Ain't No Party

“Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you” (Philippians 3:1).

Coolio was the first rapper to let us know about who throws the longest shindigs. “Ain’t no party like a West Coast party, ‘cause a West Coast party don’t stop.” Kid Rock came along and did his best to claim the Detroit as the home of the drawn-out get-down. The Democrat and Republican parties certainly don’t ever seem to stop but who really wants to spend their Saturday nights there? And I’m pretty sure the Donner Party stopped…cold (sorry, too soon?). Here in his letter to his friends back in Philippi, our man Paul gives important instructions about the party Jesus followers should be throwing down. “Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you” (v1). Rejoice in Jesus and keep on rejoicin’. Celebrate in our Savior and keep on celebratin’. Sorry, Coolio. I’ve got bad news for Kid Rock. According to the apostle, there ain’t no party like a Jesus Christ party, ‘cause a Jesus Christ party don’t stop. 

You might think it’s easy for Paul to party. It’s easy to celebrate when your life is filled with nothing but rainbows and unicorns. Well, I guess it would be even though I’ve never really seen a unicorn. The apostle has not exactly been living the glamorous life of luxury since Jesus jumped him just outside of Damascus (Acts 9:1-9). Since Christ saved him, the man from Tarsus has had the ride of his life. He’s done everything possible to take the Good News of Jesus all around the Mediterranean rim. Along the way, he’s been beaten, shipwrecked, beaten again, left for dead, run out of town, snake bit, whipped, had numerous hits put out on him, and thrown in behind bars on more than one occasion. And it’s from a cell in Rome he writes to the church in Philippi. But Paul refuses to let four-plus years in the joint steal his joy in Jesus. 

We pick up the apostle’s letter at the beginning of chapter three. First of all, Paul didn’t add the chapter and verse numbers. Translators added those a few hundred years later to make it easier to find stuff in the Bible. Think of them as addresses. The author begins this new section with “finally” (v1). While that’s not a bad translation of the original language, it doesn’t really do us any favors. You might think Paul is landing the plane of this epistle. Not so much. It reminds me of an old joke. What does it mean when a preacher says, “In conclusion…”? Absolutely nothing. The apostle is making a transition, not a conclusion. Think of it as focusing a light. He’s going from a floodlight to a spotlight to a laser beam. 

From the cellblock in Caesar’s supermax, he gives us a command. “Rejoice in the Lord” (v1). Yup, that’s right. A command. An order. Not a suggestion. Not a good piece of advice. A command. But wait just a cotton pickin’ minute. Paul doesn’t know what’s going on in your life. He doesn’t know you just got laid off at work. He doesn’t realize what the prognosis your doctor just gave you. He’s not aware your husband just left you and the kids. Nobody has told him you’ve just filed bankruptcy. Remember, the apostle is in prison. Yet he still has joy. That’s because we consistently confuse joy with happiness. Hey, happiness isn’t a bad thing. But it’s based on our circumstances. We get happiness from our happenings (see what I did there?). And who doesn’t love singing along with Pharrell about the room without a roof?

Paul actually commands the followers of Jesus to “rejoice in the Lord” (v1). This is the very first time he directly connects our joy with Jesus. It’s his mega-theme of this little letter. The verb here is chairo, which means to be glad, take delight, and enjoy a state of happiness and well-being. The joy of the Lord is completely unrelated and unconnected to the circumstances of life. It’s totally attached to our unchanging relationship with Jesus. We rejoice when we get our eyes off our current situation and on Christ. Rejoice in the truth He lived the perfect life we failed to live. Rejoice in the truth He died the death for our sin we should have died. Rejoice in truth He rose to new life we certainly don’t deserve. Rejoice in the truth no one can take any of that away! Rejoice in the truth He will finish what He starts (Phil 1:6). Not only is a command, it’s also in the present tense. That means we can easily read this as “rejoice and keep on rejoicing!” This isn’t some sort of one-and-done joy. Or as the translators of the Amplified Bible like to say, “Delight yourselves in the Lord and continue to rejoice that you are in Him” (v1 AMP). You see, there ain’t no party like a Jesus Christ party, ‘cause a Jesus Christ party don’t stop!

As the followers of Jesus, we should be the happiest people on the planet! We should stand out from the rest of the society in so many ways. Our lives should look different. We should do marriage differently. We should approach our work differently. We should do forgiveness differently. One of the things that should make us stand out from the rest of society is our joy. I’m talking unbridled, over-the-top joy! Yeah, I realize there are a lot of folks who aren’t exactly wired with a default smile on their face. Years ago, I used to see myself as a victim. I honestly felt like the universe had a personal vendetta against yours truly. Folks around me got sick and tired of hearing me moan, “Why does everything always happen to me?!?” That’s when Jesus opened my eyes to all that He’s done for me, all He’s doing for me, and all He’s promised to do! He opened my heart to His joy. While I’m incredibly blessed, life is still very hard at times. But nothing, I mean NOTHING can steal the joy which Jesus has given me. I finally understand what Paul is trying to get across. It’s the same idea Nehemiah wrote about in the OT. “The joy of the LORD is your strength” (Neh 8:10). His joy gets me through anything life throws at me. 

Paul can’t write about joy enough. We can’t read about joy enough. “To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you” (v1). The pages of this letter are just dripping with joy. Just in case we missed the big idea, he wants to drive it home. Or as The Message paraphrases this verse, “I hope you don’t mind hearing it again. Better safe than sorry—so here goes” (v1 The Message). Let’s face it, most of us don’t really need to learn anything new. We simply need to be reminded. Over and over and over. That certainly goes for joy. Rejoice in Jesus. We can’t say it enough. We can’t hear it enough. It’s no skin off Paul’s back to keep talking about it. And it’s good for us to keep hearing about it. 

The apostle tells the Philippians that all this talk of joy is “safe for you” (v1). You see, there’s a nasty doctrinal disease spreading like wildfire across the region. It’s already infected the Colossian church. Paul just wrote a letter trying to put out the dumpster fire a group of false teachers ignited. He followed that up with another note to the church in Ephesus as a safeguard against it. The joy of Jesus is an inoculation given to prevent infection. Spiritual snake oil salesmen attempt to steal your joy and tempt you with the idea they have something better. As a follower of Jesus, you already have everything you need. God doesn’t just bless us, He IS the Blessing! Don’t fall for substitutes from con artists.

You see, there ain’t no party like a Jesus Christ party ‘cause…well, you get the idea.