INTRODUCTION
• Have you ever tried to do something that was literally impossible to do?
• For instance, when I was young, I was not the tallest person on the block.
• I wanted to do things that would make me taller, As you can see, it worked! :)
• There was really nothing I could do to make myself 6’3’’.
• Any efforts to make myself taller were futile.
• When we are in the midst of futility, we become frustrated and unhappy.
• When we try to do what cannot be done, we will give up, and when we give up, we are susceptible to doing things we should not do.
• In the text we will cover today, Paul begins this chapter with a warning against those who would try to turn Christians from God back to the old futile ways of the Law.
• Paul draws on his own life experience to try to help people realize that going back to the old ways would be a bad move.
• Why would Christians even consider abandoning salvation through faith in Jesus for a failed system of salvation?
• Sometimes I wonder if going back to the old way of life is so tempting, because it is so easy, even if that old life was miserable.
• It is actually easy to be miserable.
• For the readers of Paul’s letter, being a Christian was not easy, for many it cost them all they had, for Paul, as we will see in our text, the price was high.
• How was Paul, in the middle of all he lost to follow Jesus, able to stay joyful and happy?
• I see a great number of people who do not appear to be joyful and happy. Why is that happening?
• When we are in Christ, even when life is difficult, we are to find joy and happiness.
• What is it that we are allowing to steal that joy and happiness from us?
• How is it that a man in prison for his faith, a man who has lost his power, his prestige, and his position, able to maintain a sense of happiness and joy in his life?
• Maybe part of the problem is that we do not fully grasp that we cannot earn our salvation.
• Salvation is a gift from God to those who place their faith in Jesus, who allows that response to lead them to confessing Jesus as Lord, which leas one to repentance.
• Then we respond in faith tp being baptized into Christ where we rise as new creations in Christ Jesus!
• Maybe we are either neglecting our salvation or we are trying to earn a gift instead of receiving that gift?
• As we dig into our text today, I hope we can unwrap the answer for you!
• Let’s being by turning to Philippians 3:7-8.
Philippians 3:7–8 CSB
7 But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ.
8 More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ
SERMON
Happiness is found by...
I. Re-evaluating what is important in life.
• One of the things that can drain the life and joy out of a person is when we really have no clue what is important in life.
• I believe when we are chasing things in life that are not of great importance, we tend to lose our joy because down deep inside, we realize the pursuits we are chasing are void and empty.
• King Solomon faced this in his life.
• A man who had it all, yet down in the pits of his soul, he knew he had nothing.
• Before Paul became a Christian, he was one of the best Pharisee’s that existed.
• Paul put his confidence in being a Pharisee.
• Look at verses 4-6 with me.
Philippians 3:4–6 CSB
4 although I have reasons for confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more:
5 circumcised the eighth day; of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; regarding the law, a Pharisee;
6 regarding zeal, persecuting the church; regarding the righteousness that is in the law, blameless.
• Paul is stating that if ANYONE could have put his confidence in the flesh, he had the pedigree to do so.
• Putting your confidence in something implies that one has faith in said area.
• When our priorities are messed up, we end up putting our confidence in things of which we should not.
• Paul seemingly had it all going for him. Power, prestige, and position.
• That was until he met Jesus!
• Where are you placing your confidence for this life? Where are you placing your confidence for your eternal life?
• Until we encounter Jesus, many of us think we are on the right path, that we are placing our confidence in all the right places, yet we intuitively sense something is not right.
• We become unsettled and restless because we THOUGHT all the places we placed our confidence were legitimate.
• After Paul encountered Jesus, he started the process of re-evaluating his life.
• When you look at the impressive list of his life accomplishments up to that moment, it was impressive, yet all those accomplishments meant nothing to Paul once he was confronted by Jesus!
• In verses seven and eight, Paul uses some accounting terms to spell out what he began to do mentally with his life.
• Paul took all the things in his life up to the point and he made a mental ledger, a balance sheet with assets and liabilities.]
• The words GAIN and LOSS are the predominant theme.
• What he USED to put in the GAIN column, since coming to Jesus, he now puts in the loss column on the balance sheet.
• When he calls what he used to consider ASSETS now as LOSS, suggests that not only did he see the past achievements as losses, but he now sees them as hindrances because they had to be unlearned so he could progress in his faith.
• In the GAIN column, he now puts KNOWING Christ!
• There are a couple of different words used for KNOW. One denotes an intellectual grasp of the facts that leads one to grasp something.
• The second word deals with knowing by personal EXPERIENCE! This is the word Paul uses in this chapter!
• Compared to KNOWING Jesus, the things he once deemed as important are now sen as dung to him!
• What the Jews prized so highly, Paul considers those things as no more important than human waste!
• One of the ways you can be on the road to happiness to re-evaluate what is important in your life.
• Don’t wait until the end to figure that out!
• When you realize that the place Jesus should take in your life, your life will be in a much better place!
• Let’s look at verse 8-9 now!
Philippians 3:8–9 CSB
8 More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ
9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ—the righteousness from God based on faith.
Happiness is found by...
II. Making Jesus the center of my faith.
• Once I being to re-evaluate what is important in my life, another step I need to take is to place Jesus at the center of my faith!
• Why are so many Christians lacking joy? Why is it a chore to even get up and come worship together (other than the pandemic)?
• Why is it that my faith can become dull, boring and uninspiring?
• Maybe it is because of what I am placing in the center of my faith?
• Paul used to place works of the Law as a mark of righteousness (right standing with God).
• As a Pharisee, Paul’s observance of the WORKS OF THE LAW (The Pharisee Rulebook) was the way he gained his righteousness.
• What is the centerpiece of your faith? The false teachers were trying to get the people to go back to the old ways of life.
• What or who is the center of your faith?
• For many, the center of their faith is themself.
• They call all of the shots. They trust in themselves that they are a good person; therefore, worthy of EARNING eternal life.
• Are you placing your faith hon how many classes you attend, how often you come to church, how much you give, or on how much you read your bible?
• What you will quickly or eventually realize is the fact that all of those things, even though many of them are good, are EMPTY!
• Should you come to church, give, pray, read your Bible? ABSOLUTELY!
• But the question is WHY?
• Are you trying to do what you do for you, or are you doing it because you want to get to KNOW Jesus on a deeper level?
• The Religious leaders were not into knowing God, they were into knowing A LOT ABOUT God so they could impress others.
• They gave, attended, and led religious services, they knew the scriptures, but why? What did it profit them?
• Paul was worn down and tired of trying to achieve his own righteousness by trying to earn it on his own!
• Let me ask you something, which is easier, to earn something or to receive a gift?
• What if you are trying to earn something you cannot possibly earn, like me trying to make my self taller?
• When my faith is all about me, my desires, my wants, my wishes, my needs, etc.., my faith becomes dull, empty, boring and bereft of joy!
• When you make Jesus the center of your faith, when you are motivated by your love for Him, your faith will be alive and exciting.
• If reading you Bible, doing devotions, etc… becomes about checklist, you will be empty and joyless.
• When you are the center of your faith., why come to church, why read your bible, why do anything you do not want to do?
• When I used to struggle to get out of bed, and would find any and every excuse not to the gym, I HATED It.
• Once my motivation changed, I changed!
• Once you place Jesus AS the CENTER of your FAITH, your faith will change!
• Let’s move to verses 10-11!
Philippians 3:10–11 CSB
10 My goal is to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death,
11 assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead.
Happiness is found by...
III. Making Jesus the center of my life.
• This point is not far off of the last one, what or who is the center of your life?
• Paul states that Jesus is the center of his life!
• Paul uses that phrase TO KNOW HIM. This means that Paul wants to experience Jesus in his life!
• Paul wants to develop a relationship with Jesus, not just having Him as a tag along in life.
• When I met Robyn, I did not want to only have an intellectual knowledge of her, where she was born, who is her favorite Baseball team, I wanted to have a life-changing life-long relationship with her!
• I want to grow closer to her each day, one day, we will grow old together!
• I want to KNOW Jesus, I want to know Him more each day!
• I want my life to be like what Paul says in Galatians 2:20!
Galatians 2:20 CSB
20 I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
• My family, that is what life should be about!
• In verse 10, Paul speaks of the “Power of his resurrection” probably did not mean Paul’s resurrection, of which he speaks in the next verse.
› Rather the stress was on “power”—”power” so mighty that by it Jesus was victor over death. That power both energizes the life and sets its hope. In this context, the special significance may be to the ability to endure suffering. Ash, A. L. (1994). Philippians, Colossians & Philemon (Php 3:10). Joplin, MO: College Press.
• We have power in Jesus!
• We have the power to overcome the power of sin and death!
• Paul eventually looks forward to his own resurrection!
CONCLUSION
• Life can be so fulfilling when we re-evaluate what is important life, and when we make Jesus the center of our faith and our life!
• Our application point this morning is this: Ultimate Joy and Happiness are Found in Jesus!
