Getting into good spiritual shape is quite a demanding. We’ve already talked about prayer, fasting and tithing. And we’re going to look at sacrifice next week. That’s a tough programme. Makes an army assault course look like a walk in the park! Praying, fasting, giving and living sacrificially are things that people do. They are faith exercises, if you like. They are actions that people take. They’re to do with behaviour. But today’s theme (joy) is different isn’t it? I may feel joyful – or I perhaps I may not – but in any case not many would say that joy is something you do. The Oxford English Dictionary defines joy as “A feeling of great pleasure and happiness.” So either I experience pleasurable emotions or I do not. Either I happen to feel full of joy or I just don’t. But I can’t force myself to overflow with heavenly happiness; that would be completely artificial and contrived wouldn’t it?
Nehemiah 8.10 says that the joy of the Lord is our strength. And that joy does not depend on how the weather looks, or what’s on the lunch menu or the ups and downs of life. My joy is in the Lord.
What I mean to say is this: joy is a choice. It’s a life preference. That’s why God says in Psalm 37.4 “Delight yourself in the Lord.” It’s not a suggestion. It’s not advice. It’s an order to be glad in him that God gives to the whole of creation. “Delight yourself in the Lord.”
How can you choose to be joyful without being false? I want you to imagine that you are a small child, just 6 weeks old. You fall ill and your sight weakens. The doctors treating you make terrible elementary mistakes and their lack of care and attention actually make the situation worse. Their making a pig’s ear of some fairly routine treatment, results in you losing your sight irreversibly. This is what happened to a young American girl called Fanny Crosby. She began to understand that other children could see and people broke the news to her that, as she grew up, she would never see the colours of creation or the beauty of the natural world. But she decided to keep a treasure of contentment in her heart. When she was 8 years old she wrote these lines:
Oh what a happy soul I am, although I cannot see;
I am resolved that in this world contented I will be.
How many blessings I enjoy, that other people don't;
To weep and sigh because I'm blind, I cannot, and I won't.
She died in 1915 having written over 8,000 hymns of praise and worship many of which are still sung today. She never allowed herself to grow bitter or resentful. She said one day, “In heaven, where I shall be healed, oh what joy, the first face I shall see will be my Saviour’s.” You see, for the world joy comes and goes with the ups and downs of life. But for anyone who is in Christ joy is something you do - joy is a choice.
This is the theme of our first reading from Philippians. Several times in this short letter Paul erupts with joy as he says, for example, “In all my prayers for all of you I always pray with joy... Because of this I rejoice… Yes, and I will continue to rejoice… I will continue for your progress and joy in the faith… You are my joy and my crown… I rejoice greatly in the Lord…”
No one reading that would be surprised if they were told that the man who wrote these words did so having just won the lottery, reclining by an empty pool, in a luxury hotel, with a glass of champagne, dictating them to a gorgeous secretary.
But no. Having been arrested for a crime he never committed, he finds himself far from home, attached by a chain to a duty officer, remanded in custody, locked up behind bars and awaiting a court hearing.
He says this; “Even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you.” In other words, even though I’m banged up here inside in a total miscarriage of justice – oh my, I am just overflowing with joy and this happiness, this contentment, is in God. Joy is a choice.
Why is it that we have to fight for joy? Why do we find that sometimes our soul is downcast and heavy? It’s because the Christian life is a fight. There are pressures all around that sap dry our joy in Christ - I call them joy smashers - and there are 6 examples of them in this passage of Scripture, Philippians 4.
1) Drifting from God (v1)
Here’s the first; drifting away from God. Look at v1. “Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends!”
A few years ago I read a book about the behaviour of a pride of lions. They are ruthlessly efficient hunting machines. Lionesses (because not surprisingly it’s the females who do all the work while the males lie around doing nothing!) they spend hours on end patiently tracking a herd of antelopes or wildebeest in the hope of singling out a young one, a sick one or a distracted one that gets separated from the others.
The Bible picks this up and tells us that the enemy of our souls, Satan, operates in exactly the same way. 1 Peter 5.8: “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
Now, if you’re young in faith, or if you’re faith is weakened because you have neglected to feed and nourish yourself on the spiritual food that is the word of God, or if you have allowed yourself to become isolated from fellowship and biblical teaching, it won’t take long before Satan has you in his sights. He hates you, he wants to drain your joy in the Lord and destroy you. It says he’s prowling around looking for someone to devour.
Why does drifting away from God lead to less joy? Because fullness of joy is found - where? In the presence of the Lord. Psalm 16.11 says, “You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” So the more time you spend resting and renewing in the presence of God, before him in the intimacy of heartfelt praise – the more your joy will renew its strength. That’s a spiritual law. Drawing close to God in worship is part of our essential survival kit as disciples of Christ.
2) Resentment (v2-3)
Second joy smasher: resentment. Verse 2: “I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord…” Here are two women in the church at Philippi who, by all appearances, have crossed each other off their Christmas card lists. I wonder what they were upset about? What might have been the nature of their little dispute? Was it the colour of the flowers or the choice of worship songs or something more substantial? Nobody knows, it doesn’t say. But let me ask you this; do you honestly think these two women were in top form, smiling broadly and generally full of joy all the time that their conflict was simmering away unresolved? Of course not. I picture these two with their arms folded defensively, frowning unhappily and touchy about the smallest thing. Tensions and misunderstandings between brothers and sisters are such a drain on joy.
If it so happens today that you have an unresolved conflict with someone I bet my last penny that you aren’t dancing with abandoned delight before the Lord in your heart this morning. I’ve learned this lesson over the years; when God says “Delight yourself in the Lord” we sometimes need to sort out a soured relationship before we can do that with all our heart.
3) Anxieties (v4-7)
On to joy smasher number 3. The worries, anxieties, troubles and concerns of life that fatigue us.
Some of us might be wrestling at this very minute with fears about debt or family worries, or nagging thoughts about health… there could be any number of anxieties in our fellowship this morning connected with work or with matters of the heart… or whatever. Read v4-7 with me.
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything…” And then God says how he wants us to live with apprehension: “In every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Here is a simple three-point strategy for battling anxiety. Firstly, expose your needs - Paul says, “present your requests” - to God. That sounds like this: “Lord, I’m fearful about my children’s future, I’m apprehensive about my appointment with the doctor and I am just dreading when the heating bill comes.” You just pour it all out before God item by item.
Secondly, prayer and petition. Sometimes people say that prayer shouldn’t just be a list but if you’ve got a long list of worries, what better thing can you do than list it all before God? And it says in v6 “petitions.” What is a petition if it isn’t a long list of names and addresses? So in prayer and petition you say, “Lord, please increase my faith, will you break through and change these particular situations, by your power and grace may difficulties become opportunities; Father please glorify Jesus in my life.”
Thirdly, don’t forget to say thank you. Verse 6 mentions “thanksgiving” because it’s important. “Thank you Lord because I know you are faithful, you won’t let me down, I can trust you to deliver and thank you in advance for the blessing of answered prayer.”
4) Unwholesome Thinking (v8)
The fourth joy smasher is kind of implicit in what Paul writes here; it’s unwholesome or negative thinking. Verse 8 says, “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things.”
Just think about what the opposite of that verse would sound like. “Whatever is false, whatever is gross, whatever is just wrong, whatever is dirty, whatever is ugly, whatever is despicable - if anything is dire or misguided - spend your day thinking about that.”
That will sap your joy big time. Such unwholesome thoughts stain the mind, that’s obvious, but if they aren’t dealt with it gets worse; they pollute and infect the heart.
And I want to say that it’s not exposure to violent or obscene images or nurturing hatred and revenge that this verse has in mind. You can see easily how those things would poison the soul. But I think it’s much more subtle. It’s things like jealousy and comparisons; “She looks like a car crash in that dress.” “How come that loser has a bigger house than me?”
Unwholesome thinking takes away our joy in the Lord. And that’s why God wants to renew our minds.
5) Abstract Religion
Joy smasher number 5: this may surprise some but abstract religion that is just cerebral and academic turns the soul miserable. Look at v9 with me. “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me - put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”
Question: how can I ensure that the God who gives peace will be with me? The answer, according to v9 is: By putting my faith into practice. Loving people, reaching out to the lonely, supporting the people no one else notices, welcoming strangers, opening my home, visiting the sick, forgiving people who have hurt me…
There is a version of the Christian life that is purely intellectual and dry. I don’t mean to say that we should hold theology or Bible study in contempt, on the contrary. No, I am talking about unattractive, dreary and boring churchliness that bears no resemblance to anything Jesus ever said or did, and is completely absent from the Gospels except in the sanctimonious snootiness of the Pharisees. God save us from it! Oh God, give my generation a chance to see a church that talks like Jesus and loves like Jesus!
6) Worldliness (v11-13)
Finally, we arrive at joy smasher number 6 and it’s worldliness. If you really want to look miserable it’s simple; just cling for dear life to everything you own. It’s lethal for your joy in the Lord.
I used to have a grumpy neighbour when I was growing up who would go absolutely mad if any of his kids touched his gleaming car in the driveway. They almost needed his permission to breathe within 20 yards of it! He was the most cheerless man I have ever met.
What does Paul say in v11-13? Why is this man so elated? How is it that he can be jumping for joy as he rots away in jail, accused of a crime for which he is completely blameless? What does he say?
“I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”
I am not sure if I will ever get to having the attitude that John Wesley had about material things. There’s a story about Wesley’s house catching on fire and burning down. So someone went up to tell him about it and Wesley responded by shrugging his shoulders and saying, “God’s house burned down… one less thing to worry about.”
How many millionaires do you know or see on TV who never seem to be worried about anything? I can’t think of many… One of the secrets of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want, is to delight in the Lord.
Ending
Hebrews 1.9 says about Jesus, “God has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.” Jesus was anointed with joy. He was heavy armed against all the joy smashers that we have listed this morning. Because he never drifted from his heavenly Father. Because he was never resentful or bitter. Because he was never racked by anxieties and worries. Because he never got into cycles of unwholesome thinking. Because his spirituality was always practical and down to earth, never sterile or sanctimonious. And because he was never attached to any of material thing.
That is how to live in the joy of the Lord – which is our strength and our song.
So let’s pray...
Preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 14th March 2010
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