Lesson 5: Joy’s purpose is God’s kingdom
Philippians 1:1-30 – www.bible.com/bible/59/php.1
18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.
19 for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance,
20 as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.
21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
We continue our thought of seeking God’s kingdom first with our life in this lesson. But we study it from a different perspective here. Last lesson we saw it from our personal perspective, but in this lesson we seek it from God’s perspective.
It is easy for us to think of our Christian life as being about us and what God has done or we think should do for us. We want things in our earthly life to be filled with happiness, and want God to provide blessing to us for such an outcome. But God sees in far greater time and purpose than we are ever capable of seeing – He sees all eternity past and all eternity future at once. With such perspective, He is able to guide everything in His kingdom into ALL that will be best for us…for the future…for all eternity.
How does joy contribute to this kingdom? It does so by making us an attractive model for others who, in the middle of their bad circumstances, find Jesus Christ to be the one who can lift them out of their pain and despair.
It also lifts us to higher purpose than our own self-centered lives. We have purpose for we are working for a kingdom and an inheritance which can never be taken away from us. All we contribute, in His power, will be blessed by Him both in earthly joy and in eternal reward. Everything here on earth is simply a means to an eternal glory, no matter what happens – even the death of these bodies in which we live now (see Psalm 116:15).
Paul expressed the hope he would be delivered from some of his circumstances so he would be able to continue in the work God had given him to do. His desire is not for himself, and it is not based on fear of death because he understands his entire life – present and future – is meant to be lived for God’s glory (1 Corinthians 10:31). We will look at fear more in the next lesson.
*When has God lifted your vision from your present life and circumstances to see His eternal perspective? How have your priorities changed?