2017 10.15 Philippians 4:1-9 1 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved. 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, 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. 4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5 Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. 6 Do not worry 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, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you. 1
Overjoyed Can you have too much of a good thing? Take joy, for example, which is a theme in today s passage from Philippians 4. Can you have too much joy? My father thought so. I will explain. Years ago my mother had a friend from church named Karen. In passing one day, my mother happened to mention to Karen that she liked the word joy. It s a simple word, just three letters, but it conveys a powerful, positive emotion. J-O-Y. Who doesn t like joy? It s a good word. My mother thought nothing more of the conversation. But it stuck with Karen. Several months later, that Christmas, Karen gave my mother a handmade pillow with the word joy embroidered on it in bright red letters. In giving the pillow covered with joy, Karen mentioned that she remembered that my mother liked the word. My mother told Karen how thoughtful it was of her to remember, and she graciously received the gift. That could have been the end of it, but it wasn t. The next year at Christmas Karen gave my mother a Christmas tree ornament with the word joy on it. Again, my mother graciously received the ornament At the same time, I think she realized that this could become a trend. Sure enough, the year after that it was the same thing. This time it was a candle holder shaped in the word joy. What could my mother do but say thank you? This became a yearly tradition. Every year at Christmas Karen would give my mother something with the word joy on it. Sometimes she would hand-deliver it to the house. But she was shy, so she would leave it on the porch by the front door. My mother would go out to get the mail and nearly step on the latest bundle of joy. 2
My mother will read this sermon later, so I m comfortable sharing this with you now. Her greatest fear, other than spiders, is accidentally offending someone. She will go out of her way to ensure that she doesn t offend, even to the point of apologizing for something that needs no apology, or thanking someone for something that needs no thanks. And so, my mother didn t have the heart to tell Karen that enough was enough. Our house was overflowing with joy! In addition to not wanting to offend Karen, my mother s other concern was keeping all this joy from my father. That s because my father was a minimalist. He didn t like to have anything in the house that didn t belong. If he saw a basketball on the floor of the living room or a jacket lying on a chair, he would tell us to put it where it belonged in the garage with the sports equipment or hung up in the closet. Plus, he was no fan of Christmas decorations to begin with, so he didn t like the fact that joy was piling up around the house where it didn t belong. Seeing all this joy only made him angry! We reached maximum joy the year that Karen gave my mother a carved wooden teddy bear the size of an actual bear cub. I m not exaggerating. The thing was huge. Of course, the base of the bear was inscribed with what else? Joy. Karen left it on the front porch. It was so big and heavy that it blocked the front door from opening. Seeing it, my mother s heart sank and her fear rose. There was no way that she could display this thing in the house. My father must not see it. A Christmas tree ornament was one thing, but a gigantic wooden bear that served no purpose was more than she was willing to chance. She immediately hid it in her bedroom closet before my father got a chance to see it. Years later, with my father having mellowed as he got older, my mother brought the bear out of hiding and placed it in the corner of the dining room where it could be hidden in plain sight. One of my dogs took note of it, however. He was actually scared of it. It was twice as big as he was. 3
Joy became a key word for my mother s friend Karen. She latched on to it with zest and wouldn t let go. It s a key word for Paul as well [SLIDE]. Joy and its verbal form rejoice appear in his Letter to the Philippians twelve times, more than in any other of Paul s letters. In today s reading from chapter 4, Paul refers to the Philippian church as his joy. Then, of course, there is the centerpiece of chapter 4, Paul s command to Rejoice in the Lord always (Phil. 4:4). Paul doesn t come by these words joy and rejoice by accident. Joy is central to the gospel. After all, the word gospel means good news, so it s only fitting that the good news would bring joy to those who receive it. Joy is essential to Christian identity. To be Christian is to be joyful. Not happy, but joyful. What s the difference? Happiness is based on our circumstances. Acing the exam, getting the job, winning the game are all things that would make us happy. But joy, to the Christian, is different. Joy does not depend on circumstances. To be joyful is to be grounded in the truth that whatever the circumstances may be, Jesus Christ reigns. Christian joy takes sin and death, violence and suffering seriously, but it sees them as defeated on the cross. That s why the Christian can be joyful always. That s why we can say that to be Christian is to be joyful. Now to the letter itself. Verse 1 begins with Therefore [SLIDE]. Whenever a Bible passage begins with therefore, it makes sense to look back to see what therefore refers to. At the end of chapter 3, just after what we read last week, Paul gives the Philippians some encouragement. He calls them to follow his example. What is Paul s example? Well, he s in prison, but even though he is in prison he is not without hope, and he is not without joy. As I just mentioned, he even refers to the Philippians themselves as his joy: Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved (Phil 4:1). 4
The Philippians don t seem to have it much better than Paul [SLIDE]. They re not in prison, but they re facing their own ordeal. Their community is being divided. Against what Paul taught them, some among them are demanding strict adherence to certain Jewish practices, like circumcision. There is confusion and division. Should Christian converts first become Jewish? Some think so. Others not. In the final verse of chapter 3, coming just before today s passage, Paul refers to the Philippians suffering as a kind of humiliation. Despite this, Paul reminds them that they still have cause for joy. Why? Because their joy is not dependent on their circumstances. The source of their joy is Jesus Christ: He will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself (Phil. 3:21). The power that enables him to make all things subject to himself. That s quite a lot of power! What sort of power does Jesus have to make all things subject to himself? Is it political power? The power to rule over nations? No, Jesus rejected that sort of power. That was the power with which the devil tempted him in the wilderness. He showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and offered them to him, but Jesus refused. What other powers does the world respect? What about the power of money? Money is power. Money makes things happen. Money gets things done. When we think of the most powerful people in the world, chances are they are people who have a lot of money. Yet the Bible doesn t speak of Jesus having any money. In fact, he warns about the danger of money how it leads to a false sense of security and how it can become a master. What about the power of personality? Someone who can draw large numbers of people to himself through his ideas and the force of his personality is someone with 5
great power. While it s true that Jesus did draw large numbers of followers, he also died abandoned and forsaken. His followers, even his hand-selected disciples, deserted him at the hour of his suffering. So, whatever power Jesus has, it s a power unlike any that the world recognizes. Jesus power is shown on the cross. On the cross Jesus was surrounded by hatred, by the taunts of the criminals crucified beside him, by the mockery of onlookers who told him to save himself if he was truly the Son of God. Yet the cross is the power of love over hatred. Why? Because Jesus went to the cross willingly. That cannot be overstated. Everything that Jesus experienced on the way to the cross the betrayal of Judas, the denials of Peter, the abandonment of all the disciples, the scorn of the Jewish religious leaders, the mockery of the soldiers, the brutality of Roman state violence all of this Jesus willingly took on for love s sake. Amid all that hatred, love was victorious. Jesus power is also shown in the resurrection. After the crucifixion of Jesus, his disciples succumbed to fear and despair. They were without their leader. They were without purpose. They were without hope. They hid themselves inside a house, waiting for things to settle down before they dared go back out into public. Yet the resurrection is the power of hope over despair. From the grip of despair the resurrection unfurls hope. Jesus appeared to his disciples inside the house, in the midst of their fear and despair, and transformed them from hopeless to hope-filled, from driven to despair to driven to deliver the gospel to the ends of the earth. That is the power of the cross and the resurrection, the power to transform humiliation into glory, the power of Jesus Christ to make all things subject to himself, even sin and death, violence, and suffering. That is cause for joy no matter what the circumstances may be. That is what Paul wants to remind the Philippian church of. He wants them to stand firm in this truth, because, let s face it, it s easy for us to forget. We tend to live in the 6
details of life. What do I need to get done at work today? How did my kids do on their exams? Why did that friend not return my call? Is she upset with me? When you re so focused on the details, you can lose sight of the big picture [SLIDE]. And so Paul urges Euodia and Syntyche (those names are a mouthful) to be of the same mind. These two women, who appear to be leaders in the church at Philippi, are having some sort of conflict. We don t know the source of their conflict, and Paul doesn t seem to think it s important enough to mention. Whatever it is, it pales in comparison next to the big picture of the reign of God begun in Jesus Christ. I glossed over it a moment ago, but let me bring attention to it. Paul has gotten a bad rap regarding his attitude toward women, especially female leadership in the church. But whether it s Phoebe who is mentioned in Romans, or Euodia and Syntyche here in Philippi, Paul has no problem with female leadership in the church. If you want to hear more about that, come to the Bible study [SLIDE]. Paul then addresses his loyal companion whom he urges to help the women. Some speculate that this refers to Timothy, but we really can t say for sure. I don t know that it matters. Then we come to the heart of this passage [SLIDE]: Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say, Rejoice (Phil. 4:4). I love the fact that Paul repeats the command to rejoice. It s as if he thinks they won t believe him. Rejoice in the Lord always. Rejoice? But we re arguing with each other! How can you expect us to rejoice? Again I will say, Rejoice. Rejoice. I want to say what this does and doesn t mean. Western Christians have an unfortunate history of making this command all about ourselves as individuals. 7
It s all about my joy. That is a mistake because Paul is addressing the church at Philippi, not just individuals. The verb for rejoice is written in the second person plural, i.e., in the plural form of you. English makes no distinction between the singular and plural forms of you. You can refer to one individual or a group of people. But Greek does make a distinction between the singular and plural forms of you, and Paul uses the plural because he is addressing the entire church. This is a long way of me saying that, within the context of the Christian faith, joy is a shared concept. It s not about just me as an individual. We are responsible for one another, and therefore joy is something that we experience together. Second, this command has sometimes been interpreted in abusive ways. Maybe you ve been told that you must force yourself to be joyful. Put aside whatever s bothering you the debts that are piling up, the stress at work, the problems in your marriage, the cancer diagnosis and rejoice. After all, that s what Paul says. Rejoice. Don t worry, be happy! Paul even says, Do not worry about anything. (Phil. 4:6). Nonsense! Not only is this attitude wrong, it s unbiblical. It s unbiblical because it does not take the powers of sin, suffering, and death seriously, which the Bible clearly does. God takes them so seriously that God sends his Son to defeat them on the cross. Sin, suffering, and death are defeated powers, although they are not yet destroyed. The victory has already been won, even if their influence continues a while longer. That is the Christian s cause for joy. Joy is the byproduct of the truth that in Jesus Christ God has defeated all the forces that are opposed to life. Joy is not an end in itself. You cannot force yourself to be joyful. Paul is not telling the Philippians to be joyful because of their circumstances but in spite of their circumstances. Remember, Paul is writing this letter from prison. He is not joyful because he is in prison. He hopes to be released. He wants to continue working on behalf of the gospel. But in 8
spite of his circumstances, Paul still rejoices because Jesus reigns. That means that we too, in spite of whatever pain and suffering we may be experiencing, can still rejoice because Jesus Christ is Lord [SLIDE]. One of my favorite theologians, Stanley Hauerwas, has said that the gospel can be summarized as Jesus is Lord and everything else is BS. Only he didn t say BS. That statement Jesus is Lord is the source of our joy. Joy is not an end in itself. Joy is what happens when we realize the truth that Jesus is Lord. Jesus is Lord not in some distant way. He doesn t reign from afar, looking down now and then to see how things are working out on earth. The Lord is near, Paul writes (Phil. 4:5). Because the Lord is near, he hears our prayer [SLIDE]. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God (Phil. 4:6). Notice what Paul is not saying. Paul is not saying do not worry. Paul is saying to bring your worries to God. Bring your worries to the one who has defeated all manner of pain and suffering. Bring them because he is near. Bring your worry, your fear, your sadness, your anger, and make it known to God [SLIDE]. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:7). Notice the movement from joy to peace. They are natural companions to the truth that Jesus is Lord. What s more, for the Christian, peace and joy are wonderfully subversive. They disrupt the established order. Remember where Paul is as he writes this letter. Paul writes of peace from prison. He speaks of joy from jail. That is foolishness to the world, but to Christians it is the power of God. 9
Fear and anxiety, pain and suffering can feel like a prison as well. Yet even in prison we can still be at peace. Even in jail we can still be joyful. Why? [SLIDE] Because Jesus is Lord. Everything else is well you know. 10