Over the past two posts, we’ve been discussing where we should camp out and where we shouldn’t in terms of coping with anxiety and fear. In the last post, the focus was on how to deal with it when we have to camp in challenging places. This concept is not foreign to Philippians.
As Paul is writing to the church in Philippi, the Philippian Church is encountering challenges. According to Philippians 1:28, the church is facing some opposition. There are differing opinions regarding precisely what outside crises they may have been facing, but most scholars believe that they were facing opposition. Let’s see if we can set the stage and understand what this opposition may have looked like.
The timeframe is likely around 60 AD. Philippi has been a prominent Greek and then Roman city. It was settled centuries before and served as the capital of the Greek empire, renamed by Philip of Macedon and invested in by his son, Alexander the Great. Even when it was conquered by the Romans 200 years later, the people who settled there were fiercely loyal to Caesar. It was also the site of a couple major battles, including Octavian and Marc Antony versus Brutus and Cassius in the wake of Julius Caesar’s murder, as well as the later fight between Octavian and Marc Antony. Interestingly, upon Octavian’s victory around 30 B.C., troops who had been loyal to Marc Antony were allowed to settle in the region, further facilitating fealty to Caesar.
Thus, around 90 years later at the occasion of the epistle, Philippi is a city that has a storied past and strong loyalty to the Emperor, now Nero. Part of this loyalty was shone by the titles ascribed to the Emperor: commonly kurios (Lord) and soter (Savior). Also, remember that a strong caste system was firmly in place at this time in history, which would have regarded someone in the slave/servant class as absolutely bottom tier. So, putting these together, we have a church, that is devoted to worship of someone who proclaims to have stepped out of heaven to become a servant to all, who should now be (rightly) referred to as kurios and soter over and above the emperor, who by the way was killed in the most reviled way possible, and we wonder why there may have been cultural opposition? And that’s just the external pressures.
There is at least one internal issue involving disagreement among leadership. Philippians 4:2 tells of some women in the church, Euodia and Syntyche who are in open and obvious disagreement with one another. This disagreement was significant enough that 1) The news reached Paul 800 miles away, and 2) He called them out by name in the letter he wrote back.
As a last point before we get into the substance of Paul’s words to the church here, we must remember one last thing for context. Paul was in prison. At the time of writing, as Paul is addressing the Philippian church in the midst of their struggles, Paul is in the middle of his own challenges. In other words, we have an incarcerated man addressing a persecuted people. With that context in mind, look at what Paul has to say about “where to camp” in Philippians 4:4-8.
4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 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.
Philippians 4:4-8 (ESV)
Paul starts by resetting their attitude. He tells them to rejoice, which demonstrates their reasonableness, when rooted in the foundation that the Lord is at hand. Then he moves into talking about anxiety. Notice the tone of the language here and the similarity to Jesus’s “Do not worry” from the Sermon on the Mount. It’s much less about, “Don’t you be anxious!” It’s more about, “Look, don’t waste your time being anxious. Whatever your concerned about, give that to the Lord. He can handle what you can’t. Give it to Him, and He will give you peace.” It’s the same idea as Jesus in Matthew 5 – “Don’t waste your time worrying about tomorrow. Look around. There is evidence all around you that God will take care of things.” When you find yourself worrying, remember that and focus on God instead.” This same notion is where the Philippians passage ends. Instead of staying focused on whatever is producing anxiety after one has given it to the Lord, Paul gives a list of better things to focus on, summing up with focusing on whatever is excellent or praiseworthy.
It’s about where we choose to camp. Anxiety and fear are normal reactions that we are designed to experience in a fallen world. If you go for a walk and a bear steps out in front of you, I hope you experience a little fear! It will promote you getting out of there and being safe. Likewise, as I tell my students, if it gets to be time for their research paper to be turned in and they have a lot of work yet to do, I hope they feel a little anxious. That future based concern about what a bad score on their paper will do to their final grade is beneficial as a motivator to get their work done. It’s not about avoiding the experiences of anxiety and fear. It’s about learning how NOT to camp there. And Paul gives the clear solution. It’s all about Jesus.
When you are looking for a place to camp, you’re really looking for two main things: Access to resources, and a place to rest. Jesus is the all sufficient answer to both. He is the Bread of Life. He is the Living Water. And, as we come to Him when we are weary and heavy laden, He will give us rest for our souls. In fact, He tells us to “camp” near Him so we can watch Him and learn from Him. This also fulfills Paul’s exhortation in Philippians 4 since there is nothing more true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, or commendable than Jesus. With this understanding of where to camp and what to do when fear or anxiety seem to be too much, here are some practical suggestions for moving forward.
When you are feeling anxious and overwhelmed,
- Pray and give it to Jesus.
- Find at least one thing you can praise Jesus about.
- Intentionally turn your focus to Him.
- When you can, share with someone else. —> Paul wasn’t writing to individuals. He was writing to the church.
- When anxiety resurfaces, rinse and repeat.
Final Thought: For some people, the challenge of overcoming anxiety can be overwhelming. There is a sense of being so stuck that even the practical list above seems unachievable. In other words, some Believers, who authentically love Jesus, are just trying to get to the place where they can attempt those steps because they desperately want to overcome anxiety. If that is you, or someone you care about, please find someone who loves Jesus and has biblically-based, Christ-centered expertise dealing with pathological anxiety who can help you overcome. You can get there, but usually not without doing some intentional work.