Philippians 4:4 | Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.
• “Happiness depends on
• Paul has already made it clear that Jesus Himself is our peace.
• In your mind, you should have an arc between this verse and Romans 8:30, where Paul summarizes chapters 5-8, “And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”
Rejoice in Suffering
• Romans 5:3 | Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,
• In Paul’s mind the eternal hope that we have in the glory of God connects with something else that we can experience.
• “rejoice” >> same word as last week; better translated “exult” which is
• “sufferings” >> afflictions; tribulations; not of your own making, but what things that happen to you in the process of
• John Piper >> Justification by faith is designed to help us exult in the hope of the glory of God. We are reckoned right before God so that we can finally be with God and see him and enjoy him as the infinitely satisfying Reality forever and ever. But before that eternal day, something else comes in the Christian life, namely, tribulations…They could be tribulations from loss of health, or tribulations in broken or strained relationships, or tribulations in vocational hardships and disappointments, or tribulations in accidents or natural disasters, or tribulations in verbal or physical assaults, or simply everyday inconveniences from traffic jams to plumbing problems. Anything that makes life harder and threatens your faith in the goodness and power and wisdom of God is tribulation.
• John 16:33 | I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
How is it possible to rejoice in our sufferings?
• God doesn’t comfort us to make us
• 2 Corinthians 1:6 | If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer.
• 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 | So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
• Where does this come from? It doesn’t come from
• “we can rejoice…knowing…” >> The Gospel is the power of God for those who ARE BELIEVING. When you believe something you are fortifying your heart and
• In the latter half of this verse, Paul is saying: Here is the indestructible truth of God’s Word that you can cling to in the midst of suffering. >> “knowing that suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us”
• But before we go through the process, let me tell you the endgoal: You can rejoice because our present sufferings are being used by God to make us look more and more like
• So, as you suffer, you look the Jesus that you are becoming more and more like >> Hebrews 12:2 | looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.