Weekly Meditations

Over the course of my studies in Japan I hope to give a short message on scripture week to week.  For the next six weeks I will be looking at the book of Philippians and how we can find joy.  This week I will look at chapter 1 verses 1-11 of Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi and speak on how we can take joy in one another.

1 Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all God’s holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons: 2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. 7 It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. 8 God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

Paul addresses the church at Philippi and tells them three ways that the members of the church can take joy in one another.  First, Christians take joy in one another because we share the same gospel.  Second, Christians take joy in one another because we share the same grace and third, Christians take joy in one another because we share the same goal.  Let us begin by looking at the first of this list.

In the first six verses of chapter one, Paul tells us that we find joy in one another because of our shared gospel.  We first see this in verse 1 when Paul takes careful note to include everyone from the church at Philippi because this letter is for everyone (at Philippi) who has believed in the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Paul then in verse 4-5 notes that he takes joy when he prays for them because of your partnership in the gospel.  He continues on in verse 6 to say he is excited to see them carry it on to completion; that is, the work of the gospel.  Therefore, Paul notes that he especially takes joy in knowing that the Philippians are working to advance the gospel.  Does it excite you when missionaries present what they have been doing?  Do you take joy in hearing about the progress of the gospel overseas or even within your local church?  I encourage you to read the newsletters missionaries send out, usually on a monthly basis.  We can take joy in others because we share the same gospel, that is that a holy and just God created man who became sinful by his own work.  Because of this, God who is just must punish the sin; we are separated from him by our sin.  However, God in his love and mercy sent his son Jesus Christ to earth where Christ lived a perfect life then died on a cross as a substitute for our sins.  His death brought us atonement and after resurrecting from the dead after three days, his life brings us a spring of grace.  The gospel of Christ then, is putting your faith in this atonement and gaining forgiveness of sins which brings us into relationship with God.  

Because Christians share this gospel, we are encouraged and joyful when we know others are coming to believe in it.  We take joy in hearing how others are preaching Christ and when others come to believe in him.  This joy we have in our shared gospel is multiplied mainly because we share the same grace.

Since we share the same gospel that gives us salvation through Jesus Christ, we also know that it gives us a countless amount of grace.  As Christians, we share in this grace and this is another way we take joy in each other.  Paul notes in verses 7-8 that the joy he first receives in knowing that he and the Philippians share the same gospel is multiplied because they share in the same grace.  The grace received from Jesus Christ means that we know longer are separated from God, but can come into relationship with him.  This is a beautiful thing!  When our friends come to know the gospel and receive the grace we have, we should be extremely joyful, as we know that someone we love will be with us for eternity in heaven. 

This knowledge then leads us to the final stage of our taking joy in others.  First, we share the same gospel, which means we share in the same grace, which finally means that we share in the same glorious goal.  Heaven.

In the final three verses Paul shares his prayer with the Philippians that they would grow in the gospel until the day of Christ.  We can take immense joy in the fact that our brothers and sisters in Christ are not only saved from sin, but will join us in an eternity with God.  Because we have the same goal, we are able to help each other get to the finish line.  We have a purpose together, to stick with Christ on this earth until the day that he returns or, we are called home.  So take joy in the knowledge that someday your brothers and sisters will be together in heaven, praising God for eternity and take joy on this earth in one another as we grow and strive toward this goal, toward this finish line.

In today’s world it is so easy to be sad.  There are large-scale events like tragedies, suffering and natural disasters.  There are small-scale things like a bad-day, a sports team losing or lost pet.  But Paul encourages us that amidst these things we can take joy in our fellow Christians because we have the same gospel, the same belief that Christ died for our sins to bring us salvation.  We take joy in sharing the gospel, as Jesus commanded, and seeing others share the gospel too.  We take joy in sharing in the same grace and knowing that our brothers and sisters in Christ are saved and lastly, we take joy in knowing where we are headed; heaven where we will be united with God and our dear brothers and sisters for eternity.  So take joy in one another and understand that churches are not just a building where one goes to hear a message, sing songs or even check it off of the “spiritual to-do list” but rather, churches are a body of believers in Jesus Christ who take joy in one another as they grow in godliness until the day that Christ returns.

If you have any questions on what I wrote today, on God or, on how to become a follower of Jesus Christ, please don’t hesitate to email me at bkk@pdx.edu