Scripture Introduction
The Apostle wrote Philippians to be read in the church, and at just over three pages in my Bible, it takes less than 14 minutes to do so. Let us trust the Spirit of the Word to minister to our spirits through this joyful letter.
[Read Philippians 1.1-4.23. Pray.]
Introduction
A man sought out a Christian counselor for help, saying, “I want to feel better quickly.”
The counselor paused for a moment before answering: “I suggest you get a case of your favorite alcoholic beverage, steal some money, and go gambling on a Caribbean island.”
The answer shocked the man; he responded: “I thought you were a Christian, but your advice does not sound very biblical.”
The counselor answered: “Neither is your purpose for coming here very Biblical. If you only want to feel better quickly, do not follow Jesus. Drunkenness, immorality, and vacations are what you want.”
In a culture awash with promises of instant gratification, we must insist that following God is not the same as doing whatever makes you happy. When the “Founding Fathers” declared the right to the “pursuit of happiness,” they meant for government no longer to restrain its citizens from doing what is good and moral, and thereby pursuing happiness. For many today, however, the pursuit of happiness means the elimination of all standards of goodness and morality, so that every desire may be chosen without individual restraint. We have no right to that happiness.
At the same time, Jesus does promises his followers happiness. John 15.11: “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” And Paul’s letter to the Philippians is often called the “Epistle of Joy,” because sixteen times in four chapters appears either the Greek noun, cara, [chara] meaning, “gladness, happiness, joy” or the Greek verb, cai,rw [chairo] which means “to rejoice.”
No wonder the Puritan preacher Jeremy Taylor said, “God threatens terrible things if we will not be happy.” And C. S. Lewis wrote to a friend, “It is a Christian duty, as you know, for everyone to be as happy as he can.” Apparently, those who know Jesus are to be characterized by joy. But that is not the same as relief from all unpleasantness. Jesus wept; and Paul says there is a time for godly grief. What sustains hope and happiness in a fallen world with much suffering and so many problems? Can we really have joy in the midst of life? That will be our theme for this study.
Before we dig in, let us consider what we start this morning and why. Preaching verse-by-verse has been common in church history, though it is more rare in recent years. I have four reasons we should do this together:
1) This is for our good. Because the Bible is God’s word, we honor him and reward ourselves by careful and complete study. Patient perseverance through Philippians will feed our souls well. It is our good.
2) This is a real letter. People often treat the Bible like an encyclopedia – looking up articles of religious interest when we need a spiritual lift or have a “God-question.” But Paul really sat in jail and wrote a letter to his friends at Philippi. When we study it as it was written, we will hear God as he has spoken.
3) This will protect us. There will topics in this study you would rather not hear and I would rather not preach. By examining every verse, we will find God’s every lesson.
4) This will disciple us. It is possible to skim promises from some Bible texts like a farmer skims cream from the top of the milk. But many rewards await the diligent labor of a miner. Solomon taught this in Proverbs 2: “If you seek [wisdom] like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.” Careful study of each verse in its place in the book extracts great rewards.
God invites us on a delightful quest to find his joy in the midst of our lives. We begin with two very brief points:
1. Authentic Joy Neither Minimizes nor is Mastered by Difficult Circumstances (Philippians 1.12-18)
You have probably met professing Christians who minimize the troubles of life. No matter how painful the problems they experience or how difficult the decisions they face, they know only one answer: “Smile, and praise Jesus more and more!” I feel guilty when around them that I am not happier about being so miserable!
This is one way the other pastors have ministered to me. When we meet or pray together, I have often felt that I should be able to “get over” my feelings of discouragement about the struggles I have in this calling. They have reminded me on several occasions that faith does not pretend that the loss is minor or the pain minimal.
Biblical joy does not fake happiness. It is true that Jesus, for the joy set before him, endured the cross, but the cross required painful endurance. So before the crucifixion, he sweated blood and cried out for deliverance. God living life in human flesh was a man of sorrows. Somehow Biblical joy does not eliminate grief or pretend that life is a bed of roses. Life in a fallen world brings circumstances requiring real sorrow to be grieved. Biblical joy does not minimize the hurt.
At the same time, Biblical joy is not mastered by difficult circumstances. Some of the folks in our denomination involved with college campus ministry have set the great hymn, O Love that Will Not Let Me Go to a splendid tune which has restored that song to the church. We miss out by not singing it, especially verse 3: “O Joy that seekest me through pain, I cannot close my heart to thee; I trace the rainbow through the rain, and feel the promise is not vain, that morn shall tearless be.” George Matheson did not enjoy the pain, but neither could it overwhelm the sure and certain confidence that waves of unfathomable and unending joy will one day wash away the hurt. He based his hope on Psalm 30.5: “Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.”
The assurance of future joy sustains hope in the midst of present grief.
2. Authentic Joy Is Found By Trusting a Sovereign God (Philippians 1.6)
What do you do, when God does not do, what you want him to do?
The new film, Creation: the True Story of Charles Darwin, develops the idea that the death of Darwin’s ten-year old daughter, Annie, was one factor which turned him finally against the possibility of a God whose plan controls life. To be truthful, God probably died from Charles Darwin’s heart before he “put him to death” in public. But a major point in the film is that Darwin would never come to terms with God allowing his child to die.
Bad things happen to good people, don’t they? Throughout church history, Christians have found that a person’s experience of God is significantly impacted by coming to grips with his sovereignty, his control of all things. It is God who both begins and completes his good work in you. Here are two very practical applications.
2.1. You Can Trust God with Your Future Plans
Jail was not Paul’s goal; God did not do what he wanted him to do. So what did the Apostle do? He trusted that the God who had begun something in his life would complete it in a good way and at a good time.
Maybe your marriage plans did not turn out as you wanted. Some of us found God changing our careers, or placing us in a different city than we intended. Maybe the church is not what you hoped. What do we do when God does not do what we wanted him to do? The Bible asks us to trust him who knows the future and promises to bring about the best for his people.
David Livingstone was a missionary to Africa at a time when many who went there died quickly. Well-meaning friends and colleges tried him to dissuade him, but he answered, “I am immortal until the will of God for me is accomplished.” Livingstone trusted God with his future, and exhibited great boldness and authentic joy through life’s challenges.
Oh how our lives would be changed, beloved of God, if we woke every morning with the anticipation of a child at Christmas – today I get to open the perfect circumstances given to me by good and loving Father in heaven! Trust him for your future plans. Second, since God does control all things for your good and his glory…
2.2. You Can Trust God with Your Present Pains
The air which blows from our furnace is clean because inside the ductwork is a filter which removes dirt and allergens. Someone has described the events which blow through the life of a true believer as, “Father-Filtered.” “For those who love God all things work together for good” (Romans 8.28). God uses our every circumstance, even our greatest pains and most ugly failures, and filters them through his good and perfect will, to bring out what is beautiful and a blessing to you, for the honor of his glory.
Everyone here has been hurt; we all have problems threatening to derail our lives; we all have difficulties that seem insurmountable. People disappoint us, but why should such control you? Joy does not come from ignoring the pain, nor from wallowing in it. Joy springs from planting our pains in the soil of God’s good and sovereign will. The Bible does not tell us every purpose for our troubles, nor could we comprehend them all. Instead the Bible shows us, as Paul Baloche wrote in his beautiful song, He Knows My Name, “You have a maker, he formed your heart, before even time began, your life was in hands. He knows your name, he knows your every thought, he sees each tear that falls, and he hears you when you call.”
You can trust him for your present pains and your future plans. You can trust him for joy in the midst of your life. You think about that.
