Finding Joy

I read a line that truly resonated with me the other day.  “Our hearts are to echo the heartbeat of our joyous God.”  In other words, Joy is meant to be ours.  And it doesn’t matter what circumstances we face.  We can have joy in the midst of this pandemic.  We can have joy when we’re confined to our homes.  We can have joy when we’re separated from our loved ones.  We can have joy when we are being kept from traveling, or shopping or doing the things we normally love to do.  And the reason we can have joy in the midst of unforeseen circumstances is that joy is not contingent upon our circumstances.  Whereas happiness, our happiness is always circumstantial.

Maybe you’ve heard yourself say something like this over the last month: “I’ll be happy when this pandemic is over and we can get back to normal.” Or “I’ll be happy when I can go out to dinner again;” or “I’ll be happy when I can see my family again.”  I know I’ve said that last one a number of times:  “I can’t wait till this is over so I can hold little Hudson again.”  Happiness is circumstantial.  As such it’s unpredictable. Our happiness is always vulnerable because it’s tied to things going well for us, going right for us.  And when things don’t go right, you lose your happiness.  It’s like riding an emotional rollercoaster.  You can’t control your circumstances.  They control you.  And right now, if you’re dependent upon your circumstances working out for you, you’re probably not a happy camper.

But joy is not like that.  Joy is something richer, deeper and way less vulnerable.

Joy is the sense of well-being that comes from knowing Jesus.

Joy is rooted in God and the certainty of His love for you, and

Joy is a fruit of the Spirit that God puts in you the moment you trust in Jesus…

So that regardless of whatever circumstance that may be wreaking havoc in your life, YOU CAN HAVE JOY. You can be content knowing God is watching over you, that He is always for you and that He is always with you.

But sometimes joy seems so elusive, and if you’re like me, you’d probably like a little more joy in your life, a little more joy in your marriage, in your relationships, in these quiet moments when you are alone.  So that really begs the question:

Where do we find joy?  Well, as I’ve been mining these Nuggets of Truth for you over the last few weeks, most of them have come from the letter to the Philippians.  And if there was ever a letter written to help us find joy, it’s this one.  So beginning today, we going to walk through this book of joy.  And to begin with I want to invite you to open your Bible to Philippians 1:1-2, where in his introductory comments Paul reminds us of  where joy is found. Let me read these verses for us: Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. First of all Paul tells us that…

1. Joy is found in serving Jesus “Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus” Paul introduces himself and Timothy as servants of King Jesus.  And he wants us to know that they are no ordinary servants.  For the word he uses here is the word “bond slave.”  Now a bond slave by nature was one who willingly and gladly subjected himself to the will of his master and put his whole life at his disposal.  This then is a picture of Paul and Timothy’s absolute devotion to Jesus.  And it signified to these Philippian’s that they had one purpose in life: they lived to please their master.

What I love about this statement is that it tells us that Paul can’t begin to tell us how to find joy unless he first has a handle on joy.  And here he tells us that joy is found in serving Jesus.  The only thing he needs is Jesus, the only purpose he needs is serving others for the sake of Jesus.  He doesn’t need relationships, prestige, money, comforts, adventure or power.  He only needs Jesus.

And this should be so encouraging to us.  For as Paul writes this, he is under house arrest in Rome.  He’s quarantined. He’s far from home.  He’s cut off from family.  But he still has a connection with these believers in Philippi.  And as he writes to them, this one theme emerges: the joy of serving Jesus.

In chapter 2, Paul will reveal the heartbeat of a servant by revealing Jesus the model servant.

In chapter 3, Paul will share how letting go of everything helped him become a servant.

And in chapter 4, Paul will spell out how he finds peace, contentment and joy in knowing Jesus.  And hopefully by the time we process this letter ourselves, we’ll have such a different concept of servanthood, that God will literally have His way in us, so each one of us will willingly and gladly live to please Jesus – and find this joy in serving Him.

Our world will continue to tell you, that joy is found in having others serve you. But in this letter we will discover how joy is found in serving Jesus.  But that’s not the only key to where joy is found.  Here’s the next the one:

2. Joy is found in belonging to Jesus “to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi” This is a powerful designation.  He literally calls these believers, “all the holy ones in Christ Jesus.”  By definition, if God calls believers in Christ “holy ones” God has changed our identity.  He now sees us as His very own people.  We belong to Him in Christ.  And since we are now in Christ, He has set us apart by His Holy Spirit to fulfill His purposes.  So now when God looks at you, He sees someone who resembles Jesus.  This is why He saved you.

He didn’t send Jesus to save you, just to rescue you from judgment.  No, He saved you, so you can show the world what God is like.  You are a holy one.  You bear the image of Christ!  You are a new creation. The old you is gone, and the new has come!  You are no longer your own.  You were bought with a price.  You belong to God.  I’m reminded by this new reality that God often views us much higher than we view ourselves.  When He sees you, He sees Jesus.  He doesn’t see a sinner.  You see, some of you still struggle in seeing yourself this way.  And if I understand what Paul is saying here, is that you need to start seeing yourself as God sees you.  You are a saint in His eyes.  And when I say Saint, I’m not talking Mother Teresa, or Saint Francis, or Saint Patrick.  No! God’s Word is quite clear about this: anyone who has trusted in Jesus is no longer identified by God as a sinner, but as a Saint.  These are His Words.  This is the identity God has given you. You are a saint – a holy one in Christ.

Before believing in Jesus you were identified as a sinner.  You were a slave to sin.  Your lifestyle was characterized by living for yourself and rebelling against God’s ways.  But your identity changed the moment you put your trust in Jesus.  Why? Because at that moment God united your life with His.  You were united with Christ in his death, burial and resurrection.  Therefore, you are now in Christ!  As such, Jesus death on the cross broke the power of sin in your life.  You are no longer a slave to sin. You have a new master who redeemed you and His name is Jesus!

So you are no longer a sinner but a saint.  In Ephesians Paul described how God did this: And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of His glory. Ephesians 1:13-14

You are no longer a sinner, because God put His mark on you.  That mark is His Holy Spirit.  That’s why you are now one of God’s holy ones.  You are now His treasured possession.  What’s your most treasured possession?  Your house, your car, your wardrobe, your jewelry, that special collection?  You are worth far more than that to your heavenly Father.  When God looks at you now, He says to you, “You are mine.  You belong to me.”  God did this for you when you believed.  Jesus made you holy.  And now you are His forever.  This is where joy is found – in belonging to the one who redeemed you.  Joy is found in belonging to Jesus.  And finally,

3. Joy is found in life together with Jesus Paul writes:“to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi together with the overseers and deacons: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” I want you to take note of a brief phrase in the midst of this statement.  It’s the term “together with” This term implies close fellowship with others.  And is meant to draw our attention to a third major theme of this letter: our partnership together in the gospel.

By saying “together with the overseers and deacons,” what Paul does is put the saints and the leaders of the church all together on the same level, and he wants us to see this new dynamic that we share together, and that is this: We are all equals at the foot of the cross.  We are all equals in Christ!  We are all in this new community together! Paul will develop this theme throughout this letter by focusing on what we share in common: our partnership in the gospel (1:5), our fellowship in the Spirit (2:1) and our sharing in Christ’s sufferings (3:10)

You see, when God puts a church together, He has a unique plan in mind: He puts religious rule keepers together with open minded partiers.  He puts emotionally healthy families together with dysfunctional families.  He puts janitors together with rocket scientists.  He puts the broken together with the exceptional.  And then He fully expects US to ALL LIVE TOGETHER IN HARMONY because EACH ONE OF US belongs to Jesus.  That’s the beauty of God’s grace.  God takes something that we would never see in the world and transforms it into a beautiful community of grace and peace.

And when this assortment of misfits fit together in our new life with Jesus, there is joy.  For what God has designed in bringing us all together is something that is rarely found in the world – a safe place, an accepting place, a place to know and be known: a community of grace and peace.  Not long ago Larry Crabb conducted an informal survey, asking Christians if they had someone in their lives whose strength and wisdom encouraged them to make themselves fully known, the answer was uniform: “I’d give my right arm to have someone like that in my life.  There’s so much going on inside of me that I’d love to share, not to find answers necessarily but just so someone would know.  But I have no one like that.”

So let me ask you: Do you have someone like that? Do you have someone who you can share the joys and trials of life with?  Do you have someone who understands you, loves you and accepts you just as you are? Do you have people who will pray for you, be patient with you, encourage you, and lift you up when you fall?  That’s why God put us together – so we would become a community of grace and peace where you can be known – where you can be the person God created you to be.  That’s why we have Journey Groups.  So you can fit in and find fellowship, encouragement… and a grace and peace that the world just can’t offer.  And when you find community like that – there’s a joy that’s indescribable.

Right now, we are missing this unique community God wants us all to experience.  But this social isolation is only temporary.  For we can still encourage one another, we can still gather on zoom, and we can still pray for one another.  For we still have the fellowship of the Spirit and our union in Christ.  And because of that we have joy.

“Our hearts are to echo the heartbeat of our joyous God.”  So let’s not let our circumstances get us down or steal our joy.  For our God still watches over us, is still for us, and we will always be with us – and He has brought us together in Christ to belong to Him as family. And in that we can rejoice!

So let me ask you: Do you have this joy that’s not of this world and is not contingent on your circumstances?  It’s found in knowing Jesus.  It’s found in serving Jesus.  It’s found in belonging to Jesus.  Perhaps God has allowed this pandemic to break of from our addiction to seeking happiness from this world, so we might find our joy in Him. Let’s pray.