Caution
Paul says, “Imitate me as I imitate Christ”. In some sense I can rightfully say that too because to some extent I have grasped hold of what I am about to say and then in another sense you and I both know that I have a long way to go. I know that I can expound the Word today as God has led me and I also know that I can speak to myself in this message just as I can speak to you.
Read the passage Phil 4:4 “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!”
This is a very familiar passage which you have no doubt heard people preach on numerous times. I am going to look at it from a different angle than any way I have heard this taught before.
The nature of reality
We can view reality in two ways: we can view reality using only natural sight or we can view reality through the eyes of faith. When we look with natural sight we see only the natural events around us and the circumstances which can weigh us down. But when we look through the eyes of faith we can see things that are not able to be seen by natural sight. This does not make them imaginary or some kind of fantasy.
The greatest example of this is the cross. If we look at the cross with natural sight what we see is an innocent man brutally killed to satisfy the political and religious ambitions of evil people. But the eyes of faith see something else. They see the great love of God and the salvation of the world. We see our forgiveness and redemption in that horrific act. The resurrection also needs eyes of faith to be understood. We cannot see the risen Jesus yet we know by faith that he is exalted to the right hand of God and interceding on our behalf. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29).
Holy Spirit
This way of seeing reality is possible only through the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 2:6 “We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 However, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him”– 10 but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. 14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment: 16 “For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.” The things of God are unintelligible to the people who do not have the Spirit of God. For them it is not possible to view reality through the eyes of faith. We, however, have the Spirit and he reveals the things of God to us so that we can see by faith what cannot be seen by natural sight. We see beyond sight to what God is doing in the realm of the Spirit, in us, in the church and in the world. Natural sight will not see what God is doing. John 3:3 “In reply Jesus declared, ‘I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.’”
Why is it possible to rejoice in the Lord?
Ephesians 1:3 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will– 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. 9 And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfilment– to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. 11 In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12 in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. 13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession– to the praise of his glory.” v3 tells us that God has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing. These blessings are not obvious to the natural eye. Someone recently asked me, “Why am I not blessed?” I replied with this passage. No matter what our natural circumstances look like – whether we are unable to pay the bills or whether we are sick or whether we are deserted by our friends or in prison or beaten or whatever – we are still blessed with every spiritual blessing. As long as we remain in Christ there is always a reason to rejoice when we see with the eyes of faith.
Let’s look at some examples of why we are told to rejoice in the NT.
Luke 6:22,23 “Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. 23 “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets.” This tips reality upside-down. Rejoice when you are persecuted. This only makes sense when you can see beyond the circumstances of the pain and look by faith to the reward which is yours in heaven.
Rom 5:2-4 “through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope.” No one naturally rejoices when they suffer but those with eyes of faith can see what God is doing in the suffering. God is producing fruit in us as we go through suffering.
Phil 2:17,18; Col 1:24
1 Peter 1:8,9 “Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” Here is a good example of seeing through the eyes of faith. We do not see Jesus with natural sight yet by faith we do see him and hence we believe. It is this faith which allows us to rejoice when rejoicing does not make a lot of sense. The eyes of faith allow us to see that the reality is we are receiving the goal/completion of our faith, i.e. salvation. Circumstances will often proclaim the opposite to what faith sees.
Discerning what God is doing
In the circumstances – both positive and negative – we must try to discern what God is doing. The negative circumstances I discussed earlier. Positive circumstances may not be what they seem either; prosperity can serve to pull us away from God and can serve as a tool of the devil. We cannot always discern exactly what God is doing in any given situation but we do know that God is love (1 John 4:8), he is transforming us into the image of Christ (Rom 8:29), and that he is working for our good (Rom 8:28). We know that he is able to do more than we can ask or imagine (Eph 3:20). He is with us until the end of the age (Matt 28:20). Insert whatever promised of God you like in this space because they are “Yes” and “Amen” in Christ (2 Cor 1:20). Even when there seems to be no work of God, there is a work of God. God is not passive in the world or in the situation in which we find ourselves. John 5:17 “Jesus said to them, ‘My Father is always at his work, to this very day, and I too am working’.”
An Example
God does not remove the difficult circumstances but he is there in the midst of them. Let me offer an example of how this works. Many years ago two friends of mine went to Bali. This was not the first time that they had been to Bali but it was the first time that they had ever had travel insurance because this time Kim had a strong conviction that she should get some this time. When they got there they hired a motor bike to drive around the countryside. While on the bike they were hit by a truck, which did not stop. There are no ambulances in Bali but a man in a ute stopped and took them to hospital and made sure that they were taken care of. Kim had serious injuries to her leg and the Balinese doctors wanted to amputate it but Gary would not allow them to do so. Several hours after the accident, they were both air-lifted to Singapore in a leer jet accompanied by doctors and nurses. All this cost $100 000 which was what the travel insurance was for. God did not take away the trouble but he was in the trouble with them.
There is more to this story. We could see the work of God in Kim as she was unable to bend her leg for months after the accident. This was a time for developing trust and humility and patience in her dependency. Sometime later God intervened through prayer and healed that leg when doctors were not sure it would ever bend again.
How is it possible to rejoice in the Lord?
There are three aspects involved in the ‘how’ of rejoicing in the Lord.
1) Prayer
Paul knew that it is not always easy to see through the eyes of faith so just after the passage about spiritual blessings he wrote, “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe” (Eph 1:17-19a). So we need to pray for the ability to see with eyes of faith.
2) Holy Spirit
Closely related to prayer is the power of the Holy Spirit. Luke 10:21a “At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit said,”. The ability to rejoice in the Lord is a gift which is given by the Holy Spirit, but unlike the gifts in 1 Cor 12 it is given to every Christian.
3) Command
The fact Philippians 4:4 is a command to rejoice implies that we must make a choice to do so. We can pray and we all have the Spirit to help us but we must still choose to rejoice in good circumstances and in bad ones. We must make the choice to look at life with the eyes of faith. We must actively seek to discern what God is doing. We must choose to believe the promises of God and rely on them. When we make this choice then we can rejoice in the Lord always because in Christ there is always reason to rejoice.