Rejoice and again I will say rejoice!

Intro

Greetings

Main passage: Philippians 4:4-7:

Philippians 4:4–7 LSB

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! 5 Let your considerate spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. 6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Today we will be talking about a fundamental aspect of the christian walk. Something that should permeate our entire lives, today we will be talking about joy.

Now the joy that we will be discussing this evening is not the go lucky happy clappy joy that is advertised by the world as joy. We will be talking about biblical joy, what it is, and how we attain this joy. And how this joy is fundamentally rooted in a deep faith in who God is.

To give a short list of what we will be discussing today, it will be four things:

What is Biblical Joy?

We have bought into the lie offered by our secular culture of greed and covetousness.

We have a poor understanding of what prayer is and the impact it has on our lives.

We have a poor understanding of who we are praying to, the great I AM, Yahweh.

Just as a disclaimer before we get started, if you feel that you already live a life full of true biblical joy, then some of the assertions that I make in this sermon will not be directed towards you, and I hope that I may be a good reminder and exhortation for you as you continue in your walk with Christ.

What is biblical joy?

Before we move on we first have to define what biblical joy is

Like I mentioned before it isn’t the happiness that the world seems to be chasing, which is fleeting, and partial. All humans are after joy but most of them are stuck in the cycle of pursuing it, not having it.

To demonstrate what I believe to be a true example of biblical joy from the scriptures themselves, please open with me to James 1:2-3:

James 1:2–3 LSB

2 Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith brings about perseverance.

When you ask someone from the world what is joy, and what is suffering. They will most likely give you definitions that are antithetical to each other.

Joy is the reaction to when good things happen, and suffering is what happens when bad things happen.

They are opposites. It is unthinkable that someone could have joy IN suffering, IN trials, not DESPITE suffering but IN it. And yet, this is what the scriptures command us to do.

We even have examples from the scriptures where people are joyful for having suffered. The example that comes to mind is the apostles in Acts 5:41, after being beaten and commanded not to preach in the name of Jesus what do they do?

Acts 5:41 LSB

41 So they went on their way from the presence of the Sanhedrin, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for the Name.

Looking to a more recent historical example of this, look no further than WW2, where many Christians suffered because they hid Jews in their houses under the Nazi regime. And if they were found they were often times thrown into those same concentration camps that the Jews were thrown in. One particular famous case of this is that which is documented in the biography of Corrie Ten Boom, in her book, the Hiding Place. Where after being found, and thrown into a concentration camp with her sister. They were put in a building that was infested with fleas and ridden with disease. And when Corrie’s sister was praying to God, she thanked God that they were put in specifically that building, and she thanked God for the fleas, the same fleas who were biting them and making their lives even more miserable. It’s unthinkable.

This phenomena in general is unthinkable to those who are in the world. And yet, wherever Christians are, this joy in suffering follows them, and in fact when persecution arises, this joy is even magnified. Which is the complete opposite of how you think that would go.

This joy in suffering can only be attained in one way. Through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit because one of the fruits of being indwelt by the Spirit is joy. True biblical joy is attained by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

So then, when you follow through with this line of thinking, Christians, those who believe in the Triune God and have been saved by grace through faith, should be some of the happiest people around right? We should be the happiest folks this side of eternity.

Unfortunately, you just don’t see that in a lot of modern churches, especially here in America. Land of the brave, home of the free, with plenty of everything! where we have all of our basic needs met and most don’t have to struggle with what most of the people in the world do. Most of us have food on our tables, roofs over our heads, and more clothes than we can count, and so much more. But for some strange reason, many of us aren’t joyful in our day to day lives. Which leads us right into the second point on our list.

We have bought into the lie offered by our secular culture of greed and covetousness.

We have been sold a bill of goods. This mindset that permeates our great nation of plenty. And we have as Christians have by and large also fallen into it.

“Get that bag” “Did you see the latest episode?” “Did you do the new trend on tiktok?” “What do you think about the newest celebrity news?” “What do you think will be the next bitcoin?” “Never settle!” “Always go for more!” “Go big or go home!”

All of you know what I am talking about because most of us have said these things or at least heard them. Because we are constantly surrounded by this stuff, not just when we are out and about but even in our homes thanks to the internet. We have been affected by it as much as they have. I myself am no exception to this.

This world will have you thinking that joy is found in the next thing, the dopamine hit when you scroll another time on social media, or when you purchase something you don’t need on a whim, or God forbid, do some sort of drugs, or things like that.

It’s all about having and getting more things, but these things don’t bring true lasting joy, we know where it is found, in God, and yet because we surround ourselves with this mindset and indulge in it ourselves, we think its okay when we do it mildly, “we don’t do this as much as the world does so its okay” at least that’s what we tell ourselves.

And notice, how it has ingrained itself into our holidays.

Tell me brothers and sisters, what comes right after Thanksgiving? black Friday, and cyber Monday, where you can get more things at a lower price, even though that is not always the case. The holiday where we are meant to give thanks to God for all that we have, turns into giving thanks that we can get more things.

Needless to say the same follows with Christmas, instead of celebrating the fact that light has come into the world to conquer darkness, that God Himself has come to free us from slavery to sin, much of the world and unfortunately many Christians celebrate the fact that we get more things.

Now is there something inherently wrong with these holidays like some Christians like to say? No, the original intention is still there and it is still meaningful and good because of that, it is just covered by all this nonsense on top of it.

“This is just late stage capitalism” is what some people in the world would like to say. It is idolatry, plain and simple.

This grift that has occured is not something that happened by chance, but has been carefully orchestrated by the the devil and the world to distract people from the true meaning of these holidays, the true reason for the season. We must be careful and sober-minded.

We must be content with what we have. Otherwise we will 100% fall into this scheme set out by the forces opposing Christianity. This world is obsessed with numbers, and how much we make annually, and the big number that people are currently obsessed with is 6 figures, in other words, making more than $100,000 a year. This number is ridiculously absurd, because, just to put things into perspective, if you make more than $30,000 a year, congratulations, you live within the top 1% of people in the world. the rest of the 99% live on less than that. We must be content with what we have and we must remember what the scriptures say about being content with what we have.

Hebrews 13:5 LSB

5 Make sure that your way of life is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,”

1 Timothy 6:6–8 LSB

6 But godliness actually is a means of great gain, when accompanied by contentment. 7 For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. 8 And if we have food and covering, with these we shall be content.

These passages clearly tell us with what to be content with, and more importantly in whom we find that contentment. This leads us into our next point.

We have a poor understanding of what prayer is and the impact it has on our lives.

Let’s return to our main passage in Philippians once again and read it to refresh our minds

Philippians 4:4–7 LSB

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! 5 Let your considerate spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. 6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Paul starts the conclusion to his letter to the Philippians with an exhortation to “Rejoice in the Lord always and again I will say, rejoice!” and I know we have spoken an awful lot about Biblical joy, and about what the cultural circumstances that prevent us from having it. But the question still stands, how do we actually rejoice in the Lord?

Well surprisingly enough Paul spills the beans on how to do that in the following three verses. And the key ingredient so to speak, is held in v6. Let’s read it one more time.

Philippians 4:6 LSB

6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

This right here is the secret sauce to living a life full of biblical joy. Some of you might be rolling your eyes now, “Prayer??? Really??? That’s basics, I already do that but I don’t seem to be more happy than the rest of humanity...”

First off to address the question, yes, prayer is basic, it is also foundational, and what that means is that if this is done incorrectly all of the things that are built on this foundational practice come crumbling down.

The key to living a life full of true biblical joy is prayer, without it, it just won’t happen. That’s like trying to make bacon and eggs without the bacon.

Now again, the proof is in the details, the Bible says that one of the fruits of the spirit is joy, meaning that if you don’t have joy, then obviously we are doing something wrong. Taking the bacon and eggs analogy again, that’s like making bacon and eggs but then burning the bacon to a crisp because you don’t know exactly how to do it. And Paul in this passage does connect the two, prayer and rejoicing, it is part of the same thought that he is making.

So then, some of you may be thinking, “okay then, so how am I supposed to pray?” And just by saying those words some of you already know to which passage we will go to now.

Please open with me to Luke 11:1

Luke 11:1 LSB

1 And it happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.”

And how what does Jesus tell them? He tells them what is now known as the Lord’s prayer. And for that we will jump to the sermon on the mount because it has a much more fleshed out version of this prayer.

Matthew 6:9–13 LSB

9 “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. 10 ‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. 11 ‘Give us this day our daily bread. 12 ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’]

Given the fact that this passage has been taught very many times we will not spend too much time here, but notice where all the focus is in the prayer model given to us by Jesus. It isn’t on us, it isn’t on our problems or our circumstances. All the focus is on God, on His power, His might, His strength to provide us with what we need. When we pray, all of the focus must be on God.

In this model of prayer we show concern for the things of God, “Hallowed be YOUR name, YOUR kingdom come, YOUR will be done...” If our lives are to be God centered as the Bible prescribes them to be, then we should 100% be concerned with the things of God as we live out our faith. many of us miss this in our prayers lives, and our lives in general. We must be concerned with God’s glory here on earth, we must be concerned with spreading God’s kingdom here on earth, and we must put 100% effort into living this out during our pilgrimage and sojourn here on this earth.

But notice brothers and sisters, our wants, our struggles, our concerns are still here in this model, they are still present. “Give US this day OUR daily bread, forgive US OUR sins, and help US to forgive the sins of those who have sinned against US, do not lead US into temptation, but deliver US from the evil one...” We can plead with God and pour out our hearts to Him about what troubles us in our day to day lives, but again, it is still all focused on God. In what way is that? All of it is focused on us asking God to grant us these things, focusing on Him being the provider of these things, not demanding them. In praying this way, we are stretching out our hands as a beggar, as someone who has nothing and pleading with God, the one who has the power to grant us what He will.

This is even echoed in our passage in Philippians, in v6

Philippians 4:6 LSB

6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Thanksgiving, εὐχαριστίας is the word in the Greek. We must give thanks for all things. And what is the end result? It’s right there in v7:

Philippians 4:7 LSB

7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

This is the result of praying with thanksgiving for all things. Meaning, thanking God for the job you are about to lose due to lay-offs, thanking God for the disease that is ravaging your loved one, thanking God for the car accident you just got into, thanking God, for the loved one who has just passed away. This leads to having the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, and will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. All of these things we must give thanks for.

Now some of you might be sitting there and thinking, “Yeah it’s very easy for you to stand up there and say these things, you aren’t going through it yourself.” And I acknowledge that. It is one thing to say, and another to do what you say or claim to hold to. But this is first and foremost, what the scripture commands us to do, and secondly, this is the key to living a life full of true joy, biblical joy. I mean, lets remember once again the example of the disciples being beaten by the Sanhedrin, then going home and rejoicing in the fact that they were considered worthy to be beaten for Christ’s name. You can’t do that, unless you are actively thanking God for that situation.

And interestingly enough, the word for thanksgiving in the Greek, εὐχαριστίας, the root of this word is χαιρω, which means to “rejoice”,or “be glad” You can’t have one without the other. To do something with thanksgiving, you must do it with joy.

Like v7 says, when we do this the peace of God will descend on us, which surpasses all comprehension. This is what the world doesn’t understand, and from a logical point of view which many Christians try to adopt in situations like this, it doesn’t make sense. “Why would I thank God for these things?” And yet, this is what we are commanded to do. Because God knows what is best for us, God knows what we need. And in situations like this, the thing that we need most is trust in God.

Being thankful for all things shows a fundamental trust in God, that whatever may happen, you know that God will not lead you astray, God will continue to lead us exactly where we need to be. And this peace, like v7 says, will guard our hearts and mind in Christ Jesus. Brothers and sisters, many of us live as if the promise that is given in this verse doesn’t exist. As if we need to bear all of these burdens ourselves. When all this time we could have given them to God. So that begs the question, why don’t we give all of these things, our worries, our desires, our concerns over all that life throws at us, why don’t we give these things to God? From my point of view this lies in the fact that most of us have a deeply rooted mistrust in who God is. And I will say why in my next point.

We have a poor understanding of who we are praying to, the great I AM, Yahweh.

Last but not least, I will be addressing the last thing that is preventing us from having a life full of true biblical joy. We have a poor understanding of who we are praying to, the great I AM, Yahweh. And again, some of you may be thinking, “Who are you to tell me I don’t understand who I am praying to?” Once again brothers and sisters, all the evidence that you need to make this conclusion is the fact that we aren’t living a life full of joy.

Now most of us have most of God’s attributes down at least to a basic degree, He is all loving, all merciful, all good, all holy, all just, wrathful, timeless, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent and completely sovereign. Now that last one is the one that we don’t really believe or get. Most people will say that God is sovereign, but they don’t truly believe it, they simply pay lip service to the fact that God is sovereign.

For those of you who were paying attention during my last point, I spoke a lot on the sovereignty of God indirectly. After all, why would you thank God for something He had no part in? The only way to approach God with thanksgiving in all things in prayer, is with the understanding that God is completely sovereign. Otherwise you will be praying with a double mind. As James says in James 1:6-8:

James 1:6–8 LSB

6 But he must ask in faith, doubting nothing, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, 8 being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

If you say you thank God for being laid-off from your job, but you don’t believe that God had a part to play in it as the sovereign ruler of the universe, then you are praying double mindedly, and therefore praying in a sinful manner. Going back to our previous example all the way in point one, about Corrie Ten Boom’s sister thanking God for the fleas during her prayer, we will all say, “Wow! that woman of God sure had a huge faith to pray like that” But most will not come to the conclusion that this was a result of her understanding that God was sovereign over the decisions that put her there. God led her to be exactly where she was, she didn’t show up there by accident. Because of her understanding of God’s sovereignty she was able to approach her situation with the correct mindset, and exactly what is said in v7, about the peace of God that defies all human comprehension happened. And when you continue reading the book, we see that her sister died there in that concentration camp, but by her last words we see that she had a complete peace with her circumstances. Isn’t it obvious that exactly what this passage says will happen will happen if you pray to God with thanksgiving for all things?

Some might say in response to this, “That passage doesn’t actually say anything about the sovereignty of God! Stop inserting something that isn’t there!” But brothers and sisters, I am simply reading the Bible with a consistent hermeneutic. A consistent interpretation in other words. Because way back in the Old Testament, there is a verse that describes God’s sovereignty perfectly. It is Isaiah 46:10:

Isaiah 46:10 LSB

10 Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, ‘My counsel will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’,

You can’t declare the end from the beginning without also dictating what is in between the two. This is a subtext in interpreting the Bible consistently. It becomes a presupposition, baked into whatever text you may be reading in the holy scriptures.

To give another example of this, let’s look at an OT example, that of the parting of the red sea and the circumstances that led up to it. Exodus 14:1-3:

Exodus 14:1–3 LSB

1 Now Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the sons of Israel so that they turn back and camp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea; you shall camp in front of Baal-zephon, opposite it, by the sea. 3 “And Pharaoh will say of the sons of Israel, ‘They are wandering in confusion in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.’

Notice brothers and sisters, in this passage, that it was God who specifically led the Israelites to the exact spot where they would be trapped. When looking at the geography of this region where God directed the Israelites to camp at, you would see that it is a small peninsula that allows only one way out due to the mountainous terrain that surrounded the peninsula. God specifically put Israel into a spot where they would be trapped and have no other way to go with the encroaching Egyptian army blocking the only way back, and the only way forward would be provided by God through the parting of the red sea. No wonder the people started grumbling to Moses when they saw their situation. Because they had no trust in the fact that God would be able to bring them through their current trial.

And the same follows through today, if we don’t understand that God is sovereign then of course we will have a hard time trusting Him with our burdens, our problems, our concerns. It’s no wonder many Christians are living a life devoid of biblical joy, because they don’t trust in the One who can deliver them out of their circumstances. Now none of us will actually say we don’t trust God, but our actions speak louder than words, if we don’t pray in such a way that shows trust in our sovereign creator, then how can we say that we truly trust Him. There is a great song called “Out of my hands” and in that song my favorite line comes at the start of the second verse, “Knowing I can trust you is a treasure” Do we trust God? And don’t just automatically think, “Of course I do” Let’s take a moment to examine ourselves. Do we really trust God? And if so is this reflected in our prayer lives?

Brothers and sisters, I tell you. The moment we get this particular aspect sorted out, that’s exactly when all the puzzle pieces will fall into place, all the things that we are commanded to do in our main passage from Philippians 4, we will be able to fulfill.

We will be anxious for nothing, because we fully trust in God’s plan and what He has in store for us, we will be able to pray to give giving thanks for everything that is happening to us, we will be able to rejoice in our God always, and this incomprehensible peace of God will descend on our lives and guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. And lastly we will be able to show a considerate spirit to all men as a testament and testimony to unbelievers that we are fundamentally different to the world. Instead of pursuing happiness, we have attained it, and are relishing in it.

I left this verse for last, v5, because this is the outward result of everything else that we have spoken of. Not a hypocritical form, acting happy and joyful and content when we aren’t, but truly joyful, truly considerate, truly happy.

Conclusion + Gospel

In conclusion and to summarize all that we have spoken about.

we aren’t joyful because we don’t understand what true Biblical joy is, a good example of true Biblical joy is finding joy in suffering not despite it, and being thankful for all things.

We aren’t joyful because we have bought into the cultural lie of greed and covetousness that happiness is found in the next or newest thing.

We aren’t joyful because we don’t truly understand prayer or how to prayer, and the correct mindset of praying in thanksgiving for all things, which leads to Biblical joy.

And lastly, we aren’t joyful because we don’t understand to who we are praying, specifically when it comes to the sovereignty of God, knowing that we can trust Him with all things because He has proven Himself to be faithful in all things.

And the number one reason that we can be thankful, and can rejoice in all things. Is the life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. If it wasn’t for Jesus Christ, then we would have no ability to have joy, to be happy. We would have no way to pray to God, because Jesus is the channel through which we reach the Father, if it wasn’t for Him then we would have no way to receive an audience with the Holy Creator of the universe. That door would simply be shut. He is the only reason that we are able to attain true peace and happiness in this life, and the only gate into the next eternal life. It is by His sacrifice on the cross that we are given forgiveness for our sins. We are adopted into His family as sons and daughters. He hears us when we cry out to Him! Do you not understand what a great privilege that is? To have an audience with the most high God? Please brothers and sisters, do not take this lightly. In order for us to be saved God’s own Son paid the terrible price that our sin demanded. If you are listening, and are not yet a believer, I pray that you would hear the call that God is making today, for all men to repent and believe in the good news that salvation has come! God has arrived to save His people from the terrible fate that awaited them. Cry out to God! And He will hear you. Do not let your life be void of joy but find your true happiness in the Lord.

Amen