With what kind of sentence does this verse begin: “Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord”? For example, is “Rejoice in the Lord” a question? I asked a question about this sentence, but was Paul asking a question? “What? Shall we rejoice in the Lord? Are you kidding?” No this isn’t a question. If it is not a question is it an expletive? Is it an oath or exclamation? Again, this isn’t an exclamation. Well, then Is it a mere passing comment before running on to something else? What do we call the sentence: “Rejoice in the Lord?”
It is an exhortation – an encouragement to do something – something positive. We could even call it a command. But – is Paul simply commanding us to rejoice? Is it a general exhortation like many that we find in the Psalms? “Rejoice in the LORD, ye righteous; and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.” “Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice ye righteous; and shout for joy all ye that are upright in heart.”
While there is validity to such an exhortation to constantly be happy and to rejoice generally… It is not too unlike exhorting a plant to grow or the sun to shine. It is a waste of time to admonish a plant to grow – even if a plant had ears. We can teach and encourage that plant to grow more leaves than flowers, or to have mostly flowers. We can make a plant grow in a certain direction, by directing it toward the sunlight. We can curl it and twist it into an odd shape. We can manipulate the kind of growth that we would like to see in that flower. But to simply exhort the plant, telling it to grow, is not the wisest use of our time. It will grow or it won’t. In the case of this verse, to get to the truth, the emphasis should be on the last word rather than the first word. This is not simply – “rejoice.” The apostle is exhorting us to make the Lord the grounds and arena of our rejoicing.
So Paul here is reminding us of one of our Christian responsibilities – the expression of our joy. What can I add to the simple words of this exhortation? To be honest, I can add very little, but I can explain a couple of things.
Let’s start with what appears to be the end – “FINALLY.”
I confess to being guilty of something I hope I’ll never do again, and which I hope to prevent you from doing. My error has been in misinterpreting the word “finally.” Do you believe that Paul was writing this book under the direct command of God? Do you believe that the Book of Philippians is “profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction and instruction for righteousness,” BECAUSE it has been given to us by the inspiration of God? Do you believe Paul was being moved by the Holy Ghost as he wrote this letter? If you do – and I certainly do – then what I have thought, and said, in the past could NOT be true.
I have been guilty of saying that Paul was just about to finish his letter, and then he changed his mind. He changed his mind? Really? We have just finished studying half of the Epistle to the Philippians. We’ve looked at two chapters – but there are two more to go. We’ve studied sixty verses – but there are another forty-four yet to consider. Did the Holy Spirit, who was giving to Paul all this important material, suddenly have something pop into His divine head, and so He led Paul to keep going after he was determined to quit? Of course, He didn’t.
My problem in the past was a lack of understanding of the word “finally.” The Greek word found here is used fourteen times in the Bible, and most often it is translated “finally.” But those other renderings show us how we should understand it. Matthew 26:45 – “Then cometh (Jesus) to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on NOW, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.” “Now” is the same Greek word as “finally.” In I Corinthians 1:16, Paul said, “I baptized also the household of Stephanas: BESIDES, I know not whether I baptized any other.” And in 4:2 he said, “MOREOVER it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.” “Moreover,” “besides” and “now,” all suggest “here is something else,” but it is not necessarily the last thing. In Philippians 4:8 Paul says, “In addition to these things” – “FINALLY, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
Most of the study material I use to familiarize myself with what we are studying, are written by serious experts. I don’t ever remember chuckling when I am reading “Robertson’s Word Pictures,” but I did on Monday. That Greek expert, who was a Baptist, first described this word, using language I didn’t really understand. He said that “finally,” was an “accusative of general reference” – whatever that means. But then he concluded with: “Paul uses the idiom elsewhere also as in 1Cor.7:29; 1Th.4:1 BEFORE the close of the letter is in sight. It is wholly needless to understand Paul as about to finish – and then suddenly changing his mind – like some preachers who announce the end (of their sermons) a half dozen times.” With this word “finally,” Paul is essentially saying, “Let’s move on to this new subject.” He wasn’t stopping. But what is that new subject Paul?
“Finally, my brethren, REJOICE in the Lord.”
We all know what it is to rejoice, don’t we? Or do we? We know that to rejoice is to acknowledge and to delight in something which we consider to be good. But there are two kinds of “delight” – there is a kind of surface delight, and there is the more in-depth variety. There is tactile delight, and there is delight which flows out of the spiritual and the unseen. There is temporal delight, like a mild chuckle, and there is spiritual delight flowing out of the soul. I chuckled at Robertson’s comments about what some preachers do half way through their sermons. But I can’t say that I “delighted” in it or “rejoiced” in it.
As I was thinking about the English word “rejoice,” I reminded myself that “joy” seems to be right in the middle. And then I began to wonder: Does “rejoice” refer to “re-joying” – continually joying over something? That’s when I pulled out my copy of Webster’s 1827 Dictionary. America’s first really good dictionary had about two column inches of information on this word. But it was not what I thought Webster would say. He concluded with “It is easy to see that the primary sense (of rejoice) is to SHOUT, or be ANIMATED or EXCITED.” “REJOICE, in the Lord.” I have great respect for Noah Webster, but I still had that niggling thought in the back of my mind. So I then pulled out my 1867, “Etymological Dictionary,” by Andrew Findlater. This is an English dictionary and forty years younger than Webster, but I found what I was looking for. I have found that when you have a preconceived conclusion in your head, if you keep looking long and hard enough, you’ll likely find an expert to corroborate your opinion, whether its right or wrong. Lo and behold, I was right. Chambers Etymological Dictionary said, “Rejoice… to feel and express joy again and again.”
As I’ve already suggested, Paul is beginning a new thought which will extend throughout this chapter. And he begins by saying that we should rejoice in the Lord. He means that we should rejoice in the Lord despite the problems which will be outlined in the rest of the chapter. We need to learn to rejoice in the Lord – to continue to rejoice – despite adverse circumstances. I will try to come back to this exhortation in our next few lessons. But for tonight, I’d like to pull Paul’s exhortation out of its context and look at its simplicity – “Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord.”
First of all, rejoice in the LORD JESUS CHRIST. We have an unending fountain of rejoice-material in the One who has saved us from our sins. Are you feeling sad? Forget about “rain drops on roses, whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens.” Just remember that you are an unworthy sinner, whose sins have been buried under the blood of the Lamb of God. Your sins, which are many, have been “cast into the sea;” they are “as far as the east is from the west.” If there is nothing else in the entire world, the saint of God can eternally rejoice in Christ the SAVIOUR.
But if we stop and think long enough we can also rejoice in the Lord as our GUIDE. What emotions were going through old Jacob’s wicked heart as he left his loving mother in Beersheba? Was he sad? Whether he knew it or not, the Lord was guiding him to Bethel, the house of God. And then a few hundred miles on the other side of that there he was at Rachel’s house. He should have been like his father’s servant decades earlier… “Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my master of his mercy and his truth; I being in the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master’s brethren” – Genesis 24:27.
If we have forgotten the blessings of sins forgiven and there are too many tears in our eyes to see the Lord as our guide, look by faith to see Him in the future as our great REWARD. “Fear not Abram, I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward” – Genesis 15:1. “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” Isaiah 61:10 – “I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.”
Why should we rejoice in the Lord? Because, as we have already seen, God commands it. Psalm 32:11 – “Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.” In Philippians 4 Paul reiterates both the Old Testament and himself – “Rejoice in the Lord alway; and again I say, Rejoice.” Why should we rejoice in the Lord? Because Christ has prayed that we might have His joy. John 17 – “And now, come I to thee (O Father) and these things I speak in the world, that they (my disciples) might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.” Doesn’t your heart yearn to rejoice, since there is so much to rejoice about. Doesn’t it fill your heart to know that the God that we worship is omnipotent? We are exhorted to rejoice in the LORD, not some idea, some ideology or some idol. Don’t you rejoice in the Lord’s omniscience, or do you rather tremble when you contemplate that thought? Don’t you rejoice in the Lord’s mercy and His grace? We should be able to delight in each of the Lord’s attributes which are completely sovereign and independent of any of us? Why should we rejoice? Piggybacking off a couple of things that different men said last Sunday… Based on the peace we should have in the midst of an evil and cruel world… Our rejoicing in the Lord can be the grease which lubricates the wheels of our testimony. Why should anyone be interested in what we have to say about the Saviour, if He hasn’t given us the peace and joy which those people lack?
And with that in mind I’ll close with an illustration I used more than ten years ago. In the book “The Case of Christianity” the author uses rejoicing as a catalyst for evangelism. There was an Ugandan pastor named Festo Kivengere, who was “invited” to the execution of three men from his village. He said that February 10th began as a very sad day in Kabale. The whole village was ordered to come to watch the execution, and about 3,000 very quiet people attended. He then said that he had been given permission to speak to the condemned men before they died. “The three were unloaded from a truck, and I walked toward them as they faced the other way. They were handcuffed, and their feet were chained; The firing squad was at attention facing them. I was wondering what to say to men who only had a few minutes to live. When they heard me coming they turned around, and what I saw shocked me. Their faces were all alight with an unmistakable glow and radiance. Before I could say anything, one of them burst out: ‘Pastor thank you for coming! I wanted to tell you that the day I was arrested, your words came back to me. I have been saved from my many sins; Jesus has forgiven me, and Heaven is now open before me. There is nothing between me and my God. Please tell my wife and children that I am going to be with Jesus. Please urge them to accept Christ, as I have done.” The other men told me similar stories, excitedly raising their hands which rattled their handcuffs. I felt that I needed to talk to the soldiers, so I translated what the three had said. The soldiers looked bewildered and dumbfounded; they even forgot to put hoods over the men’s faces. The three men faced the firing squad standing close together. They looked toward the people and began to wave, handcuffs and all. The people waved back, and then the shots were fired, and the three men were with their Saviour. The next Sunday I was preaching to the largest crowd in my life. The service began with a feeling of death over the entire congregation. But after I gave them the testimony of the condemned men, and described their joy, that mournful service became one of the best that I have ever seen. Many of the townspeople turned to the Lord that day, because of the joy of those three condemned men.
I’ll close this evening with the words of the Lord Jesus from Luke 10: The Lord Jesus said, “Rejoice because your names are written in Heaven.”