The Reality Of Joy

The question that Paul seems to be trying to answer for most of this passage of scripture is, how Jewish do you have to be to be a Christian?

It was the question of whether or not Christians had to follow all of the Jewish regulations and guidelines was an ongoing debate throughout the New Testament, and whether grace trumped the law.

And so, Paul tells them how Jewish he is by laying out his pedigree in Philippians 3:5–6 I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault.

You can’t get much more Jewish than that/

But then he negates the value of that pedigree in Philippians 3:9–11 . . . I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!

And there is all kinds of stuff that I could preach on from those verses. But I’m not.

This is week seven of our study on the book of Philippians, and through those weeks, the preaching team has spoken on Paul’s thanksgiving, his joy that Christ was being preached, and how we are to live as citizens of heaven. We’ve looked at what it means to have the attitude of Christ and how we need to shine brightly for Christ.

This week I want to focus on Chapter 3, verse 1, where Paul tells the readers of this letter,

Philippians 3:1–11 Whatever happens, my dear brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. I never get tired of telling you these things, and I do it to safeguard your faith.

This theme of rejoicing in the Lord seems to run through the New Testament with verses such as Romans 5:3 We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance.

And Romans 12:12 Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying.

And Paul was not alone, Peter reminded the early Christians in 1 Peter 1:8 You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy.

And John wrote in 1 John 1:4 We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy.

Jesus’ brother Jude told the early church in Jude 24 Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault.

While Jesus’ other brother James wrote in James 1:2 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.

And maybe you’re thinking, sure, they could rejoice. They didn’t have the problems that I have.

But Paul was in Prison, and the Philippians knew his story. They knew what happened on his first visit to their city when he planted their church.

Paul, Luke and a colleague by the name of Silas have been travelling throughout the Roman Empire, starting new churches and introducing people to Christ. They started in Jerusalem and finally ended up in the town of Philippi.

One day as they were on their way to the synagogue, a demon-possessed girl started to follow them, shouting at the top of her voice, “These men are servants of the Most High God, and they have come to tell you how to be saved.”

Well, at first, the guys tried to ignore her.

I mean, really, there are probably better people to announce your ministry than a demon-possessed person.

Well, she continued to follow them and continued announcing them wherever they went. After a couple of days of hoping the girl would go away of her own accord, Paul decides to take things into his own hands, and he turns around and commands the demons to release the girl, which they do. I don’t know why he waited so long, but if I ever find out, I’ll let you know, OK?

Now the story should have ended there. The girl was no longer demon-possessed. The guys were no longer being bugged by a demon-possessed girl—definitely a win, win situation.