La Accademia is where four unfinished sculptures of Michelangelo reside. They are called “The Prisoners”. Originally intended to for the tomb of Pope Julius the project was downsized and they were never completed. They depict, as you may have seen prior to worship, forms struggling to be free from the stone in which they are imprisoned. One common response to viewing these has been to sense a personal longing for freedom from the forces that hold us bound, imprisoned, and defeated. There is something about those figures that make us wish to be free. But like those incomplete statues it will take someone else to do the “freeing”
One seemingly never-ending struggle is to escape to a place where we experience joy. I’m not talking about giddiness or happiness. Joy is a sense of contentment in spite of what the circumstances seem to demand. Happiness depends on the situation we find ourselves in. Christmas morning for a seven-year old can be a “happy” time. Having that special someone agree to go on a date can be a “happy” time. Having your dentist call you and cancel your appointment can be a “happy” time. Joy is something else. It’s not gratification but a deep sense of something more. “Joy allows one to see beyond any particular event to the sovereign Lord who stands above all events and ultimately has control over them.”
Paul understood this. He uses the term in this letter more than anywhere else. And it’s used as a way to describe what he is experiencing and as a command to those to whom he writes. What makes this more amazing is that he is writing this letter from a Roman prison. We’re talking about a place that makes the abuse of prisoners in Iraq pale by comparison. Dark, dank, dismal and deadly, Roman prisons were usually the last stop before death. Yet through all of this Paul saw the light of Christ being sent to the world. He saw the freshness of the Holy Spirit blowing into lives across Asia Minor and Southern Europe. He experiences a sense of hope that no matter what situations he faced Christ would continue to be preached. And instead of a deadly last stop Paul knew that Jesus was the life-given and that the life He gave could not be taken away by Rome or anyone else. That is JOY.
But it wasn’t enough that Paul experienced this joy. He commanded it for those in Philippi as well. “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say, Rejoice!” he writes in chapter 4 of this letter. He is certain that no matter what situation they face that these Christ followers can also have the same sense of joy Paul has. Jesus tried to get his disciples to understand this same thing. John records a long discussion between Jesus and the disciples the night when Jesus was arrested. In chapters 13 through 17 at least seven times Jesus uses the word joy. Jesus tells them and us that obedience allows Christ’s joy to live in us and that make us complete. The certainty that Jesus rose from the dead makes grief turn to Joy Jesus tells us in John 16. Even our prayer life is completes our joy as we ask for that which is in line with the will of God and our Lord. And as Jesus prays for us in chapter 17 He asks the Father that His joy might dwell in us.
The “Joy of the Lord” is Joy that comes from the Lord, not only joy because of the Lord. It is joy that is fueled by being in the right relationship with God through Jesus. It comes because we are living the life Christ intends us to live not going off on our own. Let me add that most of the time when someone is living a life that is joyless it’s because they are no living in obedience to Jesus. What I mean by that is they are living lives that are centered on themselves, their wants, their needs and their wishes. They aren’t acting with love toward others. And all of this gives way to doing all the little sins [lying, cheating, stealing, gossiping, hating, etc.] that we think are big things.
Paul’s joy in prayer is because these Christ-followers in Philippi shared with Paul the task of sharing Jesus to the world. This was Paul’s first church in Europe. It was the first mostly non-Jewish group that Paul served. There’s no record of a synagogue in the city and had there been one Paul probably would have preached there first as he did elsewhere. It is there that Paul and Silas end up whipped and put in prison for doing an exorcism. These people had seen first-hand how Paul acted in tough situations because it is while in prison they were singing hymns to God.
The Philippians, when they heard of Paul’s situation they sent one of their own, Epaphroditus to serve him. He was going to be sent back along with Timothy so that the church would really know just how much Paul appreciated what they had done for him.
Paul describes the support of these fellow Christ followers as “good work” and it doesn’t stop with a one time sending of Epaphroditus to a prison in Rome. Jesus is going to continue to bring it to completion, to finish what He had divinely started. Buts beyond giving gifts to Paul and being a part of the spreading of God’s love to the world around them, this good work also transformed them as well.
How does Joy transform us? We see it in Paul’s prayer for the church. To be joyful is to have one’s love overflow. Now there is a bit of an issue here whether Paul is praying for two things or one thing. The Greek can actually be translated either way. New Living Translation has Paul asking God that their love for each other would overflow AND that they would keep on growing in knowledge and understanding v.9. I tend to hold with this view but that doesn’t mean that they are unrelated. Listen how Eugene Peterson in The Message paraphrases it.
“So this is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much but well. Learn to love appropriately. You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush. Live a lover’s life, circumspect and exemplary, a life Jesus will be proud of…”
You gain joy when you participate in loving others. We’re not talking about a vague, open-ended, no restriction on it type of love. This isn’t the 1960’s “Free Love” here. It is love that is mature. It is love that comes from Jesus. It is love that is full of practical knowledge. And it is love that is limited by the ability to see what is morally right and proper.
Let me tie this passage into the pledges that you’ve brought today. The Philippians were involved on the cutting edge of evangelism with Paul. By their gifts and prayers they were continually being used by God so that the name of Jesus and the Love of God could continue to transform lives. In the same way our pledges continue this work in the 21st century. Kenton’s mission statement begins by saying, “We invite our neighbors…” We do care about those overseas and across the nation who don’t know Jesus. Our budget reflects that in many of the missions we pledge our church too support.
The call to invite our neighbors is a call to be involved in their lives. It is a call to live out joyful lives in non-fun situations so that as our neighbors watch they begin to wonder how we can live with such joy and hope then when the start asking questions, making comments or doubting our sanity we can point them toward Jesus who waits behind the worse situations with His transforming and “make new” power.
To accomplish this takes our pledges and our decision to live out the love of Christ in our world. That’s why we’re not only asking you to make a financial pledge to the work of Kenton but to pledge yourself to the work of Christ in this community. The list on the back of your pledge cards are but a starting place. But they are all places in which you can and will confront your neighbors with the truth that you are living for something bigger than an ideal that you are living for Jesus, joyfully, hopefully and eternally. Amen.
