“I will praise thee , O Lord, with my whole heart: I will show forth all thy marvelous works. 2. I will be glad and rejoice in thee. I will sing praise to thy name, O thou Lord most high.”
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“Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope , through the power of the Holy Spirit.”
In the midst of Paul’s explanation of the inclusion of the Gentiles, he wrote this verse that points out three essentials of all who believe – Jew or Gentile. He wanted Roman believers, and all believers through the ages, to be filled with “joy and peace in believing,” and to “abound in hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.” I do not think that I am taking this verse out of context to say that those who believe in Christ will receive joy and peace, and through the Holy Spirit are filled with a hope that only God can give. These three essentials of joy, peace and hope are available to you if you are a believer in Jesus Christ. The first essential is joy. Joy is essential, because of the promise that Jesus gave in John 15:11: “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” When Christ comes into our lives by faith, we are guaranteed of His joy. It is a lasting joy that gets us through all of the troubles of life. In spite of life’s trials we have His joy. Claim this joy today, because it is yours, or can be yours. The second essential is peace. All who receive Christ by faith, have the peace that Hepromised. Jesus promised this essential in John 16:33: “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation (trouble): but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” In spite of the troubles of this world we can peace of heart and mind. This is a promise of Jesus that will enable us to withstand all of the trouble, disappointments and ailments that we may have to encounter in our lives. Jesus wants His people to be at peace. As we face all that life might bring, the promise of Jesus that He has overcome the world remains true. Rejoice! The third essential is hope. When the Holy Spirit comes into our lives when we are saved, He fills us with the hope that only He can give. In fact, the Holy Spirit helps us to “abound in hope.” To abound in something means that we have plenty of it; therefore we have plenty of hope in Christ. If you feel hopeless, you need to claim Christ’s hope, for He has given you a lot of it. Like with joy and peace, we have hope in Christ in spite of what we might be facing in our lives. In all things that we face in life, Christ is at work getting us out, or through, whatever it is we face. Put your trust in Christ, and He will bring you through. Give all of your burdens to Him. As the old hymn reminds us: “Jesus will carry you through." Joy, peace and hope are yours in Christ. He promised so you can have them – period.Claim them! Bro. Joe “Sing unto the Lord, sing psalms unto Him, talk you of all His wondrous works. 10. Glory in His holy name; let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord.”
This text is an example of a call to rejoice in the Lord. Throughout the Bible we are called to rejoice. The question for you is that do you rejoice in the Lord, and does your life reflect that rejoicing? I want to share some reasons we should rejoice in the Lord, and that our lives should reflect that rejoicing. First, we have a God who loves us. There is nothing any plainer in the Bible than that God loves us. The apostle John had personally experienced God’s love through His daily contact with Jesus. He wrote about that love in 1 John 4:16: “And we have known and believed the love that God has to us. God is love, and he that dwells in love dwells in God and God in Him." We do not have to question whether or not God loves us. We can accept the fact that He loves us, and that will make a difference in our lives. Do you know that God loves you? That’s right; God really and truly loves you. He sent His Son, Jesus, to die for you and save you from your sins. I want to encourage you to accept God’s love and rejoice in it. Second, we have a God who wants to bless us. Do we really want His blessings, or do we see that we can have His blessings in our lives? We have an example in the Bible of how people shun the blessings of God in Israel. He had delivered the Israelites from Egypt. He had divided the Red Sea for them. It wasn’t long before they were griping and complaining about their lot in life. Time and again God blessed the Israelites and they soon forgot about it and continued to gripe and complain. In the same way, God wants to bless us, but do we know that He wants to bless us? We should rejoice in the blessings that He has given us. If you have received the salvation that God offers through His Son, you should rejoice and your life should reflect your rejoicing. Claim God’s blessings today and rejoice in Him. Third, we have a God who wants to give us a purpose in life. We realize the love and blessings of God when we accept his will and purpose for our lives. God wants you be His farmer. God wants you to be His pharmacist. God wants you to be His school teacher. God wants you to be his cashier. God wants you to be His Sunday School teacher. God wants you to be His deacon. God wants you to be His preacher. We should rejoice in the fact that God wants to use us in whatever our vocations are. Think of it: The God of the universe loves you, wants to bless you and He wants to use you in His purposes. He doesn’t just want to use you in the church. He wants to use you in your daily life. These are three reasons for us to rejoice. They are reasons for you to rejoice! Bro. Joe “And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.”
The message that John wrote about that caused joy was the message about Jesus. He is our source of joy. You have probably seen the acronym: J-Jesus, O-Others, Y-Yourself. I thought of another acronym for joy that I want to share with you. J – Just – 1 John 1:9 - “If we confess our sins, (Jesus) is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” The Greek word that is translated “just” can also be translated “right.” “Just” is a legal word, meaning that Jesus is qualified to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from unrighteousness. He is the only one who is qualified to forgive our sins. John also reminded us of this in 1 John 4:10: “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” Propitiation” means to be appeased. The wrath of God was appeased by the blood of Jesus. Only Jesus is qualified, or just, to forgive our sins. O – Offering – What I wrote above leads us to conclude that Jesus is the only offering for our sins. Hebrews 10:10 “….we are sanctified (separated) through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” Jesus was the “once for all” sacrifice for our sins. He will never again have to offer Himself as a sacrifice for our sins. We need to love Jesus because of His sacrifice for us, and be thankful to Him. It should make a difference in how we live. Paul touched on this in Ephesians 5:1-2: “Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children: 2. and walk in love as Christ also has loved us and has given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor.” (NIV: “a fragrant offering”) Y- Yes- 1 Corinthians 1:19-20: “For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by me and Silas and Timothy, was not ‘Yes’ and ‘No,’ but in Him it has always been ‘Yes.’ 20. For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ. And so through Him the ‘Amen’ is spoken to us by the glory of God.” You did not misread this text. Every promise that God has made to us is “YES” in Christ. Will Christ help us in our daily walk by the Holy Spirit? The answer is “YES.” Can we be saved from sin and live eternally in heaven? The answer is “YES” in Christ. Can we learn to love all people, even the most unlovable, as the Bible encourages us to do. The answer is “YES” in Christ. So we can spell “JOY” in Jesus as Just, Offering and Yes, for He is all of these and more. Bro. Joe “This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” NKJV
This text is from one of my favorite psalms, and the printed verse one of my favorite verses. In a former pastorate, the children’s choir used to sing a chorus based on the text verse. (The tune is going through my head as I write.) When I read it this morning, some thoughts came to mind that I want to share with you. Do we really believe that “This is the day the Lord has made"? And will we "rejoice and be glad in it"? As we go through the day and meet its frustrations, do we believe that God made the day and do we still rejoice in it? This is an important question. Do we experience, or feel, His presence in the frustrations? Frankly, there are times when I have to stop and remember this verse. I find that the small frustrations that I meet in a day challenge me more than the bigger issues. I have a feeling that I am not alone in this. Seriously, if we really believe that “This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it,” we will make an effort to rejoice anyway. It does give us something to think about --- doesn’t it???? That brings me to the next thought that I had on this subject this morning: Does the fact that “This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it,” make a difference in our lives? You can see from what I wrote above, that I need to work on it. (Don’t scoff. I imagine that you need to work on it too.) After I thought about it for a moment, I realized that it is according to what the frustration or problem is that I have to face in a day. It is interesting that the small things, like a temperamental computer, causes a negative reaction, but bigger things are taken in stride. We need to work on letting this text make a difference in our lives in the large and small things, and we will be happier, more content, people. If we see God’s presence in everything that happens in our lives, we will look at life’s problems differently. This brings me to the next thought that I had on this subject this morning: Does the fact that “we will rejoice and be glad in it” mean that we will smile and be happy about everything that happens? You know that there are things that happen in our lives that will make us unhappy. If we get bad news about the death of a loved one, we do not laugh. If we have an accident that injures us, we do not laugh. What we do is rejoice in the fact that God is with us in the bad and the good things that happen in our lives. God is present at all times in our lives. Jesus promised to be with us until the end of the ages. He promised to give us the Holy Spirit to live in us and go through all of life’s experiences with us. We rejoice in the fact that all that Jesus promised is true. He never promised us that every thing that happens in our lives will be good, and that we will win at everything in life. His presence is the important ingredient that causes rejoicing, not that everything is good and goes our way. Rejoicing is not always jumping up and down and chanting, “We are number one.” Rejoicing can also be thanking God for His presence and for His work in our lives regardless. It is true that “This is the day the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it.” There is no joy like the joy of knowing Christ and knowing that He is with us in all of life – the good and the bad. Rejoice! Bro. Joe "Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say rejoice."
What was Paul thinking when he wrote: "Rejoice in the Lord always"? Didn't he know that there are times when we just do not feel like rejoicing? If anybody knew that, Paul did. He truly suffered to declare the Gospel to the world. But, he wrote, "rejoice always." And to reiterate he wrote, "Again I say rejoice." He wanted to emphasize that Christians should rejoice. Understand that Paul did not mean that Christians will always be happy, for happiness is circumstantial. Joy, however, has been given to us by the Holy Spirit, and Jesus promised us His joy in John 15:11: "These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full." Even in hard times we can rejoice, because we have Jesus in our lives, and He has given us abundant life here and life in heaven forever. I know that there have been times in my own life when I was experiencing difficult times but experienced a joy that was beyond my understanding. If you do not feel like rejoicing, that is only more reason why you should. The question that I want to pose in this article, is why should Christians rejoice? The first answer is because the Bible tells us to. Look up "joy" and "rejoice" in your condordance, and you will be amazed at how many times these two words are used in the Bible. But rejoicing should not just be legalistic. It should come from a heart that is so filled with the joy of the Lord that it cannot be eradicated. Second, we should rejoice because it makes us feel better. The only way that I can know this, is that I know I feel better when I am rejoicing than when I am complaining. When you are out of sorts with life, think about Jesus and what He has done in your life and it should help turn you from complaining to rejoicing. (Reminder: I am not writing this to make you feel guilty, but to make you feel better. Guilt will not lead you to rejoice. ) Third, rejoicing will make us live better lives. It will make a difference in how we treat people. If we approach life with a spirit of rejoicing, we will look more kindly at people, even people who are difficult to get along with. Rejoicing makes us want to do good things for people. It also makes us want to say good things to people. Let me confess that there are times when I want to be harsh with people, particularly people with whom I disagree. But I have discovered that a harsh reply only produces a harsh reply in return. This turns into an argument, which never, or seldom, accomplishes anything. Fourth, we should rejoice because rejoicing makes us better witnesses for Jesus. It is a fact that churches that have a spirit of rejoicing appeal to more people than those where people just go through the motions of worship. If rejoicing is genuine, it draws people to the "rejoicer." There are other reasons for us to rejoice, but these should suffice to help us to become more joyful in our lives and service to the Lord. You have a choice today. You can rejoice or you can complain. If you want to feel better, live better, and become a better witness, obey the Bible and rejoice. Bro. Joe “Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.”
The disciples were rejoicing that they were able, through Jesus, to see people healed, etc. Jesus told them that this is not the reason to rejoice, but that they should rejoice because their “names are written in heaven.” This is also a reason for us to rejoice. This statement of Jesus has a wider meaning, and I want to share that wider meaning with you. If our names are written in heaven, it means that we have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. This means that the Holy Spirit is dwelling in us. We do not have to walk through the maze of life without guidance from the Lord. Jesus gave a promise of this in John 16:13: “Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and will show you things to come.” A relationship with Jesus means that we have divine guidance in understanding scripture, doing the right thing in decisions that we make in life and we have the power to help us live victoriously and witness effectively. Because of this relationship with Jesus, we can have daily fellowship with Him, and we can call on Him in prayer all day every day. Because of this relationship with Jesus, we have said yes to God’s eternal plan of salvation. If our names are written in heaven, it means that we have fellowship with others who have their names written in heaven. It is a shame that we have come to see Christian fellowship as having a party after church on Sunday night. This is one example of the misunderstanding of Christian fellowship. Real Christian fellowship is not a matter of just attending church together, although that is certainly part of it. As I have grown older and have been through a real crisis in my life in the past three years, I see Christian fellowship as having people praying for you on a daily basis. There is nothing to take the place of knowing that people are praying for you, and that they really care about you. This kind of Christian fellowship reaches far beyond the local church. But I do not want to demean fellowship in the local church, because that is an important part of Christian fellowship. In the local church fellowship, we study the Bible together, we pray together and we worship God together through singing, giving, preaching and responding to the message. We also minister to each other and encourage each other during trying times in life. I thank God that I am part of a local fellowship of Christian people. If our names are written in heaven, it means that we have assurance of eternal life. We need to remember that eternal life does not begin when we die and go to heaven. Eternal life begins when Jesus indwells us with His Spirit and gives us the divine resources that only He can give. Eternal life is the gift that God gives us for putting our faith and trust in His Son. It is an invitation to never-ending life. Jesus made a promise to Martha, the sister of Lazarus, in John 11:25-26 that applies to us as well: “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. 26. And whosoever lives and believes in me shall never die…” That is an amazing promise. It means that death is not the end of life, but the beginning of a greater life than we could ever know on this earth. My prayer for you today is that your name is written in heaven because of your belief in Jesus Christ. Bro. Joe “Who is the (person) who delights in life, loving a long life to enjoy what is good? 13. Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from deceitful speech. 14. Turn away from evil and do what is good; seek peace and pursue it.” (HCSB)
We call a person who “delights in life” a happy person. These three verses tell us what can make us happy people. First, if we want to be happy people we should “keep (our) tongues from evil.” This could be a reference to evil in general, such as cursing, but I see it as an admonition not to speak evil of other people. I have discovered that gossips are not happy people. They are not happy because they observe people only to criticize them or to tear them down. This kind of thinking comes from malice in the heart. Malice is anger that has settled into a person’s mind and heart and seeks to do evil. Those who speak evil of other people are malicious people. I have heard it said that: “small minds discuss people and great minds discuss ideas.” Malicious people are small-minded people. A lot of people have been destroyed by gossip, and a lot of churches have been torn apart by gossip. If you want to be a happy person, do not speak evil of other people. Second, if we want to be happy people, we should “Keep (our) tongues from deceitful speech.” This means that we should be truthful people. There is something intrinsically bred into the human heart that longs for truth. That which is untrue is not real, in fact, it is counterfeit. Just as a counterfeit twenty dollar bill is worthless, a counterfeit tale is worthless. We have probably all known people of whom it could be said that you never know whether they are telling the truth or not. Most of the time this deceitful speech comes in the form of exaggeration. Some people have a tendency to “stretch the truth” when they are talking about themselves. The problem with people who habitually lie, or deceive, is that we cannot trust them. A person who cannot be trusted cannot be a happy person. Third, if we want to be happy people, we should: “turn away from evil and do good.” We are faced with choices everyday as to whether or not we are going to do good or evil. You have seen cartoons where a person will have an angel on one shoulder telling the person to do what is right, and a demon on the other shoulder telling the person to do what is evil. We know that the angels and demons are not literally there, but the cartoon does represent a truth. The devil, whose very purpose is to deceive, continually goads us to do wrong. The Holy Spirit continually urges us to do right. We need to listen to the Holy Spirit and do what is right. This is especially true in our relationships with people. We should seek to always do, or say, what is good for the other person instead of what is evil. We should seek to do, or say, that which will build up another person instead of tear him or her down. Happy people do good instead of evil. Fourth, if we want to be happy people, we should: “seek peace and pursue it.” Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed (happy) are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.” If you want to be a happy person, seek to bring peace wherever you are instead of discord. You can’t be happy if you sow discord wherever you are. Based on this text, are you a happy person? Bro. Joe “Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and said unto them, Peace be unto you. 20. And when He had so said, He showed unto them His hands and His side. Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord.”
I can only imagine what the disciples felt as they huddled in a closed room, quaking in fear because of what the Jewish leaders might do to them. Then like a burst of light from heaven, Jesus appears in the room and gives them the usual Jewish greeting: “Peace be unto you.” When Jesus showed them His hands and His side, the disciples were glad (overjoyed) when they saw the Lord.” At that moment, the reality of who Jesus really was/is came home to them and they were overjoyed. It makes all the difference when Jesus is real to us. When I was a youngster of about nineteen years of age, I was filled with doubts about the reality of all that I had been taught in Sunday School, etc. I remember that I was alone in the sleeping area of the USS Hornet when I had what I will call an epiphany. I was about at rock bottom in my doubts as I lay there on my bunk, when His reality hit me right in my heart. I don’t know what He did. To this day, I can’t really describe what the Lord did to my mind and heart that day, but He made Himself real to me at that moment, and like the disciples, I was overjoyed when that reality hit me. I knocked the dust off of my Bible and began to listen to His call on my heart. Notice what happened when the reality of Jesus hit His disciples. First, that they were no longer afraid. They had gathered in that room and shut the door in the first place because they were afraid of what the Jews were going to do to them. They were hiding out, afraid to be seen. When Jesus becomes real to a person, one of the first things that happens is that fear is banished. This doesn’t mean that we will never be afraid again. It means that we will no longer fear that Jesus has forsaken us, for He is real every moment of our lives. Second, they experienced overwhelming joy: “Then were the disciples glad (overjoyed) when they saw the Lord.” In John 16:20, Jesus had predicted that this would happen: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, that you shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and you shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned to joy.” Can you imagine the relief that these men felt when they were confronted with the fact that all that Jesus said to them about Himself was true? They heard what he said then, but it didn’t really register until this moment. All of them had forsaken their livelihoods to follow Jesus. If He was dead, it meant that they had lost everything. But now they knew that He was alive. When Jesus is real to us, we experience joy as well. When we go through the troubles and trials of life, it is great to know that we are not alone, but that Jesus is real and that He has not forsaken us. Third, in verse 21 they were given a challenge and a new task: “Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father has sent me, even so send I you.” They were to go into the world and share the reality of Jesus with other people – which they did. We believe in Jesus today, and He is real to us today, because these disciples obeyed Jesus and went out and spread the word of His reality until the word spread all over the world. Jesus has given us the challenge and task to tell others as well. Let’s go in great joy and do it. Bro. Joe “…The joy of the Lord is your strength.”
This morning I kept humming the little tune “The joy of the Lord is your strength…” As I hummed, I began to wonder what this really means. It is one of those things that I know is true, but what I wondered was why? So I went right to the source, to Nehemiah 8:10 to find the context for the joyful statement. The context was the rebuilding of the wall around Jerusalem after, or at the end of the Babylonian captivity. Nehemiah called the people together and Ezra read the law – the word of God- to them. The result was: “So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense and caused them to understand the reading.” After which Nehemiah declared: “Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” The people knew the joy of the Lord when they understood the word of God. The people were made to understand that though they had been in captivity, they were still God’s people. The joy of the Lord is present when we realize that we are His people. Now that I think of it, when I am down and am having a difficult time getting back up, when I remember that Jesus has saved me, the Holy Spirit is living within me, and God loves me, I experience the joy of the Lord and realize that His joy is really my strength. When I understand that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life,” the joy of the Lord wells up in me. When I realize that I belong to Jesus I experience the joy of the Lord as my strength. It is my prayer that you have this joy as well. Notice that the text says: “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” It was personal for each Isareli. It is personal to us and it means that God has given us His joy, which is eternal joy. Then our minds turn to John 15:11, which informs us: “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” Jesus intends for us to be joyful people; therefore, He has given us His joy. Since this is joy that has its origin in eternity, and is given by the eternal God, it is, indeed, our strength. This means that there is nothing in this world that can steal our joy in Him. It means that there is nothing in this world that we will have to face without His joy in us. It is during difficult times that we go through that we realize the real strength of the joy of the Lord. James expressed what I am trying to relate to you about the joy of the Lord. Look to James 1:2-4: My brethren count it all joy when you fall into diverse (many different kinds of) temptations. 3. Knowing this, that the trying of your faith works patience. 4. But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect (mature) and entire, wanting nothing.” If that doesn’t say that the joy of the Lord is our strength, I don’t know where we will find it in God’s word. It is not the only statement that would remind us of this, but it is certainly one of the most succinct. What it means is that our faith is strengthened when we undergo all sorts of trials, and when our faith is tested and we stand in our faith, God’s strength enables us to withstand and to thrive. We are better people because of the tests, and temptations, that life throws at us. That is why each of us can say:“The joy of the Lord is (my) strength.” The joy of the Lord is found in the presence of God in our lives and of His work within our lives. It is God who gives us the strength to go on. It is God who forgives us and leads us into righteousness. It is God who has planted the joy of His Son in our lives. For this we owe Him our lives and our devotion. With this in mind, we can sing: “The joy of the Lord is (my) strength.” Bro. Joe |
AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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