October Passage: Philippians 4:2-9
I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord. Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women, who have labored side by side with me in the Gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the Book of Life.
Rejoice in the Lord Always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be know to everyone.
The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. (ESV)
If you are new to this reading plan, follow the instructions on the right side of this page or click here to read the "Why Just One Letter" introduction article.
Throughout each month, we will post short articles to give some depth of understanding regarding our text. Today we will discuss...
Rejoicing in Evangelism and Discipleship
In our last article, we saw how important it is to lean into relationships within the church. We talked about helping to prevent and deal with conflicts between ourselves. We need to do this so that conflict won’t knock us off the course of mission and personal growth in the Gospel. To sum up that entire article in one sentence: Don’t allow conflict between Christians to hurt our chances for evangelism and discipleship.
The next section in this month’s passage gives us the flip side of the same coin.
If Christians in conflict with each other HURTS evangelism and discipleship,
then the flip side of the coin is that
Christians rejoicing with reason HELPS evangelism and discipleship.
Let’s unpack that.
Rejoicing is a tried and true topic for Paul in the Letter to the Philippians.
Paul prays with with JOY (1:4)…he REJOICES when Jesus is proclaimed (even when the proclaimers are full of themselves) (1:18)…Paul REJOICES because the church is praying and the Holy Spirit is helping to insure that even bad things will be used for Paul’s deliverance (1:18-19)…he says his JOY will be complete when the Philippian church is unified in Jesus (2:2)…he teaches that your and other Christians’ obedience to Jesus gives a cause to REJOICE (2:17-18)…we can REJOICE when God returns someone to health (apply that to physical, emotional or spiritual health) (2:28)… we can receive godly example setters or “heroes in the faith” with JOY (2:29)… And, Paul shows us the grand reason for JOY. We rejoice in the Lord (3:1).
After dealing with a conflict, Paul jumps right back to the main theme. Rejoice! Rejoice in the Lord! Then he repeats himself (in case you haven’t caught on to how important this really is) REJOICE!
And, not only should we rejoice, but we should give a clear reason for our joy. We should be so saturated in a Gospel life, and we should speak about Jesus’ perfect life in our place; His death to pay our sin-debt; His upcoming return; and our eternal life with Him - We should speak those things and live in that truth so deeply that ANYONE who sees our joy should respond, “Their JOY makes sense IF the Jesus they talk about is real.”
In this way, Our rejoicing is a God-given tool for evangelism. It will lead to opportunities that the Apostle Peter talks about when he tells us to:
“...always be prepared to make a defense to ANYONE WHO ASKS YOU FOR A REASON for the hope that is in you…” (1 Peter 3:15)
Do you live with so much joy and hope in Christ that people have to ask you for an explanation?
Could people ask you:
When politicians fail to deliver on their promises, how can you still hold fast and rejoice in Christ? When the newest and best medicine still can’t save the people we love, how can you still hold fast and rejoice in Christ?
When the stock market crashes, how can you still hold fast and rejoice in Christ?
When education systems break down because of financial or political or philosophical barriers, how can you still hold fast and rejoice in Christ?
When the next gadget (or what ever else advertisers tell our culture will make their life better) doesn’t make life better, how can you still hold fast and rejoice in Christ?
When your community’s fan-favorite sports team drops the ball in the last moments of the playoffs, how can you still hold fast and rejoice in Christ?
When you keep trying to do the next right thing, but the world keeps knocking you back down, how can you still hold fast and rejoice in Christ?
Would anyone ask you a question like that? Or do those kinds of things steal your joy just like everyone else in the world?
If we will follow this repeated command from Paul and be people of Joy because of JESUS, we can start to plant seeds in the hearts of those who are currently struggling to try to find joy in the lesser things. And, one day, those seeds may bring forth a harvest when it clicks in their brain and in their heart, “Hey, that Christian I know is always at peace when I’m freaking out.”
But wait, our reasonable, unshakable joy will also be a benefit to our Christian brothers and sisters.
Remember, conversions to Christ are AWESOME! But, Jesus’ command is not to just convert unbelievers, His command is to “…go and make DISCIPLES….”
Jeff Vanderstelt says Discipleship is the ongoing process of leading others to increasingly submit all of their life to the lordship and empowering presence of Jesus Christ. When we show new or immature believers that the Joy in Jesus REALLY IS BETTER than what the World tries to woo them back with, then it becomes easier and easier to turn away from the lesser idols of our culture for the true source of JOY, our risen and returning Savior.
This article is done, but please stop and reflect for a minute: Where are you still having trouble rejoicing? Ask your closest friend or family member, if you seem like a joyous person. Where you see an area of lack, God wants to help you and grow you out of that so that you can be at peace and so you can be more faithful as an evangelist and disciple maker.
