Sermon for October 11, 2026, Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost

Philippians 4:4-13 (Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost/Proper 23—Series A

“Think on These Things”

Lutheran Church of Our Redeemer, Enfield, CT

October 11, 2026

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Today’s sermon text is from the Epistle Reading recorded in Philippians 4:

4Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I will say, rejoice. 5Let your gentleness be known to all people. The Lord is near. 6Do not be anxious, but in all things, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. 7And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 8Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of respect, whatever is righteous, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is praiseworthy, if there is any more excellence and if there is reason for praise, think about these things. 9And what you learned and received and heard and saw in me, practice these things. And the God of peace will be with you. 10Now I greatly rejoiced in the Lord because now at last you have revived your concern for me; indeed, you were concerned before but lacked opportunity. 11Not that I am speaking out of need, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. 12And I know how to live in humble circumstances and I know what it is to have more than enough. 13In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, of having abundance and suffering need. All things I am able to do through the one who strengthens me.

Four Sundays ago, we began reading through Paul’s letter to the Philippians as the Epistle Reading appointed for each week. The Apostle wrote this letter from Rome while under house arrest. This letter, despite the frustration and other hardships Paul was enduring as he wrote, overflows with joy. Paul’s optimism and joy grew from the security of knowing our Savior and trusting that he belonged to Jesus—in life and in death. Paul wrote to the Church at Philippi to build up this same confidence in the hearts of his readers.

Paul also wrote to the Philippians this letter as a thank-you note of sorts. The believers in Philippi had supported Paul’s ministry in several ways. They had even sent a fellow worker—Epaphroditus—to minister to Paul in his imprisonment. Paul also wrote to encourage his readers toward the true unity found only in Jesus Christ.

The Letter to the Philippians, then, describes in very practical terms what it means to live as a forgiven, humble, and joyful child of God. Paul is no “armchair Christian,” writing about how things should work in theory. No, Paul is writing from the heat of battle. He knows what it means to stand alone, what it is like to have his friends turn against him. He wrote in our text, “And I know how to live in humble circumstances, and I know what it is to have more than enough. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, of having abundance and suffering need” (4:12-13a).

And yet, Paul lives in joy. “Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I will say, rejoice.” But this is not a “put a paper plate with a smile on it in front of your face and pretend to be happy” kind of joy. Nor is it an “I always feel good” joy. Rather, it is a joy that keeps going despite outward circumstances and inward feelings. It’s a joy that explodes in hearts that trust our Savior’s promise that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Jesus and His cross and resurrection.

This morning I’d like to spend some time with you looking especially at verses 7-9 of our text. Paul has written by the power of the Holy Spirit, “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of respect, whatever is righteous, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is praiseworthy, if there is any more excellence and if there is reason for praise, think about these things. And what you learned and received and heard and saw in me, practice these things. And the God of peace will be with you.”

If you were reading along from the Epistle, you might have noticed that this section is book-ended by “the peace of God.” This portion begins with the peace of God and ends with the peace of God. On the front-end, this is the peace that both belongs to God and the peace that comes from God to us. Peace is, in fact, one of the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5. And so, Paul finishes the back end of this section declaring that “the God of peace” who gives His peace by His Spirit, “will be with you.”

Now, what’s between the two bookends? “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of respect, whatever is righteous, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is praiseworthy, if there is any more excellence and if there is reason for praise, think about these things.” In this list, are these the typical things that you ponder through the day? Do you let your mind dwell on whatever is . . . true, worthy of respect, righteous, pure, lovely, praiseworthy, excellent enough for praise? Maybe every once in a while, right? But, what tends to occupy our minds? What is it that we usually seem to dwell on? The problems, the troubles, the worries; our fears, our regrets, our missed opportunities; everything that is wrong in the fallen world in which we live; how callous, wicked, and evil people seem to get away with whatever they want.

Note that it is not always wrong or inappropriate to consider where we are each at in life and life’s situations. In teaching about discipleship and counting the cost to follow Him, Jesus used these two illustrations: “For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace” (Luke 14:28-32 ESV).

No, it is not wrong to consider and think about the things that are necessary for life in this world. We have to plan and be “wise as serpents and innocent as doves” as we live in the midst of a “wolfish world” (Matt. 10:16 ESV). The problem comes in when we fail to keep in the forefront of our hearts and minds the “whatevers” of which Paul speaks: “Whatever is true, whatever is worthy of respect, whatever is righteous, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is praiseworthy, if there is any more excellence and if there is reason for praise, think about these things.”

In the midst of the muck and the yuck of life, the peace of God guards you and is with you. By the working of the Holy Spirit, we can dwell more often on the things of God and not the things at cause of anxiety and worry. What did Paul exhort his hearers to not be? Anxious! Rather think on “these things,” and “by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God.” The Lord is near. The God of peace is with you.

The key to this outlook and thinking about life in the heart and mind of a Christian is the Gospel Paul had long ago shared with the Philippians and lived out before them—about a crucified Messiah, whose death on a cross served both to redeem them and to reveal the character of God into which they were continually being transformed. And that very God who suffered, died, and rose again is the God of peace. Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection have brought peace between fallen, sinful humanity and our Creator. Jesus’ death and resurrection brings to each of us personally the peace of sins forgiven and the peace of having been rescued from death, the devil’s power, and everlasting condemnation.

The peace that God in Christ Jesus our Lord is and brings is much more than a feeling or experience of tranquility. “[Christ’s gift of peace] is like the declaration of peace between to warring parties. It is real and objective, even if some people don’t feel particularly peaceful and continue to feel the effects of conflict. It is, as Paul says, a peace ‘which transcends all understanding’ (Philippians 4:7). When we feel it, we rejoice in it as a gift from God. When we don’t feel it, we rejoice that we are still, through Christ, at peace with God.”

We may often focus on life’s problems, worries, fears, regrets, and missed opportunities. We may also become discouraged when evil seems to go unpunished. But these are things that we need not let our hearts and minds dwell on. Remember the “book ends” of God’s peace in your Savior, Jesus Christ! It is God’s peace that fills you inwardly and outwardly, surrounds you, and is with you always through His Spirit. And it is God the Holy Spirit, working through Word and Sacrament, that empowers your thinking so that you might more faithfully focus on the blessings that God bestows upon you in this world: whatever is true, whatever is worthy of respect, whatever is righteous, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is praiseworthy, if there is any more excellence and if there is reason for praise!

Our greatest blessing, our reason for praise, is Jesus Christ! Of all the Father’s gifts to us, Jesus is the most true, most worthy of respect, the most righteous, the purest, the loveliest, the most excellent and praiseworthy! He died for us and rose again giving us freely His pure righteousness and holiness so that we might have peace with God through faith in Him and Him alone. All else pales in comparison to our great God and Savior who has won our forgiveness and everlasting life.

Because of Jesus, who is our peace, you and I are able to rejoice always in the Lord, even in the midst of this crooked and troubled world (Eph 2:14). God surrounds us with His peace in Christ and that peace, which does surpass all understanding, guards our hearts and minds in Jesus so that we think on Him and set our minds on Him. Paul wrote in his letter to the Colossians, “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:2-3 ESV). The Holy Spirit enables us to do this very thing as we are empowered to set aside anxieties and the troubles of today and make our prayers and supplications with thanksgiving known to God our Father in Jesus’ Name. And the God of peace will be with you. Amen.