Sermon Tone Analysis

August 12, 2007                                                                                                      SD20

Joy in spite of.doc

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THE JOYFUL CHRISTIAN—Part Two

How to have Joy in spite of…

 

Philippians 1:12-26

 

: There are two kinds of joy:

Joy because of….

Joy in spite of…

On is temporal, dependant on circumstances and floats on the tides of life…

The other is steadfast.

Firm.

Dependant only on the promise of God and our constant faith in His Word.

Most people don’t enjoy life they just endure it…

They live thinking that if they could just change something in their life they would be happy:

Change my job, change my location, move to a different city, make more money, and get rid of my problems,…

      But life is not perfect and you are not perfect…

            And as long as you think that happiness~/joy will come wit the next wind of change you will always be looking for something other than what you have and fail to find joy in the present:  In other words you will never be fully satisfied with your life as it is….joy

will be the missing ingredient because you have not learned to be joyful in spite of present circumstances

 

: Our subject for today is “How to have Joy-in-spite-of”

      The kind of joy that Paul experienced????

 

Before we read our text this morning you need to know the background:

For the last four years Paul has been in some miserable circumstances:  He's spent two years in prison in Caesarea for a trumped up charge.

Then he's put on a ship to go to Rome to appear before Nero who is not known for his niceties towards

Christians.

On the way he's shipwrecked, stranded on an island, bitten by a poisonous snake, waits the winter there, continues on to Rome, spends another two years in prison awaiting trial to

be executed.

During this two year period in Rome he is chained to a guard for 24 hours a day.

He has absolutely no privacy.

Every four hours he gets a new guard.

In 1:29-30 he sums up his circumstances with these words:

(NLT)  /“For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him.

We are in this fight together.

You have seen me suffer for him in the past, and you know that I am still in the midst of this great struggle.”/

Yet in spite of all of these situations, Paul says in Phil.

1:18 /"I rejoice and I will continue to rejoice."

/

 

What's Paul's secret?

How does he stay positive in prison,

triumph over troubles,

delight in difficulties,

stay so happy, positive, *joyful in spite of the fact* that everything has *not* turned out the way he planned it.

Paul gives us four secrets.

Read the text: Phil 1:12-26

 

: *THE FOUR ESSENTIALS FOR JOYFUL LIVING*

 

: *I.

I NEED A POINT OF VIEW TO LIVE FROM*

So much depend on your point of view…

: (slide of woman—two slides)---What do you see???

Our problem is that most of us are looking at life while standing on our heads…upside down—we are looking at circumstances from our own human vantage point and not from God’s

…and it is not easy to change our vantage point.

We must move over to God’s side…put Him first in our affections…

 

:I need a point of view to live from

I need God’s point of view on the subject!

Paul says

/v. 12 "Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel."

/

I can see the best even in the worst.

I can see God at work in the problems even when they don't go my way.

Non-believers are being witnessed to in my attitude toward them, believers are being encouraged.

/v.

13: "As a result it has become clear throughout the/

/whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ."/

He says that all the things that people look at in my life—the tragic experiences, the delays, the imprisonments, the hardships and shipwrecks---all of it has only served the purpose of God and for this I am grateful!

Paul had always wanted to go to Rome.

He meant to have a Gospel crusade there.

Instead, God put him in prison where he would write the New Testament.

He's chained to the palace guard, the praetorian guard with the crack elite troops of the Roman Empire.

They were the highest paid people of the empire.

When they retired after 12 years they were made leaders in Rome.

There is not a more strategic group that Paul could witness to if he's going to reach the Roman empire.

God puts Paul in Rome, Nero pays the bill and chains a future leader of Rome to him every four hours.

In two years at four-hour shifts, Paul had witnessed 4,380 times to his guards.

These guards had an inside route to the emperor and as a result even some of Nero's family became believers.

History tells us that Nero had his wife, mother and children killed because they became believers.

A "chain" reaction.

Paul had a captive audience.

/v.

14 "Because of my chains most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly."/

My attitude towards problems has encouraged other people.

Courage is contagious.

It spreads like wildfire.

Other believers became bold because of Paul being bold.

The perspective (point of view) you need to live from if you're going to have joy in your life is Romans 8:28 "And we know that in ALL things God works for the good of those who love Him..."

* *

:*LESSON: God has a purpose behind every one of my problems.*

When you get this perspective you are on the way to joyful living.

Paul says that God has a purpose behind all my problems therefore I have a perspective to live from.

:*2.

I NEED TO LIVE BY PRIORITIES INSTEAD OF PROBLEMS*

 

Some people live from problem to problem---others live by priorities---and see their problems as stepping stones to fulfilling their priorities…

When you can distinguish the important things from the trivial things you are living by priority---when you cannot you are just living from problem to problem rather than from glory to glory—

 

v.

15-16 Paul was saying, "Not only am I in prison, but if you want to kick a man while he's down there are guys out there attacking my ministry.

They're jealous, envious, rivaling me.

Other ministers are criticizing me while I am in prison."

If you want something to steal your joy quicker than anything else, just start listening to what other people are saying about you.

v.

18: "But what does it matter?

(what then?)

The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached.

And because of this I rejoice."

Paul said he wasn't going to let anybody steal his joy.

Not circumstances nor critics.