What an amazing day at a2! I've really felt such an intense passion to deliver this series of messages on the subject of joy, and pray that God is helping me communicate the truth of His Word in a way that brings Him glory and challenges our people...
For those of you who've asked, here's an overview of the entire worship experience.
Music Set List:
Say So, Michael Gungor Band
You Are Good, Lincoln Brewster
God You Reign, Lincoln Brewster
Mary Elizabeth G. did a great reading from Mike Yaconelli's book, Messy Spirituality. This song perfectly set up, "Rejoice!"
Rejoice!, Audio Adrenaline
Yes, that "Rejoice!" The band absolutely rocked and Stephanie T smoked the vocals!
Dancing Generation, Matt Redman
Loved hearing our people sing, "We'll be a dancing generation... Dancing because of Your great mercy, Lord! Your great mercy, Lord! It's the overflow... Of a forgiven soul... Now, that we've seen you God... Our hearts cannot stay silent!"
Here are the extended notes from this morning's message.
joy that breaks through!
Philippians: Finding Joy in a Broken World - Part 2
September 12, 2010
Chris Goins
In the brief 104 verses that make up the brief book of Philippians, Paul uses the words “joy”, “rejoicing” or “be glad” at least seventeen times.
Joy is never inauthentic. It can coexist with pain, suffering, loneliness, rejection, setbacks, poverty, temptation and even the possibility of death.
Here's the definition we are using for joy:
“Joy is a deep, abiding sense and the confident expectation that God is with me, that God is for me, and that our sovereign God is working everything together for my ultimate good and His great glory!”
At the time Paul wrote Philippians, he was separated from his closest friends, under house arrest, chained to a Roman guard... He was the victim of criticism from people who were supposed to be his comrades, but were attempting to exploit his confinement for their own personal benefit… And don’t forget, he was facing the real possibility of death...
But despite it all, joy breaks through every page in this short book! Despite Paul’s suffering, pain, loneliness, rejection, fear, temptation and looming death, the guy maintained his JOY!
An Overview of Philippians:
• The book of Philippians is personal.
The church in Philippi was about 10 or 11 years old at the time Paul wrote his letter to the Philippians… The back-story on how the church got started appears in Acts 16.
Acts 16:6, “…the Holy Spirit prevented them from preaching the word in the province of Asia…”
Acts 16:9, “That night Paul had a vision: A man from Macedonia in northern Greece was standing there, pleading with him, "Come over to Macedonia and help us!"
Acts 16:14 (NLT), One of them was Lydia from Thyatira, a merchant of expensive purple cloth, who worshiped God. As she listened to us, the Lord opened her heart, and she accepted what Paul was saying.
Acts 16:16-18 (ESV), As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling. 17 She followed Paul and us, crying out, "These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation." 18 And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, "I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her." And it came out that very hour.
1 Thessalonians 2:2 (NIV), We had previously suffered and been insulted in Philippi...
1 Thessalonians 2:2 (ESV), "...though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi..."
QUESTION: How do you respond when you've experienced this kind of pain?
Acts 16:25 (NLT), Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns [of praise – NAS] to God…
Acts 16:25 (MSG), Along about midnight, Paul and Silas were at prayer and singing a robust hymn to God.
The word hymn means, "...songs of testimony, triumph, exaltation, adoration and celebration in which celebrate the greatness of God and specifically focus on the person, work, ministry and Lordship of Jesus Christ."
Acts 16:25 (NLT), Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening.
Illustration:
There’s an incredible scene in the movie, The Shawshank Redemption…
In the film, Ellis Boyd Redding or “Red” played by Morgan Freeman tells the story of Andy Dufresne played by Tim Robbins. Andy was a young, successful banker wrongly convicted of murdering his wife in 1947 and sentenced to two consecutive life terms at Shawshank prison.
At one point in the movie, Dufresne is given the task of sorting through a whole load of classical records that were donated to the prison. In the process he finds and plays a beautiful operatic piece, even though it’s against prison regulations. The guard hears him and asks what’s happening. Dufresne locks himself in to the sound booth and switches on the PA system that reaches the whole prison – the cells, the yard, and the hospital. He plays the music full blast through the speakers, and everyone in the entire prison stops just to listen. Remember that scene?
At this point Morgan Freeman comments:
“I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about… Truth is, I don’t want to know. Some things are best left unsaid. I’d like to think they were singing about something so beautiful it can’t be expressed in words. It makes your heart ache because of it. I tell you those voices soared. Higher and farther than anyone in the great place dared to dream… It was like some beautiful bird flapped into our drab little cage and made those walls dissolve away. And for the briefest of moments, every last man in Shawshank felt free…”
That’s exactly what happened in Acts 16:25… All of a sudden a place where pain and shame were prominent was filled with beauty and grace… That’s what music at midnight does to a watching world… When a believer is able to retain their joy and worship God even in the middle of pain, the world has to pay attention…
Acts 16:26 (NIV), Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody’s chains came loose.
Acts 16:27 (NLT), The jailer woke up to see the prison doors wide open. He assumed the prisoners had escaped, so he drew his sword to kill himself. 28 But Paul shouted to him, “Don’t do it! We are all here!”
Acts 16:29 (NIV), The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
Acts 16:40 (ESV), Walking out of the jail, Paul and Silas went straight to Lydia’s house, saw their friends again, encouraged them in the faith, and only then went on their way.
NOTE: This was the raw material God used to launch the church in Europe: A guy named Paul; a businesswoman named Lydia and some of her friends, servants and business associates; a formerly demon possessed, fortune telling slave girl; and the prison guard and his entire family…
• The book of Philippians is practical.
One of the issues Philippians deals with head on is the issue of suffering and pain.
You don’t have to live long before you realize that the truth about life is that life hurts. It hurts emotionally, financially, physically, and spiritually.
The question is not, “IF” you’re gong to suffer. The question is, “WHEN you suffer, will you suffer in a way that is purposeful – in a way that somehow allows God to accomplish His purpose and plan in your life?” Or, “Will you suffer in a way that is purposeless? Will you waste your suffering and pain on stuff like bitterness, anger and junk?”
G.K. Chesterton said that, “Joy in the book of Philippians is a defiant, ‘Nevertheless!’” In other words, the book of Philippians is a treatise for how joy functions and flourishes in the face of mayhem and the best “hell” can dish out…
THOUGHT: There are basically two kinds of people – (1) those who choose joy, and, (2) those who don’t…
The world is filled with people who don’t… You can make a decision to live joy as a lifestyle regardless of what life brings at you…
NEXT SUNDAY: Philippians 1:1-19
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