Joy in Relationships
๐ช๐๐ฅ๐ -๐จ๐ฃ
โข Would you be willing to try a sport, hobby, or interest because a family member or friend enjoys it? Why or why not?
โข How do you show someone you value him or her? What do you do or say to show this?
๐ช๐ข๐ฅ๐
๐๐ฐ ๐ช๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต, ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ฑ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฑ๐ช๐ณ๐ช๐ต, ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ข๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐บ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐บ, ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ซ๐ฐ๐บ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ, ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ, ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ข๐ค๐ค๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ. ๐๐ฐ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง๐ช๐ด๐ฉ ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ช๐ต, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ช๐จ๐ฏ๐ช๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ท๐ฆ๐ด. ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐ฃ๐ฃ๐๐๐ก๐ฆ ๐ฎ:๐ญโ๐ฏ
(Read also ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐ฃ๐ฃ๐๐๐ก๐ฆ ๐ฎ:๐ฐ-๐ญ๐ญ.)
The apostle Paul paints an ideal picture here: completed joy, because believers are walking in unity and humility, following Christโs perfect example. In reality, though, our relationships with God and one another have been broken and are dysfunctional because of sin. Left to ourselves, we canโt be of the same mind, have the same love, or be in full accord with each other. In fact, we would more naturally do the opposite. Paulโs picture of a united and humble body of believers is only possible in Christ, through Christ, and because of Christ. Many Bible scholars believe that Paul quoted an early Christian hymn, found in Philippians 2:6โ11. Through Christโs incarnation, life, death, and resurrection, our relationship with God and one another can be restored, and we can experience complete joy. In this lesson, we will look at how to apply this in our lives.
๐ญ. ๐ช๐ฎ๐น๐ธ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ป๐ถ๐๐.
๐๐ฐ ๐ช๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต, ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ฑ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฑ๐ช๐ณ๐ช๐ต, ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ข๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐บ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐บ, ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ซ๐ฐ๐บ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ, ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ, ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ข๐ค๐ค๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ. ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐ฃ๐ฃ๐๐๐ก๐ฆ ๐ฎ:๐ญโ๐ฎ
In Philippi at that time, people related to one another based on their socioeconomic, ethnic, and political status. This culture would have made walking in unity difficult. How could people of differing stations in life be of the same mind or in full accord? Paul challenged the church in Philippi that this could be done because of the gospel. In Christ, riches, rank, migrant status, and family situations do not matter. We are all loved by God, saved by His grace, and brought into His kingdom. We value each other based on Christโs love and sacrifice, not our differences or disagreements. In Philippians 4:2โ3, what did Paul appeal to Euodia and Syntyche to do? How important was unity and agreement to Paul?
๐ฎ. ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ถ๐๐ต ๐ต๐๐บ๐ถ๐น๐ถ๐๐.
๐๐ฐ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง๐ช๐ด๐ฉ ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ช๐ต, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ช๐จ๐ฏ๐ช๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ท๐ฆ๐ด. ๐๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ด, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด. ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐ฃ๐ฃ๐๐๐ก๐ฆ ๐ฎ:๐ฏโ๐ฐ
Humility is considering others before ourselves. It is looking out for their interests, not our own. It is setting aside what we want for others. Jesus did this: In all His deity, He humbled Himself and became a manโslave and servant of all. Having lived a perfect life, He died for our sins and took our punishment so that we may be saved. How has Christโs example enabled you to serve others with humility?
๐๐ฃ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ก
โข Reflect on Philippians 2:5โ11 this week. What can you learn about humility from the Lord Jesus Christ? How will you apply it in your life?
โข Ask God to reveal a broken or dysfunctional relationship in your life that needs healing. What are you willing to do to walk in unity and humility with this person?
โข What hinders you from being of the same mind and in full accord with the body of Christ? How can you maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Ephesians 4:3)? Why do you think Jesus prayed earnestly for the church to be united (John 17:20โ21)?
๐ฃ๐ฅ๐๐ฌ๐๐ฅ
โข Thank God for Christโs perfect life and death for our salvation and redemption. Thank Him for His humility and love for us.
โข Ask God for your joy to be complete and for this to be reflected in every relationship you have. Pray for strength and grace to walk in unity and serve with humility.
โข Pray for specific people with whom you may have a dysfunctional relationship. Ask God to heal the brokenness and restore the relationship through His love and peace.