WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.200 --> 00:00:06.400 Grace mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus 2 00:00:06.400 --> 00:00:07.600 Christ. Amen. 3 00:00:08.900 --> 00:00:11.600 Rejoice in the Lord always again 4 00:00:11.600 --> 00:00:19.700 I will say rejoice. Saint Paul must have missed the memo on the year 5 00:00:19.700 --> 00:00:20.600 2020. 6 00:00:22.300 --> 00:00:23.100 Rejoice 7 00:00:24.900 --> 00:00:25.600 always. 8 00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:32.800 As the best-known Starship Captain James T Kirk once said or is it 9 00:00:32.800 --> 00:00:36.800 will say to his Klingon adversary, right. 10 00:00:38.400 --> 00:00:40.400 You know where we've been this year. 11 00:00:41.800 --> 00:00:44.400 What routes we've been compelled to take. 12 00:00:45.800 --> 00:00:49.100 What loads we've been forced to carry. 13 00:00:50.500 --> 00:00:54.700 Political turmoil like we've never seen at least in our lifetimes. 14 00:00:55.900 --> 00:01:01.900 Alexis de Tocqueville called the presidential election a national crisis 15 00:01:01.900 --> 00:01:07.100 because as the election nears, we see more intense intrigues and 16 00:01:07.100 --> 00:01:12.500 agitation both increases and spreads like a river overflowing its 17 00:01:12.500 --> 00:01:12.700 banks. 18 00:01:14.800 --> 00:01:16.900 He thought way back in the 1830s. 19 00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:21.500 We've been perfecting the art of the crisis ever since. 20 00:01:23.500 --> 00:01:29.300 And who could miss the protests, the violence, the anarchy, the racial 21 00:01:29.300 --> 00:01:32.300 tensions the Injustice is on so many fronts. 22 00:01:33.600 --> 00:01:37.200 How many more ways can 2020 dump on us? 23 00:01:38.700 --> 00:01:42.200 Ah those wildfires and the hurricanes. 24 00:01:43.500 --> 00:01:49.800 And yes, I absolutely must mention that microscopic elephant in the 25 00:01:49.800 --> 00:01:49.900 room, 26 00:01:51.100 --> 00:01:51.900 Covid. 27 00:01:53.100 --> 00:01:55.900 And the resulting upheaval of all of life. 28 00:01:57.800 --> 00:02:02.500 And one wonders if society's response has been more like a bull 29 00:02:02.500 --> 00:02:09.000 elephant wildly trying to stamp out a fly that just keeps evading its 30 00:02:09.000 --> 00:02:09.600 own demise. 31 00:02:11.200 --> 00:02:12.100 Rejoice 32 00:02:13.700 --> 00:02:14.500 always, 33 00:02:16.100 --> 00:02:17.400 seriously Lord? 34 00:02:20.900 --> 00:02:23.300 Put yourself in Paul's shoes. 35 00:02:24.900 --> 00:02:29.100 He wrote of his greater laborers his imprisonment his countless 36 00:02:29.100 --> 00:02:31.400 beatings. Five times 37 00:02:31.400 --> 00:02:35.600 he received the 40 lashes less one from his Jewish Brothers. 38 00:02:35.600 --> 00:02:42.300 Three times beaten with rods one stoned with rocks 39 00:02:42.300 --> 00:02:42.700 that is. 40 00:02:43.700 --> 00:02:50.300 Three times shipwrecked adrift at sea on frequent journeys in danger 41 00:02:50.300 --> 00:02:55.200 from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from his own people, danger from 42 00:02:55.200 --> 00:03:00.100 Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, 43 00:03:00.100 --> 00:03:06.200 danger from false Brothers, in toil and hardship though through many a 44 00:03:06.200 --> 00:03:11.700 sleepless night in hunger and thirst often without food in cold and 45 00:03:11.700 --> 00:03:12.600 exposure. 46 00:03:14.700 --> 00:03:18.300 And you think you have little cause for rejoicing? 47 00:03:22.200 --> 00:03:26.400 Recall also where Saint Paul pens these words in our text. 48 00:03:27.800 --> 00:03:28.600 In prison 49 00:03:29.800 --> 00:03:31.000 one more time. 50 00:03:32.100 --> 00:03:34.000 One final time. 51 00:03:35.700 --> 00:03:38.000 House arrest in Rome to be precise 52 00:03:39.500 --> 00:03:42.300 and he would not get out alive. 53 00:03:45.600 --> 00:03:51.000 Yet the Apostle could make his prayer for the Philippians saints with 54 00:03:51.000 --> 00:03:51.300 joy. 55 00:03:52.700 --> 00:03:57.900 Because of their partnership with him in the Gospel. Paul could rejoice 56 00:03:57.900 --> 00:03:58.800 that Christ 57 00:03:58.800 --> 00:04:03.200 Jesus was being proclaimed whether in pretense or in truth. 58 00:04:04.100 --> 00:04:10.600 He could rejoice that Christ would be honored in his body by life or by 59 00:04:10.600 --> 00:04:11.200 death. 60 00:04:13.000 --> 00:04:18.700 As he said with joyful confidence for to me to live is Christ and to 61 00:04:18.700 --> 00:04:19.800 die is gain. 62 00:04:21.800 --> 00:04:24.500 There's reason for rejoicing. 63 00:04:27.800 --> 00:04:32.500 So if there is in any encouragement, he writes, be of the same mind. 64 00:04:34.100 --> 00:04:36.200 Do nothing from rivalry or conceit. 65 00:04:37.500 --> 00:04:41.200 But in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 66 00:04:43.800 --> 00:04:47.200 Bethel is not the cause of the joy. 67 00:04:48.500 --> 00:04:49.900 But it is joy's fruit. 68 00:04:52.200 --> 00:04:54.100 When you seek joy. 69 00:04:55.600 --> 00:04:58.300 Look no further than Christ Jesus. 70 00:04:59.800 --> 00:05:04.400 Who though he was in the form of God did not count equality with God a 71 00:05:04.400 --> 00:05:05.600 thing to be grasped. 72 00:05:06.500 --> 00:05:07.700 But emptied himself 73 00:05:09.000 --> 00:05:14.700 by taking the form of a servant being worn in the likeness of men. 74 00:05:15.600 --> 00:05:21.300 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient 75 00:05:21.300 --> 00:05:25.000 to the point of death even death on a cross. 76 00:05:27.900 --> 00:05:32.800 Our Lord actually rejoiced in the midst of his emptying. 77 00:05:33.700 --> 00:05:34.900 His humiliation 78 00:05:36.100 --> 00:05:37.400 and his death. 79 00:05:38.900 --> 00:05:41.000 For the joy that was set before him 80 00:05:41.000 --> 00:05:45.600 he endured the cross despising the shame and is seated at the right 81 00:05:45.600 --> 00:05:47.600 hand of the Throne of God. 82 00:05:49.900 --> 00:05:50.500 His joy 83 00:05:51.700 --> 00:05:53.800 the seeking and saving you. 84 00:05:54.800 --> 00:05:59.200 Your brothers and sisters in him indeed the whole world. 85 00:06:01.300 --> 00:06:06.300 You're crucified and risen Lord is still at hand. 86 00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:11.800 Only he can give the peace that surpasses all understanding. 87 00:06:14.200 --> 00:06:14.800 That 88 00:06:16.100 --> 00:06:17.400 is your cause for rejoicing, 89 00:06:19.100 --> 00:06:21.000 even in the midst of 2020. 90 00:06:24.500 --> 00:06:30.400 You see rejoicing is not the same as feeling exuberant or being 91 00:06:30.400 --> 00:06:31.000 carefree. 92 00:06:32.700 --> 00:06:36.900 Joy is not the same as a happy smiley face. 93 00:06:38.800 --> 00:06:39.300 No, 94 00:06:40.600 --> 00:06:43.500 joy is more like a dislocated thumb. 95 00:06:44.900 --> 00:06:46.400 The bones are out of joint. 96 00:06:47.600 --> 00:06:48.800 The pain is intense. 97 00:06:50.300 --> 00:06:55.800 And along comes a friend and he pulls on that distress joint and snaps 98 00:06:55.800 --> 00:06:59.100 it back into place, ah relief. 99 00:07:00.600 --> 00:07:05.500 Oh the pain is still throbbing, but that pain is no longer as 100 00:07:05.500 --> 00:07:06.300 intense. 101 00:07:08.100 --> 00:07:08.700 The joy 102 00:07:10.200 --> 00:07:12.800 is the joint is put back in place. 103 00:07:14.300 --> 00:07:16.400 Now the healing may commence. 104 00:07:18.300 --> 00:07:20.300 That's rejoicing. 105 00:07:23.100 --> 00:07:25.100 Rejoice in the Lord always. 106 00:07:26.800 --> 00:07:27.500 Always? 107 00:07:29.100 --> 00:07:30.000 Why not? 108 00:07:31.500 --> 00:07:37.500 Your Lord's suffering death and resurrection have put you back in place 109 00:07:37.500 --> 00:07:42.800 with the Triune God sins forgiven, peace restored. 110 00:07:44.800 --> 00:07:49.700 And now with Paul you may be content, whatever the situation. 111 00:07:51.300 --> 00:07:56.200 You may face plenty or hunger, abundance or need 112 00:07:57.600 --> 00:07:59.800 and all with joy. 113 00:08:01.400 --> 00:08:06.700 It is God who works in you even in the midst of A D 2020 both to will 114 00:08:06.700 --> 00:08:09.200 and to work his good pleasure. 115 00:08:11.400 --> 00:08:16.100 Amen. And the peace of God, which goes beyond all understanding will 116 00:08:16.100 --> 00:08:18.100 guard your hearts and minds in Christ 117 00:08:18.100 --> 00:08:21.800 Jesus our Lord. Amen. Please rise.