REJOICING IN GOD
Preached at Emmanuel, Workington on Sunday, 12th March 2006
Reading: Matthew 21 vs 1-
Text, Romans 5 v 11: “We rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ .”
THE DIFFICULT DOCTRINE OF CHRISTIAN JOY
My text today is taken from Romans 5 v 11: “We rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” This morning we focus on rejoicing in God; tonight receiving reconciliation through our Jesus Christ.
Herbert Carson entitled a book on Christian love, ‘The difficult doctrine of love’. The difficulty is to put it into practice. So also Christian joy is a difficult doctrine, not easy to put into practice. E.g.: the word rejoice is also found in Romans 5 v 3 & translated glory: “we glory, boast, rejoice in tribulation” knowing that God uses it to form Christian character in us. Now that is a test of Christian character, to rejoice in God in the day of trouble.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO REJOICE?
Paul says that he rejoices in God. What does he mean? The Greek word means to shout or to boast. We tend to shout out when we are in pain! We also shout to warn people of danger! In Switzerland, new skiers shout ‘Achtung!’ as they hurtle down the nursery slopes out of control! We may shout for help. In the Gospels, Blind Bartimaeus shouts for help on hearing that Jesus was passing by: “Jesus, son of David, have mercy upon me!” He was determined to take his day of opportunity!
Even the reserved English have been known to shout for joy at good news! At football matches spectators erupt when a goal is scored! In our reading we heard the shouts as Jesus rote into Jerusalem on the foal of a donkey: “Hosanna! Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord.” They had something to shout about! They saw the King come to His earthly throne & they wanted the world to know! They wanted to give glory to God!
That is what our text is about – its about shouting for joy; it’s about giving God the glory; it’s about telling the world what’s happening. How can a man who has seen the King keep silent about Him?
That was Saul’s experience on the Damascus Road. With his own eyes, he saw the King & he was never the same again! He couldn’t keep silent about the Gospel! He gave glory to God & had to let everyone know! He had to express the joy in his own heart! Jesus is Creator & Judge, Christ & Saviour, everlasting King!
That’s something to shout about – not in a loud-mouthed way; it would be wrong to keep silent & say nothing about the Saviour. We serve a great King & we should be quick to boast about Him! Boasting is usually a bad thing, but we use the word in a positive sense. An Estate Agent might say, ‘the house boasts beautiful views’! That is a good thing; it’s a selling point!
REJOICING IN GOD – A DISPOSITIONAL JOY
So boasting may be good or bad depending on the what & the why! What are we boasting about? Is it worthy of our boasting? Why are we boasting about it? Would it be wrong to keep silent about it?
Writing to the church at Thessalonica, 1 Thessalonians 1 vs 3-4, Paul said that he boasted among the churches of God for their love & patience & faith in persecutions & tribulations! Surely, he would have been wrong not to boast in such an amazing thing! Writing to the Galatians, Paul refused to boast in the flesh, though he had reason to do so! He said, Galatians 6 v 14, “God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ!”
And here in Romans 5, Paul boasts in God! Friends, do you boast in God? Surely it would be wrong not to boast in God! Is God deserving of our boasting? Yes! Is the Gospel of God something to shout about? Yes!
In the years that followed Paul’s conversion, as he came to understand the wonders of the Gospel, so it became his fixed disposition to rejoice in God! He even exhorted churches: “Rejoice in the Lord & again I say rejoice!” And here in Romans 5 he speaks as though all Christians must rejoice in God though Jesus Christ.
THE WHAT & THE WHY – REASONS FOR CHRISTIAN JOY
Surely no one can command joy? It all depends on the what & the why! Let’s put Paul’s joy into context.
Paul is explaining the Gospel. He started with the bad news that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all our sin! That led him to focus on the blood of Christ as propitiation for our sins! (To propitiate means to turn away wrath.) On the cross, Jesus suffered as Lamb of God. Our sin was logged, counted, imputed, credited to Him & He suffered our penalty! Then God raised Him from the dead & received Him into glory. At the resurrection, He represented His people! When He was received, we were received in Him! As our sin was transferred to Him, so His righteousness is transferred to us! That is called Justification. It was achieved by the death & resurrection of Jesus. It is applied to us when we believe the Gospel. On the day of our conversion, God counts our faith for righteousness! Therefore though we still sin, God treats us as His sons & daughters, deserving eternal life! It was Jesus Christ Who deserved it on our behalf!
That great Gospel got Paul going! He was constrained to shout about it; to tell the world about it; to boast in Jesus Christ, in so great salvation! The Gospel created in his heart dispositional joy in God – not a joy that comes & goes; but a fixed frame of mind, a disposition of joy in God Most Merciful!
In Romans 5 he spells out particular reasons for rejoicing in God as he lists the blessings & benefits of the Gospel. 1st, the justified have peace with God! It is astonishing for rebel sinners to have precious fellowship with God! 2nd, the believer has access to God by grace through faith, for Christ brought us near to God! In Christ we have a stable relationship with God, despite all life’s storms! God does not blow hot & cold with us! We stand rock-solid in the grace of God! 3 rd, we have hope for the future to dwell for ever in glory! Prospects may not be great in life; but this hope makes all the difference! Prospects in eternity are wonderful beyond imagination!
These 3 blessings of the Gospel are so powerful that they enable the believer to boast in tribulations, Romans 5 v 3, knowing that God is working His purposes out in our lives! Therefore Paul reaches this great conclusion in 511, “We rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Everything in life may go wrong; but no one can take from us our joy in God our Saviour! That joy is more than an occasional emotion; it becomes a fixed, constant frame of mind in believers as they trust in God – they are possessed of a dispositional joy in God!
REJOICE IN THE LORD
Is God your joy? Do you share Paul’s joy in the Lord?
In what god do you rejoice? For what would you give up everything? I’ve heard spectators say after a soccer victory, ‘I could die happy today!’ But football has no power to create dispositional joy!
Today many rejoice in their wealth & possessions. In this materialistic society people think that a man’s life consists in the abundance of the things he possesses. But silver never satisfies the hunger of the soul.
The Christianity Explored Course asks, ‘What do you want of God? What would you ask God for?’ Jesus asked blind Bartimeaus, “What do you want Me to do for you?” Friends, how would you answer that question? Every time we pray, we need to ask that question. What do we want of God? What’s our heart’s desire?
Last Monday we met Judith’s uncle & his wife. He said, “We are both 85 & what matters now to us is not wealth & possessions but health & family!” That is better than making a god of possessions! But we can’t keep our health for ever! The one thing that really matters in life is God! To know God, to love God, to believe God, to trust in God, to please God, to hope in God, to rejoice in God is what life is all about!
Do you know people like that? Do you know people who live for God? They want God for a Father, to know Him, to be at peace with Him, to have access to Him, to please Him, to walk in daily fellowship with Him to be reconciled to Him, to trust in Him, to hope in Him, to love Him, to rejoice in Him!
I’ll tell you where to find such people. Go to believing widows! Go to dying believers! Go to believers who have suffered! The troubles of life put things into perspective! There you will find God-centered people!
Take your eyes off the world & the flesh; set your heart on God & on His Son! Whatever the troubles of life, believers have every reason to rejoice in God! For God is full of grace & mercy, of compassion & kindness! He withholds no good thing from those who love Him & keep His commandments. We have every reason to rejoice in God, to shout out joy to all the world, to boast in God!
Oh that we would be far more God-centered; God-conscious & God-orientated. I am not being unrealistic; I’m facing reality. At death we all fall into the hands of the living God! That puts this life into perspective! What matters in life is the living & true God! Only believing Christians can say, “We rejoice in God through out Lord Jesus Christ.”
Oh that the Gospel might create in our hearts such dispositional joy in God! Jesus had it! He was full of the Father; He endured the cross to do the will of the Father, for the joy set before Him. And we should be full of the Father & of the Son! The hymn puts it beautifully: “Now none but Christ can satisfy, None other name for me; There's love, and life, and lasting joy, Lord Jesus, found in Thee.” Though Him, there’s love & life & lasting joy, God our Father, found in Thee!
