#150- Joy That Gives Thanks In Every Circumstance

This episode begins a new series on Philippians called “Joy That Gives Thanks,” and I’d love for you to be part of it. We’re starting in Philippians 1:18–26, looking at how Paul could write with such deep joy and gratitude while sitting in a Roman prison, facing possible execution. Together we’ll explore how to refocus our perspective, adjust our priorities, and press on in faith so that, like Paul, we can discover a joy that remains steady in every circumstance—big or small.

Find joy in EVERY circumstance. 

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Transcript

Transcript: Joy in every circumstance

 Today we start a new series on the book of Philippians.

For four weeks, we'll take a scripture out of each chapter and preach on that.

The series is called Joy That Gives Thanks, Joy That Gives Thanks.

As a part of this series, there will be a spiritual practice that I've put together, a practice of gratitude from the book of Philippians.

 Philippians.

If we look at the book of Philippians we see Paul is writing to the Philippian church but he's writing from Rome in the early 60s after the death of Christ.

It's a pastoral letter thanking the Philippians for their gift and their generosity and reassuring them that Epaphroditus, the one who brought Paul this gift while he's imprisoned, he is in fact in good health.

 As we can see from chapter two, we see that Epaphroditus was incredibly ill and the Philippians were concerned for his well-being.

Paul is reassuring them that even though this was a severe illness and almost led to his death, he's doing well and he hopes to send him back to the Philippian church shortly.

 It further warns the church against false teaching and division by emphasizing Christ-like humility.

This kind of flows into the key themes.

Two that I want to mention.

The first is Paul is encouraging his readers to pursue Christ-likeness.

 We see this very strongly in chapter 2, Philippians chapter 2, 5 to 11, where we see this Christ to him about the one who did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself and humbled himself in the form of a servant.

Beautiful passage of scripture that we hold on to and we are called to emulate.

Another theme, and this really is central to our series, is that there is joy.

Joy comes in serving Jesus.

 For four weeks, we'll be speaking about this.

The first week, we'll say joy in every circumstance.

We'll say joy in humility.

The third week, joy in the pursuit of Christ.

And the fourth week, joy in contentment.

So today, we are speaking about a joy that gives thanks in every circumstance.

Our scripture comes from Philippians 1, verses 18 to 26.

 Hear now the word of the Lord.

What does it matter?

Just this, that Christ is proclaimed in every way without a false motives or true.

And in that I rejoice.

Yes, I will continue to rejoice.

For I know that through your prayers and the help of the spirit of Jesus Christ, this will turn out for my deliverance.

It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be put to shame in any way.

 that by speaking with all boldness, Christ will be exalted now as always in my body, whether by life or by death.

 For me, living is Christ and dying is gain.

If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me.

I do not know which I prefer.

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 for you.

Since I am convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy in faith."

 that I may share abundantly in your boasting in Christ Jesus when I come to you again.

What a powerful passage of scripture.

Yes, I will continue to rejoice.

 For I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, this will turn out for my deliverance.

How is it that Paul's joy shines through in this letter?

We see this throughout the letter, joy, despite the fact that he is writing from a dreadful Roman prison, an inhumane place of death and decay, a place where execution is in fact a very real possibility.

 He's unsure.

He feels that in Christ he will not be executed, but it still remains a very real possibility for him.

If we contrast Paul's joy in this dire situation with the things that seem to steal our joy in the world around us, well, we feel robbed very easily in this world.

We lose our joy pretty much at the drop of a hat.

When our Amazon package arrives late, we feel like our joy has been stolen.

 When somebody cuts in front of us in traffic, our joy seems to go missing.

When our Starbucks latte isn't exactly up to scratch and we feel maybe they could have done a better job, we somehow seem to lose our joy.

That's not to mention what happens when we read Facebook posts or even somebody forgets to call us, hasn't sent you a text or just might have forgotten your birthday.

Our joy seems to disappear.

 What a stark contrast between what steals our joy and the things that seem to evaporate our joy in our world and our world with incredible gifts and the beauty around us.

And here's Paul sitting in a Roman prison.

 we can learn something from paul and we can learn how it is to find joy in every circumstance and that is what we're going to set out to do today so a few things we learn from paul and a few things that will help us find joy in every circumstance even in the small things that seem to bug us and make us feel all disappointed in life all the bigger things that seem to steal our joy

 The first is this, we should refocus our perspective, refocus our perspective.

A guy by the name of Frederick Langbridge, he was a clergyman.

He was born in 1849, died in 1922, but he was a clergyman for the Church of England, wrote this little limerick or this little two-line couplet.

He says, "'Two men look out through the same bars,'

 One sees the mud and one sees the stars.

Isn't that the truth?

Our perspective often determines what gives us joy, what we're looking at, the way we see the world around us.

You see, we can look at the same picture.

Two people can look at the very same picture and have different opinions and different perspectives.

You could go to an auction with very expensive artwork.

 You can look at a piece of artwork and say, I don't like this.

This is something I absolutely would never pay a dime for.

But the person next to you might look at it and pay millions for the same piece of art.

In fact, you might only see it as valuable because other people think it's valuable.

But personally, you might not like it at all.

 you might look at a picture of a beautiful cabin sitting next to a lake and say what a beautiful tranquil wonderful place and think to yourself wouldn't it be great just to be sitting out next to the lake and enjoying the sunset well the person next to you will see the same picture might say oh my word that's a terrible place where's the closest starbucks and you know it must be

 I mean, the mosquitoes in that place could be absolutely dreadful to people looking at the same picture but seeing it from different perspectives.

One of the things especially relevant to our passage of Scripture is this view of death that Paul is bringing to us.

To live is Christ, to die is gain.

 1 Thessalonians 4.13, Paul would actually say that we as Christ followers have a kingdom perspective.

We see death in ways that other people don't see it.

He says, we are not like those who grieve without hope.

In other words, we have hope.

Even in the midst of death, there is something that gives us hope.

There is something that lifts up inside of us a sense of optimism, even if it seems like the end.

 At every funeral we go to, we encounter multiple perspectives and opinions on this thing called death.

For some, it's the doorway into the afterlife, whatever that might look like.

For some people, it might be part of the cycle of reincarnation.

Other people might see it as a place of oblivion, of nothingness, hopelessness.

Others, it's a utopia.

For Paul,

 It's an opportunity to be with.

 Now we're looking at the same thing, but Paul has a kingdom perspective.

He sees beyond the here and now.

He sees the resurrected Christ.

He sees the opportunity to be with Christ.

He says that for me, living is Christ, dying is gain.

If I'm to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me.

And I do not know which I prefer.

I'm hard pressed between the two.

My desire to depart.

 To depart from this world and to be with Christ, for it is far better, but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you.

Paul is in prison facing possible execution.

I'm not sure I would see things the same way Paul sees things.

And really, how is it possible that he can have such joy and hope in a time like this?

 Very simply, Paul's gaze is firmly placed on Christ and his kingdom.

Instead of seeing death and destruction, he sees hope and he sees opportunity.

In fact, there is no losing situation for Paul.

This is a win-win situation.

To die, I get to be with Christ.

To live, I get to preach for Christ.

There is no way that he loses in this situation.

 You know, this concept of death in perspective, one of the reasons that historians will tell us that the early church, especially those who suffered gruesome deaths in places like the Colosseum, people who were martyred for their faith, had such an incredible amount of peace and such incredible amount of harmony as they actually went into this place of death, destruction.

A gruesome death was because they saw life differently after Christ.

 They understood that death was reunification with Christ.

They were going to meet their Savior.

It was not oblivion.

It was not some kind of nothingness.

There was death.

 You know, it brings us all the way back to Paul.

How do we see life?

How do you see the world?

How do you see your life?

How do you see your life in this world?

Do you see it through the eyes of Jesus?

Do you see it through Christ and his kingdom?

Do you see it through his values and principles?

Because that's where our hope comes from.

 It's hard for us to speak about this without that beautiful, beautiful song coming to mind.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus.

Look full in his wonderful face.

And the things of the earth will grow strangely dim.

There will be a change of perspective when we look to Jesus in the light of his glory and his grace.

 Or the second thing that will help us find joy in any circumstance and in every circumstance, yes, we want to refocus our perspective, but we also want to adjust our priorities.

Okay?

If you're locked away in a dreadful Roman jail, extremely uncomfortable with the possibility of execution, what's your number one priority at that point?

 More than likely, we'd be thinking about how we could get out, how to avoid execution, how to carry favor with some of the other people in prison and the guards.

There'd be so many different things that we'd be thinking about.

 When it comes to priorities, we all kind of come to the same question of priorities in our lives several times.

As we journey through life, there are several times we come to the place where we have to check, search, understand and see whether our priorities are in fact the way they should be.

So we visit the question of priorities when we're single and then we get married and then we have to ask the question, what are our priorities?

We know they shift, they have to shift.

 That's the way life works.

There's a time when you and your wife are married and things are wonderful and then a child comes along.

There's a shift in priorities.

There's a time when kids leave the house.

It's a shift in priorities.

But what's really interesting is at times when we are faced with death, like Paul in this situation, here again, there is a shift or a challenge or an opportunity to revisit our priorities.

 Most notably, we visit this question of priorities when life is short.

In fact, even at the end of our lives, when we actually ask the question, not how am I living my life, but how should I have lived my life?

Here is in Philippians 1, 21 to 24.

If we have a look at that, Paul's priorities are clear.

If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor to me.

 Paul's not looking for his own comforts, the things that he will benefit from.

He's saying, I can pursue the heart and the mission and the ministry of Christ if I'm alive.

I do not know which I prefer.

I'm hard pressed between the two.

I want to be with Jesus, but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you.

So to die means to be present with Christ and free from all earthly hardships without a doubt the preferable and more favorable option.

 And we know from history, Paul faced extreme hardships.

To live, on the other hand, was to continue within the oppression, the persecution, the opposition, the hardship.

But by being in the flesh, he can continue sharing the gospel with a lost and a hurting world.

Paul is more concerned with the heart of the gospel, that the lost may find the love of Jesus, than he is with his own comforts.

 Priorities.

Secular world and secular culture sells us its own set of values and priorities.

And unfortunately, many Christ followers or people who profess to be Christians buy into the narrative and the values and the priorities of secular culture.

Whether it is the search for recognition, the search for a level of status, for comfort,

 Materialism, one of the big things when we look at the world around us is a wrestle for money and for power, and whether it is Christ followers or not, people in this world continue to be seduced and to be redirected to follow and to prioritize these things in their lives.

Paul's words in Philippians should give us pause.

 Cause us to stop, to challenge us to have another closer look at our priorities.

We might walk away from the scripture asking a simple question, when last did you intentionally consider your priorities?

When last did I sit down and think to myself, these are the priorities of my life?

 Paul is so, so committed to the spreading of the gospel that people hear of Jesus, believe in Jesus, that he doesn't even care how people get to hear about this.

If we backtrack to verse 18, he says, what does it matter?

And he's speaking about people who preach Christ for good motives, out of good motives.

 people who preach Christ out of bad motives.

And in fact, some people who preach Christ out of bad motives are even causing him harm.

And then he answers and says, you've got good motives, you've got bad motives.

He says, I don't care.

What does it matter?

Just this.

He says, Christ is proclaimed in every way, whether out of false motives or true.

And in all this, I rejoice.

Yes, and I will continue to rejoice.

He rejoices regardless of the motives.

In this situation, some are preaching Christ out of false motives

 causing Paul harm, but he says justice, that Christ is proclaimed.

That's where I find my joy.

And in that I rejoice.

Yes, and I will continue to rejoice.

We want to refocus our perspective.

We want to adjust our priorities.

We want to pause to take a closer look at our priorities.

 Thirdly, we wanna press on in faith.

We wanna press on in faith.

How does Paul respond to this juncture, this junction in his life, this fork in the road, where he should go?

 In verse 25 to 26, he says, since I am convinced of this, what?

That I will not be executed and I won't die.

I know that I will remain and continue with all of you.

I will remain, I will continue with you for your progress and joy in the faith so that I may share abundantly in your boasting in Christ Jesus when I come to you again.

 Paul is convinced that his calling is far from over.

If that's the case, then execution is not coming.

But they'll set him free and he'll continue his ministry.

He's expecting to be released and he's expecting to recommit himself to the work of the ministry.

 History tells us that Paul is in fact released, maybe a year or two later, about AD 62, and he resumes his ministry work.

Additionally, he goes on to write 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus after the book of Philippians.

2 Timothy, he writes when he's imprisoned again in Rome.

And during this time of imprisonment, he speaks about the hardship of this imprisonment

 And in AD 67, he is, in fact, as tradition tells us, executed.

And some people say that he was beheaded.

You know, we stop when we compare Paul and his words to ourselves as followers of Christ.

We're inclined to give up very, very easily.

You know, we make a commitment to follow Christ.

 And then one or two things happen and we feel like, no, no, no, no.

I'm giving up on my faith.

I'm giving up on my church.

I'm giving up on the mission of God.

I'm giving up on what God has called me to.

We compare what Paul's facing.

He's in jail, facing execution.

 He just wants to barge through the season of his life so he can get back to work.

He's not sitting there offended.

He's not sitting there mourning and feeling sorry for himself.

He's got his eyes fixed.

He has joy in that circumstance because he's looking to the future.

As followers of Christ, we're inclined to give up for a lot less than that.

We'll give up because God never answered our prayer.

Even though it might have been really selfish and

 something incredibly carnal where we just wanted something and God didn't give it to us.

We just give up on God.

He didn't give me what I want.

We walk into church and we say, well, the church is full of hypocrites.

And unfortunately, whether we like it or not, that is true.

Some intentionally, some unintentionally.

And we say, because the church is full of hypocrites, I'm giving up on Christ.

 We might say, well, I'm giving up on this church because I don't like the music or I don't like the preaching or the air conditioner was too hot or the AC wasn't set low enough.

We give up and we walk out.

Didn't get what I wanted.

I want things done my way.

Here's Paul sitting there.

 in a Roman prison saying, let me out of here because the word of God must be preached.

Let me out of here because there's a job to be done.

For me to live is Christ.

Can we say with Paul, for me to live is Christ?

Or are we saying, well, for me to live is for me.

Life is all about me.

Joy comes when we can say with Paul, for me to live is Christ.

 when our perspectives change, when our priorities change, and they're firmly centered on the person of Jesus Christ, we can find joy in any and every situation.

So for today, a joy that gives thanks in every circumstance.

 And as part of our spiritual practice of gratitude, gratitude is a natural outflow when we stop and we refocus on Jesus and all he's doing for us.

When we reprioritize on the things of Jesus, we will find that gratitude is a natural outflow.

Joy comes naturally to us.

 So let me encourage you as you face the week ahead, take time this week to give thanks and to rediscover your joy in Christ.