Joy Strengthened | 30 Days of Joy - Philippians 4:13 | Travis Jones

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Transcript

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Church, at this time, I'd like to invite you to get out your Bibles, and I want you to go to the book of Philippians, chapter 4. Today we pick up in verse 10. We end it in verse 9. We pick up in verse 10. We're studying, we've been studying Philippians the whole year thus far. We're specifically on chapter 4 right now, and we're talking about 30 days of joy. As we walk through chapter 1, 2, and 3, I've said this before, but it was really the theology of joy. And Paul was teaching us just some profound, deep theological truths. When you get to chapter 4, there's a bit of a shift, and it kind of goes from, you know, theology to practicality, man. How are we to go about employing, using the knowledge that we have of God in our everyday life? This is kind of where the rubber meets the road. It's where theology meets real life. And the truth is, um, life has a way of testing your theology, and we we all know this. And today we're coming to a section of scripture that I perhaps contains one of the most misused verses in the Bible, but he's going to talk to us. Paul's going to talk to us about something that's very difficult to master. That's something I believe we all strive to do, but we're going to talk about contentment, right? Being content. I've discovered that contentment is a very fragile thing. Most of us don't lose our joy in a crisis. We lose our joy in comparison, right? Comparison is a thief. It robs you of joy, it robs you of contentment. We don't lose our joy because our contentment because we have nothing. We lose our contentment because maybe we don't have what someone else has, and contentment can just leak out. And um, I want to share with you, um, I'd read this um study a while back, but as I was studying this scripture, I really wanted to um just study this. This study that that they did several years ago. But this is some shocking stuff, but um there is something called relative income theory. And you can go, you can Google it, you can study it. But it says that people do not evaluate their well-being based upon what they possess, that most people evaluate their well-being based on what the others around them have. That is relative income theory. So they did this study. Um, they did this study where they studied lottery winners. And I'm not just big lottery winners, just lottery winners who have won any size of lottery. So they have an influx of money. And they actually didn't study the lottery winners. What they did is they studied the neighborhoods that the lottery winners lived in. And they tracked what happened in neighborhoods when someone in the neighborhood won the lottery. And what they found out is staggering, man. They found out that if someone in your neighborhood wins the lottery, the people in that neighborhood are more likely to go in debt. They didn't win nothing, but because someone in their neighborhood increased their standard of living, the whole neighborhood is at a greater danger of going in debt. They increased their spending. In some cases, when someone in a neighborhood won the lottery, the percent chance of the people going into bankruptcy greatly increased. And you say, why is that? I mean, the people in the neighborhood didn't win anything. Nothing changed from them, right? What happened was they begin to compare themselves. All of a sudden, someone in their neighborhood had a car that they didn't have and they desired it. They were content prior to seeing the new car in their neighborhood, but now the new car's there, and though they go into debt. They saw kitchens remodeled. The neighbor comes over, look at my remodeled kitchen. They saw that. They were content with their kitchen. But once they saw someone who had a different, newer, better, I don't know, maybe not even better, just different. New. New has a smell, don't it? New has a smell that makes you want it. I don't know. But they saw that, man. Your income can stay the same, but your contentment and your joy can drop. I'm gonna tell you right now, church, it's expensive to compare. Comparison is very expensive, man. We don't evaluate our lives in isolation. We tend to evaluate them relationally. And so we ask, not do I have enough, but do I have enough? Do I have do it well, do I have, do I have, do I have the same amount my neighbor has? And if I don't, I want to. Here's the part that really hit home to me because I was thinking about this. You don't need somebody in your neighborhood to win the lottery to experience this. All you need is social media, right? Instagram, Facebook, you know, because I've done this, I've done this, maybe you have too. You start looking at someone else's highlight reel, and it's not long before you feel broke, you feel ugly, and you feel left behind. It's true, man. You start becoming discontent, you know. So this comparison, it just manufactures a discontent heart. I was content five minutes earlier, but now I'm scrolling and I'm no longer content. And so today, Paul is going to tell us the secret to having contentment. And we need it. I need it. I need it. So let's learn from the Apostle Paul, chapter 4, verse 10. First thing we're going to say is verse 10. Joy is strengthened through partnership. We're going to walk through this. Man, this has been so good to me. Here's what he says. I, talking to the church in Philippi, rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. All right, let's just talk about this. If you were to read this verse kind of by itself, it might be difficult to understand. So we need a little context, kind of the background. And you can get the background from different verses and different books in the Bible. But here's what's going on. The church in Philippi had a very special relationship with Paul. The church in Philippi was the very first church the apostle Paul planted in Europe. And after the church had started, he was their first pastor. He was the elder. He stayed there. He helped build the church up. But after he was there for a season, the Lord called him to leave to go to Macedonia. He went to Thessalonica, he went to Berea. And when Paul had gone to those areas to start new churches, the church in Philippi continued to support him. After that, he moved on south of Philippi, and they continued to minister to him. You can read about that in Acts 17. He went to Athens, he went to Corinth, and still you had this church in Philippi supporting him. Now he's in prison. This church here is that he's in prison, and they desired to continue to support him. And what they did is they sent him what we might call a care package. And they sent this care package by the hand of one of their own church members. And so the care package arrives to Paul, and he's just rejoicing. In fact, he says, I, Paul, rejoiced in the Lord greatly at the care package that you sent me. There's no hiding the joy that the Apostle Paul had. He's immensely, he's got this joy, and it was joy, very specific, joy in the Lord. That means the source of the joy wasn't the gift, it was the God behind the gift, right? So he's tracing the blessing back to the source, and the source is the living God. It strengthened him. It strengthened him seeing God move through the community of believers, the church. And then he says, it's interesting, he says, You have revived your concern for me. And it kind of carries the meaning. It's springtime. It's blooming again. Maybe it had been dormant, it had been quiet, but it's now living again. Joy blooms, man. In church partnership. In our working together, our joy is strengthened. Isolation weakens partnership. The gospel, partnership in the church and what we have here, man. I will say this: God often uses people, church people, our brothers and sisters, to increase and strengthen our joy. And you see it here, this connection. Talked about this several weeks ago, but that's why it is so dangerous to be separated from the body of Christ. It's spiritually dangerous. You cut yourself off from Christian fellowship, partnership. You cut yourself off from one of the ways that God uses to strengthen your joy. Paul is saying, My joy got stronger when your partnership was visible, right? This partnership goes both ways. You can't miss that. The Philippians, we've already seen, they were strengthened. Paul is strengthened. It's what I call, I don't know, dude. I call this, I call this the joy circuit, man. I saw the joy circuit even today. You know, you guys, we we all before church. When I see you, I was just talking, anyway, when I see you guys, I mean this is this joy. And sometimes some of you will say, Man, I'm happy to see you, Travis. And I'm like, you ain't happier to see me than I am to see you, man. And you don't want to be disconnected from that. I receive joy. It's the joy circuit, man. So don't be surprised if you disconnect from the joy circuit. The joy battery goes dead, man. Joy is strengthened when we stand together, when we pray together, when we carry our burdens together. God strengthens joy through our fellowship and partnership. Do not let that be lost on you. Do not forfeit that with ease. That's verse 10. But he's going to continue to carry this whole ideal of how we are to strengthen joy, and we're going to get to our word contentment. Verse 11, joy is strengthened through contentment. Man. I've been wrestling with contentment for a minute. I could tell you a story about one time I was on, uh this is free of charge. Um, I was on vacation with my family. We were on a bus and it said it had free internet, but it was only internet that lasted for a short amount of data. And as soon as the data went out, my uh my phone went dead and I lost contentment, which was really weird because I was with my family, I was on vacation, but yet I had lost my contentment, and I thought to myself, the Lord pressed upon me, Travis, your contentment is too fragile. Paul's going to teach us something here. Verse 11. Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned, in whatever situation I am, I am to be content. Look at this. He doesn't, he just thanked them for the gift, but he immediately says, Not that I'm speaking of being in need. In other words, he begins this way. Don't misunderstand me. I'm grateful for the gift. I'm grateful for the gift, but I want you to know I wasn't falling apart prior to receiving the gift. He was content, man. And he tells us why. He says, this is so key, and I'm trying to figure this out still in my life, and I think we're going to learn some today. But he says, I have learned, I have learned to be content. Now we can stop right there. That's what I need, man. And he says he learned it. This teaches us something about the nature of contentment. Contentment is learned. Paul says he learned it. He learned to be content. That means he wasn't born with contentment. Contentment isn't something personally driven, it's spiritually developed, right? Like, like you don't you don't wake up content. You don't wake up content. Dude, I wake up wanting something. You know? You think about a toddler. You don't have to teach a toddler to be dissatisfied. Paul is saying, and this is key, that contentment is a learned discipline, right? Yeah. And it's usually learned in uncomfortable classrooms. Classrooms you don't seek, but classrooms that you find yourself in. And it's encouraging to me, this whole thing, this learning part. If you're here today and you're saying to yourself, I am not content, I got good news for you. You can learn it. The apostle Paul learned it. And then he says, check it out, in, this is a dangerous word, in whatever situation I am. Whatever, that's a dangerous word, people. That's a dangerous word, right? Because whatever includes stuff I don't like. You know? It includes everything. It includes blessings, a promotion. It includes, I don't know, demotions. It includes overflow, it includes overdraft. It includes applause. It includes criticism. Whatever. Paul says, whatever is coming my way by the providence of God, I have learned how to be content in that situation. That's powerful stuff, right? And I need that. Now to be clear, contentment does not mean complacency. It doesn't mean we stop growing. It means your joy is not held hostage by your circumstances. That's a big difference, all right? He learned this. Go to verse 12. He's going to give us some details about the spectrum. Look at this. I know how to be brought low. I know how to abound in any and every circumstance. I have, there it is, learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. So he begins this way. Paul says, I know how to be brought low, right? That phrase, brought low, it means it means I know how to be humiliated. I know how to be reduced. I know how to be overlooked. I know how to be passed over. He says, I know this because I've gone through it, right? Once again, some of you here today may know exactly how that feels, right? Maybe you didn't get the job you wanted. Maybe you didn't get the recognition that you thought you deserved, or the relationship didn't work out how you thought. Paul says, I know these things. I've been through them. But then he contrasts that. He goes, I know how to abound. Now that's a little bit surprising here. I think maybe we know this, but I want to talk about it briefly, right? We assume in hardships that it's going to test our joy. But church, I want you to know that prosperity also tests your joy. I mean, it's easy to cry out to God when you're suffering, but when, but when, but when, but when, when you've been blessed, when everything's going well, when you're, you know, fat, happy, sassy, I don't know, man. It's more difficult to be dependent upon the God because then you start becoming dependent on yourself. Abundance can weaken your prayer life. Abundance can weaken your prayer life faster than adversity. I really believe that. And Paul says, I've lived on both ends of the spectrum. I've been there both, right? I've been low and I've been high and I have learned this, right? And then he says something very fascinating, staying in the text. In any and every circumstance, high or low, I have learned the look at that word, secret. That's interesting. There's a secret to contentment. There's a hidden principle, right? There's a principle that many never discover, right? Why we lose contentment. And you want to stop right here, and I did. I wanted to. What's the secret? What's the secret? He's going to tell us the secret in another verse, all right? But I want to sit on this just a moment because I want us to understand, right? When it comes to contentment, based on the principles we just learned. Plenty does not create joy. Poverty does not destroy joy. Paul's saying, I've learned something deeper. I've learned how to be content in this plenty. I've learned how to do it in need. I've learned I can be content in everything, man. So that means that I want us to understand this. Contentment is not based on your circumstances. That is the foundational thing he's teaching us before he's going to tell us about the secret, man. There is no correlation between your contentment and the stuff that you have. Therefore, a person of great wealth can be discontent, and you've met them before, and you can meet a person who has very little and they can have an abundance of contentment because there is no correlation between your stuff and contentment, right? So that means that means you can sit at a steak dinner and not worship the steak. It means you can miss a meal and not question your Savior. You can be content. Content, content, content in loss, content, content in abundance. You're not, you don't yo-yo'd by life, man, because you all know this, and we've talked about it, man. Life comes at you. Some of you right now are experiencing blessings in abundance. Some of you right now are in need and you're hurting, but I'm telling you right now, if you're in abundance right now, there will be a time where you're going to have a trial. And if you're a trial, if you're in a trial right now, there will be a time that you're going to have blessings in abundance. Man, this is life. This is what we're going through, and in it, there's classrooms and it's teaching us, and we're growing to be more like our Savior, Jesus Christ. But in all of it, the totality of whatever you're walking through today, you want to have this contentment. And it can be learned. All right. Lay that down, Paul. That's some foundational truths, but you still want to know the secret, don't you? I want to know the secret. Tell me a little secret, secret. I love secrets. What's the secret? Paul. Well, let's get to verse 13. Joy is strengthened through Christ. Come on. Come on. Here's what he says. I can do all things through him. That's Jesus who strengthens me. That's the secret. All right? That is the secret. That's the secret. Now, even as I'm reading that, you may be thinking, I don't see the secret in that. You know, because quite honestly, and I'm just going to say this, I believe that that might be one of the most misused verses in the Bible. It's a good verse, it's a true verse, but we tend to use it inappropriately. It's misquoted. You've probably heard an athlete use that, right? I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, and then he's like dunking a basketball. You know, or lifting weights. It's usually a you can you seriously, you can go to Amazon right now, and I guarantee you, you type that in, you're gonna find probably 50 coffee mugs with the sunrise on them saying, I can do all things, meaning, man, I can win the game. I can get the promotion, I can get my personal record lifting weights, right? And you can see it on mirrors. I've seen it on mirrors before at the gym. I can do all things, man. One time I saw a guy, a butt, dude. I got so many good friends. I love them. They make me laugh. But you're sitting there, I got a dude. He's gonna lift a heavy, he's about to bench press something big, big. And before he does it, he goes, I can do all things through him who strengthens me. I'm like, whoa, I'm pretty sure Paul ain't talking about your bench press, buddy. That's not what we're talking about here, man. This is not a magical spell that you can recite in order to become superhuman, right? You can't just go in the Bible, you know, and grab verses that sound good and then apply them how you want to apply them. Context is keen, all right? He says, he just said, I know how to be brought low, I know how to abound, I've learned the secret of plenty and hungry, and then he tells us the secret to be content. I can do all things. What are the all things? He just told us what the all things were. The all things are the ups and the downs. He's saying, I can be broke and not panic, I can be blessed and not have pride. That's the all things. That's what he's talking about. Specifically in context, that's what he's talking about. And the broader context is with contentment, man. I can walk through the ups, I can walk through the ups. The downs because Christ strengthens me, I can maintain my joy and have my contentment through Jesus Christ. All circumstances, all seasons, all fluctuations through him, Jesus. Not through some mindset, through this, you know, hustle culture, not through positive vibes and protein shakes. It's through Jesus. That's the difference. Contentment. Contentment's not self-sufficiency, it's Christ's sufficiency. Look, well, that word strengthen even. We could track it down. We could do a word study, but it means infused with power. It's like you plugging into the source outside yourself. Paul is saying, I don't, I naturally do not have the ability to maintain my contentment when I go through all these things. I don't naturally have that. But through Christ Jesus, I can connected to him. I'm connected to him. He's the one who has the power. Because he has the power, I can be content with what he has given me. That's the secret of contentment. The reality is, many of us, when I say many, I mean me, I try to handle life in my own reserves. And then when my reserves run out, so does my joy. Paul says joy doesn't come from your reserves, it comes from your relationship. Christ strengthens me. Not adrenaline. Adrenaline, abide. John, what John? John John 15. Jesus said, abide in me, apart from me. Let me make this personal, Travis. You can't do nothing. And by the way, I have tried to do a lot of things not abiding. He says, it's futile. It's futile. Paul is living the reality. He's not superhuman. He surrendered. And let's be real. I think we all knew that verse didn't mean you could bench press whatever you wanted to bench press. I think we know that. I think we know that. We can endure anything and be content because of Christ Jesus. It doesn't mean, it doesn't mean when you're 45, you can slam dunk a basketball. It does mean when you're 45, you can remain stable. And that's what we need. And the beauty is Paul's in prison. He is in prison. He doesn't know the future. He may die. He may be executed, but even in that, he says, I am content. Church, that will change how you walk into tomorrow. You know? Because I think about tomorrow, and you may think about tomorrow, and you could sit there, and we talked about anxiety last week, but we could sit there and you could sit there. You get so worried. What if everything falls apart? This changes that. Because now you have this mindset, even if everything does fall apart, Christ will strengthen me. He will give me what I need to sustain me, to glorify his name for my joy, and I will be content in that. That's the secret. And I want to walk in contentment. Let's bring this back, I guess, kind of full circle. Started with a study. Lottery winners. You know. Well, not the lottery winners, they're neighbors. Neighbors going bankrupt. Going bankrupt because they driving by, seeing a new car, and their neighbors drive away, they think, I need a new car. They get the wants. You know, you sit in a new car, you get the smell. They go in debt, and all these things happen. But nothing had changed in their life. The only thing that changed, they had seen something that made them salivate, their flesh wanted, and their joy left them. Paul has showed us today. Joy is not found in comparison. It's found in contentment. Real quick, joy is strengthened through our partnership, our fellowship together. Joy is strengthened in contentment. You ain't got to be out there chasing everything. Joy is strengthen the secret through Jesus Christ. So your neighbor wins the lottery. Don't let it bankrupt your joy. If a coworker gets a promotion, don't let it destabilize your peace. Your friends, social media post doesn't have to rob you of contentment because when you're in Christ, that is enough. That is sufficient. And we don't measure ourselves against others. Our anchor is Jesus Christ. Therefore, we can applaud for one another and we can walk together in a way that honors Him and gives us contentment. We're going to pick up next week. Let's pray. Father God, thank you. I thank you for this. These verses have meant so much to me. So dear, so dear. I desire to be a content man. I desire us as a people to be a content people. That we're thankful, that we're grateful, that we can applaud when others succeed. That we will walk with those who are walking through difficulties. Father, I thank you for Silverdale Saturday nights and what you're doing here. We continue to pray that you move. And we ask this all in Christ's name, our Savior. Amen.