Rejoice In The Lord Always
- Details
- Sunday Morning Service
- Jeremy Richards
- Copalis Community Church
- 02 November 2025
- Philippians 4:4
- 1 John 1:5-8
- 1 John 2:3-18
And if you remember, last week, we had talked a couple weeks ago, we had talked about the Book of Life. And Jesus says to his disciples in Luke, hey, look, everything that you might be experiencing regarding that calling that I put on you, the benefit of serving God, though tremendous in its breadth and scope and, and for the world itself, it's not to be compared with that spiritual blessing that you and I might receive at having our names written in the book of life. And my focus through understanding, through that is whatever benefit that you and I might receive on earth. The good things that you might get to encounter, the places you go, the food you eat, all the things you get to experience and do, cannot be compared with, with that act of having your name written in the book of life. Jesus said, do not rejoice that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice that your name is written in the Book of life.
And then we were to move to verse 4, verse 4, rejoicing. Chapter 4, verse 4 of Philippians.
Rejoice in the Lord always. And again I will say, rejoice in verse five. Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Many wise people have said that the individual that humankind are never at rest, they are restless until our soul finds rest in the Lord.
People have said that we are like an empty vacuum until the Lord fills our hearts. You and I were created originally in the Garden of Eden to be in fellowship with the Lord because of sin, because of an act that led to the curse and our participation because of the curse in sin. We have, in result of that sin, lost that opportunity to participate in a relationship with God that was originally created for us. We were in the garden in our ancestors, completely satisfied in the relationship that we obtained in the garden with God, walking with him, participating with him. Without that relationship, man is not at rest.
They are troubled in their soul. They are not satisfied. They are not full. There are many things which man attempts to place in that position to satisfy themselves. But nothing can conform to the greatness of that relationship that God offered our ancestors in the garden and and promises to us in heaven.
This is summed up in verse 4. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say rejoice. There is nothing in this world that can satisfy that place or position where God is meant to be rejoiced in, in and through, and participated with. Man is fully satisfied when they come to a position of rejoicing in the Lord.
This is a continual place that God is calling us to be. It is A place, it says, rejoice in the Lord always. And again I will say, rejoice. When you and I come into that place that is called heaven, there will be an opportunity, an endless opportunity for our souls to rejoice in the Lord. He will be in communion with us, wiping away our tears, presenting with us something that our soul desires.
We see a great picture of that in Revelations where Jesus comes to a door and says, behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone opens the door, I will come in and dine with him and he with me. A picture of a fellowship between two individuals in which God ministers to our soul. The soul's hurts and pains and fills it with something that this world is. Cannot provide.
You and I. Ultimately, our life's purpose is to find that thing which satisfies our soul. The goal of your life, from infancy to death, is to ultimately encounter that thing which leaves you spiritually satisfied.
Men are not looking. Men and women are not always looking in the right place. They do not always find what their soul wants to find and instead seek to fill that spot with something that is not capable of filling that elevated position.
Imagine the horror in the Judean religion, in the religion of Israel, when that spot which had been prepared for the temple of God, when in the reign of some of the kings, idols were brought into the temple rocks and altars and poles of foreign gods and they were put in the position in the holy place. The horror that should have caused to people that no, that is a place reserved for God's presence. To bring in an idol and to worship something which is opposed to God and worship them there is not good. So in a similar way, you and I have at times taken other things and attempted to fill a place that only God can fill. That position is filled with this statement, rejoice in the Lord always.
And again I say, rejoice. This position that the Lord fills in us is a place where he reinstitutes the place of fellowship with people. It is a place where our soul rejoices in. Is at rest. Is at rest.
I hope in your travels in your life you have recognized that what you are looking for cannot be filled with merely physical. I hope that sometime in your surmising and wandering and thinking, you've come to position that emotional relationships cannot ultimately fulfill that spot, that there is something spiritual that is reserved for this position. And this is that place where God comes into our life through Jesus Christ and rejoices with us. Rejoices with us. So I want to look at that a Little bit here rejoices with us.
It says, rejoice in the Lord always. And again I will say rejoice. Religion is in itself not an end. It's not something we practice or do if there's a religion. It is the pathway by which this principle is introduced into our lives.
It is the way in which we decipher how God can come into and fill, put his presence into our lives. It is the goal of. Of us rejoicing with God at fellowship with him, completely satisfied. All the knickknacks and fine clothes and all the religious ceremonies are absolutely worthless. The only thing that has any value is if those things lead us into a relationship that God desires for us, Jesus Christ.
So we're going to look about that. Even though it is in my mind an absolute reality that everyone is seeking for this satisfaction in God, that not everyone find it. And it's a terrifying thing not to find it. Within an individual's life there are things that we are looking for. Sometimes we confuse it with happiness and find that our circumstances drive us away from these things.
But we see that Peter and Paul says, count it all joy when you fall into various circumstances. So this joy that we're talking about rejoicing in the Lord is not connected to your physical circumstances in any way. They are not attached. They are not in the same equation where A plus B equals C. It is not even in the room. Your physical circumstances, your emotional relationships are not attached to your eternal fulfillment found in Christ.
You can't say because of this or because of that, or because of him or her, or because of a monetary position you find yourself in. They are not related to each other. This ability to rejoice in Jesus Christ is independent of any other physical or emotional thing. I'm going to look at in first John, at some of the things that detract from obtaining this spiritual satisfaction in John. The first epistle of John in chapter one, we're just going to start.
If it is true that the person's, the soul's eternal, unceasing desire, never stopping to cry out for fulfillment and satisfaction, is crying out for the spiritual fulfillment of that place, is there anything that prevents us from experiencing it? Is there anything that drives it from our position here on earth? Is there anything? If God is through Jesus Christ knocking on the door of our heart, wanting to come in and dine with us, is at times we given him the busy signal.
Isn't it strange that people don't answer their phones?
I feel like I'm a part of a generation that when someone calls you, you pick it up and answer it. But now it's like, it's negotiable. Right. I had a hard time, you know, at work. I get spam calls all day long.
And to actually not take the call was really difficult for me at first. Right. Kind of like, well, they're calling me. I should answer the phone. Where?
Here Jesus is knocking at the door of our hearts. He wants to experience something with us. But is there times that there's things that prevent us from obtaining that? Okay, in chapter one of First John, verse five, this is the message we have heard from him and declare to you that God is light and in him is no darkness with all is no darkness at all. Verse 6.
If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. And the blood of Jesus Christ his Son, cleanses us from all sin. So here we see there are things that move into that relationship, even though that distracts us from participating in the fullness of that relationship. This darkness is something that drives away that relationship.
So we're going to look at a few of those ways that darkness creeps in and covers over that relationship. The first one in verse eight, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Interesting. If we are to maintain this correct relationship, if we are to experience the fullness of the benefit that comes from a relationship with God, one of the things that detracts or covers over this is unconfessed sin.
Now, I'm not necessarily trying to point to the ugly things in your heart, but when is the last time you have confessed sin publicly? Interesting. Interesting thought. One of the things that maintains that relationship with God is a willingness to publicly confess our sins. The Bible says if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.
That cloud which tends to build up right live in Kapelis or on the North Beach. Those clouds tend to pile up above us and they prevent us from experiencing the warmth that comes from the sun. We live in one of the warmest spots in the United States in the winter, but one of the coldest spots in the United States in the summer. And especially right here, right here. From here, we can see the sun sometimes just over at the post Office or just over the side of Langley Hill.
Here we're in sweaters where everyone else is sunbathing and going, you know, going to the river. Right. Those sins tend to pile up like clouds in the relationship. One of the things that necessary for the believer's life is to confess sin as sin and ask forgiveness for it. Right.
Okay. If there is unconfessed sin in an individual's life, it is the cloud stemming out, obliterating the benefit that comes from that relationship. Number Chapter two, verse three. We see another one now by this we know that we know him if we keep his commandments. He who says I know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him.
An individual who says that he wants to experience the fullness of that relationship, but walks in a way that is contrary to that relationship, cannot say that they have the benefit from that relationship. If anyone has ever been in a relationship before, you know to some degree that what your spouse likes or dislikes. Yes. And sometimes people are ornery married people and they start doing things that they know their spouse hates. It feels like they want to annoy their spouse more than anything else.
Right.
Happens. Right. And we can't say we want fellowship with God. We while at the same time doing those things that we know he hates. This is not participating in it.
Verse nine, we see another one.
Same First John, we're just going to go through this just a little bit. Chapter two, verse nine. He who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in darkness. Until now. If you allow hatred of any form to creep into your heart, you cannot experience the benefit that comes from the relationship.
Because those people which we are hating God loves. If we allow ourselves the opportunity for any reason. Matthew lays out some of those reasons that that people justify anger in their hearts. If we justify anger in our hearts hatred, or any desire to attack or harm any group or kind of people, we cannot experience fellowship with the one who loves those people enough to die for them.
People in the past still today have used different standards to justify anger towards different groups of people. I hate to say it, but today I can barely go to a store, drive through town without some of these challenging my Christian love.
It's wrong. It's absolutely wrong. There is no thing that that can justify anger in a Christian's person's life and still enable them to have fellowship with the one who loves the people you hate.
Verse 10. He who loves his brother abides in the light and there is no cause for stumbling. Verse 15, the same chapter. Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
If we love the world's things, if we put our focus on the world's things, the trap means the sprinkles, the sparkles, the lights of the world. We cannot say that we have relationship with the Father, right? Those things mean nothing to him. I always love. I don't love Halloween or necessarily the celebration in our culture of Christmas.
I kind of get a kick out of the next day after Halloween and Christmas. Everything's big and bright on the night. But I think a good picture of the way the world celebrates thing is the next morning when all those puffed up things, right, the next morning they're wet and they're lying in the ground, right? They're of no importance. They're just blow up things, right?
Those things have no importance in the spiritual kingdom of God. If we love those things, it says the love of God is not in us. The last thing we're going to look at, which is extremely important in our time. In verse 18, little children, it is the last hour, as you have heard, that the Antichrist is coming. Even now many Antichrists have come by which we know it is the last hour.
Number two, you cannot have fellowship with Christ and participate in the kingdom of the Antichrist.
I believe in some degree that there has always been an Antichrist on the world stage ready to take over and proclaim a kingdom. Currently we live in an era where it is becoming more and more possible, even feasible, for one person to gain almost worldwide control of finances and subject the entire population to decrees. It wasn't too long ago where Christians were killed in Rome, set up on poles and burned because they refused to offer incense to Caesar and call him God. In France, the Huguenots were killed. They were 30% of the entire country of France.
They were persecuted, mercifully killed because they refused to participate in certain doctrines of the Catholic Church. The Reformers in England were forced to. If they would not agree to decrees in the Catholic Church, they were killed. Still today your and I's life is at risk if we refuse to participate in the kingdom of the Antichrist. Maybe not today, but one day it is happening.
And those who join his kingdom cannot have fellowship with the Father. These are all things that are like clouds that come in and turn away the benefit that comes from that relationship of rejoicing in Jesus Christ. We're going to go back to Philippians before we look at Ephesians, Philippians. Rejoice in the Lord always. And again I will say rejoice.
You and I are called to participate in a spiritual relationship with God himself through that work of Jesus Christ where the result is joy. We read this morning, the kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, that which is offered the Christian. If they should be known for anything, then in whatever kind of circumstance, they have joy. They are a joyful people. When things go wrong, when people hurt them, when there's not enough money, when everything's in backwards state, when people are dying, they still have joy because their joy is not based on any of those things.
It's based on something else. A Christian's ability to be joyful is not based on circumstances. It's not happy stance because your circumstances are good. It is joy because something has happened. Ephesians, verse 1 kind of gives us an example.
I'm just going to kind of go with that. Number one, we can have joy because someone has been concerned about our welfare before we were born. I am about God willing to become a grandfather. Yes. And I would like to say that I have in some ways been spiritually preparing to be a grandfather for a long time.
That it is a tremendously important position to hold in a child's life. And I believe personally that even before that child is born, people should be preparing themselves to pass on a spiritual blessing to an individual who has never even seen the light. You know, I'm a little uncomfortable saying this because it might make what I say ungrateful, and I hope not. But my mom died before she was able to know some of my children.
But I believe that even before she was born, she was preparing spiritual groundwork for my family. And in a similar way, God Almighty, even before you were born, was intensely interested in your circumstance, was intensely desirous to provide something for you. It should cause us to rejoice. Thinking God was concerned about my welfare before I was even a person. In all these works, which Christ does for us, we were the passive party.
We were the ones who ultimately benefited from the work being accomplished, but not able to accomplish anything for ourselves. It says that he predestined us. It says in verse seven that he redeemed us. If you remember the Fugitive Slave Law, right, A law passed through Congress in which slaves that had escaped from the north were legally required to be returned to their southern landowners. In some of those cases, they chose to sell those slaves in New York City and then Reimburse the Southern landowners with the money.
And sometimes groups took it upon themselves to bid upon these fugitive slaves so that they didn't have to return to the plantations where they labored and died. And so they bid on these slaves, hoping to be able to raise the purchase price that through the efforts of slave societies in the north, that these slaves might encounter freedom. You can imagine your life being in the balance after having taken a journey to escape from the south and now put there as opposing parties, one intent on giving you freedom and the other intent upon returning you to a cruel system. And your life is in balance. You cannot bid on yourself.
You're the passive party here. And the joy that you must feel when someone gave their resources to free yourself. And so you and I are the passive party as our guilt and our payment is read before God the Father. And there's no one, it seems, to bid on us. But Jesus Christ came and he purchased us and he redeemed us.
He redeemed us not because of anything or anything about us, but because he loved us. There's something to rejoice in continually, even when your life feels like everything is going wrong.
He predestined us. He adopted us. He made a choice to bring us into his family, to bestow on us all the riches of the Godhead. Through Jesus Christ made available to you and I. He chose to adopt us as orphans, outcasts, having no family.
He chose to adopt us and bring us into his family. And then he desires to spend eternity with us. This is a cause for rejoicing. That that place in which our souls will be continually at rest without sin is one to rejoice in. We're going to finish in just Philippians.
And then one more thing. In Matthew it says, rejoice in the Lord always. And again I will say rejoice. Paul doesn't often repeat himself more than once. But here he's driving home a well placed nail and saying, hey, look.
When your attitude stinks, when you're focusing on the superficial, when people have harmed you and treated you bad, when financially you're not in the place where you think you should be, when it seems like the government's not acting according to the standards it should in those situations it says, rejoice in the Lord, that there is still opportunity under the most depressing circumstances to rejoice in what Christ has done for you, because that is ultimately the thing which benefits you the most.
If everything went your way, it would benefit you some, but I'm not sure it would benefit you as much as the care which Christ has for you would by submitting, you could have the wealth of Trump or some of these Qatari people and they have tremendous amount of money. But I'm not sure that it would benefit you as much as Jesus Christ would. There is reason to rejoice in your circumstances by turning our focus onto what Christ has done for us that accomplishes something in our lives. It says in verse four. We're going to go to verse five.
Rejoice in the Lord always. And again I will say, rejoice, Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. When our focus is placed upon the amount that Christ has done for us, it tends for us to start treating people nice, gentle and kind. I look at sometimes about our attitudes towards people around us.
It was a couple days ago. I was tremendously angry. I normally don't act, maybe not, I can't say normally. I try not to act like a child, like a tantrum thrower. But that day was different.
And I was throwing stuff and yelling. But my focus was not on Christ. It was on something temporary, something that's going to perish, that's not lasting in any way, that has no eternal focus or benefit.
But when our focus is on Christ, we treat each other with gentleness. We treat each other with gentleness because that's how we recognize we have been treated. I'm just going to close with reading the Beatitudes.
A true focus and rejoicing in Christ produces an attitude that is in line with his characteristics. Then he opened his mouth and taught them, saying, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. As an individual who cuts and bales hay, grass, hay, grass farmer, not any kind of alfalfa farmer, just whatever grows there, just cut it and bail it in the hay.
There is a struggle that we have and it is the marine layer. The marine layer affects a hay farmer very much. We can't grow a falfa, we can't grow corn, we can't grow peas, we can't grow anything. We can grow grass. That's it just grass.
But sometimes in that process, the sun doesn't shine. That is just won't shine. It's like 90 degrees in Monte Sano, but it won't shine here. And I meant driving around in a tractor, tedding the grass and just looking at that fog just billowing over the top of us. Just like I need the sun, I need hay to dry.
Your soul is saying the same thing. I need those clouds removed. I want to experience the warmth and comfort of Christ's love in my heart. If any of these things that you are struggling with, if hatred, if unconfessed sin, if any of these things are there, it is time, especially in the time of communion, to deal with them, to let those clouds go and experience the warmth of Christ's love. If you are struggling with recognizing what Christ's love look like, then put your mind there, focus on it.
Try to understand it. Read the scripture to know what it is that Christ has done for you. And when your soul recognizes it, you won't be the same. So my encouragement is, rejoice in the Lord always. If you're a Christian, the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Rejoice in the Lord always, in every circumstance. And again I say, rejoice. So we're going to pray for communion, but I pray for us as we go into it that in someone's heart it would be a welcoming back of Christ's presence into our lives to experience the full fullness of what he wants for us. He says, behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone opens that door, I will come in.
Let's pray.