Rejoice in the Lord (Phil. 4:4)

In this section of his letter Paul instructs his readers in the church in Philippi about important areas of their spiritual lives in light of the fact that the King is coming. He had reminded them at the close of chapter 3 of this great future reality, that Jesus would return and change their humiliated bodies and make them like his glorious body. In a way similar to how a resident in Philippi would prepare for the coming of the Emperor, so the believers should prepare for the arrival of Jesus. 

Perhaps preparation in the city would involve tidying up the streets and removing unsightly objects. The believers should also remove unsightly features and develop beautiful replacements. Paul has already mentioned one unsightly element (the disharmony between Euodia and Syntyche) which they had had to remove, both individually as far as the two ladies were concerned and corporately as far as the ones who were to help them. Unity is essential as preparation for the coming of the King. 

No doubt, the prospect of the coming of the Emperor would have created a sense of anticipation in the minds of the people. It would be a privilege for them, and a cause of joy and happiness. Paul challenges his readers to rejoice as a means of preparing for the coming of the King. A person alone on a desert island surrounded by sharks would rejoice if he knew that rescue was on the way, if a communication had been delivered to him that a rescue ship would soon arrive. Believers have received communication from heaven about the coming of Jesus, therefore whatever their situations they should rejoice.

Perhaps an expected response would be, ‘Is Paul not being unrealistic here, expecting people to be joyful in such a difficult life situation in which the outcome could not be known?’ Yet we can think of the words of Habakkuk: ‘Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labour 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 I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.  Whatever comes his way, Habakkuk is confident that ‘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’ (3:17-18). 

We should note also that Paul is not merely stating his personal opinion; instead he is giving a command to the church as an apostle. This means that failure to rejoice is sinful. 

What Paul is not demanding

Before we look at some of the reasons for permanent joy, it is important that we realise what Paul is not demanding. First, Paul is not insisting that a Christian should always have a silly grin on his face. There will be many situations in life in which an inane grin would be completely inappropriate and no doubt Paul did not have a grin on his face when, for example, he had to comfort a believer in distress. 

Second, Paul is not saying that it is easy for a person to snap out of a time of spiritual depression. Many believers suffer from this problem in various degrees. Yet often they are helped when their thoughts can be turned away from their preoccupation and focus on the Lord. We can see this change in outlook in many of the psalms. Sometimes, the psalmists are oppressed by their sins, at other times by their providences. In these psalms, the authors face up to their situations and assess them in light of God’s promises. Having done so, they usually experience joy instead of sadness although their circumstances had not changed. Often, the path to joy is a process.

Third, Paul is not saying that the presence of joy means the absence of sorrow. Even in this letter, Paul expressed his great sadness when he thought of those who were enemies of the cross of Christ (3:18). Whether his sadness was caused by the havoc they produced in the churches or was caused by the awful fate that awaited them in hell, the fact is that he was very burdened about them. In a Christian, sorrow and joy co-exist, as Jesus made clear in one of the Beatitudes when he said, ‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.’

Fourth, Paul does not mean that the pursuit of joy should prevent us facing up to problems. Some people imagine that happiness in a church is only found in toleration, by turning a blind eye to wrong things that are taking place. Such a situation may make them happy, but they do not have the joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord is not found by refusing to face up to what is wrong.

Some reasons for Paul’s joy

While we could look elsewhere in Paul’s letters to discover some of the reasons for his joy in the Lord, we will confine ourselves to grounds of joy that he mentions in this letter to the Philippians. 

The first source of joy for Paul was found in the power of prayer. In 1:3-4, he writes: ‘I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy.’ There is no doubt that one important aspect of Paul’s joyful intercession was the healthy spiritual state of his friends in Philippi. In addition, Paul rejoiced that he could pray to God with the desire that they would receive further spiritual blessings. He knew that the Lord could answer his many prayers in ways far above his understanding. Joy comes to those who pray to the Lord.

A second source of spiritual joy for Paul was the ongoing success of the gospel. He writes in 1:12-18: 

‘But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel, so that it has become evident to the whole palace guard, and to all the rest, that my chains are in Christ; and most of the brethren in the Lord, having become confident by my chains, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from goodwill: The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains; but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defence of the gospel. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretence or in truth, Christ is preached; and in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice.’ 

His joy at the success of the gospel brings a covering over two potential difficulties or barriers to Paul’s joy. One of these barriers was the particular providence of imprisonment he faced at the time. This trial had been overcome by the amazing effect of Paul’s witness to the soldiers who were guarding him – the gospel had reached the elite troops of the Emperor’s army. The other barrier was the division in the church in Rome, a division that was expressed through the preaching of the gospel. His opponents were orthodox preachers and believers. Yet because they preached the gospel, Paul rejoiced. 

We can relate to both these potential barriers to joy. Regarding the worldwide spread of the gospel, we may think that we are a bit sidelined because of our location. But we can rejoice at the great things that God is doing throughout the world. The success of the gospel in other places should give us great joy. In fact, we should take steps to find out what God is doing elsewhere.

Sometimes, churches have disputes with other churches. Yet both churches preach the gospel. While we cannot rejoice at what we may perceive as wrong, we should rejoice that the gospel is being preached. It would not be right for us to allow ourselves to be deprived of our spiritual joy through the wrong actions of other believers. So we should rejoice that the gospel is still being preached.

It was not only in Rome that the church was facing problems. There were difficulties in the congregation in Philippi: internal disputes and attempted penetration from outside by false teachers. Yet Paul could look at what had been achieved in Philippi in the previous decade by the Lord and he found grounds for rejoicing. The congregation that he had founded had developed and matured, and he rejoiced. Even in a congregation facing problems, there will always be reasons for rejoicing.

A third source of joy for Paul and his friends was found in the potential of knowing Jesus in an increasing manner. Paul alludes to this in Philippians 3:10ff. The fact of the matter is that everything that Paul discovered about Jesus brought great joy into his heart. When he first met him and discovered that he was a suitable Saviour of sinners, Paul discovered a well of joy. Since then, he had known the power and ministry of Jesus in a wide variety of ways. He had experienced the shepherd care of Christ personally, he had climbed the heights to the third heaven, he had observed the hand of Jesus in bringing people into his kingdom, in the planting of churches, and in the sanctification of sinners. Even circumstances that appeared to deny the possibility of joy, such as when he received the thorn in the flesh, became doorways into experiencing the grace of Christ. Through the kindness of Jesus, Paul had been led into the joyous riches of the status of adoption, of belonging to the family of God. Paul had found that wherever Jesus was, there was great joy, and therefore he resolved to know as much about him as possible.

A fourth source of joy for Paul was the prospect of the glory to come (3:20-21). He knew that it was far better to die and go to be with Jesus. But he knew it would be better still when the resurrection day arrived, bringing with it the perfect world. As he looked at his worn and weary body, covered with the marks of his years of suffering for the faith, Paul rejoiced because he knew that his body would yet experience glorification. Connected to this joy in future transformation was his ongoing awareness that Jesus was in charge of human history, that he was Lord of all, and that the great resurrection day would be the occasion when the dignity of Jesus would be recognised by all.

A fifth source of joy for Paul was found in service in the church. He knew it from personal experience as he relates in 1:25-26. What joy it gave to Paul to observe the humble service of Timothy and Epaphroditus! How he looked forward to rejoicing over the effects of his friend (the yokefellow of 4:3) helping Euodia and Syntyche to be restored. Paul had discovered that service of Christ, no matter how apparently insignificant, brought great joy.

There were many other sources of Paul’s joy, and if you take a concordance you can look up the references to rejoicing. But maybe the question comes to us, ‘Why don’t I have this joy?’ or ‘Why is my joy so weak?’ I would suggest that we will probably find the answer in these areas that we have focused on: our prayer life, our response to troubles, our pursuit of Jesus, our focus on the future glory, and the depth of our involvement in the life of the church. If we are deficient in these areas, we will not have the degree of the joy of the Lord that we could have. The remedy is straightforward: repent and begin appropriating those spiritual disciplines which, through the Lord’s grace and mercy, will give us abundant joy.