Rejoicing that you are forgiven

In Sunday morning Bible class we are studying the book of Philippians. If I was to say what the theme of Paul's letter to the church in Philippi might be, I would say it could be found in the words, "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice" (Phi.4:4 ESV) As Paul writes to the believers in that Roman city, he was encouraging them to rejoice in whatever the situation of their lives.

Rejoice! Rejoice! I will say it again rejoice. God is good. All the time. All the time. God is good. Rejoice in all that He has done for you. Live in the joy of the Lord. Celebrate the wonder of what God does for you day after day. The life of the Christian is a life of joy. Paul lays all that out and helps you and me to know how to go about living our lives. Rejoicing in Christ, we go about our day.

It isn't that he is saying that everything in this life is going to be good and sunny. He showed again and again that he lived in the joy of the Lord. Read Acts 16, the time when Paul and Silas first went to Philippi. It was far from a joyous time. In fact, Paul gets frustrated by the servant girl that was possessed by the evil spirit, the one that kept following him around, telling everyone that Paul was serving the God in heaven. It sounds good at first. Hurrah! The word is proclaimed. But then it started getting on his nerves. Imagine someone who is always there, talking, interrupting you, telling others part of your story. Everytime you sit down to talk to someone, there was that person, chattering away. Sometime making sense, sometimes not. Driving you nuts. Paul finally tells the evil spirit to leave her - in the name of Jesus Christ, the Lord, the Savior, the Victor! Hurrah! Freedom. Freedom for Paul. Freedom for the gal. Everyone was happy. Except for her owners. They lost a fortune no longer having a slave girl that could foretell the future. They got upset. They got so upset that Paul and Silas were arrested, beaten with rods and thrown in prison. Rats! That is terrible. How awful. 

So what do they do? They sit in prison and sing and praise God. They pray. They talk about the wonder of the message of Jesus Christ. They sing some more. They rejoice in the Lord. Always. Even in prison. Even when hurting from being beaten. Even when abused. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say rejoice.

But what if I don't rejoice? The question was raised, "What if I am not very good at that attitude when I am sick and suffering? What then?" Does it mean I am not a very good Christian? Does it mean I have missed the point of the sermon? Does It mean that I need to go back to confirmation class and learn some more stuff? What does this mean? (All right, that was thrown in for all you folks who remember Luther asking that question in parts of the catechism.)

It means that you are human. It means that you are a sinner. It means that you have the very same need that Paul had, that the folks in Philippi had - you need your Savior. 

Understand, I am not saying that you not rejoicing is a sin. That is not what I said. It is not a sin to not feel joy in every situation. It is not a sin to be upset. It is not a sin to be filled with dread in a situation. It is not a sin to be overwhelmed by what is going on. It is not a sin to sit in that prison at night and cry. 

What it shows is that you, like everyone else, need Jesus. You need what He brings to each person, hope, peace, comfort, healing, strength and a whole host of other things. 

I answered the question (after thinking), with this thought.

I face a difficult situation. I face a hard time. I face a life-threatening disease. I face the challenge of the day. And at times, I do so poorly. I get upset. I grumble. I growl at those around me. I tear others poorly, saying harmful and hurtful things that are not filled with rejoicing. I hurt others feelings. I do and say sinful things because I am upset, unable to rejoice. 

When I realize I am doing that, I need to stop and first and foremost, ask God to forgive me. I am wrong to act that way. I might be upset. I might be filled with fear. I could even have terror of the unknown filling my thoughts and actions. But I need to admit I was wrong, asking God to forgive me.

Then I need to talk to those I have treated poorly (the wife, husband, children, parent, friends, nurse, cleaning lady, food service working, whomever), and tell them, "I am sorry. I was wrong for treating you that way. I was reacting to how I was feeling at the time. It was not right. Please forgive me. Please try to understand me. Please help me as I go through this difficult, hard, terrible, awful, deep sorrow time." In that situation, while you might be unable to rejoice, you are able to show that being a Christian doesn't mean that you won't sin, you won't say the wrong thing, you won't hurt someone's feeling with unkind words. Being a Christian is realizing that, admitting you were wrong (making no excuses) and asking the person/s to forgive you. 

That becomes a witness to the life of the Christian. Being a Christian does not mean that you won't get upset in a situation. It means that you will admit that you acted wrongly and ask for forgiveness from the one you have wronged. Being a Christian means that you will face how you act, apologize for it, and then try to change how you act.

Rejoice in the Lord always! Yes, I will rejoice in the Lord. I will try to rejoice in each situation. I will seek the joy of the Lord. I will have difficult times. I will fail at it (because I am a sinner). And I will be forgiven by my Lord Jesus. The Spirit will help me to change. 

So, in the end, I come back to "rejoice in the Lord always." You are forgiven. You are loved. The Lord watches over you. That, is what we share with others.