Truth That Changes Lives

JP Jones: We experience joy when we have an eternal expectation that motivates present conviction.

Greg: Thank you for joining us on Truth That Changes Lives. Pastor JP Jones is the senior pastor of Crossline Community Church in Laguna Hills, California, and a professor in biblical studies at Biola University.

Today on Truth That Changes Lives, Pastor JP will be giving us a message from a series entitled "Joy." Let's listen in as JP gives us part one of Philippians 3:17-21.

JP Jones: If you have your Bibles, would you open to Philippians chapter 3? We are continuing in a study in this book, and we've been talking about joy, the fact that the joy of the Lord is our strength. In the book of Philippians, the Apostle Paul sixteen times talks about joy, talks about rejoicing, talks about how God's abundant life for us, when Jesus is at the center of our lives, produces joy. It's what God wants us to have, and it's something that we experience when our lives are fully open to what Jesus wants to do in us and through us.

In Philippians 3:17-21, and then on into chapter 4, verse 1, the Scripture says this: "Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you. For as I've often told you before, and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.

But our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables Him to bring everything under His control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body. Therefore, my brothers, you whom I love and long for, my joy and my crown, that's how you should stand firm in the Lord, dear friends."

Last night, we were at a graduation party, and I was talking to a young lady who has just graduated from high school and is going on to a Christian college. She was telling me how she was real excited about studying theology and studying philosophy. As we were discussing that, I gave her a warning.

I said, "You can study the Bible, you can study theology, you can study God in such a way that you scrutinize Him and His truth, and you explore all the critical issues of the faith and sometimes come out the other end with a lot of doubts and a lot of questions about what's true. On the other hand, you can study God and His Word and theology with an open heart and with a commitment to the essentials that have been revealed to us and come out with real conviction."

Have you ever found that to be true? It's like you can question God in a way that leads to deep conviction, or you can question God in a way that just leads to more questions. Paul is talking here about the reality of heaven, the reality of Jesus, the reality of the future, the reality of eternity, and he says what that should produce is conviction right now. Life conviction right now, standing firm in the Lord right now.

This whole book in Philippians is about joy, and I think the key principle here is: we experience joy when we have an eternal expectation that motivates present conviction. An eternal expectation that motivates present conviction. When we have conviction and we live out of a core of belief and being convinced of what's true, that's when we have joy.

That's what Paul's talking about here. He's saying he was so convinced of the coming of Jesus Christ, so convinced of the truths that he's been sharing in this book, that as he related them to the Philippians, he said this should so grip your lives that you stand firm. In the bigger picture, what that will produce is not only conviction, it'll produce joy in your life.

Here's some observations about this. Number one, we need to join together with fellow believers who will encourage and positively challenge our faith. All of us who are parents understand the impact of peers upon our kids. It doesn't change when we're adults, either. The people we hang out with shape who we are.

Paul says here in Philippians 3:17, "Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you." We need to actively join with other believers, like-minded believers, like-minded Christians, like-minded Christ followers who love Jesus and want to follow Jesus because they're going to have a positive impact on our faith. By hanging out with other people who have the same life convictions as we have, it will strengthen our faith and give us joy.

Paul says "join together." He uses a unique word. It's only used one time here in the New Testament. As I've shared before, this term for something that's only used one time is hapax legomenon. I just love that. It's the word symmimētēs. Mimētēs is from the verb mimeomai, which means to imitate or to mimic. Symmimētēs means to imitate together, to mimic together, to partner together in imitating or to partner together in following.

We are to partner together with other believers who are seeking to follow Jesus Christ. Think about the people you hang out with. Think about your relationships and lifelong friendships and just the people that you work with and the people that you rub shoulders with and ask yourself, how many of those people are really seeking to follow Jesus?

If we are not hanging out with other people who want to follow God, then it's going to be hard for us to want to follow God. There is a life principle that we just become like the people we hang out with. Paul says partner together, join together, be a fellow imitator of the example that I lead before you in following after Jesus.

He says, "Take note of those who have this pattern." The idea of taking note is the Greek word skopeō, and it means to observe, to look at, to contemplate, to mark out, to fix one's eyes upon with a goal of seeking to follow. When he says take note of those who have this pattern, what's the pattern? It's what he's been teaching: living a life committed to knowing Christ, living a life of obedience to Christ, living a life as a passionate worshiper, living a life as a kingdom disciple. He says take note of those who have this kind of pattern of life so you can hang out with them, so you can be around them, so you can get what they've got.

There's a lot of scriptures that call us to this very truth. Hebrews 13:7 says this: "Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the result of their lives and imitate their faith." 2 Timothy 2:22: "Flee the evil desires of youth, pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart." Romans 1:11-12: "I long to see you that I may impart to you some spiritual gift that will make you strong. That is that both you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith."

This spiritual principle is so important. That's why, guys, you know this if you've been to our men's retreats. Every one of our men's retreats every fall, part of the time that's planned that's purposeful is we try to connect guys into small groups. We have a time up at Forest Home when we have our men's retreat that all the guys that are already in some kind of small group, they stay together, and I give them a charge and encourage them to press on in discipleship.

All the guys that are invited for the first time or that are new or from the community, we have them go off with Pastor Greg, and Greg talks about the importance of this principle of connecting and hanging out with other people. He takes them through an exercise and gets guys into small groups. Every year we connect new men into groups. We do that because we are so convinced of this biblical principle.

The Bible says in Proverbs 27: "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another." That's not gender-specific. One woman sharpens another, too. One couple sharpens another. One family sharpens another. Paul says in Philippians 3, as he relates this to experiencing joy and the vibrancy of faith, join together, partner together with people who are on the same direction of life as you. Take note of them, look at the pattern of their life, and connect with them. All of us need people who will encourage us, motivate us, challenge us, hold us accountable, and help us follow through on what we believe.

Here's a second observation. We need to be aware of and avoid those who will rob us of our faith and destroy our joy. The principle works in reverse as well. Paul says in Philippians 3:18-19: "For as I often told you before, and now again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, their bellies, their appetites, their lusts. Their glory is in their shame. And their mind is on earthly things."

In the context, because he's moving towards this principle of an eternal perspective and the reality of heaven—and the fact that when heaven fills our hearts and fills our lives, it gives us conviction and leads to joy—he says there are people who will really encourage us in that pursuit, and we need to hang out with those kind of people. But there are people who are the antithesis of that. In fact, they're enemies of Christ. They are people whose whole orientation of life is the opposite of that, and those are the kind of people that will take us down.

It's kind of an interesting statement because the Bible is replete with exhortations to be positive witnesses for Christ. Jesus said that He isn't taking us out of the world, but that we should be transformed in the midst of the world. He says our light should shine before men that others would see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven. How can people see our light and good works if we're not hanging out with them? Yet this is talking about people that we should actually avoid.

This is not the first time Paul said that, by the way. Earlier in this chapter, in Philippians 3:1-2, Paul says: "Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. It's no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it's a safeguard for you. Watch out for the dogs and the men who do evil, the mutilators of the flesh."

Paul describes these people very specifically. In fact, he uses five phrases to describe the kind of people that we should be aware of and avoid because they will take us down. He says they live as enemies of the cross of Christ; their destiny is destruction; their god is their stomach, their bellies, their appetites, their lusts; their glory is in their shame; and their mind is on earthly things.

Paul is describing a kind of person here within a larger category of persons. My son is in El Salvador right now with Campus Crusade, and he was here for a little bit and we were having a conversation out on our patio just the other day before he took off. We were talking about people. It was one of those conversations that was like both of us were right, but we had a little different perspective. Maybe it's because I've become cynical in my old age. Maybe it's because I've become wiser, or maybe it's just we will agree to disagree without being disagreeable.

We were talking about people. My son, being so good-hearted, was just trying to say that it's true that we're all sinners, but everybody has value and everybody has an element of good in them. Everybody is a reflection of God because we're created in God's image. I was agreeing with that, but I was also saying the Bible describes some people as "the wicked." As a sobering truth.

Within the framework of everybody being a sinner, there are good people and there are bad people. There are bad people in the world. Now my son was trying to argue, "Well, we're all bad because we're all sinners." I agree with that, but there are some people that are evil. Evil is a reality. There are some people the Bible describes uniquely, not making a statement about whether we're sinners or not because we're all sinners, but some people, even within the category of being a sinner, are wicked and evil. They will take us down.

It's wisdom to know when we as followers of Jesus are to let our light shine or to turn and run to get away from certain people. There are certain people, let me just encourage you as your pastor, there are certain people you should just get away from. Pray for them, but from a distance because they will take you down.

What Paul is saying here in Philippians chapter 3 is there are certain people who are enemies of the cross of Christ. Their god is their stomach. Their destiny is destruction. They are so determined and so convinced and so committed that they are toxic, and they will spiritually destroy us. Paul's giving a warning because his bigger picture here is joy, how to have joy. Our joy is determined here and now largely by who we hang out with. Some people will increase our joy, and some people will rob us of joy. It takes real spiritual wisdom and discernment to understand that principle and to put it into practice.

But we need to do so with an understanding of eternity. Here's the third observation. We need to know that our citizenship is in heaven. He states it just plainly. Verse 20: "But our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ." It's the transition from the person who is an enemy of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, who sets their mind on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. We're moving in opposite directions.

This is an important term, this term for citizenship. It means the state or position of being a citizen. Philippi was a Roman colony, and it was of great privilege to be a Roman citizen. You had rights and privileges as a Roman citizen that you didn't have if you weren't a Roman citizen. Paul is playing off of this reality and saying our citizenship as followers of Jesus is in heaven. Our end isn't destruction. If you're a believer in Jesus, there's no doubt about your end, your future, your eternity. It is certain.

Romans 8 says there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Right now, if you believe in Jesus, your citizenship is in heaven. Paul is relating this to a reality that when we understand that, when that's our mindset, it transforms us now. It gives us conviction now, which leads to joy.

Our citizenship is in heaven. This needs to be the preoccupation of our minds. Paul thought very highly of this. In fact, over in Colossians 3, he says this: "Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your minds on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God's right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not on the things of earth. For you are dead to your old way of life and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed, then you'll share in all of His glory."

Heaven needs to occupy our mind because that's where our citizenship is. Our real life is in heaven. Our joy is fueled and sustained when we understand that we were created for heaven and we live right now with an expectation of heaven. That's where we're going.

Earlier I shared, keying off what was said, that I'm part of the 83 percent. I wasn't raised in church. I did not come to faith in Jesus because of the faith of my parents that was passed on to me. I came to Christ as a teenager through the influence of my brother. When I first became a Christian, I attended Baptist Temple in San Jose, a little Southern Baptist church. On Sunday nights, Sunday Night Training Union, as a brand-new Christian, we used to go and the worship leader would ask for favorites from the hymnal. The worship set was made up of what people requested.

I used to request "When the Roll is Called Up Yonder, I'll be There." When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound and time shall be no more, and the morning breaks eternal, bright and fair. When the saved of earth shall gather over on the other shore, when the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there. On that bright and cloudless morning when the dead in Christ shall rise and the glory of His resurrection share. When the chosen ones shall gather to their home beyond the skies, and the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there. Let us labor for the Master from the dawn till setting sun, let us talk of all His wondrous love and care. Then when all of life is over and our work on earth is done, and the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there.

Do you know that's true for you if you believe in Jesus? Because your citizenship is in heaven. It's true for me because my citizenship is in heaven. Paul says here in Philippians chapter 3, we're not like those who are enemies of the cross of Christ. We're not like those whose god is their stomach. We're not like those who put our minds on earthly things, whose end is destruction. Our citizenship is in heaven. When we become heavenly minded, it gives us conviction, which leads to joy.

Greg: What a great message for all of us today. Pastor JP provides us with great insight. That is why we'd like to make it available to you on CD. Just get in touch and mention today's date. We'll send it your way for just $5. Or if you'd like to support this ministry, you can write us at Truth That Changes Lives, 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California, 92653. Or give us a call at 949-916-0250. That's 949-916-0250.

For your gift of $25 or more, we will send you a signed copy of JP's new book, "Facing Goliath." Please join us every Sunday at 9:00 or 11:00 AM at Crossline Church in Laguna Hills. The address is 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California, 92653. Or check us out on the web at crosslinechurch.com. We're going to get to the address and phone number again in a moment. But before we do that, Pastor JP, do you have any insight from today's message?

JP Jones: Thanks, Greg. We're looking at Philippians chapter 3, and we're again talking about this whole theme of joy. At the end of Philippians chapter 3, the Apostle Paul triumphantly tells us that our citizenship is in heaven. He says that we have a heavenly home. Every believer in Jesus Christ is secure in their relationship with God and they can look forward to heaven.

Jesus Christ, our Lord, has gone into heaven. He's prepared a place for us according to John chapter 14. He's coming back again and He's going to take us to be with Him forever. Heaven is our home as followers of Jesus Christ. A heavenly conviction will give us present joy. When we understand who we are in Christ and we understand our security in Christ and the eternity that is before us in heaven, that gives us present conviction.

That gives us strength. That gives us confidence in our faith, and the byproduct of that is joy. To live a joyful life in Christ right now, we need to understand who we are in Christ and where we're going in Christ, where we're headed in Christ. Where we're headed is heaven. That's the hope of every believer.

The Bible says that when we put our faith in Jesus Christ, our sins are forgiven, we receive a new nature, and we have the certainty of eternal life. In 1 John chapter 5, the Bible says this: "And the witness is this: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things I've written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God in order that you may know that you have eternal life."

We receive eternal life the very moment we put our faith in Jesus Christ. Eternal life is this new qualitative experience that is ours through Jesus, and it culminates when we live with Jesus forever in heaven. The book of Revelation describes for us this heavenly home that is before us. In Revelation chapters 20 to 22, heaven is pictured in these symbolic terms, and it's awesome and glorious, and that is going to be ours forever.

The presence of God. Sin will be removed, Satan will be cast into the lake of fire, and we will live in unhindered fellowship with God, glorifying God, and enjoying God forever. Paul says in Philippians 3, this is our citizenship. When we understand that and we cling to that and we put our hope in that, it gives us conviction right now. It gives us confidence right now. It gives us a sense of identity right now, and the byproduct of that is joy.

It's one of the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The Bible says against these things, there's no law. Philippians chapter 3 says that as followers of Jesus Christ, we are to press on to know Christ, we're to experience Christ, we're to proclaim Christ, and we're to reflect Christ.

A deep part of that is understanding this identity that we have with our citizenship in heaven, looking forward to heaven, being heavenly minded, and having the conviction that heaven is ours. Out of that radiates the very joy of Jesus Christ. That's the hope and prospect for every believer.

Is that your hope? Is that your conviction? Would you ask God to give you the certainty of your own relationship with Him with that understanding that your citizenship is in heaven and the joy that comes from it? Let me invite you to pray with me right now. God, thank you so much that You've saved us in Jesus Christ. You've saved us by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Thank you that salvation in Christ guarantees heaven to us as believers. Our citizenship is in heaven. Give us that conviction, give us that hope, and produce in us the joy of the Lord. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Greg: We want to help you in your relationship with Christ. Please get in touch with us at Truth That Changes Lives, 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California, 92653. Or call us at 949-916-0250. On the internet, you will find us at crosslinechurch.com.

We hope to see you at one of our services every Sunday at our new campus in Laguna Hills. For more information and directions, please go to crosslinechurch.com. Please join us next time on Truth That Changes Lives.