Rejoice! Choosing Joy in the Midst of our Mess (3)
Scott Bayles, pastor
Blooming Grove Christian Church: 10/18/2015
Charles Spurgeon, instructing a group of seminary students on sermon delivery, said, “When you speak of heaven, let your face light up with a heavenly gleam. Let your eyes shine with reflected glory. And when you speak of hell–well, then your usual face will do.” As funny as that is, there is some truth to it. Sadly, too often, Christians lack joy in their life.
Yet, it is astonishing how many references there are in the Old and New Testaments to delight, joy, bliss, celebration, happiness and rejoicing—and how emphatically these are demanded. Indeed, from "Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth!" (Psalm 100:1) to "Rejoice in the Lord always." (Philippians 4:4)—and dozens of places before and after and in between—we are urged to lead joy-filled lives. Billy Sunday used to say, "If you have no joy in your religion, there's a leak in your Christianity somewhere."
One guy who seems to really practice what he preaches when it comes to joy is the Apostle Paul. Even though he was in chains twenty-four hours a day, awaiting trial and possible execution, Paul wrote a letter to the church in Philippi that radiates joy. The words joy or rejoice appear no less than sixteen times in four short chapters.
Last Sunday we surveyed the second chapter of Philippians where Paul reveals that the solidarity we experience in our church families, selflessly putting others before ourselves, and shining a light for Jesus in the dark world around us are all ways of experiencing more joy in our daily lives.
The next chapter begins: “In conclusion, my friends, be joyful in your union with the Lord” (Philippians 3:1 GNT). Paul then goes on to talk in depth about that union, highlighting two more means of experiencing joy, particularly in our spiritual lives. First, we can experience more joy when we rely on grace!
• RELY ON GRACE
Paul warns the Philippian church, saying, “Watch out for those dogs, those people who do evil, those mutilators who say you must be circumcised to be saved. For… we rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort” (Philippians 3:2-3 NLT).
These “dogs” and “mutilators” were likely Judaizers—Jewish Christians who wrongly believed that it was essential for Christians to continue following the Old Testament law, including circumcision, in order to receive salvation.
Paul criticized the Judaizers because they put their confidence in their own effort, rather than relying on the free gift of grace given by Jesus Christ. But haven’t you and I been guilty of making the same mistake?
Even after twenty-centuries of preaching salvation by grace through faith, we still have it lodged somewhere in our subconscious that God saves good people. So be good. Be honest. Be decent. Pray more. Keep the Sabbath. Keep your promises. Pay your taxes. Do better. Be moral. Do more. Do. Be. Do. Be. Do. Do-be-do-be-do.
Are you familiar with the tune?
In his book, Grace, Max Lucado says, “We accumulate good works the way Boy Scouts accumulate merit badges on a sash.” I was never in the Boy Scouts myself, but I imagine there is something very gratifying about earning merit badges. Each oval emblem rewards an achievement. You paddle across a lake to earn the canoe badge, you swim laps to earn the swimming badge. You carve a totem pole to earn the woodworking badge. The merit-badge system tidies life. Achievements result in awards. Accomplishments receive applause.
Many of us approach our spiritual lives with the mistaken idea that God grades on a merit system—an embroidered Bible badge for reading through the Bible in a year, a set of praying hands for saying your prayers, a kid sitting in a pew for staying awake through one of my sermons. We amass a multitude of spiritual badges, thinking that if we’re good enough God will give us a home in heaven. That’s how Paul lived his life before realizing how fruitless it was.
Listen to what he tells the Philippians, “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! I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault” (Philippians 3:4-6 NLT).
Paul’s sash was so laden with badge he was running out of room! But if God works on a merit system, some thorny questions surface. If God saves good people, how good is good enough? Suppose the required score is 80 but I score a 79? How do I even know my score?
Merit badges in hand, here’s what Paul concluded, “I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. 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 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.” (Philippians 3:7-9 NLT)
Here’s what Paul figured out. You can’t be good enough. You can’t earn God’s love or ticket to heaven. Jesus already bought one for us. All we do is trust in him. We contribute nothing. Zilch. As opposed to the merit badge of the Scout, salvation of the soul us unearned. A gift. Our merits merit nothing. Christ’s work merits everything. That’s grace.
Did you know the Greek words for joy and grace are closely related? The word for joy is chara. The word for grace is charis. They’re derived from the same root word, which tells me there is joy in grace. No more performing for God. No more collecting merit badges and brownie points. Of all the things you must earn in life, God’s affection, approval and salvation are not among them. Thanks to Jesus, we can experience limitless joy by relying on grace.
We can also experience joy by reaching for the goal.
• REACH FOR THE GOAL
Paul continues, “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. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us” (Philippians 3:12-14 NLT).
Previously, Paul had just said that his goal was to know Christ and to be like Christ. The word perfection in this passage doesn’t mean faultless; rather it means complete—like a finished product. Paul wanted to be everything Christ intended him to be and he stayed focused on the goal. He left his past behind him and kept reaching forward toward that heavenly prize.
One sure-fire way to lose your joy is to live in the past. The frustrating thing about time is that it always moves forward. The hands of the clock always move clockwise, and the pages of the calendar are torn off in only one direction. Time never moves backward; not an inch, not a step, never. Therefore a deed once done, can never be undone. A word once spoken, can never be unsaid. As a result, many of us live with certain regrets.
Paul had plenty of them. He persecuted Christians. Hunted them down. Locked them up. Sometimes worse. He once called himself “the worst sinner of them all” (1 Timothy 1:15). Paul’s guilt, if he let, could have left him spiritually crippled and useless. Wallowing in regret, wondering what might have been, and living in the past will sap our joy and prevent us from reaching your life’s goal.
Someone once said, “Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising every time we fall.” We’ve failed more times than we can possibly remember. We fell down the first time we tried to walk. We probably almost drowned the first time we tried to swim.
We’ve all done things we wish we could change, and we live in tension between what we have been and who we want to be. Because our hope is in Christ, however, we can let go of past guilt and look forward to what God will help us become. Don’t dwell on your past. Instead, reach for the goal.
When Paul talks about pressing on and reaching for the prize, he conjures images of the early Olympic or Isthmian games. Much like today, athletes from all across the vast Roman Empire trained and conditioned themselves for months, even years to compete in the games. The highlight of the games was a 26 mile race beginning in the city of Marathon and ending in Athens (which is where we get the name marathon today). From the moment their feet hit the pavement, these marathon runners kept their eyes on the finish line, focused on the prize that awaited them. The word translated prize in this passage is the Greek word laurel, which is the leafy crown awarded the Olympic victors.
As Christians, we each have a race to run. Jesus set the course and plotted its path, and now he awaits us at the finish line, ready to award the victory crown to those who complete the course. Maybe you’ve hit a wall and feel like you’re running out of steam. Or maybe you keep looking back, regretting every misstep. Maybe you just keep comparing yourself to other Christians who seem to be so much faster than you. In the Christian race, though, it’s not about how fast you run, but how faithfully you finish. Keep your eyes on the prize. Fix your eyes on Jesus. And not only will you finish the course, but you’ll have a lot of fun doing it.
Conclusion:
Do you need more joy in your life? Are you looking for happiness in all the wrong places? The good news is—God not only wants you to be happy, he commands it: “Rejoice in the Lord always, I’ll say it again: rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4).
One of the keys to living a life of joy is letting go of performance based religion and simply relying on what Christ has done for us. Another is letting go of past failure and guilt, and keeping our eyes on the prize—remembering why we’re in this race and what lies ahead. Again, I want to encourage you this week to choose joy—rely on God’s grace and keep reaching for the goal.
Next week, we’ll dive into the last chapter of Philippians and see what else we can learn about joy.
Invitation:
In the meantime, maybe you haven’t ever received God’s grace. Perhaps, you haven’t even begun the Christians race. I think today is a good day to lace up. If I can help you experience the grace of God and get you started toward that heavenly prize, then come talk with me while we stand and sing.
