Sermon Tone Analysis

Scripture Introduction:

The apostle Paul is writing this letter to the Philippians while imprisoned.

Now when we think of Paul’s imprisonment we shouldn’t think of it as him being a cell block with iron bars and locked doors.

He is likely in “rented quarters in Rome…chained to a guard at all times.”

It would be a little closer to house arrest in our day and age, but rather than an ankle bracelet you’d have a Roman guard stuck to you.

Paul could still receive guests but this would not have been a pleasant experience by any means.

Not to mention that this isn’t a new development, this has been going on for about two years while he is waiting a court date.

Dennis Johnson summarizes the situation well:

Now at last he was awaiting the emperor’s decision on his appeal, chained to a succession of Roman soldiers and confined to a rented residence.

It had been years since he had proclaimed the good news in synagogues and marketplaces.

Moreover, some Christians in Rome were capitalizing on Paul’s restricted mobility to try to surpass him in soul-winning success, hoping to make Paul’s chains chafe ().

They saw themselves as Paul’s rivals, so they imagined that their success would compound his frustration.

Now at last he was awaiting the emperor’s decision on his appeal, chained to a succession of Roman soldiers and confined to a rented residence.

It had been years since he had proclaimed the good news in synagogues and marketplaces.

Moreover, some Christians in Rome were capitalizing on Paul’s restricted mobility to try to surpass him in soul-winning success, hoping to make Paul’s chains chafe ().

They saw themselves as Paul’s rivals, so they imagined that their success would compound his frustration.

Paul was “imprisoned,” but not in a cell block with iron bars and locked doors.

The Greek word that the ESV translates “imprisonment” is actually “chains” (so NIV), and we should picture Paul in the situation described in the last chapter of Acts, as he awaited the disposition of his appeal to the emperor.

In Philippi Paul had been incarcerated behind locked gates (), but as he composed this letter he occupied rented quarters in Rome, probably near the Castra Praetoria, the barracks of the Praetorian guards on the eastern edge of the city.

One or another of those guards was chained to Paul at all times, depriving him of privacy and freedom of movement; but he was free to receive guests (28:16, 30–31).

Paul was a man of action, with a restless drive to take Christ’s gospel to folks who had never heard the message of salvation ().

By this point he had previously spent over two years in custody in Judea, waiting for his “case” to be resolved by provincial officials there.

Then he endured a long and harrowing sea voyage across the Mediterranean.

Now at last he was awaiting the emperor’s decision on his appeal, chained to a succession of Roman soldiers and confined to a rented residence.

It had been years since he had proclaimed the good news in synagogues and marketplaces.

Moreover, some Christians in Rome were capitalizing on Paul’s restricted mobility to try to surpass him in soul-winning success, hoping to make Paul’s chains chafe ().

They saw themselves as Paul’s rivals, so they imagined that their success would compound his frustration.

Now at last he was awaiting the emperor’s decision on his appeal, chained to a succession of Roman soldiers and confined to a rented residence.

It had been years since he had proclaimed the good news in synagogues and marketplaces.

Moreover, some Christians in Rome were capitalizing on Paul’s restricted mobility to try to surpass him in soul-winning success, hoping to make Paul’s chains chafe ().

They saw themselves as Paul’s rivals, so they imagined that their success would compound his frustration.

So I want you to picture all of this frustration.

Paul’s circumstances are absolutely terrible.

Things aren’t “coming up Paul”.

Paul is far from living the American dream.

He has an opportunity now to “vent” and to do so with dear friends.

The church at Philippi loves Paul.

They are concerned about Paul.

They want to hear from him.

What would your letter sound like in such a situation?

How would you start?

Read Text:

Does that sound like your letter?

The whole thing is filled with joy.

In the verses we read this morning you would hardly even know that the guy is on lock down.

He doesn’t mention it for a few verses and even when he does it’s more about how God had given him an opportunity than about how terrible his circumstances are.

There isn’t a drop of self-pity in Paul’s letter to the Philippians.

It overflows with joy.

Ultimately the purpose for Paul in writing this letter is to encourage them—specifically to encourage them to continue in their advancement of the gospel.

But it’s known as the letter of joy because of how often Paul speaks of joy and has a joyous tone.

I don’t know about you but I want to have this type of joy.

The sermon title isn’t a typo.

I know that grammatically it’d likely make more sense to say “How to Always Have Joy” but I think I worded it this way because the point I’m trying to make in this sermon is that Christian joy is something that is beyond circumstances and it’s often in spite of circumstances.

I want us to have the “always” type of joy.

And that is what I want us to look at this morning.

But before we do that I supposed it’d be helpful for us to try to get on the same page as far as a definition of joy.

I struggled a bit with how to define this.

I want to say that joy isn’t an emotion but a settled disposition—that it’s a choice.

I wanted to talk about how joy and happiness are different.

But honestly, that’s not really the way the Bible speaks about joy.

Joy is an emotion.

And the biblical writers often use things like joy/gladness/happiness/mirth interchangeably.

But joy is also not wavering like emotions.

You know joy when you see it.

You know the longing in your heart that you have for it.

But trying to pin it down is a bit elusive.

How do you define joy?

Webster’s: the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires.

Theopeida: a state of mind and an orientation of the heart.

It is a settled state of contentment, confidence and hope.

John Piper: Christian joy is a good feeling in the soul, produced by the Holy Spirit, as he causes us to see the beauty of Christ in the word and in the world.

Rick Warren: Joy is the settled assurance that God is in control of all the details of my life, the quiet confidence that ultimately everything is going to be alright, and the determined choice to praise God in every situation.”

Happiness rooted in Christ

How do I have real true joy?

The joy that doesn’t go away.

The joy that Christ is talking about in .

He has purchased joy for us.

So how do we live out what he has purchased?

Three things I see in this text that will help us in our fight to grab hold of this Always Joy that the apostle Paul seemed to have.

Theopedia describes it more convincingly as “a state of mind and an orientation of the heart.

It is a settled state of contentment, confidence and hope.”

When our joy is communal we will have joy beyond our circumstances

As a Baptist if I announce we are going to have a time of “fellowship” after the service what do you expect?

You likely expect there to at least be a little bit of fried chicken or potato salad, right?

But the biblical word for fellowship has a far richer meaning.

It’s actually a word found here in our text this morning.

In verse 5 you’ll notice the word “partnership” or “participation” or “fellowship” depending on your translation.

The Greek word here—and I’m not one to usually say what the Greek word is but I almost bet some of you have heard this term—the Greek word is koinonia.

It’s often translated fellowship.

But it’s bigger than that.

It’s a word which means “self-sacrificing conformity to a shared vision”.

Koinonia is “self-sacrificing conformity to a shared vision”

What that means is that we’re in this thing together.

You can see this with business partners.

Let’s say that you’ve invented the absolute best ice cream on the planet.

You have a goal of taking this ice cream to every single person.

If you are sold out to this vision then you sell all of your resources, you give all your time, all your energy, etc. to making this thing happen.

Now if you’ve got somebody who says they want to partner with you but they aren’t willing to give any time or any resources are they really partnering?

Of course not.

It’s the same way with biblical fellowship—or participation in the gospel.