Joy
We step into a new year and a new semester. I have a hope for you! What I hope for you is Joy! Audacious joy.
Joy is the surprise that keeps your life laughing.
Joy is the recognition that the victory is already won – even while struggling.
Joy is the light that overcomes the darkness.
The mark of a Christian is their joy. Joy anticipates God’s love because joy finds its home in God. It is the experience of going home like the prodigal son. While having previously lived in the slop in the far country, the Father runs out with arms open and says, “You are home!” There is no better letter to help us explore a life of practical joy than Paul’s letter to the Philippians.
Context
Philippians is the 50th book of the Bible and the 11th book in the New Testament. There are four chapters, 104 verses, and 2,002 words.
It was written around 62 A.D. by the Apostle Paul. Paul used to be Saul – a Pharisee and hater of all things Christian. But Jesus revealed himself to Saul on the Damascus road and this hater of Christ got converted – and he became Paul – arguably one of the most influential followers of Christ ever. Paul became a Christian leader. He became a theologian, a pastor, a missionary for the Kingdom of God. Paul would go from town to town evangelizing and telling people – the gentiles – about the love of God, the saving grace of Jesus Christ. With those who were converted, he would start churches. On his 2nd missionary journey, God led him to his work in Philippi. The church at Philippi was the first congregation Paul established on the continent of Europe. The first converts on the continent of Europe were Lydia and her household. Philippi was in what is today Northern Greece – an affluent and prosperous city – by the standards of the day.
Philippians is one of four epistles (or letters) that Paul wrote from a Roman prison. It is one of the most unusual letters Paul wrote. Instead of writing to correct doctrinal matters, he writes a “thank you” letter to the church at Philippi that has been generous in supporting him over the years.
Paul planted this church and then left, but they stayed connected. But his heart – and their heart – were always together. He knew them and they knew him. There is something that happens to people when you start something together. You get attached. But it’s more than that… When you share something in Christ, you find yourself experiencing something deeply human – true joy! That is what Philippians invites us to consider! True joy!
Philippians 1:1-11
Listen to the Book we love, the bush that burns and is never consumed:
“Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,
To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I thank my God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now. I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because you hold me in your heart, for all of you share in God’s grace with me, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you to determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.”
Letter of Joy
What do we notice about Paul’s epistle? The first thing to notice is always the most obvious. This is a letter. It is a personal letter written by a friend to friends. It has the standard introduction and greeting – the salutation. “Paul and Timothy, servants of Jesus Christ, To all God’s saints who are in Philippi, along with the bishops and the deacons… Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!”
Philippians is one of four prison letters of Paul, and 10th of Paul’s 13 books. Knowing the genre of a biblical book is important. It helps you know how to read it. There are lots of genres in the Bible – history, poetry, apocalyptic, gospels, letters.
A Lot of the New Testament is made up of letters. There are 21 letters (or epistles) in the New Testament. Letters are personal, written for a particular recipient – an individual or community. With a letter we overhear a conversation.
Last summer I went through some bins and found old letters. I had fun reading them. I had been hanging on to them for years… but it was time… time to let them go. They were old letters from my parents, grandparents, some while I was in college. Old love letters of flames long since distinguished. These letters had a message that was dated. But some letters live on! For example, whenever we are invited to open personal letters that have become scripture, we become part of the community of their intended recipients – a spiritual partnership that transcends time and circumstance.
Paul writes a personal letter because he misses his friends and he wants them to know he misses them. It’s been 10 years. He writes to thank them for their prayers, support, and love. You can hear it when he writes, “The Lord is my witness, how I long for each of you with the compassion of Jesus Christ!” This is a letter to friends.
A second thing that I notice is the tone. Philippians is a letter marked by joy. Did you know that the word “joy” and “rejoice” occur more than 16 times in Philippians? This is a letter that reminds us that a fundamental quality of the Christian life is joy. Audacious joy.
I think we need this joy. Joyfulness gives off a health-imparting fragrance that enlivens others. Our cultural moment is so angry and virulent. It’s seeping into our Christian witness. Christians are being known more for what we are against than what we are for. We are gaining a well-deserved reputation for being angry, mean-spirited, and isolationist. But God calls us into the world – even as we are called not to be of the world – to love God and to love one’s neighbor sacrificially.
In this, Christians are called to be what Jim Houston calls “Joyful Exiles!”
“Joy is a new way of being, of self-sacrifice, of lifting our eyes toward the eternal, of looking beyond the things of this world, of accepting our light afflictions joyfully for his sake. It is fulfilling the prayer of Jesus that we abide in the Father and the Son through the Spirit, “so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete,” (John 15:11).
“Lifting our eyes toward the eternal!” Looking beyond this world. The secret to joy is to look beyond your circumstances and see what you have already been given in Christ. That’s what I love about Paul’s joy. He looks beyond his circumstances and sees the transcendent reality of God who has given him three things that are critical for joy. The secret to Christian joy is to know who you are, who you belong to, and what you were made for – or your identity, belonging , and purpose.
The Joy of Identity in Christ
Christian joy begins with identity! Real, life-flourishing joy begins with identity. It begins with you. What’s that Dr. Suess line? “Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than you!” I love this. “There is no one alive who is Youer than you!” You are you and no one else!
But who are you? What defines you? What are you about? The biggest thing you can figure out in college – the most important question you have to answer – is the question of identity. The real question is “Who are you?” What is my real self? Is your identity your citizenship? Is it your major or what you’re worth? Is it your gender, or race, or sexuality? What makes you your truest you?
The Christian life is all about answering this fundamental question. I would go so far as to say that the Christian life is primarily about answering the question of identity. What defines you?
Paul answers this question in the opening lines. “To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi…”
Their identity is in Christ. The most common description in the scriptures of a follower of Jesus is that they are a person “in Christ.” The expressions “in Christ,” “in the Lord,” and “in him” occur 164 times in the letters of Paul alone and are indispensable to an understanding of the New Testament. To be “in Christ” does not mean to be inside Christ, as tools are in a box or our clothes in a closet, but to be organically united to Christ in a mystical union through the Holy Spirit. It is as a limb is in the body or a branch is in the tree. It is this personal relationship with Christ that is the distinctive mark of his authentic followers.
To be a Christian is to be one whose identity is “in Christ!” This is a gift given by God. The Holy Spirit gives us this gift when we come to put our full trust in God’s saving grace – for his forgiveness of sin and his Lordship. “To all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become Children of God!” (John 1:12). Being a Christian starts with giving ourselves over to God in faith – trusting that God is a God who wants the best for us and for us to flourish. Being “in Christ” separates us out. As Christians we are never more our true selves than when we are most “in” Christ Jesus.
Identity precedes activity. If you know who you are, then you know what to do! Let me say that again. If you know who you are, then you know what to do!
Joy begins when we abide in Jesus. In Jesus we discover our true humanity for Jesus is the true human who takes our fallen humanity and makes it whole again – restores it again. In Jesus, our identity is reclaimed. That, as the old Catechism says, is “our only comfort in life and in death – that I am not my own, but belong body and soul, in life and in death to my faithful savior Jesus Christ.”
Here is what I believe. God wants to give you a new identity in Christ. This identity is the key to unlock joy in your life. It means that your identity is more than your demographic or major. It’s bigger than your gender, race, or sexuality. All of these factors shape you, but they are not the sum of who you are. Christ is the sum-total of a new humanity. To be in Christ is what allows us to experience a new identity for a new epoch of mission. That is what the old-timers mean by being “born again!”
Identity in Christ is the heartbeat of Christian joy! To be in Christ is to be a joy-filled saint!
The Joy of Belonging in Christ
Identity is critical. But that’s not enough. We are also creatures who need to belong! Feeling like we belong is tough. It’s easy to feel left out or alone in a crowd so we associate with teams, or colleges, or groups of various kinds to find belonging. Too often circumstances dictate our feelings. It’s made worse by technology and our social media. Do you know that the more you are on Facebook the more depressed you feel? Why? The constant comparison. I’ll give you an example: I was online and there were pictures of some friends of ours who went sledding. Two families. The pictures were great. Smiling. Having a good time. I felt hurt. Sad. Left out. Why? Our family wasn’t invited. Did we do something wrong? Do they not like us? It made me feel excluded. I was looking at what I didn’t have versus what I have!
I can acknowledge my feelings and can realize I am connected to my friends. I belong to them in Christ – even if I am not with them! This is also what I hope you learn while you are at Hope. I hope you learn that you belong, that you have a people, and that these people are everywhere: here – in Haiti – in Africa – in Japan – in Russia – in Iran… You belong to a global movement called the Church!
Listen again carefully. “To all saints in Christ Jesus that are in Philippi.” Notice that the word “saint” is in the plural. What does this mean? I love the description by Sam Wells where he talks about the difference between heroes and saints. He writes in his book Improvisation:
“Of those 64 references to saints in the New Testament, every one is in the plural. Saints are never alone. They assume, demand, require community – a special kind of community, the communion of saints. Heroes have learned to depend on themselves; saints learn to depend on God and on the community of faith. The church is God’s new language, and it speaks not of a country fit for heroes to live in but of a commonwealth of saints! (Wells 44).
Saints – people in Christ – have learned to depend on God and on the community of faith. We see this in the Philippi! Paul’s joy is rooted in a gratitude for the church that he has learned to depend upon. He belongs to them and they belong to him.
In verse 7, Paul writes, “It is right that I think this way about you, because you hold me in your heart, for all of you share in God’s grace with me, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel!”
Joy is truly a socially divine reality. It must be shared; its dictum is “rejoice with me.”
You belong in Christ to the body of Christ. It’s why we want to encourage all of you to find a church. We want you to be connected to a church body – a church where Christ is proclaimed and where you can learn to depend on others. We have to learn to see ourselves connected to each other in the body of Christ, because we are!
The Joy of a Purpose in Christ!
The secret to Paul’s joy is identity – belonging with a purpose. We discover this purpose in the prayer he offers for his friends in Philippi.
“And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.”
I love this prayer. “My prayer is that your love will grow more and more with knowledge and full insight…”
What if your purpose in this world is not your job? What if the purpose that will give your life a generative joy is about how you love? What if your purpose is to be a lover of God and your neighbor? It might change everything!
The more we can know God, the more we can love God. Use these pivotal years to continue to grow in knowledge and full insight! This takes work. Love is not a feeling. It is formed by intentional habits. This is what we have been talking about in Chapel this past week. Discipleship requires going to the gym – working out the muscles of faith – so that our love can grow strong! How do we do this? Worship! Yes. Study! Join a Bible Study. Join an Affinity Group. Get involved. The time is now for “love to overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight!”
Pursue knowledge of God. Our true pleasure lies in what gives God pleasure. The more we know God and understand what God loves and pursue this, the more we will experience the pleasure of the Lord in our daily life. To grow love will lead you to a life that will be able to discern what is best – a life that is pure and blameless and that will produce an abundant harvest of goodness! Such a life will be a praise and glory of God.
Do you want joy? Do you want to experience the harvest of God’s faithfulness in your life? Then you have to find your identity in Christ. You have to make a decision – a commitment – to come to Jesus. You’ve got to go to the gym. You’ve got to sign on the dotted line. You’ve got to get off the fence. You have to say, “Lord, I am yours.” And if you do, God will say, “I have you… now and forever.” You are my child. “For all who received him, who believed in his name he gave power to become children of God, born not of the flesh, or the will of man, or of blood, but of God!”
If you want joy, then come to this table tonight – the table of joy – for God is here – for here we commune. Here we find our identity, belonging, and purpose.
Originally preached at a Hope College Gathering on January 14, 2018.