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Set-Your-Sails-for-Joy · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: We live in a frivolous age with lots of shallow,
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Speaker 1: empty laughter, but really very little joy. Most people stumble
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Speaker 1: around in perpetual confusion. Really it's more like darkness as
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Speaker 1: they seek joy, but they satisfy themselves with only occasional
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Speaker 1: glimpses of light and artificial light at that Paul would
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Speaker 1: have understood this plight, as he too groped around in
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Speaker 1: darkness until that glorious day when the light of Christ
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Speaker 1: shone brightly into his life. From that day on, you
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Speaker 1: may recall, although he often experienced suffering, he rarely let
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Speaker 1: the winds of discouragement fill the sails of his ship.
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Speaker 1: How great is that instead he confidently set his sails
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Speaker 1: for an amazing journey of joy. The next several weeks,
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Speaker 1: you and I are going to study Paul's responses to suffering,
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Speaker 1: and even more importantly, how he could confidently focus on
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Speaker 1: joy in spite of that. For our message today, I
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Speaker 1: want you to turn with me in the New Testament
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Speaker 1: to the Book of Philippians, chapter one. Let me read
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Speaker 1: for you verses one through eleven. That's the Letter to
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Speaker 1: the Philippians, chapter one. I'll begin at verse one. Paul
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Speaker 1: and Timothy Bond, Servants of Christ Jesus. To all the
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Speaker 1: saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the
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Speaker 1: overseers and deacons, Grace to you and peace from God,
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Speaker 1: our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my
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Speaker 1: God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer
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Speaker 1: with joy in my every prayer for you all in
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Speaker 1: view of your participation in the Gospel from the first
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Speaker 1: day until now. For I am confident of this very thing,
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Speaker 1: that He who began a good work in you will
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Speaker 1: perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. For it
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Speaker 1: is only right for me to feel this way about
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Speaker 1: you all, because I have you in my heart, since
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Speaker 1: both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation
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Speaker 1: of the Gospel, you all are partakers of grace with me.
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Speaker 1: For God is my witness. How I long for you
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Speaker 1: all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And this I
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Speaker 1: pray that your love may abound still more and more
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Speaker 1: in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may
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Speaker 1: approve the things that are excellent, in order to be
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Speaker 1: sincere and blameless until the day of Christ. Having been
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Speaker 1: filled with the fruit of righteousness, which comes through Jesus Christ,
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Speaker 1: to the glory and praise of God. Last week I
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Speaker 1: turned fifty six, thought I might as well let the
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Speaker 1: whole world know it now. When you're my age, the
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Speaker 1: closer your friends are, the more unmerciful are the cards
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Speaker 1: they send you. One reads confound your friends, amaze your enemies,
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Speaker 1: blow out all your candles. Another warned about putting the
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Speaker 1: right amount of candles on the cake. If I could
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Speaker 1: find a cake large enough, two frightening things will happen
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Speaker 1: if I manage to do that. One all the frosting
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Speaker 1: on the cake would be melted in thirty seconds. And indeed,
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Speaker 1: once I got the candles blown out, the smoke alarm
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Speaker 1: would go off. And by long time eighteen year plus
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Speaker 1: Executive Assistant Secretary Brains Helen Peters sends me one that says,
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Speaker 1: wish I could be there to help you light your
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Speaker 1: birthday candles, but I'll be watching the glow in the
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Speaker 1: sky and thinking, I like this one. You can tell
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Speaker 1: you're getting older when you wake up with that awful
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Speaker 1: morning after feeling and you didn't do anything the night before.
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Speaker 1: One said, when you're your age, everything hurts. What doesn't
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Speaker 1: hurt doesn't work. And here this is a cute one.
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Speaker 1: Little puppies with a million wrinkles on their epidermis. You've
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Speaker 1: seen these little Chinese dogs. This says happy birthday. You
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Speaker 1: still have the body of a young pup. Of course
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Speaker 1: you have gotten yours, just a little wrinkled, it says here,
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Speaker 1: I like this one years wrinkle the skin, but to
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Speaker 1: give up wonder wrinkles the soul not good. Well, when
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Speaker 1: you're this age, a sense of humor is essential. And
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Speaker 1: as a matter of fact, I have come to realize
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Speaker 1: when you're in any age, joy is essential, but it's optional.
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Speaker 1: You may choose it or you may reject it. It's
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Speaker 1: up to you. No one will force it on you,
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Speaker 1: and no one can obligate you to a joyful countenance.
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Speaker 1: It's really up to you. It really hasn't anything to
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Speaker 1: do with age. I find great delight in being around
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Speaker 1: people eighty plus and even ninety plus who still laugh
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Speaker 1: at life and have more fun than many of us
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Speaker 1: would ever dream of. Having. Such contagious people, wonderful people.
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Speaker 1: Joy is not dependent upon circumstances or people, money, or possessions.
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Speaker 1: Good looks are a great job. Joy depends on nothing external.
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Speaker 1: It comes from deep within. And what a wonderful illustration
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Speaker 1: I got of that this past week while I was
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Speaker 1: at the Dallas Theological Seminary Board meeting. Being one of
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Speaker 1: the regents, I along with my colleagues on that same board,
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Speaker 1: had the privilege of interviewing several new faculty members. That's
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Speaker 1: one of the delights of being on that board of regents.
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Speaker 1: We get in touch with the students, were able to
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Speaker 1: nearer the faculty, and of the four new faculty members,
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Speaker 1: one was a woman, not just any woman, but the
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Speaker 1: first woman ever allowed to be a part of the
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Speaker 1: faculty of Dallas Theological Seminary. Lucy Maybray is her name.
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Speaker 1: I'm sorry you don't know her. She's a pioneer in
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Speaker 1: that role. She laughingly said. You know the thing about pioneers,
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Speaker 1: they wind up with arrows in their backs. Thought that
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Speaker 1: was a good way to put it. We we did
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Speaker 1: a flashback as she told us her story, because many
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Speaker 1: of us have known Lucy for years, rearing a family,
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Speaker 1: teaching Bible classes, working on her master's wonderful mind, delightful spirit,
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Speaker 1: married to a successful physician who was at the zenith
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Speaker 1: of his career, eminently capable to do his work, flying
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Speaker 1: back with other men coming from the Montana retreat with
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Speaker 1: James Dobson. He was in the plane that crashed, and
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Speaker 1: word reached Lucy of her husband's sudden demise. Here she
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Speaker 1: is in the middle of a the family business, and
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Speaker 1: that is the rearing of her family, and a career business,
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Speaker 1: and the business of marriage, and suddenly, out of the blue,
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Speaker 1: Trevor's gone. She deliberately chose joy. She grieved, and in
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Speaker 1: some sense still grieves, but she's determined not to give
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Speaker 1: herself to perpetual grief. And now what a delightful woman
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Speaker 1: of seasoned joy. We listened to her words. We asked
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Speaker 1: what it was like to be the first on the faculty,
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Speaker 1: a woman, first on the faculty, and she said, I
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Speaker 1: have had great warmth and reception from the faculty members.
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Speaker 1: Now the student body, she says, is another story. We
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Speaker 1: asked what she did with students who didn't agree with
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Speaker 1: her being there. She said, oh, I take them to
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Speaker 1: lunch and we talk about things. They soften a bit.
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Speaker 1: She said, it's been a joyful experience. As a matter
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Speaker 1: of fact, I recently was given an award from the
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Speaker 1: student body for the best dressed Woman faculty member, how
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Speaker 1: can you in that situation? And by the way, she's
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Speaker 1: pursuing now her PhD, and she will finish it before long.
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Speaker 1: How do you go on? How do you press beyond grief?
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Speaker 1: How do you grow beyond it? How do you still
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Speaker 1: laugh at life? How do you put your arms around
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Speaker 1: your children as a single parent and still laugh at
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Speaker 1: the future? It comes from within men and women. It
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Speaker 1: comes from down deep inside. It isn't from externals. One
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Speaker 1: ship sails east, one ship sails west, regardless of how
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Speaker 1: the winds blow. It is the set of the sail
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Speaker 1: and not the gale that determines the way that we go.
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Speaker 1: She set her sails on joy. She has a confidence
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Speaker 1: not in the long life of a husband, not in
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Speaker 1: the fact that external circumstances will be placid, peaceful and delightful.
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Speaker 1: Her confidence is in God, who is at work, who
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Speaker 1: is in control, and his causing all things to result
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Speaker 1: in His greater glory. And don't ever forget it if
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Speaker 1: you want to be joyful, that God is at work,
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Speaker 1: that God is in control, and that God is bringing
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Speaker 1: all things to his ultimate greater glory. Not my pleasure,
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Speaker 1: not my comfort, but His greater glory. When I focus
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Speaker 1: on that, I too laugh at life. I too can
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Speaker 1: see beyond an airplane crash. I too can grow beyond grief, heartache,
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Speaker 1: loss and disappointment. And so can you. All of this
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Speaker 1: brings us to this magnificent one hundred four verse letter
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Speaker 1: entitled Paul's Letter to the Philippians. Delightful piece of mail, brief, joyful, contagious.
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Speaker 1: It's really not until you get to verse twelve that
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Speaker 1: he begins to tell them what's on his mind. Begins
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Speaker 1: to tell them some things he wants them to know,
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Speaker 1: and how he wants them to respond, and some counsel
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Speaker 1: he gives along with warning and encouragement. But in the
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Speaker 1: first eleven verses, in customary first century fashion, he brings
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Speaker 1: them a greeting. He tells them of his gratitude, and
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Speaker 1: he wishes them well. He offers them prayer of a
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Speaker 1: specific nature. There is a greeting, there is thanksgiving, and
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Speaker 1: there is praying. Let's start with a greeting, Paul. What
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Speaker 1: memories must have squirreled in their minds when they read
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Speaker 1: that name. Ten years ago he was there founding their church.
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Speaker 1: Ten years ago he had been thrown in jail for
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Speaker 1: doing right. Ten years ago they had seen God work
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Speaker 1: in pulling together a band of young believers in this
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Speaker 1: Roman colony called Philippi. And now they read the name again.
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Speaker 1: Must have thrilled him, Must have thrilled him, like Italians
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Speaker 1: who love art were thrilled by the works of Michelangelo,
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Speaker 1: like sixteenth century German believers were thrilled by the presence
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Speaker 1: of a spokesman named Martin Luther. Like nineteenth century Black
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Speaker 1: Americans needed a voice of the President Abraham Lincoln, like
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Speaker 1: twentieth century patriotic Britons needed the Churchill. The people at
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Speaker 1: Philippi needed Paul. He was their advocate, He was their friend,
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Speaker 1: He was their teacher, He was their leader, their respected,
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Speaker 1: admired leader. But he doesn't just sign this letter Paul.
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Speaker 1: He mentions Timothy. By the way, if you've named your
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Speaker 1: son Timothy, you've chosen the good name. It means he
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Speaker 1: who honors God. Remind your Timothy of that every now
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Speaker 1: and then. Timothy is alongside Paul, not because he wrote
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Speaker 1: the letter, but because he was known to the Philippians,
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Speaker 1: beloved by them, and would soon again, as we shall see,
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Speaker 1: would soon visit them. But what a dynamic duo, and
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Speaker 1: instead of presenting them as Paul and Timothy celebrities, Paul
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Speaker 1: and Timothy leaders Paul and Timothy to be respected heroes.
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Speaker 1: He writes, Paul and Timothy doulas douls, doulas servants. Don't
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Speaker 1: you like that? That's why Paul was great. He didn't
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Speaker 1: see himself as a as a prima donna to be
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Speaker 1: handled with kid gloves. He saw himself as a servant.
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Speaker 1: Those are the best leaders. A servant of Christ Jesus. Doulas.
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Speaker 1: It means one bound to another by the bands of
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Speaker 1: constraining love, one in such close relation to another, only
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Speaker 1: death would break it. One whose will is swallowed up
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Speaker 1: in the sweet will of God, one who serves another
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Speaker 1: Christ to the to the disregard of his own interests
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Speaker 1: with reckless abandoned doulas. That's Paul and Timothy. Is that
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Speaker 1: you especially that reckless abandon that's Paul. And this is
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Speaker 1: a letter from servants to saints. You see the way
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Speaker 1: it reads. Paul and Timothy to all the saints in
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Speaker 1: Christ Jesus in Philippi, including overseers and deacons, pastors and deacons,
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Speaker 1: elders and deacons. Very interesting terms. Saints If you've traveled
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Speaker 1: in Europe, you've seen a lot of them. If you
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Speaker 1: were raised in a high church, you've seen it. You've
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Speaker 1: seen them in the icons, plaster covered or perhaps marble
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Speaker 1: statues of people whose names represent the legacy of the church.
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Speaker 1: When I was a little boy, we went to Saint
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Speaker 1: Andrew's Methodist Church for a number of years at the
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Speaker 1: end of our street in East Houston. I've seen people
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Speaker 1: on airplanes carry with them small representations of Saint Christopher,
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Speaker 1: and I've seen them hold those saints close to them.
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Speaker 1: I've seen those things hanging from rearview mirrors and sitting
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Speaker 1: on dashboards, and so have you. But these saints are
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Speaker 1: not dead. They're alive. They're living, vibrant witnesses for Christ.
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Speaker 1: Not plaster covered icons. These are real to life human
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Speaker 1: beings living in Philippi. In my reading this past week,
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Speaker 1: I came across a fascinating article I had never read
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Speaker 1: on it before. It's entitled on Making Saints. On Making
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Speaker 1: Saints is It's a whole write up by William Griffin,
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Speaker 1: who has written for Publishers Weekly. He has written on
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Speaker 1: how Saints are made, not the manufacture of this of
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Speaker 1: the icons, but how you put someone into sainthood very interesting.
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Speaker 1: In fact, he says, Pope John Paul the Second has
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Speaker 1: been sainting more men and women than all of his
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Speaker 1: predecessors in the twentieth century. Taken together, there's a whole
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Speaker 1: process you go through. You've got to you've got to
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Speaker 1: know who to contact and how to carry it out.
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Speaker 1: You've got to have a pretty good amount of money
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Speaker 1: to saint people and uh, still going on. But it's
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Speaker 1: not this kind of saint. These are people like us.
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Speaker 1: Isn't that a thought? Saint Chuck, Saint Frank, Saint Shirley,
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Speaker 1: Saint Cynthia, Saint Margaret, Saint Paul. Oh, well, we've heard
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Speaker 1: of him, but usually you haven't connected the word saint
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Speaker 1: with your name. Think about it right now. I'll give you,
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Speaker 1: I'll give you three seconds. That sounds funny, doesn't it,
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Speaker 1: when you put your name with it. But it isn't funny.
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Speaker 1: It's as God planned it. In fact, paints is a
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Speaker 1: wonderful It's from a wonderful word that means set apart,
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Speaker 1: set apart and consecrated for the purpose of God's service.
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Speaker 1: Great idea. That's why you're a saying when you were
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Speaker 1: born into God's family by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Speaker 1: You got that name. You became set apart for his purpose.
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Speaker 1: Now it's used in a broader sense in extra biblical
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Speaker 1: literature for selecting something for a specific purpose. The tie
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Speaker 1: I'm wearing right now could be set apart for a
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Speaker 1: purpose of finishing this outfit I'm wearing. The car you
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Speaker 1: chose was set apart for the purpose of getting you
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Speaker 1: from one spot to another. But that's in the general sense.
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Speaker 1: This is the word that has in mind a consecration
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Speaker 1: Paul and Timothy doulas servants of the Living Christ to
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Speaker 1: all those set apart for the the purpose of God
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Speaker 1: who live in the city of Philippi. That's the idea,
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Speaker 1: And what does he offer to them? I love this
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Speaker 1: grace and peace. Grace is something that comes to us
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Speaker 1: which we don't deserve. Peace is something that happens in
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Speaker 1: us as a result, which is altogether in congruent with
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Speaker 1: our circumstances. Without I mean, you're not supposed to have
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Speaker 1: peace when you hear the news of your husband's demise.
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Speaker 1: You're not supposed to have peace when you find out
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Speaker 1: that it's you who's lost your job. Peace doesn't seem
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Speaker 1: to fit the scene when externals are troubled and in tumult.
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Speaker 1: But Paul offers these people living in this era which
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Speaker 1: was anything but peaceful, that which God does for us,
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Speaker 1: which we do not deserve and can never repay, certainly
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Speaker 1: don't earn grace, and he offers them shalom the peace
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Speaker 1: that comes with that grace. In its earliest form, the
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Speaker 1: word peace meant to bind together. It's the whole idea
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Speaker 1: of being bound so closely together with something or someone
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Speaker 1: that a harmony develops. It's called peace. One woman who
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Speaker 1: is joined in harmony with one man in a marriage
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Speaker 1: begins a peaceful relationship. One friend who is joined in
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Speaker 1: heart and soul with another friend begins a peaceful relationship
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Speaker 1: of harmony. Being closely knit together, living in such wonderful
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Speaker 1: harmony brings joy. That's why, That's why Isaiah could write,
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Speaker 1: Thou will keep him in perfect peace. Whose mind is
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Speaker 1: stayed on THEE because he trusts in THEE, trust in
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Speaker 1: the Lord forever. From the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.
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Speaker 1: That's what Paul chose. Paul had every reason not to,
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Speaker 1: but he chose joy. One ship sails east one ship
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Speaker 1: sails west regardless regardless of how the winds blow. It
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Speaker 1: is the set of the sail and not the gale,
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Speaker 1: that determines the way that we go. Paul has set
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Speaker 1: his sails on the very things he offered these people
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Speaker 1: in Philippi, grace and peace, and in Verses three through
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Speaker 1: eight he brings up several reasons for his joyful thanksgiving.
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Speaker 1: Beautiful words here he he he tells them what it
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Speaker 1: is about them that bring him such joy. First of all,
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Speaker 1: he has happy memories Versus three, four and five. I
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Speaker 1: thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always
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Speaker 1: offering prayer with joy, in my every prayer for you,
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Speaker 1: all in view of your participation in the Gospel from
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Speaker 1: the first day until now. His memory of them made
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Speaker 1: them smile, meaning what meaning? He had no regrets, he nursed,
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Speaker 1: no ill feelings, He had no unresolved conflicts. When he
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Speaker 1: looked back ten years, that decade before, and he thought
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Speaker 1: of the Philippians, he laughed with joy. I wonder how
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Speaker 1: many pastors can say that about former churches they've served.
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Speaker 1: I wonder how many of you could say that about
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Speaker 1: former friends you've had When you think of them, do
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Speaker 1: you have happy memories. I don't look too spiritual, just confess.
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Speaker 1: Some people make us churn just the mere mention of names.
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Speaker 1: But you know, unless Paul is lying, and I have
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Speaker 1: no reason to believe it, I really think he's thinking
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Speaker 1: back to the Philippians, and he cannot remember one whom
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Speaker 1: he would accuse or feel ill toward, even the Philippian jailer,
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Speaker 1: even those who threw him in the prison, even those
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Speaker 1: who stood in court and stated their words against him.
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Speaker 1: He said, I remember some of you, and some of
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Speaker 1: you are now in the church, some of you have
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Speaker 1: come to know the Savior, and I have only great memories.
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Speaker 1: I love words like that. He had good memories of them.
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Speaker 1: Notice he even praise. He says, offering prayer with joy
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Speaker 1: in my every prayer for you all hold your place
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Speaker 1: at verse four. The words we just read, and look
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Speaker 1: at verse nine. They read the same in English, but
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Speaker 1: they're different in the original pen from Paul. He says,
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Speaker 1: offering prayer with joy in verse four, and then verse nine,
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Speaker 1: this I pray, and I read that, I thought, he
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Speaker 1: repeating himself. No, not really, Just as in our English words,
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Speaker 1: we have various meanings, in various inflections. In Greek terms.
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Speaker 1: There are different words entirely. One word, as in verse four,
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Speaker 1: is the idea of general supplication. When I pray, I
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Speaker 1: have general feelings of delight in you, and I ask
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Speaker 1: God to bring blessing and favor upon you. But down
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Speaker 1: in verse nine it's a different term entirely. This is
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Speaker 1: a prayer directed consciously and deliberately to God with definite aim.
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Speaker 1: It's the word used in First Thessalonians five. Pray without ceasing,
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Speaker 1: pray specifically for things. My wife and I were talking
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Speaker 1: about a particular thing this morning, a particular subject, and
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Speaker 1: she made the comment, I am praying for that every day.
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Speaker 1: My response, and so am I. I didn't know she
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Speaker 1: was praying as I was every day, about this particular
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Speaker 1: thing that's on our hearts. Paul says in verse nine
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Speaker 1: the specific things I pray for, and as we shall see,
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Speaker 1: there are two of them. But up in verse four
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Speaker 1: it's a general supplication. I call to mind the Philippians
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Speaker 1: in our relationship, and I smile with my supplication for you.
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Speaker 1: Now verse five, what is it that makes me smile? Well?
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Speaker 1: I remember your participation in the Gospel from the first
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Speaker 1: day until now. Is that authentic well, he was there
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Speaker 1: the first day. That's like a mother who says to
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Speaker 1: a child who is now seven or eight, I remember that,
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Speaker 1: little dimple. I saw it from the first day you
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Speaker 1: were born. She was there, she saw it, little dimple.
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Speaker 1: Paul says, I remember the first day some of you
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Speaker 1: took your first breath of spiritual air. And from that
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Speaker 1: time until now, you are people who are not spectators.
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Speaker 1: You participate in the things of the gospel. Isn't it
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Speaker 1: great to be around people like that? Isn't it wonderful
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Speaker 1: to be in churches? And I think our church is
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Speaker 1: one of them. I'm a little prejudiced, but I think that,
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Speaker 1: in fact, I have found that to be true. We
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Speaker 1: are not interested simply in becoming historians looking back to
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Speaker 1: the great days of yesterday. We are participating in the
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Speaker 1: things of the gospel right now and into the future.
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Speaker 1: Our plans are to roll up our sleeves and put
27:33
Speaker 1: on our gloves and take on whatever battle is in
27:36
Speaker 1: front of us. That's our task as God's people. That's
27:40
Speaker 1: a church that's keeping life put together, rather than dusting
27:46
Speaker 1: off the relics of how great we once were. I'm
27:51
Speaker 1: in some churches where I think the organist for the
27:54
Speaker 1: offertory ought to play the way we were rather than
27:58
Speaker 1: some fight song of the future. The way we were
28:03
Speaker 1: is great. Historical heritage is wonderful. It gives us a
28:07
Speaker 1: sense of roots and significance. But it is the way
28:11
Speaker 1: we are and the way we are becoming that is
28:13
Speaker 1: even more important. The apostle says, when I remember the Philippians,
28:18
Speaker 1: I remember people who participated in the Gospel. Now he
28:23
Speaker 1: comes to what Martin Lloyd Jones has said could very
28:28
Speaker 1: well be the key verse of the book. Perhaps he's right.
28:32
Speaker 1: I am confident of this very thing. He is so clear.
28:39
Speaker 1: I love the way he puts it. I'm confident of
28:42
Speaker 1: this very thing, that life has become easy for me. No,
28:48
Speaker 1: that all of you are walking with the Savior. No,
28:53
Speaker 1: I am confident that He who began a good work
28:58
Speaker 1: in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
29:03
Speaker 1: Isn't that great theology? You know why the man's joyful
29:07
Speaker 1: because his confidence in God is a settled fact. He
29:12
Speaker 1: knows that God is at work, God is in control,
29:15
Speaker 1: and God is bringing about whatever for God's greater glory.
29:19
Speaker 1: And that makes him happy. That gives him joy. Look
29:24
Speaker 1: at the words began and perfect. They represent opposite ends.
29:33
Speaker 1: He who started a good work in your lives will
29:41
Speaker 1: complete it. As one man wrote, the work you have
29:46
Speaker 1: in me begun, will by your grace, be fully done.
29:51
Speaker 1: That's what gives me confidence. For a moment, focus on
29:55
Speaker 1: the word perfect. I don't think we've yet entered into
29:59
Speaker 1: the true mean of it. Travel back in your mind
30:02
Speaker 1: to the Cross of Calvary. See the Savior lifted up,
30:06
Speaker 1: paying the sins for the world. Listen to his words.
30:12
Speaker 1: There are seven cross sayings that Christ uttered, commonly called
30:17
Speaker 1: the seven Last Words of Christ. One of them is
30:23
Speaker 1: a single word translated in three English terms, to tell
30:28
Speaker 1: us stay. To tell us stay translated means it is finished.
30:38
Speaker 1: Tell Us is the term, and it is the root
30:41
Speaker 1: of the word perfect. He who began a good work
30:47
Speaker 1: in you ten years ago, Philippians, when many of you
30:50
Speaker 1: were born again, will bring it to completion, will finish it.
30:58
Speaker 1: And that gives me joy. You want a little hope
31:02
Speaker 1: in case you happen to have a good friend who
31:05
Speaker 1: is not now walking as close to the Lord as
31:07
Speaker 1: he once was. There's your hope. Find confidence that God
31:13
Speaker 1: hasn't lost touch, or lost control, or has folded his
31:18
Speaker 1: arms and is no longer involved. You have a son
31:22
Speaker 1: or a daughter who is now old enough to make
31:24
Speaker 1: life on his or her own, and they're not walking
31:28
Speaker 1: the way you would prefer. Find encouragement in this kind
31:32
Speaker 1: of confidence. He who began a good work in your
31:35
Speaker 1: boy or in your girl will bring it to completion.
31:41
Speaker 1: We'll finish the task. That kind of confidence brings you joy.
31:48
Speaker 1: He's confident enough to be joyful. I've been thinking about
31:55
Speaker 1: joy steelers the last few days. I've said some things
31:58
Speaker 1: about grace killers days past, but I want to say
32:02
Speaker 1: a couple of three words about joy stealers and my
32:06
Speaker 1: observation of my own life in the lives of those
32:09
Speaker 1: close to me. I think there are three of them,
32:12
Speaker 1: and all three are canceled by this kind of confidence.
32:16
Speaker 1: The first joy killer is worry. Worry is an inordinate anxiety,
32:22
Speaker 1: an inordinate well. Worry is an inordinate anxiety about something
32:29
Speaker 1: that may or may not occur. Worry is an inordinate anxiety.
32:36
Speaker 1: Usually it doesn't occur, but the worry steals our joy
32:40
Speaker 1: while we're waiting for the outcome. It's an inordinate anxiety
32:45
Speaker 1: about something that may or may not occur. Stress is
32:49
Speaker 1: a little more intense, another joy stealer. Stress is intense
32:55
Speaker 1: strain over a situation we cannot change or control. Something
33:02
Speaker 1: is out of our control, it's probably the safest place
33:05
Speaker 1: for it to be. Is out of our control, and
33:09
Speaker 1: we have to release it or we churn over it,
33:12
Speaker 1: and our stress intensify. Stress is intense strain over a
33:17
Speaker 1: situation that we cannot change or control. Usually it is
33:21
Speaker 1: not as intense as we make it out to be.
33:24
Speaker 1: Third fear, Fear is dreadful uneasiness over the presence of evil, danger,
33:32
Speaker 1: or pain. Fear dreadful uneasiness over the presence of danger,
33:41
Speaker 1: or evil or pain. How do I live with worry
33:47
Speaker 1: and stress and fear? How do I calm those waters?
33:51
Speaker 1: Verse six? I remind myself in a conscious moment of
33:57
Speaker 1: my day, God, you are at work. God you are
34:03
Speaker 1: in control. And Lord God, you know this is happening,
34:08
Speaker 1: and you will bring it out for your greater glory
34:12
Speaker 1: in the end. I love the story of the man
34:14
Speaker 1: who had fretted over his work for twelve to fifteen years.
34:18
Speaker 1: He built the business from nothing, and it was now
34:21
Speaker 1: rather extensive. In fact, he had a large plant over
34:24
Speaker 1: several acres, and one day he decided he would give
34:27
Speaker 1: it to God, and that's what he prayed, Lord God,
34:33
Speaker 1: the business is yours. The worry, the stress, the fears,
34:37
Speaker 1: it's yours. He went to bed earlier that night that
34:40
Speaker 1: he had ever gone to bed before since he started
34:42
Speaker 1: the business. The middle of the night the phone rang.
34:45
Speaker 1: His colleague called him and said, the place is going
34:49
Speaker 1: up in smoke. He got in his car with a smile.
34:52
Speaker 1: He drove to the place that had once been the plant,
34:56
Speaker 1: and he stood there smiling. His colleague walked out up
35:00
Speaker 1: and said, what in the world are you laughing at?
35:03
Speaker 1: What are you smiling? He says, listen, yesterday afternoon, I
35:07
Speaker 1: gave this business to God. It's his. If he wants
35:10
Speaker 1: to burn it up, that's his business. Some of you
35:15
Speaker 1: hear that and say that is insane. No, that is
35:19
Speaker 1: the greatest statement of theology you can embrace, being confident
35:26
Speaker 1: of this very thing, that he who started something will
35:31
Speaker 1: carry the pressure of it and will bring it to
35:34
Speaker 1: completion exactly as he planned it for his greater glory.
35:39
Speaker 1: Who is to say, but what a business burnt to
35:42
Speaker 1: the ground isn't of greater glory to God than the
35:48
Speaker 1: business standing and making you a puppet of it. Sometime
35:57
Speaker 1: the loss of something very significant is the only way
36:02
Speaker 1: God gets our full attention and brings us back to
36:06
Speaker 1: right theology. A lost reputation, a lost group of possessions,
36:19
Speaker 1: a lost house, a lost bank account, a lost friend, mate,
36:29
Speaker 1: or child. I find Paul very vulnerable in verse seven.
36:40
Speaker 1: It is only right for me to feel this way
36:42
Speaker 1: about you all. It sounds a little defensive, doesn't it.
36:46
Speaker 1: It's only right that I think like this because look
36:50
Speaker 1: at this vulnerable statement, because I have you in my heart.
36:54
Speaker 1: In fact, the way it reads could be read the
36:56
Speaker 1: other way. The way it's written, you have me in
36:59
Speaker 1: your heart. It's deliberately ambiguous to make it go either
37:03
Speaker 1: way in the original, because I have you in my heart,
37:06
Speaker 1: because you have me in your heart. Since both in
37:08
Speaker 1: my imprisonment and then the defense and confirmation of the Gospel,
37:12
Speaker 1: you are all partners of grace with me in this.
37:17
Speaker 1: We're all together in it. How many people on occasion
37:20
Speaker 1: who say that they really see pauls rather dogmatic, unfeeling, uncaring,
37:30
Speaker 1: and the way he approaches life's sort of sort of
37:33
Speaker 1: like a battleship. Big cannons boom go, little boom boom,
37:38
Speaker 1: Barnabas is behind in a row boat picking up the
37:41
Speaker 1: pieces as people are being shot down by this great apostle,
37:45
Speaker 1: this great theologian. No, not at all. In fact, look
37:49
Speaker 1: at his words. God is my witness. I long for
37:52
Speaker 1: you all with the affection of Christ Jesus, with the
37:58
Speaker 1: affections flocking. That's the word for it. Forgive me vowels.
38:04
Speaker 1: You see, it was believed in the first century that
38:06
Speaker 1: the intestines, the stomach, the liver, even the lungs held
38:10
Speaker 1: the tenderest of our emotions. Slock now was the word
38:14
Speaker 1: for it, and he uses the word for of all
38:18
Speaker 1: things affection. He says, as I share with you my feelings,
38:25
Speaker 1: I open my whole inner system to you and tell
38:28
Speaker 1: you this is the level of my affection. I love you.
38:34
Speaker 1: Sound like a man that's cold and calculating. If you
38:38
Speaker 1: have not yet read the work of John Powell, why
38:41
Speaker 1: am I afraid to tell you who I am? You're
38:45
Speaker 1: missing something. You may not agree with everything he's written,
38:49
Speaker 1: all right, that's fine. I don't agree with everything I
38:52
Speaker 1: have written, so don't let that bother you. Some things
38:55
Speaker 1: you read you later say I don't believe that, and
39:00
Speaker 1: that's okay. But there is a part in this book
39:03
Speaker 1: that every person hearing me at this moment should pursue.
39:07
Speaker 1: And it's what he calls five levels of communication. They're
39:13
Speaker 1: like concentric circles. If you like to take notes, draw
39:16
Speaker 1: five concentric circles on a blank piece of paper somewhere,
39:20
Speaker 1: and let's go from level five down to four, to
39:23
Speaker 1: three to right down to the intermost intimate of communications.
39:28
Speaker 1: Here's the level five. That's the one on the outside,
39:31
Speaker 1: the one least significant. It's what he calls cliche conversation.
39:38
Speaker 1: On this level, we talk cliches, how are you, how's
39:41
Speaker 1: your family? Where are you been? Or we say I
39:44
Speaker 1: like your dress very much. I hope we can get
39:47
Speaker 1: together real soon, which means really we may not see
39:50
Speaker 1: each other for a year, and I'm not going to
39:51
Speaker 1: sweat it. Or how are you? And somebody starts to
39:55
Speaker 1: tell us how they are, and we go, what's wrong
39:58
Speaker 1: with him? We expect to and they say, fine, thank you.
40:01
Speaker 1: That's cliche level communication. That's the deepest many people, dare
40:06
Speaker 1: I say most get most men. I find most men.
40:10
Speaker 1: Some will get to level four reporting facts about one another,
40:17
Speaker 1: says John Powell. We remain contented to tell others what
40:22
Speaker 1: so and so has said or done. We're reporting facts,
40:26
Speaker 1: no personal self revelatory commentary on the facts. We simply
40:29
Speaker 1: report them. This is in the realm of gossip, conversation pieces,
40:33
Speaker 1: little narrations, and on and on. That's level four. Level three,
40:37
Speaker 1: you're still with me ideas and judgments. How rare I
40:43
Speaker 1: find people able to communicate in this level. They're able,
40:46
Speaker 1: but they're not willing, I should say, said willing As
40:49
Speaker 1: I communicate my ideas, usually I'm watching you. I want
40:54
Speaker 1: to test the temperature of the waters before I leap in.
40:56
Speaker 1: I want to be sure that you accept me with
40:58
Speaker 1: my ideas, judgments, and decisions. If you raise your eyebrows
41:01
Speaker 1: or narrow your eyes, if you yawn or look at
41:03
Speaker 1: your watch, I'll probably retreat to safer ground. I will
41:06
Speaker 1: run for cover of silence or change the subject. But
41:10
Speaker 1: how courageous are the people who get to the level
41:12
Speaker 1: three of ideas and judgments? Level two feelings? If I
41:23
Speaker 1: really want you to know who I am, I must
41:25
Speaker 1: tell you about my stomach as well as my head.
41:30
Speaker 1: My judgments, my decisions are quite conventional. If I'm a
41:33
Speaker 1: Republican or a Democrat. By persuasion I have a lot
41:36
Speaker 1: of company for I am for or against space exploration.
41:40
Speaker 1: If I am, there will be others who will support
41:42
Speaker 1: me and my convictions. But the feelings that lie behind
41:46
Speaker 1: are under my ideas, judgments and convictions are uniquely mine.
41:53
Speaker 1: It is these feelings on this level of communication I
41:56
Speaker 1: must share with you. If I'm to tell you who
41:58
Speaker 1: I really am. It's a hazardous guess, but I would
42:04
Speaker 1: guess that ten percent of us in less ever communicate
42:07
Speaker 1: on a feeling level. To my amazement, husbands and wives
42:11
Speaker 1: can be the worst when we ought to be the
42:14
Speaker 1: ones who are the best in it. And the most
42:19
Speaker 1: intimate circle is peak peak peak communication. Intimate communication. All
42:30
Speaker 1: deep and authentic friendships, and especially the union of those
42:33
Speaker 1: who are married, must be based on absolute openness and honesty.
42:37
Speaker 1: The word is absolute openness. Among close friends, between partners
42:43
Speaker 1: in marriage, there will come from time to time a
42:45
Speaker 1: complete emotional and personal communion. By the way, by the way,
42:50
Speaker 1: listen to this. When your mate trust you with such
42:53
Speaker 1: intimate information, it is sealed. It is for nobody else's ears.
43:01
Speaker 1: It is a trust. It's a vault that you put
43:03
Speaker 1: that in and that person trusts you with those deepest
43:08
Speaker 1: of intimate feelings. That's why the communion is so close
43:12
Speaker 1: in this peak level. For the next week or two,
43:16
Speaker 1: do a little analysis of what level you communicate on.
43:20
Speaker 1: You'll be shocked how much time you waste in cliches
43:25
Speaker 1: and just reporting facts. The apostle says, God is my witness,
43:32
Speaker 1: how I long for you with the slantnah of Christ Jesus,
43:36
Speaker 1: from the deepest part of my bowels, from my innermost feelings.
43:42
Speaker 1: My heart beats faster when your name is mentioned, and
43:46
Speaker 1: I love you dearly. Then he turns to his prayer.
43:54
Speaker 1: He tells them of two things verse nine, pray that
44:00
Speaker 1: your love may abound. Verse ten, Pray that you may
44:05
Speaker 1: approve things that are excellent. Look at the two. I
44:12
Speaker 1: pray that your love may abound still more and more
44:19
Speaker 1: in real knowledge, epignosis, and in all discernment. Did you
44:25
Speaker 1: get this? Put your thinking cap on. Love is like
44:31
Speaker 1: a river, and it must be kept within its proper
44:34
Speaker 1: banks knowledge discernment, or it lifts and it floods, and
44:42
Speaker 1: we love the wrong things. We live in a world
44:45
Speaker 1: love love, love, love, love, love everything, love the devil,
44:50
Speaker 1: love everybody, love the world, love the entertainment, love whatever,
44:54
Speaker 1: happens love people. But the scripture says love not the world,
45:00
Speaker 1: neither the things that are in the world. If any
45:02
Speaker 1: man loves the world, the love of the Father isn't
45:04
Speaker 1: in him knowledge real knowledge, discernment, keen discernment. Keep love
45:14
Speaker 1: within its banks. If you've ever been in a region
45:18
Speaker 1: that's been flooded, you know the desolation that can create.
45:22
Speaker 1: That's what happens when love leaves its banks. You, without discernment,
45:28
Speaker 1: donate to causes that have no business getting your money.
45:32
Speaker 1: You support certain things that have no business getting your support.
45:39
Speaker 1: You applaud things that have no business being applauded. You see,
45:44
Speaker 1: he also prays that they will have the ability to
45:49
Speaker 1: approve the things that are excellent. I call that keen discernment.
45:54
Speaker 1: The term approve means get this to sift or test
45:58
Speaker 1: a certain thing and thus recognize its worth and put
46:03
Speaker 1: a stamp of approval on it. It was once used
46:06
Speaker 1: for a lineup of medical doctors in ancient days who
46:10
Speaker 1: were approved by the faculty to receive the degree. They
46:14
Speaker 1: had been tested in their courses, and they were now approved.
46:19
Speaker 1: Having been sifted and tested by those who analyzed them,
46:24
Speaker 1: they were qualified to bear the initials MD after their name.
46:29
Speaker 1: That's the word here, that you may approve things that
46:33
Speaker 1: are excellent. That's one of Paul's words in the Book
46:37
Speaker 1: of Philippians. Will come across it again later on, that
46:40
Speaker 1: you may be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ.
46:44
Speaker 1: Do you think he didn't have high hopes for them,
46:46
Speaker 1: having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes
46:49
Speaker 1: through Christ Jesus to the glory in praise of God.
46:52
Speaker 1: What a prayer, and by the way, no extra charge
46:58
Speaker 1: for this little tip. Is the last time you wrote
47:02
Speaker 1: somebody what you were praying for on their behalf. It's
47:06
Speaker 1: a convicting question. I ask it, and I realize how
47:10
Speaker 1: seldom I've ever done that. And I often pray for individuals,
47:16
Speaker 1: but how seldom I take a pen in my hand
47:18
Speaker 1: and on a note write a note, dear so, and
47:21
Speaker 1: so I want you to know I'm praying today for
47:23
Speaker 1: these three things in your life. One, two, three. That's
47:29
Speaker 1: what Paul does here. You move beyond the level of
47:35
Speaker 1: outer circles when you begin to communicate like that. I
47:40
Speaker 1: challenge you to do it. Now, how does it all apply.
47:45
Speaker 1: Let me give you one major statement. Then let me
47:49
Speaker 1: kind of finish the sentence in three different ways. The
47:52
Speaker 1: major statement is this confidence brings joy when I as
47:57
Speaker 1: I look at this passage, I see the confidence and
48:01
Speaker 1: joy blending together because Paul is confident enough to be joyful,
48:06
Speaker 1: and so I am encouraged in several verses here to
48:10
Speaker 1: apply this in a specific area. Three to be exact,
48:14
Speaker 1: confidence brings joy when I a focus on the things
48:19
Speaker 1: for which I'm thankful verse three. Did you see how
48:25
Speaker 1: he put it in verse three? Chapter one, Verse three,
48:31
Speaker 1: I thank my God in all my remembrance of you.
48:35
Speaker 1: When I focus on the things for which I'm thankful,
48:39
Speaker 1: that'll help you be joyful. Second, confidence brings joy verse six.
48:45
Speaker 1: Let God be God. Confident in this very thing that
48:50
Speaker 1: He who began will complete the work you have in me.
48:55
Speaker 1: Begun will buy your grace, be fully done. Confidence brings
49:02
Speaker 1: joy when I let God be God. You want to
49:04
Speaker 1: know a little parenthesis there when I stop trying to
49:07
Speaker 1: play God in other people's lives. Mothers, you can be
49:12
Speaker 1: the worst at it. I love you, But speaking for
49:17
Speaker 1: some of your adult children, I've got to tell you.
49:19
Speaker 1: Let God be God. You're a mother, You're not God.
49:27
Speaker 1: Dad's Let your boys answer to God you're not God.
49:37
Speaker 1: Let them be. Let God be God. You with high
49:42
Speaker 1: level worries, stress, and fears, Let God be God, or
49:47
Speaker 1: you'll kiss joy goodbye. It'll become just a theological subject.
49:52
Speaker 1: You find in the Book of the Bible, number three.
50:00
Speaker 1: Confidence brings joy when I keep love within its proper limits.
50:06
Speaker 1: Confidence brings joy when I keep love within its proper
50:10
Speaker 1: limits Verse nine, that your love may abound with real
50:15
Speaker 1: knowledge and all discernment. You know what thought I thought?
50:20
Speaker 1: I got on this Nobody on this earth can affect
50:24
Speaker 1: your level of joy unless you let them. Every day
50:31
Speaker 1: comes with its own pressures, But joy is an option.
50:36
Speaker 1: Hudson Taylor used to put it like this, It does
50:38
Speaker 1: not matter how great the pressure is. What really matters
50:41
Speaker 1: is where the pressure lies, whether it comes between you
50:44
Speaker 1: and God or whether it presses you nearer his heart.
50:51
Speaker 1: One ship sails east, one ship sails west, regardless of
51:00
Speaker 1: how the winds blow. It is the set of the sail,
51:04
Speaker 1: and not the gale, that determines the way that we go.
51:14
Speaker 1: I want to challenge a few of you this very
51:17
Speaker 1: day to choose joy. Do it just for a week.
51:23
Speaker 1: If it doesn't work, go back to your stress, worry,
51:29
Speaker 1: and fears. Write me and tell me it didn't work,
51:36
Speaker 1: and explain to me from scripture why worry, stress, and
51:40
Speaker 1: fear are better options than joy. I'm going to get
51:46
Speaker 1: some fascinating mail or you know what, I probably am
51:55
Speaker 1: not going to hear from any of you because you
51:58
Speaker 1: cannot find a biblical basis for a life of worry,
52:03
Speaker 1: stress and fear. That's what you've chosen, It's not what
52:11
Speaker 1: God has given. For a few moments, I would invite
52:17
Speaker 1: you to bow your head and to close your eyes. Please,
52:27
Speaker 1: I just want to ask you about the set of
52:30
Speaker 1: your sails. That's all you see. I cannot get aboard
52:36
Speaker 1: your boat and set your sails for you. Could. It
52:46
Speaker 1: be the reason the journey has lacked so much joy
52:49
Speaker 1: is that you have anticipated the stress and promoted the worry,
53:04
Speaker 1: rather than beginning each day with a quiet confidence that
53:09
Speaker 1: you'll let God be God. It all begins with who's
53:19
Speaker 1: in charge, And of course that must take you to
53:26
Speaker 1: the cross, where He finished the work God gave him
53:31
Speaker 1: to do. He paid the full penalty for your sins,
53:36
Speaker 1: and he only hours later rose from the dead and
53:40
Speaker 1: lives to give you his kind of life. There are
53:46
Speaker 1: friends around you, who've come to know the Savior, and
53:48
Speaker 1: they're praying right now for people like you. If a pastor,
53:52
Speaker 1: the'll help you find your way to the prayer room.
53:55
Speaker 1: Very carefully trained and dedicated men and women will pray
53:59
Speaker 1: with you about your decision for Christ today, our Father.
54:09
Speaker 1: In this message, we have thought and talked about life,
54:17
Speaker 1: life as it has been dealt us, in some cases
54:21
Speaker 1: from a human perspective, unfair, hard to deal with, and
54:29
Speaker 1: in some days unbearable. I'm grateful that you're the God
54:35
Speaker 1: of such times, and none of them are out of
54:39
Speaker 1: your control. I pray for those who have so carefully
54:44
Speaker 1: and faithfully listened to your truth. We've heard things that
54:51
Speaker 1: we'll never read in a secular magazine or a daily newspaper.
54:56
Speaker 1: We've heard things that most teachers will never tell us.
55:01
Speaker 1: Your word abides forever, May it find lodging, and may
55:08
Speaker 1: it literally change our attitudes. I also pray Lord that
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Speaker 1: you will bring us to a deeper level of communication
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Speaker 1: with one another, especially with you. How wasted are the
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Speaker 1: times we give you our cliches in prayer. How foolish
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Speaker 1: are the moments where we give you facts and reports?
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Speaker 1: You want the splotnah of our souls you want the
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Speaker 1: deepest of our affections. Free us to be that way
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Speaker 1: with others, Free us to be who you meant us
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Speaker 1: to be, children of the Living God. And I pray
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Speaker 1: finally for those who have never given.
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Speaker 2: Their hearts and lives to Jesus Christ, that you would
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Speaker 2: bring them to faith in your time, by your power
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Speaker 2: and for your glory. In the matchless name of Jesus Christ,
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Speaker 2: we pray Amen.
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Speaker 3: The preceding message, Set Your Sales for Joy, was copyrighted
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Speaker 3: in nineteen ninety and the sound recording was copyrighted in
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Speaker 3: two thousand eight by Charles R. Swindall, Inc. All rights
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Speaker 3: are reserved world wide.