Rejoice!

# 48 2017 Dev. Philippians 4:4-8 Rejoice!

Paul wrote the Philippians to express his thankfulness to God and to the Philippians for the support they gave Paul partnering with him to promote the Gospel of Jesus. He also wanted to update his situation, he is in prison, yet he seeks to encourage them. Also, He is preparing them for the coming persecution and to warn them about the adulteration of the true gospel by the Judaizers

Today we are faced with the complete adulteration of Christian Holidays. Shopping on Thanksgiving day, Black Friday, it is all about stuff, the more the better and it is all about food and drink.  We all like a sweet deal and good food but what is our emphasis for giving thanks? To be fair there are people and organizations giving food and support to the poor during this time of year.  But the secular emphasis of Thanksgiving is being thankful for more stuff and that makes it difficult to be thankful at the lean times of life. If you are thankful when you have everything what are you when you have nothing? 

Paul is giving us a different emphasis in our passage: ⁴ “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! ⁵ Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. ⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. ⁸ Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things”. So far God’s Word.

Rejoice always! Always means we are to rejoice at all times and in all situations. How do we do that?

#1 be gentle and know that God is with us.

#2 Do not be anxious, be concerned but don’t go overboard with worry.

#3 “But in every situation by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving present your requests to God.”.

There is a promise that goes along with being thankful: “The peace of God that transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” The peace of God gets us through the hard times and God’s peace is with us at the good times. God’s peace is for Christians, even in good times, non Christians do not have God’s peace.  Like Paul says it is difficult to get our heads around God’s peace, we don’t understand it but it is a quietness inside that overwhelms the discord and uncertainty in our lives . We need to allow God’s peace to move from our minds and descend into our hearts.  True thanksgiving is a function of the Holy Spirt in our hearts overflowing into our lives. Amen!

 So what are we to be thankful for? I want to mention five thanksgivings, with #5 being the most important. 

 #1. We are thankful for creation, God’s glory and power is all around us,

 # 2 we are thankful for good health and for family, God brings our families to us, children are God’s blessings to us, and friends are God’s gift,

  #3 We are thankful for food there is so much of it here compared to other communities. We give thanks for good harvests and for all the stuff God blesses us with, education, jobs, housing, and transportation.

  #4 We are thankful for God’s Word, proclaimed in His Church and proclaimed in our lives.

 #5 We are thankful for God’s gift of love and the gift of salvation and that by God’s grace we are called to live out our salvation while in this life.

 Therefore, Paul says: “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” May the peace of God dwell in us today and every day!