Rejoice in the Lord (CC)
0 (0 Likes / 0 Dislikes)
Sermon Text: Philippians 4:4-13
Sermon Text: Philippians 4:4-13
The Sermon Text recorded for us by the Apostle Paul
in his Letter to the Philippians where we read from
Chapter 4, beginning with Verse 4:
REJOICE IN THE LORD ALWAYS.
I WILL SAY IT AGAIN: REJOICE!
LET YOUR GENTLENESS BE EVIDENT TO ALL.
THE LORD IS NEAR. DO NOT BE
ANXIOUS ABOUT ANYTHING, BUT IN EVERYTHING
BY PRAYER AND PETITION, WITH THANKSGIVING,
PRESENT YOUR REQUESTS TO GOD.
AND THE PEACE OF GOD, WHICH TRANSCENDS ALL UNDERSTANDING,
WILL GUARD YOUR HEARTS AND YOUR MINDS
IN CHRIST JESUS. FINALLY, BROTHERS,
WHATEVER IS TRUE, WHATEVER IS NOBLE, WHATEVER IS RIGHT,
WHATEVER IS PURE, WHATEVER IS LOVELY,
WHATEVER IS ADMIRABLE -- IF ANYTHING
IS EXCELLENT OR PRAISEWORTHY -- THINK ABOUT
SUCH THINGS. WHATEVER YOU HAVE LEARNED OR
RECEIVED OR HEARD FROM ME, OR SEEN IN ME --
PUT IT INTO PRACTICE. AND THE GOD OF PEACE
WILL BE WITH YOU. I REJOICE GREATLY IN THE LORD
THAT AT LAST YOU HAVE RENEWED YOUR CONCERN FOR ME.
INDEED, YOU HAVE BEEN CONCERNED, BUT YOU HAD NO
OPPORTUNITY TO SHOW IT.
I AM NOT SAYING THIS BECAUSE I AM IN NEED, FOR I HAVE LEARNED
TO BE CONTENT WHATEVER THE CIRCUMSTANCES.
I KNOW WHAT IT IS TO BE IN NEED, AND I KNOW
WHAT IT IS TO HAVE PLENTY. I HAVE LEARNED THE SECRET OF
BEING CONTENT IN ANY AND EVERY SITUATION,
WHETHER WELL FED OR HUNGRY,
WHETHER LIVING IN PLENTY OR IN WANT.
I CAN DO EVERYTHING THROUGH HIM
WHO GIVES ME STRENGTH.
This is the Word of our Lord. Let us pray:
Glorious and gracious God, may the words of my mouth and the
meditation of each of our hearts be acceptable in
Your sight, our only source of hope and comfort.
Amen.
[Text taken from the HOLY BIBLE:
NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, 1973, 1978, 1984,
used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers]
Dear Followers of our Lord and Savior,
Dear Followers of our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ.
Michelle Bachmann's
shoes.
I hadn't given much thought to those.
But it's interesting I saw the other day
an entire webpage devoted
to the shoes that that presidential
candidate wears.
That there's actually someone who takes pictures
of her shoes, and posts them online.
Kind of was a reminder to me
of how silly
the modern conveniences that we have are at our
beck and call. Because we all know how easy
it is to capture an image
and to post it for the world to see it.
I don't think I would ever want to put myself
through the scrutiny of running for the presidency
today because everyone has a cell phone,
everyone has a camera, everyone
is following those people around all of
the time; snapping pictures of them and using them
for their own agenda.
Hoping to catch them doing something unpresidential or
undemocratic or un-republican,
so that it can be posted there for everyone to see.
Who could
live up to such a standard?
Who could live up to that kind of scrutiny?
But then I come back
and think of us as Christians.
And if people followed us around,
video-taping what we do,
taking pictures of the activities that
we're engaged in, and posted them up there ...
as examples
of behavior of God's children.
of behavior of God's children.
Gives us pause, doesn't it?
Because the first thing that comes into our mind
are all of the things that we
don't want people to see that we do that
break God's Law.
The ways that we don't act as children of God.
That we don't put God first in our lives;
that we don't live as if He has saved us
from the eternal fires of hell
by His grace.
That He has called us to be His own.
To live with Him. To live in
His kingdom and to serve Him. And it is a reminder to us
this morning, the importance of what the Apostle [Paul]
has to say
to us: To rejoice
in the Lord always!
He repeated it. He said:
I will say it again; Rejoice!
As children of God, we have so
many reasons to be rejoicing!
To realize that we are content
in the life that God has given to us;
that we can take all of our needs to our heavenly Father
and address them there in prayer.
That we have a God who has loved us
beyond what we were capable of imagining.
That He has prepared for us
eternal blessings
where we will be with Him ... to worship Him,
to sing His praises in a place
that is free from sin. As Isaiah reminded us:
Where all of the tears of this life of sin and sorrow
will be washed away.
Because we will be in the presence of
the God who created us.
Who sent His Son to redeem us;
to buy us back from the hold of Satan
and the grip of death and decay.
To be His loving children.
That He has sent to us the Holy Spirit
to keep us in that faith day after day
living in the knowledge of the grace
that is ours: That our sins have been
forgiven. And our God loves us.
And for that reason, we rejoice!
We rejoice in what God
has done and we sing His praises, 'cuz we are mindful
of that need in our life
each and every day. That there is not a moment
that goes by that I am not thankful
for what God has done for me.
And for that reason I can rejoice!
Because I am content. Here it is
that the Apostle says that the Lord is near.
The Lord is near to us. Yes! But He is also
near in coming to call us
to our eternal home. We are closer to that
last and great Day of Judgment today
than we were yesterday. And sometimes in our lives
we feel anxious and we aren't content
because we deal with the sin that we do every day.
But how mindful we need to be that
Jesus Christ took each and
every one of our sins
and bore that guilt ... that burden,
that punishment of eternal damnation
on the cross of Calvary.
That He washed away our sins.
That He rose victorious showing us that
we, too, will rise. We will be the victors over death.
The victors over Satan because
we have Christ, the Victor, as our Savior.
And we rejoice in that news
that bolsters us up each and
every day throughout whatever muck and mire
we find ourselves in.
Because while we are in this world, we are
going to deal with Satan's attacks.
We are going to deal with the world who hates us.
And we are even going to deal with that sinful nature
inside of each of us that does NOT want us to rejoice!
That we'll find reason after reason
after reason
NOT to be content!
Not to let our gentleness be shown to all, but to show
the vile rage that can well up within us ...
... and those other people deserve it who
drive like idiots.
Want that little picture in that image put up there for
everyone to see?
It is a reminder to us
to live as the children of God.
The Apostle Paul remember is
writing this to the people in Philippi because
he is in prison ... and has been in prison
for two years at this point. He said, I KNOW
what it means to be content.
I know what it means to have plenty
and be happy. I know what it means to have nothing
and be happy. I know what it means to be well fed
and be content but I also know what it means to be
hungry and to be content.
Because he reminded himself that he could
do everything through the One who gives him strength.
And that is his Lord and his Savior.
That Jesus Christ empowers him
each and every day
to live in the knowledge that his sins have been forgiven.
To live in the knowledge that God STILL provides
daily bread. That God STILL takes us
to green pastures in which to lie down
beside quiet waters.
God STILL prepares a table before us
in the presence of our enemies.
And He anoints our head with oil.
That He causes our cup
to overflow.
The Apostle Paul knew that and he shared that with the Church
in Philippi and he shares it with us.
To realize that God has
saved us to be His own and that each and
every day He supplies what we need
abundantly. That we can trust
in Him. That we need to STOP thinking
of those things that are sinful, that are bad,
that are evil. And turn to thinking of
those things that are excellent and praiseworthy,
and pure. To change our minds
and to control them.
To get them off all of the difficulties
that lie before us each and every day.
And I bet if I asked you to take out a pen
and take out your bulletin, you could write 10 things down
that you know that are bad in your life.
Or that are gonna be difficult.
Or people that you have to deal with that you don't want
to deal with. Those things come to our minds
fast and furious. But we need to stop and think
about what is good!
The abundance of God in our lives.
From the total forgiveness of sin.
To the gift of the Holy Spirit who is daily
present in activities in our life.
To remind us to rejoice! And I will say it again:
Rejoice in the Lord always!
He has blessed us ... tremendously!
And we in turn can raise our voices
in praise to Him and live
and show others that faith
that is ours. And God has given us also
a tremedous weapon to use
in that struggle. That He KNOWS
life in this world IS a struggle.
He has given to us prayer,
and He reminds us to pray
in every situation, with all kinds of prayers
and requests. There is nothing that is too
small that God does not want to hear about
from us.
All of the requests that come to Him are important
because we are bringing them to Him so that He can hear
them and send His comfort and aid in whatever the
situation may be for whatever the circumstance.
There is no prayer that is too
great that God will deny it because it's a
huge request.
He is the almighty, all-powerful God and
can do anything.
And He reminds us to come to Him
with our thoughts and requests in life.
To come to Him thanking Him for what He's done.
Acknowledging Him
for who He is. Come with hearts that are filled with
joy and rejoice with Him.
But also to bring our cares and concerns
and know that He hears them.
And that He will answer them in accord
with what is best for our
eternal will. And to trust Him
to know that He knows
what is best. For those times
that He hears our prayers and answers them with "yes",
we realize that He is blessing us.
For the times that He hears our prayers
and answers them with "no", we know that He is
protecting us. And keeping us safe.
Maybe He's wanting us to learn the lesson to
trust Him more. Or to have patience.
But whatever that reason, that "no" is done
for our eternal good.
That He is not doing things
just to play with us, as if He was
some kind of sadistic eternal being
who enjoys seeing His creation punished
and hurt.
He loves us!
He has chosen us to be His own.
Of course we are going to spend time with Him.
Active in our prayer life.
Talking and discussing the daily needs
of our life with Him so that we can live
that life to His glory.
That we can rejoice in the things that He has done.
In the things that He has given to us. That we will
rejoice always in the God
who has loved us. Who has called us
to be His own. And it is a high calling.
And sometimes we do just need to be ...
... to have that reminder;
that we are the light of Christ.
That we are
what people see as His
representatives ... as His children.
When we are mindful of that
we will not want to do anything that detracts
from the glory of God.
Not want to be unloving where God is loving,
or unkind where God is kind.
We do that out of love and respect for everything that
Christ has done for us.
Let the gentleness
be evident to all.
Rejoice in the Lord always!
I say it again: Rejoice!
Amen.
Let us rise.
Now may the peace of God which goes beyond
all of our understanding, keep your hearts and your minds,
and especially your lives, in the one true faith
unto life everlasting. Amen.