Joyful Living

2 weeks ago, just before Thanksgiving I was asked to preach at a friend’s church. I admit, since he asked the week of, I started thinking to myself, “well it’s thanksgiving so I’ll just find something in the bible that talks about that.” I used that classic text, Philippians 4-6, “rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” The funny thing is I started reading and I realize I actually didn’t know what Paul was talking about. As a good pastor I know we should rejoice in all circumstances, no matter what happens in life but why? What could possibly possess us to be joyful in the midst of suffering? Then I noticed “Rejoice IN the Lord”, this wasn’t a call to just be optimistic, but let your optimism flow from the spring that is the present reality of Jesus living in your life. When you have HIM then you can be joyful.

So, then I began to question verse 5, what is reasonableness and what does it mean to let it be shown? Why is it important to know that the Lord is near or on his way? I found out reasonableness meant gentleness, and what Paul wanted was for the community of God to spread their gentleness or love and let it be known. My commentary also told me since the Lord is at hand and he is a judge, we know to watch how we live presently because the judge is on his way. Makes sense but still not convinced. Like puzzle pieces I tried to put the concepts together, if in verse 4 we are supposed to rejoice and have joy because we have Jesus and his presence causes joy in our present reality, then verse 5 must be saying that those who have Jesus and his joy should let it be known in the form of gentleness and love. Then as I read verse 6 a flash of inspiration hit me, because the Lord is at hand, we do not need to be anxious about anything, knowing that the future is secure because Jesus, our judge and our savior who will make all things right is on his way. We can have joy, we can share love with people, and yet live without anxiety because Jesus lives presently in us and we have confidence in the future he will bring about.

Sometimes we just need to read the bible, not just a verse. Verses are made to help us organize the bible but if we treat each book as should be, we will better understand it. Philippians is a letter, a letter full of thanksgiving to a community. So, we need to read it as such if we are going to make sense of it. This made a world of a difference, not just for my sermon, but for my life because now I understand that we can pray and make supplications with thanksgiving, which is to say that our prayer lives can be defined and flavored with thanksgiving only after we are joyfully living in the present reality of Jesus, sharing this joy with others, and living without fear but confidence in our coming Lord. When we put all of these pieces together, then verse 7, which I had to include after my study, looks completely different. The complete picture shows us that this kind of joyful living which translates into a joyful spirituality, with joyful prayers naturally taps into the peace of God, which is a peace that surpasses our cognitive thoughts, whatever worries or anxieties we had, in faith, they are silenced with God’s peace.

Most impressing is that Paul says, God’s peace will “guard” your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Paul is using a military word to describe the action that “peace” will have in your life, it will guard and protect you, isn’t that ironic and yet powerful? This isn’t just a feel-good talk, but Paul wants us to walk so deeply in the reality of “Christ Jesus” that it changes us at the core of our being and translates to our everyday living. And it all starts with having joy in your heart, that joy that comes when you have a relationship with Jesus. For me this comes in a time where I’m trying to stop complaining as much, where I’m trying to not live so dissatisfied, where I carry a chip on my shoulder, where I, a choleric-melancholic, have always tried to be a happy person and have that joy in my heart but with much difficulty.

I’m the type of person who is usually more ok and chill then happy and go lucky, I love to laugh and enjoy being with people and yet when I’m on my own I can’t seem to express joy on my own. For my video gamers out there, I always felt more like a Riku from Kingdom Hearts, who embraced the darkness and though he now walks in the twilight, he doesn’t quite shine in the light as Sora does. For my anime watchers I always felt more like the power loving Sasuke from Naruto or proud Vegeta from Dragon ball Z but never the friend loving Naruto or the happy go lucky Goku. I have always longed to be like the sun and shine bright, but I feel more like the moon, which seems to shine brightly in the sky but only due to the reflection of the light from the sun. it has no light of its own. And perhaps maybe that’s just how it is. As humans tainted with sin. Maybe light doesn’t naturally flow out of us, maybe it all comes from God and if we connect ourselves to Him, if we allow our reality to be shaped by his reality, then maybe Paul’s words can come true in my life.

Maybe I can live with joy, not simply the characters who I want to be like, but as the person God has always desired me to be. I believe this truth can not only change my life, but the lives of everyone around me, and definitely yours. I’m 2 weeks in trying to take my spirituality to the next level and live with a joyful faith, it isn’t easy and requires true dedication, new opportunities to demonstrate that joy to those who hurt me come up every day and it’s challenging. Yet, I can feel the Spirit working and changing me little by little, so there is definitely hope, and I’m choosing to believe in the Word of God and hoping to share with you all more of my journey. I hope you’ll share some of yours with me too and we’ll all live joyfully together.