7/27/03 T-6 INI Phil. 4:4-7

Dear Fellow Redeemed by the blood of God's own Son,

Back in 1974 a little town in Maryland was swarming with blackbirds and starlings. Dogs and people were frightened. Many people in other parts of the country were quite happy that such a thing was not happening where they lived. And so it often is when we hear of some catastrophe or suffering which occurs somewhere else; we are happy and grateful that it did NOT happen to us! This is a negative joy isn't it? Sometimes we may say: "Things could be worse!"

Positive joy is much better because it rejoices in what is actually happening or has happened. For example, the Apostle Paul was under house arrest in Rome, in 62 A.D. because of his bold preaching of the good news concerning the risen Savior of the world. However, as he sat in Rome, awaiting his trial and possible death sentence, Paul was not whimpering. Neither was he even sighing that "things could be worse." At that very difficult time in his life, Paul wrote to the Christians in Philippi: "Rejoice always!" BUT

Our rejoicing is not the false and fading joy of the fool. Lord Byron, the famous English poet, lived for pleasure. But on his last birthday he wrote some very sad words: "My days are in the yellow leaf, the flowers and fruits of life are gone, the worm, the canker, the grief are mine alone." The Apostle Paul didn't know much about partying and pursuing earthly pleasures. Yet he teaches us to rejoice IN THE LORD always. If our joy or reason for rejoicing lies mainly in our enjoyment of earthly pleasures, then it may suddenly and easily be taken from us. But if our real joy is IN CONNECTION with our Lord Jesus, it cannot be taken from us! That's what our Savior meant when he told His disciples before His death: "I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no one takes from you." (Jn. 16:22)

When Christ finished redeeming us from sin, death, and hell, God the Father raised Him from the dead. Since then, the joy of those who believe in His resurrection cannot be taken away by anyone! You may be severely troubled by physical sickness, yet you rejoice IN the Lord because of the painless perfection which shall be yours in heaven, forever. You may be greatly troubled in your conscience because of sin, but IN the Lord Jesus you may rejoice, for He says: "Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you." (Mt. 9:2)

You may be lonely, without family or friends. Yet IN the Lord Jesus you may rejoice, for He says: "Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. Behold I am with you always"! (Jn. 6:20)

You may find yourselves, as Paul did, at odds with the power of the world and the policies and practices of sinful people around you. Yet you may rejoice IN CONNECTION with the Lord Jesus, for again He says to you: "Be of good cheer: I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)

Notice in v. 5 that those who so rejoice IN the Lord, have a forbearing or gentle spirit. Apply this to your relations with others, in your homes, in our congregation, and out there in the world. There were two women in the congregation at Philippi who were having trouble getting along. The problem with Euodia and Syntyche was that they were forgetting the nearness of Jesus to them.

His nearness encourages a gentile spirit, so that we may et alone with one another. It's much easier to "YIELD" or make way for the ideas and ways of others, if we live in the constant hope that Christ's return is NEAR, and we are safe at all times.

Likewise, it's much easier to endure the unkind words, impatience, and meanness of our fellow sinners who may owe us 100 pennies, when we remember that our LORD has already come "near" to the likes of us, who have been forgiven 10,000 times more! And why do you have to be up in arms and on the warpath with those who mistreat you, if the Lord of heavenly armies is NEAR to you? All things may be endured, and sacrificed with a gentle and joyful spirit, if you are certain that the victorious Son of God has laid up for you such glorious treasures in heaven, that moth cannot destroy, nor thieves steal, nor time tarnish!

So let us live each moment and each day as if our Christ might come at any time. Living in constant expectation of our own resurrection and glorification, our spirits will be filled with a positive JOY that shows itself in a gentle and yielding spirit toward others!

Secondly, Paul says that we can rejoice in the Lord always because His peace stands guard over our anxieties. We shouldn't think that anxieties and fears, for whatever reason, are to be our way of life on this earth. We shouldn't give in to them or simply apply some drug to them, or shrug our shoulders and say: "Oh well, that's life!" Our Lord Himself says that we shall have troubles in this life. But nowhere does He say that anxiety is to characterize the Christian's life. Paul says rather: "be anxious about nothing." -- Trouble? yes! Anxious? No!

The person who is "anxious" has a divided mind. That's what the word means -- not knowing whether to go this way or that in our decision-making. Martha was "bothered about many things" (same word = divided mind) when she was more interested in puttzing around in the kitchen rather than coming to hear her Savior's word. This divided, hand-wringing anxiety was also part of the problem for these two troubled women in the Philippian congregation. The solution is simple: "In everything by means of prayer and supplication, let your requests be made known to God." In what better hands can our decisions and troubles lie than in God's hands? But "Oh what peace we often forfeit, what needless pan we bear, all because we do not carry EVERYTHING to God in prayer!"

Perhaps we do pray often, at every anxious moment, yet we pray without confidence because we do not pray with thanksgiving. Any time you finish praying, and find yourself more depressed than when you started, you probably didn't give thanks in your prayer! Without thanksgiving for what God has already given and done for me, how can I dare to ask for more? Without sincere thanksgiving for what I have already received, my prayer becomes no more than the complaint of a spoiled child, like the groanings of the children of Israel while they were crossing the wilderness. But when thankful hearts remember the Lord's goodness and mercy, and then pray, no anxiety can tighten its grip!

And what is the RESULT of leaving everything in the hands of God by praying with thanksgiving? Paul says: "And the peace of God, which exceeds all minding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts IN Christ Jesus." Do you get what this sentence really says? It tells us something that goes right against our own human reason! It plainly says that the peace which comes from God is BETTER than, and EXCELS our own intellect or faculty of understanding. This is a revolutionary thought!

Modern psychiatry says much to say about managing the mind in order to escape anxiety and depression. But here we have the age-old answer and promise of the God who created the human mind. God's peace, which comes to the Christian through thankful prayer, is BETTER than all of our own minding of things!

It's our own constant "MINDING" of things that so often causes us anxiety. If you doubt what I say, then study Psalm 73 when you get home today. In the beginning of this Psalm,

Asaph whines about how the wicked seem to prosper while the Christian suffers in this world. But then he confesses that his own human reasoning, his constant MINDING of it all, is unable to correctly understand the ways of God, and what is really going on in God's world. When Asaph finally prays with thanksgiving and makes the peace of God His refuge, his problem is joyfully resolved! The person who worries uses his own MINDING ability to try to solve his problems. But no matter how wise we are, or how many kinds of mindings we apply to the situation, we are often incapable of finding a good solution. As Christians we should know that the solution to our problem lies in the hands of our God. If we then, despair of our own minding-power, and take our cares to God in prayer with thanksgiving, we soon find that the troubling problems have left us. They are replaced by peace and rest in our souls which comes from God, the One who lifted our burden from us.

The promise here is not about whether our prayer is granted or not. It's about the PEACE of God that stands guard over our anxieties through thankful prayer, so that our anxieties can not rise up to stand over us! This peace preserves our joy in every circumstance because it comes from God, and does not depend upon our troubles in this world.

This is the peace of those who know from His Word that God will provide for them;

who know that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed when our Lord comes in the clouds of heaven;

who know that all things work together for good to them who love God and are called according to His saving purpose. Rejoice IN the Lord, always. Again I say, "Rejoice!" Amen.