Philippians 4:4-7
December 15, 2024
It’s hard to believe that it is already December 15, Christmas is less than 2 weeks away, and I still have so much to do. As we approach Christmas, many people are more susceptible to stress these days than at any other time of the year. Primarily this is because we are busier than ever during this season. We have parties to attend, shopping that needs to be done, children have different activities, relatives are visiting, and increasing financial pressures that add to our stress. Plus, there is something about the holiday season that makes difficult times seem even more difficult. We have such high expectations for this time of the year. We want peace, happiness, and joy; we want everything to be just right, but if things don’t work out or if we fall behind we get frustrated and we can feel let down.
With this in mind, I would like to look at Paul’s advice in our second lesson for today from Philippians and from the book of Galatians on how to eliminate anxiety. Sometimes counselors talk about “how to cope with stress,” during the holiday season, but I must admit, I’m not interested in “coping” with stress. I want to eliminate stress. I don’t want to get used to it, I want to get rid of it, and in our second lesson Paul tells us how. He begins by saying in Philippians 4:6, “Do not be anxious about anything.” Now that is certainly easier said than done. Everyone knows that we shouldn’t be anxious, we shouldn’t worry, but everyone does it. In fact, the only thing more futile than worry is telling someone not to worry. But Paul doesn’t just tell us, “Don’t worry,” is this verse, he tells us how to stop worrying by saying in verse 6, “but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” In other words, make everything a matter of prayer, and not just the big things in our lives, but also the little things. It’s ok to pray for parking spaces, laundry stains, car repairs,
office conflicts, financial struggles, marital problems, rebellious children, and cancer. If it concerns you, it concerns God. So bring your requests to Him.
Now, you might be tempted to think, “Oh sure, just pray and everything will be fine. Paul obviously never had to worry about a mortgage or children or a difficult boss. It’s easy to say, ‘Rejoice in the Lord always,’ when things are going well, but what about during the difficult days when things are not going well?” It’s interesting to note that when Paul wrote the words of our text, he was in prison for his faith. Things were definitely not going well for him. He had been falsely imprisoned for a few years when he wrote these words, but how does he begin this text? In verse 4, Paul says from prison, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.” Paul understood suffering and he says don’t let your outward circumstances determine the condition of your heart. Even if things appear to be dark and hopeless, be joyful because Christ is always with you, which means you are never alone. Rejoice, bring your requests to God, and pray – not only privately, but also with others. But we don’t always do this. There was even a hymn written many years ago about our failure to pray. The hymn, “What a Friend We Have In Jesus,” has a verse that says, “O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear. All because we do not carry, everything to God in prayer.”
While this season should bring about hope and joy for all, I know there are many people who are hurting. But I have learned that it is not necessarily money or work or physical health that get people down during the holiday season. Those things may contribute to a person’s unhappiness, but I think the main reason people get down during this season is due to a lack of deep, rich, meaningful relationships with others.
We were never created to be alone. God even said it’s not good for us to be alone. God’s original plan was for us to function intertwined like a healthy family. The Church was designed that we would be a family of brothers and sisters together. And in Galatians 6, we get some
instruction on what that looks like. In verse 2 it says, “Carry each other’s burdens.” In other words, help each other; we’re all in this together, if you have a problem, then we have a problem. There comes a time in everyone’s life when we will need help in bearing a burden. You cannot always be the strong one. We will all face situations that we cannot shoulder alone and that’s where the Church, the family of God, with our lives intertwined together picks up the slack and helps to carry the load. Sometimes you do the helping and sometimes you are the one who receives the help.
For example, when you have a baby or when you have health issues or when there is a death in your family, what do people do? They bring you meals, they pick up your children, they cut your grass, they come to see you, and they help you with the work you’re missing at your job. What are they doing? They are bearing your burden with you, because we are in this together. This is why we gather special offerings for disaster relief and why some of you volunteer your time to go to those devastated areas. We help to bear their burdens with them and they rejoice.
Several years ago I received a phone call from the funeral home on Highway 70 in Clayton asking me to do a funeral for a woman who had just died. The family had a Lutheran background and wanted a Lutheran minister to do the service. When I met with the family the only thing we had in common was our faith in Jesus. Even though I had never met their mother, even though I did not know this family, I was happy and honored to do a memorial service for them. Some of you when you heard that I was going to do this funeral service offered to help, even though you did not know the family. We provided some meals for the family, as they lived out of state, we provided some flowers for the service, and some of our members attended the service in order to support the family. We were happy to help, because that’s what the church does, that’s what we do as followers of Jesus, we bear each other’s burdens. As a result, this family told me they were going to make sure they provide this type of love and care to people at their church in the future when they experience a death.
However, a few verses later in this chapter, Paul appears to say just the opposite. In Galatians 6:5 Paul says, “Each one should carry his own load.” So which is it? He says we are in this together, but then he seems to say you’re on your own. The image he uses for the word “load – carrying one’s own load” is that of a soldier’s rucksack or backpack, meaning there are some things in life we need to be responsible for, with some things we need to carry our own weight – like a soldier is expected to carry his own pack. But there are other things in life that we cannot carry on our own and we need help. If I asked you to move this altar to another part of the sanctuary, because we need to replace the carpet, I wouldn’t expect you to move it out of this spot on your own – you need help. But if I asked each one of you to carry your chair out of the sanctuary at the end of worship, because we needed to clean the carpeting, most of you could do that by yourselves without any difficulty. The challenge is we need to realize when we should bear each other’s burdens and when we should take responsibility for our own lives.
I know there are several of us here today, who as part of this family of God, are struggling to carry a load. Maybe you’re struggling in your marriage, maybe you’re hurting over the death of a loved one this year, maybe you have family members or friends who are angry with you, or maybe you’re just having a hard time with many things in your life. No matter what circumstance or season we find ourselves in, God always gives us a reason to rejoice. We may not always understand God’s ways or His plans for us, but He is always with us to forgive, strengthen, and encourage us. Ten days from now you may still have a stack of things on a table in your house that need to be done. You may have presents that were never purchased or cards that did not get sent out in time. But does it really matter? Instead, just rejoice that God is with you, that He provides this church family to bear each other’s burdens together, that a Savior has been born for you – Christ the Lord, and have a Merry Christmas.
