Rejoice! United in God's Redemption We all want to be happy. We search for happiness. We make decisions throughout our day to do what we think will make us happy.

There's nothing wrong with that. God is happy, joyful, there is joy in his presence. Psalm 16:11

Jesus came to turn our sorrow into joy. God wants us to be happy.

We are not great at knowing what makes us happy. We know what we want, a vacation home, a new car, to retire early, successes at work, success for our kids. But we are not good at predicting life once we get what we want.

We see that if you take people that are successful and getting what they want and compare them to the people who are just struggling to live, you find the same level of happiness. People who get what they want are no happier than people who don't get what they want. There is something else, some other factor that brings us happiness.

Philippians is a letter about joy. Paul is not getting what he wants. He's in prison. He mentions being in chains 4 times, but rejoicing too.

Phil 1:12-14 Philippians sent epaphroditus What has happened to me: 60-62 AD. From his Imprisonment at Jerusalem through his imprisonment at Rome. Riot, the two-year imprisonment at Caesarea, the appeal to Caesar, the threat on his life, the trip to Rome with its shipwreck, his house-arrest and imprisoned in Rome.

Paul expected suffering. He talked about it being normal to the Christian life. 1 Peter 4:12 John 16:33b When Jesus returns to finalize the redemption of creation, when his resurrection power will make all things new, he will take away all sorrow and suffering. We live in a broken world that is waiting its final redemption. If you expect marriage to be a fairy tale, you'll be disappointed. You are two sinners trying to live together. Marriage is hard. Paul saw God's redemption in goodness and suffering. The alchemy of life (Matthew Henry) No one could turn lead into gold. God is the only true alchemist. He alone can turn the base things in our lives into gold. Paul says, they put me in prison to stop the spread of the gospel, but the opposite is happening. The guards are coming to know that Paul is imprisoned because of Christ. These hardened, pagan men were chained to the greatest evangelist of all time. At the end of the letter, "all the believers from Caesars household greet you."

Philippians 1:15-18. Brothers have been encouraged to speak the word of God. Some for good motives, some for impure motives.

There is not an evident one-for-one relationship between every bad thing and every good thing. But God is able to turn the base things into our lives, the suffering into glory.

What is the gold in Paul's words? His freedom? No, it was the spread of the gospel. God was working through Paul's suffering.

Paul saw his life united with God's great redemption. Philippians 1:19-21 Whichever, I will bring honor and glory to Jesus. His identity is caught up in this divine narrative where God is overcoming evil and giving life to the dead. Paul saw his life - both suffering and good times - as part of the overarching message of the unconquerable Jesus Christ. He found satisfaction in uniting his life to something much bigger to himself.

His life was more than Facebook, video games, even being absorbed in his own pain, more than his own consumption.

We have lost being caught up in a bigger story. Shawn Kelly - the most significant threat to our culture is nihilism - the death of meaning and stories. Where there is no more adventure, no more meaning.

How can we find meaning, peace? In Jesus, here is a story of a redeeming God Who graciously offers Himself to bring peace, well-being, forgiveness. Our lives, like Paul's, can be seen from the view that my life is no longer about myself, but about God, the source of life and new life.

May we participate in God's great story of redemption through the grace we show, the way we give ourselves to others, the way that we live for the honor and glory of Jesus.