Text: Philippians 4:4-7
Date: December 12, 2021
Event: The Third Sunday in Advent, Year C
Philippians 4:4-7 (EHV)
Rejoice in the Lord always! I will say it again: Rejoice! 5Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. 6Do not worry about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. 7And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Rejoice that the Lord Is Near!
Are you excited for Christmas? Maybe right now you’re trying to figure out presents with all the wrinkles that supply chain issues and shipping delays bring. Maybe there’s some stress around all the preparations that need to get done before Christmas arrives, at home, at work, with extended family, or even at church. And all of that is, for another year, made all the more complicated with COVID restrictions and best practices.
But, in our house at least, despite some stressors, I think there’s still a sense of excitement. Every day or two an update rings through the house about how many days are left until Christmas. And while that announcement is made with excitement, almost every time I hear it, I start thinking about how much there is to get done yet, and I cringe a little bit as that announced number of days (or sometimes hours!) keeps getting smaller and smaller. But still, despite that, it is exciting for all the family fun to look forward to at Christmas and especially the joy we’ll be able to share in God’s Word together in the coming weeks.
When you think about preparation, does “joy” always go hand in hand with that? For me it doesn’t real often. I will find joy and relief in work done, in a well-prepared event that can be enjoyed in the moment. But the grind of getting ready is rarely my favorite thing. Often it is a time of stress or uncertainty that everything is going to get done when it needs to get done.
In our Second Reading for this morning the apostle Paul would like to have us infuse joy in our Advent preparations. Not just getting ready for Christmas, but more to the point, getting ready for Jesus’ second coming. So this morning, let’s consider how these coming days and weeks can be filled with rejoicing rather than stress, and how we can be thinking eternally-focused thoughts rather than being excessively focused on the here-and-now. Rejoice, my brothers and sisters, that the Lord is near!
We heard the beginning of Paul’s letter to the Christians living in Philippi in our service last week. Paul was gushing with joy and thanksgiving for these partners in gospel ministry. And that’s really a theme that persists throughout this brief letter. Even here in chapter four, near the very end of the letter, Paul still has a joyful, positive outlook on things.
Paul has some long-term guidance for these Christians as they faced an uncertain future in this life. Things may go well for them; things may go really badly for them. But regardless of what happens, Paul says, Rejoice in the Lord always! I will say it again: Rejoice!
That seems difficult to do at times, doesn’t it? Things go sour in our life. We are stressed. Our lives are not what we’d hope they would be. How do we keep a perspective of rejoicing in this life?
We heard John the Baptist preach in our Gospel for today. He brought the people listening to him both reasons for concern and reasons for rejoicing. He addressed their sin, which is concerning in any context. And being reminded that the Lord is near in the context of sin is really distressing.
But John didn’t leave the people at that. For them in their time the Lord was demonstrably near. He pointed them ahead to the coming Savior—one whose sandals he was not worthy to untie. At times we know Jesus himself was even physically near John during his preaching. John told the people that this coming Savior would bring the fire of faith through the Holy Spirit. He would rescue from sin and death. The Lord being near was not distressing; it was reason to rejoice!
Our context and our motivation is the same. Jesus came and rescued us from sin and hell! We are free from eternal death! We will be with our God forever! Rejoice!
But what does that rejoicing look like? Paul gives us a lot of detailed direction in these few short verses. He begins, “Let your gentleness be known to everyone.” That word gentleness is really key. If, as Christians, we find ourselves being combative with other people about our faith (or really anything at all), we need to take a step back and ask, “Is my gentleness known to everyone? Or is it my hotheadedness? Is it my lack of patience? Is it my inability to ever change my mind or acknowledge someone else’s opinion?”
For the Christian, life is not about fighting to get things in your favor. The Christian life is about being gentle, kind, loving, empathetic, and understanding. It is seeking the good of others before seeking your own good. My rejoicing in Jesus means I should have more, not less, patience with my children, my spouse, my parents, and the rest of my family. My rejoicing in Jesus should have an effect on the way I speak in that meeting or the way I drive down the road. My rejoicing in Jesus should effect the way I talk to the clerk at the store, or an elected representative, my fellow member at church, or a total stranger on the Internet. “Let your gentleness be known to everyone.”
What do I do when I suddenly see all the times that I’m not being gentle? Well, that’s the time of repentance, a time to come back to God and say, “Lord, forgive me, have mercy on me. I have not been your ambassador like I should have. I have let my temper or my impatience or my selfishness take hold again. I have not been gentle and kind. I have not let my rejoicing in you be clearly evident in my life.” And what is our heavenly Father’s response? “You are forgiven.” That is Jesus’ work for you! Rejoice in that forgiveness by prioritizing that gentleness with all people!
Paul continues on how this rejoicing in Jesus affects your life and my life. Do not worry about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. Rejoicing looks like contentment-fueled confidence. Notice that this doesn’t mean that everything will be great all of the time. It also doesn’t mean we will have everything we want or everything we think we need. There are going to be problems, there are going to be issues the we struggle to face, there are going to be things we lack that are difficult to deal with. But the rejoicing Christian should not worry, because we have much more productive ways to deal with those problems available to us than being paralyzed by worry and fear.
We have no reason to worry because even in the most dire need, we have direct access to the Almighty in prayer. Paul’s phrase by prayer and petition goes from general to specific. The rejoicing life is filled with prayer flowing out of a thankful heart. But sometimes there’s something more troubling and more heavy on our heart. The word translated here as petition is a very specific request that we make of God. So there Paul acknowledges those special cases that are a high priority in our prayer life. There’s probably some things hanging heavily on your heart right now. But as you wrestle with those things, bring those very specific requests to God. Pray for healing, pray for guidance, pray for help, pray for strength to be gentle. Whatever your specific need is, pray—and pray specifically, to the God who loves you.
But as you pray and bring the most difficult things that rest on your heart to him, pray with thanksgiving. Even in the most troubling times we have reason to give thanks. While this part of our life may be on fire, this other part of our life is probably doing well or at least fine. We can thank God for dear brothers and sisters in Christ who care about us and love. We can thank God for the daily bread he continues to provide, even if it’s not always completely clear where those provisions will come from. And truly, even if this life is one giant dumpster fire for us right now, we can give thanks that this is not the be-all, end-all of our life. A perfect, eternal life is waiting for us when Jesus returns or brings us home! Rejoice!
This is still all under the umbrella of Advent preparations. Are you getting the sense that this is difficult? Because I am. Living in this sin-stained world with this sinful nature that dwells deep inside of me means that more often than I would I like to admit, I am not gentle, I am not prayerful, I am not thankful. Which means that I need to come back to our Savior time and time again asking for forgiveness for my failures to my wife, my children, my congregation, my friends, my community. And there, in Jesus I find that forgiveness for those sins, as you find find forgiveness for all of your sins as well.
And that’s how Paul concludes this brief section of this letter, and in fact the way that we tend to close most sermons in our congregation: The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Because we we hear it so often, perhaps we get a little bit numb to the meaning of these words. But let’s not be numb to them. Let’s see them with fresh eyes and hear them with fresh ears:
The Peace of God — the peace that comes from knowing God’s love, knowing that we are at peace, not war, with our Creator. That peace of God comes through faith in Jesus who has defeated sin, death, and hell for us. This peace brings calm to troubled hearts.
Which surpasses all understanding — We couldn’t explain this peace that God gave to us if we tried. It doesn’t make any sense why God would live and die to save the people who had sinned against him, to save people like you and me. But he did. We cannot explain it, but it is real, and we are grateful to have it.
Will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus — We’ve outlined just how difficult this life of rejoicing can be. Yet, we don’t do it alone. Every step of the way, through pleasant times and distressing times, that peace of God protects us wholly, heart and mind, through Jesus.
All of these things come back to that reminder: the Lord is near. We don’t know how long our personal lives will be. We don’t know how long this world will last. But we know that Jesus is near, near to us in our life and ultimately he is near because the time of his second coming is close at hand. That can be a scary concept for all the reasons we’ve outlined. But we’ve also outlined so many reasons why it is not scary. We’ve have been saved from the punishment of our sins by our conquering Savior. We are at peace with God because of him. For that we can give thanks; for that we can and will rejoice in the Lord always! Amen.
