Title: Joy In Christian Community
Series: The Joy of the Christian Life (Sermon # 2)
Text: Phil 1:1-11
Date Preached: July 27, 2008
COPYRIGHT © Joe La Rue, 2008 (All Rights Reserved)
Introduction
A. Open your Bibles to Philippians, in the New Testament. We’ll be looking at the first eleven verses of chapter one today, as we continue our study about how we can experience true, lasting joy in our lives.
B. The poet John Donne wrote, “No man is an island, entire of itself.” (John Donne, Meditation XVII). What that expresses poetically is what we feel intuitively: we are not as good alone as we are with one another. There is a reason that the most dreaded punishment in prison is solitary confinement: no one wants to be alone all the time. Community is important to us. We want a place where we belong. We all want a group that we can call our own. We to be part of something bigger than ourselves. We want to know that there are people who care for us, and who we can care for, too.
C. That was part of the genius of the early church: they bonded together into a community. Many of these early Christians were slaves. Many of them had no community to belong to at all—not even a family to call their own. They had no one to love them. They had no one to care about them.
1. And along came the Apostle Paul and other early missionaries preaching the good news that God loves them, and Jesus died to save them, and they can be born again and can join God’s family! And they grabbed hold of that message with fervor, because they saw God’s family as something worth belonging to. It gave their meaningless lives purpose. It gave their hopeless existence hope.
2. And it works the same way today. You’ve heard me say this before: “The Church of Christ, when it is functioning properly, is the hope of the world.” It is in the church that the lost have the gospel preached to them, that sinners are saved, and that forgiveness is found. It is in the church that we discover God’s plan for our lives. It is in the church that we find our lives’ true purpose and meaning. And it is in the church that we experience a family to belong to—a community that is bigger than we are, that we can be supported and loved and encouraged by, and that we can support and love and encourage as well. Even with the problems and imperfections that we humans bring into it, the Church of Christ remains the hope of the world.
D. It was to such a church that the Apostle Paul wrote the Letter to the Philippians, and spoke of all the joy that was theirs because they belonged to Jesus. In the first eleven verses, he speaks of the joy that comes from belonging to the Christian community. Look with me at the first two verses of Philippians, chapter 1. Paul writes,
“Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints 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.” (Phil 1:1-2, NIV).
1. Paul called these Christians, “saints.” We today tend to associate that word with great heros of the faith—we speak of St. Peter, and St. Paul. But actually, the Greek word ‘hagiois’ (ἁãßïéò) meant “ones who have been set apart.” “Holy” is another translation of this word—‘holy’ in the sense of ‘having been set apart.’ And it is ‘hagiois’ that is often used in the Bible to describe normal, everyday Christians—Christians just like us.
2. Now, there are at least three ways that Christians are set apart:
a. First, we are set apart in relationship: we now belong to God through Jesus. Jesus’ blood shed on the cross has paid the price for you, and now God says, “You are Mine! And you, and you, and you, and you!” We have been set apart to have a relationship with God through Christ, and to have a relationship with one another as well.
b. Second, we have been set apart from evil. God has redeemed us through Christ from the evil influences of this world, and we no longer follow evil desires. Instead, we follow God.
c. Third, we have been set apart for works of service. It’s not just that we don’t pursue evil anymore; now, we pursue the things of God. The Bible tells us that we have been saved in order to serve. God gives us a new life in Christ, and then He gives us a job. Isn’t that amazing? The King of all creation wants you and me to help Him bring about His kingdom here on earth. He lets us play on His team.
3. So, we have been set apart relationally—we belong to God and one another. And we have been set apart directionally—we no longer pursue evil, but we pursue God. And we have been set apart vocationally—we have been given a job to do for God. We are the set apart ones.
4. And notice who has set us apart. Look at verse 1: “To all the saints—the set apart ones—in Christ Jesus.” There it is: “in Christ Jesus.” Through Jesus we belong. Through Jesus we get to share in this community that we call the Church. And through Jesus, because of all that, we experience joy.
E. Trans: Okay, so how does the community of the Church give us joy? Well, there are many ways, but this section of Philippians highlights three. First,
I. We Experience Joy As We Pray For The Community’s Needs.
Look with me at verses three through five:
“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, . . . .” (Phil 1:3-5, NIV).
A. Do you pray regularly for others that are important to you? If you want to be happy, you should. We have an opportunity to really help each other by praying for each other. As I’m sure you know, we feel good when we are helping others. That’s how God has made us.
1. Parents and grandparents, you especially should take this to heart. Every day you should be praying for your children, bringing their needs before God and asking Him to meet those needs. Life can be hard for our kids. As parents, we will worry about our children less and rejoice more when we know that we have put our children in the hands of God through prayer.
2. And students, you should take this to heart as well. Every day you should pray for your parents. Life can be hard for adults too. You can do your parents a tremendous favor by praying for them. Ask God to help them be the people He wants them to be. Do it each day. Make a habit of it, and you will feel joyful, knowing that you are doing the best thing that you can for your parents: you are praying for them!
3. And Church, everyone should take this to heart and pray for one another. We have a prayer list here in the bulletin, and we are all aware of people with needs. We care about these people. They are part of our community in Christ. We should bring them before God and pray for them, and ask God to bless them and encourage them and do what’s best for them. And when we do that, we’ll be blessed, because we feel better when we are praying for others. God has created us such that when we pray for others, and really want God to help them, we feel joy knowing that we have done the best thing we could do for them: we have prayed for them!
B. Look why Paul had such joy from praying for them: “Because of your partnership in the gospel . . . .” (Phil 1:5). That expression means that they were part of Paul’s community, but it also indicates that they were praying for him just as he was praying for them. They were partners with him in his ministry endeavors. How did they help him as a missionary? They supported him financially, which we’ll talk about later in this study, and they also supported him spiritually by praying for him.
1. What a source of joy that must have been to Paul. Remember, Paul was under house arrest awaiting trial when he wrote this letter. He faced a possible death sentence for something that he had not done. He did not know if he would be released, or if he would be killed. But he knew that the Philippian Christians—his community—was praying for him. They were holding him up before God, saying, “Help Paul!” And Paul rejoiced because of that.
2. And that’s true for us as well. Not only do we derive joy from praying for one another, but we derive joy from knowing that others are praying for us!
C. Of course, in order to really do this we must let others know what our prayer needs are. You see, I cannot pray for your specific needs if I don’t know what those needs are, and you cannot pray for my needs without knowing what they are, either. So, we need to share with each other our needs, and concerns, and fears, and joys, and we can take all those things to God for one another. And when we do, we get a double dose of joy! We get joy because we are praying for others, and we also get joy because we know that other people are praying for us!
D. So try this this week, Church: Pray for people. If you know people on our prayer list, pray for them, really thinking about them and asking God to meet their needs. Do that each day. And, if you have other people in your lives with needs—children, or friends, or co-workers, or neighbors—pray for them. Really hold these people up to God, and see if God doesn’t bless you with joy as a result.
E. Trans: So, first we experience joy as we pray for the community’s needs. Second,
II. We Experience Joy As We Share In The Community’s Cause.
We have already seen that Paul and the Philippian Christians participated together in the gospel. Now look at verses 7–8:
“It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for 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.” (Phil 1:7-8, NIV).
A. Because of God’s grace, these Christians along with Paul were part of a cause that was bigger than themselves. They were part of the cause of “defending and confirming the gospel.” That is the mission of the Church.
1. “Defending the gospel” means overcoming people’s objections to the truth, while “confirming the gospel” has to do with proclaiming the truth.
2. These Christians and Paul were partners, working together for this most important cause of sharing God’s love with the world, and Paul and they experienced joy as a result. Paul said, “I have you in my heart.” He thought about these Christians with joy, because they were in this together.
B. We all want to be part of something that matters. I can think of few things worse than going through life with no sense of meaning or purpose. As the concentration camp survivor Viktor Frankl said years ago, “He who has a why to live for can bear with almost any how.” (The Search for Meaning).
1. We all want to know that there is a why that we are living for. We want to know that something makes sense of our lives.
2. We find that something in the Church. When we work together to share God’s love and reach our neighborhoods and cities and states and countries and world for Christ, and when we realize that we are really in this together with people all over the world, we realize that our lives do matter and our purpose is to use our abilities to serve God and further His kingdom.
a. Now, not everyone has the same abilities. Mine are preaching, teaching, and leadership. Those are the things that I do well. Your abilities may be totally different. Maybe you sing, or maybe you love pointing kids toward God, or maybe you are friendly and can encourage people, or maybe you can bake or quilt. But you have talents and abilities, and God can use those to further His Church.
b. If you aren’t sure how you can get involved using your gifts for God, see me after church and let me know that we need to set up a time to talk. It is my job to help you discover your gift and how to employ it for God’s glory; and it is your job to actually use it. Let me help you discover how to plug that gift into what God is doing here.
C. When we use our gifts for God, to share in a cause that is bigger than we are, we experience great joy and satisfaction. Take advantage of that in your life.
D. Trans: Okay, number three:
III. We Experience Joy As We Grow In The Community’s Love.
Read verses 6, and then 9-11 with me:
“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. . . . 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 until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.” (Phil 1:6, 9-11, NIV)
A. How does it feel to know that God is working in your life? God is creating you to be who He wants you to be. And he does that so that our love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight. In other words, as we learn more about Jesus and the Bible, we grow in our love for God and love for one another. And this gives us more joy.
B. Now, practically speaking, that means that we need to commit to being part of this community. We need to be involved in church, and we need to pray and read our Bibles, so that we can learn more about Jesus and grow in our love and experience deeper joy as a result. That’s a commitment that we each need to make.
Conclusion
A. Do you want to experience joy in your daily life? Today we learned the first step: be part of the Christian community. In this community, we experience joy as we pray for one another, and know that others are praying for us, too. And we experience joy as we share in the community’s cause—being part of something bigger than ourselves. And we experience joy as we grow in our love for God and one another.
B. It all starts with accepting Jesus. Remember, He is the one who makes us into a community. He is the one who died to save us from our sins. He is the one who rose from the dead to guarantee us eternal life. And He is the one who bids you come to Him today.
