Rejoice Always

Advent 3B, December 14. 2014


EPISTLE LESSON: First Thessalonians 5:16–24
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19Do not quench the Spirit. 20Do not despise prophecies, 21but test everything; hold fast what is good. 22Abstain from every form of evil.
23Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

There are many commands in the Bible. Some of these commands are very strict or difficult or seem inconvenient. For example, “Love your enemy,” or, at the end of the Good Samaritan Story, Jesus says “Go and do likewise,” even when it is inconvenient to do so. But I Thessalonians 5:16 has a command that I really like and really want to keep, it says, “Rejoice always.” It would be easy to keep this command if I always felt blessed. But I am not always happy, and I don’t always feel great. But First Thessalonians 5:16 says “Be joyful always.” Does the word “always” also include when I am not happy? Yes, it does.

When you are happy, what do you do? What sort of actions or behavior do you display? If you get a great Christmas present, how do you feel and how do you express that feeling? If you were to win the lottery, how would you express your joy? Would you jump up and shout and clap your hands and start dancing around the room? When Jesus comes back at the end of world and he tells you that you are saved from sin and hell and takes you to heaven, how would you express your joy? Would you jump up out of your grave, clap your hands, wave your arms and shout “Hallelujah!”? Or would the joy just fill your heart in silent thankful praise and wonder?

The command to “Rejoice always” is a necessary command, because we don’t always feel like being joyful. We cannot jump out of our chairs with joy because we have too much weight on our backs or in our laps. We can’t dance or even move when the worries and problems and sins and bad consciences and failures and debts weigh us down.

We cannot clap or wave our arms around when they are filled up with daily stuff that keep them down. Work, business, study, housework, church-work, civic work and many other things can keep us so busy we have no time for rejoicing.

How can you say “Hallelujah” or “Bansai” to God when we are sad or sick? It is hard to shout “Hallelujah” with a sore throat or crying heart.

How can you clap your hands if they are tied up like a prisoner or criminal? We cannot run away from our problems. The rope that ties us up might be our own sin or bad behavior or doubts or low self-esteem.

Or you may feel that it is God who has tied your hands. But, if your hands are always tied together, then it is very easy to join your hands in prayer. But in such a situation, what shall we pray for? First, let’s pray that the obstacles to our joy might be removed: to have the burdens, the business stress, the pain, the suffering, the sin removed. Let’s also pray for others who are suffering: the brothers and sisters whom we love, our neighbors, and even our enemies. Let’s pray that we may be able to rejoice. In this way we will be also keeping the second command of I Thessalonians 5:17, which is to “pray without ceasing.”

I think there are two kinds of prayer: “please” and “thank you.” It is natural to pray “God, please heal me,” and if we don’t forget, to also pray “God, thank you for healing me.” We often forget to thank God, but I Thessalonians 5:18 says “Give thanks in all circumstances.” Doesn’t this mean that when we pray “God, please heal me,” we also pray “God, thank you for giving me this sickness”? We are commanded to thank God no matter what circumstances are.

So, thank God that your hands are tied. Why? Because that has given you a chance to pray and rejoice. So, thank God for busy hands. Why? Because in our daily work, those hands are doing the work of God. We thank God when we are in pain or suffering. It is difficult to be thankful at times like that, but at such times we may be able to see a miracle in our lives or in the lives of those we love. Or we may be able to see God’s love, or the love of some other person. Or, in the midst of our own pain and suffering, our hearts might be opened to see the pain and suffering of other people, then in compassion, we accept them and give them comfort or compassion. We can give thanks to God for even the heaviest of burdens.

God has shown us our sin and guilty consciences. Therefore we know the reason for the pressure we feel. Then we can hear and understand the Good News that Jesus died on the cross to forgive our sin. Then we can put our burdens on Christ. When Jesus was on the cross, he bore our sins and griefs. Then on the third day when he arose victorious he no longer had those burdens. We thank God for that salvation.

We come to realize that we can do what the Bible commands, namely, to rejoice always, pray alays, and give thanks always

By the way, the Joy of Christmas is not to forget the realities of the world. It is not a thoughtless joy. This is not joy without reason. It is not playa acting or putting on a “happy face.” There are many reasons not to be happy. There is war in the Middle East and civil unrest and protests at home and family problems. There is the danger of global warming. There are thousands of people without homes because of floods and earthquakes and human greed. Many people live in such poverty that they don’t have enough to eat. Many people have great sadness and depression and stress in their lives. These are all reasons not to be happy. But yet there is Christian Christmas Joy because we know that in the midst of these things, in spite of these things, that Christ is with us. The Message of Christmas is that in Christ, God came into this sort of a world. That gives us hope and joy.

Finally, joy is a gift from the Holy Spirit. In Galatians 5:22, “joy” is listed as the second among the “Fruit of the Spirit.” [* The gifts are “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self-control.”] Joy comes from faith. We believe that at Christmas, in order to save us people, God sent his Son Jesus Christ to be born a human child like us. Then to save us, we believe that Christ died on the cross and rose on the third day. And we trust that because he rose from the dead that he will return as he promised. We rejoice in what Christ has done, what he does for us daily, and what he will do for us in the future. And so, our Christian joy gives us victory over the suffering of the world. Our Joy is not of this world. We rejoice in eternal salvation—which has already started!

As our Bible reading today commands, our Sunday morning worship is filled with joy and prayer and thanksgiving. We are practicing so that every day our lives will be filled with this joy, prayer, thanks and praise.

May the Holy Spirit gives you joy at Christmas and always!

Amen.

Michael Nearhood, Pastor
Okinawa Lutheran Church


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