"Rejoice In The Lord"

by Jarvie, G. | Category: General | Mar 1957

"Serve the LORD with gladness:

Come before His presence with singing" (Psalm 100.2).

"Rejoice in the Lord alway: again I will say, Rejoice" (Philippians 4.4).

It is evident that God would have His people to be a rejoicing people. Sadness has never had its origin in Him. In this brief article the writer would like to examine the Scriptures in regard to the joy of the Lord, and our joy in Him.

"Serve the LORD with gladness." The LORD is a great God and a great King (Psalm 95.3) and we His servants should remember this in our service for Him. Service which lacks joy is unworthy and dishonouring to His great Name. It gives those who see us a wrong impression of the God whom we serve. Paul's cheerfulness, both in the storm (Acts 27) and in the prison (Acts 16), made a great impression on all those who heard and saw him. If we are serving the Lord with sadness then we are displeasing Him. Let us stop that kind of service, and search our hearts for the cause of the sadness. It is true that the Lord's service will mean-" Many a sorrow, many a labour, many a tear." But this sorrow, strange to say, is a sorrow intermingled with deep joy. Paul described it, "As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing" (2 Corinthians 6.10). This sorrow has no resemblance to the sorrow that comes from sin or unbelief. It is not a sorrow over our own sin, but over the sin of others. It is the sorrow of the Man of Sorrows, which we are privileged to share with Him. It can never be confused with the sorrow of the world, because it is intermingled with peace and joy.

But let us freely confess it, that our service for the Lord is often lacking in that overflowing joy which ought to characterize it. What is the cause? It may be unbelief. We may be failing to meditate on and enjoy the promises of God. We may read them, and yet not accept them by faith. This will cause our service to be joyless. It may be regular, but joyless, and if it is joyless it will also be fruitless. Or again, we may be joyful at one time, and joyless at another. The cause of this is likely to be that we are more concerned about ourselves and our work for the Lord, than we are about His will and His glory. Our service is coloured with selfishness, and our joy is not truly. in Him, but in our own work, therefore it rises and falls. Another cause may be "hidden faults " (Psalm 19.12). We may have failed to search our hearts before God, and there may be hidden faults which we have not realized. In this case our prayer-life is defective. We may be spending time seeking from God, yet failing to wait for Him with silent heart. We may have much to say to Him in prayer, and yet lack a "hearing heart" (1 Kings 3.9 R.V.M.), and so our hidden faults remain hidden to us. The Lord's service will therefore be joyless and disappointing to us, because we lack His manifest presence in our lives. A more common cause, perhaps, is the covering over of known sin or failure in our lives This may be manifold We may be failing to love other disciples from the heart fervently (1 Peter 1. 22) What strong words these are1 Not only from the mouth or by shaking hands, but from the heart And not only from the heart but from the heart, fervently If this kind of love is lacking in our lives then assuredly we shall lack the joy of the Lord m our service There is no substitute for the love of Christ in our lives Let us not be hypocrites, pretending to love Christ if we do not love His members Our brethren and sisters are His members and when we love them we show our love to Him Deeper still we may hold a grudge in our hearts against another, and this saps away not only our joy but our very life It may be a root of bitterness that troubles and defiles many (Hebrews 12.15). This is one of Satan's strategies to destroy the work of God in us. Oh, dear brethren and sisters let us be honest before God and before each other! If this has come into our lives let us not sleep until the thing is put right from the heart and the peace of God will come again and fill our hearts. It may be that we have wronged another, and we are too proud to humble ourselves and put it right. If it is so, then we shall remain joyless and fruitless until the day that our hearts are broken before the Lord and we seek our brother. No wrong is ever forgotten never. But it can be forgiven and forgotten, both by our brother and by the Lord. By our brother first and then by the Lord When that is so the joy that He has withheld from us will come back again. The Lord will draw near to us and heal us, and the brother will love us even more than before Forgiveness blesses those who forgive even more than those who are forgiven. Whatever the sin, or the uncleanness or the failure it must be dealt with from the heart, and only then will the joy of the Lord come again to us. Let it be written boldly, it must be FROM THE HEART.

The world has a joy, but it is not from the heart. It is a manufactured thing; it is a make-believe. The worldly man has a heart full of sin, and joy from the heart can never be his, unless he comes to the Cross, until he dies with Christ to sin.

Fellow-disciple, let us not be content with a sham joy, let it be from the heart. If it is not so then let us search our hearts until we find the cause, and having found the cause let us put it right whatever the cost. Life is too valuable to fritter away pretending that we have what we do not have; pretending that we love the Lord if we do not love one another from the heart; pretending that the joy of the Lord is our portion if His service is like a drudgery. Let us remember that the prime essential in a fruitful life is, "an honest and good heart" (Luke 8.15).

"Wilt Thou not quicken us again:

That Thy people may rejoice in Thee?" (Psalm 85.6).

Let us say "Amen" to this, and prepare our hearts for reviving, and the joy of the Lord. When our hearts are cleansed and yielded, His joy will be in us, and our joy will be full.

Jarvie, G. | Mar 1957
General