Rejoicing in…Whatever
Sunday, October 12th, 2008
Proper 23A/ Ordinary 28 A/ Pentecost +22
Philippians 4:1-9
Theme: holding on to the joy or our salvation
“1Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved. 2I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. 3Yes, and I ask you also, my loyal companion, help these women, for they have struggled beside me in the work of the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life. 4Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. 6Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 8Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.”
You know how I lots of times draw to the end of a message on a Sunday morning and ask the question “what does this mean for
First, he’s trying to help settle a dispute between two of the leaders of the Church – Euodia and Syntyche. Notice, he doesn’t dwell on the details of the argument. They were, in the grander scheme of things, unimportant. What Paul DOES consider to be MORE important is that they be of one mind in the Lord. The phrasing he uses echoes the phrasing at the beginning of chapter 2, when he asks the Philippians to have the same mind in them that Christ had in him.
He’s also commending them to each other – see how he first starts with the two women – Euodia and Syntyche asking them to be of one mind, and then he widens it to include his “loyal companion” – literally, the term that is translated as loyal companion is “yokefellow” – it makes for a very clear image of what the person he is speaking to or about has been to Paul in the ministry together. But there is a possibility that it is not only a description of the person, it could also be the NAME of the person – just as we have Baker and Smith and Farmer families whose ancestors performed those tasks and had the name stick, this could well be a similar situation. Nonetheless, the term could go either way. And then he widens the commendation to an even larger group – to include Clement and the rest of his co-workers, “whose names are in the book of life.”
There is a sense that these are people who are not only obviously precious to Paul, but precious to each other. There are relationships there that have been formed in the crucible of persecution – times when they could have been imprisoned – or worse – simply for being Christ followers, as well as in the deep joys that come from living a life of faith.
It is in these closing verses that we realize we are reading someone else’s mail. Paul is speaking words of benediction to the people he is writing. He is blessing them and lifting them up – just as we do at the end of each worship service here, we understand that what we are about is only PARTLY about what happens here on Sunday mornings, it is MOSTLY about what happens outside these walls the rest of the week.
And Paul is giving the folks a heads up on what they will be coming in contact with. In that list of “Whatevers”, there are some interesting pieces of information. Whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, pleasing, commendable – those are words that in those forms are found almost nowhere else in Paul’s writings. They come from a list of characteristics that Greek Ethicists, philosophers who were focused on coming up with a series of traits that, if practiced, if LIVED, if incorporated into the fabric of daily living, would result in what they hoped would be a society that was more … all those things … true, honorable, just, pure, pleasing and commendable … aiming for Utopia, I suspect – the Greek word for Heaven.
I think it might have been a little jarring for the Philippians to read what they would have probably immediately recognized as that list of terms they would have associated with non-faith origins … Paul was encouraging them to keep an eye out for what God was doing – wherever God might show up.
And that might be the word for us today. We are commended to discover what God is doing, wherever God is working. Paul tells the Philippians to rejoice regardless of the circumstances they may find themselves in. They were dealing with pressures from outside the church as well as conflict from within, and yet Paul tells them to rejoice. I don’t know about you, but rejoicing when times are easy is a lot easier for me than when times are … NOT so easy. If I’m facing hardships, if my wife is sick and in the hospital, if I’m struggling with my OWN health issues, if I’m not sure I’ll have a job tomorrow, if I’m wondering what the economy is going to do, or what is going to happen after the elections, or if the crops are going to come in, there are any number of things that I can be distracted by.
What is significant about what Paul is saying is that in telling the Philippian congregation to not worry about anything, he is pointing them to where their peace will come from. It is a vivid image that he offers them – where he says ‘and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.’ – the word ‘guard’ is the one used to describe a sentinel – someone who stands watch at night – in the darkest times of our lives – God’s peace is standing watch for us – over us.
We observe the ordinance of communion – we remember the evening on which he was betrayed, Jesus took the bread, blessed and broke and gave it, and said, ‘take and eat, this is my body, broken for you.’ And after supper, he took the cup and said, ‘this is the cup of the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’
“For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”
Lets pray.
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