Phillipians 4:4-5 — Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.

Again and again I remind myself of the precious value of all scripture, and the consequent folly of having “favorite verses”. Alas, I am weak, and again and again I am reminded of passages that surely would be favorites if favorites were allowed! Surely Paul’s instruction here to his dear Phillipians must be some of the best loved verses in scripture. Today I want not to focus, as we so often do on the “asking” commands … be careful for nothing and make your desires made known to God, but on these others. In his “New Testament in Modern English”, J. B. Phillips translates them “Delight yourselves in the Lord, yes, find your joy in him at all times. Have a reputation for being reasonable, and never forget the nearness of your Lord.”
The first command is to rejoice. Roger Ellsworth, summaries the reason for rejoicing in Opening Up Phillipians. We must have:
— THE CAUSE OF CHRIST as our priority.
— THE CHARACTER OF CHRIST as our pattern.
— THE COMPREHENSION OF CHRIST as our passion.
— THE CARE OF CHRIST as our peace, which the apostle is about to express.
Next, we are to make our moderation known to all men, to have a reputation for being reasonable. The word the KJV translates as “moderation” and Phillips as “reasonable” is tricky to translate. It says something about not pushing our rights as far as we could and pushing others rights as far, or even a little further, if we can. In showing that kind of moderation we have God as our supreme example Who might have condemned us but instead has extended His grace.
We are to let our moderation to be known to all men. Not to make a show of it, for that would be immoderate, but to let it be discovered. We are to let it be discovered by all men — not just those who are well disposed to us, but to all men so that even our enemies will come to be our friends.
The root cause of our joy and our moderation is that “The Lord is at hand”. There is no doubt that The Lord is coming again, and coming soon. Knowing that, we must surely be joyful and we must surely be reasonable and moderate to others in preparation of our hearts for His coming.
The coming of The Lord is surely the sense of “The Lord is at hand”. I think, though, that there is another sense. “The Lord is at hand” might also be taken to mean He is near to us wherever we are — and that, too, must be the greatest of causes for joy!
God is always with us, and His Son is coming soon!