Wednesday AM Bible Study; April 30, 2025 from Philippians 4:4-5

Theme: Our joy in Christ is to show itself in an outward way, in all circumstances, toward all people.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

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Today, we look at a section of the Book of Philippians in which the apostle Paul— through a series of short commands—taught his readers how to put joy in Christ into daily action. Philippians 4:4-9 says;

Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, 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 minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy–meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you (Philippians 4:4-9).

This very practical section of Paul’s letter can be divided into two halves—the first half having to do with the outward expression of our joy in Christ, and the second half having to do with our inward experience of it. In that second half—in verses 6-9—Paul told his readers how to do battle with inward anxiety and worry through prayer, how to take control of inward thoughts and feelings, and how to follow the right examples for inward peace. It gives us—through the work of the Holy Spirit—some of the greatest and most basic instructions on good, sound, sanctified mental health that anyone could ever find.

But today, we’ll just look at verses 4-5 and consider what they tell us about putting true joy in Christ to work in our outward conduct and in our interactions with other people.

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It’s important to understand that the basis of all outward expressions of authentic Christian joy is an inward relationship of joyful love with the Person of Jesus Christ Himself. During our life on earth, we can’t have a relationship with Jesus through His bodily presence; and this is because His resurrected and glorified body has ascended and is seated at the right hand of the Father. Nevertheless, until the day that He bodily returns to this earth, we have a genuine relationship with His literal Person—not merely in a ‘sentimental’ or ‘figurative’ way. And this is because after He ascended, our Lord prayed to the Father to send the Holy Spirit to us in His place; and the Holy Spirit mediates the presence of Jesus to us just as truly as if He were bodily present with us. As Jesus Himself told the disciples, just before He went to the cross;

“If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you” (John 14:15-17).

And then Jesus added,

“I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you” (v.18).

In other words, the Holy Spirit on earth—in a truly mysterious and wonderful way—ministers the very presence of the Lord Jesus to us; so that through the Spirit’s ongoing ministry in us, we truly walk in daily fellowship with Jesus Himself. That’s why, just before He ascended to the Father, He told His disciples,

“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you …”

and then added this amazing promise:

“… and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20).

This means that, thanks to the ministry of the Holy Spirit, every genuine, individual believer has the wonderful privilege of walking in daily fellowship with Jesus Himself. Our Lord and God is also our constant Companion and Friend. Just imagine how happy we would be if Jesus were bodily walking with us throughout the course of our day. Well; through the indwelling ministry of the Holy Spirit, we are able to enjoy a constant, continual, personal, loving, perpetually joyful fellowship with Christ Himself in every circumstance or trial of life—a fellowship that’s just as real as it would be if He we were with us in His physical presence.

And what the apostle Paul is telling us, in verses 4-5 of our passage this morning, is how we are to put that fellowship into action in our outward relations and experiences. Joy in Christ is to show itself in an outward way, in all circumstances, toward all people. As verse 4 shows us, we display it through a joyful attitude in all circumstances, and as verse 5 shows us, we display it through a joyful attitude of graciousness toward all people.

First, consider how our joy in Christ is to show itself through …

1. AN ATTITUDE OF JOY IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES.

In verse 4, Paul wrote, “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!” It’s important to remember that, when Paul wrote those words, he himself was sitting in a prison cell—awaiting possible execution. But even in those difficult circumstances, he displayed the joy of Christ—living out in practice what he was urging his brothers and sisters also to do.

Consider what he says we are to do—”Rejoice”. This isn’t talking about experiencing mere “happiness” as we usually understand it; because happiness depends on favorable circumstances. Rather, this is speaking of a state of being that transcends the circumstances and that isn’t st all dependent upon them. This is something that’s not a product of our own creation but is, instead, produced in us by the Lord as His own joy lived out in us. “These things I have spoken to you,” Jesus said, “That My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 15:11). It’s something that is the “fruit” of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us (Galatians 5:22). It’s something that’s described by the apostle Peter as “joy unspeakable and full of glory” (1 Peter 1:8). We have been given the capacity for the very joy of Jesus Himself, as a gracious endowment of the Holy Spirit; and we are to choose to act upon that endowment and obey the command to “rejoice”.

Then, consider how this joy is to be expressed—that is, “in the Lord”. This may be speaking of a joy that we can only experience in and through a relationship with Him. We must be “in” Him through faith; so that He is our constant source of joy. The closer we are united to Him, and the more dependent we are upon Him, and the more we keep in obedience to His commands and walk as He leads us, the more we will experience His own joy. But this may also be saying that we’re to rejoice in Him as a person. The phrase “in the Lord,” in that case, would mean that He is the object of our joy. In all the changing circumstances of life, Jesus and His love for us is the one great unchanging certainty. And if our joy is fixed upon Him, then our experience of that joy is as unchanging as He is.

Consider also when it is that we’re to rejoice in the Lord—”always”. We’re to rejoice in Him always, at all times, in all circumstances—no matter what may come our way. This isn’t mere ‘positive-thinking’; but rather is based on objective theological realities that are sure and certain, and that are to be known and fully believed by us. As Paul has written in the Book of Romans;

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified (Romans 8:28-30).

And finally, consider the resolve we’re to have in this joy. Paul felt led by the Holy Spirit to repeat this command; saying, “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!” There may be difficult trials and circumstances in which we become tempted to believe we’re to rejoice in the Lord only ordinarily—that is, when things are going relatively well … but not in this or that particular trial! But even in the sorts of trials and circumstances when we are most tempted not to rejoice in the Lord, we’re to hear Paul’s call: “Again I will say, rejoice!” We’re to resolve in our hearts repeatedly to rejoice in all circumstances; because our joy is not based on the circumstances, but in the Lord Jesus.

In understanding this final point, it helps to look back in this letter to 1:18. Paul was sitting in a prison cell while others were going around preaching the gospel in order to make him feel worse about his imprisonment. But he wrote, “What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached; and in this I rejoice”; and then goes on to add, “yes, and will rejoice.” This illustrates the resolve to “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!”

Keeping this command to “rejoice in the Lord always” is a great ‘advertisement’ to the unbelieving people around us of the reality of the message we proclaim. We’re to be telling people about a wonderful Savior who has died for their sins and that they can enter into a relationship with Him. And if that invitation is real, then people should expect that if we have that relationship ourselves, we’ll be experiencing a prevailing joy that cannot be explained by human means. Other people need to see it convincingly evidenced in us.

And so, for that reason, notice next that our relationship with Christ is also to be exhibited to the unbelieving world through …

2. AN ATTITUDE OF GRACIOUSNESS TOWARD ALL PEOPLE (v. 5).

Paul went on to write, “Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.” This second command gives substance to the first one. We can say that we’re “rejoicing in the Lord always”; but if we don’t at the same time conduct ourselves toward other people in a way that’s consistent with that joy, we give them a good reason to doubt our claim. We can’t have the Lord’s own joy in the difficult circumstances of life, and be rude and impatient and quarrelsome toward other people at the same time. But if we’re gracious and patient and reasonable toward other people, then—to a certain degree—our joy in the Lord becomes proven in an outwardly evident way.

First, consider what it is that we’re to let be known in us—and that’s “gentleness” (or “reasonableness” as it’s translated in the English Standard Version). The word that Paul used is one that means “to yield upon” something. The standard New Testament Greek lexicon has it as “not insisting on every right of letter of the law or custom; yielding, gentle, kind, courteous, tolerant”.^{1 [3]} Another translator has it as “a humble, patient steadfastness, which is able to submit to injustice, disgrace, and maltreatment without hatred and malice, trusting God in spite of it all”.^{2 [4]} No single English word seems sufficient to translate the idea; but perhaps the best way to translate it is how one Bible commentator has expressed it: a “sweet reasonableness”. It’s an attitude of quiet mildness and sweetness of disposition in which one doesn’t feel the need to defend one’s self at every turn or to answer back at every wrong suffered. It’s not an indifference to the injustice or evil that is done to others, nor an absence of concern when God’s honor is ignored. Rather, it’s the attitude that was perfectly exhibited by Jesus Himself …

“who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously …” (1 Peter 2:23).

Then consider who it is that we’re to let this “gentleness” or “sweet reasonableness” become known to—that is, “to all men” (or as it can be better translated, “to all people”). It’s easy to behave in a reasonable and gentle manner toward people who are reasonable and gentle toward us. But the true joy of the Lord Jesus shows itself in a gentleness toward all people—the reasonable and the unreasonable; the gentle and the harsh; the lovable and the unlovable. As Jesus has taught us;

But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust (Matthew 5:44-45).

And finally, consider why we’re to let this gentle manner be known to all men—because, as Paul said, “The Lord is at hand.” In saying this, Paul could be reminding us that the Lord is our very present Helper. We never need to respond to insults or attacks in a self-assertive way because the Son of God is at our side. He will take care of us. We can trust Him to be our divine Defender;

For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we may boldly say:

“The Lord is my helper;
I will not fear.
What can man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:5-6).

But in saying that the Lord “is at hand”, Paul could have also been reminding his readers that our Lord is coming soon. Even in a time of persecution, we can be patient and respond with graciousness toward those who mistreat us; because, as Pastor James wrote in his letter to persecuted Christians,

Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand (James 5:7-8).

But even more, in saying that the Lord “is at hand”, Paul could have been reminding his readers that the Lord Jesus is our Judge—and that we ought to behave with Christ-like gentleness in the joyful prospect of His imminent return. As James went on to write;

Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door! (James 5:9).

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A genuinely joyful fellowship with the Lord Jesus is something that ought to show itself in an external way. Other people should be able to see it exhibited in our lives; and in such a way that it proves that we are in a personal relationship of love with the living Savior. That’s why, in this wonderful book of ‘joy’, the apostle Paul wrote to his brothers and sisters in Christ and said, “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.” It shows that we’re really in a personal relationship with Jesus Himself.

May God help us to grow in a real, deep, genuine relationship of love with Jesus in such a way that our joy is truly on display to this world.

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^{1 [5]}A Greek-English Lexicon of The New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (BDAG).

^{2 [6]}Fritz Rienecker and Cleon Rogers, Linguistic Key to The Greek New Testament (Grand Rapids: The Zondervan Corporation, 1980), p. 560.

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