Unlimited Grace

Bryan Chapell: My joy is not based on my circumstances. My joy is based on the grace of God who has covered me with all of His affection, knowing the worst about me and says, "I am securing you until the day of Christ Jesus" so that you would have knowledge to face that and discernment in facing, not just the good, but the hard. I'm going to have you test and approve what is excellent, what is absolutely the best thing for you because anything that is not of Christ Jesus, anything that puts Him second is actually second best for you.

Guest (Male): So glad you joined us for today's Unlimited Grace, the audio broadcast ministry of Pastor and author Bryan Chapell. In today's episode, Pastor Bryan shares the second half of a lesson from Philippians chapter one. Dr. Chapell highlights how, as believers, our joy is not a result of or dependent upon our circumstances. We can find abounding joy in knowing that the grace of God covers us.

You can find this lesson and many others when you visit unlimitedgrace.com. And while you're there, look for the children's book, Anyway and Always, written by Pastor Bryan and his wife Kathy. Through this book, the Chapells present the promise of the covenant fulfilled by Christ in a personal and meaningful way for young children to understand. Let's hear now from Dr. Bryan Chapell as he shares the second half of the lesson, Abounding Joy.

Bryan Chapell: It really is strength and encouragement that God is giving us in His word. Let me take you there. Philippians chapter one as we will be considering verses seven through 11, really following on last week's message where, if you listened, you would hear people asking a question of the apostle Paul afterwards: "How dare you say that about me?"

Except that's usually how we respond when we hear an insult. Last week, the apostle Paul said of all of those who gather in Christ's church through faith in Him: "You are saints." And there's a sound of wonder that comes from us. "How dare you say that about me? I know my sin, my weakness, my flaw. How can you call me one who through Christ Jesus is holy before God? Is that right?"

Paul answers in verse seven. Let's stand and we'll read together the word of God as the apostle Paul defends his choice of words. Verse seven: "It is right for me to feel this way about you because I hold you in my heart for you are all partakers with me of grace both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.

And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment so that you may approve what is excellent and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God." Let's pray together.

Father, if it's right for the apostle to feel that people that he loved could be saints before You, made holy not by their work but by the work of Jesus, and from that would come an abounding love that deepens and stretches and helps others. It's that love that we want. It's that knowledge that we want to have.

So we pray that You would give it this day. Help what was said so long ago to have fresh meaning even now, that we might abound in love and deepen in understanding and have that fruit of righteousness that truly is a blessing to those about us, for the sake of Jesus, in whose name we pray. Amen.

Some of us in this room were here just a few weeks ago for a wedding. And after the wedding, as the different rows were being dismissed and there was some time, they began to show the slides of the bride and groom's engagement period. You've been in those weddings, right? Where they show the slides and everybody's all smiles.

So you see the wonderful people and places that have occurred in the year prior to the wedding, all that engagement time, it's just beautiful and wonderful and we celebrate that. This is a fantastic engagement. And now they know each other well. But reality says we know if that engagement was really doing its work, yes, discovered wonderful people and places and things, but in all likelihood, there were some tears and trials in that period as well.

Because that was part of deepening the relationship and creating dependence on one another that would be absolutely essential to the future of holding together through the hard times in a broken and fallen world. And so with the message of the wonder of all the good things, that engagement period is actually that where we test and approve what is excellent for all that God intends.

And that is actually what he is saying here, that we are intended by this discernment, by this knowledge of who God is, to be making choices so that ultimately this engagement period prior to our wedding ultimately with the Lord is a fantastic engagement where we are deepening our relationship with God. We're learning greater and greater dependence. And that's actually part of its purpose.

And we need to be reminded of that in a community even now where we celebrate a lot, part of us in a joyful atmosphere of worship, and we know there are others who are experiencing fears and sorrows about layoffs or terminations. And we wonder how all that fits together in an engagement period. And the reality is every single one of us in this room will experience not only the joys but at some time the tears.

And we wonder, if God really loves me, why am I going through this? Why is my family being stretched in this way? And we actually say: this is part of the engagement period where I'm learning that my joy is not just based upon what happens. My joy is not based on my circumstances. My joy is based on the grace of God who has covered me with all of His affection, knowing the worst about me and says, "I am securing you until the day of Christ Jesus" so that you would have knowledge to face that and discernment in facing, not just the good, but the hard.

I'm going to have you test and approve what is excellent, what is absolutely the best thing for you because anything that is not of Christ Jesus, anything that puts Him second is actually second best for you. And so we go through this life, this engagement period, being stretched at times, rejoicing at times, but all of it is about deepening, deepening, deepening a relationship with the Lord Jesus for whatever the world holds for the security of what heaven holds.

And that reality and that goodness is what the apostle is after when he ultimately says to us: what do I want for you? I mean, what does Jesus want for you? What do you most want for those that you most love if you're God? Paul answered that as well in verse 11. He prays that these Philippians would be filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.

To be filled with righteousness. That there would be this right path that God wants us on, this reflection of His beauty and goodness. Not just the sense of rules again, but what would it mean to be right with God and to live in such a way that His goodness and His fruitfulness would be in your life? I mean, some of you are parents and you know exactly what I'm talking about when I say what we really want for our kids, what we really want is a fruitful life.

That there would be this, particularly if God is calling them into marriage, that there would be someone with them that united their heart to their heart for Christ. And what flowed out of that was fruitfulness. A life for God that was a blessing. That all those things that we talk about with such passing care about the fruit of the Holy Spirit, that love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness would be in their heart.

And they'd be united to that person. And we know that somehow out of all that would come wonderful fruit that would not just necessarily be financial, wouldn't necessarily be in position or prestige, but it would be wonderful for their lives. That there would be that fruit of righteousness that they would experience.

And when Paul says that this fruit of righteousness is coming, he's so much dispelling the wrong notions that people have about the name on our front door. That we're Grace Presbyterian Church and people think, "Well, grace is all about doing whatever you want. God will forgive you later." See, you don't get it.

Paul the apostle said it's the grace of God that teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions because God's got a better way. He means for us to enjoy the fruit of the spirit, the flow of fruit that is to come into our lives as we are walking after Him. This grace, this righteousness is not just our position, it's our practice because we believe that out of this living for God, there's actually the greatest wonder and joy that happens in the Christian life.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Unlimited Grace, the audio broadcast ministry of Pastor and author Bryan Chapell. Raising children to love the Lord can sometimes feel like a daunting task. The physical, mental, and emotional energy needed to engage with a child can also lead to feelings of inadequacy and doubt for parents. How then can you effectively talk with children about Jesus or demonstrate to them His love?

Written by Pastor Bryan and his wife Kathy, Anyway and Always is a heartwarming children's book designed to help explain the love of Christ to a child. The Chapells present the promise of the covenant fulfilled by Christ in a personal and meaningful way for young children to understand. Page after page of beautiful illustrations complement Bryan and Kathy's captivating storytelling.

Whether you read this as a bedtime story or share it around the family dinner table, this book is sure to become a favorite of children and parents alike. You can request your copy of Anyway and Always when you go online to unlimitedgrace.com or by calling 844-41-GRACE. That's 844-414-7223. And now more from Bryan Chapell on today's Unlimited Grace.

Bryan Chapell: This grace, this righteousness is not just our position, it's our practice because we believe that out of this living for God, there's actually the greatest wonder and joy that happens in the Christian life. But now we're scared. If I'm supposed to be pure and blameless in this engagement period up until my wedding to the Savior ultimately.

If God is expecting me to test and approve what is excellent, I have only to look at the weakness and the faults and the frailty in my life to wonder if I have passed the test or even could. And so that's why it's so important that we learn that this fruitful life for which the apostle's praying, verse 11, comes through Jesus Christ.

Two things being said here. One is that the blamelessness comes because of grace, that I'm covered with the righteousness of Jesus Christ. But secondly, this fruit of righteousness is through Jesus Christ. You know, this is the same book in which the apostle will say these words: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Now he's saying: "I want the fruit of righteousness to be in your life through Jesus Christ."

This Jesus Christ is yours by the work of the Holy Spirit. He now indwells you. He who raised Jesus from the dead now exists in you so that John will say, "Greater is He that's in you than He that's in the world." The resurrection power of Jesus Christ is in you. So what the Holy Spirit is revealing to you of the requirements of God, He is giving you power to fulfill.

That is not what Satan wants you to believe. Satan wants you to look at the requirements of scripture with knowledge and discernment and say, "Well, that's beyond me. I can't do that. What God is revealing to my heart is no way I can do. I've got this affliction, I've got this addiction, I've got this pattern, I've got this practice, whatever it is. There's no way I can change."

And the apostle is saying that is a denial of the gospel. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. The fruit of righteousness is through Jesus Christ, that I believe as a matter of faith that God will equip and enable me to face the things that are dragging me down, that are causing sin in my life. That that's actually hope for my life.

That the belief of the believer is: tomorrow does not have to be like yesterday. Real change is possible. And the reason it's possible is I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Yes, I'm being called to understand there is a fruit of righteousness, which is not just about rules to understand, it's about connecting our hearts to the King of the universe who pants after us, who longs for the best for us and says, "I want you to be able to test and approve what is excellent."

Not because He's just trying to keep you on the straight and narrow, because He actually desires what is excellent for you. What is that fruit of righteousness that is the blessing to every believer to know I'm walking in the path of God and this is where I find my deepest joy? That's what God is providing for us.

And so He provides it for us saying, "I want you to have this righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ," and then the greatest promise of all, "so that you would be to the glory of God the Father through Jesus Christ." That whatever God is doing in you would be to the glory and the praise of God. It's just precisely what Jesus told us in the Sermon on the Mount.

That if we were to walk in His ways, men would see our good works and praise our Father in heaven. You forgave the person who did that to you? You love the person who's failed you in that way? You are going in this path even though everyone else you know is going that path and leaving you behind? You are willing to love despite your own hurt? Who is your God?

Who are you following? Who is your Father? It's what's supposed to happen. That the very life we look at as being cursed, when it is lived out of joy in relationship with God, becomes actually that song of praise to the Father. I didn't know it could happen. But God was using even my hurts and my pain and my failure, covered by His grace, to teach a world about the glory of His care.

Is it real? Does it still happen at all? I want to read to you an email I received from one of the elders in this church recently as he talked about a life that many would have thought of as a curse that has become a song to the praise of God. The elder writes this word: "I met this young woman at a youth event two years ago. I was trying to reach out to a teen whose face was hidden by her hair and she was hiding other things with her arms covered by long sleeves.

Just trying to break the ice with her, I said, 'Tell me something about you I don't know.' She answered: 'Both my parents are drug addicts and locked me in my bedroom while they had their drug parties. I would bang on the door for hours for someone to give me food and to clean me up.'" That got our elder's attention and he offered to listen.

He writes: "For the next two hours, she shared about her hurts, her feelings of worthlessness, her suicide attempt three months earlier, her cutting, and her sexual abuse at a fall party at school by older students. She had been removed from her parents' home, but that did not remove the pain from her life. She raised her sleeves and showed me dozens of cut marks on her arms.

God brought His truth through my faltering voice as I told her of God's unfailing love for her. Scripture upon scripture somehow came out of my mouth. Through many tears, she poured her pain out to me and to Jesus. God flooded into her heart and the new creation began. I encouraged her each time she saw her scars to have them be a reminder of the scars on Jesus' body which He had endured for her.

That was two years ago. Two weeks ago, she shared her story with 40 of her peers saying that now every day is precious. Several others connected with her pouring out their pain and she gave them hope in Jesus. And then when the meeting was all done and people were leaving and it seemed like it was all over, she spoke up and she said, 'Wait, I forgot something. Something really important I have to say to you.'

And then she said to all of her peers and friends, 'I want you to know I have forgiven my mom and dad and all those who hurt me.'" Then writes my friend who inserted these words: "I'm now writing this to you with tears. Amazing, beautiful, redeeming love." Paul says: "I want you to be abounding in love so that you may know and be able to discern what is absolutely best for you.

And when that happens, people will praise God through Jesus Christ's work in your heart and life." It's what we pray. It's what we hope. It's what we celebrate. Knowing this: the fruit of Christ's grace is a life once cursed transformed into a life of praise. God took a curse and made it a song. That's what He most wants for those that He loves like me, like you.

Hi friend, this is Pastor Bryan again. Today, we've considered how the Bible encourages us to trust our Savior. And if you find yourself in a situation today where you need to trust Jesus more with what's going on in your life, then I want to pray for you. Will you join me in prayer? Heavenly Father, as we begin to grasp the power and the love of Jesus' passion for us, we reach toward Him and we know that's what You want.

You want us to turn to our Savior with the confidence that He can and will hold us through all of life's trials and for eternity. So when we see how Jesus gave His life in order to save sinners like us, we love Him, we turn to Him, we trust Him. Help us to do that right now, even if our circumstances are tough and our sins are great.

Help us to believe that no matter how great is the difficulty or how heavy is our baggage, how deep may be our shame, there really is hope for each of us when we trust in Jesus. Your Son has Your heart and Your power. So we ask that Your Son, Heavenly Father, this Jesus Christ that we're turning to, would pardon our sin, help us to live for You and hold us for eternity.

That's a big prayer. But His grace is big enough. And so we ask that You would apply it to our lives as You know is best. For then we will be truly blessed. And so we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Guest (Male): That's Pastor Bryan Chapell and you've been listening to Unlimited Grace. If you've missed anything that you'd like to hear once again, just visit unlimitedgrace.com. And when you do so, you can sign up for Pastor Bryan's daily devotional sent right to your inbox. While you're there, you will find a collection of videos, podcasts, and more.

Also be sure to request a copy of the book from Dr. Bryan Chapell and his wife Kathy called Anyway and Always. We'll send you a copy right away as our way of saying thank you for your most generous financial support. Please be sure to join us next time as once again we endeavor to put Christ at the center of our efforts so that lives might be transformed by His unlimited grace. This ministry is brought to you by Unlimited Grace Media and continues to be made possible with your generous financial support.