Joy In Us All

Introduction

Today’s passage comes from Philippians 1:1-11. But before I read the passage, I want to give you some background on the verses.

In today’s verses we are looking at a letter written from Paul to the community of believers in Philippi. At the time Paul wrote the letter, he was imprisoned in Rome. Paul’s letter reveals a personal connection with the community of believers in Philippi and reveals a great deal of emotional intimacy with them. Paul’s connection to this community is significant.

Philippi was a Roman colony located in northern Greece, called Macedonia in Paul’s day. The city sat at the crossroads between Europe and Asia. It was a very Roman city that proudly embraced and practiced the Roman customs and practices.

Ten years previously Paul had first visited Philippi, but not by choice. Paul had been on his first missionary journey and had his sights set on Rome. However, Paul had a vision of a man asking him to come to Macedonia and share the gospel. Paul responded to the vision and shifted his journey to go to Philippi. Paul may have been discouraged when he arrived. There was no Jewish community there - no synagogue - no regular gathering of God’s people. On the Sabath Paul finds himself at the river where he meets Lydia.

Acts 16:13–15 The Message

On the Sabbath, we left the city and went down along the river where we had heard there was to be a prayer meeting. We took our place with the women who had gathered there and talked with them. One woman, Lydia, was from Thyatira and a dealer in expensive textiles, known to be a God-fearing woman. As she listened with intensity to what was being said, the Master gave her a trusting heart—and she believed! After she was baptized, along with everyone in her household, she said in a surge of hospitality, “If you’re confident that I’m in this with you and believe in the Master truly, come home with me and be my guests.” We hesitated, but she wouldn’t take no for an answer.

A few days later, Paul meets a possessed woman who was being used for profit by some men. Paul cast the demon out and this created a huge problem for him and Silas, who was with Paul. Dragged before a court, they were publicly beaten - severely, leaving them bruised and bleeding. Then they were thrown in a dungeon of a jail and locked in shackles. Now, the story improves after God uses an earthquake to free them and the jailer is led to Christ. But Paul and Silas still had to sneak out of the city at night.

I tell you all this because I want you to understand clearly what Paul’s experience was in Philippi. Keep this in mind as we are looking at Paul’s words.

Our verses for today...

Philippians 1:1–11 NIV

Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all God’s holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

The word of God for the people of God

Paul seems to have a lot of positive memories about a place where he was severely beaten, imprisoned, and forced to sneak out of the city in the dark.

Barclay

In his Daily Study Bible Series, William Barclay identifies four (4) marks of the christian life in these verses. These four marks are the Christian Joy, the Christian Sacrifice, the Christian Partnership, and the Christian Progress and Goal. Today I want to focus on the idea of Christian Joy.

Joy

What is Joy? Are happiness and joy the same?

Happiness is based on circumstances. Joy does not. Happiness happens to us. Even though we may seek it, desire it, pursue it, etc., feeling happiness is not a choice we make.

Joy, on the other hand, is a choice purposefully made. Joy is an attitude of the heart and spirit, present inside of us as an untapped reservoir of potential.

It's possible to feel joy in difficult times. Joy doesn’t need a smile in order to exist, although it does feel better with one. Joy can share its space with other emotions – sadness, shame or anger. Happiness can't.

Happiness is not present in darkness and difficulty. Joy never leaves it. Joy undergirds our spirits; it brings to life peace and contentment.

Paul and Joy

Lets look at Paul and how he understood joy. The truth be told, Paul had a rough time.

2 Corinthians 11:24–31 The Message

I’ve been flogged five times with the Jews’ thirty-nine lashes, beaten by Roman rods three times, pummeled with rocks once. I’ve been shipwrecked three times, and immersed in the open sea for a night and a day. In hard traveling year in and year out, I’ve had to ford rivers, fend off robbers, struggle with friends, struggle with foes. I’ve been at risk in the city, at risk in the country, endangered by desert sun and sea storm, and betrayed by those I thought were my brothers. I’ve known drudgery and hard labor, many a long and lonely night without sleep, many a missed meal, blasted by the cold, naked to the weather. And that’s not the half of it, when you throw in the daily pressures and anxieties of all the churches. When someone gets to the end of his rope, I feel the desperation in my bones. When someone is duped into sin, an angry fire burns in my gut. If I have to “brag” about myself, I’ll brag about the humiliations that make me like Jesus. The eternal and blessed God and Father of our Master Jesus knows I’m not lying.

That does not sound like experiences we would normally associate with the concept of joy. But part of what Paul is trying to express is that circumstances do not determine our joy.

The Components of Joy in the Passage

In the beginning of the passage, Paul thanks God for three (3) things that bring him joy in regards to the Philippians:

“… every remembrance of you.”

“… every prayer of mine making requests for you...”

“… for your fellowship in the gospel since the very first day...”

Remembrance

Memories of significant events in our faith walk bring us joy. How many of you can easily recall moments of faith that you shared with others? When we worship together we find joy. When we are on mission together we find joy. When we suffer together for a common cause, we find joy. Paul had done all of these things with the believers in Philippi. To an outsider, Paul’s experience in Philippi must have looked horrible. If we put that experience on the travel brochure for Philippi, it would not draw people to visit. “Come see Philippi. Enjoy public beatings, wrongful imprisonment, earthquakes, and a dangerous exit from the city under cover of darkness.” This is not a compelling list of circumstances that draws you in. But for Paul, they are memories that bring him joy. Because with joy, it’s not the circumstances that matter. Paul’s memories focused more on early morning worship by the river. Lives made new by the saving grace of God. God’s power displayed in mighty ways and the softening of a jailer’s heart by love and mercy. These memories reflect the joy. Joy that was experienced and cherished despite the circumstances.

Prayer

Prayer is a powerful thing. It is powerful for several reasons, but what I want to mention today is that prayer transforms both the person praying and the person being prayed for. Prayer is a selfless act. It focuses on the other person. Paul finds joy in his prayers for the believers in Philippi. As he lifts them up, Paul finds himself lifted up. Prayer connects us with God, shifts our focus from ourselves, and allows us to identify the needs of others as being important. Prayer brings joy.

Fellowship

One of the hard things about COVID is that we have not been able to be in close physical fellowship with each other. We have been forced to be physically distant. As humans, we love fellowship. The early church was a church of fellowship. The believers gathered together frequently. But Christian fellowship is about more than physical proximity. Paul references fellowship with the Philippians in the gospel “…since the very first day.” Paul had not been there physically for ten years, but their fellowship had remained unbroken. As Christ followers, we share in a fellowship of the Spirit that transcends the physical. We share in a fellowship of the gospel of Jesus Christ and in the kingdom of God. We are in fellowship that has no limits or end.

Conclusion

Tony Snow was one of America’s most successful and respected newsmen and commentators. He rose from an op-ed writer and editor for a small newspaper to become a voice on ABC’s Good Morning America and other network shows. In 2006, President George W. Bush appointed Snow to be his White House press secretary. Though popular, knowledgeable, and highly articulate, he was forced to resign less than two years later when he was diagnosed with terminal colon cancer. He died the following year at fifty-three.

Tony Snow could have died a bitter man, angry at how his brilliant career was cut short at its peak and how cancer deprived him of life with his wife and three children. But Tony was a devout Christian. Far from being angry at God, he found joy in the unexpected blessing his illness brought him. He communicated this joy eloquently in an article published a few months before his death.

God relishes surprise. We want lives of simple, predictable ease — smooth, even trails as far as the eye can see — but God likes to go off-road. He provokes us with twists and turns. He places us in predicaments that seem to defy our endurance and comprehension — and yet don’t. By His love and grace, we persevere. The challenges that make our hearts leap and stomachs churn invariably strengthen our faith and grant measures of wisdom and joy we would not experience otherwise…

The mere thought of death somehow makes every blessing vivid, every happiness more luminous and intense. We may not know how our contest with sickness will end, but we have felt the ineluctable touch of God.

Our joy is not bound up in the circumstances. Our joy is bound up in the grace, power, and faithfulness of the risen Christ. Our joy is not limited in the moment, but can be found in our memories of service together. Our joy is not based on selfish needs met, but in selfless love and prayer. Our joy is not found in individual exaltation, but in the fellowship of us all, equal before the cross.

There is Joy in all of us, waiting. We just need to embrace it.