Mount Isa Baptist Church

“Rejoice in the Lord”

Philippians 3:1-7

Key verse: vs. 1

Let's look together at what it does and does not mean to “rejoice in the Lord” and how we can have that joy in every situation we face.

1. What this command is NOT

This command is NOT instructing us to deny the reality of the many difficult things that we face in this world, to act as if they were not real, or harmful, or difficult. Paul himself expressed many times that he faced real difficulties. We'll see in Chapter 4 how he says there were times that he had needs and went hungry. In other books like 2 Corinthians, Paul describes how he endured persecution, physical illness, betrayal, and desertion. Therefore, rejoicing in the Lord does NOT mean that we deny reality, and act as if there were never anything bad ever going on in our life. The Bible talks about the real hurts and pains and tribulations and betrayals that we all experience. It NEVER teaches us to deny reality, and say I'm not really sick, or I'm not really hurting, or this circumstance I’m going through is not that difficult. God's command here is NOT that we should go around with what some would call an attitude that says, “in every situation, no matter how bleak it might appear, you had look for something to be glad about.” That’s not what he is commanding us to do here when he says, “Finally, brethren, rejoice in the Lord.” Things in life don't always happen or work out the way we planned. God's Word teaches us that there are a LOT of legitimate evils in this world, genuine troubles, real sicknesses, and tribulation that you can't just ignore and “blow off” with a positive attitude.

2. It is a Command to “REJOICE”

Paul rejoices, not in the circumstances that he finds himself in because they were dire circumstances, but he rejoices in the Lord. All through this book, God gives us this repeated command to rejoice. So, we need to find out for ourselves, what does it MEAN to “rejoice”? “Rejoice” comes from a Greek word that means at root to “take pleasure in something; or be glad.” The noun “joy” and the verb “Rejoice” are used together about 150 times in the New Testament, emphasizing that God wants His people to be a people of JOY! JOY should characterize us as God's people; Christians should be people who are described as “Rejoicing!” ln light of what Paul writes here about Christians being people of joy, I think we should all ask ourselves: “How would someone describe ME?” Would they describe me as a person of joy? Would they describe me as always rejoicing? Now, some of us might be tempted to say, well, I know I should rejoice, but you don't know what I've been through. They say, I know the Bible says, I know Philippians says, we should rejoice in the Lord – always but you don’t understand what I have been through, and then they begin to start unpacking their life. You don't know the situation I’ve been facing, or the trouble l am in right now. And you know, I may not know unless you tell me, but the man God used to write this letter knew all about it. Paul knows all about it: remember, he was in prison waiting to hear if he was going to be executed or be released when he wrote this letter! And yet from PRISON, he could say 16 times in this book, that HE was rejoicing, and that we too should “Rejoice”. Now, we might ask: How is that possible? How could he rejoice in his circumstances that he found himself in? How could he rejoice in prison like that? How is it possible for us to rejoice in our difficult situations? I believe that the key to that is in that last phrase: Notice the command here is not JUST “Rejoice” Paul doesn’t just say that we are believers must rejoice and leave it there, but it is “rejoice in the Lord!” That is what makes all the difference, as we see in this last point.

3. It is a Command to “rejoice in the Lord!”

You cannot possibly just rejoice all the time, no matter what your circumstances. That's just not natural or possible for us as human beings. But that is not what we are commanded to do. We are not commanded to rejoice in our circumstances. We are commanded to rejoice in the Lord!” THAT makes a HUGE difference on our outlook on life, because if you know Jesus as your Saviour, you really can always rejoice “in the Lord.” A Christian person can always be glad or take pleasure in the Lord. Psalm 16:11 says, “In Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever.” In heaven one day, we will have “fullness of joy” – we will have all the joy there is to have! It is a joy that is not just dependent upon our circumstances that we find ourselves in, like David describes in Psalm 4, when he tells the Lord in vs.7: “You have put gladness in man's heart, more than when their grain and new wine abound...” He was saying, a lot of people are happy when everything is going good for them, when they've got lots to eat and drink; when their “grain and new wine abound”; when they got the good new job; when they got the new car, when they seem to be popular with everyone. There is a kind of “surface happiness” that comes along with all that. David says, “YOU have given me a joy that is not just based on my circumstances.” You have given me a joy that | can always find in YOU, no matter WHAT My circumstances are. We need to remind ourselves of that today, that the Lord has given us a joy that we can always find in Him, no matter what our circumstances are. It is the LORD who makes that difference. It is not just “rejoicing”; it is rejoicing “in the Lord.” It is because HE is with us, and in us. There are all kinds of circumstances in our lives that are just NOT GOOD. There are really tough life situations that are truly difficult - and the good news is, you don't have to put on some kind of “fake Christian smile” and a mask on and act like you are happy about all those bad things. Why? Because that is NOT Christianity and that is NOT what God is asking us to do. But He IS telling us that we can always rejoice in HIM – even when the circumstances we are in may not be good, we can still find joy in HIM, who is with us, and in us, and with whom we will be in heaven forever. That is the privilege and position of every Christian. No matter what circumstances we find ourselves in, we can always rejoice in GOD. Why? Why can we always rejoice in God? Because we have a God who loves us, no matter what. Why? Because we have a home with Him in heaven. Why? Because we have a heavenly Father, even if our earthly family doesn't claim us anymore. Why? Because we have a new body waiting for us in heaven, after this old one has broken down. Why? Because we have eternal riches waiting for us with Him in heaven, even when all our riches here on earth are gone.