Sermon Tone Analysis

v1

He starts with ‘finally’ – yet he is only half way through this letter!

This has led to a bit of humour:

the little boy whispered to his father, “What does the preacher mean when he says ‘finally’?”

To which his father muttered, “Absolutely nothing, son.”

But finally does not mean this is the conclusion – the word finally here really means – ‘moving on, now I want to say this’.

And what do we find?

Exactly that.

Now Paul changes tack and goes on the attack for the welfare of the Philippians.

There are trouble-makers about and I need to tell you about them and to keep you on track, to warn you that people are not always what they seem to be and that their message is not good news.

But first he says rejoice in the Lord.

Paul is being deliberately repetitive.

Going over and over the same thing means that this needs to be drummed in because we can easily get calloused and hardened and forgetful and not put the truth into practice.

And even after being told so many times it still has not sunk in.

Even for us this evening.

This is what you are taught when you teach – repeat, repeat, repeat.

That way we learn, learn, learn.

For already he has said rejoice five times in this letter and will say so twice more.

All-in-all Paul alludes to joy, gladness and rejoice sixteen times in this letter alone.

So, why is this so important to Paul? Paul is saying that it is important for the Christian to rejoice – in fact he says ‘for you it is safe’.

To put it another way – it is a safe course to follow.

Rejoicing is a safeguard to our souls.

Paul is saying that if Christians obey his call to rejoice, we’ll discover that this positive Christian attitude will save us from the ills that plague the church that he has mentioned before, that is, the murmurings, dissensions, empty conceit, and so on.

For Christian joy, the exaltation of spirit that flows from acceptance of the free gift of God’s grace, is the best protection of all against such a negative and divisive outlook upon life and guards our attitudes against others.

We cannot both rejoice and be unhappy with someone at the same time!

We cannot be angry and be glad in the Lord at once.

It is this spirit that needs to fill us every day and at all times.

This is a tall ask for those of us who are not practised in it – this is going to take effort on our part.

It is only too easy to complain about anything and everything – it is certainly easier to do than to rejoice – but this is the day the Lord has made and we will be glad and rejoice in it – for us not to get up in the morning and complain that it is morning!

But to get up and realise that this is another day the Lord has given to us and this we should rejoice.

Eventually, as it was with Paul, this will be our natural state and we will never be heard complaining again.

Rejoicing also takes our eyes off ourselves and onto the Lord – and in so doing we are no longer egotistical; no longer proud; no longer full of ourselves and what we can do.

We are no longer self-important, self-admiring but instead Jesus is all-important and admired and praised and honoured.

As a result of this we rejoice in the Lord and have his mindset.

Let’s not forget that Paul is writing from prison where you would expect others to remind him of the joy of the Lord but instead Paul is exhorting Christians who are outside the prison walls to rejoice.

It is too easy for our eyes to be upon our circumstances and to be discouraged.

But instead our eyes need to be upon Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.

Trust and obey for there is no better way for us to be happy in Jesus.

We very often concentrate upon the obey part – but the trust part is also very important – we trust that God will work out His purposes in our lives.

We know that He can be trusted for He gave us Jesus to live and die for us and to rise from the dead and to ascend to the right-hand side of the throne of God interceding for us there.

We are reminded of that in;

How can we not rejoice when we consider all that has been done for us in Christ?

I have heard of terminally ill people who radiated joy in the Lord despite hardship and pain and gave joy to those who treated them in hospital.

John Wesley exuded his joy in the Lord on a three-week preaching mission with Rev. John Nelson during which the two slept on the hard floor with no padding.

Wesley used Nelson’s coat for a pillow, and Nelson used Burkitt’s notes on the New Testament for his.

As Nelson relates it, “One morning about three o’clock Mr. Wesley turned over, and, finding me awake, clapped me on the side saying: ‘Brother Nelson, let us be of good cheer: I have one whole side yet, for the skin is off but one side!’

”

God is our strength – and our strength is found in rejoicing in Him.

Strength and joy seem to go hand-in-hand.

It is even found together several times in Scripture.

Here are two examples:

Matthew Henry, the Puritan expositor, wrote, “The joy of the Lord will arm us against the assaults of our spiritual enemies and put our mouths out of taste for those pleasures with which the tempter baits his hooks.”5

The joy of the Lord is a divine armament.

Those living in his joy are resistant to attacks that take others down.

Resiliency marks their steps.

The taste of joy renders the tempter’s offerings bland by comparison.

Paul is not just saying smile and be happy…for this does not take into account the real difficulties people face but rejoicing in the Lord is something we choose to do.

It has nothing to do with emotion.

If we choose to rejoice then we cannot do something else.

If we are truly rejoicing and thankful for God’s provision, we cannot complain or be resentful.

It doesn’t work that way by mistake; this is by design.

What comes out of our mouths (for better or worse) is an indicator of what is going on in our hearts:

Jesus said:

And again Jesus says:

What do our words say about our attitude, heart, and focus?

What is said about most sports?

The best defence is a good offence.

Choosing to go on the offensive by rejoicing in the midst of hardship is the single greatest defense from the things that make us turn away from God

By making the choice to rejoice in the Lord in the midst of unpleasant circumstances, we will guard ourselves against fear, doubt, double-mindedness, and the discouragement that comes from opposition.

All of these things are barometers for our heart attitude.

As we see these things creeping in and manifesting themselves, we know that our focus is shifting away from God and onto other things.

I cannot complain about something and simultaneously be thankful for it.

We will come upon Paul’s rejoicing again in the next chapter but if there is anything that we should take away from today it is that we should rejoice, rejoice, rejoice.

There has been no harm in taking it that Paul was talking about rejoicing for it is evident that we should learn from him but Paul does go on to give warnings that we need to be careful to take note of.

But are they related?

Is what related?

Rejoicing and being warned.

Absolutely.

For what is the warning about?

It is warning about having confidence in the flesh, in man, in ourselves.

So rejoicing and being warned are related: For one is about having confidence in Jesus Christ, the other, is about having confidence in man or ourselves.

There is a contrast found here.

We can only have confidence in the Lord.

If we put our confidence in the flesh, in others or in ourselves we will ultimately fail or others will fail us.

There is only one who will not fail and that is the Lord.

We cannot rejoice in the Lord and in the flesh at the same time.

This is impossible.

What is the cause for the warning to come?

It was that there were people going around calling themselves teachers but actually they were false teachers teaching that the sacrifice of Jesus was not sufficient; was not enough.

And Paul had them in his sights for they are a danger to the true teaching that everything has already been accomplished, it has already been finished; their teaching destroyed the message of the true gospel.

Theirs was a religion that was Jesus plus – Jesus plus works – their religion required that salvation was partly something we could achieve.

This insidious teaching is found in Christian congregations throughout the world.

It is found in the so-called Christian religion known as Roman Catholicism which, top this day, still says that it is anathema to believe in faith alone, in Christ alone.

They actually condemn true Christians when in reality God condemns them.

It is all too easy for us to think that in some way we can contribute to being saved.

It is one thing for us to do good works because of what Jesus has done for us – but another to think that somehow we get in God’s good books by doing good works.

We’ve already seen in Galatians what Paul thinks of them:

We cannot please God by good works – for we have already been accepted in the beloved.

It is only faith that can please God:

We are His children if we have believed on Jesus Christ – and the incredible thing is that God will bestow many rewards upon us for the good works we do as a result.

Heaven is our home.