June 29, 2025 • 44 mins
Joy that defies prison walls. A peace that persists through persecution. A mindset that transforms suffering into purpose. Paul's letter to the Philippians—written while he was in chains—reveals the counterintuitive secret to unshakable joy regardless of circumstances.
This powerful exploration of Philippians unveils how Paul discovered joy not through favorable conditions, but through a deliberate reorientation of his mind around Jesus Christ. Using the LETS framework (Christ as our Life, Example, Treasure, and Strength), we uncover how genuine Christian joy isn't accidental or passive but intentionally cultivated through gospel-shaped thinking.
When Paul declared "For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain," he wasn't being philosophical—he was revealing the foundation of joy that transcends imprisonment, uncertainty, and opposition. His radical perspective enabled him to see his chains not as setbacks but as opportunities for Christ to be proclaimed. Rather than waiting for circumstances to improve, he discovered contentment through seeing Jesus more clearly.
The letter's famous passages take on fresh significance in context: Christ's humility becomes our pattern for joy-filled service; counting everything as loss becomes the pathway to our greatest treasure; "I can do all things through Christ" becomes about contentment rather than achievement.
Whether you're facing overwhelming challenges or simply longing for deeper joy, this message offers practical wisdom on developing the mindset that produces genuine rejoicing. As Paul reminds us, we don't drift into Christian joy—we grow into it by fixing our thoughts on Christ in every situation. When we learn this secret, we discover that no prison—literal or metaphorical—can contain the joy that follows.
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Doug McMasters (00:00):
So if you have a Bible, you can turn to that
book.
If you don't have one, you'llfind a pew Bible in front of you
and you can go to page 1040,1040.
We're in our series, very deepinto our series called Route 66,
book by book through the bookof books.
So one message for each book ofthe Bible, and we started in
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Genesis and now we're all theway up through the book of
Philippians.
This afternoon, royal and I hadthe privilege of spending lunch
with Brian and ElaineMcLaughlin, who recently
returned from a trip to Italy,and they were able to show us
some pictures and some storiesabout their time over there, and
(00:44):
we got to see some pictures ofRome and how much they got to
enjoy in that city.
They were there in Rome the dayafter the Pope was picked,
elected, chosen, whatever theright word is, and so it was an
interesting day to be there,right For them to be in the
midst of all of that, aseverybody rushed to the city in
(01:06):
order to be part of thatannouncement.
When we read the book ofPhilippians, we read a book from
a letter from Paul, who was inRome, and for many years, I'm
sure, paul longed to be in Romebut not to see the sights right.
He actually wanted to go therein order to preach the gospel
(01:27):
and even on the day he wasconverted was told that he would
be preaching in some fairlysignificant places, and I'm sure
Rome came immediately to mindwhen it did.
And looking at how Paul wouldapproach different places and
cities, you could tell he did soin a very strategic way.
He wasn't haphazard in what hewanted to do.
Even though the Lord sometimesredirected him in different ways
(01:51):
, he certainly had a plan and apurpose for how he preached and
where he preached.
So when he entered Rome, hedidn't enter Rome the way he
thought he might have done.
The first time he thought aboutpreaching the gospel there.
He thought he could walk in, goto maybe some of the major
places of meeting and to preachthe gospel to people on the
(02:13):
street or people, politiciansand people higher up.
Little did he know maybe onthat first day he considered
preaching there that he'd beentering Rome in chains, which
is exactly what he did.
I don't think that was the kindof strategy that he opted for
and it's certainly not thestrategy that church planting
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books talk about today.
So if you want to go to a placeand start a church, get yourself
arrested and I don't thinkthat's how that works and yet,
in confinement and arguablyunder house arrest at this time,
in the middle of all theuncertainties that faced him
(02:55):
personally and were around himin his ministry, in the book of
Philippians, we read one of themost joy-filled words ever
penned.
It's a wonderful, wonderfulpart of Scripture.
And despite whatever oppositionhe was facing, despite whatever
rumors were rolling around,despite being cut off from the
(03:16):
ministry that he believed heshould be in, his letter shines
with rejoicing.
Orrin Wearsby has titled a lotof his commentaries with a key
little word be and then he wouldfill in a different word.
That gave a focus for the book.
And what do you think his titlefor Philippians was right?
(03:37):
Be joyful, be joyful.
Yeah.
Well, why was he shining withjoy in the midst of all of this?
Well, it certainly wasn'tbecause the plans were going the
way he wanted them to go.
It came from who he knew JesusChrist.
In the middle of thesedifficulties, his joy wasn't in
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the fact that he could do thingsfor God, but in remembering
what Christ had done for him.
I love the book of Philippianswhen I first came here in 2013,
I prayed long about what wouldbe the first book of the Bible
that we would study together asa church.
I knew that the church prior toMicah and my coming had been
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through some conflict and lossand quite a bit of difficulty,
that it was in a place that waschallenged, and in those kind of
moments you can sort of closein and think more immediate
rather than more expansively,and I was happy for us to join
together on Sunday nights.
A series on the sort of a slowcrawl through the book of Psalms
(04:44):
had already been started and Isaid let's continue that for
sure.
But when it came down to Sundaymornings, I prayed and thought
and considered, well, what wouldbe a very appropriate book for
all of us to study together, andit ended up being this book
Philippians.
That was the first book that wewent through and as I did so, I
(05:04):
did so because, like I said,paul writes from prison and yet
his circumstances aren'tmitigating his joy.
He still rejoices His joy,though he might have been
confined.
His joy wasn't confined, hisjoy was unfettered, and I wanted
our church then and I stillwant us to know what it means to
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be a joyful people, not becauseour circumstances go well,
because we have a Savior whowatches over us in every
situation.
And so, as we go through thisbook, I want to give you a
four-point outline, and you canremember it well by the word
let's, which is actually acontraction of two words.
But anyway, for all you Englishteachers, please forgive me,
(05:51):
let's.
So L-E-T-S.
Let's look at the book ofPhilippians, right, and to know
that Christ is our life, christis our example, christ is our
treasure and Christ is ourstrength, right.
So that's where the L-E-T-Scomes from, because, as we go
through the book of Philippians,we're going to be able to
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understand that we canexperience a joy that is not
crushed by our setbacks, that wecan experience a joy that can
go through a betrayal, can gothrough a betrayal, that we can
have joy and a song even in themiddle of what might be a
nighttime experience for us,because joy is not found in the
(06:34):
absence of trials, it's foundsomewhere else.
Now, before Paul teaches usabout joy in content, he teaches
us something about how toreceive that joy, and this is an
important word.
He uses a Greek word 10 times.
I believe it is in the book ofPhilippians, and it's praneo,
(06:58):
which means to think, to think,to have this mind in you, to
think, to have this mind in you.
And what he's calling thePhilippians to do is to not some
passive reception of anemotional experience, but to a
determined effort to set theirmind on certain things, and if
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they do, joy will be produced.
So we think, we set our mind on, we adopt a mindset, we think,
because joy is not accidental,it is purposed and it grows in
the soil of a gospel-shaped mind.
(07:42):
That's where joy comes from.
Now let me just give you two ofthose 10 references.
First is in Philippians 1.7.
It is right for me to thinkthis way about you.
So there is just a perspectivethat Paul has about the people
at Philippi, and hisconsiderations and his mindset
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about them are geared a certainway.
It's right for me to think thisway about you.
And then we'll look at anotherone soon, in Philippians 2.5.
Let this mind be amongyourselves, as it was also in
Christ Jesus.
So there's another use of it.
It's a way of thinking, it's amindset, it's a determination of
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thought.
As I said, his kind of joy isnot a rush of exuberance that
comes from good experiences andcircumstances.
But it's an overflow that comesfrom us by a reorientation of
our mind around the truth of thegospel.
We don't drift into Christianjoy, we grow into it.
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We don't stumble into Christianjoy, we seek it with our minds.
And this is why in Philippians4.8, whatsoever things are true,
whatsoever things are lovely,whatsoever things are honorable,
whatever things are of goodreport, think on these things.
There's three of the ten rightthere.
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So giving our mind to certainthings will have the overflow,
production of joy within ourhearts.
So if we want to have Christ'sjoy, we need to invite ourselves
to thinking about Christ well,and that's why Philippians is
saturated with Christ.
(09:31):
Christ is our life, christ isour example, christ is our
treasure and Christ is ourstrength.
Chapter 1, 2, 3, and 4.
So let's look at Philippiansthat way.
First of all, chapter oneChrist is our life.
There we go, thank you.
All right, let's take a coupleof verses here.
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Verse six for one.
I'm sure this that he whostarted a good work in you will
carry it on to completion untilthe day of Christ Jesus.
So we can see that ourspiritual life is begun by God
in Christ and that it will becompleted on the day of Jesus
(10:15):
Christ.
So in all ways our spirituallife is wrapped up in him.
And then also in verse 21, avery familiar verse to many of
us.
For me, to live as Christ andto die as gain.
So those are two key verses outof several that we could look
at in chapter one that speak tothis idea that Christ is our
(10:37):
life.
Now, remember, paul is in prison, his future is uncertain, his
ministry is limited and thereare even people preaching in
order for him to gain moretrouble while he's in prison.
You can see this in verse 16and 17, some preaching out of
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love.
And in verse 17, othersproclaim Christ out of selfish
ambition, not sincerely thinkingthey'll cause me trouble in my
imprisonment.
But how does Paul think aboutthis?
Well, he says in verse 18, whatdoes it matter?
Only that in every way, whetherfrom false motives or true,
(11:26):
christ is proclaimed.
And in this I rejoice, yes,I'll continue to rejoice.
So we find the root of joy to bethe life of Jesus Christ, no
matter what his circumstancesare, even if people are causing
deeper trouble for him, becausehe is lost up in the life of
(11:50):
Christ.
And this is not denial ofreality, but it is a
Christ-shaped, defiant joy.
Despite the hardships, hissense of purpose, his identity
and his ministry is wrapped upin Christ.
And if Christ gets proclaimedwhen he's imprisoned, because
(12:12):
people are out there preachingeither sincerely or impurely,
then thank God that Christ isproclaimed and so he knows that
this isn't going to be a joy ofdeliverance from prison, a joy
of freedom, a joy of greaterinfluence in his ministry, a joy
(12:32):
of outcomes that might begainfully used for his liberty.
No, it's Christ.
It's Christ.
What happened to me hasactually advanced the gospel, he
says in verse 12.
And from that perspective hefinds joy.
(12:56):
And that's why he's able to sayfor me to live, even in prison,
is Christ and to die is gain.
You just do the math If I liveit's Christ, if I die it's gain.
We might say that's a winningequation right there, because
(13:19):
Jesus is his life, his source,his reason for being, his hope
in life and death.
Then he can respond with ajoyfulness.
So a question for us as we thinkabout this is Christ our life?
Is Christ our life despite ourcircumstances?
(13:39):
Are we able to see ourcircumstances in such a way that
Christ is displayed more,either in us or through us?
And if so, then rejoice in that.
Rejoice in that I think Imentioned this not too long ago.
(14:02):
I was going through somedifficult times in Northern
California and one of the eldersasked me a question why are you
even still here?
It was that difficult and hewas genuinely wondering what was
keeping me here.
It could have been easy to goanywhere else and I said to him
I said I'm learning more aboutJesus Christ in this situation
than I think I can find anywhereelse.
That's the kind of mindset thatPaul had.
(14:26):
He said for me to live asChrist, he was learning
something about Jesus even whenlife wasn't all that good,
wasn't all that good.
So when we think about Jesusbeing our focus, when we speak
and when we act, when we respond, we also need to think about
(14:51):
Jesus when we suffer, when wesuffer Because he is part of our
life, no matter what Good timesare bad.
And here, in the face of loss,in the face of uncertainty, in
the face of limitations, paul issaying for me to live is Christ
.
If someone asked Paul, if Christtook nothing away from you that
(15:11):
was causing you discomfort orpain right now, but gave you
more of himself, would you bewilling to stay in that
situation, and Paul's answer tothat would have been yes.
Yes, because he who began agood work in you will carry it
(15:32):
to completion.
We'll carry it to completion.
You see, christ is our life andwhile we live he's still
writing his story into our story.
We're learning more about himday by day.
Now that brings us to thesecond chapter and we're going
down our contracted word let's,he is our life, he is our
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example.
Lets, he is our life, he is ourexample, he is our example.
So Paul moves from chapter onebroadly to speak about declaring
Christ as our life, topresenting Christ as our pattern
or our example.
And he does so largely bysinging one of the most exalted
hymns of all of scripture, ananthem of descent and of glory.
(16:15):
And it begins with a statementwe'll come back to adopt the
same attitude as that of ChristJesus.
Or another translation wouldsay let this mind be in you
Again, a mindset, a mindset.
And the pattern that's etchedfor us is the very life of
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Christ itself.
He is our example in thispattern, and as we read verse 6
through 11, we can see that itbegins with a place of
exaltation.
Who, existing in the form of God.
God did not consider equalitywith God as something to be
exploited.
So there he is in the most highrealms of honor and glory and
(17:03):
praise, receiving all thefullness of the Godhead, and yet
he empties himself in verse 7,by assuming the form of a
servant.
Now, he doesn't empty hisdivinity, but he certainly does
divest himself of his privilegesand he wraps himself up in
humanity, as it says here inverse 7.
(17:24):
But it doesn't go just to that,as humbling as that might be,
it tells us that when he becamea man, he humbled himself by
becoming obedient Obedient tothe will of the Father in every
regard in his earthly existence,and including an obedience to
(17:50):
the cross and to death in verse8.
But when we get to verse 9, wesee something else.
This song is a song of descent,but it also is a song of ascent
, and verse 9 brings that to us.
For this reason, god highlyexalted him and gave him a name
that is above every name.
Now, this is not a surprisingending.
(18:10):
This is the shape of redemption.
It's the shape of humilitybefore glory, descent before
exaltation, of cross beforecrown, and this rhythm is not
found just here in the book ofPhilippians.
And for those of us who come onSunday mornings, I'm giving you
a little foretaste of what'sahead of us.
But this is a proclamation thatwas prophetically echoed in the
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book of Isaiah in chapter 52and 53.
Paul is bringing the melody outof the fourth servant song of
the book of Isaiah.
When Isaiah gave that fourthsong, he talked about the
descent.
Listen to these words.
Talking about the servant.
He was despised and rejected bymen, a man of sorrows,
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acquainted with grief Isaiah53.3.
He poured out his life untodeath and was numbered with the
transgressors Isaiah 53, 12.
Do you hear the reverberationshere?
The humility, the rejection,the submission to death?
(19:24):
But listen also to verse 13.
My servant shall act wisely andhe shall be high and lifted up
and shall be exalted.
It's almost a quote.
It's more than an echo.
Do you hear it?
It's the same shape, though.
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It's the same redemptive shape.
It is the shape of humilitybefore glory.
It's the shape of descentbefore exaltation.
It's the shape of descentbefore exaltation.
It's the shape of cross beforecrown.
And here we have Christ involuntary descent to sorrow and
shame, a vicarious suffering onthe behalf of sinners, and then
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a divine exaltation by theFather.
And what Paul is saying herevery clearly is that Jesus is
the suffering servant of Isaiah52, 53.
He's the one who went low sothat he might take the
undeserving and lift them up.
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He's the one that bore ourgriefs so that we might share in
his glory, our griefs so thatwe might share in his glory.
He's the one that's humbledhimself to death so that we
might, as chapter 1 said, claimChrist as our life.
But this is not just somethingto wonder at, to marvel at, a
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mystery to behold, and it is, ofcourse.
But it's more than that.
It's an example for us.
Let this mind be in you, whichis also in Christ Jesus.
This is something for us tofollow.
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This is an example of how weare to conduct ourselves as
people in this world andparticularly as people within
the body of Christ.
If we want to say that we'refollowers of Christ among his
people, then this example ofChrist should be marked on every
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single one of us.
Christ should be marked onevery single one of us, and Paul
gives three examples of thislater in this chapter himself
Timothy and Epaphroditus.
And let's take a look just veryquickly at these three examples
.
Paul says in verse 17 of chaptertwo, even if I am poured out as
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a drink offering on thesacrificial service of your
faith.
I'm glad and rejoice with allof you.
What is Paul doing?
He is expending himself for thepurpose of building others up.
Now what about Timothy?
Paul says in verse 9, he'sgoing to send Timothy to them so
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that you might be encouraged byhim.
Why Timothy?
For I have no one elselike-minded who will genuinely
care about your interests.
Again, the same patternself-giving in love for the
purpose of someone else'sbenefit.
Giving in love for the purposeof someone else's benefit.
(22:38):
Now, epaphroditus.
I considered it necessary tosend you Epaphroditus, my
brother, co-worker, fellowsoldier, as well as your
messenger, minister, to my needs.
He's been longing for all ofyou and was distressed because
you heard that he was sick.
Who is this man?
This is a man who loves thepeople of God and even grieves
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when they feel a sense of lossabout his condition, was willing
to be sent out of his home andaway from his city to go to Paul
and to be a messenger and abenefit to Paul himself, on
behalf of the Philippian church,giving himself in
self-sacrifice for the benefitof others.
You see, jesus is not just ourlife.
(23:28):
He's also our example, and hishumility is not again just
something to wonder at.
It's meant to be part of who weare.
It's meant to transform us.
And so some things that we canask ourselves is this In our
relationships, how do we descendrather than defend Right rather
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than defend right?
How can we be humble rather thandefensive when we are facing
people that might be in conflictwith us?
Are we willing to take thelower place, not to be noticed?
But because that's where Jesuswalks, is Christ on display when
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we stand up for our rights orwhen we willingly yield?
You see, god is going to exaltwhat the world overlooks.
Right, christ went to the cross.
He went to the place of deathon behalf of others, and it says
that the father highly exaltedhim.
And so God exalts what theworld overlooks.
(24:41):
He lifts up what the worldpasses by, and so if you've been
striving and joyless, maybe youshould try humility and find
joy there.
Look at the servant and lookhow he freely descended for us.
He stooped low in order to saveus, but he also stooped low in
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order to show us how to live,and the more your life echoes
with the humility of Christ, themore your life will be filled
with the joy of Christ.
Now that leads us to chapterthree.
So he's our life, he's ourexample.
He's also our treasure, ourtreasure.
And Paul really brings this outin verses seven to 11.
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I consider everything that wasa gain to me, I have considered
to be a loss because of Christ.
And he talks about thisglorious possession, a
surpassing value, of knowingChrist Jesus, my Lord, in verse
8.
Having called all of us to thehumility of Christ, he's now
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inviting us to embrace Christ asour unsurpassing value, to
pursue the glory that comes inChrist himself.
And Paul goes through thisdiscussion here, in which he's
not doing spiritual bookkeeping,but rather he's doing a
reevaluation of all the thingsthat are worth to him.
(26:14):
What is a real treasure?
A reevaluation of all thethings that are worth to him,
what is a real treasure?
And so he takes all the thingsthat he had put on one side of
the equation as his treasure hisidentity, his upbringing, his
religious fervor and zeal, hisattainments in those areas, and
he puts it through the fire ofgrace.
And as he does so, the onlything that's left at the end of
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that is Jesus.
Everything else is burned upHis identity, his upbringing,
his religious zeal.
What are they now?
Scrap, refuge, rubbish, all thethings that he was and some of
those things weren't necessarilybad.
All the things that he was andsome of those things weren't
(26:59):
necessarily bad they all pale insignificance compared to the
unsurpassed glory of knowingChrist.
And so what he sees here isthat Jesus is his treasure, the
ultimate gain that he's gottenby union with Jesus Christ
himself.
(27:22):
And Paul begins to discuss whatthat looks like in chapter 3.
He says in verse 9 that one ofthe treasures that he has in
Jesus Christ is a righteousnessthat's not his own, not having a
righteousness of my own butthat which is through faith in
Jesus Christ.
And he gladly laid down thislaw-based righteousness that he
once prided himself in in orderto receive the perfect record of
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Christ himself, given to himunearned, given to him
unshakable, given to himunending into the heavenlies,
unending into the heavenlies.
He also, in verse 10, talksabout here in chapter 3, about a
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fellowship that sufferingcannot break Right.
So not only a righteousnessthat's not his own, but a
fellowship that suffering cannotbreak Verse 10, that I might
know him and the power of hisresurrection and may share his
sufferings.
For Paul to know Christ was alot more than just to study him.
It was to enter into his life.
(28:27):
It was to understand hisnearness in his own weaknesses,
to experience his spirit raisinghim from the depths of despair.
And when he felt those thingshe said I know his fellowship in
suffering.
But he also goes on to say thatthe treasure of Christ is a
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hope that death cannot cancel.
Take a look at verse 10 and 11.
My goal is to know him and thepower of his resurrection and
the fellowship of his sufferingsbeing conformed to his death,
assuming I will somehow reachthe resurrection from the dead.
Paul here is saying that thereis a glory beyond death,
(29:16):
something that is in union withChrist, in which not only does
he feel Christ's life within himand Christ's ministering to him
in his sufferings, but beyondthat death is a resurrection
that he will be a part of.
So this servant's pattern inchapter 2, this example of
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Christ, is now internalized intoPaul himself and he walks down
that same pathway and as hecontinues to go down, the life
of Christ and the example ofChrist increase within him, the
treasure of Christ, and as heeven gets to the very bottom of
it all, all he can say is I knowthat I have a fellowship with
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the Savior, both in the lowestand even, most gloriously, in
the highest, in the resurrectionhimself.
You see, paul's not justadmiring Christ and he's not
just theologically discoveringChrist, he is communing with
(30:20):
Christ and pursuing Christ.
And so in verse 12, he says notthat I've already attained, but
I press on to make it my own,because Christ has made me his
own.
Jesus came to save me, to makeme his, and I want to be all his
.
I want to be everything he'scome for, to be fully his, and
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so this desire drives him, evenin his sufferings.
Now, imagine you were walkingalong a field not many fields
around here, but happened upon afield and there in the middle
of the field you noticesomething a little unusual that
caught your eye in the dirt andyou kind of kicked it around a
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little bit and you went I thinkthat looks like a ring.
And you kick a little more andyou're like that looks like two
rings and a coin.
And you're like, okay, anybodylooking?
And you start pulling the grassand the dirt aside.
(31:27):
And the more you dig and thedeeper you go, the more treasure
you're discovering, what's thefirst thing you're going to do?
You know, I wonder who has adeed to this land right here.
I'm going to go sell my car.
I'm going to go sell my house.
I'm going to sell everythingI've got because as soon as I
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buy this property, that treasureis going to be mine, and I'm
willing to give everything elseup in order to gain this piece
of land because of the treasureit is.
The Apostle Paul is saying thatwhen he saw Jesus Christ and the
grace of Jesus Christ,everything that was part of his
(32:11):
life before sell it.
It doesn't.
The only thing I need is him,is him, and so he doesn't
begrudgingly part with his oldgains.
He happily divests himself ofthose things because he's found
a treasure.
So Christ is our life, christis our example, christ is our
(32:38):
treasure, but he's also ourstrength, and this is the big
emphasis of chapter four.
After climbing to the heights ofjoy and longing in chapter
three, being found with Christin his resurrection, paul now
plants our feet firmly on thesoil of daily living, in the
(32:58):
middle of all its pressures, inthe middle of all its
uncertainties, in the middle ofall of our anxieties, in the
middle of all our needs and yet,with our feet firmly on the
ground, again, he tells us inverse 4 to do what?
Rejoice in the Lord, how often,once in a while, occasionally,
(33:25):
when Micah rouses us with agreat encouragement to be a
little happier, when we sing.
No, always, always, always,always, like always when anxiety
is camping at our door, alwaysAnxiety when peace feels like
(33:48):
just a, when peace feels likejust a lost notion.
Always when there's financialneeds or family burdens or
frayed nerves or exhaustedspirits.
Always, yeah, always.
Why?
Because joy is not rooted incircumstance but in the presence
(34:12):
of a Savior who doesn't change.
Because Christ is not just ourlife and our example and our
treasure, he's also our strength.
And in this chapter he shows ushow the life of Christ is our
strength, and he does so in veryseven staccato-like yet very
(34:36):
powerful statements of how ourlives can be transformed by
Christ.
Who is our strength, and I'mjust going to mention these very
, very briefly.
Verse 6, we have a prayer lifethat sustains us and steadies us
In everything.
By prayer and petition, withthanksgiving, present your
(34:57):
requests to God.
One of the greatest ways thatwe can receive strength is to
realize someone's alongside ofus in it.
But God is more than just withus in the trouble.
He is able to do exceedingabundantly, above all that we
ask or think.
So we're addressing the one whohas the empowerment to do what
is impossible for us.
(35:18):
So we bring our burdens to him,who hears and answers.
In verse seven we have thestrength of a peace that will
guard us, and the peace of Godwill guard your hearts and minds
.
You see, peace again is notmerely an absence of trouble,
(35:39):
it's a shield for us.
And I don't know about you.
When do you pick up a shield?
When you're in battle, right,right.
The peace of God will guardyour hearts and minds.
You don't need a guard ifthere's nothing that's coming at
you, but when things are comingat you, you have a guard, and
(36:05):
that is the peace of God.
In verse 8, we have aperspective that can lift us.
In verse 8 we have aperspective that can lift us.
Brothers, whatever is true,honorable, just, pure, lovely,
commendable, if there's moralexcellence in anything
praiseworthy, dwell, think onthese things.
Anxiety causes the world tofall in on itself and all we see
(36:32):
is the immediate.
And yet here, christ-shapedthinking will widen us beyond
those four walls that haveclosed in on us.
Verse 9,.
We have a presence that'saround us, and the God of peace
shall be with you.
Now, here we go, from the peaceof God in the previous verse to
(36:55):
now, the God, who is the God ofpeace, he himself will be
present with you.
Paul gives personal testimony toanother of these
strength-inducing supplies thatwe receive, a contentment that
anchors us In verse 11 and 12,.
(37:18):
I don't say this out of need,for I've learned to be content
in whatever circumstances I findmyself.
I know how to make do withlittle.
I know how to make do with alot In any and all circumstances
.
I have learned the secret ofbeing content, whether well-fed
or hungry, whether in abundanceor in need.
Oh, the Apostle Paul.
I could never be like theApostle Paul.
(37:39):
He was such a learner.
Learner.
Paul had to learn, and thislearning wasn't just two plus
two equals four.
Repeat it back to me.
Okay, you learned it.
This is a formative learning.
A contentment doesn't come by amathematical equation.
Contentment comes by beingpressed into situations and then
(38:03):
discovering, wonderfully,somehow God is so operated in
your heart that you're okay withit.
And so he said I've learned tobe content.
And then he understands that hehas a power to uphold him here
(38:24):
in verse 13.
I know how to make do with alittle and a lot.
He says in verse 12, I'velearned the secret of being
content.
Whether well-fed or hungry, Iam able to do all things through
him, who strengthens me.
This is so often misquoted.
(38:48):
I'd like guys who wear thist-shirt to go to the gym and
stack up the bar with a bunch of45s on both sides and say, okay
, you can do all things throughChrist, who strengthens you.
Let's see what your bench pressis going to be today.
This is not an I can do allthings of ambition.
This is an I can do all thingsof endurance.
(39:09):
I can do all things with acontented endurance.
The context shows us that Paulhas just talked about learning
to be content, and thestrengthening he's received is a
strengthening to be content.
And then, last of all, aprovision that sustains him, and
(39:34):
he mentions this in verse 19.
My God will supply all yourneeds according to his riches in
glory in Christ Jesus.
In the economy of grace,there's no empty spot the Lord
can't fill.
There's no empty spot the Lordcan't fill.
(39:55):
And so here we are.
Christ is not a crutch, but heis the ground beneath our feet
when everything else feels likeit's caving in on us.
He's not a parachute we pull asa last resort.
He is the atmosphere in whichwe live and breathe, he is our
life, he is our example, he isour treasure, and we will find
(40:18):
that he's also our strength Inthe middle of all of this.
And so the invitation of thebook of Philippians is not for
us to pretend, not for us to actlike none of it matters, not to
sort of give up and in justabsolute passivity and think
(40:39):
well, no, this is somethingthat's much more purposeful and
intentional and much morefocused, focused on Christ, not
on the joy itself.
But when you think about Jesusas your life and you think about
Jesus as your example, and youstart thinking about Jesus as
(40:59):
your treasure and you startthinking about Jesus as your
strength, lo and behold, joywill come trailing along, as it
will, because it is the joy ofChrist himself.
So you might feel weary, youmight feel stretched, you might
feel like you're walking throughfire, but you won't be without
(41:23):
Christ's power and you won't besevered from Christ's hope, and
you won't be severed fromChrist's presence and you won't
be severed from Christ'spresence, because he will be
with you always.
And that's why this letterwritten from prison is one of
the most delightful, rejoicingletters you can read, because
(41:43):
this man learned, and he wantsus to learn it too.
So let's pray together.
Father, we thank you for thisshort look at the book of
Philippians.
Thank you for helping usunderstand the kind of joy that
is different than what wetypically think of about
(42:06):
floating along on a pleasant day, but rather a joy that will
anchor us even in a stormy,stormy situation.
We thank you for showing usthat Christ is our life, that
Christ is our example.
He shows us that joy comes fromgiving rather than gaining,
(42:30):
that Christ is our treasure,that everything else fades in
relationship and in contrast tohim, and that Christ is our
strength, even when pressuresdon't let up, that he will give
us more and more of himself.
And so, father, I pray for allof us that we might say honestly
(42:52):
before you may Christ be mylife, so I might be able to say
what does it matter If Christ bepraised?
For me, to live is Christ andto die is gain.
May we be willing to step intothe steps of our Savior, who
(43:13):
lowered himself in self-givinglove, even to the point of death
.
And so, father, may we gladlyembrace humility and sacrifice
and service.
Father, may we be happy to ownChrist as our treasure, even if
(43:34):
it means letting go of somethingthat we've prized.
And I pray that you would bringus, father, to the place where,
in the middle of burdens andanxieties and hardships, that we
would know that we have asevenfold cord of strength in
you.
Help us to understand that thisis not some theory or
(43:58):
abstraction, but can be everybeat of our burdened and loved
life, because you are ours andwe are yours, and we pray this
in Christ's name, amen.
So if you have a Bible, you can turn to that
book.
If you don't have one, you'llfind a pew Bible in front of you
and you can go to page 1040,1040.
We're in our series, very deepinto our series called Route 66,
book by book through the bookof books.
So one message for each book ofthe Bible, and we started in
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Genesis and now we're all theway up through the book of
Philippians.
This afternoon, royal and I hadthe privilege of spending lunch
with Brian and ElaineMcLaughlin, who recently
returned from a trip to Italy,and they were able to show us
some pictures and some storiesabout their time over there, and
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we got to see some pictures ofRome and how much they got to
enjoy in that city.
They were there in Rome the dayafter the Pope was picked,
elected, chosen, whatever theright word is, and so it was an
interesting day to be there,right For them to be in the
midst of all of that, aseverybody rushed to the city in
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order to be part of thatannouncement.
When we read the book ofPhilippians, we read a book from
a letter from Paul, who was inRome, and for many years, I'm
sure, paul longed to be in Romebut not to see the sights right.
He actually wanted to go therein order to preach the gospel
(01:27):
and even on the day he wasconverted was told that he would
be preaching in some fairlysignificant places, and I'm sure
Rome came immediately to mindwhen it did.
And looking at how Paul wouldapproach different places and
cities, you could tell he did soin a very strategic way.
He wasn't haphazard in what hewanted to do.
Even though the Lord sometimesredirected him in different ways
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, he certainly had a plan and apurpose for how he preached and
where he preached.
So when he entered Rome, hedidn't enter Rome the way he
thought he might have done.
The first time he thought aboutpreaching the gospel there.
He thought he could walk in, goto maybe some of the major
places of meeting and to preachthe gospel to people on the
(02:13):
street or people, politiciansand people higher up.
Little did he know maybe onthat first day he considered
preaching there that he'd beentering Rome in chains, which
is exactly what he did.
I don't think that was the kindof strategy that he opted for
and it's certainly not thestrategy that church planting
(02:34):
books talk about today.
So if you want to go to a placeand start a church, get yourself
arrested and I don't thinkthat's how that works and yet,
in confinement and arguablyunder house arrest at this time,
in the middle of all theuncertainties that faced him
(02:55):
personally and were around himin his ministry, in the book of
Philippians, we read one of themost joy-filled words ever
penned.
It's a wonderful, wonderfulpart of Scripture.
And despite whatever oppositionhe was facing, despite whatever
rumors were rolling around,despite being cut off from the
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ministry that he believed heshould be in, his letter shines
with rejoicing.
Orrin Wearsby has titled a lotof his commentaries with a key
little word be and then he wouldfill in a different word.
That gave a focus for the book.
And what do you think his titlefor Philippians was right?
(03:37):
Be joyful, be joyful.
Yeah.
Well, why was he shining withjoy in the midst of all of this?
Well, it certainly wasn'tbecause the plans were going the
way he wanted them to go.
It came from who he knew JesusChrist.
In the middle of thesedifficulties, his joy wasn't in
(03:58):
the fact that he could do thingsfor God, but in remembering
what Christ had done for him.
I love the book of Philippianswhen I first came here in 2013,
I prayed long about what wouldbe the first book of the Bible
that we would study together asa church.
I knew that the church prior toMicah and my coming had been
(04:21):
through some conflict and lossand quite a bit of difficulty,
that it was in a place that waschallenged, and in those kind of
moments you can sort of closein and think more immediate
rather than more expansively,and I was happy for us to join
together on Sunday nights.
A series on the sort of a slowcrawl through the book of Psalms
(04:44):
had already been started and Isaid let's continue that for
sure.
But when it came down to Sundaymornings, I prayed and thought
and considered, well, what wouldbe a very appropriate book for
all of us to study together, andit ended up being this book
Philippians.
That was the first book that wewent through and as I did so, I
(05:04):
did so because, like I said,paul writes from prison and yet
his circumstances aren'tmitigating his joy.
He still rejoices His joy,though he might have been
confined.
His joy wasn't confined, hisjoy was unfettered, and I wanted
our church then and I stillwant us to know what it means to
(05:26):
be a joyful people, not becauseour circumstances go well,
because we have a Savior whowatches over us in every
situation.
And so, as we go through thisbook, I want to give you a
four-point outline, and you canremember it well by the word
let's, which is actually acontraction of two words.
But anyway, for all you Englishteachers, please forgive me,
(05:51):
let's.
So L-E-T-S.
Let's look at the book ofPhilippians, right, and to know
that Christ is our life, christis our example, christ is our
treasure and Christ is ourstrength, right.
So that's where the L-E-T-Scomes from, because, as we go
through the book of Philippians,we're going to be able to
(06:12):
understand that we canexperience a joy that is not
crushed by our setbacks, that wecan experience a joy that can
go through a betrayal, can gothrough a betrayal, that we can
have joy and a song even in themiddle of what might be a
nighttime experience for us,because joy is not found in the
(06:34):
absence of trials, it's foundsomewhere else.
Now, before Paul teaches usabout joy in content, he teaches
us something about how toreceive that joy, and this is an
important word.
He uses a Greek word 10 times.
I believe it is in the book ofPhilippians, and it's praneo,
(06:58):
which means to think, to think,to have this mind in you, to
think, to have this mind in you.
And what he's calling thePhilippians to do is to not some
passive reception of anemotional experience, but to a
determined effort to set theirmind on certain things, and if
(07:19):
they do, joy will be produced.
So we think, we set our mind on, we adopt a mindset, we think,
because joy is not accidental,it is purposed and it grows in
the soil of a gospel-shaped mind.
(07:42):
That's where joy comes from.
Now let me just give you two ofthose 10 references.
First is in Philippians 1.7.
It is right for me to thinkthis way about you.
So there is just a perspectivethat Paul has about the people
at Philippi, and hisconsiderations and his mindset
(08:03):
about them are geared a certainway.
It's right for me to think thisway about you.
And then we'll look at anotherone soon, in Philippians 2.5.
Let this mind be amongyourselves, as it was also in
Christ Jesus.
So there's another use of it.
It's a way of thinking, it's amindset, it's a determination of
(08:24):
thought.
As I said, his kind of joy isnot a rush of exuberance that
comes from good experiences andcircumstances.
But it's an overflow that comesfrom us by a reorientation of
our mind around the truth of thegospel.
We don't drift into Christianjoy, we grow into it.
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We don't stumble into Christianjoy, we seek it with our minds.
And this is why in Philippians4.8, whatsoever things are true,
whatsoever things are lovely,whatsoever things are honorable,
whatever things are of goodreport, think on these things.
There's three of the ten rightthere.
(09:11):
So giving our mind to certainthings will have the overflow,
production of joy within ourhearts.
So if we want to have Christ'sjoy, we need to invite ourselves
to thinking about Christ well,and that's why Philippians is
saturated with Christ.
(09:31):
Christ is our life, christ isour example, christ is our
treasure and Christ is ourstrength.
Chapter 1, 2, 3, and 4.
So let's look at Philippiansthat way.
First of all, chapter oneChrist is our life.
There we go, thank you.
All right, let's take a coupleof verses here.
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Verse six for one.
I'm sure this that he whostarted a good work in you will
carry it on to completion untilthe day of Christ Jesus.
So we can see that ourspiritual life is begun by God
in Christ and that it will becompleted on the day of Jesus
(10:15):
Christ.
So in all ways our spirituallife is wrapped up in him.
And then also in verse 21, avery familiar verse to many of
us.
For me, to live as Christ andto die as gain.
So those are two key verses outof several that we could look
at in chapter one that speak tothis idea that Christ is our
(10:37):
life.
Now, remember, paul is in prison, his future is uncertain, his
ministry is limited and thereare even people preaching in
order for him to gain moretrouble while he's in prison.
You can see this in verse 16and 17, some preaching out of
(11:03):
love.
And in verse 17, othersproclaim Christ out of selfish
ambition, not sincerely thinkingthey'll cause me trouble in my
imprisonment.
But how does Paul think aboutthis?
Well, he says in verse 18, whatdoes it matter?
Only that in every way, whetherfrom false motives or true,
(11:26):
christ is proclaimed.
And in this I rejoice, yes,I'll continue to rejoice.
So we find the root of joy to bethe life of Jesus Christ, no
matter what his circumstancesare, even if people are causing
deeper trouble for him, becausehe is lost up in the life of
(11:50):
Christ.
And this is not denial ofreality, but it is a
Christ-shaped, defiant joy.
Despite the hardships, hissense of purpose, his identity
and his ministry is wrapped upin Christ.
And if Christ gets proclaimedwhen he's imprisoned, because
(12:12):
people are out there preachingeither sincerely or impurely,
then thank God that Christ isproclaimed and so he knows that
this isn't going to be a joy ofdeliverance from prison, a joy
of freedom, a joy of greaterinfluence in his ministry, a joy
(12:32):
of outcomes that might begainfully used for his liberty.
No, it's Christ.
It's Christ.
What happened to me hasactually advanced the gospel, he
says in verse 12.
And from that perspective hefinds joy.
(12:56):
And that's why he's able to sayfor me to live, even in prison,
is Christ and to die is gain.
You just do the math If I liveit's Christ, if I die it's gain.
We might say that's a winningequation right there, because
(13:19):
Jesus is his life, his source,his reason for being, his hope
in life and death.
Then he can respond with ajoyfulness.
So a question for us as we thinkabout this is Christ our life?
Is Christ our life despite ourcircumstances?
(13:39):
Are we able to see ourcircumstances in such a way that
Christ is displayed more,either in us or through us?
And if so, then rejoice in that.
Rejoice in that I think Imentioned this not too long ago.
(14:02):
I was going through somedifficult times in Northern
California and one of the eldersasked me a question why are you
even still here?
It was that difficult and hewas genuinely wondering what was
keeping me here.
It could have been easy to goanywhere else and I said to him
I said I'm learning more aboutJesus Christ in this situation
than I think I can find anywhereelse.
That's the kind of mindset thatPaul had.
(14:26):
He said for me to live asChrist, he was learning
something about Jesus even whenlife wasn't all that good,
wasn't all that good.
So when we think about Jesusbeing our focus, when we speak
and when we act, when we respond, we also need to think about
(14:51):
Jesus when we suffer, when wesuffer Because he is part of our
life, no matter what Good timesare bad.
And here, in the face of loss,in the face of uncertainty, in
the face of limitations, paul issaying for me to live is Christ
.
If someone asked Paul, if Christtook nothing away from you that
(15:11):
was causing you discomfort orpain right now, but gave you
more of himself, would you bewilling to stay in that
situation, and Paul's answer tothat would have been yes.
Yes, because he who began agood work in you will carry it
(15:32):
to completion.
We'll carry it to completion.
You see, christ is our life andwhile we live he's still
writing his story into our story.
We're learning more about himday by day.
Now that brings us to thesecond chapter and we're going
down our contracted word let's,he is our life, he is our
(15:54):
example.
Lets, he is our life, he is ourexample, he is our example.
So Paul moves from chapter onebroadly to speak about declaring
Christ as our life, topresenting Christ as our pattern
or our example.
And he does so largely bysinging one of the most exalted
hymns of all of scripture, ananthem of descent and of glory.
(16:15):
And it begins with a statementwe'll come back to adopt the
same attitude as that of ChristJesus.
Or another translation wouldsay let this mind be in you
Again, a mindset, a mindset.
And the pattern that's etchedfor us is the very life of
(16:39):
Christ itself.
He is our example in thispattern, and as we read verse 6
through 11, we can see that itbegins with a place of
exaltation.
Who, existing in the form of God.
God did not consider equalitywith God as something to be
exploited.
So there he is in the most highrealms of honor and glory and
(17:03):
praise, receiving all thefullness of the Godhead, and yet
he empties himself in verse 7,by assuming the form of a
servant.
Now, he doesn't empty hisdivinity, but he certainly does
divest himself of his privilegesand he wraps himself up in
humanity, as it says here inverse 7.
(17:24):
But it doesn't go just to that,as humbling as that might be,
it tells us that when he becamea man, he humbled himself by
becoming obedient Obedient tothe will of the Father in every
regard in his earthly existence,and including an obedience to
(17:50):
the cross and to death in verse8.
But when we get to verse 9, wesee something else.
This song is a song of descent,but it also is a song of ascent
, and verse 9 brings that to us.
For this reason, god highlyexalted him and gave him a name
that is above every name.
Now, this is not a surprisingending.
(18:10):
This is the shape of redemption.
It's the shape of humilitybefore glory, descent before
exaltation, of cross beforecrown, and this rhythm is not
found just here in the book ofPhilippians.
And for those of us who come onSunday mornings, I'm giving you
a little foretaste of what'sahead of us.
But this is a proclamation thatwas prophetically echoed in the
(18:43):
book of Isaiah in chapter 52and 53.
Paul is bringing the melody outof the fourth servant song of
the book of Isaiah.
When Isaiah gave that fourthsong, he talked about the
descent.
Listen to these words.
Talking about the servant.
He was despised and rejected bymen, a man of sorrows,
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acquainted with grief Isaiah53.3.
He poured out his life untodeath and was numbered with the
transgressors Isaiah 53, 12.
Do you hear the reverberationshere?
The humility, the rejection,the submission to death?
(19:24):
But listen also to verse 13.
My servant shall act wisely andhe shall be high and lifted up
and shall be exalted.
It's almost a quote.
It's more than an echo.
Do you hear it?
It's the same shape, though.
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It's the same redemptive shape.
It is the shape of humilitybefore glory.
It's the shape of descentbefore exaltation.
It's the shape of descentbefore exaltation.
It's the shape of cross beforecrown.
And here we have Christ involuntary descent to sorrow and
shame, a vicarious suffering onthe behalf of sinners, and then
(20:08):
a divine exaltation by theFather.
And what Paul is saying herevery clearly is that Jesus is
the suffering servant of Isaiah52, 53.
He's the one who went low sothat he might take the
undeserving and lift them up.
(20:28):
He's the one that bore ourgriefs so that we might share in
his glory, our griefs so thatwe might share in his glory.
He's the one that's humbledhimself to death so that we
might, as chapter 1 said, claimChrist as our life.
But this is not just somethingto wonder at, to marvel at, a
(20:52):
mystery to behold, and it is, ofcourse.
But it's more than that.
It's an example for us.
Let this mind be in you, whichis also in Christ Jesus.
This is something for us tofollow.
(21:12):
This is an example of how weare to conduct ourselves as
people in this world andparticularly as people within
the body of Christ.
If we want to say that we'refollowers of Christ among his
people, then this example ofChrist should be marked on every
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single one of us.
Christ should be marked onevery single one of us, and Paul
gives three examples of thislater in this chapter himself
Timothy and Epaphroditus.
And let's take a look just veryquickly at these three examples
.
Paul says in verse 17 of chaptertwo, even if I am poured out as
(21:53):
a drink offering on thesacrificial service of your
faith.
I'm glad and rejoice with allof you.
What is Paul doing?
He is expending himself for thepurpose of building others up.
Now what about Timothy?
Paul says in verse 9, he'sgoing to send Timothy to them so
(22:16):
that you might be encouraged byhim.
Why Timothy?
For I have no one elselike-minded who will genuinely
care about your interests.
Again, the same patternself-giving in love for the
purpose of someone else'sbenefit.
Giving in love for the purposeof someone else's benefit.
(22:38):
Now, epaphroditus.
I considered it necessary tosend you Epaphroditus, my
brother, co-worker, fellowsoldier, as well as your
messenger, minister, to my needs.
He's been longing for all ofyou and was distressed because
you heard that he was sick.
Who is this man?
This is a man who loves thepeople of God and even grieves
(23:03):
when they feel a sense of lossabout his condition, was willing
to be sent out of his home andaway from his city to go to Paul
and to be a messenger and abenefit to Paul himself, on
behalf of the Philippian church,giving himself in
self-sacrifice for the benefitof others.
You see, jesus is not just ourlife.
(23:28):
He's also our example, and hishumility is not again just
something to wonder at.
It's meant to be part of who weare.
It's meant to transform us.
And so some things that we canask ourselves is this In our
relationships, how do we descendrather than defend Right rather
(23:55):
than defend right?
How can we be humble rather thandefensive when we are facing
people that might be in conflictwith us?
Are we willing to take thelower place, not to be noticed?
But because that's where Jesuswalks, is Christ on display when
(24:17):
we stand up for our rights orwhen we willingly yield?
You see, god is going to exaltwhat the world overlooks.
Right, christ went to the cross.
He went to the place of deathon behalf of others, and it says
that the father highly exaltedhim.
And so God exalts what theworld overlooks.
(24:41):
He lifts up what the worldpasses by, and so if you've been
striving and joyless, maybe youshould try humility and find
joy there.
Look at the servant and lookhow he freely descended for us.
He stooped low in order to saveus, but he also stooped low in
(25:06):
order to show us how to live,and the more your life echoes
with the humility of Christ, themore your life will be filled
with the joy of Christ.
Now that leads us to chapterthree.
So he's our life, he's ourexample.
He's also our treasure, ourtreasure.
And Paul really brings this outin verses seven to 11.
(25:29):
I consider everything that wasa gain to me, I have considered
to be a loss because of Christ.
And he talks about thisglorious possession, a
surpassing value, of knowingChrist Jesus, my Lord, in verse
8.
Having called all of us to thehumility of Christ, he's now
(25:52):
inviting us to embrace Christ asour unsurpassing value, to
pursue the glory that comes inChrist himself.
And Paul goes through thisdiscussion here, in which he's
not doing spiritual bookkeeping,but rather he's doing a
reevaluation of all the thingsthat are worth to him.
(26:14):
What is a real treasure?
A reevaluation of all thethings that are worth to him,
what is a real treasure?
And so he takes all the thingsthat he had put on one side of
the equation as his treasure hisidentity, his upbringing, his
religious fervor and zeal, hisattainments in those areas, and
he puts it through the fire ofgrace.
And as he does so, the onlything that's left at the end of
(26:35):
that is Jesus.
Everything else is burned upHis identity, his upbringing,
his religious zeal.
What are they now?
Scrap, refuge, rubbish, all thethings that he was and some of
those things weren't necessarilybad.
All the things that he was andsome of those things weren't
(26:59):
necessarily bad they all pale insignificance compared to the
unsurpassed glory of knowingChrist.
And so what he sees here isthat Jesus is his treasure, the
ultimate gain that he's gottenby union with Jesus Christ
himself.
(27:22):
And Paul begins to discuss whatthat looks like in chapter 3.
He says in verse 9 that one ofthe treasures that he has in
Jesus Christ is a righteousnessthat's not his own, not having a
righteousness of my own butthat which is through faith in
Jesus Christ.
And he gladly laid down thislaw-based righteousness that he
once prided himself in in orderto receive the perfect record of
(27:44):
Christ himself, given to himunearned, given to him
unshakable, given to himunending into the heavenlies,
unending into the heavenlies.
He also, in verse 10, talksabout here in chapter 3, about a
(28:04):
fellowship that sufferingcannot break Right.
So not only a righteousnessthat's not his own, but a
fellowship that suffering cannotbreak Verse 10, that I might
know him and the power of hisresurrection and may share his
sufferings.
For Paul to know Christ was alot more than just to study him.
It was to enter into his life.
(28:27):
It was to understand hisnearness in his own weaknesses,
to experience his spirit raisinghim from the depths of despair.
And when he felt those thingshe said I know his fellowship in
suffering.
But he also goes on to say thatthe treasure of Christ is a
(28:51):
hope that death cannot cancel.
Take a look at verse 10 and 11.
My goal is to know him and thepower of his resurrection and
the fellowship of his sufferingsbeing conformed to his death,
assuming I will somehow reachthe resurrection from the dead.
Paul here is saying that thereis a glory beyond death,
(29:16):
something that is in union withChrist, in which not only does
he feel Christ's life within himand Christ's ministering to him
in his sufferings, but beyondthat death is a resurrection
that he will be a part of.
So this servant's pattern inchapter 2, this example of
(29:37):
Christ, is now internalized intoPaul himself and he walks down
that same pathway and as hecontinues to go down, the life
of Christ and the example ofChrist increase within him, the
treasure of Christ, and as heeven gets to the very bottom of
it all, all he can say is I knowthat I have a fellowship with
(30:00):
the Savior, both in the lowestand even, most gloriously, in
the highest, in the resurrectionhimself.
You see, paul's not justadmiring Christ and he's not
just theologically discoveringChrist, he is communing with
(30:20):
Christ and pursuing Christ.
And so in verse 12, he says notthat I've already attained, but
I press on to make it my own,because Christ has made me his
own.
Jesus came to save me, to makeme his, and I want to be all his
.
I want to be everything he'scome for, to be fully his, and
(30:46):
so this desire drives him, evenin his sufferings.
Now, imagine you were walkingalong a field not many fields
around here, but happened upon afield and there in the middle
of the field you noticesomething a little unusual that
caught your eye in the dirt andyou kind of kicked it around a
(31:06):
little bit and you went I thinkthat looks like a ring.
And you kick a little more andyou're like that looks like two
rings and a coin.
And you're like, okay, anybodylooking?
And you start pulling the grassand the dirt aside.
(31:27):
And the more you dig and thedeeper you go, the more treasure
you're discovering, what's thefirst thing you're going to do?
You know, I wonder who has adeed to this land right here.
I'm going to go sell my car.
I'm going to go sell my house.
I'm going to sell everythingI've got because as soon as I
(31:48):
buy this property, that treasureis going to be mine, and I'm
willing to give everything elseup in order to gain this piece
of land because of the treasureit is.
The Apostle Paul is saying thatwhen he saw Jesus Christ and the
grace of Jesus Christ,everything that was part of his
(32:11):
life before sell it.
It doesn't.
The only thing I need is him,is him, and so he doesn't
begrudgingly part with his oldgains.
He happily divests himself ofthose things because he's found
a treasure.
So Christ is our life, christis our example, christ is our
(32:38):
treasure, but he's also ourstrength, and this is the big
emphasis of chapter four.
After climbing to the heights ofjoy and longing in chapter
three, being found with Christin his resurrection, paul now
plants our feet firmly on thesoil of daily living, in the
(32:58):
middle of all its pressures, inthe middle of all its
uncertainties, in the middle ofall of our anxieties, in the
middle of all our needs and yet,with our feet firmly on the
ground, again, he tells us inverse 4 to do what?
Rejoice in the Lord, how often,once in a while, occasionally,
(33:25):
when Micah rouses us with agreat encouragement to be a
little happier, when we sing.
No, always, always, always,always, like always when anxiety
is camping at our door, alwaysAnxiety when peace feels like
(33:48):
just a, when peace feels likejust a lost notion.
Always when there's financialneeds or family burdens or
frayed nerves or exhaustedspirits.
Always, yeah, always.
Why?
Because joy is not rooted incircumstance but in the presence
(34:12):
of a Savior who doesn't change.
Because Christ is not just ourlife and our example and our
treasure, he's also our strength.
And in this chapter he shows ushow the life of Christ is our
strength, and he does so in veryseven staccato-like yet very
(34:36):
powerful statements of how ourlives can be transformed by
Christ.
Who is our strength, and I'mjust going to mention these very
, very briefly.
Verse 6, we have a prayer lifethat sustains us and steadies us
In everything.
By prayer and petition, withthanksgiving, present your
(34:57):
requests to God.
One of the greatest ways thatwe can receive strength is to
realize someone's alongside ofus in it.
But God is more than just withus in the trouble.
He is able to do exceedingabundantly, above all that we
ask or think.
So we're addressing the one whohas the empowerment to do what
is impossible for us.
(35:18):
So we bring our burdens to him,who hears and answers.
In verse seven we have thestrength of a peace that will
guard us, and the peace of Godwill guard your hearts and minds
.
You see, peace again is notmerely an absence of trouble,
(35:39):
it's a shield for us.
And I don't know about you.
When do you pick up a shield?
When you're in battle, right,right.
The peace of God will guardyour hearts and minds.
You don't need a guard ifthere's nothing that's coming at
you, but when things are comingat you, you have a guard, and
(36:05):
that is the peace of God.
In verse 8, we have aperspective that can lift us.
In verse 8 we have aperspective that can lift us.
Brothers, whatever is true,honorable, just, pure, lovely,
commendable, if there's moralexcellence in anything
praiseworthy, dwell, think onthese things.
Anxiety causes the world tofall in on itself and all we see
(36:32):
is the immediate.
And yet here, christ-shapedthinking will widen us beyond
those four walls that haveclosed in on us.
Verse 9,.
We have a presence that'saround us, and the God of peace
shall be with you.
Now, here we go, from the peaceof God in the previous verse to
(36:55):
now, the God, who is the God ofpeace, he himself will be
present with you.
Paul gives personal testimony toanother of these
strength-inducing supplies thatwe receive, a contentment that
anchors us In verse 11 and 12,.
(37:18):
I don't say this out of need,for I've learned to be content
in whatever circumstances I findmyself.
I know how to make do withlittle.
I know how to make do with alot In any and all circumstances
.
I have learned the secret ofbeing content, whether well-fed
or hungry, whether in abundanceor in need.
Oh, the Apostle Paul.
I could never be like theApostle Paul.
(37:39):
He was such a learner.
Learner.
Paul had to learn, and thislearning wasn't just two plus
two equals four.
Repeat it back to me.
Okay, you learned it.
This is a formative learning.
A contentment doesn't come by amathematical equation.
Contentment comes by beingpressed into situations and then
(38:03):
discovering, wonderfully,somehow God is so operated in
your heart that you're okay withit.
And so he said I've learned tobe content.
And then he understands that hehas a power to uphold him here
(38:24):
in verse 13.
I know how to make do with alittle and a lot.
He says in verse 12, I'velearned the secret of being
content.
Whether well-fed or hungry, Iam able to do all things through
him, who strengthens me.
This is so often misquoted.
(38:48):
I'd like guys who wear thist-shirt to go to the gym and
stack up the bar with a bunch of45s on both sides and say, okay
, you can do all things throughChrist, who strengthens you.
Let's see what your bench pressis going to be today.
This is not an I can do allthings of ambition.
This is an I can do all thingsof endurance.
(39:09):
I can do all things with acontented endurance.
The context shows us that Paulhas just talked about learning
to be content, and thestrengthening he's received is a
strengthening to be content.
And then, last of all, aprovision that sustains him, and
(39:34):
he mentions this in verse 19.
My God will supply all yourneeds according to his riches in
glory in Christ Jesus.
In the economy of grace,there's no empty spot the Lord
can't fill.
There's no empty spot the Lordcan't fill.
(39:55):
And so here we are.
Christ is not a crutch, but heis the ground beneath our feet
when everything else feels likeit's caving in on us.
He's not a parachute we pull asa last resort.
He is the atmosphere in whichwe live and breathe, he is our
life, he is our example, he isour treasure, and we will find
(40:18):
that he's also our strength Inthe middle of all of this.
And so the invitation of thebook of Philippians is not for
us to pretend, not for us to actlike none of it matters, not to
sort of give up and in justabsolute passivity and think
(40:39):
well, no, this is somethingthat's much more purposeful and
intentional and much morefocused, focused on Christ, not
on the joy itself.
But when you think about Jesusas your life and you think about
Jesus as your example, and youstart thinking about Jesus as
(40:59):
your treasure and you startthinking about Jesus as your
strength, lo and behold, joywill come trailing along, as it
will, because it is the joy ofChrist himself.
So you might feel weary, youmight feel stretched, you might
feel like you're walking throughfire, but you won't be without
(41:23):
Christ's power and you won't besevered from Christ's hope, and
you won't be severed fromChrist's presence and you won't
be severed from Christ'spresence, because he will be
with you always.
And that's why this letterwritten from prison is one of
the most delightful, rejoicingletters you can read, because
(41:43):
this man learned, and he wantsus to learn it too.
So let's pray together.
Father, we thank you for thisshort look at the book of
Philippians.
Thank you for helping usunderstand the kind of joy that
is different than what wetypically think of about
(42:06):
floating along on a pleasant day, but rather a joy that will
anchor us even in a stormy,stormy situation.
We thank you for showing usthat Christ is our life, that
Christ is our example.
He shows us that joy comes fromgiving rather than gaining,
(42:30):
that Christ is our treasure,that everything else fades in
relationship and in contrast tohim, and that Christ is our
strength, even when pressuresdon't let up, that he will give
us more and more of himself.
And so, father, I pray for allof us that we might say honestly
(42:52):
before you may Christ be mylife, so I might be able to say
what does it matter If Christ bepraised?
For me, to live is Christ andto die is gain.
May we be willing to step intothe steps of our Savior, who
(43:13):
lowered himself in self-givinglove, even to the point of death
.
And so, father, may we gladlyembrace humility and sacrifice
and service.
Father, may we be happy to ownChrist as our treasure, even if
(43:34):
it means letting go of somethingthat we've prized.
And I pray that you would bringus, father, to the place where,
in the middle of burdens andanxieties and hardships, that we
would know that we have asevenfold cord of strength in
you.
Help us to understand that thisis not some theory or
(43:58):
abstraction, but can be everybeat of our burdened and loved
life, because you are ours andwe are yours, and we pray this
in Christ's name, amen.
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