While shaking hands at the church door, ministers are sometimes greeted spontaneously: “I really enjoyed it!” followed immediately by: “Oh! I really shouldn’t say that, right?” I usually squeeze his hand tighter, and extend the greeting a little longer, and say with a smile, “Doesn’t the first question in the catechism encourage us to do that? If we are going to rejoice in Him forever, why not start now?”
Of course, we cannot rejoice in God apart from glorifying him. The Westminster Catechism wisely asks, “What rule has God given us to tell us how we can glorify and rejoice in him?” She points out that Scripture contains the “rule” for rejoicing in God and glorifying him. And we know that he abounds in instructions to glorify him, but how does he instruct us to “rejoice”?
Rejoicing in God is a command, not optional: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I’ll say it again: rejoice!” (Phil. 4:4). But how? We can’t “rejoice at command”, right?
It is true. However, the Scriptures show that well-instructed believers develop a determination to rejoice. They rejoice in the Lord. Habakkuk exemplified this in difficult days (see Hab. 3:17-18). He exercised what our forefathers called “active faith,” a vigorous determination to experience whatever the Lord commands, including rejoicing, and to use God-given means to do so.
Although we are commanded to have joy, the resources to do so are outside of ourselves, known only through union with Christ.
Here are four of these means in which we can rejoice and in which we also glorify God.
rejoice in salvation
Rejoicing in God means savoring the salvation He gives us in Jesus Christ. “I will rejoice in the God of my salvation” (Hab. 3:18). God rejoices in our salvation (Luke 15:6-7, 9-10, 32). So we should do it anyway. A masterful description of this salvation in Christ is provided in Ephesians 1:3-14. It is a gospel bath in which we should often bask, rungs on a ladder we should often climb. All this to experience the joy of the Lord as our strength (Neh. 8:10).
Although we are commanded to have joy, the resources to do so are outside of ourselves, known only through union with Christ.
Rejoicing in revelation
Glee emanates from devouring the inscribed revelation. Psalm 119 is a repeated witness to this. The psalmist “delights” in the testimonies of God “as much as in all riches” (Ps. 119:14); see also verses 35, 47, 70, 77, 103, 162, 174. Think of Jesus’ words: “I have spoken these things to you, so that my joy may be in you, and your joy may be perfect” (Jn 15). :eleven). Does he mean that he will find his joy in us so that our joy may be full, or that his joy is in us so that our joy may be full? Both explanations are surely true. We find full joy in the Lord only when we know that He finds his joy in us. The path to joy, then, is to give ourselves maximum exposure to His Word and let it dwell in us abundantly (Col. 3:16). Joy is food for the joy-hungry soul.
joy in fellowship
There is joy in the Lord to be savored in the worship we enjoy in the fellowship of the Church. She is the New Jerusalem, the city that cannot be hidden, the joy of all the earth (Ps. 48:2). We find abundant joy in the Spirit-directed fellowship of praise and petition; in the shepherding of the soul; the preaching of the Word; psalms, hymns and spiritual songs; in water, bread, and wine. The Lord rejoices in us with songs of joy (Zeph. 3:17). And our hearts, in response, sing with joy.
Rejoicing in tribulation
This, in fact, is a divine paradox. There is joy to be known amidst and through sorrow. Viewed biblically, tribulation is the punishing hand of the Father, who uses the pain and darkness of life to mold us into the image of the One who, for the joy set before Him, endured the cross (Heb. 12:1-2). , 5-11, see Rom 8:29). We glorify and rejoice in our tribulations, Paul says, because “suffering produces…hope” in us (Rom. 5:3-4). Peter and James echo the same principle (1 Pet. 1:3-8, James 1:2-4). The knowledge of God’s sure hand in providence not only brings stability. It is also a joy generator.
All this adds to the jubilation in God himself. In Romans 5:1-11, Paul takes us from rejoicing in the hope of God’s glory (v. 2), to rejoicing in tribulation (v. 3), and glorifying in God Himself (v. 11; see Ps. 43). :4). The unbeliever finds this incredible, because he has been blinded by Satan’s lie that glorifying God is the highest path to joylessness. Fortunately, Christ reveals that the opposite takes place in him, by our salvation, by his revelation, in the blessed fellowship of worship, and through tribulation.
rejoice! Yes, with everlasting joy upon your head (Is. 51:11).
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON . TRANSLATED BY CAROLINA HOLGUÍN. IMAGE: .