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joy

The Joy-Metric

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The Joy-Metric

Philippians is a book of joy for an anxious church. Theme similar to Ecclesiastes - we also spoke about joy. Joy comes from God, not from our stuff or our circumstance.

But we should be careful here, because it is surely true in our experience that we do find joy in people, things and circumstance. “How sweet to hold a newborn baby and feel the pride and joy he gives.” Holding your loved ones, relaxing after a hard days work. Hamburgers. :)

However, the message of Ecclesiastes does not deny that there are some circumstances from which we might find joy or reason to rejoice, but again, joy is not to be found in the temporal, fleeting, trivial matters, but in things that last, and if we try to extract joy from the breath, we will be left unsatisfied.

The apostle Paul would agree. In the book of Phillippians, in writing to that anxious church, Paul writes about the things that bring him joy. Last week Paul shared his gratitude and the joy that he has found in the Philiipians partnership in the gospel. And today, he will speak of another matter that brings him joy. And again, that which brings him joy is not in temporal, fleeting, trivial matters, but connected to the eternal matter of the gospel of Christ. 

What is the gospel? The gospel is the proclamation of good news. The good news of what God has done for us in Christ. That thought our sins have separated us from God and have placed us under God’s just wrath, that God in his love for us sent his son Jesus Christ into the world that we might be reconciled to God, redeemed from our sins, and renewed by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is surely not a temporal, fleeting, or trivial matter, but is the most important, substantial and eternal of matters. As I stated last week, Paul has given his life to the gospel, lives for the gospel, and as we’ll see today, Paul’s Joy-Producing Metric: The Gospel is Advancing. What I mean by metric is that this is the standard of measurement against which he measures the circumstances in his life and that even through the difficulties of life, if the gospel is advancing, Paul finds joy. 

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Perplexed? Try Joy

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Perplexed? Try Joy

How do you respond to the difficult perplexities of life? What do I mean by the difficult perplexities of life? Well, Ecclesiastes has been full of them: In the previous chapters Solomon has taken us on a tour of our dissatisfaction with our possessions and our inability to derive lasting happiness from the things that we own, the seemingly absurd proposition that days of adversity and death are as much from God’s hands as days of merriment, the reality of our human condition so that none of us are absolutely righteous or wise, and the frustration of having to submit to authorities over us with whom we disagree. However, Perhaps the most bewildering and discouraging reality we face in life is addressed in 8:14: 

Eccl. 8:14   There is a vanity that takes place on earth, that there are righteous people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked, and there are wicked people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity. 

How do you respond when you are faced with injustice or adversity or silence from God? or any of the other miriad of ways that God’s ways confuse us, disappoint us, perplex us?

In chapter 8:15-9:10, Solomon gives his answer. This is the heart of the positive instruction in the book. This is the absolute climax of Solomon’s argument, his thesis of how we are to respond to the hebel of life. He’s alluded to this answer a number of times already in the book, but here he unpacks it for us. And you might be surprised by his answer. His answer is not to give up, or to walk out, or to suffer anxiety, or to try to change the difficult perplexities of life. No. Here is his answer:

15 And I [therefore] commend joy, for man has nothing better under the sun but to eat and drink and be joyful, for this will go with him in his toil through the days of his life that God has given him under the sun.

I commend joy. Three words. I commend joy. How are we to respond to the difficult perplexities of life? Solomon carefully weighs all the options and comes out with this: I commend joy.

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Breathtaking Moments

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Breathtaking Moments

As we begin Chapter 3, Solomon is going to press the argument he is making further by describing the activities of this God in our world. This is the key section in the entire book of Ecclesiastes, and it should be clear now that Solomon’s argument is not that everything is meaningless or futile - our striving may be futile, yes, but life itself cannot be, for God is, like a masterful conductor, setting every event and season of all of our lives together for his purpose. This is not the work of an absent, disinterested God, but of a God who is intimately involved in the day-to-day, moment-to-moment unfolding of our lives. And the key idea of this section - the answer Ecclesiastes gives to the problems of the breath and the dish is that: Every Moment of Our Lives is Appointed By God and Therefore, there is beauty to be found in the breath. 

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The Gospel in Greece: Philippi

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The Gospel in Greece: Philippi

When’s the last time you found yourself in a dead end? You’re trying to move forward, but it seems that every door is now closed to you, no opportunity has presented itself. You try pushing on one door and it won’t budge. So you try another. And another. You call out to God, “just show me what to do already”. Your issue isn’t obedience - you’ll do whatever it is God’s leads you to - its just that right now you’re stuck. But if you’re in that place long enough, and enough doors close, you might even begin to doubt as to whether you’re even pursuing the right things in the first place. Have you been there?

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