Introduction.

The spiritual exercise of rejoicing in the Lord is designed to keep your faith, trust, and love focused on the Lord so that you may have the peace of the Lord abiding in you. As Christians we need to develop the very good habit of rejoicing in the Lord every day of our lives. In order to rejoice in the Lord we need to fight against the constant temptation of living according to our feelings. Our feelings must never rule over us or determine our obedience to the Lord. The Lord himself must be the object of our joy as he is the true source of our joy. We need to derive joy from reflecting on the mighty and wonderful acts of the Lord in Jesus Christ for us and in us. To this daily exercise we need to add keeping your actions God-centred. Listen to Paul's exhortation in Philippians 4:5, ‘Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.'

1. Understanding the exhortation to keep your actions God-centred.

There are three concepts in this verse that need to be clearly understood in order to make the exercise described in Philippians 4:5 part of our everyday practise. The three concepts that we need to look at are (i) gentleness, (ii) known to all men, and (iii) the Lord is at hand.

1. 1. The first concept we need to examine is gentleness. The Greek word translated as gentleness could have been translated as forbearance, moderation, geniality, kindliness, big-heartedness, sweet reasonableness, considerateness, charitableness, mildness, conciliatory, magnanimity, or generosity. The adjective noun used in the original text combines all these qualities. The Greek word used does not have an exact English equivalent that captures the complete meaning of the Greek word. It is very important for us to grasp the concept communicated by the Greek word because the quality described by this word must be active in us and clearly seen by others.
      
      
   2. This word is used in 1 Timothy 3:2 to describe a quality that must be seen in all who hold the office of elder. Listen to this verse, ‘not given to wine, not violent,  not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous.'  Five of the qualities Paul lists in this verse are cast in the negative, telling us what things must be absent from the elder's character. Being gentle is the only positive quality and is placed in the middle of these disqualifying qualities. It seems to me as if the gentleness described here must be understood by contrasting it with the disqualifying qualities. The man who has had too much wine is not in a position to be reasonable because he is intoxicated. The man who is violent lacks the forbearance (patience) to deal with those who disagree with him so he uses force to get his way. The man who is greedy for money never considers the circumstance or needs of others. The man who is quarrelsome is petty and more concerned about his high opinion than being magnanimous. The man who is covetous lacks the ability to be generous. If a man is described by the Greek word epieikes he is a man who is reasonable, forbearing, considerate, magnanimous and generous. The quality described by this word has a very wide meaning and has a huge impact on the character of the person in whom it is present. The presence of the quality described by this word produces a sense of moderation or balance in everything he does.
      
      
   3. In classical Greek this word was used to describe the actions of a man who knows that there are times when a thing may be completely justified legally, but also be morally wrong. Jesus in Matthew 18:21-35 tells the parable of the unforgiving servant. In the parable a servant who owed ten thousand talents is forgiven his debt by his master, and then he refuses to be patient or show any compassion, on a fellow servant who owed him 100 denarii. Listen to Matthew 18:28-30, "But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!' ^So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.' And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt.'  What this man did was legally correct but morally wrong, he lacked the quality expressed by the Greek word ‘epieikes.' The master who forgave the servant his debt was ‘epieikes' while the servant who exercised his legal right was not. Listen to Paul in 1 Corinthians 6:6-7 talking about church members suing each other in the courts. He says, ‘Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated?'  The man who has ‘epieikes' as a quality would much rather receive a wrong than commit a wrong; he does not stand on the law of the land and insist on his rights.
      
      
   4. The English words ‘bighearted and large-hearted' may be the best words to describe ‘epieikes' as they point to the fact that the actions of the person are governed by a heart, which is not self-centred and self-seeking. The dictionary meaning of large-hearted is: showing or to be motivated by sympathy and understanding and generosity. Christians ought to be large- hearted because; ‘.. the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.' (Romans 5:5.) The presence of the Spirit who has filled our hearts with the love of God should promote the quality of ‘epieikes' in every believer. We ought to interact with others from hearts that are full of the love of God. If we are to respond to others according to the love of God in our hearts it demands that we be ‘God-centred.'  With this background we should be able to define the quality ‘epieikes' as follows: consistently responding to others in a way that shows you are God-centred, filled with the love of God, and filled with the Holy Spirit. This is the person who demonstrates the fruit of the Spirit in his everyday life; therefore he is full of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
      
      
2. The second concept that we need to examine is the middle part of the verse ‘Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.' You should be known as a large-hearted person by all who interact with you. Their knowledge of you as a large-hearted person must come from their dealings with you. Others must promote you as a large-hearted person; it is not something you seek to do for yourself. Jesus strongly criticised those who promoted themselves as large-hearted individuals. Listen to Jesus in Matthew 6:1-2, ‘Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men.'  The man who promotes himself as large-hearted is called a hypocrite as his actions are self-centred rather than God-centred. The man who is large-hearted does not promote himself but does what Jesus commanded in Matthew 5:16, ‘Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.'  Obedience to this command given by Jesus is only possible in the person who is God-centred.
   
   
3. 1. The third concept that we need to look at is the final clause in the verse, ‘Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.' Listen to John Gwyn-Thomas explaining this phrase. ‘It seems to me that it is not an accident that Paul says in the next phrase ‘The Lord is at hand.' Above and beyond all this there is the assurance that ‘God knows what my destiny is.' My life is not in the hands of human beings; my life is in the hands of God. People may think they can do this or that to me, but in the end nothing can come to me except through the hands of God, and my eyes are on those hands. ‘Vengeance is mine,' says the Lord, ‘I will repay.' Let us leave it to Him and when the Lord is at hand He will deal with those who need it and I will leave the matter to Him as Jesus Christ did with those who crucified Him.' As Christians we should live with the reality of the Lord's second coming influencing all we say and do. We are servants and the Lord is our Master, those who abuse his servant are answerable to our Master much more than they are to us. It is impossible to live in the light of Christ's second coming without being God-centred.
      
      
   2. Calvin takes the phrase; ‘The Lord is at hand' also to refer to the providential hand of God in all things. We need to demonstrate our trust in the Lord by living in the light of his sovereignty. When others hate and persecute us simply because we love and obey the Lord, we must have utmost confidence in the Lord that he has the power to overcome their audacity and is able to conquer their malice by his goodness.  Listen to Calvin, ‘He (the Lord) promises that he will aid us, provided we obey his commandment. Now, who would not rather be protected by the hand of God alone, than have all the resources of the world at his (own) command?' Any believer would rather have God's hand in control rather than rely on his own wisdom even if all the resources of the world were at his command. ‘Ignorance of the providence of God,' according to Calvin, ‘is the cause of all impatience, and that this is the reason why we are so quickly, and on trivial accounts, thrown into confusion and often, too, become disheartened because we do not recognize the fact that the Lord cares for us.' Our security must be in the Lord who is always with us and who controls all things even the wicked who oppose us.
      
      
   3. There are, therefore, two ways in which the Lord is said to be at hand, - either because his judgment is at hand, or because he is prepared to give his own people help by his providence. Psalm 145:18 gives this assurance, ‘The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth.'  Believers are never on their own the Lord is always near them and has them under his wings for protection or guardianship; therefore we should find refuge in knowing the Lord is at hand. These truths will only comfort us if we are living God-centred lives.

2. How to keep your actions God centred.

1. In Proverbs 4:23 we are given this duty, ‘Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.' What you do depends on the condition of your heart. If your heart is God-centred then your actions will be God-centred. When the Scriptures talk about the heart it has a very broad application and can be translated as our inner most being made up of understanding, soul, affections and will. The words used by Solomon in Proverbs 4:23 are very strong, we are to faithfully keep, guard, watch, manage and be vigilant over our hearts. The reason you are to take such care over your heart is that out of it spring the issues of life. Listen to John Flavel explain the work of the heart; ‘The heart is the treasury, the hand and tongue but the shops; what is in these, comes from that: the hand and tongue always begin where the heart ends. The heart contrives and the members execute.' The heart is the operations centre of your life. You live according to the directions of your heart. Actions that are God-centred come from a heart that is God-centred. Sin problems always reveal that sin is alive and active in our hearts seeking to disrupt our God-centeredness.  
   
   
2. Keeping the heart pure is an enormous work that we by the power of the Holy Spirit must do. Paul in Romans 8:13 says, ‘For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.'  We need to constantly work at keeping our hearts right with God. Jesus must be our first and foremost love, Christ the Lord must rule our actions by his commands, and our God must own our worship. Jesus in Mark 7:20-23 reveals the state of our hearts before we are changed by the power of God. Listen to Jesus, ‘What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy,  pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man.' This is a categorical statement about our hearts, no one is exempted. This is the truth about everyone and anyone who has not been born from above by the will of the Father, the power of Christ, and the work of the Holy Spirit. Believers are set free from the dominion of sin, but not made free from sin's presence and activity. Most of your problems, like mine come from the heart which is often treacherous in its ways. Your heart often double crosses you and leads you into doing things which are sinful.
   
   
3. We live in an age where the fashionable thing to do is to follow your heart. Listen to the words of a song by Nikki Webster, ‘There's a place inside of us, inside me and you, somewhere out there in the air, out there in the blue. Beyond the mountains and horizons, out there where the rainbow rises, fairy tales really do come true if you. Follow your heart, Follow your dreams, Follow them wherever they may lead. There's a light inside of us, a shining star to guide us, Follow your heart, Follow your dreams, Right from the start.' This song urges us to make our hearts the source of our wisdom and promises happiness to those who follow their hearts. Jeremiah 17:9 tells us that, ‘The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?' Following your heart comes naturally, but living a command orientated life comes from the Spirit of Christ. If you do not keep your heart Christ-centred you will by default follow your heart and be self-centred.
   
   
4. How do you keep your heart centred on God? John Flavel gives us the following exercises:
   
   
1. Examine your heart frequently. Ask your heart if it is following Christ, or is it seeking to usurp the leadership from Christ?  This is a ‘'Yes' or ‘No' question. Do not accept the answer of ‘I am trying to,' because that answer is simply a cover-up for selective following rather than committed following. You should do this diligently before you partake in the Lord's Supper.
   
   
2. Keep a tight reign on your heart. Following Christ must be strictly observed. The heart like the eye needs to be kept clean. We all know that a small speck of dust in the eye causes watering and forces us to blink and remove the dust. A heart kept in the ways of Christ ought to be irritated by sin, no matter how small that sin is in the eyes of the world.
   
   
3. Daily prayer for cleansing. We need God's great grace to uproot the deep roots of sin that remain in our hearts. We should pray, ‘Saviour cleanse my heart. O for a heart to love God more; to hate sin more, to walk consistently with the Lord. Grant me such a heart to fear, love, worship and delight in you.'
   
   
4. Watch the path you walk. Avoid occasions and places that induce your heart to sin, seek occasions and places that promote your delight in the Lord. Be careful about what your eyes watch and ears hear. Surround yourself with those who walk with the Lord and love his word.
   
   
5. Monitor the affections of your heart. It's easy to fall in love with the material things of this world, a nicer car, a bigger house, fancy clothes, elaborate holidays, etc. It is easy to fall in love with an irresponsible lifestyle just follow your heart. Direct the affections of your heart to the Lord, his ways and his people. He made you with a capacity to love so that you could love him.
   
   
6. Recognise the Lord's presence. You do nothing without the Lord being present, he is an ever-present companion. Live your life with the reality of his presence in you. Ask your ever-present Saviour to help you decide what is glorifying to his name and what is not.
   
   
None of these exercises are complicated or difficult to understand, but they are very difficult to make the good habits of your life. We need to work at developing these things as habits so that we do them in our daily routine.


5. To these six we need to add the discipline of spending time with the Lord in his word. We need to wrestle with the truths of Scripture until we understand them so well that we can apply them to every aspect of our lives. To believers the Scriptures must be exactly as Hebrews 4:12 describes it, ‘For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.'  The Bible must be very active in my inner-being; its work must transform me on the inside so that my actions on the outside reveal God's presence with me. You need to keep your heart God-centred before your actions can be God-centred.

Conclusion.

In order to abide under the wings of the Lord you need to keep your actions God-centred, ‘Let your gentleness (‘epieikes') be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.'  If we rejoice in the Lord always, we prepare and promote God-centeredness in ourselves. Practice these exercises and keep yourself God-centred. Apply these exercises diligently and rejoice in the Lord everyday.