Pastor Dave Barr
May 27, 2012 - W1222

Can you have joy in the midst of a really embarrassing moment? Can you have joy in the midst of problems? Can you have joy no matter what? Well, the answer to that question has to be answered by Scripture. Let’s see what God says.  In Philippians chapter 4 we see what the apostle Paul says to us in the area of how often we should have joy.  Philippians 4:4 says, “Rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS. I will say it again: Rejoice!” Now, how often are we to rejoice in the Lord? Always! Another way to say rejoice is to say, “Be full of joy.” So, Paul says to be full of joy in the Lord not sometimes, but always.  This tells us that joy can be available to us 24 hours a day.  What is interesting is that when Paul is writing these words, he was not at Magic Island getting ready to baptize a bunch of believers. When Paul wrote these words, he was in prison.  He wanted to go to Rome as a preacher.  Instead, God allowed him to go to Rome as a prisoner.  He is under house arrest, chained up to prison guards where every four to six hours he gets a new house guard. In the midst of this incarceration, where he is on death row and potentially going to be executed, in the midst of that setting Paul says this: be full of joy in the Lord, rejoice! If we’re all honest, I think many of us would say we experience joy sometimes, but do we experience joy always? I don’t know about that.  Fourteen times in his letter to the Philippians, he says “rejoice.” Most of us can probably say we experience joy sometimes, but some of us haven’t had joy in a long time. Well, we’re going to talk about that today.  Some of you may be saying “I’m not in prison, but I feel like I’m in prison.  I feel like I’m in prison on my job.  My job is like a prison cell.  Many can feel like their job is something to which they’re chained.  Others might feel chained to parenting; a prisoner at home.  And your house is your prison cell, where your children are like unruly inmates.  Others here may feel like they are chained to a painful relationship.  So, how do we experience joy in the prisons of life? Paul is going to teach us that.  You know what I think some of us do in the midst of problems? We fall into what I call the “why trap.”  So if something bad happens to us and we don’t understand we ask, “Why God?! Why?”, “Why do I have to work with some of these people? They’re so frustrating!”, or “Why am I not married yet?”, “Why hasn’t God healed me?” Questions like those can just suck the life out of you.  Instead of asking why, I want to encourage you to do what Paul teaches us to do when something happens to us and we don’t understand:

1.    Say now what?

You should ask …

• Now what do You want me to do, God?
• Now what is God's purpose?
• Now what does God want to show me?
• Now what does God want to do through this?

God what do you want to do now? That’s what Paul said.  He didn’t ask why, he asked what. “I’m in this prison and in these chains, now what? God, what is your purpose; what do you want to accomplish through this?” Take a look at Philippians 1:12-14. It says, "Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly." He is saying here that what has happened has become clear to the whole palace guard and everyone else that I am in chains for Christ.  He is saying all these prison guards know why I am here; it’s because of Jesus.  He is also saying because of my chains, my brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously, more people know about Jesus, and so this is served for good, Godly purposes.  Paul didn’t get stuck on the why but on the now what.  You know what God loves to do? He loves to take what we would define as a setback and use it as a setup for His purposes.  He loves to take obstacles and use them as opportunities.  So this week when something bad comes your way you need to say to God, “Now what?” Then, you need to …

2.   Say so what?

Many of the problems that come our way are minor issues.  But, we are so good at taking these mole-hill sized problems and inflating them into mountain-sized problems.  In verses 15-18 of Philippians 1, Paul is talking about some pastors who are preaching the gospel with bad motives.  He says, “It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.  In verse 18, when Paul says, “but what does it matter!?”, it is the Greek words “tis gar plen”.  He is saying what does it matter whether the Gospel is being preached with good or bad motive, the Gospel (Jesus) is still being preached so he is full of joy.  Here is the exercise this week: when something negative comes your way and it’s a minor issue say, “Tis gar plen—so what, I’m not going to let it steal my joy!” Don’t misunderstand me though; don’t blow off every problem that comes your way because there are certain problems that we do need to address.  We need to go before the Lord and address those issues with intensity, integrity, and passion. We need to work on resolving them, so don’t “tis gar plen” everything.  But with issues that are really manini or minor, don’t let it suck the joy out of you. So, when a problem comes your way this week ask yourself:

Is this really going to matter 100 years from now?

What is more important right now?

When you can say “now what and so what,” you will be able experience joy in the midst of your problems. Amen.

Discussion Questions:

1.   How can you keep your problems from stealing your joy?

2.   What are the two questions we need to ask ourselves in the midst of problems?

3.   How can you address the bigger issues that need to be resolved?