Rejoicing with Those Who Rejoice

Well, let me invite you to turn in your Bibles this morning to Romans 12. Romans 12 for our time of study. In the word this morning, we are doing a study through different sections in the book of Romans. We studied Romans 5 through 8 and then a few verses in 9.

and 10 and 11, and we, have really hunkered down in Romans chapter 12, and we'll be savoring like every phrase and verse of this, chapter by the time we're, we're done with it. And we're in a section of Romans 12, where Paul's teaching us how to live out the gospel and unleash the power and the glory of the gospel and to implement it. In a gospel way in our lives and in Romans 12:9 and following, we encounter a very rich and dense section. of Romans 12, where Paul is telling us one of the ways to live out the gospel is by walking in agape love.

And beginning in verse 9, Paul unfolds for us what agape love looks like in beautiful broad strokes of the brush. Here's what love looks like. And in verse 9 in the Greek text, the first word that you encounter is the word agape or the word love, and then everything that follows, as one writer has said, is Paul's recipe for agape. This is all the ingredients of agape love.

Beginning in verse 9. He says, Let love be without hypocrisy, abhor what is evil, cling to what is good, be devoted to one another in brotherly love, give preference. To one another in honor, not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality. Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse.

And then this morning we come to verse 15. And all we're going to have time to do is to look at the 1st 5 words of verse 15, as Paul adds to our understanding of what agape love looks like, when he says, rejoice. With those who rejoice. And we'll be spending our time focusing on these words rejoice with those who rejoice.

And so after much strained and careful thought, I am giving this sermon the title Rejoicing with those who Rejoice. Wow It's a gift. It's a gift. It's easy to look at verse 15.

Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Most of us who've known the Lord for any length of time are familiar with these precepts of Paul contained in this verse. Some might think they sound like just helpful, somewhat pious platitudes that are good to add to one's life. But, These Two challenges in verse 15 and the one we're going to look at this morning to rejoice with those who rejoice.

as I've pondered them, they, they have a way of really searching you out all the way to the bottom of who you are. and as you try to understand the ramifications of what Paul is telling us when he says rejoice with those who rejoice, and then you set about to living that out, I'll tell you, this will give you a good scrubbing on the inside. And I think we'll get a taste of that, this morning. just this injunction to rejoice with those who rejoice is absolutely loaded, as I think we'll see.

this morning, and let me just make a few statements so that you understand how important, this is. one statement would be this, that a failure to rejoice with those who rejoice will ruin you. And reduce you to a spiritual invalid. This is not just some nice pious sentiment and so, OK, I think I'll add this to my life.

No, this is critical. If you do not learn how to rejoice with those who rejoice, it'll destroy you. Saying it another way, you will never be a consistently happy person until you learn. To rejoice with those who rejoice.

Your own happiness depends upon your ability to rejoice with those who rejoice. In fact, saying it yet another way, until you learn to rejoice with those who rejoice, you will be a frequently miserable, unhappy, discontented, jealous, envious person. So this is not just something to add to your happiness. This is part of the path to happiness.

If you don't allow God to shape your heart through the gospel in such a way that you are rejoicing with other people as they rejoice, you will never find happiness, you will only find misery. What Paul is calling us to in this passage is absolutely critical, absolutely important, and absolutely impossible. As we'll see, as one writer says, to rejoice with others, even when we are deprived of their joy, requires a selflessness, which only the power of agape can bestow. Apart from the renewing of our minds, such a commandment makes no sense.

And apart from the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, it is impossible. To realize the converted heart agrees that this is the perfect love of Christ, but the flesh rebels reminding us of the unfinished progress in our lives. I would submit to you this morning that just this simple command, rejoice with those who rejoice. If you just say, what, over the next month, I'm just going to try to live this one thing out.

If that's all you did, Just seeking to live out this one simple instruction will bring you face to face with your spiritual poverty, and show you your great need for Jesus Christ, and for salvation through him. And I would also suggest that the degree to which you obey this precept to rejoice with those who rejoice is probably one of the clearest measuring rods by which you can assess your spiritual stature in Christ. That's how important I think we'll see that this instruction is from Paul.

The way we'll break down how we're going to spend our time this morning in this passage is in this way.

We'll observe 4 things that you and I are going to want to do if we want to live out this ethic that we find at the beginning of Romans 12:15 and rejoice with those who rejoice. All of us read this and say, Man, this is from the Lord. I want to live it out. Well, if that's your goal, there's 4 things you're going to want to do in order to fully and deeply, richly live out this simple precept to rejoice with those who rejoice.

And the first thing you're going to want to do is understand that there are limits as to what you are to rejoice in. Paul would If he were here, he'd want to caution you because you might say, well, rejoice with those who rejoice. I guess that means that anyone that I ever see, that is rejoicing in anything, I guess I'm supposed to enter into their rejoicing with them and rejoice with them, and whatever it is that they're rejoicing in. And Paul would say, No, that's not what I am saying at all.

There are limits to what you are to rejoice in. And we get a clear idea of what those limits are. And the other love passage in 1 Corinthians 13. Where Paul tells us in verse 6 that love does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth.

He's telling us love feels, we would be wrong to say that love is an emotion. But we would also be wrong to say that love has nothing to do with our emotions. Love does emote, love does feel, and it feels strongly. to such a degree that it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but it emotes, it rejoices in the truth.

And we really didn't even need to go to 1 Corinthians 13:6 to know that there's a limit to those that we rejoice with, and rejoice in. All we had to do was look at Romans 12:9, where Paul is describing for us what agape love is and how it behaves. And he says, here's what love is. It's no hypocrisy, hating the evil, and clinging to the good.

love is discriminating. people walking in agape love, they know that there's such a thing as good, and there's such a thing as evil. And they hate the evil, and they love, they cling to, they hold on to that which is good. And so just from what we observe in verse 9, we would easily infer that when Paul is telling us to rejoice with those who rejoice, he's not telling us to rejoice with those who are rejoicing in evil or unrighteousness.

We live in a society today where there's a whole lot of rejoicing. In evil. And it is pronounced good and beautiful and commendable, and we are being constantly invited as Christians to join others in rejoicing in what the Bible says is evil. But what others are saying is good.

But we know from Scripture that if people are rejoicing in sin, if they're rejoicing in immorality, we are not to rejoice with them in those things. If there are people that are rejoicing in gossip, and, and sometimes gossip is fueled by a joy. In the failures of other people. In fact, write down this reference Proverbs 24:17, where Solomon says, do not rejoice when your enemy falls.

Do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles. And we, we live in a culture today where there's this, this pleasure in the stumbling of, of other people and public figures, because it's, it's useful that they would stumble and there's a glee in reporting on such things. There's even websites that are purported to be, official news sites that so much of it is just gleeful gossip. Over the failings of other people, and finding joy in that.

And on a more narrow scale that sometimes you may come upon, brothers and sisters in the church, and they're in a moment of wrongmindedness, they're talking about somebody else, and there's a pleasure that's palpable that they feel over the embarrassment or the failings of some other person. And Paul would say, when I tell you to rejoice with those who rejoice, what I don't mean, I'm not telling you to rejoice with such people as they rejoice in the stumblings of other people.

If someone, find something to be very entertaining, music or a movie or a television show, or a book before you make a decision to rejoice with them in that thing, you want to be discerning and ask, is this celebrating that which is good, or is it celebrating evil? And if it's celebrating evil, and that person's inviting you to join them and rejoicing and taking pleasure in that, then you have to beg off of that.

And say I cannot join you in that. So I hope that's clear. when Paul says to rejoice with those who are rejoicing, excluded from Paul's thinking in this instruction is that category of rejoicing that other people do wherein they are rejoicing in evil. We're under no obligation.

The path of love is not to rejoice with them in evil. In fact, the most loving thing we can do is to not rejoice with them. And they're evil. They may view us as a hater for refusing to rejoice with them and their evil, but actually, it's the loving thing to do.

Well, if that's what's excluded, then what's included? When Paul speaks of those that are rejoicing? Well, I, I think most of us could figure this out as we think through the passage. Paul is speaking of anyone that is rejoicing in a legitimate blessing from the Lord.

Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights and And so every good and legitimate blessing that anyone ever has in their life ultimately comes from God. And if it makes their heart glad and rejoices, their spirit, then, then Paul is saying, enter into the enjoyment and the rejoicing of others. Primarily he's talking about in our relationships with one another, rejoice with your brothers and sisters as they rejoice in any blessing that God has bestowed upon them.

But I think we can happily apply this even to those that are non-Christians, when they rejoice in things that are good and noble and virtuous, when they rejoice in something that is true, when they rejoice in just practical blessings that they experience in their life.

join them in that, rejoice with them as they rejoice in such God-given blessings that come from a God who causes the sun to shine on the evil and the good and his reign to fall upon the righteous, and the unrighteous. So if you want to live out this precept at the beginning of Romans 12:15, understand first that there are limits. As to what you are to rejoice in. Secondly, if you want to live this out and apply this to your life and rejoice with those who rejoice.

Number 2, you need to rejoice with others when it's natural and easy to do so. Understand, if you say, man, I want to live this out, Paul would say, let me just tell you up front, there's gonna be many times where you find this easy. To do. And when it's easy to do, natural to do, go ahead and rejoice with those who are rejoicing.

Maybe somebody is, rejoicing in something that you happen to be happy about. Maybe they're rejoicing that the San Francisco Giants won the World Series, and the Giants happen to be your favorite baseball team. Well, in such situations, you will find it quite easy to rejoice with them. As they rejoice, right?

My wife and I have had 4 children over the years. And, and one thing that I noticed is after the birth of each of our children, my wife was happy. She was rejoicing in this gift of a new child. And I didn't really have any trouble rejoicing with her in that.

It's not like I saw her joy and it's like, man, Lord, she's rejoicing in this child. What do you want me to do? Oh, Romans 12:15, rejoice with those who rejoice. So I'm going to rejoice with her in that.

I didn't really even need to read that it was natural. I was happy to have this gift of a new child. And so it made me happy too. So it was easy and natural for me to rejoice with my wife over this gift of a new child.

there are other occasions where we'll find it easy to rejoice with those who rejoice. One of those is when someone is rejoicing in you. I don't know, I've just found that that's quite easy to rejoice with someone when they're rejoicing in me. Someone may come to you and just say, man, I've just been thanking God for you lately.

And last week when we spent time together, you said this, and you did that, and you just have no idea how much of a blessing you were to me. The words you spoke were directly from God, right to my heart and met a great need. And I cherish you. I celebrate you.

I am rejoicing in the gift from God that you are to me. One such moments, you're not pondering, what do I do in this situation? I know the Bible says I need to rejoice with them as they rejoice. So OK, Lord, I'm going to obey you.

No, you'll find it quite easy to, to do that when someone's rejoicing in you or your ministry to them or some achievement that, that you've attained in your life that has been a blessing to them. And we could probably add to that list, but Paul would just say there are times where you're just going to find it very natural, very easy to rejoice with those who rejoice, and when those occasions come, live out the ethic that I'm laying down here and join them in that rejoicing as they rejoice.

But Paul Wood. Move on to a 3rd point.

And say that when I tell you to rejoice with those who rejoice, I'm calling you to something far deeper and more broad than just rejoicing with those who rejoice when you find it easy to do so. And he would say, what I'm also saying is rejoice with others. When it is difficult or seemingly impossible to do so, the mistake that we can make is to read this, rejoice with those who rejoice, and go, Oh yeah, I can think of times where I do that on a regular basis, and then we draw a circle around those occasions where it's easy and, and we just assume that's all that Paul is saying.

And Paul would say, no, no, I'm, it includes that, but I'm calling you to something that is agape, something that is deeper and broader and actually far more costly.

So I think we do well to ponder what lies outside that circle of those occasions where it's easy to rejoice with someone as they're rejoicing. What are those other kinds of moments that Paul is calling us to when he tells us to rejoice with those who rejoice? What are some of the other scenarios that are included? In this injunction that we find here.

Well, let me give you a few. When Paul tells you to rejoice with those who rejoice, this instruction includes those times when someone is rejoicing over a blessing that God has given to them that he's not given to you. Maybe it's something that you've always wanted and you've been praying for. God doesn't seem to be giving that to you.

But this brother sister shows up and lo and behold, God has given this thing that I've always wanted to this other person. Has that ever happened? Any of you? OK, about 5 of you.

No, seriously, has that ever happened to you that God has given to someone else a blessing that you wanted for yourself? And, and you guys then know that that's not an easy thing to do. maybe you've always wanted a particular dream home and you've had to settle for the house that you're living in, and you want so much more and you've actually prayed about it and You believe your motives are good and honest and sincere. but God doesn't seem to be giving that to you.

But, someone else from the church calls you up and says, I'm just so happy right now. God has just done a wonderful thing. And you're like, what is that? And they tell you about this dream home that God has provided for them.

maybe it's a dream car. You want a nicer vehicle and you can't afford it. but somebody else comes driving up in a brand new vehicle that's exactly what you wanted. and fellowshipping with some people in the church about this very concept this past week, they shared with me that one couple shared that they, for a handful of years, they wanted a child.

And they prayed, God, give us a child. That was their dream. That's what they wanted to bring up a child in the nurture and discipline of the Lord. And, and God never gave them a child.

And yet they look around in the church and God seemed to be freely bestowing upon other people the gift. of children And it required a heroic, gospel-induced triumph for them to be able to step out of their grief. And to enter into the joy of other, other people. Maybe you value a particular friendship with a particular individual and you want to be closer to that person and have a deeper friendship, but that's not really forthcoming.

but then you observe that person becoming, closer to another person and that other person seems really blessed and rejoicing in that friendship with that friend that you value. In such moments, Paul would say, part of what I'm calling you to when I say rejoice with those that rejoice is to step outside of yourself and die to yourself and join them and rejoicing in the blessing that God has given to you that at this particular point in your life or that God has given to them that at this particular point in your life he may not have given to you.

Just in all honesty, guys, has, has it ever happened to you that you received some really great news of some great thing that's happened in someone else's life? And it ruined your day.

Both either before you were saved or after, has that ever happened that you've heard some really great thing that happened to somebody else, some great blessing. And it had the effect of ruining your day. Raise your hand, OK? And I appreciate the honesty, and it just confirms to me that I'm speaking to the right audience here, and my hand, my hand is up as well.

This, like I said, this passage really gives us a good scrubbing on the inside. especially as we try to live this out, and then it brings us to the end of ourselves and shows us our need for Christ. let's, let's add to the list this instruction to rejoice with those who rejoice. is calling us to rejoice with people rejoicing when someone who in our way of thinking is less deserving than us has received some blessing that's greater than what we've received, or even equal to what we have received.

It's it's funny the comparisonitis that all of us can be afflicted with and And we may evaluate, that, I'm more deserving of some blessing, and then maybe God blesses us with that, and we're grateful, but we're thinking, what, I had this coming to me. I've done the work. I've followed the rules, and I've obeyed God's word, and I've, I've done this and this and this, and other people haven't. And so, what, I was expecting this blessing.

It's from God. I'm thankful, but what, 2 + 2 equals 4, and the work I've done, has brought this into my life. but imagine thinking that way. And then this other person over here who hasn't done the work that you have done.

They haven't maybe been the parent that you have been, you've got these great children, you're like, well, of course, I would have great children. I've been a great parent to them. But then this other parent over here that has not followed the rules, they've done so many things wrong. And yet, you look at their children, and their children love Jesus.

And your children are maybe wayward in one way or another, and these other children being parented by parents who are not as good at it as you are, are loving the Lord and going on for the Lord in a way that you may not see that your children are. In such moments, there can be anger, jealousy, bitterness, misery, and discontentment. Jesus tells the story in Matthew 20 about a landowner who needed some work done. And so he, goes to some day laborers who were standing on the street and says, Hey, you want to work for me all day?

If you do, I'll give you a Daenerys. And they said, Yeah, that'd be great. That's a day's wage and that's fair. So we'll work for you all day and get a Daenerys.

And so they start working and about 3 hours into the day, the landowner goes out and finds some more laborers and says, Hey, will you work for me for the rest of the day and I'll give you a fair wage? And they're like, sure. And then 3 hours later, around noon, he goes out and finds some more workers and says, Will you work for me for the rest of the day and at the end of the day I'll give you a fair wage. 3 hours later he goes out again and finds some more workers, says, Work for me for the rest of the day and at the end of the day I'll give you a fair wage.

And then with 1 hour left in the work day, he goes out and finds some other laborers doing nothing and says, Work for me for the next hour. And when You are done with your work. I'll give you a fair wage. You guys know how the story turns out, right?

At the end of the workday, they all line up, and the landowner starts giving money to those who work the least. And to those who worked only one hour, he gives them a Daenerys. And those who work 3 hours, he gives them a Daenerys, and those who work 6 hours, he gives them a Daenerys. And those who worked all day in the heat of the sun are looking at that saying, this is really good news for us.

Because what this means is he's going to give us more than he's given to them. But when the landowner gets to those who worked all day, he gives them only the Daenerys he had promised them. And how do they respond? Rather than rejoicing and receiving that which was promised to them, and rather than rejoicing in the blessing of those who got a Daenerys for less work, Jesus says in Matthew 2011, when they received it, they grumbled at the landowner.

See, they didn't like equality. I've talked to people at times who have said, I don't like the inequity that exists in the world and even in the church. I don't know why God blesses some people more than others. I wish God would just bless all people the same.

but what the story Jesus tells indicates, guys, is that that evil that's in your heart that gets mad when God blesses someone more than you, that same evil will be just as angry whenever God blesses someone equal to you. If in your opinion, that other person is less deserving. There's something in all of us that wants to be preeminent, that wants to be first. Part of the pleasure of having things or blessings sometimes is the fact that we have more of a blessing than other people do.

CS Lewis says it this way, pride gets no pleasure out of having something. Only out of having more of it than the next person. We say that people are proud of being rich or clever or good looking, but they are not. They are proud of being richer, or cleverer or better looking than others.

If everyone else became equally rich or clever or good looking, there would be nothing to be proud about. And so there may be times where God has blessed us in a certain way and And we're living in the good of that. And then there's someone else that in our opinion is less deserving that God blesses equally or even more than us in a particular area. And that has the effect of ruining our day.

But Paul would say, I'm calling you in such moments to die to yourself and rejoice with those other individuals as they rejoice in the blessing that God has given to them. Another scenario would be this, that Paul's call to rejoice with those who rejoice includes those moments when someone is rejoicing in the achievements or ministry of another person and not you. maybe you're involved in some ministry and someone comes up to you and just says, man, I'm just so thankful for this ministry.

And you're half expecting that they're going to get around to really praising God for you.

But instead, they start talking about another person involved in that ministry and just raving about how God has used that person in their life. And rather than rejoicing with this person who's rejoicing in the ministry of another person, you find yourself feeling miffed. And upset, jealous. And envious.

But Paul would say when someone comes to you and they're rejoicing in the ministry of another person, you are to join them and rejoice with them in the ministry of that other person. Other scenarios, Paul's call to rejoice with those who are rejoicing includes those moments when someone is rejoicing in something that does not interest or affect you at all. Maybe you have no problem with what they're rejoicing in, it just, it doesn't affect you, it doesn't interest you. And so it'd be easy to be selfish and self-absorbed and just disconnect and not care.

And this especially in parenting can play itself out., parents, when your children come to you, and they're really happy and excited about something that's good and legitimate and rejoicing in something, Even if it may not affect you, and you're not even really sure why this is all that great of a of a deal, just come down to their level, enter into their joy, let them see their own joy on your face. I think in parenting, we parents would do well if a question that's in our minds that we're always asking with regard to our children is this, what are my children rejoicing in?

And what are they grieving over? What are their joys and what are their sorrows?

Do what your children's joys and sorrows have been over this past week? Also, this command to rejoice with those who rejoice includes those moments when someone is rejoicing during a season in which you find yourself grieving. Does that ever happen? You're going through a season of, of tremendous pain and loss, and, and someone in your life is experiencing some great blessing.

They may be experiencing blessing in the very area where you are grieving. Maybe you're grieving and hurting over a wayward child that's running from the Lord, and you're talking to some brother or sister in the Lord, and, and they're rejoicing with some great report that they have received about some great work that God is doing in their children's life and, and wise decisions that this child is making that bring great joy to them. In your moments of grief, are you able to step outside of that and join them in rejoicing in what they're rejoicing in?

It may very well be that the joy inside the heart of that brother or sister in your moment of grief, it may very well be that the joy inside of them that they're coming to you with, may be part of the prescription.

of what God wants you to have, to help you through your season of, of grief. Rejoicing with those who rejoice also includes those moments when someone is rejoicing and some blessing that you think is not as impressive as what you are rejoicing in. I see this a lot. There, there, there's some people sometimes that they're really impressed with their joys.

That's all they want to talk about. They come up to you and they don't really ask how you're doing. They're not the least bit interested in your story and what's going on in your life. They're just bubbling over with all these joys that they're experiencing.

And that's great that they're doing that, but the, but it's, but it's careless, and it can be thoughtless, and actually hurtful. And then sometimes, someone may be sharing, like you may be sharing with someone, some blessing in your life, and you can tell that's triggered something in their own mind, and it's a blessing that they've experienced, and they are just itching for you to stop and take a breath so that they can barge in. And with their greater blessing, like you think that's great.

Well, let me tell you what God's doing in my life.

And they may not say it that way, but that's basically the tone in which it is presented. And at the end of the conversation, you're left feeling quite small. Like, well, I guess my joy really wasn't that great after all. I'm sorry I wasted your time.

what I would encourage you guys to do is if someone comes to you, and they're really rejoicing and some blessing in their life, you, God may be blessing you in some of those same areas in a way that you're itching to share. But just take a breath for a moment, and orbit around them for a little while, and enter into their joy. Be with them in that joy. Maybe at a later point, you can share what God is doing in your life.

They may even ask you what is God doing in your life. But for the moment, linger in the moment and enter into their joy and rejoice with them as they rejoice. This call to rejoice with those who rejoice also includes those moments when someone is granted an opportunity beyond what God has given to you. Maybe there's some great opportunity for ministry or career, or, or whatever that you're longing for and praying for, and it's not really coming your way.

And then God gives this opportunity to somebody else. Maybe there's a ministry that you want to be involved in and And an opportunity that you would love for God to bring to you in ministry to others, but he doesn't bring that to you. He brings it to somebody else. Are you able in such moments to die to yourself and rejoice in the joy of the person to whom that opportunity for ministry has been given?

Paul had to practice this in Philippians chapter one, where he says, I'm, I'm in prison here in Rome, and my imprisonment has caused a number of people, Christians to, proclaim the gospel all the more boldly and more broadly. And he says some are preaching Christ out of pure motives, and then there's some out of selfish motives being driven by selfish ambition, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment. But he says, how am I going to respond? I'm in prison and these limiting circumstances.

I, I would love for my circumstances to be different. I would love to preach the gospel the way these other people have the opportunity to, but I'm left here in this confining prison. And some of those preaching, I'm naturally very happy for them. And then some, they, they don't even seem quite deserving to me.

There's selfishness that's driving their motives, at least in part. But Paul says, here's what I'm gonna do, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is being proclaimed, in this, I will rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice. You almost get the sense that he's talking to himself here.

I'm going to rejoice in this. Yes, I'm going to rejoice in this. And it's in that same context that he tells the Philippians, I want you to know that my imprisonment has actually served to advance the cause of the gospel, because I'm preaching the gospel right here where I'm at. And I love that, rather than begrudging people broader opportunities that They had and saying, Man, I wish I was out of prison and I could do what they're doing.

Rather than doing that, Paul looked around in his confining circumstances, and said, I'm going to make the most of this, and I'm going to preach the gospel right here where I'm at, and make the most of the opportunity. It's easy for us to get so caught up in looking at the opportunities of others that we end up squandering the opportunity that right now exists right around us. It may not be the opportunity that you would have drawn up on paper. But are you being faithful with the opportunity that God has given to you?

The only way you're going to be able to do that is to be willing to die to yourself and rejoice with those who rejoice in opportunities that maybe you would want. But go ahead and rejoice with them and that and seize upon the opportunities that God has given to you. Let me just throw one more scenario at you guys. This is a tough one that when Paul tells us to rejoice with those who are rejoicing, that includes situations where someone is rejoicing in God's forgiveness of their sins, which they've committed against you.

in both directions, my wife and I have experienced this very struggle. One spouse hurts the other. And causing, causing hurt, inflicting a wound, and then, one of us may repent and seek God's forgiveness, even ask the forgiveness of the other, but the wound may still be there. And here we are walking on in the grace of God, rejoicing in his grace and forgiveness.

And the wound is still left behind in the other person. And it's easy for the person who's been wounded to begrudge the other person the joy that they have. A more significant scenario. I've seen this happen.

Where a man And this can go either way, but I've seen it happen to where a man has committed adultery. committed sins in his marriage that have brought tremendous, grief and wounds to the heart and the soul of his wife. And then God brings that man to a place of brokenness and repentance, and he cries out to God and receives the forgiveness of God, and he's just cherishing that, and he's now going gangbusters for the Lord. Other people in the church are rallying around that guy.

And man, God loves you, and God's grace is amazing. And And the wife observes her husband rejoicing. In the grace and the forgiveness of God, and I've actually seen this happen. Their husbands' joy and God's grace.

is their own worst nightmare. And creates an enormous struggle for the wife. And the big question she's now faced with is, am I going to join my husband and his joy in God's grace and forgiveness that God has given to him for the sins that he has committed against me and wounded me so. And that's not an easy journey, and it requires a significant level of dying.

To self in order for a woman to be able to join her husband in such joy. Now there are things that the husband can and should do that we don't have the time to get into, to make that journey easier for his wife, but I've actually seen it happen that, that a spouse in such a scenario is begrudging their spouse joy that they're finding in the Lord, and they will wittingly or unwittingly sabotage that joy. Because they're upset that their spouse is experiencing grace and joy when they're left hurting the way that they're hurting.

There's many more things I'm sure that we could add to this list, but I'm just trying to impress all of you with, with the reality that when Paul says rejoice with those who rejoice, he's calling us into something that goes well beyond just those moments where this is easy for us.

He's calling us into something that is extremely costly. And Paul would actually say what I'm calling you into is humanly impossible. And you may say, I absolutely can't do this. And that's why we'll close with a 4th thing that you're gonna want to do if you want to live out what Paul is saying here, and that is let the gospel motivate and shape your rejoicing with those who rejoice.

if you don't do this, if you don't go back to the gospel, and then reason from the gospel, into the situation that you find yourself in, you're never going to be in the proper frame of mind to rejoice with those who, who rejoice. If you came to Paul and said, Paul, rejoice with those who rejoice, there are times where this is easy. And then there are times where this is ridiculously impossible. I can't believe you're calling me to do this.

I'm going to need some help here. Paul would say, listen. There's a reason that I situated this injunction after 300+ verses of gospel truth. Because I didn't hit you with this in chapter one.

I waited until after I had loved on you with the gospel, and laid out for you the glories of the gospel. I gave you the gospel first before I gave you this precept, because the gospel that I have given to you is actually designed to enable you. To do this. That's why in chapters 1 through 11, he's giving us gospel.

And then in chapter 12, verse 1, he says, therefore, I urge you by the mercies of God that I've been talking to you about. And then he begins to give them instructions. And among those instructions is rejoice with those who rejoice. If we're going to become skilled and proficient at rejoicing with those who rejoice, then we must plumb the depths of the gospel and learn to think from gospel reality to those situations where joy is being called for from us in such a costly way.

you can try to write these down. Here's just a few quick thoughts about how to think from the gospel to such moments, when you find yourself maybe jealous and envious, Angry, discontented, just like, I know I'm supposed to rejoice with this person who's rejoicing, but I don't want to do this. How do I get myself or allow the Lord to get me into a frame of mind to where I want to do this? here's some things to think.

Number 1, remember the judgment you deserve. Paul would say, that's why I spent chapters 12, and, and the first half of chapter 3, talking about the condemnation that you were under the wrath of God that you were under. remember the hell that you deserve, whatever your circumstances are, and maybe you're looking at someone whose circumstances are better, Just pause and take a breath for a moment and think about what your circumstances would be if God gave you exactly what you deserve.

All of us would be in utter torment for all of eternity in the lake of fire.

And utter darkness away from the presence of the Lord. That's where we would be right now if God treated us according to what we deserve. And yet amazingly he has rescued us by His grace. From where we deserve to be and brought us into so many blessings.

When I find myself struggling with these very kinds of thoughts, I, I like to go back in my thought to my thoughts to reminding myself of the judgment that That I deserve. I think sometimes the reason we get so finicky about comparing ourselves to other people and someone has a greater blessing than me, is because we've never really been struck heavily by the weightiness of the judgment that we deserve, and how amazing it is that we've been rescued. if something happened to you later today, where I, I can't even think of a scenario where you base your life passes before your eyes, and you're like pretty much positive you're going to die.

And yet amazingly, something happens to where your life is spared.

And you're like living in the relief of that. And you're like, man, I cannot believe how close to death I came and I've been rescued and I didn't die. you would then begin to appreciate everything. The blue sky and the air that you breathe, and you see your family again, and you would appreciate them.

And I know for a fact that later that day, if you see someone who has a greater amount of blessings than you do, you're not going to be finicky about that. Like, man, it's just a bummer that they have more than I have. No. You're going to be so blown away living in the relief of your deliverance from death that those things just seem puny by comparison.

And so go back and remind yourself of the judgment that you deserve as a result of your sin, not in order to stay there, but in order that that would serve as a backdrop against which you can see the amazing grace of Jesus Christ. In the gospel. Move from there in your thinking to pondering all that God has done for you in Christ, you deserve God's judgment. And yet Jesus Christ came into this fallen broken world, and he endured God's judgment for you.

He took upon himself the judgment that you deserve, so that you can then put your trust in Him and be saved. And upon believing in Him, God gives you the forgiveness of sins, He justifies you, he declares you righteous, he delivers this amazing verdict upon your life and says, you are forgiven, you are righteous, and you are mine forever. And what, anytime you want to come into my presence, you can come and talk to me, you can make whatever needs known to me. You can just come into my presence and just enjoy a friendship with me.

Among those blessings in the gospel, is the assurance that we have in Romans 8:32 that he who spared not his own son, but delivered him over for us all. Paul says, how will he not also with him freely give us all things? God has already paid the ultimate price, given the ultimate gift. God would never insult his son by failing to give us anything truly needful for life and godliness.

And when Paul gives us that assurance in verse 32, he's not just simply saying that God will give you all things needful. He's saying God is giving you all things needful. And among those things that God is giving to you is even your lack. Your lack is a gift from God.

The circumstances, even in which you find someone else being blessed more than you, even that's a gift from God because inside of that circumstance is some good, some gold that God is wanting to do in you. You have the assurance in the gospel that God works everything out for your good and for His glory. Do you believe that? Do you believe that everything that happens to you, even when someone else has a blessing beyond what you have, that God is always doing a million things, God is always working everything together for your good, even in the orchestrating of such circumstances where you are called to do the impossible and rejoice with those who are rejoicing.

And also contemplate your destiny and glory forever in heaven. Guys, your circumstances are tremendous. And when you get to heaven, you're going to love your inheritance. That's what you're destined for, for all of eternity.

you're going to receive a glorified body. And as one commercial says, you're going to love the way you look for, for all of eternity. You may not like your body now, but what, you're going to love your body, then you're going to be blown away by this gift. of your physicality in perfection that God gives to you to enjoy for all of, of eternity, along with all the other blessings of, of heaven, your eyes have not seen, your ears have not heard, it's not even entered into your heart, the degree of blessings that God even right now is dreaming up for you.

When you are with God in heaven enjoying all of these blessings that go beyond what you can even imagine right now, you will declare very loudly, God has been good to me. God has been good to me. You say, well, I know all of that, but I just, I need God to help me to get there. And God would say, well, one of the blessings you have in the gospel is prayer.

You say, well, I, I'm so weak, I don't even know how to pray in such circumstances as I ought, God says, got that covered. Romans 8, even when you don't know how to pray as you should, just come to me crying out and my Spirit who is in you will be interceding with you and for you, and he will give perfect expression to exactly what you need in such moments where that you need to rejoice with those who rejoice. Such moments, all of them are opportunities for us to put the gospel into practice and to go deeper in our understanding and experience of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

If this week you find yourself in moments where you're supposed to rejoice with someone who's rejoicing, and you're finding it challenging, difficult, if not even impossible, just know that such moments are tailor made by God, to show you your spiritual poverty.

Your need for Jesus, to bring you to the foot of the cross, thinking gospel thoughts, and crying out to God saying, God, save me in this moment. And give me the ability to rejoice with this other person who rejoices. Most of you in this room, how challenging this is. And most of you in this room also can point to moments where you did actually live this out, and you stepped forward and made a decision by the grace of God, I'm going to rejoice with this person.

And how delicious those moments are, so you have a taste of that. And a taste of a deeper experience of God, His grace and His love. It deepens your own experience of the gospel, and Paul says that's what it's all about, and that's what I'm calling you into. Let's look to the Lord in prayer and ask, God to help us to Live this out.

Lord, we just come before you this morning, a needy people. We, we need your help. We need your grace. Your grace is absolutely astounding, amazing.

And yet the evil that can surface in our hearts, Lord, it can trouble us. It can sabotage. Our ability to walk in your grace. And we just come to you, Lord, and confess our weakness, our ignorance, and our sin to you.

We receive your grace. We receive your forgiveness. And we ask you to enable us to live out this particular precept of the gospel. And in the process to Go deep And to the experience of you.

We know that terrible things happen when people don't rejoice with those who rejoice. Cain killed Abel. Because he did not rejoice. With his brother and his blessing.

saw Had an evil spirit come upon him because he did not rejoice with David over the anointing that was in David's life, and Saul did not rejoice with the people who were perceiving that anointing. And that jealousy that Saul allowed in his heart provided a huge landing place for an evil spirit to come into him and begin to torment him from that day on. It was jealousy that drove the Jewish leaders to hand Jesus over in death. It was the jealousy of the Jews.

That drove them to persecute Paul for daring to give. The message of salvation and forgiveness and relationship with God to Gentiles who did not deserve it. Awful things happen when we do not live according to this. Our happiness depends upon it.

Your glory depends upon it. Help us to live in the good of this and to live it out from day to day. Lord, we thank you for this opportunity to give our offerings to you, receive these funds and do much with them, Lord. For the glory of Jesus, we ask these things in His name, and all God's people said, Amen.