Beautiful. Thank you.
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
You know, sometimes you receive a gift that you're just not too excited about.
Jesus, just by the feel of the packaging, you know it's most likely underwear and not a brand new Red Ryder BB gun.
You'd just as soon set it aside.
Paul has some gifts for us today in his letter to the Philippians.
But they come in a wrapping that may make it appear to be a gift you're not sure you want to receive.
They come in the wrapping of commands.
But if we'll hang in there, we just might find there is a gift worth opening.
Paul begins our section in Philippians chapter 4 with three quick commands.
The first one being, rejoice in the Lord always. I say again, rejoice.
When someone tells me how happy they are and how happy I should be, I tend to dismiss them with some skepticism.
Assuming their life must be particularly easy.
But when Paul says rejoice, I say again, rejoice always.
He's writing from prison. He's in chains.
Other preachers are taking advantage of the situation to build their own ministries.
That gets my attention. Here's a man who isn't a man who's never had a problem, but is actually someone who's in some very difficult circumstances.
And yet he still can say, rejoice.
The next command follows, let your reasonableness be known to everyone.
Reasonableness. Other translations use gentleness or gentle spirit.
I can only assume Paul has never driven on Highway 75.
And then the third command, do not be anxious about anything, but pray about everything.
This has been called an anxious generation.
You've probably seen the surveys. It does seem like our anxiety is through the roof as the pressures of this world press in on us.
But Paul says, you can use your anxiety as a prompt to pray.
Peter will say, cast your anxiety upon the Lord because he cares for you.
And in the middle of these three commands, Paul makes a short statement that holds it all together.
He says, the Lord is at hand. The Lord is at hand.
He's near in time. He is coming soon.
And he's near in place. He's with you. Right now.
Even if you happen to be in a prison cell.
And so Paul gives these three commands, but we don't always respond well to commands, do we?
In fact, a common response to a command is, don't tell me what to do.
It's that inner three-year-old toddler that all of us have.
Whose impulse is to say, you're not the boss of me.
Command me, you tell me I have to rejoice.
I don't have to rejoice. If I want to be grumpy, I'm going to be grumpy.
That's the little toddler in us.
We might be coerced into obeying the command, but I can promise you, we will not enjoy it.
It will be all duty, all obligation, all burden.
The second response to hearing a command is often, oof, I haven't done that one.
The command says do this, and I clearly have not.
The command says don't do that, and clearly I have.
The command pierces my heart as I realize I failed.
There's a third way we can respond to commands, and I find this one to be far less common.
It's to hear the command and to say, that's the life I want.
You hear the command, rejoice in the Lord always.
And you say, always? Really?
You mean I can rejoice even in my worst circumstances?
That would be pretty awesome. I would like to have that life.
But I suspect we don't often respond this way, because our experience is just the opposite.
Paul may talk about being able to rejoice in all circumstances,
and be able to face your anxiety with prayer and receive a peace that surpasses understanding.
But it often escapes us. That's not our experience.
It doesn't seem like that is actually what happens.
And so I'm tempted to set aside these commands, these commands that wrap a gift.
But in fact, let's talk about how a person could respond by saying, that's the life I want.
First, the command tells us something. It tells us what God's will is.
God's will that is good and perfect. God's will that is good and good for you.
You see, God's not like the evil boss who simply commands you to do things just to show you that He is in control.
God commands what is good for you.
God commands what leads to a good life.
It's like the parent who commands their child, do not play in the street.
They're not doing it to make the child miserable, to take away their joy.
They're actually doing it to create a place where that child can thrive and have fun
without the added pain of being hit by a car.
The commands tell us what God's will is. God's good and perfect will for us.
The commands tell us a second thing. The commands tell us what the Holy Spirit is up to in our lives.
Do you know in your baptism you were washed from your sins, you were forgiven, you were granted eternal life,
and God's Holy Spirit took up residence within you?
What is that Holy Spirit up to? That Holy Spirit is making you the kind of person who wants to obey those commands.
That's what the Holy Spirit is doing.
And so this good life that these commands describe are not merely a picture,
but there's actually a spirit within you working to deliver that good life to you.
And you're invited to participate.
You're invited to be a part of becoming the kind of person that would rejoice even in the worst of circumstances.
But I'm afraid too often we set aside the gift. We don't actually open it.
We tell ourselves things like joy is for people with easier lives.
That's kind of like assuming this gift must be the sweater your aunt makes that's always ugly and always itchy and you'll never wear.
It's just not something that fits you.
Perhaps at times we tell ourselves it's not something we really want.
Gentleness is for weaklings. You can't make your way in this world by being gentle.
But far more often I think the gift just gets lost in the clutter and dizziness of our lives.
We hear of this good life that God has commanded and God has promised and yet it just seems so far away.
It's easy to assume perhaps the gift is for you but not for me.
I can't imagine being able to simply pray and experience God's peace in place of anxiety.
Maybe I'm just not the kind of person God gives that gift to.
But if it's just a picture of the good life that is still unreachable by us that's not necessarily good news, is it?
But there's more.
There's more because it's not just the Spirit is within you making you the kind of person who would embrace this good life.
In fact, Jesus has already secured this life for you and has given it to you already.
You know Jesus has fulfilled the law on your behalf. He has obeyed every command for you.
He obeyed these three commands on His way to the cross.
Paul says, Rejoice in the Lord always. I say again, Rejoice.
And the writer of Hebrews tells us that we are to look to Jesus who, for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross.
Consider that. Jesus making His way to the cross rejoiced.
Not in the suffering of the cross, but in what the suffering of the cross would accomplish for you and for me, our salvation.
Jesus could see beyond the cross. That brought Him joy.
How did Jesus get there?
He obeyed the command that do not be anxious, but pray and God's peace will come.
In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus is overwhelmed with the anxiety and anguish of the cross that awaited Him.
He knew that taking on the burden of the sins of the world would crush Him.
He cries out to His Father.
And in that conversation, He comes to a resolution.
Thy will be done.
And Jesus is given the gift of peace.
Paul describes it as a peace that surpasses understanding.
It's a fortress that guards your heart and mind.
We know this because we see it in the gentleness that Jesus made known to all from that moment forward.
Jesus' gentleness with Pilate. Pilate thought he alone had the power to free Jesus.
And yet Jesus would not defend Himself to Pilate.
Pilate was unnerved by His gentleness.
You see it in Jesus on the cross, in the midst of great pain and suffering,
seeing His mother and making arrangements for John to care for her.
You see it on that same cross when Jesus cries out for the Father to forgive those who have crucified Him.
His gentleness was made known to all, even on a cross.
In your baptism, you are united to Jesus.
That means what is His has become yours.
And Jesus' fulfillment of these commands of rejoicing and sharing His gentleness
and knowing God's peace in the face of anxiety is yours.
It's already yours.
You're not a failure who needs to try harder to obey.
You're one from whom Jesus has secured the gift of life.
Jesus has already done the work.
Jesus has already obeyed the commands.
And now Jesus sends His Spirit to work the gift in you,
to help you open that gift that you might receive it in full.
How does that happen?
Generally speaking, it happens through word and sacrament.
Word and sacrament.
It's simply something we receive through God's Word.
Paul gives two specific examples in this text of how that Word comes to us.
First he says, think about these things.
Remember earlier I said the Spirit invites us to join Him in the work of making us the kind of person
who would obey these commands.
The first thing He tells us we can cooperate in, we can think about these things.
Paul lists them.
Whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable.
If there is any excellence, anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
Let your mind dwell on these things.
Focus on these things.
How do we do that?
Scripture tells us that God reveals Himself both in creation and in His Word.
In creation, when you go to the Dallas Arboretum
and you see the abundance of flowers and beauty and colors and the variety,
it reminds you of your great God who has created beauty on this world.
And we look to Him.
When you're overlooking that mountain landscape and you go, whoa, that's awesome,
you think about the fact that the God who created that mountain is even more awesome.
But, of course, God most fully reveals Himself through His Word.
And in the center of that Word is Jesus and a cross.
And so Paul says, think about these things.
Think about God's Word.
Think about Jesus and His cross.
And as you do so, the Spirit is there behind the scenes working in you,
a little more joy, a little more gentleness, a little more peace.
In addition to thinking about these things, Paul says to practice these things.
How do we practice?
Paul says to look at Him, do what He does.
He says what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things.
He says Paul is a living example of what this can look like.
There's living examples today.
You probably know people who you might see as extraordinary
in their ability to rejoice in all circumstances,
in their peace amidst difficult and anxiety-causing situations.
You don't have to ask them.
How do they do it?
And what you'll hear is a variety of answers.
Let me give you one example.
This morning, I asked people, hey, what's most meaningful to you on a Sunday morning?
As you gather and you hear God's Word, what's most meaningful to you?
I hear a variety of answers.
Some will say the music.
They'll say, I just love the music.
I love hearing God's Word through song.
That's when I feel most connected to God.
And then others, okay, like one other said, the sermon.
I don't know why more people don't say that, but I don't.
But I do know why, because many of you will say it's the Lord's Supper.
It's when I come to the rail and I sense God's presence
and I receive His forgiveness again.
One guy told me it was the benediction.
I kind of felt bad for him.
He's got to wait the whole service to get his benediction.
You know, for others, they don't always admit this to me, but my wife admits it to me,
it's the conversations in the lobby.
I can't tell you how many Sundays my wife says,
I was there on time, I just was out in the lobby because I was in a conversation.
But that she's hearing God work in those conversations,
and I see it in so many conversations out there.
But just pause for a moment and consider the graciousness of our God
that delivers His Word to us in so many different ways.
And as He does so, the Spirit is at work,
taking what Jesus has accomplished for us and making it a reality in us.
That's why Paul lands on a promise.
He says, the God of peace will be with you.
Guaranteed.
And so I hope you see, you'll always experience the commands in all three ways.
There'll be times you'll resist, but God tells us what to do.
We come to church, we confess,
Lord, sometimes I act like I'm God instead of you, I'm sorry.
And sometimes we're convicted by the commands.
Oof, I did not do that.
But God tells us again what to do, to receive the absolution.
Your sins are forgiven for the sake of Christ.
But I hope today you'll add a third, that you'll hear these commands,
you'll rise up, having your sins forgiven,
and hear God's command as His good will for you,
and that you will cry out, come Holy Spirit, come do your good work in me.
Help me cooperate by thinking about these things,
by practicing what you've given me to do.
We pray.
Father, we thank you again.
We are stunned by your grace, as if Jesus is not enough.
You send us your Holy Spirit.
Grace upon grace, not only are we forgiven, but then you set us apart, Lord,
and you begin to knit in our hearts the good life that Jesus has already given to us.
Father, make us willing recipients that we might keep in step with your Spirit,
that we might further unwrap these gifts that you have so graciously given.
Father, we don't want to miss a thing.
Help us now, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
I invite you to please rise.