The Joy Of Faith

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Philippians 1:25-27 And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith; 26 That your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again. 27 Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;

The Joy Of Faith Comes Only Through Suffering

We see toward the end of verse 25, “Joy of Faith”. When you live for Jesus, you will often find yourself in bad spots. The Apostle Paul had more than his share of bad spots. Saul met Jesus on the Damascus Road, and heeding His call became Paul the Apostle. When Ananias was told to go to Saul and lay hands on him, Ananias was initially hesitant. After all, the Saul had been terrorizing the Church. But Jesus told Ananias:

Acts 9:15-16 (ESV) “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. 16 For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”

As Saul caused others to suffer for Satan’s sake, now Paul himself will suffer “for the sake of {Jesus}”. Oh, how Paul would suffer! Paul told the Church at Corinth:

2 Corinthians 1:8-10 (ESV) For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. 10 He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.

The brighter and more flamboyant the LIGHT, the greater the DARKNESS will hate it.

Paul said that he was so distressed that “we despaired of life itself”. That is a profound statement. This means that Paul got so discouraged that he and those with him welcomed death. This is a state of advanced depression, where life has lost its savor. Paul was like that poor old Saint Job who cried out:

Job 6:2-4 (ESV) Oh that my grief were thoroughly weighed, and my calamity laid in the balances together! 3 For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea: therefore my words are swallowed up. 4 For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit: the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me.

How was Paul afflicted? He said:

2 Corinthians 11:24-29 (ESV) Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?

Oh, how Paul’s ministry was filled with suffering. He was betrayed by friends.

Alexander the copper-smith (2 Timothy 4:14) “did Paul GREAT harm”.
The Church he started compared him to Apollos (1 Corinthians 1:12; 3:4).
The Missionary Mark abandoned Paul at one of the most critical moments of his ministry, and drove a wedge between Paul and his good friend Barnabas (Acts 15:37-39).

2 Corinthians 1:9-10 …(ESV) we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. 10 He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us.

The reason that Paul and those with him were given more than they could bear was to require them to cast their burdens on God our Savior. This is what FAITH is. I have heard FAITH used as an acronym:

F orsaking
A ll
I will
T rust in
H im

God puts us in bad situations to help us to learn to trust in Him, and not in ourselves or in others. People are fallen. People are broken. Yes, God wants us to help one another – this is the nature of the Church. The Church cannot be on Internet, nor on a Social platform. The Church is where broken people come together as a body, the Body of Christ. What saith the Scripture?

1 Corinthians 12:12-13, 25-27 (ESV) … just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. … 25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. 27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

This life is filled with suffering. Suffering is the byproduct of sin. We are called together to “bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the Law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2). This is what the Church is – the Kingdom of God on the earth. We should care for one another, and lift one another up. And yet, there is only so much we can do for one another.

The suffering that God gives us, which He makes our portion, helps us to grow and to be more like Christ. Our Lord Jesus suffered. He never suffered from His sins, for He had none (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus was, is, and will always be without sin. But again, the brightest Light will bring the greatest hatred from darkness. When Jesus came to this earth, He practiced F-A-I-T-H. He trusted in God the Holy Spirit, and God His Father. Jesus went into Gethsemane and, though He took His Apostles with Him, they all slept as He prayed. Three times Jesus prayed:

Matthew 26:39 (ESV) … “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”

Forsaking All, Jesus Trusted God. As He was carried into illegal courtrooms and before Gentiles, He trusted God. Beaten, bruised, tortured until He looked like a bloody worm, Jesus prayed from Calvary’s Cross:

Psalm 22:6-8 (ESV) I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people. 7 All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads; 8 “He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!”

Did Jesus despair of life? Yes, He did. He cried out “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” from that bloody Throne He hung from. Yes, He despaired of life. But what did Jesus do? Did He quit? No, we are told:

Hebrews 12:2 (ESV) {Jesus} for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Jesus knew that beyond the Cross, His sacrifice would bring many more into the Kingdom of God. So He looked beyond that momentary suffering, and trusted in God. F-A-I-T-H. Forsaking All, I will Trust in Him, in God.

Paul Was Ready To Go Home, But Wanted
To Teach The Church The J-O-Y of F-A-I-T-H

Philippians 1:25 And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith;

Paul said “I have this confidence”. What is he talking about? We read …

Philippians 1:21-24 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor: yet what I shall choose I wot not. 23 For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: 24 Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.

Paul realized the great truth of Christianity. You see, every other religion in this world is based on a dead founder. Think about it.

Mormonism’s Joseph Smith is dead.
Jehovah Witnesses Charles Taze Russell is dead.
Christian Scientist’s founder Mary Baker Eddy is dead.
Muslim’s prophet Muhammad is dead.
The multiple founders of Hinduism are all dead.
Baha’i Faith’s founder Mirza Husayn ‘Ali Nuri is dead.
Humanism’s founder poet Francesco Petrarca is dead.
The founder of Confucianism, Confucius is dead.

This is just a small list of the some 4000 recognized world religions. Yet all of their founders are dead. Yet there is One Founder Who never died. Guess Who? It is Jesus. Jesus died on Calvary, and rose from the grave on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:4). Jesus knew He was going to die, and embraced it. He said (Luke 24:46-47) “it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” Jesus died for OUR sins, so that we would NEVER have to die. The Apostle said therefore with confidence,

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain

He even went beyond this. Paul said that he would rather …

depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: 24 Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is {better} for you

Paul was not worrying about dying. In fact, to him death was a good friend that he looked forward to embracing. Now this doesn’t mean that Paul was suicidal or foolhardy with his life. It just means he understood the great truth of our faith.

Our Founder is NOT dead.
Our Founder has CONQUERED death.
Death has NO HOLD on us.
Death will not scare us.
Death is a whipped puppy!

We are reconciled to God our Father through the Blood of the Cross (Ephesians 2:16). We who are saved by faith in Christ (forsaking all I follow him), are now children of God because of our faith. There was a silly song years ago, but it popped in my head:

That’s word, because, you know
You can’t touch this
You can’t touch this
Break it down!
Stop, Hammer time!

Disease can take my body, but it can’t touch this soul of mine. We put the hammer and nails on Jesus, but Jesus put the hammer on death for us.

1 Corinthians 15:55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

Jesus has defeated sin and death, and these things are not meant to be our masters any more. We are to live for Jesus. We are to put others before ourselves.

What is the J-O-Y of F-A-I-T-H that
Paul wanted to teach us?

Paul was ready to go to Heaven. And yet, God was not ready for him. God had things that He wanted Paul to do before he left this earth. Believe it or not, God has things that He wants YOU to do for Him before you leave this earth.

Sadly, this part of Christianity has been hidden as “Cultural Christianity” sweeps through the American Church. We are never told that “Forsaking All, I Will Trust Him” is what F-A-I-T-H is all about. We are also not told that J-O-Y is an acronym that establishes how we are to order our lives. Let’s spell it out:

J esus above all else first.
O thers are to be served next. Finally,
Y ourself. Seeking your own blessing comes last.

There is no JOY to be found in “me first”. The Scripture does not teach this. The Savior does not teach this. Christianity is an entirely selfless religion. I have heard in recent years silly statements in the Churches like:

God wants you to love yourself first.
If you don’t love yourself, how can you love others?
You need to do what suits you, and be true to your feelings.

These statements have absolutely nothing to do with Christianity. They are from the religion of Humanism, and are absolutely wrong. When you make yourselves the center of the universe, life starts becoming senseless. This is why we are seeing so much “gender dysphoria”, homosexuality, transgenderism, etc. We were designed by God in the Garden of Eden to serve others and to serve God. We are to ALWAYS put JESUS FIRST. If we put Jesus FIRST, then we will emulate Jesus. When we emulate or imitate Jesus, we will see JESUS ALWAYS PUT OTHERS FIRST. The pattern that Jesus followed was:

J ehovah (God)
O thers
Y ourself

Jesus said “If you’ve seen Me, you’ve seen the Father” (John 14:9). Why? Because He put JEHOVAH God first. The Bible tells us that “Jesus TOUCHED the leper, saying, “Be clean”, and the leper was cleansed (Matthew 8:3). He put OTHERS before Himself. Yes, Jesus took time for Himself. In Matthew 4:1-2 Jesus spent 40 days in prayer and fasting, just prior to the start of His ministry. In Luke 6:12 Jesus prayed all night before choosing His Apostles. Jesus often went out in the morning to pray (Luke 5:16; Mark 1:35).

There are six times in Scripture that Jesus
chose solitude over people.

We all need “ME” time, time to be with God by ourselves. But we are never to put ourselves first. We are told in:

Philippians 2:3-5 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. 4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. 5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

This is the EXACT OPPOSITE of what the world and the worldly IN the Church say today. In our society it is “me before thee”. But this is not how God created us. He made us in the image of God, then placed us in a Garden that needed no weeding to tend to it. It was only when Adam put HIMSELF FIRST that he lost Eden and the joy of God’s presence. We are to put JESUS FIRST, then OTHERS, then YOURSELVES. If you do what the world does today, and the cultural Christian does today, you will not have JOY. For if you have YOURSELF first, OTHERS, and lastly JESUS, you have YOJ but not JOY. You have confusion, not what God has secured for you through the death and resurrection of His Son. Listen to the Scripture:

Outdo one another in showing honor (Romans 12:10)
Do not provoke or envy one another (Galatians 5:26)
God opposes the proud but gives grave to the humble (1 Peter 5:5)
Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ (Ephesians 5:21)
Bear with one another in love (Ephesians 4:2)

Word Study: The joyless Christian is the one who puts themselves first. He says, “let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ”. The word translated “conversation” is the Greek politeúomai, {pronounced pol-it-yoo’-om-ahee}, which means “your citizenship, how you behave in the Kingdom of God”. You are a citizen of God’s Kingdom whether you are in this Church or outside of it, in the marketplace or elsewhere. Your citizenship should be “as becomes the gospel of Christ”. This is what God expects of you. When you put Jesus first, then others, then yourself, then and only then will you have J-O-Y. May God the Holy Spirit give you the J-O-Y of Faith. For God’s glory, and the furtherance of His Kingdom I pray this. Amen and Amen.