REALLY REJOICE - - Phil 4:4

Introduction

Paul’s letters have some of the best one liners. Tonight I want to look at one of his one liners. These powerful verses can be very inspirational, but I want to be careful that we don’t miss the FULL STORY. Sometimes we hold onto a single part and miss the entire puzzle around it.

First Jesus Community Paul started in eastern Europe

Romans colony with retired soldiers - which led to Paul facing resistance

Those who turned to Christ created a community ————— that ended up facing persecution

In this section of the letter, Paul encourages the people to not give in to fear — — — and provides some personal responses to hold fast to God.

Please stand with me as we look at this short but FULL verse together — Philippians 4:4 “4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.”

Let’s pray together

When I read this passage, my first thought was a song I used to sing when I was kid.

“Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice…”

I was talking to someone else about the sermon and broke out into song.

“Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel, shall come to thee O Israel…”

{{{As fun as those songs are, I want to share about rejoicing/joy. This ain’t no ordinary joy.

You can’t buy it.

You can’t rent it.

You can’t steal it.

The only way to get it is to RECEIVE it.

The three points I want to reveal from this passage are quite simple and will involve a little bit of grammer. So don’t let me lose you with the grammer but hold onto the truths and applications.

REJOICE ||| ALWAYS ||| IN THE LORD

We are first going to look at the VERB - REJOICE

The Verb

The verb calls for action from the reader. The action of rejoicing is not conditional or optional. The action to rejoice is not part of a cause and effect. It is not an option of choosing when we want to or don’t want to. We can rejoice because of the work Christ did on the cross (Luke 10:20 “…but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.””

Rejoicing is an activity we choose to do; it is not an emotion. If we choose to rejoice, it means we are choosing not to do something else.

Steven Runge

We can worship because we believe in promises of God. We will get more into this during the third point on the preposition.

How can I rejoice? How do I express rejoicing?

The foundational way to rejoice is at the heart — 1 Chronicles 16:10 “10 Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice!” It’s not about those who show up. It’s not about those who show out. Rejoicing is about those who show their heart. We express rejoicing from the heart. The heart is that spiritual part of us where our emotions and desires dwell. When you surrender your life to Christ, Jesus begins to change your heart’s emotions and desires. This empowers you to express your rejoicing.

Through the heart we express rejoicing in our thoughts. Think about the great things Christ has done. Remember His power, forgiveness, and provision.

When we rejoice in our thoughts, this leads us to rejoicing in our speech. How do you talk about Jesus? Do you talk about Jesus? The Bible says to REJOICE ALWAYS and we can do that in our speech. What a witness we could be if we regularly rejoiced in Jesus!

Many times we rejoice through singing. Rejoicing is not how others excite us but its from the heart. Our expression of singing to rejoice cannot be built on the excitement of others. TRUE REJOICING comes from being excited and thankful for the work Christ has done in your life. When you truly sing from the heart , it shows in your worship. ~~Rejoice from the heart before your rejoice in your actions.

You also rejoice in prayer. What do you talk to God about? He wants to hear from you. You can rejoice in your prayers back to God. Verbally share your thanksgiving to God!

The call to rejoice is a command for action. REJOICE ||| ALWAYS —> Let’s get to the adverb

The Adverb

Sometimes I feel like in church world, we communicate in a way to keep things simple. With this goal, we fail to share the reality of certain principles. For the adverb, it is pretty simple. Rejoice ALWAYS. We all know that always is all the time. I don’t want to just say “all the time,” but I want to show you all the time.

All the time means through every circumstance. Good and bad! We can all think of great times to rejoice about. Some might think of a moment when you

great achievements in school, sports, career

Great family time

Traveled somewhere special.

Memory from church

The moment you surrendered your life to Christ.

There is so much to rejoice about.

But the Bible says to rejoice ALWAYS, which means even in the bad times. I know we can all think of bad moments in life.

Maybe there was class or job that didn’t go well.

There was an embarrassing moment.

A friend no longer seems to be a friend

Didn’t get a position you wanted

The future you planned out isn’t planning out anymore

Life at home isn’t like you remember. Hurt and pain in the home.

These are the hardest times to rejoice, because there seems there is nothing to rejoice about. Overt the years, I’ve had people ask about my family. I shared how I come from a divorce home. My parents have been divorced most of my life. The question came up, “How did that affect you growing up?”

I never got over it until I got saved, but even then there was still pain. How am I supposed to praise God through the pain?

I began to see how much God actually protected. Coming from a family where they drink, smoke, and do drugs. God protected me from ever being tempted by that. God provided a dad that established the importance of church in my life. It’s hard to rejoice about God through the sad times.

How do you rejoice in the sad times? Look to see what God is doing around that situation! As much as we hate the sad moments of life, we can become so crippled in our emotions that we won’t look to see where Christ is moving. Paul teaches in 2 Cor. 6:10 that through sorrow we are to always be rejoicing.

Want to know more how you can rejoice always (the good and bad times)? Listen to the third point...

REJOICE ||| ALWAYS ||| IN THE LORD

The Preposition

There are many circumstances in life that make it difficult to be happy about, but we are not to rejoice over circumstances. WE ARE TO REJOICE IN TEHE LORD! This is how you can rejoice all the time.

Think about the writer of this letter — Paul. He had been beaten, imprisoned, persecuted, threatened of death. That guy who went through all of that taught the church to rejoice always IN THE LORD. The one enduring persecution was writing on behalf of the ONE who endured the most, urging us to find joy in HIM. at all times.

WHAT IS THE SOURCE OF MY JOY? I read this in a commentary: Most people think you get joy when you get what you desire. But real joy comes when you realize what you deserve. The realization of what you deserve (judgment) and what you’ve received instead (salvation) should lead you to great joy. It’s not about getting what you want; it’s about being grateful for all that you have in Christ Jesus. Merida, Tony, and Francis Chan. Exalting Jesus in Philippians. Edited by David Platt, Daniel L. Akin, and Tony Merida. Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary. Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2016.

Luke 10:17–20 The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” 18 And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.

20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

Closing

What do you have to rejoice in tonight? Think about it!

Can you rejoice that God saved you from your sins and you surrendered your life to Him?

Can you rejoice that Christ has been and continues to work in your life?

Can you rejoice knowing that no matter your situation, God will be there if you just TRUST HIM?

We can all rejoice in Jesus…

Although …He existed in the nature of God,

He did not Regard His equality with God as a thing to be exploited;

Rather, He emptied Himself,

Taking up the nature of a servant;

He was born as a human

and recognized as a human;

He humbled himself by becoming obedient

to the point of death,

even death on a cross.

Therefore, God has highly exalted Him,

and given Him the name

which is above every name,

so that at the name of Jesus

every knee will bow, in heaven,

on earth, or under the earth,

and every tongue will confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord

to the glory of God the Father.

______ We find this poem in the middle of Philippians 2. It is the center piece to the letter, as it is the center piece to life, because it is the Gospel message. Every knee will bow down to Jesus. My mission tonight is to make sure you know that moment will be in heaven for you. If you can not confidently believe that to be true, will you come forward tonight?

If you know that to be true, maybe this message is a reminder to rejoice ALWAYS in the Lord, not in your circumstance. This alter is open for you!