Rejoice In the Lord (Phil. 3:1)

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Rejoice in the Lord! (Phil. 3:1)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on September 10, 2023

Swindoll shares:

It had been a long time since Horace Walpole smiled. Too long. Life for him had become as drab as the weather in dreary old England. Then, on a grim winter day in 1754, while reading a Persian fairy tale, his smile returned. He wrote his longtime friend, Horace Mann, telling him of the “thrilling approach to life” he had discovered from the folk tale.

The ancient tale told of three princes from the island of Ceylon who set out on a pursuit of great treasures. They never found that for which they searched, but en route they were continually surprised by delights they had never anticipated. While looking for one thing, they found another.

The original name of Ceylon was Serendip, which explains the title of this story—“The Three Princes of Serendip.” From that, Walpole coined the wonderful word “serendipity.” And from then on, his most significant and valued experiences were those that happened to him while he was least expecting them.

Serendipity occurs when something beautiful breaks into the monotonous and the mundane. A serendipitous life is marked by “surprisability” and spontaneity.  When we lose our capacity for either, we settle into life’s ruts. We expect little and we’re seldom disappointed.

Though I have walked with God for several decades, I must confess I still find much about Him incomprehensible and mysterious. But this much I know: He delights in surprising us. He dots our pilgrimage from earth to heaven with amazing serendipities.[1]

My theme today is:

Rejoice in the Lord!

  1. Let’s start with the context.
    1. Let’s begin by putting Phil. 3:1 in the context of the letter of Philippians. In Philippians 1:1-11, Paul greets them and prays for the Philippians.
    2. In Philippians 1:12-18, Paul writes that his imprisonment has meant progress for the gospel.
    3. In Philippians 1:19-26, Paul writes about how he will live for Christ.
    4. In Philippians 1:27-30, Paul encourages them to walk worthy of the gospel.
    5. In Philippians 2:1-4, Paul wrote about unity and self-sacrificial behavior.
    6. In Philippians 2:5-11, Paul gave the example of Christ.
    7. In Philippians 2:12-18, Paul wrote about Christian behavior.
    8. In Philippians 2:19-24, Paul gave the example of Timothy.
    9. In Philippians 2:25-30, Paul gives the example of Epaphroditus.
    10. So, after writing about unity and sacrifice, he now takes one verse to remind them to rejoice.
  2. Rejoice in the Lord.
    1. Philippians 3:1 (ESV): Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.
    2. Notice how Philippians 3:1 begins with “finally”?
    3. This is more of an attention word, it means “as far as the rest is concerned…”
    4. Paul is not writing out of a burden but out of joy.
    5. He is about to give a warning in Philippians 3:2ff, but first he exhorts them to rejoice.
    6. He will pick up this theme of joy again in Philippians 4.
    7. In Philippians 2:18 Paul wrote about rejoicing.
    8. This is a theme of Philippians.
    9. Notice how he continues to use the language of family.
    10. He calls them, “brothers” or “brothers and sisters.”
    11. He says to “rejoice, ‘in the Lord.”’
    12. MacArthur shares: This, however, is the first time he adds “in the Lord,” which signifies the sphere in which the believers’ joy exists—a sphere unrelated to the circumstances of life, but related to an unassailable, unchanging relationship to the sovereign Lord.[2]
    13. Rejoice in the Lord.
    14. This is important for him to write.
    15. The verb “rejoice” has to do with being glad, or joyful.
    16. He is saying to “be glad in God.”
    17. He writes that it is okay to write the same thing again.
    18. It would be easy to think he would write to rejoice again, but more likely, he is referring to the following verses. In Philippians 1:27-30 he had already written about their opponents, and now he is about to write about them again.
    19. He writes that it is safe for them that he writes the same thing again.
    20. This is because he is able to keep the church of Philippi from succumbing to false teachers.
  3.  Apply
      1. Paul is in a Roman prison, and his living conditions are not that good, but he exhorts them to rejoice. How are we doing with rejoicing?
      2. How are we doing with being happy?
      3. Paul is in a negative situation from the world’s standards but says to rejoice.
      4. In the book, “Rewire Your Brain” the author shares:
      5. You can start to rewire your brain by priming a positive mood through acting as though you are in a good mood when you’re not. Let’s say that you’ve been sad recently and have been pulling back from your friends. Maybe you’ve said to yourself, “I don’t want to put on a happy face.” You should force yourself to call a friend and go out to lunch when you don’t feel like it. Once you are at lunch, even just smiling can activate parts of your brain associated with positive emotions.
      6. Further: Behavioral activation (the left PFC) is one of the principal therapies for depression. Thus, making an effort to put yourself out there helps you lift depression. In fact, “putting on a happy face ” is actually helpful. Here’s how it works: There are neural pathways that link the facial muscles, the cranial nerves, the subcortical areas, and the cortex. Information flows down from the brain to the face and also back up again. For example, if you contract the muscles on the right side of your face, that activates your left hemisphere, which creates the likelihood of a positive emotional bias. In contrast, if you contract the muscles on the left side of your face, that activates your right hemisphere, which creates the likelihood of a negative bias.
      7. Thus, when you force a smile or a frown, you’re triggering the feelings associated with happiness or sadness. By smiling or frowning you send messages to your subcortical and cortical areas that resonate with happy or sad feelings. So put on a happy face—it helps you to feel better![3]
      8. Humor is a boost to your biochemistry. It helps to lower the levels of the stress hormone cortisol while it increases immunoglobulin, natural killer (NK) cells, and plasma cytokine gamma interferon levels. Immunoglobulin consists of the antibodies that help the immune system to fight infections; it serves as one of the body’s primary defense mechanisms. NK cells seek out and destroy abnormal cells; they are a key mechanism for what is called immunosurveillance. Plasma cytokine gamma interferon orchestrates or regulates anticellular activities and turns on specific parts of the immune system. If you are able to develop a sense of humor about yourself, you’ll find that incredibly liberating. It ensures that you don’t take your current situation and yourself too seriously. Laughing at yourself allows you to see yourself as part of a greater whole.[4]
      9. So, regardless of our situation, if we try to find an optimistic attitude, if we try to smile, if we try to find humor, it will make us happy.
      10. In this way, we need to be happy in God.
      11. Paul says to rejoice.
      12. We must rejoice even in hard times.
      13. We must rejoice “in the Lord.” We can only rejoice “in the Lord.”
      14. Are we glad in God? That is what “rejoice” means.
      15. Are we happy in God?
      16. No matter what happens politically, can we be happy in God?
      17. Can we be happy in God when we do not have much (Phil. 4:11-13)?
      18. Can we be happy in God when we have plenty (Phil. 4:11-13)?
      19. Can we rejoice in God, being happy in God, when the day does not go as planned?
      20. When we have that unexpected phone call, or text message, or flat tire, can we still praise Him? Can we still rejoice? Can we still be thankful? Can we still be happy in God? Maybe without that flat tire you would have hit a deer.
      21. Can we find ways to see ways to give God praise?
      22. Can we find ways to rejoice?
      23. Can we look for the good, look for God moments?

Piper:

No one had ever taught me that God is glorified by our joy in him — that joy in God is the very thing that makes our praise an honor to God, and not hypocrisy.

But Jonathan Edwards said it so clearly and powerfully:

God glorifies himself towards the creatures also [in] two ways: (1) by appearing to . . . their understanding; (2) in communicating himself to their hearts, and in their rejoicing and delighting in, and enjoying the manifestations which he makes of himself. . . . God is glorified not only by his glory’s being seen, but by its being rejoiced in. . . .

[W]hen those that see it delight in it: God is more glorified than if they only see it. . . . He that testifies his idea of God’s glory [doesn’t] glorify God so much as he that testifies also his approbation of it and his delight in it.

This was a stunning discovery for me. I must pursue joy in God if I am to glorify him as the surpassingly valuable Reality in the universe. Joy is not a mere option alongside worship. It is an essential component of worship. Indeed the very essence of worship — being glad in the glories of God.[5]

Prayer

[1] Taken from Day by Day with Charles Swindoll by Charles R. Swindoll. Copyright © 2000 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. Used by permission of Thomas Nelson. www.thomasnelson.com. https://insight.org/resources/daily-devotional/individual/expecting-the-unexpected1

[2] John F. MacArthur Jr., The MacArthur Study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2006), Php 3:1.

[3] Arden, John B.. Rewire Your Brain (pp. 50-52). Wiley. Kindle Edition.

[4] Ibid., 53.

[5] Devotional excerpted from Desiring God, pages 22–23 https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-most-liberating-discovery?utm_campaign=Daily%20Email&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=77388006&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-80hlIdQ7oOE_HGobjYMoEmBtPHH06nmtlSOuEUD3Bt_4rTpGw_Su-AraQzfeZIhZ-tU0l2sdTiWnDMf-VMUH6mX9l24g&_hsmi=77388006

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