Victorious Joy

You are listening to a message from Thrive Community Church, a church located in Southwest Florida. For more info visit us at thrive-fl.org. Today we're finishing the series on the book of Philippians called Joy for Every Situation and I hope you realize by now this is week six in the series that joy is not just an add-on. It's not just a supplement. It's not the cherry on top of the sundae. Joy is vital. Joy is so important because joy is not about just the present. It's really about the certainty of the future that we have in Jesus Christ and that's why we have joy. Joy is God's invitation into the future God has for you and it's not based on your achievement. It's not based even on your situation. It can be in any situation as a result of the certain future that God has for you in Jesus Christ. So that's why Paul says so profoundly and simply that in this passage he just says rejoice in the Lord always. Very simple, very straightforward, and yet we could probably take that and run a whole sermon just on those words. Rejoice in the Lord always. We're going to read a little more. We're in Philippians 4 verses 4 through 13. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand. Do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things and the God of peace will be with you. I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at length you have received your concern, have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me but you had no opportunity. Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 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 in hunger, abundance in need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me." I don't know if you realize what a contrast this letter of Philippians is to the Mediterranean world and culture of its time. Gregory Blomquist in his scholarly work remarks this, he says, Mediterranean antiquity was marked by a profound pessimism concerning life. We should not be surprised that in antiquity joy is rarely mentioned except as an illusion. Did you hear that? It's an illusion for most people. They think it's not real, it's just a flight, a fancy. This is true for the philosopher and the elites. It's much more so for the vast populace that had no opportunity for philosophical or scientific reflection. They knew in their experience of life that their religion was a religion of festival, that an ethical component that aroused anxieties it could not allay because it was not a soteriological religion that could reassure the faithful by organizing their lives in this world on the pretext of securing salvation in the next. Okay, scholarly, right? So what in the world is he saying? He said religion in ancient Rome was an escape. It was a momentary, let's just celebrate, party a little at the temple, get away from things, but they knew that it wouldn't change anything in their daily life, nor especially their future. There was no joy. Joy was an illusion. So what did they do? They attempted to find happiness in momentary things because there was no direction, there was no day that God was bringing forward into their lives no promises from a God who cared about them. I get the feeling, don't you, that we're kind of back in that day and age? It may be the 21st, but it feels like the first century in the Mediterranean world. There is a profound pessimism throughout our society. I've been seeing this recently in the last decade or so, maybe exacerbated by both our politics and the pandemic itself, and yet few people, regardless, see their future much brighter than their past or their present. We're kind of like, yeah, we're just getting by. And our religion, a lot of people, if you want to call it religion, is amusement. It's just escapism. It's doing things to take our mind off of reality. Today, though, we're going to learn that Paul talks about joy in the most real, vibrant sense possible, in the reality of his life, which was not easy, and how that joy in chapter 4 here is going to show us that it will reduce anxiety, it brings contentment, and it centers on goodness. And in those ways, you've got something, such a contrast, from right now, the culture that is around you. First of all, joy actually reduces anxiety. Paul writes, do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and su...