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Advent 2024: Joy - Philippians · Providence Baptist Church - Sermons

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Well, good morning. Let me invite you to take your copy of God's Word and join me in the book of Philippians.
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Ladies, yesterday at dinnertime, I was scheduled to do nothing this morning.
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And by the time I went to bed, I picked up leading our Lord's Supper.
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And then at 7.30 this morning, Cody Klickner called me and said that he had been up all night with food poisoning and thought he could push through.
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And I said, brother, well, there's two questions.
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The second doesn't matter if you can't answer the first in the affirmative.
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And that question was, are you done?
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He called me back at 8 and said, I don't think so.
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And I said, well, then stay home by all means.
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So I threw something together last minute.
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And I happened to find in notes an outline, which I think was from a Bible study, not from a sermon, because it didn't really have a whole lot to it.
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Some points, some historical quotes, some references.
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And so at 8 a.m., among some other things I was taking care of, I frantically expanded on these notes.
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So we're going to do it.
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We're going to think about the advent of joy.
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I didn't want to step off theme and do something altogether different.
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And I'm telling you all of that just to say, please be nice to me and that this may be short.
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So we'll see.
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What I want to help you do today is to look at the thematic joy in Paul's letter to the Philippians.
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I'll show you in just a moment how many times this idea comes up in this particular letter.
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But I'd like to start with a quotation from John Newton, who was an 18th century Anglican minister.
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You probably know him from his most famous song, Amazing Grace.
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And he once wrote this.
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Suppose a man was going to New York to take possession of a large estate,
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and his carriage should break down one mile before he got to the city,
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which obligated him to walk the rest of the way to the inheritance.
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What a fool we should think him if we saw him wringing his hands and blubbering out all the remaining mile.
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My carriage is broken.
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My carriage is broken.
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The man going to take possession of such an inheritance wouldn't care at all about the carriage
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because of what he was set toward taking possession of.
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The joy is crucially thematic in Paul's letter to the Philippians, as I've said,
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as he's working throughout the letter to encourage them to continue in and contend for their faith.
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We see it twice in chapter 1 and verse 18, and then in chapter 1 verse 25,
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chapter 2 verse 2, chapter 2 verse 28, and then verse 29,
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chapter 3 verse 1, chapter 4 verse 1,
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twice in chapter 4 verse 4,
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and then finally in chapter 4 and verse 10.
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So it's this thread that runs throughout the letter.
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And while the verse doesn't contain the word joy,
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listen to what Paul says in Philippians chapter 1 and verse 21.
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Remember, he's writing this letter from a Roman jail.
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He's imprisoned.
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He's awaiting a trial before Caesar.
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And here he says,
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For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
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He doesn't know what the state, what the outcome of his current condition is going to be.
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And he says, right, if I'm to remain here, it's going to be to your service.
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And he would be in the process, experiencing the ministry and the power of Christ in his life.
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And if he were to die, what does he get from that?
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More Christ.
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That's the gain.
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More of Jesus.
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Right?
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Unfettered glory in the presence of his Savior.
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C.S. Lewis in his work, The Weight of Glory, wrote this of mankind.
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We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered to us.
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Like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.
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We are far too easily pleased.
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Right?
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Infinite joy is ours in Christ.
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Now, joy in Christ fuels Christ-likeness in three ways, and I want to show you that throughout the book of Philippians.
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And I may add, in at least three ways joy does this.
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It fuels, it undergirds, it gives energy to our pursuit of Christ in this life.
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So firstly, joy in Christ fuels Christ-likeness by empowering the Christian to resist sin.
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Paul says in chapter 1 and verse 25,
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Convinced of this, I know that I will remain.
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He's talking about that state.
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He's unsure what will happen to him.
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He's convinced that he will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith.
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We have this surpassing value, this thing that is greater than anything this world has to offer us.
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And this becomes a heartbeat for Christian conformity.
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We want to look more like Christ.
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We want to gain more of him because we've tasted and seen that he is good.
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We have a joy that's been granted to us and we want to continue to pursue him for the sake of that joy and further joy.
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In Nehemiah chapter 8, we get the record of the law being reopened to a group of exiles that had been returned to Jerusalem.
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And in the hearing of this law, they recognize there a tragic breaking of that law.
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And they begin to weep and to tear their clothes.
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But this law is opened on a feast day.
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And so Nehemiah says to them in verse 10 of chapter 8,
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Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready.
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For this day is holy to our Lord.
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And do not be grieved.
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For the joy of the Lord is your strength.
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Knowing this God, this good and loving kind God who sent his Son, God himself in human flesh.
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Live the life that was required of us, that we could not live.
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Die the death that we deserve.
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Be raised three days later.
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This Lord is the strength of our obedience.
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It empowers us to resist sin.
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Sin is fleeting.
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It offers me nothing in comparison to the surpassing value of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Matthew Henry, who was a Presbyterian minister in the 17th and early 18th centuries.
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You may know him for his commentary on the entire Bible.
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You can find it online easily.
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Once wrote this,
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The joy of the Lord will arm us against the assaults of our spiritual enemies
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and put our mouths out of taste for those pleasures with which the tempter baits his hooks.
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No longer attractive to us as the joy of the Lord grows in life of a Christian.
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So, joy in Christ fuels Christ's likeness by empowering the Christian to resist sin.
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Secondly, joy in Christ fuels Christ's likeness by enabling the Christian to bear up under suffering.
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I'll show you two texts in Philippians.
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First, chapter 4, verse 11 through 13.
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Here Paul says,
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And then he tells us that secret.
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Not a verse that has anything to do with winning football games.
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He says,
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I can do all things.
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All of this.
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Content in every circumstance.
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I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
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Now, you might go,
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Oh, wait a second.
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You in nowhere in those verses said joy.
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Those three verses do not contain that joy.
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But the concept is there.
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And I want to show you that because if you back up a little bit in chapter 4 to verses 4 through 7,
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Paul writes this.
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Rejoice in the Lord always.
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Have joy in the Lord.
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Rejoice in the Lord always.
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Again, I will say, rejoice.
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Let your reasonableness be known to everyone.
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The Lord is at hand.
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Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving,
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let your requests be made known to God.
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And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
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So regardless of the circumstance, whatever it is that we're walking through,
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Paul says, rejoice, rejoice, rejoice.
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The Lord is there.
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He is with you.
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Let Him know what's going on with you, and He will guard you.
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I can do all things through Him who strengthens me, who follows from there.
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Joy in Christ fuels in us the ability to bear up under suffering.
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Light, momentary affliction compared to the surpassing weight of glory.
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Jeremiah Burroughs.
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This is why I think this is a Bible study because I have so many historic quotations in these notes.
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Jeremiah Burroughs, who is a Puritan pastor, wrote this great little book that I just entirely commend to you,
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which is a bunch of thoughts about this idea of being content in every circumstance.
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It's called The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment.
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And from his estimation, and I would agree with him, it's a rare thing that the Christian is fully content in Christ.
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And he works out a number of analogies that I've just found particularly helpful for me and my endeavor to fight for joy and contentment in Jesus.
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And this one I found particularly helpful.
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He writes,
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No.
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No.
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The reason is because the thing is not suitable to a craving stomach.
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Yet there is really the same madness in the world.
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The wind which a man takes in by gaping will as soon satisfy a craving stomach ready to starve
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as all the comforts in the world can satisfy a soul who knows what true happiness means.
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It's a joy in Christ that brings about contentment.
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And if we find ourselves not contentment, then the thing to do is not to look outside to find that contentment,
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but to that joy in us that Christ has accomplished on our behalf.
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Another example from the scripture.
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The faith of Moses.
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The author of Hebrews records for us in chapter 11, verse 24 and following,
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that when Moses,
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when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.
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He had everything this world could possibly offer to him as an adopted daughter of Pharaoh.
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Excuse me, an adopted son of the daughter of Pharaoh.
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Choosing, verse 25 says,
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Rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.
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He considered, and this is just an astounding thing that the author of Hebrews does this for us.
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Looking back, an inspired view of what's going on in the life of Moses' faith.
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He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt.
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For he was looking to the reward.
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He was looking to the eternal greatness.
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Put off the joy of fleeting pleasures that he would have eternal reward.
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So joy in Christ fuels Christlikeness by enabling the Christian to bear up under suffering.
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Thirdly, joy in Christ fuels Christlikeness by encouraging the Christian to live sacrificially in at least two ways.
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We see in the book of Philippians.
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Joy in Christ fuels Christlikeness by encouraging the Christian to live sacrificially.
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Number one, in service.
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Number one, in service.
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Giving of ourselves for the sake of others.
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Paul says in Philippians 3.8,
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Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord.
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For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ.
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There's that language again, right?
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That I may gain Christ.
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I'm willing to give away everything else.
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Everything else in comparison.
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When you put this surpassing worth of Christ against anything else, right?
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It says refuse to be tossed away.
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None of it matters except that I might gain Christ.
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Jesus put it this way in very practical terms in Luke chapter 12, verse 33 and 34.
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He says, sell your possessions and give to the needy.
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Provide yourselves with money bags that do not grow old with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail.
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Where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.
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For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
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And we can think about all of the implications of what Jesus had to say there.
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But what I'm trying to drive at is the point, right?
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If we have joy in Christ, then we're looking to that full and final realized joy in Christ.
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Christ, it's going to encourage in us sacrificial living for the sake of others, right?
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We're looking to the eternal reward, right?
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We want that and we want it in full measure.
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Clay and I, for a lot of years, have used an analogy of a ticker tape parade.
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And it just feels older and older, the older that we get.
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Because nobody does adding on adding machines any longer.
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But that's what ticker tape was.
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It was a way that people could add and then go back and see if they made any mistakes.
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It's all being done digitally.
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Now, the ticker tape parade was a grand parade.
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You know, the soldiers returned from home.
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And also back in the day when windows would open in buildings, about that day,
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accountants would throw their tape out the window to make these long streamers.
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You've seen this in pictures, I'm sure.
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If you haven't, oh, please go look them up.
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We like to picture the glory of heaven being a bit like that, right?
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Eternal praise of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
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And all of us who are there will be as happy as we could possibly imagine being.
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But we like to think this picture of this treasure, right, being stored up for us is more praise for this king, right?
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Who may parade down the street and we get to throw out our ticker tape.
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We get to rejoice in the work that he's accomplished.
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And I just want to be able to throw more and more and more out, right?
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I want it heaped up on my desk that I can praise this Christ forever.
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So, this joy, joy in Christ fuels Christlikeness by encouraging the Christian to live sacrificially in service to others.
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And also in evangelism, meeting those practical needs, but also meeting their greatest need.
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Paul writes in verse 18 of chapter 1,
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What then?
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And he's questioning the motivation behind the proclamation of Christ.
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But he just says, what then?
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Only that, in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed.
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And in that, in that proclamation of Jesus Christ, I rejoice.
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I find great joy in the gospel being shared.
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J. Campbell White, who was the leader of the layman's missionary movement in 1906.
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Paul said this,
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Most men are not satisfied with the permanent output of their lives.
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Nothing can wholly satisfy the life of Christ within his followers,
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except the adoption of Christ's purpose toward the world he came to redeem.
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Fame, pleasure, and riches are but husks and ashes,
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in contrast with the boundless and abiding joy of working with God for the fulfillment of his eternal plans.
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The men who are putting everything into Christ's undertaking are getting out of life its sweetest and most priceless rewards.
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Joy propelling us to join God in his eternal plans in this world begets more joy and eternal reward.
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So joy empowers and enables and encourages the Christian to be worthy of that name Christian,
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to be Christ-like.
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And it is not always easy to have joy.
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And I don't want to pretend for a moment that it is.
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But it is a good work in the life of a Christian to fight for joy.
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To set our minds on the redemptive work of Christ.
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To think about all of his promises to us accomplished in his life, death, resurrection, and session.
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Beloved, the Lord Jesus Christ sits right hand at the right hand of the Father.
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He is there.
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He is bodily there at the right hand of God.
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The Scripture tells us, Romans chapter 8, that he is interceding on our behalf.
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He prays for us.
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And he rules over all things.
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Everything is dictated by his purpose in this world.
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If God is for us, who can be against us?
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To set our minds on these types of things and to fight for the joy that is ours in Christ.
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It ought to be so freeing to know that the motivation for Christ-like living is not some duty in abject stoicism.
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That we just put our heads down and grind away.
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But that we are to be motivated by joy.
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Christ Jesus came into the world.
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The advent of joy.
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I am so very grateful this time of year that we have the opportunity.
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I hope that we do set our minds on his second coming and the great, boundless, endless joy that that will bring.
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In closing, I'm going to read you one more quotation.
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This is from a man named Blaise Pascal, who was a 17th century French mathematician.
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And his account of his conversion was found on a piece of parchment that he had sewn into his coat eight years after his death.
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Eight years after his death, they found this parchment sewn into his coat.
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And it reads this.
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Year of grace, 1654.
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Monday, 23 November.
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Feast of Saint Clement.
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From about half past ten at night to about half an hour after midnight.
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Fire.
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God of Abraham.
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God of Isaac.
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God of Jacob.
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Not of philosophers and scholars.
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Certitude.
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Heartfelt joy.
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Peace.
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God of Jesus Christ.
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God of Jesus Christ.
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My God and your God.
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Joy, joy, joy.
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Tears of joy.
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Jesus Christ.
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Jesus Christ.
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May I never be separated from him.
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Let's pray together.