God’s Word for You
Philippians 4:4-5 After guilt is gone, joy
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Sunday, April 19, 2026
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near.
“Rejoice” in verse 4 is a command, an order. Not like the old show tune, “Forget your troubles, come on, get happy,” but it’s what we have to call a gospel imperative. There is every reason to rejoice, and so rejoice!
What are the reasons that we have to rejoice? Maybe today is a hard day, or a sad day, or a lonely day. Maybe you’re in pain today, or you’re in real fear, fear for your life today. Maybe you don’t know where you’re going to sleep tonight, or whether you will have anything to eat or drink today, or tonight, or tomorrow. But our Savior says, and truly means, “I am with you always, to the very end” (Matthew 28:20). And our Loving Lord says, and truly means it, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). Christ Jesus says and means nothing less than, “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven” (Matthew 5:11).
The angel said to John the Baptist’s parents, “Many will rejoice because of his birth” (Luke 1:14). How much more don’t we rejoice because of Christ’s birth, which is “good news of great joy that will be for all people. A Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10-11). He came into the world to rescue us from our sins and from the present evil age (Galatians 1:4).
Our joy, our rejoicing, begins there with the forgiveness of our sins. Why is this? Because guilt is imputed sin. This guilt is something outside of us, something objective (that is, not an opinion, but a real thing, a weight, a burden, a verdict) that weighs down on us, whether a person realizes it or not. The Holy Spirit says, “I will rebuke you and accuse you to your face. Consider this, you who forget God, or I will tear you to pieces, with no one to rescue you” (Psalm 50:21-22). This is no idle opinion. This is more than a guilty conscience that bothers a person. This guilt for sin “sticks to the sinner like an ugly stain” (Hollaz). Just as a stain is not a mere opinion, but an actual defect that others can see and that must somehow be removed, so also our guilt is an actual defect, but we have no power to remove it. It beats down on us like the cruel desert sun where there is no shade: “My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear” (Psalm 38:4). So the sinner prays with King David in his guilty state, “O Lord, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing” (2 Samuel 24:10).
But Christ took it away. His blood removed the stain from our flesh, from our record. “You forgave the guilt of my sin” (Psalm 32:5). What does all of that mean? It’s likely that most of the folks who are reading this or are listening to it have never been in jail or in prison, or have never had the real stink of a stigma like a legal accusation lifted against them. It’s not the kind of thing you can just walk away from. It lives in your gut, it’s in your head, in your memory. It changes the way you look at the world and at yourself. To be shouted at with an accusation in a room full of people you know and even if it’s only partly true, it sticks forever.
But in walks Jesus Christ in person, who puts his hand on your shoulder and stares your accuser down, and says in a calm, even voice, “No, not guilty. Not ever again.” That’s what David was thinking of when he said, “You took away the guilt of my sin.” That hand on your shoulder, strong yet gentle, warm and unwavering; that hand has a hole in it. The hole where a nail was driven through. That hole is a trophy, a reminder—no, a testimony, forever, of what Jesus has already done for us. This is why we rejoice. Our guilt has been lifted away.
What Paul calls “your gentleness” in verse 5 (τὸ ἐπιεικὲς) is the mild way that he encourages Christians to behave. It is one of the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:23). Sometimes another word is used, as in Colossians 3:12 (πραΰτητα), but it comes to the same thing. We should not be rash with one another, or with anyone, but always remember to encourage, to promote Christian living. If someone has a complaint, we should not dismiss them out of hand, but listen, and give comfort in every matter, and give help wherever possible. If someone brings a complaint against one of us, we should accept this with grace and with honesty, and praise God for the possibility and the chance to make a change in our lives for the better.
The repentant man looks at all other people as forgiven children of God. He asks, “How can I help?” The question is urgent, because the Lord is near. And that sentence, “The Lord is near,” proclaims both law and gospel. Since the Lord is near, judgment day is almost upon us, and souls are at stake. Therefore we ask, “How can I help? How can I tell you about your sins and our Savior?” But “the Lord is near” is also the gospel. It is a reminder that Jesus is never far from us, but is with us in all circumstances, all dangers, and in all situations. That’s the reason we rejoice.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please visit the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church website.