Scripture Introduction
Last year I had heated arguments with The Berry Company over the church’s Yellow Pages advertising. They confirmed, in writing, that our contract ended in June. But the small print allowed them to continue billing us if they were late publishing the new phone books. When they decided to delay printing for several months, they invoked their “right” to continue charging us even with a signed document showing our bill would be zero.
One of the letters we exchanged had Rachel Liette’s name on the bottom and the greeting line she put on every letter: “Thank you for your business. It has been a pleasure discussing your Advertising program with you.” We were not doing business, and we did not discuss our advertising program, and it was certain not a pleasure! But the greeting was stuck on every letter, regardless of whether it was sincere.
Many greetings are like that. Throwaway lines when we must write something, though it usually means nothing. The Apostle Paul, on the other hand, inspired by the Holy Spirit, greets sincerely and with deep significance. These are not wasted words, but a great greeting to encourage us with truth from the very beginning.
[Read Philippians 1.1-2. Pray.]
Introduction
Philippians holds out the hope of joy in the midst of life, and Christians live out part of their lives among other believers in the church, so… the local church should be a place of great joy. Why is it sometimes not?
We could be looking for the wrong kind of happiness. Last week I told you about the man who wanted his counselor to make him feel better now. Sometimes people come to church looking for a pick-me-up, a kind of caffeine shot for the soul, and they may end up disappointed with the church, with Christians, and even with God.
But maybe more often the problem is seeking joy in the wrong way. People do attend church with agendas; we want what we want. Even if we do not say it out loud, the heart may scream: “I just want to be appreciated,” or “I just want my opinion heard.” Americans expect to be “made much of,” and if the pastor or parishioners fail to do so, disappointment follows. Like me, you have probably had times when you wanted to be congratulated for your humility, or honored for your good works. We need God to teach us the right way to happiness.
Though these first verses are “just” a greeting, they actually tell us much about the church and how it helps us find the joy of the Lord. We will see, today, four ways in which we can experience God’s joy. First…
1. We Must Be Instructed By God’s Word To Experience God’s Joy (Philippians 1.1a)
Someone observed: “People want good service, but they do not want to be good servants.”
Paul and Timothy introduce themselves then immediately point to their status as servants.
J. I. Packer comments on implications of that word: it denotes “a man who is not at his own disposal, but is his master’s purchased property. Bought to serve his master’s needs, to be at his beck and call every moment, the slave’s sole business is to do as he is told. And what work does Christ set his servants to do? The way that they serve him is by becoming the slaves of their fellow-servants and being willing to do literally anything, however costly, irksome, or undignified, in order to help them. This is what love means, as he himself showed at the Last supper when he played the slave’s part and washed the disciples’ feet. When the New Testament speaks of ministering to the saints, it means not primarily preaching to them but devoting time, trouble, and substance to giving them all the practical help possible…. Only the Holy Spirit can create in us the kind of love toward our Savior that will overflow in imaginative sympathy and practical helpfulness towards his people” (Your Father Loves You). No wonder people do not want to be servants!
So why is “servant” the first qualification mentioned? Two reasons: it points to Paul’s authority for telling us what to do, while it reminds us of his sympathy for what we must do. In this letter, Paul will tell the Philippians that for their joy, they must do things they do not want to do. To preempt any possible objections, he reminds us that as a servant, he must do what Jesus tells him to do, even when it seems unpleasant.
How discouraged Paul might have felt locked in jail. And how many people must have criticized his unwillingness to compromising just a little bit so that he could remain free to preach Jesus! But he does give in to self-pity or bitter resentment; he rejoices in his suffering while he asks God for more courage and boldness! Paul understood the cost of signing on as a servant of King Jesus. God does not always do what we want him to do.
Now the Philippians, on the other hand, probably the New Testament church with the most circumstantial reasons to be happy, are not rejoicing. Instead, they squabble among themselves, manufacturing disagreements! Two of the women bickering are even called out by name in chapter four!
Now the hard part is that the solution to the conflict is the humility which treats others as more important than yourself. You must act like servants of one another: no longer look only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Think like Jesus, who made himself a slave to save his people.
And lest anyone ask, “What right does Paul have to suggest we act like slaves?” he answers from word one: “I am a servant too.” He says (in effect): “I must instruct you in a godly attitude and proper behavior, because that is my service to Jesus. At the same time, I know this teaching will be hard to receive, because it requires of you the heart of a slave. But it is the path to joy, and this I know because I serve Christ.”
Brothers and sisters, we also need the Bible to flip through the pages of our lives, showing us every selfish attitude, every sinful behavior, and every self-serving motive. Why should we allow that? Because those who wrote it, did so in service to the King, and because those who wrote it experienced the joy of rejoicing even in suffering. Paul’s position as a servant of Christ is his authority for telling us what we must do for our happiness and our holiness. We must be instructed by this Word in order to experience joy.
2. We Must Be Received By Jesus To Experience God’s Joy (Philippians 1.1b)
Dr. Harry Ironside was a well-known pastor in Chicago in the late 1800s. Once on a train ride home from a conference, he found himself in the company of a group of nuns. Ironside overheard them discussing certain saints, and he asked if they had ever seen a live saint. They, of course, said, “No,” though they had seen the relics and tombs of dead ones. So Ironside asked if they would like to see a real, live saint. They said, “Yes, of course.” Then Dr. Ironside, stood and said, “Here I am! I am a saint; I am Saint Harry.”
Paul does the same: “Stand up, all of you in the church at Philippi: here you are! You are saints!”
Contrary to what many nuns think, a saint is not one who has progressed farther in obedience and holiness than the rest of us. A saint is simply a true Christian; one who is in Christ Jesus. This is critical because many people suspect that the promises of the Bible are reserved for those who have progressed far in personal holiness. We may imagine that God hears the prayers of the super-spiritual, and that they can have real ministry in the kingdom of God because God’s favor shines on them for their saintliness.
But that is precisely backward. According to the Bible, when a person becomes a true, born-again Christian they are immediately and irrevocably made saints! Then, as a result of that position, they are entitled to all the rights and privileges of sainthood and can begin to practice the life of sainthood.
Please do not imagine that this is a minor doctrinal tidbit; this is the heart of the gospel. It is no good news at all that I can be declared a saint if I practice enough good works. The good news is that through faith in Jesus’ good works, God sees sinners as saints, and with that position, you now have the privileges and power to live a life glorifying to God and “joyifying” to you!
Do you know this distinction, or do you still seek God’s favor based on your personal integrity? If so, have you noticed how low you keep the standards so you are not overwhelmed with guilt from failing? Have you noticed how harshly you judge others so that you can feel good about your life?
What is your mark of sainthood? For some it is emotions: “I know God loves me because I feel him deeply in worship.” Or is it your willpower? “I know God loves me because I am disciplined in my daily walk.” Maybe it is your favorable comparison to others: “I know God loves me because I do not do the bad things that others do.” Or is it your righteousness acts? “I know God loves me because I do what he demands.”
Are you yet honest enough to admit that it cannot sustain joy in the midst of life because we all fail? No one practices holiness enough to earn sainthood. Joy comes from accepting the grace of God which freely declares sinners to be saints based on Christ’s holiness. This is why I so love Gandy’s hymn:
Bless, bless the Conqueror slain – slain by divine decree – who lived, who died, who lives again, for thee, his saint, for thee!
Well may the accuser roar, of sins that I have done. I know them well, and thousands more, Jehovah knoweth none.
Today, you can become a saint by trusting your hope and happiness to the only one who ever earned sainthood, Jesus Christ. He accepts all who come to him by faith in his promises.
3. We Must Be Led By Church Officers To Experience God’s Joy (Philippians 1.1c)
How could mentioning church officers bring us joy? Because we need oversight, direction, leadership, and authority which God graciously provides through men called to office.
When Jesus was here he noted that the people were sheep without a shepherd. So he did two things. First, he taught them. We live in a broken world, and our hearts are darkened by sin. God’s people need a light on the path, clear guidance through the fog of life. The teaching of Jesus provides the light we need.
Not only did Jesus teach, but he also told his apostles to ask God for more shepherds. Why? Because God’s people need pastors, elders, and deacons to lead and guide the ministry. When those called by God do the work which God directs and enables, the church is strengthened and abounds in joy.
Hebrews 13.17: “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.”
God designed the officers of the church to be our great advantage. Those called to office must fulfill the ministry given them. And those called to obey, must do so with confidence in God’s provision. Only then will God’s joy fill our church.
4. We Must Receive God’s Grace and Peace To Experience God’s Joy (Philippians 1.2)
The words grace and peace appear in every letter which the Apostle Paul wrote. Because they succinctly summarize the faith. Grace – the undeserved favor of God, and peace – the blessing which comes from knowing God’s grace.
Gordon Fee: “In a sense this sums up the whole of Paul’s theological outlook. The sum total of all God’s activity toward his human creatures is found in the word ‘grace’; God has given himself to them mercifully and bountifully in Christ. Nothing is deserved; nothing can be achieved. ‘’Tis mercy all, immense and free.’ And the sum total of those benefits as they are experienced by the recipients of God’s grace is found in the word ‘peace,’ meaning ‘well-being, wholeness, welfare.’ The one flows out of the other and both together flow from ‘God our Father’ and were both made effective in human history through our ‘Lord Jesus Christ.’”
Grace to you and peace.
5. Conclusion
Larry Crabb’s book, The Safest Place on Earth, describes what spiritual community should be. But many of us have experienced neither joy nor safety with God’s people in church.
We might suppose that is because of the presence of conflict. But I agree with Crabb, that the presence of conflict does not define unspiritual community, just as its absence is no proof of spiritual community. The difference is our attitude and our approach to handling it. “When conflict is seen as an opportunity to draw more fully on spiritual resources, we have the makings of a spiritual community.”
“In unspiritual community, we hide conflict behind congeniality. We re-channel it into cooperation on worthy projects where self-serving agendas and ugly drives become commendable zeal. We soothe the pain with consolation which provides some relief. If the conflict is particularly severe, we work through our issues in counseling, hoping to uncover the roots of our internal conflict and weaken the passions that cause it. Or we redouble our effort to conform to moral standards of living and so contain our ugliness with promises to do better.
“Instead, we need spiritual friends, broken people who will provide safety for us to be broken, caring people who want us to live and believe we can live well, giving people who pour the life they have received from God into us, people of vision who see the Spirit shaping us into the image of Christ. Without them, we settle for so much less.
“Brokenness is the realization that life is too much for us, not just because there is too much pain but also because we’re too selfish. Brokenness is realizing HE is all we have. Hope is realizing HE is all we need. Joy is realizing HE is all we want. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote: ‘Our community with one another consists solely in what Christ has done to both of us.’”
It will not be easy to develop a truly spiritual community. But God would do that work in his, so that our church might truly be a safe place for joy.
