Scripture Introduction
Psalm 105.3: “Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice!” My hope is that you all be completely happy because you are fully satisfied with all that God is for you in Jesus Christ. To get there you must abound in love, for love is the fulfilling of the law, and the great command is to love God and neighbor. Paul prays that very thing for his friends in Philippi.
But love alone is not enough. We are limited and fallen, and so our affections can be bent, and twisted, and severely misplaced. Last week I suggested that love like a locomotive, powerful and mighty to motivate us to do the very things we believe will make us happy. But every train engine needs rails to aim its power. The twin rails which God gives are knowledge and discernment. Together these lead the faithful to chose that which is excellent, bringing you great joy in Christ.
Jonathan Edwards (considered by many to be America’s greatest theologian) wrote extensively about choosing what is godly in order to maximize our pleasure. For example, in Charity and Its Fruits, he says, “It is not contrary to Christianity that a man should love himself, or, which is the same thing, should love his own happiness. If Christianity did indeed tend to destroy a man’s love to himself, and to his own happiness, it would therein tend to destroy the very spirit of humanity…. That to love ourselves is not unlawful, is evident also from the fact, that the law of God makes self-love a rule and measure by which our love to others should be regulated. Thus Christ commands (Matthew 19.19), “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” which certainly supposes that we may, and must love ourselves…. And the same appears also from the fact, that the Scriptures, from one end of the Bible to the other, are full of motives that are set forth for the very purpose of working on the principle of self-love. Such are all the promises and threatening of the Word of God, its calls and invitations, its counsels to seek our own good, and its warnings to beware of misery” (159-160).
Last week we studied the first half of Philippians 1.9-11. The title was, “I need more love,” because love powerfully motivates behavior. What we love controls us; so we pray with the hymn writer: “More love to Thee, O Christ, more love to Thee.” This week I am trying to answer the question, “Why do I need more love?” In other words, with this powerful engine of love pulling me down the tracks of knowledge and discernment, where will we end up? Where does it take us? What is the end goal of God in this process of sanctification? Let’s read Philippians 1.9-11 and see what God says about that.
[Read Philippians 1.9-11. Pray.]
Introduction
Sheena Iyengar was interviewed on NPR this week. Ms. Iyengar is a researcher and Professor of Business at Columbia University. Her book, The Art of Choosing, explores decision making: why do we do what we do.
She told of a time in Japan when she ordered green tea at a shop. She asked for sugar, but the waiter stared at her mouth gaping, obviously shocked. She asked again only to have him tell her that, in Japan, we do not put sugar in tea. She said, Yes, she understood that, but tea always tasted slightly bitter to her and she really preferred it with some sugar. The waiter refused, but agreed to discuss her request with a manager.
For her part, as an American citizen (though her parents immigrated from Delhi, India), she felt her personal preferences should determine what was done. But Ms. Iyengar could only listen helplessly as the waiter and manager vigorously discussed her “bizarre” request. Eventually, the manager came to the table and explained that in Japan we do not use sugar in tea. She said she understood, but wanted him to bring her a sugar anyway. So he said, “I’m sorry, but we do not have any sugar.” Exasperated, she said that she would just have a cup of coffee instead. They brought her a cup of coffee, and there, sitting on the saucer was a pack of sugar.
She “knew” what choice would make her happy: sugar in her tea. The waiter and manager also knew what would make her happy: avoiding the major social faux pas.
That seems to me a kind of allegory for life. Sometimes I feel sure that I know what will make me happy and I can be very busy convincing God and myself of it. But the Lord knows something different than I do, and has something else in mind.
I think one of the sharpest examples of this in the Bible is in the life of Moses. Hebrews 11.24-26: “By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.”
Notice the choice before Moses. On one hand are the treasures of Egypt, no mean offer: bizarre wealth, comforts to please every sense and pleasures to satiate every desire. On the other side of the balance is mistreatment with the people of God and the reproach of Christ. He will wander in the dessert, hungry, thirsty and tired; the people will grumble, complaining constantly about his leadership, and God himself will discipline and rebuke this frail man.
Without the eyes of faith, the glitter of the tiny and temporary pleasures of worldliness blind us to all other possibilities. How could any choice other than Egypt bring happiness? But faith is not blinded by bright lights hiding small promises. Faith looks at both offers and chooses the greater reward. Faith does not require instant gratification because it can look forward and see longer-lasting and larger rewards. So I need more love for God and neighbor to sustain my travel on the path to true and lasting joy.
1. True Joy Requires Progress in Godliness (Philippians 1.10b)
Philippians 1.10b: “and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ…”
Fine pottery has always been thin and, therefore, difficult to make. In ancient Rome, when such pottery cracked during the firing process, unscrupulous shop owners filled the cracks with a hard, dark wax. The wax would then be concealed by the paint or glaze. A customer purchasing a plate (for example) would suspect no flaw since the crack was filled in by the wax and the wax was painted to match the pottery. But when hot foods were put on the china, the wax melted, revealing pottery that was cracked and worthless. To detect the flaw, a customer held the plate up to the sunlight. The bright light revealed any dark wax, even though it was covered by glaze.
The Greek word for “pure” in this verse åἰëéêñéíÞò [heili•krines] means exactly that: “sun-tested,” examined in the blazing brightness of sunlight and found free from any flawcovering wax. It is pure pottery.
Eventually, quality and reputable craftsmen in the Roman Empire wanted a seal to certify to wealthy customers that they had not covered any cracks with wax. If their reputation was sufficient, their seal sufficed as proof. But they did not use the Greek word for sun-tested, because unlike Paul, they did not speak Greek. They spoke Latin. So on the back of the plate they wrote two Latin words: sine cera. It means “without wax” and we get the word, “sincere” from those words, meaning that nothing is covered up. In fact, the Vulgate of Philippians 1.10b reads: “sinceres et sine offensa in diem Christi.”
So when Paul prays for us to be “sun tested,” “pure,” “sincere,” “without wax” (whichever word picture helps you understand this), he is asking for our lives to hold up when examined by the light of Scripture and by other people. Are our motives and behaviors consistent with our profession? Obviously, none is perfect; but the word does not require perfection. It is more directed toward honesty, transparency, authenticity. “Pure” means that we are quick to confess, humble about our own failures and weaknesses, honest about our need for grace. We cannot glorify God if we hide our flaws with the wax of a fake spirituality and a pretended holiness.
But more is required; Paul also prays for us to be “blameless,” literally, “without offense.” The idea (certainly) includes our not offending God. But that was mostly covered with the word “pure.” As a result, most Bible students believe that Paul is asking God that we neither take nor cause offense.
Matthew Henry (for example) says the Philippians are to be “an inoffensive people, not apt to take offence, and very careful not to give offence to God or their brethren, to live in all good conscience before God (Acts 23.1; 24.16).”
So if we pull this together, Paul is praying that we would trust and love God enough to admit our need for his grace (not covering up our cracks) and trust and love God in such a way as to open ourselves to receive his purifying Spirit (becoming blameless) and so not offending one another with ungodly attitudes and behaviors.
Stated in a simple summary, Paul prays that we progress in godliness. Is the fruit of the Holy Spirit evident in our lives? Can my spouse or closest friends or parents see progress in behavior, and motives, and attitudes? Are we growing in Christ-likeness? Am I more godly today than last year, more able to overlook offenses and less a cause of offense. These are the necessary result of abounding love directed by the twin rails of knowledge and discernment. And this is the path to joy for all who know and love God.
2. True Joy Requires the Fruit of Union with Christ (Philippians 1.11a)
Philippians 1.11a: “filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ…”
The story is told that when Lawrence of Arabia came to Paris after World War II, he brought with him some Arab friends who had seen almost no modern technology before their visit. Lawrence sought to impress them with tours of the wonders of Paris, but the thing that
most interested them was the faucet in the hotel bathtub. They loved to turn it on and off, and giggled with delight at having all the water they wanted by simply turning a handle. When it came time to check out of the hotel, Lawrence found them in the bathroom, trying to wrestle the faucet out of the wall. When confronted, they said, “It is very dry in Arabia and we need one of these faucets.”
We know, of course, that what makes the faucet work is not the faucet, but the immense water system to which it was attached. But I wonder if we are like those Arabians some days. The Spirit gives us new birth, but we then take our faucet away from the source, Jesus.
Abraham and Sarah provide a graphic Biblical example of this behavior. God made a great promise to Abraham: through his family line all the families of the earth would be blessed. So all they needed was a son. But Abraham and his wife were old, and Sarah had been barren many years, so they could not imagine God doing this. Rather than wait and trust, therefore, they hatched a plan that seemed wise to them. Abraham would lie with a slave, producing an heir by her, even though it was not exactly what God wanted. The result was Ishmael, “a wild donkey of a man, whose hand is against everyone and everyone’s hand against him.” And the conflicts continue between the children of Ishmael and the children of Isaac.
Some pastors even use the phrase, “Producing Ishmaels” when we seek results by our own plans and strength. But it is the righteousness that comes through Jesus which is our joy and the glory of God. Jesus taught this in John 15: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.”
We could spend many sermons considering how to produce the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ. Let me give one example, just to give an idea for consideration. About a week ago Martha suggested that God might want us as a church to devote more
sustained time to prayer. That reminded me of a passage from Richard Lovelace in Dynamics of Spiritual Life: “Modern Evangelicalism is in danger of becoming a tame lecture circuit, a kind of sanctified show business. Here is where Pentecostals and Charismatics reflect the authentic revival tradition of Protestantism. When they commence a venture, it is with hours of prayer, while with ordinary Evangelicals it is with hours of talk and organization. The result is often that the Charismatics achieve supernatural results, while the rest of us obtain what is organizable. Since the work of the Holy Spirit in lives is intimately related to mission, it is unlikely that we can close the sanctification gap until we approach our mission in this dangerous age with the same fear and trembling, the same prayer to be endued with power from on high, that characterized the first apostles” (237).
The reward is not for our good works, but for the good works which Christ produces in us as a result of resting in his good grace. True joy requires the work of Jesus in our lives.
3. True Joy Requires that We Make Much of God (Philippians 1.11b)
Philippians 1.11b: “to the glory and praise of God.”
When Georgia Tech again wins the national championship, as they did in 1917, 1928, and 1990, I will be very happy! Every bowl game our family dons our temporary tattoos, our brightest white and gold clothing, and cheers on the Jackets! So how can the Ramblin’ Wreck most please their fans? By winning. But that a very self-centered answer, is it not? Winning most pleases themselves! So which is it, pleasing the fans or self? Of course, they are simultaneous and inexorably intertwined.
Since God is that which is most beautiful, most powerful, most holy, most wonderful, most glorious, most delightful, what could he do to make us most happy? Must he not enable us to do all for the praise of his glorious grace?
C. S. Lewis discusses this in his Reflections on the Psalms: “But the most obvious fact about praise—whether of God or anything—strangely escaped me. I thought of it in terms of compliment, approval, or the giving of honor. I had never noticed that all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise.… The world rings with praise—lovers praising their mistresses, readers their favorite poet, walkers praising the countryside, players praising their favorite game.… My whole, more general difficulty about the praise of God depended on my absurdly denying to us, as regards the supremely Valuable, what we delight to do, what indeed we can’t help doing, about everything else we value. I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation.”
Unless God give us love for himself and others, directed by knowledge and discernment, so that we grow in godliness and produce the fruit of union with Christ, for his glory, we will never be happy. But when he does these things, then our lives will be trophies of his grace, to the praise of his glory, and to our everlasting and overflowing joy. Let us pray for just that.
