Membership Questions
- Do you believe in God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit?
- Do you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, submitting your life to him
and his teachings, and seeking to follow in his ways?
- Do you commit to support and pray for the life and witness of this Island Bay
Presbyterian Church, and to seek the growth and the peace of this congregation?
Sermon Aug 10th 2014
Earlier in the service Alison chose for us a reading from Phil 4:4-9 - a powerful and
beautiful passage with its call to joy and pure thinking, and its accompanying promise
of peace.
That promise is in verse 7
7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your
hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
I have been blessed enough to have experienced this promised peace of God in times
of anxiety or stress. Janice too recently shared a story of peace in difficult times. This
peace is a precious gift indeed.
However, this passage of the Bible on peace and joy, has an interesting beginning! It
actually begins with verse 2 of that chapter, and I’m going to read all of it to you
again now, starting at verse 2…
2 I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to be of the same mind in the
Lord. 3 Yes, and I ask you, my true companion, help these women since they have
contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of
my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life.
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness
be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every
situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and
your minds in Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is
right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is
excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or
received or heard from me, or seen in me – put it into practice. And the God of peace
will be with you.
So! This beautiful passage begins with conflict, and not just any kind of conflict, but
a conflict within the Church! For, as we all know, such conflicts do happen within the
Church because the Church is only human, and humans argue with each other.
However! The Church isn’t only human, it is also Divine, because the Church is the
Body of Jesus Christ.
The Church is a human institution with all the frailties that brings, and the Church is
a Divine institution with all the hope and promise that brings – centred in Jesus and
called together by Jesus…
Time and again the Bible portrays God as being kind of weird like that, mixing the
human and the Divine. It seems that God isn’t afraid of getting involved in the mess
of human existence.
After all, God’s Word became human and lived among us in the person of Jesus the
Christ. Jesus, although Divine, was a real person with a real body, a human body that
tied him into the mess and pain and indignity that can be part of our human lives.
Building on that, our faith teaches that Jesus has now returned to God the Father, and
that in his absence on earth, his Body is now the Church! And once again, it is a real
Body, a human Body – a Body that continues to tie Jesus in to the mess and pain and
indignities that can be part of our human lives…
Such as arguments between faithful believers like Euodia and Syntyche – or to a
greater extreme, we keep in mind the harsh persecution of Christians (and other
believers) in our world at the moment. Jesus is experiencing their pain, because that
pain is happening to his Body.
Closer to home: We were privileged to welcome Alison into Membership here today.
As we heard she’s been coming here for a while and has been scoping us out from the
back, and she feels called to settle here for the next stage of her journey of faith –
which is awesome!
Now, I haven’t talked to Alison about this, but for any of us once we join a new
church community, an important step we need to take is to accept that church for what
it is – because basically any church is just a bunch of (reasonably) normal people!
Normal people trying to live godly lives, help each other, and work out this whole
Jesus thing as best we are able, and in the merciful Light of the Lord.
Some people have unhelpfully high expectations of what a Church community
should be – a bunch of spiritual super-heroes or something. But, the Church isn’t an
ideal, it’s a reality…
…the Church isn’t an ideal, it’s a reality.
It’s a Body, a human Body with all the mess that can bring.
Part of being bound into a church community is learning to let go of our unrealistic
ideals, and instead to embrace the reality of God’s gift. Because, if our expectations
are too high, we will become proud and judgemental, and end up hurting our brothers
and sisters in Christ.
However, there’s more!
Some people can have unhelpfully low expectations of the Church! It is Jesus’ Body
after all, enfleshing the vision and the reality of Jesus Christ in the world today.
The Church is a human institution, but it is also a gift from God.
And so, in Philippians 4, in the midst of inter-personal conflict that is dividing a
church community, a public call is given to them to be the Church! To embrace the
Church community as a gift from God; to take seriously the reality that the Church is
Jesus’ Body, enfleshing him in the world; and thereby to live together in a different
way.
(“I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to be of the same mind in the
Lord.”)
1) This call has 5 points and starts with joy! Rejoice in the Lord always! Celebrate
and party! For the Lord has been gracious and merciful to us…
2) But in our rejoicing there is also an exhortation to be gentle, for the Lord is near.
Don’t become brash or arrogant in your rejoicing, give space for the introverts, don’t
be judgemental of one another!
3) Thirdly, don’t be anxious about life or the future, but bring your worries to God in
prayer, giving thanks to God for our many blessings – and this is when the promise of
peace in verse 7 is given (“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding,
will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”)
4) Next, guard your minds. This bit has really struck a chord with me over this last
week!
Verse 8 reads, “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is
pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or
praiseworthy – think about such things.”
I have a friend who doesn’t watch the news because of this verse - because our news
media knows that bad news sells, and is often encouraging us to be anxious, or afraid,
or angry. I often find the news makes me really depressed, though in the last month it
has succeeded in making me angry – angry at what is happening both internationally,
and with the state of our own country.
I’m wrestling with this because I do think it is good to be informed about things like
Iraq and Gaza in a way that moves me to prayer – and if anger moves me to prayer
that’s not a bad thing!
But, as we are seeing, some of what passes for reporting about our own nation is
more and more becoming manipulation and scandal – not noble or true or admirable
at all.
So, if anyone knows the answer to whether Christians should watch the news in the
light of Phil 4:8, please let me know! Please, chat about this over coffee!
But, when we do engage with the media, then let’s do it with disciplined minds. Let’s
not dwell on anger and dirt - and remember that God loves this world, God has bound
himself to this world through Jesus, and God will redeem this world.
There is hope!
And this is where speaking the Word to one another is a powerful thing in a church
community.
Sharing testimonies of our struggles, our prayers, and our discoveries about God –
sharing stories that are honest and faith-full in the midst of mess and confusion, can
bring balance to what we’re taking into our minds, and can help all of us turn our
thinking onto life-giving and praise-worthy things.
5) Lastly, this passage finishes with a call to actually put all of this into practice.
Paul who wrote this letter is putting his teachings forward as things to be followed,
but he’s also putting his life forward as something to be imitated.
Jesus of course is our ultimate example of a truly human and truly godly life, and part
of being a disciple of Jesus is seeking to imitate him; but we can also imitate one
another. If someone here in church is stepping forward in faith in a new way, or has
received a new revelation from God that is changing their lives – and if that change
seems godly and blessed, then there is nothing wrong with being a copy-cat. In fact it
is encouraged.
After all, in the Church we are here to serve one-another, we are here to love oneanother, and we are here to inspire one-another along on our journey home to God.
So, to sum up.
We are the Church! We are the Body of Christ.
We are a flawed human Body, but we are also a Divine Body – the union we find
together is a gift from God.
In Philippians 4 Paul gives us some tips on how we then really be the Church, how
we be Christ’s Body, how we enflesh Jesus here on earth.
5 tips:
1. rejoice in the Lord always! Again I say rejoice!
2. be gentle
3. don’t dwell in anxiety; pray, give thanks and find peace
4. guard your minds
And 5. imitate others and actually put all this into practice…
Let’s take a moment to meditate on these things…