Joy: Jesus, others, you

Psalm 16:8 I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

 9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope.

 10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

 11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

The words that David wrote were not only his own experience, but more importantly were prophetically speaking of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. (Acts 2:25-28) Jesus is our joy, and the only true joy giver. May the joy in the God of our salvation even as  Habbakuk did in the midst of trying circumstances.

Habbakuk 3:17 Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:

 18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

 19 The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.

Today we will do an introduction to this letter as we consider what was written by the Apostle Paul to the church of Philippi, a church that he had been involved in from its beginning. In today's world, we call it a church plant.  Acts 16 gives an account of Paul's missionary journey to that area as a result of the call of the Holy Spirit to go minister in that area. As they gathered at the riverside on the Sabbath for prayer, they spoke to some women there and as a result of their sharing, the Lord opened the heart of a business woman named Lydia.

Later as they journeyed, Paul cast out an evil spirit of a young girl, the after effects which caused Paul and Silas to be imprisoned. While in prison, Paul and Silas  as prayed and sang praises unto God in the hearing of the prisoners, an earthquake occurred which initiated events through which the jailer asked the all important question: "What must I do to be saved?" He was told, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved, and your house."

After leaving the congregation, he had returned at least once (Acts 20:1-6) and then was imprisoned in Rome, at least 700 miles from Philippi. The congregation and Paul had a very close relationship. This is understandable by anyone who has been involved with anything from its beginning and so when a congregational member Epaphroditus visited Paul in prison to bring him encouragement and humanitarian needs, in the course of their fellowship hearing of the state of the congregation, Paul sent a letter back with his beloved friend which was to be read to the congregation. The letter to the Philippians.

Some of the most common known memory verses are in this letter. Perhaps you are familiar with some of them:

KJV Philippians 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

KJV Philippians 1:21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

KJV Philippians 3:7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.

KJV Philippians 3:10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

KJV Philippians 3:14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

KJV Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.

KJV Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

May this letter become more to us than a book from which we have isolated memory verses.

May this letter become more familiar to us as we hear the voice of the Spirit speak through the heart and life of our dear brother in Christ Apostle Paul.

May the message of this letter be burned into our minds, hearts and souls as we hear of and experience the love of Jesus flowing through the heart and life of our beloved brother Paul.

May we be joined closer in the love of God in Christ Jesus, a love that casts out fear, a love that unites us in joy and a love the empowers us to serve together for the sake of our neighbor!

Often times our changed circumstances cause our joy in the Lord to diminish as we struggle with acceptance of a changed situation. Nevertheless, with the help of the Lord and others, we attempt to work through to a place of accepting the current circumstances as the way things are for the time being.

1. What do we do when our joy is diminished by our present difficult circumstances?

2. Do we wait until our circumstances change to be joyful again?

3. Is it possible to live in joy in the midst of life's often changing circumstances?

4. What does it mean to have joy, to live in joy, to rejoice?

The answers to these questions we will seek in Apostle Paul's letter to the Philippians. This letter has been called the letter of joy as in it the Apostle Paul, being held in prison while he wrote the letter, encouraged his readers in this manner:  "Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice."  This verse is found in the last chapter of his letter, in chapter four, verse four.

Joy is a reality that is ours through the knowledge that God has reconciled us to Himself through the cross, by His gracious gift we trust in that reality, and even if circumstances change in our lives, our relationship with Him now and forever cannot be shaken.

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.

Christian joy is shared, it is confident and it is increasing.

Jesus spoke of the connection between Himself, His Word, His Love, and His Joy.

 John 15:7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

 8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.

 9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.

 10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.

 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

Apostle John speaks of the joy that comes from our union with the Father and His Son and of his desire that our joy would be full.

KJV 1 John 1:1-4  That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;

 2 (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)

 3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

 4 And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.

May these studies be helpful to all of us who share in life's often difficult circumstances.

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you and in you always! Amen!

The Inward And The Outward Flow of Grace pt 2

On the signboard outside of our church near the highway one reads a message on each side of the sign:

God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense  and Faith Binds Us To God’s Promises.

Our recent ALCA convention which was held in the Tri Cities in Washington State had for a theme: Amazing Grace.  Many of the messages that were spoken were centered around this great truth,  a truth that is often difficult for us remember and to live under it:  God’s unmerited favor towards us.

Why is it so difficult to accept God’s grace towards us when He continually tells us in His Word that He loves us, that He is the One who has the authority to punish evil, that His goodness is greater than all our sin and that He will always take care of us? This is a common difficulty that most Christians struggle with at times, not only in today’s world, but even in the time of Joseph it was a struggle for Joseph’s brothers to believe that forgiveness was just that: God saying: I forgive you out of love and grace.

Many here today remember a specific day in which we experienced the grace of God and began to live in the freeing power of forgiveness which meant that we were now free from the penalty and the power of sin. Or perhaps it has been a gradual and growing awareness in our experience of the grace of God which is about God joyfully accepting us on the basis of Jesus’s sacrificial death on the cross.

For the first time, we felt the cleanness of our conscience, in that there was now fellowship with our God through Christ and fellowship one with another. But then we began to walk the life of a Christian, and whether it was in a short time or even many years later, we began to struggle with the question of assurance.

Is grace really true? Could God really have forgotten all the sin I have done? Is it true that God will never again bring up my sin before me? Is it really and truly separated as far as the east is from the west?

We are in chapter 50 of Genesis and Joseph’s brothers, who out of hatred and envy had sold Joseph to the slave traders, had heard  17 years earlier from Joseph himself some shocking, disturbing, but yet joyful words as he revealed himself to them.

KJV Genesis 45:1 Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by him; and he cried, Cause every man to go out from me. And there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren.

 2 And he wept aloud: and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard.

 3 And Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph; doth my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence.

 4 And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.

 5 Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.

 6 For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest.

 7 And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.

 8 So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

 9 Haste ye, and go up to my father, and say unto him, Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath made me lord of all Egypt: come down unto me, tarry not:

 10 And thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and thou shalt be near unto me, thou, and thy children, and thy children's children, and thy flocks, and thy herds, and all that thou hast:

 11 And there will I nourish thee; for yet there are five years of famine; lest thou, and thy household, and all that thou hast, come to poverty.

Fastforwarding to 17 years later, after Jacob had died, we see the brothers coming to Joseph(50:15).  What are they thinking as they approach their brother who had spoke grace into them so many years earlier? Let us read Genesis 50:15-21.  

Genesis 50:15 And when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him.

 16 And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying,

 17 So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him.

 18 And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants.

 19 And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God?

 20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

 21 Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.

Joseph wept: Why?  Because they doubted Joseph words of grace and forgiveness extended to them out of God’s love flowing through him for them.  50:17

Because they feared that he would now punish them. 50:18-19

Because they thought that that evil they had done to him was greater than the kindness of his grace and forgiveness. 50:20

Because they feared for their future as they were dependent upon him. 50:21

God loves you!!!

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Only God has the authority to punish evil.

Romans 12:19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.

His kindness is greater than evil, evil does not have the last word,

KJV Isaiah 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

He will take care of you in every aspect of your life.

John 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

1 John 5:4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.

 5 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?

In closing, I want to read a facebook entry by Marla Peterson, the daughter of Brian and Melissa Peterson,  and she has given me permission to use it today.

I think about suffering sometimes. And that may sound odd, but it’s a aspect of reality that I believe forms so much of our worldview, our culture, and our personhood.

What I’ve realized is that God acknowledges suffering in a way that no one else can. God knows supremely the wrongness of this world because God is perfectly good— therefore, recognizes challenges to goodness more truly than we can.

The Bible, particularly the Old Testament, continually describes the horrifying state of a nation, a people, or a person. God does not hide the fallen state of humanity; He points it out and rebukes it time and time again. But God doesn’t do this out of pride or conceit. God is providing a true description of reality from an unbiased perspective that we wouldn’t otherwise have.

I feel like these descriptions should be read like a sentence fragment right before the comma (in nerdy grammatical settings, we call this a compound sentence with a coordinating conjunction) followed by:

“, but God knew His perfect and sinless son would be crucified to die to redeem these broken people… to redeem this broken nation that fell away.”

God draws attention to suffering and brokenness because it’s part of our beautiful redemption story. He brings up suffering because he knows that the joy of the gospel overshadows it— even if we don’t quite feel that reality yet.

We can view the realities of the Old Testament and the New Testament as two separate sentences, I suppose. But I actually prefer them together as one compound sentence with a coordinating conjunction. Who knew grammar could be so helpful in conveying biblical themes.

Suffering feels a little too heavy for me these days, but God knows that. And in response, I think God says, “I know. I know it feels that way, and that is okay.” And I do believe that Jesus still weeps with us, even knowing that a victorious ending awaits.

But I think God also asks us to trust in the promise written in Romans 8: The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us (v. 18).

I don’t think this verse requires that we deny, minimize, or ignore suffering. If anything, it allows me to acknowledge the magnitude of my suffering, my community’s suffering, and this world’s suffering while trusting that what God declares is true— the gospel and the glory of God outweighs the seemingly stifling heaviness of suffering in this present age.

He loves you and His grace is yours today and always!

Genesis 50.15.26 The Inward and the Outflow of Grace

Genesis 50:15 And when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him.

 16 And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying,

 17 So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him.

 18 And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants.

 19 And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God?

 20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

 21 Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.

 22 And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father's house: and Joseph lived an hundred and ten years.

 23 And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation: the children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were brought up upon Joseph's knees.

 24 And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

 25 And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.

 26 So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.

Joseph lived by faith in the promises of God, and as a result he trusted God in all the adversity that he endured, thereby giving witness to those on the outside of the presence of the Lord within his mind, heart and life. By faith he saw the future that God has promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, which was not in Egypt, but in the Promised Land. Joseph was a type of Jesus Christ, for consider a few parallels in their lives.

Joseph was sent ahead to prepare a place for his family through humiliation and exaltation.

Jesus was sent to prepare a place for us the humiliation of the cross and the exaltation of the resurrection.

Joseph suffered wrong willingly for the life of his family.

Jesus suffered wrong willingly for the life of the world.

Joseph longed to gather his family, just as Jesus longs to gather his family. (all people)

Joseph forgave his brothers because he possessed the heart of Jesus, which is full of grace and truth.

 God forgave us through Christ's because that is the heart of God to the whole world.

Some have said in the past that when we struggle with unforgiveness towards self and/or others, an unforgiveness that eventually turns into bitterness against people, against God and against oneself, we need to return to the cross of Christ and there to behold two things:

Firstly, Behold the cost of our redemption in the suffering and death of Jesus which was for our sin.

Secondly,  Behold the grace, mercy and love of God that is for us through His offering of His Son/Himself for the sake of our sin. 

We live by faith which means that our life is lived according to the acts and the promises of God in grace toward us and towards others. God has forgiven us in Christ, and as a result we live in forgiveness towards others. Therefore we are enabled and empowered to go into a graceless world through the calling/vocation/job we have in life and there we have the privilege and the opportunity to put Jesus Christ on display through our attitudes, through our words and through our actions.