When You Suffer, Rejoice! (Philippians 4:4-13)

When You Suffer, Rejoice!
A sermon based on Philippians 4:4-13
Sunday, October 5, 2008 – Pentecost 21A 

Oxymoron's seem to defy common sense. How can it be icy and hot? How can the shrimp be jumbo? How can you have an open secret? Can silence be deafening? How do you act natural? How do you have well-preserved ruins? Is it even possible to expect the unexpected?

One English oxymoron captures well some confusing counsel of the apostle Paul: Bittersweet. How can something be both bitter and sweet at the same time? How can one possibly rejoice while they're suffering and in pain? How can one find contentment when they hate the situation they're in? This morning the apostle Paul tells us the secret in Philippians 4:4-13… 

^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 everything, 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, 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. ^9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you ^10 I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you have been concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. ^11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. ^12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. ^13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength. 

Paul knew what it was to be in need. Ridiculed and taunted, persecuted and hunted down as a fugitive, scourged and flogged, beaten and stoned almost to death, Paul knew what it meant to suffer for the sake of the gospel. And he knew what it was like to be at both ends of the economic spectrum. He knew what it was like to have lots and to be well fed. But also knew what it was like to be hungry, in need and in want.

Now he experienced the latter, sitting in prison, locked up, held against his will for daring to share the gospel! Man! You'd think if anyone had a right to grumble and complain it would be the apostle Paul. But what does he say?

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! ...I rejoice greatly in the Lord!

We hear no whining, no complaining. Paul didn't hold a pity party. Instead he rejoiced and fixed his thoughts on all the blessings he had in the Lord! He thought about what was noble, right, pure, lovely, and admirable. 

Rejoice, huh? Does that thought sometimes seem a bit foreign to you? When the economic crisis is not just national news, but affects your checkbook, when things at home aren't exactly peaceful, when the doctor has to give you bad news, rejoicing isn't always our first instinct.

Yet, do we ever really have anything to complain about? After all, we deserve hell for our sin. Anything short of torment and misery is a blessing from God. And he's given us so much more! Most, if not all, of us have a comfortable place to sleep at night. We have more than enough food to eat and so many blessings that one of our biggest  problems is storage!

In spite of our problems and our suffering, you and I have been blessed tremendously and have many reasons to rejoice. But we don't, at least, not always. In fact, we often complain about a particular situation, about our woes or our lot in life. And we grumble and whine even to God. "Why do you let this happen to me? Why do you let me suffer? Why don't you act?" 

Back in high school I worked at the local grocery store under a manager that was easily 280 pounds, very little of which was fat. This guy was huge. He worked out twice a day and watched carefully what he ate. One day he called me into the office to talk about my request for the following Sunday off because I was on the usher schedule. He wanted to talk about my church. We didn't get very far into the conversation before he confessed to me, "I don't go to church. I'm ticked off at God. You see, all I've ever wanted to do in life was be a professional body-builder. But a serious injury a few years back ended my bodybuilding career early. Why would God let that happen? Why would he end my dreams like that?"

It was a bit intimidating for a scrawny high-schooler to tell a guy three times his size he was being a baby, but recognizing the opportunity to witness I told him, "You know, you kind of sound like a toddler who's angry with mom for not giving him a candy-bar. God has blessed you with so much, man! For the most part, you're still a very healthy guy. You have a good job, a loving wife, and best of all, a Savior from sin. But that's not enough." He didn't beat me up. He told me I could have Sunday off and told me to get back to work. A few weeks later he was promoted to another store and I never saw him again.

But later I realized that the truth was that I needed to hear my own advice. And I still do. When things don't go my way, I too fail at being content with what God's given. And instead of rejoicing in those awesome blessings, I whine and complain about what I don't have… still. What ingratitude! What a whiner, what a baby I am! For such lack of appreciation in God's blessings, I deserve t have God strip them all away. I deserve to be given something to really whine about. I deserve hell. And so do you. 

But I don't get what I deserve. And neither do you. Instead of a war with God that would be well deserved, we get peace with God. Paul said, "And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

How can we have peace with God when we deserve his wrath? Through Jesus. God blamed Jesus for all our whining and complaining. He blamed him for our ingratitude. And because Jesus never complained, even when he was going to hell on the cross for sins he didn't commit, and gave that perfect record of perfect gratitude to you and me, God sees us as sinless and holy, always grateful, and always rejoicing.

And so, you and I have a peace with God so great that we can never fully grasp it. It transcends our understanding! Our sins are erased! Our guilt is removed! Hell is averted! And heaven is our prize! We have peace with God! And we know that "the God of peace will [continue to] be with [us]!" And this peace with God is what enables us to rejoice… always! Even when we're suffering! 

This is the secret to being content: It's not just, "Count your blessings! Have a positive outlook on life! Think happy thoughts!" No. On our own, there is nothing happy to think about. But the ability to be at peace, to be content, and to think of noble, pure, and admirable things in the midst of trying circumstances or while enduring pain does not come from within ourselves, from our determination, or our strong will, but, "[We] can do everything through him who gives me strength."

This verse is perhaps one of the most misquoted verses of the Bible. "We're down 50 to zip with 2 minutes left on the clock, but "I can do everything through him who gives me strength." All the doctors say I will never recover and that this is fatal. But I know I can beat it because, "I can do everything through him who gives me strength." I don't have two pennies to rub together, but that mansion down the street will be mine one day because, "I can do everything through him who gives me strength."

No! That's not what Paul's saying! Look at the verse in context! Paul isn't saying that through Jesus he'll be a winner in this life and everything will go his way. In fact, quite the opposite! The "everything" that he can do is talking about being content when nothing goes his way. Through Christ, who gave him strength, Paul could rejoice even when he was locked up in prison. He could rejoice when he was hungry. He could rejoice when he was beaten and abused. He could rejoice in the Lord always! And so can we… 

We can rejoice always, because our joy is based not on the ups and downs of this life, but on a certain fact that can never change: We have peace with God—a peace that goes beyond all understanding! Our sins are forgiven! Our God watches over us always, promising to work all things for our good! We know that the God, not of anger or wrath, but of peace will be with us! We have no reason to ever be anxious about anything, but can pray to God at any time and present our requests—and our thanks—to him! And knowing that in Christ even death is gain for us who believe (cf. 1:21) we know the secret to being to being content and we can rejoice in the Lord always!

And as we rejoice in the Lord, we can't help but express our joy, not just in our words and our songs and our prayers! Not just once a week on Sunday mornings! But every hour of every day! We'll let our gentleness, our patience and our generosity be evident to all—to neighbors, to co-workers, to friends and enemies alike! We'll give generously to the work of spreading the gospel, just like the Philippians did! We can and we will fix our thoughts on all that is noble, right, true and admirable. In other words, we'll fix our thoughts on the things of God, staying connected to him in his Word.

And the more we do, the more we'll be able to rejoice no matter what suffering this sin-filled life can dish out! We'll be able to rejoice always because we know that no matter how we might suffer, we have "the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, " and it "will guard [our] hearts and [our] minds in Christ Jesus." Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" Amen!