Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.

I want to remind you of something we learned a couple of weeks ago. The Greek word ordinarily translated “rejoice” was also used as a greeting in the first century. It was the word Jesus spoke when he first greeted his disciples following the resurrection.

We have that word in today’s text, and translators are not quite sure what to do with it. Of the 60 English translations provided on Bible Gateway, 31 favor “rejoice” and the rest prefer “goodbye.” I think it should be translated, “rejoice” here because it is the first in a list of five rapid fire instructions that clearly go together, and because Paul says almost exactly the same thing in Philippians 3:1 (here he says, “Finally, brothers, rejoice”; there he says, “Finally, my brothers, rejoice”), and every English version translates it “rejoice” in that passage. Besides that, “Rejoice!” was a command that was frequently on tip of Paul’s tongue and the stylus of his pen.

As he closes this letter, Paul offers these parting words to his spiritual children in Christ, who were going through conflict and crisis. He begins with, “Rejoice!” Whenever Karen and I would leave my parents’ house, my dad’s parting word would be, “Be careful!” My mother might have said, “Be good.” But neither of them ever said, “Be glad!”

But Paul does. He knew that people would find it easier to be careful and be good if they would only rejoice and be glad. In fact, everything would be easier: relationships, jobs, trials, even holiness. It is when we regret our decisions and lament our circumstances that everything becomes difficult: relationships, jobs, even holiness.

People, including me, almost always think they are unhappy because of the difficult situation in which they find themselves. That may be the case, but I wonder how often our difficult situations are linked to a long-term failure to rejoice.

There is a reason the word “rejoice” occurs over 280 times in the Bible. There is a reason God gave his people seven annual festivals and ordered everyone in Israel to attend three of them. God understood that “The joy of the Lord is [our] strength” (Nehemiah 8:10), and that unhappiness is our weakness.

I was sitting in my chair before dinner one evening this week, working on my computer. A can of cashews sat on the table next to me, and I was eating a few. There was no reason for me to snack – dinner would be ready soon, and I wasn’t even hungry – but there was food at hand and snacking is a habit.

I was working on this sermon at the time, and it occurred to me that unhappiness is like snacking. It is always at hand, and it too can be a habit – a habit that has made me and millions of other people weaker and more susceptible to temptation.

According to the CDC, we may have acquired our snacking habits from a parent or grandparent. We may even possess a genetic predisposition to obesity.[1] According to the Bible, we have acquired our sinful nature from our parents Adam and Eve and with it a predisposition to unhappiness.

Paul knew all this. And so, as he closes this letter and shares these parting words, he directs his spiritual children to rejoice, just as he does at the close of his letters to his spiritual children in Philippi and in Thessalonica. This is so important to their wellbeing that he simply must say it: Rejoice!

Now, here is the thing. Paul’s spiritual children in Thessalonica were going through severe persecution.[2] It was bad. People were suffering. Paul’s spiritual children in Philippi were going through persecution on the outside and church conflict on the inside.[3] The church in Corinth was in a terrible state and was carrying on a feud with Paul himself! So, how can he tell people in these churches to rejoice?

How could he do otherwise? Remember, when we are rejoicing, we are strong. When we are rejoicing, relationships and jobs go better, and holiness becomes possible. It is when we are unhappy that relationships go poorly, work is hateful, and holiness seems like a burden we shouldn’t have to bear. Discontentment makes us vulnerable. Sin always looks good when we are unhappy.

But we cannot rejoice without something to rejoice about any more than we can start a fire without anything to burn. Paul must have thought that the Thessalonians, Philippians, and Corinthians had something to rejoice about, despite the painful times they were going through – but what?

The Bible gives us many reasons to rejoice despite difficult circumstances. I’ll mention a couple. We can rejoice because God will make things come out right. He will have the last word. He will pay back those who hurt his people. The harm that has been done will be undone and the one doing the harm will face the consequences. This is a major theme throughout the Bible and a constant reason for rejoicing.

The Bible tells us to rejoice because “The Lord reigns” (1 Chronicles 16:31). Even now, amid American decadence, Chinese imperialism, Russian brutality, record setting heat, the emergence of hitherto unknown diseases, and the evil machinations of ambitious schemers, our God reigns. The One enthroned in heaven is not biting his fingernails. He is laughing (Psalm 2:4), and he invites us to laugh with him, to rejoice! Evil and sadness will not, cannot succeed. God has given humans and angelic beings a short leash and a brief time to do what they will, but it is God – our God – who reigns. So, rejoice!

The Bible further calls us to rejoice in God’s salvation. I wish I could express to you the wonders of salvation. I wish that I could understand them myself, for they are grander and more glorious than the human mind can comprehend – “Things that no eye has seen, or ear heard, or mind imagined, are the things God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).

Here is a little of it. Earth itself will be saved – reborn, resurrected, if you will – out of its sorrow and slow death. Then “There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things [will have] passed away” (Revelation 21:3). The inanimate creation (I’m not sure that is even the right word for it) will be forever liberated from the slavery of the second law of thermodynamics (Romans 8:21). No longer will the world around us grow old and decay.

But this is not all, by any means. What happens to the inanimate creation is a result – an echo of sorts – of what happens in human beings – in us who belong to Jesus Christ. We will be changed. Our very bodies will be transformed to be like Christ’s glorious body (Philippians 3:21). Theologians call this “glorification”. It will enlarge us. Abilities – some we don’t even know we possess – will be enabled, and the wonders of which humans will then be capable will be nothing short of staggering.

At the same time that glorification enlarges us, it will also (and just as gloriously) reduce us. Sin, hatred, fear – even the inclination to these things – will be taken from us forever. This is the salvation of our God. So, rejoice!

I have just scratched the surface of the Bible’s reasons for us to rejoice. But the hour is advancing, and we have much more to cover, so we need to move on. But I want to say one more thing first. We are at a critical juncture in the life and usefulness of Lockwood Church. It is easy to be anxious about what is going to happen in the search for our next pastor. I have been keenly aware of the danger of division. The way we set up the process is, I think, better than the way most churches do it in terms of congregational participation but also more dangerous in terms of potential division. In times like these, it is hard to rejoice.

In times like these, we must rejoice! Remember, we are strong and well protected when we rejoice; we are weak and vulnerable when we embrace anxiety and sadness. Let Lockwood rejoice in the salvation of our God.

The next instruction that Paul gives is, like the first, just one word in Greek, though the NIV translates it using four: “Strive for full restoration.” That one word is translated in a wide variety of ways by English versions. It is the verb form of the word Paul used in Ephesians when he wrote that church leaders are given to the church for the “equipping” of the saints, or (in the NIV) “to prepare God’s people for works of service.”

This word was used in the Gospels in an instructive way. Before meeting Jesus, some of his disciples had been commercial fisherman. Commercial fishing was a night shift job on the Sea of Galilee, and one morning Jesus found the fisherman still on the shore cleaning and repairing their nets so that they would be ready for their next night out on the lake. The nets needed to be examined for holes, retied in places, weeds and debris removed, then folded and readied for use.

The idea of repairing and restoring something (or someone) for useful labor is what this word is about. People, like fishing nets, get rubbed the wrong way and tear. Relationships between one person and another can begin to fray and need to be re-tied. We pick up debris – habits, ideas, practices – that clutter our lives and get in the way of the work God has for the Church of Jesus Christ to do.

Then we must be restored, put right, prepared, which is exactly what Paul tells the Corinthians to do. All of us – church members, deacons, elders, pastors – need this. You need this. If you are not in need of some cleaning and repair, then you haven’t been doing anything. God intends his people – you and me – to be useful in his great work, and that requires regular restoration.

Where do we get this restoration? We get it from each other, through encouragement, prayer, counsel, and admonishment. We get it from God’s word. Regularly hearing, contemplating, and applying what God says is a powerful restorative. We would be wise to set aside time every day to read, think about, and pray over God’s words and to gather on the first day of each week to hear them preached. Restoration also happens when we worship. Nothing mends our brokenness like a connection with our heavenly Father through worship. It is not without reason that Lockwood’s covenant partners make a promise to exalt God regularly in worship.

Take a look at yourself right now. Are you in need of some restoration work? Are the knots that tie you to others coming lose? Have you picked up some debris as you’ve gone through life? Has the abrasion of difficult circumstances or difficult people rubbed you raw? It is nothing to be ashamed of. The only thing to be ashamed of is molding in some comfortable cupboard somewhere, unused by the master in his great work. Paul says to you, as he said to the Corinthians, “Be restored!” Seek it. If you do not know how, talk to me and I will give you some pointers.

The NIV ’84 translated the next line, “listen to my appeal.” The NIV 2011 changed that to “encourage one another.” The Greek is again one word, though English requires at least two words to translate it: “be encouraged.” Another possible rendering is, “be open to appeal or exhortation.”

“Be encouraged” implies that a person has a choice in the matter. We can choose not to be encouraged, not to listen to the appeal. I can remember more than once when I was discouraged in my work and questioning my value. I would complain to Karen, “Nothing is happening! What have I accomplished? Nothing.”

Then she would say, “What about so and so? And this person has grown so much. And that one just led someone to Christ. And this is happening, and that.” She was trying to encourage me, but I wouldn’t take it. I didn’t want to be encouraged.

I not only ignored the truth Karen was speaking, I violated the instruction that Paul had given. God expects his people to be encouraged, not to wallow in self-righteous pity. Wallowing is easier, but we have to take responsibility for our own encouragement.

How would a person go about taking this instruction seriously? If I chose to be encouraged, what would I do? I Once again I would spend time daily in the Scriptures and prayer. That has been the biggest single help to me in bringing stability and encouragement to my life.

I would also spend time with truthful, loving people. Truthful because flattery is not encouragement; it leaves people bloated, not strengthened. Loving because when people speak into our lives without love, the result is not encouragement but something else—usually hurt, or guilt, or manipulation.

I’ve come to think that the only thing that ever really changes a person is love. Truth is important. Admonishment is sometimes required. Explanations can be helpful. Insights can spark new ideas. But let it be truth in love, admonishment in love, explanations and insights that spring from love and then – and only then – will there be change. Love starts and fuels the spiritual reaction that brings about change.

From what Paul is saying, it is clear that we need to take responsibility for our own encouragement. Are you ready to do that? Will you take steps to be encouraged? To a large degree, it is up to you.

The next instruction is to “Be of one mind.” Now, how are we going to do that? Last week, we had Brad Kittle speak, the first of three candidates for the lead pastor role. Next week, Kevin Looper will speak and the following week, Brett Gray. Brad has already been affirmed by the church family and will be on the final ballot. If Kevin and Brett are also affirmed, we will choose one man from among the three. What do you think is the likelihood that we will all agree that God is leading the same candidate here?

And isn’t that what needs to happen for us to follow this instruction? No. We don’t need to agree on the man; we need to agree that God’s will be done, not our own. That is the oneness of mind the apostle is talking about. It pleases God and preserves our unity. See that you have it!

Finally, Paul says: “Live in peace.” This is the same word we saw in 1 Thessalonians 5 just two weeks ago. It is a one-word command that means something like, “Peace it!” You have a choice: choose peace.

Do you know what gets in the way of peace? It is not having different opinions. We can hold very different opinions and still have peace. But if one (or both) of us holds a commitment to getting their own way, peace goes out the window. Jesus’s followers must not be committed to getting their own way. They must be committed to getting God’s way, and they must have the humility to realize that their way is not automatically his.

Look at the amazing promise that comes with these instructions. If we will rejoice, be restored, of one mind, and at peace, then the God of love and peace will be with us. No one likes to hang out with discouraged, contradictory, and contentious people, not even God. He likes to hang out with people who are happy, encouraged, and fun.

When the God of love and peace is with a person or a church, good things happen. People come to faith. New ideas start popping up. Joy is on the rise. Love is in the air or, more importantly, in the heart. What could be better than having the God of love and peace with us?

I’ve shared five instructions from the Apostle Paul for Jesus’s people to follow: Rejoice. Be restored. Be encouraged. Be of one mind. Be at peace. Now, what are you going to do with them? The ball is in your court.

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[1] See https://www.cdc.gov/genomics/resources/diseases/obesity/index.htm, referencing Qasim A et al. Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity 2018 Feb 19(2) 121-149

[2] 1 Thess. 1:6; 2 Thess. 1:4

[3] Phil. 1:29-30; 4:2-3