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Rev. Bill Pederson
Biblical Texts: Exodus 32:1-14; Philippians 4:1-9
I once had someone tell me that the best word a preacher can speak to his or her congregation is the word, “Finally.” I sat there a little perplexed thinking this individual was trying to make a deep theological point. But then he quipped while snickering, “When you preachers say finally, folks like me finally start listening.”
I thought about the impact of the word “finally” on Friday morning when I was attending an awards presentation over here at Matthews Elementary. I was sitting on flat, hard cafeteria benches that are clearly made for much younger bodies and much, much more supple bones and joints. Mr. Witt, the dynamic and energetic principal of Matthews Elementary, was giving one of his gracious and impassioned speeches on the importance of reading to your children. Like all great evangelists, Mr. Witt was really spinning his yarn. Problem was, I had arrived early for the festivities and by now I had been sitting on those hard benches for over fifteen minutes and my backside was aching more and more with radiating discomfort creeping down my legs. And then Mr. Witt said “Finally,” and miraculously the pain disappeared from my body and my brain locked in on that dear man to hear an impassioned plea for parents to hug their children each day before school, tell them that you love them, and tell them how important an education is to you, and therefore to them.
Paul offers the word “Finally” today in his letter to the Philippians. And just like in spoken words, when the word “finally” appears in a written piece of literature, we pay a little closer attention because we know the writer is getting ready to make a final, very important point. Paul says, “Finally,” and then he interjects another very important word “beloved” – which in the Greek is literally “brothers,” though the term does not mean exclusively males. It means the brethren of the community of faith, the beloved ones, the dear ones. Paul is making sure that his readers take notice that he is speaking a final, very important word, to the beloved, dear ones in the community of faith.
“Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” (verse 8)
It is interesting to note Paul’s almost poetic repetition of the word “whatever.” With the wholeness and symmetry of the number 6, six times Paul plies the Philippians with the word “whatever.” The problem for us hearing the word “whatever” today is that the word “whatever” has become a word in modern language that is a put-off word – a word of frustration and disgust. When teenagers get frustrated with their parents a good ole “WhatEVER!” with emphasis, is as good as it gets for the adolescent to signal the parent that “whatEVER” the parent has to say is just not getting it done for the teenager.
We could not be farther from the modern, shallow, snappy use of “WhatEVER” when we encounter it in Paul. In Paul’s writing, “whatever” is a deep, broad, enveloping and encompassing word, given even more depth and gravity by the words “Finally,” and “beloved” that precede it. Paul is harnessing the beloved, dear ones, in here for a final, definitive and definite word. And that word is “…whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
“…think about these things,” Paul urges the church in Philippi. The Greek means to take these things into account; think about these things intently and intentionally; think carefully and fully about these things. Paul is saying to the church that our minds can get out kilter. Paul is saying to the church that we can start to think about things that ultimately don’t matter. He is saying to the church that it is easy to take account of things that get us off track as Christians. Paul is literally urging the church at Philippi to practice, intentionally and intently and carefully, what it means to be a people of God in Jesus Christ – because we can so easily drift away from the excellence we are called to in Christ.
Euodia and Syntyche had drifted off track. These two powerful women of strong faith had somehow begun to think about things that were not in keeping with the excellence they once practiced in Jesus Christ. Paul says that Euodia and Syntyche had started out in excellence all right – they were his coworkers in spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul says that Euodia and Syntyche had “struggled beside me in the work of the gospel,” which if we take Paul at his word in 2 Corinthians 11, it is likely these two powerful women of faith had gone without food, gone without sleep, gone without safety in struggling for the gospel of Jesus Christ. So faithful were these two women to the cause of the gospel that Paul implies in Philippians that Euodia and Syntyche “are in the book of life,” a book God keeps with the names of those faithful to be saved.
But for some reason these two coworkers of Paul, these two women who had struggled with Paul for the sake of the gospel, these two women whose names are written in the book of life – they had drifted off track from the excellence they once knew in Jesus Christ. They no longer were taking account of and thinking carefully of and putting into practice what makes for a true, honorable, just, pure, pleasing, commendable, excellent and praiseworthy life in Christ. To it put it bluntly, Euodia had done something to upset Syntyche so badly, that Syntyche huffed “WhatEVER” at Euodia. And it is likely that Syntyche had done something to upset Euodia so drastically, that Euodia barked “WhatEVER” at Syntyche.
That is not the whatever Paul is “Finally” reminding these beloved ones in the Lord of. Paul tells one of his loyal companions in the Philippian congregation to remind Euodia and Syntyche to be in the same mind in the Lord. Take account of the common faith you share in Christ, think carefully and intently about your actions, practice what is excellent and praiseworthy in Christ, get it back in your hearts and practice in your actions a deep and abiding “Whatever:” “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable…”
Christians can get off track, Paul is telling us. In Jesus Christ we have been called to a life of excellence, a life whose thoughts and actions are praise worthy – not of us, but praiseworthy of the Lord who calls us and claims us in baptism. But like Syntyche and Euodia, our mothers in the faith, it is easy for us to get side tracked; it is easy for us to get off kilter. Fear can side track us and get us off center. There is a whole lot of fear and uncertainty in the world around us today as financial markets are in a meltdown and our wealth is wafting away, home values falling, jobs becoming questionable, retirement becoming interesting. Fear can get into our minds and it can seep into our psyches and it can cause us to be less than the excellent people we are called to in Jesus Christ.
Paul is writing Philippians from the bowels of a Roman prison, chained to a wall, hungry, damp, cold, his fortune diminished, his future uncertain. His message to believers is the Lord is near, rejoice, don’t worry, be thankful to God in prayer. His message to believers is get your minds in the right place; take account of what really matters; be intentional about practicing what is excellent and praiseworthy in Jesus Christ, and Christ will lead you to the only thing that ultimately matters – the peace of God which surpasses all understanding.
Eugene Peterson writing in his New Testament translation says this about our text from Philippians today: “Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious – the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.” (The Message, page 421)
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