Joy To The World - A Study Of Philippians- Part 2 "Joy In Serving" Series

Joy to the world

A study of Philippians

Part 2

“Joy in serving”

Today we will continue our study of Paul’s letter of joy

Also known as the book of Philippians

In this short letter

Paul

The Apostle

Writes to the church at Philippi in Macedonia which is Northern Greece today

And he in spite of the circumstances in his life writes a letter filled with love and joy

Let me remind you of his present circumstances

He has been arrested in Jerusalem for preaching Jesus

He appealed to Caesar being a Roman citizen and was taken to Rome

Where he was being held against his will

But already he had experienced other imprisonments

He had been beaten and stoned

Left for dead

He had been shipwrecked

Ostracized by his own people

He had been lied about and treated like a common criminal

And still he writes a letter called Paul’s letter of Joy

In this short series

It is my desire

With the grace of God

To shed some more light on Paul’s joy

And prayerfully we can learn to unleash this gift in our own lives

Last week we began with “Joy in others”

And looked at how we find joy in all of our relationships

How we must first find and focus on Jesus Christ

How we must give thanks to God for those he places in our lives

Look for the good in them and focus on that

Forgetting the bad

And Pray for them

Pray that they find love that overflows

Pray that they find knowledge and understanding

And as a result learn to live pure and blameless lives

Then as they and we follow Paul’s plan

Joy will reveal itself and grow in all of our relationships

Today we are going to take a look at the second of Paul’s reasons for joy

It is “Joy in serving”

Please open your bibles to Philippians 2

Once again put your finger or bulletin in there as I will go back there several tines this morning

Philippians 2:1

“Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit?”

Paul begins his teaching by asking a question

In cowboy terms he says

What do we need to do to find joy?

How do we get it?

And in today’s teaching

He shows us a pattern for find joy through our service to the Lord

Each and every person that has accepted Christ as savior has been given at least one spiritual gift

Some are gifted with preaching or teaching

Others in encouraging others

Others in giving

Others in Praying / interceding for others

There are many others

Listen you may be gifted with music

May be gifted with skills that can help others and the Church

I could spend weeks

Month’s --even years describing all the ways we are gifted as believers

But that is another topic for another day

What I want to focus on this morning

Is a question

A burning question

No matter what your gift is

How do we

Find joy through serving?

I could tell you my thoughts

And you could tell me yours

But I am not interested in my opinions any more that you are interested in mind

I

As I pray your are

Am interested in what God says

In this case

He speaks through Paul

Let’s look at what he says

Verse 1b

“Are your hearts tender and compassionate?”

We heard these words in sermon one concerning our relationships

Tender compassionate hearts

Are a big key to finding joy in all areas of our lives

Many people

Even Christians

Live only to make a good impression on other people

Only to please themselves

But you see

Lack of tenderness in our hearts

Lack of compassion

Causes Selfishness

And selfishness causes discord

And Joy can’t shine in a habitat of disunity

Paul stresses Spiritual unity in service as a

A key to finding joy in our service

You see when we work together

Caring for the problems of others

We are showing the world and the church

The love of Jesus

Verse 2

“Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose.”

Agreeing with each other

Working together with one mind and purpose

Loving each other

Wow

Paul is teaching the Church in Philippi and us in the process

What we should have learned in kindergarten

----Pause--

There is no joy in serving on a team that is not united

No one likes to argue

Well I should say

No one should like to argue

Finding joy in service

Hinges on unity

Serving should be a pleasure

And when it is we find joy

Verse 3a

“Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.”