If our joy is fully in the Lord, then our hearts will always be satisfied, because the one thing that Jesus gives us without limit is himself. If what we want is Jesus himself—not the stuff he can do for us, but his presence—then we can continually rejoice in the Lord. Even if Jesus is the desire of our heart, it may seem sometimes like we are not fully satisfied, but scripture tells us that the Lord is in us, and with us, even when the voices of the world, flesh and devil whisper that our experience says otherwise. We can count on the promises of God to be with us always.

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¹ Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you. (Philippians 3:1, ESV)

Just a quick language note. Some scholars see the first word of verse one (“finally” in the ESV) to mean that Paul was actually wrapping up his letter. They think, as a result, that the letter should end somewhere in chapter three, and that chapter 4 was not part of the same letter.

In the first place, if that were true, it doesn’t change the fact that God inspired and preserved all of the words of Philippians for us as part of his word.

However, I doubt that the claim is true in the first place. Every ancient copy of Philippians contains the whole letter, and there is no evidence that this was ever anything but a single letter, so that isn’t likely. In Greek there are actually two words here, that, taken together, literally mean something like “finally.” However, at that point in history, the expression wasn’t used in a strictly literal fashion. So, in English, we might say: “I was blown away,” but we do not mean that some great wind actually came and blew us away, or that we were in an explosion. So, the Greek expression here is, I think, better translated something like: “furthermore.” A few other translations pick up on this: “whatever happens” (NLT), “in addition” (CSB,) “now then” (GW), “further” (NIV).

You probably didn’t want, or need, to know that, but I mention it because some critical scholars use it to try and undermine the Bible, saying that Philippians was cobbled together out of two or three different letters. But the entire argument rests on a poor understanding of the Greek expression. I guess I’m telling you this because I’m sure you realize that there are skeptics, who don’t believe the Bible is even what we think it is. I’m showing you that, at least with regard to Philippians, the skeptics have virtually no ground to stand on. (This is a typical case, which is why I don’t have a ton of respect for skeptical biblical scholars).

Moving on to the text, Paul tells them to rejoice in the Lord, and adds that it is no trouble to write the same things to them. What does he mean? Well, for one thing, this is now the sixth time that he has used the word “rejoice.” He uses it nine times altogether in this letter. He also uses the verb form, “joy,” five additional times in the letter. So this is a major theme. Up until this point Paul has talked about rejoicing in a general way, or rejoicing for specific things. But now he says “Rejoice in the Lord.”

Let’s start by considering a few other places in the New Testament that talk about rejoicing. Here’s Jesus:

¹¹ “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. ¹² Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matthew 5:11-12, ESV)

When his disciples came back from their first training mission, they were amazed and thrilled that demonic spirits fled at the name of Jesus. Jesus said this:

²⁰ Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” (Luke 10:20, ESV)

Before he left this world, he told his disciples:

²² So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.( John 16:22, ESV)

In the book of Acts, when the apostles were first persecuted, their response was to rejoice:

So they took his advice, ⁴⁰ and when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. ⁴¹ Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. (Acts 5:39-41, ESV)

Elsewhere Paul wrote:

²⁴ Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, (Colossians 1:24, ESV)

Peter wrote:

¹³ But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. (1 Peter 4:13, ESV)

James used the noun form of the word (joy) rather than the verb (rejoice) but you can see that he means the same thing:

² Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, ³ for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. ⁴ And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2-4, ESV)

Let’s have just one more, from Paul again:

¹⁶ Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray without ceasing, ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, ESV)

There are actually many, many more verses. So you see, this isn’t just a major theme in Paul’s letter to the Philippians. Rejoicing is a major theme of the New Testament. The Greek verb “rejoice” is used 74 times in the New Testament, while the noun-form of the same word, “joy,” is used an additional 56 times. There are a few other words that have similar meanings, and are sometimes translated as joy or rejoice, but I didn’t include them in these results, because they come from different Greek words. In Greek, the word “joy” is related to the word “grace.” I’m not sure exactly where to go with that, other than that God’s grace brings about joy, and joy impresses upon us the experience of grace.

One thing we can see from the verses I quote above is that rejoicing is not dependent upon our circumstances. In fact, many times, the New Testament tells us to rejoice in trials and sufferings, or records people (like Peter and John, in Acts chapter 5, above) rejoicing in difficult situations.

This tells us that rejoicing is not primarily about accessing an emotion. Rejoicing is declaring to yourself (and others, depending on circumstances) the trust of what we have in Jesus.

I think it is vitally important that we rejoice in the Lord. Psalm 37:4 says this:

Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Now, unfortunately, this verse gets misused constantly. Many people take it to mean something like this: “Become a committed Christian, and, in exchange, God will give you the things you want.”

But that’s not what the verse says, nor what it means. I think it is very similar to “rejoice in the Lord always.” It works like this: let the Lord himself be your deepest desire and joy. When what you want most of all is the Lord himself—not what he can do for you, not the blessings he gives you, bur rather, Jesus, for the sake of Jesus alone—then,  your soul will be satisfied by Jesus himself. If what you desire more than anything is the Lord himself, that desire will be granted to you. The one thing that Jesus gives us without limit in this mortal life is himself. Nothing else is safe enough, good enough, strong enough, to be the deepest, most important desire of our hearts without corrupting us. If our deepest joy is Jesus himself, we are safe and at peace, and at rest. It is when we rejoice in “Jesus, plus _____” that our souls get shipwrecked. If I need something other than Jesus, or even something in addition to Jesus, to be joyful, satisfied and at peace, then I will never be at peace; I will never be truly joyful.

If we rejoice only in healing, or only when things go the way we want them to, or only when we feel OK, then our joy is not in the Lord. Then, our joy is contingent upon something else, and if we don’t have whatever that is, we don’t have joy. To rejoice in the Lord is to rejoice fully in Jesus. It is to have our joy contingent upon Jesus alone. When that is the case, we can rejoice and give thanks in all circumstances, because we are never without Jesus.

Rejoicing in the Lord is partly a discipline of the mind that we can learn and improve in. We need to remind ourselves of the amazing gift of Jesus, and focus on that, rather than on the things that bother us, or that we feel we lack. Don’t let “perfection” become the enemy of “improving.” If you aren’t used to disciplining your mind, of catching yourself worrying, or angry, and then refocusing on the joy we have in the Lord, it will be a slow process to begin with. It might be a slow process for your whole life. The point is not to achieve something, but to be moving in the right direction. So, suppose you catch yourself wishing you could change something that you really can’t (like, for instance, another human being) pay attention to your habit of thought. Release what you can’t change to the Lord, and focus on the joy we have in Jesus.

Rejoicing in the Lord is also an act of faith. Sometimes, Jesus feels distant. In fact, sometimes, he feels entirely absent. Please understand that this is part of the normal human condition in our mortal flesh. Our own sin, our flesh, the clamour of the world around us, the devil and his minions—all of these can interfere with our perception of the closeness of Jesus. But we need to remember that our perception of Jesus’ presence with us is flawed. Just because we can’t see it or feel it does not mean that Jesus isn’t there. In times like that, we are called to trust the Word of God, to trust beyond what we can perceive or understand. We are called to go on with life as if Jesus is right there by our side—because he actually is.

I am going to quote several different scriptures in which the Lord promises to be with us. Take a moment, right now, to pray something like this: Lord, please help me to hear and trust your promises that you are always with me, and will never leave me. Help me to trust you, even when I’m struggling to see or feel that this is true. Help me to rejoice entirely in you.

Now read these promises prayerfully. Take your time. Pause after each verse. Let the words sink in. You are not alone. Since coming to Jesus, you have never been alone. Jesus is the only worthy thing for you to fully rejoice in. So hear, trust, and rejoice:

⁵ Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” ⁶ So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:5-6, ESV)

⁹ Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9, ESV)

And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20, CSB)

¹⁸ “I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you. ¹⁹ In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Because I live, you will live too. ²⁰ On that day you will know that I am in my Father, you are in me, and I am in you. (John 14:18-20, CSB)

¹⁰ fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (Isaiah 41:10, ESV)

¹ Now this is what the LORD says —
the one who created you, Jacob,
and the one who formed you, Israel —
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by your name; you are mine.
² When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you,
and the rivers will not overwhelm you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be scorched,
and the flame will not burn you.
³ For I am the LORD your God,
the Holy One of Israel, and your Savior.
I have given Egypt as a ransom for you,
Cush and Seba in your place.
⁴ Because you are precious in my sight
and honored, and I love you, (Isaiah 43:1-4, CSB)

Finally, this one:

²⁶ In the same way the Spirit also helps us in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings. ²⁷ And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
²⁸ We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. ²⁹ For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. ³⁰ And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.

³¹ What, then, are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? ³² He did not even spare his own Son but gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him grant us everything? ³³ Who can bring an accusation against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies. ³⁴ Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is the one who died, but even more, has been raised; he also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us. ³⁵ Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ³⁶ As it is written: Because of you; we are being put to death all day long; we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered.
³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:26-39, CSB)