Sermons 2026

Philippians 4:3-13

1.    Rejoice in contentment
2.    Rejoice in suffering
3.    Rejoice in God’s Peace

Sermon

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

My dear beloved flock, the text for our meditation is Saint Paul’s letter written to the church in Philippi the forth chapter verses three through thirteen.

Beloved lambs, I pray that you are doing well today. Do you know what I have here? I have here an IOU. An IOU is a piece of paper that you can exchange for something at a later day. For example, this IOU says that you get a free hug. Anytime you are feeling sad or mad, anytime that mom or dad is super busy, you could come up, hand over the IOU and automatically get a massive joyful hug. Every time you looked at that IOU it would made you feel happy since you knew a massive, wonderful hug waited for you in the future. 

Did you know that we have an IOU from Jesus? It is one greater than any hug. It is the promise that He will return and we will live with Him forever and ever. How does this help us when bad things happen to us? How does Saint Paul help us rejoice today? Ponder those questions as you hear the rest of the sermon. You may go back to your seats and those who love you.

1.    Rejoice in All things

Saint Paul begins our text with a simple command, “pRejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice” The Greek word is Chairo. It means to to be “cheer” ful, i.e. calmly happy or well-off; impersonal especially as salutation (on meeting or parting), be well:- farewell, be glad, God speed, greeting, hail, joy (-fully), rejoice.  Saint Paul says that we need to rejoice always. Does this mean that we need to walk around constantly with a smile plastered to our faces, no matter what happens upon this earth? We must rejoice in the midst of suffering? Smiling when we face pain, trial, and hardship?  Plus, how can we rejoice when Satan pricks our conscious by reminding us of our past sins that we did in thought, word, and deed? How can we be happy when we reflect upon our sinful state, as we mourn over our fallenness, turning in repentance to God?
We can indeed rejoice in all things. Not because we always enjoy them, no one rejoices in suffering and pain. Yet, we can have a pleasant disposition and an inward joy, no matter what we go through in this life, because of the promises that God has given to us in and though Jesus Christ. 

Jesus has won for us the forgiveness of all of our sins, reconciling us to God forever and ever. He has crushed the head of the Devil, undoing every one of his accusations and slandering we have undergone. By dying, Jesus has destroyed the power of death and given to us life everlasting. Jesus has done all of this perfectly for us. This should cause us to rejoice over what God, in His great grace and mercy, has done for us.
If this was not enough, Jesus has left us with an IOU. As Paul puts it, “The Lord is at hand” The Lord is near. The Lord who saved you is near to you. As Isaiah writes in chapter 62:9 When you undergo sufferings so too does He suffer. Jesus is with you in the midst of your sufferings, bearing you up in His holy arms, giving you strength, peace, and comfort that you may endure as He endured, trusting in the Father for vindication.  Not only is Jesus near to you now, but He is coming again as He has promised. We can be joyful because of our oneness with Christ.” Christ’s Spirit fills believers’ hearts continually with real gospel joy: the joy of forgiveness, the joy of knowing that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, the joyful assurance that Jesus is coming again to give us the full physical possession of our eternal inheritance in glory.”  Every single day that passes is another day closer to our Lord’s return. Frequently early Christians greeted each other with the word maranatha, which means “Come, Lord Jesus.”  As a reminder to themselves of the nearness of the Lord as they went about their days, especially during the times of persecution of the church.

2.    Joy in the midst of anxiety

The Lord being with us and His day being near changes how we go about our days. 

Saint Paul says, “Do not be anxious about anything, sbut in everything by prayer and supplication twith thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And uthe peace of God, vwhich surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” 

The Greek word translated “anxious” (μεριμνάω merimnaō) in Philippians 4:6 means “to be pulled in different directions.” Our hopes pull us in one direction; our fears pull us the opposite direction; and we are pulled apart! The Old English root from which we get our word “worry” means “to strangle.” If you have ever really worried, you know how it does strangle a person! Many today worry and become anxious over many things. We worry about what we are going to eat and drink, especially if the fridge and bank account are empty. We worry about what the future holds. We worry about what our friends and family think of us. We worry about our appearance and our looks. Just go down the beauty aisle at some point, how many thousands of items declare that they can make you look younger? We worry about our reputation and status before others, always attempting to make ourselves better in their eyes. In fact, worry has definite physical consequences: headaches, neck pains, ulcers, even back pains. Worry affects our thinking, our digestion, and even our coordination.

From the spiritual point of view, worry is wrong thinking (the mind) and wrong feeling (the heart) about circumstances, people, and things. Worry is the greatest thief of joy. It is not enough for us, however, to tell ourselves to “quit worrying” because that will never capture the thief. Worry is an “inside job,” and it takes more than good intentions to get the victory. The antidote to worry is the secure mind: “And the peace of God … shall keep [garrison, guard like a soldier] your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:7). When you have the secure mind, the peace of God guards you (Phil. 4:7) and the God of peace guides you (Phil. 4:9). With that kind of protection—why worry? We do not need to be anxious because we have the command, as well as the invitation, to go before Almighty God with anything that is on our hearts, minds, or souls..

3.    Guarding Peace

We have the Peace of God, a peace that surpasses all understanding, guarding our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. We have Peace! Peace with God that will never fail. We never have to worry that God will take away the Peace He gives to us. Paul places, in bold letters, a wonderful promise. Over all of believers’ lives, over all their labors and endeavors, rests the blessed peace of God. The peace of God originates in God. In love he imparts that peace to his children, his believers. He fills their hearts with peace through the gospel assurance that in Christ Jesus their sins are forgiven and they are at peace with him.  This is a peace that baffles our reason. We cannot understand it. Truly, it surpasses our understanding, because it is God who gives it to us through Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection from the dead.

With God’s peace in our hearts. With His assurance that He is with us and is coming soon, that we will be with Him forever. We can rejoice, not being anxious about anything, because we know that no matter what we experience in this world. There is no pain, not suffering, no sorrow, that can remove our everlasting Joy from us because Jesus has defeated sin, death, and the devil for our eternal good, and when He comes soon, we will live with Him in everlasting joy and blessing forever and ever.

The Peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard, and keep, your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.