Advent

When we think of the first advent what are some of the things that come to mind.

Advent means to come or coming. Not just of anyone but the coming of Jesus. And largely this advent season centers around the first advent. The first advent is about the long awaited Messiah, the coming hope of Israel. the incarnation of the eternal Son of God, his birth of the virgin Mary, his coming to save his people from their sins. These are great and worthy things to consider and meditate on and should not be forgotten outside of this time of year. As a matter of fact they are integral to the gospel message. First advent should always be near and dear, and especially at this time.

But this isn’t the only advent. In fact, we could say there are three advents that Scripture mentions. We could say that the entirety of world history revolves around these three advents. We’ve mentioned the first, does anyone know the second. The second is the coming of the Holy Spirit. The long promised coming of the Spirit to enter and equip God’s people. To save and spread the good news out to the uttermost parts of the earth. To indwell his people as the new temple of God forever.

And we know the third and last advent is the second advent of our Lord Jesus Christ. Which is what we want to consider in two sermons from our text. But what I don’t want to do is neglect the other two. I actually hope to show how intimately connected they are to one another.

Lets read our text.

Verse 16-18a

Now these three commands fit together quite well. They are found together in

Philippians 4:4 “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!”

Philippians 4:6“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

We’ll consider each of them separately and them bring them all together.

Each one of these verbs is modified emphatically. By putting the modifier in front. Always rejoice. Unceasingly pray. In all give thanks.

Emphatic and immensely important. This is what the inward disposition of the Christian is to be. This is where your heart should be. This is where you should be before God. It is possible to pay lip service in regard to these things. But God is after much more than that. Some of this will inevitably be displayed outwardly, but what God has for us through the apostle Paul here is much more than outward, it is to affect the entire man before God. This is one of those texts that each of us has to consider in our own souls.

Beginning with Joy.

“Rejoice always”

Now the Christian has innumerable things to be joyful about. He has been given immense blessing. If we speak of temporal blessing’s they are just the creme on top, only secondary. The Spiritual benefits are the highest reason for joy. The Christian is according to the Scriptures one who has been loved with an eternal love. Called in time and space by the effectual regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. He is one who has been freely justified. We are adopted sons and daughters of the living God. We are Sanctified and are moving confidently and expectantly to the hope of glory, the new heavens and new earth. That is reason for great joy is it not? But that’s not it. That doesn’t encompass the aim of our text here. The Thess church is suffering.

1 Thessalonians 1:6 “You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit,”

1 Thessalonians 2:14 “For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, for you also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews,”

1 Thessalonians 3:4 “For indeed when we were with you, we kept telling you in advance that we were going to suffer affliction; and so it came to pass, as you know.”

That is the context of these commands.

What if I started the previous comment with the following. We have so much to rejoice over. The constant trials that come upon us, the wrestling with indwelling sin, the persecution that comes with your Christianity, numerous burdens, the gift of suffering, being on the verge of martyrdom, etc. Would we look at that as reasons to be joyful? We don’t always think that way and I believe there are two reasons. First, we don’t see suffering as a gift or embrace it as a promise of the Christian. At worst we might see it as a curse, at best we think that some how we are going to escape it. That it wont come to us.

Second, we don’t understand what Christian joy is. We think of joy as always smiling and always being peppy, or always full of charisma. Sometimes these are the expression, but they are in no way the measure.

Listen to one writer:

For Paul, a life of thanksgiving and prayer did not mean walking around with the light feeling that accompanies good times, or plastering a smile over inner turmoil. Instead, he trusted that the Holy Spirit would enable Christians to give thanks to God regardless of the circumstances. Pauls letter to the Philippians provides a good example of him putting his own teaching into practice. Writing from prison and expecting to be killed, he gives thanks to God (1:3-14) and asks the Philippians to do the same (4:4-6), not because he expects things to go well, but because he believes Christ will be exalted by his death or his life (1:20-21).

Here’s the picture: an upbeat man, bouncing out the door to work with a smile on his face. But deep down no true joy. In his heart he’s not content. Dissatisfied with family, work, etc. On the other hand a man walks out to go to work slowly, a little bit heavy footed, a contemplative look on his face.

Get those bad vibes away from me. Is what they say today.

But inwardly he is processing and trusting the Lords goodness in some dark providential circumstance. The world sees these two and obviously concludes the one is happy and joyful and the other is depressed and angry. We see through different lenses, at least we ought to. Because It’s not always what it looks like. But what does the theologian of glory say? The opposite of reality, because he looks on the outward appearance. The theologian of glory despises Christ. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. But ultimately; why was Jesus such??? for the joy set before him he endured the cross. Joy is forward looking. joy sees beyond current circumstances, beyond the flesh. Joy has a view toward the invisible eternal kingdom already inaugurated, soon to be consummated.

Now the opposite can be true. That is, someone can be down in the dumps and be spurning Gods providence, and someone can be bouncing off the walls while trusting the same. But we don’t want to fall into the error of thinking that outward appearance tells the whole story.

“pray without ceasing”

Now this is what the joyful man or woman does this is one of the wings by which this dove of Christian joy soars. It knows it can’t do it alone. It surrenders its weak faith to God and implores him to sustain him or her. Can any man or woman pray without ceasing? No. Paul even tells us that that couldn’t be because he and his companions were working ceaselessly.

1 Thessalonians 2:9 “For you recall, brethren, our labor and hardship, how working night and day so as not to be a burden to any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.”

But how could they have been working night and day if they were praying night and day?

1 Thessalonians 3:10“as we night and day keep praying most earnestly that we may see your face, and may complete what is lacking in your faith?”

So what is Paul saying? There is no tension for Paul.

To the first two texts, I believe it’s every opportunity we had. Every opportunity we had we labored with our own hands in order not to burden you. In the same way we prayed for every opportunity for opportunity to come to minister to your needs.

I think similar with our text but perhaps a bit with a bit more strength to the command. Weirsbe says it well:

“Pray without ceasing” does not mean we must always be mumbling prayers. The word means “constantly recurring,” not continuously occurring. We are to “keep the receiver off the hook” and be in touch with God so that our praying is part of a long conversation that is not broken. God knows the desires of the heart (Ps. 37:4), and He responds to those desires even when our voice is silent.

Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 189.

To add to that, we should always be in a Spirit of prayer. Listen again to Hebert on this verse:

The adverb does not mean uninterrupted praying but rather constantly recurring prayer. But the command means more than "never give up praying" (Goodspeed) in the sense that they must not give up the practice of prayer. Rather, he is asking for a life that is pervaded with the spirit of unceasing prayer. The practical demands of life make it impossible for them to give themselves to constant praying, but they are to live in a spirit of constant communion with God. In the Christian life the act of prayer is intermittent but the spirit of prayer should be incessant. "It is not in the moving of the lips, but in the elevation of the heart to God, that the essence of prayer consists." But such a spirit of prayer will manifest itself in repeated utterances of prayer to God. "The spirit of prayer is only known by constant secret acts of prayer."

He who lives in a spirit of unceasing prayer will ever be ready and fit to approach God in worshipful prayer. His praying is not limited by time or place. He is not restricted to set hours of prayer. Neither is he restricted to any specific place of prayer, "but the believer is not in a right place if he cannot continue to pray there.'

We need to be clear.

This is not an excuse to be praying in your head all the time, though sometimes you and I do that, and that’s good. But verbally praying and uttering up to God your requests in joyful thanks. This takes you off of your task in other words(Praying). When engaged in prayer there is no multi tasking.

“in everything give thanks”

This is the other wing by which the Christian dove of joy soars as one writer puts it.

And it’s just as much startling and emphatic as the other two. And you might think at this point: this is impossible, who can fulfill these commands? You’d be right, because it is, at least in and of ourselves. Augustine 1600 some years ago in a controversy with Pelagius is considering this very reality. God asks us to do things that are impossible for our fallen nature to do. What was his conclusion. He said; “Command what you will O Lord, command the impossible” but that’s not it, because Augustine know’s God, he knows the Power of God, the sovereignty of God. So he says; “Command what you will O Lord, but give that which you command.” Give me the grace and faith to believe. Give me the grace to be joyful and thankful in every time and circumstance. I don’t have it Lord but you can give it.

“for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus”

And if this is your will for me in Christ Jesus. Your tender and sweet will toward me in Jesus that even in my suffering I am suffering as yours in Christ. Or your will for me as your child to do well pleasing in your sight. Whatever it is Lord, I’m confident you’ll give it.

Outside of Christ, you have nothing to be joyful about, no expectation that your prayers will be heard, and no reason for thanks outside of physical and temporal provisions. But in Christ, there are infinite reasons for every command and infinite resources to live those out.

Lets pray.