+I. The text involves the fact that believers may and should
rejoice.+--1. _The world holds that believers have no enjoyment._
2. _There are believers who all but teach this;_ for--(1) they use
not the language of joy themselves; (2) they discourage it in others.
3. _But that believers may and should rejoice is evident_
for--(1) joy is commanded as a duty; (2) it is mentioned as a fruit
of the Holy Ghost; (3) it is a feature of the Christian, portrayed in
the Scriptures (Acts ii. 46, 47). 4. _The spiritually-minded, if not
warped by some defective system of doctrine, rejoice._ 5. _Joy is
quite consistent with those states of mind which are thought to be
inconsistent with it._ "Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing." 6. _Joy is
the natural result of peace with God._
+II. The text exhibits the nature of the joy peculiar to the
believer.+--He rejoices "in the Lord." 1. _The world rejoices in the
creature and shuts out God._ 2. _The believer rejoices only in God._
3. _This joy has several elements._ (1) The believer rejoices that
God is--"I am." (2) He rejoices that He is what He is. (3) He
rejoices in the manifestations of His glory, which He has made in His
Word, works, and ways. (4) He rejoices in his own relation to Him in
Christ--"boasting himself in God." (5) He rejoices in the hope of the
glory of God. 4. _Every element of pure and elevated pleasure is
found in His joy._ 5. _It is fellowship with God Himself in His joy._
+III. The text renders it binding upon the believer at all times to
seek this privilege and to cherish this feeling+--"always."--This
command is reasonable, for: 1. _God is always the same._ 2. _The
believer's relation to Him is unalterable._ 3. _The way to God is
always open._ 4. _The mind may always keep before it the views which
cause joy_--by the indwelling Spirit.
+IV. The manner in which the commandment of the text is pressed
teaches us the importance of the duty it inculcates.+--Its importance
is manifest, for: 1. _It is the mainspring of worship and obedience._
2. _It prevents a return to sinful pleasures._ 3. _It renders us
superior to temporal suffering_--fits for enduring for Jesus Christ.
4. _It presents to the world_ (1) True religion. (2) Connected with
enjoyment.
+V. The manner in which the commandment of the text is expressed
implies that there are obstacles in the way of obedience.+--What are
some of the obstacles? 1. _A habit, natural and strong, of drawing
our satisfaction from the creature._ 2. _Not keeping "a conscience
void of offence towards God and man."_ 3. _Not having the heart in a
state to have sympathy with God's character._ 4. _Not proportioning
aright the amount of attention given to self and Christ._ 5. _Not
making sure of our interest in Christ.--Stewart._
_Joy in the Lord_--
+I. Is intellectual.+
+II. Moral.+
+III. Spiritual.+
+Lessons.+--1. _Our power of rejoicing in the Lord is a fair test of
our moral and spiritual condition._ 2. _Is a Christian's main support
under the trials of life._ 3. _Is one of the great motive forces of
the Christian life.--H. P. Liddon._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verse_ 5.
_Christian Equity_--
+I. Does not exact all the claims of legal justice.+--"Let your
moderation [forbearance] be known." Human laws, however carefully
devised, may sometimes, if rigidly enforced, act unjustly and
cruelly. We should guide ourselves at all times by the broad
principles of equity in the sight of God. We should not urge our own
rights to the uttermost, but be wiling to waive a part, and thus
rectify the injustice of justice. "The archetype of this grace is
God, who presses not the strictness of His law against us as we
deserve, though having exacted the fullest payment for us from our
Divine Surety" (_Fausset_). It is not gentleness as an innate
feeling, but as the result of self-restraint. It does not insist on
what is its due, it does not stand on etiquette or right, but it
descends and complies. It is opposed to that rigour which never bends
nor deviates, and which, as it gives the last farthing, uniformly
exacts it. It is not facile pliability--a reed in a breeze--but that
generous and indulgent feeling that knows what is its right, but
recedes from it; is conscious of what is merited, but does not
contend for strict proportion. It is that grace which was defective
in one or other, or both, of the women who are charged by the apostle
to be of one mind in the Lord. For, slow to take offence, it is swift
to forgive it. Let a misunderstanding arise, and no false delicacy
will prevent it from taking the first step towards reconciliation or
adjustment of opinion (_Eadie_).
+II. Should be evident in dealing with all classes.+--"Be known unto
all men." We are to practise forbearance, not only towards our
Christian brethren, but towards the world, even towards the enemies
of the Gospel. It is a rebuke to the Christian spirit to be austere,
unbending, and scrupulously exacting. If we are always rejoicing in
the Lord, we cannot cherish hard feelings towards any. The Christian
should be notorious for gentleness and forbearance; all with whom we
come in contact should be made to know it and feel it. We should be
prepared for yielding up what may be our own rights, and to endure
wrong rather than dishonour Christ, or give a false representation of
the heavenly life which He exemplified and recommended, and which is
becoming in all His professed followers. "This gentleness manifests
itself at one time as equanimity and patience under all
circumstances, among all men and in manifold experiences; at another
as integrity in business relations; as justice, forbearance, and
goodness in exercising power; as impartiality and mercy in judging;
as noble yielding, joyful giving, and patent enduring and forgiving"
(_Passavant_).
+III. Should be practised as conscious of the near advent of
Christ.+--"The Lord is at hand." The early Church had a vivid sense
of the immediateness of the second coming of Christ, and were taught
to do and bear everything as in His sight. We lose much in spiritual
power, and in the realisation of eternal things, when we consign that
advent to the remote and indistinct future. After all, the second
coming of Christ, and not our own death, is the goal on which our eye
should be fixed, as the period which will furnish us with the true
and final value of our life-work. In the first ages it would have
been deemed a kind of apostasy not have sighed after the day of the
Lord. The coming of the Lord is a motive to show moderation and
clemency towards all men, even towards our enemies, for the great
Judge is near, who will rectify all inequalities and redress all
wrongs.
+Lessons.+--1. _Equity is superior to legal enactments._ 2. _It is a
sorry spectacle when Christians appeal to the civil courts to settle
their differences._ 3. _The Christian spirit is the highest equity._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 6, 7.
_The Cure of Care._
+I. That all anxious care is needless.+--"Be careful for nothing"
(ver. 6). It is not forethought that is here condemned, but anxious,
distracting care. Care is a kill-joy and is the great enemy of
Christian peace. The future is not ours; why be anxious about it? The
past is done with, and regrets about it are unavailing. The future is
provided for, for God, the great Provider, is ahead of every step we
take towards that future. The ancient custom of distracting a
criminal by tying him to the wheels of two chariots which were then
driven in opposite directions well illustrates how cares may be
allowed to distract the mind. We put ourselves on the rack when we
ought to cast our care on God, not in part, nor occasionally, but in
all things and at all times. Care depreciates the value of all our
past blessings and dims our vision of the blessings we now actually
possess. After the great military victories of Marlborough in 1704,
he one day said: "I have for these last ten days been so troubled by
the many disappointments I have had, that I think if it were possible
to vex me so for a fortnight longer, it would make the end of me. In
short, I am weary of my life."
+II. That all anxious care should be taken to God in thankful
prayer.+--"But in everything by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God" (ver. 6). The
best system of heathen philosophy regarded equability of mind,
undisturbed alike by the troubles and allurements of the world, as
the most perfect state of the soul; but it did not provide any
adequate motive for attaining this desirable equipoise. It could only
state the theory and insist on its importance; but refractory human
nature had its own way, in spite of philosophy. The apostle supplies
in these words a nobler and more workable philosophy. He not only
exhorts us to tranquillity of mind but shows us how it may be
attained and kept. In all kinds of anxieties and especially in the
struggles of religious doubt, prayer is the truest philosophy. Our
difficulties vanish when we take them to God.
"By caring and by fretting,
By agony and fear,
There is of God no getting;
But prayer He will hear."
We should cast our care on God because He is our Father. A father's
office is to provide for his family. It is out of place for a child
to be anxiously making provision for emergencies--asking where
to-morrow's food and clothing are to come from, and how the bills are
to be paid. We should rebuke such precocity, and send the child to
school or to play, and leave all such matters to the ordained
caretaker. The birds of the air are taken care of; so shall we be,
even though our faith is small. "Our prayers run along one road, and
God's answers by another, and by-and-by they meet. God answers all
true prayer, either in kind or in kindness" (_Judson_).
+III. That the peace of God in the heart will effectually banish all
care.+--"And the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall
keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (ver. 7). The
enemies of peace are: melancholy, to which the apostle opposed joy in
the Lord (ver. 4); want of self-restraint or intemperance of feeling
or conduct, to which he opposes moderation (ver. 5); care and
anxiety, or unthankfulness and unbelief, to which he opposes grateful
and earnest prayer (ver. 6); the final result is peace (ver. 7). The
peace that God gives "passeth all understanding"; it is deep,
precious, immeasurable. God alone fully understands the grandeur of
His own gift. It is an impenetrable shield to the believing soul; it
guards the fortress in peace though the shafts of care are constantly
hurled against it.
+Lessons.+--1. _Our sins breed our cares._ 2. _God is ever willing to
take up the burden of our cares._ 3. _Only as we commit our cares to
God have we peace._
_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._