Philippians 4:4-9 - How To Rejoice In The Lord Always

The Apostle Paul, a little background—he's in prison. At some point, he realizes he's probably going to be put to death. When you read his resume of catastrophe, it's pretty impressive: shipwrecks, bitten by a snake, whipped, beaten, left for dead, threatened constantly. And yet, in the midst of all this, he writes to the Philippian church and he says, "Rejoice in the Lord always." So, what does it mean to rejoice? It's more than just being happy. Rejoice is a joy that is uncontainable. It's a celebration of what is there to celebrate: God's faithfulness. When the world is crazy, when everything else doesn't make sense, God remains constant.

Paul wants to emphasize this a little more, so he says again, "I say rejoice." What we find in the ancient language is that when something is said twice, it's meant for emphasis. "Hey, in case you didn't get it the first time, rejoice in the Lord always." Now, here's what's key with this: life isn't always easy, but we still rejoice. Paul is in prison, he's chained to a guard, what we know historically is his vision was probably failing, and yet he's telling us, "Rejoice."

So, I don't know about you, but I tend to be a bit of a devil's advocate. "Yeah, it's nice for you to say, Paul, but how do I do that?" Paul, you weren't writing this in 2020. "Again I say, rejoice." Notice what else he says here. "Let your reasonableness be known to everyone." Now, who here has Facebook? Oh, you can admit it; it's a safe place. You won't burn for it. Have you seen a lot of reasonableness on your Facebook this year? Oh, my goodness. I would love to get rid of my Facebook. Unfortunately, I'm an internet marketing consultant, so I try to stay away from it. It drives me batty. Nobody is reasonable. In fact, I was reading today—not to get too far off topic—the same organization is telling us, "Hey, flu is not occurring today because everyone's wearing their mask and social distancing." And yet, the same organization is saying, "COVID numbers are up because nobody's wearing their mask and social distancing." Okay, let's be reasonable. Which one is it?

We are being bombarded right now from messages coming from all different angles, and what so many of us are yearning for is reasonableness, or to be able to have a differing opinion without you becoming my enemy. And that's what Paul is saying here. "Let your reasonableness, or your gentleness, be known to everyone." I don't have to agree with you, but that doesn't make you my enemy. I don't have to prove myself right in every argument. I don't have to be a keyboard warrior because the opportunity presents itself. "Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand."

This is key. "The Lord is at hand." Now, there are a couple of interpretations of this. Most scholars believe that what Paul was saying here is that Jesus is returning soon. But I want to take that a step further. I think that to "rejoice in the Lord always," I have to realize that Jesus is within reach. He's right there. I can always access Him at any moment. He is always available to me, and because He's always available to me, this second part makes a lot of sense: "Do not be anxious about anything."

I marvel sometimes in my own life, and maybe you do as well. I know Jesus has it all under control, and yet I still become a basket case over the simplest of things. What do you get anxious about? What's kept you up at night? What's bothering you even today? "Do not be anxious about anything, including toilet paper. God will provide."

Let me tell you a little side story about toilet paper. I love telling this story. If you come into our house, on our mantel, there's a verse that talks about God's faithfulness. It's got a picture of toilet paper and toothpaste, and it's there for a reason. Because people come in and go, "Why would you put a picture of toilet paper and toothpaste on your mantel?" Well, what a lot of people don't realize about my family is we started a church 10 years ago, and 10 years ago today, we were homeless. And so, as we headed into that period, there was a day where there was no toilet paper or toothpaste in the house. So, we had a family prayer meeting in our living room, asking God to provide toilet paper and toothpaste. And within two hours, there was a knock at the door, and it was a friend of mine with a box. "We just cleaned out my mom and dad's refrigerator. Here's a few extra things: toothpaste, toilet paper, groceries, and 20 bucks to buy dinner for tonight." So, when I talk about I know God's faithful with toilet paper, how can I say this gently? I haven't missed a session. It's always been there. God has been faithful.