Whos Joy is it Anyway?

Philippians 2:13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure (ESV)

    I see this verse as three different components, but all within one larger truth. The main thing we shouldn’t miss is that its God who works in us. The work we do is not our own but it’s the work of the Lord in our lives to carry out his will and fulfill the intended purpose of his creation. Which believe it or not this goes hand in hand. As Gods will is being done in our lives, his name is being glorified. Being that this is true God cannot be glorified in our grumbling and complaining. Which is why he has given us the choice to choose a life that glorifies his name. Being that God cannot be glorified in our grumbling, but only through our genuine choice to serve and proclaim his name. Then we find a direct correlation between glorifying God and our joy. Although Gods purpose for his creation was to bring him glory, we still find joy through doing this being that he can only be glorified through a joyful heart. We bring God joy, which is also where we find significance, purpose and meaning for our life. “The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save, he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing” (Zephaniah 3:17). We see that God rejoices over us with gladness and exults over us with loud singing. He finds joy in us, and this joy is found when we are in his will. This is something we share with God, as we rejoice in praising him, he rejoices in us.
    This verse makes me think about the life of Christ. A prefect representation of God working through human flesh. Working for the will of God, that his name might be glorified and through that glorification pleasure would be found. “Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2). Where did Christ find joy in his life? In carrying out the will of the Father. “When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.  And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed” (John 17:1-5).
    Christ had one focus and purpose in laying his deity aside, clothing himself in humility and being born in the likeness of men. He was focused on the cross, knowing that he was sent to die for the redemption of his creation. So Christ could not have grumbled at this task at hand, the cross was not an afterthought, but he daily walked in the shadow knowing that he was headed to Calvary road. And even then he found joy in walking in complete obedience to the father, we know he found joy for one because Hebrews 12:2 tells us it was a “joy set before him.” Secondly, for the Father to have been glorified in Christ’s death it has to be something that was done in pure joy. When people say pick up your cross, they often associate the cross with a trail or burden that is presently in your life. I don’t see how this could be so, as if when Christ was carrying his cross down the Calvary road he was burdened by it. It was not a trial in his life, it was pure joy. The cross is simply the cross. When we start to look at the cross as a trial in our we begin to diminish the work Christ did the day of his crucifixion. But when the cross is the cross you can focus on the power of it. The cross is liberating, delivering creation from slavery.
    When your like Paul and you have experienced the goodness of Christ, the cross becomes a hope in your life. “That I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death” (Philippians 3:10). Also Paul is able to look at the cross and find glory in it, “but far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Galatians 6:14). Everyday we look to the cross, and find mercy, power, grace and restoration. We are drawn to the cross for a daily surrender, a surrender that enables the power of the cross to reign true in our lives.
    So being that we have a perfect example of a life poured out, even to the point of death. We know that before the world existed, God has prepared a work for us to walk in, this should encourage us and compel us to seek his will for our life all the more. Knowing that when we walk in that will we will be experiencing pure joy to the extent of its intended design and  within that we will be fulfilling our intended purpose in this life, glorying God. “Everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made” (Isaiah 43:7).