Super Highway of Joy
Bible Passage:
Philippians 1:1-11
Pastor:
Pastor Mike
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Sermon Date:
2011-06-18
Joy. It’s that little word reserved for the biggest moments in life. When a new father wraps his seven pound daughter up like a baby burrito, he beams, “This is my bundle of…joy!” When a girl first falls in love, her heart bursts with…joy! When you put the final touch on the restored classic car, you step back and look at your pride and…joy. When Ben Roethlisberger’s 4th down pass fell incomplete, the Super Bowl champion Packers and all their fans jumped for…joy. When you played Atari for the first time (stick with me, teenagers) and you made that little Frogger jump across the highway, what did you hold in your hand? A joy-stick! A Chinese Proverb says, “One joy scatters a hundred griefs”. We believe it because we know the power of joy.
What if we could always have that? What if joy was constant? What if you had a reason to jump for joy and burst with joy it every single day? “Impossible,” the skeptic in us would say. Look around. A first century poet sighed, “Joys do not stay, but take wing and fly away.” The poet might be right. The little bundle of joy shrieks and joy isn’t the right word for a new father on his first 4am shift. The girl’s heart that once burst with joy is broken by her first ex-boyfriend. The Packer fans stop jumping for joy and start worrying about labor disputes. Kids rebel. Overtime becomes mandatory. Arthritis crinkles fingers. And the joystick is sold for a quarter at a garage sale. “Enjoy it while it lasts,” the skeptic laments. Experience has proven thousands of times—Joy is temporary.
That’s why we need this series. Today we begin a verse-by-verse walk through the book of Philippians, one of the weirdest books of the Bible. Weird because it says stuff like “Rejoice always,” “Be content whatever the circumstances,” “To die is gain,” “Don’t be anxious about anything.” If that seems too good to be true right now, that’s okay. By the end of the summer, it won’t. If you want to jump for joy every day, then don’t miss this. Open your minds and your hearts to learn the secrets of constant joy.
First, the background. Look at the very first verses: “1Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus; To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons: 2Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul is the author. He’s the missionary who founded the church at Philippi around A.D. 50. If you think he’s joyful because he’s oblivious of the problems in the world, you don’t know Paul. He’s been whipped, stoned, mocked, persecuted, and now he’s in jail for a crime he didn’t commit.
Paul writes to the Philippians. Philippi was a major city in ancient Greece. After a key battle for control of the Roman republic, it became a retirement ground for Roman Legionnaires. Some of you know Ells Shields, the 86 year-old World War II vet from our church who’s still feisty enough to fight for his country. Picture Philippi as Ells Shields-ville, a city filled with feisty veterans filled with Roman pride and ready to pick up arms to defend the Empire.
That patriotism is what made Philippi the “wrong” place for a Christian joy. When Paul first came to the city, he was stripped, arrested, beaten, flogged, tortured, and imprisoned. “He’s preaching things we Romans can’t accept!” the veterans accused. Paul eventually left, but the little church stayed. And they struggled. Persecuted for not worshiping the Roman gods. This verse is packed with reasons to make Philippians an essay an endless depression. But listen to what comes next…
“3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. 7 It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. 8 God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.” Gratitude. Confidence. Longing. Affection. Love. Praise. Paul bursts with emotion as he writes. Despite the chains around his ankles, he jumps for joy.
How does your joy compare to Paul’s? Do you jump like he does as often as he does? If not, why not? You have your reasonable list, don’t you?—health, finances, relationships, work, government, stress. But Paul had all those issues, too. So how did he rejoice? How did Paul have a constant joy instead of the momentary joy we’re used to? Maybe the traffic can teach us.
Have you ever driven on a dinky, one-lane country highway? One where tractors slow you down to school-zone speeds? Have you ever dealt with an accident on a road like that? It’s disastrous. There’s nowhere to go. Traffic freezes. Progress stops. Drivers swear. Joy disappears. If you only got one lane and that lane jams, you’re out of luck. But have you ever driven on a super-highway? In Chicago, I90 can get up to 6 lanes wide! Do you know what happens when you lose one lane there? Not much. Sure, things slow down, but traffic keeps moving. There’s still progress. Joy doesn’t disappear.
So here’s the billion dollar question for today—are you ready? If you get this, you’ll have the first secret to endless joy. Is your mindset a one-lane country road or a super highway? In other words, does an accident in your lane of life bring all joy to a screeching halt? Or is there joy even during those days when your lane has stopped moving?
In 1978, Pete Rose went 179 at-bats without a single hit. That’s 43 games! However, his team, the Cincinnati Reds, won a winning record during that stretch. Do you think Pete Rose was filled with joy? Depends, right? If he was a one-lane thinker, he was miserable. If his mind was a superhighway, he jumped for joy.
Spiritually, if you have a one-lane mindset, you cannot have endless joy. Jesus promised us, “In this world, you will have trouble.” Here’s how I interpret those words after studying the Greek manuscripts: You will have trouble. You will get sick. Your body will decay. You might get dumped. Your dreams might crash. Your family will hurt you. Your friends will hurt you. Your boss will hurt you. Your enemies will hurt you. There will be—absolutely, unquestionably, categorically—there will be accidents in your lane of life. And if that lane is the only place where you get joy, you don’t stand a chance at what Paul had. If life is really about your progress instead of about the progress of God’s kingdom, enjoy your joy while it lasts because it won’t last long. Your joy will come to a screeching halt every time your life breaks down.
But listen to the words of the imprisoned Paul. “I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel.” Where did that joy come from? He was in jail. Falsely accused. But here’s the key—Paul wasn’t one-laned. No, Paul believed he was part of something bigger. To his left and right were dozens, if not hundreds of lanes, filled with the Philippians. They were partners in the gospel. God was being glorified all around him. There would be no gridlock for the people of God. They would move forward towards the ultimate joys of heaven!
That made Paul jump for joy. “All of you share in God’s grace with me.” “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion.” “I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.” Paul had a superhighway mindset. Paul must have thought of the jailor from Philippi. The jailor tortured Paul when he first came to town and locked him in the inner cell. When an earthquake struck and it seemed the prisoners had escaped, the jailor was ready to kill himself. But Paul saved his life. Then he saved his soul. He told him about Jesus, baptized him and his family, and stayed the night at the house of the man who had just tortured him! “It’s right for me to feel this way about all of you” Paul gushed. “How can I not thank God? How can I not ask God to make your love abound more and more? How can I not think about your progress and jump for joy?” Why could Paul, in prison, do that? Because he know life was not about him, but about God’s people. Because he had a superhighway mindset.
We can, too. Because you are not alone. God is up to things in this world, things we care about. People are hearing about Jesus every day. People are growing in love every day. People are turning away from sin every day. People are giving generously every day. What God has done for you, he’s done for others, too! We have partners in the gospel. God has begun a good work in us, but not only in us. Jesus came for you, but not only for you. Jesus died on a cross for you, but not only for you. God forgave your sins, but not only yours. Jesus rose from the dead for you, but not only for you. The Holy Spirit created faith in you, but not only in you. Jesus made you a saint just like the Philippians by taking away every sin, but you are not the only saint you know. God is fueling acts of love through you, but not only through you. “All of you share in God’s grace with me.”
If your joy is running on empty right now, God wants to change you from a one-lane thinker to a superhighway, kingdom of God mindset. He wants you to see the whole goal of life—the glory of God’s name—is happening all around you every single day. The key to endless joy is just looking around. So can I share some stories of what’s happening right around us? As I share these, would you silently pray with joy because of this partnership in the gospel?
A few weeks ago, a member of our church brought her best friend to come in and talk to me. Really likeable, friendly young woman. Curious about God. “Tell me what you’ve heard about Jesus,” I asked her. I respected her honest answer. “Nothing.” So I got to tell her. She leaned forward in her chair as she waited for the ending of Jesus’ story because she had never heard before—Death. Resurrection. Forgiveness. We gave her a Bible that she’s now reading to her little girl. We pray with joy because she shares in God’s grace with us.
“I’m not afraid to give anymore.” That’s what a young man in our church recently confessed. For the past six months, we’ve been talking about generosity—how generous God is and how much joy there is in being generous like God. But fear often gets in the way—What about? What if? What if I can’t? What if they decide to? Fear can stop generous hands from giving. But God’s Word scattered those fears and this young man started to give generously. “How does that feel?” I asked him. “I’m not afraid anymore,” he said. We pray with joy for that cheerful giver.
Half the continent came to faith. Sound too good to be true? In 1900, less than 9 million Africans were Christians. As of this year, over 475 million believe in Jesus. That number is predicted to reach 670 million by 2025. That’s over twice the population of the United States! We pray with joy for the continent-converting work of the Holy Spirit!
And how much joy have I gotten from you? In just four years, how have I been blessed to see your partnership in the gospel? How many stories could I tell just by looking at your faces? How many addicts have I seen turn to Jesus for unconditional forgiveness? How many couples have I seen renew their commitments to Christ-like love? How many people did I transform their belief from, “I’ve done enough good stuff to get to heaven” to “Jesus did enough good stuff to get me to heaven?” How many invitations to church have I heard you give? How many prayers have you said for one another? How many generous gifts have I seen or heard about or received? Have many victories over sin? How much love? There are 800 lanes in our superhighway at Eastside and a flat-tire in mine does not stop the rush-hour of faith and the reason to be joyful always.
Next week, we’re going to find out why adversity is joyful for Christians, why our lane never really stops, but for now, let Paul’s words sink in. On those days when your flashers are on and the hood is propped up and life is joyless, just look around. Traffic is moving. Love. Faith. Hope. It’s happening all around you. There’s enough joy to make you want to just jump. Amen.
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