Maintaining Joy in Difficulty

Maintaining Joy in Difficulty

Philippians 1:1-11

Paul wrote the letter to the Philippians from a Roman jail cell. Imprisoned for preaching the gospel he penned what is known as the epistle of joy. It’s a short book but the terms “joy” and “rejoice” are used at least fourteen times.

Now listen, it isn’t the epistle of joy because Paul is telling us all how to have joy. It’s the epistle of joy because the one who wrote it is filled with joy and you can sense that as you read it. This man was locked up in a dungeon, not knowing if he would be released or killed.

I have a little experience with jails. I’ve been locked up in one and I can tell you I didn’t have any joy while I was there.

I worked in a maximum-security prison for over six years, and I saw very little joy.

Yet Paul is able to maintain joy while being locked up in a Roman prison. We can learn something from this:

They could take Paul’s freedom but they could not take his joy.

Paul would have to give them his joy, they didn’t have the power to take it. If you are saved and you don’t have joy it’s not because someone took it from you. No one can take your joy. We hear the phrase “Don’t let them steal your joy.” No one can do that. You must give it away.

Where’s your joy?

I gave it to the folks at the DMV.

I gave it to the folks at the doctor’s office.

I gave it to the one who upset me.

Friends, why do we give something so precious away? This morning we’re going to look at five things Paul did that helped him maintain his joy in a difficult time.

1. Thank God for the believers in your life (3).

Over ten years earlier God called Paul to Macedonia. He preached the gospel on the continent of Europe. People were saved and the church at Philippi became the first church in Europe (Acts 16).

Paul was persecuted

Paul was put in jail

Paul was beaten

His time in Philippi was difficult. But what did he say he remembered?

He said, “I remember you.”

Not in a bad way. He remembered them in a good way. He thanked God for them. Look at verse 4. He thanked God for them “all”.

Let me tell you how to protect joy in your life. Instead of remembering all the things that have hurt you in life thank God for the people He has put in your life. Specifically thank God for the church.

Illustration:

Had a service where we thanked God specifically for each other. Everyone’s name was put in a bowl. I drew the names out one by one. It was a long service. I started each time. When I would pull someone’s name out I would tell the church what I appreciated about that person. Afterwards I would ask if anyone else would like to thank God for that person. People were uncomfortable at first but it turned into one of the greatest services I’ve ever been a part of.

People left encouraged.

People left filled with joy.

What if I did that to you friend? What if I asked you to tell me a reason you thanked God for specific people in this church?

Could you do it?

Would you do it?

You want a church filled with joy start thanking God for each other!

Make you a list of folks from church when you get home. Challenge yourself to thank God for them. If you can’t find a reason, maybe you need to get to know them a little better.

Our problem is we make a mental list of why people get on our nerves. The truth is we could all make lists of what we don’t like about each other. For some reason it’s easier to remember those things. No one in here is perfect. We all have our issues.

At some point in life you have to make a decision on whether or not you’re going to just see the bad in people or not. If you choose to dwell on what you don’t like about people, you’re going to be miserable. If you wanna be miserable you can be. But just know that miserable people do little for God.

If you wanna have joy then think about all the ways the people of God are blessing.

2. Pray for others (4, 9-11).

Let’s look at how Paul prayed for them:

With great frequency “always”

Continually “in every”

With joy

How we think about people will determine if we pray for them. Some people we think about, but we only think about them because:

We are upset with them

We don’t like them

If that’s the way we think about a person we’re probably not going to pray for them. Paul prayed for them because he thought about them joyfully.

You ever say, “I don’t even wanna think about them because I’ll get mad”?

So, we just try to act like the person doesn’t exist at all. That’s not helping anyone. In fact it’s hurting everyone.

Spurgeon gave four reasons we should do everything with joy. He said:

It’s good for God- it honors Him.

It’s good for us- it makes us strong

It’s good for the lost- they will long to have the joy of the Lord

It’s good for our brothers and sister in Christ- it comforts them

A joyful person will pray for others.

In verses 9-11 we see how Paul prayed for the people in the church.

That their love would abound.

God’s love is unfathomable. When you get saved that love is poured in your heart (Romans 5:5). You can grow in your experience of that love. Every Christian loves God and people. But every Christian can love God and people more.

That’s my prayer for this church. I pray we will love each other more. Jesus said that’s how the world will know we belong to Him. If you start praying that others would love more than guess what will happen? You’ll start loving more.

That they would grow in knowledge and discernment. He doesn’t want them to have a willy nilly love that accepts everything as true and everyone as saved.

He wants them to know the Word

He wants them to have spiritual discernment

Look at verse 10. If they are filled with knowledge and discernment, they will approve what is excellent and they will be pure and blameless. Good doctrine leads to good living.

That they would be filled with spiritual fruit (11).

The Bible speaks of a few different types of fruit in the believers life.

The fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23). This deals with our character. The character of the believer is transformed into sweet fruit as a result of abiding in the vine. We should strive to bear this fruit through submission to the Spirit.

The fruit of evangelism (John 15:16, Col. 1:5-6). The life of the believer is light and salt to the world. It attracts the lost to Christ.

The fruit of praise (Heb. 13:15). The believer is to praise the Lord. He/she is to be thankful and recognize the goodness of God in a fallen world.

Paul prayed for the spiritual development of believers. Instead of dwelling on all they were not he prayed for them to be all they could be in Christ.

3. Recognize that the gospel has brought us together (5).

Paul says he had a partnership in the gospel with the Philippians. The word means fellowship or communion. They both believed in and preached the gospel because they knew that was the only hope the world has.

Both Paul and the Philippians continued in the gospel. They didn’t forsake it. This is something that will help us maintain joy. It’s all about the gospel folks. That’s why were hear.

We’re not here for:

Motivational speeches

Entertainment

Show off

We are here to propagate the gospel. I thank God for the gospel. I would not know most of ya’ll if it were not for the gospel. The gospel has brought us together. Think about that.

Look around. How many of these people would you know if it weren’t for the gospel?

Paul knew the Philippians because they were both committed to the gospel.

If the gospel brought us together that means that we’re all a bunch of sinners. It’s sinners who need the gospel. We rejoice in this gospel because it has brought us to God, and it has brought us together.

That’s enough to keep us happy.

When one sinner repents there is rejoicing in heaven.

How long should that rejoicing last?

Does it have a time limit?

Does the gospel matter as much to you now as it did on the first day?

Ten thousand years from now we will be praising God for the gospel in heaven! We ought to rejoice in the gospel every day we are on earth.

The gospel is our business. We are doing a great work.

Remember when Nehemiah’s enemies sent word to him to stop building the wall and come to talk to them? He sent word back saying:

“I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?” Nehemiah 6:3

The enemy will always try and get us to stop working.

Come on down and let’s gossip!

Come on down and let’s pout!

Come on down and let’s point fingers!

Come on down and let’s be mad together!

We have to respond:

I’m doing a great work! Why should the work cease while I come down to you?”

4. Look forward to the glorification of others (6).

Paul knew God wasn’t finished with the Philippians.

He knew they would be sanctified. He said God would continue His work in the people. Listen folks, God is still working on people. Be patient.

He knew they would be glorified. “until the day of Jesus Christ.”

You ever think about seeing fellow church members in heaven with their glorified bodies?

I’ve never known some of you with hair. I will.

Charles Haywood will be able to talk.

Those with handicaps will be perfectly healthy.

Some people will look so different it’s going to blow you away.

Do you rejoice in the glorification of others?

Do you long for them to be perfectly whole in heaven?

Paul rejoices in their glorification.

We’re so accustomed to looking at everyone from an earthly perspective. We see their deficiencies. Paul understands the grace of God is not stagnant. It’s moving believers from justification to sanctification and ultimately to glorification.

How can you not have joy when you look around at the people in this church and think:

One day they’ll be able to run again.

One day they won’t give out of breath cleaning the kitchen.

One day their hands won’t shake.

One day they won’t be plagued with back pain.

That will cause us to rejoice!

5. Understand what is required of you (7).

Paul says it is right for him to feel this way about the church. The word means it is necessary, required.

Why?

Because he and the Philippians are partakers of the same grace of God.

There is no doubt this church was diverse. The Bible lists three people saved there:

The first was a rich woman named Lydia (Acts 16:15).

The second was a young girl who had been demon possessed (Acts 16:18).

The third was a jailer (Acts 16:32).

That’s a diverse group. They would have all attended the same church.

Guess what these people were required to do?

Love one another

Forgive one another

Serve one another

Here’s a good question. How do I feel about the people at church?

Is the way you feel about them right?

Our problem is we have been brainwashed by church movements that are not biblical.

The church is not a business, it’s a family.

The church is not a place to come and be entertained. It’s a family.

If you have a church where:

The Word of God is preached

Sin is dealt with in a biblical way

The gospel is being shared with the lost

You ought to praise God. Let’s move on.

God brings you to a church and says this is required of you:

Love the people. Hold them in your heart.

What’s the greatest commandment? It’s to love God and love people.

We’re out trying to find some great thing to do for God, but He says the greatest thing you can do is love Him and love people. Here’s the thing, it doesn’t matter what we do for God if it’s done without loving the people we are serving then the Bible says it counts as nothing.

Is it hard to love people? Yes!

This is how we grow in grace!

We are patient.

We are forgiving.

We are hopeful.

The greatest thing you can do for your own sanctification is settle down in a godly church and love God and the people there.

I will promise you, if you do this you will experience a great level of joy.

Listen to me friend. Did you know if you are saved God rejoices in you? Listen to what Zephaniah 3:17 says:

The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.

Is that not humbling? God rejoices over you.

Could He make a list of reasons not to? You bet.

He rejoices over Christ in you. Can we not do that for one another? Paul did it for the Philippians. We are required to do it as well.