Truth That Changes Lives

JP Jones: We experience joy when we live out authentic Christianity.

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 Jones will be giving us a message from a series entitled Joy. Let’s listen as JP gives us part one of Philippians 1:23.

JP Jones: We're in a series in the book of Philippians talking about this whole topic of joy. The Bible does say that the joy of the Lord shall be your strength. God wants us to have joy and abundance of joy. Jesus said in John chapter 15, "These things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be made full." Sixteen times in the book of Philippians, the Apostle Paul describes joy or talks about rejoicing.

Joy is a fruit of an authentic experience with Jesus Christ. In Philippians chapter three, that is highlighted for us as the Apostle Paul talks about the fact that it's all about Jesus. When everything is said and done, the focus of real authentic Christianity is Jesus Christ. It's not the outward form. It's not even a style of discipleship or worship. It's all about Jesus. He has got to be the one who is first and foremost in our lives, in our thoughts, in our theology, and in the focus of our lives.

Paul said this in Philippians 3 verses 1 to 8: "Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it's a safeguard for you. Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh. For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh, though I myself have reasons for such confidence.

If anyone else thinks he has reason to put confidence in the flesh, I have more. Circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless. But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.

What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things and I consider them rubbish, so that I may gain Christ." This passage leads us to this direction of our lives, which is to focus on Jesus Christ. It hinges on a play on words that the Apostle Paul uses in verses two and three.

He talks about the fact that there are dogs who do evil, mutilators of the flesh. He's describing the legalistic party, those Pharisaical Jews who were criticizing and attacking his preaching of the Gospel and who were basically saying that people had to become Jews before they could become Christians. They were adding man-made religious rules to a relationship with Jesus. Paul describes them as mutilators of the flesh.

He's obviously referring to circumcision and the role of circumcision in the Jewish religion and the spiritual circumcision that happens when someone becomes a Christian. But he says for them, it's not really circumcision; it's the mutilation of the flesh. Then he says in verse three, "We are the true circumcision." In the Greek language, it's just a little play on words of just a change in the letters from fleshly mutilation to spiritual circumcision.

What's the point? The point is Paul is saying there is a true authentic circumcision, a true authentic covenant relationship with God, a true authentic Christianity. When we know it and when we believe it and when we practice it, we experience joy. We experience joy when we live out authentic Christianity. Now, what that means is there's a synthetic Christianity. There's a false Christianity. There's a religion versus a relationship.

What God calls us to as followers of Jesus is a true living, vital, life-transforming relationship with Jesus Christ. I want us to ask a question as we study this passage together. I want us to really ask God to speak to us about the fact of our own life and our own experience. Are we synthetic or are we authentic? Are we religious or are we really being transformed by Jesus? Are we in an authentic relationship with Jesus?

Because the byproduct, as it fits into the larger context of this book of Philippians, the byproduct of authentic Christianity is joy, life-transforming joy. Here are some observations as we work our way through the text. Number one, authentic Christianity rejoices in the Lord. Authentic Christianity rejoices in the Lord. Paul puts it in the form of a command. "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."

Seven times in this letter, he commands us to rejoice in the Lord. He repeats this same idea: rejoice in the Lord, rejoice in the Lord, rejoice in the Lord. Rejoicing is a command. There's nothing spiritual about being straight-laced, sober, and sad. There's nothing spiritual about looking like a fundamentalist. Authentic Christianity radiates joy. It's a fruit of the Spirit. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Paul says, "Finally, rejoice in the Lord," and then he says, "It's no trouble for me to write this to you. I can write it all day long. In fact, it's a safeguard for you." That's an interesting phrase. It's a safeguard for you. It is to our profit. It is to our benefit. It is to our blessing to have people remind us to be joyful in Christ. You know why? Because there's all kinds of things in life that would rob us of joy.

Jesus said in John chapter 10, "The thief comes to kill, steal, and destroy. I have come that you might have life and have it abundantly." Ultimately, anything that robs us of abundant life in Jesus Christ, joy in Jesus Christ, is from the thief, the evil one. There's all kinds of things that would detract us from joy, that would rob us from joy, that would diminish our joy. So Paul says, "It's a safeguard that I say this to you and that I keep saying it and that I keep saying it."

Authentic Christianity rejoices in the Lord. Sometimes that just comes down to a choice, doesn't it? Like any command, it ultimately comes down to a choice. I either obey it or I don't obey it. See, sometimes joy is just what we feel. We're having a good day. We had an answered prayer. The people we care about are doing well. Our marriage is going great. Our kids are succeeding in school. We just got a promotion. A lot of times joy is just what we feel because things are going great.

But life isn't always like that, is it? Sometimes it's the exact opposite. We just got laid off. They're going to foreclose on our house. Our kids just flunked out of school. Rather than making spiritual strides, our kids are making bad moral decisions. Sometimes life is hard and tough and challenging, and what we just feel is not joy. But what's the command? Rejoice in the Lord. Sometimes it's a choice to rejoice, and it is a safeguard to hear that, to understand that, and to obey that.

Because if we're not rejoicing in the Lord, we are spiritually vulnerable. If we're not rejoicing in the Lord, we move away from authentic Christianity to some false version of Christianity. Authentic Christianity rejoices in the Lord. The Apostle Paul is a perfect example of that. Because in Acts chapter 16, which is somewhat of an historical background to this passage, Paul has his contact with the city and people of Philippi and establishes the church at Philippi.

Out of that relationship, he writes this letter of Philippians. In Acts chapter 16, we read of Paul's first experience at Philippi and as a result of preaching the gospel, Paul is thrown into prison and he's beaten. If you have read Acts 16 or you know the story, Paul is thrown into prison, he's beaten, and at the midnight hour, nobody could get any sleep because what is Paul doing? Singing praises to God at the top of his lungs. He's rejoicing even in the midst of terrible circumstances, unjust circumstances, difficult, hard, painful circumstances.

When Paul tells us here in Philippians 3:1 to rejoice in the Lord, he was a guy who practiced what he preached. Authentic Christianity rejoices in the Lord. Here's a second observation. Authentic Christianity has its critics and detractors. Authentic Christianity has its critics and detractors. "Watch out," verse two says, "for the dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh."

I don't know about you, but I have in my temperament, my personality, a basic default that says, "Can't we all just get along?" I feel like if I could just sit down with people and explain my position or share my heart or talk about my perspective, we may not agree, but at least we'd like each other. But life has shown me that's just not the case. Not everybody thinks I'm as wonderful as I do. Not everybody thinks you're as wonderful as you think you are either.

There are, even to spirit-filled, Christ-centered disciples, detractors, critics, dogs, evil workers. Paul says, "Watch out for them." In fact, he repeats that three times. There are three "Watch out! Watch out! Watch out!" in the Greek text. It's in the imperative position in the sentence, so that's what screams out when you read it. It's like flashing red lights. There are some people out there that are going to steal your joy. Whether they realize it or not, they are actually tools of the evil one, the thief who comes to steal, kill, and destroy.

Most of these people don't realize that they're tools of the evil one. In fact, many of them feel like they're championing God's cause, but they are toxic to you and to your faith. You know what I'm talking about? There are people who are spiritually toxic to us. They may really feel like they are the voice of the Lord, but they are actually to us the voice of discouragement. We need to watch out. We need to watch out for these people.

Paul, in his context, is describing a group of people who were known as the Judaizers. These were the extreme Jewish legalists who accepted Jesus but added all types of rituals and regulations and rules to Christianity. The only way that they would allow Gentiles to come into the covenant relationship with God is that the Gentiles had to convert to Judaism and then become Christians. Even then, they had to hold to a very high standard of legalistic obedience and application.

The whole book of Galatians is written to this group of people. Here in Philippians 3 where he's talking about joy and rejoicing in the Lord, he gives a warning that these people are out there, they are among us, and they will steal our joy. Authentic Christianity has its critics and its detractors. There are people, maybe they're well-meaning and maybe they feel like they're championing some religious cause, but their relationship with us, their comments to us, their involvement with us drains us of our spiritual passion, robs us of our spiritual joy.

I was looking on the internet and I found some statements that were actual employee evaluations. These are actual comments that supervisors made of their employees in doing their job evaluations, rather sarcastic and critical in some of the statements. Here's some of the actual statements that were written by supervisors of their employees. "If you gave him a penny for his thoughts, you’d get change." "If he were any more stupid, he’d have to be watered twice a week."

"The gates are down, the lights are flashing, but the train isn't coming." "He donated his brain to science before he was done using it." "He has a photographic memory, but the lens cover is glued onto the camera." "He brings a lot of joy whenever he leaves the room." "He's been working around glue too much." "I'd like to go hunting with him sometime." "He doesn't have ulcers, but he's a carrier." "He's not so much of a has-been, but more of a never-will-be."

"I wouldn't allow him to breed." "He'd be out of his depth if he was in a mud puddle." This goes on and on. These were actual statements. They are sarcastic and they have a little bit of humor to them, but what's their real design? They're critical. I've been in professional ministry for over 30 years. I've been a pastor for 20 years. If I had before you some of the emails that I've received from people in the church about the music, the times of services, the emphasis on missions, the change in leadership structure, the sermons I preach, the sermons I don't preach, I'd get the same kind of response.

At first a little bit of laughter and then a feeling of, "You mean people really said those things to you?" Yeah. You know what they did? They robbed me of joy. When people say those things to you, they rob you of joy. When you say those things to people, you rob them of joy. Authentic Christianity has its critics and has its detractors. More often than not, those who are the critics and those who are the detractors don't even realize that's who they are.

Let's first of all ask the Holy Spirit to give us eyes to see whether our words are detracting and critical and draining of joy of others. Let's ask the Holy Spirit to give us a spiritual discernment so that we will see and avoid those who would rob us of joy, because there's just not enough time to be filled with discouragement and to wallow in the criticisms that other people would give us. The Apostle Paul says, "Watch out for that. Watch out for that. Watch out for that."

In contrast to that, here's a third observation. Authentic Christianity produces spirit-empowered worship. He says, "For it is we who are the circumcision," verse three, "we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus and who put no confidence in the flesh." That's where I shared with you in the beginning of this message. At the end of verse two, when he talks about the mutilators of the flesh and then here in verse three where he talks about the circumcision, it's just the changing of two letters in Greek from a word that means to mutilate to a word that means to circumcise.

Paul is using circumcision as a spiritual metaphor of real Christianity. At the end of Romans chapter two, he does the same thing when he says that circumcision is not of the flesh but of the heart and it's not performed by hands, but it's performed by the Spirit of God. Paul's talking here about the spiritual circumcision that happens in a person's life when they come into a living relationship with Jesus Christ.

The Holy Spirit actually implants new life within us. He gives us a new nature. We are now brought into a relationship with God. We're reconciled to God. We have eternity in heaven as our hope. Right now, we have the presence of Jesus in our life. That's real Christianity. What he says about real Christianity and authentic Christianity is that it produces spirit-empowered worship. We are the true circumcision who worship by the Spirit of God.

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. Here in Philippians chapter three, Paul is continuing this whole theme of joy and how we experience joy in the Christian life. What he's saying is that joy comes from when we live authentic Christian lives. Real Christianity. You see, there is a pseudo-Christianity, a fake Christianity. It's religion. It's legalism. It's based on following rules and living up to other people's expectations rather than living in the power of the Holy Spirit and seeking to please God with our lives.

Paul says watch out for people who would put us under that legalistic system. Watch out for people who model and teach pseudo-Christianity. It's a false approach to living life in Christ. Rather than giving us joy, it will rob us of joy. In fact, it'll suck all the joy out of our lives. Unfortunately, there's some people who live that way. There's some churches who model that and teach that, but that is not the way of Jesus Christ.

The way of Jesus Christ is new life produced by the power of the Holy Spirit within us, who leads us to be servants and worshippers, who leads us to be empowered witnesses, who produces spiritual fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. This is all empowered by the Holy Spirit because He is the one who produces authentic Christian experience.

Joy comes from living an authentic Christian life, and an authentic Christian life comes from the indwelling Holy Spirit. Would you ask God to experience a life that would be characterized by the fruit of the Holy Spirit? Would you ask God to empower you to live an authentic life so that His joy radiates within you? You can do that in prayer.

God, thank you that you love us. You've saved us in Christ. You've given us the Holy Spirit. He's the source of the authentic Christian life. We ask to be filled with the Holy Spirit and we ask that the joy of the Lord would be our strength. 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'll 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.