We're working through the book of Philippians, ever so slowly. Philippians 1, verses three through five. Philippians 1, three through five, found on page 980 of the Black Church Bible that you'll find in your row. This is the word of the Lord. I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our Lord will stand forever. Has there ever been an age in which people had as much as we have living here in America. We're offered so much by the world. We have access to better medicine, to better education, better nutrition than perhaps any other people in history. We have technology that even 10 years ago nobody would dream exists. We have luxuries unlike any other generation. And it's not just looking back. If we look around the rest of the world, we could say that as Americans, we have it better than most of the world does today. Not only do we have it great materially, but we have more in a sense of freedoms than the vast majority of the world. For example, many of us never even think of the reality of slavery today, but there are an estimated 23 million modern slaves around the world. Can you imagine that? We can't imagine that in our culture. We talk about losing freedoms, and yes, certain freedoms are eroding, but we have so many as well. We can gather peacefully and without threat of danger in worship, unlike our brothers and sisters, 50 to 70,000 North Korean Christians who live in political prison camps because of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, we have it so good here that there's a category for the kinds of problems Americans face, that we as Americans face. You know what they're called? First world problems. Have you heard of those? First world problems? First world problems are things like, my house is so big I can't get my Wi-Fi to reach all the way across it. Those kind of things. Have you ever heard things like that? First world problems are, I burnt my tongue on my skinny half-calf mocha latte with extra whipped cream from Starbucks. They're called first world problems, and I'm sure you can see why. Can you imagine telling one of our North Korean Christian brothers or sisters who are locked up in prison camps because of their faith that you couldn't make it to church today because you couldn't find shoes that matched your outfit? These are excuses that happen all the time. Can you imagine telling one of them that? That those are the biggest problems we face on a daily basis. Now, I don't say those things to make us feel guilty. I say those things to say, the Lord has been very good to us. We have it very, very good here. And if that's true though, let me ask you this. Why are so many people unhappy? Several studies that I've seen say that over two thirds of all Americans would identify themselves as being unhappy. And I would believe that. I know a lot of unhappy people. So do you. I wonder if that bothers you. Does it bother you? It bothers me at times, but sometimes I'm more part of the problem than I am the solution. I'm prone to discontentment. You know, many of us are totally oblivious to the fact that we don't have the kind of joy that should be normal in the Christian life. It's scary to say this, but in our culture today, we have everything except contentment. We have nearly everything except joy. And most of us think if we just had a little more, then we could be content. Listen to what Charles Spurgeon said. If you're not content with what you have, you would not be satisfied if you had double. It's not an issue of how much we have. It's an issue of what we're looking to, to bring us contentment. What's amazing is that as we read through the book of Philippians, we're going to find that Paul had amazing joy. He had contentment. In fact, contentment was about the only thing he did have. He's writing this in prison. He was awaiting a verdict that might send him to an executioner. He was viewed as a criminal all over the known world in his day. He was beaten eight times. He was jailed at least four times. Three times he was shipwrecked. One time he spent all day and night floating in the open sea. So I think we need to ask this question. How could Paul have such joy when he had almost nothing else? How could Paul have such joy when he had almost nothing else? Over and over again in this book, he's going to express to the Philippians the joy that he finds in Christ. So how did he experience such joy when his worldly circumstances were so dreary, when they were so difficult? Now the easy answer is God. We know that that's the Sunday school answer. The easy answer is that in Christ Jesus, we have all we need. Nehemiah 8, 10 said, the joy of the Lord is our strength. But if that's true, why is it that so many Christians are unhappy? Why is it that so many of us are discontent? What are we missing? At times we see Christians who seem to be the most joyless people in the world, always mad at somebody, always discontent because somebody or something has gone wrong. Don't let me be mistaken. This is a sign of a major spiritual problem. This is a sin issue. Complaining and joylessness is a great sin in the Bible, but unfortunately it's also been accepted as normal in the church. It's an acceptable sin in the church. So here's what we're going to do. We don't want it to be the norm. We don't want joylessness to be the norm. We want the joy that Paul talks about to be norm, the norm for Christians. And so what we're going to focus on today is this question. What was it about Paul that gave him joyful living in a dreary world? And how can you and I get it? So as we answer some of those things, so as we look at some of the things in Paul's life, I wanna challenge you to examine your own life and see if you've got the same sort of joy that described the apostle Paul. We're gonna look at five things today that gave Paul joy. First, a right priority. Second, a heavenly perspective. Third, a driving passion. Fourth, trust in God's plan. And finally, the comfort of God's people. So priority, perspective, passion, plan, and people. You got it? Before we say this, though, let me give a disclaimer. If you're listening to this and you're hoping to find something that can add to your already full life and maybe just tip the scales to give you a little bit more joy, that's not how this works. You don't just add God to an already full life. Joy comes from orienting your life around him. He alone can fill us. Have you ever heard it said that there's a God-shaped hole in all our hearts? Many people today are looking for something that only God can provide them with. So we don't just add God in, but he becomes the center of our lives. First, the first reason Paul could find joy is he had the right priority. I don't mean he had right priorities. He had the right priority, and that was God. Have you ever known somebody that was completely consumed with self? Everybody centers their happiness, excuse me, everything centers around their own happiness. And if they're not happy, you know, you're not going to be happy either. If they're not happy, nobody's happy. That's called narcissism. And it's easy to look at other people, but you know, we've all got a little bit, at least a little bit of it in us. We all care more about our own happiness. We're trained to look out for our own happiness inherently. I have an 18 month old child and I never taught him to do that. He was born looking out for his own happiness. We are our own priority, but here's the irony of making your own happiness your highest priority. If your own happiness is your highest priority, you'll never find it. You'll never be happy enough. When you spend your own life seeking more and more and more for yourself, you'll never find that happiness. It will always be elusive. But ironically, when we seek God, we'll find that happiness. When we seek him, we'll find happiness that we'll never lose. A.W. Tozer once said, the man who has God for his treasure has all things in one. There's a story of a Puritan who sat down to a meal and he found that all he had was a slice of bread and a little bit of water. And he was heard to have exclaimed, what all this and Jesus Christ too? It's funny to think of, but as Christians, we should be able to say that Jesus is all we need. Is your relationship with Christ your highest priority? Is your relationship with Christ your highest priority? Paul was in jail here and he was probably on house arrest. He may have been bound to a guard. He may have been beaten regularly. We really don't know. exactly what his circumstances were, but we know that they weren't conducive to personal happiness. Nobody would voluntarily choose this because they think it would make them happy. But Paul's self wasn't Paul's priority. God was his priority. The glory of God, the people of God, the kingdom of God, the gospel going forth, those were Paul's priority. He wasn't number one. He wasn't even number two. You could say, to borrow a phrase from Tim Keller, Paul was an expert in the art of self-forgetfulness. He was not his own priority. He cared so much about God and other people that he was almost irrelevant. There's joy in self-forgetfulness. If you want joy, you've gotta start in the right place. I heard a recipe for cooking rabbit stew. I don't know if any of us like rabbit stew. But you know what the first step in the recipe was? You gotta catch the rabbit. You gotta have the priority right. If you want to find joy, even in dreary, difficult circumstances, you've got to have the right priority. Not seeking God. Discontentment is a sign of misplaced priorities. But when your priority is your relationship with God, then it leads to a second attribute that we can learn here from Paul. That's a healthy perspective. A healthy perspective. How do you interpret the events of the world? The things that happen in your life, some people interpret them in a positive way, some are ultimately pessimistic and they'll say, just my luck. If it can go wrong with me, it will. They interpret the world through a lens, we all do. So do you get hung up on the negative or do you focus on the positive? That's a great question for us to ask because perspective makes all the difference in the world. as it's our perspective about the things that come into our life that make us able to endure them. I want you to listen to Paul's words in Philippians 4. Finally, brothers, whatever's true, whatever's honorable, whatever's just, whatever's pure, whatever's lovely, whatever's commendable, if there is any excellence, if there's anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Now in one sense, Paul is saying here, don't get hung up on the negative, but it runs a lot deeper than that. One of the constant reminders of the New Testament is that this world is not our home. This world is not your final home. One of the reasons that so many people are so unhappy is that they're expecting perfection from a very imperfect world. They're expecting something from this world that this world does not have to offer them. They're always disappointed. They're disappointed with people. They're disappointed with their church. They're disappointed with their health. They're disappointed with the government. Everything disappoints them because they're looking to the world for what only heaven can offer. For Paul, the imperfection of this world points him to the perfection of heaven where one day and for all eternity there will be no more imperfection. Y'all, this isn't a call just to be more positive. This isn't a call for some kind of self-help therapy where you say to yourself, heaven's my home, heaven's my real home, heaven's my real... It's not that kind of thing where you just have to convince yourself of something. It's a call for you to let the pains of this world and the sorrow of this world remind you that something better is coming. That something better is coming. That explains Paul's amazing statement that we're going to see in a few weeks. Philippians 121, for me to live as Christ and to die as what? To die as gain. For me to live as Christ and to die as gain. From the time that he was converted until his death, Paul lived with a heavenly perspective. Hardships didn't steal his joy. They reminded him that heaven is his place of true joy. The sorrow may last through the night, but the joy comes when? The joy comes in the morning. Let me, again, give that disclaimer. This isn't self-help therapy, where you just repeat it to yourself. In heaven, the glass will be full. In heaven, the glass will be full, or anything like that. This is requiring that you reorient your whole life around Christ. C.S. Lewis had a great quote about this. He said, aim at heaven and you'll get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you'll get neither. Focus your life upon what heaven will be like, and you'll enjoy earth more. A heavenly perspective, though, only comes once you've decided to stop asking the world to give you what only God can offer. If you're asking your husband or your wife to be perfect, and you're constantly disappointed, you're looking to the wrong world. If you're looking for the church to be perfect, and you're constantly upset because it's not, you're looking to the wrong world. You're looking for something that will only come in heaven. So don't let it steal joy. You can't be a worldling and a heavenling at the same time. Now, if a person has a heavenly perspective, it'll be obvious, because they'll see things more and more from God's point of view. But this will only happen if you really care more for God's kingdom than your own. That's the third thing we learned from Paul. His joy came from having a driving, a consuming passion. What's your passion? Your passion may not necessarily be a bad thing inherently, but wrong passions will inevitably lead to discontentment. For example, if your passion is money, and you want to have more and more and more money secured for yourself, then anything that hinders you from more money will destroy you. It will steal your contentment. and you'll never have enough. If your passion is comfort, then anything that steals your comfort will make you discontent. You'll be angry at whatever steals your comfort. If your passion is for people to respect you, then it will destroy you if you're embarrassed. Any of those passions will destroy us because they cannot ultimately fulfill us. We weren't created for those passions. So what do we do? This is an interesting story. In 1991, as the Persian Gulf War was coming to a close, Saddam Hussein knew that the war was over and he couldn't have Kuwait, but he wasn't about to let anybody else have it either. So do you remember what he did? He took all the rich oil fields there and he set fire to them. And approximately 600 of them were set ablaze and the fires were towering infernos and burned for seven months. Neither water nor anything else would extinguish it. So do you remember what they did? Remember how they put out the fire? They lit a bigger fire. What they would do is light dynamite right over the fire. And what did dynamite do? It sucked out all the oxygen and it would quench that fire. And that was the only way that they could put it out was to start a far greater fire. The same is true with us. The only way for us to stop having our lives ruled and often ruined by small passions is to have a greater passion, the Lord Jesus Christ, when Christ is your passion, your zeal for him will take the place of all those lesser things. I have some friends who their life centered around their college football team. You know what that meant? That meant come fall. I saw them about six times the whole fall. They were sitting, I'm not going to tell you which team it was, but I noticed something happened over the span of a few years. And what it was was as they became more enamored with Christ, those worldly things became less important to them. It didn't mean they had to get rid of college football, but it meant that it no longer was their driving passion. Christ was their driving passion. And what happened was that the things of earth became strangely dim to them. Those things weren't their passion anymore. The more you focus on Christ, the more the things of this world will grow strangely dim and the disappointments of this world and the struggles of this world will grow strangely dim. Show me a person who gets bent out of shape over every little thing and I'll show you a person whose passions are in the wrong place. We learn this from Paul's life. When people are consumed with big things, the little things aren't a big deal. And when you have that consuming passion, you'll be able to endure anything that comes. In fact, the more you're consumed with the glory of God and passion for His kingdom, you'll be able to endure whatever comes your way. Because you know that it comes from the hand of a loving God. That's the fourth thing we see here about Paul's joy. He has confidence in God's plan. Confidence in God's plan. What's the one thing that if you had it, you would be content? It could be material, it could be a new car or a bigger home, but you're not going to be content until you have that thing. Maybe it's a spouse, maybe it's a better job situation, maybe it's something to do with your spouse, maybe they have a sin issue and you cannot be happy until they start to see it your way. But what happens is that discontentment with our situation and what we have is often an expression of our idea that our plan is better than God's plan. It's an expression that we would have done things better if it were up to us. We'd make better choices than God. And so when we're constantly discontent with how we look, what we have, all those things, it's an expression of our discontentment and distrust for God. Let me use our 18-month-old baby again as an example. He's 18 months old. Do you know, in the last 18 months, how many times we've forgotten to feed him? If you've seen the baby, you know he's never missed a meal. But in 18 months, we've never forgotten to feed him. But do you know what happens every single time he gets hungry? He cries like crazy. He acts like we're going to forget. Every single time, I don't know, six times a day, he pitches a fit because he's scared we're not going to give him what he needs. It's laughable, but how many of us are like that towards God? We perceive that we don't have everything that we want and everything that we need. And so we fuss and we pitch a fit in our own little way. Don't you think that your heavenly father knows what you need even before you need it? In fact, don't you think he knows what you need better than you know? And he always provides what we need. If we gave Charlie his choice, he would go and he would open up a bag of Cheetos every day. We know better. And so what he necessarily desires is not the best thing for him. And so he doesn't always get that. He gets what would be best for him because we love him. God does the same thing far better than we do. I have a friend, Jim Atkins, I quote him all the time, but he always reminds me, God is on time all the time. Bring that into your vocabulary. God is on time all the time. He's never been late. He's never brought the wrong thing at the wrong time. He always does what's right, right on time. And that's difficult for us to remember because we're in a culture that is geared towards discontentment. Our world around us teaches us to be discontent. In fact, we have little boxes in our house that just make us discontent. You know what they are? They're TVs. You know why they make us discontent? Because about every six minutes, there's a thing that comes on for 30 seconds at a time called a commercial. Do you know what the purpose of a commercial is? To make you want what you don't have. So every six or so minutes for 30 seconds at a time, you get about five or 10 of them. I don't know how many anymore. But there's these things that are reminding you, look what you don't have. You don't have the newest iPad. You don't have the newest iPhone. You don't have clean furniture. You don't have the best appearance. You don't have the best hair care. You don't have all those things. Constant reminders of what we don't have. Y'all, it's not just commercials. You look on Facebook, what do you see? You see the best of everybody's life. You see perfection. You think, why don't I have that? Or you read a romance novel and you think, why isn't my husband like that? Or you look at pornography and you say, why isn't my wife like that? Everything about those things are geared towards making you discontent with what you have. But God's plan, knowing that God is sovereign, means you have everything you need. You are who and where God has called you to be. So you wish you were taller or shorter. You wish your hair was curlier or straighter. You wish all these different things. You wish you had different gifts. You wish you had a different spouse. All those things are God's gift to you because those were the best thing for you, beloved. You have everything you need. When we complain, when we're constantly discontent with our surroundings, we're saying God didn't make right choices. God doesn't know what he's doing. And that's hard for us because we like to walk by sight rather than by faith. We like to meddle in God's business. Don't you think God can handle it? Don't you think he knows what he's doing? He says that he knows the end from the beginning. So doesn't that mean that we can trust him for everything that he brings into our lives? Would Paul rather have not been in jail? I would assume so. But even Paul was able to say, it's actually been for good. You know why? And he's gonna explain it to the Philippians why it's been a good thing that he's been in jail. It's hard for us to acknowledge that because at times we can't see what God is up to. One of my seminary professors was talking about his wife and she was a pathologist. And he said, I want you to imagine, and he was not trained as a pathologist. She has all these fancy microscopes, and she has all the training. He said, I want you to imagine I walk in one day, and my wife is staring at one of the slides, and she's getting ready to diagnose what's going on. And I pick it up and say, no, it looks good to me. Hold it up to the light. Of course, that doesn't make any sense. He doesn't have the training or the tools to see what's really going on. So his decision would not be the wisest decision because he doesn't have the eyes to see or the mind to understand. Y'all, when we look at God's will and say, how could God possibly bring good out of this? We don't have the eyes God has. We don't have the ability to see and the understanding that God has. Our duty is simply to trust that what God is up to is the best thing for us. It's the best thing for us. Joy is the product. Contentment is the product of a heart that's resting in God. It's the assurance that God does all things well, and even now, whatever we're going through will ultimately be for our good and for his glory. All right, we've seen joy depends on priority, perspective, passion, and plan. But the last thing, the final way Paul's able to face his trials and struggles is through fellowship with God's people. God has created us for community. But what happens oftentimes is that when people go through hardship, they withdraw, they retreat from God's people. That's the worst time to withdraw. It's when we're going through struggles that we need those people in our lives, that we need God's people. in our lives, if you'll find them, if you'll find those people when you're going through struggle and darkness, if you'll find those people and let them into your life, you'll find that they'll offer you the greatest refreshment that you can imagine. Some of you, you do that. When you come upon hard times, you retreat from God's people. You hide from others, you keep your trouble to yourself. But when you do that, you're wasting one of God's answers to struggle and hardship, and that's his people. That's his people that he sends you. The Philippians were a constant source of encouragement for Paul. Remember, he's in jail and they've sent a man to him, a man named Epaphroditus. And they've sent Epaphroditus with a gift, probably to help cover Paul's costs, his legal fees and things like that. And Epaphroditus comes in and he's a friend to Paul. And I would assume that Epaphroditus' friendship and his encouragement meant more than any gift they could have sent. When you experience hardship, let people in. Let people into your life. Build those relationships now when things are good so that when things fall apart, you've got people you can trust, people in whom you can confide, and people who will love you through those difficult situations. Now of these five points, this is the only point that we can do for other people. This is the only one that we can do for other people. who are struggling for joy, you have a choice. When people are suffering, will you be in Epaphroditus? Will you go to them, go out of your way to encourage them? Are you gonna turn the other way to avoid them? You know what we often use it as an excuse. We don't call people when they're going through struggles and suffering. We say, I just don't know what to say. You know, sometimes you don't need to say anything at all, just be there. Just be present with them when they're going through it. Will you visit those who are ailing? Will you go to the hospital, visit those who are sick? Will you spend time with shut-ins? You know, I spend time with people in the hospital or shut-ins basically every week. And you know what is always the encouragement? The biggest encouragement of their week is when people from our church have called them. They will undoubtedly say, guess who called me? It might've been five days ago. They'll say, guess who called me? It was the best part of their week was hearing from you. We need to be Epaphroditus's, going to people's, call them, visit them, send them a text, send them an email, whatever you need to do to let them know that you're thinking of them. Do you do that? Is it your priority to find and encourage God's people when they need it? We've got people in this church who I can go to and say, hey, will you check on such and such? They really seem to be struggling. And undoubtedly, I can count on that person to get in their life and see what's going on. God's people are often God's tools for providing joy in the midst of trial. All right, application, very quickly. First, are you prone to discontentment? Is your life being reigned by discontentment in what you don't have? Or do you have the kind of joy Paul has that transcends circumstances? Are you able to live joyfully in a dreary world? Is your happiness dependent on what you do or don't have? Satan cannot steal our salvation, but he does enjoy stealing from us the joy of our salvation. And many of us surrender it quickly. We don't fight for joy. We need to know Satan's tactics that we can battle back with God's word. So first, do you have that joy that comes from those five Ps we talked about? Second, it's going to sound strange, but is God your hobby or your passion? Is your relationship with God your hobby or your passion? If God is a Sunday morning hobby, but something else is your true passion, then God cannot be a source of joy for you. If God is a low priority, then don't expect the joy that comes from Him. It's not that He's stingy, it's that you're not seeking it. We find the joy of Christ when He is our priority, when He is our passion. So has God your hobby or your passion? Third point of application. Are you seeking to bring joy to others? Are you seeking to bring joy to others? Philippians 4.1, Paul called the Philippians his joy and crown. Their lives brought joy to Paul. As they experienced the joy of Christ, as they fell more deeply in love with Christ, Paul experienced joy because he counted them as more important than himself. Do you seek to bring joy to others? Do you seek to cheer and refresh others? Will you be an Epaphroditus, going to those who are suffering, going to those who are struggling, and speaking words of life into their situation? Will you do that? Will you open yourself up for others to come to you and do it when you're struggling? Beloved, in the midst of dreary, difficult, or even dire circumstances, joy is possible. Joy is possible for the Christian, but it won't come when you seek your own happiness. It comes when you seek Christ. It comes in a right priority and a heavenly perspective and a consuming, driving passion. It comes in trust for God's plan and love for and love from God's people. Let's pray together. Oh Lord, our God, we confess that joy is a struggle. Most of us are more prone to complaining than we are rejoicing. We're prone towards wishing we had our own way rather than being content with your way, although your way is always better. Father, we pray that you would grant us repentance where we're looking to the world for what only you can provide. And we pray that you would grant us the gift of going to others and encouraging them. refreshing them, bringing life to the hospital room, bringing life to the deathbed, bringing life to suffering. Father, we pray that you would make this a church of joy, both joy experienced and joy given to others. And Father, we pray that you would make us, that you would drive us to experience that joy and repent of it where we don't have it. We pray all of this in Christ's name. Amen. We sang a song.