Truth That Changes Lives

JP Jones: We need to have relationships that are truly authentic with one another. We share the good, the bad, and the ugly so that it gives people the opportunity to get on the same page and show concern for us.

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 as JP gives us part one of Philippians 4:10 through 23.

JP Jones: If you have your Bibles, would you open to Philippians chapter four? We're going to finish our study in the book of Philippians, a book all about joy and rejoicing. It's the dominant theme, and Paul closes it out on that note again here in Philippians chapter four.

This is what the text says, Philippians 4:10-23: "I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you've renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you have been concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. I'm not saying this because I'm in need, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I'm in. I know what it is to be in need. I know what it is to have plenty. I've learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well-fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

Yet it was good for you to share in my troubles. Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with me in the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only. For even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid again and again when I was in need. Not that I'm looking for the gift, but I am looking for what may be credited to your account. I have received full payment and even more. I'm amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent.

They are a fragrant offering and acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever, Amen. Greet all the saints in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me send greetings. All the saints send you greetings, especially those who belong to Caesar's household. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen."

This final piece of the book of Philippians comes back to this theme of joy and rejoicing. Especially it comes back to it in the context that has been laid out, if you've been with us in studying this book, of relationships. Paul draws much upon not only his personal relationship with Christ but the relationship that he shared with these Philippian believers.

There is just a principle that is throughout the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation that when everything's said and done, life is all about our relationship with God and our relationship with people. It isn't surprising that in this book of Philippians where Paul's talking about joy, that's where he says the source of joy is to be found, in our relationship with God and our relationship with people.

So there's a context behind these words. It's a context of shared life, shared relationship, shared ministry, shared financial resources, real community, a real bond. Because there was a real bond between the writer and the audience, Paul can speak very personally about what God did in his life, in the life of the church as a whole, and in the life of individuals who were a part of that church.

We aren't playing church here. I've said in the past, we're not the Kiwanis Club. The church is just not some fraternal social organization. There is a deep spiritual bond that connects those who know Jesus Christ. We really are a family. We may not always live to the highest calling of that, but we are a real family. And it's in the context of being in the family and encouraging others to join the family that we find our real joy.

Paul says, "I'm rejoicing in what God's doing in your life and in our relationship together." Here's a couple of principles that we can put into practice collectively as a church and individually in our families. Number one, we're to be rejoicing in experiencing the concern of others. In verse 10, Paul says, "I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you have been concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it."

It sounds like a rather obvious principle and doesn't even seem that spiritual, but it's what comes out of this passage. When people show their concern for us, it gives us joy. When we are on the receiving end of others' attention, love, and devotion, it gives us joy. Paul says he had a relationship with them that for a time caused that to seem somewhat abstract and maybe even distant.

But now it has been revived, and he was on the receiving end of their concern and because of that, he was rejoicing greatly. That's an interesting phrase, to rejoice greatly. There's the Greek word here "megalos." You know when we talk about something being mega-huge, that's from a Greek word, literally "mega." Megalos is even greater than mega.

There are varying degrees of joy and rejoicing. You know that, don't you? Last night, a bunch of us guys here from church were over at Pastor Darren's house watching the UFC fights. There was this one fight that we were all interested in watching and we were all of the same mind of who we wanted to win the fight. The guy won by knocking his opponent out and there was this spontaneous jumping up, giving high fives. There was joy because this guy got knocked out. Now, that's not megalos joy, but it's joy.

When I think of moments that have given me great joy and rejoicing, I think of the day I got married. I think of the birth of my children. But it's interesting because whenever I think in my mind of when I just was overwhelmed with joy, there's one experience that comes to my mind. In fact, it was an experience that I've shared with Donna that I actually said to the Lord, "I can't even take any more."

It was several years ago at a men's retreat up at Forest Home. The power of God was moving so great. The worship, the teaching, the changed lives of men, and the joy we were experiencing in God's presence. On the last day, those days we stayed up at Forest Home, a bunch of men crossed the line and gave their lives to Jesus. We were baptizing guys at the pool at Forest Home. I don't even know how many guys we baptized.

I did one of those things like I normally do if you've ever been to one of our baptisms here or at the beach. After everybody who says they want to get baptized gets baptized, I kind of give a closing little word and say, "Maybe you didn't come here thinking you're going to get baptized. You're just watching and the experience here is just touching your heart and God is speaking to you and you want to surrender your life to the Lord. What a great way to start your Christian journey by the first act of faith getting baptized and saying I've just given my life to Christ."

So I prayed, and a bunch of guys jumped in the pool wanting to get baptized. It was like I walked out of the pool area going back to my cabin at Forest Home and I literally said to God, "I am so numb from the amount of spiritual blessings that this is, I don't even think I have the emotional capacity to take any more. It's so good." That's megalos rejoicing.

See, there are degrees of joy. You can have joy when your favorite sports team wins. You can have joy when you get a promotion. You can have joy when you buy a new car. You can have greater joy when you meet your life partner. You can have greater joy when God blesses one of your children. But the megalos joy is reserved for your relationship with Jesus Christ and you sharing that relationship with other believers. That's why heaven is going to be the greatest experience because it'll be that unhindered.

But right now, we get to taste that when we make God and people our top priorities. Paul says, "I rejoice greatly because your concern has been revived. Our relationship has been restored. I'm on the receiving end but I'm rejoicing because we are back to where God wants us to be."

The context is shared ministry because if you were with us in our study when we began in Philippians, Paul talks about in Philippians chapter one that he felt this great love and compassion and affinity for these believers because they shared together in the work of the gospel. They prayed together. They served God together. They financially helped each other in the cause of the gospel.

It's like the video we saw with the Harvest Crusade. I don't know about you, but I was on the verge of tears hearing those stories. I've heard Greg's story I don't know how many times, but just to hear someone's life being changed? Paul's talking about that experience and partnering in that experience with other people and the depth of emotional connection that it brings. Then when you see God change somebody's life and actually use you to be a part of that? That's joy. That's joy.

Paul says, "I'm rejoicing that your concern has been revived." It's an interesting translation of this word. Actually, Paul uses this Greek word, it's "phroneo" in Greek, seven times in Philippians, more than any other book in the New Testament. Phroneo literally means mind, being like-minded or being of the same attitude or of the same disposition.

It's the word that's used, if you were with us last week, when in Philippians 4:2, Paul said, "I urge Euodia and Syntyche"—remember those two people who we said we don't even know who they were, but they were obviously two people in the church when Paul wrote the letter—"I urge Euodia and Syntyche be in harmony in the Lord." It's translated as harmony there. It's the Greek word phroneo.

What Paul's really saying here in Philippians 4:10 is, "I rejoice greatly that we're on the same page with each other, and in reality, that you've gotten back on the same page with me." You know what I'm talking about? If you're married, you know what I'm talking about when you know you're on the same page with your spouse. If you have a family, when you as a family are on the same page with each other.

A church, when the whole church is just in sync with each other? Paul says there is a joy that we have and a rejoicing that we can have. In fact, it's megalos rejoicing when we have that harmony and that unity and that sense of being on the same page with each other, and especially, without any apology, when we're on the receiving end of people showing that towards us.

Now, you know what that required? It required that Paul had a certain humility with respect to sharing his needs, his heart, and where he was on the journey so that the Philippians could respond obediently by getting on the same page with him and reviving their concern for him. Do you know it may be that you are missing this ingredient in your life because you're your own worst enemy?

Because you're not letting anybody know what's really going on in your life so that they can get on the same page with you and show concern towards you and therefore cause you to greatly rejoice. You know what I'm talking about? A lot of us are very guarded about how we're doing personally and spiritually and emotionally and psychologically and financially.

Our guardedness is the very obstacle that's causing people not to show us concern because they don't think we have any needs. And then as a result, they're not able to meet our needs, and we are lacking in joy. It's a double whammy because we're not only lacking in joy because we feel like our circumstances aren't what we want them to be, but we're lacking in joy because we're missing out on this great biblical spiritual ingredient that's designed to give us joy, which is having other people show concern for us.

So here's the simple application. We need to have relationships that are truly authentic with one another. We share the good, the bad, and the ugly so that it gives people the opportunity to get on the same page and show concern for us. If we have a need and people say, "How are you doing?" and you say, "I'm great, I'm fine"? If you do that, don't get bugged if people never reach out to meet your needs.

Don't get bugged if nobody ever gives you a phone call. Don't get bugged if nobody ever shares their prayer for you. Don't get bugged if nobody ever seeks to resource you, because you are the one that's the problem. We talk about this, by the way, a lot in the context of the church because we find out oftentimes down the road about some need of somebody in the body.

It breaks my heart because I feel like if we had only known, we could have prayed for them, we could have visited them, we could have provided some resources for them, we could have networked to get some people to help them. But instead, they went through that all alone, and then after the fact, we find out about it. Sometimes we find out about it and there's even a level of frustration on the person's part that no one cared for them. Well, we didn't even know there was a problem.

That's why we have ministries designed to meet needs. We have a prayer ministry. We have a care ministry. We have a meals ministry. We have a visitation ministry. We have a benevolence fund. We've got ministries to meet the needs of people. We've got people who want to meet the needs of other people. So whatever your need is this morning, it's okay to have that need.

And you know what? There's someone here in the body who wants to meet it. Guess what? It'll be a win-win-win. It'll be a win for you because you're going to have your needs met and you're going to rejoice greatly because somebody is reaching out and showing concern. It's going to be a win for that person because they're going to be able to share with someone else. It's going to be a win for God because he's going to get glorified out of the whole experience. Paul says, "I rejoice greatly, megalos." Why? Because you're showing concern for me.

There's a second observation from this text about rejoicing. It's rejoicing in being content. Rejoicing in being content. Paul says in verses 11 to 13, "I'm not saying this," what he just said about, "Hey, I greatly rejoice because you've revived your concern for me," "I'm not saying this because I'm in need, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances. I know what it is to be in need and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well-fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength."

Paul talks about the secret of being content. The word for content here is the Greek word "autarkes." This is the only time that Paul uses it in his letters. He uses a derivative of the term, but this one use here in Philippians 4 is a unique usage. It means sufficient for oneself or not needing any outside aid or support. This is what Socrates said about this word. This is how this word was used in ancient Greek literature, borrowed from ancient Greek literature put into the New Testament.

Socrates, the philosopher, said this: "The person who is the wealthiest is the one that is content with the least, for autarkes," which is the word, "is nature's wealth." Socrates says being content, that's more valuable than all the wealth that you can have. The wealthiest person is the person who has contentment. Paul says, "I learned the secret of being content." That word secret is from the Greek word "mysterion."

It's used very often by Paul in Ephesians and Colossians. There's the mystery of Christ, how Jesus Christ is the unique God-man, fully God and fully man. There's the mystery of the church, how God could take Jew, Gentile, male, female, old and young and bring us all together in one body in Christ. The word mysterion is a word that means something you wouldn't figure out on your own. You'd only understand it if God made it known or revealed it.

So here, contentment is a mystery. It's a secret. But he tells us what it's not based on. It's not based on circumstances. He says, "I'm not saying this because I'm in need, for I've learned to be content whatever the circumstances." So it's not based on circumstances. Just think for a moment. We think, "If my life was just like this, I'd be content," right? We all do that. We picture some circumstance.

Paul just says the secret of being content is not based on circumstances because I'm content no matter what the circumstances are. So take that off your mental framework that if I could just have this scenario in my life, then I'd be content. No, you couldn't be. That's not it. Contentment is not based on having all our needs met. He says in verse 12, "I know what it is to be in need and I know what it is to have plenty. I've learned the secret of being content in any and every situation."

So you could have all your needs met and not be content. You could have many of your needs not met and be content. It's not based on having all your needs met. Contentment is not based on having an abundance. He says, "I know what it is to be in need. I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well-fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want."

You can be well-fed and have plenty and not necessarily be content. So contentment, it's not based on circumstances. It's not based on having our needs met. It's not based on abundance. And guess what? It's not based on sacrificing everything either, for the super-spiritual folks out there. He says, "I know what it is to be in need. I know what it is to be hungry. I know what it is to be in want."

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 five dollars. 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 dollars 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 come to the end of the book of Philippians and Paul ends this book consistently with the whole theme, all about joy and rejoicing. Over 16 times, the Apostle Paul mentions this idea of having joy or rejoicing in the Lord. You see, this is a book that positively affirms the new life that we have in Christ and how Christ will transform our life and fill our lives with the joy of the Lord.

Within this book, we've been discovering keys and principles from God's word as to how to live a joy-filled life. In Philippians chapter four, at the end of this chapter, Paul talks about a couple of themes. He talks about being able to do all things through Christ who strengthens him and having a sense of being content in any and every circumstance. Have you come to that place in your life where you're content in any and every circumstance?

Boy, that's quite a challenge, isn't it? If you're like me, too often I find myself complaining about circumstances when really I should be aware that God is at work in my life and even those things I'm complaining about are part of God's plan for me. You see, when I complain, it reveals that I'm not trusting completely in God's provision for my life. Paul says he had experienced difficulty and want and hunger and need, and he was content.

As well, he experienced plenty and he experienced abundance and he experienced fullness and he was content in those situations as well. Paul had come to a place where he understood that contentment wasn't about circumstantial happiness. Contentment was about being in the center of God's will. Contentment had to do with understanding God's purpose for his life. Contentment had to do with experiencing God's power in his life and contentment had to do with trusting in Christ alone as the source of his strength.

Paul could say I've come to understand how to be content in any and every circumstance because he lived on the principle of, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." When we live in the strength of Jesus Christ, that's when we can be content. When we abide in Christ, that's when we experience God's life in us and through us in any and every situation.

Jesus said in John chapter 15, "If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it shall be done for you. By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples." You see, it's that abiding relationship with Jesus Christ, allowing Christ to think through our minds, allowing Christ to feel through our hearts, allowing Christ to speak through our mouths, allowing Christ to live his resurrection life through our bodies.

That's how we actually live new life in Christ. That's how we actually experience contentment and when we're content, we have the joy of the Lord. Philippians tells us how to have the joy of the Lord by being content through living a life dependent upon Christ living in us and through us.

God, thank you so much for this life that you have given to us in Jesus Christ. May we live every day confidently saying we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. 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.