What is joy??

We celebrate Easter because Easter is about an event from history where God provided the means that could rescue selfish and rebellious humanity by raising His Son Jesus from the dead, who came to earth to live the life that we were created to live but refused to live and allowed Himself to be treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful lives so God the Father could treat us as though we lived Jesus perfect life. However, Easter Sunday is not simply about God providing the means for humanity to experience forgiveness and the relationship with God that we were created for. Easter Sunday is also about the vindication and affirmation of the life that Jesus lived here on earth as an example for His followers to follow.

You see, Jesus came to earth not only to rescue us from our selfishness and rebellion. Jesus came to earth to show us what it means to be truly human. Jesus provides us the example of how we are to live our lives in relationship with God and in relationship with others as His followers. For example, as followers of Jesus we are to live Spirit-filled lives. Just as Jesus lived life in a way that was controlled, influenced and empowered by the Holy Spirit, as followers of Jesus we reveal and reflect Jesus to others when we live lives that are controlled, influenced, and empowered by the Holy Spirit.

For example, as followers of Jesus we are to live lives that are marked by love. As followers of Jesus, we are to love as Jesus loved. As followers of Jesus, we are to love God with our total being and we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. As a matter of fact, Jesus said that the world would know that we are His disciples by our love for one another. To be truly human in the relationship with God and one another that we were created for is to live a Spirit-filled, gospel centered life of love.

And while those two examples are challenging enough, then there is the challenge of living a life of joy. As followers of Jesus we are to live a life that is marked by joy. Just as Jesus lived a life that was marked by joy, as followers of Jesus we are to live a life marked by joy. As the writer of Hebrews reminds us, Jesus provided the example of joy, so that we as His followers should be "fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame".

But how do we live a life that is marked by joy? And what is joy, anyways? Because, for many of us, if we were brutally honest, we do not feel very joyful, very often, do we? I mean, is a life that is marked by joy a life that walks around singing "I have joy, joy, joy, joy, down in my heart"? Is that what joy is? Is a life that is marked by joy a life that walks around emotionally high on Jesus? Where does joy come from? Does joy come from the head? Does joy come from the heart? And how do I know if I have joy? And where can I find joy if I do not think or feel like I have joy?

To answer these questions, at the church where I serve, we are going to spend our time together in a sermon series entitled "Finding Joy." During this series we are going to discover that the search for joy is nothing new. Instead the search for joy has been a search that has occurred throughout history. And in a letter that was written to early followers of Jesus and has been preserved for us in our Bible today, we will discover a man who exhibited joy in a most unexpected place and who articulated several timeless truths about finding joy.

Our hope and our prayer during this series is to be able to answer the question "What is joy?" along with sharing the several truths that this man found as he lived a life that was marked by joy. So let's meet this man and jump into the letter that he wrote to early followers of Jesus together, beginning in Philippians 1:1-2:

Paul and Timothy, bond-servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who   are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

This letter that has been preserved for us in the New Testament of the Bible begins by introducing us to its author, who was Paul, along with his partner in ministry, a man named Timothy. Now the Apostle Paul became the greatest missionary of the early church after to his encounter with Jesus Christ after He had been raised from the dead on the Damascus Road, which we read about in a section of a letter in the New Testament of the Bible called the book of Acts, in Acts 9. And it was this encounter with the resurrected Lord and the exceptional effect of God’s transformational intervention and activity in his life that resulted in Paul’s transformation from being the greatest persecutor of the early church to becoming the greatest missionary of the early church.

As a result of God’s transformational intervention and activity in his life, Paul viewed himself and Timothy as bond-servants of Christ Jesus. When Paul use the phrase bond servant here, this phrase refers to someone who is solely committed to the service of another. You see, Paul and Timothy both viewed themselves as being solely committed to the Kingdom Mission that they had been given by Jesus to share the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel as they traveled throughout the region surrounding the Mediterranean Sea planting churches.

After introducing himself as the author of this letter, the Apostle Paul introduces the recipients of this letter as all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi. These were followers of Jesus who were a part of a church that the Apostle Paul planted in 50 A.D. in the city of Philippi during his second missionary journey, which is recorded for us in Acts 16. The city of Philippi was located in Macedonia, which was the northern region of Greece.

In 42 B.C., following the battle of Philippi, the city was made a military colony by the Roman Empire, which was the dominant military and political power in the world during this time in history. Then, on September 2^nd, 31 B.C. after the Roman General Octavian, who was later named Caesar Augustus, defeated the combined forces of Mark Antony and Cleopatra in the Battle of Actium to end a civil war in the Roman Empire, the status of Philippi was raised to the chief city in Northern Greece.

The change in status provided the residents of Philippi with numerous advantages, including autonomous government, immunity from paying tribute, and treatment as if they actually lived in Italy. In addition, the Via Egnatia, which was the main highway from Asia to Italy and Europe, passed through Philippi. Paul made a second visit to Philippi in 55-56 A.D. on his third missionary journey which is recorded for us in Acts 20:1-6.

At the end of this missionary journey, Paul traveled to Jerusalem. During this visit to Jerusalem, the Apostle Paul was arrested by the self righteous Jewish religious leaders of the day. After several trials, Paul was transported to Rome to await an appeal before the Roman authorities. In 61 A.D., as he sat in prison in Rome awaiting trial, Paul took the time to pen this letter that has been preserved for us in the New Testament of the Bible as the book of Philippians.

When Paul refers to the overseers and Deacons, he is referring to the Elders and Deacons who served in leadership at the church in Philippi. After extending his customary greeting of Divine favor and well being as a result of God’s activity in their lives, we see Paul begin his letter to the members of the church of Philippi with a statement that reveals for us a timeless truth when it comes to finding joy.

Tomorrow we will look at that statement together...