Sermon prepared for
by Pastor Gregory S. Kaurin
Text: Philippians 4:12-14
Sermon:
Secrets of the Initiated
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This letter of Philippians, our second lesson, is
known as Paul’s letter of joy. Earlier
in chapter four, Paul gave the famous commandment: “Rejoice in the Lord always,
and again I say, ‘Rejoice!’” He wrote this
while he was under arrest by the Roman guard for an extended period of time,
probably in
In spite of his own situation, Paul was rejoicing,
Paul was filled with joy. How could that
be? It is because he had a secret. “In any and all circumstances,” Paul said, “I
have learned the secret.” Paul said that
whole phrase “I have learned the secret” with one Greek word, meh-MU-ay-mai,
and memuaymai was from the root word, moo-EH-oh. Say that once. It was a word that was used specifically for
secret initiation rituals.
So Paul was saying that his joy, and his strength
came out from his initiation, from finding Christ in plenty and in want. When he was starving, and when he was full,
Christ was there. When he was imprisoned
and when he was free, Christ was still there.
Surrounded by friends or enemies, Paul found that Jesus Christ was
always and still at his side. Memuaymai,
“I have been initiated, and I have learned the secret.”
Last Thursday, Pastor Steve and I separately visited
two different people, each of them bed-ridden.
One of them was a member, and the other wasn’t. On Friday, we were comparing notes and were surprised
to find that both of the people we had visited talked about visions of heaven
and Jesus.
I am always suspicious of coincidences, and I have no
doubt God was saying something to the one or both of us. Both of these people talked about the great beauty,
joy, and love they saw and felt. Both
Steve and I asked to hear more, for specifics, but they would or could only
repeat those same words: beauty, love and joy.
Finally, Pastor Steve said that the person he visited
patted his hand and said, “I can’t tell you anymore than that, Pastor; you’re
just going to have to wait and get your own vision.”
Memuaymai, “I have learned the secret; I have been
initiated.” Joy in the midst of
struggle, pain, loss, fear. Joy in the
face of imprisonment, illness, even death.
Courage and peace in the face of arguments, divisions, controversy and
gossip. From where does it come? Christ, Jesus Christ has been through it all
and faced it all, and remains by our side always, until and after the day he
welcomes us fully into his kingdom. Some
people receive visions. Some of us never
will, but they are gifts to all of us, to take heart. No matter what happens, remember whose you
are, who has a hold of you.
We all should do our best to do our best. But if any of us should fall, then just reach
and grab hold of this promise again, because of God’s forgiveness and grace,
not even death can kill you, not in the end.
“I can do all things,” Paul wrote, “through Christ
who strengthens me.” In the context of
this letter, he’s not talking about performing miraculous feats. This wasn’t about lifting impossible objects
or levitating in the air. Paul was
talking about endurance and faith. He
was looking at his imprisonment. He was
thinking about those who were spreading gossip around him and false messages,
and then—in spite of and even through all of this—Paul saw how God was still working
through and around him anyway.
In this letter, Paul mentioned members of the Roman
guard who were coming to faith while they were guarding him. Paul thanked the Philippians because they
sent him money and provisions for the ministry just when he was at his
lowest. They had sent a man,
Epaphroditus, to be with him, and share his ordeal for awhile. So Paul wrote in our second lesson, “It was so
kind of you to share in my distress.”
In a small way, we can relate. This past school year Kendra Mohn was sent to
be with us as our pastoral intern. She
shared with us some of our individual and our congregational struggles. We learned from and we were supported by her,
and she by us.
Today, as a sign of our unity, and our hope for the
future of our church, we send her back, to let this message of Christ grow and
increase. It has been kind of God and
the church to share her with us. We rejoice
in the Lord.
And in two weeks, a new school year will begin, and
we shall welcome a new pastoral intern, Lydia Wittman, in the same joy, hope
and expectation, and for a new exchange of learning and experiences we will
rejoice and give thanks.
As he did in many other letters to many other
churches, Paul called churches, for the sake of the message, to seek unity, to
stop the infighting, to let go of personal idols enough to pull together for
singleness of purpose, to bring others in the community to Christ.
Paul was raised speaking Aramaic, but he wrote in
Greek, to a people who were raised, spoke, learned, and thought differently
than he did. He understood better than
we often do, what it means set aside personal comfort, hobby horses, and
preferences for the unifying sake of the gospel message.
What pulls us together, what unites us? Our religion is not the things we do, sing or
say. Our religion, first and foremost is
who we follow, to whom we sing, and then what he sends us to do or say. We may differ in thought, speech and
expression, but we are united in our mission to tell others about the grace,
forgiveness and joy of Christ.
Paul saw how, in spite of disagreements and even the
false teachings, still the name of Christ was being spread, so that he wrote
these words in the first chapter: “What does it matter…I shall go on being
joyful, because I know that this is what will save me, through your prayers and
the support of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, all along with my most confident
conviction and trust that I shall never have to admit defeat, but instead with
complete fearlessness I shall go on, so that now, as always, Christ will be
glorified through me, whether by my life…or my death” (vv.18-20).
Paul, like me and like you, Paul was initiated into
Jesus Christ. From this point on, we can
do, we can endure, anything because we have Jesus Christ who strengthens us.
That is our secret joy.
As Paul wrote in this letter to the Philippians, may
this secret joy and “peace which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds
in Christ Jesus.” Amen.
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