01 - The Joyful Letter 2008
The Joyful Letter 2008 • Sermon • Submitted
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Founded by Paul on his second missionary journey, this was the first church to be established by him in Europe (Acts 16). Philippi was a small city, founded by the father of Alexander the Great, King Philip of Macedonia, in 42 B.C.
Paul’s relationship with this church was always close. The Philippian’s helped him at least twice financially before the letter was written. On hearing that Paul was imprisoned, they sent Epaphroditus with another gift.
Philippians is a thank-you letter for that gift, and it is the most personal letter Paul wrote to a church. The letter to the Philippians was delivered by Ephaphroditus following an illness that almost took his life (2:27).
Among the problems Paul deals with are rivalries and personal ambition, the teaching of the Judaizers (3:1-3), perfectionism (3:12-14), and the influence of “greasy grace” teachers—those that taught you didn’t need to live a moral life since you were under grace (3:18-19).
Paul was imprisoned in Rome when this letter was written. (let’s have a look)
The letter may be broken down into five parts:
Greetings and expressions of gratitude Philippians 1:1-11
Paul’s Personal Circumstances: Phil 1:12-30
The Pattern of the Christian life, which is the humility of Jesus, 2:1-30
The Prize of the Christian life, which is the knowledge of Jesus, 3:1-21
The Peace of the Christian life, which is the presence of Christ, 4:1-23
A Quick History
The Philippian church was born following the Spirit of God forbidding Paul and Silas from preaching in Asia. (Acts 16:6)
Paul had a vision of a man begging him to come and help them in Macedonia (Acts 16: 9).
On arriving there, the following account is what took place:
“Putting out from the harbor at Troas, we made a straight run for Samothrace. The next day we tied up at New City and walked from there to Philippi, the main city in that part of Macedonia and, even more importantly, a Roman colony. We lingered there several days.
On the Sabbath, we left the city and went down along the river where we had heard there was to be a prayer meeting. We took our place with the women who had gathered there and talked with them. One woman, Lydia, was from Thyatira and a dealer in expensive textiles, known to be a God-fearing woman. As she listened with intensity to what was being said, the Master gave her a trusting heart—and she believed!
After she was baptized, along with everyone in her household, she said in a surge of hospitality, "If you're confident that I'm in this with you and believe in the Master truly, come home with me and be my guests." We hesitated, but she wouldn't take no for an answer.
One day, on our way to the place of prayer, a slave girl ran into us. She was a psychic and, with her fortunetelling, made a lot of money for the people who owned her. She started following Paul around, calling everyone's attention to us by yelling out, "These men are working for the Most High God. They're laying out the road of salvation for you!" She did this for a number of days until Paul, finally fed up with her, turned and commanded the spirit that possessed her, "Out! In the name of Jesus Christ, get out of her!" And it was gone, just like that.
When her owners saw that their lucrative little business was suddenly bankrupt, they went after Paul and Silas, roughed them up and dragged them into the market square. Then the police arrested them and pulled them into a court with the accusation, "These men are disturbing the peace—dangerous Jewish agitators subverting our Roman law and order." By this time the crowd had turned into a restless mob out for blood.
The judges went along with the mob, had Paul and Silas's clothes ripped off and ordered a public beating. After beating them black-and-blue, they threw them into jail, telling the jail keeper to put them under heavy guard so there would be no chance of escape. He did just that—threw them into the maximum security cell in the jail and clamped leg irons on them.
Along about midnight, Paul and Silas were at prayer and singing a robust hymn to God.
The other prisoners couldn't believe their ears. Then, without warning, a huge earthquake! The jailhouse tottered, every door flew open, all the prisoners were loose.
Startled from sleep, the jailer saw all the doors swinging loose on their hinges. Assuming that all the prisoners had escaped, he pulled out his sword and was about to do himself in, figuring he was as good as dead anyway, when Paul stopped him: "Don't do that! We're all still here! Nobody's run away!"
The jailer got a torch and ran inside. Badly shaken, he collapsed in front of Paul and Silas. He led them out of the jail and asked, "Sirs, what do I have to do to be saved, to really live?" They said, "Put your entire trust in the Master Jesus. Then you'll live as you were meant to live—and everyone in your house included!"
They went on to spell out in detail the story of the Master—the entire family got in on this part. They never did get to bed that night. The jailer made them feel at home, dressed their wounds, and then—he couldn't wait till morning!—was baptized, he and everyone in his family. There in his home, he had food set out for a festive meal. It was a night to remember: He and his entire family had put their trust in God; everyone in the house was in on the celebration.”—Acts 16
Power Points:
Two entire families—Lydia’s and the jailers—were brought to Christ in the move of the Spirit.
The Philippian church was birthed in the seedbed of these two family’s conversions.
Principle: Much of what God does begins as a small seed that flourishes. “The Kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed…”
Around 11 years later, as Paul writes to them from prison, he is awaiting the verdict of the imperial court. (2:20-24) He may soon be martyred.
Yet in light of these grim circumstances, the tenor of his letter is “I rejoice, now you rejoice.” (1:18)
Philippian’s message is one of supernatural rejoicing in the presence of super difficult circumstances. It is the letter of joy!
Paul begins by giving us the keys to this kind of joy in tough times.
He was thankful
“Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamations of thanks to God.”—vs. 3
No matter what he encountered, Paul had learned to fix his thoughts on the positive. Later in Philippians he advises,
And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.
He Prayed at all times
“Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamations of thanks to God. Each exclamation is a trigger to prayer. I find myself praying for you with a glad heart.”—v.4
Notice: He’s not just praying for himself, but for others. A great prayer life focuses on more that “we four and no more.”
Paul’s prayer life was so set in cement that nothing, not even prison, jarred it.
He chose joy
“In every prayer of mine I always make my entreaty and petition for you all with joy (delight).”—vs. 4
The joy that Paul experienced was not an emotion that overwhelmed him, but a choice of his will. He chose joy.
But that doesn’t matter. Whether their motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being preached either way, so I rejoice. And I will continue to rejoice.
David the Psalmist echoed the same sentiment:
This is the day the Lord has made.
We will rejoice and be glad in it.
The bottom line is that we have about as much joy as we choose to have.
He kept hope alive
And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.
Paul was confident that nothing hell or the world could throw at him would stop God’s work. He possessed a confident expectation of God’s victory in regard to the future.
Summary: The Apostle of joy maintained his joy by:
Thanksgiving, Prayer, Choosing joy, Hope
At the beginning of this study, let’s set our focus on practicing the same things!
Next time: “Called to a Renewed Mind”