The Healing Word

Guest (Male): I think too often the church and many others are making Christianity something other than Jesus. You talk about Christianity; basic Christianity, pure Christianity is one word: Jesus. That's it. It's Jesus. It's not a philosophy. It's a man. It's the Son of God.

Guest (Male): Can we really experience joy when our circumstances give us a very different reason to rejoice? The Apostle Paul believed we could. In fact, he wrote some of the Bible's most joyful words while confined in prison. Today, Pastor Morris explores Paul's command to rejoice in the Lord always and shows us how turning our attention from our problems to the greatness of Jesus can change what is happening within us. Here is "Rejoice in the Lord."

Pastor Jack Morris: A few weeks ago, a visitor came to the church, a person who attends another church, but they were the guest of the Mitchells, Ruben and Nazarene Mitchell. I preached a sermon entitled, "Don't Be Afraid." This lady wrote or talked to Pastor Wilson while I was away, and she said that I preached that sermon on Sunday morning, and then Sunday evening, her husband died.

How timely the message was. I believe the Holy Spirit has heard my prayer, and he has something for us today that will touch our hearts, help us, and draw us closer to him. I pray the message will be timely to you. I pray that it will be prophetic to your heart. You have an outline; I hope you'll take it out, look at it, follow along, and that the Holy Spirit will help me to be clear in what I have to say.

This book of Philippians is, I think, my favorite book. How can you say one book of the Bible is your favorite? But it's a lovely book. It's one of the short ones, only four chapters, but the letter contains words of affection, gentleness, affirmation, and love. Only four chapters, but 11 times the word "rejoice" appears, and five additional times the word "joy" appears. In only four chapters, this sets a tone for the book, and I believe it tells us how Christians are to live: to live rejoicing, to live with joy. The joy of the Lord is my strength. It's your strength. That's what the scripture says.

Sometime in the future, perhaps I'll expound the book, and I would like to do that should the Holy Spirit lead me to do that. Paul established the Philippian church during his second missionary journey, and the account is found in the book of Acts chapter 16. He goes into this place, and he meets this lady called Lydia, who is a seller of purple. He begins to share the gospel, and a nucleus of people believe, and a church is born. It is called the Philippian church, a Roman colony.

I believe this was his favorite church. He established a lot of churches, but he never used endearing words like this. Look at chapter four, verse one: "Therefore my brothers, you whom I love and long for." He never said that about any other church. "I love and long for, my crown and joy." What endearing words. That is how you should stand firm in the word, dear friends.

Paul was a rather stern, right-to-the-point, rather strict man. But look at the tenderness. When he wrote this, he was in jail, chained, with guards standing over him. In a predicament, you talk about something you have to complain about. You don't have a complaint in this world. Really, none of us really do when we look at what this man went through in this situation.

I thought if any man in a situation like this can talk about joy and rejoicing, then I need to look at it and pay attention to it because this verse has remedial power for me and for all who will listen. This verse is going to help you. I'm talking about verse four. That's where we're going to concentrate. I'm going to look at it, lift it a little bit out of context, but not a whole lot, but by the help of the Holy Spirit to get it to applying to us today. John, when are we going to have the choir back?

John: A church without a choir is less than a church. It is. A church needs a choir. A church needs Sunday school teachers, and a church needs a preacher. You take any one out, then it's less than a Sunday service is supposed to be.

Pastor Jack Morris: I'm so anxious. I mean, that choir puts energy and life and helps me to rejoice and helps me to worship. So, come on choir members. You're called of God, and you're called of the pastor, too. We need you. I need you. I really do. Someone says, "I don't know whether I'm really needed or appreciated." You are needed and appreciated. I want to go on record today.

Okay, God bless you, John. I thank God for you. You are a great man of God. You really are. And you're a gift to the church, and you're a gift to me. Amen. Can you say amen to that? Amen. All right. See, I'm already not rejoicing. I'm rejoicing beforehand in anticipation of the choir coming back.

Point A in your outline, let's begin together. We are instructed to look at verse four, chapter four, Philippians 4:4. Look at the very first word. We are instructed to what? Rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord. This is a grammatical imperative. This is not some easy advice or pleasant suggestion. This is a command.

Someone says, "How can you command somebody to be happy?" Well, Paul did. The Holy Spirit did. Hey, be happy. Be happy. I'm commanding you. That's what Paul did. He's saying be happy. Come on, smile. That's what it is. That's a command, a grammatical imperative. If you don't obey it, if you're not happy this morning, then you better get happy or you're out of the will of God. One week vacation, I'm fired up.

Rejoice means simply to boast or brag about Jesus. That's what it means. If you start bragging about Jesus and boasting about Jesus, I can guarantee happiness will come back to your soul. It'll come back. We know how to do it. We have the formula to do it. We're given the command to do it. Someone says, "Well, how do you do it?" You start bragging about Jesus. That's what the word "rejoice" means.

There are several Greek words, and W.E. Vine's Dictionary of New Testament Greek Words lists about five. The word here is not the word that I have in your outline, kauchaomai. That is not the word here. The word here is chairo, meaning cheerfulness. Come on, be cheerfulness. Be cheerful. But these New Testament words are used interchangeably, and though I am pulling this word out of context a little bit, yet it really isn't out of context because I searched deeply to know how do you command a person to rejoice and to be happy?

How do you dictate that? I needed to personally look and search and find the words that would help me to understand so that I could help you understand how you can get yourself turned on to happiness this morning and keep yourself going regardless of what has happened. Now Paul, fettered in chains with a death sentence hanging over him, in four chapters, 11 times tells them to rejoice, and five times he tells them to experience joy.

I don't think Paul's going to tell people to do things that he doesn't have and he's not experiencing. I don't think so. This is what he's telling them to do because I believe it's in his heart and he is doing it. This is what he says. This word means to boast, glory, rejoice, joy. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 11:10, "As the truth of Christ is in me." It's sort of saying like, as sure as I'm in this building, as sure as I stand here, as the truth of Christ is in me, no man shall stop me from this boasting.

I'm just going to boast and boast and boast, and no man, death sentence, chains, prison, guard, no man's going to stop me from this boasting. Then in Galatians 6:14, he says, "May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." He tells us that to boast in anything else or to brag about anything else is carnal and will even cause division. There was some division in this church. There were two ladies who got in an argument in the church.

He even named them. I wouldn't name things like from the pulpit like he did. Some people say the pastor gets awfully plain. Well, he put their name there, and their name is in scripture, and heaven and earth will pass away, but their names will go down in eternity as having an argument in the church. I wouldn't put the division of so-and-so and so-and-so are having an argument in the church. But he put it in the Bible.

This is how it's to work. Boast in the Lord, and you'll know joy, and a person that knows joy knows contentment and peace. If we're not boasting in the Lord, then the joy and peace isn't there. I'm going to try to show you what it means. If I were to take you through a house, I'd say, "Now this is the family room, the rec room, and this is the fireplace," and I would start bragging about the house like a salesman who's going to sell it.

Or you come to my home or some home, and this is the dining room and this is the siding, and as I point out different features of the house, what I'm doing is bragging or boasting on that house. Now, that's what Paul is telling us to do. Think of Jesus and begin to pinpoint, focus in on certain things about him. When you do that, you are rejoicing in the Lord. You're able to obey the command and make that command come alive within you.

That's what I'm going to try to do. I'm going to try to demonstrate how to obey this first word in verse four, "Rejoice in the Lord." Okay, Paul, how do I do that? Paul says start bragging about Jesus. All right, I'm going to try. First, I'm going to try scripturally. He made the dumb to speak. People who couldn't speak, he made them speak. People who couldn't hear, he made them hear. People who were blind, he made them see. People who were lame, he made them walk.

How am I doing so far? I'm boasting in Jesus. I'm bragging about what he can do. That's what I'm doing. Am I doing all right? Okay, I'm going to go on a little bit more, and I pray the Holy Spirit will loosen my tongue that I can really brag about him and boast about him. That's rejoicing in him. I'm going to go on just a little bit more now. See how I do.

This person that did all these miracles that I just described, this person was with God before he was born in Bethlehem and put in the manger. He was one with God. He was equal with God. He spoke all worlds into existence before he ever became a baby at Christmas time. He created all things by the word of his mouth. How am I doing? Am I boasting? Am I bragging? Someone said, "Wow."

You see, what I'm trying to do is exaggerate. But how do you exaggerate Jesus? How do you go to the extreme about Jesus? That's what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to think of everything, and I'm saying some things that are so far out and beyond, but yet I haven't even gotten close to him yet. So, I'm going to go on, I'm going to try one more time. I'm going to say this about him. See if I'm bragging about him. See if I'm going too far.

I'll say that there never was anyone like him in heaven above or earth beneath. There never will be anybody like him in heaven above or earth beneath. He's the beginning and the end. He's the Alpha and the Omega. What else can I say about him? I'm trying to brag about Jesus. What am I doing? I'm rejoicing. I'm obeying this scripture. And when I start thinking about Jesus and bragging about Jesus and extolling Jesus, I'm rejoicing in Jesus, and peace and happiness and joy comes to my life.

God's people aren't talking enough about Jesus, thinking about Jesus, or the name Jesus is not frequently upon their lips. But when you rejoice in the Lord, the joy and the happiness will begin to come. That's what rejoicing means: to brag or to boast about Jesus. In 1 Chronicles chapter 9, the Queen of Sheba heard about Solomon. She heard about his riches. She heard about his castles. She heard about his servants.

She said, "I just have to go find out for myself. I've heard about that man. I've heard about all of those wonderful things. There can't be a man that wise, that rich, that kind, that gentle, with those servants who love him. No human being." She said, "I have to go see for myself." So she got a camel caravan together, and she went and she sat down at his table, Solomon's table, and she talked with Solomon.

She saw his riches, she saw how happy his servants were, and she said, "Sir, I didn't believe such a man existed. I heard about you, but I didn't believe it could be true. But now that I'm here, the half hasn't even been told. You are ten times greater than what I was ever told, and what I was told I couldn't believe. It was just too good to be true. But the half hasn't been told about you and your riches and your servants and your wisdom."

Whatever we say about Jesus, we can't exaggerate. We can't boast too much. We can't go beyond. Someone said, "Now look, there's some great people in this world, but aren't you going a little bit too far?" All the things that I've said about Jesus, have I gone too far yet? No, I haven't gone too far. I haven't even told the half. I haven't even gotten near. But now I'm going to do some more boasting.

I'm going to brag about Jesus this morning. That's what it means to rejoice in the Lord. Brag about him. Throw your chest out, throw your head back, and say, "I'm a child of God by the blood of Jesus Christ. I was lost, I was in sin, but his amazing grace came. He changed me from a child of the world and a child of time to a child of God and a child of eternity." He did that for me. See, I'm boasting in him.

I'm telling what he can do. I'm bragging. What am I doing? I'm rejoicing in the Lord. Am I doing okay so far? He can do all those things, right? He can do all of those things. Now friend, listen to me today. The reason this is here is to help you to know how to live an exemplary, victorious Christian life. Here's a formula: rejoice in the Lord. When you get down, don't start talking about what brings you down. Start bragging about Jesus, and he'll lift you up.

You can brag about him. So I'm going to brag some more. I'm going to boast some more. I'm just going to talk about myself. When I'm surrounded with darkness, and darkness comes to me sometimes, and confusion, sometimes I begin to wonder, "Lord, which way should I go? What decision should I make?" And that confusion and darkness around me seems to come into my soul. At that time, I say everything's going to be all right.

Jesus Christ is the bright and morning star. He's going to bring light. I'm confused now, but I'm not always going to be confused because he's going to bring me out. You see, I'm bragging. I'm saying what he can do and what he's going to do. Soon it starts happening. Soon the darkness begins to go away, and soon I make a decision according to his will and I'm happy and I'm rejoicing in the Lord.

When a mountain comes between me and my goal, and they do, sometimes a mountain comes between me and my goal. I've come up against a number of mountains. Sometimes I find myself down in the valley of discouragement. That has happened to me. That will continue to happen at times. Sometimes the way isn't smooth. Now, I've heard people say, "How do you feel?" "Oh, I feel so good this morning. I'm so happy."

Why don't you come around and say, "Boy, I feel so down and discouraged, but I'm going to rejoice in the Lord." You can turn it around. Say it. Look to your neighbor and say, "You can turn it around." Say it. Come on, tell your neighbor that. You can turn it around. You really can. Anybody can be happy when you're happy. But you can turn it around.

When that mountain is too big to scale and I can't get over it, and that valley is too deep for me to rise up out of it, somehow I can start saying he moves mountains. He raises valleys. He makes my way level. I'm talking about him. I'm boasting in him. I'm not saying I can do these things. I'm saying he can do these things. I'm bragging about Jesus. What am I doing? I'm rejoicing in Jesus, and the thing turns around. It turns around.

You can turn it around, and this message today is for people, us, to turn some situations around. There was this lady. She came, the one I just talked about. The message was prophetic. This message is going to be prophetic for you who will take it, believe it, and obey it. Here's a grammatical imperative: do it, and you'll know joy in your life.

Come on, can you say praise the Lord? Praise the Lord. Say something beautiful. Sing a lovely melody. Take some of these praise choruses with you and begin to sing them and boast. Think a magnificent thought. When you're doing that, you're boasting in the Lord. In Psalm 34, verse 2, it says—listen, are you listening? "My soul will boast in the Lord."

Let the afflicted hear and rejoice. This sermon is for the afflicted. There are things that are going to afflict you. The Hebrew word is anah. Afflicted meaning people who are hurt, people who are abused, people who are mistreated, people who are suffering physically, people who are suffering mentally and emotionally. That's what the word anah in Hebrew means. "My soul will boast in the Lord. Let the mistreated, the afflicted, the downcast, the hurting, the sick, the depressed, the anxiety, the nervous breakdown people, let them hear and rejoice."

There is rejoicing. There is happiness. God turns things around when you obey the word of God. Every time, he will do this and turn things around. Now look at point B in your outline. We are instructed to rejoice in the Lord. You need to write three words down there: rejoice in the Lord. Jesus needs to be and must be the focus. Not, "I can do it. I can handle it."

No you can't do it. No you can't handle it. That's why you are bellyaching and grumbling and complaining and losing and never getting ahead and never reaching your goals. Listen, you're hearing truth today that can bless and move mountains for you. But it has to move in your own heart, and you must get ahold of it, and this truth must get ahold of you. Rejoice in the Lord. Now I rejoice in his gracious gifts to me, the salvation that is mine.