Skip to main content

How Much Am I in Possession of Gospel Joy?


Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.
Philippians 1:25-26

Andrew Murray in his book Divine Healing shares the following story. A saintly woman suffering for months in painful illness said to him: "I have such a lovely robin that sings outside my window. In the early morning, as I lie here, he serenades me." Then, as a smile brightened her thin features, she added, "I love him, because he sings in the rain." That is the most beautiful thing about the robin. When the storm has silenced almost every other songbird, the robin sings on - sings in the rain. That is the way the Christian who is with Christ may do. Anybody can sing in the sunshine; you and I should sing on when clouds pour out their rains, for Christ is with us. We should sing in the rain.

As I began the devotion yesterday I had told that Paul is convinced that it is more necessary for the Philippians that he remain rather than, he be with the Lord and shares three reasons that determine his purpose for remaining: we dealt with the first one yesterday i.e 1) the Philippians progress in the faith, 2) Today we deal with the second their joy in the faith, and tomorrow with the final one 3) their opportunity to glory in God through Paul.

Paul says that they are to grow in enjoyment of Christ, His ways, His plans, and His character. Paul’s remaining is a joy to them. If anything, this is to reinforce the fact that Paul is not making a choice between ‘bad and worse,’ but between ‘good and better’ – in this case joy for others vs. personal fullness of joy. In other letters, like 1 Corinthians, Paul assures the brethren of his coming for the purpose of his corrective judgment. This is not the case with the Philippians. Paul is coming to bring joy to them, assuring them of his love for them. More so, however, this joy is an inescapable link to the third point – the Philippians glorying in God.

Paul wants the Philippians to be the people who have discovered the secret that real joy comes from Christ and no other joy is real joy except joy that is experienced in saving relationship with Jesus Christ. It’s a gospel joy and it requires the incarnation, crucifixion and the Holy Spirit’s work of new birth in us.

In other words, this joy is not generic joy. It's not joy in job, it's not joy in wife, it's not joy in children, it's not joy in money, it's not joy even in watching the beauty of the sunset. It's joy in Christ. It's gospel joy. It's joy that required God to come in the flesh into this world. It required the Son of God to die on the cross and be dead and buried, and to be raised again from the dead for you. It requires the Holy Spirit to renew your heart so that you are born again in order to experience this joy. And the Apostle Paul says, ‘It is worth it to me. It is worth it to me, Philippians…it is worth it to me,

Now this is a radical and dangerous joy that Paul is talking about. Paul says that the goal of his coming to their church was to make them happy. His definition and understanding of happiness is different from what we have. His understanding is very dangerous. He wants the Philippians to be so happy in Jesus that they’re ready to die for Jesus. In other words Paul wants Philippians to be so happy in Jesus that they are ready to say, “I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold.”

Dear Friends, this joy is not self-manufactured, and not dependent on our circumstances. Even Job, after virtually "losing everything" expressed his "joy in unrelenting pain" (Job 6:10). Christian joy is such a joy. It is not simply the joy of eating a sumptuous meal, or the joy of watching a sunset, or the joy of a spouse, children or grandchildren. It is a joy that comes from God through the gospel. It is a joy that the world can never take away. Are we in possession of such a joy?

God Bless you.
Labels:
Location: Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Do I Consider Suffering As a Blessing and Delight?

For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have. Philippians 1:29-30 I am sure you all have come across the roly-poly toys. You may not recognize it with this name but I am sure you know these toys. These toys had it a face painted on it. And no matter what you do to that doll, it always comes up, upright, because it's weighted. So you can punch it. It'll fall down but it comes right back up. You can kick it. It'll fall down, come right back up. You can do it repeatedly. It keeps coming back up. I picture Paul like that. Lock him up in prison and he'll say, "I'll preach to the guards". He comes back up. Get him out of prison and he'll say, "I'll go visit the Philippian church and encourage them". He comes back up. When they are ready to kill him he'll say, "OK, k...
Post a Comment
Read more

Am I Giving Back What Is Precious to Christ's Heart?

So if there is any encouragement in Christ , any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy Philippians 2:1 “Flatter me, and I may not believe you. Criticize me, and I may not like you. Ignore me, and I may not forgive you. Encourage me, and I will not forget you.” William Arthur Ward (an often quoted writer of inspirational maxims) Back in verse 27, the Apostle Paul has made this point: that we are to live a life that fits the gospel. That's what he means when he says that he is urging us to conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, and the whole center section of this book is about that. Paul in Philippians 2:1-4 gives us four motives for spiritual unity, he gives us one exhortation, and then he gives us three specific aims (or ends, or purposes) to shoot for as we seek to follow out the exhortation. We deal with the first of the four motives today.  The first one is encouragement in Christ. The word “...
Post a Comment
Read more

Am I Ready for the Dangerous Joy?

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Philippians 2:1-4 CS Lewis’ autobiography is called “Surprised by Joy”. Before he was a Christian he was always trying to find joy in other things and before he became a Christian he binged on things that gave him joy. The first time he read an Icelandic saga he loved it. He reads every Icelandic saga, and learns old Norse so he can read it in the original. As he works through it he realizes it isn’t paying out as he’d hoped. Then he gets a friend and binge on the friend but then the friend backs off. At one point he starts to realize that there’s a God...
Post a Comment
Read more