Phil. 1:1-11

Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,

To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons:

²Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

³I thank my God every time I remember you. ⁴In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy ⁵because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, ⁶being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

⁷It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. ⁸God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

⁹And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, ¹⁰so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, ¹¹filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

A year or so ago, a person in our church went through a very difficult and sorrowful season which was also life threatening. A short time after they emerged from that difficulty, a friend commented to this person, “You almost lost your life and you probably lost your mind, but you never lost your joy.” That is a good summary of the book of Philippians. Everything in life can be stripped away but it’s possible to hang onto our joy. Admittedly, people like this are a rarity, but I know we have a few in our church. You seem to hang onto your joy no matter what life throws at you. Others of you cannot possibly lose your joy because you never had it in the first place. You can’t lose something you don’t possess. The rest of us are somewhere in the middle—we are engaged in a struggle for joy. We kind of know what it is, we basically know how to get it and we sort of know how to hang on to it. But when it comes to joy, it is not enough to kind of, basically or sort of understand it .Our joy must be Biblically informed and Holy Spirit driven or it will not be joy at all or else it will be fleeting joy that changes with every season of life.

But before we go any further, I left you hanging last week with a question that I promised to answer. Is it possible to have sorrow, tears and joy at the same time? If joy is primarily a happy or celebratory emotion, then the answer is no, but joy is much deeper than this. Listen to how Paul talked about the near death of his friend, Epaphroditus. Indeed he was ill, and almost died. But God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, to spare me sorrow upon sorrow. I believe that Paul was implying that it is fully possible to be filled with joy while at the same time experiencing deep feeling of sorrow and grief. Sorrow and joy are not mutually exclusive. Moreover, Paul said that, For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Again I believe Paul was teaching that it is possible ot have genuine joy in Christ while weeping over the sinful state of those around us. When you see people fall into sin, is your first reaction to get mad or get sad? Certainly there is a righteous anger over sin, but most Christians don’t do anger very well. What we call “righteous indignation” is really an unrighteous lack of self-control. We can’t cry over every sin, otherwise we would be crying every time we read the daily news, but there are times when sin should break our hearts.

Now, let’s dig into the true source of joy. I said it last week, but it bears repeating. The source of genuine, lasting joy is Jesus Christ. This is a true statement, but at first glance, it sounds a bit like a trite, religious statement—Jesus is the source of joy. We could make little smiley face buttons emblazoned with this slogan—‘I’ve got the joy of Jesus—do you?” We could soothe ourselves by singing the happy little children’s song.

I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart. Where?

Down in my heart. Where? Down in my heart.

I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart. Where?

Down in my heart to stay.

And I’m so happy, so very happy. I’ve got the love of Jesus in my heart.

That would be one way to have joy in Jesus, but it’s not what the Bible means when we say that the source of joy is Jesus Christ. For Jesus to be the source of all joy, we must know Christ as our savior. As I said last week, it is possible for unbelievers to have true joy in response to God’s good gifts, but out of the totality of all joy, what they experience is only a small slice of the pie—it’s just a little sliver of joy. We must know Christ as savior, but that is just the beginning. The eternal Creator, Jesus Christ took on human flesh to redeem us from everlasting judgment. The crucified and risen Christ is the conquering victor over sin and death. The ascended King, Jesus Christ is arrayed in his full glory and is awaiting his final return to usher in his full kingdom. To have joy in Christ is to know Christ in every aspect of his eternal glory: as savior, redeemer, Lord, king, shepherd, provider, sustainer, on and on it goes.

Philippians in the greatest book on joy ever written and it is telling us that Christ is not merely the only source of true joy, but he is also the source of infinite joy. How would you like to have infinite joy? How would you like to have joy without end, a joy that never fades, a joy that always satisfies? This infinite joy is available to all and is so powerful, I should probably be on my guard for the drug enforcement agencies. If they found out I was promoting something called “infinite joy,” they would no doubt conclude that I was selling some kind of little green pill called “infinite joy.” I could be arrested for possession of infinite joy with intent to distribute. Actually, that has a nice ring to it—possession of infinite joy with intent to distribute. We should all be guilty of such a “crime”! (Though, except for God, one cannot possess anything in an infinite quantity, therefore it is more precise to say that we are pursuing infinite joy with intent to distribute.)

Christ is the source of infinite joy, but you can’t have it by swallowing a little green pill. It’s not available at your local crack house or reputable pharmacy. It is only available by knowing and experiencing Jesus Christ in his full glory. There is no quick fix because it is a lifetime pursuit. It is an infinite pursuit that we take one step at a time. Paul laid out the path of joy in every verse of this book, and it begins with three things: partnership in the gospel, security in the gospel and affection in the gospel. Look back at vv. 3-5. I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.

There is a joy that comes from a shared partnership. For those of you who know Steve Schiltz, a week and a half ago, Steve and I worked together installing the windows in the upper story. I had not talked with Steve in a long time, so we enjoyed catching up with one another and we also enjoyed the shared risk of dangling fifteen feet in the air on a wobbly, small platform. When our feet were on solid ground, we shook hands as if to say, “It was nice talking with you and aren’t you glad to be alive!” Steve and I had a brief partnership installing windows that brought a measure of joy with it. But the kind of partnership Paul was describing was a partnership in the gospel. By “partnership in the gospel,” Paul did not just mean a partnership in evangelism or church planting, but a partnership in Jesus Christ. A partnership in knowing Jesus, in obeying Jesus, in proclaiming Jesus, in experiencing joy in Jesus.

The story of how Paul first came to Philippi is filled with amazing incidents of God’s miraculous guidance. Paul was near the start of his second church planting journey which we read about in Acts 16

⁶Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. On their first journey, Paul and Barnabus only got as far west and Lystra and Derbe, so the second time they planned to continue west into Asia, or modern day Turkey. The Holy Spirit would not allow them to go west, so they decided to go north into Bithynia. ⁷When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. The Lord would not allow them to go west and he would not allow them to go north. God had a clear plan for them, so they traveled nowthwest. ⁸So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. ⁹During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” ¹⁰After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. ¹¹ From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day on to Neapolis. ¹²From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia.

Miracle by miracle God led Paul to Philippi. We have all been guided by the Lord through various circumstances in our lives. What do we usually find at the end of that journey? We like to think that God has something wonderful planned at the end of such journeys, right? What did the Lord have waiting in Philippi? Very soon after arriving, Paul and Silas were stripped naked, severely flogged and thrown in prison. The jailer “put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.” The Philippians certainly rolled out the welcome wagon for Paul and Silas, didn’t they?! If you didn’t know any better, you would swear that God led them directly into a trap; he led them like two innocent lambs to the slaughter. But this was still all part of God’s sovereign plan. Do you recall the rest of the story? At midnight, Paul and Silas were singing hymns, a violent earthquake shook, the prison doors flew open and the jailer drew his sword to kill himself. But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!” ²⁹The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. ³⁰He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” That very night, the jailer and his entire household placed their faith in Christ and were baptized. The partnership in the gospel that Paul wrote about began in the dirty prison cell when an entire family was radically saved.

Why are you part of Grace Church? People join churches for all kinds of reasons: to disciple their children, to get fed spiritually, to have Christian fellowship. These are all fine reasons, but I would like to suggest that the best reason for being part of a local church is to be in a partnership in the gospel. To lock arms together around the gospel of Christ, to know this gospel, to live this gospel, to proclaim this gospel, to enjoy this gospel of Jesus Christ, who himself is the gospel. To have a partnership in the gospel is to be guilty of possessing infinite joy with intent to distribute.

Can we say that anything in life is secure? How secure is your job? How secure are your finances? Credit card companies would like us to believe that it is extremely safe to buy things online with your credit card because they have a sixteen digit encryption system. This past Wednesday night we returned home to hear the following message on our answering machine. “Hello, this is the Citibank Mastercard department. We have logged some suspicious activity on your credit card. Please call us back immediately to check for possible fraudulent purchases.” I erased the message and went to bed. No I didn’t! I called back as quick as you can say grand larceny. Thankfully, everything checked out OK, this time around, but it is a good reminder that there is only one sure thing in this world—that is the person and word and work of Christ.

We see the security in the gospel in verse six: being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. There is such rest, peace and joy in this verse. When everything else in life may fail and probably will fail, we can rest secure in these two things—we did nothing to save ourselves and we can do nothing to maintain our salvation. Jesus began this good work of salvation. While we were dead in our transgressions and sins he made us alive in him. We placed our faith in him, but it was his good work which enabled us to believe. He who began this good work will complete it to the day of Christ Jesus. Jesus began the work and Jesus will complete the work. Can you almost feel the security in this verse? Isn’t the peace and rest almost palpable?

This verse is only one of many nails in the coffin for those who claim that we can “lose our salvation.” The only way to lose your salvation is if you attained it in the first place. If I did something to gain my salvation then it follows that I can do something to lose my salvation. But this verse answers both sides of the equation. I did not begin the good work and I cannot maintain the good work. Our salvation is completely wrapped up in the faithfulness of God. As evangelicals we are generally quick to acknowledge that we cannot earn our salvation, but once we are saved, in the back of our minds we have these doubts about it all. We often feel that since we have been given this glorious gift that we must somehow earn our right to hold on to it. We are pretty careful with our doctrine, so at least on paper we claim that we cannot lose our salvation, but why then do we feel as if God has not accepted us? Why do we feel like we carry this weight of condemnation on our shoulders? Why do we feel like we must carry our salvation to completion?

We must tread very carefully here, because in a room this size, there may be one or more people who are not yet saved. Therefore, I would not want to give a false assurance of salvation when none exists. The very worst thing I could possibly do is convince an unsaved person that they are suddenly saved. You may feel a weight of condemnation or a lack of assurance of salvation precisely because you are not saved. (ex. Of Nicole…) But if you have repented of your sins and trusted in Christ alone by grace alone through faith alone, then you can be assured of salvation and nothing in all the universe can change that. No power of hell can change that. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Who began a good work in you? Christ did. Who will carry it on to completion? Christ will. That is security to the ultimate degree. This perfect security should result in joy. I cut off the story of the Philippian jailer just before he got saved. The text reads, “he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God.” We can see how these joyful Philippians got started. We are joyful because we have come to believe, but when we realize that our belief ( ….the joy is infinite joy with intent to distribute.)

So does this mean we can coast through life doing what we want and slip into Heaven when we die? If that is your philosophy of life, I would have to question if your salvation is real. The security that comes from this perfect salvation is the very motivation for pressing forward. Christ has promised that he will carry his work of salvation onto completion, but in chapter three Paul wrote these words: “I press on to take hold of that for which Christ has taken hold of me.” Here is the question of the day. If Christ has guaranteed Paul’s salvation, why would Paul still press on with all his might? The answer is that Paul could press on with complete assurance and joy.

Do you see the stark contrast between Christianity and all other religions? Everyone else, including millions of people who call themselves Christians, work very hard in their religion so that they can be accepted by God. They have no real assurance of this acceptance, so this insecurity drives them in their religious work.

Let me use an example of starting your own business. The failure rate for new businesses in the first ten years is 70%. Therefore, anyone who starts a new business is going to have to make a lot of sacrifices and work very hard so that the business will be successful. If they don’t work extremely hard, the business will probably not survive. Now let’s say that you were starting a business. This is not an ordinary business, but this is a business that is based on your favorite hobby. You found a way to turn your favorite hobby into a business. In your new venture, let’s assume that I was able to give you a 100% guarantee of success. Would you work hard in your business? Of course you would, because not only would you enjoy your hobby, you would enjoy your hobby while you also gained the satisfaction of building a successful business. So you would work hard if your business had a 70% chance of failure and you would work hard if your business had a 100% chance of success, but can you se that these two efforts are completely different? In the first example you are working hard for survival but in the second example you are working hard for joy. The guarantee of success allows you to enjoy the hard work instead of constantly worrying if you will succeed or not.

This is a secret to the Christian life that most people do not understand. If you are a Christian, you have a 100% guarantee that you this work of salvation will be completed in you—not by your own efforts, but through the merits of Christ. Therefore, this security found in the gospel is the foundation of your joy. You need not work to be secure in Christ, but because you are secure in Christ, you should want to work! But your work is the pursuit of joy, not the fear of failure.

(Ex. Of Nicole…)

Rich Maurer

September 14, 2008