June 30, 2025 • 31 mins
What if I told you that regardless of your circumstances, you simply cannot lose? That's the radical truth Paul communicates from his prison cell to the Philippian church. Looking at a man who's been beaten, shipwrecked, starved, rejected, and now faces possible execution, we'd expect despair. Instead, we hear the triumphant declaration: "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain."
This message explores how Paul's perspective transcends his immediate circumstances by understanding what we might call the "Christ pattern" – suffering leads to union with Christ, which leads to resurrection. Rather than viewing suffering as an unfortunate mishap or divine punishment, Paul reframes it as an invitation to participate in Christ's redemptive story.
Through personal anecdotes about spilled coffee and professional rejections that once seemed catastrophic, we see how easy it is to get trapped in momentary setbacks, losing all sense of perspective. Paul challenges this limited viewpoint by demonstrating how to "zoom out" and see our circumstances within the cosmic narrative of redemption.
The sermon also examines the fascinating origin story of the Philippian church – the first European church built on the conversions of a wealthy merchant woman, a formerly demon-possessed slave girl, and a Roman prison guard with PTSD. This unlikely beginning mirrors the counterintuitive message Paul later writes from his own imprisonment.
What would your future self say about the worries keeping you up tonight? What perspective might you gain from seeing your life through the lens of eternity? When we truly grasp that we're playing with house money – that whether we live or die, we belong to Christ – we discover the liberating truth that we simply cannot lose.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
camaraderie or something else, like you know,
joy and yeah, yeah, all right.
Well, we're in the middle ofour joy anyway series.
We're just week two of ourPhilippians series and this
morning, in our series calledjoy anyway, the sermon I want to
tell you is this the sermon iscan't lose.
I'm here to tell you thismorning.
If you take nothing else awayfrom the sermon, I'm here to
tell you that you can't lose.
(00:22):
A couple of weeks ago, actuallya couple of days ago on Monday,
before I go to that I was hereMonday morning and when we got
here there was hundreds of kidsthat were here for VBS.
Vbs was incredible.
So thanks to Ben and Isabel forthat wonderful week.
All the volunteers were here,over 200 kids and then over I
don't know how many dozens ofleaders, but just packed house.
But I'd had a tough weekend.
Just some things were going onin my life personally and so on,
(00:42):
and it was a struggle to gethere Monday morning and I wanted
to be here to greet the kidsand I was in a bit of a funk,
you know, and sometimes happens,and I was just kind of like
having a hard day on Monday aswell.
And so I get in here and I'mlike man, I'm just trying to be
nice to the kids and you know,be the, you know, and but then
about I don like I needsomething to kind of bring some
(01:02):
sunshine to my day.
So it dawned on me I should goto Starbucks coffee, because
that always helps, makes me feelbetter.
Are you with me?
So I'm driving to Starbucks andas I said that and as I decided
to do that, I already began tofeel better on the inside.
I'm like this is great, likewhat a moment here.
I'm driving to Starbucks.
I'm like I'm going to get outof here for a minute, go get my.
So I go into the drive-thru, Iorder a Pike Place tall with one
(01:24):
stevia and a splash of heavycream.
I'm like this is going to beincredible.
And as I got the cup I was like, thank you so much.
I could feel the grace of Godand the goodness of God just
fall over me in that moment andI was like this is going to the
office here and again, just thetroubles and the sorrow of the
weekend and the Monday morningwas like, were just like
(01:49):
dripping away from me.
It was incredible.
And I'm like, oh, before I sitdown.
I should use the bathroom.
So I'm like I'll go to thestaff bathroom and it was locked
.
I'm like, oh, someone's inthere.
So I'll going to put my coffeedown, because it's weird to use
the bathroom while you'reholding a cup of coffee.
(02:09):
So I put it down and I don'tknow what happened.
But the lid just flew off andthe cup like almost jumped out
of my hand, I kid you not.
And coffee went everywhere.
That ray of sunshine wasquickly clouded over.
(02:30):
I was like, wow, now I gotcoffee everywhere, the coffee I
wanted to drink.
That was going to make my day athousand times better.
It was just gone.
Every drop was out of there,maybe like a little tiny bit.
So I chugged that last littledrop.
It didn't do anything for mywell-being and I was like what
am I going to do?
So I called Jeff, our propertyguy.
I'm like Jeff, I'm so sorry.
He's our property guy, he'sawesome.
I go, I just spilled coffeeeverywhere.
(02:52):
Can you help me?
I don't know what to do, whatdo I use?
And he's like I got him, don'tworry.
I'm like, so he's cleaning itup.
I'm like thank you, jeff.
I go back to my office.
I was just discouraged, andKatie, in her infinite wisdom,
my wife's like, ryan, just goget another one.
And when she said it, the sunsort of burst through the clouds
(03:12):
again.
I was like I should do that.
That would be incredible, thankyou for permission.
And I was thinking, if I'm likeI walked in this time, I got
walking.
I'm like, hey, I'm back, darnit.
Here I am again.
I get the same drink.
(03:33):
And nobody said anything.
I was like, oh, darn it.
So I paid for the second oneagain, which is fair, that's
fine.
Actually, april and her crew upthere are really great.
So if you know April themanager, she's awesome.
So I ordered my second drink andI'm like, all right, well,
thanks for the, you know I paidfor it, whatever.
So I go back into the car.
As I'm getting in the car, itwas about this moment, as I'm
reaching to put the cup in thecup holder, that I realized the
(03:56):
problem was probably with thecup and the lids.
Because, I kid you not, andlook, I've been working out at
the gym a lot more with mysqueezing muscles, so I could
have squeezed it too hard.
But the lid again flew off andcoffee went all over my car.
I'm not kidding.
Now they know I'm a pastor inStarbucks and they're all like
(04:18):
hey, pastor.
So I couldn't storm in there andkick and scream and yell, but I
wanted to.
So I went in there and I'm like, I'm like hang on by a thread,
you know, and like I had a hardweekend.
Hard Sunday night, mondaymorning was, I mean, the kids
were great, but I was like I'mjust like I'm trying to get back
to work and I'm here again.
(04:42):
I'm like hey, jeff, because hehelped me with the mess over
here.
They gave to me for free.
And, by the way, on ThursdayJeff said you know, ryan, after
VBS was over, the biggest mess Ihad to clean up all week with
kids 200 kids was your coffeemess, man, my bad.
I got the third cup of coffeeand I drove back to the office.
(05:05):
But I was like in that moment,everything was that moment.
Do you know what I mean?
Every emotion I was feeling inthat moment was everything.
For all of time, that's all Icould see, feel and experience
was that moment of despair andangst and utter lostness.
I was like, ah, and I couldn'tsee out of that.
This is very much like Paulbeing in prison in Rome.
(05:27):
It's very similar, nearlyidentical.
Just trust me on this and I'llget there, but it's sort of like
the same.
Paul, of course, writesPhilippians a letter to the
church in Philippi while he's inprison in Rome in about 62 AD.
So 62 years after the birth ofChrist or something like that,
(05:50):
30 years after Jesus has gone tobe with the Father, paul writes
this letter Now.
He was in Philippi about 12years prior, about 49 or 50 AD.
Here's Philippi in case youdidn't know your geography, it's
part of Greece and Paul goes tovisit Philippi in Acts, chapter
16, 12 years earlier than whenhe wrote this letter to them.
(06:10):
So he's writing this letter toa church he planted 12 years
earlier.
Now you ought to know aboutPhilippi.
Philippi was a Roman colony,which means in every way it was
like a mini Rome.
They identified as Romancitizens because they really
were a part of the empire andthey had Roman traditions, roman
customs.
They spoke like Romans, all thethings.
They really were a part of theempire and they had Roman
traditions, roman customs.
They spoke like Romans, all thethings they did were like Rome
(06:31):
and they're like a mini colonyof Rome.
In fact, a lot of ex-Romansoldiers landed here in
retirement and that's like theFlorida of this part of the
world, and so they go there andrather, there's this incredible
Roman influence over Philippi.
In fact, the imperial cultwhich was this is an ancient
picture of Rome.
Thank you to Olivia via chat,gpt.
(06:54):
There's what Rome might havelooked like in the ancient world
, but this part of Rome, theimperial cult, where they
worshipped the Caesars both pastand present, was very much
prevalent and prominent in thispart of the world.
So everyone in Rome worshippedthe Caes and prominent in this
part of the world.
So everyone in Rome worshippedthe Caesars.
This was part of the imperialcult.
They would worship the Caesarsas God, as Lord.
And look, the Romans didn'tmind if you worshipped other
(07:16):
gods.
That was totally fine.
There was lots of room forother gods and for polytheism.
But it was only a problem ifyou worshipped your God above
the Caesar and if your worshipof your God ever threatened the
power or the prestige of theCaesar.
That was a problem.
Well, as Paul plants thisChristian church, the Christians
in this part of Philippi around50 AD, they began to say things
(07:40):
like oh, you know what Caesarisn't Lord, jesus is Lord.
Well, again, this is the kindof thing that will get you
killed in this part of the RomanEmpire, because you can worship
any God you want to, as long asyou worship Caesar above and
against any other God.
Well, the Christians, we don'tworship Caesar, we worship Jesus
.
They're like what's the problem?
That's what will get you killed.
Paul ultimately gets beheadedby the Roman Empire years later
(08:03):
because of this very same thing.
So this is the church that getsplanted in this part of the
world, in Philippi, in this veryRoman imperial cult worship
sort of way.
It's all Gentiles.
In fact, it's the very firstchurch plant in Europe.
So Paul goes there with acouple of people and they plant
this church.
It's the first Christian churchin Europe.
(08:25):
So their tagline online waschurch coming soon to Europe,
thank you.
I didn't know if that jokewould work or not.
And here's how it was planted.
It's incredible.
This story is incredible.
So they go there and Paul would.
Typically, when he'd plant achurch, he would show up at the
synagogue.
Well, it's a very Gentile area.
There's no synagogue inPhilippi in this time of the
world.
(08:45):
So he's like, okay, well, Idon't know where the Jews are
hanging out.
I'll start with the Jews andwe'll kind of convert some of
them and we'll go on from thereand convert a whole bunch of
Gentiles.
The Philippian church becomes achurch of mostly Gentiles.
But for now he goes, sellspurple cloth.
She's very, very wealthy andthey begin to talk and Paul
(09:09):
converts her to Christianity.
She gives her life to Jesus andhe baptizes her, just dunks her
in the river right there andshe's like hey, whatever happens
here, I'll open my house towhatever community gets started.
So if you're doing a Jesuscommunity, we can have it in my
house.
Paul's like great, I'll callyou thanks.
So they leave and as they'rewalking, paul and Silas go
walking around Philippi lookingfor more converts, they notice
(09:30):
there's a slave girl followingthem, a young girl who's a slave
.
She's owned by some people andshe's actually demon-possessed.
So she's like chirping andyelling at Paul and Silas the
whole time, just yelling at them, and Paul and Silas are mostly
ignoring her.
But then finally the text saysPaul gets annoyed with her.
You know, like you do whenyou've got a demon-possessed
slave girl following you, it's alittle annoying and he turns
(09:52):
around and he casts the demonout of her, which is awesome.
Like what did that look like?
And then she kind of becomes,you know, sort of back in her
right mind and they convert theslave girl and she becomes a
Christian.
The second convert in Europe, inall of Europe Lydia.
Then this girl.
It's incredible.
(10:14):
Well, the slave owners find outand they're ticked because this
demon apparently could predictthe future, and so they would
use the slave girl as a way tomake money.
So they would have, they wouldkind of gallivant her around and
they would use her and thisdemon that could predict the
future, and they would have thisgirl predict people's futures
and they would pay money forthis.
Well, the jig is up because thedemon's gone and their hustle
is over.
And look, this is not cool.
(10:34):
They go and they find Paul andSilas and they drag them to town
.
There's a huge riot, they beatand flog Paul and Silas and then
they throw them in jail.
This is great.
This is the beginning of achurch plant, by the way.
Well, in jail, they're like injail, and it's like midnight
comes.
It's Paul and Silas and there'sa guard that's watching them.
It's his job to make sure theydon't leave.
And they're like what should wedo?
Let's start praising andworshiping God like you do in
(10:55):
the middle of a jail at midnightthey start praising God and all
of a sudden an earthquakestrikes this region of Philippi
and shakes everything like inthis thunderous way.
Well then the doors burst open,their chains fall off and like,
oh, I guess we're free to go.
And then the guard wakes up.
The guard can't see them.
He panics like, oh my gosh, myprisoners, who I was supposed to
(11:17):
keep an eye on, they've escaped.
They're gonna the Roman, myRoman officials, they're gonna
kill me.
So he pulls out his sword tokill himself and Paul says dude,
don't do that, relax, wehaven't left, we're right here.
Well, they begin to chat andthey convert the guard and he
becomes a Christian and joinsthis church that now will be
housed in Lydia's house.
It's incredible, like this isnot really how you would draw up
(11:41):
a church plant.
Like, oh, okay, step onestrategy let's go to the river
and dunk somebody.
Step two we'll cast a demon outof a slave girl and cause a
riot.
Step three go to jail andconvert the guard.
That's what we're going to dohere.
I mean, I think about like howhilarious this first church
council would have been.
It would have been made up oflike a rich merchant woman who
sold purple cloth, ademon-possessed slave girl and a
(12:02):
Roman guard is suffering fromPTSD.
Like you, thought your councilwas weird, but this church
council is like it's wild.
And the church gets startedthere in Lydia's home and it
flourishes and thrives for 12years and Paul stays connected
with them for 12 years and theysend him gifts, they support
Paul financially in his missionas a church planter and he goes
(12:24):
around and does a lot morechurch plants and things.
And then, 12 years later, asthey've stayed connected, paul's
arrested again, in Rome thistime and he's in a Roman jail.
When he writes them, he writesthem because they heard he was
in jail and they send him a giftBecause the Philippians love
Paul and vice versa.
So they send him a gift tosupport him and encourage him.
He's in jail, let's encouragethe guy, and so they send him a
(12:46):
gift and he writes this letterback.
It's like a thank you letter.
Hey, thank you so much for allyou've done for me.
I appreciate it.
Thanks for your support, thanksfor the gift.
I love you, I've always lovedyou.
I want to bless you.
(13:11):
And he tells him a number ofhard and there's suffering and
pain as a result Whateverhappens, have joy.
So he tells them hey, have joyanyway.
Like, have joy anyway.
He tells them a number of timesrejoice, have joy.
Which is remarkable becausePaul has a number of reasons to
not have joy and if you hadn'tnoticed, I'm going to list them
off for you, just so you knowwhat they are.
Number one at this point, whilehe's writing the letter, he's in
prison.
(13:32):
He's in prison.
Not last time I was in prison,just kidding, I wasn't in prison
.
But, like you can imagine, it'snot a lot of joy going on in
many prisons.
I would imagine Now Paul'sprison was a bit different than
modern prisons.
It wasn't quite as what youmight picture in your head, but
it's an ancient world version ofprison.
It was more like a house arrest.
(13:52):
But he couldn't leave.
He was very restricted and hewas sort of hamstrung in every
way.
And Paul in prison says, hey,have joy, have joy anyways.
That's the name of our series.
How Clever Are we?
Also, there's these peopleoutside the prison that are
preaching the gospel, but in away like they're doing it out of
envy, out of jealousy.
It's like they don't have theright motivations and because of
how they're preaching, it'smaking trouble for Paul in
(14:16):
prison.
So, whatever they're saying anddoing, it's making it harder
for him.
He's like hey, they'repreaching a gospel out of envy,
out of spite, jealousy, and it'smaking me, it's making it
harder for me in here.
So these people preaching thegospel are causing trouble for
Paul.
Thirdly, there's this he mightdie.
Now we know that Paul doesn'tdie.
For a few more years he'sbeheaded again by the Roman
(14:36):
Empire.
But in this moment he doesn'tknow.
He might live, he also mightdie.
He has no idea how this wholething will turn out.
We do, because we can read backon history.
He doesn't know.
And then, lastly, there's thisPaul has suffered immensely his
(14:58):
whole life, or this latter part.
He's suffered incredibleamounts of pain and suffering
and heartache.
And yet here's what Paul writesto the Philippians hey, but
what does it matter?
What does it matter?
What do you mean?
What does it matter?
It all matters.
Those guys outside are makingit harder for you inside.
(15:21):
You're stuck in prison unjustly.
You've been beaten, flogged,shipwrecked, you've lost almost
everything.
What do you mean?
What does it matter, paul?
What are you talking about?
Have you lost your mind?
Paul writes what does it matter?
Then he goes on hey, theimportant thing is that every
way, whether from false motivesor true Christ is being preached
.
In other words, hey, I knowthey're preaching this gospel.
(15:41):
That's making it harder.
Whatever, it's cool, thegospel's being preached.
Either way, it's being preached.
Then he goes on and because ofthis I rejoice, I have joy.
Paul says yes, and I willcontinue to have joy and rejoice
, for I know that, through yourprayers and god's provision of
the spirit of jesus christ, whathas happened to me will turn
out for my deliverance, mysalvation.
Now, I don't know if he meansI'll literally get out of jail
(16:04):
or prison or something deeperand grander than just I don't
know what he means, butnonetheless it's for my
deliverance.
I eagerly expect, I expect hewrites and I hope that I will in
no way be ashamed but will havesufficient courage so that, now
as always, christ will beexalted in my body, whether by
life or by death.
For me to live is Christ, hesays.
(16:28):
If I live, it's Christ and if Idie, it's gain.
Eugene Peterson I love this inhis message paraphrase says it
like this.
He quotes Paul hey, alive I'mChrist's messenger, dead I'm
Christ's prize.
Life versus even more life.
I can't lose.
(16:49):
What does it matter?
If I live, it's Christ, If Idie, it's gain.
I can't lose.
I can't lose.
By the way, you should knowthis.
This isn't a death wish of Paul.
When Paul says, hey, if I livegood and if I die good, and if
(17:14):
they're preaching the gospel,that actually makes it harder
for me, good, is he a death wish?
No, he's not suicidal in prison, not at all.
He's not succumbed to this sortof sorrow.
He's not like living on, he'snot like hanging on by a thread.
Emotionally, he's not sort ofin this depressed state.
No, he's full of life.
When you read all ofPhilippians, he's full of, like,
(17:34):
vibrant life.
No, he's full of life.
When you read all ofPhilippians, he's full of
vibrant life.
He's eyes wide open.
He knows what's going on.
So what is it then?
It's not a death wish.
It's also not this.
It's not just trying to bepositive while the world is
falling apart around him.
He's like oh, it's but a fleshwound, it's okay.
Oh, thank you.
By the way, I don't get thatmovie at all.
It's not funny to me at all.
(17:55):
I just don't get it.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
No, I know, I'm not any MontyPython fans in the house.
Okay, fair enough, I don't getit.
He's not in the prison cellsinging, you know, trying to be
positive, the sun will come outtomorrow.
Bet your bottom dollar thattomorrow there'll be sun.
(18:15):
Meanwhile the guard's like shutthat dude up.
He cannot sing.
He's not just trying to bepositive, ignoring what's really
happening.
He knows what's going on andalso he's not just like some guy
who's out of touch in someivory tower lecturing the
peasants down below.
You know, sometimes in ourculture we have these very
affluent, wealthy people wholive in our ivory towers who
sort of talk down to the rest ofthe people and how you'll be
(18:38):
fine, it's okay, you don't know,you're living up in there on
the hill, the house on the hill.
I'm down here struggling, butthat isn't Paul.
You can't say to Paul Paul, youdon't know, you don't even
understand.
Because he does.
Paul gets it, he totally getsit, he understands.
Paul's been beaten.
He's been starved.
He's been in prison a couple oftimes.
(18:59):
Paul has been.
He's been rejected many times.
He's been betrayed by closefriends and others have been
abandoned on a number ofoccasions, burdened, shipwrecked
three times.
He's been anxious in many ways,sometimes deeply discouraged.
Paul's been continually tested.
Paul knows what's up.
He knows the depths ofsuffering and pain, abandonment,
(19:20):
rejection.
He knows all of it intimatelywell.
And yet Paul says hey, I can'tlose.
If I live, great, I'll gopreach the gospel some more.
There's some folks who mightwant to hear it If I die, great,
I'll go be with Christ.
He's not being cavalier.
He knows in the deepest partsof himself that I can't lose, I
(19:46):
can't lose.
This is why, then too, paulwrites this in Corinthians we're
hard pressed on every side.
We've been pressed but notcrushed.
We're struck down but we're notdestroyed, always carrying in
the body the death of jesus, sothat the life of jesus may be
revealed in us.
In other words, one of myfavorite sayings paul is playing
(20:08):
with house money.
Are you with me?
House money, it's house money.
Some of you today need to justhear hey, you've got house money
, let it roll.
Yeah, house money.
Whether I live, it's for christ.
If I die, it's also I'll go bewith christ.
(20:29):
Okay.
Paul knows in a deeper way tothe christ pattern you can see
all over his writing.
He knows that suffering leadsto union with Christ and then to
resurrection.
So suffering is not just someunfortunate mishap.
It's not just a misfortune, orlike a failure, no suffering.
Paul reframes suffering as likesomehow union or an invitation
(20:50):
to union with Christ, becauseJesus suffered.
Now look, I know we don't haveto talk about suffering, I get
it, we live in this countrywhich is praise God too, by the
way but like where we sort ofhave pulled ourselves up by our
bootstraps and we've overcomeall kinds of odds, and good for
us, but we don't love suffering.
You know why?
Because suffering won't get youclicks, by the way.
But this is the Jesus story.
(21:13):
He suffered immensely and soPaul sees suffering as this
beginning of a union with Christ.
It's something deeper, moremysterious going on.
It's union with Christ, and heknows that when you're united
with Christ in a suffering likehim, you can be united with
Christ in a resurrection likehim.
But of course it will cost you,because it costs Jesus's life.
(21:38):
So Paul sees the suffering andthe death of Christ as a model
for us, and suffering in ourlives invites us to be a part of
the Christ narrative, theChrist story, the life of Christ
.
When we suffer, whatever thereasons and I'm not, I'm not, I
don't believe that God causesall kinds of stuff.
I don't believe that.
But, whatever the reason, weare invited into union with
Christ and to join him in hissuffering, and then his death,
(22:02):
and then his resurrection.
Resurrection is, of course, theonly way to new life.
That suffering isn't the end.
It's a gateway to invitationwith Christ and a gateway to
death and then, of course,resurrection.
There's new life on the otherside.
So Paul can be unafraid.
He's afraid of nothing, andthat makes him very dangerous.
By the way, he views his ownlife as like caught up in this
(22:25):
deeply meaningful, global,cosmic story of Christ that he
knows really well, and it's allthen filled with this beautiful
Christ pattern suffering, Christand resurrection, and then he
can have peace and joy, becausesuffering isn't the end.
But he writes this too.
I love this.
(22:45):
He writes in Philippians I wantto know Christ.
By the way, if you want to knowChrist, be careful.
Following Jesus is not thatyou'll be healthy, wealthy and
wise.
We've tricked ourselves with afalse gospel.
I think in many ways your lifemight get worse if you start
(23:07):
following Jesus.
Jesus is dead, paul knows.
He says I want to follow Christ, I want to know Christ
intimately, know him.
I want to know him like on adeeply intimate level.
Yes, to know the power ofresurrection.
And we all said amen, we loveresurrection, life, yes, let's
go.
And participation, paul says inhis sufferings, becoming like
(23:28):
him in his death.
Man, you want to know Christ?
I'm just telling you, becareful.
This is the Christ pattern.
May you know Christ and thepower of his resurrection and
join him in his suffering bybecoming like him in his death.
But suffering, then, isn't theend.
Suffering is the place ofredemption.
(23:50):
It's the beginnings of aredemptive story.
Death doesn't end the story,neither does suffering or pain.
It's the gateway into unionwith Christ and ultimately to
something redemptive story.
Death doesn't end the story,neither does suffering or pain.
It's the gateway into unionwith Christ and ultimately to
something redemptive.
I love that.
See, paul is somehow able, inthis moment of being stuck in
prison, he's able to zoom out.
Sometimes, after you drop yourcoffee twice, all you can see is
(24:14):
like this moment twice.
All you can see is this moment,you know.
But if you're able to zoom outand take a deep breath, oh,
there's a lot more going on here.
There's a cosmic story of theChrist narrative and somehow I'm
maybe involved in a part.
This moment seems horrible andthere's all kinds of really
truly awful things happening.
If I can zoom out a tad, I canhave a grander picture of life
(24:36):
and the past, the present, thefuture, the cosmic redemption of
all things according to thescriptures.
And Paul, by the way, who'sgotten old in his age.
He's sort of old-wisen Paul.
He can see in the zoomed-outway now, which makes me wonder
like what would young Paul havethought about this?
Young Paul was not quite thismaybe mature and restrained and
(24:59):
measured.
Young Paul was an absolutezealot.
Remember young Paul?
This was Paul.
He writes about himself.
He writes this later on.
He says hey, from the tribe ofBenjamin, I was a learned
Pharisee, a Hebrew of Hebrews, azealot persecuting the church.
Righteousness based on the law.
I was faultless and flawless.
I mean he was the church.
Righteousness based on the law.
I was faultless and flawless.
(25:19):
I mean he was the man Paul was.
He was him, as the kids say.
I mean he was up at 4 am everysingle morning, drinking a
gallon of lemon and salt water,meditating for another hour,
eating a wholesome breakfast,going for a two-mile run nay, a
10-mile run.
Came back, read the entire newDavid Goggins book in one
sitting, did his morning prayersall by 5 am.
(25:40):
That was Paul and now Paul'slike I don't know.
What does it matter?
Either way, I win.
I think, young Paul, we're notstaying in prison, we're getting
out of here.
Let's break out of here.
And those guys preaching afalse gospel, let's go fight
those dudes.
Shut those guys preaching afalse gospel, let's go fight
those dudes.
Shut those guys up.
I'm not dying in here, I can'tdie.
God needs me, the world needsme.
(26:02):
I think Paul would have bustedout of there with that young men
energy.
I love it.
But old Paul is different.
If I live, great, if I die,fine.
Yeah, I wonder what old manPaul would say to younger man
Paul if they could be in thesame room together.
(26:22):
I think old man Paul would sayto young Paul hey dude, hey,
dude, hey, hey, chill out, man,we're going to be okay, we can't
lose.
We can't lose, we can't lose,we're going to be okay.
You ever get so caught up in themoment like that moment's all
you can see and it meanseverything.
I remember vividly coaching,travel, sports as a young man,
(26:47):
both baseball and softball andlacrosse, and I swear on one
random Tuesday night 12 yearsago in the middle of a game, in
the fifth inning, there was onepitch that went awry and in that
moment I was like no, as thoughthat one pitch meant everything
(27:09):
and everybody for decades willbe talking about that one pitch
in the middle of the fifthinning, on a random Tuesday
night 12 years ago in Elk River,minnesota.
I'm going to tell you nobodycares, nobody cares, nobody
remembers that night, that onepitch, nobody cares.
When I first moved to Minnesota,I applied for a job.
(27:30):
You might know the story.
I applied for a job as a youthpastor in a church in town that
will remain nameless, and theynarrowed it down to just me.
I was 26 years old, full ofyoung man energy, was going to
save the world and I'm like Igot this job.
They narrowed it down to justme how can I miss?
And they decided, afterdeciding between Ryan and nobody
, they went with nobody.
(27:52):
My world crumbled.
I'm like unbelievable, I can't.
And actually I didn't scream, Iwas actually.
I was crying.
I bawled like I was crying,like I can't.
How will I ever recover fromthis rejection?
How will this ever?
My life is ruined.
It's over.
I'll never be a pastor.
(28:13):
I might as well mail it in fromnow on.
You know, if old man Ryan couldgo visit him now, I'd be like
dude, it's all right, you'regoing to be fine, relax, you
can't lose, you're going to beokay.
It's easy to get lost, isn't itLike in this moment, or this
(28:35):
emotion, or this failure or thisthought or or this argument,
and we get stuck, like in this,we can't get out of it.
I mean, paul could have easilydescended into self-pity and
spiraled out of control in theand sometimes we do we lose all
joy and hope and peace and weget consumed by this thing.
(28:59):
What if we could zoom out?
What if we could zoom out justa little bit?
And I wonder, you know, becausesome of the things that you
worried about 20 years ago or 10years ago if you're younger,
maybe like two years ago, youmight laugh at them now, like
why was I worried about that?
Like what if the older versionof you could go back and visit
that younger?
You'll be fine, it's okay.
Or how about now?
(29:19):
What are the things you'reworried about now that are just
like a lot?
Well, I want to ask you, whatmight 20 years from now, you say
, to now you Imagine, like 20years from what would that?
What would that version of youcome and say to you what they
say to you?
Or one more step further whatwould the age to come?
(29:41):
You, when god restores allthings, you have this view of
the whole thing past, present,future, the cosmic redemption of
all things.
Oh, that one though.
Oh man, I think that version ofyou might say something like
hey, you can't lose.
You can't lose, rejoice andhave joy.
Anyway, I've got to get out ofhere.
Here's what we're going to do.
(30:01):
We're going to sing a song, likewe always do, and we're going
to pray over you if you want it,if you want to this morning, if
you're in the midst ofsuffering, if you're in the
middle of some turmoil and somedifficult times, if you've got
to go until you can sneak out Iknow we're over time, but if
that's you, if you're like, hey,I'm in the midst of something
like a prison or dropping acoffee twice or whatever, and
(30:23):
you want to know Christ and thepower of his resurrection and
join with him in his sufferingby becoming like him in his
death, I want you to comeforward and we're going to pray
that over you.
We're going to have fourstations up front, just find
anyone that's open.
As the band plays, we're goingto anoint you with oil and say
this may you know Christ and thepower of his resurrection and
may you join with him in hissuffering and become like him in
(30:46):
his death.
I will warn you, this is adangerous prayer, not because
God will somehow unleash allkinds of tragedy now because you
prayed this prayer.
That's not what God is like.
But I'm just saying, if youwant to know Christ, this is the
Christ pattern Suffering deathbut of course resurrection.
So we'll play and we'll haveyou come.
If you want to, no pressure.
(31:06):
But if you come forward, we'llanoint you and pray this prayer
for you.
So amen.
camaraderie or something else, like you know,
joy and yeah, yeah, all right.
Well, we're in the middle ofour joy anyway series.
We're just week two of ourPhilippians series and this
morning, in our series calledjoy anyway, the sermon I want to
tell you is this the sermon iscan't lose.
I'm here to tell you thismorning.
If you take nothing else awayfrom the sermon, I'm here to
tell you that you can't lose.
(00:22):
A couple of weeks ago, actuallya couple of days ago on Monday,
before I go to that I was hereMonday morning and when we got
here there was hundreds of kidsthat were here for VBS.
Vbs was incredible.
So thanks to Ben and Isabel forthat wonderful week.
All the volunteers were here,over 200 kids and then over I
don't know how many dozens ofleaders, but just packed house.
But I'd had a tough weekend.
Just some things were going onin my life personally and so on,
(00:42):
and it was a struggle to gethere Monday morning and I wanted
to be here to greet the kidsand I was in a bit of a funk,
you know, and sometimes happens,and I was just kind of like
having a hard day on Monday aswell.
And so I get in here and I'mlike man, I'm just trying to be
nice to the kids and you know,be the, you know, and but then
about I don like I needsomething to kind of bring some
(01:02):
sunshine to my day.
So it dawned on me I should goto Starbucks coffee, because
that always helps, makes me feelbetter.
Are you with me?
So I'm driving to Starbucks andas I said that and as I decided
to do that, I already began tofeel better on the inside.
I'm like this is great, likewhat a moment here.
I'm driving to Starbucks.
I'm like I'm going to get outof here for a minute, go get my.
So I go into the drive-thru, Iorder a Pike Place tall with one
(01:24):
stevia and a splash of heavycream.
I'm like this is going to beincredible.
And as I got the cup I was like, thank you so much.
I could feel the grace of Godand the goodness of God just
fall over me in that moment andI was like this is going to the
office here and again, just thetroubles and the sorrow of the
weekend and the Monday morningwas like, were just like
(01:49):
dripping away from me.
It was incredible.
And I'm like, oh, before I sitdown.
I should use the bathroom.
So I'm like I'll go to thestaff bathroom and it was locked
.
I'm like, oh, someone's inthere.
So I'll going to put my coffeedown, because it's weird to use
the bathroom while you'reholding a cup of coffee.
(02:09):
So I put it down and I don'tknow what happened.
But the lid just flew off andthe cup like almost jumped out
of my hand, I kid you not.
And coffee went everywhere.
That ray of sunshine wasquickly clouded over.
(02:30):
I was like, wow, now I gotcoffee everywhere, the coffee I
wanted to drink.
That was going to make my day athousand times better.
It was just gone.
Every drop was out of there,maybe like a little tiny bit.
So I chugged that last littledrop.
It didn't do anything for mywell-being and I was like what
am I going to do?
So I called Jeff, our propertyguy.
I'm like Jeff, I'm so sorry.
He's our property guy, he'sawesome.
I go, I just spilled coffeeeverywhere.
(02:52):
Can you help me?
I don't know what to do, whatdo I use?
And he's like I got him, don'tworry.
I'm like, so he's cleaning itup.
I'm like thank you, jeff.
I go back to my office.
I was just discouraged, andKatie, in her infinite wisdom,
my wife's like, ryan, just goget another one.
And when she said it, the sunsort of burst through the clouds
(03:12):
again.
I was like I should do that.
That would be incredible, thankyou for permission.
And I was thinking, if I'm likeI walked in this time, I got
walking.
I'm like, hey, I'm back, darnit.
Here I am again.
I get the same drink.
(03:33):
And nobody said anything.
I was like, oh, darn it.
So I paid for the second oneagain, which is fair, that's
fine.
Actually, april and her crew upthere are really great.
So if you know April themanager, she's awesome.
So I ordered my second drink andI'm like, all right, well,
thanks for the, you know I paidfor it, whatever.
So I go back into the car.
As I'm getting in the car, itwas about this moment, as I'm
reaching to put the cup in thecup holder, that I realized the
(03:56):
problem was probably with thecup and the lids.
Because, I kid you not, andlook, I've been working out at
the gym a lot more with mysqueezing muscles, so I could
have squeezed it too hard.
But the lid again flew off andcoffee went all over my car.
I'm not kidding.
Now they know I'm a pastor inStarbucks and they're all like
(04:18):
hey, pastor.
So I couldn't storm in there andkick and scream and yell, but I
wanted to.
So I went in there and I'm like, I'm like hang on by a thread,
you know, and like I had a hardweekend.
Hard Sunday night, mondaymorning was, I mean, the kids
were great, but I was like I'mjust like I'm trying to get back
to work and I'm here again.
(04:42):
I'm like hey, jeff, because hehelped me with the mess over
here.
They gave to me for free.
And, by the way, on ThursdayJeff said you know, ryan, after
VBS was over, the biggest mess Ihad to clean up all week with
kids 200 kids was your coffeemess, man, my bad.
I got the third cup of coffeeand I drove back to the office.
(05:05):
But I was like in that moment,everything was that moment.
Do you know what I mean?
Every emotion I was feeling inthat moment was everything.
For all of time, that's all Icould see, feel and experience
was that moment of despair andangst and utter lostness.
I was like, ah, and I couldn'tsee out of that.
This is very much like Paulbeing in prison in Rome.
(05:27):
It's very similar, nearlyidentical.
Just trust me on this and I'llget there, but it's sort of like
the same.
Paul, of course, writesPhilippians a letter to the
church in Philippi while he's inprison in Rome in about 62 AD.
So 62 years after the birth ofChrist or something like that,
(05:50):
30 years after Jesus has gone tobe with the Father, paul writes
this letter Now.
He was in Philippi about 12years prior, about 49 or 50 AD.
Here's Philippi in case youdidn't know your geography, it's
part of Greece and Paul goes tovisit Philippi in Acts, chapter
16, 12 years earlier than whenhe wrote this letter to them.
(06:10):
So he's writing this letter toa church he planted 12 years
earlier.
Now you ought to know aboutPhilippi.
Philippi was a Roman colony,which means in every way it was
like a mini Rome.
They identified as Romancitizens because they really
were a part of the empire andthey had Roman traditions, roman
customs.
They spoke like Romans, all thethings.
They really were a part of theempire and they had Roman
traditions, roman customs.
They spoke like Romans, all thethings they did were like Rome
(06:31):
and they're like a mini colonyof Rome.
In fact, a lot of ex-Romansoldiers landed here in
retirement and that's like theFlorida of this part of the
world, and so they go there andrather, there's this incredible
Roman influence over Philippi.
In fact, the imperial cultwhich was this is an ancient
picture of Rome.
Thank you to Olivia via chat,gpt.
(06:54):
There's what Rome might havelooked like in the ancient world
, but this part of Rome, theimperial cult, where they
worshipped the Caesars both pastand present, was very much
prevalent and prominent in thispart of the world.
So everyone in Rome worshippedthe Caes and prominent in this
part of the world.
So everyone in Rome worshippedthe Caesars.
This was part of the imperialcult.
They would worship the Caesarsas God, as Lord.
And look, the Romans didn'tmind if you worshipped other
(07:16):
gods.
That was totally fine.
There was lots of room forother gods and for polytheism.
But it was only a problem ifyou worshipped your God above
the Caesar and if your worshipof your God ever threatened the
power or the prestige of theCaesar.
That was a problem.
Well, as Paul plants thisChristian church, the Christians
in this part of Philippi around50 AD, they began to say things
(07:40):
like oh, you know what Caesarisn't Lord, jesus is Lord.
Well, again, this is the kindof thing that will get you
killed in this part of the RomanEmpire, because you can worship
any God you want to, as long asyou worship Caesar above and
against any other God.
Well, the Christians, we don'tworship Caesar, we worship Jesus
.
They're like what's the problem?
That's what will get you killed.
Paul ultimately gets beheadedby the Roman Empire years later
(08:03):
because of this very same thing.
So this is the church that getsplanted in this part of the
world, in Philippi, in this veryRoman imperial cult worship
sort of way.
It's all Gentiles.
In fact, it's the very firstchurch plant in Europe.
So Paul goes there with acouple of people and they plant
this church.
It's the first Christian churchin Europe.
(08:25):
So their tagline online waschurch coming soon to Europe,
thank you.
I didn't know if that jokewould work or not.
And here's how it was planted.
It's incredible.
This story is incredible.
So they go there and Paul would.
Typically, when he'd plant achurch, he would show up at the
synagogue.
Well, it's a very Gentile area.
There's no synagogue inPhilippi in this time of the
world.
(08:45):
So he's like, okay, well, Idon't know where the Jews are
hanging out.
I'll start with the Jews andwe'll kind of convert some of
them and we'll go on from thereand convert a whole bunch of
Gentiles.
The Philippian church becomes achurch of mostly Gentiles.
But for now he goes, sellspurple cloth.
She's very, very wealthy andthey begin to talk and Paul
(09:09):
converts her to Christianity.
She gives her life to Jesus andhe baptizes her, just dunks her
in the river right there andshe's like hey, whatever happens
here, I'll open my house towhatever community gets started.
So if you're doing a Jesuscommunity, we can have it in my
house.
Paul's like great, I'll callyou thanks.
So they leave and as they'rewalking, paul and Silas go
walking around Philippi lookingfor more converts, they notice
(09:30):
there's a slave girl followingthem, a young girl who's a slave
.
She's owned by some people andshe's actually demon-possessed.
So she's like chirping andyelling at Paul and Silas the
whole time, just yelling at them, and Paul and Silas are mostly
ignoring her.
But then finally the text saysPaul gets annoyed with her.
You know, like you do whenyou've got a demon-possessed
slave girl following you, it's alittle annoying and he turns
(09:52):
around and he casts the demonout of her, which is awesome.
Like what did that look like?
And then she kind of becomes,you know, sort of back in her
right mind and they convert theslave girl and she becomes a
Christian.
The second convert in Europe, inall of Europe Lydia.
Then this girl.
It's incredible.
(10:14):
Well, the slave owners find outand they're ticked because this
demon apparently could predictthe future, and so they would
use the slave girl as a way tomake money.
So they would have, they wouldkind of gallivant her around and
they would use her and thisdemon that could predict the
future, and they would have thisgirl predict people's futures
and they would pay money forthis.
Well, the jig is up because thedemon's gone and their hustle
is over.
And look, this is not cool.
(10:34):
They go and they find Paul andSilas and they drag them to town
.
There's a huge riot, they beatand flog Paul and Silas and then
they throw them in jail.
This is great.
This is the beginning of achurch plant, by the way.
Well, in jail, they're like injail, and it's like midnight
comes.
It's Paul and Silas and there'sa guard that's watching them.
It's his job to make sure theydon't leave.
And they're like what should wedo?
Let's start praising andworshiping God like you do in
(10:55):
the middle of a jail at midnightthey start praising God and all
of a sudden an earthquakestrikes this region of Philippi
and shakes everything like inthis thunderous way.
Well then the doors burst open,their chains fall off and like,
oh, I guess we're free to go.
And then the guard wakes up.
The guard can't see them.
He panics like, oh my gosh, myprisoners, who I was supposed to
(11:17):
keep an eye on, they've escaped.
They're gonna the Roman, myRoman officials, they're gonna
kill me.
So he pulls out his sword tokill himself and Paul says dude,
don't do that, relax, wehaven't left, we're right here.
Well, they begin to chat andthey convert the guard and he
becomes a Christian and joinsthis church that now will be
housed in Lydia's house.
It's incredible, like this isnot really how you would draw up
(11:41):
a church plant.
Like, oh, okay, step onestrategy let's go to the river
and dunk somebody.
Step two we'll cast a demon outof a slave girl and cause a
riot.
Step three go to jail andconvert the guard.
That's what we're going to dohere.
I mean, I think about like howhilarious this first church
council would have been.
It would have been made up oflike a rich merchant woman who
sold purple cloth, ademon-possessed slave girl and a
(12:02):
Roman guard is suffering fromPTSD.
Like you, thought your councilwas weird, but this church
council is like it's wild.
And the church gets startedthere in Lydia's home and it
flourishes and thrives for 12years and Paul stays connected
with them for 12 years and theysend him gifts, they support
Paul financially in his missionas a church planter and he goes
(12:24):
around and does a lot morechurch plants and things.
And then, 12 years later, asthey've stayed connected, paul's
arrested again, in Rome thistime and he's in a Roman jail.
When he writes them, he writesthem because they heard he was
in jail and they send him a giftBecause the Philippians love
Paul and vice versa.
So they send him a gift tosupport him and encourage him.
He's in jail, let's encouragethe guy, and so they send him a
(12:46):
gift and he writes this letterback.
It's like a thank you letter.
Hey, thank you so much for allyou've done for me.
I appreciate it.
Thanks for your support, thanksfor the gift.
I love you, I've always lovedyou.
I want to bless you.
(13:11):
And he tells him a number ofhard and there's suffering and
pain as a result Whateverhappens, have joy.
So he tells them hey, have joyanyway.
Like, have joy anyway.
He tells them a number of timesrejoice, have joy.
Which is remarkable becausePaul has a number of reasons to
not have joy and if you hadn'tnoticed, I'm going to list them
off for you, just so you knowwhat they are.
Number one at this point, whilehe's writing the letter, he's in
prison.
(13:32):
He's in prison.
Not last time I was in prison,just kidding, I wasn't in prison
.
But, like you can imagine, it'snot a lot of joy going on in
many prisons.
I would imagine Now Paul'sprison was a bit different than
modern prisons.
It wasn't quite as what youmight picture in your head, but
it's an ancient world version ofprison.
It was more like a house arrest.
(13:52):
But he couldn't leave.
He was very restricted and hewas sort of hamstrung in every
way.
And Paul in prison says, hey,have joy, have joy anyways.
That's the name of our series.
How Clever Are we?
Also, there's these peopleoutside the prison that are
preaching the gospel, but in away like they're doing it out of
envy, out of jealousy.
It's like they don't have theright motivations and because of
how they're preaching, it'smaking trouble for Paul in
(14:16):
prison.
So, whatever they're saying anddoing, it's making it harder
for him.
He's like hey, they'repreaching a gospel out of envy,
out of spite, jealousy, and it'smaking me, it's making it
harder for me in here.
So these people preaching thegospel are causing trouble for
Paul.
Thirdly, there's this he mightdie.
Now we know that Paul doesn'tdie.
For a few more years he'sbeheaded again by the Roman
(14:36):
Empire.
But in this moment he doesn'tknow.
He might live, he also mightdie.
He has no idea how this wholething will turn out.
We do, because we can read backon history.
He doesn't know.
And then, lastly, there's thisPaul has suffered immensely his
(14:58):
whole life, or this latter part.
He's suffered incredibleamounts of pain and suffering
and heartache.
And yet here's what Paul writesto the Philippians hey, but
what does it matter?
What does it matter?
What do you mean?
What does it matter?
It all matters.
Those guys outside are makingit harder for you inside.
(15:21):
You're stuck in prison unjustly.
You've been beaten, flogged,shipwrecked, you've lost almost
everything.
What do you mean?
What does it matter, paul?
What are you talking about?
Have you lost your mind?
Paul writes what does it matter?
Then he goes on hey, theimportant thing is that every
way, whether from false motivesor true Christ is being preached
.
In other words, hey, I knowthey're preaching this gospel.
(15:41):
That's making it harder.
Whatever, it's cool, thegospel's being preached.
Either way, it's being preached.
Then he goes on and because ofthis I rejoice, I have joy.
Paul says yes, and I willcontinue to have joy and rejoice
, for I know that, through yourprayers and god's provision of
the spirit of jesus christ, whathas happened to me will turn
out for my deliverance, mysalvation.
Now, I don't know if he meansI'll literally get out of jail
(16:04):
or prison or something deeperand grander than just I don't
know what he means, butnonetheless it's for my
deliverance.
I eagerly expect, I expect hewrites and I hope that I will in
no way be ashamed but will havesufficient courage so that, now
as always, christ will beexalted in my body, whether by
life or by death.
For me to live is Christ, hesays.
(16:28):
If I live, it's Christ and if Idie, it's gain.
Eugene Peterson I love this inhis message paraphrase says it
like this.
He quotes Paul hey, alive I'mChrist's messenger, dead I'm
Christ's prize.
Life versus even more life.
I can't lose.
(16:49):
What does it matter?
If I live, it's Christ, If Idie, it's gain.
I can't lose.
I can't lose.
By the way, you should knowthis.
This isn't a death wish of Paul.
When Paul says, hey, if I livegood and if I die good, and if
(17:14):
they're preaching the gospel,that actually makes it harder
for me, good, is he a death wish?
No, he's not suicidal in prison, not at all.
He's not succumbed to this sortof sorrow.
He's not like living on, he'snot like hanging on by a thread.
Emotionally, he's not sort ofin this depressed state.
No, he's full of life.
When you read all ofPhilippians, he's full of, like,
(17:34):
vibrant life.
No, he's full of life.
When you read all ofPhilippians, he's full of
vibrant life.
He's eyes wide open.
He knows what's going on.
So what is it then?
It's not a death wish.
It's also not this.
It's not just trying to bepositive while the world is
falling apart around him.
He's like oh, it's but a fleshwound, it's okay.
Oh, thank you.
By the way, I don't get thatmovie at all.
It's not funny to me at all.
(17:55):
I just don't get it.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
No, I know, I'm not any MontyPython fans in the house.
Okay, fair enough, I don't getit.
He's not in the prison cellsinging, you know, trying to be
positive, the sun will come outtomorrow.
Bet your bottom dollar thattomorrow there'll be sun.
(18:15):
Meanwhile the guard's like shutthat dude up.
He cannot sing.
He's not just trying to bepositive, ignoring what's really
happening.
He knows what's going on andalso he's not just like some guy
who's out of touch in someivory tower lecturing the
peasants down below.
You know, sometimes in ourculture we have these very
affluent, wealthy people wholive in our ivory towers who
sort of talk down to the rest ofthe people and how you'll be
(18:38):
fine, it's okay, you don't know,you're living up in there on
the hill, the house on the hill.
I'm down here struggling, butthat isn't Paul.
You can't say to Paul Paul, youdon't know, you don't even
understand.
Because he does.
Paul gets it, he totally getsit, he understands.
Paul's been beaten.
He's been starved.
He's been in prison a couple oftimes.
(18:59):
Paul has been.
He's been rejected many times.
He's been betrayed by closefriends and others have been
abandoned on a number ofoccasions, burdened, shipwrecked
three times.
He's been anxious in many ways,sometimes deeply discouraged.
Paul's been continually tested.
Paul knows what's up.
He knows the depths ofsuffering and pain, abandonment,
(19:20):
rejection.
He knows all of it intimatelywell.
And yet Paul says hey, I can'tlose.
If I live, great, I'll gopreach the gospel some more.
There's some folks who mightwant to hear it If I die, great,
I'll go be with Christ.
He's not being cavalier.
He knows in the deepest partsof himself that I can't lose, I
(19:46):
can't lose.
This is why, then too, paulwrites this in Corinthians we're
hard pressed on every side.
We've been pressed but notcrushed.
We're struck down but we're notdestroyed, always carrying in
the body the death of jesus, sothat the life of jesus may be
revealed in us.
In other words, one of myfavorite sayings paul is playing
(20:08):
with house money.
Are you with me?
House money, it's house money.
Some of you today need to justhear hey, you've got house money
, let it roll.
Yeah, house money.
Whether I live, it's for christ.
If I die, it's also I'll go bewith christ.
(20:29):
Okay.
Paul knows in a deeper way tothe christ pattern you can see
all over his writing.
He knows that suffering leadsto union with Christ and then to
resurrection.
So suffering is not just someunfortunate mishap.
It's not just a misfortune, orlike a failure, no suffering.
Paul reframes suffering as likesomehow union or an invitation
(20:50):
to union with Christ, becauseJesus suffered.
Now look, I know we don't haveto talk about suffering, I get
it, we live in this countrywhich is praise God too, by the
way but like where we sort ofhave pulled ourselves up by our
bootstraps and we've overcomeall kinds of odds, and good for
us, but we don't love suffering.
You know why?
Because suffering won't get youclicks, by the way.
But this is the Jesus story.
(21:13):
He suffered immensely and soPaul sees suffering as this
beginning of a union with Christ.
It's something deeper, moremysterious going on.
It's union with Christ, and heknows that when you're united
with Christ in a suffering likehim, you can be united with
Christ in a resurrection likehim.
But of course it will cost you,because it costs Jesus's life.
(21:38):
So Paul sees the suffering andthe death of Christ as a model
for us, and suffering in ourlives invites us to be a part of
the Christ narrative, theChrist story, the life of Christ
.
When we suffer, whatever thereasons and I'm not, I'm not, I
don't believe that God causesall kinds of stuff.
I don't believe that.
But, whatever the reason, weare invited into union with
Christ and to join him in hissuffering, and then his death,
(22:02):
and then his resurrection.
Resurrection is, of course, theonly way to new life.
That suffering isn't the end.
It's a gateway to invitationwith Christ and a gateway to
death and then, of course,resurrection.
There's new life on the otherside.
So Paul can be unafraid.
He's afraid of nothing, andthat makes him very dangerous.
By the way, he views his ownlife as like caught up in this
(22:25):
deeply meaningful, global,cosmic story of Christ that he
knows really well, and it's allthen filled with this beautiful
Christ pattern suffering, Christand resurrection, and then he
can have peace and joy, becausesuffering isn't the end.
But he writes this too.
I love this.
(22:45):
He writes in Philippians I wantto know Christ.
By the way, if you want to knowChrist, be careful.
Following Jesus is not thatyou'll be healthy, wealthy and
wise.
We've tricked ourselves with afalse gospel.
I think in many ways your lifemight get worse if you start
(23:07):
following Jesus.
Jesus is dead, paul knows.
He says I want to follow Christ, I want to know Christ
intimately, know him.
I want to know him like on adeeply intimate level.
Yes, to know the power ofresurrection.
And we all said amen, we loveresurrection, life, yes, let's
go.
And participation, paul says inhis sufferings, becoming like
(23:28):
him in his death.
Man, you want to know Christ?
I'm just telling you, becareful.
This is the Christ pattern.
May you know Christ and thepower of his resurrection and
join him in his suffering bybecoming like him in his death.
But suffering, then, isn't theend.
Suffering is the place ofredemption.
(23:50):
It's the beginnings of aredemptive story.
Death doesn't end the story,neither does suffering or pain.
It's the gateway into unionwith Christ and ultimately to
something redemptive story.
Death doesn't end the story,neither does suffering or pain.
It's the gateway into unionwith Christ and ultimately to
something redemptive.
I love that.
See, paul is somehow able, inthis moment of being stuck in
prison, he's able to zoom out.
Sometimes, after you drop yourcoffee twice, all you can see is
(24:14):
like this moment twice.
All you can see is this moment,you know.
But if you're able to zoom outand take a deep breath, oh,
there's a lot more going on here.
There's a cosmic story of theChrist narrative and somehow I'm
maybe involved in a part.
This moment seems horrible andthere's all kinds of really
truly awful things happening.
If I can zoom out a tad, I canhave a grander picture of life
(24:36):
and the past, the present, thefuture, the cosmic redemption of
all things according to thescriptures.
And Paul, by the way, who'sgotten old in his age.
He's sort of old-wisen Paul.
He can see in the zoomed-outway now, which makes me wonder
like what would young Paul havethought about this?
Young Paul was not quite thismaybe mature and restrained and
(24:59):
measured.
Young Paul was an absolutezealot.
Remember young Paul?
This was Paul.
He writes about himself.
He writes this later on.
He says hey, from the tribe ofBenjamin, I was a learned
Pharisee, a Hebrew of Hebrews, azealot persecuting the church.
Righteousness based on the law.
I was faultless and flawless.
I mean he was the church.
Righteousness based on the law.
I was faultless and flawless.
(25:19):
I mean he was the man Paul was.
He was him, as the kids say.
I mean he was up at 4 am everysingle morning, drinking a
gallon of lemon and salt water,meditating for another hour,
eating a wholesome breakfast,going for a two-mile run nay, a
10-mile run.
Came back, read the entire newDavid Goggins book in one
sitting, did his morning prayersall by 5 am.
(25:40):
That was Paul and now Paul'slike I don't know.
What does it matter?
Either way, I win.
I think, young Paul, we're notstaying in prison, we're getting
out of here.
Let's break out of here.
And those guys preaching afalse gospel, let's go fight
those dudes.
Shut those guys preaching afalse gospel, let's go fight
those dudes.
Shut those guys up.
I'm not dying in here, I can'tdie.
God needs me, the world needsme.
(26:02):
I think Paul would have bustedout of there with that young men
energy.
I love it.
But old Paul is different.
If I live, great, if I die,fine.
Yeah, I wonder what old manPaul would say to younger man
Paul if they could be in thesame room together.
(26:22):
I think old man Paul would sayto young Paul hey dude, hey,
dude, hey, hey, chill out, man,we're going to be okay, we can't
lose.
We can't lose, we can't lose,we're going to be okay.
You ever get so caught up in themoment like that moment's all
you can see and it meanseverything.
I remember vividly coaching,travel, sports as a young man,
(26:47):
both baseball and softball andlacrosse, and I swear on one
random Tuesday night 12 yearsago in the middle of a game, in
the fifth inning, there was onepitch that went awry and in that
moment I was like no, as thoughthat one pitch meant everything
(27:09):
and everybody for decades willbe talking about that one pitch
in the middle of the fifthinning, on a random Tuesday
night 12 years ago in Elk River,minnesota.
I'm going to tell you nobodycares, nobody cares, nobody
remembers that night, that onepitch, nobody cares.
When I first moved to Minnesota,I applied for a job.
(27:30):
You might know the story.
I applied for a job as a youthpastor in a church in town that
will remain nameless, and theynarrowed it down to just me.
I was 26 years old, full ofyoung man energy, was going to
save the world and I'm like Igot this job.
They narrowed it down to justme how can I miss?
And they decided, afterdeciding between Ryan and nobody
, they went with nobody.
(27:52):
My world crumbled.
I'm like unbelievable, I can't.
And actually I didn't scream, Iwas actually.
I was crying.
I bawled like I was crying,like I can't.
How will I ever recover fromthis rejection?
How will this ever?
My life is ruined.
It's over.
I'll never be a pastor.
(28:13):
I might as well mail it in fromnow on.
You know, if old man Ryan couldgo visit him now, I'd be like
dude, it's all right, you'regoing to be fine, relax, you
can't lose, you're going to beokay.
It's easy to get lost, isn't itLike in this moment, or this
(28:35):
emotion, or this failure or thisthought or or this argument,
and we get stuck, like in this,we can't get out of it.
I mean, paul could have easilydescended into self-pity and
spiraled out of control in theand sometimes we do we lose all
joy and hope and peace and weget consumed by this thing.
(28:59):
What if we could zoom out?
What if we could zoom out justa little bit?
And I wonder, you know, becausesome of the things that you
worried about 20 years ago or 10years ago if you're younger,
maybe like two years ago, youmight laugh at them now, like
why was I worried about that?
Like what if the older versionof you could go back and visit
that younger?
You'll be fine, it's okay.
Or how about now?
(29:19):
What are the things you'reworried about now that are just
like a lot?
Well, I want to ask you, whatmight 20 years from now, you say
, to now you Imagine, like 20years from what would that?
What would that version of youcome and say to you what they
say to you?
Or one more step further whatwould the age to come?
(29:41):
You, when god restores allthings, you have this view of
the whole thing past, present,future, the cosmic redemption of
all things.
Oh, that one though.
Oh man, I think that version ofyou might say something like
hey, you can't lose.
You can't lose, rejoice andhave joy.
Anyway, I've got to get out ofhere.
Here's what we're going to do.
(30:01):
We're going to sing a song, likewe always do, and we're going
to pray over you if you want it,if you want to this morning, if
you're in the midst ofsuffering, if you're in the
middle of some turmoil and somedifficult times, if you've got
to go until you can sneak out Iknow we're over time, but if
that's you, if you're like, hey,I'm in the midst of something
like a prison or dropping acoffee twice or whatever, and
(30:23):
you want to know Christ and thepower of his resurrection and
join with him in his sufferingby becoming like him in his
death, I want you to comeforward and we're going to pray
that over you.
We're going to have fourstations up front, just find
anyone that's open.
As the band plays, we're goingto anoint you with oil and say
this may you know Christ and thepower of his resurrection and
may you join with him in hissuffering and become like him in
(30:46):
his death.
I will warn you, this is adangerous prayer, not because
God will somehow unleash allkinds of tragedy now because you
prayed this prayer.
That's not what God is like.
But I'm just saying, if youwant to know Christ, this is the
Christ pattern Suffering deathbut of course resurrection.
So we'll play and we'll haveyou come.
If you want to, no pressure.
(31:06):
But if you come forward, we'llanoint you and pray this prayer
for you.
So amen.
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