Today’s message can be imagined as a competition. I have come wanting to make you happy today. You may say, “Me, happy? Impossible. Do you know my situation?” Let’s see who wins. Whatever your situation, you may have come sad, sorrowful, depressed; you may be in difficulty, with financial, health, or family problems, or you may be confused and uncertain about the future. Whatever your situation, I want to take you to a place and show you a man who is in a situation far worse than any you can imagine. In our journey to find true joy in Christ, let me invite you to a place, not to a mansion, palace, feast, tour, or shopping, but to a dark, dirty Roman prison.
His situation was far worse than any you can think of. He had not done anything wrong, but was unjustly put in prison. He was a most active man, doing the most important work, traveling everywhere and spreading the Gospel, planting churches. But he was arrested and put in a filthy, poorly ventilated, underground cell. Caesar Nero was a madman; he could decide to cut off Paul’s head. Paul knew he could die at any moment. Think of what a torture it is to live not knowing what the judgment will be, to live in jail for around three years. “Hang me, hang me soon,” but to keep the prisoner in secret, in a prison where he may be hanged at any moment—horrible torture. In the midst of all that terrible present circumstance and uncertainty of the future, with his life hanging by a thread, he could die any minute. Think of him in prison for years, chained between two soldiers, debarred from the work he loved; and others outside taking advantage of his absence to grieve him, preaching the very Gospel out of envy and to grieve him. But the man is filled and overflowing with joy in the dark, worst prison. And yet, his heart was so running over with joy that he was filling others up with it.
This was not ordinary, transient, emotional feeling that lifts you up one moment and drops you the next, depending on circumstances. The Bible talks about divine joy produced by the Holy Spirit. This is a divine, irrepressible and constant joy. Nothing in the world can disturb that joy. Like a dam bursting with a flood, joy bursting from this man’s heart is bursting and filling the whole prison and its surroundings, and the flood is even going to Caesar’s house. His joy flowed through many cities in that generation. Through this letter, it flowed in every past generation, and today, his joy flows into GRBC church. The outburst of his joy is this letter of joy.
As we come to dive into this letter, we have to realize that every word that comes from this man has the secrets of joy for each of us in whatever situation we are in. We will see many secrets as we move through this epistle; every week we will find a new secret and go home with joy. Today, in verses 3 and 4:
3: “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,” 4: “always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy,”
There are four secrets to joy in these two verses for any situation. Irrespective of your situation, do you want to be filled with joy? Here are four secrets.
Secrets of Joy, Part 1
- Thanksgiving
- True Wealth
- Remembrance
- Intercession
First Secret: The Joy of Thanksgiving
The first secret of joy is basic: cultivating a heart of thankfulness in any situation. This man, in this situation, starts a letter. Notice the first words in English: “I thank.” The basic secret of joy is not being unhappy for what you don’t have, but being thankful for what you do have.
An important, permanent remedy psychologists give for young and old men who are under a lot of stress and all stress-related problems is to learn to be thankful for what you have. The amazing change and joy that this can bring in your life are like magic. Everything will change when you start seeing life with a thankful heart. Nothing makes you happier than being thankful for what you have.
They call it the power of gratitude. One foolish objection people say is, “Oh, if I am thankful for what I have, I will become satisfied and lazy and not work hard.” That is very stupid; in fact, the reverse is true. When you cultivate a grateful heart for what you have, it creates such good positive emotions and will actually make you work hard and be productive to do better. Being thankful is not going to deter you from wanting more good in your life. A grateful heart generates greater positive motivation to move forward and achieve big things. In contrast, if you are always dissatisfied, upset, and disappointed, those negative emotions will make you more discouraged and demotivated, and you will end up doing the wrong things. You will notice that all people who are grateful for what they have achieve and do big things in a positive way.
There is nobody who has put more effort into and achieved greater things for God’s kingdom than the Apostle Paul. Paul writes this letter, and he is not on vacation, a foreign trip, or at a palace or the Jerusalem church. He is in prison now, not able to do anything. There is not even a hint of dissatisfaction, complaining of all the problems of smell, common toilets, improper food, lack of air, injustice, and an uncertain future. “I am worried about what will happen next.” None of his present circumstances have disturbed his joy. Unless he tells us he is in prison, we would imagine he is in heaven now. In such a horrible situation, the first word that comes from his mouth is “I thank.”
Why? Because Paul cultivated a thankful heart in any circumstance, even the worst circumstance. He says, “I thank.” There is another amazing situation you can imagine. In Acts 27, Paul is arrested and taken to Rome in a ship. The ocean is full of storms, with tsunami-like waves in the middle, and bad weather. The ship is going to be shipwrecked into pieces; he and all those in the boat will surely be thrown into the midst of the ocean sometime soon. Verse 20 says, “neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest beat on us, all hope that we would be saved was finally given up.” There had been days without bread. They threw all the luggage in the ship into the sea to reduce weight. What a situation! What will you do? You’ve lost everything. Soon, the ship will be wrecked into pieces, and your body will sink in the middle of the ocean; all the fishes will eat you to pieces. You know what Paul does? In verse 35, “And when he had said these things, he took bread and gave thanks to God in the presence of them all; and when he had broken it he began to eat.” In verse 36, “Then they were all encouraged, and also took food themselves.” How Paul? How can you be so calm and give thanks in that situation?
Learn to cultivate a thankful heart. Maybe you kind of sense your ship is breaking, everything is life-breaking. See, Paul says, “Lord, I am in a horrible situation in the midst of the ocean, but even in this situation, I may die next minute, but thank you for giving me bread. Thank you because you are in control of this situation in my life.” He is filled with joy even in that situation, and now he is overflowing with joy because of his thankful heart. It is always a thankful heart that is joyful, regardless of the situation. Even in the worst situation, we can enjoy joy if we have a thankful heart.
I read about an 18-year-old woman who had a terrible accident, which made her completely unable to speak or move most of the muscles in her body. She was in an automatic wheelchair, worse than a quadriplegic. She could not even move her head or face without terrible pain, and she lived like that for 43 years. When anyone met her, she would lift her head and make a smile as much as her muscles allowed, and it was very painful for her to even smile, but she always smiled wide when she saw people to let them know her heart was full of joy in Christ. She lived 43 years like that. This is the joy the Holy Spirit produces. Think of how wonderful it is compared to the pathetic joy in the world, where people’s faces shrink and are fully upset just because they didn’t have matching shoes or strawberry-flavored ice cream, or because there was less sugar in their coffee. For the whole day, they have a shrunken face. Why? “Because I am not born to a billionaire.”
This woman would write with her mouth, “The reason for my overflowing joy is that I have learned the sweet teaching of providence, and God does all for our good, and a blessed joy comes when you leave everything in God’s hand, thanking God for whatever he sends, whatever the situation is.”
You know the reason you don’t have joy is because you are sinning and grieving the Holy Spirit by always grumbling like the Israelites, murmuring about your family, income, health, or job, or if there is nothing, you find something else, even the weather. There is always a grumbling spirit, no thankfulness. Yet the very air you inhale to complain is a gift from God. This is a terrible sin. God punished Israel for this. Today, he punishes ungrateful churches and Christians. Romans 1 says the chief sin of the world is ingratitude; though they knew God, they didn’t thank him. May we repent of grumbling and learn.
The first basic secret to being happy is to cultivate a thankful heart. How to cultivate it? Think of how unworthy you are as a depraved child of Adam. We saw David praying, “I was conceived in sin.” The only wealth each of us has as ours in this world is our sin and depravity. All others we enjoy are grace-given debts. To such unworthy creatures who don’t deserve even a drop of water, what mercies God has been showering on us. Where were you? Where has God brought us? How marvelously he preserved you! We could have been on the road. We could have died. We could not have a family, no marriage, no children, no job, be handicapped, bedridden, or have no skills or education. But see all that as gifts from God.
What has he done? Not only providence, but in redemption, forgiveness, conversion, justification, adoption, and sanctification. We get frustrated in the Christian life; we don’t make much progress. We are not like this or that. But do we realize that any progress, any good we have is the grace of God, not because of our goodness? Think of where you were five or ten years ago, and where God’s grace has brought you. We will have to start seeing what good things God’s grace has worked in us. That will motivate us to grow in grace and sanctification. Always keep this before your eyes and mind: how undeserving you are and how great God’s mercies are. That is what creates a thankful heart in any circumstance. Pride makes you ungrateful. It makes you think you deserve more, that God owes you more. So, the first secret for joy is cultivating a thankful heart. What a wonderful way to start the day. “I thank my God,” thanking God.
Second Secret: True Wealth
What are the next words? “I thank whom?” Not “generally, I thank God.” No. “My God.” The second secret of joy is realizing our true wealth. It is the realization that God in the covenant of grace is my infinite wealth and portion that nothing in the world can take away. Paul joyfully says, “I thank my God, I thank my God.” I was repeatedly saying this. It is an expression of the covenant relationship where God promises, “I will be their God” and gives himself to us and all his attributes as our possession. Nothing can take away from us. Paul, how can you be happy when you have lost all, when you are not even outside begging, but inside a jail treated like an animal, with no rights or freedom, when no one is with you? Paul is like, “I may not have wealth now, or money now. I may not have any relatives with me in jail. I may not know my future. Still, I can be joyful because one great wealth I have, which nothing in this world can take away, is my God.” Knowing that, “I have fullness of joy, whatever may happen to my situation, that never changes.”
Paul saying, “My God,” is celebrating the covenant relationship, the intimacy, his wealth, the personal relationship, the strong sense of personal, intimate communion he enjoyed with the Almighty Himself. He loves to speak of God as “my God,” “my God,” and he uses that phrase repeatedly in his letters: 1 Corinthians 1:4, Colossians 1:3, 1 Thessalonians 1:2, and 2 Timothy 1:3.
It is a rich truth. When you deeply understand and meditate on it, it fills you with joy like no other in any situation. Psalm 144:15 says, “Happy is that people whose God is the Lord.” There is no greater blessing than this in the covenant of grace. We saw the word “grace” last week. You know that grace kept giving wealth, adoption, and servants, but the height of that grace is this. This infinite God in covenant. He could have said, “I will give one world I created to you,” or even “all the universe to you.” He went beyond all that as the height of his grace in the covenant. He promises, “I will give you myself, the great Jehovah.” His infinite essence is yours. That is, all his glorious attributes and perfections are mine. The whole deity, God the Father, is my Father. The Lord Jesus Christ is my Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is my Holy Spirit, as my wealth. And all three will work for my redemption and eternal good. It is like, “All that is in me, all I am, all I have, all I can do, is yours.”
Think of it. This great infinite being. If this God who is the source of everything is my property, I can claim “my God,” what can I lack? How can this be? An infinite God, so great, so glorious, so infinite, eternal, and incomprehensible. We are not capable of receiving, holding, comprehending, or enjoying him. How many lifespans do we need? All eternity is not enough to enjoy this. The answer: He is given in grace. “So far as you are capable to receive and enjoy him, he is yours.” Is this true? Unbelievable! Is this truly mine, not to be taken back? He promised on himself to do that. This is an everlasting covenant bond with the eternal purposes of God. His covenant is irrevocable and indissoluble. So Paul says proudly, “I may not have wealth, I may not have any relations, I am in jail, but he is a relation nearer than any relations. A mother may forget, but he never forgets. My God.”
If God is my God, his providence is all working for my good. Why should I be upset if I am in jail? He has a purpose for me to be in jail. He will use me for all generations as an example for joy, so I would not have had so much joy unless I was in jail. I would not have written this letter, which will be a blessing to all generations if I were not in jail. If he is my God, what lack do I have? If I have needs, Philippians 4:19 says, “My God shall supply all your needs, according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”
So, Paul, knowing this glory, declares, “my God.” I may be poor and despicable, but I am the most riches and wisest man. A worldly man may pride himself: “This is my house, this is my estate, this money is mine; all this is mine.” Poor, mad fellow. He doesn’t realize it is all vanity and rented; it will go away soon. But I can truly, eternally, permanently, and proudly say, “my God.” This God is mine. Caesar may have a temporary kingdom. He may lose it in this life or die soon and lose all. With this covenanted God, I have more than ten thousand kingdoms.
If you want the secret of joy in every situation, meditate on and realize that your only true wealth in the covenant of grace is that God has given himself to you. Keep realizing that, keep boasting, celebrating, and enjoying your relationship with God. “I thank my God, I thank my God.” It is not just saying “my God” that will bring joy. Paul was so near to God that he was full of joy. Circumstances are not a factor. It’s your nearness to God that determines the level of your joy. And so Paul knew that inexpressible and irrepressible joy, which is an abiding feeling of peace, calm, tranquility, contentment, and delight and satisfaction that flows from deep within because of the presence of God being imprinted on the soul. With the constant realization inside his soul that “God is my eternal portion and wealth” and “he never can be taken away,” Paul was filled with joy in spite of his situation.
The first secret of joy is thankfulness, and the second is true wealth.
Third Secret: Remembrance
Verse 3: “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you.”
Do you do that, remembering? Memory is an amazing thing. It allows you to recall past events now or even from years ago. It allows you to remember people who have passed on into eternity. It allows you to remember love, blessings, joy, excitement, and wonder. Memory is an amazing gift given to us by the Lord; other creatures don’t have it. Whatever your present situation may be, even in prison between four walls, you can go out of those four walls using your memory, thinking back on past mercies from God and what Christ has done for you. And just like Paul, even mercies and favors from men can keep us happy. We have a song, “Count your many blessings.” See what God has done for you in the past; it will surprise you and make you joyful. It is spiritual amnesia that makes us ungrateful and sad. We forget, and we don’t learn the practice of remembering things. How the Psalms are filled with that! When David was in the worst situation, he always found joy and comfort thinking back on past mercies. God rebukes the Israelites for forgetting and not remembering.
That is what Paul is doing here. He may not be in church, he may be missing fellowship, but he is remembering the fellowship he had with the Philippians. “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you.” The very thought of the Philippians brought him jubilant memories. Paul had an inventory of memories. He focused on the positive ones. He says, “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you.” Everything he could think about the Philippians gave him joy. They were a cause for gratitude. His heart was filled with joyous thanks to God for the sweet memories of these believers.
The Philippians weren’t perfect. The church wasn’t perfect. The church wasn’t without its problems. There must have been some disunity there. In verse 1:27, he says, “You need to have one spirit, one mind, striving together.” And in chapter 4, those two women who were not in harmony. There were some problems, but that church still brought him joy. All churches fall short. All churches disappoint their pastors and their leaders. People do that; we’re human.
Yet, these people loved the Lord, and they loved the apostle. Every memory was a cause for delight. What blessed memories they were. Do you remember them? He must have remembered that Sabbath day in that pagan and worldly Philippi, with no synagogue, where he went to the riverside to find some Jewish women, not even Jewish men, but only women. What a dry place! We think of trying to find a true church, that we should go somewhere near the outskirts in this big city to hear God’s word on Sunday.
And he met a few Jewish women who were there by the riverside near Philippi, worshiping the true God. And there, the Lord opened the heart of a lady named Lydia, and she was saved, as was her entire household, the first converts in Europe. That gracious woman was God’s gift to His Son, the beginning of evangelism in a new continent—a wonderful beginning, a sweet memory. She forced them to stay in the house and do the ministry. This loving woman showed her personal hospitality to Paul and Silas. She became a very dear saint of God, in whose house the church met. And then there was the memory of that demon-possessed girl, whom Paul, by the power of the Spirit of God, cleansed of her demons. And she was born again and also entered the church. And then there was the memory of jail, the sweet memory of being in stocks after your backs have been stripped and laid bare, and your flesh is nothing but pulp. And you’re in the darkness of an inner dungeon in the stocks, singing and praising God.
And God brings, in the darkness of the morning, an earthquake and breaks the jail open and breaks the stocks, and all the chains are loosed. And out of it all, the jailer is converted to Christ and his whole household, and they show their tender love to Paul and Silas by caring for their wounds. And there’s a baptismal service, and then they are released, and the church meets at Lydia’s house. Sweet memories, sweet memories.
And then there was the memory of those times when the Philippians sent money to him, money to help him. Those times when, as part of the saints in Macedonia, mentioned in 2 Corinthians, chapter 8, they sent generously out of their deep poverty. They were a generous, loving people. They cared for Paul with an unusual zeal, more than any other church. They continually sent him gifts of money to meet his need, to support him. Even though they were not particularly wealthy, they were gifts given from loving hearts, gifts that went beyond even Paul’s need. And he says to them in chapter 4, “Look, I don’t need this much, but I’m so glad you gave it, because you gave it as a gift to the Lord. And it tells me where your heart is, and God will reward you and bless you again. And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in Christ Jesus.”
And then there was the latest gift. Worrying about him in jail, they sent lots of gifts. The bearer of that gift is one of their congregation named Epaphroditus. They sent Epaphroditus with the instruction, “Give Paul this money to meet his needs and stay with him as long as he needs you to minister to him.” And so, they send one of their choice men to be Paul’s personal servant, to bring the gift of love and to be the living illustration of their love for him. Paul already had so many good memories, now this one to fill in the lovely memories of Philippian Christians. When Paul received Epaphroditus, the receipt of their love, and care, and generosity to him opened the floodgates of joy in his heart. And he writes this letter back to say, “I have so much joy. Don’t worry about me. Though I am a prisoner, that does not touch my joy, not at all.” He is filled with joy. Trials, in fact, may become occasions of deeper joy, because they cast the believer totally off his circumstances and onto his God. Though his present condition was difficult, though his present condition was painful physically, unjust legally, and unexplained spiritually in one sense, his heart was unaffected; he was full of sweet memories.
Can I tell you, one of the keys to joy in the Christian life with regards to people is a real key to be able to recall the goodness of people, to be able to recall the best in someone, to be able to look past some of the faults and glitches in life and look at their best and capture and store those sweet memories in our heart. The heart where the joy of the Holy Spirit dominates, like it did in Paul, is a heart that touches the sweet things of life, not the bitter things. It savors thoughts of others’ goodness and others’ kindness and others’ love and others’ compassion and others’ gentleness and others’ sacrifice and others’ care, and it forgets the rest. It really does. It forgets the rest. That is how the Holy Spirit fills us with joy in relationships.
But you know what is the problem with us? The main reason we are not happy is that we don’t walk by the Spirit. When we walk by the flesh, not controlled by the Spirit, instead of remembering people’s positives, goodness, and best things, and being filled with Holy-Spirit-produced joy, we keep thinking of their negatives. We become sad and bitter by always recalling and focusing on bad things they did to us. Our fleshly tendency is always to focus on everyone’s unkindness, ingratitude, faults, and wounds that they’ve inflicted on us. It’s really easy to be negative, isn’t it? We don’t realize there is no such thing as a perfect church, no such thing as a perfect Christian, nothing like a perfect husband, wife, children, or relatives. It is so easy to see only the negatives, but it is so hard to see the positives. Did you know that true love always sees the best in others, as in 1 Corinthians 13:5, 7, and 8?
This is a major area where we leak our joy and lose our joy. Ask yourself, you know why you are not joyful. When you are thinking of husbands, wives, children, church members, relatives, or friends, what is it that you recall? “Ah,” we say, “what is there to think?” If they have done something wrong, their faults and weaknesses are all so big and etched in stone. Those blind us to seeing any good in them. But what about their good things? Do we see anything, what they have done, what a blessing they are? Do you capture and store the good things and keep thinking about that in our mind and savor them, relish, and enjoy them? That view itself is not there. You cannot even have a good word for them. Are you always finding fault? If you are negative, see, it’s a dead giveaway. Oh, realize, this is the main reason you are not happy in life. This is a joy destroyer. It shows you are not controlled by the Holy Spirit but by the flesh. The fruits of the flesh—bitterness, resentfulness, holding grudges—are all works of the flesh and not the Spirit.
Do this exercise: When you think of your husbands and wives, children, church members, or friends, go home and list all the good things you see in them. What a blessing they have been to you, what a gift from God they are. Where would you be if they didn’t come into your life? What will happen if they suddenly go away from your life? Just keep thinking this about someone. Record those memories as videos, selfies, and store them in your memory. Oh, it will fill your heart with great joy, even tearful joy.
When you list down all the good things, then you can say with Paul, “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you.” Thank God for giving me such a wife, husband, children, church, pastor, members, relatives. Oh, that is a great secret for many of you. The reason you are not happy is because your heart is full of bitter videos: “how they said that and this,” “how they stared at me,” “how they neglected me,” “how they didn’t respect me.” Some people can find fault even in the best things. Do you want to live like that? Fill your mind with all those bitter, toxic memories. “Not me.” Why do you throw mud on your own happiness?
Oh, Pastor, what about all the wrong things they have done? I can never forget. They never change. I cannot forget. I feel bitter. Yes, are you perfect? Can you change by feeling bitter against them? No, that is not the solution. Learn to walk in the Spirit, learn to yield to the Spirit. The Spirit of God has a way of erasing and deleting all the toxic videos and negative things in your mind and storing the good things in your mind. That is what will increase your joy. It focuses on joyful memories. That’s the work of the Spirit in the heart of the believer.
In those days, Paul didn’t have photos, mobiles, or Google. We have Google Photos; just go over for 15 minutes and look at your photos from the last 10 years and see all your relationships and the people, how good they have been to you, what favors they have done for you, and thank God and thank them. I thanked one person last week for something he did 10 years ago. I was so filled with joy, and they were also filled with joy. I said, “I even forgot that. No, it was a big help. I cannot be where I am today without your help. Thank you.”
Take a moment to remember your salvation and the people God used to save you, who helped us grow in Christ. Where would we be without those who have served us? Those who witnessed to me and prayed for me before I was saved. Be grateful for the love, prayers, support, and patience shown to me by the people of God and the godly people the Lord has placed in your life. Where would you be without them? Take a moment to look around you right now and consider the saved people God has surrounded you with right now.
In fact, as a Pastor, I want to practically use Paul’s words to each of you as a church. “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you.” You know, I can thank God all my life for the memories I have in this church.
Today, I preach and have served as a pastor for 15 years. I could not have done this ministry with you. I want to thank God in all my memory of you. Initially, Arul Dass, his family, and his three daughters, who supported for so many years, their sacrifice, and hospitality in the initial days can never be forgotten. Rajeswarni sister and her husband Sundar. Then Arun and Deepa joining us. Deepa with her nodding head and enjoying every sermon, so focused as if eating every word. I do not get that encouragement even if I preach to 100 people, turning here and there, listening with no enjoyment. And then Lourd Mary, she brought a big gang with her, her own family, Thomas, Amos, Elias, Shanthi, Francis and Graci, Robert and Vasanthi, Triesa, Amos who found a beautiful girl in our church, now with a new addition to the church. All have been faithful here until now. Radhika, last week was her birthday. God used her to bring Dass, her mother-in-law, to church and now his sister’s family, Prakash and Amu, what a blessing and example to our church. Ganesh and Sindhu family coming from so far. Ganesh brought Devanand and Daisy. What a couple, I never thought anyone could have such commitment to come so far in Bangalore from Kegeneri. Now he is shocking us by coming from Madurai to attend our church. Vinod and Sindhu, what a blessing to our church. They shifted their whole house near the church and support the church. Regene and Asha coming from far. Vasudevan family, Prem family, Karthi. Young people Christiana, Stephen, Aanancy, what an example to others.
I am thankful to God for all my memory of you. I am grateful because the church is not just built by one man. You, by your faithfulness, built this church. I am thankful for patiently enduring my preaching for 15 years, sometimes bad and long preaching while I practiced and grew. You made me a pastor and preacher today.
Thank you for all you do! I thank those who come in the morning and those who faithfully come in the evening, so we ensure we all keep the Sabbath holy. I appreciate those who conduct Sunday school, work with the children, the ladies who do prayer meetings and women’s meetings, and pray for all of us. Grace, even when she is 8 months pregnant, sits and still plays music and helps us sing beautifully in the church. My son John is in 10th grade; the poor guy sleeps late on Saturday after all his homework. Yesterday, he slept at 1 AM after finishing a project and then wakes up to come to the English service. I thank Lourd Sisters and GRT staff who clean the church and maintain the building. I appreciate those who work behind the scenes doing things others do not want to do.
I want to thank deacons Vinod and Francis. Aaron and Hur, who hold up Moses’ hands, you are doing your ministry. I appreciate those who give tithes faithfully. We pay the building loan and all expenses, and support; may God richly reward you. I appreciate those who pray, both publicly and privately. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart! Each of you has a portion in the growth of this church. The church needs everyone doing what they have been saved and called to do. God will richly reward you for all your efforts.
So, the secrets of joy are thanksgiving, true wealth, remembrance, and lastly, intercession.
The Joy of Interceding for Others with Christ’s Love
Paul, why are you so happy while you cannot do anything sitting in the midst of four walls? What are you doing for others? Paul had great joy in doing a big thing because he had the joy of intercession with Christ’s love for others. This is another secret of Christian joy. Do we know the joy of praying for others? How much we miss this joy? When the Spirit of God is in control of a life, these are connected to one another. We will be giving thanks, realizing God is our true wealth, we remember other people’s goodness, and the greatest ministry we can do for others is that we will intercede for them.
See, that exercise fills us with such divine joy like nothing else. See what Paul says. “always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy.” Now, that’s tied to his remembering others’ goodness. And this is the joy of having the privilege to petition. The word here for prayer has to do with petition, the idea of asking God for something for someone else. Holy-Spirit-produced divine joy greatly comes to the person who is involved in intercession for others, because the Holy Spirit fills his heart with so much of Christ’s love, he remembers them and prays for their needs. See, it is in this verse he mentions joy for the first time.
This Joy of the Holy Spirit tends not to be bound up with what I have, but in the privilege of praying that God would pour out His blessing on others. True joy is expressed in the fact that I can see God at work in someone else’s life, much more preoccupied with them than with me. If we focus only on us, our joy is a single joy. Something happens to us, we will be happy. But if we focus on 50 or 100 people, something happens to others, God hears our prayer and blesses, our joy grows. Right?
Here is Paul, a prisoner, in a negative circumstance not only physically, but in terms of his ministry. You’re going to find out later in the chapter that people were really, really criticizing him, without mercy and without kindness, and he was not worthy of that at all. So he was undergoing all of that bitterness from rival preachers and people who had animosity toward him. But his particular circumstance did not affect his joy. And the evidence that it was a Spirit-produced joy is the fact that he was all wrapped up in the delight of praying for other people’s needs, when he himself had needs far greater than theirs, in some ways. Making requests to God for others is an element of joy.
You can tell if you’re experiencing Holy Spirit joy. Do you find delight in interceding on someone’s behalf? When you pray, is it your joy to pray for the spiritual benefit, blessing, and progress of someone else? Or are you forever and always praying only about yourself? Now, it is true that sometimes our prayers for others involve pain. Sure. Even in chapter 3, would you notice verse 18? Paul says in verse 17, “Brethren, join in following my example and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. For many walk, of whom I have told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ.” Hey, there were some people he prayed about with tears, those who were the enemies of Christ.
But with regard to the Philippians, his prayers were painless and filled with pleasure and delight. He loved them. They loved him. He was filled with joy over them. And that joy expressed itself in a delight to pray on their behalf. You see, love is concerned for others. Joy is found in that love being fulfilled in that others are having their needs met. Joy delights in petitioning God for someone else’s needs. It doesn’t concern itself with itself; even in the midst of pain, even in the midst of difficult circumstances, it joyfully asks for others to be blessed. It is concerned more about the pain of others than about itself, and that’s what chapter 2 says: “Look not on your own things, but let each of you regard one another as more important than himself.”
There are very few Christians who know the true joy that the Holy Spirit gives. And it shows up in these two ways: their negative thoughts toward others and the lack of concern, delight, and joy in praying for others.
They’re self-centered. They’re selfish. And so when somebody else offends them, they hold a grudge. That’s ego; that’s pride. They find little delight in praying for others. They’re not nearly so concerned with them as they are with themselves. That’s evidence of no joy in the Spirit. That’s evidence of a carnal, fleshly conduct. Love really finds its expression in the delight of the well-being of others. That’s an element of joy.
Do you pray for others? Learn that can bring great joy. Pastor, I forgot. One pastor tells about a nurse who taught a man to pray and literally changed the man’s entire life. The story says he was a dull, disgruntled, dispirited man who became a man of joy. The nurse used her hand as a scheme of prayer. Each of her fingers stood for someone. Her thumb was nearest to her, and it reminded her to pray for those who were nearest, closest, and dearest to her. The second finger was used for pointing; those who teach us point to us with it when they would ask us a question. Therefore, her second finger stood for all her teachers and pastors; she prayed for them. The third finger is the tallest, and it stood for the VIPs, the leaders in our surrounding life and community. The fourth finger is the weakest, as every pianist knows, and it stood for those who were weak, in trouble, and in pain. And the little finger is the smallest and the most unimportant, and to the nurse, it stood for herself. That’s a lovely scheme of prayer. And there will always be a deep sense of joy in the heart of one who learns to pray by that little scheme, starting with others and ending up with the most insignificant of all: yourself. That’s the joy of intercession, the joy of petition.
Application
Paul, though in Jail, his mind will be soaring like an eagle up and up, and then down his heart like a dam bursting with floods of love flowing down. It is so difficult to separate and follow, and this man with a high-thinking mind and with a deep heart of emotions is so joyful in that prison.
As Christians, what a lesson. Do we understand why we are not happy? We are not grateful, we have not cultivated a heart of gratitude. In fact, it is such a sin to be ungrateful as Christians, and such a sin to forget God’s mercies in our life. We do not realize God is our wealth, and we do not pray for others. We sin when we are not like this and grieve the Holy Spirit, and that is the reason we find no Holy-Spirit-produced joy in our hearts.
A simple secret for Joy: Thank my God, remembering others’ good and praying for them.
May God help each of you examine your hearts about each of these areas and repent and cultivate these things which produce true Holy Spirit joy. So we may live as joyful witnesses worthy of the Gospel to the sad world outside.
Those of you who are outside Christ today, when will you believe you can never find true joy in the world and it is only found in Christ? Oh, no, Pastor, there is joy in that and this. Ambition, if I become a big man, achieve that. Last week, we saw there was a big, famous man in Israel. His joy was when he gave political advice people would follow it as God’s word, but when his advice was rejected, he didn’t see any meaning in life, went and hanged himself and died.
All the joys in this life, on which you tie your ropes, efforts, name, and material possessions, temporal things, one day will become ashes. You will see no meaning to live then. While pursuing all that, your life will be miserable and always fearful.
You run after joys in this world; your heart never has gratitude, but is full of covetousness and restless. Always tense and frustrated, “more, more” like Alexander, and even after the world is conquered, “more.” The heart is never satisfied. You sense you were created for something great. Yes, that great heart was not created to be satisfied with everything in the world. Only when you make God your permanent wealth can that heart be satisfied.
Don’t you want a joy and peace which nothing in the world can disturb? Whatever may happen in this changing world, you will always be joyful and peaceful. Oh, Christ alone can give that.
If you run after the world searching for such joys, and then later you ask what is there to remember in your life, you will remember with sadness how you wasted your life and not like Paul, where even remembrance gave him joy.
His heart was filled with so much joy and love for others. Even in jail, he could pray for others. You know, you living a selfish life, running a selfish race, can never find happiness.
Come to Christ; he alone can change your heart and give you joy. He alone is true wealth. He bore your sins on the cross and suffered for your punishment. If you come today, say, “Lord Jesus, my heart is like a graveyard, a wilderness, with only weeping and frustration. I trust in you as God and Savior who died for me. Come into my heart.”
If you do that this day, today will be the most happiest day in your life. Whenever in all your life you remember, you will remember with joy. “Oh, happy day that fixed my choice on thee, my savior.” Oh, happy, happy day! Make this day a happy day.
Grace Reformed Baptist Church, Bangalore 