Title From Joy to Peace, December 12
From joy to peace
Philippians 4:4-7
Why joy?
In this regard, “Rejoice always with the Lord. I say it again and again. Paul's earnest exhortation, "Rejoice" (verse 4) should be seen as an existential confession from his specific situation of being 'bullyed' by his mother church in Jerusalem, rather than simply to give a general lesson. This is why Paul soon said: “Show your generosity to all men.” I don't like the behavior of the leaders of the Jerusalem church, who don't pay much attention no matter how hard they try to do their best, and who see themselves as 'a person to avoid'. because I thought
Showing generosity to everyone in our lives is not that simple. Even in a relationship where there is no big stake in our interests, we tend to have narrow thoughts about others because our thoughts are always focused on ourselves. Moreover, it is almost impossible to be tolerant of the Jewish and Christian leaders in Jerusalem who, as in Paul's case, have followed him for the rest of his life, arguing over the law. With a certain amount of mental discipline, it is possible to not take revenge in the same way and not pay attention to those who have harmed us in the same way, but it is difficult to get to the level of actual tolerance.
Since he fully understood this human limitation, Paul seems to teach us to rejoice first. If we have a reason for joy that cannot be compared to anything else, we will be able to maintain a heart that accepts even those who have had a bad relationship with us. A person who is about to marry the person he or she wants will be able to accept it generously even if he meets a friend whom he has had a bad relationship with. In this respect, it should be seen that the beginning of all daily human relationships is true joy.
Of course, the joy we're talking about here has to come from an entirely different dimension, not the one that lifts our minds into the air and then drops them back into the abyss. That is why Paul exhorts us to always rejoice “with the Lord.” Do you know what it means to rejoice with the Lord? Have you ever experienced such a condition? Herein lies our daily force to treat everyone with tolerance.
the coming of the Lord
Every time we celebrate Advent, we think about the Lord's second coming, but we don't really realize it. Some people have a plausible picture of the rapture going up into the sky on a cloud, but there are no people other than the overly simplistic who believe such things as real. We cannot picture the Second Coming of Jesus, but we must ensure its reality. The reality of this Adventist faith is that the history of this world will come to an end someday, and the reality of life will be revealed along with judgment on right and wrong. It is the Christian faith that Jesus Christ acts as the absolute reference in this series of events.
After Adventism
Paul says a lot in this short passage. After stating that the days of the Lord's coming are near, I urge you not to worry. That's right. If only we could be sure that our life would be completed by the Lord's coming, would anyone worry about the world? Therefore, the second coming of Jesus is not only a source of joy but also a source of freedom from the worries of this world. While living in this faith, we are still surrounded by anxieties and worries, big and small, because of the inevitable human limitations, but more practically, we have little interest in the world of life that will be completed by the second coming of Jesus. Because interest has waned.
Now Paul gives us a very simple standard of everyday life. It is not easy to completely overcome all worries and anxieties in this world, but nevertheless, there is a Christian life attitude that we must consistently adhere to. “Always pray and make supplications with thanksgiving and make your wishes known to God” (verse 6). Adventist belief is not just to remain as a huge religious metaphysics, but to permeate into our daily lives. The key words in this sentence are thanksgiving and prayer. Christians who focus on the Adventist faith, that is, those who hope for the moment when life is complete, do not give up on their daily life, but actively participate with 'thanks' and 'prayer'.
Giving thanks at all times is not just a vague feeling, it is the attitude of life that people who know God's love in their daily life should keep. I don't need to say much about this today. If you are a person who can see the world with even a little spiritual eyes, it is because even though you may see things that are outwardly or temporarily discouraged, you will nevertheless discover and appreciate the deeper love of God.
Prayer is not a tool for the fulfillment of our desires, but an attitude of life that can be adopted by those who can completely entrust all of our lives to God. If we are deeply aware of God's love, we do not associate prayer with our desires because we prioritize what God wants over our own.
God's Peace
It is said that if we realize the meaning of gratitude from the heart and pray our thoughts to God with a simple heart, God's peace will protect us (verse 7). But in what sense does Paul express “the peace of God, which no man dares to conceive of”? To say that it is a peace that no man can conceive of means that this peace completely belongs to God's freedom. As already explained in the Gospel of John, just as the Holy Spirit, which works freely like the wind, cultivates the world of life in a completely different way from human expectations, the ‘shalom’ God gives to humans is not within our intentions. There's something we're seriously mistaken about. It means that we think as if we can realize peace through various programs for peace. But all those peace practices are only effective when connected to the peace of God. Because peace is fundamentally God's domain. This is the reason why the realization of peace is so far away despite the many peace movements that enlightened mankind has carried out so far.
Paul is teaching us the peace of God (pax Dei) on a completely different level. God's peace, which we did not expect, will come to those who do not only do it with their mouths, as if by chanting a mantra, but actually live by praying with a grateful heart. If gratitude and prayer are the ways to deepen a sincere relationship with God, then, of course, peace, the essence of God, will come through your daily life. The problem here is that we have to enter into a true relationship with God, not just the formal peace we envision. It is similar to being able to taste the amazing peace that music gives when you enter the real world of music without staying in the quaint world of music.
Today we read Paul's candid counsel to the Philippians, who were in a very difficult situation. Here he explains how joy, tolerance, the Second Coming, and gratitude, prayer, and peace are linked. This exhortation from Paul is not merely a doctrinal dimension, but rather a confession of faith from the reality he is facing. This path of faith that leads from joy to peace is the attitude of life that Christians should adopt in their daily lives. I sincerely hope that this peace of God will be with you.