LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2019, Page 77

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Rejoice Always!

ZEPHANIAH 3:14–20; 1 THESSALONIANS 5:16
LCMS Fifth Vice-President Rev. Dr. Daniel Preus
67th Regular Convention of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod • July 22, 2019 • Matins
In Jesus’ name, dear friends. How do you respond when
you are in a bad mood and somebody says to you,
“Cheer up”? Why, you just naturally become happy
then, don’t you? All it takes is those two words, “Cheer
up,” and you immediately become cheerful. Or if a
person notices that you are grieving and says, “Don’t be
sad”? Your sadness just flies away when that happens,
doesn’t it? All it takes is someone saying, “Don’t be
sad,” and all your sadness is left behind. Right?

And what did His joy consist in; what was the
happiness to which He was looking forward? The
prophet Isaiah answers that question. “Out of the
anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his
knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make
many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their
iniquities” (Is. 53:11). Out of His anguish, while bearing
our iniquities, He saw us accounted righteous. And it
gave Him great joy.

Well, no. It’s not quite that simple, is it? In fact,
frequently, if we’re in a bad mood or sad and somebody
says, “Cheer up,” we may get even grumpier than we
were before. We didn’t choose to be sad in the first
place and the suggestion that we can just choose to be
happy can be very irritating.

Do you sometimes think it is God’s desire to catch you
in your sins so that He can burden you with guilt? No!
It’s to bear your guilt, so that you can be declared
righteous. This is His joy. As Jesus says, “God did not
send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but
in order that the world might be saved through him”
(John 3:17).

So what shall we do with Paul’s words in our text:
“Rejoice always”? Does the apostle have such a poor
understanding of basic human nature that he doesn’t
understand that the simple admonition to rejoice will
not necessarily result in rejoicing? And then to add the
word “always”?
No, Paul actually understands human nature very well.
He even describes himself as someone who cannot do
the things he wants to do because of the battle taking
place inside himself between the Holy Spirit and his
own sinful nature. No, when Paul tells us to rejoice, it’s
not out of some naivete regarding human nature. It’s
because he knows where the source of our joy is.

The joy of Jesus is to declare you righteous, and He has
achieved His joy. Because through His bearing of your
iniquities and through His resurrection from the dead,
you have been declared righteous. You now stand
before Him innocent of all guilt, pure as the driven
snow, righteous as only God Himself can be.

Our joy comes from Jesus. In fact, the source of our joy
is the joy of Jesus. The writer to the Hebrews tells us
that we should look “to Jesus, the founder and perfecter
of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him
endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated
at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2). In
other words, Jesus’ motivation, Jesus’ incentive for
enduring the cross and its shame was the joy set before
Him.
We don’t often think about the joy of Jesus when
considering His cross and suffering. But it was His
anticipation of the joy awaiting Him that sustained
Him during His awful passion and His horrible death.
Convention Sermons

PROCEEDINGS OF THE 2019 (67TH) LCMS CONVENTION | 77