Thesis 42- We must rejoice in the Lord always.
The grass is always greener at that other time. Or, to put it another way, our retro-vision glasses have rose colored lenses. Many of us face the tendency to not only look to the past as a sort of golden age, but in like manner, to look to the present as this present evil age. There is much both within and without the church, for us to mourn about our peculiar moment in history. In the west Christians are typically looked down upon and made fun of. Our churches are filled with those who want their ears tickled, our pulpits filled with men willing to tickle ears. On the face of it, it would seem that these would be among all times the most sad.
When Paul wrote his epistle to the church at Philippi, their problems were not like ours. They weren’t merely laughed at. They faced real persecution from their neighbors, and from the Roman empire, “For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake” (1:29). At the same time they were warned not just of ear ticklers, but to “Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation…” (3:2). Worse still, the church at Philippi receives this letter from their father in the faith, the man who first planted their church, who loved them with such zeal, while he himself languished in prison. And what was Paul’s command for this church, at this time? “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!” (4:4).
Sixteen times in these four short chapters Paul enjoins the church to rejoice. What is God’s command for us in our circumstance? That we would rejoice as well. Consider all that troubles us. Go ahead, and make a mental list of all the grievances you now suffer. Now suppose someone made you this offer. You could lose everything that grieves you. It could all be taken away. All you would have to do to have your troubles disappear, is to give up the Pearl of Great Price. Would you take up that offer?
Is this not the very point of the parable of the pearl of great price? Did not Jesus tell us that those who are wise would give up everything they have, every blessing, every comfort, every penny, in order to acquire this precious pearl? If you are in Christ, you have this precious pearl.
And this precious pearl has you, and nothing will snatch you away. All of your troubles then are not in the end the cost of the pearl of great price, but the very gift of the pearl of great price. That is, all our troubles are not things we must slog through to get to the good stuff. Instead they are given to us by Jesus Himself, that we might be made more like Him.
Joy is indeed circumstantial. We should only have joy in these circumstances- where God is on His throne, and where we are His beloved children. If that describes you, then repent of your gloom, and rejoice in this promise, that if we will confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (I John 1:9).