Again, Continue to Rejoice
Again, Continue to Rejoice
If you have ever flown before there is great excitement and joy when the pilot announces that the plane is about to land. You had been flying at very high altitude and have encountered all kinds of turbulence and rough weather now the end is in sight.
This is where we are in chapter 3 of Philippians. Paul is about to land the gospel plane and tells his friends “Rejoice again”. I told you before when the plane took off and am telling you again why you need to rejoice and keep on rejoicing in the Lord. God began the good work in you and will finish it therefore rejoice. Rejoicing is within your control so no excuses.
“Finally, my [a]fellow believers, continue to rejoice and delight in the LORD. To write the same things again is no trouble for me, and it is a safeguard for you” Philippians 3: 1. AMP.
The Lord Jesus Himself is the embodiment of redemption and that is the only reason to rejoice. By redemption we mean the total purchase of the whole world and to place it perfectly whole and restored before the throne of God by the full and complete sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.
There is no more reason to rejoice than this fact and reality of the Christian life – redemption in Christ. If you are looking for another reason to be joyful than the Lord Jesus himself then you have missed out in this life and all of life to come in Christ for eternity.
Friend, let's wake up to the reality and truth of living and being consumed by the redemption by and in Christ. Life gets sweetest when we chew and eat of this truth that our sins are forgiven forever and that we have been reconciled to God the Father thru the death and resurrection of His dear own son. We have been made to partake in the divine nature. What a privilege and what a rejoicing. This love compels us to spread the good news of the gospel of Christ.
Paul is not making any assumptions here. He starts by saying my “fellow believers”. Redemption is a reality that you enter into by believing and trusting in Jesus himself as the son of God and trusting in what he has accomplished on the cross. You must believe otherwise you cannot come into Christ. It is only thru the gift of faith. “8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Ephesians 2: 8-9. Have you accepted the gift of God’s grace?
Next Paul says "delight in the Lord". This is the how of the rejoicing. When you delight in something or someone your heart is full of joy with overflowing. Are you delighting in the Lord? What else are you delighting? If it is not in the Lord, your rejoicing is temporal, incomplete and intermittent. There is no flow and overflowing. To delight is to know very well and enjoy the essence of what you delight in. “I want to know Christ” Paul says. Do you?
The Lord is more than enough for us and we need nothing else to delight in.
Has He been sufficient for you and/or are you looking for something else? Abraham was agitated like us and God told him, “I am what you are looking for”. “I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward” (Genesis 15). Yes I promised you a son and I will do it but I am your satisfaction and completion.
Many of us are looking for wholeness and completeness in the wrong things and places. You thought it was graduation from college and then you came out with the big college debt. Next you thought it was the good job and now you can barely wake up to take it another day. Next you thought it was marriage and now you are looking for a way out. Then you reasoned it will be having the kids and now they are driving you crazy as infants and/or now uncontrollable adults. Maybe it is the latest electronic gadget? No, it is not.
Do you want joy? Then continue to rejoice and delight in the Lord. Paul is in prison and he is rejoicing. Paul is not bashful to write it again and say “rejoice” because it is "safeguard" for our faith. Yes, you have been thru so much. I still say “rejoice in the Lord”. Stop being uptight as if you do not know and have Jesus in you. If God is in you and for you what and who can be against you? Nothing! Rejoice and share Jesus and His joy with others who do not yet have this hope in Christ. Satan does not want you to rejoice but rejoice any way.
If you have ever flown before there is great excitement and joy when the pilot announces that the plane is about to land. You had been flying at very high altitude and have encountered all kinds of turbulence and rough weather now the end is in sight.
This is where we are in chapter 3 of Philippians. Paul is about to land the gospel plane and tells his friends “Rejoice again”. I told you before when the plane took off and am telling you again why you need to rejoice and keep on rejoicing in the Lord. God began the good work in you and will finish it therefore rejoice. Rejoicing is within your control so no excuses.
“Finally, my [a]fellow believers, continue to rejoice and delight in the LORD. To write the same things again is no trouble for me, and it is a safeguard for you” Philippians 3: 1. AMP.
The Lord Jesus Himself is the embodiment of redemption and that is the only reason to rejoice. By redemption we mean the total purchase of the whole world and to place it perfectly whole and restored before the throne of God by the full and complete sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.
There is no more reason to rejoice than this fact and reality of the Christian life – redemption in Christ. If you are looking for another reason to be joyful than the Lord Jesus himself then you have missed out in this life and all of life to come in Christ for eternity.
Friend, let's wake up to the reality and truth of living and being consumed by the redemption by and in Christ. Life gets sweetest when we chew and eat of this truth that our sins are forgiven forever and that we have been reconciled to God the Father thru the death and resurrection of His dear own son. We have been made to partake in the divine nature. What a privilege and what a rejoicing. This love compels us to spread the good news of the gospel of Christ.
Paul is not making any assumptions here. He starts by saying my “fellow believers”. Redemption is a reality that you enter into by believing and trusting in Jesus himself as the son of God and trusting in what he has accomplished on the cross. You must believe otherwise you cannot come into Christ. It is only thru the gift of faith. “8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Ephesians 2: 8-9. Have you accepted the gift of God’s grace?
Next Paul says "delight in the Lord". This is the how of the rejoicing. When you delight in something or someone your heart is full of joy with overflowing. Are you delighting in the Lord? What else are you delighting? If it is not in the Lord, your rejoicing is temporal, incomplete and intermittent. There is no flow and overflowing. To delight is to know very well and enjoy the essence of what you delight in. “I want to know Christ” Paul says. Do you?
The Lord is more than enough for us and we need nothing else to delight in.
Has He been sufficient for you and/or are you looking for something else? Abraham was agitated like us and God told him, “I am what you are looking for”. “I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward” (Genesis 15). Yes I promised you a son and I will do it but I am your satisfaction and completion.
Many of us are looking for wholeness and completeness in the wrong things and places. You thought it was graduation from college and then you came out with the big college debt. Next you thought it was the good job and now you can barely wake up to take it another day. Next you thought it was marriage and now you are looking for a way out. Then you reasoned it will be having the kids and now they are driving you crazy as infants and/or now uncontrollable adults. Maybe it is the latest electronic gadget? No, it is not.
Do you want joy? Then continue to rejoice and delight in the Lord. Paul is in prison and he is rejoicing. Paul is not bashful to write it again and say “rejoice” because it is "safeguard" for our faith. Yes, you have been thru so much. I still say “rejoice in the Lord”. Stop being uptight as if you do not know and have Jesus in you. If God is in you and for you what and who can be against you? Nothing! Rejoice and share Jesus and His joy with others who do not yet have this hope in Christ. Satan does not want you to rejoice but rejoice any way.
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