Rejoice Always, Part 2

Driving home: Joy is an affection of the soul which springs from the anticipation or possession of some suitable good.

Joy is illustrated by a dog wagging its tail in anticipation or possession of a bone, showing a natural, animal form of joy.

The definition of joy which I gave you, and it was not original with me, is this. Joy is an affection of the soul which springs from the anticipation or possession of some suitable good. As you hold up the bone to the dog, his tail wags. He has joy, he anticipates some good.

3:04 - 3:28 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Joy is an affection of the soul which springs from the anticipation or possession of some suitable good.

A child looking at the calendar and anticipating the end of the school year illustrates joy from the anticipation of a suitable good.

And in anticipation of the good, he's happy. In that sense, joy is common even to the animals. As the child looks at the calendar, school is done June 22nd, and he notices that it's June 17th, he says, one more week of school. In anticipation of the end of the school year, he has joy.

3:28 - 3:49 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Joy is an affection of the soul which springs from the anticipation or possession of some suitable good.

Children running out of school singing a ditty on the last day illustrates joy in the actual possession of a good (end of school).

Throw the bone to the dog, and he yaks for joy. The last day of school, and the kids come running out into the playground singing that famous little ditty that we sang, years ago, you know all about it, no more teachers, dirty looks, no more pencils, books, etc. In the anticipation of some good, joy. In the actual possession of good, joy.

3:51 - 4:15 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not feel there's never any justification for anything but joy, as that would be a wrong understanding of the text.

Hypothetical scenarios of losing loved ones or possessions for the gospel are used to question whether rejoicing is always appropriate, setting up the need for qualification.

Should a child of God be convicted of not rejoicing? If he's lost, his loved ones? If someone has to stand by and because of his commitment to the gospel of Christ, see all of his possessions taken away, his loved ones abused physically in his own presence? Is he to click his heels?

9:01 - 9:22 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not feel there's never any justification for anything but joy, as that would be a wrong understanding of the text.

The example of apostasy and unbelief in the church is used to question if a believer should always act as though all is glorious, highlighting the place for a broken heart.

What should a child of God do if there are great problems in the church, either the church local or as he looks at the church in its broader perspective, and sees apostasy, sees unbelief, sees the professing followers of Christ more influenced by the world? Is he to act as though all is glorious and have joy all the time? Or is there a legitimate place for the sob of a broken heart? These are serious questions and an earnest Christian confronts those questions.

9:31 - 10:01 Read in full sermon

Driving home: It's not the heaviness of the world that sinks down into the substructure and makes a man bitter and disillusioned and cynical. It only feeds his true Christian joy for he says, Lord, it won't always be this way.

The scenario of a loved one severing ties due to one's Christian faith is used to illustrate legitimate grief, arguing against a flippant response like dancing a jig.

They are experiencing suffering for the cause of Christ, abuse of their persons, probably some spoiling of their goods. And in this realm of these oppositions that come for the sake of Christ, Peter says there is genuine grief. If you have a loved one that cuts you off because you're a Christian, I don't believe God wants you when they do that. Perhaps they write a letter and say, look, we don't want to see you anymore until you give up this religion bit.

14:58 - 15:30 Read in full sermon

Driving home: It's not the heaviness of the world that sinks down into the substructure and makes a man bitter and disillusioned and cynical. It only feeds his true Christian joy for he says, Lord, it won't always be this way.

A Christian being denied a job advancement due to their ethics, impacting their family provision, illustrates legitimate heaviness and grief.

There is grief over the severance that comes for the cause of Christ. A man who fails to get an advancement in a job to which he is legitimately entitled, but because he's a Christian and those over him know that they can't tolerate his Christian ethics in the higher echelon of the business circle and he's bypassed and he knows that it means he can't provide for his family as he ought. Does that cause grief? Sure it causes grief.

15:38 - 16:05 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The whole idea you see that somehow the gospel sets us above these human relations. No, no. It just puts them in their right perspective.

The death of a beloved spouse is used to illustrate that grief is a natural, human response, and the gospel does not make believers inhuman, but rather gives hope in grief.

A man who's loved his wife as Christ loved him and loved the church can he have her suddenly snatched away by death and not experience grief? He'd be less than human if he had no grief. Ah, but his grief is not as the world's grief. And through his tears as he lays that loved one away his true joy is even enlarged for he knows that the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God.

18:06 - 18:40 Read in full sermon

The point: Never attempt to be something less than a true human being, and reject the unrealistic and unscriptural view that God calls us to just clap our hands and smile and click our heels.

Paul's likely grief over Demas's apostasy is contrasted with his rejoicing over John Mark's perseverance, showing the coexistence of sorrow and joy.

The apostasy of some who started well. Do you think when Demas went back to the world that Paul clicked his heels and rejoiced? Of course. It's not there was grief.

19:38 - 19:47 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not go with some kind of an artificial shallow flippant kind of lightness into the room where someone has lost a loved one; instead, mingle your tears and sobs with theirs, and then convey encouragement.

The illustration of entering a room where someone has lost a loved one with an 'artificial shallow flippant kind of lightness' is used to warn against an unscriptural approach to 'rejoice always.'

I'm not sure what's significant of he wept I'm not sure maybe in looking for some deep mysterious reason we missed the most obvious thing our Lord is a true man was identifying in true sympathy in a context of grief weep with those who weep it's less than human to do so and grace does not make us inhuman it captures all that is inhuman true to our humanity as seen in the Lord Jesus and makes it the vehicle of demonstrating the power of God's redemptive work and of his grace so when the Lord says to us through the apostle rejoice always he doesn't mean we're to go with some kind of an artificia...

27:39 - 29:08 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not assume that God calls us to abounding joy regardless of our spiritual condition or the situation of the church; there are times when God calls us to fasting, weeping, and mourning.

Martin shares personal experiences of 'holy laughter' among God's people during times of revival and triumph, illustrating abounding joy.

as a mighty victor over he came as one who sympathized with the grief of death then he displayed his power isn't that the pattern weep with those who weep then convey something of the encouragement so there is that legitimate grief of sympathy first of all for the sorrows of our brethren then secondly for the state of the church and of the world when the church is revived and walking in her possessions in the light of her birthrights great joy should be the dominant emotion of the people of God you read Psalm 126 when the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion then was our mouth filled with l...

29:08 - 30:37 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not assume that God calls us to abounding joy regardless of our spiritual condition or the situation of the church; there are times when God calls us to fasting, weeping, and mourning.

Martin recounts praying with a brother where the thought of God's triumph led them to laugh together on their knees, illustrating deep spiritual joy.

as a mighty victor over he came as one who sympathized with the grief of death then he displayed his power isn't that the pattern weep with those who weep then convey something of the encouragement so there is that legitimate grief of sympathy first of all for the sorrows of our brethren then secondly for the state of the church and of the world when the church is revived and walking in her possessions in the light of her birthrights great joy should be the dominant emotion of the people of God you read Psalm 126 when the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion then was our mouth filled with l...

29:08 - 30:37 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not assume that God calls us to abounding joy regardless of our spiritual condition or the situation of the church; there are times when God calls us to fasting, weeping, and mourning.

Describes being 'too happy' in a state of barrenness and carnality as living in a 'fool's paradise,' emphasizing the need for mourning.

but when the people of God are oppressed and in captivity heaviness and sorrow does God call us regardless of the situation of the church local this assembly or the church universal in its broader perspective to abounding joy regardless of our spiritual condition absolutely not you read in the book of Joel there are times when God told the people you're too happy for your condition God says turn unto me with fasting and with weeping and mourning rend your heart and not your garment God says to the people of God you're too happy in the light of your circumstances you're living in a fool's parad...

32:06 - 33:33 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not assume that God calls us to abounding joy regardless of our spiritual condition or the situation of the church; there are times when God calls us to fasting, weeping, and mourning.

The metaphor of a 'bent and broken church' being the precursor to 'bent and broken sinners' illustrates the power of the church's repentance and mourning.

but when the people of God are oppressed and in captivity heaviness and sorrow does God call us regardless of the situation of the church local this assembly or the church universal in its broader perspective to abounding joy regardless of our spiritual condition absolutely not you read in the book of Joel there are times when God told the people you're too happy for your condition God says turn unto me with fasting and with weeping and mourning rend your heart and not your garment God says to the people of God you're too happy in the light of your circumstances you're living in a fool's parad...

32:06 - 33:33 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not confront the world with a cheap facade of bright, sprightly, tripping-through-the-tulips kind of Christian witness, but with sighing and crying in the heart over the state of impending judgment.

Describes a 'cheap facade of bright sprightly tripping through the tulips kind of Christian witness' as an ineffective way to confront the world, contrasting it with genuine sighing and crying.

to go through and to the find those who in the midst of abounding wickedness have not become so callous that they've lost their ability to sigh and to cry and any who was not sighing or crying was to be destroyed even to the little children for it was an indication that they had become absorbed in the very wickedness that was calling forth the judgment of God I believe in great measure this is the point at which we are in the history of our own nation and I believe that we are and the way that we are going to confront the world is not by this cheap facade of bright sprightly tripping through t...

36:31 - 38:01 Read in full sermon