Pentecost 20A

20th Sunday after Pentecost, Year A

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight O Lord our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

Brothers and sisters in Christ: grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

I distinctly remember a conversation… well… part of a conversation I had in seminary with our campus pastor. We were discussing the things that were bothering me, and he responded with: “you know, when I have something that’s bothering me, often I just read the book of Philippians. I sometimes just read it before I go to bed. It’s filled with such joy and comfort.” He’s quite right; it really is a comforting book to read. And in this part of the letter, we have two of the most famous passages in the whole book: one is the most comforting, and the other is the most misused.

When you read verse 4, it’s important - and, I think, amazing - to remember that Paul wrote this as a prisoner. “Nothing is ever to dim our spiritual joy.” [Lenski, 874.] Not even imprisonment. “Always!” Paul says; “no matter what the circumstances of our life may be. Our sun of grace is ‘always’ shining.” Here Paul is “picturing the life that is animated by the joy with which it shines.” [Lenski, 874-875] And then he repeats the command. “The Christian life is not gloomy, it is the happiest life in the world. All its joy is genuine, not a bit of it is artificial like all the joys of the world.” [Ibid.]

“Let your reasonableness be known to everyone.” That can also be understood as “your gentleness”. Scholars have spent a great deal of time and effort on this one word from this passage. “Moderation” and “sweet reasonableness” are other options for the translation…but everyone seems to agree that none of them quite capture the full meaning of this word in Greek. One scholar puts it this way: “‘yielding,’ not insisting on one’s legal rights as these are often inserted into moral wrongs… The word always refers to the treatment of others while ‘meekness’ is an inner quality... God and Christ exhibit what is meant. God deals so leniently with [humanity], he remembers that we are dust, he withholds justice so long. Christ is gentle, kind, patient, more than only fair. Only our perverted reason would think that ‘yieldingness’ might include a yielding of truth to error, of right to wrong, of virtue to vice and crime.” [Ibid, 876]

How different that is to how the world would have us be, hmm? All around is war, strife, conflict, hatred, violence… and it seems we’re all expected to take sides…and you had better be on the “right” side. “We’re on the right side of history!” Funny that I seem to be hearing that coming from both the political left AND the political right. Some of those shouting that are also quick to tout their own Christian faith. How, then, are they letting their “reasonableness” be known to everyone?

Paul says next: “the Lord is at hand” meaning “the Lord is near!” This is not only a reference to God’s omnipresence - He is indeed everywhere, including with us. It’s not only Christ’s promise to always be with us - He certainly is. This is also a reference to Christ’s return - it is “near”, as Paul sees it. No one knows exactly when it will be, and no one will… except the Father (Matthew 24:36). For Paul, he is instructing the church to live as if Christ might come at any time. This is not about fear of Judgment Day, either. Christians who live in constant expectation of the Day of the Lord are not afraid; we are looking forward both to our resurrection and to our glorification. [Lenski, 877]

Here’s another word we need to think about for a moment: glorification; being glorified. Most of us probably think of glory as beauty or magnificence, which is certainly Biblical. When we speak of Jesus’ glory, there’s often the image of a bright light, as in Jesus’ transfiguration. So for believers to look forward to our “glorification” - how will we be glorified? Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3:18 “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” We know that by faith we are justified (made right with God). Once we are justified, then we will be glorified: "In glorification believers shall be in a state of complete exoneration from any possible charge. Glorification is the perfection of sanctification, and that pertains to one’s inner character, self, person. [Bernard L. Ramm, “Glorification,” Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988), 870.] We will be made, as a gift from God, perfectly righteous (free from our sins), and perfectly holy - both conditions are necessary for us to be with and near God.

So, with that as our guaranteed future, we are filled with overflowing joy! So much joy, in fact, that we can’t help but show this noble gentleness and yieldingness to everyone we encounter. And despite all the awfulness around us, none of it needs to bother us so much any more. And with a week like we’ve had this week, I find that incredibly comforting.

There’s so much conflict going on across the Atlantic Ocean. The war between Russia and Ukraine seems like it will never end, and we keep getting pulled closer and closer to fighting in it ourselves…which we all know would mean WW3. Last week, when Hamas attacked Israel, they caused casualties that made our 9/11 look miniscule by comparison. And this was not just military conflict; they attacked and murdered innocent civilians including women and children. I won’t share anymore detail because the atrocities they committed are too awful to repeat. Israel has sworn to respond in such a way that Hamas will never do that again. Take from that what you will, but this is bad. I heard one news source say that it’s the worst attack on Israel in at least 50 years.

And that’s to say nothing of the conflict right here in our country. Let me put it this way: how do you think the next presidential election is going to go? Without any names, when one candidate is announced as the winner, how do you think the other side is going to react? Will either side peacefully accept the results of this election? It’s enough to drive you to fits of anxiety, isn’t it? And that’s exactly what the world wants. It wants us anxious and afraid. Why do you suppose that is? Because fear is the opposite of… FAITH.

How can Paul be sitting in a Roman prison cell and be filled with joy? Because he knows that as bad as the Romans were, they could not steal his joy in Christ. They could not take from him the hope in God’s eternal peace… God’s final victory. “Do not be anxious about anything” Paul writes. Just give it all to God in prayer. “Supplication” is a request we make to God in prayer on behalf of others. When we do this for ourselves, that’s a “petition”. Whichever request we bring to God - which HE WANTS TO HEAR - bring it to him with thanksgiving. Give thanks that He has promised to hear our prayers…even that He has commanded us to ask Him these things! Give thanks for what He has already blessed us with. I would even say give thanks for what He is going to do for us. Remember: only a thankful heart is a joyful heart. Without thankfulness for what God has already given to us and done for us, how can we ask him for more? The heartthrob of all true prayer is thankfulness. [Lenski, 878]

And then what? That’s the verse I mentioned earlier that is possibly the most famous passage of Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi: verse 7. This verse is traditionally one of the ways pastors are instructed to close our sermons. We have just heard the Good News of God proclaimed to us. We are assured of God’s victory, of God’s grace and mercy, and of His eternal, steadfast love for us. God’s Word tells us of the guarantee of our eternity with Him. With that Divine Promise, what earthly power could possibly steal or diminish our joy? Nothing can do that, because “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” This peace is that “shalom” we’ve talked about before: a life lacking nothing. I’m not sure it’s possible for us sinners in this fallen, broken, violent world to imagine such a state of complete peace. But when we truly put all of our requests to God with thanksgiving, we should feel this “condition of shalom when by God’s act all is well with us. ‘Of God’ is to indicate source: God creates and bestows this peace.” [Lenski, 879] And then, after we have been granted this peace over us, “Like a guard or sentry it will stand over our hearts and thoughts lest anything disturb them.” [Ibid.] This is some pretty powerful peace, don’t you think. It’s so great that it exceeds all understanding. We can’t comprehend it, but we can receive it. Thanks be to God - it’s not something we can come by on our own. Our hearts, minds, and thoughts are constantly being assaulted by things that distress us, worry us, push us to despair. No, we can’t have this peace on our own. It’s from God. And Paul has given us the instruction on how to access it. Just pray and give it to God. And I would add some wisdom from Pastor Hefner: whatever you give to God, don’t try to take it back from Him. In other words, if you’ve prayed to God about it, trust that He’s dealing with it. He heard you. If you can’t help but “worry” about it, then pray about it some more, and know that it’s not God keeping it on your mind and your heart. It’s God’s adversary - the wicked foe. It’s what the devil does, and he’s gotten quite good at attacking our peace.

Paul then tells us how we might live in that peace: devote your thoughts to the sorts of things that God would have you think about: whatever is true…honorable…just…pure…lovely…commendable…excellent…praiseworthy. None of those things should disturb our shalom. There’s definitely some wisdom in that. Of course, the measure of each of these things is the example of Christ, so don’t let the world give you twisted definition of any of these words.

The last few verses of this passage show us how Paul lives his own advice to the church. I know you were concerned about me, but you didn’t have to be… “for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.” When you live out what Paul has described in the last few verses, then nothing *will* bother you. Nothing will steal your joy. Nothing will make you anxious or afraid. Paul goes so far as to say “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” This is the verse that I think gets overused and possibly even misused. But Dr. Lenski suggests a different translation that I find very helpful: “For everything I am strong in connection with him who empowers me.” [Lenski, 890] I like that. “In connection with” rather than “through”. Being connected with the Lord who keeps empowering him, Paul always has the strength for everything in his life and his work. [Ibid.] It’s not a one-time change; it’s being and staying connected to Christ. Connected to the Lord in Word and Sacrament, and especially in prayer.

Brothers and sisters: I know that we in this church family believe that prayer is powerful, and it works. As we watch the world around us seemingly going down the drain, and we ask what we can do… here is your answer. We can pray. We pray on Sunday mornings. I think most of you are faithful in your own prayer lives. (If not, and you’d like help, I have some good resources to aid you in that…as does our Vicar…) But I would bet that all of us, myself included, have room to grow. If we’re going to live up to our Vision Points, more prayer will be needed - both by us, as well as for us. Soon we’ll be asking for volunteers to help with Drive-Thru Prayer again. I’d like to do better with gathering all of us around those who need prayer in our church family - please let us do that for you if you’re facing difficulty. At our Thanksgiving Service, we’ll do prayers for individual healing - please come and let us pray for you then also. As we grow in our lives of prayer, we will grow in our faith…we will grow closer to God. Our connection to our Lord will get stronger… and so will we.

And now may the peace of God which exceeds all understanding guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.