Restoring the Joy
Sermon # 5
“Joy Is Found In Keeping Your Balance.”
Philippians 2:12-18
One of the hardest things in life to attain is balance; to balance work and leisure, career with family, faith and day to day life. Yet it is only achieving balance, that we can live lives of purpose. Today in a message I have entitled “Joy Is Found In Keeping Your Balance” we are going to see that joy is maintained by keeping balance in our Christian lives. Balance between Purpose and Power, between Attitude and Action and between Seriousness and Joy. [main points derived from Charles Swindoll. Laugh Again: Experience Outrageous Joy. (Dallas: Word, 1991)]
First, Balancing Purpose and Power (2:12-13)
“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; (13) for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”
The second phrase of verse twelve, “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” is much misunderstood. Paul is not inferring that a Christian must do something to earn salvation. It was Paul who had penned the words found in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, (9) not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Is he now saying that salvation is by works? No, the truth remains that salvation is freely given by God to everyone who believes in His Son Jesus Christ, as the one who shed his blood on the cross as full payment for his sins.
First of all, in order to understand what Paul is saying here, we must keep in mind that he is writing to believers, so obviously his words have nothing to do with how to become a Christian. Therefore, the idea of “working out your salvation” must be referring to living out your faith. The word translated “work out” (katergazesthai) means “work to full completion” and is often used for “working a mine” or “working a field.” Our lives have tremendous potential, like a mine or a field and He wants to help us fulfill that potential.
Being saved initiates the believer into a life of obligation. Acknowledging Jesus Christ as your LORD obligates the believer to obey Him. So “working out our salvation” does not mean working for but rather making salvation operational in our lives. He is not talking about how to become a Christian but the need to live as one.
Charles Swindoll explains it this way, “When we become ill, we go to a physician. He diagnoses our ailment and prescribes the proper treatment. He hands us a small slip of paper upon which he had written the correct prescription, and we take it to the pharmacist who fills the prescription and gives us the medication. So far, everything has been done for us – diagnosis, prescription, medication. It now becomes our responsibility to follow the doctor’s orders exactly as stated. By working out the process we enjoy the benefits of the physician’s and pharmacist’s contributions to our health. We recover.
This is also true spiritually speaking.”
[Charles Swindoll. Laugh Again: Experience Outrageous Joy. (Dallas: Word, 1991) p.97]
When Paul speaks of God “working in you” (v. 14) (Gr. energon) “energizing” is the English equivalent of the Greek word used here. But this working of the Holy Spirit may not be sudden or comfortable. For example, it took God 40 years to prepare Moses for the task of leading the children of Israel out of captivity in Egypt (Acts 7:30). As Moses tended sheep on the backside of the desert (Ex. 3:1) God was working in him so that one day He might work through him.
“Susan Taylor tells of lessons learned from experiencing a California earthquake. She was in bed in the early hours of the morning when an earth-quake struck. As her house shook, she tumbled from her bed. She managed to stand underneath an arched doorway in her hall and watched in horror as her whole home literally tumbled down around her. Where her bed had once stood, she later discovered nothing but a pile of rubble. She lost everything -- every button, every dish, her automobile, every stitch of clothing.
Susan huddled, scared and crying, in the darkness of her house. It was very early in the morning and the sun had not yet risen. She began to call out for help. Crying and calling.
…. That experience, by the way, was to permanently change her…. And this is what she says: "Before the quake I had all the trappings of success, but my life was out of balance. I wasn’t happy because I was clinging to things in my life and always wanting more. My home, my job, my clothes, a relationship -- I thought they were my security. It took an earthquake and losing everything I owned for me to discover that my security had been with me all along."
She adds, "There’s a power within us that
we can depend upon no matter what is happening around us. Now, each day of my life I take time to sit in silence and allow God to be God in me."
It’s as if life sometimes has to hit us over the head to get our attention! But when we realize where to find true security, then we know also where to find peace.” [From JOY ALONG THE WAY by Steve Goodier -
www.sermonillustrator.org/illustrator/sermon4/hit_over_the_head.htm]
Not Only Balancing Purpose and Power but …
Secondly, Balancing Attitude and Action (2:14-16)
First Paul says in verse fourteen, “Do all things without complaining and disputing,” Notice that this verse says, “do all things” in fact in the original Greek the word translated ‘all things’ is first for emphasis. Most Christians are able to do some things with out complaining and disputing but it is when we are command to do “all things” with a joyful spirit that the difficulty comes in.
Here Paul presents his counsel in both a negative (v. 14) and a positive light (vv. 15-16).
Negatively he says, Watch your Attitude. A bad attitude is revealed in two ways, those things we do alone “complaining” and those things we do publicly “disputing.”
Watch Your Attitude In Things Done in Private.
The children of Israel were guilty of constant grumbling during the years of wandering in the wilderness. When they were in Egypt they grumbled because they were slaves in Egypt. Whey they got out of Egypt they grumbled because they were no longer in Egypt. When they complained that they had nothing to eat, God provided manna, they then complained because they did not have meat. They grumbled and they grumbled, for the entire forty years in the wilderness and when they arrived in the Promised Land they were still grumbling.
The man called the prince of preachers, Charles Spurgeon, said this about those who seem to be the first to complain; “A heavy wagon was being dragged along a country lane by a team of oxen. The axles groaned and creaked terribly, when the oxen turning around thus addressed the wheels, “Hey there, why do you make so much noise? We bear all the labor, and we—not you—ought to cry out!” Those complain first in our churches who have the least to do. The gift of grumbling is largely dispensed among those who have no other talents, or who keep what they have wrapped up in a napkin.” [Charles Spurgeon in The Quotable Spurgeon. www.bible.org /illus/c/c-103]
“We have no more right to put our discordant states of mind into he lives of those around us and rob them of their sunshine and brightness than we have to enter their houses and steal their silverware.”
If grumbling and complaining is a habitual problem in your life, then make a decision right now to replace it with thanksgiving and encouragement to others.
Secondly, Watch Your Attitude In Things Done in Public.
The word translated “disputing” also has a legal connotation and may refer to the Philippian Christians taking each other to civil court to settle differences a practice that Paul had condemned among the church at Corinth (1 Cor. 6:1-11).
If we feel the need to constantly complain and grumble then it is a sign of an inward spiritual problem.
Having stated the negative, Watch your Attitude he now states from the Positive standpoint that we are to Prove that Your Are Different. (vv. 15-16) “that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, (16) holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.”
There ought to be a vivid contrast between the lifestyle of believers and that of unbelievers.
Prove Your Are Different By Living Differently Than the World.
Paul says that they can prove that they are different than the world with three specific Christian goals. First, by being blameless (amemptoi) this means that they are to live above justifiable criticism (1 Peter 3:16). Secondly, they are to be harmless (akeraioi) - devoid of matters foreign or improper in the heart. So that their nature as God’s children would be clearly evident (amona- without Fault). Each of these terms conveys the idea of getting rid of anything that would defile or dilute God’s image in them. I like the way Stuart Briscoe, paraphrase this verse, “He is a real child of God who believes like one and behaves like one and has nothing in his life that people can get after him about.” [Start Briscoe. Bound For Joy: A Bible Commentary for Laymen – Philippians. (Ventura, Calif.: Regal Books, 1975) p. 79]
We are called to be like Daniel. Daniel lived in the midst of ungodly Babylon. He did not live his life off in a corner somewhere, he lived in the king’s palace and he worked for the king. He lived a life that was so upright, (I said upright not uptight) that even when his enemies tried to do away with him they were forced to conclude, "We’re never going to find anything against this Daniel unless we can cook up something religious." (The Message)
Prove Your Are Different By Shining as Lights
It was this same concept that Jesus had in mind when He called his followers to be the “salt of the earth” (Matt 5:14-16). Here in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus compared his followers not only to salt but also to be “the light of the world.” Paul takes up this figure when he encourages the Philippian believers to “shine as lights in the world.” The word he used for “shine” is literally “luminaries” (phosteres). We all know the song we learned as children “This little light of mine, I am going to shine.” But the truth is greater than that, we are not called to be “little lights” we are called to be “bold, blazing, life giving, STARS!!!
But one thing is for sure, “The Grumbling has got to go before the shining can start!” We don’t need to be shout or scream or make a scene, we just need to shine. Just live a life free of complaining and disputing.
Prove Your Are Different By Holding Forth the Word. Paul says we are to “hold fast the word of life” here the words “holding fast” (present participle – epechontes) can be translated either “holding fast” or “holding forth” and I believe that both are appropriate! It is necessary for the believer to hold forth that which he is holding fast.
We are called to share what we know and tell what we have discovered. But how can we do that? We can write letters, give away books, lend tapes or videos, visit friends, relate our experiences, in other words, hold forth our experiences.
Why do we need to hold fast and hold forth Word of God? Because, while it is certainly true in our country that it is relatively easy and inexpensive to purchase a copy of the Scripture, the fact remains that the Scripture are hardly ever respected or even known by an increasing portion of our population.
Balancing Attitude and Action by
Watching your Attitude and …
Proving you Are Different
Third, Balancing Seriousness and Joy (2:17-18)
“Yes, and if I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. (18) For the same reason you also be glad and rejoice with me.”
This is a serious situation that Paul is in, and he realizes that he may not get out of it alive. But he refused to focus only on the dark side of the situation. He refuses to be under, or controlled by his circumstances. Far from being embittered by his circumstances he sees them as a source of joy.
If we want our Christian conduct to make a difference before this dark world then we must live with joy.
I like the way Warren Wiersbe sums up this passage, “Life is not a series of disappointing ‘ups and downs.’ Rather, it is a sequence of delightful ‘ins and outs.’ God works in – we work out! The example comes from Christ, the energy comes from the Holy Spirit, and the result is – JOY!” [Warren Wiersbe. Be Joyful - Philippians. (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1986) p. 78]
Conclusion
Joy is found in living a life of balance
Balancing Purpose and Power
Balancing Attitude and Action
Balancing Seriousness and Joy.
