Joseph, the son of Jacob, was a prisoner in Egypt – through no fault of his own. First, he was in Egypt, not because he was taken captive by some enemy, but because of the hatred of his some of his own family. That would be heart-breaking to most people, and may have been to him, at least initially. But there was something different about Joseph, and he was able to cope with that. Then he was in prison, not because of any crime he had committed, but because of a false accusation. He testified to the royal butler, “I have done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon.” Again, his heart might have cried out, “Why me?” But as far as we know he didn’t do that. In prison, he served two other prisoners – who one morning, were terribly sad – they looked miserable. Joseph seemed almost surprised; “Wherefore look ye so sadly today?” They were in a minimum security area with their own servant to tend to their needs. Perhaps, their sorrow and melancholy seemed strange to Joseph because he was not sad person by nature. He wasn’t a Pollyanna – foolishly positive all the time. But he was a child of God, and he was satisfied, if not pleased, with whatever the Lord had laid out for him.
And then there are you and me. Or maybe I should say – much more kindly – then there are the Christians in Philippi. “Wherefore look ye so sadly today?” Paul is forced to exhort his friends to “rejoice in the Lord,” because they were apparently rejoicing rejects. Christians, are essentially ordered to rejoice in our God, because we are so often very paltry at praise. What if, in order to receive fresh blessings from God, the Lord required that we be thrilled with what He gave us a few moments earlier? What if, rejoicing was a prerequisite to receiving? Paul, knowing how easily distracted we can be – how self-centered we are by nature – has been lead by the Holy Spirit to EXHORT us to rejoice.
For our meditation this evening, let’s think about the three primary words we find here in Philippians 4:4. We have a noun, a verb and an adverb – “the Lord,” “rejoice” and “alway.” Let’s start with one of the highest of all the nouns in any human language.
“Rejoice in the LORD.”
There shouldn’t be any misunderstanding about this name – this title. I believe that it is the equivalent of the Old Testament’s “Yahweh“ or “Jehovah.” But Jehovah became flesh and dwelt among us in the person of the anointed “Lord Jesus.” Was Paul thinking about God the Father or was it God the Son when he wrote? I don’t know or really care. Christ said, “I and the Father are one,” so I am going to try never to put them into separate boxes. If you want to understand Paul to be saying, “rejoice in God,” I won’t complain. Of if you think he is saying, “rejoice in Christ Jesus,” again, that is fine with me.
But here is what Paul is NOT saying: He is not saying, “rejoice in your friends, your loving family or your Christian brethren.” While he’s not telling us NOT to rejoice in these people, they are not a part of THIS exhortation. In fact, elsewhere Paul tells us – exhorts us in fact – to “rejoice with them (those people) that rejoice.” And to be honest, sometimes that is easier than to obey than the exhortation he is giving us here. It is not sinful or wrong to rejoice with your family or even in your family. To rejoice with our friends is proper Christian behavior. And I won’t bother to point out that friends and family often disappoint us. But Paul is telling us to lift our eyes from these people to the Lord our God and to rejoice in Him. He deserves far more of our joy than anyone or anything on earth. Additionally, Paul is NOT telling us to rejoice in any of the other blessings the Lord has given to us. There is no sin in rejoicing that our bills are paid or that there is food on the table. I think we ought to rejoice that God has given us a church and brethren with whom to share our substance and our joy. God has given us a place to live, a car to drive, a physician to help us stay well, and so many other things. Rejoice that you are not on weekly kidney dialysis or that you’re scheduled to have open heart surgery. But above these things, “Rejoice in the LORD alway.”
Does that include rejoicing in the negative circumstances into which the Lord has placed us? For example, should we express joy when life appears to fall apart? Yes, we should. Should Joseph rejoice in the Lord, even when he’s in prison? Yes. James says, “By brethren, count it ALL JOY when ye fall into diverse temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience,” etc. There are blessings in the trying of our faith and even in the thorns in our flesh, because in the weakness of our flesh, the strength of the Lord is made perfect – II Corinthians 12:9.
But, again, it is not in any of these that Paul, here, exhorts us to rejoice. “Rejoice in the LORD.” Rejoice in Jehovah and all that He is. Almost every attribute of God begs us for praise and our constant rejoicing. Shouldn’t we rejoice in the omniscience of God? He knows what is around the next bend in the road. We rejoice in the omnipotence of God for obvious reasons. We should rejoice in the Lord’s holiness and His eternality – things which He has chosen to share with us. As I say, we should rejoice in everything about our God and Saviour. Make these things a part of your prayers in a few minutes.
With that in mind, what is the great VERB in this exhortation? “REJOICE in the Lord.”
There are no surprises in this word. But I suppose there could be a couple of shades of meaning. Paul could be saying “be HAPPY in the Lord,” or it could be “PRAISE the Lord.” I don’t think the Lord would have a problem with us using this word in either sense – or in both. It is simple enough.
But I bring it to your attention, because perhaps you aren’t aware how often we are given this exhortation. And it is applied to us in different circumstances – different iterations and reiterations. In our verse Paul says, “Rejoice in the Lord alway; AGAIN I say, Rejoice” for a couple of reasons. One reason for the “again” is that he gave us this same exhortation a chapter earlier. Philippians 3:1 – “Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord, To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe.” Even in the midst of dogs and evil workers, concision and circumcision, rejoice in the Lord. And then in the middle of other pithy exhortations in I Thessalonians 5, He says, “Rejoice evermore.” Moses told Israel in Deuteronomy 12:7 – “And ye shall rejoice in all that ye put your hand unto, ye and your households, where in the LORD thy God (Jehovah) hath blessed thee.” David prays in Psalm 5:11 – “Let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice; let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them; let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.” Later he exhorts us, “Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous; and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart” – Psalm 32:11. “Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the LORD” – Ps 105:3. On and on I could go with exhortations like this and with examples of people’s obedience. Psalm 34:1-2 – “I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord; the humble shall hear thereof and be glad.” Certainly “rejoice,” isn’t too hard to understand. But the context – sometimes, if not often, the context of our rejoicing may be difficult to grasp.
And we see that in the adjective of this verse: “Rejoice in the Lord, ALWAY.”
Notice in passing that “alway” doesn’t have the letter “s” at the end. It is not plural. Like some of the other words we’ve considered lately, this adjective has morphed in the last 400 years. In modern English “always,” is always plural because it refers to “at all times,” not just the here and now. But that was also what was meant in 1611 when it wasn’t yet pluralized. Obviously, it doesn’t mean “part of the time.” It doesn’t mean “when you feel like it.” It doesn’t mean: rejoice in the Lord when things are going exactly the way you’d like them to. The Greek word is always translated: “alway, ever, alway,” or “evermore” – but never “once in a while.” It is the same word we find in I Thessalonians 5, when Paul says, “Rejoice evermore.”
So – rejoice on Monday just as freely and exuberantly as you did while hearing the gospel on Sunday. Rejoice when you get the phone call telling you that a loved one has been rushed to the hospital. How can we rejoice in that? Well, perhaps not in the event itself. But how about rejoicing in the knowledge that she is being rushed to a place where she can be treated? How about rejoicing in the knowledge that the sovereign God is sovereign even over her case? “Preacher, I am suffering with shingles. You don’t mean rejoice now that I feel like ripping my skin off.” Yes, I do. “Rejoice, when the car breaks down? When the dog gets sick?” Yup. “But that’s impossible.” It is not impossible, when we have the kind of fellowship with the Lord that we should have.
Please notice that Paul’s exhortation isn’t about rejoicing IN our troubles or our blessings. It is rejoicing in the Lord while in the midst of those other things. In doing some background reading, I found that Matthew Henry said in regard to this verse. “All our joy must TERMINATE in God.” My first thought was: “No, Brother Henry, all our joy must originate, not terminate, in God.” Then I reconsidered: He might be thinking that after rejoicing in a gift, we rejoice in the Lord for that gift. On further reflection, I concluded that our rejoicing should begin and end in our “alpha and omega” – our God.
How is it possible to rejoice in the Lord alway? Again, we can rejoice in Him alway, because we know Him to be the absolutely sovereign, loving, God. “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all,” how shall he not with him also freely bless our few days and years upon this earth? “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” How can we KNOW that all things work together for good? We know by faith and by what the Lord has revealed to us about Himself. We know because scripture tells us that “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” – James 1:17. Not only is this true, but also – every testing and troublesome gift “is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights…” This is what enables us rejoice alway.
So, how important is this verse and this principle?
It is important to us, because into every life a little rain must fall, along with tornados and wildfires from time to time. We need to be fully convinced of the Lord’s love and control, no matter what our current problems are. This verse reminds us to practice our FAITH – through our worship and joy.
A moment ago I mentioned rejoicing in the Lord as much on Monday as we do on Sunday. That reminded me of a study by Giles Croft, a British psychiatrist at the University of Leeds. He took a bunch of volunteers and divided them into three groups. He told one group that research has shown that Monday’s are always the worst day of the week. To another group he cited research that had shown that Monday’s are no different than any other day. And to the third he said nothing at all. After recording everyone’s opinions for several months, the first group generally said that they experienced Monday blues just about every week. But the other two, for some reason or other, didn’t. From his research Croft conclude that how people enter a situation affects how that situation will go. It is a demonstrable fact that when we approach life practicing joy, and expressing our rejoicing in the Lord, we will be happier and spiritually more healthy than otherwise.
But more important than our personal feelings, is the EFFECT such rejoicing has on our service for the Lord. If Christ is our Saviour, then it should be our desire to glorify His Name – alway. One aspect of this rejoicing is giving Him praise for all things.
We are Christ’s ambassadors – His representatives – as Joseph was the ambassador for Jehovah in Egypt. In our rejoicing in the Lord alway, we have an effective tool for sharing our experiences of God’s grace with others. Remember what David said in Psalm 34:1-2 – “I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord; the humble shall hear thereof and be glad.” Not only will God’s people rejoice with us as we rejoice, but the lost will be given another reason to sit up and take notice. They need the Lord – the Lord to whom we are to express our joy and rejoicing. Maybe we can’t preach the gospel to large crowds of lost people – but we can rejoice before even larger crowds in our day-to-day lives.
“Rejoice in the LORD, O ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright.”