Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro:

One of the greatest memories I have from my childhood is going on vacation with my family.

Stuck between two decisions?

Some of the best memories I have are the ones that my family made while on vacation in the summertime.

Stuck between a transition you are making possibly in a job or a move?

I’ll never forget that one of the worst things growing up was being stuck in a car on the way to vacation.

It was a tradition for my family that every summer we would travel to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina for a week of fun and relaxation.

As fun as vacation is, for a child, the worst part is traveling.

Those famous words my sister and I would ask mom and dad.

“Are we there yet?”

Maybe you can relate, but I didn’t grow up with smartphones or tablets, so my sister and I had to come up with ways to keep ourselves entertained on the way to vacation.

We would play hours of eye spy, or sing songs, and mostly just fight and argue.

Nothing was scarier than dad’s arm reaching my leg to pinch it when I was being mean to my sister.

Although traveling was not always fun, in the back of our mind was the excitement of reaching our destination.

The travel might not have been the fun part, but it was all worth it because we would eventually reach

This morning, we are continuing our study of Philippians and we are going to see the Apostle Paul discussing the journey and the destination of the Christian Life.

Philippians 1:19-

As we continue in Philippians this morning, we come to a section in the letter to the church at Phillipi where Paul is struggling with the questions: Is it better for me to stay on earth and minister to others, or is it better to be in heaven with Christ.

So far, Paul has given an update to the Church at Phillipi that he is still alive but that he is in prison.

Last week we looked at Paul’s encouragement to the church that God was still using him in his imprisonment to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We looked at the importance of rejoicing in our suffering because God uses suffering for His glory and may just lead us to share the good news of Jesus with someone.

We come to V. 19 and see Paul transitioning into the thought of life and death.

We know Paul was in prison and near the end of his life, so one of the things he probably thought about often was joy of being in heaven one day and experiencing the reward he has in Christ Jesus.

There are two things I want us to look at from this passage this morning: a Christian’s journey and a Christian’s destination.

The Christian Journey refers to our walk with Christ while we are on earth and what that journey looks like but we are also going to look at a Christian’s destination which is eternal life with Christ and how that affects the journey.

The first thing that we see through Paul’s difficlut situation is that A Christia’s journey rejoices, depends, and honors Christ in all circumstances.

Although Paul is transitioning his thought in this letter, he ties it in to V. 18.

He makes the statement “Yes, and I will rejoice”

Paul finds confidence that no matter what, He will choose to rejoice in his current state because he has hope.

Last week, we looked at the purpose of suffering and how Paul rejoiced even in the face of opposition because he was being used by God to proclaim the Gospel to the imperial guard and people were hearing the good news of jesus and in that He rejoiced, now we see Paul rejoicing in his situation knowing that the suffering would turn out for his deliverance.

You may or may not struggle with this but I want to be real and honest with you this morning that I oftentimes think about the future.

If I were to be completely honest with you, I sometimes worry about the future and sometimes stress over uncertainty in my life.

Studying this passage this week gave me so much encouragement because Paul makes the statement that he will rejoice knowing that the current situation he is in will turn out for his deliverance.

Paul makes it clear that he rejoices knowing that his life is in God’s hands and his treasure is Christ and nothing else.

As a follower of Christ, we have the same encouragement knowing that whatever happens to us in life, God is using for our good.

It may not seem that way, but we have to find confidence and joy knowing that whatever our current situation is, God is in control.

Having confidence in the sovereignty of God leads to rejoicing and peace.

We see men and women of faith in God’s word placing their hope and joy in the One true God amidst their trials throughout Scripture.

Listen to the words of Habakkuk

-20

17  Though the fig tree should not blossom,

nor fruit be on the vines,

the produce of the olive fail

and the fields yield no food,

the flock be cut off from the fold

and there be no herd in the stalls,

18  yet I will rejoice in the Lord;

I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

19  God, the Lord, is my strength;

he makes my feet like the deer’s;

he makes me tread on my high places.

To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments

Habakkuk rejoiced in the Lord knowing he had no food in the fields and no cattle in the stalls.

Listen to what Job says’ in

20 Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped.

21 And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return.

The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

20 Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped.

21 And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return.

The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Job proclaimed “blessed be the name of the Lord.” after losing everything he had, Job proclaimed “blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Take some time to read Job chapter one and then notice Job still finding his hope and joy in the Lord and praising his name.

We can look at these characters and see what they have lost and say the same things because we serve the same God they did and we have a God who is all powerful and who is worthy of our worship.

Paul’s writing is the same as these men.

No matter what happens, I will choose to rejoice.

Not only did Paul rejoice in the Lord, but his dependance on the Lord is evident in his life.

Paul makes statement that he rejoices in the prayers of the church at Philippi and the Spirit of Jesus Christ that his suffering and imprisonment will turn out for his deliverance.

The word deliverance can be looked at in a couple different ways.

Quickly reading this verse, we can assume that Paul is talking about being delivered from his suffering and be released from Prison, however, there is greater meaning.

Looking at the word Deliverance as it appears in this verse, we also see that this is referring to Salvation: the state of having been saved.

Paul’s confidence did not rely on his suffering being taken from his but his confidence relied on the fact he was saved by the blood of Jesus and his suffering may not have ended while on earth but he knew that if he were to be delivered over to death, He would be gaining everything that heaven has to offer.

Paul’s words in verse 19 are a direct quotation from

Job’s words in the beginning of both verses read: Though he slay me, I will hope in him; This will be my salvation.

Paul was in the same situation of Job.

Both men had not done anything to deserve the torment or suffering they were going through but their dependance on the Lord led them to say that no matter what happens, their salvation was in the Lord.

Paul completely depended on the Lord knowing his life was probably going to come to an end soon.

So Paul rejoices and shows his dependence on the Lord, now look at what Paul’s eager expectation was in V. 20.

Paul’s desire was that Christ will be honored in his life whether on earth or through his death.

These words proved true of Paul’s ministry, because several other places in the New Testament, Paul writes that as a follower of Christ, our live’s should glorify and reflect the glory of God.

1 Corinthains 10:31

We look at Paul’s life and see that his ambition to see God glorified was consistent in his life even toward the end of his life.

I can’t think of a better testimony we have than to bring God honor and glory in whatever situation we are in.

We know that God allows his children to go through tests and tough times and when our prayer and hope is that God would be honored and glorified in our lives’, people will catch that hope and be inspired by trust and confidence we have in the Lord.

Our journey as believer’s will be filled with seasons of joy and seasons of suffering, but one thing holds true.

God desires his children to point to Him through it all.

No one in this room has had a perfect life.

Some of us have experienced suffering and tribulations on different levels, but the one thing we have in common is that we serve a God who loves us and constantly pours his grace and mercy on us.

There are situations in our journey where money, family, and friends will not help us but only placing our absolute confidence in the Lord will help us deal with whatever we are going through.

We are not called to honor ourselves but to honor God with every situation life throws our way.

We honor the Lord when our trust and confidence is in Him and Him alone.

So looking at Paul’s situation, we know that a Christian’s journey rejoices, depends, and honors God in all circumstances.

Now let’s talk about the destination because the destination is just as important as the journey.

This is one of the most quoted verses in all of Scripture.

If we aren’t careful, we can read it and completely miss the glorious truth that God is speaking to us this morning.

This verse really captures the essence of what the Christian life is.

When we talk about a Chrisitan’s destination we see the second main truth in this passage is.

2) A Christian’s destination provides meaning for the journey.

I think we get confused sometimes when it comes to our Christian walk because we neglect to remember what Jesus paid for on the cross and what Jesus made possible through His resurrection.

When Paul utters the words “To live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

we see some very practical but deep truths for the Christians journey and the Christian’s Destination.

For a Christian, our life and our destination is not a place but a person and his name is Jesus.