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The Rev. Frank
Logue
The Gospel of Whatever The sermon for this morning contains advice so life-changing that I should be able to make millions selling books with this information. The only problem is that the advice I have for you this morning is so simple that you’ll want your money back. In three different ways, in one long paragraph, the Apostle Paul explains the secret of happiness. His words of wisdom if set to music would sound something like this: [play sound clip of Bobby McFerrin’s song “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”] Paul writes it this way, “Do not worry about anything.” And then he goes on to tell us in some detail how to think happy thoughts and for the big finish assures us that we just need to learn to be content with what we have. Paul indulges the Philippians in a little of the Power of Positive Thinking and then boosts there optimism levels a bit, but that’s pretty much it. On a quick read, the advice seems too trite to be true and hardly Gospel. What does this Pop Psychology have to do with Jesus of Nazareth who died on a Roman cross? Don’t worry, be happy works pretty well until hard steel hits soft human flesh. That is in fact the most amazing thing about this passage. For as we discovered in last week’s sermon, Paul is writing the Letter to the Philippians while on death row. He has been falsely accused of starting a riot in Jerusalem. Then he appealed his case to the Emperor. Now he sits in a relatively easy house arrest in Rome, yet with the knowledge that whether he is to live or die will be determined by the rather capricious Emperor Nero. With hindsight, we know that Paul will receive the death penalty. Within the year Paul will die by beheading. Paul himself already has a good idea that is what would happen. And it is in that circumstance that he writes words of wisdom on how to be content in any and all circumstances. If the power of Paul’s circumstances are not enough to make you look harder at his encouraging words, consider how Jesus himself taught with similar sayings. During the Sermon on the mount Jesus said, “Do not be worried about your life” and went on to say, “Who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?” and finally “Do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” But if Paul is accused of Pop Psychology, it might not be without cause. In the section of whatevers, where he writes that we are to think happy thoughts, Paul uses vocabulary unlike anything he uses in all the rest of his writings. This suggests that Paul was quoting something. And in fact the section on thinking on whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable sounds a lot like typical advice found in the writings of other Romans of Paul’s day. What makes this section of Philippians “scripture” is that Paul takes that positive thinking advice and baptizes it. Look more closely at our reading from Philippians. Turn in your bulletins to the passage and look through it with me. After telling us to rejoice, Paul reminds us that God is near. Later he will tell us how to be content in any circumstance and the first key is to realize that in any and all circumstances God is near and God has not abandoned you. Next, Paul does not simply advocate that we ignore the problems in our lives. Paul counsels us to turn the problems over to God in prayer. Before we move on to concentrating on the good stuff alone, we take all the junk in our lives and give it to God. Why lose sleep over this stuff. God is going to be awake all night anyway. Let God handle it. It is after the prayer in which we trust God with the problems we are going through that Paul mentions the peace of God which passes all understanding. Then Paul turns to the Gospel of Whatever. Gospel is the Greek word for Good News. And Paul reminds us that each of us has Good News in our lives, we are to think on those things, whatever they are. Before we look once more at the whatevers, consider the alternative. What most of us do is focus on the problems we face and on the negative side of everything. That negative energy fuels worry and anxiety. I know, because I do this too and I have to work to fight it. It’s like the saying “garbage in, garbage out.” Sometimes abbreviated GIGO, this is a computer programmers saying that means if invalid data is entered into a system, the resulting output will be invalid. This same principal applies to all decision-making systems. You can’t plant worry, anxiety and negative thoughts and hope to harvest happiness, peace and tranquility. What happens is that focusing on the bad parts of your life will bring you down, often creating a cycle of self-fulfilling prophecy. You expect things to go poorly and they will go about like you expect. Or you can fuel negative thoughts which will breed negative emotions. You can end up ruled by your passions. That lousy boss, they always treat me like dirt. It may be true, but focusing on the bad parts of your job won’t improve your situation. Think on the good parts of your job, like the fact that you have a job at all, or the few good people you work with, or the parts of your job you enjoy. Begin there. I once had an awful boss and began to pray that God would bless her. God blessed her so well that she fell in love with a man, married and moved to Switzerland. That’s what I got for not focusing on the negatives. Don’t focus on the bad parts of your husband or wife or the bad parts of you parents or kids. If you do nothing but think about the way your child lets you down, you’ll just feed a cycle that will assure your own continued disappointment. There are positive aspects to all the relationships in your life and dwelling on those positive aspects will help. But notice that I am not suggesting that you merely look at the world through rose-colored glasses. That’s not what Jesus preached or Paul wrote. Remember that for Paul, this is a process that begins by remembering that God is near. Then you give God all your worries through heartfelt prayer. Trust God to help you make the decisions you need to make and to guide and direct your life. That’s when you begin to get the peace of God which is beyond all understanding. It comes after you really learn to trust God with the junk. Then and only then you are ready to dwell on the positive. This is why Paul could write such an upbeat letter to the Christians in Philippi from Death Row. Paul had already come to trust God so completely with his life that he wrote, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. It is that knowledge that allows Paul to be content in any and all circumstances. Paul promises that his advice works in any and all circumstances, whether you have much or have little, and it works because we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. This is the simple formula:
That is how you can come to experience the peace of God in your life. It’s that simple. It worked for Jesus on a Roman cross. It worked for Paul on death row and it will work for you. Just cast your cares on God and then…
Amen. |
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