We know Paul wrote this letter because its written in the first person. The early church fathers documented thisPolycarp, Eusebius, Clement of Alexandria and many others. Theyve said, Paul wrote the book of Philippians. So, we have an opportunity to peer over the Apostle Pauls shoulder and to read what he is talking about to these Philippians regarding this deep and rich topic known as joy.
So, if you have your Bibles, turn to the Philippians 2:3. This is a prison epistle, a prison letter. Other prison epistles include Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Philemon. All those other books are also prison epistles. In Philippians, Paul was not singing Johnny Cash songs. He was talking about outrageous and contagious joy.
I love Johnny Cash. You might be thinking, Well Ed, you sing Johnny Cash a lot. Well, I do. I fell in love with Johnny Cash because Dad was speaking at this big conference in the late 70s, and Johnny Cash did the music. And he invited me on stage to sit there, and I watched the man in black sing. I was that close to him and hed like turn around and kind of nod to me. I was like, Whoa! Johnny Cash! And that drummer was like surreal. Then I got to meet him and talk to him. Sometimes Im like that. If I meet someone or see someone live, well not everybody, but Im usually their fan. So, Im a Johnny Cash fan.
I was talking about Paul. Paul did not sing Johnny Cash songs. He was talking about outrageous and contagious joy. And right here, Paul is going to bust our chops because the Bible is so bold. It says that God works from the inside out to produce joy in our lives. Thats what God wants, that his priority. The Holy Spirit is working in my life and yours to produce outrageous and contagious joy. Thats the bottom line.
Well, there is this epic battle going on between God, who is producing joy, the Holy Spirit producing joy and some joy jammers. Joy jammers are those things that will jam your joy and mine. I deal with this funk every single day, and so do you. So, Paul is going to bust our chops. Hes going to get in our grill. Hes going to get close enough to find out what kind of cologne we have on as he talks about joy jammers.
Sexperiment stated that when I go through these joy jammers, itll tell you what joy is not. So often, thats even a better definition than saying joy is life to the excess. Joy is tranquility of the soul.
