Rejoice! (Part 4) Series

Rejoice! Choosing Joy in the Midst of our Mess (4)

Scott Bayles, pastor

Blooming Grove Christian Church: 10/25/2015

I came across a Peanuts cartoon this week. Charlie Brown and his friend Linus are gazing off into the distance overlooking a short brick wall, when Charlie asks, “Do you ever think much about the future, Linus?” His friend replies, “Oh, yes… all the time.” So Charlie asks, “What do you think you’d like to be when you grow up?” Linus turns to Charlie in his matter-of-fact way and says, “Outrageously happy!”

What about you? Would you like to be outrageously happy when you grow up? I think we could all use a little more joy in our lives. And yet, for many people happiness remains elusive—as if it’s “out there somewhere” just beyond our reach. A bumper-sticker on a construction vehicle read: “The road to happiness is almost always under construction.” Maybe you can relate.

Or maybe you relate better to Charlie Brown, who said, “I think I'm afraid of being happy because whenever I get too happy something bad always happens.”

The good news is—God actually wants us to be happy. Scattered across the thinly cut pages of your Bible are dozens of commands to rejoice and be joyful! The bad news is—we don’t always know how to do that. That’s why we’ve spent the last several weeks sifting through Paul’s letter to the Philippians. In it, Paul speaks repeatedly about joy, rejoicing and happiness.

In the first chapter, Paul points out that we can experience joy by focusing on partnerships, on the positive, and on our purpose in life. In chapter two, he demonstrates that there is joy in solidarity, selflessness, and shinning a light for Christ. In the third chapter he encourages us to find happiness by relying on grace and reaching for the goal. Finally, as we come to chapter four, we encounter Paul climactic command: “Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4 NLT).

It seems strange that a man in prison would be telling a church to rejoice. But Paul’s attitude and advice teach us some important lessons about true happiness and joy. As chapter 4 continues, Paul highlights three secrets to experiencing true joy.

First, we experience true joy through communion.

• COMMUNION

Immediately following his command to “rejoice always,” Paul writes: “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done” (Philippians 4:6 NLT).

So Paul’s first secret to true happiness is connecting or communing with God through prayer. The Greek word translated “worry” in in this verse literally means “to be pulled in different directions.” That’s what worry does, doesn’t it? Our hopes pull us in one direction; our fears pull us the opposite direction; and we are pulled apart! In fact, worry has definite physical consequences: headaches, neck pains, ulcers, even back pains. Worry affects our thinking, our digestion, and even our coordination. And worry is one of the greatest enemies of happiness.

But, thankfully, Paul gives us the cure for worry. Instead of worrying about anything, he says, pray about everything! He says there’s two parts to this prayer. First, tell God what you need. Second, thank him for all he’s done. These two things—talking to God about our problems, and thanking him for all he’s done—are essential to experiencing real joy. When you share your troubles with God and you fill your heart with thankfulness, it pushes all of those negative emotions—stress, worry, frustration—out of the way. Thankfulness and worry cannot co-exist.

Two psychologists, Dr. Robert A. Emmons of the University of California and Dr. Michael E. McCullough of the University of Miami, have done much of the research on gratitude. In one study, they asked all participants to write a few sentences each week, focusing on particular topics. One group wrote about things they were grateful for that had occurred during the week. A second group wrote about daily irritations or things that had displeased them, and the third wrote about events that had affected them (with no emphasis on them being positive or negative). After 10 weeks, those who wrote about gratitude were more optimistic and felt better about their lives than all the other participants. The researchers concluded that thankfulness leads to happiness.

Thankfulness doesn’t come naturally to us all though. We have to be intentional about it. In some parts of Mexico hot springs and cold springs are found side by side—and because of the convenience of this natural phenomenon the women often bring their laundry and boil their clothes in the hot springs and then rinse them in the cold ones. A tourist, who was watching this procedure, commented to his Mexican friend and guide: "I imagine that they think old Mother Nature is pretty generous to supply free hot and cold water here side by side." The guide replied, "No senor, there is much grumbling because she supplies no soap."