Joy in the Heat of the Battle
Jailhouse Religion #6
Philippians 1:27-30
Introduction:
1. As we have already found, Philippians is a rich resource for the Christian who is lacking in joy.
2. Because of Christ, every believer can experience true joy and fulfillment, no matter what is going on around him.
3. Last Sunday morning we discovered that a key principle to experiencing joy is keeping an eternal focus!
4. If only believers could actually live every moment with eternity in view–it would change our lives.
5. The passage before us this evening presents the conflict that Jude called contending “for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 1:3).
6. We are to be good soldiers of Jesus Christ as commanded in II Timothy 2:3–“Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.”
7. In another place Paul told his young protege, Timothy, to war a good warfare (I Timothy 1:18).
8. If you are a soldier, there are several ways to have joy and peace in the heat of the battle.
I. The Conduct of a Good Soldier (v. 27)
A. Behaviour that Shows Your Allegiance
1. Do you act like a child of God?
2. Do you act like a believer of the Gospel of Christ?
3. If you want peace and joy in the heat of the battle, you need to start acting like your allegiance lies with the Kingdom of God instead of the kingdoms of this world.
4. What happens to a soldier in a foreign country who acts like he sympathizes with the enemy?
5. If he makes it home alive, he may find himself subject to court martial (at least that’s how it used to be)!
B. Behaviour that Submits to Authority–“whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast...”
1. In an army, the general should not have to stand over each soldier to be assured that he will carry out his assignment.
2. That is the spirit of what Paul is saying here.
3. He wanted to hear that they were doing their part in the fight for the faith without having to stand over them and make sure every day!
4. What is the rallying cry for some branches of the military–“Duty, Honor, Country!”
5. We Christians should encourage each other with the ideas of loyalty to that Heavenly Country, our eternal home on high.
6. Shouts of “Duty, Honor, Country” would not be out of place when the duty is to God, the honor goes to His name, and the country is Heaven!
II. The Cooperation of a Good Soldier (v. 27b)
A. Psalm 133:1–“Behold, how good and how pleasant [it is] for brethren to dwell together in unity!”
B. No one finds joy when he or she is in a constant state of friction with other people.
C. It is one thing to fight with the enemy–it is quite another to fight with one another!
D. Ephesians 6:12–“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high [places].”
E. Here Paul reminds them of the necessity of unity or cooperation.
F. Cooperation in the ranks of an army is essential– without it, morale will drop way down, and key battles will be lost because of the spirit of divisiveness.
G. Let me assure you before we go any further–Satan wants to divide!
H. He knows the principle which Jesus stated in Matthew 12:25–“Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand.”
I. He wants to divide this church; he wants divide children from their parents; he wants to divide married couples; he wants divide faithful friends; he wants to divide you against Christ; he wants to divide your thoughts against you!
J. Don’t give into the immature spirit of divisiveness–be a good soldier in this battle–cooperate!
K. Consider these verses about division in the church: (Romans 16:17; I Corinthians 1:10; 3:3)
L. Think about this great principle concerning division in the home: “But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; and they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder” (Mark 10:6-9 see also Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:5-6; Ephesians 5:28-31)
M. Another principle concerning division is disobedience– anytime a person is disobedient or disrespectful to a person who is in authority over them, they are promoting a divisive spirit!
N. The Bible makes it clear–without unity or cooperation anything and everything will fall apart!
O. Here Paul exhorts us to stand fast (fight the battle):
1. In One Spirit
a. This really means that we need to have our human spirits (attitude, enthusiasm, loyalty) lined up behind the same Person.
b. We should all be loyal to the Lord Jesus Christ above all else!
2. With One Mind
a. This means we should believe the same things.
b. We need to be in agreement in our ways of thinking as well as our loyalty and enthusiasm.
c. Amos 3:3 Can two walk together, except they be agreed?
P. Snowflakes are frail, but if enough of them get together they can stop traffic. - Vance Havner
Q. Cooperation in the church is imperative. We must all work together just as the members of our physical bodies must cooperate with one another. "Just to keep your balance while standing still, you need to work about 300 muscles." If that much effort is needed to "stay idle," how much more cooperation is needed to "move forward!"
(Informed Source, L.M. Boyd, The Houston Post) IOWAPR91
III. The Consistency of a Soldier (v. 27–“stand fast”)
A. Supporting Scriptures
1. Php 4:1 ¶ Therefore, my brethren dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, [my] dearly beloved.
2. 1Co 15:58 ¶ Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
3. 1Co 16:13 ¶ Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.
4. 2Pe 3:17 Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know [these things] before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.
5. Hebrews 13:8–“Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.”
B. A Lack of Consistency is killing churches and families everywhere today.
1. The average church member stays in a church about 2 years.
2. But that seems like a long time compared to the average youth pastor which stays about 1 to 1½ years!
3. Most pastors only remain in one place about 3 years on average!
4. I hear parents tell their children a rule and enforce it for about 2 or 3 days and it gets forgotten.
5. Divorce is expected in about 50% of new couples; the rate is just as high for “Christians” as the world!
6. I wonder how many professing Christians are consistent in their daily Bible reading and prayer?
7. We need consistent Christians, just as every army needs consistent soldiers.
8. You will never die for something if you have never consistently lived for it!
C. One of the things I appreciate about our president is that he has not pulled the troops out of Iraq–he remains stedfast about our job there!
D. Another thing I like is the good attitude of cooperation and submission to authority I see in our troops.
E. Most of them are proud of what they are doing.
F. They are consistently waging a battle against terror over in Iraq!
G. One of the great illustrations of a consistent lifestyle is the Old Testament character Daniel, who proved that it is possible to maintain one’s integrity even when totally isolated. As a young man, he was carried away captive to the city of Babylon. For seventy years he endured the pressures of a pagan culture. In the first chapter of the book that bears his name, we are given a simple description of his integrity. “And Daniel continued [even] unto the first year of king Cyrus” (Daniel 1:21).
H. Throughout all the Captivity, during all the troubles of his nation, through intrigues, envies, murders, and persecutions, Daniel continued. The rule of the kingdom passed from Nebuchadnezzar to Belshazzer to Darius and finally to Cyrus, but Daniel just continued. He was in the public eye all of his life; he was in the court from his youth up; he spent the majority of his years in a wicked culture; and he continued. So consistent was his life that when the jealous presidents and princes tried to find something against him, “but they could find none occasion nor fault; forasmuch as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him. Then said these men, We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God” (Daniel 6:4-5). (G and H from David Jeremiah, Turning toward Joy.)
IV. The Courage of a Good Soldier (v. 28-29)
A. Supporting Scriptures
1. Jos 1:6 Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them.
2. Jos 1:9 Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
B. “Courage is doing what you’re afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you’re scared”--Eddie Rickenbacker, Bits & Pieces, April 29, 1993, p. 12
C. During his years as premier of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev denounced many of the policies and atrocities of Joseph Stalin. Once, as he censured Stalin in a public meeting, Khrushchev was interrupted by a shout from a heckler in the audience. "You were one of Stalin’s colleagues. Why didn’t you stop him?"
D. "Who said that?" roared Khrushchev.
E. An agonizing silence followed as nobody in the room dared move a muscle. Then Khrushchev replied quietly, "Now you know why."--Today in the Word, July 13, 1993
F. If you are never afraid, it means you are crazy, not courageous! Courage is not the opposite of fear–it means that by faith, we do what the Bible teaches in spite of the fear of failure or punishment, etc...
1. Courage in the Face of Satan (v. 28)
a. ILLUSTRATION
BLACK BART
HE WAS A professional thief. His name stirred fear as the desert wind stirs tumbleweeds. He terrorized the Wells Fargo stage line for thirteen years, roaring like a tornado in and out of the Sierra Nevadas, spooking the most rugged frontiersmen. In journals from San Francisco to New York, his name became synonymous with the danger of the frontier. During his reign of terror between 1875 and 1883, he is credited with stealing the bags and the breath away from twenty-nine different stagecoach crews. And he did it all without firing a shot. His weapon was his reputation. His ammunition was intimidation. A hood hid his face. No victim ever saw him. No artist ever sketched his features. No sheriff could ever track his trail. He never fired a shot or took a hostage. He didn’t have to. His presence was enough to paralyze. Black Bart was a hooded bandit armed with a deadly weapon.
As it turns out, he wasn’t anything to be afraid of. When the hood came off, there was nothing to fear. When the authorities finally tracked down the thief, they didn’t find a bloodthirsty bandit from Death Valley, they found a mild-mannered druggist from Decatur, Illinois. The man the papers pictured storming through the mountains on horseback was, in reality, so afraid of horses he rode to and from his robberies in a buggy. He was Charles E. Boles—the
bandit who never once fired a shot, because he never one loaded his gun.
b. Satan is like Bart–a roaring lion–that’s all he has now is a roar; Jesus is the real Lion of the tribe of Judah!
2. Courage in the Face of Suffering (v. 29)
a. We might have to suffer Pain for the Cause of Christ–if we really follow Him!
b. We may have to suffer persecution from those who don’t know Him!
c. A good soldier knows that being a soldier requires his putting his life on the line and takes courage!
V. The Conflict of the Soldier (v. 30)
A. Being a good soldier means fighting the battle at some point!
B. It is said that during the Civil war many of the young teens fighting in the battles ran during their first taste of battle–they had no honor when they actually got to the conflict.
C. Many had sung the war ballads the night before and had boasted about what they would do the enemy the next day; but tucked tail and ran instead!
D. Jude 1:3–I “exhort [you] that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.”
E. Paul’s Exhortation
1. “Have the same conflict...”
2. 1Ti 6:12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.
F. Paul’s Example
1. 2Ti 4:7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished [my] course, I have kept the faith:
2. May we be like Paul and become a good soldier of the Army of God!
3. No soldier will discover joy unless he is the best soldier he can be.
4. A soldier without character, consistency, cooperation, and courage will be a miserable soldier indeed.
5. He may even end up a traitor to his country or court-martialed or a regular John Kerry!
6. Let us strive to be joyful soldiers by being good soldiers!
