08-17-08 #Disciple Bible Study titled: "A Life Of Joy"

[Disciple]

“LIVING THE HD LIFE”
#6-“A Life Of Joy”
Philippians 4

Intro.
I have mentioned several times that the word ‘joy’ or a form of that word is used repeatedly throughout this short book of Philippians. There are at least 14 usages of ‘joy’ or a form of joy in this book.
Somehow in our efforts at living the Christian life, we have bumped living a life of joy into the background. We put a great emphasis on holiness, righteousness, love, faithfulness, purity. But somehow we have not focused so much on living a life of joy.
If we are going go live the High Definition life, then joy should flow from within us. Let’s understand that joy is not dictated by the cir***stances of life. Joy is not dictated by your financial portfolio. Joy is not dictated by living in the right neighborhood. If joy is determined by where you live the apostle Paul could not possibly have been joyful. He was in prison, remember?
Joy is a decision you make each day you awaken. You determine whether or not you are joyful.
Phil 4:4
Rejoice is an action that you do. This is, in fact, a command.
This is our memory verse for this week. As you read the verse, put a special emphasis on the word ‘always’.
Rejoice is in the present tense. “Be rejoicing always.” The only way we can rejoice always is ‘in the Lord’
Ill- You know what an oxymoron is, don’t you? A combination of two or more words that is contradictory such as jumbo shrimp. How about some more- along together, dry lake, numb feeling, vegetarian meat*****, detailed summary, crash landing, hells angels, boneless ribs, loners club, silent women.
Here’s another oxymoron- ‘joyless Christian.’
Can there really be such a person? A Christian without joy?
John 10:10
Are you living the full abundant life in Christ Jesus? This life is based on an internal relationship, not on external cir***stances.
Sometimes joy comes naturally. There are times when it is easy to be joyful. When everything is going well for you, it is easier to rejoice. But what about when things are going so well. Your kids disappoint you, things are a mess at work, you get bad news from the doctor, do you have joy then? That depends on the source of your joy. If your joy is determines by things and cir***stances, you’re going to find it hard to rejoice. But if your joy is ‘in the Lord’, yes, you still can have joy and be glad in the Lord.
Let’s look at some ingredients for joy in our lives.
I. Unity Is A Key For Joy
The church at Philippi was a troubled church. They had many problems. It is important that we see that their problems did not diminish in any way Paul’s love and care for them.
Phil 4:1
It has been suggested that perhaps the reason for Paul mentioning joy so often in this letter is because he believed that their joy in the Lord could and would resolve their problems. We can see one particular problem that existed was in the area of unity.
Phil 4:2
These are two women in the church who have had a falling out with each other. Wouldn’t you have liked to have been present the Sunday this letter was read in the church? Can you imagine the reaction when these two women are named and called out specifically?
We don’t know exactly what the disagreement was between these two ladies. It could have been about prominence. It could have been over who had the most unusual name in the church. Isn’t it extremely sad that the only thing these two women are known and remembered for is their quarreling and fighting?
Is it possible that something like this could be written about your church today? Could your name and my name be singled out like this? Could we be urged and pleaded with to stop quarreling and arguing with another. In years to come when your name is mentioned for what will you be remembered in the church?
This disunity between Euodia and Syntyche affected the entire congregation.
Phil 4:3
Paul is calling on the entire congregation to help these women have unity and agreement between them.
When you are at peace with other people it paves the way, it primes the pump if you will, for joyfulness in your life. But if you have bitterness toward other people, it is impossible to have joy. This is why Paul writes what he does in the Ephesian letter.
Ephesians 4:27, 31-32
In those times you feel that you just can’t be joyful remember what says in v. 5. The nearness of the Lord is reason for rejoicing.
II. Prayer Is A Key For Joy
Phil 4:6
‘Be careful for nothing which means Do not be anxious.’ It literally reads, ‘stop worrying’
Anxiety can and will produce irritability and defensiveness. Anxiety can bring about discord and disunity. Have you noticed how easily things can get blown out of proportion when you feed it with anxiety?
Not only does Paul say ‘do not be anxious’, he gives us the way we can actually stop being anxious. Paul shows that prayer is the way to stop worrying. Notice again, the answer is ‘in the Lord’
I want you to note especially two words here. NIV quotes this verse: ‘Do not be anxious about ANYTHING’, but in EVERYTHING…present your requests to God’. What are we to worry about-nothing. What are we to pray about- everything. If you have concerns for life, let God’s power address those concerns. Here’s the thing to remember. If God’s power cannot resolve the issue, do you really think your worrying is going to do anything?
Note also our prayers are to be ‘with thanksgiving’. Do you know that unthankful people are miserable people? Do you know that ingratitude will steal your joy?
The difference between being thankful and having anxiety is that anxiety tends to forget God and rely on human resources. Thanksgiving recognizes God’s blessings and control over our situations. You can see the result of prayer.
Phil 4:7
Peace is the result of prayer. When the peace of God is guarding your heart, anxiety and worry cannot gain admission. This peace ‘transcends all understanding’. It is beyond all human comprehension. And it also has the idea that it is better than any human planning or scheming could ever produce.
III. Discernment Is A Key To Joy
If you have lived in a situation where you didn’t have ‘city water’ that is filtered and treat you probably are familiar with using a filtering system. Paul gives us a ‘filtering system’ if you will.
Phil 4:8
This list of qualities is the filtering system through which you need to run everything that you think about. Everything that you say. This is the filtering system you need to use you’re tempted to talk about someone behind their back, when you’re at the ball game yelling and cheering for your team, when you’re at work, when you’re at school. This verse would tell us not to just get rid of bad thing, but to fill that spot with good things.
Col 3:2
Ill- Carl Sandburg- “There is an eagle in me that wants to soar, and there is a hippopotamus in me that wants to wallow in the mud.”
There have been times when we have soared high, but there have also been times when we have wallowed in the mud. When we’ve watched movies we had no business watching. We’ve repeated jokes we had no business repeating. We’ve laughed at cutting, unkind remarks made about other people. We’ve listened to and lapped up gossip and then repeated it to someone else.
Joy starts with what we let come into our minds through the eyegate and with what we allow to come into our ears. You can control what you look at. You can control what you listen to. You can control what you allow your mind to dwell on. You can have joy.
There is a difference between happiness and joy. Happiness depends on happenings. Joy depends in Jesus Christ.
Conc.
I know that it can be a difficult thing to continually rejoice in the Lord when nothing seems to be going right in your life. When you have to struggle to have joy, remember the example of the apostles.
Acts 5- The apostles have been carrying out the ministry of preaching the gospel. They have been arrested and put in jail. During the night an angel of the Lord opened the jail and brought them out and told them to go into the temple courts and tell the people the full message of the new life in Jesus. They were arrested again and the leaders wanted to put them to death, but they agreed to flog them (beat them severely) and ordered them not to preach in the name of Jesus.
Acts 5:41
Think of Jesus
Heb. 12:2
What was the joy set before Jesus? What was the one thing he did not have that would give him joy. What was the one thing he did not have that he would leave heaven for? The joy set before him was YOU.
What will you do with Jesus today? He wants you. Will you accept him?