Today, we continue a short 4-week series entitled God is Bigger. Pause for a moment because I want everyone to hear this question: How big is your God? How capable is God in your mind?
J.B. Phillips wrote a book that he gave a title that fascinates me entitled, Your God Is Too Small. He writes, “The trouble with many people today is that they have not found a God big enough for modern needs.” Fast food restaurants ask you, “Would you like to supersize your drink?” Warehouse stores sell Costco and Sam’s Club offer us items in bulk – really big sizes. It seems like the only item in modern day life that hasn’t been upgraded is God. Most of you would feel tell me there’s a God in Heaven but if you’re candid with me, you’re not sure He is doing anything in your life. I want invite you to supersize your faith in the coming days by turning to Philippians 2.
“So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Philippians 2:1–4).
My wife insists we write a thank you note for anything that is given to us. She will write a thank you note for some of her birthday gifts and then she wants me to write a note for my birthday gifts. I know she’s right (she’s always right) but doesn’t seem to be too much? To prove my wife is right in her practice is the book of Philippians.
Paul writes the believers in the ancient city of Philippi because they sent him a gift while he was in prison. The people of the church in Philippi placed their gift in the hand of Epaphroditus (Philippians 4:18), who will encounter again a little later in today’s message. So at a basic level, Philippians is a thank you letter for a gift from a church concerned about their former pastor because he’s been jailed for his faith. But rather than Paul speaking about his wrongful imprisonment, he writes a treatise on finding lasting happiness.
1. How We Can Be Happy
Many people feel that all that matters in following God is if you’re holy. Am I keeping the rules? Yet, our Bibles speak of not only being holy but also happy. As you have your Bibles open to Philippians 2, the first command in our passage is found in verse 2: “…complete my joy…”.
When some of you think of happiness you may think of a favorite song like the Beach Boys’ Good Vibrations or Bobby McFerrin’s Don’t Worry, Be Happy. Some of you feel joyful when you are riding on your Harley motorcycle. Some teenagers are happiest when they are playing Fortnite. The book of Philippians is about joy; it tells us that your are wiring is connected to the power source of lasting joy in Jesus.
1.1 Joy in Philippians
In fact, in one form or another the word “joy” appears sixteen times in this brief letter. Would you walk me in your copy of Philippians for a moment?
Paul says he prays for the believers with joy (Philippians 1:4).
When you hear the gospel of God’s grace communicated, you’re to experience happiness (Philippians 1:18).
Paul chooses to stay around for their spiritual progress and joy (Philippians 1:25).
He says when I make a sacrifice of my life for your faith, this makes me happy (Philippians 2:17).
You should be happy when you see someone sacrifice for another person’s spiritual growth (Philippians 2:18).
You are to receive people of faith into your life with joy (Philippians 2:29).
You are commanded to be happy and joyful in Jesus (Philippians 3:1).
You are to think of other believers in your life as your joy (Philippians 4:1).
One more time, you are commanded to be happy about your relationship with Jesus (Philippians 4:4).
Be happy when other believers think about you and show concern for you (Philippians 4:10).
Philippians is God’s writing you that His presence should make give you lasting happiness and joy. So let me ask you to pause for another question: How happy are you right now? Some would say, “I’ll be a little happier if this sermon were a little shorter.” More seriously, what makes you happy? Again, holiness and happiness are not at odds with another. Instead, you’ll be truly happy WHEN you’re pursuing holiness. We are reminded that “joy” is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22).
The world’s joy is fairly simple: if you have good circumstances you’re happy; if you have bad circumstances you’re sad. Yet, here’s a man who’s writing about happiness from a jail cell where he is falsely imprisoned. What’s his secret?
1.2 The Big Picture of Philippians 2:1
This word “if” in verse 1 should really be rendered “since”: “So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy…” (Philippians 2:1). It’s a foregone conclusion that there’s encouragement in Jesus, comfort in God the Father, and affections and sympathy in the Spirit. Like someone is apt to say in our day, “There’s no ‘I’ in team,” Paul is stressing the common power source of joy, encouragement, love, and their shared experience in God.
1.3 You Are Encouraged by Jesus
“So if there is any encouragement in Christ…” (Philippians 2:1a). Jesus is your power source of tremendous encouragement. The Bible says that even trees clap for joy when Jesus comes (Psalm 96:12). Think about John the Baptist when he was still in His mother’s womb, for a moment. The Bible describes this time when John’s pregnant mother is close to Jesus, who is still in Mary’s womb … … and John leaps simply because He is in the presence of Jesus (Luke 1:44). Only hours before His death on a cross, Jesus tells His disciples, “… your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you” (John 16:22b).
1.3 You Are Encouraged by Jesus
1.4 You Are Loved by the Father
“…any comfort from love… any affection and sympathy” (Philippians 2:1b).
Paul is speaking to the church he loves so much and says, “We all have our electrical wiring tied into the breaker box of Jesus and God the Father. God is our collective source of comfort and sympathy in time of need.
1.3 You Are Encouraged by Jesus
1.4 You Are Loved by the Father
1.5 You Experience the Holy Spirit
“…any participation in the Spirit…” (Philippians 2:1c). The Holy Spirit who dwells inside believers (Roman 8:9). The real secret to joy is this: it’s when a Christian finds his/her electrical wiring connected to the power source of joy in Jesus and experience in the Holy Spirit. Putting all three of these statement together are true then Paul commands us to do this: “complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind” (Philippians 2:2). Like a CEO is worried about the camaraderie of his workers at his business… … or like a coach is concerned for the cohesiveness of his team… … Paul is encouraging the believers of this church to work for another’s joy. And what is everyone to have the same mind about? If our minds had channels, then all of our minds should turn to this one channel of thought: “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Philippians 2:4).
The people who find happiness are the people who seek to make other people happy. We are told here that happy people are humble people: “in humility count others more significant than yourselves” (Philippians 2:4b). Happy people are humble people and humble people are happy people. Let’s say that together so we remember it: happy people are humble people. The path to happiness is a humble path. If you want happiness at work, in your marriage, or in your church then embrace humility. Here’s how to know if you’re humble – this is your sign – when you forget about yourself. The key to happiness is humility. Happy people are humble people and humble people are happy people.
1. How We Can Be Happy
2. The Hindrances to Happiness
Paul identifies two enormous hindrances to happiness in the first part of verse 3: “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit…” (Philippians 2:3a). The Bible identifies these two bugs in our nature – he calls them selfish ambition and conceit.
2.1 Selfish Ambition
Yes, there is a selfish happiness that masquerades as the genuine joy. But a selfish happiness is a mist; it’s here today and gone tomorrow – it will not last.
2.1.1 What is Selfish Ambition?
David Forster Wallace offered a famous commencement address at Kenyon College in 2005. Here’s a brief snippet of what he said: “Everything in my own immediate experience supports my deep belief that I am the absolute center of the universe; the realest, most vivid and important person in existence. We rarely think about this sort of natural, basic self-centeredness because it’s so socially repulsive. But it’s pretty much the same for all of us. It is our default setting, hard-wired into our boards at birth.”
Whether it is in the field of music, an athletic team, or even in church, the greatest obstacle to your lasting happiness is your selfishness. The Beatles became an international music phenomenon that swept the globe in the 1960s. At the heart of the Beatles was the songwriting partnership of John Lennon and Paul McCartney. There’s was one of the best known and most successul collaborations in the last century. Writing such songs as “Can’t Buy Me Love,” “Hey Jude,” “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” and “Eleanor Rigby,” they were amazingly successful. With more than 180 jointly created songs, the two had sold in the neighborhood of a billion recordings of their music. But this all came to an end in 1969, when John Lennon made his decision to leave the band. Each of these great musicians wanted the spotlight for themselves. They could not sustain their success because of their selfish ambition. Can you imagine what music they could have given to world if only they had humbled themselves, set aside their egos? At the beginning of time, two people disobeyed God and their actions derailed our happiness and holiness for generations to come. Whether it is in the field of music, an athletic team, or even in a church, the greatest obstacle to your lasting happiness is your selfishness. Selfishness comes so naturally to us; it is our default setting.
2.1.2 What’s the Solution to Selfish Ambition?
You’ll need more power than just willpower to defeat selfishness in your life. You’ll need God’s power. This is why finding happiness needs a supersized God. Because humility is not natural – it’s supernatural.
2.1.2.1 Jesus is the Solution
Jesus is always the solution.
“I wish I had the time to develop the model of joy and humility here but at the very least, we need to read this invaluable words: “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:5–11).
Before Christ, your default setting was set for selfishness and against God. But when you experience conversion, an supernatural force invades you. Your new self is fighting against your old self. You find yourself in a civil war. Now, you have inside you two natures pulling in opposite directions. You are in the midst of a deadly feud. The first fight (before your conversion) you had to lose. You were fighting God. The second fight you must win for God is fighting on your behalf.
2.1.2.2 Timothy Is a Model
Paul endorses Timothy as a role model: “For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. 21 For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 2:20–21). Paul says in effect, “Act like Timothy. You see Timothy there? Be like him.” Paul provides a picture of an unselfish person: “Do all things without grumbling or disputing, 15 that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, 16 holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. 17 Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. 18 Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me” (Philippians 2:14–18).
Many of us watched as the Notre Dame Cathedral burned in Paris, France over recent days. The Apostle Paul, a tour de force of Christian witness, wrote the New Testament book of Philippians. Now this church in Philippi is the first church we know of that was planted in Europe. Christianity came to us from our fathers and mothers in Europe and their faith began right here.
Every Christian should be strongly connected to a church because this is your team. And Christianity is your team sport. Can you imagine one man suiting up and taking the field on Sunday? One solo individual taking on another team? This is unimaginable in the NFL. And it is in life as well for Christianity is a team sport. You should be able to say of some church, “This is my church.” Make a long-term commitment to doing your ministry in your church. If you are a real, genuine believer than you have to care about a church – one church before you care about all churches. If you don’t care about one church – your church, then it’s likely your selfishness is showing.
2.2 Conceit
The second major hindrance to happiness: “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit…” (Philippians 2:3a)
2.2.1 What is Conceit?
Conceit goes by many different names, haughtiness, arrogance, smug, or snootiness.
2.2.2 What’s the Solution to Conceit?
2.2.2.1 Jesus is the Solution
“And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8). Jesus defeated conceit on the cross by putting God’s will first. Remember His prayer at Gethsemane “Not my will but your will be done” (see Luke 22:42).
Here’s a practical way to defeat conceit – let’s break it down. Most of the world seeks happiness in the same three part sequence: 1) Me first; 2) You second; 3) and God last. But lasting joy is found in reversing this: 1) Jesus first; 2) You second; 3) and Me last. Generations of Christians had an easy way to remember this: J O Y – Jesus, Others, You. Supersize your faith by putting God before everything and others before yourself. The reason you turn to yourself to fix your problems is because you are confident in your abilities.
2.2.2.2 Epaphroditus Is a Model
For the second time, Paul endorses a role model. This time he points us to Epaphroditus: “I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need, 26 for he has been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill” (Philippians 2:25–26). Epaphroditus defeated his conceit and put others happiness in front of his own. He understood that Christianity is a team sport.
Conclusion
Speaking of happiness, I’ve been singing a song recently. From Aretha Franklin to Ray Charles, hundreds have sung the gospel song, “Oh Happy Day.” The song has been in movies such as Sister Act, Big Momma’s House, and the Nutty Professor. Edwin Hawkins revamped a 200 year-old hymn into the version we all know today. He even won a Grammy for his efforts. He essentially revamped an old hymn with the styles of R & B. It was meant for to be sung by a choir inside a church but the radio market loved it and made a hit. This didn’t make the church crowd too happy and local church officials circulated a petition asking the secular radio stations to stop airing the song. They wouldn’t let Hawkins use the choir when he sang the song feeling it was sacrilegious. The song is based on Acts 8:35 that says Philip, the evangelist, opened his mouth to tell the good news.
Oh Happy Day
When Jesus Washed
My Sins Away
He Washed All My Sins Away
I cannot imagine a happier day for any of you that this.
