Rejoice Always (2)
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Introduction
Introduction
Greetings…
One of the greatest travesties in the kingdom of Christ is the lack of joy and rejoicing that goes on.
God is clear, Christians should “rejoice always.”
4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.
1 Thessalonians 5:16 (ESV)
16 Rejoice always
One of the reasons rejoicing is often elusive for some children of God is because they cannot put together what they intellectually read and know from God’s word with what they feel.
As Payson put it…
“Christians might avoid much trouble and inconvenience if they would only believe what they profess, that God is able to make them happy without anything else.”
This afternoon I want us to examine that reality.
There Is Suffering In This Life
There Is Suffering In This Life
The Hole Suffering Can Cause.
The Hole Suffering Can Cause.
This life is without a doubt filled with challenges.
We, as Christians, who strive to live godly lives will suffer persecution.
2 Timothy 3:12 (ESV)
12 Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted
If we live long enough on this earth we will suffer through trials and tribulations.
1 Thessalonians 2:14 (ESV)
14 For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews
We will see those we love dearly pass from this life to the next.
Hebrews 9:27 (ESV)
27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once…
Summary
Summary
We, as Christians, as not promised in this life a life of ease wherein we never suffer nor must deal with sin.
No we find this simply is not the case.
There is suffering and a lot of suffering in this life and that suffering can create a hole in our hearts.
But thankfully, for Christians, when that hole is created, our Creator can fill that void.
Because our Creator is “all we actually need” to be able to rejoice and be happy in this life.
God Can Fill The Hole
God Can Fill The Hole
We Can Rejoice Because Of God.
We Can Rejoice Because Of God.
When we become deprived of our health, our time, our blessings, our loved ones, we can still “rejoice always” because God is there to fill that void, that pain, that hurt.
When persecuted we can rejoice because God has filled our pain with joy knowing we were found worthy to suffer dishonor for the name of Christ.
Acts 5:41 (ESV)
41 Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.
When we go through trials and tribulations we can rejoice because God has filled that hardship and difficult time with bountiful spiritual growth.
2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
When we loose a loved one we are can still find joy because God has filled us with the hope of being with them forever in the presence of God again one day.
13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
Summary
Summary
As the great apostle Paul write rejoice always even though he was certainly not unawares of suffering and pain in this life, because he understood that “nothing could separate him from the love of God” but himself.
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Conclusion
Conclusion
I began with a quote from Payson and I want to read the rest of what he stated in his last days here on earth.
“Christians might avoid much trouble and inconvenience if they would only believe what they profess, that God is able to make them happy without anything else. They imagine that if such a dear friend were to die, or such-and-such blessings were to be removed, they would be miserable. Whereas God can make them a thousand times happier without them. To mention my own case: God has been depriving me of one blessing after another, but as every one was removed He has come in and filled up its place. Now when I am a cripple and not able to move, I am happier than I ever was in my life before, or ever expected to be. If I had believed this twenty years ago, I might have been spared much anxiety.”
Invitation
1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; 2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.