Joy to the world
A study of Philippians
Part 3
“Joy in Believing”
Today we continue our study of the book of Philippians
Paul’s letter of joy to the Church in the Macedonian in the city of Philippi
Paul had spent time with the people there about 10 years before he wrote this joy filled letter to them
In that time he had led many to a saving relationship with Jesus Christ
He had help the mostly Gentile believers there
Establish a church
He had mentored them
Help them establish Elders to guide them and continue in the work
In the time he had been there he had laughed and cried with them
Shared meals
Times of blessings and hardships
Now ten years later the Apostle Paul
Writes to his Brothers
Sisters and friends
Who he misses dearly
And longs to be with
To encourage them to continue in the good work
And to warn them about problems that will occur
Not if but when
The church in Philippi was just like any church anywhere and any time
It was made up of People
And people
All people are sinners
And make mistakes
And Paul was proactively helping them with future problems
But he also writes to them about Joy
He expresses his joy in spite of his present and past circumstances
Circumstances I am sure he had not counted on
And would change if he could
But in spite of the less than perfect life he lived
He still found joy beyond measure
And he desperately wanted the ones he loved to find it as well
We began this series with the “Joy in others “or” joy in relationships”
Paul showed us a pattern to help us find joy in all of our relationships
We learned that the first step is finding and focusing on Jesus
This will be a common theme through this series
Actually through our Christian lives
Let me quickly recap from Joy in relationships
First Jesus is the key
Trying to find Joy apart from Jesus is an effort in futility
We can’t get it
Happiness comes and goes
But Joy comes from the Lord and is everlasting
First
Know Jesus
Then
Give thanks to God for the people he has placed in your life
Remember the good
Forget the bad
Forgive and move on
Pray for the people in your life
Pray they will be filled with love that overflows
Pray that they will grow in knowledge and understanding
Live a pure and blameless life and set an example for others to follow
Seek him in all you do imitate him and his character
I can assure you
You will find joy in your relationships with others
God and even yourself
Next Paul explains he finds joy though serving God
And gives us another plan for finding the joy he has found
If you want to find Joy in serving God
It really is simple
Like sermon 1
Step 1 is Knowing and focusing on Jesus
We have to know the source of Joy to know joy
Then
Have tender and compassionate hearts- a servants heart we call it
Work to achieve unity in your life and in the church
Work with others with one mind and one purpose- to further and spread the Good news
Put yourself and your pride aside
Get I out of the vocabulary
And be Humble like Jesus
Putting others ahead of your self
Seeking Glory for God instead of self glory
Don’t be selfish
Don’t try and impress others
Work hard to show the fruit of your salvation/ to let your light shine
Don’t gripe and complain but do everything with a good attitude
And rejoice in your ability to serve Christ through serving others
And rejoice in their joy through serving as well
Nothing in Paul’s plans are that hard to understand
You don’t need a degree of any kind
Actually as I said last week
Many of these ideas and principals are things we should have learned in kindergarten
But he moves on to show us how he finds joy in believing
This is a key to the joy in our lives as well
As I said for the last 2 weeks
Knowing Jesus is the key to joy
And believing is the key to knowing
Please open your bibles to Philippians 3
Let me begin with verse 1
“ Whatever happens, my dear brothers and sisters,[a] rejoice in the Lord. I never get tired of telling you these things, and I do it to safeguard your faith.”
In real common terms
Paul says
No matter what happens
No matter the storms
No matter the wrecks
No matter the illnesses
Injuries
Losses
Rejoice in the Lord
He goes on to say
He never gets tired of Telling people about the joy he has found through Jesus
Then he moves into a passage of scripture that at first glance does not seem to fit
At first glance
Actually after many times of reading through this chapter of Philippians
I could not wrap my brain around why this was here
Why here and why now?
Then after praying for understanding
Meditating on the passage
Reading and rereading it
I got it
Let me read for you the verses first
Keep an open mind
Don’t read along
Just listen
Then we will reread it and then I will do my best to explain why these verses actually fit perfectly in a message of finding joy in believing
Verse 2-4
“Watch out for those dogs, those people who do evil, those mutilators who say you must be circumcised to be saved. 3 For we who worship by the Spirit of God[b] are the ones who are truly circumcised. We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort, 4 though I could have confidence in my own effort if anyone could. Indeed, if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more!
Right here in the middle of Paul’s letter of Joy he seems to take a side road
He begins teaching against false prophets
And false teachings
And like I said
At first or 5th or more glances
I’m scratching my head, saying
I don’t get it Big Dan
Then I get it, God turned on the light
Read verse 2 with me from your bible or from the screen
Verse 2
“Watch out for those dogs, those people who do evil, those mutilators who say you must be circumcised to be saved.”
Let me explain
Step one in finding joy in relationships is knowing Jesus
Step one in finding joy in service is knowing Jesus
And step one in finding joy in believing is knowing Jesus
But we must know the Jesus of the bible
Listen to me
Paul is saying don’t let anyone try and tell you that anything other than the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ is needed for salvation
In his day it was the Judizers who said you had to believe in Jesus
And be circumcised in order to be saved
Today we have so many false teachings about a “Jesus”
But they are not teaching about the Jesus of the bible
My Jesus
Says all who believe will be saved
Very simple math
Jesus + Belief = Salivation
But many want you to believe
Jesus + Belief+ something= salvation/maybe
The Jesus of the bible gives us assurance of salvation
He is not a take backer
He is not a promise breaker
No maybes involved
He says will be saved
Not might be saved
Many others preach a perverted gospel of health, wealth and prosperity
Listen to me
Jesus
The Jesus of the bible does not promise us Health
He actually says we will have times of hardships and troubles
We are human beings made of flesh and bone and flesh and bone gets hurt and gets sick and even dies
Jesus
The Jesus of the bible does not promise us wealth
Once again he says
We will be persecuted because he was
He says we will have times of finical hardships
Jesus
The Jesus of the bible
Does not promise us prosperity
Another word for prosperity
Is happiness
He does promise us joy
But not happiness
Once again
We will
According to God’s word and the Jesus of the bible have times of sorrow and despair
You may be asking right now
Preacher why do you keep saying the Jesus of the bible and how does this tie in with finding joy in believing
I am so glad you asked
You see to find joy in believing
We must
Must
Must
Believe in the right Jesus
We must believe in the right Gospel
We must believe in the truth of scripture
Not the lies
Of dogs- wolves- false prophets
Let me explain
When you believe in the wrong Jesus
You may believe that you must do something in order to be saved
If you can do something to be saved
You can do something to lose salvation and it would not be grace
And if you constantly walked around in fear of losing your salvation
Or wondering if you had done everything required
Or that it could be taken away
Or wondering if you could ever be good enough
If more was needed
How could you ever have joy?
You see to have joy in believing in Jesus
You have to believe the right Jesus
My Jesus
The Jesus of the bible has sacrificed his life to purchase our salvation
And he says
ALL who believe will be saved
He says everyone who believes will not perish
He says his sacrifice is enough
Nothing more is needed
God’s word says nothing will separate us from the love of God through Jesus Christ our Lord
All means all
And nothing---- my friends means nothing
Jesus’ sacrifice alone saves us
Not baptism
Not church membership
Not taking the Lord’s Supper
Not
Classes or ceremonies
Belonging to a certain denomination
Not any of the man made junk that Dogs try to sell you
So you may ask
Preacher
What’s wrong with the health, wealth and prosperity message?
I like it
It makes me feel good
You may ask
Does not God want us to be happy?
Does not God want us to be healthy?
Does not God want us to be provided for?
The answer to all three of those questions is yes
But
Listen
What is wrong with that message is it is not true
God does not promise us these things
So once again you may ask
Why is this message so bad?
Why does Paul talk about this?
Why do you preach about this?
Listen
If you believe theses lies
If you believe this false teaching this false Jesus
And then
Then
You pray and your prayers are not answered the way you want them to be
And you give your money and it does not come back to you 100 or more fold
And you send in your gifts to the wolves on TV
And then you don’t get heath
You don’t get wealth
You don’t find happiness
What happens then?
Sadness
Absence of Joy
These false teachingings will not give you Joy
You can’t know Joy
Unless you know the one who gives Joy
And his Name is Jesus Christ
And he and he alone is enough for salvation
So step one in finding joy in believing is to make sure you are believing in the real deal
The perfect one
The Lamb of God
Jesus Christ as shown in God’s holy word
Not some made up counterfeit copy
The next step in finding Joy in believing is found in verses 3 and 4
Let me read that for you
3 For we who worship by the Spirit of God[b] are the ones who are truly circumcised. We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort, 4 though I could have confidence in my own effort if anyone could. Indeed, if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more!
Paul is talking about circumcision of the heart not of the flesh
He is saving
We have believed in the real Jesus
And we are worshipping him and him alone
And
We are relying on what Jesus has done for us
You see in order to find joy in believing
We must believe in and rely on his power
Not our own power or accomplishments --we do not have the ability to save ourselves
And when we try
We don’t find joy
We find disappointment
We find sorrow
In order to have joy in belief
We must understand that it is his sacrifice alone that has the power to save us
Our part is accepting that sacrifice
Ephesians 2:8-9 is one of my favorite verses
Chances are if you received a bible from Caney Creek and I wrote in it for you
I wrote this verse in your bible
Ephesians 2:8-9
God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
His power not our power
His sacrifice not our accomplishments
His grace not our works
So we must believe in the right Jesus
We must believe that it is his power that saves us
And then Paul continues
With his outline for finding joy in Believing
Believe he will do what he says
You see in order to find joy in our belief
We must know that the one we believe in will not let us down
Let’s go back first to Philippians Chapter 1
Verse 6
Philippians 1:6
And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.
Paul says he is sure
Certain
Positive that God who began the good work in you will finish the job
God began the good work for you when Jesus gave his life
He began the work in you when you accepted the gift of salvation
And he will continue working in and through you until you leave this earth and go to be with him in glory
That should give you joy
But
Even more
Paul says in Philippians 3:8-14
That nothing we can accomplish in this life will compare to what Jesus has done for us
And that nothing in this life will bring more joy than finding
Accepting
And living for Jesus
Let’s read 8-14
Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ 9 and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ.[a] For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. 10 I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, 11 so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!
Pressing toward the Goal
12 I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. 13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it,[b] but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.
In verses 4-6
Paul explains his accomplishments
Things he could have been proud of
And then he says none of them come close to the joy I find in Jesus
None of them will save me, none of them can give me joy
Paul says
Nothing is as important as Jesus and my relationship with him
What do you say?
You want to find joy
Do you want to find joy in your belief?
First --Know the right Jesus
The Jesus of the bible
Second --Trust in his power not your own
Trust in his accomplishments not your own
Third-- Know that he will do what he says
To find Joy in Belief
Believe
Believe Jesus came down from heaven
Believe he became a human
Believe he gave his life for us- you and me
Believe that on the third day he rose from the dead
Believe that sacrifice paid the penalty of your sins
Believe he has done the hard work of salvation’
Believe that if you accept him//Believe in your heart and confess with your mouth
That you will be saved
Believe he will finish the work in you
And will bless you in ways you never even imagined
Surrender to his Lordship in your life
And live for him
And know that he is coming back soon to take us all to be with him in glory
This my friends is the path to joy in belief
Close from the heart
Pray
