Did you know that your joy and your happiness is largely connected to one very specific word? It's called expectations. What you expect, whether they're met or not, can make all the difference in the world. Let's discover what God says about our expectations.
Don't go away. The mission of these daily programs is to intentionally disciple Christians through the Bible teaching of Chip Ingram. While we're nearing the end of our series, I Choose Joy, and for these last two programs, Chip will reveal the key to enduring our most challenging circumstances and actually experience genuine joy through them.
Sound too good to be true? Well, let's learn how, as we listen to his message, Understanding the Power of Expectations. Go in your Bible to Philippians chapter 1, beginning in verse 27. If you haven't lived very long, you may not know this, and if you've lived very long at all, you do. Life is hard. You know, life is hard. For some of you, you've been through some really, really hard things, and they can be hard relationally, family-wise, emotionally, financially, health-wise. And here's the thing, not to discourage you, but it's going to be hard. Your future, it's going to be hard. But what I don't want you to think is that choosing joy is about willpower.
If I just have stronger willpower, that's not how it works. What we've learned in this series is that you can choose joy when something happens, when you get these windows of perspective, when you begin to see life not through the human lens but from the divine lens. If you look on the front of your notes by way of quick review, when you're going through a difficult time in a relationship or finances or your health, one of your kids, or you're sick of being single or sick of being married, you know, you can turn inward, and it gets from bad to worse. If you'll pause and say, wait a second, where's my focus right now? Is my focus upward on God and outward on others or on me? You get perspective. If you can say, hold on, what's my purpose?
Is my purpose just that comfort and happiness and everything works out for me, which it never does? How could God leverage this challenge to help people understand who Christ is? How could he leverage this to change me?
How could he leverage this to build up some other Christians? And then you ask yourself, so where's my hope? Is my hope in this job?
Is it in this family? Is it in this person I'm going to marry someday? Is it that, you know, finally I'm going to get healthy again? Or is my hope in eternity?
Is it I have an anchor that won't change? When you begin to ask those questions, you get perspective, and God never promised that he would eliminate the problems. What he promised is that he would be with you, that he would supply grace, that he would help you, that he would produce things both in you and through you, that there's no explanation for other than the reality that Jesus is who he said he was. The last question and the last key word that we're going to look at is the word expectation. And this for me is one of the most important ones. I have a good, really, really good friend. They're family. They've been at all of my kids' weddings.
They were sort of like the grandparents or aunts and uncles my kids didn't have because we live so far away. And it's a couple, she found out she has pre-cancer and some cancer, and she had surgery Wednesday, and I went to see her a couple days ago. Walked in, Bebe, how you doing? She's bright and bubbly and great.
Didn't you just have colon cancer surgery? She goes, yeah. And I said, well, I mean, I'm thinking, I'm glad you're doing so well, but how are you doing so well? I mean, this joyful look. She goes, wow. You know, when they, before they did the surgery, they said, we're likely going to have to take about 12 inches out of your colon.
They took four. And then if it doesn't fit quite together, there's a chance that you might have one of those bags on the side for a while, and then we'll come back and do another surgery. I don't have any bags. And not only that, but you'll be in here at least six days in the hospital, and that was Wednesday. She goes, I'm going home tomorrow.
Now, just listen very carefully. Her expectations were a foot out of her colon, six days in the hospital, and the potential of wearing a bag on her side and another surgery. Her experience is only four inches.
I get to go home in a couple days. Contrast that with someone else who walks in. They do an examination. They say, oh, some possible cancer.
We're going to put you to sleep. The colonoscopy didn't show what we needed to show. We're going to take a long needle, stick it in there. We might have to do a short exploratory surgery. It doesn't look bad at all.
We think it's benign. I've seen this a lot of times. You'll only be under for less than an hour. It's not a big deal, and you wake up several hours later, and they say, we took four inches out of your colon.
You're going to be in the hospital for four days. What's the difference? Oh, my gosh. Your life and perspective and mine is geared around expectations. I had a young couple come to me, and they'd been married about two or three years, and they were committed to the Lord. They were involved in ministry. We both waited.
I said, what do you mean? We did not have sex before we got married. We did it God's way, and we thought it would be great, and we'd have great sex in our marriage.
It's terrible! Expectation. I remember playing golf with a guy a couple years ago, driving around in a cart in Indiana. Really nice guy. Had done really well. Didn't start his family until late. Had a couple small kids, and his wife had this burden for international kids. They adopted three kids from China. I mean, you know, money, time, energy, all that they've done. How could you do something better and more loving than adopting kids from China? And they just thought, you know, God's blessing, his favor.
Well, you know what? His blessing and his favor was there, but all three kids have been in counseling. They've been in counseling.
The medical bills have been off the charts. They've had two or three special surgeries, and he sat across from me, and he goes, I didn't know if our marriage was going to make it. I didn't know if I was going to make it. And then he said this, I don't know if I would have done it if I would have known how hard it is, but my expectations were so out of whack. It's taken about four or five years to realize it's really, really hard, and then he smiled, and it's really, really worth it.
Here's the question. Where's your expectations? What do you expect from God? What do you unconsciously think, especially if you listen to some of the current teaching? If you love Jesus, your marriage will be great. If you're single, this person is going to walk into your life. If you love Jesus and especially send some money to their ministry and just think positive thoughts, everything's going to be great. Your kids are going to turn out right.
Everything's wonderful. Do you know why so many Christians are disillusioned? Because here's the principle. The distance between your expectations and your experience is disappointment, and if you have unrealistic delusional expectations, you get devastated.
Open your notes. Let's learn from the Apostle Paul very specifically. What can we expect from God, and what does God expect of us? He's in prison. He's chained to these Praetorian guards. He's wondering whether I'm going to be executed or whether I'm going to be released. His circumstances are terrible, but he has an upward focus and an outward focus.
He's asking the question, what's my purpose? And now he doesn't know whether he's going to get to see this Philippian church that he loves deeply or whether he's going to die, and he's gotten some reports from one of their members of Paphroditus, and there's some disunity in the church, and there's also a culture in Rome and a culture in Philippi that is, I mean, anti, anti, anti-Christian. It's described as these are the people that have turned the world upside down, and in Acts it describes them as everywhere people speak of this sect negatively.
If you feel like the world's getting a little harder for Christians in the United States, if you feel like there's some persecution happening, if you think that you're labeled, they've got this on steroids. And so in his final thoughts about choosing joy in chapter one, he wants to set clear expectations. He wants them to understand, look, this is what God expects of you in terms of your behavior, in terms of your beliefs, and in terms of your boldness. He wants them to say, but I want you to also know this is what you can expect from God, because if you don't get clear, accurate biblical expectations, you can actually have a pretty good life and be miserable, because you think it ought to be a perfect life. This is one of my deepest times of marital struggle, and after lots of counseling and I had such skewed expectations the first few years, I remember reading a line by Francis Schaeffer in one of his books, and he just said in passing, you know, a lot of people give up on a good marriage because it's not a perfect marriage.
And I was one of those people that privately inside was, it wasn't perfect, it wasn't what I thought, every area wasn't. And so I want you to begin to ask yourself, what's the issue that you're struggling with or the person? And then I want you to listen carefully because God's going to tell you, this is what he expects of you. And by the way, when you give to God what he expects of you, there's this domino effect where he begins to provide for you what you need. And he changes what happens on the inside.
So with that, we pick it up. Paul says, this is my final lesson. What does God expect? He expects consistent conduct. Verse 27, whatever happens, he's finalizing literally at all costs, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Circle the little word manner worthy. Interesting New Testament word. The Philippians would immediately recognize where he's going.
He's kind of taking part of their personal experience and he's going to give them this little parallel. Philippi was a Roman colony. Now, it's not all that close to Rome, but there was a war earlier and between some generals and Caesar and the little town of Philippi decided we're going to go with Caesar and Caesar won. And so Rome made them an official colony and to have citizenship was like, whoa, I mean, there were privileges, the Roman army, the Roman all the aqueducts, everything that that came with being a Roman citizen.
Philippi really felt like, wow. But there was also responsibility of being a Roman citizen. You pay taxes to Caesar. There are certain laws that you kept.
There's a certain way that you would be aligned. And so this word really what he's saying is, here's what God expects at all costs, literally. Live like a citizen of the kingdom of God.
He said, you're getting pressured. There's persecution. He's going to tell us in just a minute, you're experiencing the same conflict, the same persecution, the same difficulties both within and without that I am.
So you got to do. You need to be one of those Christians that actually lives like a Christian. I don't know where I heard that before. But after traveling around probably six, seven years ago and after kind of traveling around America and teaching a lot of churches and being with pastors and, and then I had a suspicion. And I remember picking this book up by John Dickerson and he started to talk about that the numbers of genuine Christians in America is highly inflated.
They're more hated. The church in general is going bankrupt next 15 or 20 years at the current rate of of giving and commitment. The morality in the church just he goes through and basically does a diagnostic evaluation of born again, evangelical people who actually believe the Bible following Jesus and says they're on life support. The church in America is descending and this sparked sparked a movement among pastors. And the answer, he said, is discipleship. And that's really how God connected our hearts. What the Apostle Paul is saying back then was the problem with the Philippians is you're in danger of being Christians that don't live like Christians.
Your behavior, your morality, your finances, your priorities, your family. You say you love Jesus, but your beliefs and your behavior is telling two different stories. And I don't know, when I grew up, when your belief said this and your behavior said this, we called it hypocrisy. And what God wants is, you know, we're never going to be 100 percent aligned. But what he wants is integration. He wants alignment, not perfection. The alignment between what I say and how I live. The alignment where my words, my life, my energy and my money align with what I say I believe. And when they don't.
It's not that I'm all terrible person. I ask God to forgive me and I'm honest and vulnerable about I'm still on the journey. And what Paul is saying is this is what God expects. And then the very next line, you can imagine them thinking, well, how would you ever know for sure whether you're a Christian who's living like a Christian, whether you really are kind of a kingdom citizen living consistently.
You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Before we hear the rest of Chip's message, let me remind you that we are a listener supported ministry. Your financial gifts help us create programs like this one, develop new resources and encourage pastors globally. Prayerfully consider supporting us today. Then go to livingontheedge.org to give a gift.
Thanks so much for your help. Well, here again is Chip. Well, in the very next verses, he explains, he says, What does it look like?
This consistent conduct. Then when either I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I'll know that you stand firm in one spirit contending as one man for the faith of the gospel without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. And this will be a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved and that by God. In essence, he says, OK, now, if I die, I'm not going to get to see you again.
If I live and I'm released, I'm going to come see you again. But whether I see you again or don't see you again, let me give you three specific ways that God measures whether you're living a consistent life, a life that's aligned with his purposes and his will. Now, I'd like you to circle three words, and I tried to make it as easy as possible.
You notice they're in bold, right? OK, I want you to circle. He says the first thing is that you're standing firm and then underline in one spirit. And I'll explain it in just a minute. You're standing firm in a culture that it's against you. But notice you're doing it in unity in one spirit. You're together on this second circle, the word contending as one man.
Literally, it's one soul. You're in this together, but you're contending for the faith. Put a box around the word faith. This isn't private faith. He says you're contending, you're striving, you're in mortal combat.
The word was used for gladiators going arm in arm and fighting against other people. You are contending for the truth, the doctrine, the reality that Jesus is God, that the second person of the Trinity became a man, that he rose from the dead. These narrow, absolute crazy claims based on his resurrection, his teaching, that he said the word of God is true, that the Old Testament is true, that what I have shared with you, Paul is saying, what was written in the prophets, the law and the Psalms, and then predicting what the New Testament writers, he's saying I want you to contend, to battle for the faith. And then third, he says don't be frightened. Do it without being frightened.
The word here was a word used for a noise or something that would spook horses and they would stampede. He says don't let persecution, don't let what your boss thinks, don't let what's politically correct, don't want what everyone says, don't let labels that people are giving you in the 21st century, don't let it frighten you to where you shrink back and become sort of the secret agent Christian. He said eternity is on the line.
People's lives, people's souls, people don't have to believe the right thing, but the consequences and the pain of what happens when people turn away from God are devastating. And so he says those are the three ways that you'll know that you're standing firm, that you're living the life, that you have a consistent conduct, and then he says when you do that it'll be a sign, literally it's a token, it'll be a proof. And after I explain these I'll tell you why it's a sign and how it demonstrates the future of those who oppose you and how it also demonstrates your future because of your commitment and boldness.
Let's go through these three words. It says stand firm, literally don't give up. Don't give up. Anybody here ever get discouraged and feel like, I mean I don't have any biblical grounds, but the world says you shouldn't be this unhappy in this marriage this long. I think I'll give up. All the other salespeople are padding their reports, I'm going to give up. You know, I know I should take a stand here in the hospital about this issue about life, but I might lose my job and I'm afraid, I think I'll give up. I know what the Bible says about sexual purity and all the stuff that's happening in the world, but you know, psychology has come a long way and I can't imagine that Jesus would really expect us to have sexual purity and not live together. I mean, how bad can it be?
I look at a few pictures now and maybe more then and you know, everybody does it. I know my finances really reflect my heart, but you know, there's a lot of pressure and there's financial demands and life is really hard and I mean, God certainly can't expect me to give back. I mean, the very first and best, I mean 10%, I can't even live on what I'm going now.
So what we have is a church that is in danger of shrinking back and giving up on what they believe, both corporately and giving up individually. You got to hang tough in tough times. It's in the difficulty, it's in the pain. You have to lean in when it's hard.
At the end of the day, it always revolves around this one issue. Do you believe and trust God? Do you believe and trust God enough that if you take a stand, that even if you get fired, God can get you another job? If you put your priorities where they need to be and your job says, oh no, I need you here from 6.30 in the morning till 9.00 in the night and you say, that doesn't square with the kind of man or the kind of woman that I need to be for my family and they say, well go someplace else. Are you willing to by faith set some boundaries and say I'm going to have consistent conduct.
I'm going to live by God's grace and by His power in the community of people like a Christian. Because see when you do that, that's when you're light. That's when we're light. That's when we're salt. That's when we make a difference. The conclusion of the secular world today is there is not a nickel's worth of difference between the average Christian and the average non-Christian and they see how most of us live and where our priorities are and our behavior and our morality and basically are saying, why should I trust in your Jesus?
I mean that's harsh, but that's the lay of the land. This is Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram and you've been listening to part one of Chip's message, Understanding the Power of Expectations from our series, I Choose Joy. Chip will be back shortly to share some helpful application for us to think about. You know, it's safe to say we all want a little more joy in our lives, right?
But what does that look like? Is it just about finding happiness or pleasure in something? Will those feelings really sustain us through the hard knocks of life? In this eight-part series, Chip explains why joy that comes from God is more than just an emotion. Discover how it can change your perspective on life and profoundly strengthen your faith in challenging times. To learn more about this study in Philippians chapter 1, visit livingontheedge.org or the Chip Ingram app. Well, Chip's joined me in studio now and Chip, right at the end of the message you said, the conclusion of the secular world today is there's not a nickel's worth of difference between the average Christian and the average non-Christian. Well, take a minute if you would and explain why people think that.
I'd be glad to, Dave. We've got millions of people going to church, going through the motions, many of them sincere but ignorant about the gospel, about truth. Their lives don't change. We have a whole generation of young people saying, you can have your Jesus and your churchianity and I'm out of here because they don't see reality. And Living on the Edge has been called to declare war on religious activity that doesn't align with the Jesus of the New Testament.
But we can't do it without you. I grew up in that environment and I turned away from God and I just praise God that he brought people into my life that clearly explained the gospel but as importantly, they lived it out and they lived it out in real life and loved me and cared for me and they were holy and they weren't weird. God longs to do that in our day.
And the message of Living on the Edge is helping Christians live like Christians. We do it through teaching. We create resources but it requires a team and for us to do it moving toward the future as God has opened more and more doors, I simply tell you, I need your help. Would you prayerfully consider partnering with us today and kind of move that good intention? You've thought about it. I ought to help them out. Yeah, I already decided in my head I would but the fact is you haven't acted on it yet. Act on it today. Let's make a difference.
Thanks, Chip. As you prayerfully consider your role in this ministry, I want to remind you that every dollar is significant. When you partner with Living on the Edge, you multiply our efforts and resources in remarkable ways. To give a gift, go to livingontheedge.org or call us at 888-333-6003. Again, that's 888-333-6003 or go to livingontheedge.org. App listeners, tap donate.
We appreciate whatever you can do to help. Well, here again is Chip with a few final thoughts he'd like to share. As we wrap up today's teaching, I'm not sure that there is a portion of this entire series that has more real application to today's believers than this section because I think that over time more and more, especially for those of us that live in the United States and have a Western mindset and have been bombarded literally by years and years and years of the prosperity gospel, we just unconsciously and sometimes very consciously expect if we do certain things, we pray, we live a good life, we're generous with people, we give our money that God literally has made a commitment that our life is going to work out great, that we're going to be happy, that our families are going to be super, that our kids are going to turn out right, that if we're single, we're going to get married, that if we're generous with our money, we're going to be financially well off.
On and on and on it goes. And yet the Bible talks about you have been called for this purpose not only to believe in Him but also to suffer for His sake. And the reality of history is those 12 disciples were very faithful and they did exactly God's will.
And yet 11 of them were martyred and one got stuck on a rock to write the book of Revelation. I want you to know that if your expectations are not in alignment with what the Bible actually teaches, it's so easy to get disillusioned with God. And the fact is you're disillusioned with a promise that He never made. Let me encourage you to open your hands and if you feel disappointed with God or angry at God or resentful or somehow thinking, I've done these certain things, you owe me. Could you just pause and say, Lord, you have given me life.
You've prepared heaven. You didn't promise to take away problems. You promised to be with me through them. God, I want to thank you and would you help me?
Would you wash over my heart and my mind? Would you realign my expectations with your word? And what I will tell you, that will change your attitude. You have a heavenly Father who sees you as His precious child. But that doesn't mean that everything's going to be great or easy even when you're most obedient. It means He's a good God in the midst of a fallen world that will never leave you or forsake you.
Hang tough. Thanks for that word, Chip. And as we close, if you're looking for good Bible content, check out The Chip Ingram Map. You can listen to our most recent series or sign up for Daily Discipleship with Chip, a great resource to help you study God's Word at a deeper level. We want you to grow in your walk with Jesus, and The Chip Ingram Map will help you do just that. We'll listen in next time as Chip wraps up his series, I Choose Joy. Until then, this is Dave Druey saying thanks for joining us for this Edition of Living on the Edge.
