“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.” – Ephesians 2:4-5
It can be so easy to fall into the trap of self-illusion and self-righteousness. Our good looks, our perfect ways, our talents and gifts; so easy to get carried away. We often forget that our foundation and cornerstone is Christ Jesus. He loved us even when we didn’t know Him. He provided for us even when we didn’t shed a sweat for Him. Isn’t this an act of His infinite grace?
Grace has been mentioned about 170 times in the Bible. How is it different or similar to mercy!
Grace is when God gives us something we don’t deserve whereas, mercy is when God doesn’t give us what we do deserve. (Worth reading again)
Grace, originates from the Latin word gratia, which came from the Greek word charis, which originally meant “favor,” as in a gift or act of kindness that one person extends to another, in a gesture of offering. The shedding of Christ’s blood on the cross of Calvary was the ultimate offering given for us.
We have done absolutely nothing to earn this love. It is not by any of our works that we have received this salvation from Christ, our Saviour.
When we were soaked in our lawlessness, our God through Jesus, chose to love us. It’s his mercy which has saved us from the umpteen punishments. We deserved to be torn apart but by his mercy we are intact in him
Few lines from a hymn which summarize as below –
Amazing grace — how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me; I once was lost, but now I’m found; was blind but now I see.
Lord, we are grateful for your grace that saved us from our transgressions. You chose us much before we even knew you. Help us to remember this and walk in faith spreading your love wherever you place us. Amen.
“for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” – 2 Timothy 1:7
Recently, I was working on an engagement event for my team at my workplace. I just couldn’t get my thoughts aligned to execute it. Moreover, I had already released the announcement about the event, timings etc; barely having any idea about the execution. This was especially when I was struggling in my prayer time.
Somehow in the midst of this, a day prior to the event I realised that it was ‘I’ who was trying to make this happen. It was my self-dependence, leaning on my own ability and strength that was getting in the way and thereby led to fear of how all this will turn out. The Holy Spirit pointed this sin in me and I just looked to God in prayer, not during my typical prayer time but in the midst of my workday; just calling out to Jesus to help me.
When I stepped back from myself and stepped forward in Trusting Christ, out of nowhere the entire blueprint was ready. His heart reaches out to us. It reminded me ways in which our loving God wants us to speak to him, in my case not merely speak but just depend on him.
In Psalms 55, the Lord reminds us to cast our burdens on him and he will sustain us. Sustain means to make something continue for a long period of time without becoming less. That’s the promise which we have received from God, through his Son, Jesus Christ.
When we turn to Jesus, we are reminded of his immense love for us which helps us give up our own control and give Him complete control. We serve a God who works out all things for the good of those who love him. Today, pray and think about one area you are struggling with and surrender that to God. Build your faith in Jesus, trusting him with his divine plan.
Lord, I am broken and sinful. But through your infinite grace, I can come to you and cast all my worries and cares on you. Help me to have a spirit, not of fear but of hope ignited by faith in your promises. Lord, reign in me. Amen
“for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” – Philippians 2:13
There is no doubt that God expects absolute and full surrender from us. God claims it from us, and He has the right to demand it from us. And though He wants to do great things in and through our lives, he cannot work with a half surrendered heart.
Imagine the pen in our pocket, and because the pen belongs to us, that pen must be absolutely surrendered to our hand if we are to write with it. If another holds it partly, we cannot write the way we want to write.
Similarly, we belong to God for His purpose, and unless He has full control over us, He won’t be able to use us the way he wants.
At the same time, God is not asking us to give the perfect surrender in our strength, or by the power of our will. Instead, it is God who accomplishes our surrender to him, and that is what we learn from our above passage “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure”.
We grieve the Holy Spirit by trying to accomplish absolute surrender by our self-will, self-confidence and self-effort. We have to learn to cast this self-life and flesh-life at the feet of Jesus and trust Him to accomplish it for us.
Brothers & sisters, let us learn to trust in our Saviour, let loose the firm grip we have on our strength, wisdom and abilities, and let him take reign of our lives.
Lord, forgive us for putting our trust on our corrupt and rotten flesh in accomplishing absolute surrender to you, instead, help us lean on you and in your strength and power.
The passage we will be looking at today is 1 Thessalonians 5:16 and the verse simply says
“Rejoice Always”
1 Thessalonians 5:16
Always Rejoice – meaning to feel or show great joy or delight…. Always
At this point you must be thinking, that’s absolutely impossible.
How can someone rejoice always?
I can rejoice sometimes, but definitely not always.
Why?
You might say…
“Because life is tough.”
“You don’t know what I’ve gone through in the
past, I’m still dealing with it”
“You don’t know what I am going through right
now, its unbearable sometimes”
“My job is the worst job in the world, during
this lockdown they make me work like a donkey”
“My company is least caring, they asked me to
sit at home without paying a penny.”
“My marriage is breaking apart, we are struggling”
“My education is at a standstill, I don’t know when I will finish my course and get a job, I don’t even know if I will get a job”
” In such a circumstance, if God is expecting me to Rejoice, that too not sometimes but always, how is that even possible? “
“It’s easy for Paul to write that, and it’s easy for Saju to say that, but they don’t know what I’m going through. My present circumstances are so tough that even thinking about Rejoicing in any manner is absolutely impossible.”
Brothers & sisters, if those are the thoughts running through your mind when you read today’s passage, or maybe I brought it out and reminded you of your hard life.
In this sermon, I want to leave you with a couple of thoughts to ponder upon which I believe will help you see the possibility of choosing to Rejoice Always.
I believe it is possible, I’ve met people in real life who I’ve seen rejoicing in the Lord
at all times.
I’ve read stories of missionaries and martyrs who’ve endured suffering, sickness, pain and even death with everlasting joy in their heart. I’ve heard of men lying on their death beds and yet rejoicing in their heart.
This morning, instead of giving you long
statements as pointers to remember, I want to give you three words to ponder
upon.
1. The first word is PERSPECTIVE
Perspective means to have a point of view, to
have a particular attitude towards or way of thinking regarding our present
hard circumstances, since most of the time it is our present suffering and pain
that is the greatest hurdle for us to rejoice always.
Here’s the perspective we need to cultivate regarding the context of the passage we just read. If we think our situation is the worst then I want us to look and ponder what’s going on with Paul and the Thessalonian church.
Paul is not writing to a church located in a city like us where the Christians have the freedom to practise their beliefs, where they are allowed to worship in open spaces and have the liberty to openly speak about Christ on an online public platform like Facebook or YouTube, where life is tough but not to the extent where believers are dragged out of their houses and killed and murdered for their faith in Jesus.
Instead, he is writing to a group of Christians who are being tortured, persecuted & killed by the worst punishment they could think of.
On the other hand, Paul is not writing this letter sitting on a beautiful balcony or a beachside hotel with a nice cool breeze hitting his face, but he is writing the letter from Corinth where he is labouring for the Gospel alongside Aquila and Pricilla, as was his ministry in other places.
I suppose he was making and repairing tents to protect the people from the hot Mediterranean sun and also preaching the Gospel, discipling the people and building the church, risking his life by putting himself in a dangerous position with Romans.
Even after Paul writing them to “Rejoice
Always”, their circumstances are not going to get better, history tells us that
some of them are going to be brutally killed and murdered for their faith in
Jesus.
And yet he is writing to the church “Rejoice
Always”.
Brothers & sisters, if we are waiting and hoping for our circumstances to look better so that we can rejoice always then that is not going to happen. The two reasons it won’t happen is firstly because as long as we are living on this earth we are living in a world that is broken and tarred by Sin.
When God created the world he did not mean to create it this way. The Bible tells us that he made it beautiful and meant it for good.
When he made the first man and woman, he wanted them to enjoy and be fruitful under the authority & dominion of His Majesty, primarily by walking in obedience to God’s instructions in humility and in complete surrender. But instead of walking in obedience, Adam & Eve disobeyed God and sinned in their hearts.
Romans 5:12 says
“Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned”.
Romans 5:12
Because of our sins, the Bible says God’s
righteous judgement is upon this earth. Here’s how Isaiah describes the effects
of Sin on the earth in Isaiah 24:5
5 The earth is polluted by its inhabitants, because they have transgressed laws, violated statutes, and broken the everlasting covenant. 6 Therefore, a curse devours the earth, and those who live on it suffer the punishment of their guilt. Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned [under the curse of God’s wrath]
Isaiah 24:5-6
Brothers & sisters, as long as we live on this earth we are living under the curse that is upon this earth, and even though our spirit and soul is liberated in Christ.
Our body here on earth will continue to experience the pain of this broken world. We will always be walking on broken glasses under our feet as long as we live on this earth.
Even Jesus, being the perfect man who ever lived
on the earth had to suffer and experience the effect of this broken world in a
much more brutal way than any of us will ever suffer.
The second perspective I want us to have about our present circumstances is that God uses our sufferings to perfect us and make us mature in Him.
Do you know that our saviour Jesus was made perfect through sufferings. In Hebrews 5:8-9 it says
“Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. 9 And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him”
Hebrews 5:8-9
Brothers & Sisters, I urge you to look at your present pain & sufferings as a means by which God is perfecting you in Christ.
And if you can develop a right perspective
towards your present circumstances then ‘rejoicing always’ can definitely look
like a possibility.
2. The second word is BELIEVE
As we just learnt that it is not our present
circumstances that enables us to Rejoice always, but what should rather enable
us to rejoice always is the prospects of the eternal life we have in heaven
because of what Jesus did for us.
Even though we sinned and rebelled against God, instead of pouring His wrath on us and destroying our existence forever, our loving, gracious and merciful Father sent Jesus to bear our punishment and die for our sake and declare justice over us.
Isaiah 53:6 says,
“The Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him,”
Hebrews 9:26 says,
“He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.”
Hebrews 2:17 says that Christ made “propitiation for the sins of the people” and 1 John 4:10 says “in this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
Brothers & sisters, we rejoice in the fact that Jesus died for our sins and has reunited our broken hearts with our Heavenly Father once and forever.
And we receive this gift and stand justified when we repent of our sins and put our faith in Christ our saviour.
Therefore friends, if we
are failing today to rejoice always in the Lord, it is not because of our
circumstances but because of UNBELIEF in our heart.
Unbelief is the root cause of all our habitual sins, troubles and lack of joy. We are failing to believe that God’s grace, mercy and love expressed through the sacrifice of his Son is enough.
In Isaiah 45:22 the Lord says,
“Look to me and be saved”
Isaiah 53:6
Instead of looking at the
Son, Jesus, we are all the time looking at ourselves and our circumstances, we
are trying to make our life look better on our strength and ability so that we
can someday arrive at the destination we have planned where we will find
fulfilment and our joy will be complete.
We work hard, put in extra
hours in office, slog and break our bones.
Please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying that its wrong to work hard. In fact, God’s word clearly says that we should and that work is a gift. But our attitude is what matters.
Thinking that our efforts is what will sustain us and looking for joy apart from Christ is what is harmful.
We do good works, sometimes beyond our capacities and hope & expect that God will return the favour someday in hundredfold and then we will be happy.
Instead, what we ought to be doing is looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our Faith, trust in him and not in our strength and ability to make this imperfect life on earth perfect.
In Christ, we are totally 100% perfect for heaven, and that is what should make us rejoice always.
Brothers & sisters, as long as we nurture UNBELIEF in our hearts with regards to struggles, trials & temptations we go through in life, we will never be able to truly Rejoice always.
As long as we live on this earth, we need to live believing that his grace is sufficient for us, sufficient to justify us, to sanctify us, and take us to heaven with him.
Allow your heart to be
filled with that Joy.
3. The last and the final word I want to leave with you is REST.
Now, that we have the right PERSPECTIVE and
BELIEF, I want us to think of the word REST.
Rest, not just as a state of mind, where we are
resting in God’s sovereignty over our lives, his provision of abundant and
sufficient grace for us to live joyfully in his presence. But I want to talk
about REST which is also a command from the Lord – The Sabbath Rest.
Sabbath rest is not just a suggestion from God, its a Holy command from Him.
It is as important as “Love the Lord your God with all your heart mind and soul”, It is one of the 10 commandments God gave to Moses, Exodus 20:8-11 God said
8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work,
10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.
11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
To obey the Sabbath literally means to cease
from all our human efforts and to look to God in prayer and devotion. As I
understand the Sabbath, I’ve come to believe that Sabbath rest is the
providence from God, not just for the sake of physical rest, but also to help
us realign our perspectives and refocus our belief on Him.
When we take rest from our human efforts we are
reaffirming the fact that in God we trust, as our ultimate source of provision,
peace and joy.
If you are struggling to Rejoice at the moment,
I want to ask when was the last time you rested in God from all your strivings
and efforts and hard work.
I know it is difficult and there are many excuses we can think of, our work responsibilities, our family commitments, etc.
But if working on our perspectives and dealing with our unbelief is important for us so that we can Rejoice always, we will have to give importance to the Sabbath rest, for some of you, it might require you to take drastic steps to say NO to extra work, maybe close yourself up in a room, maybe disconnect the phone for the day, say to NO to entertainment, etc.
A Restful heart will always be a joy-full heart.
Even in our busy schedules if we can find ways to soak ourself in scripture, devote ourself in prayer, sing songs of hope and thanksgiving, remembering the Gospel, looking at Jesus, resting in Him, then, brothers and sisters, the joy of the Lord will surely fill our hearts and keep us going.
We can become just like a small child who runs along the riverside with a stick in his hand and laughter in his mouth.
Though there is so much more I want to say but time is limited, I hope I have stirred something in your heart this morning and given you enough reasons to Rejoice always.
Please do remember the three words ..
PERSPECTIVE, BELIEVE & REST.
‘Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations…’ – Deuteronomy 7:9
There are times when nothing makes sense to us. There are so many what if’s and why me. In such moments we forget that the LORD is our God. He is the ‘I am’. He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
In the above verses, it is profound how God is reminding us of the truth that he is the One who fulfils his word. When we say that he has redeemed us, he has actually paid the price and gained possession of us in exchange for a payment.
This payment is the blood of Christ Jesus, his Son. Hence, we are called ‘Saved’.
It is the word that He gave to our forefather Abraham which holds true even now. And Abraham is our forefather not by genetic lineage but by faith. It is so deep to ponder over the importance of faith in the Christian life. We are believers, His sons and daughters, His redeemed people by his grace, through faith in Him. He has kept and will continue to keep his covenant for generations to come.
God’s love does not wither like the flower but it is the fragrance of love which remains even after the flower has withered. Jesus loves us even when we don’t, his love is not dependent on our actions and it is unwavering.
Let this sweet promise and the infinite love of Christ draw us to him and cause us to rejoice. Jesus doesn’t keep a record of our wrongs but is quick to forgive when we confess, repent of our sins, cast our burdens on him, and trust him with his plan.
Prayer ~ Jesus, we are not worthy of this love which you shower on us. But still, you remind us how precious we are to you. Let us be soaked in your Word and live the purpose for which you have called us. Help us to look beyond our earthly life and set our eyes on giving glory to you and your kingdom.
“About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing” – Hebrews 5:11
About higher teachings on the scriptures, especially on the heavenly priesthood of Christ, Paul writes it’s hard to explain because you have become dull of hearing.
Making progress in Christ is essential for every child of God, and the primary way of achieving that is not by doing but by hearing, doing should follow the hearing. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” – Romans 10:17
In this modern and technology-driven world, the one thing that is affected the most is our capacity to hear and pay attention to God’s word communicated in all forms, mainly through the scriptures.
The solution is not to put away the things that distract us, and I’m not talking about developing mental power to become more attentive.
Spiritual truths can only be received by a Spiritual mind, by a heart that longs and thirst for God, and it begins with a deep love for Christ and a deeper understanding of the Gospel.
However, the goal is not to get stuck in the basic principles of the oracles of God, but rather aim to become teachers of this oracle (every believer, not just leaders and pastors) (Hebrews 5:12), and for that to happen, we have to develop an appetite for God’s word, by attentively hearing what God has to say to us.
Perhaps most of us fail because of laziness, reluctance to make the sacrifice needed for progress, and unwillingness to forsake all and follow Jesus.
Let’s search our hearts today and ask what’s stopping us from making progress in Christ.
Lord, forgive us for our laziness, reluctance to sacrifice, and forsake everything that stops me from growing in you.
