Rejoice in the Lord always

Passage for reflection: Philippians 4: 1 - 9

At school in assembly in the hall, we used to face the motto we had to learn and live each day by.

“Rejoice in the Lord alway” was carved on a piece of wood hung at the front of the hall. We always wanted to carve an s on the end of it! We did our exams facing it. When you were in a state of despair in O Level Maths, there was little to rejoice about! 

We often forget that Paul wrote the letter to the Philippians in a place far worse than a maths exam! Considering the circumstances under which Paul wrote it, it really is quite remarkable that this letter should have become known as the ‘epistle of joy’. When we look more closely at what was going on in Paul’s life at the time, it’s hard to see what he’s got to be so joyful about.

For a start he’s in a Roman prison, chained up for his faith. Secondly, he knows that he’s facing the distinct possibility of imminent death and he has little earthly security. 

And yet we have this instruction here in Philippians 4:4: ‘Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.’

I’m very aware that at the moment with all this ongoing Covid 19 situation and the threat of further restrictions looming, there feels little to rejoice about. People are tired, they see no end to the virus, they worry about the future, it’s all hard work. Is Paul talking absolute nonsense when he tells us that we should rejoice always, even when we feel rubbish? 

There are two clues to how we might rejoice out of darkness in this passage. 

In verse 5 of Philippians chapter 4, Paul reminds us that the Lord we rejoice in ‘is near’. This means two things.

First, the Lord is near in the sense of being closer to us than anyone else. Whoever else we may lose, we cannot lose him. Whatever else we may lose, we cannot lose him. He will never let us down. He will always be there to be rejoiced in!

And secondly, the Lord is near in the sense of being just around the corner as he prepares to return to usher in the glorious fullness of his kingdom. He has promised to return and so return he will. Nothing can cause his promises to fail. Nothing can prevent him from doing what he chooses to do. In the light of his soon-to-be-revealed power, the difficulties we face now will fade into insignificance. So, since his coming again is so certain, let the fading into insignificance begin now! Let us look at our trying circumstances, not from the perspective of the present, but from the point of view of the future when they will all be swallowed up in the Lord’s victory. This is the Lord we rejoice in. This is the Lord who is to be the driving force behind our praise and worship. The Lord who is near. Let God himself be the focus of our joy. It’s about recognising what we face today won’t be how it forever. It is about believing in his Kingdom and seeing a bigger picture. 

Then we have verse 9: ‘Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.’ The key to joy is practical obedience to what God requires. As Jesus promised, ‘If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete’ (John 15.10-11).

This isn’t wishy washy spirituality. This is having hope in a God who is with us in the tough times and leads us from those times into a promise of a better future. We need when we struggle to keep focussed on him, keep prayer happening, find support in each other and have a vision. Someone said to me the other day they were tired of dreams and visions! I was sad they meant they’d had sessions in church to think about the future which left them disillusioned and drained. 

Three thoughts come to me as I reflect further on rejoicing in the Lord always.

First, reasons to rejoice may come when we feel grotty. Where is that unexpected joy in life? Where are those moments where God reminds us powerfully of his presence? We believe in resurrections out of darknesses. To know God is in the darkness can help us know peace in our heart and enables us to rejoice always. One of the best texts on this is Jurgen Moltmann’s “Theology and Joy.” How, he asks, can we laugh and rejoice when there are still so many tears to be wiped away and when new tears are being added every day? He cites the recent musical Fiddler on the Roof. Are the Jewish congregation here singing just to forget, or is there really such a thing as freedom in the midst of slavery, joy in the midst of suffering ? 

Then, maybe, we have times when we are shown God has been there all the time. We just have to search for him. This week I’ve been looking for safes in my new churches. The one at Bishop Monkton took some finding! I searched every room and every cupboard and gave up. Lis then came in the church and we looked everywhere again and were about to give up again when she said “what’s that over there?” Behind a pile of chairs was a little box covered over by a nice piece of fabric. It just took me being patient and looking hard to see it. Sometimes when we think God isn’t there we walk away. We need to look harder! 

And finally, we need to be confident. We rejoice because we have a hope in us. One of my favourite hymns is Rejoice the Lord is King. 

Charles Wesley wrote it for Easter and Ascensiontide. I always think of my organist at Rye, Clifford Foster, when I choose it. The music has an almighty bit at the end where you pull out all the stops but apart from him I’ve not heard an organist play that bit! But it’s a hymn of absolute certainty: a jubilant call to rejoice in the reign of our Lord! Meanwhile we worry about money in the church and how we can survive... um!

Rejoice in glorious hope!

Jesus the judge shall come

And take his servants up,

To their eternal home:

Lift up your heart, lift up your voice! Rejoice, again I say, rejoice!”

Always! 

I wonder have you ever heard the story of Aunt Betty who just loved to hear the Word of God ? But she always presented a problem to the preacher for during the message she would always shout, “ Praise the Lord.” This so upset her pastor that he would lose his train of thought and so every time Aunt Betty shouted out this would throw him, and he would really get messed up. So he went to Aunt Betty and said, “Now Aunt Betty I really appreciate you but I wish you would not shout when I am preaching for it puts me off, I really bothers me.” He continued, “Aunt Betty, I know that you don’t have too much materially so I’ll tell you what I’ll do. If you won’t shout I’ll get you two of the finest blankets you’ve ever seen.”

Well, Aunt Betty agreed, and she came along to the services at the church and held it in, muffed it, and stifled it. Indeed, she did not shout for a month. Then one Sunday there was a visiting preacher and he got preaching about forgiveness, and the grace of God and she blew it right there for she got so happy that her sins were forgiven that she shouted out, “Blankets or no blankets praise the Lord.”

Someone wrote this which I think is great. 

“It’s all too easy for us to be what might be called ‘diabetic’ Christians. You know how with diabetes, patients need regular injections of insulin to keep their blood sugar at a healthy level. Without their insulin, they quickly become unwell and may even die. It is not God’s intention for us to be dependent on injections of joy from the outside, but to have an inner source that bubbles up all the time. How is your spiritual pancreas getting on?”

Let us pray:

God of hope and promise, remind us today you are with us always. Show us the reasons we have for joy. Finding you again, may we rejoice in you. Being blessed by you, may we this week be a blessing to others. In Jesus name. Amen.