WWUTT 027 Rejoice Always (Philippians 4:4-7)

If there is any word that could describe Paul's letter to the Philippians, it would be joy.

This theme of joy just permeating this letter to the church. In fact, he says it twice in Philippians 4 .4,

rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again, rejoice. And that is the attitude we should all have as Christians when we understand the text.

Welcome to When We Understand the Text. My name is Pastor Gabe. So great to be with you and read through this letter through Philippians.

In fact, this study has been so great for me because it's helped to increase my joy, which is something that I can always use a dose of.

We have that theme of joy all the way through the book of Philippians. I don't want to forget it because we're going to be reminded about it heavily today as we get to Philippians 4 .4,

and that charge that Paul makes to rejoice in the Lord always. We'll also see this theme of Thanksgiving come up continuously through Paul's letters, and we'll talk about that as well.

Toward the end of this particular episode, we are going to be taking a question about gifts of the

Spirit. And if you would like to submit a question, you can go to our website, www .utt

.com. You find all of our videos there. There's an email link on the right side of the page. Send us an email, ask your question, and maybe you'll hear it here on this broadcast.

Before we come to the text, why don't we go to the Lord in prayer? Our gracious heavenly Father, we thank you again for an opportunity to read your word, and I pray that it fills us up with joy.

We store up this joy in our hearts. We understand joy to be a thing that is not conditional on our circumstances.

Whether we're happy or we're sad, we can experience joy in the Lord. It is something that is unmoving, and we know that in Christ, it is unending.

It is our confidence, our hope, knowing we have been rescued from the grave because of what Christ did on the cross, and we have had your grace poured out upon us.

So let us display that eternal understanding with the joy that we show in our lives, in our families, in our relationships, our work environment, with the other people that we encounter throughout the world.

Let there be that attitude of joy. We are fully satisfied in our

Savior God, and we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Philippians chapter four, beginning in verse four, rejoice.

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again. Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone.

The Lord is at hand. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

What a beautiful thing. Beautiful statement. This reminder to be thankful in all circumstances, to rejoice in the

Lord always. The apostle Paul always displayed a thankful heart for those that he was writing to.

We see in Romans 1, 8, when Paul is addressing the church in Rome, in his greeting, he says first, okay?

After he gives his greeting in those first seven verses, and before he gets into any lesson to teach the

Romans, he says to them first, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world.

We see this thankfulness in other letters. First Corinthians 1, 4, I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 1, 16, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.

And we saw at the beginning of this letter, Philippians 1, 3, I thank my God in remembrance of you.

Colossians 1, 3, we always thank God when we pray for you. First Thessalonians 1, 2, we give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers.

And he expresses gratitude to Timothy, to Titus, and Philemon, his individuals who received his letters toward the end of the list of the

Pauline epistles. Who are we missing there? When we're looking at Paul's thankfulness being expressed to all of the churches that he is writing to, which church does he not express thankfulness toward?

The Galatians. That's the one that you didn't hear. He does not express gratitude for the Galatians because they were following in a false teaching.

And he meant to write to them to convict them of having deserted the gospel for another teaching.

So he didn't want them to feel like he was grateful for them. On the contrary, he said to them, I feel like that I am having to labor again for you, like a mother in birth pains, giving birth to you again, because you have abandoned the gospel for a false teaching.

And so there, there was, there was really a burden upon Paul's heart when he was writing to the Galatians. And toward the end of the letter, he said, let no one be any trouble for me anymore.

Right? So he was really troubled by the Galatians and was not thankful for that. So we don't see him express thankfulness toward the

Galatians, but in every other letter that he writes, there is gratitude toward those that he is writing to even the

Corinthians. And that's one that's convicting for me, because when you look at all the stuff that the Corinthian church was going through, man, they're basically like a church that if you were, if you were going down the list of the stuff that was happening in that church, you would say, what a, what a horrible church.

They're not worshiping God at all. Close their doors, shut them down right now. They do not deserve to call themselves a church.

When you look at the sins that were happening in the Corinthian church, but yet that's not the way that Paul responded.

How did he respond? He loved them enough and was thankful for them enough to write to them and say, now he knew that there were some genuine

Christians within that church. It was those Christians from the house of Chloe that brought him the report of the things that were happening in the

Corinthian church. He loved them enough to say, Hey, here's the things that I've heard about going on. And you have got to repent.

You have got to repent of this stuff and walk in the way that we taught you to what holding fast to the gospel that you were taught from the very beginning.

And then we know there was a change in the Corinthian church after that in second

Corinthians, we see that they were aggrieved by the letter that Paul sent. And Paul said, I am glad that it grieved you because it was a godly grief that produced repentance.

Worldly grief leads to death. A godly grief leads to a repentance and deeper faith.

So we, we see Paul's gratitude for the Corinthians enough that he would write to them and would correct them.

And in that sense, you could also say that he is thankful for the collage, the Galatians enough to write to them and call them out for the false gospel that they were following.

He just doesn't express gratitude toward them because they needed to be convicted about the false teaching that they were following.

So anyway, the point being made there, we, we have this, this theology of thankfulness in every single one of Paul's letters, and we see the instruction to be thankful deeper.

Still Colossians three 15 through 16 is one of my favorite passages. And I use it frequently in my church.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts to which indeed you were called in one body and be thankful.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing

Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

And notice that instruction to teach and admonish one another in all wisdom comes after Paul says to be thankful.

So it's with a thankful heart that we would correct and admonish one another in the truth, in the love of Jesus Christ, not doing it by the letter, not doing it in a way that becomes a legalistic, but because we are thankful for that person.

We, and we truly have their best interest in mind. We have their heart in mind when we come to them with correction.

All right. This is an instruction that Paul has given to the Philippians that they be of one mind about everything, that they consider the other's needs ahead of their own.

So you are not correcting someone else because you need to be vindicated in how you interpret the truth.

You are correcting someone else because you truly and genuinely care for their heart.

He says also to the Colossians to be abounding in Thanksgiving. That's Colossians 2, 7, to be watchful in Thanksgiving, Colossians 4, 2.

And then we also see the expression of thanksgiving to other churches that Paul writes to as well.

Another one of my favorites is in second Corinthians nine. This is where you have the instruction to give with a cheerful heart.

And in verses 10 through 12, Paul says, he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food.

We're talking about God's provision for us. He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.

You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.

For the ministry of service is not only supplying the needs of the saints, but it's also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God.

And sometimes that abundance that God gives us is not necessarily material possession. It's wisdom, it's knowledge and knowing how to use knowledge in a proper way, which would be wisdom.

And so then with that understanding of God's word, if he has provided for us richly, we give it more abundantly.

We take the knowledge of the word of God to other people, uh, and we share the gospel.

Uh, Paul says, he goes on to say, thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift. It is so abounding.

We can't even express how great it is. The salvation that we have in Christ Jesus, our

Lord, and the many other gifts that come from that, uh, the instruction that Paul gives to the Ephesians, Ephesians five, four, let there be no filthiness, nor foolish talk, nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be

Thanksgiving. And one of the things that I appreciate about that verse is that when we are thankful, when we express

Thanksgiving with our mouths, we're occupying our mouths with something else other than negative talk, filthiness, uh, crude joking.

Okay. The best assault on that kind of language is Thanksgiving. And I've had that question come up, uh, of me a lot.

If I've had a new Christian that has come into my church and has said, man, I really want to grow in Jesus Christ.

I can't stop swearing. I swear all the time. I want to change my speech.

How do I do that? Now that is, that is also a prevalent problem where I pastor, because our church is right next to a military base.

How do you think they talk on a military base? So I know that we have soldiers that come into our church who are surrounded by guys that talk like that all the time, and we'll fall into that as well.

And those guys will come to me and they will say, how can I correct my speech? How can

I stop from swearing all the time and speak more positively and say things that are more pleasing and honorable to God.

And the best way, the best assault that you can Mount against a filthy tongue is to be thankful.

And that has to come from a thankful heart. You can't just speak thankful words and expect that it's going to transform your heart.

There has to be a transformation of the heart. And that comes by the power of the spirit. Pray to God and ask him to change your heart and make your mouth and your speech, something that is pleasing to God, that is thankful, that is expressing thanksgiving for all that God has given you.

Because really, when it comes to crude joking and filthiness and foolish talk and all of these things, this shows ungratefulness whenever we talk this way.

So if we want to be fully grateful for all that God has done for us, we need to express ourselves with thanksgiving, showing that we are fully we are fully gratified in all of the things that Christ has given to us.

So the best way, again, to mount an assault against filthiness, foolish talk and crude joking is a thankful heart.

Let there be thanksgiving. Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God and Christ Jesus for you.

That's first Thessalonians 518. That's for my life.

And usually when I'm getting that question, I'm getting it from a person who says, you know, I I'm thinking about moving to California or Colorado or to the or Florida, the

East Coast or something like that. Is that God's will for me? Is it God's will for me to move there?

Or I'm thinking about a career change. What is God's will for me in this career change? Or I'm thinking about getting married.

Is it God's will for me to get married? What is God's will for me in this situation?

And the way that I respond is give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

And that's often met that that answer is often met with very perplexed looks.

I'm asking you to give me advice here. And you're quoting to me, give thanks in all circumstances. What does that have to do with my situation?

Well, before we come to any understanding about what God's will would be for us in that circumstance, we need to understand that we should give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Do you have a thankful heart toward God in everything so that no matter what the outcome of this situation is going to be, whether it comes out in your favor or not, are you still going to be thankful to God?

So it is important first that we give thanks in all circumstances. That's the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

The Bible is not going to tell you what tax bracket you should be in, what place on the globe that you should live in or whether or not you should get married.

The Bible doesn't say that you're not going to be able to open up the pages and see, Hey, Johnny, you need to get married.

Elizabeth, you need to get married to Johnny. Okay. That's not going to be listed in your Bible. It's it does not tell us our fortunes.

It tells us the story of redemption in Christ Jesus, our Lord, in whom we are to be thankful in all circumstances.

So when it comes to moving or picking a job or whether or not you should get married, these are the kinds of questions that takes many counselors to help you answer.

As it says in the book of Proverbs, there is wisdom in many counselors. So that's how I would advise you to come about the answer to what it is that you should do.

Make sure that you have the wisdom of many counselors and don't just go ask a bunch of people and get the answer that you are looking for.

All right. Don't just ask people individually. There probably should be a time you should get a group of people together and have all of you together talking about what

God might be calling you to do next. Maybe he's calling you into ministry. Maybe he's calling you to go overseas just because you want to go overseas and do missions doesn't mean that's necessarily what

God wants you to do. In fact, I think of a story from David Platt and how he became the president of the

International Missions Board. He had just come back from Nepal and was talking to his wife about maybe we need to move to Nepal.

But as the Lord was opening his heart for those things and preparing him over a period of six months as to what it is that he should do next, it turned out that Nepal was not what

God had in store for David Platt. It was to become the president of the International Missions Board. So just because Dr.

Platt had a desire to want to go to Nepal and spread the gospel is not necessarily what

God wanted him to do. The Apostle Paul wanted to go to a certain place in Asia to spread the gospel, but the

Spirit kept him from doing that and sent him instead to Macedonia. So there are times when

God will be directing our route a certain way. And just because we think that it's what God might want us to do, just because we would be preaching the gospel as we do it does not inherently mean it is what we should do.

So be sure that you are seeking the advice of many counselors when it comes to obeying the will of God.

In all circumstances, though, we give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Paul says to Timothy, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people.

Be thankful for all people? We need to be thankful even for the president of the

United States? Yeah, we do, actually, because that's in First Timothy 2 .1.

We need to subject ourselves to all of the ruling authorities because they have been placed in those positions by God.

Call the president to correction? Yes. Be thankful for him? Yes. We need to do that too. He is a human being.

Like anyone else, he needs the gospel. Like anyone else, pray for him. Supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings made for all people.

Now, I have just gone through stuff from the Apostle Paul in how he has expressed this theology of thanksgiving all the way through his letters, but we see thanksgiving permeating the whole

Bible. Okay. Psalm 9, I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart. Psalm 106, give thanks to the

Lord for he is good. His steadfast love endures forever. And I think also in Revelation 7,

I think also of the saints from all tribes and all nations that are gathered around the throne saying, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our

God forever and ever. Amen. So this thanksgiving is not just something that we're going to be doing while we inhabit these lives on earth.

This expression of thanksgiving, folks, it's going to be going on for all eternity. When we are brought into the presence of God and live in his eternal kingdom, we will be giving thanks to him for all eternity.

So give thanks now in light of eternity, the eternal life that you have been given in Christ Jesus, our

Lord. All right. We're at the end of this session as we studied through scripture and we've really only read, rejoice in the

Lord always. I will say it again, rejoice. But folks, we need to have a reminder and an understanding of that thankful heart that we are to have in Christ Jesus, giving thanks in all circumstances.

We'll read this section again tomorrow. Our Lord God, as we wrap up this study of these scriptures now for today,

I pray that you are reminding us to have thankful hearts in all circumstances. God, it is something that I need to be thankful in everything.

Even when I feel like there are antagonists or people that come up against me for any reason, that I'm still thankful for enduring this for the sake and the cause of Christ.

And even when things are good, especially then to give thanks to God, because there are occasions for me when

I can feel like things are so good. There's not a reason for me to have to give thanks. I'm thankful already, right?

But no, I still need to express thankfulness to God. So let there be thanksgiving in my heart in all circumstances, for this is your will for me in Christ Jesus.

Rejoice in the Lord always. Help me to say it again. Rejoice.

And we pray this in Jesus name. Amen. When we refer to the spiritual gift of speaking in tongues, what are we talking about?

Well, according to Acts 2, tongues are intelligible languages. On the day of Pentecost, the apostles received the

Holy Spirit and went into Jerusalem preaching the gospel, and everyone could understand what they were saying in their own language.

But, as we read in 1 Corinthians 14, tongues can also be unintelligible languages. Paul says in verse 2 that one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men, but to God, for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries of the

Spirit. He goes on to say that this kind of speaking in tongues only edifies the person praying. It does not edify the church, which is what we should be striving for.

Since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, he says, strive to excel in building up the church. And that would be sound teaching of the

Word of God. If outsiders come in and see you speaking in tongues, they'll think you're insane. A church acting like zoo animals flopping around on the floor is not somehow anointed by the

Spirit. Quite the opposite, actually. And if they tell a person that they must speak in tongues to show evidence of the Holy Spirit, that's false teaching.

Understand that narrative is not normative. Just because Acts 10 and Acts 19 show people receiving the

Holy Spirit and immediately speaking in tongues does not mean that a person needs to speak in tongues in order to receive the

Holy Spirit. Any more than we should throw ourselves into fiery furnaces or lion's dens to prove we have real faith, or pick up snakes.

Admittedly, Scripture is not clear that the gift of tongues is ceased. There's nothing inherently wrong with praying in a tongue in controlled or private circumstances.

But what we should desire most is that which edifies others and builds up the church when we understand the text.

That's been one of our more hotly contested videos, and you probably understand why. And has prompted several individuals to email me and ask if I am a cessationist or a continuationist.

Just to give you a nutshell definition of those two terms, cessationism is the idea that the gifts of the Spirit have ceased.

Gifts of the Spirit that we see manifested in the book of Acts during the planning of the church. Things like speaking in tongues, miraculous healings, and so forth.

Continuationism is the idea that those gifts have not ceased but continue even in the church today.

So though I've been asked this question in several different ways, I've chosen Jason's email from Germany who writes to me and says,

Pastor Gabe, are you a cessationist or a continuationist? Do you think that the gifts of the

Spirit can still be observed in the church today? Prophecy, speaking in tongues, healing, etc. Thank you for your email,

Jason. To answer your first, the first part of your question, are you a cessationist or a continuationist?

The answer is yes. There's actually aspects of cessationism that I do agree with, and there's aspects of continuationism that I agree with.

At the same time, I've heard some continuationists say, hey, there's things about cessationists that I agree with, and I've also heard cessationists say, hey, there's things about continuationism that I agree with.

So to best answer this question, why don't we just go to the text? Instead of leaving this as an ambiguous, yeah,

I agree with these guys, and I agree with these guys, let me just tell you this from the text, all right? So let's go to 1 Corinthians 12, where we see the apostle

Paul talk about the gifts of the Spirit, starting in verse 4. Now, there are varieties of gifts, but the same

Spirit. And there are varieties of service, but the same Lord. And there are varieties of activities, but it is the same

God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the

Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge, according to the same

Spirit. To another, faith by the same Spirit. Now, this is a different kind of faith than the common faith that we all share.

There's obviously something unique about the faith that Paul is talking about here in verse 9. He goes on to say, to another, gifts of healing by the one

Spirit. Verse 10, to another, the working of miracles. To another, prophecy. To another, the ability to distinguish between spirits, which is called discernment.

To another, various kinds of tongues. To another, the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same

Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as He wills.

Do I think that the Holy Spirit is continuing to manifest Himself with these gifts of the

Spirit in the church today, as we have seen them described in 1 Corinthians 12, verses 4 through 11?

Yes, I think the Holy Spirit is still doing that. Okay. Now, here's where I agree with cessationism, and this is absolutely necessary to understand.

Do I think that the Holy Spirit is continuing to reveal new truth that is on the level of the same authority that we see given by the apostles in the

New Testament? No, I do not think that the Holy Spirit is still revealing new truth.

The Bible is complete, and it will never be added to. In Ephesians chapter 2, we see it stated plainly that Jesus has chosen the apostles to be the foundation of the church, with Himself as the cornerstone.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, I think it's verse 8. In fact, I'm still in 1 Corinthians 12, so let me go there so I can state it for sure.

1 Corinthians 15, yeah, verse 8. Last of all, Christ appeared to me as to one untimely born.

And the way that Paul is going through a list of how Christ appeared to each apostle in 1

Corinthians 15, 1 through 8, he is putting himself in an order in which he is placed last.

He is the last apostle, and no other apostles will come after him.

The apostle John was the last one to have died in the late 1st century

AD. When John died, that was it. The apostolic ministry came to a conclusion.

Now, some will say it was even earlier than that, that the apostolic ministry concluded before the destruction of the temple in 70

AD. That may also be true. But what we know for sure is that Paul was the last apostle.

There are no other apostles appointed after that. And so therefore, the apostolic foundation of the church ended in the 1st century.

There are no more new apostles. So if you are ever entering into a church that's an apostolic church or a church that claims to appoint new apostles or that it can raise up apostles on the same level of authority as a

John or a Paul or a Peter or any of the other apostles that we see listed in the

New Testament run far away from that church because they mean to impose on you new revelations that they would claim to be of the same authority as what we are reading in the completed

New Testament. So where I agree with cessationism is there is no new revelations of the Spirit. Where I agree with continuationism is that there are still manifestations of the

Spirit, according to the gifts that we see listed there in 1st Corinthians 12 verses 4 through 11.

But I think that those presentations of those gifts of the Spirit are done in very wise, controlled ways.

It is not what you see in charismatic and apostolic churches with people flopping on the floor and barking like dogs and speaking gibberish in tongues and all of this other kind of stuff.

I'm with Matt Chandler when he says, I'm a gifts guy. Yes, I still think that the Holy Spirit can communicate through gifts.

Now what that looks like, I'm going to take another question on that tomorrow. So we'll continue to talk about these gifts of the

Spirit tomorrow toward the end of tomorrow's broadcast. So come back for that. Lord, as we conclude our discussion today, continue to fill us up with your

Spirit and let us be attentive to the wisdom of the Spirit as we pray this in Jesus name. Amen.

You've been listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabriel Hughes. Pick up his book, 40 of the

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Thank you for listening and please tell others about our program. Join us again tomorrow as we continue our study of Philippians, rejoicing in God's truth when we understand the text.