Rejoice! (Part 3) Series

Rejoice! Choosing Joy in the Midst of our Mess (3)

Scott Bayles, pastor

Blooming Grove Christian Church: 10/18/2015

Charles Spurgeon, instructing a group of seminary students on sermon delivery, said, “When you speak of heaven, let your face light up with a heavenly gleam. Let your eyes shine with reflected glory. And when you speak of hell–well, then your usual face will do.” As funny as that is, there is some truth to it. Sadly, too often, Christians lack joy in their life.

Yet, it is astonishing how many references there are in the Old and New Testaments to delight, joy, bliss, celebration, happiness and rejoicing—and how emphatically these are demanded. Indeed, from "Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth!" (Psalm 100:1) to "Rejoice in the Lord always." (Philippians 4:4)—and dozens of places before and after and in between—we are urged to lead joy-filled lives. Billy Sunday used to say, "If you have no joy in your religion, there's a leak in your Christianity somewhere."

One guy who seems to really practice what he preaches when it comes to joy is the Apostle Paul. Even though he was in chains twenty-four hours a day, awaiting trial and possible execution, Paul wrote a letter to the church in Philippi that radiates joy. The words joy or rejoice appear no less than sixteen times in four short chapters.

Last Sunday we surveyed the second chapter of Philippians where Paul reveals that the solidarity we experience in our church families, selflessly putting others before ourselves, and shining a light for Jesus in the dark world around us are all ways of experiencing more joy in our daily lives.

The next chapter begins: “In conclusion, my friends, be joyful in your union with the Lord” (Philippians 3:1 GNT). Paul then goes on to talk in depth about that union, highlighting two more means of experiencing joy, particularly in our spiritual lives. First, we can experience more joy when we rely on grace!

• RELY ON GRACE

Paul warns the Philippian church, saying, “Watch out for those dogs, those people who do evil, those mutilators who say you must be circumcised to be saved. For… we rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort” (Philippians 3:2-3 NLT).

These “dogs” and “mutilators” were likely Judaizers—Jewish Christians who wrongly believed that it was essential for Christians to continue following the Old Testament law, including circumcision, in order to receive salvation.

Paul criticized the Judaizers because they put their confidence in their own effort, rather than relying on the free gift of grace given by Jesus Christ. But haven’t you and I been guilty of making the same mistake?

Even after twenty-centuries of preaching salvation by grace through faith, we still have it lodged somewhere in our subconscious that God saves good people. So be good. Be honest. Be decent. Pray more. Keep the Sabbath. Keep your promises. Pay your taxes. Do better. Be moral. Do more. Do. Be. Do. Be. Do. Do-be-do-be-do.

Are you familiar with the tune?

In his book, Grace, Max Lucado says, “We accumulate good works the way Boy Scouts accumulate merit badges on a sash.” I was never in the Boy Scouts myself, but I imagine there is something very gratifying about earning merit badges. Each oval emblem rewards an achievement. You paddle across a lake to earn the canoe badge, you swim laps to earn the swimming badge. You carve a totem pole to earn the woodworking badge. The merit-badge system tidies life. Achievements result in awards. Accomplishments receive applause.

Many of us approach our spiritual lives with the mistaken idea that God grades on a merit system—an embroidered Bible badge for reading through the Bible in a year, a set of praying hands for saying your prayers, a kid sitting in a pew for staying awake through one of my sermons. We amass a multitude of spiritual badges, thinking that if we’re good enough God will give us a home in heaven. That’s how Paul lived his life before realizing how fruitless it was.

Listen to what he tells the Philippians, “I could have confidence in my own effort if anyone could. Indeed, if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more! I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault” (Philippians 3:4-6 NLT).

Paul’s sash was so laden with badge he was running out of room! But if God works on a merit system, some thorny questions surface. If God saves good people, how good is good enough? Suppose the required score is 80 but I score a 79? How do I even know my score?