“Pouring Out From Abundance:Surpised by Joy. What is Joy?”
Sermon Title: Pouring Out From Abundance: Suprised by Joy. What is Joy?
Scripture: Philippians 4:4-9 NIV
Introduction
The accounts recorded in Act 16 gives us some of the background of how the Philippians church was founded. Paul’s encounter with Lydia the purple cloth vendor (Acts. 16:12-15). It was here that Paul and Silas were imprisoned for setting a slave girl free from demonic possession, taking away her ability to tell fortunes and her owners from making a profit off her plight. Paul and Silas did not grumble or complain but offered up praises and the Lord responded to them with a mighty earthquake that shook the foundations of the prison, and all the doors flew open and all chain came loose miraculously (Acts 16:26). The life of their jailer was spared, and the jailer and his household experienced the joy of salvation (Acts 16:32-34). We witness Paul’s boldness to proclaim the gospel at every turn and corner regardless of his circumstances. We know full well that this boldness has been a difficult and dangerous journey that has placed him in mortal danger many times (2 Cor. 11:23-29). He has never allowed his circumstances to be an excuse to stop proclaiming the gospel, be it prison, illness, or threat of death. Even though Paul has experienced all this, more than most people, he says, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” (Phil. 4:4) How many of us in, Paul’s shoes, would be able to say the same?
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
· Paul’s pedigree was most impressive (Phil. 3:4-6) and as a Pharisee, perfect, but his life was characterized by pain and suffering after he met Jesus on the road to Damascus and now, he is bound in change in a dark prison, so how is he able to write instructing people to rejoice? Paul knew that his joy was not dependant on his circumstances. He joy was dependant in the presence of the Lord, and he tells us that he can rejoice because, “The Lord is near.” (Phil. 4:5b)
· We rejoice on the evidence of Jesus Christ knowing that he is near to us at all times. In the midst of pain, suffering, persecution, or death, we can rejoice Jesus Christ is always near us and that is our source of confidence. Rejoicing is the Lord is evidential and not circumstantial nor emotional.
· The Greek word for “rejoice” is “χαίρω (chairo)” which means to delight in God’s grace, to experience God’s grace (favour), be conscious (glad) for His grace. Rejoicing transcends and is deeper than emotions like happiness, which is fleeting and temporary. Rejoicing is knowing and experiencing God’s favour, His grace. This is why we can rejoice even in the midst of Pain, suffering, and sorrow, which are all fleeting and temporary in this life when compared to eternity in God’s kingdom.
· God has reminded His people from times past to “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you (Deut. 31:6).” We rest assured in the evidence of Christ who has promised that he will never abandon us and that he is always near (Matt. 28:19-20).
Features of Rejoicing
· “Let your gentleness be evident to all (Phil. 4:5a).” Described as “meekness”, meekness is a state of strength not weakness. For the believer, meekness begins with the Lord's inspiration and finishes by His direction and empowerment. It is a divinely balanced virtue that can only operate through faith
· “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God (Phil. 4:6).” Rejoicing is securely rooted in thanksgiving and bears the divine fruit of the “peace of God which transcends all understanding (Phil. 4:7).” Rejoicing produces the fruit of peace.
· Rejoicing requires prayer and petition and may not come naturally at first. After all, Paul too was compelled to praise and pray in the most difficult times, but through these, Paul learned spiritual discipline and immersed himself in God’s presence in powerful ways.
· “Do not be anxious about anything… (Phil. 4:6a).” Rejoicing calls us out of anxiety; it commands us to not be anxious. The Lord is near. He is above all crisis and leaves nothing to chance.
What is joy, if not an emotion and is above circumstance? Joy is a Person.
C.S. Lewis, author of the Narnia series and other titles, prof. of literature at Oxford, theologian, apologist, wrote an autobiography, Surprised by Joy. It describes how he had tasted true joy at a young age and journeyed in search of joy – he knew it was independent of emotions (like happiness, pleasure, and circumstances, however, his life experiences and his own observations led him down a path away from God. He experienced everything a man could experience under the sun on this side of eternity and found nothing but vanity. As a soldier in the army, he saw the worst of humanity. And he finds himself living in contradiction.
“I was at this time living, like so many Atheists or Antitheists, in a whirl of contradictions. I maintained that God did not exist. I was also very angry with God for not existing. I was equally angry with Him for creating a world.” – Lewis, 95.
Among his observations is that humans turn to pleasure (such as sex) as a substitute for joy, but joy is not a substitute for pleasure. Pleasure can never satisfy the soul’s desire for true joy. He meets friends later, one of the J.R.R. Tolkien, who encourages him to search with a renewed Christian perspective and he begins to see that his search for joy points him closer to God.
“I saw that Joy, as I now understood it, would fit in. We mortals, seen as the sciences see us and as we commonly see one another, are mere “appearances.” But appearances of the Absolute. In so far as we really are at all (which isn’t saying much) we have, so to speak, a root in the Absolute, which is the utter reality. And that is why we experience Joy:” – Lewis, 177.
And as he contemplates this Spirit, this God, and examines himself with a “serious practical purpose,” he is appalled by what he sees in himself. He sees that his character, nature, and disposition is a mishmash, “a zoo of lusts, a bedlam of ambitions, a nursery of rears, a hareem of fondled hatreds.” He described himself as legion (Mark 5:9). In 1929, Lewis describes how he admitted that God was God and he became the most dejected and reluctant convert in all of England. His discovery of joy was this:
“It may be asked whether my terror was at all relieved by the thought that I was now approaching the source from which those arrows of Joy had been shot at me ever since childhood. Not in the least. No slightest hint was vouchsafed me that there ever had been or ever would be any connection between God and Joy. If anything, it was the reverse. I had hoped that the heart of reality might be of such a kind that we can best symbolise it was a place; instead I found it to be a Person.” – Lewis, 184.
· Joy is a person and that Person is Jesus Christ; and this person resides within us in the form of the Holy Spirit.
· And in light of this discovery, we see that His nearness is not sitting or standing as close to us as possible in the here and now, but that His nearness is that He lives within us in the ever present. This is Joy. This is Pure Joy. He is Joy.
· It is when He lives in us, we can “delight in God’s grace,” and “experience God's grace,” in all circumstances.
· Joy is NOT the absence of pain, suffering, fear, and anxiety. Joy is not a call to be emotionless and stoic. It is a recognition that these emotions are temporary and fleeting. Joy is about not being swayed or manipulated by temporary things. Joy is the firm foundation that is built on Jesus Christ which allows us to live abundantly and exuberantly despite our circumstances. Joy is about living without despair, dejection, or depression, but with faith, hope, and love.
· “For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved (Rom. 10:9).” This joy will bring you peace beyond all understanding. This joy is available to all who put their faith in Jesus Christ and believe in your heart that Jesus is the Son of God, who is God Himself. He is here. He is near. He will be with you for all eternity if you receive Him.
Reflection and Response
· Are you experiencing true joy in your life? Are you living the abundant life despite your circumstances? Why or why not?
· Has your perspective on joy been challenged today? Has your view of joy changed from “what” to “who” and ultimately, to Christ?
· Do you live in awareness of Jesus’s presence being “near” in your life?