1 Rejoice. A sermon preached as part of a series on Philippians on March 24, 2019 at St. Giles Presbyterian Church, Prince George, BC by Rev. Herb Hilder. Lessons: PHILIPPIANS 4:1-7 MATTHEW 6:25-34 The Christian life is meant to be lived out ALL the time. not just Sunday church time. I have always liked one of 19 th century American evangelist Billy Sunday s declarations. Going to church doesn t make you a Christian any more than going to a garage makes you an automobile. To read any of Paul s letters is to realize clearly that Paul saw the Christian life as holistic This morning s reading begins with the counsel to stand firm in the Lord Paul will develop this in the last chapter of his letter to the Ephesians when he encourages believers to daily put on with prayer, each piece of the armour of God. Here in Philippians, he merely writes stand firm in the Lord (4:1) Paul sandwiches this counsel with the reminder of how special the Philippians are to him.
What wonderfully encouraging words these are written by a man in prison, uncertain as to what each day might bring Then follows a request 2 I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. 3 Yes, and I ask you also, my loyal companion, [a] help these women, for they have struggled beside me in the work of the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life. [Philippians 4:2-3] We do not know what had started the battle of wills between Euodia and Syntachache. I have always found it fascinating that Paul even mentions this in the letter. Yet remember, Paul is writing to real people. He has no doubt that the disagreement, whatever its cause was affecting the whole Philippian community. Perhaps it was about using pots and dishes that were not supposed to be used except on certain occasions. Lots of heat and sparks still take place in congregations over the use of the church china. Never here at St. Giles of course, but I do remember a particular ministry in a church being seriously compromised when a minister went into the church kitchen to make himself some coffee, And found all the cupboards locked and chained shut! 2
Not to be deterred the minister went to the local hardware store, Bought a good set of bolt cutters, proceeded to cut the chains drill the locks and left both in a neat pile on the kitchen counter. He then proceeded to make his coffee. He did not have to wait long for a response to his action the next morning, the President of the Ladies Guild came storming into the minister s demanding to know who had desecrated and vandalized the kitchen. Her words I am told desecrated and vandalized. Words I am also told were exchanged between the Ladies Guild president and the minister. A letter was sent by the Guild to the Session AND The Presbytery just the sort of correspondence Presbytery s love to receive!! Asking that the minister be disciplined if not dismissed for his action. Why? Making it possible for everyone to make use of the church china and we all know what happens if everyone uses the church china it might get cracked, or damaged or gasp choke, broken. And it was not particularly fancy china by the way standard issue ironstone. I had a classmate who was one time assistant at the Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul in Montreal 3
Steve Filyk was assistant there before coming back to BC. My classmate shook his head in wonder when he came across a sign in the kitchen of A&P For everyday use, please use the Limoges I remember asking him, Hugh, what would happen if someone did not? No Herb, you don t want to know!! I never found out by the way. Back to Philippians we will never know the details of the batting heads of Euodia and Synchyade. WE do not really need to Paul says and it remains counsel even yet in the end it is not important who wins. What IS important CRUCIAL really is that the communities of faith remain one in Christ! Listen readers of the letter then and now Paul says Remember owing to the work of Jesus Christ for us we as Christians are not left alone to figure out and solve our interpersonal relationships, as our direct relationships with other fallible and imperfect human beings were all we had. OWING TO CHRIST, we now have Mediated relationships WITH EACH OTHER IN THE FAMILY OF FAITH, As well as mediated relationships towards those outside the faith. Indeed, toward the whole created order! 4
Focus therefore upon fulfilling God s desires rather than being concerned about satisfying personal desires! It is that straight forward However, We all know in our heart of hearts, it is not easy. So Paul s counsel continues 4 Rejoice [a] in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. [b] [Philippians 4:4] That is a refrain to which Paul returns again and again in the letter. Choose this way of living he says The acceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour is always responding to the fact that He has chosen us first. We cannot be threatened, cajoled, badgered, berated, yelled at, pushed into, be guilted into following Jesus. It is a personal choice It is always choice here to rejoice --to let our gentleness to known --to realize the Lord is near --to not be so preoccupied with worry that we cannot live fully in the here and now, let alone know that God s hands will guide us into the future. To take everything to the Lord in prayer 5
--to give thanks To make our requests known to God --to live in the promise, hope and assurance that God s peace will guard our hearts and minds in Jesus Christ. It is all choice whether we see these are just words on a page, Or promises that help us live better today and into the future. Let me tell you a story A story that confirmed beyond all hesitation or doubt that what Paul says here is real, true and life changing. My mother was a great worrier you know the sort if there is not something specific about which to worry she worried about that! This was part of her personality that gained an increasing hold on her after my Dad s death in June 1984 She was prescribed meds for anxiety, But when my Mom started to worry about something, She could rarely pull away from whatever the source of worry. The thing worried loomed larger and larger as time went on. As a dutiful son and only child, I was all too aware of this and so on many Ontario trips on 6
church business, I would spend a few days with her in Welland and sit and listen Try to understand, Try to suggest alternative ways of dealing with worrisome things. On more than one occasion, I told my mother in the most pastorally insensitive way Mom, just stop worrying What you are worrying about may never happen It is wrong to worry All the worry in the world will not make a difference. And frankly what have you got to worry about. What I came to realize is that that is basically useless counsel to offer to a dyed in the wool worrier To just say stop worrying to a worrier is like saying stop eating to a binge eater Stop drinking to an alcoholic Stop gossiping to a lover of gossip This they would do but they cannot Worriers just cannot stop cold turkey not the sort of worriers my mother was So my counsel was often met by a response from my mother to the effect that if I treated all my parishioners in the way I treated her It was confirmation of everything my mother thought about my vocation to parish ministry bad decision!!! 7
I tried to keep silent and not respond with something I would later regret My buttons had been pushed parents can do this sort of thing effortlessly can t they, just as children can do it with parents push the buttons!!! I was not about to, this time, enter into the long standing belief my mother retained about my calling to ministry wrong choice no friends, no money, no nice house I continued to be very concerned about my Mom, because it was all too obvious that she was not enjoying her life, She was increasingly afraid to try new things And her circle of interests and people with whom she had contact was diminishing and she was not yet 70. In the meantime, I found that I was developing some of my mother s tendencies toward overwhelming worry. For me, there was nothing physiologically amiss, but the number and frequency of anxiety attacks was on the increase. And I found myself thinking about my common sense counsel to my mom and realized how bone headed I had been in offering it Just stop worrying indeed! I cannot recall precisely how verses 4-7 of the 4 th chapter of Philippians found me. 8
But these verses and the verses we will look over the next two weeks continue to not only give me perspective, But I submit offer to all a perspective on how to live out daily life as God s people. Face it life is difficult How can we live it best in the midst of the good and not so good times? One way is to come terms with worry Now, let s be very clear Nowhere in scriptures are we taught not to make ordinary provision for life, Nor to use common sense Nowhere does scripture encourage laziness When Paul says in verse 6 do not worry about anything, He is not saying, be so laid back that you are on the floor. He is not saying, nothing matters He is not making a blanket endorsement of total indifference to the conditions of others!! This is in other words, no scriptural warrant for uncaring. What he IS saying is that there is inappropriate and appropriate worry Worry here for Paul, worry about which Jesus speaks in Matthew 6 is high level anxiety Harassing care 9
The tendency to brood too long and too hard about things Worry here IS being totally absorbed with the tyranny of circumstances In truth there are some of us who have a predisposition to this sort of behavior. But all of us have the capacity to morph into it. On one of my subsequent visits home, the opportunity again presented itself for my Mom and me to talk about her penchant for consuming worry. When I suggested to her I wanted to share some insights I had about worry She was understandably hesitant after all, The last time we had talked about this subject we had succeeded in pushing each other s buttons with the result of mutual frustration. Are you going to preach to me dear? No mother I wasn t going down that road again Then why do you have your Bible open? First Mom, this is your Bible not mine, but that s beside the point No, I want to read you part of letter St. Paul wrote to people in a place called Philippi people who were really struggling with how to live daily the Christian life It has helped me, 10
Can we look at what it says and you can make up your own mind I promise I will not preach to you, okay? And if you feel I that I am going that you can tell me, okay? I WILL DEAR! In the years after my conversation that evening and until her death a few years later, I think Paul s perspective made a difference in how my mother handled her worry weakness In fact, On more than one occasion when I was home, after that conversation, I saw her reading her Bible something I had rarely seen her do! Verses 6, 7 were posted on the fridge and were also written on a little index card next to her bed. Following her death in 1998, her Bible came to me and the verses 6-7 were underlined. My parents drilled into me to never mark up a Bible so this was obviously a significant passage of scripture for my Mom. Did my mother s worry tendencies cease NO! Did she still get wound up in a spin over what others might view as unnecessary or little matters YES? 11
But I think the frequency and the degree of her worry were lessened as she tried to put Paul s counsel into practice. And I continue to believe that is still the case putting this particular counsel of Paul do not worry into everyday practice does make a difference in our daily lives. Believe me it is not easy! But if we are to live a life centered on rejoicing we must in God s strength and the Spirit s help come to terms with Paul s up close and personal counsel about worry in our lives. AMEN 12