Outrageous Joy – Part 2

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On today's edition of Pathway to Victory. Joy is a choice that you make. A choice to be grateful for God's blessing in your life. A choice to be confident in God's plan for your life. A choice to connect to fellowship with other believers in the church. And a choice above all to live your life for God's approval. Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor Dr. Robert Jeffress.

If joy is a choice and not a feeling, then how do we make a conscious decision to be joyful regardless of what's going on around us? Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress turns to the book of Philippians for Paul's four secrets to maintaining joy in spite of painful circumstances, difficult people, and insurmountable loss. Now, here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message.

Dr. Jeffress. Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. Few things are more invigorating than a proper vacation. Has it been a while since you've completely relaxed with friends and family? While there's still time, I'm urging you to reserve your spot on the upcoming Pathway to Victory Journeys of Paul Mediterranean Cruise.

The dates are May 5th through 16th. You'll never regret joining us on this refreshing tour to some of the most beautiful locations in the world. Please go to ptv.org, take a few moments to review the itinerary, and most of all reserve your spot on the Pathway to Victory Journeys of Paul Mediterranean Cruise. You know, I'm convinced that sometimes we lack joy because we forget that we're children of the King, and nothing brings a bigger smile to my face than when I'm reminded of God's unconditional love for me because I'm one of his children. To help you regain a sense of genuine happiness, I've asked our creative team to put together an encouragement card that contains some of my favorite verses from the book of Philippians. These are promises from God that infuse joy into our lives, and when you get in touch with me today, I'll make sure you receive this complimentary encouragement card from the book of Philippians.

But that's not all. I've also written a book called Outrageous Joy, and when you give a generous gift to support the growing ministry of Pathway to Victory, I'll make sure you receive your copy right away along with the scripture card. More about my book and other resources later on, but right now let's get back into our study of Philippians.

It's a series I'm calling Living Above Your Circumstances, and today's message is titled Outrageous Joy. You know, love letters can pack powerful emotions, and what we have when we come to the book of Philippians is really a love letter. It's a love letter that Paul wrote to the Christians at Philippi, and in these 104 short verses, Paul packs a lot of emotion. He expresses his love for these Christians he had met 10 years earlier. But above all, Paul in this book of Philippians exhibits how to experience gladness, joy in spite of your circumstances. Now remember where Paul was when he wrote this letter. He didn't write this letter from the comfort of a pastor's study, but from the confines of a Roman prison. And nevertheless, 19 times he talks about in the book rejoicing, rejoicing in the Lord always.

How do you do that? How do you maintain outrageous joy in spite of difficult circumstances? Well, beginning in verse three, Paul is going to share with us four important principles for maintaining that outrageous joy in spite of our circumstances. Paul maintained his joy, first of all, by having a gratitude for God's blessings.

A gratitude for God's blessings. Look at verse three. Paul says, I thank my God in all my remembrance of you. I want you to underline that word remembrance because it's key to understanding what Paul is saying here. You see, there is a relationship between how we think and how we feel.

And one of the most powerful ways to maintain your joy in life is to change how you're thinking and what you're thinking about. Now here's Paul in prison facing what could have been his execution. He could have chosen to think about any number of things. He could have thought about how tight the chains are, or he could have thought about how unfair it is that God would allow this to happen to a faithful servant of His.

But he said, no, that's not what I'm remembering or thinking about. Instead, Philippians, I'm remembering you. I'm thinking about you, the people I love so much. I'm thinking about all you Christians these last 10 years who have written me letters of encouragement and sent this generous gift.

That's what I'm thinking about. And that's how I maintain my joy. See, the key to overcoming depression is to be overcome with gratitude. A second key for maintaining your outrageous joy in spite of circumstances is a confidence in God's purpose, a confidence in God's plan. Look at verse six. For I am confident of this very thing that he who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. God has a plan. And God's plan, everything He's working together in your life is to accomplish one purpose.

What is that purpose? We're going to discover it in just a few moments here. But I want to talk about for a moment, what is it that God's doing in your life? You see, Paul was in prison.

He could be executed at any moment, but he said, guess what? I am joyful because I am confident that God is at work in my life. Even though the visible circumstances don't have any evidence of it at all, I still believe God hasn't given up on me and He has a work He's doing in my life. Ladies and gentlemen, God's doing work in your life right now. Even though your world may be falling in around you, He has a work He is doing in your life. Well, pastor, what work is God doing in my life?

I'm so glad you asked. I want to mention actually four things God has done, is doing, or will do in your life one day. First of all, the word justification. Write down the word justification. Justification, and then write out beside it what God does for us. What God does for us. Justification is the act of God by which He declares us not guilty the moment we trust in Christ as our Savior. The moment you confess to God that you have sinned, that you need Jesus as your Savior, you can't save yourself, but you depend solely on what He did for you, the moment, the instant you do that, in the great courtroom of heaven, the gavel comes down and God declares you not guilty.

That's justification. Romans 5-1 again says, therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with our God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The second work of God is glorification. Glorification, that is what God does to us.

That's something yet to happen. Glorification is that work of God, which at the rapture, in an instant, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, God is going to take these old worn out sinful bodies and He is going to transform them into brand new bodies. That's glorification. 1 John 3-2 says, brethren, it has not yet appeared what we will be like, but we know this, when He appears, we shall be like Him. If you want to know what you're going to be like in heaven and for all eternity, what your body is going to be like, all you need to do is look at the Lord Jesus Christ, look at His resurrection body that He had for the 40 days that He was here on earth, your body is going to be just like Him. Now, justification, glorification, those are works of God which He does alone. But number three, there's a third work of God that we partner with Him in and that is manifestation. Manifestation, that's what God does through us. That is God showing Himself to other people through us.

Now, this is important to understand. You know, we all say good works are meaningless to God. That's only half true. Before you're a Christian, it is true, your works, the best you can do is like a filthy rag to God. God is not impressed by your good works or my good works the moment before we're saved.

Our works are worthless. But here's where Baptists get it wrong. Good works are vitally important after we are saved. In fact, it is our good works after we are saved that prove whether or not we're truly saved or not.

Now, James says that, no works, no faith. You know, it's not that they produce salvation, they are the fruit of salvation. And the reason good works are so important after we're saved is it is a way that other people are drawn to God. They see God manifesting Himself through us and they are attracted to God. Isn't that what Jesus said in Matthew 5 16?

Let your light so shine before men that they might see your what? Good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven. Now, look at verse five of Philippians 1. Paul said, I thank God for your participation in the gospel from the first day until now. Your participation in the good news.

He said, no, wait a minute. I thought you said we can't do anything to earn our salvation. That's right. We can't earn our salvation. We didn't bring the gospel into being.

Jesus did that alone on the cross. The way we participate in the gospel is by making it known to other people. And Paul said, Philippians, I'm so grateful that you have partnered with me and with God in giving through your work in the church, you are manifesting the reality of God throughout the world. And ladies and gentlemen, when you give of your financial resources to this church, when you use the spiritual gift God has given you in this body of believers, you are participating in the gospel and you are allowing God to manifest Himself through you to draw people to Christ. That's manifestation, what God does through us. And then finally, sanctification. That's what God does in us.

That's what He's doing in us right now. Sanctification is the process by which God molds us, shapes us into the image of Jesus Christ. You know, a lot of Christians walk around in a fog and they say, gee, I wonder what God's will for my life is. Oh, I want to know God's will for my life. You know, you really don't have to pray what God's will for your life is.

Not really, not in the big scheme. Because God's will is already revealed in the scripture. You know, if you want to know what God's will for your life is, turn to Romans chapter 8, verse 29.

You don't have to turn there. But listen to what Paul said. This is God's will for your life. Paul said, for whom God foreknew, He predestined.

Some of you are getting kind of nervous right now. Predestined. I wonder what he believes about that.

You'll find out one day, okay? For whom God foreknew, He predestined. Yes, God has predestined your life. He predestined for what purpose? To be conformed to the image of His Son.

That's why God predestined you. He's predestined you for one purpose and that is to mold you, and that is to mold you, to shape you into the image of His Son. God loved His Son, Jesus.

He was well pleased with Him. In fact, He loved Him so much He said, you know what? I just don't want one child, one son.

I want many children. And that's why He saved you. And He saved me. Not just to keep us out of hell, but also to make us, to shape us into the image of Christ. And that's what Romans 8, 28, and 29 is all about. God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

Well, what is the good everything's working together for? Verse 29, for whom God foreknew, He predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. The good thing God is doing in your life, not only through every happy experience, but through every difficult experience is He's hammering you, He's chiseling you, He's shaping you until you look just like Jesus Christ in your attitudes, in your affections, in your actions.

That's sanctification. And that's what Paul's writing about in verse 6. He said, I'm confident of this very thing that He who began a good work in you and me will perfect it. That word means complete it until the day of Christ Jesus. Doesn't matter what you're going through right now, ladies and gentlemen, God hasn't abandoned you. He's using that termination, or He'll use that bankruptcy, or He'll use that disappointment, He'll use that divorce, He's going to use all of those things to accomplish His plan for your life until you resemble the Lord Jesus Christ. That gave Paul joy to know that even in his hardship, God hadn't given up on him, he was still working out his plan.

What does it take to maintain your joy in life? Thirdly, it takes fellowship with God's people. A fellowship, a connection with God's people. Look at verse 7. For it is only right for me to feel this way about you, because I have you in my heart, since both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the Gospel, you all, that's how you know Paul is from the south, you all are partakers of grace with me. For God is my witness, how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. He said, even though we're separated by 800 miles, you're in Philippi, I'm here in Rome, I have you on my heart. By the way, there's a great Old Testament picture there.

Remember the high priest wore that garment, the ephod, and on the ephod over the high priest heart were the 12 stones representing the 12 tribes of Israel, symbolizing how the priest was representing the people to his God. And Paul said, I want you to know this, even though I'm in prison, I have you in my heart, Philippian Christians. I love you, but what gives me joy is to also know that I'm in your heart. That right now, in spite of this great distance, I know you're praying for me, and that helps me maintain my joy. Ladies and gentlemen, you will never be able to maintain consistent joy in your life without being connected to a group of other believers in a local church.

It was Paul's connection to these Philippian Christians in their church that kept his joy alive. And it's the same way with us. I don't know a lot about physics, but I read one time about the second law of thermodynamics. It's called the law of entropy.

And the law of entropy simply says things that are isolated end up deteriorating over time. Now what's true in the physical world is true in the spiritual world. If you're a Christian and you're isolated, disconnected from other Christians, eventually your spiritual life is going to deteriorate. But more importantly, Satan's favorite tactic is to isolate you from other Christians and then attack.

As a pastor, I've seen it over and over and over. Here as a Christian, for some reason they get disconnected to a church. They don't like what this pastor did, or this preacher said, or somebody in the church upset them, or you know didn't give them the attention they thought they deserved. Or they're one of these super spiritual Christians who think they're too spiritual to be a part of a local church. And so they just hop from place to place and place and place, flit here and there, never really connecting to a local group. Satan isolates them and then he unloads on them.

And they have no support system there to help them. Not if, but when that adversity comes into their life. There is a strength that comes from fellowship with other believers that helps us maintain our joy. You know this last week we had a wonderful family in our church that suffered a tremendous tragedy, loss of a Christian husband, a Christian father. And is that family grieving?

You bet they are. But I watched this week as hundreds of our members surrounded them, prayed for them, comforted them. And one of those family members said to me, you know pastor, I just don't know how people make it without a church like this. The answer is they don't.

They don't. They finally get mowed down by the enemy when they don't have other Christians to strengthen them. We need the fellowship that comes from other believers. Coming back to this church, I was talking to one of our deacon officers this week. One of the things that struck me about coming back to First Dallas after 22 years is the distance people are willing to drive to come to this church.

You know I've just been meeting people the last couple of weeks. They drive from Duncanville or DeSoto in the south or they come from Denton in the north or they come from Arlington out west. And you know you wonder why are people willing to drive that distance to come to this church? Yes, the music is magnificent. The preaching is tolerable, maybe.

But I tell you, you know what the real reason is? There is a fellowship. There is a love in this church like none other I've seen before.

And I was reminded of that of coming back here. People truly care about one another and people will drive any distance to come to a church like that. There is a power that comes in our own lives when we are connected to other believers. That's what kept Paul's joy alive. And finally his joy was based on a desire for God's approval. A desire for God's approval. Look at verse 9. And this I pray. By the way, you can know somebody's value system pretty quickly by what they pray for.

What they pray for themselves, what they pray for other people. Paul said this is what I'm praying, that your love, love for God, love for others, that it may abound still more and more. That word abound means to overflow. If you want to get a real clear picture of what he's talking about here, just picture placing a bucket under Niagara Falls, okay? That's the kind of overflowing he's talking about.

I'm praying that your love may overflow more and more. For what reason? For what reason? So that you can just have a case of spiritual goosebumps. Is that why?

No. He said I want this love to result in a real knowledge, verse 9, not a zeal without knowledge, but a real knowledge of God and who He is. And also might result in all discernment. The word here asthesis, we get aesthetic from it. It means to have a taste for the ability to discern not only what is good and evil, but what is good and what is most profitable. To be able to make good choices about how to spend the time God's given you here on earth. I want your love to result in discernment so that you may approve the things that are excellent in order that you and I might be sincere. The word means without blemish, without sin, without moral pollutant, and that we might be blameless.

That word scandalon in Greek is the word that refers to the part of an animal trap, the part of the trap on which the bait was attached to deceive the animal, to trap him, to ensnare him. He said I want my life to be lived in such a way that it doesn't cause any other Christian to stumble, for any other Christian to fall. And for what end?

Why do I want to be sincere and blameless? Look at verse 10, until the day of Christ. That's a reference to the rapture. In other words, Paul lived his life with anticipation of the day that he would meet Jesus face to face. And above everything else, what he wanted to hear were those words, well done, good and faithful servant. That was his purpose for living. And it was that ultimate purpose not for peace, not for prosperity, but for God's approval. That gave him a whole new perspective on the suffering in his life. As long as I have God's approval, I don't care about anything else. By the way, is that true of you?

Are you living your life for an audience of one? What's interesting is Paul ended up getting out of prison. The verdict in his trial came back, not guilty. He was free for several more years to preach the gospel. But then as you know, he was imprisoned again. And as he faced his own beheading, he wrote these words to his son Timothy about his desire and the joy that comes for living for God's approval. Remember his words in 2 Timothy 4, I have fought the good fight.

I have finished the course. I have kept the faith. And in the future, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day.

And not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing. Ladies and gentlemen, if I could leave you with one thought today, it would be this. Joy is not an emotion. Joy is a choice that you make. A choice to be grateful for God's blessing in your life. A choice to be confident in God's plan for your life. A choice to connect to fellowship with other believers in the church. And a choice above all to live your life for God's approval. As we conclude today, I'm sensing that God is reaching into the hearts of men and women all over the world who are making the decision to choose joy.

How wonderful that is. Although we are separated by miles, we're drawn together through this common belief. Joy is not an emotion. Joy is a choice. So let me encourage you to take some intentional steps toward this higher place of personal contentment.

I've written a book for you called Outrageous Joy, Living Above Your Circumstances. It's a study in Philippians that goes much deeper into this topic. In my book, I'll guide you through Paul's four secrets for maintaining your joy and his three keys for living a worry-free life. You'll come to understand that real joy comes from the Lord.

It's a daily decision and it's a sign of your abiding growth in Jesus Christ. A copy of my book, Outrageous Joy, is yours when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. Many have selected this book for their Sunday school class curriculum at church or their small group Bible study. Thanks so much for investing in this nonprofit ministry. Pathway to Victory is enjoying a season of expanded impact, and it's because men and women just like you are giving generously. Thanks so much for coming alongside of us and sharing this ministry together.

David? Thanks, Dr. Jeffress. You're invited to request your very own copy of Outrageous Joy when you contact Pathway to Victory with a generous gift. As an added bonus, we'll also include the Standing on the Promises of God scripture card. 866-999-2965, that's the number to call, or go online to ptv.org. Now, when your gift is $75 or more, we'll also send you the entire Living Above Your Circumstances teaching series on both audio and video discs. To request your teaching set, call 866-999-2965 or go to ptv.org. You could also contact us by mail. Write to P.O. Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222.

Again, that's P.O. Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. I'm David J. Mullins. Purpose is the engine that drives everything we do in life. But how can we know we've discovered our true purpose? Join us for another study in Philippians Friday on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. You made it to the end of today's podcast from Pathway to Victory, and we're so glad you're here. Pathway to Victory relies on the generosity of loyal listeners like you to make this podcast possible. One of the most impactful ways you can give is by becoming a Pathway partner. Your monthly gift will empower Pathway to Victory to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and help others become rooted more firmly in His Word. To become a Pathway partner, go to ptv.org slash donate or follow the link in our show notes. We hope you've been blessed by today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.