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. - Philippians 4:4-7, The New International Version, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House) 1984.

Dear Friends in Christ,

There are at least two things I can think of that are more prominent at this time of the year than any other…

One is an emphasis on peace.  Echoing what the angels told the shepherds on the night of our Lord’s birth, Christmas is to be a time of "peace on earth and good will toward men."  The peace that the world emphasizes, however, is not a spiritual peace.  What is wistfully envisioned is an earthly peace – meaning freedom from fighting and conflict and war.  Unfortunately, the call for this kind of peace rings hollow. As long as there is sin in the world there will never be a perfect, outward peace.  We have only to look at the newspaper or listen to the news to know how true this is…

The second great emphasis at this time of the year has to with gifts and giving.  You may recall that Christians started the tradition of giving gifts to each other as a reflection and reminder of the gift God gave to the world in the person of His Son.  However, so prevalent has the idea of giving and receiving become that for many (and certainly for those outside of Christianity) giving and receiving is the activity that defines Christmas… And the miraculous fact that God became flesh is either completely forgotten, or at best, a minor footnote to the celebration.

Our text for this morning combines both of these prominent features of the season. Paul talks about the gift of true peace that is ours. Turning to our text, let us consider this

True peace.  Sounds like a good deal.  Sounds like something everyone would want.  Paul begins his exposition on this subject with these words of encouragement: "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again, rejoice!"

These are obviously the words of a happy man (and we’ll see why in just a minute).  But we might wonder to ourselves if Paul would sound like this if, for instance… the memory of past sins weighed heavily on his soul, or… his loved ones were suffering, or… he was personally going through some hard times, or… he was uncertain about the future.  If any or all of these things applied to Paul, could he still speak like this?

Let’s examine his situation.  The fact of the matter is that the memory of past sins did haunt Paul.  Although he knew and rejoiced in his forgiveness, he also never forgot that at one time he had been an enemy of Christ and an active persecutor of His people.  And the fact of the matter is that Paul’s Christian friends in the missions he started were suffering persecution because of their faith, something that troubled Paul deeply.  And the fact of the matter is that Paul himself was going through some personal hard times – he wrote this letter to the Philippians from prison.  And the fact of the matter is that Paul was uncertain about his future.  At the time of this writing he was awaiting a sentence that could easily have meant his death…

Yet in the midst of these circumstances Paul says, "Rejoice in the Lord!"  It is evident, then, that the outward circumstances in Paul’s life did not determine the inner condition of his mind and heart.  And herein lies a significant truth about the Christian life: True peace is not associated with outward circumstances.  Paul plainly knew in his head as well as from personal experience in life that being a Christian was no guarantee of peace from trouble.  What Jesus Christ does is give us peace in the midst of trouble.  So in spite of his situation, Paul still knew peace.

What was the basis for such peace?  As we scan the Book of Philippians a number of things present themselves.  Such as… being a child of God and knowing the Gospel message (sins forgiven through the atoning work of Christ)… having a purpose in life as a missionary… knowing that death would only result in heaven (remember his words in the first chapter of this book?  "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.")… knowing that no chains could prohibit his access to God through prayer… and knowing that everything was ultimately under God’s control.

All these things contributed to Paul’s peace.  And all these things are what he has in mind when he tells us today to "rejoice in the Lord," because we have the same peace-providing Lord as he did…

So, what is the secret to having and experiencing a true and lasting peace?  It is knowing God, what He has done for us, what He continues to do for us, and what He will do for us in the eternal future.  This produces our ability to rejoice.  But that’s not all it leads to. Inner peace also produces an outward attitude and spirit. Paul speaks of this as our text continues:

"Let your gentleness be evident to all."  The original word for "gentleness" is hard to translate from the original Greek of the New Testament, because in addition to gentleness it also implies kindness, consideration, graciousness and generosity.  One Bible commentator suggests the term "big heartedness."  Christians can be big-hearted because we have a great big Savior who resides there, and as we continually reflect on our connection with Christ the peace inside us shows up on the outside as well…

There is an old East Indian proverb that may help explain what Paul is telling us here.  It equates life to a full glass of water or a cup of coffee and says that whatever a person is full of, when he is bumped, it will spill over the sides.

Interesting way of putting it, wouldn’t you say?  We live in a world that militates against inner peace and contentment.  The signals we are constantly being sent in a materialistic world are that bigger equals better and more equals happier.  (And if you don’t think this has made inroads into the Christian community, try listening to children talk among themselves after the holidays.  They will often gauge whether they had a good, bad or mediocre Christmas by the amount of things they got.)

We live in a world where we are told to set lofty goals and never stop striving until we accomplish them.  We are told that the key to having everything is to simply be better organized or maximize our use of time, and there are 1700 different day planning systems and books on the market that promise to help us do it…

And what has all of this produced?  A lot of people who are filled to the brim with stress and unmet expectations.  And when they get "bumped" by unplanned events or unexpected bills or matters that take more time than fits into a down-to-the-minute schedule, what’s really inside of them spills over on the sides.  And it comes in the form of anger or resentment toward others or strained marriages or depression or a chronically crabby disposition.  And if the people to whom this is happening are Christians (us!), we are far from letting "our gentleness be evident to all."

Paul links the outward evidence of gentleness to the inner peace of knowing, believing and trusting the One True God.  This knowledge, faith and confidence grows only in the rich soil of God’s Word.  Consequently, to the extent that they need to, these words of Paul serve as an encouragement to each of us.  If, when we are "bumped," the wrong things are spilling over on those around us – maybe it’s because we’re not filling ourselves and our lives with the right stuff…

As our text goes on Paul tells us another reason why we can rejoice and be big hearted: "The Lord is near."  We can view this little statement in three different ways.

The first is in respect to Jesus’ Second Coming.  "The Lord is near" fills us with peace because the day may come very soon when we will be with Him in heaven forever, free from all this world’s trouble and pain.  With that to look forward to, we cannot help but be big hearted to others.

A second way is this: "The Lord is near" with His presence. God reassures us of this when He says, "Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you," and "Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."  God’s big heartedness in the form of His abiding presence moves us to be big hearted toward others.

A final way reminds us of the season we’re in.  Soon we will celebrate the miracle of God made flesh.  Soon in our mind’s eye we’ll travel once again to Bethlehem and peek into the manger.  There lies Immanuel: "God with us."  He is near.  Let us rejoice and be big hearted.  How can it be any other way?

Thus far we have seen what true peace is: knowing Jesus Christ.  We’ve also seen what true peace leads to: joy and big heartedness.  Our text now concludes with practical instructions on how to maximize and maintain the true peace that is ours.  "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."  Let’s break this passage down…

"Do not be anxious about anything..."  Paul is not speaking about planning for the future to the best of our ability.  What he is referring to is ulcer-forming worry and fearfully looking ahead as if God is not in the picture.  In essence, Paul says that the Lord has broad shoulders.  And we are to use them…

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything…"  As Christians we can operate under this rule of thumb: If something is big enough to worry about, it is then big enough pray about.  The reverse is also true.  If we think something is not big enough to pray about, than it’s also too small to worry about.

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition…" Prayer is communication with God.  Petitions are specific requests as opposed to vague generalities.  In other words, God invites us to tell Him what’s on our hearts and minds.

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving… present your requests to God."  Thanksgiving implies humility and recognition that God’s will is best.  We must never forget thanksgiving as part of our prayers…

If, then, there is gratitude in our hearts as we recognize what God has done for us, AND the joy within us naturally shows itself in big heartedness (service), AND we keep a constant line of communication going with God above through prayer… THEN the conclusion Paul draws is that the result will be a true, lasting peace…

"And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."  This is a guarantee.  Isaiah spoke in a similar way when he wrote: "You (God) will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you."

This peace of God is ours.  It is the peace of sins forgiven.  It is the peace of knowing God is in control.  It is the inner quiet so many in the world are looking for but can only be found in knowing Jesus Christ.  This peace, as one Christian author put it, is "the smile of God reflected in the heart of the believer."

And just as great as what this peace is, is what this peace does.  It guards our hearts and minds through the faith we have in Jesus Christ.  We are secure in it despite the despair and dire predictions of the world around us.  We are secure in the midst of trouble or hardship.  Why?  Because the Christian of faith and prayer has entered an impregnable fortress – and the name of that fortress is Christ Jesus, the Prince of Peace.

So… Christmas cards talk about it and people long for it.  But it is more than just a dream or a wish or an ideal.  Paul’s Advent message to us today is that true lasting peace, joy and happiness can be had – in Christ Jesus.

Therefore may the knowledge of what God has done for us… the big heartedness and joy it naturally produces… and the security it provides… assemble within each of us the ultimate Christmas gift: "The peace of God that passes all understanding."  Amen.