Word of Salvation – Vol. 25 No. 36 – June 1979

 

Rejoice In The Lord Always

 

Sermon by Rev. Keith Vethaak on 1Thess.5:16-18

Reading: Rom.8:28-39

 

Let us begin this evening by reading a short story from the New Testament – the story of Paul and Silas in jail – we find it in Acts 16:16 – 35.

If you stop to think about it, this is really a very strange story. It’s interesting to read, but if you had just had your back cut to ribbons by a whipping; and if you had been thrown into a cold dungeon cell, and if your feet had been placed in stocks, so that you would be more or less forced to lie on your cut-to-ribbons back, would you have been singing hymns to the praise of God?

If it had been one of us in that jail we would have had quite a few complaints to make to God. We would have been doing quite a bit of grumbling and feeling sorry for ourselves that night, and the very last thing that we would have felt like doing would have been to sing songs of praise to God.

If you think about it, the behaviour of those two was certainly not normal. In fact it was downright crazy, for they were rejoicing when things were going terribly wrong.

Would we ever rejoice when things go terribly wrong?

Imagine that after months of anticipation you finally pick up your brand new car. And then on the way home you prang it. Would you sing a hymn to God at that moment, a song of praise?

You know, this really did happen once.

In Melbourne there was an accident where one car had run into the back of the car in front, and there was this guy in the middle of the road and he was doing an Indian war dance.

And at first it seemed funny, but when he started tearing handfuls of hair out of his head, it became obvious he wasn’t happy at all. You see he had only just picked up his new car and he was on his way home. Would you be able in a situation like that to thank God?

Or imagine that one of your children is seriously ill. And you have prayed, really pleaded with God that He will heal her. And you really believe that He will. But then she dies.

Could you in such a situation, be able to thank God and to rejoice?

Maybe if you are honest, your answer would be ‘no’, but the Bible tells us that for Christians the answer ought to be ‘Yes’ ‘Yes Lord, even in the midst of such a tragedy I can rejoice and praise you.’

Let us spend just a few moments looking at a few passages in Scripture where this is brought out so very, very clearly.

In 1Thessalonians 5 the apostle Paul – the same guy who was in jail – has this to say: Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Now the Word of God can’t really be much clearer than this, can it?

Rejoice always not just when things go well but always. Pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances.

Actually this message is one which runs right throughout Scripture.

In Phil.3 we get it again: Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. And then in the next chapter – Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice…! Have no anxiety about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

You know there are dozens of such passages in the Bible, all urging us to rejoice, to be glad, to be thankful, even to exult and leap for joy in every circumstance, every situation.

Actually at one time Paul even gives a list as long as your arm of all the terrible things that had happened to him – afflictions, hardships, shipwrecks, beating, jailings, hunger – all sorts of terrible things, but at the end of that list: he says: Well to look at me, I’m a pretty sorrowful specimen, but yet I’m always rejoicing.

And so, just from a very quick look at what the Bible says about this, you can see that it wasn’t really all that strange that Paul and Silas were singing praise to God in that prison, in fact according to the Bible they were behaving as Christians should behave. In all circumstances they were rejoicing and praising God.

Now all this is very easy to say. But it is quite a different thing to put into practice. Just close your eyes for a minute and think. When was the last time you were really frustrated, or disappointed, or something sad or nasty happened to you? Can you still remember your reactions? Did you take the time to rejoice and praise God?

Were you able to turn to God and rejoice and thank Him or were you all choked up with anger?

The Bible challenges you this evening to begin putting into practice this attitude we are talking about.

It challenges you so that tomorrow, when you get frustrated by something or someone; if it is just a little thing or a really big tragedy, that you in the midst of it, take the time to rejoice and praise God.

Maybe there is something that is really bugging you at this moment; or something that is worrying you, or saddening you;-take God at His word and thank Him and rejoice even in the midst of that.

When the Bible tells us to give thanks in all circumstances that is exactly what it means: ALL circumstances.

The hackles on the backs of some necks may be rising, ‘Give thanks in all circumstances? You mean, I have to give thanks to God when I have just lost my job? What reason have I got to thank God? I asked Him to help me keep my job and He didn’t!’

Before you get too fired up remember a fellow, called Joseph. One day Joseph’s brothers – lovely brothers they must have been – grabbed him and struck him in a pit and left him to die. And then of course they saw this caravan of cutthroat wanderers coming along and they decided that they might as well profit from the whole business and so they sold their brother to them.

What a horrible evil thing to do. And you can imagine that poor old Joe d would hardly have felt like singing hymns of praise to God while he was being carted off into the wilderness.

And yet, what was the result of this whole evil episode? Joseph gained a very high position in Egypt. He was able to rescue his whole family – and they were the beginnings of the people of God – from starvation. He was able to bring the knowledge of the true God to the Egyptians – and all this was possible only because of that first evil act.

And the Bible tells us that God was in control all the time and that He used the evil act of the brothers and over-ruled it so that good come forth.

You see, here we have the reason why, as Christians, we can rejoice and give thanks to God, no matter what the circumstances.

God is in control.

Jesus puts it so simply and so beautifully in Matt.10 when he points to a couple of sparrows and says: ‘See those little birds? In your eyes they are not worth anything, but you know, without the will of God not even one of those little sparrows will fall to the ground. Even the hairs of your head are numbered. Every single person here is terribly precious in the sight of God, and you can be confident that nothing that happens to you happens by chance. Nothing happens without God’s permission, without God being in full control.

Take the illustration of a father and his little boy. The father loves his child and he will make sure that nothing will happen to him. But now imagine that the father wants his little boy to learn to swim. And so he places his son in the water and he lets him go.

Now you can imagine, the little fellow is terrified, he’s drowning, and so he starts kicking and thrashing around for dear life. And eventually he learns to swim.

Now, granted, the boy went through a few tough moments, but was there really any danger that he was going to drown? Would his Dad have just walked away and left him to die? Of course not, his father was in control all the time.

And in an infinitely deeper way God cares for you, each one of you. God is absolutely in control at all times, and even when God allows evil to happen in the end we know that it will be for the best.

And it is because of this confidence that God is in control, it’s because we know that God deeply loves us and is working things out for our good that we can rejoice and praise Him in all circumstances.

This was the confidence that Paul and Silas had when they were in jail – they knew that despite the circumstances God was in control and God was working things out for good.

And they were right.

The end result of their little experience was that not only were they strengthened in their faith, but a jailer was converted and they were set free.

No wonder that in Romans 8 Paul can write so confidently:

We know that in everything God works for good with those who love Him.

And to those who are still a bit doubtful, a bit hesitant, Paul reminds us that we have the greatest and surest proof possible that God really is on our side, that he really does love us.

“Maybe you don’t believe me” says Paul, “but can you then argue against this: If God is for us who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, will He not give us all things with Him?”

And here it is, you know. Here we are at the centre of it all. No wonder that we as Christians can rejoice in whatever circumstances, no matter how horrible, for nothing can be really horrible anymore, nothing can be really terrible, for on the cross Jesus has borne all the terror of sin, has undergone the greatest depths of despair and agony – for us.

That’s why you and I can rejoice and praise God even in our blackest hour. That’s why the Word of God urges us to rejoice in all circumstances. That’s why Paul and Silas were praising God in that horrible prison.

Because when you do this, your eyes are turned away from your own misery, and instead you look at Jesus, the One whose death on the cross, whose resurrection tells us that God has won the victory, that He is in control, that He is truly able to work all things for good.

Let us close now by once more challenging you to put this Biblical teaching into practice in your daily life.

The Word of the Living God tells us that in all things, all circumstances, we ought to rejoice and give thanks to God.

God is asking you to put into practice what Paul in Romans 5 states as a simple truth, something true of every Christian!

Because of what Jesus has done we are right with God.

And because of what Jesus has done we are able to rejoice even in our sufferings.

And you know, when we do this, it shows us that we trust God. That we know that God will work things out and that we are able to praise Him for this even right now.

When we do this, all the bitterness, and the hatred and anger, and the questionings will disappear.

What a beautiful thing it is that in the midst of suffering, tragedy, and even in the midst of petty annoyances we can turn our backs on these things and fill ourselves with the love of God in Christ Jesus.

Let’s commit ourselves to praising God, and rejoicing in Jesus Christ in every circumstance of our life because this is what God wants and this will transform us.

Let’s begin to do it right now.

Let us come in prayer before God. Make a mental list of things that have happened to you lately, both good and bad, and rejoice and praise God for all these things.

Some of you may have undergone sickness, pain, may even be sick right now – let’s pray about that, let’s thank God even for these things because we know that He can and will bring good from them.

Loss, bereavement, disappointments, accidents. . . etc. Let’s hide nothing from God, let’s allow no bitterness, no questionings to remain in our hearts, let’s praise God.

Amen.