Note: I used Max Lucado's book Be Anxious for Nothing as a reference for this sermon series. Many of the quotes come from this book.
Title: The Choice to Rejoice
Theme: From the series of Be Anxious for Nothing
Text: Genesis 50, Philippians 4:6 – 14, Lamentations 3
Philippians 4:4-9 Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! (5) Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. (6) Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; (7) and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (8) Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy--meditate on these things. (9) The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.
Introduction
"Paul urges us to “rejoice in the Lord always” (Phil. 4:4, emphasis mine). Not just on paydays, Fridays, good days, or birthdays. But rejoice in the Lord always. You aren’t the first to read the word always and arch an eyebrow. Rejoice in the Lord always?
“Yeah, right,” mumbles the reader from the hospital bed.
“How?” sighs the unemployed dad.
“Always?” questions the mother of the baby born with a disability.
It is one thing to rejoice in the Lord when life is good, but when the odds are against you?
There is another man in scripture who know this challenge. .Joseph predated the apostle Paul by about twenty centuries. But both knew the challenge of imprisonment. Joseph’s jail was dank and dark, a dungeon of underground, windowless rooms, stale food, and bitter water. He had no way out.
And he had no friend to help him. He thought he did. He had befriended two men from Pharaoh’s court. One was a butler, the other a baker, and both were troubled by their dreams. Joseph had a knack for dream interpretation and offered to help. He had bad news for the baker (“Get your affairs in order; you’re going to die.”) and good news for the butler (“Get your bags packed; you’re going back to Pharaoh.”). Joseph asked the butler to put in a good word for him. The butler agreed. Joseph’s heart raced; his hopes soared. He kept an eye on the jail door, expecting to be released any minute.
“The chief cupbearer [butler], however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him” (Gen. 40:23 NIV). So had everyone else, it seemed. Joseph’s story is one of abandonment.
His brothers had disliked his dreams and swagger and decided to kill him and throw him into a pit. Had their greed not been a feather heavier than their thirst for blood, he would have died. When they had a chance to sell him to traveling merchants, they did.
His father was uninvolved. You’d hope to read of the sudden appearance of Jacob, who searched for his son, rescued him, and took him home. We don’t, because Jacob didn’t. He was MIA.
Joseph was carted off to Egypt and raffled off like a farm animal. The great-grandson of Abraham was sold to the highest bidder.
Even so, he landed on his feet. He worked his way to the top of Potiphar’s household. But then the mistress of the house put the hanky-panky on him. The lady went shady, and Joseph got out, leaving her holding his coat. When she accused him of attempted rape, her husband took her side and tossed Joseph in prison. Joseph landed in jail for a crime he didn’t commit.
Still, he didn’t give up. He became a model prisoner. He made his bed, made friends, and made a good impression on the warden, who recognized him as inmate of the month and promoted Joseph to convict-in-charge. Joseph met the butler and requested help. The butler agreed but quickly forgot, and cruelty tipped the scales. Joseph languished in prison for two years with no word and no solution.
Two years! Plenty of time to give up. Plenty of time for the world to turn gray, for gargoyles of dread to appear. Plenty of time to wonder, Is this how God treats his children? Is this God’s reward for good behavior? Do your best, and this is what you get? A jail cell and a hard bed.
If Joseph asked such questions, we don’t know. But if you ask those questions, you aren’t alone.
Denalyn and I spent the better part of last evening listening as a wife told us of her husband’s latest affair. This is dalliance number three. She thought they had worked through the infidelity. The bridge of trust was enjoying some fresh mortar and reinforcement. They were talking more. Fighting seldom. Life seemed to be on a good path.
Then she saw the charge on the credit card. She confronted him. He became defensive. She came undone. He walked out. It’s a mess.
She asked between sobs, “Where is God in all this?”
And you? You weren’t thrown in jail, like Joseph, but then again, maybe you were. Or you ended up in AA or a women’s shelter or an unemployment line. And you wonder, I believe in God. Is he aware? Does he care?
Deism says no. God created the universe and then abandoned it.
Pantheism says no. Creation has no story or purpose unto itself; it is only a part of God.
Atheism says no. Not surprisingly, the philosophy that dismisses the existence of a god will, in turn, dismiss the possibility of a divine plan.
Christianity, on the other hand, says, “Yes, there is a God. Yes, this God is personally and powerfully involved in his creation.”
Years later Joseph would tell his brothers, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children” (Gen. 50:20–21 NIV). Two words at the heart of this passage reveal the heart of providential hope: but God. “You intended to harm me, but God . . .” What was intended as harm became good. Why? Because Joseph kept God in the middle of his circumstance.
Joseph viewed the sufferings of his life through the lens of divine providence. Can I urge you to do the same? If you don’t, anxiety will stalk you every day of your life. Quite honestly, I have no words to counter the stress of the atheist or agnostic. What alleviates their anxiety? Yoga? Deep-breathing exercises? Stress-relief candles? Seems like going to a joust with a toothpick.
God’s sovereignty, on the other hand, bids us to fight the onslaught of fret with the sword that is etched with the words but God.
The company is downsizing, but God is still sovereign.
The cancer is back, but God still occupies the throne.
I was a jerk during the first years of my marriage, but God showed me how to lead a family.
I was an anxious, troubled soul, but God has been giving me courage.
The brothers had every intention to harm Joseph. But God, in his providence, used their intended evil for ultimate good. He never robbed the brothers of their free will. He never imposed his nature upon them. But neither did he allow their sin and their sin nature to rule the day. He rerouted evil into good. God uses all things to bring about his purpose. He will not be deterred in his plan to sustain and carry creation to its intended glory.
20 years of ups and downs in Joseph’s life. Some way, some how Joseph learned not to be Bitter but Better. "
I. No matter what circumstances we find ourselves in live as unto the Lord.
Col 3:17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
MSG 17 Let every detail in your lives--words, actions, whatever--be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.
Col 3:23 And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;
In word or deed. This life we live is bigger than just the few years here on earth. The job we work is bigger than a paycheck we earn. The family we raise is bigger than just getting them out of the house on their own. It is doing things as unto the Lord. Even if we see no purpose.
Hezekiah learned this. After serving the Lord for many years, righting the ship of the land it is said of him:
2 Chronicles 31:21 And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, and in the law, and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered.
Romans_8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
II. Know that God is Sovereign
Years later Joseph would tell his brothers, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children” (Gen. 50:20–21 NIV). Two words at the heart of this passage reveal the heart of providential hope: but God. “You intended to harm me, but God . . .” What was intended as harm became good. Why? Because Joseph kept God in the middle of his circumstance.
Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
MSG 28 That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.
Romans 8:35-39
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Isaiah’s revelation of God’s sovereignty
Isa 6:1-13 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. (2) Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. (3) And one cried to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!" (4) And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. (5) So I said: "Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The Lord of hosts." (6) Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. (7) And he touched my mouth with it, and said: "Behold, this has touched your lips; Your iniquity is taken away, And your sin purged." (8) Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: "Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?" Then I said, "Here am I! Send me." (9) And He said, "Go, and tell this people: 'Keep on hearing, but do not understand; Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.' (10) "Make the heart of this people dull, And their ears heavy, And shut their eyes; Lest they see with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their heart, And return and be healed." (11) Then I said, "Lord, how long?" And He answered: "Until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant, The houses are without a man, The land is utterly desolate, (12) The Lord has removed men far away, And the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. (13) But yet a tenth will be in it, And will return and be for consuming, As a terebinth tree or as an oak, Whose stump remains when it is cut down. So the holy seed shall be its stump."
What a revelation of the Lord.
God
Glory – weight
This became real to me after a phone call from a friend. At the time we were doing ok. When I received the phone call from this friend I really didn’t understand what he was talking about. He had a word from the Lord for me. Read from Laminations 3:17 - 32
These verses have become precious to me.
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
He created it and rules it and now we need to leave that up to him.
III. Know that God is merciful – Lose the Guilt
This was hard for Adam and Eve to receive and has been hard every sense.
Genenesis 3:8-10 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. (9) Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, "Where are you?" (10) So he said, "I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself."
"What do we usually do with guilt?
Numb it. With a bottle of Grey Goose. With an hour of Internet pornography. With a joint of marijuana, a rendezvous at the motel. Guilt disappears during happy hour, right? Funny how it reappears when we get home.
Deny it. Pretend we never stumbled. Concoct a plan to cover up the bad choice. One lie leads to another, then another. We adjust the second story to align with the first. Before long our knee-jerk reaction to any question is, how can I prolong the charade?
Minimize it. We didn’t sin; we just lost our way. We didn’t sin; we got caught up in the moment. We didn’t sin; we just took the wrong path. We experienced a lapse in judgment.
Bury it. Suppress the guilt beneath a mound of work and a calendar of appointments. The busier we stay, the less time we spend with the people we have come to dislike most: ourselves.
Punish it. Cut ourselves. Hurt ourselves. Beat up ourselves. Flog ourselves. If not with whips, then with rules. More rules. Long lists of things to do and observances to keep. Painful penance. Pray more! Study more! Give more! Show up earlier; stay up later.
Avoid the mention of it. Just don’t bring it up. Don’t tell the family, the preacher, the buddies. Keep everything on the surface, and hope the Loch Ness monster of guilt lingers in the deep.
Redirect it. Lash out at the kids. Take it out on the spouse. Yell at the employees or the driver in the next lane.
Offset it. Determine never to make another mistake. Build the perfect family. Create the perfect career. Score perfect grades. Be the perfect Christian. Everything must be perfect: hair, car, tone of voice. Stay in control. Be absolutely intolerant of slipups or foul-ups by self or others.
Embody it. We didn’t get drunk; we are drunks. We didn’t screw up; we are screwups. We didn’t just do bad; we are bad. Bad to the bone. We might even take pride in our badness. It’s only a matter of time until we do something bad again.
Adam and Eve hid behind fig leaves, bushes, and lies. Not much has changed."
Even Paul had to learn to do this
Paul’s Biography
Acts 8:3 MSG And Saul just went wild, devastating the church, entering house after house after house, dragging men and women off to jail.
His own admission
Php 3:4-6 MSG You know my pedigree: (5) a legitimate birth, circumcised on the eighth day; an Israelite from the elite tribe of Benjamin; a strict and devout adherent to God's law; (6) a fiery defender of the purity of my religion, even to the point of persecuting Christians; a meticulous observer of everything set down in God's law Book.
Paul’s Answer
Php 3:13-14 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, (14) I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Php 3:13-14 MSG Friends, don't get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I've got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward--to Jesus. (14) I'm off and running, and I'm not turning back.
In other words – trust God
Conclusion
What are you carrying here today? What kind of guilt did you bring with you? You don’t have to carry it any longer. You don’t have to live in it any longer. Let the Holy Spirit remove it from you.
What anxiety do you have?
