Truth That Changes Lives

JP Jones: We are to live lives that are worthy of the gospel, and it's the gospel that is the unifying factor for all believers in Jesus.

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. Listen as J.P. gives us part two of Philippians 1:18.

JP Jones: I'm going to ask you a very challenging theological question right now. If Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the Helper, what do you think he does for us? He helps us. Let me just, let me do a straw poll. How many here in the last week, in some area, your marriage, your parenting, your job, your relationship, just your thoughts, your feelings, your emotions, you needed some kind of help this past week?

Yeah, every one of us. God's given us the Helper, the Holy Spirit. He lives inside of us. He helps us. He gives us what we need. And Paul says, for him, in his personal situation, that was mediated because the Philippians were praying for him. He got the help of the Holy Spirit, but he got the help of the Holy Spirit because the Philippians were praying for him. Do you get the point? Do you get the connection?

It is as we are really praying for ourselves, praying for our families, praying for our fellow members of the church, praying for our pastors, praying for our spiritual leaders, that the Holy Spirit then releases his fruit and gifts and miracles and help. What that tells me is we have to be praying all the time. We have to be a praying church. We need to be praying people. We need to pray spontaneously, we need to have planned times of prayer.

We need to pray publicly, we need to pray privately. We need to pray in response to crises, and we need to just pray when everything's great. We need to pray all the time, because there is this inseparable relationship between our prayers and then the release of the Holy Spirit's help, which Paul says was deliverance or soteria, salvation.

All that God's saved us for, we experience through the help of the Holy Spirit, which comes when we are praying. That's my first observation. Here's the second observation. Remember, all this ties back to this experience of joy that God wants us to have as individuals and to have as the people of God.

Second observation: What matters more than anything else is that Jesus be exalted through our lives. That's what matters most. Not that the Lakers win the championship, not that you break par in your golf game, not that you get that promotion, not that you have enough money to pay for your kids' college, not that you get that dream house, not even that you have the perfect family.

What matters most is that Jesus is exalted through our lives. Philippians 1:20: I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage. Notice how he's just loading this up. Paul loves to do this. He loads, before he even says what it is he's going to say, he loads it up with all types of strong, passion-filled, emotional kind of language.

I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now we get to the point. Now as always, Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. Paul's passion, consuming passion, his overwhelming desire, his intelligent pursuit, was that Christ be exalted in his life.

In fact, in the NIV it says, "I eagerly expect." This is one Greek word, which is a combination of three words, apokaradokia. And this is what the word, it's a word picture. It means to strain your neck, to turn your head, and to fix your gaze. To strain your neck, to turn your head, to fix your gaze. It's talking about all of a sudden something happens, you stop whatever you're doing and it's like, you strain your neck, you turn your head, you fix your gaze.

It's like, what? And you're looking intently. You're, you're focused just became, you know, crystallized on something. Like if you were standing out on the street and having a conversation with someone, and all of a sudden you heard screeching tires and a crash of metal, whatever the conversation would just come to a stop, you'd strain your neck, you'd turn your head, you'd fix your gaze.

Paul's relating that word picture to wanting to have Christ exalted in his life. This wasn't like a one-time commitment he made at a conference and then lived the rest of his life like it never happened. This is the way he lived life, you see. This is the way he got up every day. This is the way he approached every challenge, every circumstance. It was, what I want more than anything else is for Christ to be exalted.

And then he even, he adds to this in, in no way to be ashamed. He doesn't want to have any shame related to this. In other words, he wants to come to the end of his life and say, that's the way I lived and I lived it consistently and I lived it passionately, and I lived it with integrity. This wasn't, you know, an up and down type of personal commitment that I made, I gave my whole life to this, wanting to exalt you, Jesus.

I eagerly expect and hope in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage. This is one Greek word, parresia, means to speak freely. It's translated in most of our Bibles as boldness. Boldness of speech. In other words, I don't want this to be some private closet commitment. I don't want anybody to be in doubt about what kind of person I am and what I'm committed to.

In fact, I want to be so passionate about wanting to exalt Christ that I don't have any intimidation to talk about it either. I told the men this, I know at a men's retreat one time, I, you know, I, I teach at Biola and I, I write the syllabus for the course and I've written a couple books and the students buy these books from me.

I had these, this was a couple years ago. I had these checks from, uh, from students from purchasing the material and a bunch of them and I'd been holding them for a while and they need to go to the bank and so I went to the bank and and it was just like this really long line at the bank and so I'm, I'm waiting in line, waiting in line, it's taking a long time. And other people are waiting in line starting to lose their patience a little bit. And a guy up in front of me, like two people in front of me, gets up there and just pitches a fit about the how long it took to be in the bank and, and, you know, the service he was receiving and, and it was like a huge thing. And everybody in line were like, gosh, you got to take a chill pill, you know.

And I'm, and I was thinking like, dude, you know, take time to smell the coffee. Relax. It's okay. So then I get up there in line and I have these checks and I, I set them up there and I go, yeah, I just want to cash these checks. And there were a bunch of them, you know, I got a bunch of students, so maybe like 60, 70 checks. And she said, you know, um, I, I can cash 10 of them.

I, I go, what? She goes, well, I can cash 10 of them. We've got a policy now that that's 10 is the maximum number of checks that we can cash. And I go, well, no, I've been coming to Bank of America for a long time. I just, I just want to cash these checks. Sorry, sir, I can, I can only count 10 of them. I go, well, I got about 60 or 70 checks. She goes, well, you're welcome to go back in line and come back again for the.

And then I, I said, I said, who established the 10 check policy? I said it about like that. Well, I like that. And then all of a sudden, get and the manager came and it's like, now I'm the guy. I'm the guy pitching the fit. The manager came, we had this whole conversation. Make a long story short. Finally, they said, the manager says, well, just, you know, just give them what he wants.

And so then he, he goes, oh, I, I see all these checks are for the same amount. What, what, what's that about? And I said, well, that's because I, I, I teach a course. What do you teach? She asked me, what do you teach? They say confession's good for the soul, but it's bad for the reputation. Your pastor lied. I said, I teach philosophy.

I lied. I lied, because in that clarity moment, I just realized I was the worst witness in the entire world. I'm not going to tell her I teach Bible. Oh my gosh. I lied. Paul says he wanted to have full integrity, confidence, passion about what? Exalting Christ and freedom to talk about it.

You see, it, it's hard to talk about Christ with a lot of enthusiasm if our lives don't back that up. What matters more than anything else is that Jesus be exalted. And Paul says by life or by death. He didn't mean that metaphorically. He was in prison, waiting to see Caesar, making his appeal to Caesar. He literally could have been given the death sentence.

By life or death. And everything in between. See, Paul had come to a place where he really was living this exchanged life. You, you may have heard that, that term, it's from Galatians 2:20 where Paul says, I've been crucified with Christ, it's no longer I who live, it's Christ who lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

Paul understood he made an exchange when he crossed the line and gave his life to Jesus. Not only did he receive the forgiveness of his sins and the gift of eternal life, he gave up his life. He transferred the ownership of his life to Jesus. He experienced, I'm crucified with Christ. I've exchanged my life for Christ's life.

He, he wrote in Colossians chapter 3, you know, since then we've been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God, set your mind on the things above and not on the things that are on earth. For you've died and your life is hidden with Christ in God, and when Christ who is our life is revealed, then you'll be revealed with him in glory.

So Paul said, hey, life, death, imprisonment, persecution, bring it on. Long as Jesus is glorified. Remember, we're looking at this from the context of experiencing this lasting joy, this deep joy that transcends personal comfort. Having everything the way we want it to be. Having joy even in the face of some really tough things.

And, and gosh, there's probably about 500 people here this morning. It doesn't take a genius to realize some of us are facing some really tough things. But we can have joy when we fully surrender our lives to Christ. When we settle that issue once for all, when we give our lives without reservation, and what we want more than anything else is for Jesus to be exalted.

When that is a settled conviction of the heart and the mind, of course we want things to be comfortable, and of course we have our personal desires. But even when we don't get them, we can have joy. Here's a third observation. We need to see our life purpose as bearing fruit for Christ by serving others. We need to see our life purpose as bearing fruit for Christ by serving others.

Philippians 1:21-26, "For to me, to live is Christ, to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I don't know. I, I'm torn between the two. I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far, but it's more necessary for you that I remain in the body. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that through my being with you again, your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me."

Do you catch what he's saying? He goes, here I am, I'm in prison. I'm kind of expecting God to deliver me. One way or the other. And what I want more than anything else is for, for Christ to be exalted in my body. Now, I could, I could die and be with the Lord, and that's great. I'm in heaven. In fact, that's what I want more than anything else.

But if I'm going to live, it's got to be about Christ. I'm not going to, I don't want to keep on living for it to be just about me. To live as Christ, to die is gain. So if I'm going to live on, then I'm going to give myself to God's purposes for my life. I'm going to serve the Lord with my life. And that's, that's good for you. Because I will be able to mentor you, disciple you, counsel you, shepherd you, teach you, help you grow in the faith.

So I'm torn, because on the one hand, personally, I just want to go be with the Lord. But on the other hand, if I live on, it's fruitful labor. So you know what? I, I'm going to live on. Because I want God to use me in blessing you and serving you. We need to see our life purpose as bearing fruit for Christ by serving others.

This, this is just a great heartfelt perspective on the Apostle Paul. And really, it's illuminating for any of us if we want to really have this kind of joy that Paul's talking about. It's, it's not in getting more toys, it's not in more accomplishments. It's in fruitful labor for Christ. It's in giving ourselves fully to Jesus and to his purposes, and Jesus's purposes always involve people.

They involve blessing people, leading people to Jesus, helping people grow spiritually, comforting hurting people, strengthening weak people, blessing needy people, training leaders who can train others and train others. Paul's looking at his life and saying, I want it to be about Christ.

When you come to the end of your life, what life statement do you want your life to have made? You know, Stephen Covey in his book on Habits of Highly Effective People, he has an exercise in there that's, it's kind of insightful. He says, picture you, you walk into a room and it's a, it's a funeral, a memorial service.

And uh, you realize you're the person being eulogized. It's your funeral. And someone from your family gets up and gives a eulogy, and someone from your work gets up and gives a eulogy, and someone from the community gets up and gives a eulogy, and someone from your church gets up and gives a eulogy. What do you want them to say about you at the end of your life?

And then this exercise he says, then you need to start living that way so that that's what people will say when you're dead. What do you think they said about the Apostle Paul? You know what they said? They said, here was a guy who fully gave himself to Jesus and served others. And Paul had joy.

Learn from people who are godly mentors. If we want to have that kind of a lasting, abiding joy, we need to be just like Paul, fully give ourselves to Jesus and serve others. That's the way we're going to find joy in our lives. To live as Christ and to die is gain, but to live on, it means fruitful labor.

One last observation. Number four: God desires that we have an uncompromising commitment and unity in the gospel. God desires that we have an uncompromising commitment and unity in the gospel. Verse 27, whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, then whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel.

Without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you, this is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved. And that by God. For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him, since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had and now hear that I still have.

Paul says we've been called not only to be saved, but but but called to suffer. But all of that is a sign that we have experienced the real deal. That Christ truly is the Lord of our lives and he, and we have fully embraced the gospel, which he says by the way, in Romans chapter 1, I'm not ashamed of the gospel because it's the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

The gospel is the good news that Jesus died for our sins and he rose again from the dead. And then when we surrender our lives to Jesus, when we cross the line, he forgives us, he gives us new life. He gives us the gift of eternal life. And and Paul says, this is the gospel of which I want you to contend for and stand firm in and be unified around.

We are to live lives that are worthy of the gospel. And it's the gospel that is the unifying factor for all believers in Jesus. It's not the name on the building, it's not the worship style, it's not the way we dress when we come to church, it's not the hours that we meet for worship, it's not how we structure our church government.

The unifying factor for every true follower of Jesus Christ is the gospel. That's why he says, stand firm in the one faith of the gospel. This past uh, Thursday was the National Day of Prayer and I trust that you, you prayed for our country and for our leaders and for our churches.

I was asked to be a part of a community prayer gathering in San Juan and and we, we prayed for the country and prayed for our leaders, we prayed for our churches. I was asked to pray for the unity of the churches. And this passage came to mind in Philippians chapter 1. So when I got up to lead in prayer on the National Day of Prayer, I read this passage Philippians 1:27 and 28.

And then my prayer was largely that, that the churches of this area would be focused on the gospel. And that the the preachers would preach the gospel. And that we who name the name of Jesus would be loyal to the gospel. And there's so many things that we could talk about, and if we talked long enough, we'd find something that we disagreed on, and then we make that the focus of our conversations about how we're different.

That's not the point. The point is, what do we find our unity in? And what we find our unity in is the gospel of Jesus Christ. We need to make much of the gospel. We need to stand firm in the gospel. We need to be unified around the gospel. It's, it's the good news of Jesus Christ. This isn't the church of Crossline, or the church of JP, or the church of our doctrinal statement, or the church of our worship style.

It's the church of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the head of the church. He's the Savior of the body. He's the unique God-man. He's the compassionate healer, He's the bondage breaker, He's the promised Messiah. He's the interceding high priest, He's the returning king. Jesus Christ is the one who saves us, and our unity, and our firm commitment, our unapologetic stance needs to be about Jesus.

And when we make it that and not a bunch of lesser stuff, we have joy. When we make it about lesser stuff, we get into arguments with one another. But when we make it about Jesus, there's joy. Paul's talking about joy, and he says the key principle in this passage is we experience joy when we find our true identity in Christ and we give ourselves to his purposes for our lives.

What we say around here is that's crossing the line. That's, that's coming to a place in our lives where we say, you know what, we desperately need Jesus Christ. And we want Jesus, and we identify ourselves fully with Jesus Christ, so we cross the line. If you've never done that, today I invite you to do that. If you have done that, then I say, focus on Christ and find your true joy.

Guest (Male): What a great message for all of us today. Pastor J.P. 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 J.P.'s new book, *Facing Goliath*. Please join us every Sunday at 9 or 11 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're looking at the book of Philippians, which is a book all about joy. In Philippians chapter 1:18-30, the Apostle Paul says our joy comes when our life is identified with Christ. When we are totally surrendered to Christ, when we've crossed the line and trusted in Christ for our salvation, when Christ is filling our lives and living his life through us through the power of the Holy Spirit, and when we find our identity in sharing that unity of gospel commitment with other believers and other Christians, joy comes when we love Jesus and share that love with Jesus with other believers and share that love for Jesus to lost people so that they might come to believe in Jesus.

You see, the the real source of joy is from Jesus Christ filling our lives. Is Jesus Christ filling your life right now? Have you crossed the line? Have you given your life to Christ? Do you have the assurance that Jesus is your Lord and Savior? Are you living in the power of the Holy Spirit? Are you seeking to live your life as a witness for Christ and and share the gospel of Jesus with others? That's where joy is found.

And it really begins with that first and foremost commitment of fully surrendering our life to Jesus Christ. If you have never done that, or if you are uncertain about that, I invite you right now as you're listening to this message to open up your heart to Jesus Christ and have the assurance that he lives in you and that you're saved and that his joy is your strength. If you would like to do that, I invite you to pray with me right now.

Lord Jesus, I need you. I believe you died for my sins and rose again from the dead. I believe that you are the Lord and Savior. Jesus, come into my life, forgive my sins, fill me with the Holy Spirit. Jesus, be the Lord of my life. Live your life through me, Jesus. Jesus, I pray that you'd fill me with joy, and I ask for that 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.