Philippians 4:14-23 | Maximizing Joy

Sunday Morning | December 14, 2025 | John C. Majors | Louisville, KY

***During the sermon, the fire alarm sounded, and out of an abundance of caution the congregation exited the building. Thankfully, it was a false alarm and there was no danger. We apologize that we were unable to finish the sermon and appreciate your understanding. ***

In Philippians 4:14–23, Paul teaches that lasting joy is maximized when believers align their lives with the priorities of the gospel. Joy grows as we share in the work of the gospel, partnering faithfully from the beginning as the Philippians did in supporting Paul’s ministry (vv. 14–16). It deepens when our hearts are motivated by the growth of others rather than personal gain, seeking fruit that increases to their account (v. 17). True joy is sustained when we trust God as the ultimate source of our needs, offering our lives as pleasing sacrifices and recognizing that God often answers our prayers by changing us to become part of the answer (vv. 18–20). Finally, joy is strengthened when we remember we are not alone—we belong to a grace-filled community grounded in the self-giving love of Christ demonstrated on the cross. As Philippians begins and ends with grace, so the Christian life is framed by God’s gracious presence, empowering joyful generosity, faithful partnership, and enduring hope.

You can join us on Sunday mornings at 11 AM for worship. We are located at 8911 3rd Street Road, Louisville KY 40272.

Transcript

0:02

Well, here we are wrapping up the book of Philippians today, the week before we head into Christmas, and I want to thank all of you for braving the frigid temperatures. It is shocking to the system, but thank you for still making it a priority to to come today. So we've been working through Philippians. In fact, when you came in, you should have received a card that has just a summary of the book. We did this with First Peter and you get some of the key verses. These are just ones I personally have found beneficial. Some of the verses I meditate on a lot. It's no official list or anything, it's just ones I think often come up in conversations from the book of Philippians. And then on the back are some of the key lessons learned, some of the key themes we emphasized all throughout. And this could be helpful to just take a window here and there and just pick 1 or 2 of these lessons learned and just chew on them a little bit and see and remind yourself, what was God teaching me as we worked through the book of Philippians? Today, we wrap the book up by just talking about what I think is probably the big idea of the book of Philippians. And it comes all together here at the very end, and it's rooted in this experience, I think many of us have had at times where you are wanting to make the most of a situation, you're wanting to squeeze every drop out of it to get every moment of enjoyment from it. I think a good example of this for me. I remember back to the handful of times we ended up at the beach as a family, took a family vacation to the beach. It wasn't often, but the few times we went, especially when I was very little, I wanted to get in that water and stay in that water as much as possible. Nothing was going to take me out of that water. They could put up Hey, we've seen a shark, give out shark, shark warnings. I will not be moved. It doesn't matter. Hey! The jellyfish! Dangerous stinging jellyfish are coming in. I'm still not going anywhere. John, it's gotten dark out. In fact, the Coast Guard is patrolling for cartel drug boats. No weapon formed against me shall prosper. I am not going anywhere. Finally, you get drug out of the water, and then the enjoyment of it all is when you're laying in bed and your body is still kind of rocking with the waves. And now, you know, you made the most of that moment. You maximized your joy and you have your experiences. You have your situations, you where you wanted to make sure I'm getting every ounce of joy out of this that I can. A big theme in the book of Philippians has been joy. How do we walk in joy? So much of our life we let steal our joy. We let our circumstances dictate how we feel. And Paul is saying over and over again, pursue joy, find joy. He's in prison. He's been beaten. People are trying to kill him. We saw the list of the shipwrecks and on and on and he still rejoices. How do we maximize our joy as a Christian? How do you maximize your joy in Christ? We're going to see here as we wrap up the book in chapter four, starting at verse 14. I think in here, Paul is going to bring to a close four ways that we maximize our joy in Christ. And if you don't have a church Bible, we’ll be in the book of Philippians. We have copies of the Bible out in the lobby. You can grab those any time. You can keep those so you can follow along as we read, and so that you can continue to read the Bible on your own. But we'll be in Philippians chapter four, and I'm going to read verses 14 through 20. And then we'll unpack the first of those four ways to maximize our joy in Christ. Verse 14. Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble. And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I -- this is Paul speaking -- when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving except you only. Even in Thessalonica you sent me help for my needs once and again. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. I have received full payment and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent; a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen. So here we have Paul coming towards the end of the book of Philippians. We have a few more verses to read. We'll get to those. Don't worry. And I think in here we see some ways to maximize our joy in Christ. And the first here in this list coming at us starting in verse 14 and 15, is to make sure too that you are sharing in the work of the gospel, share in the work of the gospel. Paul already has thanked them for their gifts in other places of the book, and he's saying that again here as well. But he makes sure they know that they were a part of the work he was doing. Looking back at verse 14, you shared in my trouble and all that he endured as he was seeking to spread the gospel. They shared in a part of that. And he's real specific. You yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel and what he means. In fact, he talked about this in chapter one, verse five, when the gospel first came to you in the beginning, when you first heard of the gospel from the very start of the gospel coming to them, you've shared in the work, he says, when I left Macedonia, which is the region Philippi was in, when I left your region, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except you only. From the very beginning, they were excited about the work that Paul was doing. They were excited to partner with him. They were excited to be a part of it. In fact, many of your Bibles will have maps in the back from and you'll see in those old Testament times, the world in that age, but also you'll see Paul's missionary trips is a common map in there. And this goes back to Acts. Before we put up the map, we're going to look at Acts chapter 16. You might remember that we started there when we started the book of Philippians. Acts comes right after the four Gospels. Acts 16 is where we first learn about the Gospels coming to Philippi. It's where we hear the stories all throughout there, where they show up in Philippi. In fact, first they weren't sure where to go. Paul gets a vision and he's told to go to Macedonia. They end up there. They go first to a place where women were gathering outside the city to pray. Lydia is converted. Paul and Silas get put in prison. In prison. You remember this famous story of the earthquake, and the jailer thought they all had escaped and was about to kill himself. And Paul and Silas, who had been singing hymns of joy all throughout their imprisonment, said, no, no, no, we're still here. Don't kill yourself. He gives his life to Christ. He believes the gospel. But then from there they go on. Look at chapter 16, verse 40. So they went out of the prison and visited Lydia. And when they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them and departed. Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Polyana, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul went in, as was his custom. And on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying this Jesus, whom I proclaim to you is the Christ. So if you would put up that map of the region, because I want you to see this, how how much this highlights how excited the Philippians were about the gospel. Hopefully this works. This is kind of hard to read, and my red pointer is not working like Isaac promised it would. It works right here. Okay, there's a map up there that probably none of you can read. Now that we see it, you can see the word Philippi and big block in the middle below that is Troas. That's where they started. They went up to Philippi. That gets blown out. And in the top box you can see from Philippi, you see those two cities we just read about Amphipolis, Apollonia, and then Thessalonica. Basically, they leave Philippi. Paul leaves Philippi and right away, by the time he gets to Thessalonica, they're already sending more gifts. They are so excited about what he's doing from the get go. They said, we want to be a part of what you're doing. Now when we served with college students in campus ministry, one of our the key things we strove for is that when someone came to Christ, when a college student came to know Christ right away, we tried to get them to go share their faith with someone right away. Don't wait. That is the time when you are most excited about what Christ has done in your life, when the enthusiasm is bubbling over and some would say, but look, I don't know anything. It's okay. You know what he did in your life? Did he change you? How many people here have been changed by Christ? Yeah. Listen, you've got something to say. Here's how he changed me. Yeah, but what about the historicity of the scriptures? I don't know, all I know is he changed me. Well, we'll figure that out. I'll bring you someone who can answer that. But listen, you gotta know what he did in my life. The hope that I have now, the peace that I have. And this was happening in Philippi. Whatever you're doing, Paul, we want to be a part of it. We can't wait. Just tell us what you need. Listen, we all should have that kind of excitement about supporting the Lord's work across the world. Of course, that should happen when we're new believers, but it should continue, and it should actually grow. In fact, just this week, one night this week, I met with our more experienced, more seasoned life group. In fact, it's our biggest life group here at the church and they met for their annual fundraising. I don't know what do you call it? Auction. Yeah. You didn't even know what you were getting. Like, you just. We're supposed to auction on stuff, put a bid on stuff. And of course, I ended up with something like a birdhouse. Very expensive birdhouse. It didn't matter. Nobody cares. We're not there for the stuff. It was just a made up reason to give to missions. And everyone was so excited. Thrilled to be giving to missions among our most senior group here. The enthusiasm is growing and growing and growing. This is what was happening in Philippi. They were so excited to be about joining in the work of the gospel. Now here's the cool part. Paul was able to share with other churches the fact that Philippi had been generous so that he could come to them. If you flip over to Second Corinthians, that's just a few pages past Acts. If you were already over there, Second Corinthians 11, he says to those in Corinth. Look at him, what he says to him in chapter 11, verse seven. Make sure you are in Second Corinthians. I did this last week. Not first. I'll get a very different teaching in First Corinthians 11, Second Corinthians 11. Look at verse seven. Did I commit a sin and humbling myself so that you might be exalted because I preached God's gospel to you free of charge? So he's saying to the Corinthians, I came to you, I preach the gospel, and I didn't ask for anything in return. But notice how he describes why that was. I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you. Now, there's a lot of different things. I'm not going to unpack this fully. There's a lot of different things that could be going on there. But the point he's making to them, in fact, he says right after that, the churches he robbed when I was with you and was in need, I did not burden anyone for the brothers who came from Macedonia, the region that Philippi is in, supplied my need. So I refrained and will refrain from burdening you in any way. Now, of course it's not. It wouldn't be wrong for Paul to ask them to support the work of the gospel, because obviously others are doing that. Maybe it's the fact that they weren't mature enough to be able to handle that and process that they may have misread his motives, I don't know. But the point being, he was able to say to them, I am here bringing the gospel to you because of the generosity of others who have been touched. Amen. Yeah. And so, look, part of our growth in Christ and where you're going to maximize your joy in life is joining in investing in the work of Christ, reaching the world. And that could be far overseas. That could be right down the street. But when you are focused on spreading the gospel, focused on reaching others, that's going to maximize joy in your own life as well. In fact, I was pretty humbled when when I came here and we were preparing for the 85th anniversary, and I started to read on the history of the church. And our church was planted by two other churches in the area, South Jefferson Baptist Church and Beechmont, Over in Beechmont. Two churches said, we want to invest in the work that are here. Others came alongside. We'll send ministers to help. We'll send money to help. We'll send people to plant the church. Others gave so that we can gather here today. We can walk in the humility of that, but also in the joy and the inspiration and the excitement of that. That's going to maximize joy in our life. So that's the first way. Let's look at the second way here. First way, be motivated by the growth of I'm sorry I be sharing the work of the gospel. Second, be motivated by the growth of others. Be motivated by the growth of others. Look back at verse 17. Paul says after thanking them for their gift, after praising them for being involved in the work. He says, not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases. To your credit. So some think that Paul likely here is probably maybe trying to head off any misunderstandings. He talked we talked about this last week where he said, look, I didn't I didn't really need it. And maybe we thought, did that seem ungrateful or not? But his point was being I'm content. My needs are met. Many think that maybe here he's once again saying, look, this isn't some angling, some backhanded way for me to ask for another gift. I'm not here seeking the gift. I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. Instead of me finding joy in the gift I received. Paul's greatest joy is in what God is doing in their lives from the gifts they gave. This is there's a really important spiritual principle underneath of this that I think we all can recognize, but maybe we don't always live out. And it's that the call and the important thing in our spiritual life is to seek the giver, not the gift. Any relationship really is governed. Any good relationship is governed by this principle. If I'm only in a relationship because of the gifts I get from that person, whether it's romantic or a business relationship or a friendship, if it's only because of what you give me that I'm staying in this relationship. That's a shallow relationship. If it's only based on the the gifts and the trinkets and what you do for me only that's that's a shallow relationship. And the same is true of our relationship with God. If he's only great when he's blessed me richly. Then all I really want are the things, not him. You see, we love him for who he is, for his character. That's why when we pray, we start with praise and how great he is. And we focused on not just we. We are deeply grateful for the things he has given us and done for us. But first and foremost, we're grateful for who he is and for his character and the joy of the relationship and of course, yes, we want him to bless us. We want him to shower blessings on us so that then we can bless others. But you see the difference. We don't seek the gift first. We seek the giver first. We delight in him first. And so here Paul is saying, and it applies the same in our relationship to ministry. Paul is saying, I'm grateful for the gift. What I'm more excited about, though, is what God is doing in your life because of your generous heart. We don't talk a ton here at Valley View about giving, but I usually just kind of wait for it to show up in the text and talk about it there. There are times, though, that we make sure to present the needs to the church, and most people say, we appreciate that. We want to know the state of the church. And I am deeply grateful for the generosity of this church. I don't shy away from asking because I think it's important. I think Scripture makes it clear we should ask for people, and I hope that you do give to the ministries of Valley View. All the staff's salaries depend on it. The ministries of the church depend on it. However, and you can choose to believe this or not. As as excited as I am to receive your gifts into the church, I am more excited about what God does in your life when you get to the place where you can let go of some of your money and give, and I know we could go around the room person after person who can say man, because I started to express generosity and again let go of some of that death grip of a little bit of our money and give up control and walk by faith. I saw God do this amazing thing in my life. We could go around the room in person after person. I'm seeing head after head nod. This is I saw God show up and provide in this way. Just this week. I had someone come to me a couple of weeks ago and say, hey, I've got this need. I've got this specific need. I said, let's pray. Let's start praying that God would meet that and let's start praying for that specific amount. God, would you have someone show up with this specific amount. The next Sunday a person comes with a check for that exact amount and says, this needs to go to this need. They didn't know. And I was able to say, we have been praying for that exact amount and God is using you to provide it. The person who received it rejoiced. The person who gave it rejoiced. Both knew they were a part of what God was doing. Take delight. Take great joy. When you get to share in the part of the work that God is doing that will maximize your joy tremendously. When you can be generous and see him work. And as you pray specifically, pray specifically and watch him work. So that's the second way. Be motivated by the growth of others. And then the third way, I think we maximize our joy, as we see in the book of Philippians, is to trust the true source of your needs. Trust the true source of your needs, the true source of your needs. We could emphasize each word in this sentence and we will as we unpack it. But look back at verse 18, because Paul is going to remind them that he's in good shape. I have received full payment and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God and my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen. The reason why we've spent a fair amount of time building up to verse 19. Here in verse 19 is a well known verse. I think it's often misused and misquoted to say that God will give you everything you want, but understanding the context of verse 19, that God will supply all your needs according to the riches of Jesus. He's got all kinds of riches in the glory of God in Christ Jesus. To understand that verse rightly, we got to understand it in context. So everything we're reading is leading up to this. Paul is thanking those who have been generous to support his work in missions. In fact, he said, I've received full payment and more. That phrase was often used that receive full payment phrase was often use the same way. Paul uses the word contentment in stoic philosophy to say, I'm good. My needs are met. I'm not walking around in anxiety wondering if I'll be okay. But Paul adds to it. He says, I received full payment and more. And the word therefore and more is this whole idea of full and overflowing, spilling out over the edges. You know, as a kid, it was great when you got your Happy Meal and you ate your fries and there was 1 or 2 down left in the bottom of the bag. It was like an extra surprise. Well, what's way better than that is going to Five Guys where they put your fries down in there and they just keep dumping them on top and like, the bag is just fries everywhere. You can't even find your sandwich because it's all fries. It's full and overflowing, overflowing, abundant. Paul's saying, I'm not only good, I got more than I need, and some think he's probably trying to redirect them to give to others. We went to a church in Phoenix. The last Sunday I was there when my son was getting ready to graduate. We went to visit him and we attended the church that we went to all throughout while we were there, attending seminary. And I heard something I had never in my life heard in church before. In a good way, by the way, the pastor got up and said, hey, listen, every week we pray for churches in the area. And they do. They were constantly praying for the other churches around them. And I want you guys to know this church, right down the road from us, is starting a new building campaign, and I think our church should come alongside them and help them in that campaign. They need more space. How can we come alongside them? I've never heard that before. I've never heard one church encouraging their people to give to another church's building campaign. It was amazing. We're full, we're overflowing, we're abundant. Listen, I know we've had some lean years, but I'm praying we get to that place very soon. We're pointed the right direction. How amazing would that be to say, hey, we we've got enough. Don't give any more today. Instead, give over there. They desperately need it. Paul says my needs are met. It's abundant. It's overwhelmed. It's full. And then he says, your gifts are like a fragrant offering. If you look back at verse 18, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice, this is the same language used of Old Testament sacrifices would have described ones that were pleasing to God. He smelled the sweet aroma of the fragrant offering. Same language used of Jesus, sacrificing himself, offering himself. And it also points to the idea in Romans 12 that speaks of us, and our lives are called to be a living sacrifice, pleasing to God. And Paul knows that the way they gave, the way they lived was sacrificial. So all this is leading up to verse 19, because more than likely, if they are giving sacrificially, they're probably wondering, okay, I'm not quite sure how this is all going to work out Paul, we're excited to give to you. But also rents coming due. So this isn't just a blanket promise for everything you want in life. You know that whatever it is, you pick your thing. That new car that I've always wanted, that new iPad you desperately need. These are people who have, from the get go, said. We are sacrificing to spread the gospel, and we're going to trust that God will meet our needs. Now, the key word there, I think, for us to understand is the difference between needs and desires. Right? We all struggle with this. What is a need? And of course, I mean, we live in such a crazy age where, you know, needs. I mean, it's really hard to discern things that seem like a need. You go. Really? Is that a need in this day and age? I mean, but sometimes it is to operate to function in this world. But don't forget, last week we looked in first Timothy where Paul said, if you want to know contentment, remember God will supply your needs food and clothing. That's the baseline for contentment. Do I have food? Do I have clothing? I should be able to strive for contentment. God will supply your every need, and we got to make sure to divide the line between needs and desires. But then lastly, when it comes to this, I want you to see this Tim Keller quote that I put in the notes because this is important, and I've been praying more lately. I've been praying through the Lord's Prayer more often. You know, I've shared with you before that acronym A.C.T.S. for praying, adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication. Really it's summarized in the Lord's Prayer. It starts with adoration. Our father, who art in heaven, we're going to focus on that hallowed or holy be your name. We're going to focus on how holy you are. But then it works down eventually to supplication or asking. But the request there is very humbling. Give us this day our daily bread. And when I've prayed that in the mornings, I've thought, am I really satisfied just with bread today? Now there are other things I need and it's okay to pray for everything, but can I start by being satisfied with bread? What do I really need today? What? What are desires and wants? What are needs? The other side of that is, as I pray that to not forget that God wants me to be a part sometimes of answering those prayers. And look at this quote that I put in your notes. We must ask ourselves what we ourselves might do to implement answers to our prayers, to be a part of seeing those prayers answered. To some degree answers to many of our prayers or petitions would be facilitated by changes in us. Don't forget when you're praying, God is also maybe calling you to take action on that. And sometimes we get frustrated. My prayer wasn't answered, but we weren't listening what he was calling us to do. So part of how we maximize our joy here is taking part in what he's doing, and trust the true source of your needs. Ultimately, trust that he's the one at work providing your needs. Now, number four, the last way that I think shows up in this passage where we see Christ maximize our joy as we walk with him is number four-- remember that you are not alone. Remember, you are not alone. Look at how he wraps up the book and these last couple of verses. Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me greet you. All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar's household. That is the wimpiest fire alarm I've ever heard. Let's hang tight just a second. Jim's going to check it out.