What am I, boys and girls? How do you know what I am? How do you know for a fact I’m not a super hero? For all you kids know, I could be Mr. Incredible. Maybe my day job as a mild-mannered inner city pastor is just a cover for my real calling as a middle-aged, slightly overweight crime fighter with cool friends. I’m strong you know. Once I helped carry Heather Simon’s piano down some stairs. I could beat any of you at arm wrestling.Or maybe I’m a closet rock musician with a mumbling problem. I own a bass guitar. My guitar stands right beside my desk every day while I’m at work, just begging me to play with it. So maybe, just maybe I’m a great bass player. Maybe I just took off the sunglasses, cut my hair and settled down with a new Mrs. How do you know I’m not a great musician?
How do people know what you really are? In the Bible passage we’re going to study today, a happy old man named Paul told some good friends to “conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ.” Paul told his friends to live their lives in such a way that people would know they’re Christians by how they behaved; people know us by what we do.
Isn’t that right? Isn’t that obvious? Is this a duck? Of course it is! How do we know? Well, if it walks like a duck, talks like duck, swims like a duck – it’s a duck! Right?
A farmer was once answering a bunch of survey questions. He told the surveyor how old he was, how much money he made, how many children he had, but then his questioner asked the farmer if he was a Christian. And when that question was asked, the old farmer said, “Oh I don’t know about that, you’ll have to ask my neighbors.” Do you understand what he meant? Only people who see my behavior every day can tell you what I really, truly am.
What are you? What does your behavior say you are? I’m no great super hero, am I? Maybe I’m a little strong or at least stronger than you guys, but I’m not super hero strong. I would look silly in red tights. That would be a creepy thing to see! And do you know how you kids can know for a fact I’m no great, bass playing musician? Just ask me to play my bass! I’m a terrible bass player! I’m such a bad bass player they ought to take away my bass guitar…
What are you? What does your behavior say you are?
This certainly isn’t a question just for the kids, is it? Open your Bibles to the first chapter of Philippians. It would be criminal of us to do any study of joyous and genuine Christian faith without spending at least a little time in Philippians. In this short little thank you note from the Apostle Paul to his dear Philippian friends, we are treated to a lovely picture of the joyous, genuine Christian life. We see how joy behaves…
Paul and Timothy, servants [slaves] of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God's grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure (“sin cera”) and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ--to the glory and praise of God.
Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. Because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly.
It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.
Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that through my being with you again your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me. Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved--and that by God. For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him, since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have. (NIV)
Most people say the book of Philippians is all about joy. They point to the fact that the word joy is used at least 19 times in the letter. But Warren Wiersbe says those folks are wrong. He says the book is about Jesus – Jesus appears over 40 times in the letter. Wiersbe says Paul is just so obviously in love with Jesus, joy just constantly bubbles to the surface. I love that.
But those arguments aside, what I love most about our Scripture passage today is that in this passage we get to see genuine Christian joy for what it really is. We get to see how genuine Christian joy behaves. The Apostle Paul, writing this letter as something of a thank you note for gifts received from the Philippians during his grim Roman imprisonment, is so overwhelmed with his LORD Jesus and his Christian joy it completely affects his behavior. We learn what genuine Christian joy looks like by watching the behavior and attitudes of the Apostle Paul. We learn who Paul is, we learn who Jesus is, we learn what joy is.
In this lovely chapter, we learn how genuine Christian joy always, always, always behaves. There are all sorts of glorious teaching points we could make here this morning, but there are four more important than all the rest. Folks, lest you have any doubt, lest you have any confusion in your mind whatsoever, here’s how joy always, always, always behaves.
Joy Adores The Church
First of all, genuine Christian joy adores the Church. Paul’s joyous love for the Philippian church is not some cold, objective, doctrinal thing nor is it driven by the special perfection of the Philippian church. Look at this passage. Joy recognizes the partnership of other people in this following Jesus, Gospel proclamation thing. Joy confidently recognizes not the perfection but the possibilities in other people also following Jesus. Joy sees the ongoing work of God in the lives of others. Joy fully understands we are all sharing the same grace and struggles. Joy is driven to love “all of you,” even the two cranky, arguing ladies mentioned at the beginning of chapter four. Joy loves the church; constantly thinking of and praying for her. And do you see what joy prays for the church here in verses 9-11? Joy prays for wisdom, discernment, purity, fruitfully righteous and truly glorious lives in every way. Joy adores the church.
It is fashionable these days to love God and despise or disparage the people of God. There is quite literally an entire cottage industry growing up around the idea that denigrating churches is a proper and acceptable sport for truly wise, sophisticated and spiritual people. Oh be careful little tongue, what you say! I don’t believe joy behaves that way. Joy adores the church, even as it recognizes the flaws and unholy imperfections of the people in the church. Joy looks for partnership, possibilities, shared grace and good in all the people of the church. Joy does not sit back and bitterly judge brothers and sisters from a safe distance; true joy is lovingly, prayerfully, laughingly mixing it up with people. Joy can’t help it; joy adores church.
Joy Suffers Sacredly
Secondly, joy suffers sacredly. Look again at verses 12-14. Joy isn’t at all bitter about suffering, injustice and terrible unfairness. While not masochistically enjoying suffering in some twisted way, joy is determined to sacredly redeem suffering for God’s glory. Joy turns what is suffering and fully satanic into something sacred and substantial. These chains have become something sacred to God. The entire Praetorian Guard has now heard the message! Isn’t that exciting? Isn’t that the coolest? These chains have even caused some meeker Christ followers to become emboldened, courageous and fearless. While I would certainly love and prefer to be sitting in Philippi enjoying a nice meal and glass of wine with all of you right now, this suffering is sacred and useful to me. Joy rejoices in chains. Joy rejoices in prison cells. Like the great Russian writer and Gulag prisoner Solzhenitsyn once said, joy makes me able to say “Bless you prison for all you have accomplished in my world.” Bless you prison! Joy suffers sacredly.
Joy Is Mission Focused
And then there’s the third one. Joy adores the church. Joy suffers sacredly. And then thirdly, joy is completely mission focused. Look again at verses 15-18. Joy fully understands some preachers are better than other preachers; some friends are more genuine than other friends. Joy is not naïve about other people and other ministries, but joy is not interested in wasting very much time pulling weeds out of the wheat. Joy says “who cares?” to all of that; whether from false motives or true, as long as the Gospel is preached, I am a happy camper!
Do you remember that story of Jesus and his disciples in Mark 9? Some disciples come to Jesus saying, “Teacher…we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.” And what did Jesus say? Don’t stop him! Whoever is not against us is for us! Fellas, we’re on a mission here. We’ve got stuff to do – anyone willing to help in any way with our mission is welcome to participate; there is always room in the club!
On Thursday, I stopped by SuperAmerica for a Diet Pepsi on the way back to the office after seeing Joy Bennett in the hospital. As I was standing in line, I couldn’t help but overhear the happy conversation of two, tiny little Asian girls behind me. Apparently, their young mother allowed them both to buy two large, pink boxes of bubble gum as a special treat. The two girls were very, very happy about the whole thing. For some reason, they began to talk about the people with whom they would now share their enormous supplies of gum. One planned to give some to daddy, the other to daddy and her big brother and then it was a piece of wonderful pink gum for the whole class at the preschool tomorrow. And then, in the most joyous, loud, sing-song and triumphant voice imaginable, one of the girls said, “Well, I’m going to give a piece of my gum to everyone! I’m going to share my gum with everyone in the whole world!”
That’s the truly joyous, mission-focused Christian! There is so much gum in the box, joy can’t imagine being stingy with it! Joy isn’t trying to own everything. Joy isn’t trying to hoard anything for itself. Joy doesn’t care who gets the credit – there is more than enough credit in the bubble gum box to go around. Joy doesn’t care if other people want to help out with gum distribution efforts. Joy just wants everyone to get some gum. Joy is always on a mission.
What would happen in this country if every Christian and every Church suddenly got joyously mission-focused? What would happen if we all stopped trying to police each other’s goofy doctrines and methods and got joyously mission-focused? What would happen if more and more of us actually said, “What does it matter? The important thing is that in every way whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.” Can any of us even imagine the impact we would have if we said that and actually meant it? Can we even conceive of such a wonderful thing? Joy is always on a mission; it is mission-focused.
Joy Is Hope Sustained
And then we come to the fourth and final joyous behavior prominently on display in this passage. Joy always adores the church, it always suffers sacredly, it is always mission-focused and, fourthly, it is always and forever completely driven and sustained by Christian hope. Look again at two of the most joyous, gorgeous and hopeful verses in all the Bible, verses 20-21.
I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
Joy is sustained by a sure, rock solid, earnest expectation and certain Christian hope telling us matter of factly that there is no losing this game we’re playing! Even speaking from the dark uncertainty of a prison cell, joy sees only victory. Joy will never be ashamed. Joy will never lack courage. Joy will never disgrace the name of Jesus, because joy is faithfully sustained by a constant hope and confidence. Joy cannot conceive of any losing scenario!
J. Vernon McGee tells the now famous story of a small church pastor who asked his congregation one Sunday evening to raise their hands in the air if they wanted to go to heaven. Everyone raised their hands except a little boy. The pastor stopped the service and asked the little boy, “Don’t you want to go to heaven, son?” The little boy replied, “Well sure, Pastor, but I thought you was getting a group going up tonight!” Christian joy is so bathed, driven and sustained by Christian hope it doesn’t mind if God is planning to get the group together tonight.
Joy doesn’t depend on the hope of eventually being released from prison. Joy doesn’t depend on what the Romans do. Joy doesn’t depend on the condition of the prison cell. Joy doesn’t even depend on how the Philippians respond to this letter or what happens to the Philippian church. Joy doesn’t depend on anybody’s bailout package or superficial political solutions to the nagging problems of life. Joy is only sustained by its rock solid hope in God. A sustaining hope in God is the only thing that will consistently keep our joy alive and kicking.
James Montgomery Boice, in his old 1971 commentary on this passage, tells a strange story from the days of Lawrence of Arabia. Apparently, when Lawrence of Arabia was in Paris after World War I with some of his Arab friends, he took some time to show them the sights of the city. But his Arab friends weren’t very interested in tourist spots. What fascinated them more than anything was the faucet in the bathtub of their hotel room. They could turn it on and off; they could get all the water they wanted whenever they wanted it. Some time later, when they were ready to leave Paris and return home, Lawrence found them in the bathroom with wrenches trying to detach the faucet from the wall. “You see, sir, it is very dry in Arabia. What we need are these faucets. If we have them we will all the water we want.” They liked the faucets, but they had no comprehension of the pipeline making them productive.
While we all quite appropriately might chuckle at that story, how often do we more or less do the same thing when it comes to our Christian joy? How often do we forget joy only flows through our lives when we are solidly connected to the pipeline Jesus made available to us? Joy is properly and meaningfully sustained only by our genuine hope and solid connection to Jesus. Connecting our faucet to any other hopeless pipeline will not sustain joy very long.
Folks, this is how joy behaves. It adores the church, sacredly suffers, focuses on the mission and is sustained by hope. Is this how we behave?
May these lovely words of Paul become a joy standard for all of us.
May we too be known by the joy we display!
Amen.
