Maintaining Happinessduringtrials Series

Maintaining Happiness During Trials

Jeffery Anselmi / General

Be Happy / Suffering; Happiness / Philippians 1:18–30

God will use every opportunity—good or bad—to spread the message of Jesus.

INTRODUCTION

• One of the things we dread in life is facing trials and experiencing suffering.

• When we are in the middle of these terrible times, we tend to think that we should be able to put on a smile and move forward.

• Some have suggested that we fake it until we make it so that others THINK we are doing well during these times.

• I know the ongoing saga of COVID has hit many people in a bad way.

• As a follower of Jesus, if you feel down, sad, and exhausted by this stuff, I bet you also feel a sense of guilt because you are having a difficult time, whether COVID or some other trial or form of suffering.

• I bet you feel guilt on top of everything else because you have been told that Christians are not supposed to be worn out, exhausted, stressed, or down.

• In the series we are working through together, we have been exploring the concept of Being Happy.

• Today, we pare that thought with maintaining happiness amid trials and suffering.

• While suffering is not the dominant pattern of Philippians, it constitutes the church's primary historical context in Philippi and thus underlies much of the letter.

• Opposition and suffering probably lie behind a further—seldom noted—major concept in the letter: Paul's repeated emphasis on the Christian's triumph in Christ.

• Paul knew a thing or two concerning the subject.

• Paul was in prison as he wrote this letter. Paul was also being dogged by people sniping at his character, along with dealing with people who were preaching the gospel with sinister motives.

• I do not know about you, but I would imaging it would have been easy for Paul to through in the towel and go back to the old life given all his stresses.

• So how does Paul cope with the trials and suffering of life?

› Big Idea of the Message: Difficult circumstances become bearable if we keep Christ and his purpose as our focus.

• Let's dig into our text together to find out.

• We begin with Philippians 1:18-20.

Philippians 1:18–20 CSB

18 What does it matter? Only that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is proclaimed, and in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice

19 because I know this will lead to my salvation through your prayers and help from the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

20 My eager expectation and hope is that I will not be ashamed about anything, but that now as always, with all courage, Christ will be highly honored in my body, whether by life or by death.

SERMON

› Maintaining happiness during suffering requires…

I. A focused mind.

• When things seem to go sideways, how can one maintain happiness?

• One of the things Paul did was he kept his mind focused on the big picture.

• The people were concerned about the motives of some who were proclaiming Jesus.

• All Paul cared about was that Christ was proclaimed.

• In Paul’s eyes, the listened usually did not know the heart of the one proclaiming Christ, only the results.

• Here is Paul, in prison, and what is important to him? Christ being proclaimed.

• Some were preaching the gospel with bad intent; what did Paul focus his mind upon? Christ being proclaimed!

• When we face difficulties or have faced them in the past, it is so easy to allow those things to scar us, sometimes to ruin our ability to have relationships with others.

• We tend to focus on our situation or our circumstances to the point that we block out all other things; we block out what is truly important in life.

• When I can keep my mind focused on what is essential, it makes it easier to get through the difficult times, the trials, and the suffering of life.

• When we can keep our minds focused on what is essential, we can see that God can use anything and everything for His glory.

In verse 19 Paul is confident that his current trouble will not be his permanent trouble.

• Paul knows that God has a job for him to do, so he is not sweating his time in prison; he knows God has more in store for him.

• When you are in the middle of the storm, you have to know God is with you and that whatever your situation may be, that God can be glorified.

• When you are going through troubles, where is your mind focused?