HOW TO BE A CHRISTIAN AND STILL ENJOY LIFE
HOW TO HAVE JOY IN SPITE OF…
Sunday March 16, 2008
Scripture Reference: Philippians 1:12-14
Intro.
A. What would say is the Christian’s biggest little question? Any ideas? I think the Christians biggest little question is this, “WHY?” The biggest question we have for God usually amounts to these three letters, W-H-Y. When things happen to us that seem unfair, or harsh, or wrong I think the typical response of a child of God is WHY? “Why God, why me, why this, why now? I know this is a serious issue but I can’t help but think of something I got in an e-mail the week I was preparing this sermon. It has to do with this subject of fairness. This was actual wording taken from a police officers video recorder after stopping someone. "Fair? You want me to be fair? Listen, fair is a place where you go to ride on rides, eat cotton candy and corn dogs and step in monkey poop.” You know it is interesting to say the least that we Christians and I am including myself in this, that we seem to feel that suffering is so unfair for us. I really think that if you listen to some preachers today and I will say I think a lot of this comes from those on TV. I lot of these preachers seem to be saying to us that if you suffer it means that there is something wrong with you or that you have in some way offended God.
1. I have been reading an excellent book called “The Jesus I Never Knew” by Philip Yancey. In a chapter called “Beatitudes: Lucky Are The Unlucky” I want to share with you something he wrote. (Read portion).
2. If this is the case, if this is true that when things go wrong it is a sign of God’s displeasure with us then Paul is among the worst offenders of the gospel and no one could be more on the wrong side of God than he because there is no doubt but that Paul suffered and suffered a lot! [] I honestly believe that the character George in the Seinfeld TV series typifies much modern day thinking both inside and outside the church when it comes to this subject of suffering. There is an episode when George is at this therapist and she notices something on his lip and suggests he get it checked out by his doctor. Well if you know this character George flips out and feels that it much be cancer and that he is going to die. He tells his therapist that he believes God is punishing him just about as he is to be successful writing a TV sitcom. She responds to him by saying, “I didn’t think you believed in God.” To which George says, “I do for the bad things.”
3. You know it really is sad that so often times God is given credit when things go wrong, like an earthquake or hurricane, or flood and we say “It was an act of God”. Why is it that when we get a promotion or pay raise or new house or new car we don’t say, “It was an act of God?”
B. Let me take just a minute here to remind all of us the theme of this sermon series. It is How To Be A Christian And Still Enjoy Life. How can we experience these ups and downs of life? How can we go through the difficult times that this human experience provides us, especially as people who profess faith in God and still enjoy life? How can we be joyous people as Christians when so much of today’s train of thought is that bad things should never happen to those who proclaim themselves to be Christians? Well I believe that Paul gives us some answers in the next set of verses we will explore in chapter one. As we think about how to have Joy in spite of things going wrong or not going as we planned consider Paul’s words. First of all consider what happened to Paul himself.
I. CONSIDER WHAT HAPPENED TO PAUL.
A. Paul’s Life Was Filled With Trouble.
1. Read with me V.12 again (read). Notice that Paul said “I want you to know about the things that have happened to me.” Well what are the things that have happened to Paul? Let’s consider some of those. First let’s consider what has happened to Paul since his first visit to Philippi. I want to share with you the words from a man named J.A. Motyer who did an excellent job summing up what happened to Paul after his visit with these people. Before I share this with you I want you to follow along with some of this in your bibles so let’s all turn to Acts chapter 21. (Read copied portion and stop to review the scriptures he lists.)
Trans. Now as you think about all these things that happened to Paul let’s consider now his reaction to these events. What did Paul do when it seemed as though every thing was going wrong?
B. Paul’s Response To Life’s Troubles.
1. First all I want you to see how excited Paul seems to be about where he is and about all that has happened to him. Let’s read V.12 again (read). Now let’s put these words into perspective shall we? Consider what Paul is saying here in relation to all these things that we just looked that have happened to him. Now here he sits in a prison house which may not have been as bad as the dungeon he was in at Philippi but it was prison nonetheless, but hear his words! Here is how I hear these words he says, “Wow, I am so excited to tell you about all the things that have happened to me and how they are all being turned around for the glory of God.” “I would have never thought that all these terrible things could have turned out to be so good for me.”
2. Now let’s be honest here friends, if this were you or me how do you think we would be responding? Let’s make this scenario a little closer to home shall we? Here is how we might see Paul’s situation as it relates to us in 2008. “Well I hate to tell you but I lost my job the other day. Yep the company was down sizing and they eliminated my position. Unfortunately we bought a house last year and we had one of those adjustable mortgage rates and now it has gone up to where it looks like we will lose the home. Because of the financial pinch we are in we have had to resort to buying gas for the cars with credit cards and we keep having to use different cards because we are having trouble paying those bills as well. This whole thing has caused such a strain in my marriage that I am not even sure I can keep that together.”
a) Now how do you think you or I would respond to a situation like this, which we all know is not a real stretch of anyone imagination is it? I wish I could say that I would be able to see beyond the troubles and see what God was doing but I am not sure and yet this was Paul’s response. He goes through all these troubles and instead of bemoaning his circumstances he looks at all of them and is excited to see how God is working in all these terrible things! He is so excited that he can’t wait to share his joy with these Philippians! Paul’s’ response was Joy in spite of hard times. Joy in the fact that he saw what so many of us miss and that is that God is still at work even when things seem terrible for us.
3. Now what is the secret to Paul’s joy or Paul’s response to these awful things? Once again we have to ask, “Is Paul mister “Super Christian”? Is Paul an oddity, a phenomenon, an abnormality or is Paul merely an example of what any one of can be? I will agree with you on this point, I think Paul was unique. I think Paul was special, but guess what I also know? I know this, you are unique, and you are special. God already had an Apostle Paul, He already had a Martin Luther, and He has a Billy Graham. He does need you or me to be striving to be one of these other people. What He wants is for you and I to give ourselves wholly to Him so that He can take our particular giftedness and use it in a way He could never use Paul or Martin Luther or Billy Graham.
4. In the NIV the word used for “helped” in the NLT is translated “really”. What Paul was saying is that “I know this all these terrible things seemed to be working against me but what is really the case is that they were working to fulfill God’s purposes.” What Paul shows us here is something I think all of need to learn to see and understand and that is the Divine Strategy. The reason this is hard for us is because we say things like, “Well this is not what I had planned.” “This is not the way things were supposed to work out.” But isn’t this the real problem any way, OUR PLANS? Let’s hear what the bible says, Jeremiah 29:12 For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. Isaiah 55:8 “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. My life is a perfect example of this, (relate my experiences that brought me to Cornerstone.)
Trans. I could really go on here but I want to finish these verses in one sermon so let’s move forward and let’s consider now the effect of Paul’s suffering.
II. THE EFFECTS OF PAULS SUFFERING.
The first thing I want you to see here is that:
A. Paul’s Suffering Prepared The Way For Others.
1. You know I have to be honest here and tell you that my position as a pastor places me at a great advantage over most of you, but I guess it is supposed to be this way to some degree. What I mean is that because of the study I get to do for each sermon I get to see things that most people wouldn’t see in reading these verses. Some of the words Paul uses in Philippians are filled with tremendous meaning but they don’t always translate out well in English. One of those words is what is translated here as “spread”. The Greek word Paul used here means “pioneer”. It has several uses, one was for the military. It was a word used for those front line troops that would march first into battle and prepare the way for the support troops that would come after them and hopefully complete the battle. It was also used to speak to pioneers who would cut new trails for others to follow. Much like the pioneers in early America, people like Lewis and Clark. Now put this together with what Paul is saying to these people and to us. Paul says that what has actually happened to him has served to lead the way for them and for us to be able to share this good news about Jesus. Remember we just saw a few minutes ago that although Paul was unique so are we! Paul didn’t say, “I have done what you will never do instead he said “What I did is prepare the way for you to follow in my footsteps.”
Trans. Now let’s see another effect of Paul’s suffering.
B. Paul’s Chains Set Us Free.
1. What words come to your mind when you think of chains? You probably think of words like, prison, confinement, punishment, and restricted freedom. Now how did Paul view his chains? Paul said that these things that would seem to be restricting, confining, limiting have actually served to liberate him and the gospel. Instead of complaining about his chains (which I am afraid I think I would be prone to do) what Paul did was consecrate his chains. What that means is that he took these chains that were supposed to hold him down and he gave them to God and said, “God will you use these in my life to bring you glory?” * It reminds me of Joseph when he finally reveals himself to his brothers. He told them, “You meant to harm me by selling me to those slave traders, but God used what you planned for evil for good.” Paul said, “What looks like an obstacle has been turned into an opportunity and opportunity I could have never dreamed of” as we will see in a minute.
2. I want us to pause for a minute here. Can I ask you to consider what your chains are today and I am pretty sure all of us have some. Maybe you see your chains as physical, could be an illness or some other limitation in our body that you have been viewing as a chain that prevents you from doing all you think you can do for God. Maybe you see your chain as you particular giftedness or shall we say “skill set”. You have this tendency to say, “If only I was more like _________.” “If only I could do what they do I could really be used of God.” Maybe you see your chain as finances. “Well pastor I would really like to help the church but I just don’t have the money.” “If I won the lottery or had a million dollars I would help the church build those new buildings you have talked about.” What are your chains? Would you be willing to right now, in this moment consecrate those chains to God and let Him transform your perceived liability into a great asset? PRAY
Trans. Let’s look at one more thing that happens as a result of Paul’s suffering.
C. Everyone Gets To Hear The Gospel.
1. Even though Paul is locked up in this prison house he seems to be allowed visitors because in Acts 28 we read where Jews and others came to the house to hear him and it tells us about people being saved. So as Paul says, “everyone here” is hearing the good news even though he is in chains.
2. The most exciting thing I see in V.13 is this, “the whole palace guard”. It is believed by most scholars today that these were not ordinary policemen of the day. These were the praetorian guards and these were the elite troops of the Roman army. If we were to make a comparison to them today we would say they were like the Green Beraes or the Navy Seals. They were far from ordinary soldiers.
a) Now consider just a few things this means. First of all let’s think about the possibilities of Paul getting an audience with the praetorian guards. Let’s say Paul really wanted to share the gospel with these guys and he is making all sorts of petitions to the army commanders. What is the response going to be? “You have got to be kidding, our men to not have time to listen to some wild eyed preacher. They don’t need to get any crazy notions about morality we need them to be hard and cold to do their job. I don’t think it is to far off to realize that had Paul wanted to get an audience with these men it would have been near to impossible to do so. So what did I say earlier? Divine Strategy, God had a way of getting this done that Paul could have never imagined. No wonder he speaks with this excitement in his voice that I mentioned before.
b) Consider this as well, history tells us that these guards would change shifts every six hours. So four times a day a new man comes on duty and another new opportunity opens for Paul to share the good news of Jesus Christ! Now think with me about what is going on while these men are guarding Paul. It is believed that Paul wrote not only Philippians but also Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon while in this prison house. So imagine as Paul writes and these guards are chained to him. Can we not see that these guys would be inquisitive? They want to know what Paul is writing about. Now do believe that Paul is merely giving them the text of his letter or do think by chance he is expounding on what he is writing to these other churches? Sure, these guys are getting the exposition of the letter not the mere words!
Trans. Let me quickly share with you what I see as another result of Paul’s suffering.
D. Christians Are Encouraged to Witness.
1. Paul said that the believers have been given new confidence to share because of what has happened to him. I think Paul’s first thoughts here are about the people in Rome that he has been able to witness to, but what I also believe is true is that he wants them to see that what is happening in Rome can happen in Philippi as well. ** Do see how important it is that we allow God’s plan to be fulfilled in us? Think about what would be happening here if the reverse of what Paul was saying was true? I know that none of likes to suffer (I sure don’t) and I know none of us enjoys the hard, difficult times but if we are God’s children and we truly believe that He has a plan then our struggle against God’s plan can have adverse effects not only on me personally but on the body of Christ that I am a part of.
2. Paul says that the believers have been given a new boost of confidence and they are emboldened to speak the good news about Jesus.
3. Some translations say that they have been “encouraged” to speak boldly. [] Let me ask you, “Who has encouraged you spiritually?” “Who has God used in your life to encourage you to take steps you might not have taken on your own?” Have you ever thanked that person? You need to do so because that will serve to encourage them more. Now let’s go a little deeper, “Who have you encouraged?” “Who is moving up in their walk with God because of the example you have set?” Folks I need to tell you that there is a problem if we are not able to name someone we have encouraged. Now I know that sometimes we encourage people and we are not even aware of it. Hopefully if this is true for you what I asked people to do a minute ago will happen and you will know who you have encouraged. But could it also be that we have not grown up enough in our own faith to be the example to others we ought to be? Now I am certainly not advocating that we become spiritually mature so that we will have our own groupies. What you will find is that if your soul desire is to become more Christ like it will be that desire that spontaneously brings about the inspiration to others.
OUR NEXT STEP:
A. Listen to what Our Lord said to His disciples and what he now says to us, John 13:7 Jesus replied, “You don’t understand now what I am doing, but someday you will.”
B. I want you to consider something with me that I know will not be easy for us but I feel it is necessary for us to think about. As you think about the trials you are going through right now or the ones that you will be going through in the future because you will. Consider these thoughts.
1. You will never again have this moment to live for Jesus. Never again will have you have the chance to praise Him for the circumstance you find yourself in today. Never again will you have the chance to bring a smile to God’s face by trusting Him with what His is allowing in your life. Maybe never again will you have the opportunity to encourage others in their faith like the opportunity you have now.
SIEZE THE DAY!
