Philippians 4:4-4:9
How can we live a happier life? Paul gives us three principles:
1. CHOOSE to Rejoice Always
Paul says we can choose to rejoice - it is a choice.
• We are not victim of the circumstance
• If we believe God, then He is our Guide, not fate, not some kind of force.
Paul says we can be joyful IN THE LORD.
• In order words, the source of this joy comes from God.
There’s a big difference between happiness with joy.
• Happiness depends upon happenings or circumstances. When we watch a comedy, attends a party, we are happy.
• Joy, the Bible says in Gal 5:22, is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. It comes from the Lord.
If we know the Lord today, we can have this joy.
• The Holy Spirit dwells in our heart and gives us this joy.
• So joy is not a fruit of circumstance; it is a fruit of the Spirit.
• Joy comes from the Lord who lives in us, not from what’s happening outside of us.
Paul is now in prison when he writes this.
• If we understand his predicament, he couldn’t be happy.
• Even in this letter, he mentioned about some of the believers in Philippi were not getting along (4:2). And there were some false teachers among them (read 3:2).
• The church has problems, and Paul himself is in prison and his future uncertain. Yet he says, rejoice!
Joy is not just emotion. It is a choice; it is an attitude towards life.
• Paul did not look at himself and his predicament. He is always looking to God, and trusting Him to lead him and provide for him.
• You can look at a half-filled cup and thank God that you have some water to drink. Or lament why you have only half a cup and not a full cup.
• You can choose to think always about your weakness, about what you DO NOT have, or you can choose to thank God for what He has given us.
• Don’t see the thorns among the roses. Rather be thankful that among the thorns there are beautiful roses.
Listen to what the prophet Habbakkuk says - Hab 3:17-19
17 Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, 18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Saviour. 19 The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights.
The words "I will" revealed Habakkuk’s belief that he could choose his response - either to sink into despair or to rejoice in God’s presence and power.
• His decision to rejoice wasn’t a denial of hardship or sorrow. We will have times of sorrow and grief. Jesus too wept.
• But sorrow cannot knock us down. We can rely upon the Lord.
• It was a decision of trust based on the truth that God would remain with him to be his strength and enabler (v.19).
Our attitude towards life is important. We can trust God, even in hardships.
• The choice to rejoice is ours everyday.
• To refuse to choose is itself a choice. We let the circumstances overwhelm us and rob us of joy.
• We are able to be joyful because of our confidence in God. We trust that God is present, and He is in control.
• So our joy is anchored, not in our circumstances, but in God.
Fanny Crosby wrote over 8000 hymns (Blessed Assurance, Praise Him, Praise Him, To God Be the Glory). She lost her sight when she was only 6 weeks old. She lived into her nineties, composing thousands of beloved hymns. On her 92nd birthday she cheerfully said, "If in all the world you can find a happier person than I am, do bring him to me. I should like to shake his hand."
YOU ARE BLESSED
If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed than the million who won’t survive the week.
If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture or the pangs of starvation, you are ahead of 20 million people around the world.
If you attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death, you are more blessed than almost three billion people in the world.
If you have food in your refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof over your head and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75% of this world.
If you can read this message, you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world that cannot read anything at all.
You are so blessed in ways you may never even know.
2. Commit to PRAYER
Pass this problem over to someone else. That is, to God.
• Only when you can entrust your worries to God, can you experience His peace.
• Now, there is nothing wrong with having concern, we all have our concerns about certain things.
• It is when your concerns have you, that’s the problem! That is, they become worries. You are thinking about them all the time. You are under bondage.
Have you heard this story? A man was carrying some food, walking home. On the way, a truck saw him and offer to give him a lift. So he climbed behind the lorry. After some time, the driver noticed that the man was still standing, carrying the food. He stops the truck.
"Why are you still carrying those rice?"
"Oh, I do not want to burden you too much. Giving me a lift is already a kind thing you are doing. I do not wish to burden you more with these extra loads."
When we are sick and helpless, we need to give it to the doctors.
When we have a problem and cannot solve it, we need to give it to the lawyer.
When we have a question at school, we need to give it to the teacher.
When in life we face difficulties, we need to pray and entrust them to God.
Paul says let them go. Give it to God.
• Prayer is actually an expression of our faith in God. We trust He can.
• A wall plaque reads, "Why pray when you can worry?" It serves as a reminder. It is really saying to us: "Why worry when you can pray?"
Corrie Ten Boom says, "Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength."
• The song says, "Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face; and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace."
• Let’s transform our worries into prayers!
3. THINK only the Truth
Not just to think about the good, but think about the truth.
• Paul says in verse 9, "whatever you’ve learned or received or heard from me."
• If he has been teaching the Word, then they are to think about God’s Word and put it into practice (v.9b).
We are called to fix our minds upon the things of God.
• In other words, if we will fill our minds with the Word of God, there will be no room for fear, no room for worry, and no room for evil.
Psalm 1:1-3
Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. 3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.
We feel sad because we feed our minds with the bad things of life.
• These thoughts hurt us, and very often, more harmful than physical hurts.
• We don’t remember the cuts or bruises you got as a kid, or many months back.
But you remember the painful words that were said to you.
• We remember emotional wounds a lot longer than physical ones.
• Why? Because we rehearse those hurts in our mind over and over again.
• We replay the tape. We mediate day and night the hurtful words of people.
That is unwise. Our past is past.
• If we keep rehearsing a past wound, we allow the words to hurt us over and over again.
• It’s like seeing a very boring movie. When we come out of the cinema, we regretted paying to see it, and tell others not to go see the movie.
• But in real life, we let the bad events of the past repeat itself; we are seeing the bad movie again and again. We pay (time) to see it again.
• Why are we allowing it to repeat its harmful effects on us?
What we must feed our minds is God’s truth - 4:8 "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things."
Psalmist says mediate on the Word of God day and night. This is a blessed man.
A Native Christian elder described life’s struggle with a young man: "It feels like there are two dogs fighting inside of me."
The young man asked, "Which dog wins?"
The older man replied, "Which ever one I feed."
If we feed our soul with the best and good thoughts, we grow stronger and fitter. Feed on the Word of God!
