“Joy in trials and suffering”
Read Philippians 4:4-7
The other day I was laying in bed snuggled all up in my nice warm blankets. It was a cold morning and I could feel the cold air against my cheeks. I could hear the wind blowing outside, I could hear the rain against the windows, and the thought comes into my head “why get out of bed and face the cold wet day and go to work to my cold office when I could stay snuggled up in my nice warm bed?”
I just didn’t want to get up, I didn’t want to face the day, I didn’t want to face the world, I just wanted to stay nice and snug in my nice warm bed.
I bet most of us have had mornings like this right? You just don’t want to get up; you want to stay nice and warm and relaxed in bed.
Winter is here, I know we have been having great weather, but winter is defiantly here, and with that comes the cold, the rain, and shorter daylight in the days. There is something about winter that can just naturally put a negative spin on life. You sometimes just want to stay in bed rather than face the world. Life can just naturally seem to go towards the negative side.
In fact the winter months are known by pastors as the months where we are most busy with pastoral visits. Winter is a dark time; it is a time where many people struggle. And this is not different for us as a body of Christ here at Papakura East. In our church body today there are people that are suffering, there are people that are struggling, there are people that are facing the trials of life, and there may be some who through life circumstances are beginning to doubt their faith.
On Tuesday I began to think and pray about some of these situations that people in our church are going through. And then I read this passage that God had placed on my heart, and I got really nervous. This passage seems so positive and full of life and I have to preach that to a mixed congregation where some people are really hurting.
But what we need to realise as we come to this passage is that Philippians was written to a suffering church. The church in Philippi was undergoing persecution, some were facing the possibility of death, in short they were suffering.
And Paul was not one to not know what suffering was like. We know from 2 Corinthians 11 that Paul had been put in prison, flogged, exposed to death, ship wrecked, stoned and continually abused all for the sake of the Gospel of Christ. In fact Paul wrote the letter to the Philippians from Jail where he awaited his possible execution.
So Paul, who was very familiar with suffering wrote to the church in Philippi who were also suffering. So for us today at Papakura East, whether life is good, or whether life is a struggle at the moment, I believe what Paul says here in verses 4-9 are so important.
Lets begin with what Paul says in verses 4-5:
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.
This passage is so easy to be misinterpreted, because our understanding of the word rejoice is different to the way Paul uses it. When Paul says rejoice in no way does he imply that suffering is good, or that we need to face suffering with fake smiles. You know running round ‘I’m so happy’ this is not what Paul is saying.
What Paul means by the word rejoice is that he knows that God is, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, accomplishing the good purpose of reconciling the world to himself. God has a plan, the plan is becoming complete, it is not finished yet, but has been started and is well on the way.
Story of my first Christian funeral:
These people at the funeral were sad, there were tears, but there was a joy there that I couldn’t explain. There was this joy that came from a family that knew the love of Christ and know that their loved one was now with Jesus.
One commentator says “Christian joy is not the temporal kind, which comes and goes with one’s circumstances; rather, it is predicated altogether in one’s relationship with the Lord, and is thus an abiding, deeply spiritual quality of life.”
So why is this joy we are to have in all circumstances so important to Paul?
Paul shows us why when he says in verse 5, Let your gentleness be evident to all.
Paul wants the church in Philippi to remember what God has done for them and to remember God’s master plan when they face suffering, because Paul knows this will affect the way they act in their suffering.
The church in Philippi was facing persecution, and Paul wanted them to respond to those who were persecuting them with gentleness. This is the same gentleness that is described of Jesus in 1Peter 23 which reads “When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.
Paul knew that how the Philippians responded to their persecution would show others what Christ is like. Paul mentions in Philippians 1:12 that his suffering is only to further advance the gospel. He then tells the Philippian church in chapter 2:15 that they are to ‘shine like stars in a crooked and depraved generation.’
We need to remember the same thing. How we act in times of suffering show others what Christ is like:
Story of Marion: (with permission)
It is easy to love and praise God when all of life is going good. But it really takes faith to love and praise God when all of life goes to pieces. But this is when the world will really watch how we act, and this is when we can really let the light of Christ shine.
But there is encouragement to this, Paul finishes this sentence with The Lord is near.
There are two implications from this phrase the lord is near:
The first covers what I have really been thinking about lately in regards to what God has done for us. He came down to our world as a human being, and he took the sin of the world, my sin, your sin, everyone’s sin, and he took it all upon himself, and then he suffered.
He suffered like no one has ever deserved because he was perfect, and he didn’t deserve to suffer. But he did suffer.
Then he rose from the dead, showing us that death no longer has a hold on us. We have life in and through Jesus Christ. But not only that but Jesus gave us his Sprit which dwells in our hearts, guiding us, comforting us, strengthen us… the Lord is near.
The second implication is one of the future. Than no matter how much we suffer we need to remember that Jesus will one day return and bring about his new kingdom which will be perfect. This is the ultimate goal, our spot one day in our heavenly fathers house.
No matter what happens for us here, the best is still to come! We may suffer here but God promise us a time when we will never have to suffer again, The Lord is near.
The second thing Paul says is found in verses 6-7 which read:
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Paul wants us to have utter dependence and express complete trust in God. In situations where other people in the world fret and worry believers in the Lord submits their case to him, knowing that God is in control.
Paul is not trying to make light of the trouble which people face, rather he knows that God is greater than all their troubles.
This is what Paul means when he uses the word rejoice:
For Paul the outcome is worth it, because if you do all this, if you do submit and trust in the Lord you will have the peace of God which transcends all understanding.
The best way to explain these verses is to share a part of my life:
Cancer scare story:
Our human mind is just that, it is human. And so often we see things and we think we no best. But we sometimes forget that God created the world and he knows everything. Therefore when we do bring our worries and frets to the Lord, and trust that he knows what he is doing, it does bring about a peace in God that is unbelievable.
God is powerful and higher than ourselves, so when we pray we get his peace. This doesn’t mean that he will answer our wishes, you know, my Dad is still not healed, we still go from month to month wondering what is going to happen.
But we don’t have to have all the answers or everything figured out to trust God, and peace comes because we are putting our faith in a God who is in control.
It is amazing what can happen when you put your trust in God through prayer, and we should be continually doing it…
In our passage today Paul is saying that sometimes life is going to be hard, we are going to face struggles, but Paul’s wants us to know that when we are in these times of pain we need to remember through pray to put our faith and trust in the Lord because he is near. He is walking right beside you and he knows what suffering is like because he took the worlds sins upon himself and got crucified for it, and now his Spirit dwells in your heart. The Lord is near.
But Paul also wants you to remember that it is not always about the here and now, Jesus when through that death so that one day we can be with him in heaven. We are promised that we will one day be with Jesus in a perfect world where no-one will ever suffer again.
Paul wants us to know that God is in control, and through Jesus he has a plan, and although we still face times of suffering, the plan is in motion and being worked through. God is bigger than us, and when we trust in Him, and we trust in His plan, we are promised a peace that transcends all understanding and will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
In all life situations we celebrate God with a Spirit of joy, thanksgiving and trust, because the news of the gospel is the most amazing story ever. The news of God becoming human and suffering on behalf of us so we can have life is worth celebrating. That was how Paul could rejoice even when he faced execution.
So this is the challenge for us today. To remember God’s amazing grace and celebrate God with a spirit of joy every second of every day and remember that the God of universe is near, he is by your side and he promises he will never leave you.
Presented By: Jeremy Selfe