FEELING OUT OF JOY?

Try apostle Paul’s letter to the Philippians, with 17 appeals to be joyful!                                                              

“Paul, you’re writing under imprisonment in Rome, so whatever is there to be joyful about?”                  

Philippi is where the good news of Jesus Christ first reached Europe with a bang...   Remember the jailhouse singing at midnight, until earthquake struck?   

The gospel has now reached the seat of military power – the Roman praetorium, and even Caesar’s household.  Wow!

Is this just a letter about ‘the joy of faith’ though?  No way! 
Looking at the first 2 chapters let’s see what else we can find....

• Notice how Paul and Timothy regard themselves as slaves then address all, including the bishops (episkopos) and deacons – one man is not in control of the church like today.
• Paul very clearly does not believe in ‘soul sleep’ – his desire was to depart and ‘be with Christ’.
• We find two appeals to be of ‘one mind’ - that of humility seen in Jesus.
• All the way to the Day of Jesus Christ we are to be shining lights in the world and expect to suffer for His name’s sake.
• Paul gives us the profound ‘kenosis’ on how Jesus as God humbled (‘kenoo’) Himself as a slave, to face the death of the cross. 

NEXT..... Rejoice in the Lord always!