Matt Chandler - Celebrate and Rejoice

Hey, it’s good to see you guys! So, the Carlys and then the Beards were here during the last service, and then the Goblets. We just have men and women all over the world right now heralding the good news of the gospel. And that Carly—I don’t know if you know her, but some of you obviously do by the screams—they have these three beautiful little blonde girls and another one on the way. Man, when you think about a missionary, you might imagine someone who goes to the ends of the earth. I don’t know what type of person pops into your mind, but the fruitfulness that has come from that family, in what almost everyone in this room would consider one of the darker places on the planet, has been nothing short of stunning. We’ve said for a long time that we want to be the kind of church that, with our resources—people, talents, dollars—holds an open hand and operates in a way that reveals there’s one kingdom we’re making much of, and it’s not this little baby one that we’re part of here. When I say that, I’m speaking to the Village Church and its brand or whatever. It’s such a great picture of faithfulness from a very young couple heading to the ends of the earth.

I wanted to highlight Philippians 4:4 today. I’m not really going to exegetically break down that passage; I think we’ve got it: «Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice.» I don’t think I need to do a lot of deep work there, but I do want to set it in its context. I will tell you what we’re trying to do, and then I’ll be done in 12 to 15 minutes. In chapter one, the Apostle Paul, from prison, says that his imprisonment is actually working for the gain of the gospel. He goes on to say that many have told him that other teachers are preaching the gospel with wrong motives. They’re preaching the true gospel but doing it so they might be made much of; they don’t love the Lord from a humble heart, but rather from a self-seeking heart. Then he moves into chapter two, where he tells the church at Philippi that there must stop being grumblings and quarreling among them. There’s a reason he’s writing that; you don’t just say that on Twitter, you say that to a church that has some grumbling and quarreling.

In chapter three, he says, «Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh.» There was a group of Judaizers that had come from Jerusalem to Philippi, and they were telling the new Christians at that church that if they actually wanted to be Christians, they would have to become Jews first, including circumcision and obeying all the dietary laws of Judaism. So Paul says, «Watch out for the dogs—they’re adding to the gospel and deceiving you, so don’t listen to them.» He starts chapter four, literally just a verse before this, saying, «Hey ladies, there are these two women: all we know about them is they’re super influential in this small congregation. They’re powerful women, and they disagree on something.» Because we’re human, even in the church, people are taking sides with this woman or that woman. The Apostle is like, «Ladies, can we please, for the grace of God, find a way forward in all of this?»

So if you’re reading the book of Philippians, it’s just kind of what a church is—kind of a hot mess where there are a lot of really cool things happening, but there’s also a lot of difficult things happening. Yet the Apostle Paul’s command in Philippians 4 is this kind of defiant joy that no matter what else is going on, we’re going to get our eyes up and rejoice in the Lord always. So when he’s in prison and writing «Rejoice in the Lord always,» and he’s heard there are those preaching for false gain, he says, «Hey, rejoice in the Lord.» The congregation’s grumbling and they’re not as mature as he would like them to be; he says, «No, no, let’s rejoice in the Lord.» He’s facing false teachers trying to destroy the work of God and the souls of men and women, and he says, «Get your head up, rejoice in the Lord.» He’s got these two powerful alpha females—possibly the most terrifying creatures on earth—and he says to them, «Ladies, can we find a way forward?» Any one of those moments might have taken the wind out of the sails of the church at Philippi, but there’s a kind of defiant joy and a bent toward celebration and optimism that the people of God are meant to be marked by.

That’s part of what we’re trying to do today; that’s one reason it was necessary to lament last week—there’s a time for that. And that’s why this week we’re saying, «But man, isn’t God at work everywhere?» I see some of the groups crew over here—there’s Justin and Mark, and I think Tory was in the nine; maybe she’s in here. I don’t see her, but they built a Trello.