Have you ever noticed how hard it is to stay joyful?
• One minute you are on top of the world, the next in a pit of despair.
• To stay joyful is like trying to carry water in a holy bucket.
• you fill up, and it leaks out.
And the Bible says "be joyful always".
• Is this just a suggestion?
• It doesn't make sense and seems impossible.
• The car breaks
• The kids are fighting again
• The dr gives you the bad news
• your spouse walks out
• the co-worker stabs you in the back
• stress keeps growing
• your neighbors are difficult
• you failed the test
• and
• you want me to be joyful?
Being joyful wasn't impossible for the Apostle Paul, the author of the book of Philippians. He seemed to be able to live his life in a perpetual state of joy, and wanted to help others live in that joy as well.
The book of Philippians is Paul's personal manifesto on how to live a life full of joy. We see this over and over again throughout the letter.
• I pray always with joy - 1:4
• I rejoice - 1:18
• I will continue to rejoice - 1:18
• be glad and rejoice with me - 2:18
• rejoice in the Lord - 3:1
• Rejoice in the Lord always - 4:4
• the word joy just drips off the pages in this book in various forms
How? How did Paul do it? How did he live in a constant state of joy?
• Was he some kind of super-saint with a faith made of different stuff than the rest of us?
• Did he live in a state of constant denial?
• Or, did he live such a problem free life that to be sad, depressed, or in despair never occurred to him?
One thing that is true about Paul is that his life was not easy.
Paul lived almost every day of his life in mortal danger and physical pain
Look at 2 Corinthians for a summary of the harsh realities of his life as an apostle.
2 Corinthians 11:23-27 (NIV) -23 Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. 24 Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, 26 I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city,in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. 27 I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.
And if these things were not enough
• Paul had some challenge which he called a "thorn in the flesh" which tormented him everyday. (2 Cor 12:7)
• According to church history, Emperor Nero killed Paul by cutting off his head sometime AD 67.
I think it's fair to say that Paul's life wasn't all that easy. Probably much harder than anything you or I face. So, what was his secret to JOY?
How was he able to say to the Philippians, "Be glad and rejoice with me?"
The answer is found in this short little book called Philippians. Just 4 short chapters packed with how to live a life of joy.
• written by the Apostle Paul when he was a prisoner in Rome about AD 62
• he wrote it to his fellow Christians, to the church in Philippi
• this church he started on his second missionary journey (Acts 16)
• one of their members, Epaphroditus, had been sent to Rome to bring a special offering to the apostle and to help him in his time of difficulty
• Paul's letter to the Philippian church is kind of like a missionary thank you letter, but much more than that.
• It is the sharing of Paul's secret of Christian joy.
• At least 19 times in these 4 chapters, Paul mentions joy, rejoicing, or gladness.
At the time when Paul wrote this book he was not in a situation where most would be rejoicing.
• He was a Roman prisoner, and his case was coming up shortly
• He might be acquitted, or he might be beheaded
• According to Acts 28 he was chained to a Roman soldier and not permitted to preach in public.
• He wanted to go to Rome to preach, instead he went there as a prisoner.
• Unfortunately, the believers at Rome were divided. Some were for Paul and some were against him.
In spite of his danger and discomfort, Paul overflowed withh joy.
What was his secret? How did he live in this state of JOY?
The secret is found in another word that is often repeated in Philippians.
• it is the word MIND
• Paul uses this word 10 times and the word THINK 5 times.
• He also uses the word remember
• put these words together and you have 16 references to the mind
In other words, the secret of Christian joy is found in the way the believer thinks -- his or her attitude.
Philippians is kind of a Christian psychology book, based solidly on Bible doctrine.
• It is not a shallow self-help book that tells the reader how to convince himself that "everything is going to turn out all right."
• It is a book that explains the mind the believer must have if he is going to experience Christian joy in a world filled with trouble.
In order to get the total picture of this book we must spend a few minutes looking at 4 thieves, or joy stealers.
Joy Stealers
1. Circumstances
• things are going our way, we are happy. Things are not going our way, we lose joy.
• Little Peggy said to her visiting friend, "Dad must have had an easy day at the office. He didn't squeal the tires when he pulled in the driveway, and he didn't slam the door when he came into the house. And he even gave mother a kiss!"
• do your circumstances control your joy in life?
• We have no control over the weather, traffic, what people say and do.
• The person whose happiness depends on ideal circumstance is going to be miserable much of the time.
• Poet Byron wrote, "Men are the sport of circumstances"
• And yet here is the apostle Paul in the worst of circumstances writing a letter about joy.
2. People
• Do people ever bother you?
• All of us have lost our joy because of people. What they are, what they say, and what they do.
• And, we are all guilty of making somebody else unhappy. It works both ways.
• We have to live and work with people, we cannot isolate ourselves and still live to glorify Christ.
• We are the light of the world and the salt of the earth.
• sometimes the light grows dim and salt becomes bitter because of people.
• is there a way to have joy in spite of people.
3. Things
• Abraham Lincoln was walking down the street with his two sons, who were crying and fighting. A friend asked, "What's the matter with the boys?" Lincoln replied, " The same thing that's wrong with the whole world. I have three walnuts and each of the boys wants two."
• Things!! What thieves they can be
• And Jesus warned us
• Luke 12:15 (NIV) - 15 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”
• In the sermon on the mount Jesus warned against laying up treasures on earth - they are not safe, they do not last, and they never satisfy
• However, most people today think that joy comes from the things that they own.
• In reality, things can rob us of the only kind of joy that really lasts.
4. Worry
• This is the worst thief of all. How many people have been robbed of peace and fulfillment because of worry?
• If fact, worry even has physical consequences, and while medicine can remove the symptoms, it cannot remove the cause.
• Worry is and "inside job".
• If Paul had wanted to worry, he had plenty of occasion.
• He was a political prisoner facing possible execution.
• His friends in Rome were divided in their attitudes toward his case
• He had no mission board supporting him and no Legal Aid Society defending him.
• In spite of all these difficulties, Paul doe not worry!
• Instead, he writes a letter filled with joy and tells us how to stop worrying.
Four thieves that rob us of joy - Circumstances, people, things, and worry.
How do we capture these thieves and keep them form taking away the joy that is right fully ours in Christ?
• We must cultivate the right kind of mind
• In the four chapters of Philippians, Paul describes four attitudes of mind that will produce joy in spite of circumstances, people, and things and that will keep us from worrying.
Let's take a quick look at where we are going over the next several weeks. What are the 4 attitudes which Paul addresses?
Four Attitudes That Maintain Your Joy
1. The Single Mind (Phil 1)
• James 1 tells us that a double minded man is unstable in all he does.
• The Latin proverb says, "When the pilot does not know what port he is heading for, no wind is the right wind."
• the reasons many Christians are upset by circumstances is because they do not cultivate the single mind.
• Paul expresses this attitude of single-hearted devotion to Christ.
• Philippians 1:21 (NIV) - For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain
In Chapter 1 Paul discusses his difficult circumstances and faces them honestly. But is circumstances can not rob him of his joy because he is not living to enjoy circumstances; he is living to serve Jesus Christ.
When a Christian is single-minded, they are concerned about the fellowship of the gospel, the spreading of the gospel, and the faith of the gospel. These were Paul's concerns. And we will learn how to make them ours. In this we discover joy.
2. The Submissive Mind (Phil 2)
• This chapter focuses on people
• The key verse in this chapter is verse 3
• Philippians 2:3 (NIV) - Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,
• In chapter 1 Paul puts Christ first, in this chapter he puts others second.
• Which means he puts himself last.
• The reason people aggravate us so much is usually because we do not have our own way.
• If we go through life putting ourselves first, and others go through life putting themselves first, then at many points there are going to be terrific battles.
• In chapter 2 we find four wonderful examples of the submissive mind: Jesus, Paul, Timothy, and Epaphroditus.
3. The Spiritual Mind (Phil 3)
• Eleven times in this chapter you find Paul using the word "things".
• He points out that most people "mind earthly thing".
• The spiritually minded Christian is concerned about heavenly things.
• the person with the spiritual mind looks at the things of this world from heaven's point of view.
• When five missionaries were martyred by the Aucas in Ecudaro, some newspapers and magazines considered the tragedy to be a great waste of life. It did bring sorrow and grief to friends and loved ones, but future events proved that their deaths were not a "waste" either for them of for the world. The words of Jim Elliot were true: "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."
• That's a spiritual mind
• The quest for things is robbing people of joy, and this includes Christian people.
• We want to possess things, and then we discover that things possess us.
• The only way to victory and joy is to have the spiritual mind and to lool at things from God's point of view.
• In this chapter we learn how Paul had a mind like an accountant, athelte, and an alien.
4. The Secure Mind (Phil 4)
• Worry is actually wrong thinking (the mind) and wrong feeling (the heart) about circumstances, people, and things.
• If we have a single mind, the submissive mind, and the spiritual mind, we should not have to much trouble with worry.
• All we need is something to guard the heart and mind so that worry will not enter.
• Paul describes the secure mind
• Philippians 4:7 (NIV) - And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
• Chapter 4 describes the spiritual resources the believer has in Christ
• God's peace, God's power, and God's provision
• With resources like these, why worry.
• We have the peace of God to guard us and the God of peace to guide us.
That's a quick overview of where we are going. I hope you can already begin to see that it's possible to live a life of Christian joy in spite of circumstances, people, and things, and we do not need to worry when things are difficult.
How do we put this into practice?
How should we respond?
1. Be sure you are a Christian
2. Admit your failures
3. Surrender your mind to Christ daily
4. Look for opportunities to put your mind to work
