Invite your attention to Philippians
chapter 4 verse 4 Philippians 4 4 Verse 1 therefore it is said
that when you see the word therefore Therefore find out why it is
there for Well, there's a good reason for this word therefore
chapter 4 verse 1 It is a conjunctive It is joining two parts of this
epistle together If you read the epistles of Paul you will
observe That he divides almost all his epistles into two divisions
Doctrine Practice And he will usually just about halfway through
the book, he will change and he says, I've been teaching you
what to believe, here's how you are to act. Observe that our
practice is founded on our doctrine. You cannot live right if you
do not believe right. Our doctrine is not founded on
our practice. So Paul here in writing to the
Philippians in chapters 2 and 3, speaking of the incarnation
of Jesus Christ and His exaltation, speaking of I want to know him,
how great he is, how awesome Jesus Christ is. He goes through
those chapters and then he gives this conjunctive, says, okay,
I've told you what you should believe, here's how you should
act. Therefore, my brethren, dearly
beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, So stand fast in the
Lord, my dearly beloved. Now observe, he's using tender
words. He's using encouraging words. Because now he's got to say something
he probably would rather not have to say. I beseech you Odius
and I beseech Syntyche that they be of the same mind in the Lord. What had happened? It appears
that there were two ladies in the church, prominent ladies,
sisters in the church, and for some reason, we're not told why,
we do not need to know, but they were at odds with each other.
Evidently had been at odds with each other for quite some time
because word had come to Paul. There was no texting, no internet. It took a long time for word
to get to Paul and he has heard. These two sisters are at odds
with each other. I have sat or stood in the entranceway of our church
building and there in, I guess we can call it the receiving
hall, and watched people come in and everybody smiling and
greeting one another, and that is so sweet. I have so much appreciated
the fellowship that we have here and the sweet communion I hope
that we never have one of our members walking in and greeting
this one and smiling and that one and looking over at somebody
and is, hello, you know, and give some short word or just
ignore, no, no, no. These two were at odds and Paul
is saying, no, no, no. You need to be in the same mind.
And if you are in the same mind with Jesus Christ, you'll be
in the same mind with each other. And I entreat thee also true
yoke fellow. Now he's addressing someone in
the church and his little play on names here. The man's name
evidently means yoke fellow, companion. And so Paul is addressing
you. You have lived up to your name,
my true yoke fellow. Help those women which labored
with me in the gospel. which probably included the two
ladies who were now at odds with each other. With Clement also
and with other, my fellow laborers whose names are in the book of
life. There are millions of books in
this world. I'm not going to be in many of
them. A yearbook from high school, yeah, I've got a picture in there.
I don't know of any other book that matters not. There's a book
in heaven and my name is there. My name's written there in that
book of life. I'd rather have my name there
than in any other book. Their names are in the book of
life. Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice. Let
your moderation be known unto all men. Why? The Lord is at
hand. Be careful or anxious for nothing,
but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving
let your request be known, be made known unto God. and the
peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your
hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever
things are, well, there are six things. true, whatsoever things
are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are
pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good
report, if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think
on these things. Those things which ye have both
learned and received and heard and seen in me do, and the God
of peace shall be with you. Now back to verse number four.
Rejoice in the Lord always. And again I say rejoice. Sorrow and grief, pain and misery
are all around us. We find it in war, death, failure,
sickness, injury, disease, and every other kind of unpleasantness
you can find. These are happening in our families,
in our communities, in our state, in our nation, internationally. pick up the newspaper, turn on
the news, catch it online, and what's going on? Pain and misery,
grief and sorrow. It's all around us. And yet,
despite all that's going on around us, all the adversity, the child
of God is exhorted to rejoice in the Lord always. In case you didn't catch it,
I'll say it again. Again, I will say rejoice. Rejoice. We will here consider
three points. First, what is it to rejoice? Second, in what should we rejoice? And third, when should we rejoice? What is it to rejoice, first
point. What is it to rejoice? Well,
it means to be glad, but oh, it is, in such a superlative
fashion. Have you ever noticed when the
scriptures speak of God's people rejoicing or being glad, it does
so in such an expressive manner? For example, they rejoiced with
exceedingly great joy, Matthew 2.10. They rejoiced greatly,
Philippians 4.10. They were exceedingly glad, Matthew
5.12. They were glad with exceeding
joy, 1 Peter 4, 13. And they did make merry, Luke
15, 32. Leap for joy, Luke 6, 23. Praise God with a loud voice,
Luke 19, 37. And glorify the word of the Lord,
Acts 13, 48. They were not just glad. They
were jumping up and down glad. Like that man who was healed
by the hand of Peter, he was walking and leaping and praising
God. Walking and leaping and praising
God. Now, that's what we're told to
do. And do not say I'm too old for
that. No, you're not. No, you're not. You may not leap as high as you
used to, Rejoice and leap for joy Rejoice rejoice second point
in what should we rejoice? rejoice in the Lord Paul says
The wicked rejoice in iniquity first Corinthians 13 verse 6
they rejoice in sinful pleasures in carousing revelry Immorality
Of every sort That's what the world rejoices in. Not the child
of God. Paul says, rejoice in the Lord.
Rejoice in the Lord's incarnation. In his incarnation, are you not
glad that God was made manifest in the flesh? Rejoice. Can you imagine that night in
Bethlehem? A lowly carpenter married to
an unknown young girl who is a virgin. She's with child and
they're in Bethlehem. They've gone down to be registered. She knows that in her womb is
God's Messiah, her Lord and her Savior. In her womb. conceived in her by the Holy
Spirit. And there in that stall in Bethlehem,
no room was found for them in the inn. He's born. God's son is given and Mary's
child is born. Can you imagine? They wrapped
him in swaddling cloths she held. her infant to her breast, to
nurse it, looking down at it, and saying, this child is Jehovah's
Messiah and my Lord and Savior. Can you imagine the joy, the
rejoicing that was in her heart? And her husband, who's standing
there watching, knowing that such a lowly man as himself would
be given responsibility of raising God's Son. Rejoicing. The angels rejoiced that night. There were shepherds on the hillside
watching sheep. And the angels showed up and
they were rejoicing, praising God and saying, glory to God
in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill toward men. And they
told the shepherds, We are so joyful, so glad to be able to
report to you that in yon little town, Bethlehem, the Messiah
whom you have been awaiting has been born. Now, here's where
you'll find him. The shepherds left their sheep to go find their shepherd. And
off they went to Bethlehem and they found him just as the angels
had said. They rejoiced. They were glorifying
and praising God for all the things that they had heard and
seen as it was told them. Going back to their flock on
the hillside, rejoicing, we have seen the Messiah! We have seen
the Christ! Our Lord and Savior has been
born. Apart from his incarnation. We
have no reason to rejoice No hope No salvation Nothing
but sorrow and grief But because God has been manifested in the
flesh in the person of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ We rejoice
now The devil and his demons do not. Oh, that was a sad night
for them, if you can imagine. Everybody's rejoicing in that
cattle stall, except the devil and his demons. And they know
that the times are going to get worse. furthermore rejoice in
the Lord's power which is healing and delivering as in Luke 13
verses 10 through 17 now, let me tell you the background of
the account Here is a woman She has a spirit of infirmity
a Demon that is given to her spinal deformation She cannot
stand She walks like this. She cannot stand. She can hardly
see where she's going. Been like that for years. Jesus
is in town. She finds herself in the place
where he is. Jesus said of her, that she was
a woman, and I have tried to imagine the way he said it. This is a woman whom Satan is
bound. Think of it, he said. 18 years. I can imagine our Lord
saying, think, think of this, 18 years. Why did he have to
say that? Because he had laid his hands
on her and she stood. Can you imagine her rejoicing? Can you imagine, assuming she
was married, her husband has now been able to see his wife
stand after 18 years of being hunched over? Perhaps her children
are there, the loved ones, the friends. Jesus has laid hands
on her and she has stood. She probably danced. She probably
was very happy. Everybody's happy except Some legalistic folks, because
they said, wait a minute, there are six days a week in which
you can heal, and you chose to do this on the Sabbath? Well,
it was the Sabbath day when she came, so, yep, I did it. And they complained, that's why
Jesus said, think of it, 18 years, this woman was bound by Satan,
and these people are complaining because I healed her on the Sabbath. You be joyful any time the Lord
heals somebody. If it's two o'clock in the morning
or whenever it is, be joyful. Do not be one of those legalistic
folks who can put some kind of a damper on every glad occasion. Rejoice in the Lord's healing
power. Rejoice in the Lord's salvation
now here is a constant thing that you will find throughout
the Old Testament and throughout the new and throughout the New
Testament as well Old Testament Saints look forward to the coming
of their Messiah and said oh that the salvation of Israel
would come out of Zion when the Lord brings back the captivity's
people let Jacob rejoice And Israel be glad. When our salvation
comes, we will rejoice and be glad. And it will be said in
that day, behold, this is our God, we have waited for him and
he will save us. This is the Lord, we have waited
for him. We will be glad and rejoice in
his salvation. Now, If Old Testament saints
could look forward to the day of Christ's coming and rejoice,
how much more so should we who live in the day of his coming
and have received that salvation rejoice as well? Okay, we've
looked and answered the question, what is it to rejoice? We've
looked at the question of in what should we rejoice? We should
rejoice in his incarnation, in his power, and in his salvation. We could go on and on, but we
need to move on to the third point. When should we rejoice? Paul said, always, always. There is only one time when you
should rejoice, and that one time is always, always. It never ends. Once it starts,
it never ends. Rejoice in the Lord always. Paul
repeated that exhortation in 1 Thessalonians 5, 16 through
18. He said, Rejoice always in everything. Give thanks for this is the will
of God in Christ Jesus for you. Continue the rejoicing that you
commenced. when your Christian life began.
Do you remember how happy you were the day the Lord saved you?
Was that not a happy day? Somebody wrote a song about it.
Oh, happy day that fixed my choice on thee, my Savior and my God. Happy day, happy day when Jesus
washed my sins away. It was a happy day, was it not? You did not let the happiness
go away, did you? Continue the rejoicing you commenced
when your Christian life began. You were like the Gentiles of
Antioch when you first understood the gospel. We read of them that
when the Gentiles heard this, the gospel, they were glad and
glorified the word of the Lord, meaning this. Are you saying
that this great and glorious salvation that God has given
to the Jews is for us also? Us Gentiles? They call us dogs. You saying that he can be our
savior too? That's what we're saying. Well,
they just jumped up and shouted. They rejoiced, and as many as
had been appointed to eternal life believed. You were like
Zacchaeus when the Lord called you to come to him. Luke 19,
verse six. Jesus said, Zacchaeus, come down
from that tree. I'm going to your house. We're
gonna have a meal together, you and me. Can you imagine how quickly
he came down from that tree? Can you imagine the joy with
which he received Jesus in his house? Probably had to prepare
a meal. Joy, it was the happiest meal
he ever prepared The scripture says he made haste
and came down and received him joyfully Let me ask you were
you not joyful on the day the Lord saved you You did not let
it go away. Did you? You were like the Ethiopian eunuch
when you followed the Lord in Christian baptism and Philip
has joined himself. Their paths have crossed. They're
in that wilderness. Philip has preached the gospel
to the eunuch. Evidently the subject of baptism
had arisen. They come by an oasis, and the
eunuch says, see, here's water. What hinders me from being baptized? And Peter said, if you believe,
you may. I believe with all my heart that Jesus is the Christ. I believe with all my heart.
Well, come on, let's go get baptized. So Philip and the eunuch both
walked down into the water. Philip baptized him in the water.
They came up out of the water. They parted ways because the
Spirit snatched Philip away. And the eunuch went on his way
rejoicing. On the day of your baptism, it's
not a happy day. You did not let the happiness
go away, did you? Rejoicing in what the Lord has
done. Rejoice in times of bliss Rejoice when you are reminded
that your name is eternally enrolled in heaven Our Lord sends his
disciples out They've been given miraculous powers They come back
and they said to him. Hey Lord the demons were subject
to us and Jesus said Do not rejoice that the demons are subject to
you, rather rejoice that your names are written down in heaven.
Do not rejoice for what you have done was not your power in the
beginning, but rejoice what God has done for you, your name has
been enrolled in heaven. Now there's much more implied
there than what you see at first glance. If your name is written
in heaven, that means that God the Father set his love on you
before time began, before the foundation of the world. It means
that God the Father chose you for salvation in Jesus Christ
before the foundation of the world. It means that Jesus Christ
is for you the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
It means that before the foundation of the world. God opened a book, and with the blood of Christ,
the Lamb slain, wrote the names of every one of his elect into
that book, indelibly. They cannot be erased. They are
there forever. Rejoice that your names are written
in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of
the world. Rejoice when you hear that Christ
is preached as Paul did in Philippians 1.18. Some people were preaching
Christ for probably self-serving reasons.
and probably for reasons that they hope would bring grief to
Paul. He's in prison. Paul says, I
don't care why they're preaching Christ as long as Christ is preached. That is quite a statement. I
don't care why they're preaching as long as Christ is preached.
We rejoice when Christ is preached. Some rejoice when they hear the
preaching of their favorite doctrine. Some rejoice when they hear the
preaching of their confession of faith, their creed, their
denominational distinctives. Some rejoice when they hear their
preacher preach himself and exalt their free will. And the only
thing Paul rejoiced to hear preached was Christ. I did some texting this morning
with one of our members. It was doubtful for a while whether
or not this couple would be able to make it. In fact, our brother
had to go for a drive to see if he could go for the drive
to Great Falls. They made it, they made it. But
his wife texted me and said, we so much enjoy being under
the sound of the gospel. And I wrote back, That's true
of every member in this church. I am blessed to pastor a church
in which people want to hear the gospel preached. Does it not make you glad when
you hear Christ preached? You don't want me to preach about
me, do you? No. Preach Christ? And every Christian will love
what you preach and rejoice. We rejoice when Christ is preached. Rejoice when you are reminded
of your liberty in Christ and freedom from the law of Moses
as did the early Christians in Acts 15. Now, let me set the
background for this. Up there in Antioch to the north, Gentile church. It was to become
one of the most prominent churches in New Testament times. Gentiles,
mostly Gentiles. They have believed the gospel.
Down there in Jerusalem, there are some Pharisees claiming to
be Christians, false brethren, Paul called them, and they went
up to Antioch and they said, we hear that you people have
become Christians. Yes, yes, we Gentiles, like you
Jews. Yes, but you're not really saved yet.
Well, what do you mean? We're trusting Jesus Christ.
That's not enough. What do you mean not enough?
We have to be circumcised and keep the law of Moses. Really,
we never had that law before. Paul never said anything about
this. We've got to be circumcised, we're grown men. Yeah, you can't
be one of us Christians unless you're circumcised and keep the
law of Moses and cause the problem so they have a council down in
Jerusalem and the elders in Jerusalem and the church in Jerusalem consider
the matter And they said, no, ignore those fellows. Write a
letter. So someone gets out parchment and quill. And the elders in Jerusalem said,
tell those believers in Antioch They do not have to be baptized. They do not have to be circumcised. Circumcised, they already were
baptized. They do not need to be circumcised.
They do not need to keep the law of Moses. They're free in
Christ and they have liberty in him. Now can you imagine these
people, these believers in Antioch and here comes the delegation
from Jerusalem. We have a letter to read to you.
Okay. What's in it? And the letter
is read. You Gentiles do not have to be
circumcised. You do not need to keep the law
of Moses. Can you imagine how happy they
were? Can you imagine? It does not surprise me that
people who claim that they have to be under the law of Moses
are usually a gloomy sort of people and you do not see a lot
of joy in them. Makes a Christian happy when
he finds out he's free. He's free. Rejoice when the Lord saves a
lost soul. Jesus does. There was a lost
sheep out on the hillside in the wilderness and he goes to
find it. He has probably slipped, bruised his legs. Briars and
thorns have probably pricked his skin, perhaps torn his garment. He finally hears that crying
lamb. He goes and rescues it, takes
the lamb and puts it on his shoulder. Walks back to the fault and here
he comes The hymn says When shall thy hands so rent and torn there
pierced tonight by many a thorn? He's coming back bruised from
that trip in the wilderness But he's not complaining He says,
rejoice with me, I have found my sheep which was lost. Now
let me ask you, when the Lord found you, were you not happy? Was that not the happiest day
of your life? If Jesus rejoices over lost souls,
should we not? When the prodigal son came home,
after having squandered his father's money, The father says, it was right
that we should make Marian glad. It was right. He was dead. He is now alive. He has come
home. Kill the parrot and calf. We
will rejoice. The scripture says that when
one sinner repents, the angels around God's throne rejoice. Well, If the angels in heaven
rejoice over one repenting sinner, then surely saints on earth should
not be silent. Let us rejoice. It is such a
happy thing when the Lord saves one of your children or some
dear one. Oh, what joy that is. Rejoice
in the Lord always. Furthermore, rejoice in times
of adversity. Habakkuk 3, 17 and 18 says, though
the fig tree may not blossom nor fruit beyond the vines, though
the labor of the olive may fail and the fields yield no food,
though the flock may be cut off from the fold and there be no
herd in the stalls, yet will I rejoice in the Lord, I will
joy in the God of my salvation. Times of deprivation. Let me
tell you a story about your first pastor. He left a prosperous
business back east and came to Great Falls. And more or less
self-supporting the church, trying to do what they could. He was
a small group. He planted it. He had a family
to feed. There were some lean times. Quite
a few lame times when the church was unable to help him. Times of deprivation. So what did John R. Mitchell
say? Oh, then I quit, I'm going back to my prosperous business.
No, no, no, no, no, no. What is it? Though the fig tree
may not blossom, nor fruit beyond the vines, though the labor of
the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food, though the flock
may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls,
yet will I rejoice in the Lord. I would joy in the God of my
salvation. Now, you need to read the rest of
the verse. Because here's what you'll find out. If you were
rejoicing the Lord in your times of deprivation, you will eventually
outrun your troubles. And the Lord will bring prosperity
to you. If not on this earth, surely
in glory. What does the writer say? The
Lord God is my strength, he will make my feet like deer's feet
and he will make me walk on my high hills. Meaning that, you rejoice in times of deprivation,
keep on keeping on as people say, the Lord's gonna bless you. Rejoice even when You have no funds. Rejoice even
when it looks like you just may starve. Rejoice when whatever loss you have had, rejoice then
and you'll rejoice even greater later. Rejoice when you experience
grief Paul says being sorrowful yet always rejoicing Sorrowful
yet always rejoicing The death of my son was the most
bittersweet day of my life I He had been diagnosed with cancer
when you called me here to be your pastor. He was under treatment
and it looked like it may be encouraging. Sandy remained in Tennessee to
be with him and if you'll recall, I found a small apartment here
in Great Falls. I had just moved into it. when
my son's condition became much worse and it was not going to be any
healing. And he said, Pa, can you come
see me before I die? Talked with some of you and It was unanimous, yes, go be
with your son and stay as long as you need to. And bear in mind,
you had been without a pastor for quite some time, and now
you're gonna be without the pastor you just called. Go with him,
be with him as long as it takes. We knew his days were short,
just did not know how many, but I remember walking into his house,
took the earliest plane I could, I remember walking into his house.
He was on his deathbed. His deathbed was a reclining
chair in his living room. It was the only place he could
find any comfort. I walked in and he told me he
was so glad I had come to see him before he died. He said, sit on that couch across
from him. And there was not much said.
Lay in his recliner turning his head sideways and looking at
me and I'm sitting on the couch and we're just looking at each
other And believe it or not smiling He smiled at me and I smiled
at him And his condition got worse and worse and then The
death throes came There were four of us around his bed then.
I was standing at his head and his wife at his feet, his mother
and his sister on his side. Jesus was calling him home and
his body was determined to keep him. And the death throes came,
it was more than one. Jesus won. The final death throw was defeated. My son's body was steel to never
move again. He was gone. It was the most
bittersweet moment of my life. Bitter because of my loss, sweet
because of his gain. Bitter because the dearest man in all the world
to me was gone and not returning. Sweet because he would not have come back if
I had begged him. He had fallen asleep in the Lord
and now had awakened with the Lord. He was the happiest he had ever
been in his life, and his bliss would continue through all eternity. Oh, death is such a bittersweet
moment. And if we have not experienced
it thus far, we all will. Some of us are getting old before long. Some husband, some wife is going
to say goodbye and have that bittersweet moment. My son was 44 years of age. He had children the age of your
children. Our lives are so uncertain. Even children can have a bittersweet
moment at the loss of a father or a mother. We have a teenage girl in this
church who came within just a very few minutes of that bittersweet
moment when her father had a heart attack known as a widow maker,
and he had 90 minutes to get help, barely made it. His daughter, not to mention
his wife as well, but his daughter, a young girl, came within a very
few minutes of losing her father. Now this happens to people all
around us, all around us, except there's a difference here. Paul
says we are sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. We are not of those
who sorrow without hope. I think you know what that means,
do you not? Some sorrow without hope. I grieved and rejoiced at the
same time. Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. Rejoice when you suffer for Christ's
sake. Blessed are you when they revile
and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely
for my name's sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad I Have had people Falsely accused
me call me heretic and this and that and the other and I've just
written back and I said I thank you for that blessing You treated Jesus and the prophets
that way I I appreciate the blessing. When you are falsely accused,
bless God and be joyful and thankful. I must move on. Rejoice when
you suffer for the sake of other Christians. You're going to suffer
for yourself. Paul suffered for the sake of others. He didn't
have to go preach to them. He could have quit preaching
and his suffering would have been over. But no. No. Bear in mind that your pastor
may suffer because of his testimony of Christ to you. And the point
that I would make, and I've kept you way too long, but the point
that I want to make is this. Rejoice, be glad. When? Always. How? In the Lord, in
the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice.