WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.160 So you already know the theme of the sermon this evening is the key verse in this chapter 00:00:07.160 --> 00:00:12.519 that is going to bring together everything I think in the chapter is verse 4, Rejoice 00:00:12.519 --> 00:00:17.600 in the Lord always again, I will say rejoice. 00:00:17.600 --> 00:00:24.679 Now we did touch on this last Sunday night and one of the dangers of preaching twice 00:00:24.679 --> 00:00:29.560 as I have the last number of weeks and preaching through like this is you repeat yourself. 00:00:29.559 --> 00:00:31.719 So because things are on your mind all the time. 00:00:31.719 --> 00:00:35.640 So I'll probably say some things from last week that I'll say again this week and maybe 00:00:35.640 --> 00:00:39.719 even some things I said this morning I might say tonight because that's the price of synility 00:00:39.719 --> 00:00:40.719 as well. 00:00:40.719 --> 00:00:41.719 Okay. 00:00:41.719 --> 00:00:46.799 But it is the central theme of this letter as we mentioned and we are going to spend 00:00:46.799 --> 00:00:51.599 the whole sermon this evening being joyful. 00:00:51.599 --> 00:00:57.519 That's going to be the theme and it's a joyful theme and it's a very important theme and I 00:00:57.520 --> 00:01:02.440 hope you'll not sort of switch off and think, you know, he's going to be all smiley and 00:01:02.440 --> 00:01:06.879 joyful and I don't really feel like that and it's kind of unrealistic anyway. 00:01:06.879 --> 00:01:13.320 I hope you don't because that's not the intention of the sermon. 00:01:13.320 --> 00:01:21.320 But it is tremendously significant that we recognize the significance of being joyful 00:01:21.320 --> 00:01:27.240 in our Christian life and that you will go out from this place joyful and that our goal 00:01:27.239 --> 00:01:35.399 will be to be a church that is joyful that we have a joyful church that it's a joyful 00:01:35.399 --> 00:01:36.399 place to be. 00:01:36.399 --> 00:01:40.959 I'm going to say this word a lot so I'm sorry but that is just the way of it. 00:01:40.959 --> 00:01:45.599 We want the church to be a place that is a beautiful place to build relationships and 00:01:45.599 --> 00:01:47.359 to fight the good fight. 00:01:47.359 --> 00:01:49.199 That's a really significant thing. 00:01:49.199 --> 00:01:55.719 A place you want to be part of because it's God's body, it's part of God's people. 00:01:55.719 --> 00:02:01.280 Christ is the head and because it reflects the joy of the Lord, okay, so that's where 00:02:01.280 --> 00:02:04.000 I'm coming around to that it reflects the joy of the Lord. 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:08.439 A community of joy and you're saying already you're saying unrealistic. 00:02:08.439 --> 00:02:10.039 This is not realistic. 00:02:10.039 --> 00:02:16.919 However, stick with it because it's an important part of this, a really significant part of 00:02:16.919 --> 00:02:19.639 this letter that is written. 00:02:19.639 --> 00:02:26.000 It's our greatest longing, isn't it, in many ways to be a community that is beautiful and 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:28.919 encouraging, grace-filled and forgiving. 00:02:28.919 --> 00:02:36.079 All of these things will trigger a sense of joy in our experience. 00:02:36.079 --> 00:02:40.319 Because I think far too often our Christian life as individuals and maybe as churches 00:02:40.319 --> 00:02:44.679 particularly but certainly as individuals as well, our Christian lives are marked by 00:02:44.680 --> 00:02:57.840 joylessness, being joyless by a kind of disinterest or driven by duty or divided, miserable, miserable 00:02:57.840 --> 00:02:58.840 in our lives. 00:02:58.840 --> 00:03:03.760 And that seems a strange thing. 00:03:03.760 --> 00:03:10.520 It marks an unhealthy theology that I'll go on to mention in a little while. 00:03:10.520 --> 00:03:18.719 So by way of introduction we recognize and see that everything in our lives is ordinarily, 00:03:18.719 --> 00:03:21.879 naturally, is a shadow of what God intended it to be. 00:03:21.879 --> 00:03:28.680 So our naturally disordered hearts take joy, for example, and they separate it from the 00:03:28.680 --> 00:03:32.960 spiritual core that we should have with the living God and Christ. 00:03:32.960 --> 00:03:34.200 That's what Christ came to do. 00:03:34.200 --> 00:03:38.760 He came to fuse us back together and leash it with them and all that that means. 00:03:38.759 --> 00:03:44.599 And as we turn away from God, we see that joy also then becomes distorted. 00:03:44.599 --> 00:03:49.280 I'm not saying we don't have joy and I'm not saying that we don't experience happiness, 00:03:49.280 --> 00:03:55.599 but it is distorted because we take God out of the equation. 00:03:55.599 --> 00:04:01.319 Therefore we equate joy sometimes with pleasure, simply pleasure without reference or thanks 00:04:01.319 --> 00:04:03.280 to God. 00:04:03.280 --> 00:04:09.479 Just pleasure or with sensuality, with no spiritual dimension. 00:04:09.479 --> 00:04:16.680 What I mean by that is that we connect joy and happiness with the physical sensations 00:04:16.680 --> 00:04:24.600 of living, like sexual pleasure or emotional pleasure or visual stimulus that gives us 00:04:24.600 --> 00:04:34.080 joy or sometimes a depressing of our senses, which of course is what alcohol does as a 00:04:34.080 --> 00:04:39.360 way of experiencing joy because our reality is so miserable. 00:04:39.360 --> 00:04:47.160 We need to suppress that reality to somehow bring out a different kind of joy, which is 00:04:47.160 --> 00:04:54.439 why so many people will drink to excess because it does that or any mind-altering experiences. 00:04:54.439 --> 00:05:01.360 Or we link, we take God out of the equation and we allow our circumstances to become the 00:05:01.360 --> 00:05:10.079 gods of our lives so that our spontaneous reaction to good circumstances is happiness 00:05:10.079 --> 00:05:11.480 and joy. 00:05:11.480 --> 00:05:18.360 And we kind of make that, our God's, again, it's a purely natural response to good things 00:05:18.360 --> 00:05:19.360 that happen. 00:05:19.360 --> 00:05:24.399 So happiness and joy is about things going well, circumstances being good. 00:05:24.399 --> 00:05:27.839 And therefore we respond to that with happiness and joy. 00:05:27.839 --> 00:05:31.319 Now none of these things are bad. 00:05:31.319 --> 00:05:36.359 Well drinking to excesses, but drinking in and of itself, I'm not going to go into that. 00:05:36.359 --> 00:05:41.399 But anyway, none of these things, in and of themselves, are, you know, lots of people 00:05:41.399 --> 00:05:45.439 find happiness and joy in that stuff. 00:05:45.439 --> 00:05:52.439 But it's shadowy and it's distorted and it's not really the joy that's experienced. 00:05:52.439 --> 00:05:58.399 The tendency is for us to equate, when we read a passage like this about joy, we tend 00:05:58.399 --> 00:06:03.240 to equate it with these natural experiences that we have. 00:06:03.240 --> 00:06:08.319 And we forget, we forget and underestimate and misunderstand the significance of being 00:06:08.319 --> 00:06:13.879 spiritually alive and in relationship with God and how that should affect our understanding 00:06:13.879 --> 00:06:18.920 of joy and of life and of happiness. 00:06:18.920 --> 00:06:25.060 As we take the Redeemer, as we take Jesus into our soul more and more into our lives, 00:06:25.060 --> 00:06:32.080 we find that that there's a transformation going on and even our understanding of joy 00:06:32.080 --> 00:06:33.080 changes. 00:06:33.080 --> 00:06:38.240 Now I think this is a battle and I think it's ongoing and I think we struggle. 00:06:38.240 --> 00:06:40.200 Well I certainly do. 00:06:40.200 --> 00:06:48.160 But it's good to remind ourselves of why the joy that's spoken of here is not slapstick, 00:06:48.160 --> 00:06:52.120 it's not painting on a stupid smile on their faces and saying, hey, to the world, when 00:06:52.120 --> 00:06:55.600 everything is miserable, it's not that kind of thing at all. 00:06:55.600 --> 00:07:03.360 But it comes from the very core of our being, if we can use a physical analogy to speak 00:07:03.360 --> 00:07:08.320 spiritually, that from the very core of our being there's something that changes our experience. 00:07:08.320 --> 00:07:10.480 So I'm just going to say two things. 00:07:10.480 --> 00:07:13.680 The first is it's a spiritual experience. 00:07:13.680 --> 00:07:17.120 And the second thing I'm going to say is it's a command. 00:07:17.120 --> 00:07:20.160 The first of all is a spiritual experience. 00:07:20.160 --> 00:07:24.160 Rejoice in the Lord. 00:07:24.160 --> 00:07:27.680 Rejoice in the Lord. 00:07:27.680 --> 00:07:28.920 I see to you again, rejoice. 00:07:28.920 --> 00:07:36.480 So immediately it's linked in with being in the Lord, the essential response of being 00:07:36.480 --> 00:07:41.959 in the Lord, being a Christian, giving your life to Jesus and being in relationship is 00:07:41.959 --> 00:07:44.240 what He's saying, with the Lord. 00:07:44.240 --> 00:07:47.800 And we see that very often as a response in the Psalms. 00:07:47.800 --> 00:07:49.280 We sung some of them today. 00:07:49.280 --> 00:07:57.960 There's 182 references to praise and 43 references to rejoicing according to Bible Gateway. 00:07:57.960 --> 00:08:04.920 And these reflect the psalmist relationship, sometimes in very difficult circumstances, 00:08:04.920 --> 00:08:07.639 to being in the Lord. 00:08:07.639 --> 00:08:11.759 And it's not, therefore it's not just a byproduct of faith, it's of the essence of 00:08:11.759 --> 00:08:17.680 faith, not just because of what we experience by being in the Lord, which is things like, 00:08:17.680 --> 00:08:25.399 you know, you could list them, forgiveness, freedom, peace, hope, belying darkness, future 00:08:25.399 --> 00:08:29.480 security in the resurrection, all of these things. 00:08:29.480 --> 00:08:33.600 That gives us joy, knowing what we have in Jesus, knowing what He's gifted us, knowing 00:08:33.600 --> 00:08:38.000 what we believe and knowing what we have our security in. 00:08:38.000 --> 00:08:44.679 But it's interesting, you know, prepare sermons sometimes and type it all out and it's already 00:08:44.679 --> 00:08:49.519 and half an hour before the service, I was downstairs and I was thinking, I've missed 00:08:49.519 --> 00:08:52.919 out a hugely significant thing here. 00:08:52.919 --> 00:09:00.159 That joy isn't just, isn't, and it was, I'll tell you, it was triggered by a quote that 00:09:00.159 --> 00:09:01.159 I remembered. 00:09:01.159 --> 00:09:03.440 I'll come to that in a minute. 00:09:03.440 --> 00:09:10.200 So that joy isn't just the response that we have because of what God has given us, which 00:09:10.200 --> 00:09:15.120 is worthy of joy because of all these things that we've quoted, this amazing foundation. 00:09:15.120 --> 00:09:20.800 But we often see it as spiritual a circumstance, so that's maybe not the best word, but a spiritual 00:09:20.800 --> 00:09:22.640 response to what He's given us. 00:09:22.640 --> 00:09:31.280 But actually, Eric Liddle, the great Scottish runner who made the film of Charity of Fire, 00:09:31.279 --> 00:09:34.039 some of the younger ones, wouldn't remember that. 00:09:34.039 --> 00:09:36.519 If you haven't read the book about Eric Liddle, read it or watch the film. 00:09:36.519 --> 00:09:38.559 It's a bit dated now, probably, the film. 00:09:38.559 --> 00:09:44.279 Great film, Christian, Scottish Christian who run the 1924 Olympics. 00:09:44.279 --> 00:09:49.480 But when he was on Arthur's seat in the film, and you know, it's a very famous bit, when 00:09:49.480 --> 00:09:54.720 he's on Arthur's seat and his sister is kind of arguing with him about why he's running 00:09:54.720 --> 00:09:59.240 and why he's in the Olympics and why he isn't being a missionary and serving God in that 00:09:59.240 --> 00:10:00.240 way. 00:10:00.240 --> 00:10:01.840 It's Jenny, I think, isn't it? 00:10:01.840 --> 00:10:02.840 Jenny has her name. 00:10:02.840 --> 00:10:06.639 Jenny, you see, Jenny, God made me fast. 00:10:06.639 --> 00:10:10.560 And when I run, I feel His pleasure. 00:10:10.560 --> 00:10:12.960 I feel His pleasure. 00:10:12.960 --> 00:10:16.240 And that just triggered in me this whole thought, of course. 00:10:16.240 --> 00:10:19.159 It's not simply what we receive that makes us joyful. 00:10:19.159 --> 00:10:23.240 It's being in the Lord in and of itself. 00:10:23.240 --> 00:10:29.519 We sense His joy and His pleasure because Jesus is, and God is the one who is the God 00:10:29.519 --> 00:10:31.039 of joy. 00:10:31.039 --> 00:10:37.360 And we're told in Zephaniah that so much of God's joy actually in the Bible is related 00:10:37.360 --> 00:10:39.919 to what He's done in salvation. 00:10:39.919 --> 00:10:42.960 Saved us, and it brings Him great joy. 00:10:42.960 --> 00:10:45.399 And it says that He rejoices over His people with singing. 00:10:45.399 --> 00:10:49.519 Zephaniah, isn't that one of the greatest words in the Bible? 00:10:49.519 --> 00:10:53.399 There's joy in heaven over one sinner who repents. 00:10:53.399 --> 00:10:59.600 That God's justice and mercy at the fruit of the cross reflects the trinitarian joy 00:10:59.600 --> 00:11:07.319 of offering the prodigality of God to us and His love and His grace. 00:11:07.319 --> 00:11:09.039 Jesus promises my joy. 00:11:09.039 --> 00:11:11.360 He says, my joy I will give to you. 00:11:11.360 --> 00:11:13.360 It's the gift of the Holy Spirit. 00:11:13.360 --> 00:11:18.720 Repeated through the New Testament that so in the Lord, in and of itself, essentially 00:11:18.720 --> 00:11:26.920 is knowing this joy of the God who is in trinitarian joy and who is a God of joy and 00:11:26.920 --> 00:11:33.160 who, whose greatest happiness is your voice. 00:11:33.160 --> 00:11:40.639 Greatest happiness is you coming into His presence, loving to hear you, loving to receive 00:11:40.639 --> 00:11:48.240 your complaints and moans, loving this unity that is affected because His justice and His 00:11:48.240 --> 00:11:53.000 mercy were met when His own Son was crucified on the cross. 00:11:53.000 --> 00:11:59.360 And so we have this great reality of joy because we are in the presence of the joy giver and 00:11:59.360 --> 00:12:05.480 the joy, the joy person of the universe. 00:12:05.480 --> 00:12:12.159 Therefore joyless Christianity is a monster. 00:12:12.159 --> 00:12:18.399 It's divorced from the Lord who is the God of joy. 00:12:18.399 --> 00:12:19.639 It's not an added extra. 00:12:19.639 --> 00:12:24.439 It's not superficial, something this guy has no idea what he's talking about and he 00:12:24.439 --> 00:12:26.740 doesn't know what my life's like. 00:12:26.740 --> 00:12:30.039 This is of the essence of Christianity. 00:12:30.039 --> 00:12:37.159 And if we don't know that, then we're suffering from bad theologism. 00:12:37.159 --> 00:12:42.399 We have bad theology, iteth, if we don't recognize that, because somewhere along the 00:12:42.399 --> 00:12:50.439 line you've learned to believe that solemnity somehow is holier, or that God is only to 00:12:50.439 --> 00:12:56.279 be feared or not rejoiced in, or that all that matters is that we mourn because blessed 00:12:56.279 --> 00:12:58.959 are those who mourn. 00:12:58.959 --> 00:13:00.959 Did Paul not know these truths? 00:13:00.960 --> 00:13:07.320 Was God wrong when he said what he said here as he inspired Paul to write these words? 00:13:07.320 --> 00:13:09.920 Of course not. 00:13:09.920 --> 00:13:14.320 We're not pitting these two things against each other, but we're recognizing that there's 00:13:14.320 --> 00:13:20.840 a depth and a reality to joy that subsumes and that takes in all of these other experiences 00:13:20.840 --> 00:13:22.960 also. 00:13:22.960 --> 00:13:29.080 But don't use theology to close your hearts, to keep your hearts closed to the joy of the 00:13:29.080 --> 00:13:31.280 Lord and that relationship. 00:13:31.280 --> 00:13:37.360 And don't let your theology stop you challenging the prejudices that you may have grown up 00:13:37.360 --> 00:13:42.600 with about being miserable as a Christian, that being miserable is the only way to be, 00:13:42.600 --> 00:13:47.440 because that's much more holy, because it shows how much you hate your sin, and because 00:13:47.440 --> 00:13:51.120 the world is lost and we need to be solemn about that. 00:13:51.120 --> 00:14:00.399 Well, we're not actually told that, but there's a reality about our joy that can take in the 00:14:00.399 --> 00:14:06.200 tears and the weeping and the reality of what this world is doing. 00:14:06.200 --> 00:14:11.320 But bad practice, sorry, bad theology always leads to bad practice. 00:14:11.320 --> 00:14:16.840 And if we don't know, if we don't understand who God is in himself, if we have a misunderstanding 00:14:16.840 --> 00:14:23.840 of him and of his joy, then what we, bad theology will lead us to practice our Christianity 00:14:23.840 --> 00:14:24.840 wrongly. 00:14:24.840 --> 00:14:31.440 So if we have a joyless Christianity, the tendency is to return to the outward, to walk 00:14:31.440 --> 00:14:34.639 by sight rather than by faith. 00:14:34.639 --> 00:14:35.639 What's another word for that? 00:14:35.639 --> 00:14:36.639 It's legalism. 00:14:36.639 --> 00:14:39.480 That's the tendency for us. 00:14:39.480 --> 00:14:47.639 So it's all about rules and regulations and doing things better than other people outwardly. 00:14:47.639 --> 00:14:53.399 And that's what somehow, it's an ugly, shallow pleasure that we get from being legalistic, 00:14:53.399 --> 00:14:56.320 that as we compare ourselves to others, we're better than other people. 00:14:56.320 --> 00:14:58.680 And that gives us some kind of sense of joy. 00:14:58.680 --> 00:15:05.200 But it's a shallow, poor reflection of what God intends with it. 00:15:05.200 --> 00:15:06.840 It's godless. 00:15:06.840 --> 00:15:11.360 It's short-lived and it's hollow. 00:15:11.360 --> 00:15:13.040 So it could be legalistic. 00:15:13.040 --> 00:15:22.879 It can also return us to thinking that our happiness, our joy, is only paralleled by 00:15:22.879 --> 00:15:27.920 good outward circumstances, by, again, sensual pleasure. 00:15:27.920 --> 00:15:32.200 And therefore, we get annoyed with God if that isn't the case. 00:15:32.200 --> 00:15:33.680 Now, you can say, what's He talking about? 00:15:33.679 --> 00:15:38.039 Well, how often have we said, I don't know if God really loves me because things are 00:15:38.039 --> 00:15:40.000 going so badly in my life? 00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:41.399 How can He possibly love me? 00:15:41.399 --> 00:15:45.479 What are you talking about the joy of the Lord when my circumstances are so joyless and 00:15:45.479 --> 00:15:46.479 miserable? 00:15:46.479 --> 00:15:49.239 But can't you see that? 00:15:49.239 --> 00:15:55.599 It's a returning to outward circumstantial living and losing sight of what it means to 00:15:55.599 --> 00:15:56.959 rejoice in the Lord. 00:15:56.959 --> 00:16:02.120 I think it also leads to dull worship. 00:16:02.120 --> 00:16:07.560 That is soulless, not in the Lord. 00:16:07.560 --> 00:16:08.560 Routine. 00:16:08.560 --> 00:16:09.560 I know we meet every week. 00:16:09.560 --> 00:16:11.440 That's a good thing. 00:16:11.440 --> 00:16:12.519 It's good routine as well. 00:16:12.519 --> 00:16:20.759 But the challenge of keeping the worship living when we meet regularly like this, dull worship 00:16:20.759 --> 00:16:25.879 can be judgmental and outward and merely sensual, performance-related. 00:16:25.879 --> 00:16:33.240 It can easily happen for the preacher as well as everyone else, the way we listen, the way 00:16:33.240 --> 00:16:35.360 we act in church. 00:16:35.360 --> 00:16:39.720 But it can be utterly forgettable worship, can't it? 00:16:39.720 --> 00:16:44.360 When we have lost the joy of the Lord and we are not connected with Him, the praise 00:16:44.360 --> 00:16:49.840 is heartless, it's miserable, it's kind of joyless, we're not great in the free church 00:16:49.840 --> 00:16:50.840 that's singing joyfully. 00:16:50.840 --> 00:16:53.039 I don't care what you say. 00:16:53.039 --> 00:16:57.439 We have a tradition of singing miserably like at a funeral. 00:16:57.439 --> 00:16:58.799 We do it well. 00:16:58.799 --> 00:17:01.199 We do misery really well. 00:17:01.199 --> 00:17:03.679 And we have that tradition. 00:17:03.679 --> 00:17:06.000 I don't know what it is, maybe it's the weather. 00:17:06.000 --> 00:17:07.879 But we really could. 00:17:07.879 --> 00:17:16.559 And again, you've got what just, you know, just being kind of crazy outwardly, that can 00:17:16.559 --> 00:17:20.119 just be performance as well. 00:17:20.119 --> 00:17:27.000 But if praise is, if God sings over us with pleasure, then singing is what the angels 00:17:27.000 --> 00:17:28.000 in heaven do. 00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:29.559 It's kind of significant. 00:17:29.559 --> 00:17:32.399 We call it the preliminaries to the sermon. 00:17:32.399 --> 00:17:33.399 That's not right. 00:17:33.399 --> 00:17:38.000 Our corporate praise together should be a reflection of heaven. 00:17:38.000 --> 00:17:42.559 That's what it should be, because that's what it is. 00:17:42.559 --> 00:17:48.000 We're joining with the heavenly angels in praising the King of the universe for who 00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:49.000 He is. 00:17:49.000 --> 00:17:50.680 It's our worship. 00:17:50.680 --> 00:17:59.640 It should be expressive and it should be emotional in the sense of being from our hearts. 00:17:59.640 --> 00:18:06.359 Now, at the same time, it can be brilliant, professional, enjoyable, stimulating, but 00:18:06.359 --> 00:18:07.920 worldly. 00:18:07.920 --> 00:18:14.440 It's not really about the outness, necessarily the outward experience of what it sounds like. 00:18:14.440 --> 00:18:15.880 It's to be from the heart. 00:18:15.880 --> 00:18:18.519 It's to be from being in connection with the Lord. 00:18:18.519 --> 00:18:23.519 So if you're spending your life, and if I'm spending my life separated from the Lord, 00:18:23.519 --> 00:18:29.359 we can't possibly come in worship and know His joy. 00:18:29.359 --> 00:18:36.720 At best it will be something that's kind of wound up outwardly and emotionalism at best. 00:18:36.720 --> 00:18:39.000 It leads to bad practice. 00:18:39.000 --> 00:18:42.960 So in the first place, I think we see it's a spiritual experience. 00:18:42.960 --> 00:18:44.160 It's rooted in the Bible. 00:18:44.160 --> 00:18:51.920 It's rooted in a relationship with the Lord, and therefore it transcends how you've come 00:18:51.920 --> 00:18:53.800 tonight and what you've experienced. 00:18:53.800 --> 00:18:59.519 I'm not belittling anything you have experienced, but it is something beyond that as we look 00:18:59.519 --> 00:19:00.519 for His presence. 00:19:00.519 --> 00:19:04.240 Because the second thing I'm going to say is it's a command. 00:19:04.240 --> 00:19:05.840 Rejoice in the Lord always. 00:19:05.840 --> 00:19:07.320 Again I will say rejoice. 00:19:07.320 --> 00:19:11.240 So linguistically, grammatically, this is an imperative. 00:19:11.240 --> 00:19:12.240 Rejoice. 00:19:12.240 --> 00:19:14.680 It doesn't say think about it. 00:19:14.680 --> 00:19:16.440 It doesn't say now and again. 00:19:16.440 --> 00:19:18.400 It doesn't say every so often. 00:19:18.400 --> 00:19:21.960 He says rejoice in the Lord always. 00:19:21.960 --> 00:19:25.120 I say again rejoice. 00:19:25.120 --> 00:19:26.120 Always. 00:19:26.120 --> 00:19:30.759 Sometimes He says rejoice in the Lord, rejoice in the Lord always. 00:19:30.759 --> 00:19:31.759 Why? 00:19:31.759 --> 00:19:32.759 It's perpetual. 00:19:32.759 --> 00:19:34.279 It's a perpetual state. 00:19:34.279 --> 00:19:39.480 We might not feel that that's the case, but it's a perpetual state that we're commanded 00:19:39.480 --> 00:19:40.480 to recognize. 00:19:40.480 --> 00:19:43.200 And how can He say that? 00:19:43.200 --> 00:19:44.200 Real? 00:19:44.200 --> 00:19:45.200 Really? 00:19:45.200 --> 00:19:48.400 Can we possibly say that? 00:19:48.400 --> 00:19:56.240 Well, I think for all of us it's deepening our understanding of God and of theology, because 00:19:56.240 --> 00:19:57.240 that's everything. 00:19:57.240 --> 00:20:02.440 Matthew 13 gives a parable of the kingdom of God and says it's like a man who was in 00:20:02.440 --> 00:20:04.599 a field and found treasure. 00:20:04.599 --> 00:20:07.960 And he sold everything that he had in order to gain this. 00:20:07.960 --> 00:20:15.799 He experienced this reality of what it was to have found the incomparable riches of Jesus 00:20:15.799 --> 00:20:18.279 Christ and he sold everything. 00:20:18.279 --> 00:20:26.000 It became his great priority and he joyfully did so, we're told, because it was treasure. 00:20:26.000 --> 00:20:31.759 Because he understood who God was and what it was, the incomparably rich reality of knowing 00:20:31.759 --> 00:20:33.440 Jesus. 00:20:33.440 --> 00:20:41.000 And it doesn't say explicitly, but there's a kind of encouragement there, the importance 00:20:41.000 --> 00:20:43.080 of digging deep, isn't it? 00:20:43.080 --> 00:20:47.720 Because he found treasure in a field that we presume it wasn't just on the surface. 00:20:47.720 --> 00:20:50.720 Presume somehow that nobody else knew about and he had to dig deep. 00:20:50.720 --> 00:20:55.480 And then there's other places that speak about treasure and depth of the ground and I think 00:20:55.480 --> 00:21:00.240 Job speaks about digging for the great treasures of wisdom. 00:21:00.240 --> 00:21:09.400 And it's the inexhaustible riches of God's character that we dig for in our lives and 00:21:09.400 --> 00:21:17.200 recognize who he is and what he provides for us as we soak our lives in him. 00:21:17.200 --> 00:21:22.079 See the context of the passage here as he speaks about rejoicing in the Lord and he says, 00:21:22.079 --> 00:21:24.480 I know you're anxious. 00:21:24.480 --> 00:21:28.200 Anxiety is a big thing in life and he says, but please don't be anxious about anything 00:21:28.200 --> 00:21:33.200 but in everything by prayer and petition and thanksgiving, let your request be known to 00:21:33.200 --> 00:21:34.200 God. 00:21:34.200 --> 00:21:40.080 He's speaking about this relational reality of going, digging deep into relationship with 00:21:40.080 --> 00:21:43.360 God through your anxieties and through your troubles. 00:21:43.360 --> 00:21:49.640 And that enables us to see joy because we're digging. 00:21:49.640 --> 00:21:53.200 So often we fail to be joy because we've stopped digging. 00:21:53.200 --> 00:21:57.920 We've stopped reaching out into the treasures of God's character and we think we know it 00:21:57.920 --> 00:21:58.920 will. 00:21:58.920 --> 00:21:59.920 Yeah, yeah, I know that. 00:21:59.920 --> 00:22:04.920 I've made my commitment and there's nothing more to learn. 00:22:04.920 --> 00:22:12.680 But then we can settle for that cheap imitation which comes when we are naturally and relationally 00:22:12.680 --> 00:22:18.200 crippled and estranged and separated from Jesus in our lives. 00:22:18.200 --> 00:22:24.800 We encourage one another to continually be in God's presence and Paul's able to do that, 00:22:24.800 --> 00:22:26.519 isn't he? 00:22:26.519 --> 00:22:32.319 He always thanks God, he says, Father, Lord, we pray for you since we've heard of your 00:22:32.319 --> 00:22:37.440 faith in Jesus Christ, the love and you have for all the saints and he encourages them 00:22:37.440 --> 00:22:40.440 to keep being in God's presence. 00:22:40.440 --> 00:22:43.079 So it's perpetual. 00:22:43.079 --> 00:22:49.359 It's also realistic, this joy that he speaks of here because if you see that, you've seen 00:22:49.359 --> 00:22:55.639 the verse before it, sorry, I read another bit there, sorry, I read from Colossians there. 00:22:55.640 --> 00:23:00.600 It's the next book but I was Colossians chapter one but it's a similar kind of thing, you 00:23:00.600 --> 00:23:01.600 see. 00:23:01.600 --> 00:23:04.120 Okay, but it's realistic. 00:23:04.120 --> 00:23:09.960 See this chapter, before he says rejoice in the Lord, what does he say? 00:23:09.960 --> 00:23:14.520 He says, Yodiah and Sintiqi, stop arguing. 00:23:14.520 --> 00:23:15.520 That's what he says. 00:23:15.520 --> 00:23:16.520 In other words, it's realistic. 00:23:16.520 --> 00:23:21.000 You see the verse before, in the midst of church argument between two prominent women 00:23:21.000 --> 00:23:27.240 and members of the church, which is obviously a threat to their joy as a church. 00:23:27.240 --> 00:23:29.200 It's obviously something fairly serious. 00:23:29.200 --> 00:23:35.359 He names them, it's public, it's known, maybe it's causing great division within the church. 00:23:35.359 --> 00:23:38.000 How does he deal with that? 00:23:38.000 --> 00:23:44.160 Going on to speak about joy, yes he does speak about joy but he commends their gospel labor. 00:23:44.160 --> 00:23:47.799 This is really interesting, division between two people in the church. 00:23:47.799 --> 00:23:48.799 How does he deal with it? 00:23:48.799 --> 00:23:52.759 He commends them for their gospel labor. 00:23:52.759 --> 00:23:56.399 He reminds all of them in the church that they belong to Christ, that their names are 00:23:56.399 --> 00:23:59.519 written in the Lamb's Book of Life. 00:23:59.519 --> 00:24:03.440 And he sends one of his workers, we don't know, he doesn't name them, but he sends one of 00:24:03.440 --> 00:24:08.000 his workers to go and help them. 00:24:08.000 --> 00:24:13.440 He says, you know, help these women who have labored side by side in the gospel together 00:24:13.440 --> 00:24:16.240 with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers. 00:24:16.240 --> 00:24:20.880 Philippians 1, the book's one of the few churches in New Testament, we know lots of people's 00:24:20.880 --> 00:24:24.559 names, I've mentioned that before and here's some more of them. 00:24:24.559 --> 00:24:31.920 But he deals with this in a way that reflects who they are and who he is and is able then 00:24:31.920 --> 00:24:35.640 to go on and encourage them to rejoice in the Lord. 00:24:35.640 --> 00:24:39.720 Your joy will have gone, he says, because you're divided. 00:24:39.720 --> 00:24:44.680 Remember who you are, I thank you for what you've done, I'm sending someone to help you 00:24:44.680 --> 00:24:47.640 so that we might joy again in the Lord. 00:24:47.640 --> 00:24:50.799 Isn't that a great way of doing church discipline? 00:24:50.799 --> 00:24:53.840 Marvellous. 00:24:53.840 --> 00:24:57.200 Maybe they were majoring on minor things, I don't know, maybe it was something quite 00:24:57.200 --> 00:25:04.120 significant, but he commands them not only to rejoice in the Lord, but he also commands 00:25:04.120 --> 00:25:06.080 them to agree in the Lord. 00:25:06.080 --> 00:25:07.279 Not interesting. 00:25:07.279 --> 00:25:10.759 Both agreement and rejoicing, the two go together. 00:25:10.759 --> 00:25:15.680 It's not to say we're to be mindless and we're all to just think the same things, but we're 00:25:15.680 --> 00:25:20.839 to work through differences and agree to differ in the Lord, denying ourselves. 00:25:20.839 --> 00:25:26.359 You see what he's saying is joy, this joy is realistic, it's outworked, it's not fluffy 00:25:26.359 --> 00:25:33.640 emotion, it's dealing with the dynamics of imperfect church relationships and people in 00:25:33.640 --> 00:25:43.080 Christian environments together and reminding us that as we deal with one another, we receive 00:25:43.080 --> 00:25:44.080 the joy again. 00:25:44.080 --> 00:25:48.360 So it's perpetual and it's realistic, it's also thoughtful, we don't have time to look 00:25:48.360 --> 00:25:54.200 at this but he goes on to speak about finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, 00:25:54.200 --> 00:25:58.680 whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, whatever is in the exons, 00:25:58.680 --> 00:26:04.240 in the excellent of worthy of praise, think on these things. 00:26:04.240 --> 00:26:09.519 So we rejoice in the Lord, in the Lord when we're thinking about these things that belong 00:26:09.519 --> 00:26:11.400 to the Lord. 00:26:11.400 --> 00:26:16.720 It's the response of pressing on, isn't it? 00:26:16.720 --> 00:26:18.200 He wants us to be thoughtful. 00:26:18.200 --> 00:26:24.560 The chapter begins with, therefore, that links it to the pressing on that we looked at last 00:26:24.560 --> 00:26:25.560 week. 00:26:25.559 --> 00:26:34.480 The chapter is finally, and we will be joyful as we think on and as we spend time on the 00:26:34.480 --> 00:26:40.079 true noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, praiseworthy things that Christ 00:26:40.079 --> 00:26:41.079 reflects. 00:26:41.079 --> 00:26:43.399 That's who he is. 00:26:43.399 --> 00:26:45.000 That leads to action. 00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:48.119 Put them, he says, into practice. 00:26:48.119 --> 00:26:53.079 So it's not, it's not emotionalism and it's not slapstick. 00:26:53.079 --> 00:27:00.799 It is, when did you last, when did I last stop and think about our relationship with 00:27:00.799 --> 00:27:06.279 Jesus and what, he says, think on these things, all of these things, think on them, spend 00:27:06.279 --> 00:27:14.079 time in them, because that will begin to enable you to and me to see joy in a way that we 00:27:14.079 --> 00:27:16.399 haven't before. 00:27:16.399 --> 00:27:22.759 It's perpetual, it's realistic, it's thoughtful, it's also inspirational. 00:27:22.759 --> 00:27:26.200 Verse 10, Paul is responding to their love for them. 00:27:26.200 --> 00:27:31.839 He says, I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that length you have revived your concern for me. 00:27:31.839 --> 00:27:38.440 And then verse 14 to 20, he speaks about the way that as a effect that has been inspirational, 00:27:38.440 --> 00:27:41.640 the generosity of the church that they've come to his aid, that they've come to help 00:27:41.640 --> 00:27:47.640 him, that stems from their joy expressed in love. 00:27:47.640 --> 00:27:54.560 You see, it becomes a virtuous circle as he preaches and teaches joy and as they live 00:27:54.560 --> 00:28:02.200 that joy, he receives their joy in his circumstances and that causes him to praise and be joyful. 00:28:02.200 --> 00:28:04.640 It's a virtuous circle. 00:28:04.640 --> 00:28:07.840 The older I become, there's two dangers. 00:28:07.840 --> 00:28:10.640 One you become more cynical. 00:28:10.640 --> 00:28:13.440 There's one danger, become more cynical. 00:28:13.440 --> 00:28:17.880 The other is you become more godly. 00:28:17.880 --> 00:28:24.519 But and I don't know where I am in that particular line, but what I do know is the older I become, 00:28:24.519 --> 00:28:33.120 the more precious joy becomes and the more precious joy among God's people becomes. 00:28:33.120 --> 00:28:38.400 Our joy, just as Paul's was, was greatly influenced by the community of believers. 00:28:38.400 --> 00:28:44.200 He responded to their generosity because they were joyfully obedient to Christ. 00:28:44.200 --> 00:28:50.600 And isn't it true more and more and more that we are influenced by the gospel community 00:28:50.600 --> 00:28:55.200 we're part of, negatively or positively? 00:28:55.200 --> 00:29:01.480 And we look for that virtuous circle among us, that we encourage one another by our joyful 00:29:01.480 --> 00:29:12.599 obedience and by all that we're thinking on and the care for one another that joy brings. 00:29:12.599 --> 00:29:16.279 And therefore, it becomes inspirational. 00:29:16.279 --> 00:29:24.000 We don't want church to be depressive and dull, a place where we come and we dread coming. 00:29:24.000 --> 00:29:29.000 Isn't that, wouldn't that be just terrible that the Christian company you have is a company 00:29:29.000 --> 00:29:30.000 you hate? 00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:31.000 Are you dread? 00:29:31.000 --> 00:29:32.000 Are you dread? 00:29:32.000 --> 00:29:35.200 It's going to be more gossip or it's going to be more judgment or it's going to be miserable 00:29:35.200 --> 00:29:39.579 and the worship will be dull and the sermons will be terrible and the singing will be awful. 00:29:39.579 --> 00:29:42.240 Isn't that, isn't that exactly what it shouldn't be? 00:29:42.240 --> 00:29:46.759 And I'm not saying that church is just this gathering on a Sunday, but everything about 00:29:46.759 --> 00:29:53.279 we should look and be excited because it's a community of joy because we are in the Lord. 00:29:53.279 --> 00:30:00.440 And lastly and briefly, very briefly, this joy in the Lord is accompanied by two friends, 00:30:00.440 --> 00:30:06.680 two lovely friends, the trilogy, it's a triune pleasure, the joy in the Lord. 00:30:06.680 --> 00:30:10.440 It's accompanied by peace and by contentment. 00:30:10.440 --> 00:30:12.600 Twice Paul mentions peace. 00:30:12.600 --> 00:30:17.799 In verse 7 he says, as you go to the Lord, the peace of God which surpasses all understanding 00:30:17.799 --> 00:30:19.759 will guard your hearts and minds. 00:30:19.759 --> 00:30:26.680 And then in verse 9 he says, what you've learned and received from me, practice these things 00:30:26.680 --> 00:30:31.240 and the God of peace will be with you. 00:30:31.240 --> 00:30:39.480 This peace of God is a friend of joy and it's incompatible, you know, and it transcends 00:30:39.480 --> 00:30:43.720 words that it can't be proven or explained really. 00:30:43.720 --> 00:30:46.240 I can't, but it's experienced. 00:30:46.240 --> 00:30:48.880 It envelops our hearts and minds. 00:30:48.880 --> 00:30:54.640 It's the sense of Emmanuel, God with us. 00:30:54.640 --> 00:31:01.480 It doesn't induce pride but staggering humility because he is with us. 00:31:01.480 --> 00:31:05.560 We're never, you know, we sung this morning, Sam Twethee, even in the valley of the shadow, 00:31:05.560 --> 00:31:12.720 we can know we are not alone in the darkness. 00:31:12.720 --> 00:31:19.960 There's no other way to experience that peace when everything is experiential or temporary 00:31:19.960 --> 00:31:22.600 unless we are in the Lord. 00:31:22.599 --> 00:31:29.079 So peace and contentment and that, you know, you could preach 10 sermons on verses 11 00:31:29.079 --> 00:31:32.759 to 13 where Paul says, I've learned to be content. 00:31:32.759 --> 00:31:36.759 I know what it is to be brought low and to abound and in any circumstance I've learned 00:31:36.759 --> 00:31:39.079 the secret of facing plenty and hunger. 00:31:39.079 --> 00:31:42.000 I can do all things and it sustains me. 00:31:42.000 --> 00:31:46.079 So joy has two great friends, peace and contentment. 00:31:46.079 --> 00:31:49.839 What a trilogy that is and it's learned. 00:31:49.839 --> 00:31:52.679 Paul's not just dropped into our lap, it's a process. 00:31:52.679 --> 00:31:54.759 He had learned, Paul had learned it. 00:31:54.759 --> 00:31:57.799 It was tough, you know, tough for Paul. 00:31:57.799 --> 00:32:00.399 Paul's not speaking glibly or cheaply here. 00:32:00.399 --> 00:32:02.519 He said, I've learned these things. 00:32:02.519 --> 00:32:04.399 I'm a disciple. 00:32:04.399 --> 00:32:09.720 It's a process and we are the same, you know, we have to be teachable through our trials 00:32:09.720 --> 00:32:14.839 so that we are learning contentment and peace and joy. 00:32:14.839 --> 00:32:18.959 And you know, he speaks about the things that affect us, poverty and hunger and lacking 00:32:18.960 --> 00:32:20.720 the basics in life. 00:32:20.720 --> 00:32:25.680 These are real horrible things and we're not insensitive to them. 00:32:25.680 --> 00:32:30.319 But he could say he could know contentment and peace and joy. 00:32:30.319 --> 00:32:35.759 What a great Savior we have, you know. 00:32:35.759 --> 00:32:39.000 I often feel like a wee boy at the beginning of the Christian road. 00:32:39.000 --> 00:32:44.440 I've been a Christian for about 40 years. 00:32:44.440 --> 00:32:48.799 And sometimes I feel I don't know anything. 00:32:48.799 --> 00:32:55.639 When you think of just who Jesus Christ is, you know, it's so important to dig deep. 00:32:55.639 --> 00:32:58.879 And I pray for a spiritual awakening in my own heart. 00:32:58.879 --> 00:33:05.639 And I do plead for it for this congregation because it will transform us increasingly 00:33:05.639 --> 00:33:12.399 as it will transform us today and for all our tomorrows as we experience and know this 00:33:12.400 --> 00:33:20.640 joy as we dig deep into the one who has gifted us salvation. 00:33:20.640 --> 00:33:25.720 And I hope that is your experience increasingly in life. 00:33:25.720 --> 00:33:44.400 Amen.