Joy is one of those things that we tend to passively drift in and out of. However, Scripture calls us to pursue joy and presents it as part of what will flow out of our lives as the Spirit works in us.

This last week the Irish Calvinist, Erik Raymond, posted the following meditation on Philippians 3:1.

Recently I was plowing through Philippians and 3.1 was particularly encouraging: “Finally brethren, rejoice in the Lord…”

The fact of the matter is that God is commanding (present imperative) believers to be rejoicing. Furthermore, the rejoicing is present tense so therefore it is a call to a continual posture of this rejoicing. And finally the object of this rejoicing is to be God. So there you have it, a command from God to continually be engaged in the act of rejoicing in him.

What does it mean to rejoice? It is simply be happy, glad, or overjoyed in. Specifically for us here in Philippians it is a calling for you and me to be satisfied, happy, overjoyed in the Lord.

We know what this is all about. Men if you are on a date with your wife, or ladies with your husband; you just want to pause the world, everything is good and right, no obligations or interruptions, just enjoying the one you love.

Or perhaps you have been on a vacation and wanted to just grow roots into the sand and sit and be solar powered in the wonderful sun with the beach playing its symphonic melodies via the waves and birds.

But how much more the privileged and sacred calling to find and experience the utmost contentment, satisfaction, delight, joy and happiness in the ultimate source of all that is good?!

So then these commands to rejoice are really words of grace. They come as confrontational commands to us to charge us to take our eyes and minds (affections) off of ourselves and rivet them upon the gloriously beautiful one. It is a calling to pull away from the glass mirror that reflects our imperfections and to draw near to the written mirror (Jam. 1.23-25) that reflects the divine perfections and beauty.

Specifically in the context of Philippians Paul is charging Christians to march in step with the divine agenda of putting the gospel first (1.27ff) walking in unity and perseverance, characterized by humility. A great way to do this is to look away from yourself and look to God, and in this looking at God, if we truly see him, we love and rejoice in him; we are happily satisfied and gloriously delighted in him.

How practical is this in our lives? In our churches? In our families? But we just gloss over these words with reproachable indifference.

So let us take our eyes off ourselves and look at Jesus as the hero; famous for his loving and glorious condescension, death and exaltation. So then when impressed by Jesus, rejoicing in Jesus is not laborious, but a privilege.

I cannot exhort you enough to discipline yourself to:

• recount and remember who you are in Christ and who you were outside of Christ,
• remember who Jesus is, what he left in heaven for you, what he did for you,
• and you with sanctified anticipation, wait eagerly for him to come again.

Rejoice in the Lord and you will love the gospel. Love the gospel and you will rejoice in the Lord.

It is easy for us to get caught up in externalism. We subtly come to believe that the only thing that matters is that we are doing the right thing- or at least look like it.

I know in my own life it is very easy to do the right things for the wrong reasons.  At times I have discovered desires in myself to be more holy, have more knowledge, love others more primarily so that others will admire me and I will feel good about myself. Our hearts are indeed decietful. We must be on guard- we must be about God’s glory as the ultimate end in all of life.

Paul Tripp posted the following at his blog this last week.

You’re always in a safe place when you’re appealing to God’s glory. This is exactly what David does in Psalm 51:18,19; “In your good pleasure make Zion prosper; build the walls of Jerusalem.” Why? “Then there will be righteous sacrifices, whole burnt offerings to delight you; then bulls will be offered on your altar.” David is essentially saying, “God bless your people because if you do, they’ll live for your glory.” This is what all truly biblical prayer will do. Now, we often reduce prayer to a laundry list of self-focused needs in which we ask God to exercise his power for the sake of our comfort or for the purpose of self-glory. You know the requests:

God give me wisdom at work (so I can make more money and acquire more power).

God alleviate my financial woes (so I have more money to spend on the pleasure and possessions that will make me happy).

God help my daughter to be more respectful (so that my evenings will be more peaceful so I can get the things done that I want to get done).

God work in the life of my husband (so I can finally experience the marriage of my dreams).

God give me a better relationship with my neighbor (so he will like me enough to make his dog quit trampling my flower beds).

God please heal my body (so that I can do the physical things that I love to do).

So much of our prayer has nothing to do with the glory of God. Regrettably, in much of our prayer we’re actually asking God to endorse our pursuit of a whole catalog of self-focused false glories. For God to be willing to do that would not only mean a denial of who he is, but it will also mean our destruction.

But perhaps you’re thinking, “Paul, it doesn’t seem loving for God to be so focused on his own glory. How does it help me to have God’s zeal for his own glory be greater than his zeal for anything else?” This is a very good question and worthy of an answer. (more…)

The Gospel Coalition is made up of various leaders who are committed to the purity, the relevancy, and the application of the gospel. The foundational documents (the elders just read through and discussed a portion of these together) are well worth reading as are many of the articles available on the site.

The following quote is from the foundational documents of the Coalition and echoes the quote I had posted earlier in the week. In light of the amount of time many of us spend working, this topic of integrating the gospel and work is vital for our thinking and must not be neglected.

The good news of the Bible is not only individual forgiveness but the renewal of the whole creation. God put humanity in the garden to cultivate the material world for his own glory and for the flourishing of nature and the human community. The Spirit of God not only converts individuals (e.g., John 16:8) but also renews and cultivates the face of the earth (e.g., Gen 1:2; Psalm 104:30). Therefore Christians glorify God not only through the ministry of the Word, but also through their vocations of agriculture, art, business, government, scholarship—all for God’s glory and the furtherance of the public good. Too many Christians have learned to seal off their faith-beliefs from the way they work in their vocation. The gospel is seen as a means of finding individual peace and not as the foundation of a worldview—a comprehensive interpretation of reality affecting all that we do. But we have a vision for a church that equips its people to think out the implications of the gospel on how we do carpentry, plumbing, data-entry, nursing, art, business, government, journalism, entertainment, and scholarship. Such a church will not only support Christians’ engagement with culture, but will also help them work with distinctiveness, excellence, and accountability in their trades and professions. Developing humane yet creative and excellent business environments out f our understanding of the gospel is part of the work of bringing a measure of healing to God’s creation in the power of the Spirit. Bringing Christian joy, hope, and truth to embodiment in the arts is also part of this work. We do all of this because the gospel of God leads us to it, even while we recognize that the ultimate restoration of all things awaits the personal and bodily return of our Lord Jesus Christ (CS–[13]).

Our new study guide for Grace Groups is now available.  We are going to be studying the book of Genesis.

If you didn’t get a copy of it this last Sunday you can download and print it here.

This should be an incredible study which will serve to heighten our view of God, deepen our understanding of Christ, enlighten our perspective of ourselves, and shed light on the world in which we live.

If you are not connected with a Grace Group or have been inconsistent recently this would be a great time to jump in.

A lot could be said about the value of work and what it means to work as a redeemed child of God. I think we would benefit from taking time to discuss and think hard about God’s view of work, the effect of the gospel on our work, and what all this means on a practical day to day level.

Here’s a little something to get our thoughts started and spark discussions. Justin Taylor at BetweenTwoWorlds posted this quote from Charles Drew this last week.

It is not always easy to worship while we work. Thanks to the fall, there is no job—whether it is raising children, running a bank, or working as a carpenter—that does not have its dreariness. Nevertheless, God made us for work, Jesus is present with us in our work, and Jesus will one day completely fix work. For these reasons, we should seek occasions to thank God for and in our work. Simply to be given something to do that brings order into our life is cause for thanks. If we get paid for it, all the better. Work often presents us with people to love—and this is good for us (especially when it is hard). There are, or course, those occasional jobs (or occasional tasks within a particular job) that we actually enjoy doing—for which it is only right to worship God. Then there is the recollection of how much worse work might be for us if we lived at a different time or under different circumstances—a recollection that should train our faith to see the hand of the Redeemer at work, and to thank him. Finally, there is the promise of consummation—of a coming world in which all toil will finally be taken from our work—and for this hope we worship God (especially when we are acutely aware of the toil in what we are presently doing).