[0:00] So if you experience joy, I don't mean happiness.
[0:14] Happiness depends on what happens to you. That's where it gets its term. I'm happy because good things happen to me. And I'm not happy if good things don't happen to me.
[0:28] Joy is different. Joy is deeper. Joy is a delight, a gladness, even amid difficult circumstances.
[0:40] Joy is different. Joy is the word the Bible uses. The Bible does not use the word happy, although it gets translated in some of our translations as happy.
[0:51] Not joy, but the word blessed sometimes gets translated as happy. But I don't believe that's a good translation. Because when it talks about blessed, it uses the same kind of language.
[1:06] You know, blessed are those who mourn. That's not a happy situation. Blessed are those who mourn, for they should be comforted. So I don't think Jesus means what we mean by happy.
[1:18] Joy. So joy is different. I'm borrowing some words from a Ligonier email because I thought they captured something I wanted to say today.
[1:31] In a time of global upheaval, uncertainty stirs in people's hearts, and the world doesn't know where to turn for answers.
[1:44] But we do. The world appears to be changing as a result of the pandemic and recent civil unrest.
[1:56] But we know that the Lord never changes. And His instructions, His answer is the same. Trust His sovereignty.
[2:08] Rest in His shelter. Seek His wisdom. Abide in His Son. And rediscover joy in Christ amid all things.
[2:24] This is really the message of Philippians. All of those things. Trust His sovereignty. Rest in His shelter. Seek His wisdom. Abide in His Son. And over and over in this book, rediscover the joy in Christ amid whatever you're going through.
[2:44] Now, I'm not going to do a lot of information to you about how the church was founded. We could read back in Acts 16, and we may go there in future weeks. Paul established this church back in, we estimate it to be about 50 AD, which is about 20 years after Christ's crucifixion and resurrection.
[3:05] It's about 20 years later. Paul was converted in 33 AD, about three years after Christ's death. So 17 years into Paul's ministry, this is when he actually goes to Philippi in his second journey.
[3:17] Acts 16 describes that time. And there's some pretty well-known stories from Acts 16. Paul meets Lydia, but he was the first convert in the city of Philippi.
[3:29] He meets her outside the city by the river where there's a prayer meeting going on with other women, which is interesting because Paul usually went to the synagogues. But there was no synagogue in Philippi because there were so few Jews in Philippi.
[3:46] This is a Roman colony. And Jews at the time, around 50 AD, were not welcome around Romans. They were kicked, Nero kicked them out of Rome, and Philippi being kind of a mini-Rome, I'm sure they were kicked out of there too.
[4:01] There had to be at least 10 males to start a synagogue, and they didn't have that many. So this is more of a Gentile kind of region. So he meets Lydia. God opens her heart.
[4:12] She comes to Christ, remember? And then there's more added. And then remember, Paul is out preaching while he's staying with Lydia, and this demonized girl is following him, and for days following him.
[4:26] And finally he gets annoyed and says, I cast the spirit out, and it ruined the business of the people there, and they throw Paul in jail. And then we have the story of the earthquake in jail and the conversion of the jailer.
[4:43] And so we have a couple of significant events that happened there in Philippi. And so it gives us a little insight into the kind of church that was there. It was people, it had a lot of leading women like Lydia were in that church, and then it had people like the Philippian jailer.
[4:59] Possibly the girl that had been set free from the demon. We don't know about what happened to her, but this was more of a Gentile Roman kind of church.
[5:11] Not a typical church. So Paul is writing while he's in prison. He mentions his chains. He mentions his imprisonment. He mentions the imperial guard.
[5:22] He's going to mention Caesar's household. He's in Rome. 800 miles away from Philippi, he's writing to this congregation. So first let me answer the question, why the letter of Philippians?
[5:37] Why are we here? Well, you know, if you've been here a while, you know our pattern is to go back and forth between the Old Testament and the New Testament. So we've just been in the Old Testament with Ruth.
[5:49] Now we're going back to the New Testament. Before Ruth, we had been in the Gospel of Mark. Before Mark, we were in Exodus. Before Exodus, we were back in the New Testament with Ephesians.
[6:02] Before Ephesians, we were, now this is going back a ways, we were in Isaiah. Before Isaiah, Hebrews. And before Hebrews, Genesis.
[6:13] So we're going back 10 years. I don't know if all of you have been, not all of you have been here that long, but that's 10 years. And there's more before that. I'm just going that far. Just to, just to show, this is kind of what our, been our pattern.
[6:24] Go back and forth. Being Old and New Testament. That's something I've become more convinced of. So that I don't just stay in the literature that I'm the most comfortable with. And, and I don't just tell the stories that I want to tell.
[6:36] Right. But we kind of get more balanced with all of the word. The other thing I tried to do is, is to vary the kind of literature we look at too. So it's not all, some of it's narrative, some of it's epistles, some of it's prophet and poetry.
[6:50] We even did law when we went to Exodus. And, and then, of course, gospel. And now we're actually coming to a very different kind of literature in, in Philippians.
[7:01] It is considered epistle. So a letter, but it's a very unique kind of letter for Paul. So why Philippians specifically? We're living in uncertain times.
[7:14] We're living in a time of, of unrest. And we're all praying about that. We're all watching that. We're all thinking, how do I respond? We see things that are done.
[7:26] We're disturbed by those things. We're encouraged by other things. We need direction from the word of God. about hope, about peace, about joy, about wisdom.
[7:39] Philippians has the theme of joy in Christ. Joy in Christ amid trouble, amid trials, amid hardship, amid anxiety, in all situations.
[7:55] Paul talks about, I've learned the secret. Good and bad. I've learned to be content. And we have some of the great statements of Paul in this little book.
[8:07] For to me, to live is Christ. To die is gain. I can do all things through Christ who has strengthened me. Some of the great sayings that people quote come from this little book.
[8:23] And so, Philippians, I think is a good book for us right now. I've been, as we were ending Mark, I was praying and looking, okay, where did we go?
[8:34] We went to Ruth because we felt like Ruth answered some of the questions about the hard times we're going through as well. And now as we come back, it's kind of been praying and reading and looking.
[8:44] And there was different little books I was looking at New Testament doing. And Philippians just stuck out to me. Just stuck out. So I believe God's brought us here. We're not going to be here long.
[8:55] It's not going to be like Ephesians where we're here for two years. Well, I say that, right? That's the plan anyway.
[9:07] The Lord can change that. So, Philippians is different too.
[9:18] As I mentioned, Philippians is not like most of Paul's letters. So the second question I want to answer is how is Philippians different? The letter to the Philippians is quite unique from Paul's other letters.
[9:30] And let me just point out three ways here. One is the mood of the letter. His mood is, or his tone, is joyful. There's a personal gratefulness there.
[9:42] There's not a heaviness for Paul. There's not a strong concern. There's more of an affection.
[9:54] This is very personal. There's definitely a gratefulness that he has for this church who has more than any other church cared for him from the beginning of the gospel time until the end.
[10:08] He will even say that in chapter four. No other church has shared with me and gifted to me like you guys. You guys are, yeah, I've counted on you and you've blessed me over and over.
[10:22] So, that's unusual. This is not like writing to the Corinthians. Please give. You know, it's like, this is the church in Macedonia that he talks about in the Corinthians that, man, I told them not to give and they still gave.
[10:37] You know, this is the kind of people they are. It's more of a friendship litter. He's not responding to a problem. Not that they don't have problems, but he's not answering an issue.
[10:53] It's much more personal. He's writing to reassure them of what he's going through and what's going to happen next. He knows they're worried about him, so he's writing to show them, hey, my imprisonment is not so bad.
[11:08] It's actually advancing the gospel. I want you to know that. I know you guys are worried. So, he's reassuring and informing them. Notice some of the tenderness he shares.
[11:20] Look at, in chapter one, verses three and four. He says, I thank my God and all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you, making my prayer with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.
[11:41] And then look at verse seven. It's right for me to feel this way about you. Talking about his feelings for them. Because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.
[11:57] For God is my witness how I yearn for you with the affection of Jesus Christ. So, he's very personal with them. He's sharing very openly his inner feelings for them.
[12:10] Over in chapter two, verse 19, he says, I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon. Why? So that I may too be cheered by news of you.
[12:21] He's anxious to hear about how they're doing. Now, Paul normally worries about all of his churches. He's concerned for all of his churches. But he wants to be cheered by them. He knows he's going to hear good reports about these dear folks.
[12:36] And then in chapter four, one, here's how he thinks of them. He says, therefore my brothers whom I love and long for, my joy and crown.
[12:48] My joy and crown. My brothers, my joy and my crown.
[12:58] He has a personal connection with these folks. So, it's just a little unusual, a little different. I think this is, was one of the positive experiences for Paul.
[13:12] He's gone through a lot of hard stuff and here's one he's just, he's been encouraged by them all along. And then secondly, it's different in his methodology.
[13:24] It's not his normal kind of letter. His method is more of a biography. He shares more about himself than he does in any other book.
[13:36] And, what we typically expect from Paul is more of a didactic kind of systematic teaching. Right? We think of Romans, right? It just kind of comes up.
[13:47] He's got his outline. He's got his, he's going to show us what the gospel is. He's going to start with first three chapters on sin and then he's going to get into justification and then into sanctification and on.
[13:57] He's got a kind of this unfolding, you know, pattern we know Paul about. He's, it's this because of this and this leads to that. Very systematic, very didactic.
[14:09] Or Ephesians or Galatians or Colossians or we could point to most of his other letters have that kind of order to it. This isn't like that at all. It isn't like that at all.
[14:21] It's just kind of a friendship letter. Now, he teaches in it. He certainly teaches, but it's more teaching by example. In fact, in 316, he says, join in imitating me.
[14:36] I rejoice. You rejoice too. It's more of an example kind of teaching. Watch those who walk according to the example you have in us.
[14:47] So I think he's conscious of teaching, but it's more of, here's how I've handled this situation. Here's how I've handled this situation. Here's what I've learned here. I've learned to find contentment in whatever I've gone through.
[15:02] And he's sharing some of those things with them instead of kind of, you know, more of a teacher. He's more of a coming alongside a shepherd with them.
[15:14] So there's four sections of biography in this book. In chapter 1, verses 3 through 26, he's talking about himself in relation to them.
[15:25] He's talking about how his relation is with them, his feelings for them. Verse 12, he begins to talk about his imprisonment and how that's affecting the gospel.
[15:37] Verse 19 and following in chapter 1, again, he's talking about his inner feelings and he reveals some things about himself we don't see anywhere else.
[15:47] He's talking about how he feels about dying. You know, what will I do? My desire is to go and be with Christ, but, you know, he talks about that tension of I know it would be better to go home and that's far better, but I also long for you and I, you know, what's better?
[16:10] Well, heaven's better, but I love you too, you know. So he's got these inner feelings that he talks about. And then in chapter 1, we have that robust statement of for to me to live is Christ and die is gain.
[16:25] He kind of gives us his motto or his theme of life. If you boil everything down for Paul, it's, hey, for me to live is Christ.
[16:37] As long as I'm living, it's all about Christ. To die? That's gain. No more loss. That's gain. So, you know, everything else kind of falls into place out of that.
[16:52] So he's sharing these things. And then in chapter 2 from verse 17 to 30, he's talking about his plans, what he plans to do, how he plans to send Timothy and Epaphroditus and how that will affect them.
[17:03] More kind of plan, personal journey stuff. And then in chapter 3, verses 4 to 14, there's that extraordinary section where Paul's revealing himself about his gains and losses.
[17:21] He talks about confidence in the flesh, how in his previous life as a Pharisee, he had a lot of confidence. He had a lot of fleshly accomplishments and gains.
[17:33] As a Pharisee of Pharisee and this and that and all that was gain and all that, and I was on the road to success in terms of Judaism. And then he says, but I lost it all.
[17:47] I lost it all for the sake of Christ. And then he talks about how he feels about that. He says, you know what? I count it rubbish.
[17:59] All those gains are nothing compared to the surpassing value of knowing Jesus Christ my Lord. We have these wonderful statements of Paul.
[18:11] I count it all loss. And then in chapter 4, the last half of chapter 4 is again him talking about from verse 10 on how he rejoiced over his circumstances, how they have provided for him once again.
[18:32] He's sharing his gratitude. But he's saying, you know what? In all of that, yeah, I had need and you guys met my need and you guys are awesome and it was a fragrance going to God.
[18:44] Your gift was a beautiful gift that honored God and helped me. But then he talks about behind it is, but you know what? I don't need the gift.
[18:56] And I'm grateful for it, but I don't need it because I've learned how to get along in hunger and how to get along in abundance. I've learned. It took learning.
[19:07] That didn't come easy, but I learned it. I've learned the secret. And he talks about contentment. He talks about joy in the midst of all that. He talks about I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
[19:20] In verse 19 of chapter 14, another verse, God will supply all your needs according to his riches in Jesus Christ. There's several verses in Philippians that I hear quoted all the time.
[19:33] Or that we, if we've been Christians long, we've become familiar with because we're like, oh, I like how Paul says that. I can relate to that. Or I hang on to that promise too.
[19:46] So, one of the things I think that benefits us here in Philippians is we kind of get to know another side of Paul.
[19:59] Get to kind of know the inner. I mean, all the other books, we learn of his genius, we learn of his wonderful theological mind and how he grasped things from the Old Testament that helps us learn what this is and how these dots connect.
[20:17] You know, he's connected a lot of dots, right, for us. But here we kind of get to see the other side of him. The inner thinking that he doesn't share with a lot of people.
[20:30] And so we have some unique statements of Paul in Philippians because of that tone. And then one more thing is different in Philippians.
[20:41] And that's his motivation. Why is he writing to them? Certainly, he's explaining his circumstances and his plans. He knows they're concerned about him.
[20:53] And so he's writing. He knows they're concerned about Epaphroditus. So he's writing about Epaphroditus because they had heard Epaphroditus got sick. And Epaphroditus is from Philippi. He's one of their folks who came to visit Paul.
[21:05] and on his way got sick. And so he's writing, let you know that Epaphroditus is okay. And now he's all upset because you're upset and he wants to come back, you know. So all this kind of personal inside stuff.
[21:18] So he's sharing all those plans. He certainly wants to tell of his gratitude for their generosity and for their partnership with him. There is a concern for unity, which we probably find in all of Paul's letters.
[21:32] But it's not as acute here. It's just he always has a concern for unity. And so at the end of chapter 1, verse 27, he talks about, here's his first urging to them, his first command or his first instruction.
[21:52] Let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are, what? Standing firm in one spirit with one mind, striving side by side for the faith of the gospel.
[22:08] So he's concerned about their unity. And that's the first real instruction that he gives to them. And then that's kind of bracketed on the other end in chapter 4, 1 by the same kind of calling.
[22:19] Where he says, therefore my brothers whom I love and long for my joy and crown, stand firm in, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved. And then he talks about two of the women in the church.
[22:31] It's not a perfect church to the women in the church who are apparently not agreeing about something. We don't know how bad that is. He mentions them by name so they're not bad people. He loves them.
[22:42] He talks about they're a part of this team. But help them get along. So unity. You know, before that gets worse, handle it now while they're, you know, if they're not agreeing, help them get along.
[22:58] Whatever it is. Right? So, he's got a concern for unity. But, what stood out to me in reading this letter over and over and over and over again were the words joy and rejoice.
[23:20] The word joy appears five times in this book. The word rejoice, which is the verb, whether he's talking about I rejoice or he's calling them to rejoice, that verb appears nine times in the book.
[23:34] So, a total of 14 times. Not that big, but this is only four chapters long book. And, when I compared it with Paul's other letters, by far, Philippians, his highest concentration of the language of joy and rejoicing.
[23:56] I mean, even in his magnum opus in Romans, it's only mentioned like three times. And here, this little book of Philippians, 14 times. The only other book in the New Testament that mentions these words more often is the book of Luke.
[24:11] So, Luke mentions the combination of joy and rejoicing about 20 times altogether. But remember, Luke is 17 chapters longer than Philippians.
[24:23] So, what we find in Philippians, in other words, is the highest concentration of this joy-rejoice language in the New Testament. Why is that?
[24:37] Why joy, joy, joy, joy, rejoice with me. This is a recurring focus.
[24:50] And for whatever reason, this book becomes about joy. And we see the phrase three times, rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord.
[25:04] And then he talks about joy in different circumstances. So, I want us to look at how he uses this term through his book. Most commentators look at, well, yeah, the real focus of the book is unity or the real focus of the book is something else.
[25:23] As I kind of looked at this use of these terms through the whole book, one or the other or both of the terms are mentioned in every section of the book.
[25:36] He ties joy or rejoicing into every section some way. It may not be the prominent thing, but it's still there. And so, this is how I want us to look at what we find in Philippians in the days ahead.
[25:53] How is joy important in Paul's message? Paul relates joy and or rejoicing to every subject in his letter. So, let's look at some of the applications that we're going to get in these days ahead.
[26:05] So, this is kind of an outline of where we're going in the next 10 weeks, Lord willing, or 11 weeks. You know, probably won't go much longer than that until we get to chapter 2 and we have that marvelous section, right?
[26:19] But anyway. So, in the first application, right from the beginning, from chapter 1, verses 1 through 11, he talks about joy and his joy is in shared ministry with them.
[26:35] Notice what he says in verse 3. I thank my God and all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all, making my prayers with joy.
[26:45] Why? Why making my prayers with joy? Because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. That's why. I have joy in shared ministry.
[26:57] I have joy because you folks don't just kind of send me a gift and let me do the ministry. You're actually partners with me. You're participating with me.
[27:08] And that brings me joy. It's not just that you have my back. It's that, no, excuse me, you're in this with me. From the first day, I mean, you've just kind of, you're not just along for the ride.
[27:24] You've jumped in. And as a pastor, I can, I get that joy. I feel joy, deep delight when folks in our church are ministering to other people.
[27:42] I hear about, you know, ministry here to the Jones family, to the Ball family, to, you know, to Cheryl, to different, you know, different things that are going on in our church. I'm like, yes.
[27:54] I love hearing that. I love hearing people reaching out, people getting involved in other people's lives. And then in chapter 1, verse 12, the second section, he shares his joy in hardship for the gospel.
[28:10] He's in prison. He's in chains. There's people out there preaching. He's going to talk about it. There's people out there preaching that want to make it his experience in prison even worse.
[28:23] You know, they're trying to, you know, bad mouth him and that kind of thing. But he finds joy even in his hardship. He says in verse 12, I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel.
[28:40] And then he talks about how the word has been spread and how brothers have more confidence to preach the word or to speak the word without fear. It's even reached the imperial guard. It's even reached Caesar's household.
[28:53] In verse 15, he talks about, now I know some are preaching Christ from envy and rivalry, but others are doing it from goodwill. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I'm here for the defense of the gospel.
[29:09] They know why I'm in prison. They know, you know, I haven't made mistakes. They know I'm in prison because I'm preaching the gospel. But others, verse 17, the former proclaim Christ out of rivalry.
[29:22] They're trying to make themselves look better against me and thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. So what do I think about all that? What do I deal with? How do I, you know, am I bitter and angry about some of these folks that are slandering me and trying to make me feel worse?
[29:42] Here I am stuck in prison. Verse 18, what then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed and that I rejoice.
[29:54] I rejoice in the bottom line. Christ is preached. Well, what about their motives? Okay, the motives are different, but Christ is preached. The gospel, they're preaching the right gospel with the wrong motives, but they're preaching the right gospel and you know what?
[30:10] I'm good with that. I'm not just good with that. I rejoice. And then he goes on and I will rejoice and that leads into the next section. Not only do I rejoice about the hardship of the gospel, but in the next section, verses 18 to 25 or to 30, he wants us to know his experience of joy in uncertain expectations.
[30:32] So his joy in shared ministry, his joy in the hardship for the gospel, 30, his joy in uncertain expectations. Because he starts at the end of verse 18, I will rejoice.
[30:43] Why? For I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, this will turn out for my deliverance, my expectations. Then he even talks about as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage as now, as always, Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.
[31:07] So there is uncertain expectation. He doesn't know if He's going to live or die. I mean, that comes down to the ultimate expectations. Am I going to live or die? And His concern is that Christ is honored, whether I live or die.
[31:24] That Christ is honored. And then He makes the great statement, you know, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. That's all what life is about. But joy, I'm rejoicing in that too.
[31:35] I'm rejoicing even though I don't know what is, you know, I have expectations. I'm kind of leaning this way. I think, you know, I'd rather go home and be with Christ, but I'm kind of thinking, nah, He's going to keep me here because for you, you know.
[31:51] And so that's kind of my expectation, but I don't know yet. I don't know yet. And I'm going to send Epaphroditus as soon as we know what my term is and so He can come and let you know because I know you'll be worried about that.
[32:09] So joy in that. And then chapter 2, He calls for joy in selfless unity. Here's that unity section and notice how He says it even in verse 2.
[32:21] He talks about 2.1, if there's an encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, if there's any of that, here's what I want you to do.
[32:33] Verse 2, complete my joy. That's an odd urging, isn't it? Complete my joy. Make my joy complete because I know you want to do that.
[32:48] He makes it personal. He doesn't just say be unified. He says, make my joy complete. And what will do that? Well, by being of the same mind.
[33:02] Having the same love. Being in full accord and of one mind. That's unity. Doing nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility, counting others more significant than yourselves.
[33:17] Let each of you not look only to his own interest, but also to the interest of others. And then he uses the example of Jesus Christ as the ultimate example of selfless unity.
[33:31] That he would empty himself and humble himself. So he calls them to joy in selfless unity.
[33:44] Make my joy complete about this. That will fulfill my joy. I know you guys are one mind, one heart, one spirit. Striving for the gospel.
[33:58] That's all I ask, right? And then he goes on from there. A fifth area is joy and witness. Joy and witness in the world.
[34:10] He says, in verse 12 and 13, he talks to them about working out their salvation for God is the one who works in them. And then notice in verse 14, he gets practical about this.
[34:25] Do all things without grumbling or questioning. Again, not a perfect church. Probably had a few grumblings. Probably had a few, you know, of course, they're still normal people.
[34:39] So why? Why do all things without grumbling or questioning? Verse 15, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish.
[34:50] Where? In the midst of a crooked and twisted generation among whom you shine as lights in the world. This is about your witness.
[35:03] This is about your witness. And he goes on, how do you do that? By holding fast the word of life so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.
[35:15] Even if I'm poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and what? Here it is again. I rejoice with you all. Likewise, you all should be glad and rejoice with me.
[35:30] See, so whatever we're going through, it's about testimony. It's about witness. So rejoice in that.
[35:42] So joy and witness. And then in the second part of chapter 2 there from verse 19 or the third part in verse 19 to 30, joy in others.
[35:54] That's interesting. Joy in others. Joy in ministry, joy in hardship for the gospel, joy in uncertain expectations, joy in selfless unity, joy in witness.
[36:06] Here at the end of chapter 2, I want you to have joy in others. So he's going to talk about Timothy and Epaphroditus. And he's going to talk about in verse 28.
[36:16] He's talking about sending Epaphroditus back to them. He's one of their folks. I'm eager to send him therefore that you may rejoice at seeing him again and that I may be less anxious.
[36:29] So receive him, the Lord, with all joy. Joy in people. Joy in other believers. Interesting.
[36:41] And then seventhly, chapter 3, verse 1, we'll see he encourages, or he appeals to joy in knowing the Lord. 3.1. Finally, my brother, rejoice in the Lord.
[36:52] Now he gets to it. Rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice specifically in your walk with the Lord, in knowing the Lord. And that, of course, is the section where he's going to talk about all that I've lost, I consider gain.
[37:08] I count everything lost for the value of what? Knowing. Knowing Jesus Christ, my Lord. And all that I've gained from him, I've gained righteousness, I've gained suffering, but I've gained the hope of resurrection and all of this.
[37:23] So joy in knowing the Lord. And then part two to that, he kind of goes on from chapter 3.12 to the end of the chapter about running the marathon.
[37:35] It's still about knowing the Lord, joy in the Lord, but now the perspective is from personally focusing on what I gain in Jesus himself and then, okay, now running the race for him.
[37:48] So he talks about, I forget what lies behind, I strive for what's ahead, I press on for the upward goal, and he ends with the promise at the end of chapter 3 about he will transform our bodies, right, to heavenly bodies.
[38:05] So we have a promise. And then finally in chapter 4, we have joy and anxious problems. He pleads for them to have joy and anxious problems.
[38:16] So he starts in chapter 4 with my brothers whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord. And then he mentions the two ladies.
[38:28] I entreat Iodia and Syntyche to agree in the Lord. Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women who have labored side by side with me and the gospel together.
[38:41] They're partners in the gospel. Help them. Together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life.
[38:52] And then here we go again. Rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I will say rejoice. What does that look like? Well, verse 5, let your reasonableness be known to everyone.
[39:02] The Lord is at hand. Here's the next two verses you all know very well because you've probably clung to them at times. Verse 6, do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
[39:16] And what? And the peace of God surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. And that comes out of the focus of rejoicing in the Lord.
[39:29] Because my faith is in the Lord no matter what anxious problems I go through. Whether it's a relationship, verse 2, the two women that have a tension in their relationship or it's anxieties over what's ahead in my life.
[39:44] How am I going to make it this week? How am I going to handle the situation at work? Whatever it is, you know, here it is. Focus on the Lord.
[39:55] Rejoice in the Lord. That's secure. There will come peace out of that that passes understanding. So he talks about joy even amid those things.
[40:10] And then finally in 10th application, we find at the second half of chapter 4, he's going to, again, one of those biographical sections where he's going to talk about how he has found joy in all circumstances.
[40:26] He starts off right away. Verse 10, chapter 4, 10, I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me.
[40:36] You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. But now I am speaking of being in need for I have learned, not that I'm speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation to be content.
[40:50] I know how to be brought low. I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.
[41:01] I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Joy in all circumstances. He's learned how to rejoice in his circumstances, hunger or abundance.
[41:19] So that's where we're going. Probably too much to take in. Maybe, you know, but maybe for a couple of those, they caught you. That's where we're going.
[41:31] That's how I see this book. And so, let me just ask you, how are you doing? Don't answer, just think, how are you doing with this aspect of joy?
[41:42] We're in a difficult time. You know, there's a lot of uncertainty, a lot of unrest. And I'm sure you've been thinking and praying, okay, Lord, how do I deal with this?
[41:56] What do I, do I need to do something or do I just need to keep praying? What words do I say to folks who are struggling in unrest?
[42:10] And overall, whatever we do with those things, where's my joy? Because I can be anxious about those things and the Lord may or may not lead us in wisdom what to do with those things.
[42:26] I think he will, but what he will do for sure is give us joy in our walk with him. He will give us joy and peace.
[42:39] So, do you need joy? I do. Let's discover it in Christ. Let's learn together from Paul the secret of discovering joy in Christ amid every kind of situation.
[42:55] let's learn the secret of this man who could say for me to live is Christ and to die gain. I think we've all had moments like that, but to live like that, that's knowing Christ.
[43:12] So, let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for what we look forward to to learn from your apostle, your servant, Paul, what he has learned.
[43:27] Prepare us, Lord, our hearts, our minds for this journey and we pray, Father, that you stir up within us that same kind of feeling for one another as Paul had with the Philippians as well as, Lord, those same mindsets that Paul had and was sharing with these dear brothers and sisters about rejoicing in you always.
[43:59] So, bring us to that, Father, we pray in Christ's name. Amen. Amen.