Where do you find joy? When's the last time you really experienced it? Where does true joy come from?
These are the types of questions the Apostle Paul asks, writing from the depths of prison as he reflects on his own life and looks toward his impending death. Philippians is one of the last letters written by Paul, to his friends in Philippi, and his constant message is clear, in every point of this biblical book: "friends, fight for joy."
Fight for joy, in your relationships with each other - because as we all know, relationships can sour or become broken. Fight for joy, in whatever circumstance - because we've all found ourselves in seemingly-joyless moments. Fight for joy in the day-to-day life - because it's all to easy to be caught into a joyless whirlpool of monotony. Fight for joy, even in the sure face of death - which at the time of Paul's writing, was all too real for him. In every paragraph; in every chapter; in all of life, Paul begs his readers to fight for joy.
But where do we find joy in some of these joyless circumstances? How do we fight for it when everything seems to drive us away from it? How can we push each other toward it? These are some of the questions we're asking in The City Church, in weekly Villages and every-other-weekly All-Church Gatherings, as we spend a few months walking together through Paul's letter to the Philiippians. We're pushing and exhorting each other in challenging, biblical, and practical ways, to let true, God-centered joy be the theme of our life. So that no matter what we face; no matter what chains, prison, or circumstance we find ourselves, we will know how to truly win the fight for joy.
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