SPEAKER_00 0:00

So this morning we're in our week three of Philippians. And so if you have your Bible, I encourage you to go ahead and pull it out. One of the things that we like to do is we we like to switch up how we teach. So sometimes we'll teach a topic. We might talk about parenting. We might talk about marriage. Sometimes we'll uh teach through some big ideas or some even some doctrinal things like what we believe about God. But then sometimes we'll teach through a book of the Bible. And so we're in the middle of teaching through a book in the Bible. Hopefully this is helpful for you for a couple reasons. One, um, we hope that it will help you learn to study the Bible for yourself, that you don't just hear the Bible on Sundays, but that during the week you actually study the Bible, you read it for yourself, you think about what it's saying, you ask God to help you apply it. Uh, we genuinely believe that if you will do that, it'll be life-changing for you. It'll change the way you think about your everyday life. It will impact your marriage, your parenting, your work, all the things that you do. God's word, as it says about itself, is living and it's active, and it's actually uh incredibly helpful for teaching us how to live the life God's called us to live. And so we invite you to do that. In fact, there's a study guide that we we handed you, and on the back of that, there's a reading guide where you can look at different passages of scripture during the week. Okay. Um the other thing is that when you read through a book of the Bible, it helps you get a little bit more sense of the context, the culture from which the writer was writing uh the their different scriptures. And remember that these men uh that write these scriptures, like Paul, is the one who's writing in Philippians, uh, they are writing inspired by the Holy Spirit, speaking to us the words of God. So it is a letter that Paul's written, but remember we hold this as authoritative as if this is to say these are the words of God to us. Um sometimes we can get tripped up by thinking these are just Paul's words, but they're not just Paul's words. They're God's words. Does that make sense? It's important for us to remember that might sound a little bit odd, that might sound a little different different than what you maybe thought, uh, but just know that this is intentionally in God's word, the Bible, because God wanted it in there to speak to us today, even though it was written 2,000 years ago. Okay? So as we look at Philippians, um, the first 11 verses in Philippians were an introductory section. They kind of showed us a little bit about who Paul saw himself to be. He introduced himself in Timothy as bond servants, slaves, right? He says, Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ. Again, that's probably not the way you introduce yourself to other people. That's how Paul did, because he had a right understanding of who he was, that Jesus had purchased him, and so he saw himself as a servant, and he saw it as a positive thing, not as a negative thing, right? And then he said to the saints at Philippi that because they were in Christ, uh, you don't have to uh be deemed a saint by the Pope. Uh, you don't get to be deified uh because you're a good person. Because you're in Christ, you are considered a saint. And we talked about that the first week, okay? Now, here's the thing. Last week we talked about how Paul prayed for them, and he prayed that God's love would grow in them in quality and in quantity, that they would have deepening love, and that that love would impact others through their lives, right? And so they would have uh an awareness of God's great love for them that would fill them up, and then they would have discernment in how to distribute that love to those around them. And it's the same thing for us today, right? We need to continue to grow in the love of God, knowing that we are loved, being confident that he cares about us deeply, that the cross has for has once and for all declared we are loved by him, and that then we go and live from a place of being loved, being secure in that love, right? And that's kind of opposite of how the world functions, because the world functions constantly looking for something to fill in that gap, to find acceptance, to find work, to find value. But Christ has already declared that we are valuable, that we are loved, that we are cared for, and so we live from a place of security. You tracking? Are you with me? Okay, that's huge. It's real important. So we're gonna pick up in verse 12. I'm gonna read this section to you, and then we're gonna talk a little bit about how this impacts us after we look at what's going on with Paul. Because he's gonna start doing his ministry report uh in verse 12. Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has actually resulted in the advance of the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to everyone else that my imprisonment is in the cause of Christ. Most of the brothers in the Lord have gained confidence from my imprisonment, and dare even more to speak the message fearlessly. To be sure, some preach Christ out of envy and strife, but others out of good will. These do so out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. The others proclaim Christ out of rivalry, not sincerely, seeking to cause me anxiety in my imprisonment. What does it matter? Just that in every way, whether out of false motives or true, Christ is proclaimed, and in this I rejoice. Yes, I will rejoice. We're stopping there this morning. Okay? So let's look at Paul's situation first and kind of make sure we're all on the same page and we understand what's going on. Paul is where? He's in prison, okay? Now, this means Paul is enduring suffering. He is going through hardships. He says on the front end there, he says, I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me. So he's in prison. Now, this is a little different than what we picture for prison because actually there was a house they'd rented out, and Paul was on house arrest there. Now that sounds like not such a bad deal. Great. They rented me a house and put me over here and said, wait till your trial comes. That would be okay, except for the fact that what we know is that he had a guard, an imperial guard, this is the elite guards, uh, he had one of them chained to him 24-7. So it's like bathroom, come on, buddy. Right? Shower, come on, buddy. Whatever you're gonna do, uh, he's gonna be with you because you are chained to a guard 24-7. I don't know anybody who wants to sign up for that, right? Anybody in here like your personal space? Anyone like not having anybody up in your business? This is this is constantly 24-7, Paul having a person with him everywhere he goes because he's he's chained to this guard, right? So the idea is that Paul sitting in this situation is going, look, it's not as bad as you think. I know you guys feel he's kind of preempting their uh compassion and their concern for him, and he's saying, I know that what's happened to me may cause you guys to be alarmed, it may cause you to be sad, it may cause you to be frustrated and angry, or or whatever it might be. You might feel really sorry for me. But I want you to know, brothers, that what's happened to me. So some commentators say that that's all really Paul's talking about is just the fact that he is in prison and he's chained to this guy, 24-7, one of these imperial guards, what's apparently they just rotated through. Okay? Which I think is funny considering what we're about to talk about here in a minute, because I'm sure they're like, man, do not chain yourself to that dude. He will not stop and talking about Jesus, right? But here's the thing he's chained there, he's doing that. But I want you to notice that not only is that, but but Paul is really dealing with suffering, he's dealing with hardship, and that wasn't the first time he had dealt with this. In fact, I want you, you don't have to go over there with me, but you might want to write these verses down, and it's in the reading guide this week from 2 Corinthians chapter 11, verse 23 to 27. Some commentators actually say that he's he's acknowledging his entire journey up to this point. Regardless, I think it's important for us to remember Paul is not a lightweight when it comes to suffering. He's dealt with some pretty intense stuff, and here's what I mean. Let's read this from 2 Corinthians 11. It's on the screen above me, verse 23. Are they servants of Christ? I'm talking like a madman. We just kind of jumped into the middle of one of his conversations where he's making the point that he is an apostle by God, and he is called, and he's and he's he's got a reason why he's sharing this message of the gospel, and that he's conditioned for this. So here's what it says I'm a better one with far more labors, many more imprisonments, far worse beatings, near death many times. Catch this now. Five times I've received 39 lashes from the Jews. Alright? They had a law that you could only receive 39 lashes in case they lost count in the process. But remember who else got 39 lashes? Jesus, right? So, like they knew when you beat them with in the Roman ways of beating people, they literally could die from this. And he's been beaten how many times? Five. Five times 39 lashes, alright? Three times I was beaten with rods by the Romans. Once I was stoned by my enemies. In fact, it's a pretty humorous story. Literally, it says they stoned him, and then he just gets up and he walks away. He's okay. It's it's a crazy deal. It says this uh three times I was shipwrecked. Anybody been shipwrecked before? So he's gone through three shipwrecks. It says that um I've spent a day and a night in the open sea on frequent journeys. I've faced dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own people, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the open country, dangers on the sea, and dangers among false brothers, labor and hardship, many sleepless nights, hunger and thirst, often without food, cold and lacking clothing. He was naked. So this is Paul's track record of what he's endured for what? For the sake of the gospel. Now, I've got a feeling that if we stood up here this morning and said, okay, listen, here's what's gonna happen to you. Who wants to sign up for that? Everybody's like, no way, right? I mean, I'm not saying that you shouldn't say no way. I'm just saying that that's the natural tendency. We're gonna move towards what's comfortable, what's easy. None of that sounds easy. And what you see in this text that I read you is because Paul has endured a lot of hardship. And even in the midst of that, he says, I want you to know, brothers, that all the hardships I've endured, right? He then transitions. I want you to know that what has happened to me has a bigger purpose. He sees a bigger purpose. And what is that bigger purpose? It has actually resulted in the advance of the gospel. This word advance in the Greek means literally to blaze a trail. He's saying that because of my sufferings, I've literally been able to blaze a trail for the sake of the gospel. The message about Jesus, who he is, what he did, how he saves and rescues mankind, that message is blazed a trail for that. And I'm in chains and I've endured all these things, and you know what? It's okay because it is advancing the gospel. Man, anybody else feel challenged in this moment? I kind of feel instantly like, whoa, man, I am such a weenie. When it comes to my Christian faith. I don't know how to say that. I just like, I'm I'm so wimpy and whiny. Look at this guy. He has done all these things, and yet he is saying, listen, it's it's advancing the gospel. It's a good thing. In fact, he goes on to say, so that it has become known throughout the whole Imperial Guard and to everyone else that my imprisonment is in the cause of Christ. So I said a while ago, he's chained to a guard 24-7. He's sharing the gospel while he's chained up. And we know that there were 9,000 of these imperial guards. And he's saying the entire 9,000 imperial guards have now heard the gospel. We don't know if that's because they rotated all through 9,000 of them, but or if he just was sharing with them, and then those guys were going and sharing the word. But bottom line is he's saying that imperial guard, these are the elite of the elite in the Roman Empire, incredible, studly men, you know, and they are hearing the gospel, they're responding to it, and they're even sharing it with the other imperial guards. And Paul's like, that's a great thing, it's an awesome thing. And even says to others, meaning that even while he's under house arrest, he's still writing letters. He's he's trying to get messengers out to go and share the gospel with those that are in Rome. And even letters like this one to Philippians, to Philippi. So, bottom line is it doesn't stop or detract Paul from the mission he's been given. Now, I think it's important that we stop here and just talk about this for a second. And we don't have uh a time, uh a full amount of time that we could really unpack all that that could be said here regarding suffering. But if you're like me, when I hear these things come out of Paul's mouth, I'm either like, okay, Paul's delusional, he's on drugs, or this is actually real. He believes this stuff and God's good and all those things, right? Like, I have a hard time reconciling in my mind exactly what's going on with Paul for him to say things like this. And he's gonna say some even more intense and crazy stuff in this book that really it's hard for my mind to get around, okay? To wrap my mind around this ideology and the view that he had of life. But I think it's important to understand that all of us will suffer, right? All of us will suffer at times. All of us will go through hardship, and a lot of you are going through suffering right now. Some of you are going through some painful circumstances right now. Maybe they're physical circumstances, maybe they're emotional, maybe they're relational, maybe they're financial. But I'm guessing that many of you in this room are currently going through some type of suffering. And of course, the question we have to wrestle with is why, right? Why suffering? Why is this part of our lives? Well, if you're not a believer, if you're not a Christian, in fact, if you're an atheist, it's a pretty easy thing. It doesn't really matter. It doesn't matter because when you die, you're just gonna go back to dirt. So let's just move on. It's easy, right? So if that's where people are and they don't have a belief, there's no point, there's no purpose. We just kind of endure it and we move on. That's where you are. If you're a Christ follower, it's actually a little bit more difficult. Why? Because the Bible teaches us that God is all-powerful and then he's all-loving. So if he is all-powerful, then why isn't he stopping what's going on in my life? This hardship, this suffering, this struggle. And maybe it's not even stuff that's happening to me, maybe it's stuff that's happening to other people around me, or maybe to people on the other side of the world, like hunger and oppression, right? Genocide, sex slavery. What about all those things, right? What do we do with that? If God is all powerful and yet He's all loving, how do those things work together? He could be one or the other, but not both. Well, I'm not gonna resolve that issue for this more this morning. It's a mystery and it's really profound, but I want you to understand that God has a plan and a purpose even in suffering. And Paul is showing us glimpses of that. But there are really four reasons why people suffer, why Christians suffer. Okay? And you may have to discern in your own life why that suffering is going on right now. But I want to give you four suggestions. Actually, these are from a guy named John Walford. He writes some great commentaries, and here's what he says that scripture teaches us about suffering. Number one, Christians suffer because they've not dealt with sin in their lives. Did you know that even if you're saved, we use that language, saved, meaning you're not gonna go to hell when you die, you're gonna you're not gonna be separated from God, you've been given a relationship with God that's gonna last forever for eternity. Even if you have received forgiveness from your sins, you can still struggle the consequences of living in sin, right? Guess what? If you're not a Christian and you are a Christian, and you're both lazy, you will still experience consequences of being lazy, right? If you are not a Christian and you are a Christian and you steal something, you're still gonna get consequences from that sin, right? So suffering can happen just purely because we're sinners and we struggle with sin and you do something wrong, there's gonna be consequences. That's that's one way we can experience uh suffering. Two, because God wants them to gain, I should say maybe even us, to gain spiritual experience. Now, this is one we don't like to hear, but let's be honest. How many of us have really grown in our relationship with God when everything was going perfectly? I mean, how many of us when everything was right, and you know, it's like you wake up every morning to rainbows and puppy dogs, and it's just all awesome, you know? It's like the newlywed scene, you know, it's like you get you wake up and you're like, oh, I just love being married. Everything's so good, there's no conflict, it's awesome. You know, if everything's good, you find out pretty fast, we naturally will drift towards complacency in our walk with God, of being aware that he's good, of we being aware that he really cares, or, or for that matter, really worshiping him. We start to lean towards self and towards to be more self-reliant, self-focused, self-centered. But when hard things come, it presses us, doesn't it? And the real stuff comes out of our hearts. And in that moment, that stuff exposes, and we have a chance to grow up or get out. And the hope is that we will grow up through hardship. And God wants us to gain spiritual experience. And you know what's interesting is that uh those experiences can become a place of ministry. Isn't it interesting how God can use you to minister to people that you couldn't minister to before, at least not at the depth, when you've gone through hardship? I know my wife and I having had a daughter who was born with a cleft palate. Now, when we talk to other families with daughters or sons with cleft palates, we have an understanding. We have a compassion for them and we have an ability to speak to them, and they're not like, oh, you don't get it. No, we do get it. We've been there. It's it's painful and it's it's frustrating, and it's it's it's sad. And we've felt that. And there's many people in this room who, your some of your story, some of your suffering can become a great place for ministry to others, can't it? Third, though, reason that people suffer, Christians suffer in particular, because God wants to prevent sin in their lives. Paul actually says that he was given a thorn in his flesh so that he would not get arrogant, he would not get prideful, he would not start to do his own thing. So sometimes suffering comes just to purely kind of give us a wake-up call. God allows those things in our lives to help make sure that we're not getting off base, not getting lost in the weeds, and even prevent us from moving towards sin. God can use that to steer our lives. Again, sometimes that's not things we want to hear, but God loves us enough to help us not to get off track. And then finally, Christians suffer to increase their effective Christian testimony or to increase their witness to others. And this kind of goes with what I said a while ago about going through suffering and using that as a springboard to minister to those who also are going through similar kind of situations. But just know that God can use those moments of hardship to help us point people to Christ. I mean, the Bible is full of stories of people who suffered. People who were following God and suffered. If you hear a pastor, a church leader, somebody stand up and say something to this effect, hey, if you follow Jesus, you won't have to suffer anymore. You just need to turn around and go the other way. You actually need to run. All right? Because that's not true. In fact, Jesus said himself, in this world, you will what? You have hardships. But take heart, I've overcome the world. We don't need to be told you're never gonna suffer anymore. In fact, there's people who walked away from church because somebody sold them that bill of goods, and then they started suffering, and they're like, What's wrong with me? I guess I don't love God, I guess I'm not really a Christian. I guess God really isn't loving. No, listen, the life of following Jesus may lead to suffering. And we need to embrace that. We need to know that. We need to realize that. But it can increase our testimony, it can increase our ability to communicate the gospel. Paul believes this fourth reason. He embraces this fourth reason. He sees this as an opportunity to shine brightly for the kingdom, to shine brightly for Christ. And so he engages in that. My wife and I had an opportunity to go to Central Asia about five or six years ago now. We actually went two years in a row and we did some training with pastors in Kazakhstan, and we were training uh pastors in that region. So we were working with guys from Turkmenistan and Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and all the stand countries. And uh it was a lot of fun. It was getting to know them, but it's incredibly challenging to stand in front of a crowd of pastors who are undergoing persecution and to stand up and say, All right, men, let's uh let's be on mission for Jesus. You're like, I'm such a lightweight, right? These guys are good going through hardship. In fact, we had some guys who were delayed in coming to this training. They were gonna have to take a train seven hours and then drive another four hours to get to us so they could listen to this Joker from the United States tell them about how to have a godly marriage. And the reason they were delayed is because they were having to stand in front of a judge in their community because they were Christians and they were losing all their jobs, they were losing all their credibility in the community, and in fact, they were getting ready to get thrown into prison because these guys had infiltrated their church and were basically trying to get them in trouble with the government because they said they were they were they were trying to create an uprising against the government. And all these guys were doing was preaching Jesus. And I remember talking to these guys, and I'm sitting there the whole time thinking, man, I I get frustrated when somebody's like, you know, doing the silliest thing back home. And these guys are battling to survive. I say all that again because in suffering, God can use those hard things to expand the gospel. And not only that, he can also use it to encourage people like me and people like you to be even more bold in sharing the gospel. Because that's what he says in the passage where he says in verse 14, most of the brothers in the Lord have gained confidence from my imprisonment and dare even more to speak the message fearlessly. Because of Paul's imprisonment and his willingness to speak boldly about the gospel, even though he was in prison, right? These other guys are like, man, if he can do that, surely we can step up to the plate and be more aggressive in sharing the gospel and be more bold with the gospel. But the third thing we see about Paul here is that he cares more about the message than the motive of those who preach it. He cares more about the message of the gospel than the motive of those who preach it. Notice what he says in verse 15. I want to read it to you again, just to make sure we're fresh. To be sure, some preach Christ out of envy and strife, but others out of good will. These do so out of love, knowing that I'm appointed for the defense of the gospel. The others proclaim Christ out of rivalry, not sincerely, seeking to cause me anxiety in my prison. So Paul's saying what? There's two groups of people that are preaching the gospel. We can infer from this that both of these groups of people knew Jesus, they were Christians. One had pure motives and one had impure motives. One had the motive of we're going to share the gospel so that we can win over some of Paul's old followers and have a gathering and have people like who like us better than Paul. I mean, that's pretty silly, isn't it? But that's what they were doing. The envy and strife, this idea they were jealous of Paul. They wanted to have a ministry as big and as significant as Paul. So Paul's in prison. We're going to take some of his people. And they also, there was even an element of them criticizing Paul. Like, Paul, why'd you open your mouth and get yourself stuck in prison? And literally that was going on in some of the churches where Paul had done this work and he'd cared for these people. And now there's these other leaders rising up, and out of impure motives, they are preaching the gospel, but they're doing it for their own purposes. Now, I'll be gonna be honest. I try to give you like little windows into a pastor's uh world every now and then because you guys know pastors are people too, right? Yes? Okay. I know a couple of you actually are members of pastors' family, so you're like, yeah. Um but here's the deal, pastors are people too. And I want you to know, I was reading this this week and I'm thinking, man, those jokers, like, why are they like so fr like out of envy and strife preaching the gospel? I mean, they're believers, why do they have their motives are so jacked up? And I was thinking to myself, oh man, that's me. That can be me many times. I was a student pastor for 10 years, and I remember doing a lot of work with teenagers, middle school through high school, and even into college, and we would do these events, and we'd have hundreds of students. I mean, literally a thousand students show up for these big, massive events, and we'd share the gospel. We had incredible weeks of life-changing things happen. And you know what I'm thinking about the whole time? I'm thinking about, man, I sure hope people think I'm an awesome student pastor. That's jacked up, right? Because instead of preaching it so that kids can come to know Jesus, I'm thinking about myself. I'm thinking about how this appears for me, how I look to other people. And the point I'm making is that motives are hard to discern in our own hearts to see a lot of times, but we can all struggle with this, right? And Paul sees that there's this one group that their motives are bad, but he also sees a group that their motives are good. They love Paul, they love Jesus, and they're proclaiming the gospel. And it's only by the way, only by the Spirit, that you can actually proclaim the gospel and believe that. So that's why we know they're both both of these groups are believers. And they're proclaiming the gospel, and the message is going out. And Paul is super stoked about that. He is really pumped about the fact that the gospel message is going out. Regardless of whether the motive is right, the message is right. And it's good and it's advancing. Um, I think about this fairly often because it's easy for me to criticize other churches, other church leaders at times and go, man, don't all those people see like how he's just like using them and abusing them to get their money so they can pat his life and make it better? And what I need to be listening for is are they preaching Jesus? Yeah, I can be frustrated about some of the other things that they're doing periphery, but if they're preaching Jesus, I need to celebrate that. I need to trust God with the results because God sees the heart, God sees the motive. Are you with me? Okay, so Paul sees this and he cares more about the message than the motive. So the question we have to ask now is how does this all apply to us? I'm gonna move really quickly here. How does this apply to us? Because my guess is none of you in this room are apostles that are out planting churches, right? Apostles are gone. They're not they're not having those anymore. Okay. Uh, and I'm I don't know if anybody in this room is like traveling around living off of support and just planting churches and sharing the gospel. I don't know if that's any of you. Um Jaden and I have done some of that, not in the same form as Paul here, of course. But here's what I know that there are some principles behind this that actually can be transferred, whether you feel like you're Paul or not, or you can relate with Paul or not. You know, the first thing here is we need to understand that all of us want to be happy. All of us want to be happy. Now you're like, where's that going? How's that connect to Paul? Well, just hang with me. All of us in life have a desire to be happy. I mean, you can see this purely by the fact that we work lots of hours, we work really hard to accomplish things that we hope will make us happy. If we can make that accomplishment, we can get that job, we get to that level, then we'll be happy, right? Or we work so that we can make the money so that we can then buy the things that will make us happy. Or we buy the, or we can buy the experiences that we think will make us happy. Or we really work hard to get the relationships so that people will like us and that will make us happy. Whatever it is, you can see that in the human nature, in the human heart, we have a desire to be happy. And let me just tell you right now, that's not a bad thing. It's actually a hardwiring in you to want satisfaction and happiness. It's part of the way God made you. The problem isn't the fact you want happiness, the problem is that we look for happiness in the wrong things. We look for ultimate happiness in things that can't satisfy. We look for happiness in things that are temporary. We look for happiness in a job or in an accomplishment or in an experience or in a relationship, and all those things fail and they fade. And then we're left. So if that's where we are, then what do we do? How do we find happiness? If God made us for happiness and these things in this life aren't going to make us happy, then where does happiness come from? Well, part of the problem is that we typically define happiness by our circumstances, how they compare with others. Notice Paul. Paul's there, he's in jail. That could have driven his happiness or unhappiness, should I say. And also he's looking around going, hey, what about those guys out there? They're preaching the gospel. They're not in prison. So he's comparing his circumstances with theirs. He could have easily said, that's not fair. And if you've ever been to the shock household, you will hear me say this fair's not a biblical value, right? You don't want fair. Thankfully, Jesus wasn't fair with us because we would all be dead forever. That's that's I know maybe that sounds harsh, but we don't, we deserve death, is what the scripture says. But he gave us life. That's not fair. That's a good thing. Here's what we know: that we typically define our happiness by circumstances and how they compare with others. But the Bible teaches us that happiness is based on the certainties in Christ. Certainties in Christ. What do we mean by certainties in Christ? When Jesus died on the cross, he came, he lived a sinless life, and then he died on the cross. He declared once and for all, you are loved. So you don't have to search for love. The love that you long for, you don't have to search for that any longer. In fact, I would even go as far as to say that for some of us in this room, we've tried to make a person into that Savior who could complete us and make us feel the love that we long for. And I can guarantee you, anybody who's been married for longer than six months can tell you that's not gonna happen. Because you know what? A human being isn't capable of meeting all your needs. They're not. So if happiness is found in my circumstances andor found in these temporary things, you're gonna continually be depressed, discouraged, you're gonna keep hitting walls, you're gonna be on this treadmill. But notice Paul's way of he viewed even a bad circumstance, he saw it with a lens that was so much bigger, so much broader, through a gospel lens that Christ was enough. Remember, I told you a while ago he's gonna say some things later in this book that are just they're a little bit hard to kind of get your mind around. Like, I don't know that I'm there yet, God. I'm not there, Paul. You're your way mature, and I'm trying to get there, but I'm not there yet. When he says things like to live is Christ and to die is gain, right? And he says, to know Christ is the most important thing. Christ is where our true happiness is found. There's lots of substitutes, and it's okay, by the way, in case you're wondering, if like Nick's all down on having fun. I love having fun, and I like being happy, and we can enjoy vacations and we can enjoy uh cars and we can enjoy clothes and we can, that's good, because we want to wear clothes, right? But we can enjoy nice things, we can enjoy houses, we can enjoy stuff, we can enjoy stuff, but we don't worship it, and we don't look to it to be our ultimate satisfaction. Our circumstances will always be changing, for better or for worse. And if you look to those things, you're gonna be like this, right?

unknown 30:15

Woo-woo!

SPEAKER_00 30:15

You wake up, things are good in the morning, it's gonna be an awesome day. Things are bad in the morning, you get a big bill in the mail, somebody treats you bad, nosedive. Now, again, some of the emotions of life are gonna happen, but don't look to temporary things to be your ultimate satisfaction. You're never gonna find true happiness there. So, where do we find happiness? I'm gonna say something that's gonna sound very churchy, very pastoral, but it's true. Real happiness is found in the person of Christ, knowing Christ and making him known. That's where it's found. It's found in the person of Christ, knowing him and making him known. You guys know this. I hope you know this. We were ultimately made for a relationship with Jesus. That's what you were made for. That's what I was made for. And the more we have a relationship with Jesus, the more satisfied our souls become. The more convinced we become that this life is a foreshadow. That it's it's something that's not, it's only here for a little while, and it's it's kind of reminding us, as C.S. Lewis, of course, talked about, if there's anything in this world that can't satisfy, it's maybe because we were made for something more. It's true, isn't it? Christ alone can satisfy, Christ alone can bring happiness. In fact, the Bible calls that joy. It's not just a fleeting happiness, it's a joy that's built on the hope that we have in Christ, the promises of God that are discovered in Christ Jesus. And I know personally, I mean, again, maybe this doesn't make sense, but it's true. And I know personally, in my own life, that when I am spending time with Jesus and I am seeking to make him known, there is nothing more satisfying. That may sound crazy, that might sound odd, but I can tell you personally that when I am pursuing Christ and looking to him instead of the other things, instead of my circumstances, situations, hardships, I find true happiness, even in the midst of suffering. I've got a friend I went to college with. I haven't been around him in quite a while, but he's a pastor in the Dallas area. His name is Matt Chandler. Some of you guys may know Matt, uh maybe have heard him speak. And not long ago, uh he got brain cancer. And I didn't I wasn't around him to get to really talk to him personally through all that, but I remember him when he got brain cancer doing a video blog and kind of sharing with his church family, and so we kind of followed from a distance, and Jada's talked to his wife a little bit, and um just remembering there was one blog post he put up where he was video and he was looking pretty bad. I mean, just looking really sickly as he was battling cancer. Okay, here by the way, his pastor has brain cancer. Where's the fairness of that, right? And he he said something, he said, I consider it such a privilege to be suffering through this brain tumor. And I was like in my my study, like reading the Bible that day, and I was like, I just dropped my Bible and I was like, I don't think I could say that, God. Like, I don't know that I'm I'm there. That's that's brutal. Like, how how do you say something like that? I'm thankful for this. My family, you know, they're going through hardship dealing with this, my church, I've got this great ministry that's now like up in the air. Like, what what do I do with that? You know why you can have that kind of perspective? Because you see the bigger picture. You see that Christ is sufficient, he's enough. You see that we can't guarantee anybody will live past today. But we can guarantee that if we know Christ, we'll live forever. With him, and our souls will find the rest and the satisfaction and approval and all those things that we long for. You know, we put our hope we put our hope in a lot of things that are uncertain. We need to put our hope in the Christ that is certain. Hebrews 12. I want to end with this. How do you find joy in hardship? How do you find joy in suffering? I want to remind you that Jesus found joy in suffering. You see, Hebrews 12, 1b through 2 says this let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and the perfector of our faith. So we have this life we're living, we're going through it, and he's saying, run this race, the writer of Hebrews gives us this instruction. But then notice he he qualifies why we should keep our eyes on Jesus. He says, Who for the joy that lay before him endured a cross and despised the shame and is set down at the right hand of God's throne. When you and I are struggling to find joy in our circumstances, we look to Christ and we see that we were his joy, even as he dealt with the cross. Did you know that? He found joy in saving us. He found joy in rescuing us. He found pleasure in you and in me. I don't know if that stirs your heart, but in my own heart, it reminds me, God, I can endure whatever I gotta endure in this life because I know it's worth it for you. Look at what you've done. Look at how you've saved me, look at how you've rescued me. That's not a manipulative jab, that's a truth. He loves you. You you bring him joy and delight. And even in your hardship, he wants to use you to point others to life in him, to experience the joy that's only found in him. Let's pray.