Maria Brunner's husband was unemployed, so she supported their three young children by cleaning other people's houses. However, even without a job, her husband managed to run up quite a number of unpaid parking tickets. The bill totaled nearly $5,000. Mr. Brunner kept the tickets a secret from his wife, but as the owner of the vehicle, she was responsible. Maria could not pay the fine, so unless her husband came up with the money, she had to spend three months behind bars in her town of Poing, Germany.
Maria's reaction? She said, “I've had enough of scraping a living for the family… As long as I get food and a hot shower every day, I don't mind being sent to jail. I can finally get some rest and relaxation.”
Police reported that when they went to arrest Maria, “she seemed really happy to see us… and repeatedly thanked us for arresting her.” While most people taken into custody hide their heads in shame, Maria “smiled and waved as she was driven off to jail.” (Family of the Week, www.timesonline.co.uk, 5-15-05; www.PreachingToday.com)
Maria was looking for happiness in jail, an unusual place, to be sure; but it does raise a very important question: Where do we find true happiness? Where do we find a real and lasting joy? Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to the book of Philippians, a book about joy in the New Testament, Philippians 1.
Philippians 1:12-18a I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. (ESV)
Do you want to find joy? Then…
PURSUE THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE GOSPEL.
Give your heart and soul to the work of spreading the good news of Jesus Christ around the world. Go after the proclamation of Christ, not the promotion of yourself.
That’s what Paul did. He rejoiced, because Christ was proclaimed. He was glad, because the Gospel was advanced. That’s where he found great joy, even in prison, and even when people were trying to make it hard for him.
In vs.12, Paul says, “I want you to know…that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel.”
Well, what exactly did happen to Paul? Luke tells us at the end of the book of Acts (don’t turn there). In Acts 21, Paul is falsely accused and arrested in Jerusalem. In Acts 22, He is nearly mobbed and flogged. In Acts 23, He is struck on the mouth before a Jewish court. In Acts 24, He is transferred to Caesarea under armed guard, because the Jews tried to kill him in Jerusalem. In Acts 25-26, He gets stuck in a Caesarean prison for two (2) years, because he refuses to bribe the governor. In Acts 27, He is shipwrecked on his way to Rome, and in Acts 28, He is placed under house arrest in Rome, and chained to a guard 24-hours a day, while he is awaiting trial before Caesar himself.
These are the things that happened to Paul. And yet, through it all, he finds joy (vs.18 says). Why? Because these things have served to “advance the gospel” (vs.12). That word, “advance,” is a very interesting word. It literally means, “to strike forward,” and it pictures a pioneer cutting his way through thick brush. Paul tells us, “It’s tough going. It’s like cutting through thick brush, but the gospel is making progress. People are hearing the good news of Christ, and they are responding to it.”
The whole imperial guard has heard about Christ, because of his chains (vs.13 tells us). That is to say all of Caesar’s palace guards have heard the Gospel. You see, Paul was chained to a guard 24 hours a day.
Warren Wiersbe, in his commentary on Philippians, says, “The shifts changed every six (6) hours, which meant that Paul could witness to at least four (4) men each day! Imagine yourself as one of those soldiers, chained to a man who prayed “without ceasing,” who was constantly interviewing people about their spiritual condition, and who was repeatedly writing letters to Christians and churches throughout the Empire! It was not long before some of those soldiers put their faith in Christ. Paul was able to get the Gospel into the elite [Palace] guard, something he could not have done had he been a free man.” (Be Joyful, p.33)
More than that, believers are emboldened to speak God’s word, because of Paul’s chains (vs.14). In fact, the Greek word for “speak” implies that the word of God has become a part of their every-day conversation.
Now, most believers are speaking out of love for Paul (vs.16), but some have other motives (vs.15). Some are jealous of Paul’s popularity. And with Paul out of the way, in prison, they are hoping to gain some of that popularity for themselves.
Verse 17 says they “proclaim Christ out of selfish-ambition.” The word pictures a politician, trying to gain political office by unfair means (VINE). In other words, these guys are self-seeking opportunists, promoting themselves at Paul’s expense. Maybe they enjoyed some prominence in the church before Paul arrived. And now that Paul is in prison, they hope to recover their former popularity.
Does this make Paul feel bad? NO! He’s glad! He’s happy, because Christ is preached, whether it’s from false motives or true. It doesn’t matter to him who gains the popularity, because that’s not what he’s living for. He’s not living for the promotion of himself. He’s living for the proclamation of the Gospel.
Do you want to find joy, no matter what your circumstances? Do you want to find a real happiness that’s not based on what’s happening around you? Then stop trying to promote yourself, and start living to promote Christ. Like Paul, stop seeking your own advancement, and start pursuing the advancement of the Gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ.
About ten years ago (2006), Emanuel Lighe returned to his home in West Africa to find police waiting for him. There had been a death in the village, and Lighe's name topped the suspect list. So Lighe was cuffed and detained at the police station, where police questioned him well into the night and refused to let him go.
Hours turned into days; days dragged into weeks. Lighe remained at the police station, then was transferred to Prison Civile de Lomé, the main prison in the capital city of Togo in West Africa's Togolese Republic. He remained there for five years and four days.
Lighe was innocent.
Prison Civile de Lomé is a perilous place. Built to house 500 inmates, the prison is packed with 1,800 inmates who live and sleep in one cramped, open-air yard. Infectious disease is rampant, and many prisoners die, often before they've served their sentences.
Lighe spent half a decade of his life in this there – always hungry, always scared, always wondering how he, an innocent man, landed in this place.
He said, “Life in prison is so difficult that it's hard to understand for outsiders: people get raped, beaten up. Money and possessions get stolen. There's a lot of violence and pressure.”
However, for years, members of the Bible Society of Togo… have visited the prison, bringing food for the inmates and supplying them with another life-giving gift: the Bible.
For Lighe, the Bible became a source of life and hope. It inspired him daily to reach out to his fellow inmates, spreading God's Word through preaching and living out its message. Although Lighe struggled to understand why he was placed in prison, God began to teach him that his detainment had a purpose: He was there to minister to his fellow inmates.
"I believe in God's power and God's Spirit,” Lighe said, “so I continued my work, because I am not ruled by man.” With his purpose found and forged in the unlikeliest of places, Lighe thanked God for bringing him to prison.
After Lighe was released, he struggled to find work and was lost in the business of daily life. He knew something was missing, so he began to return to the prison regularly to visit friends and continue his ministry. Even though he's no longer a prisoner, Lighe commands the same respect among the inmates. Inside the walls he is the real, breathing picture of God's hope. (Benjamin Leama, “Wrongfully Accused”, American Bible Society News, June 22, 2011; http://news.americanbible.org/article/wrongfully-accused; www.PreachingToday.com)
Lighe found joy in the worst of prisons, but only when he saw it as an opportunity to advance the Gospel, the good news about Jesus Christ. In fact, he thanked God for bringing him to prison, and you can too!
You can thank God for your situation. You can find joy no matter where you find yourself, but only if you see it as an opportunity to be a witness for Christ. Do you want to find real joy? Then pursue the advancement of the Gospel, not the advancement of yourself. Pursue the proclamation of Christ, not the promotion of yourself. And then, #2…
PURSUE THE EXALTATION OF CHRIST.
Pursue the magnification of Christ. Go after His glory, not your own. Make it your prime objective to exalt Christ, not yourself. That’s what Paul did.
Philippians 1:18b-19 Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance… (ESV)
I.e., my deliverance from prison. Paul expects to be released when he stands trial before Caesar.He expects Caesar to dismiss the charges against him, and set him free. But there is more to this deliverance, than just a release from prison. Paul speaks also of a deliverance from the shame of dishonoring Christ in his present circumstances.
Philippians 1:20 …as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. (ESV)
Paul expects to be released. But more than that, he expects to bring honor to Christ, even if he is not released, even if he dies.
Tell me. How is he going to find the grace and strength to pull that off? How is he going to find the grace and strength not to cave into the pressure, like Peter did, and deny Christ? How is he going to find the grace and strength to continue to exalt Christ under such difficult circumstances?
Well, vs.19 tells us how: It is “through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.” The grammar of the original Greek sentence inextricably links the prayer with the help of the Holy Spirit (Granville-Sharp). They are seen as one unit, one concept. In other words, as God’s people pray, God’s people automatically experience an inexhaustible supply of the Holy Spirit. The two go hand-in-hand. They are inseparable.
Now, the word for “help,” in verse 19 comes from a Greek word, which gives us our English word, “chorus.” You see, whenever a Greek city was going to put on a special festival, somebody had to pay for the singers and dancers, and that required a lavish donation. So the word came to mean “to provide generously and lavishly” (Wiersbe, Be Joyful, p.36-37). Paul was not depending on his own dwindling resources. He was depending on the generous and lavish resources of God, given through the Holy Spirit, because of the prayers of God’s people.
Hey, if we’re going to find joy in the midst of stress, then we too need the aid of God’s Spirit. We too need God’s help, which comes through the prayers of God’s people.
Who could forget Martin and Gracia Burnham, two missionaries who in 2002 were held captive for 376 days by the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group in the Philippines. They were constantly on the run, trying to evade the Philippine military. They lived in the jungle. They nearly starved to death, and they were under constant attack. They were under tremendous stress, but they found joy in the midst of it all, because God’s people all over the world were praying for them.
Eventually, the Philippine military caught up with the Abu Sayyaf and raided their camp. Martin and Gracia were huddled together in a hammock under a makeshift tent. They knew that there was a chance they wouldn’t make it out alive, but Martin said to Gracia, “The Bible says to serve the Lord with gladness. Let's go out all the way. Let's serve him all the way with gladness.”
The two then prayed in their hammock, recited Scripture verses to each other, and sang. They laid down to rest. Then the rescue assault began and bullets began to fly, puncturing Gracia's leg and Martin's chest. (Ted Olsen, "Martin Burnham Went Out Serving with Gladness" Christianity Today, June 10, 2002)
Tell me, how were they able to do it? How were they able to find joy in the midst of such stress? The answer is right here in Philippians 1:19. God’s people were praying, which brought the super-abundant help of God’s Spirit.
Do you want to find joy in the midst of YOUR stress? Then stop depending on yourself, and start depending on God’s Holy Spirit. Enlist the prayers of God’s people, and you too will find the aid of God’s Spirit.
Then, with the aid of God’s Spirit, make the exaltation of Christ the aim of your life. Live for Christ, and Him alone. That’s what Paul did.
Philippians 1:21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. (ESV)
Tell me, what are YOU living for? How would YOU fill in the blanks? For to me to live is… What? And to die is… What? For to me to live is money, and to die is to leave it all behind. For to me to live is fame, and to die is to be forgotten. For to me to live is power, and to die is to lose it all.
You see, if you live for anything else but Christ, you have nothing to look forward to, and your life is miserable. But if you live for Christ, death simply means more of Christ, and that gives joy and meaning to your life today.
Several years ago (2002), when Dr. Paul Brand became a resident of a new retirement home, he was asked to speak at its dedication. Most people know Dr. Brand through his bestselling book, Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, but that day he said something that stirred my soul when I first heard about it.
“I remember well when I was at my physical peak,” he said. “I was 27 years old and had just finished medical school. A group of friends and I were mountain climbing, and we could climb for hours. For some people, when they cross that peak, for them life is over.
“I remember well my mental peak, too. I was 57 years of age and was performing groundbreaking hand surgery. All of my medical training was coming together in one place. For some people, when they cross this peak, for them life is over.
“I'm now over 80 years of age. I recently realized I'm approaching another peak—my spiritual peak. All I have sought to become as a person has the opportunity to come together in wisdom, maturity, kindness, love, joy, and peace. And I realize when I cross that peak, for me, life will not be over; it will have just begun.” (Steve Moore, "A Graceful Goodbye," Leadership, Summer 2002, p.42)
That’s the way it is for the one who lives for Christ. Your life is not over when you reach your physical peak. Your life is not over when you reach your mental peak. Your life is not over even when you reach your spiritual peak at the end. For it’s just the beginning of a grand and glorious existence, in heaven, forever, with Jesus. When the aim of your life is Christ, then death is gain, because death simply means getting more of Jesus! And…
That’s what has Paul in a quandary in the following verses. As he gets ready to stand before Caesar, he’s not sure what he wants. Part of him wants Caesar to order his execution, so he can be with Christ. But another part of him wants Caesar to order his release, so he can continue to serve Christ.
Philippians 1:22-26 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again. (ESV)
Paul decides he’d rather remain, for their benefit, but he really wants to “depart.” That’s the word he uses in verse 23 to describe death, and it is a word rich in meaning, i.e., the word, “depart.” Sailors used it to describe the loosing of a ship from its moorings. Soldiers used it to describe the taking down of their tents, so they could move on. Guards used it to describe the release of a prisoner from his bonds, and farmers used it to describe the untying of an ox from its yoke.
That’s how Paul describes death for the Believer. It’s the untying of your ship, so you can go on a holiday. It’s the taking down of your earthly tent, so you can go home. It’s the cutting of your bonds, so you can be free from the constraints of this life, and it’s a release from the yoke of hardship, so you can relax and enjoy eternity with Jesus. No wonder Paul was hard pressed between life and death, because both prospects held such promise.
On May 14, 1988, a drunk driver ran head-on into a bus carrying the youth group from the First Assembly of God church in Radcliff, Kentucky. The bus was quickly engulfed in flames, and 27 people died in what was called “the worst drunken driver accident in Kentucky” history.
Witnesses who survived the crash told of one particular passenger, Chuck Kytta, the youth minister of the church. Chuck was seated in the front of the bus behind the driver, and when the gas tank exploded a heartbeat after the collision, he was instantly encircled in flames.
When Chuck saw the flames around him, witnesses said, he looked up, lifted his hands and cried out, “Jesus, I'm coming home!” Some of the kids said he was smiling. (Ninie Harmon, “Jesus, I'm Coming Home,” The Southeast Outlook, Louisville, Kentucky, 5-12-05; www.PreachingToday.com)
Chuck understood what Paul was talking about here in Philippians 1:23. He lived for Christ and looked forward to being with Him forever! Death was not a loss for Him. It was gain! It was “far better”, and it brought a smile to his face even in the fire.
Do you want that kind of joy in the face of any adversity? Then pursue the advancement of the Gospel and the exaltation of Christ above anything else.
Gary Haugen is CEO of the International Justice Mission and has dedicated his life to fighting the sex trade industry, bringing Christ into some of the most dangerous and seedy parts of the world. Recently, he wrote a book called Just Courage, and in that book he writes:
After we have poured into our children all the good food and shelter and clothing, after we have provided them with great education, discipline, structure and love, after we have worked so hard to provide every good thing, they turn to us and ask, “Why have you given all of this to me.”
And the honest answer from me is, “So you'll be safe.”
And my kid looks up at me and says, “Really? That's it? You want me to be safe? Your grand ambition for my life is that nothing bad happens?”
And I think something inside them dies. They either go away to perish in safety, or they go away looking for adventure in the wrong places. Jesus, on the other hand, affirms their sense of adventure and their yearning for larger glory.” (Gary Haugen, Just Courage, InterVarsity Press, 2008, pp. 124-125; www.Preaching Today.com)
Jesus said, “Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it” (Mark 8:35).
Do you want to really live? Then quit trying to save your life and be safe. Instead, takes some risks and share Christ with your friends. Risk your life for Christ and discover what it means to be truly alive!
I like the way Malcolm Muggeridge put it: “I can say that I never knew what joy was like until I gave up pursuing happiness, or cared to live until I chose to die.”
