Joy Squared

Introduction

The last month has brought some interesting times into our lives. With the end of October and beginning of November, I contracted COVID, forcing me to cancel a speaking engagement and all us to suspend our gathering together for a couple weeks. Once we recovered and I returned to work, I went out to my van that usually runs extraordinarily quiet and smooth, started it up and discovered that my discrete mini van sounded like a race car! Someone had stolen the catalytic converter. From a human perspective, it kind of messed the whole day up.

So there are these things happening, and all the while I’m conscious of the fact that the next text I’m to preach here at Pillar is Phil 4:4 “4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.” At some point in the midst of all this I made a comment about that to Lizzy, this is quite the text on the heels of what we’ve experienced, and I’m sure each of you could point to other circumstances in your life that you would have preferred were different.

Life doesn’t always go as we desire it to. I could point to one disaster or circumstance or problem after another that we’ve experienced, that my extended family has experienced, or that I know some of you have experienced. That’s us here today, but, as we’ve discussed time and time again, Paul himself was no stranger to difficulty, nor were people of the church he was writing too! Paul is in prison. The people are being persecuted. The normal response in the flesh would be one of anxiety, depression, isolation, a flight.

But Paul calls the people the something different. He calls them to exemplify a life that should seem odd and strange and noteworthy when we consider how humanity typically responds to such things.

Now, I know that Greek grammar isn’t particularly interesting for most people, so I don’t bring it up often. However, there are times when it is particularly helpful to explain a few things so that we can have a better understanding of the text.

The section that we are about to wade into is heavy with imperatives, or commands. Most of Paul’s letter is filled with what are called indicative verbs. There are declarative verbs. They state the action that is occuring. The majority of the verbs in the Bible are indicatives, which is what you’d expect. But every now and again you run into the imperative verbs. These are the verbs of command, where the speaker is instructing the listener to do something. Here in our passage is an unusual concentration of imperatives. There are several commands in short succession.

The key thing for us to remember as we deal with imperative verbs is that they are always connected to and flow out from the indicative verbs. Paul never gives a command for how we ought to live our lives, without first declaring something to us about the nature of who God is and what he has done.

This is important for us to remember because we can easily let ourselves get overwhelmed with what it is that Paul is telling us to do, forgetting that he isn’t commanding us in a vacuum as though we we wholly dependent upon our own strength to carry it out. The commands are outflows from what God has already done and is doing in and through you.

But when Jesus has done what he was done, and when he is at work in you the way Scripture says that he is, and because of what we have in the Holy Spirit who illumines and empowers us, how we handle difficult times should be different! There ought to be certain oddities about us because we are followers of Jesus Christ. We are indwelt with the Holy Spirit. Because we know that Jesus Christ is going to one day return.

So in the face of trying times, Paul gives us several commands which comprise what end up being odd responses to hardships. Today we will look at two: Joy and patient endurance.

Odd Response #1: Rejoicing!

Philippians 4:4 ESV

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.

Of course, we have observed that Paul has presented a consistent theme of joy throughout this letter, despite his troubles. I titled this trek through the book of Philippians “Divine Joy for our Earthly Journey” because of the overwhelming theme of joy that can only come from above as we walk this earth.

Paul speaks often of joy...

But do you really think he means what he says? Rejoice in the Lord Always? Always? Even when my catalytic converter is stolen? Even when I contract COVID? Even when Paul is in prison?

Yes even then. Paul’s words here are rather emphatic. He offers the initial command and then doubles down on it “I will say it again” rejoice! Just in case you were in the back of the room and couldn’t hear me, I’m going to say it again! Rejoice!

Easier said than done, right? I posted a picture of my underside of my van where the converter was missing on facebook and someone commented “Looks like another opportunity to trust your heavenly Father”, which is exactly correct. That’s exactly what that was. But it’s easy to type that on Facebook. It’s harder to actually do it isn’t it?

Often when we face commands in the Bible that we find difficult to follow and we get frustrated “easy for you to say Paul!” We ought to take a moment and take a step back to ask the question: How does he get there? How does he get there? That’s the critical question. Paul isn’t ignoring the world around him and living in a fantasy world. How does he get there when he’s in jail, when the people he’s loves are suffering.

This is where that information about indicatives and imperatives come in to play.

This is an outflow from everything that Paul has been talking about up to this point. Paul isn’t just screaming at us “Hey you. You look unhappy. Stop that. Be happy!”

No! Paul has been telling us that the one who began a good work will complete it until the day of Christ. He has been giving us perspective that often negative circumstances lead to incredible opportunities that we never would have had otherwise. He encourages us by showing us what Christ did for us, and the same that He endured and as a consequence he is exalted by the father. He unfolds for us how immeasurable valuable it is to know Christ and power of His resurrection, he point our eyes upward unto the cross and to our returning savior, noting that our citizenship is with Christ and that one day he is going to come for his own.

Its in that context that he then begins to conclude the his letter with the admonition: Rejoice! Yes, I will say it again Rejoice!

In many way, how could we have any other response?

And friends, this is going to make us different. This is an odd response to our troubles. We’re supposed to get mad. We’re supposed to be upset. When I was interacting with people about my converter, the most common response was “Doesn’t that just make you mad!” with one guy even go so far as to say “I’d just like to catch one. He’d be in the hospital one way or another” That’s how the world responds!

But when we live people who have the perspective of Scripture, we are going to stand out from the world.

This doesn’t mean that we turn a blind eye our hardships and stick our fingers in our ears, close our eyes and pretend like nothing is happening to us. That’s foolishness. Paul acknowledges the difficulties and the church faced. And yet, joy! Not because he was facing hardship. But because of what Christ had done and was doing even then in his life and the lives of others.

I happened to come accross this testimony from the book “The Hiding Place” by Corrie Ten Boom.

If you’re not familiar with her story, she was a Christian woman who helped hide and rescue Jews from the Nazis during the holocaust in WW2. She was caught and sent to the one of the concentration camps, and she recounts how she was challenged to rejoice always:

While in Ravensbrück concentration camp, Corrie ten Boom and her sister, Betsy dealt with dreadful conditions. This women’s labor camp “dorms” were crammed into three high trough like sleeping barracks with rancid hay as their bed. The cramped conditions and lack of basic sanitation lead to a lice and massive infestation of fleas. Corrie wondered how they could endure such a dreadful place. Betsy prayed and told her sister they must “give thanks in all circumstances”. ...But the filth and the fleas? Corrie wondered How she could possibly ever be thankful for the lice and the fleas? Several weeks later, one of the supervisors was called in their barracks to view something Betsy was working on. The supervisor refused because the place was crawling with fleas. Betsy then reminded her sister that it was the fleas that had allowed them so much freedom to form a bond with and pray and teach about Jesus to their entire barrack with little infringement from their captors because neither the supervisors or guards wanted to be in their barracks because of the lice and the fleas. This is when Corrie realized how she could be thankful even for a flea

And again. This will make us odd.

Odd Response #2: Patient Endurance

Philippians 4:5 ESV

5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand;

The second command is let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The word for reasonableness there is challenging to translate, and consequently our English bibles render it differenty. ESV says reasonableness, KJV says moderation, NASB says gentle spirit, NIV says gentleness, and the CSB says graciousness. Just all over the place. Here’s what two of the best lexicons have to say about this word:

to epieikes means that you’re

A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed. ἐπιεικής

not insisting on every right of letter of law or custom, yielding, gentle, kind, courteous, tolerant

in some contexts perhaps you might have the right to insist things be a certain way, but in your gentleness and courteousness, you yield to another’s wishes

Here’s another lexicon:

Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic Domains 88.63 ἐπιεικής, ές

pertaining to being gracious and forbearing

There is something being done to you that isn’t ideal. You have a choice. You can lash out. You can rip em up one side and down the other. make a change, but let everyone know that you’re not happy about it.

Or. You can epieikes. You can reasonable. Courteous. gentles. forbearing.

What Paul is getting at is this: You’re enduring hardship and its at the hands of those who reject Christ. How will you handle that?

Paul seems to be saying that we should be approaching this with the mindset of patient endurance. If we are approach life with a mindset of joy, even in the difficult things, then when we face hardship not only will be do it with joy, but there will be a reasonableness, a gentleness, a calmness, that is going to communicate something about what you believe.

If we fly off the handle and the slightest inconvenience, what does that communicate about what we believe? But if we are reasonable. Measured. Gentle. It shows that our hope isn’t in our circumstances. Our hope is in something else.

I like how one commentator put it: this is “a humble, patient steadfastness, which is able to submit to injustice, disgrace, and maltreatment without hatred or malice, trusting God in spite of it all”

Now again. Easier said than done, right? How do I face maltreatment, injustice, or disgrace with gentleness?

Remember how I said that Paul always grounds the imperative in the indicative? The commands in the declarations?

Look at the rest of the verse:

The Lord is at hand.

The Lord is near.

Now, there are two possible meanings of “near” and essentially two possible implications from Paul’s words.

First, by near Paul could mean physical proximity. I think of Jesus’ words as he gave us the great commission: “I am with you always, even to the end of the age” or in another place he said “I will never leave you nor forsake you”.

The second possible meaning refers to Christ’s return for his own. It’s an eschatological phrase. Christ’s return is near, it is at hand.

As I was reading and study this week, I came across two very different approaches to how we should understand the implications to this phrase. One viewed it as a warning: Act this way because God is watching you. He is near. He sees all, so even if there is no one else around to see your complaints, he does!

One one hand, this is certainly true. God does see all. But I have a hard time saying that this was Paul’s main point when he uttered these words. I don’t believe Paul is trying to guilt, shame, or manipulate the reader to certain behavior as if he is like Santa Clause “he sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake”. While God certianly does see and know all, that simply isn’t Paul’s point.

The second approach taken by Gordon Fee is a much better understanding of what Paul is doing. Fee writes:

“Since their present suffering is at the hands of those who proclaim Caesar as Lord, they are reminded that the true “Lord” is “near”. Their eschatological vindication is close at hand. At the same time, Paul is encouraging them to pray in the midst of their present distress, because “the Lord is near” in a very real way to those who call on him now” (Gordon Fee, NIC 408)

Even though we might face maltreatment, we can endure it with gracious gentleness because we know that the Lord is at hand! Jesus Christ is going to return. All will be set right. So we can live at peace because we know that even if it seems like the evil prosper, and the wicked get away with they evil, that won’t last forever. The Lord is at hand.

Even though we might face maltreatment, we can endure it with gracious gentleness because we know that the Lord is at hand! He is near! We can go to our Lord who is with us and find the grace we need for the moment.

Now, I admit that this can be a unique challenge. This is America. I’ve got rights! True. There are rights that supposed to be protected by the constitution, etc. Are we not supposed to fight for those when they are being taken away?

Paul is talking to Christians who are suffering for their faith, and about enduring that well.

Responding with reasonableness and gentleness doesn’t mean you don’t stand up for whats right. It doesn’t mean that you lay down and let people walk all over you.

It does mean that in our responses, we are measured and gentle.

Our current media is designed to make you angry. Angry sells. Marketers have discovered that statistically people are more motivated to action by anger than any other emotion. We saw this on the political right when President Obama was in office. We saw this on the political left when President Trump was elected. We see it again on the right with President Biden in office. We see it on both the right and the left in regard to how we ought to respond to the various issues surrounding COVID. Should you mask or not, get vaccinated or not, what medications should you take if you contract it, etc. People have very strong opinions, and understandable so. Media companies know if they can make you angry, they will get your attention and possibly your money. This is why so much of the media is so sensationalized.

But its not just media and politics. Here we are in the holiday season. There are many folks whose patience runs short as they run around and attempt to finish their Christmas lists. Our culture has assigned a name to the kind of person who is always asking for the manager or is complaining about this, that, or the other. I feel sorry for all the sweet, godly, Karens of the world, because of how that name is used today.

We are called to be gentle. We are called to be reasonable. Not only that, but all should be able to see our reasonableness. It should be evident.

Can you imagine this conversation.

“You must be a Christian”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because only Christians can take the abuse you do and still remain calm” or “because only Christians can figure out ways to keep their cool when stuff is falling apart”

“Well, I know my Lord is near. All wrongs will be righted one day when he returns so I don’t have to fret. I can go to Him with my concerns, so there is no need to get worked up.”

Sadly, I don’t believe this is the reputation of the broad Christian community today. Let’s change that. And again, it’s not just through sheer force of will that we produce these responses. It’s the outflow from the truth that we believe about Jesus Christ.

Joy. Gentle, Patient Endurance.

If our lives are marked by this, even though it doesn’t make our troubles disappear they do become more manageable.

If our lives are marked by this, we will be strange to a watching world, and that will provide additional opportunities for conversations about our Lord.

If our lives are marked by this we will demonstrate that we really believe what we say we believe.

If our lives are marked by this, we will be bring glory to the one who has given us everything.

Let’s Pray