Thieves of Joy

Introduction

Very pleasant good morning to all. I know we have some visitors in the audience this morning. We’re certainly delighted that you’ve come to worship the Lord together with us. And I might explain that after this particular service, we will have a short break and then go to Bible classes. And after the Bible classes, another short break, and then we’ll come back into the auditorium. And at that time we’ll partake of the Lord’s Supper and also study again the Word of God. I hope you have your New Testaments with you. I’d like for you to open with me to the reading found in the book of Philippians. I want to begin with you a study today from each of the chapters, at least Lord willing in the next few weeks, from Philippians, but with a theme expressed in chapter four, beginning in verse four, where the Apostle Paul writes, Rejoice in the Lord always.

And again I say, rejoice.

True, we all have problems. Any adult, at least, I’m sure every adult in this audience, if I were to ask if there’s something bearing on your heart at this time, you’d probably say, Well, yes. It might be there’s sickness in the family, or you may have some kind of a problem you’re dealing with. It may be just the death of a loved one of recent time. It could be some financial stress.

But always, it seems that as we grow as adults, we face various problems in the flesh and in this life. But when the Apostle Paul wrote this, he said, Rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice. The unusual thing about this admonition is this. That Paul, his situation was such there appeared to be no cause for rejoicing. He wrote this letter to the church of Philippi from prison. He had earlier, of course, gone through Philippi preaching the word on his second preaching journey, and in Acts 16, we read about the conversion of Lydia, and then later the Philippian jailer. And we also know that church had supported Paul time and again in his needs, even in his journeys, preaching the word of God. Paul, even when he wrote the letter to the church at Rome or the saints that were in Rome in chapter 1, he expressed there his intent and purpose was to come to Rome on his way to Spain.

His desire had been to come to Rome preaching. But instead, he’s in Rome as a prisoner, having been arrested after he concluded his third preaching journey and after the trials before the Roman procurator and finally appealing to Caesar. He went to Rome. And now from a prison cell, in fact, as you read the last few verses of the Acts chapter 28, we’re informed that he’s evidently under guard, perhaps even chained to this guard. And while he is able to speak the word, not publicly, only to those who might come to hear him in a private way. Paul faced a crisis. Not only was he a prisoner and chained, you might say in Rome, but he also faced the trial and possible being beheaded. Possible, at least, that he may not be ever freed again.

And yet he could write, in spite of his discomfort, in spite of the danger, he writes this letter to the saints of Philippi. Interestingly, it is really much of a thank you letter. It is not a poor me letter. Please pray. I’m in desperate situation. Maybe some of us might think that would have been in order. Maybe that’s the way some of us would have reacted to the kind of trials and troubles that were facing Paul. But instead, he writes a letter of encouragement. At least some twenty times in these four chapters, Paul mentions the word joy, rejoicing, thanksgiving, and peace. How could that be possible? What was the reason for this attitude? And I want to tell you at the very beginning, it was not a letter that was some kind of a shallow self-help letter that said, Oh, just wait, everything will turn out all right.

That is not at all what is written in this great letter. Actually, when you study and maybe think about some of the terms that he uses, not only the words joy and rejoicing and thanksgiving, but another word that’s key in the book of Philippians is the word mind. Maybe we’re more familiar with chapter 2, where he says, Let this mind be in you, which also was in Christ Jesus. The word mind is found some eight times, and the word think another two times. And even as in Proverbs 23 and verse 7, we know the scripture, as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. And therefore, as the apostle was writing about an attitude of being able to rejoice in the Lord always, the reason and the meaning of the means by which that’s possible is the attitude that one develops in his heart.

1. Our Circumstances Rob Us of Joy

I want us to look at the thieves that sometimes rob us of rejoicing. And then it’s the Apostle Paul would give answer to them. And then, Lord willing, maybe in the next Sundays we’re going to study more carefully each chapter as we go. But we’re to say, what really robs us of joy? Well, we’d say, number one, sometimes our circumstances, you know. They’re not what we’d wish them to be. Now, most of us are happier when things go our way. But life is not perfect. And actually, he’s not saying in this letter, oh, everything’s gonna be right, and you’ll always be happy because it’s heaven on earth. That is not at all the way it is for any person, especially not even a Christian. In fact, all who are in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution, Paul wrote in 2 Timothy.

So it isn’t that happiness and rejoicing, I want you to understand, are really two different things here. It’s not perfect life, because life is not perfect, but yet the Christian can rejoice, even when his circumstances are not what we’d wish. Frankly, think about how many things we have no control over. You may be planning a picnic, and all of a sudden the rain, it rains on your party. Ever had that happen? Or maybe you’re in a you really have an important meeting that you need to get to, and you have a schedule you’re trying to keep, and you’re on the interstate, and there’s a wreck in front of you, and there you’re delayed for a whole hour. Boy, we get so frustrated about things like that.

We can’t control it. We have nothing to say or do about it. We can’t change either one of those things. And there are other situations in our life over which we really have no control. Do we let them upset us? Truly, if joy depends upon circumstances being perfect, then we’d be miserable most of the time. But look at Philippians chapter 1. Here is the apostle in prison. Certainly in circumstances he did not pick or would have chosen of his own personal way. But what was his purpose in life? He states it in a very short verse. Philippians 1 and verse 21. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. That sums it up in a short way. My whole purpose and focus for life is Jesus Christ.

And even if it doesn’t work out that I make it through this day or I am beheaded, you might say, To die is gain. I haven’t lost. Things of this life are not all that it sums up what brings about real cause for rejoicing. In fact, as you go through chapter 1, you would understand that Paul speaks about the chains that he had. He was in prison and chained even to this guard. He not only had chains, he also had critics. Look at verses 15 and 16, chapter 1, where he speaks about what of his own brethren are doing. He said, Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from goodwill. The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains.

But the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached, and in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice. I’ve often been puzzled at that verse. I’d like to know who it was that was supposed to add affliction to Paul’s bonds. Isn’t he already suffering enough? And yet these are people who call themselves preachers of the gospel. And indeed they’re preaching, but he says their motivation is out of ending. It is out of strife. Could have been those about whom he writes, like in 2 Corinthians and in other letters of the time before he was arrested, who were Judaizing teachers, who didn’t like Paul saying that Gentiles did not need to be circumcised and simply to obey the gospel for the remission of sins, to be repentant and be baptized.

Maybe they didn’t like that message Paul was preaching, but at least they were saying some things about the Christ that was true. And so he says in this verse, even though they may preach not sincerely, then at least they’re preaching Christ, and in that I rejoice.

Not that Paul be glorified, but that Christ be glorified. Not only therefore was he in chains, and not only did they have critics, but you might say he faced a crisis. If you drop down in that same chapter, look at verse 20. When it says, according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. Even if I die, that Christ may be magnified. And then he goes on after 21, for to me to live as Christ and to die is gained. Notice what he says in verse 22. If I live in the flesh, if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor.

Yet what I shall choose, I cannot tell. For I’m hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless, to remain in the flesh is more needful for you. You see his attitude about death? I’m in a, you might say, I have to make a decision. Maybe it’s not all up to Paul, but he said, as far as as far as choice, to die is gain. But I know it’s better for you if I stay alive at least for a period longer. And therefore, you know, it’s really not left up to Paul, but whatever the set of circumstances might be.

2. People Rob Us of Joy

You understand? The basis, therefore, for to me to live is Christ. But not only do our circumstances, maybe not being exactly what we want, but Christ glorified in them, it we have to admit also there’s sometimes that people rob us of joy. Yes, sometimes others, what people say or what people do, sometimes selfish greed of others. You know, we hear about road rage. Ever thought what causes road rage? Usually it’s somebody behind the wheel of a car that’s rather selfish about how he drives. It’s not only in cars, of course, that people get in our way or disgust us or cause us to be rather aggravated. And if we’re not careful what people say or what people do, maybe it’s not right. Maybe it rubs against us wrong, and it is wrong.

But if we’re not careful, we we take the initiative to react with eye for eye and tooth for tooth. I’ll get him back or her back. Maybe they’ve said something they shouldn’t have said about me that’s wrong and hurtful. So we say something hurtful back. Kind of like the little boy, the story about the elevator. Elevator was packed, and as the door shut and they began to go up, this woman begins, ouch. And he turned to the mother of this little boy and said, Your son bit me. And she looked at her son and said, Did you bite that lady? And she said, Yes. She sat it on me and I bited her. Maybe that’s what we do sometimes. People sit on us or they mistreat us, and so we react with like kind.

But that’s the wrong reaction. In fact, instead of allowing people to rob us of joy and to bring about in us the wrong reaction and attitude, look at what Paul writes in chapter 2. When in verses 3 to 8, he says, verse 3, let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit. But in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look not only for his own interests, but also for the interest of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men, being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

The submissive mind. Not only must there be that single mind to live as Christ, but there also needs to be that attitude that says, look, not me first, but rather submissive to others. Not a reaction of that causes strife, not a reaction out of envy or hurt for hurt, but rather an attitude that indeed would submit. That doesn’t mean we become a doormat, but it does mean there’s a different attitude in our response to what others are doing. That if Christ were there directing us, how would he have said we should respond? He certainly did not return evil for evil himself, but he died even on the cross. He had a purpose when he came, and how he lived and what he did. And our purpose needs always to be to glorify the Lord in all that we do.

3. We Set Our Mind on Earthly Things

A third thing, though, that robs us of joy is the fact that we allow things. Things. When I say things, I’m talking about most often material things. In chapter 3, the word things is found more often than any other in that chapter, some eight times, in fact, where Paul there speaks about how we, if we’re not careful, set our mind on earthly things. And it robs us of the real peace and the real joy that is in Christ Jesus. We live in a climate in the United States of America of having possessions. We may say, oh, I’m not wealthy at all, but compared with people of the world, we’re far wealthier than the average citizen in our world. We’re not careful we get into that rush of saying, you know, what’s really important?

What makes you successful? How many things you have? How many cars do you want? I mean, would you have another house beside the one you’re in? And sometimes we think if we don’t have that, we’re not successful. But the more we have possessions, then that means we’re really successful. We measure sometimes success by the things that we have. But the storing up of possessions may really be that which robs us rather than makes us wealthy or rich. Jesus really taught that in the parable in Luke chapter 12. You remember he taught the parable of the man who became like a fool. Oh, his ground brought forth plentifully, and that was not a wrong. That was not sinful. But what he did, according to this parable, Jesus taught was simply to build greater barns to store his goods.

And then to say to the soul, take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry. That night his soul was required of him. Because he was not rich toward God with what he had, he was described as a fool by the Lord. Those things that we treasure, maybe we think are so important to us in this world, the things really may not be those things that are making us happy. It may really make us unhappy. We might be like the person because of what we do not have. We we gribe and complain, or we go about because I can’t purchase this and I’d like to have it. Maybe sometimes we’d find and groan and moan when we shouldn’t be. Like the man who had the two little boys come up to him and they were both crying.

Somebody said, Well, why are these lads crying? He said, Well, I had three pieces of candy, and they both wanted two. And I didn’t have two for both. You know, rather than accepting what they did have and being thankful for what they did have, they cried over what they did not have. What Jesus said, or what the apostle Paul wrote in this letter, look at chapter 3, verses 17 through 20, verses 13 through 17. Where here he speaks about of his own attitude. He said, I do not count myself to have apprehended. But one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Therefore, let us, as many as are mature, have this mind. And if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. What’s he saying? Have this mind. What’s the mind? I press toward the goal of the prize of the high calling of God. That must be our spirit, our mind, the spiritual mind. You see, in verse 20, when he explains that, our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Our citizenship is not really just in this life on earth. But as Christians, we have a different goal. We press forward with a different attitude. In fact, in verse 18, you notice how Paul would describe how he weeps for others. He said, Many walk of whom I’ve told you often, and now tell you, even weeping that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, whose glory is in their shame, who set their mind on earthly things.

God is their belly. What’s he saying? The earthly, the material is more important to them than that which is the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Now we all are busy in life. Maybe you’re in school trying to learn, have an education so you’ll be able to provide good for your family. Maybe you have a job and you’re always trying to do better with it, maybe to earn more and you’re hoping for the race. And it isn’t wrong to have things. It isn’t wrong to work hard and to be diligent in life itself. But the underlying principle is store up for heaven. What’s most important? Jesus said it in Matthew 6, lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust doth consume where thieves break through and steal.

But rather lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust is consumed, where thieves do not break through and steal, for listen to this. Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

4. Worry Is the Greatest Thief of All

Don’t set your mind on earthly things, letting material things be your God. But finally, in chapter 4, he speaks about worry. And I know probably most of us, or many people at least in this world, would probably start right here. You know, I have so many things that just trouble me and worry me. I stay awake at night thinking about them. And I see people who, you know, please, preacher, help me find a way that I can not worry. Truth is, worry is the greatest thief of all. It’s a greater thief than our circumstances or what people may do or say, or even things of this world. Worry indeed often results in physical problems. It’ll make you sick. You can worry yourself. Somebody said, worry to death.

Medicine, medicine can remove the symptoms, but not the cause. Someone said we can we can purchase sleep at the pharmacy, but not rest. There’s a difference. How do we overcome worry? Well, I’ll tell you, if anyone had cause to worry, you’d think Paul did. He’s in prison. He’s had some of his own brethren who would preach out of envy, causing, if they could, adding affliction to his bonds. If anybody would say had reason to worry, he faced possible death at the hands of the Romans. But instead, what does he say? Again in chapter 4 and verse 4, rejoice in the Lord always. And again I say, rejoice. Let your gentleness be known in all men, to all men. The Lord is at hand. And then in verse 6, literally, it says, don’t worry.

The translation of the New King James says, be anxious for nothing. But in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. I guess probably we’d like to start right here. How do you overcome the problem of worry? Well, you know, the verse says, just don’t worry, but pray to God with thanksgiving. And that’s not really the place to start. If, number one, the first three things that we’ve talked about are not available in your heart, if your mind is not set, as we learn first of all from chapter one, that the primary goal and purpose of life is Christ. If in fact you haven’t learned to be submissive to others, letting nothing be done through strife and vain glory.

If thirdly you’re not a person who really recognizes your citizenship is in heaven, and the most important thing in your heart is to set your mind on things above rather than things there. If those principles are not in your heart, then don’t expect yourself to be able to overcome worry. You see, it’s not superficial. He’s not here saying, Well, just pray and it’ll all be solved. No, that’s not at all what the apostle is saying. No matter what the circumstances may be, no matter what others may be criticizing you or wishing harm to you, like they were at Paul. No matter the fact that there may be things that have encumbered you and become a stumbling block in front of you instead of setting your mind on heavenly things.

No matter that these things are true, if in fact you have developed a single mind, the submissive mind, the spiritual mind, then it’s easy to say you will have that secure mind. The kind of attitude that says, I know, is in God’s hands. It doesn’t mean life on earth is perfect because it isn’t. Life is not perfect here. God has only promised that perfect place to be in the world yet to come for those who love the Lord and who serve him. In fact, did you notice the words in verse six? When he says, You pray with thanksgiving, let your request be made on unto God, and then the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds. Notice the last two words.

Through Christ. He didn’t say it’s just going to be a kind of a superficial help, here’s quick fix type of thing. But it starts with the Lord serving Christ. And then look at verse 9, where he says, The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do. And the God of peace will be with you. In other words, there’s some action on our part. There’s the attitude of faith that says, Lord, your will be done. Lord, I give myself to you. Paul himself, when he wrote to the Galatians, said, I’m crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, not I that live, but Christ that liveth in me. In the life which I live, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

Conclusion

I say to you, my beloved brethren, pray about developing this kind of spirit, this kind of attitude. That Christ is everything in my life. And when I’ve learned to put him first and foremost, no matter what he’s commanded, I will do. No matter when his people meet together, I’ll try to be there to worship him and to glorify him. He’ll always be my king. He is my Lord and the Christ. And when you’ve obeyed Him, put Him first in your life, then the God of peace will be with you. He is God of peace. You’ll have the kind of peace the rest of the world won’t understand. It is a peace that surpasseth understanding. It is a kind of peace that cannot be bought at the pharmacy.

It is the kind of peace that come what may, you know, all is well because the God of peace is with me. There may be those who’ve never obeyed the gospel of Christ, and I hope even this day you’re already considering really how to serve him. If you’ve never responded to the gospel call, that you will know that even Jesus said, He who believes and is baptized shall be saved. And therefore, as one who believes Jesus to be the Son of God, that you’ll be willing to repent of your sins, to confess that faith in the Christ, to be immersed, baptized into his death, that you can rise to walk in newness of life with a goal that supersedes everything else in this world. Heaven is my destiny.

We’re going to close with a word of prayer. Go to our Bible classes, and then we’ll come back into the auditorium after that for our further period of worship. Would you bow with me and prayer? Oh Lord our Father, we are truly grateful for your love. That through Jesus Christ, your only begotten Son, we have the promise of life everlasting. We have, because of that promise of life everlasting, even the means by which to walk in this world with a sense of assurance, of secureness, and of a peace that does surpass understanding. Father, we’re thankful for Jesus. And we’re thankful that he loved us and that he manifested unto us the way in which to live. Indeed, not to return evil for evil, but rather even to yield himself that others might be lifted up.

Help us, Father, to have this mind and attitude and forgive us in those things that we’ve stumbled and sinned against you. Keep us close to you and save us family. For we humbly beg and pray in the name of the Christ. And amen.