Joy
Jeffery Anselmi / General
Be Happy / Joy; Happiness / Philippians 1:1–11
We find joy in experiencing God’s unearned forgiveness and knowing that nothing can stop him from finishing what he has already started in our lives.
INTRODUCTION
• How has your 2020 been thus far?
• On a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 being terrible and 10 being terrific, where would you be?
• Honestly, I think we are kind of holding on to our seats waiting to see what else could go wrong, so maybe we would rate 2020 at a -10. :)
• For many, this year has been a struggle, it has been stressful, and it has been discouraging.
• If life, in general, were 2020, life would not be fun.
• Amid the storm of this year, we can lose our happiness and joy.
• There is so much negative stuff to focus on that we can forget the blessings we have in life.
• When times get rough, we have to decide how we will respond to those tough times.
• When we are faced with difficulties and trials at home, work, or other areas of life, we have to choose how we will deal with those situations.
• Will we allow tough times to define us, or will we be able to rise above the difficulties of life and grow and thrive?
• Today we begin a very timely series in the book of Philippians.
• Our ten-week series will focus on the joy one can receive when we devote our lives to Jesus and others.
• The letter to the church at Philippi, Paul was in prison, a fact that makes this letter even more impressive than usual.
• Of all of Paul's letters, the Philippian church letter is the most consistently positive and personal.
• This letter reflects a joyful spirit, a happiness that would seem surprising coming from a person in prison at the time of the writing.
• The Philippian church was the first church established by Paul in what we know as Europe during his second missionary journey.
• USE MAP ON PROCLAIM!
• Acts 16 tells of Paul's vision of a Macedonia man who pleaded with Paul to come there ( Acts 16:9).
• Once Paul arrives in Philippi, his efforts led to Lydia's conversion and her household, Paul and Silas imprisonment after they cast a fortune-telling demon out of a servant girl.
• Then that led to the conversion of the prison keeper and his household. (Gareth Reese Philippians Commentary)
• Paul's visit was the beginnings of a healthy and generous congregation that supported Paul with prayer and finances from its inception to about a dozen years later when this letter was written.
• Paul had a great deal of love for this church, and they loved him also!
• So, as interesting as our 2020 has been, the big idea is simple.
› We find joy in experiencing God's unearned forgiveness and knowing that nothing can stop him from finishing what he has already started in our lives.
• Let's begin our journey through the book fo Philippians by turning to Philippians 1:1-5, and verse 7.
Philippians 1:1–5 CSB
1 Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus: To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons.
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 I give thanks to my God for every remembrance of you,
4 always praying with joy for all of you in my every prayer,
5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.
Philippians 1:7 CSB
7 Indeed, it is right for me to think this way about all of you, because I have you in my heart, and you are all partners with me in grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.
• As consider the concept of Be Happy, the first observation we make is...
SERMON
I. You can find joy in partnership.
• One of the things I love about life is enjoying life with others.
• I realize introverts probably enjoyed the stay at home orders we endured early in the pandemic, but one thing I know is that doing life alone would make life less joyful.
• One of the things we may see happens due to the pandemic shut-downs is the temptation to stay at home and “GET YOUR CHURCH AT HOME” in your pajamas with coffee in hand.
• We will always stream our services because it helps us spread the gospel; however, maybe we need to use our geo-blocking feature to get folks out of the house! LOL.
• In a moment, we will look at why we need to be together as much as we can get together.
• Paul opens the letter by offering his standard greeting to the church, but he continued by giving thanks to God for every remembrance of the folks at the church at Philippi.
• Paul adds some extra affection to the church in verse 4 by saying that he was praying WITH JOY for all the folks there in his EVERY prayer!
• Paul makes it clear that grace and peace emanate from God and Jesus!
• God and Jesus are the sources of our blessings.
• As you read this letter to the church at Philippi, you will see the word Joy or REJOICE at least 13 times in this short letter.
• Paul loves these people, and we should love our brothers and sisters in Christ.
• This thought takes us to the core of our first point found in verse 5.
Philippians 1:5 CSB
5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.
• Paul has such affection for the church at Philippi because they participated with him in the gospel's spread!
• The word translated PARTNERSHIP is translated FELLOWSHIP, SHARING, SHARE, PARTICIPATION, CONTRIBUTION in other places in the New Testament.
• In the context, the word is translated CONTRIBUTION in Romans 15:26 and 2 Corinthians 9:13 when used of missionary offerings that were taken up by the churches.
• The passage we usually associate the word with is found in Acts 2:42.
Acts 2:42 CSB
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer.
• The word PARTNERSHIP (fellowship) is crucial for us to grasp.
• In Acts 2:42, we learn that real fellowship means to CONTRIBUTE something of yourself to others' lives.
• The church at Philippi had given a part of themselves to Paul's ministry for at least twelve years to this point.
• One of my fears with COVID is that Christians all over the country will miss the concept of FELLOWSHIP.
• We have a period where it was thought best for folks to stay home, and for some who have serious health issues, that may still be the case.
• For most of us, it is time to think about getting back in the game.
• I fear that COVID will make us selfish and self-centered in our faith.
• We will get used to not contributing something of ourselves in others' lives because it is easy not to be engaged.
• I do not want to on this drum too long because it will come across as wrong.
• Verse 7 points out that because of the participation of the church, the church was actually working through Paul, they were working together.
• We all need to work together for the cause of Christ!
• Do you lack joy in your life?
• One good way to find joy is to contribute a part of ourselves in the life of others.
• Let’s turn to verse 6.
Philippians 1:6 CSB
6 I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
• Another way we can find joy is....
II. You can find joy in completed work.
• Have you ever started a job or a project and never completed it?
• When you walked by the unfinished work, did that make you feel good inside?
• Did you feel proud of a job not well done?
• Paul showed a great deal of confidence in God's ability to provide what was needed for the job to be done.
• When God calls us to a work, God will give us what we need to complete the job.
• We can gain a lot of joy by completing a job.
• I recently revamped my closest. I have one of those lengthy and narrow closets that has a lot of hard to use space.
• I decided to install a new wired shelving unit onto the closet.
• For years that closet was not user friendly.
• Since completing the job, whenever I open the door, I feel a significant level of joy.
• Paul was letting the church know that God would keep providing so the job would be completed.
• Though the "good work" could include financial help given Paul, it seems likely, from the nature of this verse, that it embraced more than that, i.e., embraced the entire experience of living in Christ.
• Paul moves from the past to the future, expressing confidence in God's work in the lives of the Philippians.
• His confidence was not merely humanistic but was based on the very nature of God. God, if people would allow it, would complete the work that he does in human lives.
• If you ever trained for a race, the last thing you want to do is to get into the race and not finish it.
• When I pitched in High School and American Legion ball, I wanted to go all nine innings, I wanted to finish the job.
• I want to stand before God having finished the race. I do not want to quit in the middle or just before I get to the finish line!
2 Timothy 4:7–8 CSB
7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
8 There is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me, but to all those who have loved his appearing.
• God wants you to keep on the job and to finish!
• Let’s turn to verses 9-11
Philippians 1:9–11 CSB
9 And I pray this: that your love will keep on growing in knowledge and every kind of discernment,
10 so that you may approve the things that are superior and may be pure and blameless in the day of Christ,
11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.
III. You can find joy in spiritual growth.
• Paul prays for two things for the church at Philippi.
• First he prayed their love would grow and be regulated by knowledge and discernment.
• Love without knowledge will lead one to make bad choices.
• Real knowledge and every kind of discernment are essential element of love.
• Love should be growing, that is, it should develop into and be accompanied by spiritual and moral insights.
• The word translated true knowledge is frequently used by Paul to convey the idea of a mental grasp of spiritual truth and especially that practical and experiential knowledge of God which is available to those who have become Christians. *(UBS HANDBOOK)
• Paul also prays for their character, that they might be pure and blameless.
• This is what it is all about, to be Christlike!
CLOSING
• I pray that in the middle of the storms of life we are facing, that we can look to the Lord and find joy.
• I pray that we can all be eager and willing to participate together in the work of spreading the Gospel.
• I pray that we can experience the joy of the Lord, we have spent way too much time focusing on other stuff!
Joy
Jeffery Anselmi / General
Be Happy / Joy; Happiness / Philippians 1:1–11
We find joy in experiencing God’s unearned forgiveness and knowing that nothing can stop him from finishing what he has already started in our lives.
INTRODUCTION
• How has your 2020 been thus far?
• On a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 being terrible and 10 being terrific, where would you be?
• Honestly, I think we are kind of holding on to our seats waiting to see what else could go wrong, so maybe we would rate 2020 at a -10. :)
• For many, this year has been a struggle, it has been stressful, and it has been discouraging.
• If life, in general, were 2020, life would not be fun.
• Amid the storm of this year, we can lose our happiness and joy.
• There is so much negative stuff to focus on that we can forget the blessings we have in life.
• When times get rough, we have to decide how we will respond to those tough times.
• When we are faced with difficulties and trials at home, work, or other areas of life, we have to choose how we will deal with those situations.
• Will we allow tough times to define us, or will we be able to rise above the difficulties of life and grow and thrive?
• Today we begin a very timely series in the book of Philippians.
• Our ten-week series will focus on the joy one can receive when we devote our lives to Jesus and others.
• The letter to the church at Philippi, Paul was in prison, a fact that makes this letter even more impressive than usual.
• Of all of Paul's letters, the Philippian church letter is the most consistently positive and personal.
• This letter reflects a joyful spirit, a happiness that would seem surprising coming from a person in prison at the time of the writing.
• The Philippian church was the first church established by Paul in what we know as Europe during his second missionary journey.
• USE MAP ON PROCLAIM!
• Acts 16 tells of Paul's vision of a Macedonia man who pleaded with Paul to come there ( Acts 16:9).
• Once Paul arrives in Philippi, his efforts led to Lydia's conversion and her household, Paul and Silas imprisonment after they cast a fortune-telling demon out of a servant girl.
• Then that led to the conversion of the prison keeper and his household. (Gareth Reese Philippians Commentary)
• Paul's visit was the beginnings of a healthy and generous congregation that supported Paul with prayer and finances from its inception to about a dozen years later when this letter was written.
• Paul had a great deal of love for this church, and they loved him also!
• So, as interesting as our 2020 has been, the big idea is simple.
› We find joy in experiencing God's unearned forgiveness and knowing that nothing can stop him from finishing what he has already started in our lives.
• Let's begin our journey through the book fo Philippians by turning to Philippians 1:1-5, and verse 7.
Philippians 1:1–5 CSB
1 Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus: To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons.
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 I give thanks to my God for every remembrance of you,
4 always praying with joy for all of you in my every prayer,
5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.
Philippians 1:7 CSB
7 Indeed, it is right for me to think this way about all of you, because I have you in my heart, and you are all partners with me in grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.
• As consider the concept of Be Happy, the first observation we make is...
SERMON
I. You can find joy in partnership.
• One of the things I love about life is enjoying life with others.
• I realize introverts probably enjoyed the stay at home orders we endured early in the pandemic, but one thing I know is that doing life alone would make life less joyful.
• One of the things we may see happens due to the pandemic shut-downs is the temptation to stay at home and “GET YOUR CHURCH AT HOME” in your pajamas with coffee in hand.
• We will always stream our services because it helps us spread the gospel; however, maybe we need to use our geo-blocking feature to get folks out of the house! LOL.
• In a moment, we will look at why we need to be together as much as we can get together.
• Paul opens the letter by offering his standard greeting to the church, but he continued by giving thanks to God for every remembrance of the folks at the church at Philippi.
• Paul adds some extra affection to the church in verse 4 by saying that he was praying WITH JOY for all the folks there in his EVERY prayer!
• Paul makes it clear that grace and peace emanate from God and Jesus!
• God and Jesus are the sources of our blessings.
• As you read this letter to the church at Philippi, you will see the word Joy or REJOICE at least 13 times in this short letter.
• Paul loves these people, and we should love our brothers and sisters in Christ.
• This thought takes us to the core of our first point found in verse 5.
Philippians 1:5 CSB
5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.
• Paul has such affection for the church at Philippi because they participated with him in the gospel's spread!
• The word translated PARTNERSHIP is translated FELLOWSHIP, SHARING, SHARE, PARTICIPATION, CONTRIBUTION in other places in the New Testament.
• In the context, the word is translated CONTRIBUTION in Romans 15:26 and 2 Corinthians 9:13 when used of missionary offerings that were taken up by the churches.
• The passage we usually associate the word with is found in Acts 2:42.
Acts 2:42 CSB
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer.
• The word PARTNERSHIP (fellowship) is crucial for us to grasp.
• In Acts 2:42, we learn that real fellowship means to CONTRIBUTE something of yourself to others' lives.
• The church at Philippi had given a part of themselves to Paul's ministry for at least twelve years to this point.
• One of my fears with COVID is that Christians all over the country will miss the concept of FELLOWSHIP.
• We have a period where it was thought best for folks to stay home, and for some who have serious health issues, that may still be the case.
• For most of us, it is time to think about getting back in the game.
• I fear that COVID will make us selfish and self-centered in our faith.
• We will get used to not contributing something of ourselves in others' lives because it is easy not to be engaged.
• I do not want to on this drum too long because it will come across as wrong.
• Verse 7 points out that because of the participation of the church, the church was actually working through Paul, they were working together.
• We all need to work together for the cause of Christ!
• Do you lack joy in your life?
• One good way to find joy is to contribute a part of ourselves in the life of others.
• Let’s turn to verse 6.
Philippians 1:6 CSB
6 I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
• Another way we can find joy is....
II. You can find joy in completed work.
• Have you ever started a job or a project and never completed it?
• When you walked by the unfinished work, did that make you feel good inside?
• Did you feel proud of a job not well done?
• Paul showed a great deal of confidence in God's ability to provide what was needed for the job to be done.
• When God calls us to a work, God will give us what we need to complete the job.
• We can gain a lot of joy by completing a job.
• I recently revamped my closest. I have one of those lengthy and narrow closets that has a lot of hard to use space.
• I decided to install a new wired shelving unit onto the closet.
• For years that closet was not user friendly.
• Since completing the job, whenever I open the door, I feel a significant level of joy.
• Paul was letting the church know that God would keep providing so the job would be completed.
• Though the "good work" could include financial help given Paul, it seems likely, from the nature of this verse, that it embraced more than that, i.e., embraced the entire experience of living in Christ.
• Paul moves from the past to the future, expressing confidence in God's work in the lives of the Philippians.
• His confidence was not merely humanistic but was based on the very nature of God. God, if people would allow it, would complete the work that he does in human lives.
• If you ever trained for a race, the last thing you want to do is to get into the race and not finish it.
• When I pitched in High School and American Legion ball, I wanted to go all nine innings, I wanted to finish the job.
• I want to stand before God having finished the race. I do not want to quit in the middle or just before I get to the finish line!
2 Timothy 4:7–8 CSB
7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
8 There is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me, but to all those who have loved his appearing.
• God wants you to keep on the job and to finish!
• Let’s turn to verses 9-11
Philippians 1:9–11 CSB
9 And I pray this: that your love will keep on growing in knowledge and every kind of discernment,
10 so that you may approve the things that are superior and may be pure and blameless in the day of Christ,
11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.
III. You can find joy in spiritual growth.
• Paul prays for two things for the church at Philippi.
• First he prayed their love would grow and be regulated by knowledge and discernment.
• Love without knowledge will lead one to make bad choices.
• Real knowledge and every kind of discernment are essential element of love.
• Love should be growing, that is, it should develop into and be accompanied by spiritual and moral insights.
• The word translated true knowledge is frequently used by Paul to convey the idea of a mental grasp of spiritual truth and especially that practical and experiential knowledge of God which is available to those who have become Christians. *(UBS HANDBOOK)
• Paul also prays for their character, that they might be pure and blameless.
• This is what it is all about, to be Christlike!
CLOSING
• I pray that in the middle of the storms of life we are facing, that we can look to the Lord and find joy.
• I pray that we can all be eager and willing to participate together in the work of spreading the Gospel.
• I pray that we can experience the joy of the Lord, we have spent way too much time focusing on other stuff!
