Rejoice Always
1 Thessalonians 5:16
Introduction.
Two weeks ago, we talked about praying without ceasing.
Last week we talked about giving thanks in everything.
This week, I want to go back and look at the first exhortation in this list: rejoice always.
While walking along a busy street one day, a man heard someone singing. His sweet voice was distinguishable even above the noise of the traffic. When he located him, he noticed that the man who was the source of that sweet voice had no legs and was pushing himself through the crowd in a wheelchair. Catching up with him, the man said, “I want you to know, friend, that to hear singing from a person in your condition is quite uplifting.” He answered with a grateful smile, “When I thought about what I had lost and began concentrating on all I had left, I found much for which I could rejoice.”
When we think of rejoicing, what comes to mind?
I think of joy and happiness.
I think of happy events like a wedding or the birth of a child.
I think of graduations, landing a great job, or getting that promotion.
I think of something hard-fought and hard-won.
From a spiritual perspective, I think of when someone is baptized into Christ and added to His church.
How then are we to obey this command to “rejoice always”?
There are not always events to rejoice over, so how can we do this?
Paul repeats this exhortation later in Philippians even more emphatically, “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!” (Phil. 4:4).
Admittedly, this could be similar to the lesson last week.
What do we have to be thankful for in 2020?
What do we have to rejoice over this year?
Many of the same points could be brought up, rejoicing over the weddings and births that have happened this year.
But to make this distinct, let us consider:
What does it mean to rejoice?
How can we rejoice in the sad times?
What we can rejoice over at any time?
Body.
What does it mean to rejoice?
This is the Greek word: χαίρω (G5463).
Along with “rejoice,” it is also translated as “be glad,” but that almost seems like defining a word with the same word.
This same word is also a common greeting, and is often translated as “greetings.” The KJV even translates it as “godspeed” twice in 2 John.
Whenever you see someone, you greet them saying, “Χαῖρε!” – which is an imperative. You’re basically saying, “Be glad because I am here!”
Though I’m sure that had just become something people say, like we say “goodbye,” which originally meant “God be with ye” – how many atheists today say this without any connection to Deity at all?
To rejoice and be glad overall has a basic idea.
It’s the idea of being full of joy and happiness.
The questions that I want to address here have to do with the source of our joy and happiness.
Is our source internal or external? Inherent or situational?
If the source of our happiness is always external or situational, we are going to be a depressed people.
It would depend on how others treat us, what happens to us, and what our current situation is.
But if internal or inherent, then we can be among the happiest of people.
It would depend on how we feel about ourselves, what we can do to cheer ourselves up, and what the Lord has done for us.
As we continue this lesson, we will consider certain situations in which the people of God rejoiced, and how we might be able to emulate that.
How can we rejoice in the sad times?
Our goal is to be able to rejoice at all times, making our source internal or inherent.
But what about when sad times come? Because they will come.
Yes, we all experience sadness—and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that!
In his Psalms, David often expresses his laments, his sorrows and trials.
In fact, there is a whole class of Psalms called Psalms of Laments, the majority of which are found early in the book.
There’s even a whole book called Lamentations that expresses great sadness and grief!
We are going to be sad at various times in our lives—tragedies are a part of living in this world.
If you are feeling sad, read those Psalms—despite the sadness expressed in each word, they are actually very encouraging.
They help us to be better able to process our own sadness and make sense of it all.
It gives us such great comfort in our darker days.
Jesus said something about His own disciples being sad (John 16:20-22).
In the context of Jesus’ about to be crucified, Jesus says.
“Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy.”
Then He gives an illustration of a woman giving birth.
“A women, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.”
And here is His application.
“Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you.”
You see, the hardships and sorrow that we go through are temporary (2 Cor. 4:16-18).
Even if they last a lifetime, they will end, because our lives are also temporary.
And you would think that after being beaten and scourged, that that would give one an excuse to be angry, sad, or upset, but that’s not how the Apostles felt (Acts 5:41).
They rejoiced not in spite of their suffering, but because of their suffering! Wow!
Peter, many years later, encourages his fellow Christians (1 Pet. 4:12-14, 16).
He tells them to rejoice when we have the opportunity to “partake of Christ’s sufferings.”
Suffering for Christ’s sake is said to be a time of joy, a blessing, a time of glorification!
So, how can we rejoice in the sad times? What have we learned?
Recognize Jesus as the model of suffering and follow Him (1 Pet. 2:21) – Jesus knows suffering, take comfort in that.
Know that your suffering is but temporary, as our Bro. J. C. now knows.
Don’t deny the times of mourning—please do mourn when appropriate—but remember who holds tomorrow. We can rejoice in that, can’t we?
This helps our happiness become inherent when our situations are anything but.
There are many things the Christians of the first century rejoiced over, helping them not to be situational in their happiness, but to rejoice always.
What can we rejoice over at any time? [We’ll focus on Philippians.]
Despite the motives, Paul rejoices that Christ is preached (Phil. 1:18).
This is something to rejoice over!
The farther the message of Christ goes, the greater influence Christ has.
The motives of the preachers is extremely important, particularly for the sake of the preachers.
The wonderful thing about that is Christ is preached throughout the world today.
In every corner of the globe, there are people out there preaching about Jesus.
They don’t always preach the truth, but many of them are handing out Bibles so these people have the opportunity to learn the truth.
They all preach the love of Christ, and most teach the truth on morality.
Even with the possibility of martyrdom, the faithful Christian rejoices (Phil. 2:17-18).
We know the destination of the faithful Christian—heaven.
We shouldn’t be afraid to suffer or even die for His sake.
In fact, we should look forward to it, rejoicing that we suffered for His name.
If we die, we have cause to rejoice; if we live, we have cause to rejoice (Phil. 2:28).
Epaphroditus was sick and on death’s door, and even though there is cause to rejoice in death, there is also cause to sorrow.
For the Christian, death is bittersweet.
While we know where our Christian brothers and sisters are, we are saddened because it may be some time before we see them again.
Paul would have been sad, too, because he relied on Epaphroditus. Had he died, Paul would have felt a great sense of loss.
But Epaphroditus got better, an encouragement not only to Paul but to the Philippian church as well.
So we should rejoice for our lives and our good health.
If we are not in good health, we can still rejoice for the time we had while in good health, and not to forget rejoice when our health returns.
If nothing else, we can rejoice in the Scriptures (Phil. 3:1).
Paul encourages these Christians to rejoice in the Lord because of what he has written.
He has written the “same things,” and we know, since we are reading it now, that he was writing Scriptures by the inspiration of God.
So even if we happen to read the same things over and over, it is not tedious.
How many of us have studied the Scriptures our whole lives, and it never gets old? We might get old, but studying God’s Word doesn’t.
In fact, for us “it is safe.” How?
Continuing to read and study the Scriptures helps us to keep the truth and good things on our minds.
If we’re doing it right, it is not tedious or boring, but a joy.
Let us rejoice that we have access to so many study resources today!
Let us rejoice in the Lord for the Scriptures and for the care of others (Phil. 4:4, 10).
Paul was happy to receive the great care he did from the Philippian church.
He did not necessarily refer to things that he needed, but such is included.
The generosity of the Philippian church was greatly appreciated and something to rejoice over!
We should be thankful for things pertaining to salvation.
We should rejoice over the grace of God. Barnabas had seen the grace of God among the Gentiles and rejoiced (Acts 11:23).
We should rejoice over hearing the saving gospel of Jesus Christ just as the Cypriot Gentiles did (Acts 13:48).
We should rejoice over the hope of that gospel (Rom. 12:12).
We should rejoice when someone repents of their sins as Paul rejoiced over the repentance of the Corinthians (2 Cor. 7:9).
We should rejoice over being baptized and the salvation we have in Jesus Christ just as the Ethiopian eunuch went on his way rejoicing after he had been baptized (Acts 8:39).
Conclusion.
There are many things to rejoice over in the Scriptures.
That doesn’t mean having a smile on our faces 24/7, especially during the sad moments of our lives.
What it does mean is we never forget what we have to rejoice over.
It means that when we are sad, we know who to turn to for happiness and contentment.
It means learning to cope with our situations, and finding our happiness in the Lord rather than in our situation.
Our joy needs to be a part of who we are, inherent to our being, not wholly dependent upon what happens to us.
Sure, there will always be some element that is external that can affect our happiness, but we can’t let it control us.
You see, God wants us to be happy.
That doesn’t mean we are going to be rich, healthy, and have everything we ask for.
But it does mean we learn whatever state we are in to be content.
It does mean we always have cause to rejoice in the Lord.
No, it’s not some creepy kind of cultish happiness, but a genuine joy found only in Christ.
This is a joy that recognizes that our sins are forgiven, and our ultimate home is in heaven.
We saw many things to rejoice over, and each one represents a part of our salvation.
Grace, hope, hearing, believing, repenting, and being baptized all resulted in rejoicing.
The greatest cause we might ever have to rejoice is in the Lord, in His salvation.
So let us be saved today!