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A Joy Full Home, Part 3 · Enjoying the Journey

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  In our busy world, family time is frequently neglected.
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  It is vital that we give attention to our families while we can,
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  and it is especially important to give attention to what God says
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  in his word about our homes. For the next few moments,
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  let's join Scott Pauley as we open the scriptures and and find God's
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  message for your family.
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  Some time ago, I spoke at a married couples retreat,
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  and it was the very first time that I ever really thought about the
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  book of Philippians connected to family life. Now,
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  certainly there are scriptures that we run to immediately
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  that deal with marriage and childrearing and all of that, But oh, this overarching
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  theme of joy, this overwhelming emphasis
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  on knowing the joy of the Lord— isn't that what we all need?
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  Isn't that what every family needs? And wouldn't that be the greatest testimony in a
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  community, that your family is a joyful family?
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  People would start looking at that and saying, what's the source of that joy?
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  How could I have that joy? And of course, the answer is in Jesus Christ.
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  And we're walking through the book of Philippians, we're, we're marking each time we
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  find the, the word joy or some form of it, and we're gleaning from
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  it some application that we can make to our own family. Let's review
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  just for a moment. In chapter 1, we learned first that joy
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  is connected to praising and praying. Thank God for each other and pray
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  for each other. Then we learned to root our joy in what really matters.
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  We've learned that if we want joy, we must be more concerned with other people's
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  joy than our own. And then we've learned from chapter 2,
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  verse 2, that joy is always connected to oneness. It doesn't
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  mean we always agree. It doesn't mean we always want the same thing. But when
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  we start thinking like Jesus, developing the mind of Christ,
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  living in one mind and one accord with him and with one another,
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  God gives his joy. Now we're in chapter 2. Let's come down to verse number
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  15 today and listen to these verses. Philippians 2,
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  verses 15 through 18: That ye may be blameless and harmless
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  the sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse
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  nation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,
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  holding forth the word of life, that I may rejoice
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  in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain neither labored
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  in vain. Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your
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  faith, I joy and rejoice with you all.
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  For the same cause also do you joy and rejoice with
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  me. Did you see it? 5 different references in
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  the verses we just read to joy and rejoicing,
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  and all of them are connected to one thing. All of them are connected to
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  the joy of ministry. Paul said, I'm rejoicing
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  in what God's doing in you, and I want to rejoice at the judgment seat
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  someday in what God has done in you. That was Paul's
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  great joy. It was not the prison he was sitting in.
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  It It was the people God allowed him to minister to.
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  And so here's a 5th secret to a joyful home, and it is this: discover
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  the joy of ministry as a family.
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  You know, the most miserable people I know are people trying to be happy,
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  because that's not how you get real joy. No,
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  real joy is when you get your eyes off of yourself. When you get outside
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  of yourself, outside of your own circle, yes, even outside the immediate needs
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  of your own family, and start ministering to others,
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  God begins to work in your home. Do you remember in the oldest book of
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  the Bible, the book of Job, that God turned the captivity of Job
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  when he prayed for his friends? Remember, he had been just
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  commiserating over what had happened to his own family, but it was when he
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  looked to his friends' needs and their families that God
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  really turned the situation in his own home. I want to challenge you as a
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  family, learn to minister not only to one another, but learn to
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  minister to others. And in fact, if I could give you this suggestion,
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  especially early on with your children, minister together in some way.
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  I don't know what God will lead you to do, but I'll tell you how
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  I learned to witness. I learned to witness by going witnessing with my dad and
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  mom. I remember going out on Saturdays and inviting
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  people to Sunday school and passing out gospel literature,
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  listening to mom and dad talk to people about Christ. That's really where I got
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  started. I think that's where everybody ought to learn to minister first, not at the
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  church house, but through their own household. So learn
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  to minister, to help the faith of others, to shine the glorious light of the
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  gospel. That's what Paul is talking about in Philippians chapter 2.
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  And I think there are 2 great ministries everybody can be engaged in. We all
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  can be engaged in the ministry of evangelism— that's getting the gospel out,
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  telling people about Jesus— and we all can be engaged
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  in the ministry of encouragement. Everybody needs encouragement.
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  Everybody needs help and a good word. Pray and ask
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  God to show you as a family how you can begin to evangelize right
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  where you are and how you can begin to encourage. And then let's
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  come to another one. Come down in chapter 2 to verses 25 through 30.
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  The Bible says, yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus,
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  my brother and companion in labor and fellow soldier, but your
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  messenger and he that ministered to my wants, for he longed
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  after you all. Was full of heaviness because that ye had heard that he'd been
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  sick. For indeed he was sick, nigh unto death, but God had mercy
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  on him, and not on him only, but on me also,
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  lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. I sent him
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  therefore the more carefully, that when ye see him again ye may rejoice,
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  and that I may be the less sorrowful. Receive him therefore in the Lord with
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  all gladness, and hold such in reputation, because for the work
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  of Christ he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life, to supply
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  your lack of service toward me. Here is one of the really unknown men
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  of the Bible, this man now identified as Epaphroditus.
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  He was a prayer partner, he was a fellow laborer of Paul,
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  he was someone that loved the Philippians. And the Apostle Paul
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  here says his ministry, his, uh,
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  his service to Christ ought to cause you to rejoice.
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  Paul was rejoicing in him, and he said to the Philippians you ought to rejoice
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  because he's come and ministered to you. So don't miss this
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  principle: as surely as you should discover the joy of ministering to others,
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  here's a 6th principle: if you want a joyful home, rejoice in those that God
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  has used to minister to you. Think about those
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  who've prayed for you, those who've encouraged you, a pastor
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  that ministered to your family, a Bible teacher that helped you to grow
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  in the grace and knowledge of the Lord. Youth workers and coaches and instructors
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  that came alongside your children. We all know we don't raise our children
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  by ourselves. Think of the good people, the godly people the Lord has used
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  to minister to them. Do you see that we should not only minister
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  to others, but we should be grateful for those that God uses to minister to
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  us? Read those verses again at the end of Philippians
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  chapter 2 and see how the heaviness and the sorrow that they're
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  in is going to turn to their joy and their rejoicing. How?
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  Through the encouragement of one man. You see, there's always one
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  source of every good thing— that is God— but there are many channels,
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  and God uses so many wonderful people to minister to us.
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  Maybe you should make a list, talk about it with your family.
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  It's sad sometimes that children only hear parents talk about
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  a leader or a worker or a teacher in a negative
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  light. And they grow up thinking that it's always a negative. Friend,
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  major on the positives and give God the glory for those he's used
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  in your life. And then let me give you one more. We'll leave off here
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  and pick up next time. Beginning of chapter 3, we read this: Finally,
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  my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to
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  you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe. Beware of
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  dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision,
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  for we are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit.
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  And rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh.
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  Now obviously the rejoicing here is connected to the Lord, to Christ,
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  but don't miss the connection here. He said we're worshiping God and
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  rejoicing in Christ Jesus. Here's a 7th principle for
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  a joyful home, and it is this: find joy in worship.
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  See, worship brings you into the presence of God. Worship makes
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  you conscious of the goodness of the Lord and the fact that we are
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  unworthy of it. Oh, I can't think of any greater joy than that, that God
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  would love a sinner like me. Every joy grows
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  out of worship. That's true individually. That's true collectively.
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  Can I challenge you today? Spend some personal time in worship and then lead your
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  family in worship. Worship God together.
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  And as you begin to worship and be conscious of God's presence,
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  you will soon become very conscious of his joy.
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  For more resources for your marriage and family,
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  visit us at etj.bible and click on the Take
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  the Next Step link, where you'll find many Bible resources
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  that will strengthen your marriage and equip you to
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  raise your children in the ways of the Lord. We highly
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  recommend Scott's book, New Testament Marriage. In it,
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  you'll discover timeless biblical principles from the husband
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  and wife team Aquila and Priscilla, and these principles
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  are very applicable to your marriage today. From all
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  of us at Enjoying the Journey, thanks for listening today,
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  and until next time, we pray that you will enjoy