Message for THE LORD'S DAY EVENING, September 9, 2018 Christian Hope Church of Christ, Plymouth, North Carolina by Reggie A. Braziel, Minister Rejoice In The Lord! Philippians 4:4 (NKJV) Please open your Bibles to our scripture text this evening in Philippians chapter four. And we are just going to read one verse and that is verse 4. Philippians 4:4 (NKJV) Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let us pray... ********************************************************************************* Introduction Illustration: Several years ago a Peanuts cartoon appeared in the newspaper. In the first frame, Lucy asked Charlie Brown, Did you ever know anyone who was truly happy? In the next few frames Snoopy comes in doing his happy dance as only Snoopy can do. He merrily dances from one frame to the next as Lucy and Charlie Brown observe. Then in the last frame of the cartoon Lucy asks Charlie Brown again, Did you ever know anyone who was truly happy...and WAS STILL IN THEIR RIGHT MIND? *************************** In our scripture text Paul gives us this short and simple command: Rejoice in the LORD always, again I will say, rejoice!
These words were not penned by a man who lived in a nice, plush penthouse suite who never tasted a day of hardship his whole life. These words were penned by a man who had been imprisoned, stoned, beaten with rods, shipwrecked, abandoned by friends and battle tested in every way imaginable. And yet despite all of his trials and troubles and hardships, Paul says, Rejoice in the LORD always, again I will say, rejoice! Paul is not telling us to do something he himself didn't do. Remember when Paul and Silas were in the Philippian jail they prayed and sang praises to God at midnight. (Acts 16:25) They REJOICED in the LORD from inside a prison cell! As we think about this short verse of scripture for a few minutes this evening there are three thoughts I would have you to consider. First of all, let's consider... I. What Rejoicing In The Lord Does NOT Mean 1. On the surface this seems like such a simple command, but when you scratch beneath the surface it raises all kinds of questions. - Is it really possible to rejoice always? - Does this mean I am not ever supposed to feel sad, or blue, or depressed? - Does this mean that I must put on my happy face every morning and walk around with a smile plastered on my face? -Does this mean I am supposed to act all cheery and bubbly no matter how bad my circumstances are? -Does it mean I am supposed to look at the world through rose colored glasses and be an incurable optimist?
2. Unfortunately,these are some of the common misconceptions and misunderstandings that a lot of Christians have about this commandment to Rejoice in the LORD always! 3. Listen carefully! When Paul issues this command to Rejoice in the LORD always he would have us to understand that joy is NOT rooted in our feelings and emotions. Stop and think about it! This is a command. How do you command someone to feel joy? If we only rejoice when we feel like rejoicing we certainly won't be rejoicing always will we? In fact, we probably wouldn't be doing a whole lot of rejoicing period. But joy is NOT rooted in our feelings and emotions! 4. Something else Paul would have us to understand is that neither is joy rooted in our circumstances. --Although Paul and Silas prayed and sang hymns at midnight, do you think they were tickled pink to be locked up inside a cold, musty prison cell? -Do you think Paul jumped up and kicked his heels together when the people of Lystra picked up rocks and started to stone him? -Do you think when Paul was beaten those three times by rods he told the guards, Lay it on me boys! If there's one thing I enjoy its a good 'ol beating! No, I'm sure that Paul wasn't very happy about a lot of his circumstances, and yet he was still able to rejoice in the LORD.
5. A lot of people believe joy and happiness are the same thing, but there is a difference. Happiness is dependent upon circumstances, joy is not. HAPPINESS changes as circumstances change...joy doesn't change despite our circumstances. You can be happy one minute and unhappy the next if your circumstances change or if you get bad news. You can be happy when you get that new job and unhappy when you get turned down for that job. You can be happy when you buy that new car and miserably unhappy when you wreck that car. Happiness fluctuates back and forth depending on circumstances. JOY on the other hand doesn't fluctuate. JOY remains constant...consistent...and steadfast...because true joy is not connected to or dependent upon our circumstances. That brings us to our second thought, and that is... II. What Rejoicing In The LORD DOES Mean 1. Listen to Paul's command once again here in Philippians 4:4... Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! 2. Notice the source of true joy. Its not in our feelings. It's not in our circumstances. The source of our joy is Jesus Christ. JOY cannot be found in anything in this world! MONEY can't give us joy. MATERIAL things can't give us joy. SUCCESS can't give us joy. POWER can't give us joy. PEOPLE can't give us joy. ONLY JESUS CHRIST CAN GIVE US JOY! Rejoice in THE LORD... Rejoice in THE LORD ALWAYS.. Again I say REJOICE!
3. Paul is NOT suggesting that we rejoice! Nor is he recommending that we rejoice. He is commanding us to rejoice! We have an obligation to rejoice in the LORD! It is our DUTY to rejoice in the LORD! We have every REASON to rejoice in the LORD! 4. WHY? Because no matter what our circumstances may be or even if our whole world is falling apart NOTHING ABOUT OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE LORD CHANGES! - Cancer may take away your health, or even your life, but it can never take away your salvation. -Alzheimer's may take away your memory and you'll forget the names of your closest family members, but the LORD will never forget you. -A house fire may take away all your material possessions, but it can never take away the riches that you have i Christ Jesus. -Your employer may forsake you and terminate your job, but the LORD will never leave you or forsake you. 5. You see, this is why we can Rejoice in the LORD always because no matter what happens to us in this life... The LORD will never stop loving us! The LORD will never stop caring for us! The LORD will never stop watching over us! The LORD will never stop providing for us! Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever! And if we will focus on CHRIST instead of on our circumstances, we can Rejoice in THE LORD always!
Well we have considered What Rejoicing In The Lord Does Not Mean and What Rejoicing In The Lord Does Mean. Thirdly, let's consider... III. How Can We Rejoice In The Lord Always? 1. Have you ever sung that chorus, I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart and felt as though the joy was missing in your life and you were just mouthing words? 2. Why is joy missing in the lives of so many Christians? Why do so many of us look like we were weened on dill pickles and baptized in lemon juice? 3. There can be several reasons why joy may be missing in your life. (A) One reason why many are missing joy is because of SIN. It is absolutely impossible to be living in sin and experience the joy of Christ at the same time. Do you remember after David committed adultery with Bathsheba he was confronted about his sin by the prophet Nathan. Psalm 51 is David's Psalm of Repentance after he was confronted by Nathan. And do you remember David pleaded with the Lord to restore to him the joy of His salvation. SINFUL LIVING will steal your joy and when your joy has been stolen you have very little to rejoice about! If sin is robbing you of your joy there is only one thing you can do to reclaim the joy of your salvation and that is to confess your sin and repent of it and return to the LORD.
(B) A second reason why joy is missing in so many of our lives is because WE TRY TO PRODUCE OUR OWN JOY. There are lots of things we Christians do to try to create our own JOY. -We might listen to Christian music -Or watch Christian movies -Or go to a Church that has contemporary music with a praise band. -Or forward inspirational emails -Or post neat religious pictures or quotes on FACEBOOK. -And a host of other things. Now I want to make it perfectly clear that there isn't necessarily anything wrong with any of these things; BUT HERE'S MY POINT! The more we try to produce our own joy the more true joy eludes us! When we depend on something or someone other than CHRIST for our joy what we wind up with is artificial joy. And artificial joy will not sustain us through life's difficult circumstances. (C) A third reason why joy eludes so many of us is because WE LOOK AT OUR CIRCUMSTANCES FROM AN EARTHLY PERSPECTIVE RATHER THAN ETERNAL. For example... -We see death as our loss, our sorrow, and our grief rather than seeing the joy, and peace, and rest our loved one has gained.
-We see trials as pain rather than opportunities to grow and mature. -We see closed doors as God keeping us away from something we think is good rather than seeing it as the guidance of a wise Father to something far better. - We see loneliness as being forsaken and forgotten rather than as an opportunity for our relationship with the LORD to grow deeper and stronger. 4. Here is the point of the whole message so listen closely! The secret to rejoicing in the LORD always is staying close to the source of JOY! When you stay close to the LORD the Holy Spirit will produce a fountain of joy within you that will never run dry. And when there is JOY IN YOUR SOUL there will be rejoicing... and praise...and thanksgiving...and gratitude upon your lips! Rejoice in the LORD always! Again I will say, rejoice!
Our Perspective is too Limited The thing that we see in Paul is that he had an eternal perspective on life. He saw the big picture. You and I often focus on the now and don't see where the now is leading. Here's some examples, we see death as separation rather than reunion and reward we see trials as pain rather than as opportunities to trust more fully we see closed doors as failure rather than as God's positive guidance we see God's "no" as the meanness of a cruel parent rather than the wisdom of a loving parent we see tragedy as God's indifference rather than focusing on God's strength that promises us to get us through these times. we see loneliness as abandonment rather than as times given us to deepen our roots in the Lord. When we have tunnel vision we lose perspective. And when we lose perspective we lose our joy. We must learn to view all of life in light of eternity. These times of pain are but seconds in the light of eternity. Do you endure the pain of a shot from the Doctor? Of course you do because you know that the shot will help you. Do you endure the horrible drilling of the Dentist? Yes. You don't enjoy it at the time but you know that the pain of the present is necessary for your comfort in the future. And that is the perspective we need to take on life. The trials and pains are temporary and somehow necessary for the bliss that is to come.