Rejoice in God

I’m convinced that the reason some Christians, particularly young ones, don’t really grow in their relationship with the Lord is that don’t rejoice in that which God has given us as our greatest sources of joy.  They find joys that are associated with Christ (like fellowship with believers, music, certain styles of worship, etc).  But they never find the joy of the Lord.  To rejoice in God:

Rejoice in your Saviour, 1 Pet 1:6-9.  “Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory”.  We rejoice in things that we see, hear, and feel; in tangible things that we can touch and hold.  But there is joy in someone we can’t see and in the salvation he gives us which is intangible.  Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  You rejoice when the person in whom you believe becomes more real to you than all the things you can see.  When the things you see and feel become a distraction to you because they interfere with the person you love whom you can’t see, you are in his joy.

Rejoice in your witnessing, Jn 4:36.  Jesus said, “he that reapeth receiveth wages and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together”.  In 1 Thes 2:19-20 Paul said, “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? And not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? For ye are our glory and joy”.  Regardless of how or why men preached when he was in prison, Paul rejoiced that Christ was preached, Phil 1:18.

Rejoice in your reproaches, Lk 6:22-23.  We don’t rejoice when we aren’t accepted by the people we want to like us.  But the Lord said there is joy in their rejection, hatred, and separation.  It hurts until you realize that now you have partaken of Christ’s sufferings and you will be rewarded with him.  In this you can rejoice in God.

Rejoice in your trials, Jas 1:2-4, 2 Cor 8:1-2.  You can count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations.  The result is patience.  And when patience has completed her perfect work, you are perfect and entire, wanting nothing.  The Macedonians experienced abundant joy by going through a great trial of affliction.  It seems counter intuitive.  But this is how we rejoice in God.

We are not a generation that rejoices in trials.  We rejoice in being pampered.  And we think something is wrong with us or God if we have to go through hardships.  In the parable of sower, the seed sown in “stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon, with joy receiveth it”.  He “dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended”, Matt 13:20-21.  This is how people react today.

You have to go through something before true joy is found.  But if you drop out at the first sign of trouble, you will never learn to truly rejoice.

Rejoice in your God, Ps 43:4.  David said, “Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy”.  Ultimately, God must become your exceeding joy.  It’s not that you don’t find joy in other people and things, as well.  It’s that your joy in your God is superior to all your other joys.  Phil 3:1 “Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord”.  Phil 4:4 “Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice”.

Conclusion: Ultimately we want to rejoice in God.  And to do this we must rejoice in our Saviour, our witnessing, our reproaches, and our trials.  You will find so much more joy in God than you ever did in anything else in the world.