I Choose Joy - Understanding the Power of Expectations, Part 2

Did you know that God has two amazing gifts for you?

I mean, gifts that we rarely think about or even consider as gifts. But when you think and hear and ponder and digest these two gifts, it absolutely changes your perspective and gives you the power to live with joy, even in the midst of great adversity. Stay with me. Thanks for joining us for this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Chip's our Bible teacher for this international teaching and discipleship ministry focused on helping Christians live like Christians.

Today we'll wrap up our series, I Choose Joy. For the past several programs, we've been exploring God's desire for us to experience authentic joy even through the most demanding and frustrating times of life. We hope you've been encouraged by this study in Philippians chapter 1. And to help others find refreshment and strength from it, take a minute after this message and share it, either through the Chip Ingram app or by downloading the free MP3s that you'll find at livingontheedge.org. Okay, here's Chip with the remainder of his talk, Understanding the Power of Expectations. He picks up on the last phrase of Philippians chapter 1 verse 27.

Let's dive in. Waiting for the faith, it's about our beliefs. It's about standing up for what we believe. It's battling but winsomely, lovingly.

You know, not angry. But it's saying that there's certain things that are true. I was praying this morning and I was thinking about this and I thought of, I get to do in one of the most progressive areas in all the United States with a group of people that are willing to take a stand and do it lovingly and then not only pair the truth but pair the truth with acts of love and compassion and kindness. Let me just tell you something. We did something on culture shock that I actually taught here and we talked about life, abortion, human sexuality, politics. What does the Bible actually say?

And how do we stop bringing heat but bring light? And then you all gave me the opportunity to go around the country and take multiple pastors and churches to say, we're going to contend for the faith. Those are very unpopular things but shared lovingly, life matters. God's not confused about men. He's not confused about women.

He's not confused about marriage. And when we violate and when the culture pushes us where we shrink back, the consequences and the pain. I can't tell you how many people I've counseled out of the lifestyle, in the lifestyle that are suicidal and hurting and difficult.

And there's all this stuff out there that says our rights and stuff like that and I meet the people in the pain and the struggle. I had a guy just recently, just a month or so ago and he waited until quite a while at Saturday night service and said, am I welcome here? I said, what do you mean?

Of course you're welcome here. He goes, well, I'm gay. I said, is that a behavior or an identity?

And he looked at me like, what do you mean? I said, we have people that have temptations for affairs, pornography, lying, stealing. This is a church filled with people that have all kind of issues. Gay is not your identity.

There's absolutely zero proof scientific evidence that you're born this way. You have some sexual confusion and you're attracted to the same sex. We have people in our church that are highly attracted to the opposite sex and have lots of problems. So you are as welcome as all the other liars, affairs, fornicators and cheaters that go to our church. But we're on a journey together. God will speak to you.

He'll change your thinking and your life from the inside out and you'll make progress and you'll probably mess up some just like everyone else here. But to say that in many places around the country, you get fired or picketed. Everyone believes certain things and are staking your life on it. And the more politically correct things are happening and the pressure comes, here's the last thing. Not only is our behavior, not only is our beliefs, but we've got to be bold. What's the last word? Don't give up.

Second, don't give in. Churches all across America, Bible churches all across America, whole denominations are giving in and changing their doctrine. Well, you know, it's pretty unpopular to believe what Jesus actually said, so we're just going to change it on the most controversial issues of our day.

But we're not going to give up, we're not going to give in and we're not going to shrink back. This is about being bold. Here's a question I would ask all of you. Does everyone in a positive, winsome way know that you're a follower of Christ? Do they know it? Are you bold? I don't mean wearing it on your sleeve, you know, please don't put a praise the Lord sticker on the back of your car. It's not enough to say this is the truth, it's got to be the truth captured in love and demonstrated. Here's my question.

How are you doing? This is this is normal Christianity. God expects us to not give up, not give in, not shrink back.

You got it? At this point, you should be saying maybe. No, that's what your body language tells me. Intellectually, I would say 98% of all the people in this room say, you know, I don't have a whole lot.

You know, chips a little hyper, but that's chip. I don't have a whole lot, but I would disagree with what he just said. But when he started playing it out of what it would look like in my life, I'm not so sure that I have a consistent conduct. I'm not so sure that I'm not more worried about being a citizen of the United States that is more comfortable and more happy and doesn't create waves than I am a kingdom citizen of God, that when I get and realize that this little thing that we called time is running out and I was made for this big thing called eternity. And when you live that kind of life, yeah, you'll probably have a little more pressure, little bit more suffering and a lot more joy and a lot more love and a lot more impact. And God will use you as a catalyst to transform your neighborhood, your coffee shop, your workplace, your sport team that you coach. And boldly, yes, I'm a follower of Christ.

We love people. Yes, we believe certain things that are unpopular in this day. Would you be willing to say, Lord, would you speak to me about is my belief and my behavior telling the same story and not sort of like I'm a terrible person at all, but just where the Lord would show you. And it might be your behavior. It might be your belief.

You're thinking I need to check that out. Or maybe it's your boldness. And ask God to make you an agent of life and change, because the world is anyone concerned about what's going on other than me? I mean, there's there's a missile could be coming our way. There's division in this country. There's hatred like never before. And here's the deal. You are either a part of the solution or a part of the problem. There is no middle ground. Hiding in our cul-de-sacs, hoping that it won't affect us.

And we just want to unconsciously be upwardly mobile and everything work out for us and our family in our little world is not an option. It's just an illusion. Second, what can we expect from God? He says, for it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him since you're going through the same struggle you saw I had and now here that I still have. Interestingly, again, you can circle the word granted to you.

It's pretty easy. It's in bold. It's literally it means God has given you a privilege. You know the word grace or some of you have named your daughters, you know, caress. That's the word grace.

That's the root word. God has given you a precious grace gift and there's a privilege into it and there's a responsibility to it. And Paul's playing with these Philippians and reminding them, hey, citizen, right?

Privilege, responsibility. Now, here's the grace gift God's given you. Privilege to believe.

You can receive eternal life. He's changed your life. He's taken you out of the kingdom of darkness, placed you in the kingdom of light, sealed you with the spirit, given you spiritual gifts, given you a purpose, given you a family of God, created a place for ever and ever looking forward and he's going to transform your life and make you more and more like Jesus so the world can see how much God loves them. It's an amazing grace gift to believe.

So why don't you put a little box around believe? But he says there's another gift. You've been given the gift to get to suffer. How many of you honestly, don't raise your hands because there wouldn't many go, how many of you ever thought suffering is a gift from God? That's foreign to American Christians. Suffering is a gift from God?

Yes. He said he's given you a gift of suffering and you're going through this same struggle, this conflict, this persecution. Some of it is from within and some of it is from without. Paul is going to leave Timothy at Ephesus, young pastor. 2 Timothy 3 12.

Timothy, all those who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. It's a promise. What's Paul doing?

Setting expectations. You know, here's a young guy. I followed Jesus. I'm now a young pastor. What I'm going to do? I've sacrificed everything. It's going to be great, right? Well, you really live for God, you'll be persecuted.

Or how about Jesus? How did he set expectations the very last night? What did he say? Just think positive guys. Just think positive. It's all going to be super duper. I'm going to heaven. I'll be back. We're going to mojo a little bit later together.

What did he say? In the world you'll have tribulation. You'll have troubles. But be of good cheer.

I've overcome the world. In fact, I just read this morning and I thought in light of the current events, it was the very last time Jesus was hanging out with his disciples and he basically gave his sermon to the Pharisees and pretty unpopular white wash tombs, snakes, vipers. I think I underlined the word hypocrite seven or eight times. I mean I'm a follower of Jesus and he just alienated the entire establishment and all the power.

Jesus was perhaps the most politically incorrect person who's ever walked the face of the earth. And in the midst of that, you're following him thinking, whoa. And he's been talking about leaving, dying, raising from the dead and they don't figure out what he's saying.

And then he makes this crazy statement like, you see that temple? Destroy it. I'll rebuild it. I'm coming back. And the disciples took him aside privately and said, when will all this take place and will there be a sign ahead of time to signal your return in the end of the world?

Now just, just listen to this. Don't let anyone mislead you. For many will come in my name saying I'm the Messiah. They'll lead many astray. Wars will break out near and far, but don't panic. Yes, things must come, but the end won't follow immediately. Nations and kingdoms will proclaim war against each other. There'll be famines, earthquakes in many parts of the world, but all this will only be the beginning or the birth pangs of the horrors to come. Then you'll be arrested and persecuted and killed.

How's this for preparing the team for the next game? You're going to be arrested, persecuted and killed. You know what's interesting? They were, but they didn't give up. They didn't give in and they didn't shrink back.

Why? Because they knew it was true. They experienced God's power.

They leaned into the suffering. He said, many though will turn away from me and betray me and hate each other. Many false prophets will appear and they'll lead many people astray. Sin will be rampant everywhere and the love of many will grow cold.

Sound familiar? But those who endure to the end will be saved and the good news about the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world so that all the nations will hear it and then finally the end will come. Now I'm in no way, I think Jesus is coming back tomorrow. The end's coming. The sky's falling. But what would have to be happening in the world to tell us that it's close? Maybe more hurricanes, bigger earthquakes, more wars.

See, I think it's really interesting that we unconsciously think that some things that have happened in the past, they're going to happen probably someday some way but probably not in my lifetime. Really Jesus goes on to say it will be the same as in the day of Noah where people were doing business, having parties, marrying, going about their life and all I want to say is it seems like the birth pangs are more intense now and we should have an urgency at a level that we haven't had and we shouldn't be afraid about our job, we shouldn't be afraid about our money, we shouldn't be afraid about our reputation, we shouldn't be afraid we should be bold because here's the deal, at some point in time there's going to be things that are true and things that are untrue and the one thing Jesus said is there is no gray. Anyone who's ashamed of me, I will be ashamed of them when I come with the angels with my Father. Paul said I'm not ashamed of the Gospel.

You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. We'll get back to today's message in just a minute. But quickly, if your small group, Sunday school class or home church is looking for something new to study, stick around after the teaching to learn about a new resource we have that's pulled straight from this series in Philippians chapter one.

You won't want to miss it. Well, here again is Chip to continue our program. Now the question is, are we willing to take that stand? Before we wrap it up, I have talked about suffering and Peter, in 1 Peter 2, 20 and 21, you might jot that down, that's one you might actually want to memorize because when Peter writes, Nero is, I mean, burning Christians and throwing them into the lions and Peter's writing to the church and he says, if you suffer for doing what's wrong, for being a crook, for doing evil things, what credit is that? But then he says, but if you suffer for doing what is right, being righteous, walking with God, making a difference, this finds favor with God.

Are you ready for this? For you have been called to this purpose, to suffer, for Christ left you an example to follow. See, if we're trying to avoid suffering all the time, you will never become the man or a woman God designed you to be.

You will never have the relationships and you'll never have the impact. Jesus suffered, the apostles suffered. Now, here's the thing, don't automatically think every time you're suffering that's because you're such a wonderful, committed, amazing follower of Jesus. Pretend we're on a highway together on this message and I just parked the car and I say, there's a cul-de-sac, we're gonna go over here just for a second, okay? Are you ready for a quick cul-de-sac?

Here's the cul-de-sac. When you read scripture, there's at least six, there may be more, but I know six specific reasons why we suffer. I'm not gonna go through all these in detail, but here's what I want you to do, maybe put a little box and then write this question. When you're going through a difficult time, ask God, why am I suffering? Why is this marriage like this? Why is this health like this? Why is this situation at work like this?

Why am I having this problem with my son or daughter like this? Why am I so depressed right now, okay? Just ask God. And what I'm gonna say is, biblically, there's at least six possible reasons why you're suffering. And I've given you the passages so that you can do your own Bible study, but the first one is my sin. When I am angry, when I say things I shouldn't, when I do things that are wrong, when I'm rude to people, when I'm mean to one of my kids, when I lie or when I steal, and by the way, I've done all those things, there's consequences, right? Galatians 6, 7 and 8 says, sowing and reaping.

You sow things and you reap them. So sometimes I'm suffering because I was either stupid or evil. And we all do stupid things and we all do evil things. Second is other sin. 49.1, in Psalms, David says, a friend betrayed me. Drunk driver goes left of center, hits a car, someone you love. God didn't make him do it.

He got drunk. God didn't create robots. Sometimes we suffer because of other people's sins. Third is spiritual attack. You know, you get in God's word on a regular basis, you decide to be more bold, I'll just warn you, stuff will start happening.

Job was the most righteous man. He didn't know what was going on. Ephesians 6 will describe what spiritual attack looks like and how to defend yourself. Fourth, it's a fallen world. People came to Jesus and said, the tower in Siloam, it fell and these people died.

Hey, what's going on? And Jesus said, do you think that those who died are more sinful or unrighteous than others? I say no. In other words, concrete cracks, wood rots. In a fallen world, there's just certain things, it's a mystery.

We can expect negative, difficult weather. It's not designed the way God wanted it. It's a fallen world. Fourth is spiritual discipline. God loves you so much. There are times that the velvet vice, Hebrews 12, he disciplines every son, he disciplines every daughter and he'll get your attention in the way that makes sense to you. Some of us apparently, it must be our health. I don't know anybody particular.

ACL, back, ankle rebuilt, I could go on. Some, it's a relationship. But sometimes we're asking God, take it away, take it away, take it away. He's saying, look, I'm trying to get your attention because I love you like we get our kids' attention so that you can look upward and we can address this issue, this arrogant issue, this pride issue, this lust issue.

We all have those things, don't we? And you have a father who wants to help you. And then finally, spiritual development. There's times where Paul is living the life like never before, making a huge difference and what happens? He gets this physical ailment that keeps him dependent so people could see the power isn't Paul but it's God.

And he says, I've learned to be content. I want to give you a summary about suffering and then I want us to pray. Suffering is God's gift to accomplish his ultimate good in a fallen world.

Is that crazy? Suffering is God's gift. When I suffer, it draws me near.

When I suffer, I look up. When I suffer, I have compassion for other people. When I suffer, life's not all about me. When I suffer, I'm not so judgmental. When I suffer, I'm following in the footsteps of Jesus who suffered so you could live and I could live. Connie Erickson-Tada, quoting her coach, said, God permits what he hates to accomplish what he loves.

What a truth. Lord, you know the suffering in this room and you know the reasons. Lord, you know the world situation and the desperate, desperate need for regular, ordinary people like us to stand firm and to contend and to not shrink back. And yet we tell you that, God, we can't do that and we're afraid and we struggle. But, Lord, you have told us that Christ in us is the hope of glory and that we can do all things through Jesus who gives us strength. I have a little moment with your Heavenly Father and ask him, Lord, help me see myself right now the way you do. Help me grasp how much you love me. Help me to be a person who stands firm, doesn't give up, doesn't give in, doesn't shrink back. Help me lean into my suffering and discover some of the whys. Change me and then use me to change others.

You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. And the message you just heard, Understanding the Power of Expectations, is from our series, I Choose Joy. Chip will join us in studio to share some insights from today's talk in just a minute. Let me ask you, how do people know you're a Christian?

What sets you apart that causes others to think, what's different about them? Well, through our study in Philippians Chapter 1, Chip revealed the supernatural work of joy in our lives and why it draws so much attention from the world. We pray you learned why joy is the foundation of our purposes, expectations, focus, and hope. Let me encourage you to go back and revisit any part of this series at livingontheedge.org or through the Chip Ingram app. Well, our Bible teacher, Chip Ingram, is here in studio with me now with a quick word.

Chip? Thanks Dave. Before we move on, let me share something with you that might really surprise you.

I know it did me. Are you aware that 40% of evangelicals are no longer attending a local expression of the church? Since the online church became a big fad during COVID, many people are changing how they do church. And those who host these small house churches, they need resources. And that's why we produced a resource that will help these small communities, and it's what I call I Choose Joy Home Church Edition. This is a perfect way for those not yet connected to a local church to still meet with believers, worship together, and grow spiritually. I provide the teaching from Philippians 1, identifying four keys to experiencing joy no matter the circumstances. The resource includes four 40-minute video sermons from me on Philippians 1, materials for leaders to prepare and guide their groups, and discussion questions to help you and your group dive deeper into this study. So if you're leading a home church or you're looking for a resource to incorporate into your Sunday mornings, check out our I Choose Joy Home Church Edition. To get this incredible new tool, go to livingontheedge.org or call us at 888-333-6003. We pray however you are meeting with other believers, you'll discover the indescribable joy that only comes from knowing Jesus. For complete details about our new resource, I Choose Joy Home Church Edition, visit livingontheedge.org or call 888-333-6003.

Have listeners tap special offers. With that, here again is Chip. As we close today's program and wrap up this entire series, we're ending on a note that's a bit unusual. I talked about two gifts, and of course the first gift is the gift that we can believe. But I don't think most of us think of suffering as a gift. And I did a little Bible study for you because I think it's important, because I think one, we don't see suffering as a gift, and yet also there are different causes for suffering. And the last thing I want to do is you're suffering because someone did a horrendously bad thing to you and you think, oh, are you saying that people doing bad things is a gift from God?

No, no, no, no, no. But I love what Joni Eareckson-Tada writes when she says, God permits what he hates to accomplish what he loves. And here's what I'd like you to do. I want you to lean back right now and I want to give you the six reasons that suffering happens in a believer's life. And the first is that we sin. I do things that are wrong and I suffer. And the response is to confess and tell God I'm sorry.

He forgives me. The second is other people sin against me. And in a fallen world, that's going to happen. That's not God's will.

That's not what he wants, but it happens. But God will use it for good. Third is spiritual attack.

There's times where I'm suffering because I'm in the midst of a real spiritual battle and so I need discernment to know what's going on and why am I suffering because I want to respond with the armor of God. Fourth is in a fallen world, there are just certain things that happen. We talked about Luke 17 and this tower that fell. Wood rots, bridges rust. It's a fallen world.

It doesn't mean anyone did anything bad or wrong. Fifth is spiritual discipline. There are times that you are so loved by God that he kind of brings that velvet vice of circumstance to get your attention, to realign your life and your heart so we can give you the best. And then finally, it's just spiritual development. There are certain aspects of becoming like Jesus that you just can't ever experience or develop apart from suffering.

And so let me encourage you, this might be one where you want to go to the website, download the notes. I've put all that information there so that you could look at something visually and when you're suffering or when someone who is hurting that you care about is suffering, you can kind of walk through these reasons and begin to ask the Holy Spirit, Lord, I need to respond to suffering in different ways, but I need to discern why I'm suffering. God loves you.

He's for you. It is a gift to suffer for doing what is right. Let's make sure that's why we're suffering, but we need insight from the Lord to know how to lean into the kind of suffering he allows in our life. Father, I pray and I ask it in the name of the Lord Jesus that those listening to my voice at this very moment that are going through difficult times that you by your spirit will give them discernment about the cause of their suffering and their response in order that they might meet you, become more and more like your son and experience your joy, even in the midst of pain. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.

Great word to wrap up this series, Chip, thanks. Well, real quick before we go, Living on the Edge depends on listeners like you to help us continue encouraging Christians to live like Christians. So would you consider becoming a partner to help others benefit from the work of this ministry? You can set up a monthly donation at livingontheedge.org or by calling us at 888-333-6003. Again, that's 888-333-6003 or visit livingontheedge.org. Have listeners tap donate. Thanks for doing whatever the Lord leads you to do. Well, from all of us here, I'm Dave Drouie thanking you for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge and I hope you'll join us next time.