ILLUSTRATION – Doing the brakes on my daughter’s car…lost the lug nut key. After searching for DAYS in the garage, I eventually found it at the end of the driveway 100 yards away…
I was looking in all the wrong places. And this illustration is the picture I want to paint this morning of our quest for joy. So, take your Bible and turn with me to Philippians 3 for a message titled “All the Wrong Places.”
Most of the methods that would seem to produce joy in a person’s heart are actually fool’s gold. The things that promise us joy look like real sources of it. They look just like the real thing. However, after fully mining the source of them we sadly discover none of the glitter is actually gold. We sadly discover that despite investing a lot of time and passion into certain endeavors, those endeavors do not produce the joy that our heart is searching for. And I believe the church is often a promoter of these sources of fool’s gold so today will give a chance to set the record straight.
Philippians 3:1-11
Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you. 2 Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. 3 For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh— 4 though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day (a Jewish baby boy was always circumcised on the 8th day – not the 7th and not the 9th), of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin (Belonging to the tribe of Benjamin was a heritage that was greatly esteemed by the Jews. Israel’s first king, Saul, had come from this tribe and it was only one of two tribes that, in the Old Testament, returned to Israel from exile), a Hebrew of Hebrews (this refers to Paul’s nationality); as to the law, a Pharisee (a Pharisee not only kept the written law of Moses but also kept the strict ORAL laws that had been passed down from generation to generation); 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church (he was ridding the world of the heretics and blasphemers that were plaguing the first-century Jewish culture); as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
In Philippians chapter 3, we see two common places that people search for joy only to come up short. But before we get into these verses, I want to note something that happens at this point in the book of Philippians. As we have gone through the first two chapters, we find Paul coming across as a warm and affection spiritual father. Remember back in chapter one how Paul greeted the church?
Philippians 1:7-8
For it is right for me to think this about all of you, because I have you in my heart, since both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel all of you became partners together with me in the grace of God. For God is my witness that I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
Is it just me or do you listen to those two verses give you the warm fuzzies? But beginning in chapter three, Paul’s tone shifts from compassionate father, to stern lecturer. In verse 2 alone, Paul warns “Look out!” (beware) two or three times (depending on translation). This is the voice of a dad that yells from the street for his toddler on his Big Wheels to be careful…not because he had done something wrong but to warn him about something…a car…coming his way. And Paul is intensely disturbed at the possibility that the Philippians would be led astray. So Paul starts off with an intensity that we have yet to see to this point in the book of Philippians because he knows that the greatest joy, the joy of our salvation, is at stake.
This morning, I just want to share one point as it relates to the topic of joy. At the end of the sermon, you may decide there was in fact no point, but if you can grasp this one principle, you will be journeying toward joy as opposed to wasting your time looking in all the wrong places…
JOY CANNOT BE DISCOVERED OR DEVELOPED EXTERNALLY
That’s the idea of verses 2-6 and he categorizes this idea into two false external sources that people gravitate towards. But before we look at those let’s go back to verse one because I want you to notice something. “Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.” The main thrust of verse 1 is Paul’s instruction to rejoice. The form of the verb is imperative. In other words, it’s not a suggestion or a something to consider in prayer. We are not given an option as to whether or not we should rejoice; our only option is whether or not we will obey this command to rejoice. The great Bible scholar A.T. Robertson said this phrase is best translated, “go on rejoicing.” In other words, we are to establish a pattern, a lifestyle, of rejoicing. To put it even simpler, according to verse 1, joy is not an optional part of the Christian life. But why is it then that so many people who know Jesus do NOT know how to be joyful?
Like sometimes I look around at church when people are singing praise to the magnificent, matchless son of God and I am amazed at their facial expressions. It’s like a room filled with born again Eeyores! We have a phrase we use a lot back at the Liberty campus - “If you’re happy and you know it tell your face!” So, what is the deal? We are commanded to be joyful, in Jesus we are free from sin’s penalty and sin’s power, so we have reason to be joyful, but yet it alludes us. Now, sometimes the reason joy alludes us is because of that three letter word that we don’t like to say in church that starts with “s.” SIN. Early in the book of Philippians we learn that the only thing that should rob us of our joy is sin.
Sin causes conviction and conviction crowds out our joy until there is repentance and at that point the joy of our salvation is restored. But short of sin, joy is so central, that it is COMMANDED in verse 1. Even in seasons of suffering, we can have joy because we have a settled confidence in God despite our circumstances. That’s what joy is. We know that God is at work in us for our good and His glory, no matter what is going on around us. That’s joy. So, why is it elusive? Here’s why…the problem for too many people is that they go looking for joy in all the wrong places. In verses 2-6, Paul list two places we search for joy externally and yet cannot find it:
• Religious performance – vs. 2-3
In the text before us this morning, the Apostle Paul wants us to beware of some dangerous dogs. In our Western culture, dogs are man’s best friend. But, Eastern people generally hated dogs. They were not domestic pets in their culture, but rather ravenous scavenger animals. The Jews often described Gentiles that way, but here Paul applied the term to Jews and specifically Jewish false teachers. So these dogs are not animals, they are teachers who are perverting the gospel.
Perhaps he envisioned the packs of ravenous dogs which roamed the countryside eating whatever they could. They were scavengers. With this definition, Paul may have implied that these Jewish false teachers were simply following him, anxious to pick up those who were not theologically grounded after his missionary activity. These teachers were leading people astray and keeping the Philippians from experiencing the joy (that should be found in following Jesus) by burdening them down with extra rules and traditions. These teachers were known as the Judaizers. The Judaizers were a group of people who said they believed that the only way you could become a Christian was to first become a Jew. You had to convert to Judaism, be circumcised, and conform to all the Jewish rituals and laws and then and only then, could you follow Jesus.
This was a big controversy in Paul's day. And though we don't have Judaizers around today promoting this specific form of false teaching, we do have Christians teaching that IF you do certain extra-biblical things on the outside, you will have joy on the inside. That’s legalism. Legalism is living by a code of extra-biblical rules and then trying to enforce those rules on others. Have you met any Christians like that? (Years ago when we lived in a different place, my daughter went ONE year to the most legalistic Christian school you could possibly imagine…and the teachers and staff were MISERABLE people to be around.)
These Judaizers did not find their joy in the fact that Jesus rescued them and loved them unconditionally; they got their joy by comparing their spiritual activity to the activity of others and deeming them less spiritual. They were claiming a heightened sense of spirituality because not only were they following Jesus, they were also following all the Jewish traditions. Now, let me give a word of clarification and caution. I spent several years of my life part of a harsh, legalistic system and can joke about it now, but the part we’re serious about as a church and that we’re fierce critics of, is rules-based, performance-oriented, pride-producing legalism. It absolutely stomps the joy out of everyone it encounters. It cannot deliver what it promises – a heightened state of spirituality. It always ends in soul crushing guilt.
But let me be clear, sometimes when we’re stomping out legalism, we can also stomp out the pursuit of holiness…the pursuit of holiness and legalism are not the same thing and shouldn’t be confused. Every professing follower of Christ should be a big fan of holiness. The Bible says that God is holy so we should be holy. The bible says that apart from holiness no one will see the Lord. The Bible says we should worship the Lord in the beauty of His holiness. Holiness is to our hearts what air is to our lungs. But my fear is that in our zeal to lay aside the rigid demands of legalism, we have also discarded the motivation to pursue personal holiness and instead have settled for cheap grace.
Let me clarify the difference between legalism and holiness, if you’re listening say smack your neighbor and say WAKE UP! Legalism is adding to what God has said, holiness is taking serious what God has said. Let me repeat that.
That’s what these Judaizers were doing. They were adding to what God had said by adding to all the Jewish rules and traditions on top of the grace of God. They were teaching that religious performance on top of grace was the key to experiencing the true Christian life - and yet we know that the end result of that pursuit will always end in guilt, not joy. You will never do enough do put your guilt to rest. And guilt is to joy what oil is to water. Let me put it to you this way – nothing you do on the outside will produce joy on the inside. That’s the lie of legalism. That’s why some people go to church every week and read their Bibles and give money and are still so nasty. Listen, some of the meanest people I have ever met I have met at church. Do you know why that is?
It’s because they have been deceived that doing certain religious activities externally, would produce joy internally. They have exchanged formalism for intimacy. They do not understand the difference between work and worship and so instead of becoming fountains of undeniable joy, they become Pharisees. So, since I am preaching to the choir this morning of those who have tuned in or shown up, let me ask you an important question. While few would question your devotion to religious activity, would they describe you as a fountain of joy?
That’s an important question for all of us, me included, to wrestle with. Most Pharisees have no idea they are on the wrong side of Jesus. So, you cannot find joy in religious performance. Here is the second common place that people try to find joy…
• Personal achievement and status – vs. 4-6
The joyful Christian does not put confidence in their religious experience, their education, their memberships, or their service. They put their confidence in Christ! That’s what Paul was sating in verses 4-6. Paul is appealing to his résumé of personal achievement and status. In verse 4 he says, “If anyone can brag in what they could accomplish – it would be me.” In verses 5 he says, “If anyone can brag about going to the right schools and coming from the right family tree – it would be me.” In verse 6 he is saying, “If anyone can brag about having a flawless track record in their profession – it would be me.” In others words, if personal achievement and status alone were enough to satisfy my heart and fill it with joy, I could give first-hand testimony of that very thing. If external accomplishments could produce inward joy, Saul’s picture would be in the dictionary next to the word joy.
But do you know what Paul discovered that so many people discover the hard way? It’s that all those things that we chase after that are supposed to produce joy, end up breaking our hearts when we discover that in fact they do not. And some of you are on that road right now. Let me prove it to you. Right now, some of you think, “If I could just have __________, then I would have joy.” If I could just achieve the perfect marriage or have the perfect kids. If I could just move into that neighborhood or that tax bracket or into that circle of people, I wouldn’t be so sad and depressed. If I could create a track record of future achievement then I could finally escape the pain of my past. If I just had that degree, I would have things that make me happy.
You may have heard me say this before but listen again closely. The reason we do what we do is because our heart wants what it wants. And the reason our heart wants what it wants, is because we believe what we believe. And when we are deceived into thinking that anything other than Jesus will satisfy our hearts and fill them with joy, then we start wanting what we do not have. We start craving and reorienting our lives and even our values to fill in that blank that is missing. THAT is the road to discontentment that leads to a prison named bitterness, the mortal enemy of joy.
And every time you find your thoughts drifting towards the “If I just had ___________, I would have more joy” thought pattern, go back to this passage and read verse 7 & 8 if you want to find out how that ends.
“7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.”
Actually the word translated as “rubbish” in my translation is probably better translated as “dung” in the KJV. That is closer to what Paul probably actually said. The word is skubalon which means any refuse or the excrement of animals. He is comparing his resume of obeying every law in his Jewish culture – really everything in his former life – as garbage or dog poop.
Paul is saying that everything that he once thought was gain, status and achievement, was garbage because it paled in comparison to knowing Jesus intimately. Have you ever gotten in the car with someone that recently stepped in dog poop? It’s a terrible smell and permeates the entire car. Nobody’s picking up garbage and rubbing it all over themselves and saying, “Doesn’t this smell good?” Anytime you start thinking that status and achievement will produce joy, say to yourself, “I am rummaging through the world’s trash to find the treasure called joy.”
God offers us endless joy in pursuing a deep, abiding intimacy with Jesus and we think that it can be found in pleasure and ambition…so we go looking for it in all the wrong places. Personal achievement does not lead to joy because once you arrive at where you think you are going to find joy, you find out it wasn’t what you were looking for once you got there. God has designed it so that once Jesus takes up residence in our hearts, we will no longer be satisfied by anything other than him. So, let me ask you a question – where are you looking for satisfaction outside of Jesus? Whatever it is, it will not satisfy according to verses 7-8 and if you are not deeply convinced of that, you will allow discontentment to take root and that will grow into bitterness.
Joy says, “I have all I need in Jesus!” Discontentment says, “I cannot have peace and joy until I have _____________.” Discontentment is the seed planted in your heart that if allowed to grow will destroy your life. You may be thinking, “Pastor Chris, we all get that discontentment is not good but does it really lead to total destruction? That seems a little extreme!” I would disagree based upon the examples we find in Scripture.
Exhibit A – The Garden of Eden
I think we see this truth dramatically illustrated in the fall of man in the Garden of Eden. Think about the “mission impossible” task that Satan had there. How could he possibly succeed in bringing about the disobedience of Adam and Eve? The Garden of Eden was perfect. They had the perfect marriage. Adam never had to hear about Eve’s old boyfriends and Eve never had to hear about how great of a cook Adam’s mom was! They brought NO BAGGAGE into their relationship. Everything about the Garden of Eden was paradise – it was absolutely perfect, and better yet, the very presence of God was there! Why would anyone who lived in a perfect world choose to disobey God, especially when He had warned that the penalty for disobedience was death? In my opinion, the key to the fall is discontentment. Satan very skillfully deceived Eve so that she became discontent. Satan managed to convince Eve that things were not as good as they could be and not as good as she DESERVED them to be. Once she became discontent, she and Adam (who was with her—3:6) were already on the path of disobedience.
Exhibit B – The Nation of Israel
When we think through the Old Testament, we see discontentment at the center of Israel’s disobedience to the God who created them as a people. In spite of all of God’s marvelous provisions for His people, they murmured and complained. He gave them manna, and they wanted meat. The problem was that Israel became arrogant and selfish. They thought little of serving God, but much about God serving them. For a free meal, they would participate in a pagan worship ceremony, just so that they could eat meat offered to an idol. They were more interested in themselves than their neighbors, or even God.
Joy CANNOT be discovered in religious performance and it CANNOT be developed through personal achievement. So here is the $64 million dollar question – where can joy be found? Psalm 16:11 gives us the answer, “In your presence is fullness of joy.” Let me put it another way, spending time WITH the Lord, not working FOR the Lord, is where joy is found. Abiding in Jesus is more important than activity for Jesus.
In closing this morning, look with me at verse 10: “that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death…” Your translation may say, “I want to know Christ.” “8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” What do you think it means to “know Christ?” The word know in the original Greek is ginosko and it was literally a Jewish idiom for an intimate relationship between a man and a women. (Twin word in Hebrew is yada – Genesis 4:1).
Now, of course we can’t have this kind of relationship – sexual – with our Heavenly Father…just the thought of it seems sacrilegious. But what Paul is saying is that he wants to have the most intimate relationship possible with Christ.
And we HAVE to read verse 10 in context with verses 2-8. What Paul is LITERALLY saying is that he had abandoned EVERYTHING else for the sole pursuit of knowing Christ Jesus deeply.
Knowing Jesus deeply is the recipe for experiencing joy exponentially. Nothing else will satisfy. And that is achieved in a life spent pursuing Him through study and prayer and fasting and worship and all the spiritual disciplines. That is found in a moment by moment dependence on Him. That is developed by living a life dominated by a running conversation with him throughout the day. That is found in waking up each day and surrendering that day to time spent demonstrating and declaring His love for others. Liberty Heights Church – what have you abandoned to know Jesus deeply?
Friends, let’s commit today to figuring this out because if we don’t, we’ll spend the rest of our lives looking for joy in all the wrong places. And as your pastor, I just can’t bear the thought of that. Joy has a name – and his name is Jesus.
