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Apr 26, 2020

Whatever God Gives is Good Enough

Passage: Philippians 4:10-13

Preacher: Cisco Cotto

Series:Relentless Joy

Summary:

1.  Our joy is in the Lord who gives us opportunities to serve each other. 2.  Our joy is in the Lord who gives us contentment. 3.  Our joy is in the Lord who gives us strength in any circumstance.

Detail:

I want to tell you something about myself that is a little embarrassing. It happens just about every single birthday. My family is wonderful. They know what I like, so they make an Oreo ice cream cake for me on my birthday. My wife and kids and sometimes my little sister get in the kitchen, mix all the ingredients together and pop it in the freezer. Before long, my treat is ready.

This ritual goes like this. My family brings out the Oreo ice cream cake, they begin cutting it with my wife forcing that knife through the frozen cake, then my kids take plates—each with a piece of the Oreo ice cream cake on it—and they pass them out. I get my piece. As we’re getting ready to sing “Happy Birthday”, as they’re getting ready to celebrate me, something happens—and this is what I’m a little embarrassed about.

You see, my family is super-excited. They’re treating me and at that moment, I should be totally filled with joy. In that moment, I should be thinking about the treat I’m about to enjoy. I should be thinking about my family, who loves me and is really glad to be with me. I should be praising God for another year of health and life. But there’s always a moment where joy disappears and it’s right at that moment when the cake is handed out. Because I look around at everyone’s piece of cake, then I look down at my piece of cake because I’m making sure no one else has a bigger piece of cake.

Now, I know that’s crazy, okay? I know it is. Kids do that and if you’re totally honest, adults do the same thing. Even if it’s just a moment, you wonder, “Did someone else get a bigger piece than I got?” When I do that on my birthday, instead of experiencing the overwhelming joy I should be experiencing for that moment, I just wallow in my selfishness. I should be experiencing unbelievable joy, but it gets robbed for just a moment.

Now, Oreo ice cream cake—that’s something minor. That’s not a big deal. I know there are a lot of people experiencing very, very difficult things and in the midst of those things, their joy is stolen from them. They don’t experience any joy. Right now, as you’re watching this, a lot of us are experiencing hardship. In fact, I can say just about all of us in the age of coronavirus are experiencing hardships. We are finding it hard to have joy. There’s so much that has been going on over the last few weeks, so many changes, so many things not going the way we imagined they would go. We are not experiencing joy for the most part. I know I often find it very difficult to be joyful.

The junior high and high school students are having a tough time. Some of you may miss being in class. You all miss being with your friends and you feel isolated from them. No amount of Snapchat, Instagram or on-line gaming can connect you the way just being in the same space as your friends can. You’ve given up a lot over the last few weeks. You’ve given up sports, music and theater. You’ve probably given up prom. Graduation ceremonies are being missed. College students are graduating, they’re going to get the piece of paper, but they’re probably not going to have the ceremony. These students have given up a lot and understandably, they’re struggling to experience joy.

A lot of parents overnight became home school parents and were completely unprepared for this. All of a sudden they’re at home with their young students, getting course work sent to them online, then they are supposed to sit at the dining room table and explain this to their little ones.

My wife is doing most of that in our family and she’s doing a great job. My little piece is to occasionally help out with math and I’m just going to tell you, I never knew just how hard third grade math is. It’s really tough. Overnight we were thrown into this and a lot of you were as well. Are you finding any joy in that?

There are senior citizens watching this, people with health problems, people legitimately experiencing fear just going out of the house. A trip to the drug store can be dangerous and you’re wondering when it’s going to get back to normal. You’re wondering when things are going to be the same. Will they ever be the same? There’s been a lot going on and you’re struggling to find joy.

People of all ages in all neighborhoods are experiencing the frustration that comes from being locked in by the stay-at-home orders, from losing our freedoms, even if only temporarily. We want this to be over and we question whether it was handled the right way or not. There are legitimate questions to be asked. In the midst of all of that, we don’t experience joy. We lose freedoms, we are isolated and we are fearful. With all of that going on, where’s the joy?

There’s a man who wrote most of the New Testament in our Bibles. We call him the Apostle Paul. This is a man who knew a loss of freedom, a sense of isolation and fear. He didn’t know anything about coronavirus. He didn’t know anything about a pandemic. For Paul, it was prison. Paul was locked up, but he should not have been there. He had done nothing wrong. All he was doing was going around telling people about Jesus and the good news of what Jesus has done for each and every one of us, that He lived and died and rose again, so if we place our faith in Him as our Savior, we are forgiven and will be with Him forever and ever. That’s all Paul was doing—telling people that good news—and for that they put him in prison.

He gave up his freedom in prison. He was isolated from his friends and family. He had no idea when or if he would ever see these people again. That was part of his fear. Would he get out of prison? He didn’t know. Would he stay there for his natural life? He didn’t know. Would he be executed? He did not know. Paul experienced the full range of emotions, all of this uncertainty, yet he was able to tell us that in all of this, he was experiencing joy. Doesn’t that seem crazy? That seems so difficult for me to imagine—that with all of that going on around him, Paul was able to say, “I am joyful.”

How was he able to do this? How was Paul able to experience joy, even with the loss of freedom and the isolation and the fear? How was Paul able to do it? Paul was able to rejoice because he knew God had given him many gifts. He wrote to a group of Christians in a city called Philippi about these gifts. That city is in what is now modern-day Greece. Paul wrote to these Christians about his joy. He wrote to them about gifts God had given him and he connected the dots. Paul understood that these gifts allowed him to experience joy.

Do you know what? Those gifts were not just for Paul; they are for you and they are for me. We too can experience joy, no matter what we’re going through—even in a COVID-19 world. We can experience joy when we understand and embrace these gifts from God. We’re going to talk about three of them today—three gifts from God for Paul and you and me that allow us to experience joy. We’re going to look in just a moment at Philippians 4, but before we get there, I want us to understand a concept Paul talks about in this passage. It’s very important for him. It’s the phrase “in the Lord.”

Paul uses this nine times in the book of Philippians, this letter he writes to these Christians. We see it all the time: in the Lord, in the Lord. People can be confident in the Lord. They can trust in the Lord. They can agree in the Lord. They can stop their fighting in the Lord. And they can even rejoice in the Lord. What does Paul mean by that phrase “in the Lord”? Here’s what he’s talking about. For Paul, everything he does, everything he thinks, everything he feels is grounded in the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is Paul’s foundation for living, so that no matter what’s going on, no matter how he responds, no matter what activities he has to do, no matter what he’s feeling, everything happens “in the Lord.” Paul sees everything through the Jesus prism: what does Jesus want and what should I do in response to what Jesus wants? So for Paul, everything is done in the Lord and that includes experiencing joy. *

Grab your Bible now. We’re going to see what it’s like to rejoice in the Lord and what these three gifts are that Paul understands are for him;  we need to understand they are also for us. We’re going to be in Philippians 4. Before we read the text, though, I want you to understand how all of this starts in Philippians 4:10, where we’re going to begin.

Paul is writing a word of thanks to these Christians at Philippi, because they gave him a wonderful financial gift to help him in his imprisonment. They sent it through a man named Epaphroditus, who brought the gift to Paul and gave it to him. Paul was overjoyed and so encouraged when he got this.   

Our joy is in the Lord Who gives us opportunities to serve each other.

The first gift we get from God allows us to experience joy—the opportunity to serve others. We have joy in the Lord Who gives us the opportunity to serve others. He gives us situations to help others out. The Philippians understood this. They didn’t always get it, though.

Paul explains in Philippians 4:10 that for a long time the Philippian Christians were wrestling with how they could help him. “What can we do? He’s in prison, a long way away from us. How can we serve and encourage Paul?” They didn’t know what to do. So they put their heads together and said, “We can take up a financial offering. We can put some money together, give it to Epaphroditus and he can take it to Paul. That will help him, especially when he gets out of prison—if he gets out of prison. But it would also encourage him. He would be encouraged to know we’re thinking about him, praying for him and that we’d make a financial sacrifice for him.”

So they gathered the gift together and sent it to Paul. In Philippian 4:10, we read what Paul wrote to them:

10 I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity.

Paul is talking about their opportunity to serve him and serve one another, which the same opportunity you and I have. As I’ve already mentioned, for a while these Philippian Christians didn’t know what to do. “How do we help Paul in his imprisonment?”

Right now a lot of us are experiencing that. We know there are many people who are dealing with issues surrounding the coronavirus: health issues, financial issues, loneliness. We want to help, but there’s a stay-at-home order. We’re supposed to remain in our houses unless we have to do something that is deemed essential. So we feel totally locked in and completely unable to help, even though we feel like we want to.

That’s exactly what the Philippians were dealing with. “How do we help Paul in his imprisonment? There’s nothing we can do.” But they put their heads together, prayed and realized that a financial gift would encourage him. How do we serve each other and experience that joy in a pandemic, when we are very limited in what we can do?  I think we do the exact same thing. I think we prayerfully ask God to show us how, even in a limited way, we can experience the joy of serving others. There are a variety of ways we can do this and I’m sure some of you have ways I haven’t even thought of yet. We can very simply call or  text someone and be intentional about it. Schedule video calls with people.

My wife and I have talked with friends all around the country over the last few weeks, people we haven’t talked to in a long time. The fact that we were in the house and we knew they were in their home too allowed us to take the initiative to talk with them. It’s been wonderful just to see their faces, hear what’s going on, hear how they’re dealing with the coronavirus situation and pray with them. That’s one way you can serve someone.

If you have sewing skills, you can use material or old clothes around the house and make some masks to give away. If you know someone who is a senior or who is unable to go out of the house, you can call them and see if they need their grass mowed. I don’t know about you, but my yard is ready. In fact, I think right after this service I’m going to have to go out and mow; it’s getting pretty bad. You can call them and say, “Hey, can I pop over and mow your lawn? I just want to be a blessing to you.” You can help.

If you want to give a financial gift, you can also take advantage of our church’s benevolence fund. This is money given to the church that doesn’t go to our budget at all to pay any of our church’s expenses. It is earmarked for people who have financial needs. You can give a financial gift to the benevolence fund, if that’s the way you want to help.

If you prayerfully put your heads together with some other brothers or sisters, or members of your family, you too can find other ways to help, even during the stay-at-home order. We have joy in the Lord Who gives us opportunities to serve others. Paul understood that to be a gift from God and it’s a gift for you and me as well.

Our joy is in the Lord Who gives us contentment.

Another way we have joy in the Lord is by understanding that He gives us contentment. It is God Who gives us peace no matter what the circumstance is. Paul said this I think pretty dramatically in the book of Philippians. When Paul talked about contentment, he wasn’t saying he felt alright when everything was going well. He wasn’t saying he was content when he was not in prison. Paul experienced that sense of peace no matter what was going on—whether things were going well or whether they were challenging, whether he had a lot of money or he had no money. Paul experienced joy no matter what. That kind of contentment is supernatural. It is a gift from God to Paul and to each of us.

Turn now to Philippians 4:11. This is what Paul said to the Philippians. Why was he rejoicing in the Lord? Because he understood that God had given him contentment. He had learned it. He said:

11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.

That’s dramatic, isn’t it? Paul understood that no matter what life brought his way, he could be content. How could he have that kind of contentment? Think of the world he was speaking to. There were competing philosophies in his day. There was one group called the cynics and one group called the stoics. They were the people who were speaking into the culture, telling people how to react, how to behave, how to think. The cynics were the “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” kind of people. They were self-sufficient. “You leave me alone; I’ll leave you alone. Just let me do my own thing and we’ll be alright.” The cynics found their contentment in their self-sufficiency. They could handle things on their own.

Then there were the stoics who knew they had needs, but their way of handling them was to pursue inner peace, shove it all down inside, be calm. That’s how they responded. They knew there were challenges in life. They knew there was pain and suffering. But their way of handling these things was to be like ostriches, putting their head in the sand and acting like everything was just fine.

In our modern day we have these two groups of people as well. Instead of experiencing contentment no matter what is going on, instead of finding contentment in the Lord and Him alone, people search for peace in different places. You have your self-sufficient people. “I can do it on my own. I don’t need you or anyone else. I can handle it. I’m smart enough. I work hard enough. I have the resources. I’m wise with my money. I take care of myself physically. I don’t need anything.” The self-sufficient people.

According to Paul, however, true contentment is not self-sufficient—it is Christ-sufficient. True contentment is understanding that everything we need comes through Christ and everything we have comes from Him. Everything is a gift from the Lord. We are completely dependent upon Him. Christ-sufficient, not self-sufficient.

You also have the “power of positive thinking” crowd. These are the people who say, “No matter what is going on in your life, no matter what comes your way, as long as you have a positive attitude about it, everything will be okay.” They’re the serenity-now crowd. “Just cry out for serenity and it will happen.” Now, instead of simply tricking ourselves into feeling good, instead of experiencing that power of positive thinking, we need to be positive about the One Who makes us able to think. God made us, He formed us, He gave us brains to process everything going on around us. We find true contentment when we think positively about Him, when we understand that it’s His gifts that are lavished upon us each and every day that allow us to move forward, that allow us to have peace and contentment.

If we're going to have this sort of attitude, feeling and sense of contentment, it takes intentionality, sisters and brothers. It does not come easily. We have to be intentional about this. God gives it to us as we intentionally push forward, remembering some things, including the fact that everything comes from Him. Remember, we are totally dependent upon Christ.

Take a moment now, wherever you’re watching this, and look around. Maybe you’re in your living room, maybe you’re in bed watching this—wherever you are, look around. What do you see? A couch? A chair? A table? A television? Maybe some pictures on the wall. You can peek into your kitchen and see cupboards with food in them, utensils, bowls and plates. All of those things are from the Lord. All of them are gifts from God. Understanding that everything we have comes from Him leads us to contentment. But you’re thinking, “I worked hard. I earned those. I bought those. Those are mine. That’s from me.” But Paul tells us everything comes from the Lord.

Here’s what I want you to do right now. I want you to peek up from that monitor as you continue looking around and find a few things in the room with you. If you’re on Facebook, I want you to write them down in the comment section. “I am grateful for the gift of my La-Z-Boy chair. I am grateful for the gift of food in my pantry.” Whatever it is—do this. Practice this. I want each of us to really experience contentment that only comes from understanding that everything comes from the Lord. What are you grateful for that God has given you?

 Our joy is in the Lord Who gives us strength in any circumstance.

We have joy in the Lord Who gives us opportunities to serve others. That's the first gift. We have joy in the Lord Who gives us contentment. That’s the second gift. But we also have joy in the Lord Who gives us strength for every circumstance. He gives us the ability to withstand anything that comes our way. All of this comes from the Lord and when we grasp this, we can experience joy.

This verse we’re going to read next is very well known. However, it is also often taken out of context. Let’s read together Philippians 4:13:

13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

A lot of people hear this verse and make it their life verse, using it to live a self-sufficient life. They use it to say, “I can push forward. I can be strong. I can do whatever I want to do because God will give me the strength to do it. I can get that job. I can get that promotion. I can get that raise. I can get that big house. I can get that fancy car. I can have that relationship. No matter what it is I want, I can do all things through Him Who gives me strength.”

See, we turn ourselves into some sort of superhero, like Superman. Back in the old days, when Superman would come on the radio, there was an announcer with a very big voice. He would say this about Superman: “He’s faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.” We act that way with this verse. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I can be a superhero. I can get it done.” We give God a little credit, but what we really do is march forward thinking we can do whatever it is we want to do. That is not what this verse is about. That is not how we find true joy.

What Paul was talking about is even in prison, even when injustice was happening to him, even when everything was out of his control, even when he was experiencing isolation and fear, even when he had no freedom, even when he didn’t know whether he would live to see the next day—even when all that stuff was going on, he could push forward in the Lord Jesus Christ because of the strength Jesus gave him. This strength comes supernaturally. It is not something we get just by trying harder, just by pushing in a more strong way. No, that’s not how we get any of this. It is something God gives us that empowers us to move forward no matter the circumstances. This is something we need if we’re going to experience joy in a coronavirus world—or whatever the world looks like after coronavirus. We need this sort of joy and the only way we are going to get it is by understanding that it is God Who is going to get us through this. It’s God Who is going to help us each and every day, no matter what comes our way.

Paul was in prison. It was unfair. He couldn’t see his friends. He couldn’t see his family. He could not in any way have true hope of getting out or ever seeing the light of day again. Yet in the midst of that, Paul was able to persevere and experience joy. He knew that this was a gift from God. This strength from God to keep going no matter what is a gift from God. Because of that, Paul experienced joy.

Three gifts from God that Paul understood were for him and for others, including you and me. Each of these gifts allowed Paul to experience joy, and they will allow you and me to experience joy as well. Paul understood that in the Lord he experienced joy because God gives us opportunities to serve other people. Paul understood that in the Lord he experienced joy because God gives us contentment. And Paul understood that in the Lord we can experience joy because God gives us strength for any circumstance.

Brothers and sisters, these are tough times. I wish I could tell you it was all going to be normal tomorrow, in a month, in a year. I wish I could tell you clearly there are answers to when the timeline is going to be laid out for some sense of normalcy. I wish I could tell you when we will all be gathered together again to worship in person. I wish I could tell you when we will all be able to meet in our life groups, our small gatherings each week where we get together, study the Bible and pray for each other in homes. I wish I could tell you when that would happen again. I wish I could tell you when we’d be able to see each other face to face and give a firm handshake or a loving hug, but I can’t.

What I can tell you is if you will lean in to the Lord, praying, meditating on the truth of the Bible, if you are able to do that on an every-single-day basis, if you’re able to reflect on these gifts God gives us—serving, contentment, strength—you will actually be able to experience joy no matter what goes on over the next weeks, months or years. No matter what life brings your way, 10 or 15 years from now, you will be able to experience joy. If we experience that kind of joy in a world where things are going on that are totally out of our control, others will want that joy as well. If over the phone or video call or at a safe distance, we’re able to tell people who don’t yet know Jesus about this joy, they’re going to want it. They’re going to want what we have. They’re going to ask, “How can you be so joyful, even with all this going on?” We’re going to be able to say, “It is only because of Jesus. We can only have this joy in the Lord.” I’m confident He can do something in their lives, just like He’s done in yours and mine.

If you’re someone watching this and you don’t yet know Jesus, if you’re not quite sure exactly what this gospel is, if you want this joy and you want to know God but you’re just not quite sure about it, then follow me on this right here. If you’re experiencing fear or isolation, if you’re feeling the weight of the loss of freedom and you want to know how to experience joy instead, the only way is in the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s the only way. All you need to do to have a relationship with Him is to acknowledge you are a sinner, someone who misses God’s mark. You and I make mistakes all the time. You’re a sinner who needs someone to save. You can’t do it on your own. Only Jesus Christ, the One Who lived, died and rose again, can save you. You can believe that right now in a prayer to the Lord.

If you’re watching on Facebook or YouTube, put a comment there and someone from the church will get in touch with you. We want to talk with you about Jesus. We want you to have a relationship with Him and be able to experience joy during this time.

If you’re already a follower of Jesus, rejoice! Experience His joy. Ask God to allow—even in times when it doesn’t make any sense—to experience the joy that only God can bring us.

 

Village Bible Church  |  847 North State Route 47, Sugar Grove, IL 60554  |  (630) 466-7198  |  www.villagebible.org/sugar-grove

All Scriptures quoted directly from the English Standard Version unless otherwise noted.

Note: This transcription has been provided by Sermon Transcribers (www.sermontranscribers.com).