Sermon Tone Analysis

3 - Title

3 - Title

Intro

Elam vs Adler Joy when getting hurt

4 to Title - Scripture

4 to Title - Scripture

Philippians 3:1-11

PAUL sets down two very important things.

(1) He sets down what we might call the indestructibility of Christian joy.

He must have felt that he had been setting a high challenge before the Philippian church.

For them there was the possibility of the same kind of persecution, and even the same kind of death, as threatened himself.

From one point of view, it looked as if Christianity was a grim challenge.

PAUL sets down two very important things.

(1) He sets down what we might call the indestructibility of Christian joy.

He must have felt that he had been setting a high challenge before the Philippian church.

For them there was the possibility of the same kind of persecution, and even the same kind of death, as threatened himself.

From one point of view, it looked as if Christianity was a grim challenge.

But, in it and beyond it all, there was joy.

‘No one’, said Jesus, ‘will take your joy from you’ (John 16:22).

There is a certain indestructibility in Christian joy, and it is so because Christian joy is in the Lord.

Its basis is that Christians live forever in the presence of Jesus Christ.

They can lose everything, and they can lose everyone, but they can never lose Christ.

And, therefore, even in circumstances where joy would seem to be impossible and there seems to be nothing but pain and discomfort, Christian joy remains, because not all the threats and terrors and discomforts of life can separate Christians from the love of God in Christ Jesus their Lord (Romans 8:35–9).

In 1756, a letter came to the Methodist John Wesley from a father who had a wayward son.

When the revival swept England, the son was in York prison.

‘It pleased God’, wrote the father, ‘not to cut him off in his sins.

He gave him time to repent; and not only so, but a heart to repent.’

The boy was condemned to death for his misdeeds, and the father’s letter goes on: ‘His peace increased daily, until on Saturday, the day he was to die, he came out of the condemned-room, clothed in his shroud, and went into the cart.

As he went on, the cheerfulness and composure of his countenance were amazing to all the spectators.’

The young man had found a joy which not even the scaffold could take away.

It often happens that we can stand the great sorrows and the great trials of life but are quite unable to cope with what are almost minor inconveniences.

But this Christian joy enables us to accept even these with a smile.

John Nelson was one of John Wesley’s most famous early preachers.

He and Wesley carried out a mission in Cornwall, near Land’s End, and Nelson writes about it.

‘All that time, Mr Wesley and I lay on the floor: he had my greatcoat for a pillow, and I had Burkitt’s notes on the New Testament for mine.

After being here near three weeks, one morning about three o’clock Mr Wesley turned over, and, finding me awake, clapped me on the side, saying: “Brother Nelson, let us be of good cheer: I have one whole side yet, for the skin is off but on one side!”

’ They had little enough even to eat.

One morning, Wesley had preached with great effect: ‘As we returned, Mr Wesley stopped his horse to pick the blackberries, saying: “Brother Nelson, we ought to be thankful that there are plenty blackberries; for this is the best country I ever saw for getting a stomach, but the worst I ever saw for getting food!” ’ Christian joy made Wesley able to accept the great blows of life and also to greet the lesser discomforts with humour.

If Christians really walk with Christ, they walk with joy.

(2) Here also, Paul sets down what we might call the necessity of repetition.

He says that he proposes to write things to them that he has written before.

This is interesting, for it must mean that Paul had written other letters to the Philippians which have not survived.

This is nothing to be surprised at.

Paul was writing letters from AD 48 to AD 64—sixteen years—but we possess only thirteen of them.

Unless there were long periods when he never put pen to paper, there must have been many more letters which are now lost.

Like any good teacher, Paul was never afraid of repetition.

It may well be that one of our faults is our desire for novelty.

The great saving truths of Christianity do not change, and we cannot hear them too often.

We do not tire of the foods which are the essentials of life.

We expect to eat bread and to drink water every day, and we must listen again and again to the truth which is the bread and the water of life.

No teacher must find it a trouble to go over the great basic truths of the Christian faith again and again; for that is the way to ensure the safety of the hearers.

We may enjoy the ‘fancy things’ at meal times, but it is the basic foods on which we live.

Preaching and teaching and studying the side issues may be attractive, and these have their place; but the fundamental truths can neither be spoken nor heard too often for the safety of our souls.

But, in it and beyond it all, there was joy.

‘No one’, said Jesus, ‘will take your joy from you’ ().

There is a certain indestructibility in Christian joy, and it is so because Christian joy is in the Lord.

Its basis is that Christians live forever in the presence of Jesus Christ.

They can lose everything, and they can lose everyone, but they can never lose Christ.

And, therefore, even in circumstances where joy would seem to be impossible and there seems to be nothing but pain and discomfort, Christian joy remains, because not all the threats and terrors and discomforts of life can separate Christians from the love of God in Christ Jesus their Lord ().

Story of Indestructible Joy on Death Row

In 1756, a letter came to the Methodist John Wesley from a father who had a wayward son.

When the revival swept England, the son was in York prison.

‘It pleased God’, wrote the father, ‘not to cut him off in his sins.

He gave him time to repent; and not only so, but a heart to repent.’

The boy was condemned to death for his misdeeds, and the father’s letter goes on: ‘His peace increased daily, until on Saturday, the day he was to die, he came out of the condemned-room, clothed in his shroud, and went into the cart.

As he went on, the cheerfulness and composure of his countenance were amazing to all the spectators.’

The young man had found a joy which not even the death penalty could take away.

It often happens that we can stand the great sorrows and the great trials of life but are quite unable to cope with what are almost minor inconveniences.

But this Christian joy enables us to accept even these with a smile.

John Nelson was one of John Wesley’s most famous early preachers.

He and Wesley carried out a mission in Cornwall, near Land’s End, and Nelson writes about it.

‘All that time, Mr Wesley and I lay on the floor: he had my greatcoat for a pillow, and I had Burkitt’s notes on the New Testament for mine.

After being here near three weeks, one morning about three o’clock Mr Wesley turned over, and, finding me awake, clapped me on the side, saying: “Brother Nelson, let us be of good cheer: I have one whole side yet, for the skin is off but on one side!”

’ They had little enough even to eat.

One morning, Wesley had preached with great effect: ‘As we returned, Mr Wesley stopped his horse to pick the blackberries, saying: “Brother Nelson, we ought to be thankful that there are plenty blackberries; for this is the best country I ever saw for getting a stomach, but the worst I ever saw for getting food!” ’ Christian joy made Wesley able to accept the great blows of life and also to greet the lesser discomforts with humour.

If Christians really walk with Christ, they walk with joy.

Christian joy helps us accept the great blows of life and also to greet the lesser discomforts with humor.

If Christians really walk with Christ, they walk with joy.

(2) Here also, Paul sets down what we might call the necessity of repetition.

He says that he proposes to write things to them that he has written before.

This is interesting, for it must mean that Paul had written other letters to the Philippians which have not survived.

This is nothing to be surprised at.

Paul was writing letters from AD 48 to AD 64—sixteen years—but we possess only thirteen of them.

Unless there were long periods when he never put pen to paper, there must have been many more letters which are now lost.

Like any good teacher, Paul was never afraid of repetition.

It may well be that one of our faults is our desire for novelty.

Trends.

What’s new?

Surprise me.

Entertain me

The great saving truths of Christianity do not change, and we cannot hear them too often.

We do not tire of the foods which are the essentials of life.

We expect to eat bread and to drink water every day, and we must listen again and again to the truth which is the bread and the water of life.

No teacher must find it a trouble to go over the great basic truths of the Christian faith again and again; for that is the way to ensure the safety of the hearers.

We may enjoy the ‘fancy things’ at meal times, but it is the basic foods on which we live.

Preaching and teaching and studying the side issues may be attractive, and these have their place; but the fundamental truths can neither be spoken nor heard too often for the safety of our souls.

Charles Spurgeon 19th Century Preacher

“I retreat to the inner most citadel of our holy faith, namely, to the very heart of Christ, when my spirit is assailed by temptation, or besieged with sorrow and anguish.

Whenever I have high spiritual enjoyments, enjoyments rich, rare, celestial, they are always connected with Jesus only.

Other religious things may give some kind of joy, and joy that is healthy too, but the sublimest, the most inebriating, the most divine of all joys, must be found in Jesus only.