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How Does Joy Overflow in Love · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Speaker 1: One of the crucial questions to ask Philippians is, if
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  Speaker 1: joy in Christ is so prominent and dominant, what about
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  Speaker 1: joy in people? Is that a compromise? Is that good? Well,
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  Speaker 1: you can't read this letter and not see Paul is
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  Speaker 1: exulting in his relationship with the Philippians repeatedly. So he
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  Speaker 1: sets the stage in chapter one, verse three, where he says,
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  Speaker 1: I pray for you with joy because of your partnership
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  Speaker 1: in the Gospel from the first day until now. So
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  Speaker 1: he is praying for them with joy. When they come
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  Speaker 1: to his mind, joy happens, prayer overflows, and he says
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  Speaker 1: it's because of their partnership in the Gospel. So you
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  Speaker 1: have this word partnership, which implies a kind of wonderful
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  Speaker 1: linking of lives with other flesh and blood human beings,
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  Speaker 1: and for the Gospel as the context in which it's
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  Speaker 1: done or the goal that that relationship has. And that's
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  Speaker 1: what you find all through the book. Paul always links
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  Speaker 1: his joy in people with his joy in Christ. And
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  Speaker 1: I know that there are people non Christians sometimes and
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  Speaker 1: even Christians sometimes who when you try to describe your
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  Speaker 1: joy in them that way, they don't feel loved. Now,
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  Speaker 1: I want to come back to that in just a
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  Speaker 1: moment or two and ask why is that? But I
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  Speaker 1: give you a heads up so you can be thinking
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  Speaker 1: about it as we as we go. We find as
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  Speaker 1: we go through Philippians is this relationship that Paul has
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  Speaker 1: with the church for Christ's sake. So let's go to
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  Speaker 1: chapter two, verse two, where he says to the Philippians,
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  Speaker 1: complete my joy. This is amazing. Think about it now
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  Speaker 1: he's talking to real people, and he says, you complete
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  Speaker 1: my joy having the same mind, the same love, one one,
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  Speaker 1: not mind, and not doing anything from rivalry, but rather
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  Speaker 1: counting others more significant than yourselves. Don't take thought just
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  Speaker 1: for your own interests, but for the interests of others.
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  Speaker 1: Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: So how are they to complete his joy by their unified,
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  Speaker 1: other serving mind of Christ? So he links there giving
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  Speaker 1: him joy with their having the mind of Christ, which
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  Speaker 1: is the way he thinks everywhere. It's precisely because Christ
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  Speaker 1: is being shaped formed in them that he has such
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  Speaker 1: overflowing joy in them. Or another one would be the
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  Speaker 1: example of Epaphroditis in chapter two, verse twenty nine, where
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  Speaker 1: Paul says to the church as he sends Epaphroditis back
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  Speaker 1: to them. Epaphroditis has brought the gift that they scent,
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  Speaker 1: and he's sending Epaphroditis back, probably carrying this letter, and
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  Speaker 1: he says, receive him with all joy. In other words,
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  Speaker 1: let the coming of this person you love make you happy.
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  Speaker 1: Receive him with all joy and honor such men, for
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  Speaker 1: hely guide for the work of Christ. So there it
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  Speaker 1: is again he's linking the joy that they have in
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  Speaker 1: such men. What kind of man? Men who love the
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  Speaker 1: Gospel so much, love Christ so much they're willing to
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  Speaker 1: risk their lives for it. And so it's not just
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  Speaker 1: joy in the abstract in a friend. It's joy that
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  Speaker 1: is rooted most deeply in that friends being such a person,
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  Speaker 1: namely the kind of person who lays down his life
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  Speaker 1: for the Gospel. Chapter four, Verse one, Paul says, Therefore,
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  Speaker 1: my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy
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  Speaker 1: and crown. So he calls the Philippians his joy. This
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  Speaker 1: makes them his joy. You are my joy, my crown.
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  Speaker 1: What does that mean? In what way? Are they the
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  Speaker 1: crown of Paul's life and the joy of Paul's life?
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  Speaker 1: And I think. The answer is given back in chapter two,
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  Speaker 1: verse sixteen, where he says, you are holding fast the
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  Speaker 1: word of Life, so that I may be proud or
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  Speaker 1: may exult at the day of Christ that I did
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  Speaker 1: not run in vain or labor in vain. In other words,
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  Speaker 1: if you will hold fast to Christ, if you will
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  Speaker 1: hold fast to the Word of Christ, then we will
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  Speaker 1: arrive together in the presence of Christ and your whole faith,
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  Speaker 1: your whole life, your community of delighting in Christ and
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  Speaker 1: following Christ and living a life worthy of the Gospel.
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  Speaker 1: That whole reality, with you at the center of it,
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  Speaker 1: will be my joy and my crown. You will be
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  Speaker 1: the mark on my life, or the mark in your
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  Speaker 1: life that my life succeeded in pointing you to Christ
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  Speaker 1: and the value of his word, and that will be
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  Speaker 1: my joy. So a third time he relates his joy
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  Speaker 1: in them with his love for joy in Christ. One more,
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  Speaker 1: chapter four, verse ten, Paul says, I rejoiced greatly that
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  Speaker 1: now at length you have revived your concern for me.
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  Speaker 1: So there it is again. You are making me glad.
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  Speaker 1: You have remembered me, You've revived your concern, and you've
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  Speaker 1: said it. Paphroditis and brought me gifts. And I am thrilled.
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  Speaker 1: You have made me glad. You have made me glad.
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  Speaker 1: And then in chapter four, verse seventeen, he steps back
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  Speaker 1: and he says, not that I seek the gift, but
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  Speaker 1: I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. I
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  Speaker 1: am paid in full, I am overflowing, having received from
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  Speaker 1: epaphroditis the gift, a fragrant offering and a sweet smelling
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  Speaker 1: sacrifice to God. In other words, ultimately, what was making
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  Speaker 1: him glad as he saw the revived concern that they
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  Speaker 1: had for him, Ultimately what was making him glad was
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  Speaker 1: that they were not just offering something to him, They
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  Speaker 1: were offering something to God. So I conclude, every time
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  Speaker 1: Paul refers to his joy in his friends, he also
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  Speaker 1: refers to his joy in Christ as necessarily connected with it.
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  Speaker 1: His delight in other people is coming out of his
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  Speaker 1: delight in Christ, and it is aiming at their deeper
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  Speaker 1: and greater delight in Christ. Which now brings me back
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  Speaker 1: to that issue of there are people who if you
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  Speaker 1: talk like this, they will say, I don't feel loved
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  Speaker 1: when you talk that way. I feel used when you
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  Speaker 1: talk that way. Now, why would a person say that
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  Speaker 1: here's the reason. Chapter three, verse eight, Paul says, I
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  Speaker 1: count everything as lost because of the surpassing value of
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  Speaker 1: knowing Christ Jesus. In other words, for Paul, the greatest
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  Speaker 1: happiness resides in seeing, knowing relating to the greatest person
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  Speaker 1: in the universe, Jesus Christ. That's his operative center. Christ
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  Speaker 1: all satisfying, and that's what he wants for other people
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  Speaker 1: more than he wants his own life. Now, what if
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  Speaker 1: a person doesn't share that value. Christ is not precious
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  Speaker 1: to them above their own life, or above their family,
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  Speaker 1: or above their things. And they hear you talking like
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  Speaker 1: your love for them is coming from that, and your
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  Speaker 1: love for them is that they would know that, and
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  Speaker 1: they don't even believe in that. They don't have any
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  Speaker 1: taste for that. They cannot experience that as love, because
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  Speaker 1: what they want is for you to make much of them.
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  Speaker 1: I will feel loved if you make much of me,
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  Speaker 1: and you keep talking about helping me make much of Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: or your love for me coming from your making much
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  Speaker 1: of Jesus. And they may say to you, I think
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  Speaker 1: Christianity has made you an unloving person that makes total
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  Speaker 1: sense inside their worldview. It does, and it's a false worldview.
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  Speaker 1: It's a worldview minus Philippians three eight. So when that happens,
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  Speaker 1: you have to take a deep breath and be patient
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  Speaker 1: and realize they can't see it any other way, they
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  Speaker 1: can't feel it any other way, because they can't make
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  Speaker 1: sense out of a Christ's centered love because they're not
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  Speaker 1: Christ centered. And so let us treasure Jesus Christ above
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  Speaker 1: all things, and let us enjoy each other, and let
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  Speaker 1: us serve each other to that end.