10:30 am, Sun, Sept 24, 2023 ~ FBCA

(Exodus 16:2-15; Philippians 1:20-30) J G White

The joy of the Lord is my strength, said Ezra & Nehemiah (8:10). We’ve dipped into a NT Bible letter of joy today, hitting the first of four chapters in Philippians, Paul’s joyful letter. Read through, and notice how often the worlds ‘joy’ and ‘rejoice’ appear. Yet do you know the author’s situation when he wrote this? Paul was facing opposition against this new Christian movement, and opposition to him from within it! He wrote this letter from prison, somewhere in the Roman empire. It also sounds like he could face execution there - it was uncertain what was about to happen.

And his letter is joy-filled. Joy, in the face of life and death. Joy, in the face of serious persecution.

For us, persecution and pressure is about how we do life, our lives. It is not just about how we do our religious stuff. It is about having victory in terms of having a good attitude, doing our work well, being good citizens of earth when we shop and travel, being a good friend to others in our community, doing well as members of our immediate and extended family, and so on.

I keep thinking of being a well-rounded square. Remember, Jesus was a well-rounded square? When still a pre-teen, it was said he grew in wisdom and stature and in favour with God and people. That’s (1) his thoughts and emotions, (2) his physical self, (3) his spirituality, and (4) his social life. A well-rounded square.

So, are there barriers, or even enemies, of your emotional health? You may have daily challenges to handle, or traumas from your past. Are there any enemies of your physical well-being? There could be bad habits, hard circumstances, or diseases and injuries you face. How about dangers to your faith and God-relationship? I am not one to talk in terms of ‘spiritual warfare,’ but many people find this best describes the battles they have to be faithful and hopeful. Or are there challenges in your human relationships? This world is so ‘peopley’ and it is not easy to get along.

And there is a certain mortality to all of these: they will end here, one day. We have a sure hope in a new beginning, but there will be an end for this life of your brain, your body, your religion and your relationships. And how things turn out will not be as we first wanted. Will not be without tears. Will not be without scars.

Our Sunday Old Testament journey took us today to the needs of the Israelites in the early months of their time in the wilderness, headed for a Promised Land. They are very unhappy. This new-found freedom from slavery is no paradise, it has a bit of hardship. Not much food, for instance. They end up receiving this mysterious bread from heaven, ‘manna,’ each morning. And they get a flock of fresh poultry fly in to feed them evening by evening. As the months go on, this menu becomes tiresome - but at least they survive on this food!

Then, as the years - and decades - go by, these people all die off; their children and grandchildren get to the Promised Land. Faithful leader Moses does not even enter the Land; he died within view of it.

Many centuries later, a Christian declared that so many Old Testament people died in the faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. (Heb 11:13)

I wonder what promises we believers of today are seeing and greeting from afar, hoping but not yet experiencing. We die before some good and great things get here. It happened to those who went before us. If we grow into some Christian maturity, like the apostle Paul, we get to be joyfully at peace, on the edge of life and death, while things are incomplete in this life.

I hope you have all known people like this. Inspiring, giving, overflowing into your life.

I remember Roberta, a senior lady who was a very positive member of her Baptist Church in the countryside of Kings County. I remember Roberta as a person, at the end of her life, in hospital, being visited by young divinity students. She did more for them than they for her, as she told them what wonderful ministers they would be. She encouraged. It did not matter if she was going to make it or not. Her visitors mattered more to her.

I think of famed author and artist Joni Earickson Tada, who became a quadriplegic at age seventeen, not a chosen path, yet she has gone on to inspire millions by her life, her art, her writing and speaking. Another great author, Thomas R. Kelly comes to mind. A scholar, a missionary, a Quaker mystic, Kelley suffered a period of personal grief when his research for a PhD at Harvard University would not be accepted. Yet, out of that great disappointment, Kelly had a spiritual awakening. In a book, A Testament of Devotion, he wrote: if you slip and stumble and forget God for an hour, and assert your old proud self, and rely upon your own clever wisdom, don’t spend too much time in anguished regrets and self-accusations but begin again, just where you are.

Some of the biggest problems can be released by Christ, or transformed, or healed, or made good use of. Read the whole first chapter of Philippians and notice what really does not impact the heart of great preacher and pastor, Paul:

What does it matter if Paul is in prison?

What does it matter if some of the other Christian preachers are motivated by rivalry or envy or ambition?

What does it matter if Paul lives or dies?

These didn’t matter, to Paul. He was happy to see Jesus pointed to in all these circumstances. So may it be, in our lives now. So be inspired by people like Apostle Paul, ready and faithful despite every problem. Thanks be to God that we can be at peace, be joyful, be satisfied, even when everything is falling down around us.

I won’t quote it all here, but you likely have heard Rudyard Kipling’s poem ‘If.’

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

On it goes. Kipling concluded, If you can do such things, Yours is the Earth, and everything that’s in it. I’d say this all comes with believing and suffering with Christ, as Paul said. If you can do this, yours is eternity, and everything that’s in it.

In the midst of our mortal lives, there is joy, a divine joy. May you too find that sensible, positive perspective in which it does not matter if you live or die, nor if your own dreams live or die. All that matters is for the Light of the World to shine. And shine It will.