Happiness Joy is a Choice
Philippians 1:12-21
http://gbcdecatur.org/sermons/JoyChoice.html
Yes, happiness/joy is a choice. It really has nothing to do with our circumstances, and everything to do with our perspective and priorities.
If we choose to be miserable we will be, and so will those around us. The same could be said for if we choose to be joyful.
Do you want joy? Well, I'm sorry to say that you will NEVER have it ... if you are trying to create it.
We don't find it difficult to praise the Lord when circumstances around us are good. But what is THAT 'joy' based upon? What happens when you lose it all? What happens when life gets unfavorable? Can you still have joy? Will you?
ill.--Satan boasted to God that Job followed Him because of His blessings, but that if 'you take it away, he will curse you.'
Job lost it all, but passed the test. "Naked came I into this world and naked shall I return...blessed be the name of the Lord!"
And Paul in our text is saying the same thing from experience ... he had many unfavorable circumstances, to put it mildly. Paul desired nothing more than to preach the gospel in Rome, the center of the world of that day.
Acts 19:21
... Paul purposed in the spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I must also see Rome.
Romans 1:15
So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.
Paul had prayed to get to Rome. But how he got there was a surprise to him. God doesn't always answer our prayers the way that we expect. [can I get a witness?]
Religious Jews plotted against him as did the Romans, and he became a prisoner in Caesarea for two years. He appealed to Caesar, which put him on his way to Rome. Not as a preacher/missionary but as a preacher/prisoner!
While in route, they suffer shipwreck. The account of this is highly dramatic, recorded in Acts 27. For 3 months they are stranded on an island before they again can set sail for Rome. Once there, he was placed under the Praetorian Guard, the elite.
I would be saying, "Why allow this, Lord? I'm trying to preach the gospel!"
Even the believers in Philippi were aware and asking the same thing. They sent their pastor, Epaphroditus, to check on Paul and send him a message. There's no record in Scripture of the contents of that message, but we could imagine it went something like this: "Dear Brother Paul, we are so sorry for you, for your circumstances, and for the fact that the gospel is no longer being carried by you."
Paul answers in v. 12 of our text...
Philippians 1:12
But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel;
It's not about 'happenings' but about God's providence! He turns tragedy into triumph and obstacles into opportunities!
The Christian should never develop a 'victim's mentality' because "all things work together for good..."
God is always doing something IN us so He can do something greater THROUGH us!
4 thieves that will attempt to rob you of your joy:
1. Circumstances in ch. 1
2. People in ch. 2
3. Things in ch. 3
4. Worry in ch. 4
Paul will address how to nab these joy thieves.
Concerning our circumstances in chapter 1...
...Most of us can easily see the difficulties inherent in our opportunities. We need to learn from Paul how to see the opportunities in our difficulties!
If your circumstances find you 'in Christ', then you will find Christ in your circumstances!
v. 13 'my bonds in Christ'
v. 15 'preach Christ'
v. 16 'preach Christ'
v. 18 'Christ is preached'
v. 19 'the supply of the Spirit of Christ'
v. 20 'Christ shall be magnified'
v. 21 'to live is Christ'
v. 23 'to be with Christ'
v. 26 'rejoicing in Christ'
v. 27 'the gospel of Christ'
v. 29 'given in the behalf of Christ'
Folks, if your circumstances find you 'in Christ', then you will find Christ in your circumstances!
Whatever circumstances you are going thru right now, we can learn how to view it all from Paul right now.
The message will be extended.
The Master will be exalted.
1. The message of the gospel was extended.
vv. 12-13 "furtherance" = "to cut before" = "to blaze a trail"
ill.--in Ecuador recently, several of us walked thru the jungle, single file. It was toughest on the guy in the very front, who carried the machete. And it was scary for me in the very back -- being the first one the anaconda who was following us would get!
Paul was a pioneer, advancing into new territory, blazing a trail for the gospel. Our missionary used his machete, and God used Paul's chains, as a tool!
a. Paul's chains gave him contact with the lost.
v. 13 This palace is Caesar's court.
When Paul got saved in Acts 9, God said, you'll preach to Jews, Gentiles, and KINGS. Prophecy fulfilled!
A Praetorian guard would have been chained to Paul at all times, with a metal band around each of their wrists. They worked in 6 hour shifts. So, Paul was attached to 4 different guards every day!
If you were chained to the apostle Paul for 6 hours, what do you think you would hear? About the weather? The Cardinals?
I'll bet that when his 6 hours were up and his relief showed up he said, "Am I glad to see you!" "Have fun! I'm getting some aspirin!"
4:22 Some of those guys got saved!
Don't ever despise your chains...God can use them! This was the only way that Paul could have access to Caesar's court.
ill.--Harold has been chained in a room for some time now.
[some of you have felt chained to a job / financial chains / relationship chains / chains of stress / moms feel chained to children]
ill.--Susanna Wesley raised 19 kids before disposable diapers, and 2 of them shook Europe for God!
ill.--Fanny Crosby lived in chains of darkness because of a careless doctor who put the wrong medicine in her eyes, but she said "I cannot see with the eyes of my body, but this has allowed me to see with the eyes of my heart!" [We sing many of her 400 hymns, still to this day, inc. Blessed Assurance]
ill.--Bunyan's chains gave us Pilgrim's Progress
ill.--Luther's chains gave us a new translation of the Bible and the message of the gospel was extended!
Paul's chains were given so that the gospel message could be extended.
You can't just walk into Caesar's court anymore than you can just hop the White House fence and go inside. Wait a minute...
a. Paul's chains gave him contact with the lost.
b. Paul's chains gave him courage with the saved.
v. 14 Other believers in Rome were inspired and emboldened.
Your life either will encourage or discourage others around you.
Courage and cowardice are BOTH contagious!
"If Paul can be a witness in prison, then I can be a witness at my work!"
[have joy / sing / smile / not complain]
1. The message was extended.
1. The Master was exalted.
vv. 15-19 He's talking about religious politics. Sadly, it still goes on today. Some play church, and insincerely so. There was a spirit of rivalry and jealousy in Rome, as there is today in many places. Instead of working together for the kingdom, they were competing for prominence. And some of them set their faces against Paul.
In v. 18 Paul shows true character. He cares more about the gospel then his image.
Their motives were impure, and they slandered him, treating him unfairly. They were so jealous of him. But he rejoiced that they also named the name of Christ, and he loved them, no matter what they said behind his back. The Master was being exalted, even through His critics!
If Paul was like us, he would have fired back at them, and grumbled to other prisoners about his enemies, and written letters to his supporting churches, denouncing these ministers ... and if he did, the Roman soldiers chained to him wouldn't have gotten saved!
Every church has its own measure of problems. We are an imperfect church full of imperfect people. We will all make mistakes and fail one another betimes.
If we go away and air our dirty laundry to others, whether lost or saved, the devil will take opportunity for that to spread, and God's kingdom will suffer greatly!
We need to see the big picture. It's not: Am I being treated fairly? Or, is justice being done?
The big picture is Christ being preached, souls being saved, and that brings us joy, because the Master is exalted!
ill.--John Wesley and George Whitfield were greatly used of God in Britain. Did you know that they once got into a huge doctrinal dispute? It became big news. Someone asked Wesley, "Do you expect to see Whitfield in heaven?" He answered. "No." A hush fell across the room. He continued, "I believe my brother will be so close to God's throne and I so far away, that he will be out of eyeshot."
v. 20 If it takes my death for Christ to be magnified, then so be it.
ill.--there's 2 instruments which can magnify: Microscope and Telescope. Each have a lens. One takes something very small and makes it larger. Another takes something very distant and brings it closer.
To our world today, Jesus is very small and very distant. Our chains in this life / our trials / unfavorable circumstances can be used by God as lenses thru which the lost world looks at our lives ... may they see Jesus, large and bold. May they see Christ in us, close and very present!
v. 20 'earnest expectation' comes from the Greek words meaning 'stretch', 'head', and 'away'. Paul is saying that he can have joy because he has turned his head away from circumstances and toward Jesus!
May the message be extended and Master be exalted!
http://gbcdecatur.org/sermons/JoyChoice.html
