Being Joyfully Thankful

Good morning Hope Church! I’m absolutely amazed and joyful to be with you today. If you have your Bible go ahead and open it to Philippians chapter one.

Once there was an old farmer and his wife who went to the state fair. Every year they had gone for as long as they could remember. One year they were near the hog pavilion and they saw a sign for helicopter rides. It read, helicopter rides, fifty dollars. The old farmer looked at his wife and said, “what do you think?” She looked at him and shook her head, saying, “fifty dollars is fifty dollars.” Disappointed, the man took his wife and they went home. The next year, he again saw the sign that said helicopter rides. This time they were farther away on the concourse, closer to where the helicopter was landing. Again the old farmer’s wife looked at him and said, “fifty dollars is fifty dollars.” Year after year this exact same series of events transpired. Finally after many years the man looked longingly at the helicopter as they passed the landing pad on their way out of the fairgrounds. Again his wife said, “fifty dollars is fifty dollars.” But this time, the helicopter pilot heard their conversation. He looked at the old farmer and said, “ I tell you what…. I’ll take you up and if you don’t say one word while we are up there, the ride will be free.” The old farmer looked at his wife and she said, “fifty dollars is fifty dollars.” So they pilot took them up. He gave them the ride of their lives. The old farmer sat and smiled with amazement in his eyes. The pilot tried everything he could to get him to say something. He pulled up. He aimed into a steep dive. He banked side to side as much as the helicopter could. He circled all around the fair grounds and the surrounding countryside. Finally, after an extended ride, they headed back to the landing pad. The pilot was really astounded. He said to the old farmer, “I can’t believe you actually stayed quiet. I did everything I could do to get you to make some sound. And you didn’t eith…”. He stopped as he turned to speak to the old woman. But she wasn’t there! He asked the old farmer where she was. “Oh,” he said, she fell out fifteen minutes ago.” “

Why didn’t you say something?”

“Fifty dollars is fifty dollars.”

Obviously that is an extreme joke but the connection here is that many people in the world look to their finances for the source of their joy. The world looks to sex, money, power, career, and entertainment as a source of their happiness and look for joy in it. This is even built into our country and the American dream. We are chasing happiness. "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". People live their lives chasing these things. King Solomon spent his life indulging in the pursuit of joy and had everything he could want and still called it all "vanity". Solomon found as many more have since then, that none of these things satisfy. The functional gods we make out of career, health, and other things can disappear in the blink of an eye and we are left despondent. The stories are many, of those who lost a career or relationship and were so distraught that they even committed suicide.

But here in Philippians we find one of the most joyous people in all of the Bible and he was sitting in prison. What was his secret? What caused Paul to have such great joy amidst his trial of being in prison? That is what I want to look at today in chapter one, verses three through eight of Paul's letter to the church at Philippi.

READ

Philippians 1:3–8 ESV

3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. 7 It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. 8 For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.

PRAY

I. Joy comes from living life in the right order.

When I was in seventh grade, I started attending a youth summer camp with our church. The name of the camp was University of J.O.Y. I attended this camp all the way through my senior year and then eventually used the same format and name for a camp that I ran for four years in Missouri. The name I will admit was a bit on the cheesy and simplistic side but it came from the mission of the camp. It was to teach students that the proper order to live your life was Jesus, Others, Yourself. Our concern is first for our relationship with Jesus and His glory. We are first obedient and worshipful of our Savior. Then next, our concern is for our neighbor, the others around us. And lastly ourselves. Paul was an excellent example of how to live life in this proper order. He was all about Jesus. He was concerned for others, namely the Christians making up the church at Philippi. He kept himself and his desires in the backseat to what best served Jesus and was good for others.

Paul had learned that true joy is found in Christ and Christian Community.

II. There is Joy in Christ and Christian Community.

Paul's prayer of thanksgiving is of note because he was not given to praying generic prayers. He didn't offer the same exact prayer for each group but in his other letters we see specific requests for the different groups of people as well as specific prayers of thanksgiving for them. Too often we miss the relational side of these letters. We get so into figuring out how it applies to us that we might miss that this is a man who deeply cares for these Christians who is writing to thank them and also exhort them to better service to the Lord Jesus.

Christians have a common bond. We are a community of people who know we are sinners. We know that there is nothing we could ever do to make up for our sin. There was no way out. We know that we rightly and justly deserve the wrath of God for our sin. The Bible tells us that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. Something has to die to pay for sin. God’s righteous wrath on sin is good. Sin must be judged. So we are all on that level playing field. What Christians also understand is that God loves us and so, in order to fulfill the payment that sin requires, He sent Jesus, His only begotten Son, the Son of God, God in the flesh, to be born of a virgin and live a sinless life that we had no hope of being able to live on our own. He then gave that perfect life willingly on a criminal’s cross as a substitute for you and me. He died in our place and took the punishment He did not deserve and in exchange gives us his right standing before God. He died for you. He was whipped for you. He was killed for you. And to show that God accepted that as payment in full, Jesus raised from the dead three days later. Christians know that our only joy comes from knowing that we have everything that we have even though we don’t deserve it. We are a fellowship of the saved, a blood bought family. We can gather and rejoice in belonging to God.

III. Paul found joy in gospel partnership. (V.5)

Paul was grateful for the support that the Philippian church had given him and how they had served as coworkers in the mission of the expansion of the kingdom from the beginning of the church in Philippi. Paul was joyful in his thanksgiving for their support and service.

There is a Greek word that appears throughout this letter. It is the word koinonia.

Koinonia

A lot of times we translate this word as "fellowship". I'm concerned that we have used that word so much in referring to potlucks that we have moved away from the true meaning of koinonia. It deals with a variety of relationships that typically involve mutual interests and sharing.

D.A. Carson stated that

"The heart of true fellowship is a self-sacrificing conformity to a shared vision." - D.A. Carson

Here in Philippians we see this fellowship played out in their partnership in the gospel. What does gospel partnership look like? It has two segments that I want to investigate with you.

1. Gospel partnering friendship

Their friendship was established by Christ.

They were bound together by the Spirit.

Secular friendships are based on commonality.

Gospel friendships are deeper because they go past commonality and have a mechanism for dealing with conflict.

Four barriers to these deep, encouraging, loving, edifying relationships.

1. Sensationalism - Not about the sensational. It’s too non-exciting for many to want to participate.

2. Mysticism - These folks just want time for them and Jesus and basically make the Christian life

3. Idealism - they live in what Bonhoeffer called the “wish dream”

4. Individualism - These folks tend to favor online community. The issue is that the virtual will never match or truly replace the real.

2. Gospel partnering mission

We don’t only need friendships but also people to partner with us in the gospel. We need co-laborers on mission with us.

From Tony Merida:

“In his book The Fellowship of the Ring, J. R. R. Tolkien writes a thrilling story to illustrate this idea of gospel partnership. The fellowship is made up of radical diversity— little, resilient, pipe-smoking hobbits with big, hairy feet from the green Shire; a few warrior men; a wizard; an elf with amazing archery skills; and an out-from-under-the- mountains dwarf with an axe. Together they share a common mission of defeating the forces of darkness and saving Middle-earth. They were willing to die for one another and for the mission.”

We recognize our differences and cultivate relationships with those different than us who are coworkers on the mission of gospel advancement.

- How Do We Grow Gospel Partnerships

PUT THE GOSPEL FIRST

When you are together, talk about Jesus.

Make sure He is the center of it all.

The way this looked with Paul and the Philippians:

Financial aid and personal care

Suffering with and encouraging one another

Praying for one another

I believe that it would be pretty nearly impossible to be doing these things and cultivating that gospel partnership and not grow in your relationship with one another.

IV. The Joy of God Working In Them (v. 6)

The good work He began - to form a people for himself…

God finishes what He starts.

Paul is confident that the Philippian Christians will progress in faith because the Lord God is committed to transforming them. We can be sure that God will complete His work in us. EXPAND ON THIS THOUGHT

God’s work in the hearts of His followers is UNSTOPPABLE.

Merida writes,

“While many apply this verse to individual salvation, we should remember that Paul has been speaking of the koinonia, that is, the work of God to form a people for Himself. It seems best to apply this text to both dimensions, the personal and corporate aspects of God’s saving grace. Both are gloriously true.”

V. The joy in knowing a heart-stretching affection.

Heart-felt (v. 7)

Paul tells them that he holds them in his heart. A scholar I saw quoted said that this text could be translated “because you hold me in your heart”. Both are surely true he notes. The point is that there was a deep heart relationship between the apostle and these people. He delights in them. This isn’t some kind of cheep sentimentalism. If we fast forward into chapter two, Paul says he’s poured out his life for them. They are a model of Christian friendships centered on the gospel. There is a willingness to sacrifice for one another’s benefit.

Appropriate (v. 7)

Let me explain what I mean by this. Paul says it’s right for him to feel this way. This type of love relationship is appropriate for those who share common faith and common work in the Lord. They were partners with him both in the gospel of grace and his defense of the gospel but also in his imprisonment. Paul is speaking of being partners in grace, not just of saving grace but what he has in mind is their common and partnering struggle to make the gospel know through church planting and missions.

Christ’s affection (v. 8)

Paul says he longs for them with the affection of Christ Jesus. As one who is united with Christ, Paul had resolved to share in this love that Jesus has for the people and the this local church. It is good, right, and even Christ-like for us to express appreciation and affection for our partners in the gospel. It’s good, right, and Christ-like for us to receive this affection as well. This kind of affection leads to joy.

Conclusion

Something about shared ministry making you closer. The bond created in serving the Lord together.

CALL TO ACTION

1. You won’t have these heart-stretching affections for people if you are not serving with them and working in partnership to enlarge the kingdom of God through the spread of the gospel.

2. See the good work He started through to it’s completion. Persevere in partnership.

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