Finding Joy in Christ, Week 2

We trudge on this week in Philippians with our theme for this series: Finding Joy in Christ.

 

Now finding joy in Christ, what does that mean? We walked through this theme at youth group last week but y'all on the outskirts still haven't heard the "what" or "why" behind this theme.

Well, we will find in this book-- by the way, you will make your best discoveries about this book when YOU read the book on YOUR own. Four chapters, easy peasy!-- that Paul is writing a letter of excitement and encouragement to his faithful friends in the faith from Philippi despite the fact that Paul is writing this heartfelt letter from jail at Rome.

So, God has a sense of humor in that he has me teach about the things I need to learn more about. Finding joy in Christ when life is tiring and rough and challenging and unfair? Heck yes I need to learn more about that! So while reading Philippians we are looking at how Paul could see God working through the difficult situations he faced, and what it would mean for us to find authentic joy in Christ that would keep us grounded in our faith when difficult situations come.

"12And I want you to know, my dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News. 13For everyone here, including the whole palace guard, knows that I am in chains because of Christ. 14And because of my imprisonment, most of the believers here have gained confidence and boldly speak God’s message without fear.

15It’s true that some are preaching out of jealousy and rivalry. But others preach about Christ with pure motives. 16They preach because they love me, for they know I have been appointed to defend the Good News. 17Those others do not have pure motives as they preach about Christ. They preach with selfish ambition, not sincerely, intending to make my chains more painful to me. 18But that doesn’t matter. Whether their motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being preached either way, so I rejoice. And I will continue to rejoice. 19For I know that as you pray for me and the Spirit of Jesus Christ helps me, this will lead to my deliverance.

20For I fully expect and hope that I will never be ashamed, but that I will continue to be bold for Christ, as I have been in the past. And I trust that my life will bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die. 21For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. 22But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ. So I really don’t know which is better. 23I’m torn between two desires: I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me. 24But for your sakes, it is better that I continue to live.

25Knowing this, I am convinced that I will remain alive so I can continue to help all of you grow and experience the joy of your faith. 26And when I come to you again, you will have even more reason to take pride in Christ Jesus because of what he is doing through me.

27Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ. Then, whether I come and see you again or only hear about you, I will know that you are standing together with one spirit and one purpose, fighting together for the faith, which is the Good News. 28Don’t be intimidated in any way by your enemies. This will be a sign to them that they are going to be destroyed, but that you are going to be saved, even by God himself. 29For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him. 30We are in this struggle together. You have seen my struggle in the past, and you know that I am still in the midst of it."

Now, does Paul have a death wish that in verse 21 he says, "For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better" ? Well look at it this way: the only person that can say that "dying is gain" as other versions put it, is the person that lives their life for Jesus Christ.

Why? Because if someone asked you, what are you living for? What in your life makes you the most alive? And you think and think and try not to sound ridiculous by putting something like "food" before you put "your family"; but maybe you put music, or sports, or drawing, or reading. Well, then death does not gain you anything. Death means an end to those things. But if your life is lived for Christ, if a life lived for Christ makes you feel the most alive, then dying is gain, dying is even better because you die and you meet face to face the One you have lived your life for!

Which leads into Paul's idea of living as "citizens of heaven". Now how do you do that without having ever set foot in heaven? "27...conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ. Then, whether I come and see you again or only hear about you, I will know that you are standing together with one spirit and one purpose, fighting together for the faith, which is the Good News."

Maybe living as "citizens of heaven" has nothing to do with physically residing in heaven, maybe it has to do with how we conduct ourselves.

For those of you that are Seattleites, that's the city you're reppin', you wear those high socks with the image of the skyline on it, and you take pride in where you live. You conduct yourselves in a certain way as Seattleites. We have raincoats and rainboots and we drink coffee and we have our favored sports teams (cough Huskies, Seahawks) and we act a certain way, that's how we conduct ourselves.  Now if your family were to up and move to Wyoming, how would you conduct yourselves? Like a Seattleite! You would throw fits over the lack of coffee shops and over the hot weather and you would still act the same as you did in Seattle for the most part.

Now, what would it mean while you're living here on Earth to conduct yourselves like you are citizens of heaven? That's what we're looking at here. We have a higher calling on us then just living like Seattleites, we are to live like citizens of heaven! Say what??

So, we are called to conduct ourselves "in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ." Different parts of the Bible say it differently, in 2 Corinthians 6 verse 3 & 4 Paul says it like this: "3We live in such a way that no one will stumble because of us, and no one will find fault with our ministry. 4In everything we do, we show we are true ministers of God."

Let's stop here to regroup. In all of this are you thinking, "Well, okay, but how does that help me in finding my joy in Christ? Sure Paul found it, but thinking about the way I conduct myself actually puts a lot of stress on me."

Trust me, I cannot preach a "try harder, do more, work harder" sermon because that is not what I believe gets us anywhere good in our walk with God.

Having said that, if my present circumstances were hard and I was searching desperately for this joy in Christ, I think by remembering that I am a citizen of heaven, I can call on God, the President of my hometown in heaven, to help me to see how He can use me where I am at. Though I might not find joy in my suffering, through looking to God for His plan and not my plan, I may find joy in what God tells me. That He is using my bad day to relate to you guys, to relate to this teaching, to realize my need for Him.

Paul apparently did not just sit and prison and ask God to release Him immediately. Apparently Paul trusted that God was working that out, "For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better." Paul trusted that God was either making his way out of prison or that God was leading Paul on home to Paul's true home. Apparently Paul trusted God with his circumstance and asked, "God, how can you use me where I'm at?"

In verse 29 it says, "For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him."

Paul suffered much as a Christ-follower and the hard truth that he's relating here is so will we. But hey! If my options are to suffer without Christ, to suffer for myself, or to suffer with Christ, for Christ, I'm choosing the second option! Let their be a goal in my suffering, let God make something good come out of my suffering, let God use me in my suffering, but please when I struggle, when life is hard, when I am at a low point, I don't want it to be for nothing!

I find joy in my trials, like it talks about in the book of James, when my trials lead me to Christ. Today I had a hard day that at it's height had me spilling salsa all over myself and my car. When I stopped my big crocodile tears guess what I did? I prayed. Because God cares about my hard day and my raw feelings and my stained pants. And guess what God did? He put godly people in my life that supported me and prayed for me and encouraged me when I needed encouragement.

While I teach this series I am learning it for myself, how to find joy in Christ. So as we go through it together, tell us how you're learning, what God is teaching you through hard circumstances, and what you are going to do to make sure that your suffering is not in vain, but rather that it would lead to a joy that God gives to those that trust in Him.