Sermon(Phil 4: 4-7): Joy and peace in the Lord

The original Korean text: https://blog.naver.com/stevision/50025255981

 

 

 

Scripture reading: Phil 4:4-7

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>> 4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5 Let all men know your forbearance. The Lord is at hand. 6 Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. <<

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Jonah was a prophet of God. one day the word of God came to him. “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness has come up before me. (Jon 1:2)” But Jonah was an uncommon defiant prophet. Ignoring God's command, he fled in the opposite direction. Nineveh was an inland city, but Jonah took a boat bound for another place. It is really pathetic of him not to go to Nineveh, the right direction, but to go to Tarshish, the opposite direction. God caused a great storm in the sea, so that the ship was on the point of wreck. As the sailors were trying to find out by whose sins gods got angry, Jonah confessed he was the sinner, so he was cast into the sea. Then God sent him a great fish and ordered the fish to swallow him. Jonah repented his sins in the belly of the fish, and God ordered the fish to vomit out him on a beach.

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Jonah realized late that a prophet of God could die if he behaved himself indiscreetly, and went to Nineveh and cried, "Nineveh will collapse in forty days." Then all Nenevites, including the king, humbly prayed to God and repented their sins. So God forgave Nineveh and did not punish it. Jonah complained to God, "If you were not going to destroy Neneveh, why did you bother me to come here?" Jonah built a booth outside the city and waited to see what would become of the city. At this time God caused a plant to grow and to come up over Jonah's head, so that he could rest in the shade. The Bible says that Jonah was exceedingly glad then. The next day God sent a worm, and it ate up the plant, and a hot wind blew, so Jonah was so angry that he protested to God, saying, "It is better for me to die than to live!" Then God said to Jonah, "You pity the plant. And should not I pity Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons?“

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Why did Jonah lose his temper and peace and joy in his heart? Because he didn’t live in God. If Jonah had lived in God, he would gladly have obeyed God's command to go to Nineveh and declare the word of God. And if he had lived in God, he would have been greatly pleased when God forgave the people of Nineveh who repented their sins. My brethren, this world is really hard and harsh to live in. The only way for you to enjoy true joy in this difficult world is "in the Lord" (Phil 4: 4). “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.” If you live alone, apart from the Lord, all the hardships and sufferings of the world will pierce your heart and will not let you alone even for a moment. Above all, if you live apart from the Lord, your anxiety and pain will double because then, whenever you suffer, you'll think, 'I'm punished by God because of a lot of my sins.'

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If you are outside the Lord, the Devil and your sins will continue to harass you. Even some Christians live outside the Lord. The main reason for this is that you want to avoid interference from the Lord in your earthly dreams and desires. You want to live apart from God when God's concern is not your concern and when you can't give up your dreams. In this condition, you can never be one with the Lord. You can never taste joy and peace in this condition. When we become one with the Lord, we can have true joy and peace. When I live in the Lord and the Lord, in me, he and I become one; my ways are the ways of the righteousness that he guarantees. The uncertainty of the future is the main factor that causes people to feel anxious and fearful. ‘Am I on the right path? What if I would fail?’ But when I am in the Lord, I can say, "I don't know about tomorrow. But now I am going the way of life with the Lord. And my life is righteous in the Lord. I will surely succeed in the Lord." When I acknowledge the Lord as my good shepherd and commit my whole life to his will, he and I become one. If I become one with the Lord, I will live in assurance and peace.

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When I abide in the Lord, I am a righteous man, and the afflictions of the evil world give me great joy, not grief and anxiety. The reason is that wicked people will persecute us if we live in unity with the Lord, that the affliction is one that we suffer with him, that the affliction is the evidence that I am one with him and the evidence that I've gained the eternal life. Even illness and poverty are no problem for those who live in the Lord. How can I dislike the cross that the Lord who loves me has granted me? Do you think our omniscient Lord does not know the circumstances of the poor and sick believers? Yes, he certainly does! Our Lord knows all our problems and our pains, my brethren. Therefore, do not worry over poverty and disease. All I have is good for me when I live in the Lord - wealth, poverty, health and disease. The apostle Paul had a thorn in the flesh that Satan pierced, and when he prayed to God to remove it, he told Paul that it was a necessary physical suffering. Then Paul did not feel ashamed of his weaknesses. There are not many who appreciate everything God has given them. We are really living in the Lord when we thank the Lord even for the thorns in our flesh. There are the poor and the sick in the world. Because of these, you can do good things to help others. If the people of the world were all rich and healthy, how could you find poor persons to help and heal? Therefore, the rich and the healthy should not despise the poor and the sick. God is pleased when the rich and the healthy help them humbly.

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In the story of Jonah, we see that people are very glad when they feel God's love and concern. Jonah, a man of moods, was very glad that God prepared for him a shadow of a plant which was over his head. Because God, the omnipotent great God, worked a special miracle for him. People are happy when they feel that they are the object of love and attention of others. How can it be only for humans? God also wants to receive love and attention from us. Please consult with the Lord in all your affairs. God will take delight in such attitude and bless what you do. Everyone, please love God more than anything else in the world. And do not forget that God so loved us as to give up his only begotten Son Jesus. Jonah was greatly delighted at the plant that blocked the light of the sun, then shouldn't we much more be delighted at Jesus who covers up our sins and makes punishments remitted? Which is more valuable: a plant that screens the sun for a while, or the blood of Jesus that washes away all our sins and makes us righteous? That's why we have to thank for everything and always be happy.

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Brethren, don't worry needlessly, but pray. “Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. (v. 6)” The prodigal son who left father's house stops raising another's livestock to escape from miserable life and returns to his father's home. But he felt somewhat uneasiness. ‘How can I face my father? Will he forgive me for wasting so much money? Now that I don't deserve to be a son, I must live as one of servants in my father's house.’ But that day, too, the father had a distant view, waiting for his absent son to return. He saw a person coming who had a walking style like his second son. The father, seeing that it was his second son, ran out to greet him gladly. Brethren, what meaning does the worry that the son felt on his way home have? Why should he worry when he had such a good father? In fact, it was the father who was worried. ‘Now this second son must run out of all money and be living miserably. What if he lives like a beggar without ever returning home?’ My brethren, our God is really a good father. Never underestimate his love for you! God is worried that you will continue to worry and grieve without praying to him. So to relieve God's anxiety and to please God, you must pray to him whenever there is something difficult for you. Do not worry about your difficulties. Also do not be anxious that God might reject your prayers.

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Pray to God with thanksgiving for everything. Precious food is served to people in precious vessels. The prayer we give to God is holy. We offer God the holy prayer put in a vessel of gratitude. Brethren, our God is worthy to receive gratitude, praise and glory from us. He can not be the target of our irritation, grievance and complaint. The voice of irritation, grievance and complaint should be directed to demons and wicked people. When we tell God our wishes, we must give thanks to God as well for his love and protection. We like to help more him who always says, "Thank you," even for a slight kindness, as is a universal reaction of all people. In "Thank you", there is the mind "I respect you (who helped me)". And "Thank you" has the meaning "I acknowledge the value of your (the helper's) pains". When someone says "Thank you" to me, I'm happy most. If you pray to God with thanks, he will open his heart and help you generously. Gratitude makes God happy, and he who gives great delight to God will receive a gift of prompt response of prayer.

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If we rejoice in the Lord and say our wishes to God in gratitude and in no anxiety, then the peace of God which transcends all understanding will keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (v. 7). The reason for the collapse of Jericho was that Israel, making no objection upon God's command, circulated around Jericho. When God saw Israel obey, he was pleased with Israel and destroyed an impregnable fortress. Brethren, it is God's will that Christians should always be pleased, pray to God, and thank him for everything. This attitude pleases God. For such an attitude is to believe in God's faithfulness, mercy and love without doubting. God of all wisdom and understanding knows all our problems. Of course, he has all the solutions. Believers who are pleased with God, who fear him and who say wishes to him in gratitude are those who give him an infinite delight. God listens to their prayers and plans to answer them at the right time. God sets peace in our hearts as a token of his plan that he will answer the prayers. If peace comes upon my heart in prayer, I can be certain that God will answer my prayer. And if God says "No!" to our prayers because we asked him wrong, we can still taste peace if we believe in his goodness.

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Brethren, do you want God to fulfill all your prayers immediately? Prayer is a conversation with the Lord. If you want your prayers to be answered promptly, then you must also promptly do all that God has asked of you. Do you want a prompt answer from God when you disobey God, being lazy to obey him, or deferring your action until tomorrow or the day after tomorrow with some excuse or other? A useful Korean proverb here: if you say kindly, you will get a kind answer. If you live in obedience to God with joy, God delights in your prayers and responds immediately. Brethren, please make a habit of obeying God's commands immediately and thoroughly. If you always obey God's words with all your might, you will be a man whom God loves much, and will always be full of joy. And God will answer your prayers in the best way, so that you can be free from uncertainty and fear and can live in peace like a river.

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I pray that God speedily fulfill all your prayers, especially prayers that you have done for a long time. In Jesus, Amen!

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Chong Tack Kim

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                                - Dongtoma Sunshine Church -