Joyful Service to the Lord

Philippians 1:1-11

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I know I want to get to know each one of you

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I want to be that for you all. Look to Scott and Kelli and all of the adults.

I want to be present at events you are doing

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Tell me, send me your schedules.

If you don’t do anything, come hang out.

My office is open, Along with you need to talk let me know and we can figure out a time.

I am not going to teach you or treat as children. You are in the process of becoming young adults.

There are several things in the Bible that are tough to explain and understand. We are not going to beat around the bush. We will dive head first into them and do the best we can to understand.

My goal is to give each one of you a foundation of Jesus. Meaning all life, is built on the solid rock of Jesus.

I am going to do all i can to serve you. If you have any suggestions, please tell me. You all know this community better than me. I will always listen to ideas.

What I expect from you

Do not disturb the people around you.

If you do i will move you. I hate doing that kind of stuff. But the gospel is more important to those who are trying to listen than your side conversations.

Listen

Try

Each night we plan on ending the time with asking the question, how does the sermon impact what you do tomorrow and then on.

Introduction- Start with asking all of the questions.

What is Joy?

What is something that brings you joy?

Who is someone that brings you joy?

What is something you struggle to find joy in?

Who is someone you struggle to be joyful with?

What is Joy? When I think of joy I think of a feeling. When I was in school my definition of joy would have been based on circumstantial things. For example, I was, and still am a terrible test taker. So my joy was when there was supposed to be an exam, but the teacher cancelled the exam, or gave a ton of bonus points and curved the exam.

Another example is when the boy/girl text ya back. And i get it for sure.

What if i told you those things are not joyous, or the proper definition of joy. What I am really asking questions about is happiness. Our happiness is the situational areas of our life. Whereas our joy is to be never changing. No matter who or what is happening in your life.

John Piper defines joy as this

Christian joy is a good feeling in the soul, produced by the Holy Spirit, as he causes us to see the beauty of Christ in the word and in the world.

Which is what leads us to our sermon and sermon series for the semester. Our sermon series is going to be through the book of Philippians. Our theme that we will be seeing is that we are to be joyful where we are.

Philippians 1:1–2 “Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Pray

Context of the Letter

Who is writing

Paul

Who is Paul? Well of anyone has a track record, it is the Apostle Paul. Paul was normally known as Saul. This was when he was a lawyer and he was apart of the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin was this high court for religious leaders. Saul was a pharisee.

In Acts 5:27–42, Peter delivered his defense of the gospel and of Jesus in front of the Sanhedrin, which Saul would have heard. Gamaliel was also present and delivered a message to calm the council and prevent them from stoning Peter. Saul might also have been present at the trial of Stephen. He was present for his stoning and death; he held the garments of those who did the stoning (Acts 7:58). After Stephen’s death, "a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem" (Acts 8:1). Saul became determined to eradicate Christians, ruthless in his pursuit as he believed he was acting in the name of God. Arguably, there is no one more frightening or more vicious than a religious terrorist, especially when he believes he is doing the will of the Lord by killing innocent people. This is exactly what Saul of Tarsus was: a religious terrorist. Acts 8:3 states, “He began ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging off men and women, he would put them in prison.”

The pivotal passage in Paul’s story is Acts 9:1–22, which recounts Paul’s meeting with Jesus Christ on the road from Jerusalem to Damascus, a journey of about 150 miles. Saul was angered by what he had seen and filled with murderous rage against the Christians. Before departing on his journey, he had asked the high priest for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, asking for permission to bring any Christians (followers of “the Way,” as they were known) back to Jerusalem to imprison them. On the road Saul was caught in a bright light from heaven that caused him to fall face down on the ground. He heard the words, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” He replied, “Who are you Lord?” Jesus answered directly and clearly, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting” (verses 4–5). As an aside, this might not have been Saul’s first encounter with Jesus, as some scholars suggest that young Saul might have known of Jesus and that he might have actually witnessed His death.

There is a misconception that when he saw Jesus on the road to Damascus he had name change like peter when Was Simon, but then Jesus changed his name to Peter. But in reality his name changed because he was in a different region. Pauls Hebrew name was Saul. But his name for the gentiles was Paul.

Just like Alex here, and Alejandro in Spanish.

Who is Timothy?

Timothy was a disciple of Paul. Well wait, what? a disciple is simply someone who follows teachings of someone.

Who is receiving

The church of Philippi. Show map

So Paul for this letter is writing to believers but he also characterizes the deacons and overseers.

When

Roughly 60 A.D. For context Jesus died in 33 A.D.

Why

A thank you letter.

It is a joy to serve the Lord V.1

Deep Dive into the Servant word. Have them write down stepbible.org

The word used there is Doulous

10,000 Sermon Illustrations (Servant (doulos))

Servant (doulos)

“Servant” in our English New Testament usually represents the Greek doulos (bondslave). Sometimes it means diakonos (deacon or minister); this is strictly accurate, for doulos and diakonos are synonyms. Both words denote a man who is not at his own disposal, but is his master’s purchased property. Bought to serve his master’s needs, to be at his beck and call every moment, the slave’s sole business is to do as he is told. Christian service therefore means, first and foremost, living out a slave relationship to one’s Savior (1 Cor. 6:19–20).

What work does Christ set his servants to do? The way that they serve him, he tells them, is by becoming the slaves of their fellow-servants and being willing to do literally anything, however costly, irksome, or undignified, in order to help them. This is what love means, as he himself showed at the Last supper when he played the slave’s part and washed the disciples’ feet.

When the New Testament speaks of ministering to the saints, it means not primarily preaching to them but devoting time, trouble, and substance to giving them all the practical help possible. The essence of Christian service is loyalty to the king expressing itself in care for his servants (Matt. 25: 31–46).

Only the Holy Spirit can create in us the kind of love toward our Savior that will overflow in imaginative sympathy and practical helpfulness towards his people. Unless the spirit is training us in love, we are not fit persons to go to college or a training class to learn the know-how or particular branches of Christian work. Gifted leaders who are self-centered and loveless are a blight to the church rather than a blessing.

Illustration

A large group of European pastors came to one of D. L. Moody’s Northfield Bible Conferences in Massachusetts in the late 1800s. Following the European custom of the time, each guest put his shoes outside his room to be cleaned by the hall servants overnight. But of course this was America and there were no hall servants.

Walking the dormitory halls that night, Moody saw the shoes and determined not to embarrass his brothers. He mentioned the need to some ministerial students who were there, but met with only silence or pious excuses. Moody returned to the dorm, gathered up the shoes, and, alone in his room, the world’s only famous evangelist began to clean and polish the shoes. Only the unexpected arrival of a friend in the midst of the work revealed the secret

When the foreign visitors opened their doors the next morning, their shoes were shined. They never know by whom. Moody told no one, but his friend told a few people, and during the rest of the conference, different men volunteered to shine the shoes in secret. Perhaps the episode is a vital insight into why God used D. L. Moody as He did. He was a man with a servant’s heart and that was the basis of his true greatness.

John 13:1–17 “Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only bu…”

Application

This week and this school year I encourage you all to look for ways to serve the Lord.

What are some ways you can serve joyfully?

Might be here on Wednesday nights. Be a greeter.

Be on mission for the Lord

Go to the person you can’t stand and love them

Go reconcile your relationship

Why should we?

Gospel Presentation

Perfection

Sin

Brokenness

Gospel

Repent and Believe

Recover and pursue