2nd Sunday of Advent, Morning Worship
Sermon Series: Boundless
Sermon: Boundless Joy
Accompanying Scripture: Philippians 1: 1-11

Boundless Joy

There once was a church that didn’t love themselves. As a result, they had trouble loving other people. Board decisions were never implemented. People were afraid of bullies. They kept doing the same thing, never realizing it wasn’t working. They didn’t understand why they couldn’t grow. Guests arrived, but there was no room for them. Oh, there were plenty of pews and plenty of seats, but no room for them to be a part of this community.

When the new preacher arrived, he learned that when they voted to issue his call, the board decided to call him for a variety of reasons. But the bottom line was, “We can’t afford to be fussy.” He was hurt by this, and the church would continue to hurt him. Eventually, he left. They didn’t love themselves. How could they possibly love anyone else?

On the other end of this spectrum, we have the Philippian church. We can see why Paul is so eager to see them again. He loves them. He loves what they’re doing. They love each other and themselves and are reaching out with the gospel. They are doing the right thing. Paul says they are blameless. I have a problem with the word blameless because I think the only one blameless is Jesus. So, what does Paul mean by blameless? Does it mean they’re perfect? Well, no. That’s not true and I can guarantee they made mistakes, tripped, and stumbled. What they didn’t do was take on the bad stuff of other people. They did the right thing.

What does it look like to do the right thing? To be blameless?

First, we love ourselves. We believe in loving our neighbor as we love ourselves. Honestly, there are days when I think I love my neighbor a whole lot better than I love myself, and I wonder if you feel that way at times, too. Sometimes, we aren’t very happy with ourselves, but maybe tomorrow will be better. One way we start to like ourselves more is by taking on the responsibility for our bad behavior.

I’m reminded that Paul wrote to the Roman Church, “For I do not do what I want, but the very thing I hate.” (Romans 15b) It’s the human condition. The other side of this is not taking on other people’s bad work. If someone behaves badly, that’s their stuff. You don’t take it on. That is healthy living. It’s what we call doing the right thing.

We all have unique gifts and talents that combine to create a community that loves each other. We love each other so much that we can carry that light out into the world, loving God and loving neighbor. We trust ourselves when we love ourselves. We trust ourselves when we trust that God will give us the right words. The promise to us in Romans is that the Holy Spirit will give us the words we need.

Joy is deep. Inner joy in serving, being together working, or fellowshipping creates a blamelessness before God. We feel the deep joy of serving God. This isn’t easy all the time. But we learn many things. We learn to speak in love, and when divisive conversations come up, and we speak in love, then we learn when to speak. We learn when to listen to the Holy Spirit, who gives us the words to speak, and this way of life brings us boundless joy.

How do you see yourself?

Love and embrace who you are and how God has made you.

Say yes to living a Christ-like life.

Say yes to God and God’s call on your heart.

Most of all, say yes to boundless joy.

All glory and honor be to God.
Amen.