Sermon Tone Analysis
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Have you ever wondered why so many people lose any joy they might have had in their lives?…
even Christians?
They start off great but fade … it’s like they sprang a leak and of o their joy leaked out.
Tonight, we will look at what Paul says about How we can maintain our joy.
Paul did not want the Christians in Philippi to lose their joy.
In this passage, he gives us 3 Guard Rails that will help us to maintain our Joy.
Three Guardrails for Keeping Your Joy
Legalism kills people’s joy and it will destroy your Christian Walk.
It ruins families, people and churches.
1. Resist Legalistic Attitudes.
Legalism - substituting rules and regulations for my relationship to Jesus Christ.
It creeps in subtly to a believer’s life.
It takes the focus off of what God has done for you and places the focus on what you have to do for God.
When you get it backwards like this, you will lose your joy.
In the NT times, people who were legalistic were called Judaizers.
These were a group of people who said, "Yes, believe on Jesus Christ, trust Him with all your heart but there are also some other things you must add onto your faith."
Christ plus works.
They said they must keep every one of the Jewish laws to be a believer -- the Sabbath laws, circumcision, dietary laws, etc. Paul angrily confronted these folks everywhere they popped up.
That is what he is doing in Phil 3.
Paul is not calling them dogs like our pets.
In these days, dogs were wild and dangerous scavengers.
It was a bout the worst thing you could call someone.
Guard Rail #1 - Live each day by GRACE.
Grace is the key to joy.
Grace - Realize that everything God does in you and through you is by grace, rather than working for it and earning it.
Paul uses his life as an example… He was a recovering legalist…
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Paul basically, however religious you think you are, I could have beaten you… He gives us 5 examples that let us know we are falling into legalism.
5 Examples of Legalistic Attitudes
1.
You begin to trust in rituals.
Paul says "I was circumcised on the eight day, of the people of Israel."
We have our own rituals today.
Baptism, communion, catechism, baby dedicated.
If you fall into this trap, trusting these for your salvation, you're in trouble.
2.
You begin to trust in your family heritage of race.
"I was of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin."
Benjamin was the purest tribe.
Paul was named after the first king, Saul, who was a Benjaminite.
Paul says he used to trust in his heritage.
Have you ever heard anyone say, "My Daddy's a Christian... My mom was a believer... My uncle was a pastor."
You can get religion by osmosis but you can't get Christ by osmosis.
3.
You trust in religion.
"I was a Hebrew of Hebrews".
Paul was a religious person.
Jesus has nothing to do with religion except He's 100% opposed to it.
Religion is man's attempt to get to God.
Works.
Jesus Christ is God's attempt to get to man.
That's a relationship and that's a big difference.
No denomination has a copyright on truth or a patent on God.
He won’t be asking for ID cards as to what denomination you were part of when you get to heaven.
4.
You begin to trust in rules.
"In regard to the law, I was a Pharisee."
Paul kept all the rules.
We think of the Pharisees as hypocrites but there were some genuine, sincere ones.
They were the spiritually elite of that age.
They took the Ten Commandments and expanded them into 619 other commandments.
And they were legalists!
5.
You trust in your reputation.
"As for zeal and legalistic righteousness, I was faultless."
Today we have people saying, "I read the Bible, I witness, I go to church..." That's legalism.
If the Christian life was all about a bunch of “don’ts” anybody that was dead would qualify to be a Christian because they don’t do anything.
Repeat Rom 14:17
2. Reevaluate Your Activities.
All the things Paul once thought were important, he now counted as garbage.
Guardrail #2 - Keep your priorities in perspective.
Know what’s important.
Don’t lose your joy over things that are not important or that you cannot control.
One of the main reasons people lose their joy is misplaced priorities.
They get too involved in things that are not important in the long run.
Paul is saying that your prestige, what people think about you, your position or whatever… none of that is important.
You can have it all and still be unhappy.
Paul is teaching that life consists to tradeoffs.
You have to learn this.
He said he gave up something in order to gain something else.
He gave up his religion in order to have a relationship.
Many people who don’t want to commit to Christ are afraid that they are going to have to give up something in order to become a Christian.
And they're right!
When you come to Jesus Christ you give up everything you've got.
Otherwise you're not a real Christian.
It is total commitment.
And then you've never had it so good!
What I’ve got is worth more than everything I gave up.
You give up guilt and gain a clear conscious.
You give up worry and gain a power for living.
You give up frustration and lack of purpose in life and gain real meaning and purpose in life.
You give up going to hell and gain going to heaven.
You gave up trying to solve all your problems in your own power and gain having the resources of God to help solve your problems.
That's a pretty good trade-off!
"He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep for that which he cannot lose."
Jim Elliott
What are you afraid of giving up for God?
If you become a Christian, get really committed to Christ, really live for Jesus Christ, what are you afraid is going to change in your life that you don't want to give up?
Whatever that is, that is the very thing that is robbing your joy
3. Refocus Your Ambitions.
Lasting Joy comes from knowing Jesus more and more.
Paul’s #1 goal was to know Christ better… He is talking about a close, honest and intimate relationship with Jesus.
How well do you know Jesus?
Guardrail #3 - Get to Know Christ Better.
Never stop growing closer to the Lord.
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