Rejoice

Finding Joy in a Sea of Struggles

One of the more well-known passages from Philippians reads, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!”¹ That seems easy enough to understand. However, aware of the many challenges that people face in life, the challenge of rejoicing is in the doing. Frankly, how are we to rejoice when life becomes difficult to bear?

I’ve read this passage about rejoicing and sang that little devotional song based on this passage many times. Perhaps, you have done so as well. The admonition, however, becomes more challenging when we consider that Paul’s word about rejoicing is written from a prison cell where he might face execution. But that context matters. The reason it’s important to remember the context from which Paul writes is that most of us will also face difficulties in life. Yet, if we’re honest, rejoicing is probably not what comes to mind when we encounter unfavorable circumstances.

Yet, the text is clear. We open our Bible to Philippians 4:4 and read about rejoicing in the Lord, and it’s not a random thought. The verb rejoice occurs nine different times throughout Philippians (cf. 1:18 [2x]; 2:17, 18, 28; 3:1, 4:4 [2x], 10). So the idea of rejoicing is an important part of the theme in Philippians. Furthermore, I believe our ability to rejoice is essential to living a Christ-formed life. How then do we rejoice? More importantly, since life is often challenged with difficult circumstances, how do we rejoice in a sea of strugles?

The answer to such questions begins by considering what it means to rejoice. I think most people, including myself, often use the word joy as a synonym for happiness, in which happiness is based on their happenstances—good or bad. If we receive a big tax return after filing taxes, we're happy and most likely will share that happiness by verbally rejoicing. On the other hand, if we owe a lot in taxes, then we’re not so happy and understandably so. Instead of expressing joy, we may voice our displeasure. The problem here is that we are turned inward, gazing on our own circumstances as to whether or not we should be happy and rejoice.

If we are to rejoice, even when dealing with all of life’s difficulties, another source of joy is necessary. That alternative source is found by turning outward. True happiness that flows from joy requires an outward focus. Instead of focusing on our own circumstances, good or bad, joy, and its byproduct of happiness, come from outside of ourselves.

Richard Beck, in his book The Shape of Joy, explains how joy comes from outside ourselves. However, Beck goes one step further by naming transcendence as the key to joy. He writes, “Transcendence is the secret to joy. Faith and Spirituality are good for your mental health. Study after study has shown this. Joy has a shape. The secret to happiness is turning outward.”²

Turning outward towards transcendence is more difficult than we realize. First of all, we can’t ignore the difficulties we face in life. Even if we wanted to, it’s not possible, and trying to do so might actually make life even more difficult. Beyond that, we live in a society thoroughly embedded in a secular framework.³ Knowing that we live in a secular society is probably not a surprise to anyone. However, one of the results of secularism is living in an immanent framework that is closed off to an awareness of transcendence.⁴ With transcendence so obscured, we can easily go about life unaware of God's presence and work in life. So if finding joy requires an outward turn towards God, whom we struggle to see at work, how can we find this joy so that Christians may rejoice?

The apostle Paul has the answer to the question of where joy is found. When Paul mentions rejoicing, he qualifies it by saying, “Rejoice in the Lord” (italics mine).

Joy is found in the redemptive work that God has accomplished in the crucified and resurrected Jesus Christ. Remembering that this is the source of joy is why it’s so important for us to gather together within our Christian communities on Sundays. This isn’t to suggest that we neglect other times of gathering together. I mention the Sunday gathering because this is the Lord’s Day, when we gather around the Lord’s Table. Around the Lord’s Table, Christians gather in the presence of God to share in the bread and wine of the Eucharist as they give thanks for the redemptive work God has accomplished in Jesus Christ—the very reason for why we rejoice. Our gatherings are an opportunity to be reminded of the gospel as a means of grace through song, prayer, scripture, and hearing God’s word proclaimed as they share in the Lord’s Supper together.⁵ The Holy Spirit then draws us into God’s victory in Jesus Christ, which is the true source of our joy. Finding our joy in God’s victory opens space for us to rejoice because God’s victory is also the victory of Christians.⁶

No matter what happens, good or bad, the key to rejoicing in the Lord is to give attention to God’s redemptive work in Jesus Christ. We can rejoice in the Lord because we know that the crucified and resurrected Jesus Christ is Lord!

1. Philippians 4:4; all scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

2. Richard Beck, The Shape of Joy: The Transformative Power of Moving Beyond Yourself, Minneapolis: Broadleaf Books, 2024, 104.

3. Charles Taylor, A Secular Age, Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2007, 146. This framework is what Taylor describes as a “social-imaginary,” which has to do with the way people “collectively imagine” human existence.

4. Ibid, 294.

5. For more on a sacramental view of the assembly, see John Mark Hicks, Johnny Melton, and Bobby Valentine, A Gathered People: Revisioning the Assembly as Transforming Encounter, Abilene, TX: Leafwood Publishers, 2007.

6. Stephen E. Fowl, Philippians, The Two Horizons New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005), 181, to have joy “is not so much a spontaneous emotion as a response formed in those who can read the economy of God’s activity in particular ways and are able to act in conformity with that unfolding story. Joy is the appropriate response when one rightly perceives the unfolding of God’s drama of salvation even in the midst of suffering and opposition.”