Philippians 3:8-14
Lately, I’ve talked some about how I don’t really enjoy flying. I will go, and it isn’t a huge deal, but I tend to get nervous. But, there is one think that I LOVE about flying. It’s the sound of the wheels of the plane touching the ground. It’s a powerful moment, marked by that beautiful, ERRCH sound. Try it with me, ERRCH.
Now, I want you to think of that sound as we look at the words from our passage in Philippians. This is a letter that the Holy Spirit worked through Paul to write to the Christians living in Philippi so many years ago. He wrote to the church for a number of reasons. He wanted to thank them for their generosity, he wanted to remind them of the beauty of the Gospel. But I think, most of all, Paul wrote to encourage the Christians there. They were being persecuted, and over-run by false teachers of all kinds, and facing difficult times in general. And I think we all struggle with this, but they were facing a real temptation to leave behind the very basic, and central teaching of the Gospel (The Death of Christ for our sins, and his Resurrection from the Dead) in favor of other ideas that were more popular, or easier for their culture to accept.
It certainly wasn’t an easy time for the church. BUT, what is a little shocking, is how much one Greek word (or derivation of it) comes up over and over again in the book. It is the word, “CHAI-RETA” Try saying it. You know what you just said? “REJOICE!” It’s actually how Greeks greet one another still today. Isn’t that wonderful, instead of just saying,”Hello,” they actually see one another and say, REJOICE! I know you, and I see you, and I am rejoicing because of it.
And that fits with God too. REJOICE, I know God, and REJOICE, God knows me. And that sound of the word Rejoice, is kind of like that sound of the wheels of the plane hitting the ground. It is the sound Joy, living Joy, touching down on real life. Even though, often times, the times, and places, and circumstance of the runways of our lives are pretty rough, and pretty dangerous. It’s not easy to have the Joy we know in our heads, land on our hearts, and get played out in real life.
I want to illustrate this with a little quiz a friend of mine from Seminary (Scott F. Abel – Concordia Pulpit Resources 2010) wrote on this very topic. All answers are True or False. And just for the record, none of these is any kind of trick question. Jesus Christ went to the cross to destroy death and to give you the gift of eternal life. “True,” you say. True or false: Because of what Jesus did for you on the cross, your sins are forgiven, you are covered in the righteousness of Christ, you are declared holy and just before the throne of God. “True,” you say. True or false: On the day of resurrection you will experience never-ending joy and peace as you stand face-to-face with your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. “True,” you say.
Awesome, you are batting 1.000! But then there are more questions. If you know all this other stuff, why do you worry so much about the future? Why do you get upset about criticism? Why are you still unhappy with your achievements in life, or you situation? Why do you think about all the stuff you DON’T have, or how much money you have, or whatever?
You were off to such a great start, what happened? Now I don’t say this as one who is judging you, but one who needs to hear these words too. I think sometimes, (us, but not JUST Lutherans) we’re really good at knowing the answers to the quiz, knowing the head stuff, but sometimes, we struggle with the living out of the hope we have in Christ. It’s not easy stuff to know, but it’s even harder to DO!
And this is why the Holy Spirit gave Paul these very words, and why they are so important for us. They are helpful for a couple of reason. They help to redefine what it means to know God and to be known by God. And these words encourage us to get out of the way of God having his love, his grace, the faith he gives us, shining through our lives. But most of all, these verses help us to understand what JOY really is. It’s not about knowing a definition, or an explanation, but it’s all about knowing God, knowing what Christ has done for you, and knowing that God knows you, and loves you.
This is an important distinction. And Paul wastes no time getting to the point. We read in verse 8, “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.” This fits in with the larger theme of the book of Philippians found in chapter 4, “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, Rejoice!”
Awesome words, no doubt. But truthfully, when I read those words, part of me thinks, “really, rejoice ALWAYS, seriously?” Sometimes I don’t give that plane full of Joy very good places to land. I don’t find it easy to rejoice all the time. In fact, lots of stuff gets me pretty, “Un-rejoicey.” I don’t rejoice in the Lord when I find that the price of Gas has gone up, or that my chapstick came uncapped and went through the washer and dryer and marked up all my clothes, or when I am really tired and still have to walk the dog at night, or when I get into an argument with my spouse, or when my medical bills are really high, and my bank account is really sick.
How can Paul mean what he says? Does he mean it? YES! And I have to say, if there ever was a guy who had credibility when it came to being able to rejoice even in hard times, it was him. Listen to a little snippet of his history from 2 Corinthians 11: Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.
WOW! How could he have gone through all that and still have anything resembling joy? The answer is in how we define Joy. For Paul, Joy was knowing the one thing that no pain, no happiness, no circumstance good or bad, could compare. It was knowing the one thing that makes ANYTHING and EVERYTHING else seem like rubbish (skubalon – not a “church” word) in comparison. Listen to what Paul knew that gave him such Joy: For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Knowing CHRIST is JOY. Joy that surpasses everything. All of Paul’s previous life, all of the accomplishments as a Pharisee, all of Paul’s sins, as one who persecuted the church, all of his following of the law, and rules, and regulations – RUBBISH. Worthless, when held next to Christ. Christ who saved him not according to works, or merit, but according to His grace. All else seems dark when the light of Christ’s death for sins, and resurrection from the dead.
This is the joy that nothing, not even death, can touch. As Paul says, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” It doesn’t matter if I die in my sleep, or from illness, or am murdered, or am martyred, I will always have the joy of the empty tomb before me. Kind of hard to argue!
But this is what it means to LIVE OUT the all-surpassing worth of Christ in our lives. This is what it means to have a living faith hit real life. Joy is just this, it isn’t some show, or a false front. It doesn’t mean just putting on a happy faith and pretending that everything is just great. No, JOY in Christ means that we go straight into rough times, we get really hurt, we face down real disappointments. But in all of these things, we know that Christ died for our sins, and rose from the dead, and therefore, we have a joy, that none of this other rubbish can take from us.
We know the future, and our future gives us hope to live today. It gives us a place to fix our eyes in every circumstance. As Paul says, we look ahead, not behind. We look to the resurrection hope, not the wreckage of life in this world. We look to the ultimate prize, not fixating on temporary problems. We look to Grace. “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
That same pastor I told you about earlier talks about it like this. If you can think of the worst job you can imagine. 80 hours a week, backbreaking, thankless work, where you didn’t get paid until the very end of the year. But one person knew they were getting paid $15,000, and the other knew they were getting paid 1.5 million. How do you think this would effect their attitudes at work? Right, one would be sullen, and resentful, and angry. The other would be upbeat, and cheerful, and work hard. You see how knowing your future can effect how you live your present?
Well, in Christ, you do know your future. Not every moment, or situation, or problem, or joy, or hardship, but you know how it ultimately works out. You know who wins, and you know what the prize is already, and that it has been won for you. You know that because your Lord, died for your sins, and rose from the dead, you can live right now in the presence and praise of your risen Lord.
How awesome it will be then, when we see the story played out before our eyes. But how awesome it is, to have that hope, sure and certain, today. ERRCH! This is the joy that lands on every part of your life. The hope that cannot, and will not be overcome.
REJOICE! Say it with me!
“CHAI-RETA”! Say it with me!
AMEN
