may be praying for the wrong reasons. We may be praying, expecting the wrong thing. We may come to prayer, and more often than not, we don’t have that flood of peace, and we’re disappointed. Because, after all, that’s why we were praying. We were looking for the byproduct, and we thought that peace would be the product of our prayer.
Paul is saying that peace is the presupposition of your prayer. Paul is saying you have peace. Peace is established. He’s not speaking about peace here as the by-product of your prayer, but that peace which is made efficacious, when in fact you are at prayer because the peace is already your possession. Let the presupposition of peace inform you as you come to her.
Rather than merely looking at peace as the by-product, grab hold of the peace that is already yours in Christ. Do I need conviction on this matter? Should we talk about Romans 5 verse 1, having therefore been justified by faith, we have peace with God? Do I need remind you of who Jesus Christ is, the very Prince of Peace? In Him we have peace, He is our peace. Your prayer does not make him the prince of peace. It does not establish the free peace of the kingdom. The peace of the kingdom is already existent, apart from your prayer. It precedes you.
That peace then becomes efficacious in prayer. in guarding their hearts and minds, which are already in Christ Jesus.” Well, that much, this talk, with regard to prayer and hope. We started out talking this morning about patterns for prayer. And we said that this text in Philippians 4 is setting forth a pattern, and it’s the simplest of patterns. Can you pick up the others? For it’s a simple, two-fold pattern.
You don’t have to remember any elaborate scheme. You don’t have to take a course. You don’t have to put any money down. You don’t have to send away for anything. It’s something very simple he puts before you here. He lists for you, as a matter of course, the substance of prayer, or the pattern of prayer, if you will, in that sixth verse. in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.” Then you have the components. First of all, prayer and supplication, they go together, to which he adds, then, with thanksgiving. Let me point out another pitfall in prayer.
Not only assuming, as we said formerly, that peace will be the by-product of our frenzied astigme, thinking that, but just as much, thanksgiving being wholly absent. I’ll ask him, but I won’t thank him. I won’t thank him till I get it. And if I’m not satisfied with what he gives me, I’m certainly not going to thank him anyway. Do you see how deceptive the heart can be? Do you see how perverse we can be even with matters like prayer?
A two-fold path, very simple. Prayer and supplication, two ways of expressing the same thing, but then the second ingredient, with thanksgiving. Prayer merely means requests. Supplication merely means a humble petition. Another way of saying it is the same thing. Humble petition.
Adam and Eve dimension to it, at least to me. To call attention to in this pattern of prayer, laying out for us here, is the mood. Is the mood of the worshipper, of that one who would pray as he approaches God, yes, reversed, but in humility, humble edition, realizing that they are cast upon the mercy of God. Has the mood extended then? Why words with thanksgiving? Think of yourselves in your prayers. Think of how needlessly difficult they become because they, at lack of humility, there is that absence of thanksgiving. We are here, then, talking about not only the presupposition of peace which comes from God, but the presupposition of humility and thanksgiving that are resident in those who would pray.
This pattern we observe here from the Apostle Israel down in the Scripture. Do we need to rehearse the entirety of the Book of the Psalms if you look at prayers that are recorded there? What do they amount to? Yes, requests of God, humble positions, bathed in thanksgiving. Why, there’s a joy that just erupts from the Psalter. even when the psalmist is at his worst, when he is most depressed, that note of hope is being heard, it is being sounded for.
The pattern is there in the Old Testament, and the pattern is likewise found in Jesus himself. Jesus prays. We have some of his prayers in Scripture. Can you think of some of the prayers of Christ? Turn to Matthew 11. You’ll find one there. Again, it’s a very famous chapter that many may not realize that it is a prayer uttered by Jesus. The end of that chapter, verse 25.
And at that time, Jesus answered him and said, I thank thee, O Father.” There’s the thanksgiving. It’s the very first words out of his mouth. I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou didst hide these things from the wise and the intelligent, and didst reveal them to me. Yes, Father, for thus it was well-pleasing in thy sight. All things have been handed over to me of my Father, etc. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son, and anyone whom the Son wills to reveal Him.
We have the marvelous invitation then given by Jesus at the conclusion, verses 28 and 30, calling to me, etc. And here’s an instance in which we find the pattern well worked out, even from Jesus. And then, in John chapter 11, the story is the resurrection of Lazarus. Before Jesus calls Lazarus out of the tomb, verse 41 of that 11th chapter in John, Jesus says, Father, I thank thee that thou hearest me. that knew that thou hearest me always, because of the people standing around thy senate, that they may believe that thou didst send me.” So, the thanksgiving, the mood that we find here expressed by the apostle Paul and set before these Philippians is expressed by Jesus himself. There’s something else here that you want to take note of, that you need to be aware of.
That is, insofar as this pattern of prayer is somewhat continual, it comes to us out of the Old Testament, we hear about it again in the New Testament, yet in the New Testament that very pattern has achieved new heights in and through Jesus Christ. A new day. A new day of humble petition has arrived in and through Jesus our Savior. It is Jesus who says, Ask, and ye shall receive. Almost as if no one had asked before, or when they did ask, they had no real guarantee or confidence that they would be heard. A new day has come. A new day of access has come. Jesus says, in fact, in John 14, verses 23 and 24, that formally, you ask nothing in my name. Now ask! Ask in my name, and ye shall receive. Whatever you want, ask, and ye shall receive.
A new day of humble petition has arrived because of the activity of our God in and through Jesus Christ our Savior. Our petitions humbly presented before our God are now heard as never before, because the one to whom we are bound, Jesus Christ himself, has the ear of his Father.
But not only is this a new day of competition, it is also a new day of thanksgiving. There are many places throughout the New Testament in which this is brought out, its power, the power of thanksgiving, the overwhelming power and magnitude of thanksgiving that is now available. It’s almost as if it were unprecedented. There is praise in the Old Testament, but that praise is more when compared to the praise that comes forth in the New.
There is that text, that wonderful text, written by Peter in his first epistle, the very first chapter, and I’m sure that you know this text as well. The following marvelous beatitude, in which Peter blesses God, the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, verses three through five, and then begins to speak about this remarkable joy and thanksgiving that is available now to the saints of the Lord.
In this you greatly rejoice, he says in verse 6, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to resolve in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. And though you have not seen Him, you love Him. And though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full glory. The day in which you live is the day of unprecedented thanksgiving and joy. because of what has been accomplished for you in Jesus Christ, his death, resurrection, his ascension into glory, the promise of his return, and at his return, the blessings in nature poured out upon you in all their reality. In and through Jesus Christ, a new day of humble petition in which we approach the Father, a new day of unprecedented thanksgiving, but also a new day of confidence. This confidence because, you see, there is one who intercedes, who lives. Who lives? Romans 8, 34? Who intercedes? For us, 1 John 2, we have an advocate before the Father.
What about those texts from Hebrews, where we hear this message repeatedly? In Hebrews 4, verses 14 through 16, “‘Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been counted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” A new day of humble petition, an unprecedented day of thanksgiving, And a day in which we can exhibit remarkable confidence, even approach the throne of God with all this. Not doubting. Well, the great thing about the Apostle Paul is that not only is he a good preacher, he practices what he preaches.
So we move back from the fourth chapter of Philippians to the first. And would you notice the pattern of prayer worked out there for you in the opening of this epistle? Verses 3 through 8. What would you call that? Verses 3 through 8 in the first chapter being nothing less than the Apostle’s thanksgiving. When he prayed, he gives thanks. Now, you may want to also remember taking into consideration false circumstances. The man’s in jail. The man’s in jail. He’s in chains. And he still gives birth.
There is also a humble petition, verses 9 through 11, and you will know that Paul isn’t praying for himself, he’s praying for others. If the cross has made any impact If there has been any value of it in the lives of the believers, it is to this extent that now no longer do they look upon themselves as the center of the universe, as the center of existence and life itself. They look at others. And even in his prayers, Paul proves to be the servant, because he is the servant of the servant, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for others. Why is the very life of Jesus coming to an expression in man? While he lays out the pattern for prayer for Philippians, he is a man of prayer himself. And the very pattern of prayer that he enjoins upon others is one that is practiced by him. That is given. Humble petition. What lessons are here for us to be learned?
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