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Zion Bread of Life Christian Church

Philippians 3:1-11 The True Joy 真正的喜樂

Tuesday, 20th February 2024

Rev Daniel Xi An Poon

V1 Rejoice in the Lord 要靠主喜樂

“Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe.”

Paul taught us to be joyful always, he was in the prison, but he still had joy, he was not affected by what people did to him, or by the environment. He was determined to be joyful always in the Lord. We should never let our joy be affected by what people say or what people think, the Lord is our joy, and He will never change.

V2-6 Don’t Rely on Doing 不要靠doing

“Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation! For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh, though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.”

Paul taught us we must be careful about those around us, what do we really rely on? Everything we do must go back to the Lord, if we only do things according to our flesh, then we are not relying on the Lord. He will give us peace and joy, when we feel tired and weary, when we feel emotional and upset, then we will know that we are not fully rely on the Lord. Then we must ask the Holy Spirit to help us to overcome all these. When we have the joy, then we can look lightly of the things around us.

Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, only when we go back to Jesus, ask the Lord to help us to overcome everything that belongs to the world and the flesh, then we will know the truth, we will have the life, and we will find the way. We need to find the way home, not the way of the orphan, but the way of the true son. We must go back to our Abba Father, and receive the love, which we are lacking of. God will give us protection, He has prepared the best for us.

V7-11 To Know the Power of the Resurrected Lord 要知道主復活的大能

“But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”

Joy is different from happiness, happiness is from outside, how people see us, what people say to us, what the environment is… but joy is from within, we cannot rely on what was in the past, everything in the past is no longer with us. Nothing in the past can give us eternal life and they cannot give us true joy. Only the fruits of joy bear from within us will last forever. Joy comes from knowing our Lord Jesus Christ, we must understand why Jesus came to this world, not to have entertainment, not to fulfill His own flesh desires, but to save us.

We must resurrect together with Jesus, to become the royal priest, the holy nation, and the people belong to God. What others say about us don’t matter anymore, we don’t live for anyone but our God. Know Who God is, know who we are, then we can know the true joy.