Philippians
4:4-7
Seventh Sunday of Easter
May 24, 2009
Philippians
4:4-7 (New International Version)
4Rejoice
in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5Let your
gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6Do not be anxious
about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,
present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which
transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ
Jesus. |
What’s your favorite season of the Church Year? For many Christians it’s the Easter
season----- the joyful music, the upbeat message that Christ rose and so will
we, and the assurance on Ascension Day that Christ is taking care of us from
his throne in heaven---all converge to give us unsurpassable peace! Perhaps you are feeling that way today, the
last Sunday of the Easter season…but perhaps not. You may
be feeling that somebody should be getting a ticket for disturbing the peace, maybe even that God’s decision about the
ending of the earthly lives of our two
It’s not just a wish for you or a suggestion;
grammatically it’s the imperative voice.
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! (almost, “Rejoice,
or else!) That may seem strange. We are not accustomed to think of joy as
something that can be commanded. But how
often do we not listen to commands to be sad? In times of stress we are prone to obeying
any command without weighing its merit or its source. My family and I were in a plane crash in
Why can he command us to rejoice? Notice what is coupled with this command to
rejoice. “Rejoice in the Lord always!” In spite of this present economic downturn,
we have an abundance of earthly things to rejoice about. But even if we are feeling short-changed in all areas—financial, family, socially,
emotionally---our names are written in heaven!
As Jesus said to the 72 disciples who were rejoicing that the demons
were subject to them, “Rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” He took our sins on himself, died to atone
for them, rose again to prove that the justification was complete, and that’s
why our names are written in heaven.
Our respect for our Lord---the “fear of God”---is our
incentive to obey his command to rejoice.
You may have heard of the legendary football coach at
There is a second command of our Savior: Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.” Every time I read in Scripture the
encouragement to be gentle – and there are many---I think of a favorite Chinese
proverb: “Don’t use an axe to brush a fly from your friend’s forehead.” We observe “flies on foreheads” of others and
others undoubtedly observe them on ours.
I need not tell you that I do not find much joy when someone tries to
brush off those flies with an axe.
Gentle rather than hostile words are a key to peace, both in our
personal lives and in society.
There is
an added comment in our Lord’s command to be gentle. That is, the
Lord is near. The Greek word for “near” can have at least two different
meanings and I would be hesitant to insist on one over the other. The one meaning for near has a temporal element.
It says that the coming of the Lord is near. That makes good sense. We just celebrated the Lord’s Ascension on Thursday,
and one of the messages of His Ascension is that the Lord will return as the
disciples saw him leave. And we are
always to be aware of the fact. He could
be coming back at any time to judge the world.
Or, as the untimely death of our young reminds us, he could be coming to
call you or a loved one home to be with him.
Not only old people die. Every
person we meet is a dying person and we ought to treat them that way. Give them flowers while they can still smell
them. Speak kind words to people while
they can still hear them. Neither we nor
they have the luxury of waiting to treat them kindly. Now is the time to be gentle.
The word
“near” has another meaning, a
location element: When Jesus ascended he told his disciples that he would
always be with them. It reminds us that
we always live in his presence. My first
congregation was very small, and I had no one to golf with on Monday mornings. So I would go to the course and wait for a
single person or a twosome or threesome to come, and ask if I could golf with
them. I would usually not stand on
formality and would simply introduce myself as “John.” Some of you probably know that golf can be a
fairly frustrating sport and as often as not my golfing partners would express
their frustration in rather colorful terms.
Along about the third or fourth hole, one of my partners would ask me
about what I did for a living. When I
told them I was a Lutheran pastor, their language changed to “Oh, dear me” and
“My, oh my”---a remarkable transformation in their words of frustration and
displeasure. Most people are somewhat
careful about the kind of language they use when a clergyman is near. Are we always aware that we are living in the
presence of---not just a clergyman---but the Lord and Savior who gave himself
for us? If he was so kind and understanding
toward us, and he is standing next to us, should we treat each other, in any
fashion other than gently? In other
words, live peaceably with everyone if we want to have the Lord’s peace in our
daily lives.
There is
one final command: Do not be anxious
about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,
present your requests to God. We
live in what has been called “the Age of Anxiety.” There may be more than a little self-pity in
that description. I suspect that every
age has been an age of anxiety. Do we
worry needlessly?
Winston Churchill ,
quoting a friend of his, I've seen some pretty terrible things in my life; fortunately most of them
never happened!
Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790)
I've seen some pretty terrible things
in my life; fortunately most of them never happened!
That doesn’t mean that we are to be careless or overly
self-confident in our behavior. There is
the description of Mohammed Ali in the biography of that great boxer. After he won the World’s Heavyweight Boxing
Championship, he boarded a plane in
On the other hand, we are not to be paralyzed with fear---
too fearful of traveling, or allowing our children to be independent, too afraid
to give too much of our time or money to the church... God has set tasks before us and wants us to
have the confidence that he who has given us the responsibilities is willing
and able to help us in our needs. We do
live in a dangerous world and in dangerous times, but rather than being filled
with worry, our concerns about the dangers should lead us to deal with everything
in prayer. The word used by Paul here is
the most general term for prayer, and could just as well be translated,
“communicate” with God. That involves
not only speaking, but also hearing and listening.
When St. Paul tells us that he who spared not his own Son
but gave him up for us all, will also freely give us all things, we should act
on this promise with confidence. We have
peace that passes all understanding. Rejoice
in it. Be gentle in your exercise of
it. And live without anxiety, knowing
that in all things God will work for our good.
Rejoice in the Lord always. I
will again: Rejoice!
May the peace of God, which transcends all understanding,
guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.