“Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all. For the same cause also do ye joy, and rejoice with me.” (Philippians 2:17-18)

Paul’s entire letter is full of sincere expressions of great joy. In fact, joy is repeated seven times in Philippians, which is more than in any of his other epistles (1:4, 25; 2:2, 17, 18, 29; 4:1). In this context, the word rejoice (synchairo) means to “experience joy in conjunction with someone or something else” (Luke 15:6, 9; 1 Corinthians 13:6). Paul calls the Philippians and believers today to live out this joy.

How many of us really experience true joy as we live for Christ? Paul did. As a chained prisoner (Philippians 1:7, 12, 13; 2 Timothy 2:9), he was grateful to sacrificially serve his Lord and continued to tirelessly love all believers throughout the known world (Colossians 1:3, 9; 1 Thessalonians 3:10).

Sadly, the reason so many of us know so little about this kind of joy is because we are loathe to sacrificially serve God in little ways, much less in the ways Paul and his companions did (Philippians 1:1; 2:15, 19; 4:18). Let’s not forget the perfect example of joy and sacrifice modeled by the Creator and Savior of the universe, the Lord Jesus Christ (Philippians 2:5-8).

Believer, what are you sacrificing in your loving service to Christ? What have you said “no” to in order to say “yes” to accomplishing God’s perfect will? Loving and serving God sacrificially will bring you true joy (Romans 12:2; 1 Thessalonians 4:3; Hebrews 10:36). Such joy can only come through our Savior, “Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory” (1 Peter 1:8). CCM