Rejoicing in the Lord…or continually celebrating the Lord… isn’t a simple order. It’ll require some groundwork. What actions, what changes, what dispositions and attitudes are required for us to rejoice in the Lord always? Church, what will be involved for us to always celebrate the Lord Jesus Christ as he should be celebrated?
- Επιεικες. Epiekes
- Comprehend\ that the Lord is near
- Pray all the prayers
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say rejoice. Let your reasonableness [epiekes] be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Our last time in Philippians we said that the word translated in the ESV “reasonableness” is a word difficult to translate. Indeed in the ESV there’s a footnote that says another translation could be “gentleness.” Perhaps an English word that best covers this Epiekes is magnanimous. Since Paul uses the noun form: magnanimity. To be magnanimous is to be noble-minded, generous in evaluating or responding to others, tolerant, patient, even-keeled, moderate – not given to extreme outbursts or opinions, quick to forgive or at least be ready to forgive, open to compromise, loving justice while not insisting on exacting justice, that is, “the letter of the law.” Since magnanimous is hard to say, I’ll use the more informal “big-hearted.”
Antonyms to epiekes would be petty, wooden in evaluation, rigidly and unthoughtfully partisan, quick to ad hominem, full of uncharitable interpretations, humor-less, ready to pounce, frostily reserved, convinced that the world revolves around you or at least your opinions..
Perhaps some images will help us understand the word. When I was a tenth grader a boxer dog, Storm, came into my life. And he was still around when my firstborn, Ben, was born, though by that time with graying whiskers. Now Storm, like a lot of boxers, was an excellent people dog, gentle with kids. Infant Ben used to lie on the ground next to Storm, and Ben would reach up and grab Storm’s big boxer lips and yank on them. Storm would bend toward Ben and suffer himself to be pulled, his big head tugged back and forth, for some time. When it all became too much, he’d slowly get up and lumber away. Epiekes!
Imagine you’re having a debate with someone. And he says, let me attempt to re-state your position. And then he proceeds to articulate exactly what you believe, and he does so in terms that are charitable and unprejudiced. Then he says, I suppose the reason you have come down on this position is because of ________ etc… and then he explains fairly and accurately the substantive thoughts behind why you believe the way you do. He shows that he perceives the good things you’re trying to accomplish, and the evil you’re trying to prevent in holding onto your position. Finally, he says, I have to admit your position has some merit because of _________, and __________, and _______________. Wow – epiekes!
One more, and I’ve told this story before, and it’s a story that I heard while attending a service at Park Street in Boston. I’ll imaginatively add onto it at the end. A Christian soldier has a good testimony among his platoon of being sincere and a good guy. And a good soldier. But his religious practice drives one of his fellow soldiers crazy. One day after they’ve gone on a ruck through the mud they’re back in the barracks and the Christian takes out his Bible and begins reading. The other guy is tired and in a foul mood and he mouths off at him for being such a holy roller. When he doesn’t get much response, he picks up one of his dirty boots and throws it across the room at him. Mud is streaked on his face and bedclothes.
Next morning when the guy in the bad mood wakes up, he sees both of his boots on the floor at the end of his cot, perfectly clean.
[Now my imaginative addition]: Later that day the Christian sidles up to him and says, Hey man, I got my own demons and I’ve found that reading the Good Book soothes them. You need to stop thinking I think I’m all high and mighty. I’m just trying to stay sane…. Epiekes!
Let your big-heartedness be known to everyone. Brothers and sisters, as we rejoice in Jesus Christ and remain loyal to him and obey him in ways that cause us to go against the grain of the culture, let us simultaneously be known for our perfect courtesy (Titus 3:2), our desire to make connections with as many people as possible, our thoughtfulness and not our reactiveness. Rejoice in Jesus Christ – the one who described himself as gentle and lowly in heart – in a way that in the eyes of the world is not bombastic, sarcastic, huffy, pearl-clutching, humorless, heavy handed.
Let the good-naturedness of your Lord come through. Let us be sons of the Father who causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. Let us stop to help change the tire of the woman with the purple hair and the rainbow flag on her bumper. And not just help ponderously… but try to connect and enjoy this one made in the image of God. Let us laugh at as many of their jokes as we can. As much as is good for them, let us ruefully join them as they poke fun at us…ok, that was funny. You’re right, we can be like that.
Brothers and sisters, don’t get me wrong. I’m so tired and ashamed of evangelicals pandering to the culture, trying to be the “cool kids,” trying to massage what they believe into something the culture will approve. NO! I want to unashamedly believe and behave exactly as the Lord directs me… while joyfully connecting with and enjoying people who don’t! Both! Epiekes!
The next thing out of Paul’s pen is: The Lord is at hand. Unless we think that’s just a random platitude that Paul throws in, we should assume that this fact – the Lord is at hand – is related to our rejoicing in the Lord who is at hand. And more immediately the fact of the Lord being at hand provides the backdrop for us being and remaining epiekes. In other words, this the Lord is at hand isn’t a throwaway line, but relates to its context.
A question we need to raise is: what exactly does Paul mean by saying the Lord is at hand? Does he mean that he’s near temporally, that is, that the Lord will soon, or at least relatively soon, appear in our space-time again? Or does he mean that the Lord is near in proximity? That he is never stuck in a galaxy far far away but is near to each one of us who live in the world, and in a special sense near to his church which his body.?
If I had to choose between the two, I’d go with the latter: Paul is reminding his readers that the Lord is in close proximity to them. But since I don’t have to choose, I’m going to assume that Paul intentionally left the statement general: the Lord will come again soon and until that time he is nearby.
And he’s not just nearby, statically, like the Indian statue in the Joanis’ living room. He is the Lord, lording. Jesus Christ is at hand, actively exercising his authority NOW.
This week I forwarded from Doug Wilson that tremendously encouraging article about right thinking during this political season that began with this paragraph:
As we look at the cavalcade of nonsense that is comprised of all our political monkeyshines, it is easy to forget the fact that God is sovereign. His sovereignty is exhaustive, and there is not one atom in this cosmos that operates outside the realm of that sovereignty. But if God is sovereign over all things, then He is certainly sovereign over this thing [referring to all the political back and forth which contains a lot of silliness]. We sometimes make the mistake of thinking that because God is altogether holy, His sovereignty only extends over the Serious Things—things like worship, or cancer diagnoses, or systematic theology. But although it is true that He is sovereign over tragedy, and thanksgiving, and the Rocky Mountains, He is also the sovereign king of farce {comedy about ludicrous situations}, down to the oversized clown shoes. The God of [the political scene of] 2024, clowns and all, is the Lord Jesus Christ.
We rejoice in the Lord because he is the Lord…actively, and he is always near working out good and glorious purposes (in admittedly inscrutable ways). And where he is taking everything is to that point in time when he will return as a Savior from heaven to transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
We lose epiekes, we turn gloomy or we indulge in spite and pettiness when we lose track of the fact that Jesus Christ is Lord and/or that he is nearby and powerfully working out good in all things, and soon – in the big picture at least – will come from heaven and continue in our bodies what has already started in our spirits: the process of joining heaven and earth. The fact of our Lord, lording doesn’t mean that we don’t strain and fight, but that we’re happy warriors. It doesn’t mean that we don’t mourn and face setbacks, but we do so steeped in paradox, as they who were not mourning (1 Corinthians 7:30).
Brothers and sisters, our Lord whom we celebrate intends for us to be obviously, evidently big-hearted. This cheerfulness and good-naturedness comes out of our cultivating the sense of the at-hand-ness of God. Resist the encroachment of this-world thinking that would blind you to the fact that the Lord is near and then turn you into someone cynical and scared…the opposite of Epiekes.
Ah, someone says, fine for you to talk so prettily about seeing the Lord or big-heartedness or rejoicing. You don’t know the kind of stress I’m under. You don’t have looming over you what I do. I come from a long line of depression. HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO THINK OF ANYTHING ELSE BESIDES THE TROUBLING SITUATION I’M IN, OR ABOUT TO BE IN?
Which question brings us to Paul’s next phrase. Rejoicing in the Lord: big-heartedness through being conscious of the nearness of the Lord (who is lording) requires this:
…do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
The chief activity behind properly rejoicing in the Lord is praying. We should add, praying exhaustively. Did you see those words: about anything…in everything ? Don’t be anxious about anything….In everything let your requests be made known to God.
In demanding that we rejoice in the Lord, Paul isn’t so super-spiritual that he’s forgotten there are such thing as anxieties. Paul wasn’t sheltered. Though his letters are generally upbeat, he does say somewhere that he was regularly in a place where he felt – no, he was actually – afflicted…perplexed…persecuted…struck down. He begins 2 Corinthians by referring to being in such a jam that we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself…
Like all 1st century Middle Easterners, Paul knew something about political unrest, natural disasters, constant threat of serious illness and death, unfair taxation…not to mention the universal human problem of uneasy relationships, sibling rivalries, longing to return to simpler times etc….
Anxieties all around, yes, and the Apostle has the remedy: Don’t be anxious about anything…. In everything let your requests be made known to God.
Paul is talking about prayer becoming such a key feature of your life that it suffuses you; your life becomes a life of prayer. Now, in using that phrase – life of prayer – don’t let stock images come into your head: someone who lives in a cave, someone who is a quietist walking slowly with raised eyebrows and a smile playing on his lips. No! Rather, in your actual life as it is you are practicing the presence of the Lord by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.
Prayers are specific times set aside to pray, maybe even scripted prayers, maybe even borrowing words that others in the past have used. Prayers occur “in your prayer closet” – to use our Lord’s phrase – a place specifically set apart to bring requests to your God. Requests about anxieties that might not yet be pressing on you, they might not even be immediately youranxieties, and yet need to be brought to God.
A habit of getting away from people and systematically listing needs to God. Having a time and a place – a routine. This habit is a great inoculator against crippling anxiety.
So what’s your plan for prayers? Might I recommend:
- Your plan of when you’ll pray and what Scripture you’ll set your prayer in
- A notebook that contains
- List of people to pray for regularly: lists should include your family/ regular needs, church, gospel partners/ ministries, general Christian needs, general regional/ world needs, and leaders. Keep tinkering with these lists, updating them
- A section where you can write out your prayers when you’re too mentally jumbled up to simply think
- A place “And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.” (Mark 1:35)
Then when fears and hurdles big and small come up throughout the day, as you go in your mind you are also bringing those before God. These on-the-move requests to God are called supplications. You might not fold your hands or close your eyes or bow your head. Your prayers might not be that developed. Sometimes you can only get one word out: ABBA.
Everything to God! What you’re seeing on the ground, in the moment, especially the threats and fears as they are taking shape – you’re bringing to God. Before meals, before meetings, at the conclusion of get-togethers…constantly praying.
What if in those moments you’re not feeling it? I mean you’re not feeling spiritual, you don’t have that sense of elation and profundity that sometimes you have under the night sky or in a solemn church service? No matter! What brings you before God is not a certain atmosphere outside of you or a set of feelings inside of you, but Jesus Christ.
What if what we’re anxious about is God himself? I’m worried that he is actually against me, because at least he knows that I’ve been anything but steadily obedient. Or, I’m worried that God will take away this thing from me that I delight in so much. Tell that all to God. Let all your requests be made known to him, even your anxieties about him. As C.S. Lewis said in his little book on prayer: “We must lay before him what is in us; not what ought to be in us.”
I’d like to spend tons of time on with thanksgiving but we talked that over last week. This week suffice to say that anxiety is kept at bay as we pray, not because we’ve employed some great psychological technique called prayer. Rather, because we are praying to a God who has already shown himself to be a powerful provider and protector in our space-time existence – both materially and spiritually. And this God who has already given much says that we will access additional help – supply and protection – through prayer. A good deal of our relief in prayer comes from realizing we’ve brought our needs to a genuine Problem-Solver. Thanksgiving alerts us, reminds us that we’ve already experienced the real God who really helps. So let’s go after more!
And what comes out of a habit of exhaustive prayer with thanksgiving? And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Prayer like that will mean that God’s peace – not a Stoic lack of concern, but a deep peace in the middle of life’s problems and storms – will keep guard around your heart and mind, like a squadron of soldiers looking after a treasure chest. – Tom Wright
And all God’s people said, “Ahhh!”
Rejoicing in the Lord comes out of the peace of God. The peace of God which covers us as we pray with thanksgiving to our Father in Heaven. Prayer which is both the cause and consequent of living in the presence of the Lord. Which living in that sense of the Lord’s nearness forms bigheartedness in us. Point being: all of this is related.
AMEN
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