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A Joy Full Home, Part 2 · 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
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  God's message for your family.
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  God's Word is so rich, so real, so wonderful,
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  and every time you go back to it, the Holy Spirit of
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  God himself begins to make application to our lives right where
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  we are. The last time we studied, we began walking through
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  my favorite book of the Bible— full disclosure— My favorite book is
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  the book of Philippians, but we've returned to it to discover how to have
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  a joyful home. Would you like a home that overflows with
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  the goodness and glory of God? That doesn't mean that every circumstance is
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  always perfect. It doesn't mean that we are perfect, but it means we have found
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  God's perfect joy. And like the psalmist, we can say our cup runneth over.
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  Would you like a joyful home? We learn first of all from Philippians
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  chapter 1, verse number 4 the very first occasion where the
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  word joy is found in this book, that it is connected to praise and
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  prayer. We must learn to thank God for our family members, and we must
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  learn to pray for our family members. That's a good entry point, because when you
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  learn to thank God for people and pray for people, it helps
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  you keep a right attitude towards them. You can't stay angry, aggravated,
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  and annoyed at people that you're praising God for and praying for.
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  Prayer and praise will give you God's attitude towards other
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  family members. But let's go further, walk on through the book of Philippians,
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  come down in chapter 1 to verse number 18. The Bible says,
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  what then, notwithstanding every way, whether in pretense
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  or in truth, Christ is preached, and I therein
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  do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.
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  These are the next occasions where you find some form of the word joy in
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  the book of Philippians, and Paul says he's rejoicing. Well,
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  wonderful. He must be sitting on a beach somewhere just taking in the sunshine and
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  loving life. Actually, he's sitting in a prison cell.
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  He's sitting in jail. He is dealing with difficulty
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  that most of us could never imagine, and yet in the midst of all
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  of that, he's rejoicing. So here's a second principle: if
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  you want a joyful home, not only must you learn to praise and pray,
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  but secondly, you must root your joy in what really matters.
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  Paul is not rooting his joy in circumstantial things,
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  in physical or material things. No,
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  those are all temporal. He's rooting his joy in the
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  eternal. He's rooting his joy in the spiritual.
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  And if you want God's joy to fill your home and your heart,
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  if you want God's overflowing gladness with
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  your family, then do not root your joy in things that come and go.
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  In fact, everything in this world comes and goes except for Jesus.
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  In verse number 12 of chapter 1, we learn not to root our
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  joy in what happens to us, because in verse 12 he said lots of
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  things that happen unto him that were not pleasant, but they had fallen out
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  rather to the furtherance of the gospel. So don't allow things that happen
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  to you to be the source of your joy. In verse 13,
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  he teaches us that it should not be our location, where we are,
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  that makes us happy. He is in bonds in verse 13,
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  literally in prison. Some people think if they just have a geographical
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  change, they'll be happy. No, because you're going to carry you with you to wherever
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  you go. So a change of scenery is not the answer for
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  spiritual difficulty. Then in verses 14 through 17,
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  it's not what others do, because in verse 14, 15,
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  16, and 17, Paul said some people are preaching Christ of
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  contention, trying to add affliction to his bonds.
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  They're, they're just trying to make it harder on him.
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  So if his joy is rooted in people, he's going to be one disillusioned person.
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  No, do not root your joy in what happens to you, where you are,
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  or what others do. Root your joy in what really
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  matters, and that's Jesus Christ and the fact the word
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  of God is being given and the work of God is going forward and the
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  will of God is going to be accomplished. You want a joyful
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  home? Then learn to root your joy in the right things,
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  specifically in the Lord Jesus. And then
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  come down to verse 25 and 26 of chapter 1. Here's another.
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  The Bible says, in having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue
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  with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith,
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  that your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me
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  by my coming to you again. Did you notice that the
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  joy here is connected with the good of
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  others instead of ourself? Paul's in prison,
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  but his joy, his rejoicing, is connected to their
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  joy, to their faith growing, to them being helped. So here's
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  a great principle: if you want a joyful home, be more concerned with the
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  other person's joy than with your own joy. Do you
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  know what is the greatest joy killer in the world?
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  Selfishness. Self crops its ugly head up all the time and
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  seeks its own, consumes. That self-life
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  is the most miserable life of all. I was thinking
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  about this earlier. Would you like to have a good marriage? A good marriage
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  is the union of 2 dead people. You got to be dead to self.
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  Both of you have to be dead to self. It's It's not about what
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  I can get. It is about what I can give. In the words
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  of another verse, in honor preferring one another. And so make your
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  goal, your desire, that others would know the joy of the Lord,
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  that others would have a glad heart. And in that, you will find great
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  gladness and greater joy. And then let me give you one more.
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  If you want a joyful home, not only must you praise and pray,
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  Not only must you root your joy in what really matters, not only must
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  you be more concerned with the other person's joy than your own, but then number
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  4, you must learn the joy of true oneness.
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  We've come now to chapter 2. Listen to chapter 2 beginning in verse 1.
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  If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love,
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  if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,
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  fulfill ye my joy that ye be like-minded Having
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  the same love, being of one accord, of one
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  mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory,
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  but in lowliness of mind. Let each esteem other better
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  than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on
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  the things of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ
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  Jesus. This is really just an extension of what we said a moment ago,
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  being more concerned with another person's joy than your own. But listen to
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  the connection here of joy and oneness. He said,
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  I want you like-minded, one accord, one mind.
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  Every good thing God ever does in a church comes when God's
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  people get in one accord. You find that all through the book of Acts and
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  all through history. Well, every good thing that God does in a home happens when
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  we learn the joy of real oneness.
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  And God describes here when he describes the mind of Christ
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  in Philippians 2 and defines for us what this oneness
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  looks like. It looks like humility. It looks like sacrifice.
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  It looks like obedience. You see, joy is not
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  rooted in how you feel. It's rooted in how you think.
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  That's why he says, let this mind be in you which was also
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  in Christ Jesus. Somebody said, how do you get everybody to think the same way?
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  You don't. The answer is you never get everybody to agree on everything.
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  So here's what you have to do if you want oneness. Oneness is not all
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  of us thinking exactly alike all the time or
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  agreeing on everything. Oneness rather is us learning the mind
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  of Christ and learning to agree with him.
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  Look, oneness is not me getting my way or you getting your way.
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  Oneness is Christ getting his way. We may not always
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  agree on everything. But we can all agree on this: we need Jesus.
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  We want the Lord to have his rightful place in our life, and we want
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  to begin to think like he thinks. This is what oneness means
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  in a home. Would you pray today that instead of being fragmented and divided,
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  God would make you of one mind and of one accord?
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  You know, it's not just families that split up, marriages that
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  split up, that deal with division. Many people live under the same roof,
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  but they live with division all the time. If you want a joyful home,
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  learn the secret of oneness with one another
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  by learning the secret of oneness with Jesus Christ.
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  My prayer for you, dear friend, today is that these principles from Philippians
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  will become a living reality in your life and that you will
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  have a joyful home. For more resources
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  for your marriage and family, visit us at etj.bible.org.
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  And click on the Take the Next Step link, where you'll
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  find many Bible resources that will strengthen your marriage and
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  equip you to raise your children in the ways of the Lord.
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  We highly recommend Scott's book, New Testament Marriage.
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  In it, you'll discover timeless biblical principles from
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  the husband and wife team Aquila and Priscilla, and these
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  principles are very applicable to to your marriage today.
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  From all of us at Enjoying the Journey, thanks for listening today.
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  And until next time, we pray that you will enjoy the