Among the classical Christian spiritual disciplines, there
is one of the most powerful—that of rejoicing—also characterized by praise and
celebration. The spiritual disciplines, practiced for centuries now, are ways
in which disciples of Christ can put themselves into position to receive from
God all that is required to live powerful and effective lives. When I was
attending Fuller Theological Seminary, Richard Foster and Dallas Willard were
very popular teachers and writers on the disciplines. And I took their
challenge to grow deeper in Christ through these practices. These authors
certainly were not the first, nor will they be the last, to teach us these
great spiritual tools.
The disciplines are not a means of grace. Rather, as Richard
Foster describes them, they are practices wherein a person can sit in the
middle of dry streambed and let God pour out his love, blessing, strength and
gifts that help to focus the mind and heart. Practiced since the early Church,
the other disciplines include meditation, prayer, fasting, study, simplicity,
solitude, submission, service, confession, worship and guidance.
While certainly some of the spiritual disciplines were
deeply rooted in the Old Testament commissions to worship, we can go to a very
specific New Testament letter that shows us one of the initial teachings on the
practice of rejoicing. These teachings are described by the beloved Apostle
Paul.
Read Philippians
4:4-13.
It is profoundly important to
understand the circumstances in which Paul was writing this letter. As we
learned last time, he was in prison again—innocent and having appealed his case
to the highest of courts because of his Roman citizenship. But that did not
deter Paul. In many of his prison epistles he identifies himself as a servant
and prisoner of Jesus Christ. Because of what Christ had done for him, Paul saw
himself first as a disciple. So, here is a man who for many years was
accustomed to travelling freely, preaching and teaching wherever the Holy
Spirit guided, now chained and imprisoned. It is believed at this point that he
was in prison for a several years. In prison there are not a lot of reasons to
rejoice . . . unless you are a mature Christian whose viewpoint and world view
are radically changed by being found in Christ!
Always is a big word. It is a superlative.
You can’t go much further than always. This seems to be a rather difficult
thing that Paul is commanding a church body to do. Is it always possible to
rejoice? Yes! In fact, the very idea of a command is that the one giving the
command believes that it is possible to fulfill that command. This is one of
the primary teachings about the spiritual discipline of rejoicing. It is possible! By the power of the Holy
Spirit and by the presence of Christ and by the will of our spirit to be in
line with God’s spirit, we can rejoice always. Do you believe that? If not, Paul doesn’t stop with a command he
goes on to give them the way in which to engage this discipline.
Looking at the verbs in this
passage gives us the first steps into this spiritual discipline.
- Let – Allow Christ to show through you in gentleness and transcendence. Permit the Holy Spirit to take over and guard and guide you.
- Do Not – Stop being anxious. Do not be depressed or give in to worry. Engage that powerful human will that God has given you!
- Pray– Communicate with the living God without ceasing, about everything and about anything.
- Petition – Take your concerns to God, give him your burdens and intercede for others.
- Give Thanks – Make specific thanksgivings to God about anything and everything.
- Think – Think about good things. Exchange the worrying thoughts and darkness you see in the world with the many things that are indeed wonderful. Spend more time thinking and focusing on noble and wonderful things than on what is corrupt and broken.
Why? Because you can through Jesus Christ who gives you the strength to
actually do these things!
I remember a time when I was
struggling with prayer. There certainly were a lot of things that I could
identify that were hindering me. But I learned that my most fundamental prayer
was missing. In my reading, I came across Julian of Norwich, (1342–1416), an
English mystic. One of her principles struck me deeply. She wrote: “And all
this our lord brought suddenly to my mind, and showed these words and said: ‘I
am the ground of thy beseeching [in prayer]. First it is my will that thou have
it, and next I make thee to will it, and next I make thee to beseech it—and
thou beseechest it!’” I understood this to mean that if I am resisting prayer,
my first prayer must be to ask God to give me the desire to pray! And what a
gift He gave. So, there may be times that we need to even pray that God would
give us the desire to rejoice.
While it becomes easy to get
bogged down or fall into fretting, friends, it is possible to rejoice always. If
we find that we have moved out of this possibility, God’s grace can help to
restore us to it. God is nearby always ready to help us. Richard Foster wrote
so wonderfully: “God’s desire is to transform the misery, not to bypass it . .
. God’s normal means of bringing his joy is by redeeming and sanctifying the
ordinary junctures of human life . . . The most important benefit of
celebration is that is saves us from taking ourselves too seriously.” (Celebration of Discipline, p. 193, 195)
I am part of wonderful Sunday
morning Bible study group at my church. We share joys and sorrows, praying for
each other, interceding for those whom we carry burdens and we laugh a lot
together. I decided on the day that we were studying this passage, to take the
class through a specific spiritual exercise of rejoicing in four steps. I gave
them a worksheet and we took the time together to work on it individually and
then share with the group. It was a wonderful, deliberate exercise that led us
all into the worship service with faces filled with joy and smiles. We even
decorated our worksheets with fun stickers that turned out to be very symbolic
for many of us. I invite you today to take the opportunity to exercise your
spiritual discipline of rejoicing - because you can! Step into the stream bed,
engage your ability to rejoice as so many have over the centuries. Look above
your circumstances to the One who is the reason for all of our joy!
M.R. Hyde
Copyright
2019
Rejoicing
Exercise
Step One: Prayers and Supplications – What is blocking me from
rejoicing right now? Am I willing to let
this/these go into the hands of my Savior right now? If not, why not?
Step Two: Refocusing
List something . . .
True:
Noble:
Right:
Pure:
Lovely:
Admirable:
Excellent:
Praiseworthy:
Step
Three: Thanksgiving
List at least four things for which you are thankful (more,
if possible).
Step Four:
Praise
Write out specific praises
directly to God.
“Joy in God is a duty of great
consequence in the Christian life . . .
If good [people] have not a continual
feast, it is their own fault.”
Unabridged Matthew
Henry’s Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible (Philippians)
