Unassailable Joy - Philippians 1:12-18 Series

Philippians 1:12 Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. 13 As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. 14 Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly. 15 It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. 16 The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 17 The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. 18 But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice

Introduction

See what you think about this quotation from John MacArthur: “The measure of a person's … spiritual maturity is what it takes to steal their joy. At whatever point your joy breaks down, that's the level of your spiritual strength. You can find out … how Spirit-controlled you are, how spiritually virtuous you are by finding the breaking point where joy is lost and bitterness and negativism, critical spirit, sullenness begins to creep in and take over ...”

Some of you, whatever last little bit of joy you did have, you just lost it when I read that quotation. It’s bad enough that you don’t have joy, but now you have to feel guilty about it! I hope that’s not how it hits you, because whenever God exposes an area where we are failing, the purpose isn’t to condemn us or make us drown in guilt. The purpose is to point us to the destination to which the Holy Spirit has promised to bring us! Every command in the Bible that points out a flaw in me should give me hope, because God has promised to produce those things in me by His Spirit and through his Word. And I pray that’s what will happen this morning as we study this passage about joy in suffering.

We are studying through the book of Philippians, and we are looking today at verses12-19 of chapter 1. And the bottom line of this section of Scripture is right there at the end of verse 18.

18 …. because of this I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice

The whole rest of the passage is about his suffering. Basically he’s saying, “I’m suffering, I’m suffering, I’m suffering, I’m suffering … and I’m rejoicing big time.” What circumstances could steal Paul’s joy? No circumstances. Paul’s joy was out of the reach of his suffering. Circumstances and people could hurt Paul, deeply, but they couldn’t touch his joy. And the purpose of this section is to teach us how to have joy like that.

Paul’s Example

Remember, what Paul is trying to accomplish in writing this book is to solve the unity problem in Philippi by increasing their joy. He wants the church to stand firm against error and attack, and to have unbreakable unity and oneness. And Paul’s way of accomplishing that was to work for their joy. He knew that when a church loses its joy, the next domino to fall is always unity. And so his approach to solving the disunity problem at Philippi is right there in verse 25.

Philippians 1:25 … I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that through my being with you again your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow

That is his objective, and he has a few different things he is going to do in this book to accomplish that. His strategy in chapter 1 is to teach them joy by example. He is not talking about himself just to get them up to speed on his life. He wants them (and us) to follow his example.

Philippians 3:17 Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you.

You’ll probably be tempted at some point this morning to think, “That’s just Paul. I’m not Paul – I could never do that.” Don’t think that way, because the whole point of this is that it is for our example. Do you have a powerful God – a God that’s just as powerful as the one Paul served? Then you can do all things through Christ who gives you strength – including joy in hard circumstances.

Paul’s circumstances are horrible. He is in prison unjustly, Christian preachers are actively opposing him and trying to stir up trouble for him, people are abandoning him – horrendous circumstances, and yet his joy is off the charts. How do you do it, Paul? Answer: “I do it by tethering my joy to something other than comfort and ease. Comfort and ease aren’t guaranteed. Paul tied his joy to something that was guaranteed. If you tied your investment portfolio to a stock that was guaranteed to always go up, then you would always be in a good situation financially. And if you tie your joy to something that always wins, you always have joy. So what is it? What is this sure thing that can bring me joy no matter how painful my life gets because it’s guaranteed to win? It is the progress of the gospel. Look at the end of verse 18 again – why is he rejoicing so much?