Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The text on which this morning's message is based comes from our Epistle lesson (Philippians 4: 4-14).

We live in a world of people looking for, searching for, striving for happiness, a sense of contentment. You can't look at a bookrack without seeing scads of titles about how to live and happier and more fulfilled life. You can hardly pick up a magazine without seeing an article about getting more satisfaction from life. You can't watch most TV talk shows without hearing something about improving your life and well-being. I did a quick search on the Internet for the term "happiness" and I got 2,910,000 hits!

What are the causes of happiness and contentment? Again, books and TV and magazines would focus on being happy by improving our careers, our school performance, our marriages, our children, our success, our portfolios, our homes, our exercise, you name it. At first glance there would seem to be scores of important earthly factors in determining our level of happiness and joy. In some of the 2,910k Internet sites I saw happiness tied to camping, miniature porcelain dolls, golf, movies, and of course, happiness found in Elvis!

If you've ever seen an old friend or relative that you haven't seen for years, the conversation will often get to your sense of happiness. "Are you happy?" one of you will ask the other. If an old friend you hadn't seen for 10 years asked you that question "Are you happy, content?" how would you respond? If they asked you why you were happy (or why you weren't), how would you respond? What are the factors leading to happiness for you? What gives you joy in life? Paul in our text seems to be a pretty happy, pretty joyful guy. Verse 10: "I rejoice greatly in the Lord." Paul is even insisting that Philippians be happy, joyfilled people (verse 4): "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" What is his secret, what motivates him to happiness? Had he been an extraordinarily successful church leader, with scads of loyal followers and a big house and plenty of money? By no means. Actually, at this time Paul was writing from prison. "1: 12 Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. 13 As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. 14 Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly." Paul is joyful, despite his chains, because the message of Jesus Christ, crucified and resurrected, is being spoken, more and more courageously. You know, I'll bet that very few of those books, magazines and TV talk shows tie joy in life to sitting in prison.

But yet Paul was joyful, and encouraging others to be joyful despite their situation. He said: (vs 6a) "Do not be anxious about anything." (vs 12) "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want." So what was Paul's secret? What was his key to joyful living? His key was the Great Good News of Jesus Christ. Every once in a while I receive unsolicited e-mail from sites with names like GreatNews@affordable mortgage.com. Their "Great news" is that they think they can lower my mortgage interest rates. If I was paying too much interest, they might help me be a better steward of God's earthly gifts to me, but my interest rate is just fine. I don't need their "Great News." But Paul and you and I have an even "Greater News", that in terms of our spiritual home the interest rate we pay is not just low, but FREE. Our entire spiritual mortgage of sin has been paid off. The sins we confessed earlier have been taken away. The cost of our entering into God's presence, his feast of rich food, into his banquet in our heavenly home, that cost has already been covered. On the mountain of Calvary Jesus Christ destroyed the shroud of sin that covered all the peoples of the world. His fully human, fully divine death swallowed up death forever. He has removed the disgrace of our sin. We respond with "Surely this is our God; we trusted in Him, and He saved us (Isaiah 25: 9 and earlier verses paraphrased).

Not long before his death, Henri Nouwen wrote a book called Sabbatical Journeys. He wrote about some friends of his who were trapeze artists, called the Flying Roudellas. They told Nouwen that there is a special relationship between the flyer and the catcher on the trapeze. The flyer is the one who lets go, and the catcher is the one who catches. As the flier swings high above the crowd on his trapeze, the time comes when he must let go. He arcs out into the air. His one task now is to wait as he flies through the air for the catcher with his strong hands to grab him.

One of the Flying Roudellas told Nouwen, "The flier must simply let go, and never try to catch the catcher. He must wait in absolute trust that the catcher will catch him." (from PreachingToday.com #199, John Ortberg, "Waiting on God").

That message of absolute trust is the message of the Word of God. Our Lord Jesus Christ is our catcher in life. Our arms, our hands, our abilities would always leave us short of grasping God in his holiness. But our Lord has come to earth, God Himself, and catches us. We wait, trusting in Him both for our current eternal life, and for our permanent banquet with Him in heaven.

As in our Gospel lesson, He has invited many to this banquet who have paid no attention, been distracted, have refused to come. They've often had an excuse. They think they are too busy in their fields or businesses to hear God's Word or respond to his frequent invitations. To those who refuse to respond to his invitation, the King's anger and wrath will destroy them. This is a king, not some elected official we can vote out of office. Telling Him that his invitation is not well-timed, or we're just a bit too busy for him now, that's a dangerous thing to say to a king. But when one person doesn't respond, this King, the father of the Son, keeps on inviting new guests. He says to His servants (Matt 22: 9-10): "Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.' So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests."

We his servants here at Immanuel rejoice that our King has sent servants who invited us to His banquet. We rejoice that we are now his servants who can tell others of our King's invitation, and they respond by joining with us and the whole Christian church on earth to praise His holy, saving name. I hope that you who are visiting here today can sense the joy we have in knowing Jesus, and knowing that He alone catches us when we fall. We come here weekly to be reminded that, like the trapeze flier, we cannot catch ourselves, but simply trust in the cross and resurrection of our Lord Christ to protect and keep us safe to the end when we go to be with Him at his banquet in heaven. To those of you who are visiting, we hope that you feel welcomed here and will join with us frequently to hear of his invitation, and to respond to that invitation through daily repentance and faith in our forgiveness purchased by our Lord Jesus Christ. Our worship services tend to be quite reverential, showing the awe we feel to be in the presence of God and his Word, but through that reverential character I hope that you our visitors can sense the joy and peace that we know through our Lord and his salvation. We pray that you will join with us frequently to serve this Lord, inviting others to know and trust in Him alone.

And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4: 7). Amen.

Story to open Friendship Sunday service: A young man named Bill had wild hair and wore a T-shirt with holes in it, jeans, and no shoes. He was brilliant, a bit esoteric, and very smart. He became a Christian while in college. Across the street from the university campus was a very traditional church, with many well-dressed and beautifully attired members. They wanted to develop a ministry to students, but weren't sure how to go about it. One day Bill decided to go there. He walked in with no shoes, jeans, his T-shirt, and of course his wild hair. The service had already started, so Bill started walking down the aisle looking for a seat. The church was completely packed and he couldn't find a seat. By now people had noticed him, and they all look a bit uncomfortable, but no one said anything. Bill got closer and closer and closer to the pulpit and, when he realized there were no seats, he just squatted down, sitting right on the carpet. Although perfectly acceptable behavior at a college Christian fellowship group, this had never happened in this church before! By now many people were anxious, and the tension in the air was thick. About this time, the minister realized that from the back of the church, an usher was slowly making his way toward Bill. This usher, Jim, was in his eighties, had silver-gray hair, and wore a distinguished three-piece suit. He was a godly man, very elegant, very dignified. He walked with a cane and, as he started walking toward this young man, everyone is saying under their breath, "You can't blame Jim for what he's going to do. How can you expect a man of his age and distinction to understand some college kid sitting on the floor?" It took a very long time for the man to reach the boy. The church was utterly silent except for the clicking of the man's shoes. All eyes were focused on him. You couldn't even hear anyone breathing. The minister couldn't even preach the sermon until the usher did what he had come to do. When he got to the young man he dropped his cane and with great difficulty, lowered himself to the ground and sat down. It is a moment filled with poignancy. When the minister regained control, he said, "What I'm about to preach, you might never remember. What you have just seen, you will never forget. Be careful how you live. You may be the only Bible some people will ever read." (Traditional story modified from esermons.com). I'm glad that so many of you have chose to visit us today, and I'm glad that we have enough pews for all of you to sit in. But more importantly I hope that you feel welcomed here like young Bill did by Jim. I hope that you rejoice with us today and other Sundays as we praise our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ with God's own Words and with our songs….