“Advent: JOY” (Philippians 1-4) | 12/22/19
Philippians 1-4 | 12/22/19 | Will DuVal
This morning is the fourth Sunday of Advent, the 4 weeks in the church calendar leading up to Christmas. And we are studying the theme of JOY together. We’ve covered HOPE, peace, and now, we turn to JOY.
I think it’s important, perhaps more so with JOY than with any of the other topics, to try and define it up front; what do we MEAN when we say that Advent “Tis the Season” for JOY?
Dictionary.com defines joy as “the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying”. But immediately, from a Christian perspective, we find problems with such a definition. If joy is necessarily caused “by something exceptionally good or satisfying”, how do we explain the Bible’s description of believers as those who “[we] rejoice in our sufferings” (Rom 5:3)?
This paradox – rejoicing in suffering – has driven MANY Christians to attempt to differentiate between joy and HAPPINESS. Michael Houdmann says, “It is common today to hear believers speak of a difference between joy and happiness. The teaching usually makes the following points: 1) Happiness is a feeling, but joy is not. 2) Happiness is fleeting, but joy is everlasting. 3) Happiness depends on circumstances or other people, but joy is a gift from God. 4) Happiness is worldly, but joy is divine.”
But is that really true? Are ANY of those 4 differentiations warranted, scripturally?
Is it true that “Happiness is a feeling, but joy is not”? In 1 Thessalonians 3:9, Paul describes “all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God”. So joy certainly can be a feeling, biblically.
Could it be that “Happiness is fleeting, but joy is everlasting”? Once again, that distinction too proves inaccurate - in Psalm 16:9, David writes “my heart is happy, and my whole being[e] rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure.” David uses poetic parallelism to draw a comparison, not a contrast, between happiness and joy here, and implies that BOTH can be secure, if our joy and happiness are found in the right place.
So does “Happiness depend[s] on circumstances or other people, while joy is a gift from God”? Actually, we see LOTS of occasions in Scripture where joy is connected to a particular circumstance.
Deuteronomy 26:11 exhorts “You shall rejoice in all the good that the Lord your God has given to you”; we’re called to recognize the good circumstances the Lord has blessed us with, and let our gratitude lead us to JOY.
In Psalm 65, David expresses JOY that his fields are full of abundant flocks and a bountiful harvest.
Jeremiah 33:11 describes the joy of the bride and groom, at their wedding.
Proverbs 23:24 – parents will REJOICE in a righteous child.
Psalm 104 says that “wine brings joy to the heart of man” (take THAT, you Baptists!)
Proverbs 5:18-19 “rejoice in the wife of your youth... Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight” (take THAT, you prudes!)
Hebrews 11:25 goes so far as to acknowledge the possibility of “enjoy[ing] the fleeting pleasures of sin.” So it turns out joy can, and in at least some cases, SHOULD, in fact be derived from a particular set of circumstances.
Which leaves us with the last possible distinction: is it true that “Happiness is worldly, but joy is divine”? Well, Psalm 37:4 instructs us to “Delight yourself in the Lord”. Same root word as happiness. It is possible to find our HAPPINESS, as well as our joy, not in the things of this world, but in the Lord.
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So Scripture makes NO distinction between joy and happiness, and we’d probably be better served to STOP asking the difference, and START asking instead: “How do we GET them... BOTH of them”? True happiness, abiding joy. Where does it COME from?
To be joyful is simply to be happy, at the end of the day, that’s what we’re ALL after, isn’t it? Don’t we ALL just want to be HAPPY? In and of itself, that’s not a BAD thing. On the contrary, Psalm 67:4 invites us: “Let the nations be glad and sing for joy”. Our desire for happiness is in fact God’s DESIRE for us as well; but it’s all about where we LOOK for it.
The book of Ecclesiastes is basically King Solomon’s testimony of looking for JOY in all the wrong places. He writes (2:1-11):
“I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But behold, this also was vanity.[a] 2 I said of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?” 3 I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine and folly... I made great works. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself. 5 I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees... I had also great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. 8 I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I got singers, both men and women, and many concubines,[b] the delight of the sons of man.
9 So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me. 10 And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them... Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind.”
Because wine ALONE will never make you happy. Pleasure by ITSELF will only ever be fleeting. “Vanity”, the Hebrew word means “vapor”. It lasts but a moment. Work, no matter how meaning-filled, possessions, no matter how grandiose, riches, no matter how excessive, even WISDOM, remember, Solomon was the wisest man in history; that was his 1 wish granted directly by God in 2 Chronicles 1! But even WISDOM won’t ultimately satisfy us.
Only one thing can, friends. One person. And if you’ve joined us the past 2 weeks now, this morning’s big picture takeaway will come as NO surprise to you:
We have JOY in Christ.
We have TRUE joy, in Christ alone. He alone can fulfill the deepest longings of our hearts. Jesus said if you drink from ANY other well, you’ll be thirsty again. Only the water I give you can truly quench your thirst for joy. He says he came for this very REASON!
John 10:10 “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” A life of JOY, for YOU, that’s why Jesus CAME!
And just as we’ve recognized the PAST two weeks, with HOPE and PEACE, we will MISS the point entirely if we don’t realize that the God of the Bible is not some detached, emotion-less, hopelessly transcendent, other-worldly being who, if he takes any concern in you AT ALL, it is only to make sure you’re NOT having any fun, breaking his rules. No, friends, the God of the Bible, the God who JESUS reveals to us, is a loving heavenly FATHER who cares enough to number the hairs on our heads, and who desires to FILL us – Romans 15:13 – with ALL joy, TRUE joy, PERFECT joy. In fact, he will SETTLE for nothing less. God will not be CONTENT in his perfect purpose for your life, until he has filled you with HIS, PERFECT joy. Why? Because as John Piper has famously said, “God is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in him.” God is ALL about His own glory. God is JEALOUS for his glory. And if God is truly glorified most in you, when you are satisfied most in Him, then God is compelled to want nothing less than perfect joy for you.
But if it’s truly perfect joy, then it’s GOT to be joy from God, and joy found IN God. Joy deriving FROM God, that finds its ultimate fulfillment IN God. Let’s take each of those in turn:
First, the joy God wants for us is joy FROM God. It’s HIS joy. Supernatural joy.
Nehemiah 8:10 says “the joy of the Lord is your strength”
Psalm 16:11 “in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
Jesus told his disciples “I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” (John 15:11) We could paraphrase what he said last week in Joy 14 about peace: “JOY I leave you; MY joy I give to you; not as the WORLD gives, do I give. Let not your hearts be saddened or downcast.” Because if it’s JESUS’ joy, then it’s FULLNESS of joy.
Piper writes, “Jesus Christ is the happiest being in the universe. His gladness is greater than all the angelic gladness of heaven. He mirrors perfectly the infinite, holy, indomitable mirth of his Father” (Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ, p36).
Indeed, Hebrews 1:8-9 declares that Jesus’ joy surpassed ALL his companions; the rest of humanity!
“Of the Son he says...“God, has anointed you
with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.””
The gloomy scribes and Pharisees accused him of being TOO joyful: Lk 7:34 “The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’” Jesus – you have too much fun! Too many friends! Folks, Jesus knew how to party.
Do we? Let’s just pause for a second: when your non-Christian friends hear the word “church”, do they envision a mind-numbing, never-ending SNOOZE-fest, or do they picture a PARTY?! A joy-filled celebration? If we’re doing church right – if God’s Spirit is a part of it at all; the fruit of the Spirit is what? “Love, JOY, peace...” (Gal 5:22) – we shouldn’t have to BEG people to join us on Christmas Eve, or any other time of the year, for that matter. Church ought to be one of the highlights of our WEEK. And the joy we get from gathering with the saints to worship the Lord should overflow out of our hearts, and be evident for all to see. It oughta be contagious, and attractive, to a world DESPERATELY searching in vain elsewhere, for real, lasting joy.
If God is the source of all joy, and if Jesus was truly Immanuel – “God with us”, then he was the perfect embodiment of joy. Joy touched EVERYTHING that Jesus said and did. Even his suffering. And Jesus experienced plenty of that. Isaiah 53:3 describes him as “a man of sorrows[c] and acquainted with[d] grief”. Just before heading to the cross, Jesus confessed “My soul is deeply grieved, even to the point of death” (Mk 14:34). But as Randy Alcorn notes, “Sorrow and happiness can and do coexist... Jesus knew, as we too can know, that the basis for our sorrow is temporary, while the basis for our gladness is permanent.” (“No One was Happier than Jesus”, Dec 17 2019, desiringgod.org).
Proverbs 14:13 puts it this way - “Even in laughter the heart may ache,
and the end of joy may be grief.” The END, the telos, the FULFILLMENT of joy, may in fact be grief. What a beautiful proverb, and promise, for all whose hearts ache. You can STILL have joy, even in your grief.
Jesus was the example par excellence; what greater GRIEF could there be, for the SON of God, than experiencing total separation from God the Father, as he took on and bore the weight of ALL OUR sin and shame in his body, on the cross. And yet, even on the cross, the foundation of our faith, we hear, he did it ALL for JOY:
-Hebrews 12:2 “Let us... look to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who 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.”
Friends - THAT’S the kind of joy you want. JESUS’ joy. Joy FROM God. And secondly, we need joy IN Christ. If ANYTHING characterized Jesus’ coming into the world, it was JOY. Literally every character of the Nativity story, other than King Herod who admittedly tried to kill him, but all the rest are described as finding their joy IN the coming of the Lord:
Before Jesus is even BORN, when pregnant Mary visited pregnant Elizabeth, we hear that John the Baptist “[behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb] leaped for joy” in Jesus’ fetal presence. (Lk 1:44) Mary herself exclaims “my spirit rejoices in God my Savior” (Lk 1;47). Of the MAGI, we hear “When they [magi] saw the star, they were overwhelmed with joy.”” (Matt 2:10) And to the shepherds, the angel announces “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.” (Lk 2:10) Zechariah, Simeon, Anna, they’re ALL depicted as experiencing overwhelming JOY in the Lord, at the birth of the Savior.
E. Stanley Jones observed, “The early Christians did not say in dismay, ‘look what the world has come to,’ but in delight, ‘look what has come into the world.’” Is the same true of us, today? Does that describe YOUR Facebook posts? Are they gloom and doom – if they’re focused on what the world has come to, they absolutely will be. Or do you fix your eyes on JESUS, the one who has come INTO the world, for your sake, to rescue you from hopelessness and joylessness; is your JOY found in Him?
Alcorn writes: “Joy, exultation, and happiness are proper responses to Jesus and the gospel, which tells us that in Christ we are created by God, loved by him, redeemed, indwelt with and empowered by his Spirit, and assured of an eternally happy and abundant life in his presence. What happiness is ours! That’s why a gospel not characterized by overwhelming gladness isn’t the gospel.”
And friends, it is because of THAT good news, that the Bible can COMMAND us - joy is not just a suggestion for God’s people, He will settle for nothing less - he commands us to “rejoice always” (1 Thess 5:16). Like we said last week with PEACE, if left on our own, Jesus expecting us to “be anxious in nothing”, or to “rejoice always”, would amount to emotional abuse. I can’t muster that up. On my own, the best I can hope for in the tough times – my first Christmas away from my family, after the November we just had – a failed adoption AND a miscarriage, oh and by the way, here’s a cold to top things off – the VERY best I can try for is the world’s superficial “fake it til you make it” approach. It’s Nat King Cole’s:
“Smile though your heart is aching
Smile even though it's breaking...
Light up your face with gladness
Hide every trace of sadness
Although a tear may be ever so near
That's the time you must keep on trying”
Just keep trying harder?! How joy-LESS! How anxiety –producing! Praise God, friends, that He has not left us to just keep trying harder on our own. Jesus invites us to “Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” (John 16:24) Just ASK, he says – I DESIRE to FILL you with Joy, MY joy, the fruit of MY Spirit, in you. Ask and you WILL receive. What a promise!
His is a joy that TRANSCENDS circumstances. It empowers us to “Rejoice and be very glad [even] when others revile you and persecute you... for your reward is great in heaven” (Matt 5:11-12). It’s a joy that enables us to “Consider it pure joy... whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. And perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (James 1:2-4) That’s the kind of joy that Jesus left His disciples, who after getting arrested, beaten and warned never to speak of him again, “[They] left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for His name.” (Acts 5:41) It’s the kind of joy the Philippian jailer experienced, who despite facing the imminent prospect of losing not only his job but probably his LIFE for letting Paul and Silas escape from prison, “[The jailer...] was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole family.” (Acts 16:34) It’s the kind of joy that moved the apostle PAUL to say, “[I am] sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” (2 Cor 6:10).
How do we get THAT kind of Joy?! Friends, you ONLY get a joy that transcends the circumstances of this world, if it’s a joy that is not ROOTED IN this world. As long as your joy is tied, ultimately tied – doesn’t mean we can’t still find temporal joy in a righteous child, a glass of wine, the wife of your youth – but if your joy is ULTIMATELY tied to things of this world, it will ALWAYS be fleeting joy at best. Because 1 John 2:17 “this world is passing away along with its desires”. But if your joy is in CHRIST, then Colossians 1:5, your hope is laid up in HEAVEN. ETERNAL, Un-TOUCHABLE, Un-shakable joy.
Peter provides the BEST articulation of this joy in all of Scripture:
1 Pet 1:3-9 “According to God’s great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, [in this SALVATION, this eternal HOPE awaiting you, your imperishable inheritance; THAT’S why you can rejoice no matter what THIS world throws at you; because your hope lies ultimately in the world to COME! And you know the greatest joy of all is the relationship you now have with God the Father that Christ the Son has made available to you. In this salvation you can rejoice...] though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”
Friends: THAT is true joy. The eternal salvation of our souls, purchased by the precious blood of Jesus in our place on the cross, new birth into a “living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”, HEAVEN as an inheritance: what greater JOY could we ever DREAM of?!
But as if all that weren’t enough, I want to show you in our last 10 or so minutes here together, how that other-worldly joy touches every part of our this-worldly experience. And for that, we turn to the Book of Philippians. You can’t talk about BIBLICAL joy without eventually heading for Philippians. It is unanimously considered Paul’s “happiest” letter in the NT; he explicitly uses the words “joy” and “rejoice” 14x in just 4 chapters, more than any other epistle in the Bible. And that’s despite the fact that Paul is writing this letter to the church in Philippi from a prison cell. So keep that context in mind, as you listen to him here.
But as I began to study these references to “joy” throughout Philippians, I saw the overarching theme that “we have joy in CHRIST” emerge, but I ALSO started to identify Paul describing our joy in Christ in relation to three distinct areas of life. And it just so happens that these three categories are the same three pursuits that drive us as a church, here at West Hills. Our mission statement at West Hills is “We are a Gospel-centered church who glorify God by living in authentic Christian community with one another, growing in spiritual maturity as disciples of Jesus, and serving the world missionally with the love of Christ.” That is a FAR too wordy way of saying that at the end of the day, we just want to glorify God, because if GOD is all about His own glory, then we want to be too, but we recognize that all throughout Scripture, God’s being most glorified in us when we’re most satisfied in Him means that we give SPECIAL attention to THREE dimensions of the Christian life. They’re the same three emphases that EVERY gospel-centered church majors in. We use different wordage, but every church missions statement basically boils down to discipleship, community, and missions. Because God is glorified in us as we grow vertically, in our relationship with Him; internally, in our relationship with His people, fellow believers, the church; and outwardly, our relationship with the lost world that He loves and desires to save.
But because it’s too long, and because I’d love to help us actually remember why we’re here, what we’re all about as a church, what we’re SUPPOSED to be all about as individual believers as well, I came up with some synonyms that form a catchy acronym that I want to try out on you today:
WORSHIP
HOME, and
CALLING
Worship describes our vertical relationship with God, we will MAXIMIZE our joy, when our lives are radically characterized by assigning God worth; giving Him the glory that he deserves.
Community has become a popular Christian buzzword these days, but I think Home is a MUCH stronger way of expressing that deep longing in all our hearts to be truly known, and yet truly accepted and cared for unconditionally. Home is where you can let your hair down and be yourself without fear of rejection. That is “authentic Christian community with one another”. And that’s West Hills. And lastly,
CALLING describes the commission that Jesus has left us with, our marching orders, the family business, that we are charged with chasing after until He returns or takes us home – serving the world missionally with the love of Christ.
So let’s spend our last few minutes in Philippians examining what it means to find our joy in the WORSHIP of Christ, to experience joy in the sense of HOME that we now have through Christ, and the joy that now accompanies our CALLING from Christ.
We have joy in our WORSHIP of Christ.
Paul writes from his prison cell in ch1, vv18-24 “I will rejoice, 19 for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance... Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
If God in His sovereignty orchestrates my PHYSICAL deliverance from prison, I’ll continue to live for Christ. Worship and glorify him with everything I’ve got. But if He decides to take me home to heaven, that’s even better. Because I know I’ve already been spiritually delivered from my sin, to an imperishable inheritance awaiting me, so I no longer fear death. I WELCOME it. To die is GAIN.
But Paul indicates later in the same chapter that God has given him assurance of his physical deliverance: 1:25 “I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith.” Paul’s referring to the JOY of their sanctification, their progress in the faith, their growing in spiritual maturity as disciples of Christ. Their capacity for WORSHIP. The JOY of worship.
He exhorts them, this church in Philippi, later in ch.3, v1 “My brothers,[a] rejoice in the Lord.” And in the context of ch3, they’ve begun to be led astray by false teachers, the “circumcision party”, who are convincing these immature believers to rejoice in their own spiritual pedigrees, and in their ability to keep the Law, rather than in Christ alone. But Paul responds: “If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law,[c] blameless. 7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” (vv4-8)
THAT is worship, friends. That is JOY-filled worship. I heard a friend say it this way once: “I want to live my life in such a way that if I got to the end and I was wrong about Jesus, NO PART of my life would make any sense. From a worldly perspective. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, if this world is all there is, we Christians are above ALL people most to be pitied. Because we live our lives for the world to COME. ETERNAL joy.
So Paul concludes his exhortation to worship with his climactic words in ch 4, v4 “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.”
Brothers and sisters, let me ask you this morning: if everything else in your life falls apart, if everything else in this world fails you, as it eventually one day will, do you know that your joy is unshakable and secure in Heaven, with Christ?
2) We have joy in our HOME through Christ. The home, the new FAMILY of faith that He has adopted us into. Paul describes for us the great JOY that comes with being a member of the household of God. The church.
He opens his letter with these words in ch1, vv3-8 “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now... It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart... For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.” Those aren’t the words of a shiny, polished, mega-preacher. That’s the heart of a PASTOR. A shepherd who cares for his flock. Who knows them. Who holds them in his HEART. With affection. That’s the kind of church community you want to be a part of. To be truly known and truly loved.
How is it possible? Again, it’s only possible by the power of the Holy Spirit. And it’s only possible to the extent that we pursue the UNITY of that Spirit: ch.2, vv1-2 “So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.” It’s hard enough to experience God’s perfect hope, peace, joy in your OWN life. Individually. But to experience that in COMMUNITY, with others?! Every fallen sinner you add to the mix just ups the probability of this joyful, loving community we share falling apart. So Paul exhorts them: you’ve got to have ONE mind, ONE love, ONE common focus: fix your eyes collectively on JESUS. He’s the glue that bound you together in the first place, in this rag-tag spiritual family, and he’s got to be the glue that KEEPS you together, in JOY and unity.
Just listen to the feeling of HOME Paul experiences with and expresses for this church: ch.4, v1 “Therefore, my brothers,[a] whom I love and long for, my joy and crown... my beloved” Paul calls them his joy.
So let me leave you with this question for THIS category, beloved: do you feel at home when you come to church? The apostle Peter talks about how believers are “exiles” and “strangers” in this world, because our TRUE home is in heaven with Christ. But if that’s true, then the closest we can come to being home in THIS life, is God’s appointed EMBASSY in this foreign land. The church. It’s like we’re wandering around in a foreign country 6 days a week, barely understand the language, hopefully not “assimilating” to the world’s culture, but being counter-cultural, but 1 day a week we get to gather together with fellow exiles who speak our native tongue, and feel at home. Does it bring you JOY? Brothers and sisters. I’ll just speak for myself, from the heart... I’m so glad you’re here. I love and appreciate every ONE of you.
And lastly, #3) - We have joy in our CALLING from Christ.
Paul explains “Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will... What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.” (Ph 1:15-18)
Paul exhorts them to “hold fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. 17 Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. 18 Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me.” (Ph 2:16-18)
Ph 2:25-30 “ I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need... that you may rejoice at seeing him again... So receive him in the Lord with all joy, and honor such men, 30 for he nearly died[f] for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me.”
Epaphroditus was basically a missionary helper that the church in Philippi had commissioned and sent Paul to aid him in his evangelistic calling.
Ph 4:10-18 “I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me... It was kind of you to share[f] my trouble.”
And their concern, and sharing, wasn’t in word only, but in ACTION. In context he’s talking about their FINANCIAL support. Philippians is basically Paul’s “thank you” letter to the church.
So my concluding question for us this morning, in the “Calling” category” is this:
Let’s pray: [End] - Tis the Season