"Always": The Christian State of Mind ("Ode to Joy" series on Philippians)

“ALWAYS”:

THE CHRISTIAN STATE OF MIND

 

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I will say, rejoice.”

            This is an easy verse to memorize. It was, in fact, the first verse I memorized as a camp counselor at Red Rock Bible Camp. Another older counselor encouraged me to dwell on this verse and recite it often. It was a good one. Very positive. Very upbeat. Good instruction. 

            But as I recall, I don’t think I truly understood this verse. What does it mean to rejoice? What does it mean to “rejoice in the Lord”? And then there’s that crucial word “always.” And that’s the one that causes the most difficulty. Always? 

            How am I supposed to rejoice when there are unresolved wars in the world? How can I lift up my hands in praise when my soul is down in the dumps? Do I rejoice when the doctor says I have cancer? Is it possible to rejoice when your children are rejecting the faith? Do you rejoice when the bill for your winter tires is cutting into your budget? Rejoice in the Lord always? How? 

            We might think that Paul is telling us to be excessively cheerful idiots in the face of difficulty. It sounds like we are supposed to pretend that everything is sweetness and light, that everything will turn out alright if we just think positively. This is just plain naivety, Paul. We can’t do it. Especially the realists amongst us. Is this what Paul is saying?

            No, Paul is not asking us to blindly accept difficulty and tragedy with a smile. He is inviting us to develop a vision of life and its challenges that engages them through a renewed mind. No longer do we despair or panic when disappointment strikes. Paul is saying that through Christ we can face all things AND rejoice. 

            Let’s work this out as we unpack Philippians 4:4-9 and understand what Paul means. 

 

1. Rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS! (4:4-5)

 

As Paul instructs us to “Rejoice in the Lord always…” we need to remember that Paul wrote these words while in prison. He is alone most of the time in a cold, dark cell; food comes only when a friend is allowed to bring him something; his only companions are the rats and the lice he picks from his beard. The outcome of his prison stay is uncertain. Paul is awaiting his sentencing. He could be beheaded any day for declaring “Jesus is Lord” over and above “Caesar is lord.” And this is just the climax of his life; Paul has known more suffering and deprivation that we can imagine (read 2 Corinthians 11:24ff).

            So, if we think that Paul is being overly optimistic and naïve, we forget that he has experienced it all. And he still rejoices. 

            When Paul says “rejoice” it is in the present active voice. That means it is ongoing; he could say “keep on rejoicing.” Don’t stop. 

            The powerless platitude “be happy” is not helpful. Charlie Brown once said, “Happiness is a warm puppy.” Until the puppy runs away, or it dies. This is happiness based solely upon circumstances; how good things are going. This joy falls apart when the bank account is empty or your health fails. 

            In contrast, Paul has written extensively about “joy” in this letter in the strangest of circumstances. Preachers are taking advantage of his imprisonment, yet he rejoices (1:18); he speaks of being poured out like a drink offering (spent in serving them), and he rejoices (2:17-18); even as he describes the opponents of the faith, he rejoices (3:1); he rejoices in this church (1:4); he rejoices in the growing faith and his part in it (1:25); and again he tells these people THEY are his joy as they follow Jesus (4:1). Joy fills this letter and it’s really weird!

            But here’s the critical part; don’t miss this: Rejoice in the Lord! Not in the circumstances, but in the One who is above all our circumstances. Paul’s joy, our joy as believers, is intimately and ultimately tied to Jesus Christ. This phrase “in the Lord” is used 9 times in the letter and it centers us in the realm of where we are to act, think, and feel. We are to hope (2:19), trust (2:24), receive one another (2:29), stand firm (4:1), agree (4:2), and rejoice IN THE LORD (3:1; 4:4, 10). Whatever we do, we are to do it with a consciousness of the Lord Jesus’ presence, that he is with us in anything and everything. He has not left us alone; he is with us.

            Jesus is our joy. Jesus is our satisfaction, is another way of saying it. If we approach our jobs with the aim that this work will satisfy my need for purpose and enrichment, there most certainly will be days where you doubt that. If you go on a vacation with the expectation that this holiday will meet my need for rest and recuperation, you will be disappointed when the weather disagrees. But if we are conscious of the Lord Jesus in all we do, we find the one who loves us is present even in the cloudiest of days. Always. 

            And this is why Paul can say, “Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand…” (5). Our reasonableness is not just about being agreeable because we have Jesus. This word group starting with “rejoice” and being reasonable is about having a posture of endurance while the Philippians are being harassed. It’s about forgiveness. It’s about modeling Christ to those who are hostile to us. They can do that because their joy is not dependent on whether people like them or not. Their joy is in Jesus. And so is ours.

 

2. Pray about all things ALWAYS! (4:6-7)

 

Our joy is often stolen by the worries of life. In our advent series, I spoke of the anxiety epidemic that I experienced in college students. There are enough troubles in life, from the cost of living to relationship crises, to weight us down with worry. To “rejoice always” faces roadblocks in the realities of Canadian living.

            Paul anticipates this because he knows of his own anxieties. And his response is this: “…do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God…” (6). 

            He doesn’t make light of our anxieties; he knows they are real. But he is convinced that God is able and powerful to help us in any trouble. Some say, “Go ahead and pray, but I’m going to do something,” as if to say, “prayer is doing nothing.” Prayer is not inactivity; it is not passive; it is not being apathetic or denying the problem. Prayer is how we fight life’s battles. Prayer is the answer to anxiety. How so?

            Sam Storms contrasts anxiety with prayer (see chart) and shows us that anxiety causes us to look to ourselves for answers while prayer turns our gaze to God. Anxiety narrows our focus of life into “me and my” where prayer opens our hearts to a more expansive picture and reminds us that God is bigger than our problems. And it is human to try and solve our own problems, but problems are often beyond our ability to solve; but God is able to do more than we imagine. It is easy to look around, to the left, to the right, or ask ChatGPT for an answer, but prayer draws our gaze upward. Our anxiety likes to control us and rule us; prayer turns the control over to God.

             Rick Warren writes, “Worry is the warning light that God is not really first in my life at this particular moment because worry says that God is not big enough to handle my troubles” But DA Carson said, “The way to be anxious about nothing is to be prayerful about everything.” 

            There are six aspects of Paul’s prayer to consider: “in everything” – every circumstance, no matter how small or trivial, “by prayer” – seeking God on your face or while kneading dough with words that may not make sense, “supplication” – going to God with everything in your being and depending on his grace, “with thanksgiving” – meaning that we remember how God has been faithful in the past and will be faithful with this, “with requests” – being specific in the “what” not the “how,” “God” – being present before God. This is how we are to pray…

And God’s response to prayer is powerful: “And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus,” (7). I pray this over people frequently because of the power in these words. 

 

3. Prepare your mind ALWAYS! (4:8-9)

 

The peace of God will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. I would love this to be automatic. But the truth is we have some work to do in helping God to instil this peace in our minds. 

            Rejoicing in the Lord always is a state of mind. Praying is training the mind to go to God with everything that causes anxiety. But if we feed our minds with that which makes us anxious, we work against the peace of God. 

            I believe this is why Paul moves into these verses about these virtues. He instructs the Philippians with two commands: Think and Practice. 

            Think about these things: Things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, things that are worthy of praise. Philosophically, you don’t have to be a follower of Jesus to think about these things. They are pretty general and good. Knowing Paul, however, and the repeated use of “whatever,” I am certain that we are meant to consider these “whatevers” through a gospel lens. For example, whatever is true is truth that conforms to the gospel of Jesus. Whatever is just – that which is good and right – is best discerned through knowing Jesus. In other words, Jesus is the standard by which these virtues are measured. Am I feeding my mind the things of God?

            What we feed our minds determines what dominates our thinking, right? News; commercials that show us things we don’t have and should desire; crimes that dominant our society. Our addiction to TV is one example of feeding at the world’s trough of anxiety; it is the source along with online media of these “anxieties.” I’m a TV junkie so I point fingers back at myself. Most of us average about four hours of TV a day (or if you include our devices, who knows?). On average, a person who reaches the age of 65 will have watched nearly 8 years of their life watching TV. Now, what are you watching? I heard a good one the other day: Instead of asking what’s wrong with it (what I’m watching)? Ask, “What’s right with it?” 

            Is your mind at war with itself? Are you worried about many things and at peace about nothing? Consider what you are feeding your mind with.

            Paul says, “What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me – practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you,” (9). The correlation between what you think and what you do is tight, I mean, it’s so connected! What have we learned from Paul? To rejoice in the Lord; to pray about all things. Practice this attitude, this state of mind. The alternative is to feed our minds and ultimately practice that which exacerbates anxiety - As Petra sang back in the 80s “Garbage in, garbage out.” Similarly, if I want to live a life that counts for something, I need to take in good stuff. 

            We spoke of the peace of God guarding your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus; that theme returns as we speak of the mind. If we think or meditate on the gospel of Jesus and practice the life of Jesus – the God of peace will be with you. The peace of God and the God of peace are the same presence, because the person of God is our peace. 

 

The Christian state of mind involves seeing life through a mind renewed by the person of Jesus Christ. I admit, this is a radical way of thinking. It is not normal. It is radical because we live in a world of vengeance (of getting even), a world of despair and hopelessness as newsfeeds tell us of some new calamity or problem, a world that just not fair. And in this kind of a world, we are supposed to rejoice in the Lord.

            Gordon T. Smith of Ambrose University said, “…the Christian mind is marked by a deep identification with the pain and suffering of our world – in our experience and in the work and relationships of others. We do not despair…we do not grumble and complain. Rather, with patience and perseverance, we allow our own experience of pain and disappointment to draw us…into the Passion of our Lord, so that increasingly we can see and respond with a Christian mind, that is, a crucified mind, to the life and work to which we are each called.” Thus, we rejoice in the Lord always, because Jesus has overcome the worst of life that we can experience. He has won.                        AMEN

Standing Firm Together in 2026 ("An Ode to Joy" Series on Philippians)

STANDING FIRM TOGETHER IN 2026

 

As we enter into a new year as a church family, we enter with the promise of a clean slate. There is a hope that we are leaving behind the troubles of 2025 and can begin afresh. We have hopes of new and better things to come. Let us apply that hope of a “clean slate” or new beginnings to our relationships as well.

            Wouldn’t it be great to put old wounds to bed and let go of offenses we have with each other?      

            Francis Schaeffer observed that Christians in many countries have something in common. That which leaves bitterness between us can last for twenty, thirty, or forty years. And at issue is not what we believe about God or the teaching of the Bible – these are not the source of our wounds. “Invariably it is the lack of love – and the bitter things that are said by true Christians in the midst of differences…It is these unloving attitudes and words – that cause the stench that the world can smell in the church of Jesus Christ among those who are really true Christians,” he said. 

            How we disagree has long term implications. We are going to have disagreements with one another – it’s human! The mark of a good relationship or a good church culture is not the absence of disagreement but how those disagreements are handled.

            Imagine a group of people walking across a foot bridge. If everyone walks in slightly different rhythms – some faster, some slower – the bridge stays stable. The movement cancels itself out. But if people begin to fall into step without realizing it – stepping in the same steps again and again – the bridge can start to sway. Not because anyone is trying to cause damage, not because the bridge is weak, but because small, repeated movements start lining up in the same direction.

            Engineers discovered that it doesn’t help to find blame, or to panic, or even to shut the bridge down. The solution is restoring balance – helping movement happen in a way that the bridge was designed to carry. 

            That’s really the image Paul gives in Philippians 4:1-3. The Church at Philippi was a good church with good people. But there was an imbalance in the fellowship that threatened to destabilize a beautiful thing.

 

1. Remember who you are (4:1)

 

How we deal with disagreements as Christians shows what we believe way down deep about the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And how we help others with their disagreements show what we believe way down deep about the unity of the Church. Are we going to allow disagreements to divide us or are they an opportunity to let Jesus unify the un-unifiable? 

            At the recent EMC ministerial, I met a pastor from Alberta whose church was divided over the political issues of Israel. It was said to be a matter of how they read the Bible on Israel, but the truth is less spiritual. Two hundred people left the fellowship over this impasse. 

            Paul would have been grieved over this split. Division was contrary to the Apostle’s thinking on church. Consider how he viewed the church at Philippi, he said, “…my brothers (and sisters) whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved,” (1). 

            Paul piled on five affectionate terms for this fellowship of believers to express who they were to him and to God. He used the same term twice, “my beloved,” in the Greek to emphasize his heart for them. Remember that this church included the wealthy (Lydia), a former soldier turned jailer, and a young woman who had been demon-possessed. It was an odd collection of people who had nothing in common except Jesus. But they were not just a collection of people, they were to Paul a treasured community. 

            If this is the way Paul viewed the believers in this church, then we are called to view each other this way too. And if this is the way we are to view each other, then to be divided is scandalous. Remember who you are: brothers and sisters in the family of God; a people in a love-relationship with God and each other; a people living in the joy and victory of Christ’s reconciling work. To be divided works against that testimony. 

            What’s at stake in our life together as a church is nothing less than the glory of God. The world is watching how we do relationships, how our faith in Christ affects relationships. So how we handle disagreement shows the world what we really think about Jesus.

 

2. Remember Who brings us Together (4:2)

 

Paul then gets specific. We have one little verse and a lot of questions. Paul writes, “I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord,” (2). 

            There are a lot of theories about who these two people were, but we do know they were women (by virtue of their names). Some say that they were representatives of the general disunity in the church at Philippi. But the fact that they were named indicates they were real people and very important to their community (otherwise it is rare for Paul to name people). Were they leaders of house churches? Were they among the overseers and deacons (1:1)? Whatever they were, Paul calls them “coworkers” in the gospel (4:3). 

            Euodia and Syntyche seem to have been in a quarrel that has become significant enough for Paul to write about. Can you imagine a letter being read before the entire church naming you and your adversary? So public! Yet it seems like everyone knew about it anyways. 

            Notice how Paul approached the conflict. He did not take sides. He did not shame them or tell one or the other they were wrong. Paul calls on both women to agree in the Lord. The word “entreat” means to “urge” or “strongly encourage.” 

            “To agree in the Lord” recalls what Paul said earlier in this letter. He said, “…if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy be being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind,” (2:1-2). Paul essentially reminds them that they are both united to Christ, so whatever disagreement they had must be held up to the light of Christ and who they are in Christ. Their identity in him supersedes any disagreement. 

            Christ is the great reconciler! We should be reconciled to one another! You need to resolve your conflicts with the other! I don’t think Paul is asking us to agree on everything. But he is calling us to embrace a common vision and to remember that we are committed to the same Jesus. 

            I know from my own experience how hard it is to resolve conflict with someone who has hurt you. It can keep you up at night and worry its way into your brain so that it’s all you think about. I did a little study on resolving conflict that revealed some steps we can take to make peace:

1) Pray – Ask the Lord to give you courage and love to go and speak to the person you are at odds with.

2) Examine yourself – while you zero in on the speck in your neighbor’s eye, check to make sure you don’t have a log in your own eye (Matt. 7:3-5).

3) Take the initiative – Jesus calls us to be peacemakers and not to wait for others to apologize. Matthew 18:15 tells us to go and talk to our brother or sister and work out our issues.

4) Speak the truth IN LOVE – I have heard this said many times, speak in terms of “I” versus “you.” It helps to say, “I feel hurt…” rather than “You hurt me…” because one speaks of personal feelings and the other is accusatory and condemns. It may simply be a misunderstanding. (Eph. 4:15)

5) Listen – There is another side to this story; there always is. James tells us to be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to become angry (Js. 1:19).  

6) Forgive freely – this is the most powerful step in the process of resolving conflict. How can we argue with Paul’s teaching, “Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you,” (Eph. 4:32). This will glorify God since by demonstrating God’s grace and reconciling power you are reflecting his posture to us. 

            

3. Remember what’s at stake (4:3)

 

Let’s insert an eternal perspective to this process of conflict resolution in the church. Paul mentions that a motivating factor in making peace in the church is that these women and the people he is writing to in Philippi are all written in the book of life. 

            That perspective helps us to remember that your relationship with the other person and with God is more important than the issue that has caused this conflict. And it goes against the purpose and identity of the church to confess unity in heaven and practice disunity on earth. 

            In Christ’s church we have something that binds us together far beyond a constitution or a set of shared goals. We are bound together by the grace of God we have found in Jesus Christ. Literally bound together – like a book – like a book of life. Each of us is a page in a bound book. What binds us together is far greater than what could possibly pull us apart. 

            This is worth remembering. When we find ourselves in conflict with another follower of Jesus and we get angry or frustrated with that person – stop! Your name, beloved, is written in the Lamb’s book of life. No one can take that away. The person you are wrestling with, who has demeaned you, who has caused you to feel small – cannot take away your name in that book. But remember too that the name of this person sits on another page of the same book and will be with you in eternity. 

            When you cannot agree on _______, why not find in Christ what you do agree on and find that it far outweighs what you disagree about? When we disagree and fall into bitterness, we are saying to Jesus, “You don’t matter in this.” But if we seek peace and pursue reconciliation for his sake, we are saying to Jesus, “You matter more than anything.” And I think that’s really what we want to say, isn’t it? 

 

In the beginning, we talked of a bridge that began to wobble because of foot-traffic. It was a good bridge but because of walking in the same spot over and over again, it became unbalanced. When we keep returning to our hurt and rehearsing our bitterness in the church – and this refers to your personal wounds as well – we become unbalanced. 

            Paul didn’t tell the Philippians to stop walking on the bridge.

            Paul didn’t tell Euodia and Syntyche to leave the bridge. 

            Paul didn’t ignore the imbalance in the bridge either. 

            But he does invite them back into balance – to remember to “agree in the Lord.” Remember who we belong to and that we are all “in Christ.” 

            Paul calls us to stand firm in this agreement. That is the only way to present a shared witness of the reconciling power of Jesus Christ to the world. 

            How shall we practice this truth? I want to challenge you to think on this…

If there is someone in the church you’ve been out of step with – someone you are avoiding – someone whose name tightens your chest – someone you have written off….

            Don’t ignore it!

            Decide that Christ matters more than being right, more than being comfortable, more than nurturing bitterness. 

            Reconciliation begins with a conversation, with prayer – and sometimes with asking for help. Just as Paul counseled, sometimes we have to find a “true companion” who will mediate. 

            If the Holy Spirit is bringing a name to mind, don’t push it away. Ask God for the courage to take one step towards restoring the balance on this bridge – the church. We may not fix everything today, but you can take a step in that direction, towards standing firm in Jesus. 

            This church is worth the cost of healing. We are Christ’s joy and crown. Our unity in Christ is worth protecting and it brings him glory. Let’s stand firm together in 2026.

 

                                                AMEN

 

 

The Weary World Rejoices (Advent Sunday #3)

THE WEARY WORLD REJOICES

 

In 2017, Sharon and I, along with another couple, traveled through the Dos Cabezas Wilderness in Arizona. Our destination was the stronghold of the Apache leader, Cochise, in the Chiricahua Mountains. The road was long and lonely and seemingly endless. It was a dry, uninhabitable and desolate place.

            Upon reflection, camping in this wilderness would have been unsettling. Coyotes, roadrunners, cougars, and rattlesnakes were all around. We were far from any settlements. Sharon would have been nervous.

            Someone once said that the whole purpose of camping is to make a person long for home. Paul Tripp added, “Our world isn’t a very good amusement park. No, it’s a broken place groaning for redemption. “Here” is meant to make us long for forever. “Here” is meant to prepare us for eternity.” 

            The year 2017 marked the beginning of a wilderness experience for me personally. My wilderness journey was one of questions, rethinking my ministry calling, wondering where I had gone wrong in pastoring, wondering if I could hear God again. I had no idea what my future would be. (This particular wilderness experience lasted four years)

            Anyone who follows Jesus will ultimately discover they are in a “wilderness experience” at times in their journey. What is a wilderness experience? Why does it happen to those who are faithful to God and who try to please God with their lives? 

            The Bible is full of stories of the wilderness and how it shaped the people involved. Following the Red Sea crossing, the Israelites entered into the wilderness and discovered many challenges and tests regarding their relationship with Yahweh. They ended up wandering for 40 years in the wilderness. David was forced into the wilderness by a jealous King Saul who wanted to kill him. And Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit to enter into the wilderness where he was tempted for 40 days by Satan. The first word in Isaiah 35 is “wilderness” and it brings to mind all of these experiences.

            No believer can avoid the wilderness experience – it is an experience we must all go through as followers of Jesus. It can take the form of depression, a crisis of faith, a traumatic life event – it is not one thing but takes many forms. It is not a fun time or one that you crave. Being in the wilderness is lonely and filled with doubt. You feel deserted by God. You feel spiritually dry and long for God to “say something.” 

            “Why? Why am I going through this wilderness experience?” you may ask. Because it is only in the wilderness that God can speak to you. In Hebrew, the word for “desert” means “a place of listening.” It is in the wilderness that God takes and refines you and teaches you to be dependent upon him. It is here that you shed false identities, where your pride and self-sufficiency are stripped away to reveal your true self. 

            The cause may be sin, as it was with Israel in Isaiah’s prophecy (ch. 34). Other times it is not punishment but a testing, a challenging of your beliefs and a preparation for a deeper purpose, a fuller spirit. 

            That’s where Isaiah begins this vision in ch. 35. He exuberantly describes the transformation of the wilderness from a dry and thirsty place to a green garden, “The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus; it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing.” (1). The themes are growth, blossoming, joy and singing. What does that sound like? Exodus terms – it sounds like deliverance; it sounds like coming out of the wilderness into the Promised Land.

            That’s the secret of the wilderness experience; it has a purpose; testing comes before resting. If you can endure the spiritual desolation of the desert, the loneliness and the lying thoughts that tell you, “You are abandoned,” there will be a time of restoration. 

            In verses 2b-4, we see barrenness transformed into new, lush, and luxuriant life. Isaiah refers to Lebanon, Carmel, and Sharon – these images mean nothing to us – but they were regions of fertility, ordered cultivation, and attractiveness. Water, a symbol of life-giving refreshment and the Holy Spirit, returns to these parched lands and revives them. This is imagery, so you have to remember that it symbolizes a deeper reality. For those of us who have suffered physically or psychologically or socially, a renewal of your inner being is promised.

            But look at the wording Isaiah uses to speak to those with fearful hearts, with anxiety about the future. He says, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.” Vengeance? Recompense? On whom?

            These words are typically negative in English. They carry the meaning of retributive violence, but Isaiah means something else by using “vengeance” and “recompense.” If you have been in a period of testing, God’s vengeance is nothing other than setting things right. I imagined this as a dislocated shoulder that required a violent snap to put it in its rightful place. It’s really weird to think of God’s vengeance this way, but Walter Brueggemann says, “God’s recompense is received as transformative compassion.” 

            I take that to mean that God’s mercy is so aggressive and so powerful it changes everything. He is so eager to pardon you. He is eager to set things right. He wants to take revenge on everything that hurts us and compensate our pain with spiritual transformation.

            I think we have become so comfortable with our world being out of joint (separated shoulder; we’ve learned to live with it) that we think greed, violence, oppression, and suffering are normal. We have no idea what it feels like to have our world set right. 

            When we are undergoing a wilderness experience, there is another element at work. The devil comes alongside and tells you that life is unfair and this is all you get. His goal is to make you doubt that God will ever restore you and deliver you from the wreckage of life. In the same way he did with Jesus in the wilderness, the devil will show you all kinds of things that will appear to be good, attractive, wonderful. He shows them to you as a tonic for your pain. He tells you they will fill the void of your heart, what you long for. Satan’s strategy is to get us to disobey God, to interrupt our relationship with Jesus, and to steal our hope and blessing. It is in this struggle that we will be tempted to give up and doubt the integrity of God’s Word. 

            So, who does God take vengeance on? On whom will his recompense be felt? The devil for making you doubt. And those who had the power to change our world but were too comfortable and apathetic about the suffering of others. God will come and save you with a terrible vengeance mixed with a powerful mercy.

            Imagine a dungeon so deep that is impossible to see the light of day. A man who had passionately preached about the coming of Messiah was arrested and thrown into the deepest hole. He preached about the One who would set things right and establish God’s kingdom. This man had boldly called sin what it is: SIN! He exposed the wickedness of the wrong man and got thrown in prison. He did the right thing and now he was suffering. 

            We see John sitting in a prison without windows wondering if he was right about Jesus. He heard about what Jesus was doing and asked someone to pose a question to Jesus, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we seek another?”This is the question of a man in a spiritual wilderness. Ironically, he was the man who came preaching in the wilderness with a message of promise and hope. Now he needs hope himself. It’s encouraging to know that even spiritual giants have questions. 

            Look at how Jesus answers, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me,” (Matt. 11:4-6). 

            Does that sound familiar? Jesus is not quoting Isaiah 35, but his work reflects the promise of Isaiah’s vision. Tim Keller said that we view miracles as the suspension of the natural order, but Jesus meant them to be the restoration of the natural order. This world was not supposed to consist of disease, hunger, and death. Jesus has come to redeem this world and to heal the world where it is broken. His miracles are evidence of his power and his kingdom but also a sampling of what he is going to do when he comes again. This is a promise, and the weary world is waiting for it. You and I are waiting for it.

            The wait, this season of advent, can be overwhelming. Living in the wilderness is not easy. While we groan in expectation, we are assaulted by questions and doubts. If God loves me, why is this happening to me? I remember someone saying, “Why not you?” On the one hand, who better to wrestle with life’s pains and problems than a follower of Jesus? Someone God has equipped with the power of the Holy Spirit to face life’s toughest challenges. On the other hand, what a privilege it is to be chosen by Jesus to follow him into the wilderness and to learn to love him more. You get to witness the amazing transformation of your wilderness into a garden of joy. You get to witness a miracle.

            One of the miracles of the wilderness is the revelation that God loves you unconditionally. Like Job in his misery, you can ask all the questions of God that you want, you can get angry with him, you can blame him for your pain, and so on. But one thing will never change: the promise of his love. “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord,” (Rom. 8:38-39).

            Another miracle is how God provides for us in the wilderness. He gives us his “manna.” If in the desert we ask our questions and we search and search for answers, something will begin to happen in our spirits. God begins to reveal himself to us. He gives us his Word to feed on. And the more we feed on his Word, the more we know him; the more we know him, the more our longings are satisfied in him.

            Then you have discovered the highway to God’s presence (8-10). The Way of Holiness. I love how it says that even fools will not get lost on this highway. There will be nothing on this highway that will harm you, no ravenous beast, no lion to frighten you. (Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life – that highway!!)

            “And the ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away,” (10).

            Ray Ortlund wrote, “All our lives we’ve just wanted to be happy. But all our lives something has always spoiled it. God is saying, ‘Trust me enough to follow me, and I will bring you home with singing. I will overwhelm you with a joy unbroken and unbreakable, and your sorrow and sighing will run for it!” 

            A man from RFC’s past emailed us this week and asked to be taken off the membership list. He was baptized a long time ago. He explained that he had parted company from Evangelical cliches of just “trusting God.” This has bred cynicism in him as he said life is more complicated than these cliches have declared.   

            This man is in his wilderness experience. You may be in your own wilderness and searching for the joy you lost or never had. Wait upon the LORD. Trust him in this: the whole time Israel wandered in the wilderness, God never left them. The whole time Jesus was in his wilderness, the Holy Spirit guided him. 

            James says, “Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand,” (5:7-8).

            He will turn your wilderness into a garden; he will turn your sorrow into joy. If it is cliché to say “trust him” then I will tell you from experience, from my own wildernesses, I have known the joy of knowing God better. Trust him. Rejoice in him. Immanuel. He is with us!

 

                                                            AMEN

            

 

Blessed be your name
When I’m found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed be your name

Blessed be your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there’s pain in the offering
Blessed be your name
(lyrics by Matt Redman)

 

Peace On Earth (Advent Sunday #2)

PEACE ON EARTH

 

Shortly after the birth of Jesus, angels appeared to some shepherds and declared, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” 

            Peace on earth! 

            Peace is elusive today. They can’t find it in Ukraine. They can’t find it in Palestine. They can’t find it in the world of trade where tariffs are being fired out like torpedoes at hapless nations. 

            If peace is shalom, a balance of harmony and well-being both within our hearts and between us in our relationships, it is hard to find there too. We want it. We desire it. We can’t seem to find it, even within our selves. 

            As Michael Marsh says, “I want to live with more balance and harmony. I want the divisions and contradictions within me, the parts of myself that often argue with or fight each other, to find reconciliation. I want my heart to be at peace with you and others. I want my wolf and lamb to live together.” 

            Why is peace hard to find? Why am I finding my college students grappling more and more with social anxiety? I had one student transfer from being in our live class to online learning because he can’t handle being in public. Another student suffers constant nightmares and other results of trauma. I wondered what was causing this seeming epidemic of fear, so I researched it.

            Three roots of fear, the enemy of peace, have been identified by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). First, the rise of social media. No surprise there. It is so easy to connect digitally that face-to-face interactions are less necessary. We avoid the stress of conflict by texting and DMs. But because of over-reliance on our devices, people are becoming socially anxious – they are not practising relationship and are less able to function socially.

            Second, and I had not thought of this, there is less pressure for survival than much of the world experiences or than previous generations knew. Our attention has shifted from finding the basic necessities of life (food and water) towards stuff, money, appearance. And the lack of satisfaction we find in these pursuits leads to anxiety and depression.

            And third, the Pandemic’s effects. We talk about this one, but the reality never hit me till now. Young adults are still feeling the effects of the extended quarantine. They learned to socialize through tech and study by zoom. Now, re-entering the workplace and schools, they are still struggling to acclimate. In-person education leaves children with higher anxiety than in previous generations. 

            The remedy, NIMH says, is learning to think differently through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). They say that socially anxious people are happier interacting with other people than being alone. More social avoidance deprives socially anxious people of a major source of well-being. 

            Isaiah’s prophecy in our text today describes with one word how socially anxious people feel right now: stumped. Israel had great potential and great hopes for their kingdom. They had the LORD their God behind them and before them. They had a line of kings in the family of David. But they took their eyes off of the LORD and chased after stuff. If the legacy of the kingdom were a great tree, it was cut down to the roots by self-destructive behavior, by sin. All that was left was a stump of that tree.

            What is a tree stump good for? Sitting, but that’s it. It has no branches for birds to nest in or people to find shade and relief under. It bears no fruit and gives no seeds. It has no leaves for healing the diseases of the people. A stump is a hopeless sight. That was Israel. A people without hope. A people who did not know peace or shalom.

            Isaiah prophesied in the midst of gloom, “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit,” (1). This is a remarkable promise. Out of something dead and hopeless, life emerges. I have a tree in our garden that died, and I hacked it down as deeply as I could. It still wants to send up shoots. 

            Out of the stump of Jesse, out of the family of kings, a shoot will emerge. Not just another king, but another David. The force of this saying is more emphatic than we read in English. David was the ideal king, a man after God’s own heart. He was the original “King Arthur of Camelot.” His era was the highwater mark of the kingdom of Israel, the “good old days” that everyone referred to wistfully. Isaiah says there will come a king who will make you forget the “good old days” and bring in a kingdom of justice and peace. 

            Isaiah colors in the frames of peace with images that stir the imagination. Reflect on these images of peace:

“The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den,” (6-8). 

            What is this a picture of exactly? Eden! It is Paradise before sin entered the world. With the coming King, the world returns to the time before there were predators and prey. Imagine a wolf and a lamb cuddling together; imagine a change of nature – what we have always accepted as normal, that a wolf ravenously attacks and eats a lamb – now they coexist in peace. Imagine a cow and a bear eating grass together. This will be the new normal in the new kingdom. 

            Can you picture it? An eight-month-old child playing near the home of a cobra; a toddler putting her hand into a pit of snakes and not being bit. The wild will be tamed. Wolves, lambs, lions, goats, bulls, and leopards will be under the rule and dominion of a child. That’s what Isaiah saw when he said, “A child shall lead them.” Peace! This is new. This is different. Isaiah saw what was and imagined something different through the leading of the Spirit. Isaiah asks us to imagine something different.

            What if imagination were the first ingredient needed for peace? NIMH prescribed CBT: learning to think differently. What does the Bible prescribe for finding peace?

            In preparation for the coming of Jesus, the King, John the Baptist cried out, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” (Matthew 3:2). What is John saying? Imagine your life different. Imagine something new. Imagine something as possible which before seemed impossible. Change your mind. Turn around. Go in a new direction. Imagine. Repent. Think differently. 

            Isaiah’s vision of the King and his Kingdom seem like an impossible dream. A wolf and a lamb dwelling together. As impossible as it seems, the life of peace is coming near to you. The kingdom of peace comes to wipe away social anxiety, fear, and division. Advent always promises that something is coming, something new and unexpected.           

            Jesus has come and he said, “My peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid,” (John 14:27). His peace has come. The kingdom reigns in your heart when you let the King of peace rule your inner wolves and lambs. The kingdom reigns in your relationships with one another when you let the King of Peace reconcile you to your former predators. Imagine that.

            Advent is a time of waiting. As Israel waited for the Messiah to come, they no doubt grew impatient for the peace in Isaiah’s vision to become reality. We are in the second advent now, waiting for Jesus to come again to bring all things back to Eden with one little word from his lips. We grow impatient too waiting for Isaiah’s vision of a day when the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. Everyone in the New Earth will have an ever-expanding knowledge of Jesus. No one will not know him. And there will be peace on earth. It will not be elusive, and everyone will know it. 

            Repent for the kingdom of heaven has come near.

            Imagine, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.

            Be at peace with yourself, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.

            Be at peace with one another, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.

            Be at peace with all of creation, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.

            Be at peace with God through Christ, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.

            Peace! 

 

                                                            AMEN

 

 

Various quotes, thoughts, and ideas are borrowed from Michael K. Marsh, Interruptingthesilence.com “Peace for our Wolves and Lambs – A Sermon on Isaiah 11:1-10” Dec. 5, 2022. 

 

NIMH (National Institute of Mental Health) – National Library of Medicine (NIH)

 

https://seattleanxiety.com/psychiatrist/2023/2/24/exploring-the-recent-rise-of-social-anxiety-disorder (Seattle Anxiety Specialists)

"Imitate Me" ("An Ode to Joy" sermon series on Philippians)

“IMITATE ME”

 

Imitate me!

            That’s a pretty gutsy invitation. It’s bold. It implies that the person being imitated is worth copying, that there is something unique about them that leads to success. 

            Wouldn’t you feel a little cynical if someone said, “Imitate me”? Wouldn’t you want to observe them a little longer before following the pattern of that person’s life? And yet imitation is the way we have always learned to do things.

            You parents have dedicated yourselves to raising your children in the fear of the Lord. By making this promise, you are setting yourselves up to be models of godliness and faithfulness to the Lord Jesus. When your children see you praying, they will learn to pray. When you interact with each other in words and actions, your children will learn grace from the way you talk and walk. 

            Learning by imitation takes place from the simplest preverbal communication (touch and action) to the most complex adult interactions. We learn to talk as children by imitating others. We learn to function in life by imitating others.

Imitation is the basis for much of our success as human beings. That is why apprenticeship, a novice learning from an expert in the trades, is so much more meaningful than simply learning the theory of being an electrician. 

Maybe it’s not so strange then that Paul would boldly say, “Imitate me.” Perhaps you think it arrogant that Paul would tell the Philippians to copy his faith and life. But if you think about it, Paul’s desire to live for Christ at all costs, at the loss of all things, is worth imitating. People who are just getting to know Jesus and the Jesus-way need an example to follow. They needed authenticity; they needed to see an example of the true Christian walk.

Paul offered himself. He said, “Walk like this.” 

Can we say to others, “Imitate me” in the same way?

Two Ways to Walk

 

In our passage this morning, Philippians 3:17-21, Paul talks about two ways to walk. “To walk” is a common metaphor in the NT; it means “how you live.” Our walk encompasses the entirety of our lives, what we stand for, what we believe. 

To end on a positive note, we will look at the negative examples first – how not to walk. The art of walking reminds me of the Ministry of Silly Walks, a Monty Python sketch. Arthur Pewtey wants to patent a silly walk, but Mr. Teabag, the minister of Silly Walks doesn’t think it is very silly. Teabag then shows him what a silly walk really looks like. 

We need to see the wrong way to walk because we may discover that we have been walking all wrong. Then we need to compare our walk with the right walk. This is what Paul demonstrates.

 

1 The Danger of “Jaywalking” (3:18-19)

 

You know what “jaywalking” is, right? It’s when you cross the street unlawfully and without regard for traffic. Why it’s called “jaywalking” is ambiguous and I’ve never met anyone who’s been ticketed for it. But I thought it was a good illustration of what Paul is saying about walking the wrong way.

            Paul describes the jaywalkers in five ugly phrases. But first, notice three things he says about these bad models. He says there are “many” of them. They were everywhere in the first century and they are everywhere today – people who walk their own without regard for the law. But for Paul, this is not about condemnation – he has tears his eyes over these people. It may be because they are harming the church by their influence; it may be that their ungodly behavior grieves Paul and he wants them to know Christ. Or it may be the third thing: who these people are. They are IN the Church. They are professing to be “born again” but are not acting like it. They are part of the church in appearance but not in their hearts.

            Paul says of these “jaywalkers” that they “walk as enemies of the cross of Christ.” They don’t deny that Christ was crucified, but they “walk” as if it didn’t matter. They were offended by the idea of a crucified Jesus and all that the cross represents for the new life. The lifestyle of a Jesus-follower meant suffering, obedience, humility. They opposed this “walk” as unnecessary and claimed there are other ways to walk – other ways to cross the street. In fact, there are many ways to cross the street. These “Christians” came so close to embracing all that God had done for them only to step away.

            Thus, “Their end is destruction.” My friends and I had to cross Portage Avenue to get to our Junior High. We didn’t wait for lights; when we saw an opening, we took it. We ran across six lanes of traffic to save time. Our jaywalking was dangerous, especially in winter when cars couldn’t stop quickly. To ignore the walk of Christ is destruction.

            “Their god is their belly.” What Paul implies is that old saying, “If it feels good, do it.” When people are driven by their appetites, they do anything to satisfy it. Whatever their bodies crave, they feed. These are people who want the benefits of Christianity without the cost of discipleship. They play the part and attend church, go through rituals, and secretly gorge on whatever the world tempts them with.

            “And they glory in their shame.” Paul echoes the prophet Isaiah who described the Jews in his day as “those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness,” (Is. 5:20). Morality is twisted these days too, as it was 2600 years ago. Society reinvents morality to suit the current fad and asks everyone to affirm it, to walk that way. They take pride in it. It’s one thing to sin – we all sin – but it’s another thing, when ignoring conviction and the need to pursue repentance, we promote and flaunt our sin. 

            Their “minds are set on earthly things.” They don’t just think about earthly things, they are obsessed with them. With a pessimistic worldview, this focus is on the here-and-now. Get out of life what you can before it’s gone. 

            If you walk in the middle of the busy road, you will get hit. The “jaywalkers” present a dangerous model to follow. Walk like them and you will wreck your faith.

 

2. Imitating the “Cross-walk” (3:17, 20-21)

 

Who are the most influential people in your life? We talked about the examples in our lives a couple of weeks ago. Who shows you “Jesus”? Follow their example. Imitate them.

            Let’s return to Paul’s bold invitation. He said, “Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.”

            This is not the first time Paul invited his readers to imitate his attitude, behavior, or pattern (1 Cor. 4:16; 1 Thess. 1:6; 2 Thess. 3:7, 9; 2 Tim. 1:13). Even the writer of Hebrews invited his readers to employ imitation as a means of discipleship (13:7). 

            But what is Paul asking the Philippians to do exactly? To mirror his every move? To adopt his accent? To dress like him? That mimicry is cultlike where everyone has to dress the same and use the same tones. No one has the perfect anything to follow. This is not what Paul is asking.

            The intention of this invitation is to strive to imitate others to the extent that they imitate Christ. If Paul wanted little Pauls running around, he would have kept up his spiritual advantages. We heard last week how he gave all of that up for the sake of knowing Christ. He renounced any privileges, gains, status that he had so he could gain Christ. Paul wanted the Philippians to have that outlook.

            Paul made up a word when he said, “join in imitating me.” In the Greek there is a prefix that sets the tone. Verse 17 could be read as, “Be fellow imitators with me of someone else, that is, Christ.” 

            If there is any doubt in your mind and still think that Paul was full of himself, remember what he wrote earlier: “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own,” (3:12). He does not claim to be perfect. Paul is a seasoned follower of Christ who has something to offer younger or newer disciples. His goal is Christ, which is why he said to the Corinthians, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ,” (11:1). 

            What are we imitating? In verses 20-21, Paul contrasts the “jaywalkers” with those who use the “crosswalk.” Of course we are imitating Jesus, but Paul describes it this way: “…our citizenship is in heaven (as opposed to the this-worldly attitude of the jaywalkers), and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ…” We are citizens of a different realm. We are colonists of the heavenly kingdom.

            Many Christians misunderstand this phrase and take it to mean that we just have to endure this life until Jesus comes and takes us to live in heaven. That is a great hope, but it’s not what Paul is saying here. He is saying that we should live like we were already in heaven, with the character and posture of people who live in harmony with one another, loving one another, existing in the full grace and peace of Christ. Right here, right now!

            Consider the context. He is talking to Philippians. They were proud of their status as a Roman colony, as a “little Rome away from Rome.” In other words, they didn’t live like Greeks, though they were in Greece; they walked like Romans. They had owned this privilege since BCE 42, 100 years before Paul arrived. 

            In the same way, we are citizens of heaven – people touched by the heavenly man, Jesus Christ – and we don’t live like Rosenorters, but like colonists of heaven. In the Lord’s Prayer we pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done.” We are asking the Father to make his values of his kingdom known in us and through us in the context of our little village. 

            We want to do this because we are awaiting a Savior from heaven to come again and transform our lowly bodies to be like his glorious body. That’s our great hope – to be restored. We suffer the life of the cross of Christ, forsaking the values of the Canadian life where it contradicts Christ, so that we may receive new bodies that will never wear out with cancer and age. We are a colony of heaven, a colony of hope and of transformation. We are different.

            I found a great story to illustrate this waiting for Jesus. Bud Wood founded Shepherd’s home in Wisconsin for boys and girls with developmental disabilities. It opened in 1964 with 36 children and provided them with a loving residential environment and school where they could learn and discover their potential. Most importantly, these children were taught about the love of God and encouragement to walk with Jesus. 

            Bud asked a visitor one time, “What do you think our biggest maintenance problem is?” The visitor didn’t know. 

            “Dirty windows. Our kids press their hands and faces against the windows because they’re looking to the sky to see if today might be the day that Jesus will return for them and take them to his home where they will be healed and complete.” 

            Oh, that we would have dirty windows! 

 

We are to imitate the Christ-centered examples of faith who live among us, to walk with Jesus as they do. 

            Take up Paul’s challenge and find someone whom you believe is walking closely with Jesus and imitate their cross-walk. Go for coffee with that person and mine their hearts for insights on living the Christian life.

            J. Ligon Duncan writes about one of his professors who preached a sermon on prayer. “At the end of that sermon he was exhorting us to have a regular pattern of prayer for ourselves and for others woven into our lives. It was a powerful exposition of Scripture. It was deeply convicting. But nothing prepared us for what he did at the end of the sermon. We had never heard a preacher in our lives do this. He looked at us, right in the eye, and he said, “Do as I do.”

            Secondly, be an example. Live the cross-walk for others to follow. You may not believe that you are good enough to be an example for others, but I read recently that’s just false humility. Former NBA star Charles Barkley is famous for saying, “I’m not a role model.” And yet young ballers wanted to be like him, but he didn’t want that responsibility. Tough, he had it – he was visible. And you are too.

            Third, live as a citizen of heaven. Adopt the values of the King and his kingdom, live them. Choose Jesus in all circumstances and challenges. 

            And live in expectation of the King’s return. Let’s dirty our windows in anticipation of his coming.

 

                                                AMEN