The Truth In Print Vol.
13 Issue 8, September 2007
WHY WE REJOICE WITH ONE ANOTHER
Consider the characteristic of God as
stated, “And it shall come to pass, that as the Lord rejoiced over you to do
you good, and to multiply you; so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy
you, and to bring you to nought; and ye shall be plucked from off the land
whither thou goest to possess it” (De. 28:63).
God delights over His people to do them good!
Now consider the characteristic of the
righteous, “Ye that love the Lord, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his
saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked. [11] Light is sown
for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart. [12] Rejoice in the
Lord, ye righteous; and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness” (Ps.
97:10-12). Gladness is sown for the upright of heart! We are commanded to
rejoice with those who rejoice, and to weep with those who weep, being of the
same mind one toward another (Rom. 12:15-16). This rejoicing is rejoicing with
those who rejoice in righteousness, and the weeping with those who weep in
righteousness. It is talking about the faithful. If one member rejoices all
rejoice, and should one receive honor, justified praise or vindication, then
all rejoice with them (I Cor. 12:26).
We understand that there can be suffering
and sorrow and joy in combination and at the same times (cf. 2 Cor. 7:4; Phil.
2:17-18). This is because the mind is set on things above while realizing the
brevity of life, and the goal of service and obedience is heaven (Col. 3:1-4;
Ja. 1:2-11). What a list there is in 2 Cor. 6:3-10 that speaks of combinations
of joy and sorrow! Paul says “...sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.” Obvious the
rejoicing can continue through times we help one another with sorrow.
Without carnality and jealousy we delight
when a faithful brother or sister prospers. Here are some points to keep in
mind on “why” we rejoice with one another in the Lord. You may not see everyone
of these every time you are given opportunity to rejoice with the faithful, but
these are noteworthy in that regard.
The Characteristic Of God, De. 28:63
God delights over His people to fulfill His
promises to do them good (cp. Ex. 3:8, De. 28:1-7, Nu. 10:29). You did notice,
didn’t you, that the same expression “delight over” is used for both God’s
prospering them, and for His making them perish from off the land? The latter,
delighting over to destroy, would be with the same intensity on God’s part as
before in bestowing good things on them in which His mercy and kindness were
displayed. In the latter His laws given would be upheld and God’s justice
glorified. Thus God’s warning in this context of both blessings and curses is
“be careful” (De. 28:58,15, 26:16. For the very same reasons Paul commanded us
to walk carefully or exactly (Eph. 5:15).
Concerned reader, there are situations where
man is rejoicing and God is not (read Prov. 1:26). Man’s laughing is in the
preceding verse, Prov. 1:25, when he had disdain for God’s word and would not
listen. Hear Jeremiah, “I spake unto
thee in thy prosperity; but thou saidst, I will not hear. This hath been thy
manner from thy youth, that thou obeyedst not my voice” (Jer. 22:21). God
warned that there would be a time when He is rejoicing and they are not! When
you hear a lesson on rejoicing be careful for there is a counterpart — another
characteristic of God — that applies to the slothful unfaithful.
Our being sorrowful when one is arrogant and
suffers is different from “sharing” joy and sorrow as Paul spoke of. If one of
us suffers because we remain obstinate and arrogant then our sorrow will be the
tears of Jeremiah if we love them: “But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall
weep in secret places for your pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run
down with tears, because the Lord's flock is carried away captive” (Jer.
13:17). We know that arrogance and pride God will destroy! The righteous will
weep because of this for the reasons Jeremiah did in Lamentations— they were
given many opportunities to repent and give glory to God, but that takes fear
and trembling, and they refused every time the offer was given and would not
(cf. Jer. 13:15-19, 15:7, 5:3). This is the bitter
sorrow that realizes God can make enemies rejoice over His own when He casts
them off (Ps. 89:42).
Likewise, there
are situations where someone is rejoicing and you are not. They are rejoicing
because of a windfall of some kind that came their way. Perhaps it is simply
because of a great vacation and having had a good time, though they left Christ
and His church out. But you aren’t rejoicing because you know the spiritual is
missing. The worldly around them are saying,
“Oh that’s great! How wonderful!” because they don’t know anything but
this material world (cf. I Cor. 2:14). Jesus related the world’s joy to a lack
of spiritual understanding. Read His lesson in Luke 6:20-26 and mark well where
the two kinds of laughter and joy appear, and you will through sorrow see the
“vanity” in the lives of the slothful unfaithful!
Some Rejoice With Applications:
First, I Can
Rejoice With Another Who Is Faithful Whom I Know God Delights Over To Do Good.
On this point review the first part of the
study on the characteristic of God wherein He promised to do them good and did.
Compare their first fruit “giving” to God and the confession that went with it
that was to be a declaration that (1) the land is a reality (2) they are
indebted to the Lord having given it to them (De. 26:1-11).
I Can’t
Rejoice With Them When I See The Vanity! (Ps. 2:11)
Christians are to serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice
with trembling (Ps. 2:11). Here “trembling” means “to shudder” thus this one
fears God and is not arrogant. If you know the fear or moral reverence is
lacking can you rejoice in the sense
described above in 2 Corinthians and Philippians? No you can’t —there is
more of an empty feeling even when that person enjoys various kinds of material
prosperity. Why? Because you are thinking that what really matters, the
spiritual, is not really there. That’s why! We see only “vanity” in one who
does not understand:
“Man that
is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish” (Ps.
49:20).
Read
Eccl. 5:10 and see the vanity in their lives! Read again Eccl. 2:26 and see the
vanity!
Concerning the “unforgiving servant” the
other servants found no joy in his actions (Matt. 18:31, 26-30), or in his
being forgiven to begin with (Matt. 18:24-27). How can other brethren rejoice
when they know and see that one only asked for forgiveness but did not repent
of anything? There is no rejoicing for another who takes advantage of a
benevolent creditor (Christ) who goes far beyond what is asked of Him!
With The One Who Rejoices In Truth, Psalms
119:164.
This is that section (vss. 161-168) where every day the
same process works peace in our lives —hating evil, loving and speaking the
truth, praising God for it and finding peace, and thus overcoming temptation.
God knows when one does His will because he rejoices in truth (cf. I Cor. 13:6;
Prov. 5:21). It is easy to rejoice with one who speaks the right things (Pr.
With One Who Wants God’s Instruction, Counsel,
And Eye Upon Them (Ps. 32:8-11).
This is the
upright of heart and the praise and worship they offer to Christ is appropriate
and in place (Ps. 33:1). Thy are seeking God “continually” and not playing in
the world and then coming to church (Ps. 105:1-5). They rejoice in His
righteous judgments knowing that righteousness and justice are
His throne. They know they are exhalted by His
righteousness and rejoice in His lovingkindness and
truth (cf. Ps. 107:39-43, 109:30-31; 97:1-6). See the virtuous woman in Prov. 31:25.
Moreover, this is the person that is described by Paul in those familiar verses
in Phil. 4:4-7. He says, “Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. …”
Those who
seek Him continually ask for and don’t refuse His offers of help. It is a
bitter pill when you want to rejoice with another but know they are not
interested in God’s help!
Conclusion:
Let us serve God
with reverence and fear. Often times when blessings come our way we expect
others to share in our joy, and even look for such as encouragement. If so then
we must do our part and stay in righteousness.
By Bob Lovelace