The Elements of Joy—Part 3
by
Rev. Irvin Mizell
Once again we have the opportunity to come together in the Lords house and partake of the amazing Word of God
Now we are in a Minnie series so to speak as we are investigating the elements of Joy
And this is our third look at joy so far…
And already we have seen there is a great difference between happiness and Joy
And that Joy is a product of a spirit filled life
And that Joy has working elements to it
The joy of remembering is the first element we looked at
The spirit allows us to remember the good in people
So today we will start by looking at the second element of Joy.
And that is the joy of intercession.
Now if you remember, we were using the text of
Philippians 1:1
Php 1:1 Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:
Php 1:2 Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Php 1:3 I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,
Php 1:4 Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, Php 1:5 For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now;
Php 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
Notice Verse 4,
Php 1:4 Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy,
Now here’s an element of joy that you probably didn’t know about…
But you never want to miss…
the delight of praying for others.
When the Spirit of God is in control of your life you will delight in praying for others.
Now pay close attention…
Php 1:4 Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy,
Paul says, "On my every occasion of praying for you I am filled with joy."
Always in every prayer no exceptions..
Joy fills his heart
And this joy is produced by a special type of prayer…
every prayer of mine for you all
His prayers were for them
The word for prayer here is “deesis” and it means to intercede
It’s the idea of asking God for something for someone else.
Have you ever heard the expression…..
It is better to give than to receive
Think about this…
We have, the privilege of praying that God would pour out His blessing on others.
You can have a very real part in the success of others because you pray for them
There is nothing more thrilling than being part of a prayer team that sees answered prayer in others lives
Fact is, you can be a loving and caring person in life, and in prayer.
Or you can be self centered in life and in prayer…
When you pray is it your joy to pray for the spiritual benefit, blessing, progress of someone else?
Or are you forever and always praying only about yourself?
I will to confess to you, that I believe...
that there are very few Christians who know true joy.
The Joy that the Holy Spirit gives to those who submit to His leading.
And the lack of joy and a spirit filled life shows up in several ways,
their negative thoughts toward others and the lack of concern,
They’re self-centered.
They’re selfish.
That’s ego, that’s pride. They find little delight in praying for others or serving others.
There’s a man named George Raindrop, an interesting name.
He Wrote a book called "No Common Task."
It’s got one interesting event in it that I want to relate it to you.
In the book he tells about a nurse and how this nurse taught a man to pray and literally changed the man’s entire life.
The story says he was a dull disgruntled dispirited man who became a man of joy.
This is what the writer says,
"Much of the nurse’s work was done with her hands. And she used her hand as, as it were, a scheme of prayer. Each of her fingers stood for someone. Her thumb was nearest to her and it reminded her to pray for those who were nearest and closest and dearest to her. The second finger was used for pointing, those who teach us point to us with it when they would ask us a question. Therefore her second finger stood for all her teachers, she prayed for them. The third finger is the tallest and it stood for the VIPs, the leaders in every sphere of life. The fourth finger is the weakest, as every pianist knows, and it stood for those who were weak and in trouble and in pain. And the little finger is the smallest and the most unimportant and to the nurse it stood for herself."
That’s a great scheme of prayer.!!
And there will always be a deep sense of joy in the heart of one who learns to pray by that little scheme.
Starting with others and ending up with the most insignificant of all, yourself.
Now lets look at another element of Joy
the joy of participation...
Realizing that we are all joined together into one cause.
Look at Verse 5 … we will start at verse 3 to get the feel
Php 1:3 I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,
Php 1:4 Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, Php 1:5 For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now;
The word “fellowship”
In the Greek means “partnership“ active participation,
He was thankful because of their participation in the gospel.
And then he adds,
"From the first day of your conversion until now."
He’s thankful for their partnership in salvation.
And from salvation through all the years that have passed, they have been partners, sharers, in the ministry of Christ.
Paul here indicates the whole scheme of the gospel development.
He’s simply saying,
"I’m just so thankful that you’ve participated from the very beginning until now in the spread of the gospel, you’ve come alongside me as partners."
SO…
The person in whom the Spirit of God is free to produce joy will rejoice in the fellowship of the believers.
He’ll love to be with Christians.
He’ll love to rejoice with them in the advancement of the gospel.
That is one thing that thrills my heart…
To see new ministries and rejoice as we together reach out to the world.
Allow me to try to put into words the joy of our fellowship
when I think about the fellowship that we enjoy, the partnership we have in Christ,
I am always amazed at the depth of our relationships…
have you ever really thought about this stuff ?
It goes something like this…
What we have is a fellowship of grace, ….
It’s not a natural partnership,….
it’s not a man-made partnership.
We’re not a club or a society
We’re not the Elks
or the Rotary
or the Royal Order of Goats
or anybody else.
We’re not a man-made organization.
This is a divine fellowship
Joined together by God in Christ through the Spirit.
Apart from the trinity our relationship is non-existent.
Our partnership is Impossible to form on a human level
It transcends time and space and it’s forever.
It’s also a fellowship of life.
We all share the same common eternal life made ours in Christ.
He gives us all life.
We’re all one with Him,
one with the Father,
one with the Spirit,
one with each other.
It’s a fellowship of life.
What a cause of joy.
This is a fellowship of faith.
We all believe in the same God.
We all believe the same truth of God’s Word.
It’s a fellowship of prayer.
It’s a fellowship where we commonly pray on behalf of one another.
It’s a fellowship of praise,
a fellowship of thanksgiving,
it’s a fellowship of love.
It’s a fellowship of service,
It’s a fellowship of promoting the gospel
And there is nothing in this world as wonderful as this..
“The fellowship we share”
I praise God and rejoice over the partnership we share in CHRIST here at Indian Hill…
And Paul feels the same way as he writes to the saints at Philippi
his joy just spills all over the place.
1st joy of recollection.
“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you."
It’s as if to say the Holy Spirit produced joy has sweet memories.
2nd joy of intercession,
"Always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all."
Holy Spirit generated joy comes from praying for others’ needs,
3rd joy of partnership in the faith.
"I thank God with joy of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now."
A joyful spirit filled person is delighted to be a part of the fellowship, and among the saints
That brings us to a fourth element of joy.
The joy of anticipation,
and this is a great verse,
Php 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
the joy of anticipation.
You know one of the great joys of the ministry?
Let me give you a little hint.
If you look at what the church is going to be, you can get very excited.
To have faith in the promises of God, is to anticipate the fulfillment of those promises.
Lets look at verse 6 a little closer..
Php 1:6 Being confident of this very thing,
“confident“ is the verb “pepoitha”
It means to be persuaded,
to be sure,
to be absolutely convinced.
Confident
And that’s what he’s saying. I am absolutely convinced of this very thing.
that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
Now let me say a little more about that.
It is important that you understand that salvation is work of God.
Listen as I move threw a few verses…
Php 1:29 For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;
Ac 11:18 When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.
Joh 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
Joh 1:13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Beloved you don’t just decide one day it is time to get right with God…
God gives you the ability to believe
God gives you the ability to repent
God places you in his family
GET THIS…
If God has tugged on your heart and invited you to believe….
Then you need to jump at the chance because that is an exclusive invitation that only can be offered by God Himself
How long the offer will stay open, no one knows…
The Bible says that if you reject God then he can turn you over to a reprobate mind.
And left to your own devices you will never come to the Lord for salvation.
Only God can grant us the ability to repent.
And trust me if he starts a good work in you he will continue it to the end.
And Paul is full of joy with the anticipation of the Lords work to come.
How is your Joy?
Are you on the right teem
Are you experiencing the best that God offers
Lets pray
