Truth That Changes Lives

JP Jones: Here's the key principle. We find joy when we partner with other believers in the work of the gospel.

Guest (Male): Thank you for joining us on Truth That Changes Lives. Pastor J.P. 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 J.P. will be giving us a message from a series entitled Joy. Let's listen in as J.P. gives us part one of Philippians 1:11.

JP Jones: Have your Bibles open to the book of Philippians. Philippians chapter 1. It's a book about joy. The Apostle Paul wrote this book while he was in prison. That's an odd place to write a book about joy, but it only goes to the fact that joy is not found in having everything we want or experiencing all the circumstances that we desire. But joy is found in having a lasting and meaningful relationship with Christ.

Joy is found in having something that's transcendent, something that's bigger and better and beyond what we could provide for ourselves. And in this letter that Paul writes from prison to the church at Philippi, he unfolds for us under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit the keys to lasting and meaningful joy, keys that each of us can grab onto and experience and apply in our lives so that no matter what's happening emotionally or financially or circumstantially, we can really have joy.

In fact, it's what God wants to fill our lives with. So each week as we work our way through scripture and going verse by verse through this book, we're going to try to highlight a key principle for experiencing joy. Philippians chapter 1 verses 1 to 11.

Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and the deacons, grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I thank my God every time I remember you, in all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

It's right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart, for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God's grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

And this is my prayer, that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.

Paul begins this, this letter. It's a short letter, but he begins it with this introduction that from the get-go lets us know this theme of praise and confidence and joy that's possible in Jesus Christ. Here's the key principle: We find joy when we partner with other believers in the work of the gospel.

We find joy when we partner with other believers in the work of the gospel. Paul's going to tell us in this opening introduction that there is a partnership, a fellowship, a sharing together in the bonds of Christ that God is pleased with, in fact, God uses to give us joy. When we focus and direct our lives on knowing Christ and making him known, joy fills our life.

When we focus on knowing Christ and making him known and we do that in relationship and partnership with other believers, joy fills our life. We find joy when we partner with others in the work of the gospel.

Here's some observations from this passage. The first one is this: The church needs spiritual leaders. The church needs spiritual leaders. Paul says as he puts the initial focus on this letter, Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and the deacons.

Paul says he writes it to all the saints. He uses the word Hagios, holy ones. He means that in a generic sense. Every believer in Jesus Christ is a Hagios, a holy one. Every believer in Jesus Christ has been set apart by virtue of their relationship with Jesus Christ, and they're a saint. It's not just the super spiritual people, it's every believer in Jesus.

But Paul does something different in this particular introduction from the other letters. He includes the overseers and the deacons. All of Paul's letters have an opening formula where he says who it's from and who he's writing to and he gives them grace and peace. This is the only time when he actually says not only to all the saints, but to the overseers and the deacons.

Paul is acknowledging that in the church there is a leadership principle, and there's a necessary call upon some people's lives to give servant spiritual leadership to the rest of the body. He uses two words, overseers and deacons. The word overseers, the Greek term Episcopos, some translations translate this as bishop. It's where we get the word episcopal or Episcopalian.

According to Acts chapter 20 and 1st Peter chapter 5, an Episcopos was one who functioned in one role of three roles: the Episcopos role, the Presbyteros role, and the Poima role. Episcopos, overseer; Presbyteros, elder; Poima, shepherd or pastor. These terms are used interchangeably.

Pastors, elders and overseers were the same office, just different functions of the same office. In the early church, God established the church through the apostles and the apostles appointed leaders, and those leaders were overseers, elders and pastors. And assisting the overseers were deacons, and it's the word Diakonos, it means servant or minister.

The church needs leaders. The family needs leaders. Any organization needs leaders. It is a spiritual principle that God raises up and appoints and uses leaders to serve the kingdom of God.

Several years ago, before we started Crossline and I was exploring and praying about God's direction in my life, I candidated with a church up in Northern California. It was a pretty large church in Santa Cruz, and they had just gone through a transition and decided to kind of remodel the structure of the church. And so they, they moved to what they called a shared leadership model.

They changed the title of the senior pastor to be teaching pastor, and they changed the title of the executive pastor to be lead pastor, and then they had a chairman of the elder board. And these three persons, the chairman of the elder board, the teaching pastor, and the lead pastor, were to going to combine and have a shared leadership role in the church.

As I interviewed with them and they talked about them and they shared this concept with me, I remember a particular phone interview I was having with them, and I said, yeah, I'm, I'm familiar with that model, I understand that model. Let me ask you, when everything's said and done, who's the leader?

And they said, well, all three of them are leaders. It's a shared leadership model. I go, I understand, that's a shared leadership model. But in terms of getting the work of the kingdom done and in terms of functional relationships and championing vision, who's the leader?

And they said, well, it's a shared leadership model. You got the chairman of the elder board, you got the teaching pastor and you got the lead pastor. I go, listen, maybe I'm kind of thick-headed, I'm an old jock. So let me put this in football terms and you answer my question. They said, okay.

I'm having this phone interview. This is what I said. I said, we're in a huddle, and you got the chairman of the elder board, and you got the lead pastor, and you got the teaching pastor, this is the role you want me to play, right? So the three of us were all in a huddle and we're calling the play and we're thinking about the strategy and the direction and the day-to-day operations of the church.

And before someone says, ready, break, who is it that actually calls the play? Is it the chairman of the elder board, is it the lead pastor or is it the teaching pastor?

And there was silence on the other end of the phone. I said, I take it by your silence you hadn't thought that through. They said, no, we really hadn't thought that through. I said, here's the deal. You're a large church. You got 2,500 people, 3,000 people. The kind of person you're going to be candidating for to be the teaching pastor, this is a person who's used to leading.

And leaders want to know the, the parameters of their leadership. Not only me, but anybody you're going to interview for this job is going to want to know what's the working relationship with the lead pastor and with the chairman of the elder board. And when everything's said and done, which one of us is actually calling the plays?

And then I said, and by the way, whether it's what you intend or not, the body, the church body, they tend to think that the guy up front speaking is the leader. If he's not the leader in your shared model, you better make that clear to everybody, including the body.

So before you hire somebody, whether it's me or somebody else, you better figure out in your shared leadership model, who's the leader among the leaders? See, leadership is a God-designed principle. And the church needs leaders.

Christ's church needs overseers and deacons, servant leaders. Now we understand the model that Jesus gave us. Jesus said in Mark chapter 10, that the Son of Man didn't come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. In the kingdom of God, leaders are servants. They, they give their life for others.

So overseers and deacons are servant leaders, but Christ's church needs servant leaders. The church at Philippi had servant leaders. This church needs servant leaders. Every church needs spiritual men and women who give their lives to serve others.

It's just a biblical principle. And Paul, as he's writing this letter, acknowledges, I'm writing to the whole church and I'm writing to the overseers, I'm writing to the deacons, I'm writing to the spiritual leaders.

Here's a second observation from this passage. We need to regularly pray for one another. Paul's not getting to the heart of this principle that he's getting across because he says, I thank my God, verse 3, every time I remember you, in all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy.

Notice the, the hyperbole that he uses. Every time, all my prayers, I always pray. We need to regularly pray for one another. We need to consistently pray for one another. We need to pray for one another all the time, every day. Because God hears our prayers. And God does miracles when we pray.

God changes the lives of people when we pray, and God changes our lives when we pray. And Paul says, when we pray, and when we pray God-ordained prayers, it gives us joy. See, it's a win-win. God gets glory, people get blessed, and we get joy.

We can make a spiritual investment in the kingdom of God by praying for one another. And it not only blesses those that we pray for, it blesses us. Paul is drawing upon a a relational currency that he had with these folks at Philippi, and it's the key to experiencing joy, at least in this passage.

He's talking about shared ministry, shared vision, slugging it out in the trenches together to advance the kingdom, working together in in the cause of the gospel. And because of that, a relationship gets formed, and because that relationship gets formed, there's a burden to pray for one another. And when we do it, we get joy.

There's no lone ranger mentality in the church of Jesus Christ. It's not, you know, living in isolation. In fact, it's the exact opposite. It's a living in community, it's living in connection, it's living in relationship. And living in that relationship purposely to advance the kingdom of God and share the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And because of that, we make an investment in one another's lives and we have a common history and common connection with one another. And because of that, we know what's going on in one another's lives, and because we know what's going on in one another's lives, we think about one another and we pray for one another. And when we do, we have joy.

We need to regularly pray for one another. It was Paul's practice. Over in 1st Thessalonians chapter 1, Paul writes this, "We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. We continually remember before our God and our Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ."

That's one of the reasons why I send out that daily prayer devotion, because I, I want you all, I want all of us to be praying for one another, to be praying for ourselves, of course, to be praying for our families, yeah. But I want you to pray for me. I want you to pray for our pastors. I want you to pray for our staff.

I want you to pray for one another. I want you to pray for our whole body, because when we, when we pray for one another, we make a spiritual investment in each other's lives. And when we pray for one another, God changes us.

That's why I've shared with you all that for a time I had Oran Root's picture on my refrigerator when he was serving as a Marine Special Forces guy over in Middle East. Right now, I got a picture of Azad on my refrigerator, and I pray for him every day. Just send him another email.

You have told you the story of how Azad came to our church, and he was lost and found Christ and God restored his marriage. His wife is right here, and their family are part of our church, and several of us are praying for Azad every day. Because there's a connection that takes place when we pray for people and we pray for them specifically and we ask God to do a work in their life, and it gives us joy.

You see, there's a payoff. God is glorified, people are blessed, and we find joy. Now, Paul tells us here in this passage, not only that we should be praying regularly for one another, and when we do so, it gives us joy, he tells us what we're to be praying for.

Drop down to verse 9. He says this, "And this is my prayer." And this is my prayer, "that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and the depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God."

Paul tells us in this passage that our prayers for one another need to be scripturally based and spiritually transforming. I mean, I, I think we ought to be praying for all the real stuff that we talk about, you know, financial provision and health and and uh, the, the issues of life that come up. I, I hope you're praying for all that stuff for yourself and praying for that for me and praying for that for one another.

But when Paul talks about his prayer for the Philippians, he doesn't highlight some of those specific day-to-day needs. What he talks about are those deep spiritual things that he wants to see happen in their lives. And remember, this is inspired by the Holy Spirit. What we need to be praying for one another is that Christ would change our lives, that Christ would be real to us, that Christ would transform us, that Christ would mold our character, that Christ would produce his fruit in our lives, and that Christ would use us as his servants.

Paul says, I, I pray that your love would abound more and more, that it would be a love with a real knowledge and love with a depth of insight, and that the result of that love abounding, that discerning and knowledgeable love abounding, there would be the ability to discern, this is verse 10, what is best.

It's the Greek word Dokimazo. Dokimazo literally means to approve something after testing. So Paul's prayer is that the love of Christ would be so real in their lives, it would be abounding, and it would be with real knowledge, and it would be with moral insight, so they'd have spiritual discernment to test and approve things and then to choose the best.

And they'd be pure and blameless until the day of Christ. Verse 11, they'd be filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.

See, Paul prays Spirit-inspired prayers. We got several of them mentioned in the New Testament. In Ephesians chapter 1, Ephesians chapter 3, Colossians chapter 1, here in Philippians chapter 1. If you're not sure how to pray for me or how to pray for the people in your small group or how to pray for one another in the body of Christ, just pray these prayers.

Just open your Bible to Philippians 1, Colossians 1, Ephesians 1, Ephesians 3, and pray the prayers in the Bible for one another. When we pray scripture back to God, the Holy Spirit uses that to transform people and to work in people to do a deep work.

We need to pray regularly and we need to pray scripturally, and when we do, based upon shared relationship, we find our joy in Christ. That's what Paul says.

Here's a third observation. We gain confidence when we see God at work in our lives and in our church. We gain confidence. Paul says this, starting in verse 5, "Because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus, it's right for me to feel this way about you all, since I have you in my heart and whether I'm in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God's grace with me."

Paul says that his ministry was a shared ministry. He shared in it with the Philippians. He he shared in it through their prayer support for him. He shared in it in their financial support of him. He later on says in at the end of chapter 4, that the Philippian church was the only church that continued to support him as a missionary, and so he counts that financial support of actually partnering with him in ministry.

Did you know that when you support a missionary, you're actually partnering with them? When you support the ministry of this church, you are actually partnering with everything that we do as a church in ministry? We are partners through our prayers, we are partners through our financial support, and we're partners through actually being in the trenches with one another, doing the work together.

Paul says that from first hand, upfront, close interpersonal observation, he was able to see God's work. And it gave him confidence. Confidence in the past, present, and future working of God. Past, present, and future working of God.

Verse 6 says this: "Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ." So there was a point, Paul says that God began the good work. He was continuing the good work in the present, and he was going to continue it up into the future until the day of Christ. He's speaking about the consummation of the age.

This is not only true of the Philippians, it's true of every believer. Every believer, to be a believer, you begin your spiritual life crossing the line and accepting Christ. That's when you begin and God begins a work in you. And then God continues that work all throughout your spiritual journey until it's full completion when we meet the Lord.

Guest (Male): What a great message for all of us today. Pastor J.P. provides us with great insight. That is why we would 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 J.P.'s new book, Facing Goliath. Please join us every Sunday at 9:00 or 11:00 a.m. 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 J.P., do you have any insight from today's message?

JP Jones: Thanks Greg. We are beginning a study in the book of Philippians and it's one of my favorite books because in this short book, the Apostle Paul talks about joy and rejoicing. The whole theme of Philippians is how to experience true joy. Paul tells us in these four chapters that joy is found in a relationship with Jesus Christ. Joy is found in living in the power of the Holy Spirit. Joy is found in having healthy personal relationships and joy is found in living for Christ's kingdom by sharing Christ with others and being a servant to the call that God has on our lives.

This is what permeates this entire book. In the first few verses of Philippians chapter 1, Paul introduces this letter. He's writing from prison. This is one of the prison letters. Paul is imprisoned at the end of the book of Acts, and he writes several letters out of that prison experience. It only goes to confirm the fact that joy isn't based upon our circumstances, and joy isn't based upon having everything that we seemingly want.

But it's actually found in being secure in Jesus Christ. When we are secure in Christ, when we've crossed the line, when we've come into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, we've taken the most important step to experiencing real personal joy right here. And a joy that we can anticipate coming into its fullness in heaven when we go to meet the Lord after death.

You see, joy is found in a relationship with Christ. And Paul tells us in Philippians chapter 1 that this joy that we have in Christ, we actually get to share with other believers. That's what he's talking about here. He's talking about the relationship that he had with these Philippian believers and it was a relationship that was healthy and secure because it was based on God's love and it was based on a common commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

When we are in strong relationships with other believers in our local church, with other believers in a small group, with other believers serving in a common mission, with other believers around the world, when we're in those healthy kind of relationships, we find real joy because it's in those one another experiences that the love of God flows into our life.

Jesus said in John chapter 13, "By this all men will know that you are my disciples by the love that you have for one another." We have love from God and we are to express that love first and foremost in our personal relationships with other believers in the family of God. We're told in Romans chapter 5 that the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who's been given to us.

You may feel that you don't have the necessary equipment to have a healthy relationship with someone else, but you actually do, because you're a new person in Christ if you believed in Jesus, and you have the Holy Spirit living in you, and the Holy Spirit has given you God's love. And with God's love, you can have the kind of relationship that not only blesses the other person, but glorifies God and gives you true joy.

There's perfect alignment in our walk with Jesus Christ that when we commit ourselves to God's purposes and to his glory, that we also experience our greatest personal joy. And in Philippians chapter 1, Paul is talking about the joy that he experienced in knowing that he partnered together with the Philippians in the cause of the gospel.

When we partner with other believers for Christ's cause, we find real joy. Would you commit yourself to that today? Lord God, I want to experience the joy that you produce because I am rightly related to you. I want to experience the joy that Jesus produces when he's full in my life and when I'm loving other believers. So Jesus, fill me with your joy by filling me with your love for others. In Jesus name, Amen.

Guest (Male): 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.