Philippians 4:4

Philippians 4:4

Christian Cheerfulness.

I. We can hardly appreciate the full instruction to be drawn from these words unless we remember St. Paul's condition when he wrote his epistle to the Philippians. He was a prisoner at Rome, and his life hung on the caprice of the insane tyrant who then occupied the imperial throne; his circumstances were so dreary, so comfortless, so hopeless, that, except for his brethren's sake, he desired earnestly that death might release him from his anxiety and sorrow. Yet he was so wonderfully supported by consolation in Christ, comfort of love, and fellowship of the Spirit that the burden of his exhortations to distant friends, from whom he was thus cruelly separated, was that they should rejoice in the Lord.

II. We learn then generally from the Apostle's emphatic and repeated exhortations that God intends His people to be habitually cheerful and happy. (1) Note the limitation to this cheerfulness. We are to rejoice in the Lord. There are some kinds of joy which would separate us from Christ. (2) Joy in the Lord must be a real practical principle, influencing all our habits and the whole regulation of our conduct. The signs and consequences of our privilege are three: ( a ) forbearance for others, ( b ) freedom from anxiety for ourselves, and ( c ) communion with God by prayer.

III. The precept, "Rejoice in the Lord alway," teaches us that manly cheerfulness is characteristic of the true Christian, and that this is alike remote from selfish inactivity and overcareful anxiety. This is the spirit in which each of us should go forth day by day to the work to which God has called him, and should carry it on in trustful prayer, in faith and hope and love.

G. E. L. Cotton, Sermons on the Epistles, vol. i., p. 40.

I. Who would care for any gain or loss today, if he knew for certain that Christ would show Himself tomorrow? No one. The true Christian feels as he would feel did he know for certain that Christ would be here tomorrow. For he knows for certain that at least Christ will come to him when he dies; faith anticipates his death and makes it just as if that distant day, if it be distant, were past and over. It is very plain that matters which agitate us extremely now will a year hence not interest us at all. So will it be with all human hopes, fears, pleasures, pains, jealousies, disappointments, successes, when the last day is come. They will have no life in them; they will be as the faded flowers of a banquet, which do but mock us. What this world will be understood by all to be then, such is it felt to be by the Christian now. He looks at things as he will then look at them, with an uninterested and dispassionate eye, and is neither pained much nor pleased much at the accidents of life, because they are accidents.

II. Another part of the character under review is what our translation calls moderation: "Let your moderation be known unto all men," or, as it may be more exactly rendered, your consideration, fairness, or equitableness. The Christian does not fear; fear it is that makes men bigots, tyrants, and zealots; but for the Christian it is his privilege, as he is beyond hopes and fears, suspense and jealousy, so also to be patient, cool, discriminating, and impartial, so much so that this very fairness marks his character in the eyes of the world, is "known unto all men."

III. Joy and gladness are also characteristic of him, according to the exhortation of the text, "Rejoice in the Lord alway." The duty of fearing does but perfect our joy; that joy alone is true Christian joy which is informed and quickened by fear and made thereby sober and reverent.

J. H. Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons, vol. v., p. 58.

References: Philippians 4:4 . H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, The Life of Duty, vol. i., p. 24; H. P. Liddon, Advent Sermons, vol. i., p. 283; C. Kingsley, Town and Country Sermons, p. 394; H. P. Liddon, Christian World Pulpit, vol. viii., p. 401; H. W. Beecher, Ibid., vol. xii., p. 147; Colborne, Ibid., vol. xvi., p. 382; J. Baldwin Brown, Ibid., vol. xvii., p. 129; A. P. Stanley, Ibid., vol. xxi., p. 10; F. Case, Short Practical Sermons, p. 94; E. C. Wickham, Wellington College Sermons, p. 1.