LIVING IN REAL JOY IS WHAT THE CHRISTIAN LIFE IS ABOUT
Anytime I complained about a task, mama reminded me that nobody ever said life was going to be easy . . . “Just be glad you’ve got something to complain about because some folks don’t have nothing.”
Reminds me of Herman Cain the radio talk show host who loves to talk about his grandfather and what the old man always told all of them when they were growing up, “Them that’s goin’, get on the wagon; them that ain’t, get out of the way.”
Well, you know what? Back in the day - when we had to work from dawn ‘til dusk to put food on the table and a roof over our heads – we really did not know that we were poor until somebody told us.
Yet, there was nothing like our family time around the supper table and afterwards around the radio listening to a favorite mystery or comedy or fireside chat by President Roosevelt.
We cherished those times together because we enjoyed family chit chat, good food, good laughs and good times. It really did not phase us one way or the other when we learned that other people were better off materially than we.
It’s not that we were all that happy about our situation, but that, despite circumstances, there was a sense of contentment (joy) that is difficult to explain.
We had learned in whatsoever state we found ourselves therein to be content, yet all the while we sought to better ourselves - as best we could.
After years of studying God’s Word and serving people from all walks of life and varying backgrounds . . . I realized that my early family experience taught me what the Christian life is really all about – living in joy.
Back then we experienced joy even though we might have been unhappy about our circumstances! And therein lies a truth conveyed by the Apostle Paul to the Christians at Philippi, in his “epistle of joy”.
When Paul talked about joy in Christ, he was not talking about an emotion, or a happy feeling brought on by exhilarating circumstances, or the excitement of winning a prize, and so forth; no, he was not talking about temporal things.
Living in joy was (is) a state of being in a right relationship - with Jesus our Lord . . . with others, our brothers and sisters in Christ . . . with ourselves. Living in joy, in Christ, we don’t just survive; we come alive; we thrive!
In the Bible, joy is a divine attribute – “May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in His works” (Psalm 104:31) . . . Joy is a fruit of the Spirit . . . Joy is a quality of living, imparted by the Spirit, to believers in Christ (Galatians 5:22-24).
There was a time when I equated joy with happiness, but not for long - because lessons learned from Bible study and life situations proved me wrong. What did I learn? Happiness and unhappiness do not and cannot exist together. Joy and sorrow can and do:
Our Lord was a “man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” but “for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Paul and Silas, scourged and imprisoned with their feet in the stocks could hardly be described as “happy” . . . but at midnight they sang praises to God with such joy that God caused an earthquake, and not only delivered them but brought salvation and joy to the jailer’s house.
Announcing the advent of our Lord, the angels proclaimed, “Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be unto all people.” The Joy was Jesus - not an emotion but the embodiment in a person of God’s great love! “Come into my heart, Lord Jesus” is an invitation we extend to Jesus; and having Him in our hearts, we then sing, “I have the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart . . . love of Jesus . . . the peace that passeth understanding . . ..”
When we go home to be with the Lord, Jesus described our welcome home as he concluded his teaching of the Parable of the Talents: “Well done, good and faithful servant . . . Enter thou into (the fullness of) the joy of thy Lord.”
As we study Paul’s “epistle of joy”, our aim is to discover anew the joy that Christ brings into our lives. With the joy of Jesus in our hearts, it matters not what our circumstances might be or whether we are happy in our situation . . .
We go on praying with joy . . . sharing with joy . . . following with joy . . . growing with joy . . . giving with joy . . . living life in joy as we journey toward our entry into the fullness of the joy of our Lord.
With the joy of Christ in our hearts we go on praying – Philippians 1:3-11 . . .
Remembering - those who have gone before us along with the folks whose paths have crossed ours in various ways, and remembering how we have been blessed by them - how can we not give thanks to God!
All our lives there have been different folks who have supported us and contributed to our wellbeing. You name them . . . thank God for them at every opportunity! Without their “partnership” - encouragement . . . patience . . . involvement . . . counsel) in our endeavors, where would we be today?
There have been people in our lives who really did CARE about us. They Communicated with us . . . They communicated their Affection . . . Respect . . . Expectations . . . and I would say that, if we haven’t done so already, we ought to get in touch with them and thank them.
With God’s help, and theirs, we grew to be emboldened to continue life’s journey . . . we grew to believe that the work God started in us will be brought to completion - in God’s own time, in God’s own way - despite our weaknesses and our misgivings.
With joy in his heart, Paul prayed about what God had done . . . what God is doing . . . what God will continue to do! God had started a good work in the lives of Christian converts at Philippi -and, for them, Paul gave thanks. Come we that love the Lord and let our joy be known - by giving thanks to God for what He has done, is doing, and will continue to do!
In Paul’s present situation, the folks in whom God had started a good work were continuing to do what they could, not only to help Paul in prison, but also to be “partners in grace” with him whom they dearly loved. God’s grace never abandons those whom God loves . . . those for whom Christ died . . . those we love!
His friends’ loving attention to his needs, now that he was a prisoner for the sake of Christ, moved Paul to tears . . . to love them more than ever . . . to pray that they would keep on loving until filled with the “fruit of righteousness”. What is that fruit? Christian character that begets moral living - a product of one’s relationship to Christ plus the transformation that occurs, within us, by the presence of the Holy Spirit.
With joy in his heart, Paul prayed about what God had done . . . what God is doing . . . what God will continue to do. Will you pray in that way? Past, present, future?
Why did Paul, and why do we, pray with joy in our hearts in these ways for all the things for which he prayed and for which we pray? For one reason, and one reason only: “the glory and praise of God”.
Paul ended this segment of his “epistle of joy” the way we should end, not only every endeavor which we are a part of, but, the way we should come to the end of our journey on this earth – giving God the glory for the great things He has done, is doing, and will do! Amen.
