It Is Always Good To Be Joyful: A Sermon For The Third Sunday In Advent

It is Always Good to be Joyful

Philippians 4:4-9

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Philippians 4:4–9 NKJV

Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!

Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

Christmastime is supposed to be joyful. It is a season for mirth and Christmas parties. It is a time for buying gifts to show your love and respect. It is a time we sing “Joy to the World” and other Christmas Carols. It is a time of expectation of a better future. However, in many ways, the secular celebration of Christmas can be very disappointing. we feel this when we realize that someone we loved won’t be at the table with us this year. We feel isolated by the Coronavirus. Fear of the times adds to our discouragement. there is nothing more painful than to feel that we have to “fake it” and go along with the crowd with the celebration lest our vulnerabilities be exposed.

You should notice that I said the “secular” celebration of Christmas. There is, indeed, little to cheer about the current world situation and the economy. Christmas buying is likely to be diminished. there are those who want to replace “Christmas” with a secular winter holiday. So what is the Christian supposed to make of Christmas? Will we hear another sermon criticizing those who have an entirely materialistic view of Christmas, who have replaced Jesus with Santa Claus? These sermons get preached every year, and yet, next year we will recycle them. So perhaps it is time to re-evaluate our strategy and thinking about Christmas.

The first thing the Christian has to do is to realize the season of Advent is not about Christmas at all. It is about the return of King Jesus in glory rather than the arrival of a baby Jesus in Bethlehem. We do remember that H was born of the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem a little more than 2,000 years ago. There would be no Advent apart from the fact that He became flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary. We do celebrate this on Christmas Day. But this is not Advent. Advent is the time we prepare for the final event in world history, the return of Jesus Christ. this Jesus who is the Word become flesh came into this world. He performed signs and miracles. He taught us about Himself and the Kingdom of God. He died on the cross for our sin and was raised from the dead on the third day. He ascended back to the Father on the 40th day with the promise that He would return in the same way He left, with great glory. All these events are in history past. In history present, He is seated as the Father’s right hand to make intercession for us. In History future, He is returning to receive us unto Himself. It is in this we hope. We shall know the fullness of everlasting peace in the Kingdom. We know that we will rejoice there evermore. We shall love perfectly and feel love perfectly. These are the four themes of Advent we reflect upon. Today, we shall reflect on the theme of joy.

We read this morning a text from the Epistle to the Philippians written by the Apostle Paul. It would be helpful to relate the circumstances of the writing of the epistle. First of all, it was written at the very end of Paul’s life. Next to 2 Timothy, it may well be the next to last epistle he wrote before his execution. He is in prison in Rome, guarded by the Praetorian Guard awaiting an appeal to Caesar Nero. whether or not he was released from imprisonment for a short time and rearrested we don’t know. But the context seems to indicate that the possibility of his execution was a real possibility. Paul had spent his earlier imprisonment under as decent conditions as could be hoped. He was allowed visitors. but he was still in prison. He had spent a night in prison in Philippi which was not at all pleasant. The Philippians could remember the beating he took there. By this time, Paul’s confinement was probably under much more dismal circumstances. There was little to be joyful about, as far as this world would consider joyful. On top of this, there seems to have been some disagreement within the Philippian church. It was strife in the church which considered Paul more than the many wounds he suffered for the sake of the Gospel or even his impending death. So Paul had every reason to be gloomy. But he was not. This epistle has a very joyful mood to it.