Joy in Suffering
๐ช๐๐ฅ๐ -๐จ๐ฃ
โข What comes to your mind when you hear the word โjoyโ? Share a song, memory, or person you might associate with joy.
โข What was the hardest thing you had to do this week? Tell us about it.
โข Recall a letter you received from a loved one or friend. What did the person say, and how did it make you feel?
๐ช๐ข๐ฅ๐
๐๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ. ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐ฃ๐ฃ๐๐๐ก๐ฆ ๐ญ:๐ฎ๐ญ
(Read also ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐ฃ๐ฃ๐๐๐ก๐ฆ ๐ญ:๐ญ๐ฎโ๐ฎ๐ฌ.)
The apostle Paul wrote this letter to the church in Philippi while he was in prison. Ironically, this letter written from jail is Paulโs most joyful one. Because he lived to serve and honor Christ, he had joy even if he was suffering. He had thrown his whole life into the advancement of the gospel and understood his purpose in both living and dying. While Paul greatly longed to be with Christ, he also knew that through his life, he could share this joy and purpose with others. In this letter, Paul declared that the Christian joy is to live in Christโto know Him and be found in Him. Paul rejoiced in all circumstances and challenged the Philippian church to do the same. In this lesson, we will see why he could be full of joy even in suffering.
๐ญ. ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐๐นโ๐ ๐๐๐ณ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ด๐ผ๐๐ฝ๐ฒ๐น.
๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ, ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ท๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ญ . . . ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐ฃ๐ฃ๐๐๐ก๐ฆ ๐ญ:๐ญ๐ฎ
Paul understood that while his situation was not ideal, it was serving a greater purpose: to advance the gospel. In fact, people were coming to know Christ and the brothers were even preaching more confidently. As a result, even in jail, Paul was at peace. As followers of Christ, every circumstance in our lives should lead to the preaching of the gospel. According to Philippians 1:3โ5, how did Paul view the church in Philippi? What caused Paul to rejoice (Philippians 1:18)?
๐ฎ. ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐๐นโ๐ ๐๐๐ณ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฑ ๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐น๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ.
. . . ๐ ๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ซ๐ฐ๐ช๐ค๐ฆ, ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ข๐บ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฑ๐ช๐ณ๐ช๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ถ๐ด ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ, ๐ข๐ด ๐ช๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฆ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ต ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ข๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ . . . ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐ฃ๐ฃ๐๐๐ก๐ฆ ๐ญ:๐ญ๐ดโ๐ฎ๐ฌ
Paul trusted that the church was praying for him and the Holy Spirit would deliver him. He believed that his present circumstances would eventually change. Therefore, he looked to the future with hope. Try reading this passage again out loud to the group with as much emotion as you can muster. How confident is Paul in his assurance and expectation? Why do you think he was so confident?
๐ฏ. ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐๐นโ๐ ๐๐๐ณ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ต๐ผ๐ป๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐.
. . ๐ข๐ด ๐ช๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฆ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ต ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ข๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ข๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ธ๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐บ, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ. ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐ฃ๐ฃ๐๐๐ก๐ฆ ๐ญ:๐ฎ๐ฌ
Paulโs desire was that Christ would be honored and exalted in his lifeโwhether he was in prison or set free, alive or dead. As a servant does all he can to honor his master, Paul, who called himself Christโs servant, wanted to do everything to honor his Lord, Jesus Christ. Paul remained joyful even in suffering because Christ was being honored. How does Paulโs example encourage and challenge you? Why is honoring Christ the ultimate goal of our lives?
๐๐ฃ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ก
โข Reflect on your present situation. What is your situation serving to advance? Pray that you would understand what you are going through and that it would serve to advance the gospel.
โข In what area of your life do you need Godโs deliverance? Meditate on Philippians 1:18โ20 this week and trust God to come through for you.
โข How can you find joy in spite of your present circumstances? What is the source of your joy? How will you apply what we talked about today in your life?
๐ฃ๐ฅ๐๐ฌ๐๐ฅ
โข Thank God for His sovereign and providential hand in your life. Ask Him for grace and wisdom to see your circumstances through His eyes and with His Spirit. Pray that you will be founded in Christ and be content, hopeful, and joyful every day.
โข Pray for a friend or loved one who is currently suffering. Ask God for healing, strength, provision, and peace for him or her. Pray that Godโs purpose will be fulfilled in spite of the present challenges.
โข Pray that the gospel would be proclaimed and Christ would be honored through your life.