How to Live a Joyful Life

It's one thing to celebrate for an hour so. It's quite another to live a joyful life. How can we do that? That's what I want to talk about this evening: How to live a joyful life. That's my title, as you can see on the outline that's on the back of the service sheet. And our focus is on Philippians 3.1-14, so please have that open in front of you. 

Think of this evening as a fresh start. This is the first day of the rest of our lives. How are we going to live? As we think about that, there could hardly be a better passage to go to than this one in Philippians 3. Here is the apostle Paul in the limbo of death row, chained in a jail probably in Rome. He doesn't know if he'll live or die.

As one of my heroes, Samuel Johnson, said, the prospect of being hanged in the morning concentrates the mind wonderfully – and the apostle writes, as the Puritan Richard Baxter was described as speaking, "as a dying man to dying men." Paul knows what matters most, and he wants the Christians at Philippi – and us – to know.

Here, then, is how to live a joyful life. I shall focus what Paul has to say in four guidelines for joyful living.

First, REJOICE IN THE LORD

This is there in verse 1:

Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.

A Godly Christian life is a joyful life. That is a challenging truth – not least for an Anglican like me. They say the Anglican colour of joy is black. My family are always telling me that I should smile more when I'm up front in church. So here we go …

Try it yourself. But remember three things about Christian joy.

First, rejoicing is a command. It is a repeated command at that. In fact it is repeated twice over just in this letter. 4.4:

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. (4.4)

Joy is not an optional extra in the Christian life, like a sun-roof or a satnav – nice to have if you can afford it, but a bit of a luxury. Joy is part of the fruit of the Spirit and it is repeatedly commanded. Have you settled for a lack of joy in your life? If you have, then that is not just sad for you. It is disobedient of you.

Joy is not optional. But don't misunderstand. This kind of joy must not be confused with spontaneous outbursts of blissful emotion. Nothing spontaneous and occasional can be a command for always. Joy is a deep awareness of where we belong and to whom we belong. 3.20:

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ…

That is the root of joy – an absolute certainty that a glorioius future awaits us. Joy is a command.

Secondly, remember that rejoicing can be and often is in the context of suffering. Do you use the hardships you face as an excuse to be grumpy and grim? Paul would have none of it. He is facing execution but there is no hint of self-pity in him. In fact he is keen that the Philippians should know that his very imprisonment has become a tremendous evangelistic opportunity. 1.13:

… it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ.

And that's encouraged everyone else to witness boldly. And it's not just Paul suffering. 1.29-30:

For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.

They were going through the mill as well. And what does Paul urge them to do? Rejoice. That's not cosy advice from one comfortable Christian to another. It's a hard-edged command from one suffering Christian to a suffering church.

Thirdly, remember that rejoicing is "in the Lord". We are not talking about a manufactured emotion or a state of mind that could be induced in a range of different ways. This is a very specific joy – joy in the Lord. The source of this joy is Christ. The reason for this joy is Christ. The goal of this joy is Christ. Christ creates joy in the hearts of those who know him. Without Christ, the joy would disappear like a light going out when the power supply is switched off.

A Godly Christian life is not a dry, cold, cheerless, calculated life. It is a life that throbs with the heartbeat of joy that Christ transplants into us. The first guideline, then, for living a joyful life is simply that we should rejoice always. That is an order. It may well have to be in the context of suffering. And it must be rejoicing in Christ.

Secondly, DON'T LET THOSE WHO DENY THE GOSPEL TAKE AWAY YOUR JOY

The second guideline for us as we embark on the years that lie ahead of us comes from verses 2-6.

Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh— though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. (2-6)

Don't be misled by those who deny or denigrate the gospel.

Look out [says Paul in verse 2] for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh.

He seems to be talking – as in Galatians that we've been looking at on Sunday mornings – about people who were going around saying that believing in Jesus was not sufficient – Christians had to be circumcised if they were going to be part of God's people. They were denying the gospel of free grace by saying that what Christ has done is not sufficient. More had to be done.

Now it's one mark of increasing maturity in the Christian life when, as it were, you've been mauled by denials and denigrations of the gospel of one sort or another and you've fought them off. But this is not a once-for-all fight. Satan will constantly be on the look out for vulnerable areas in our thinking or our living. He will use every trick in the book to downgrade the gospel in our lives, to distract attention from it, and to rob us of our joy.

If you're a relatively young Christian (young in the faith, that is) then you may not have met this yet. But it will come. "Look out," says Paul. They are on their way. Be expecting them. You may think you are alert and will spot the danger a mile off. Maybe you are – at the moment. But we're talking about a lifetime ahead of you. Think about England and the world cup. All you need is a brief lapse of attention, and Luis Suarez gets in behind the defence and scores. In the spiritual realm, it is so very easy to let your guard drop.

As I think back over the forty or so years of my own Christian life, I can see all sorts of avenues and dead-ends that I've been tempted to go down that could have, and sometimes have, taken me off the straight, narrow road of the joy-giving gospel. You must speak in tongues if you're going to be a real Christian. You're not doing enough good works to be acceptable to God. You can't possibly believe that the Bible means what it says. You must follow this rigid and prescribed pattern of disciplined prayer or you're a second class Christian. You must convert your quota of people each year or you're a failed Christian. And so on, and so on.

What's the right defence against the denials and denigrations of the gospel that fly at us from all directions? How can we keep hold of our joy when we're under bombardment? It is, says Paul, a question of confidence.

First, be confident of your relationship with God in Christ. Verse 3:

For we are the circumcision [that is, the circumcision of the heart – spiritually circumcised through the gospel], who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus … (3)

If we believe in Christ then God has saved us. Certainly we have much to learn but we don't need saving. The job's been done.

And if that sounds like arrogance, it isn't because of the second defence we need which is the right kind of lack of confidence. First, be confident of your relationship with God in Christ.

But, secondly, put no confidence in who you are or what you are or what you have done. In verses 4-6, Paul says that he has it all. In the areas of church, nationality, ancestry, parentage, personal life and character he was top of the tree. But how important was it all when it came to knowing God? It was utterly and totally irrelevant. It was all about as valuable to him as the contents of the dustbin bag that you put out last week are to you. Garbage. Trash – the lot of it.

If we think like that, that's very humbling. It drives us away from any kind of self-satisfaction or self-reliance. It drives us back to the gospel of Christ. The right defence against the denials and denigrations of the gospel that we face over the years is to put no confidence in who we are or what we've done, but rather to be confident in our relationship with God because of what Christ has done. Then we won't let those who deny the gospel take away our joy.

Any tendency to complacency that that second guideline might suggest is counteracted by the third guideline for joyful living. So:

Thirdly, MAKE GAINING CHRIST YOUR OVER-RIDING AIM IN LIFE AND DEATH

This comes from verses 7-11:

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. (7-11)

Some people have got their lives all mapped out. Their aims in life are clear. Ask them what their aims are and they'll tell you immediately – one, two, three. Other people would look at you blankly as if to say, "I've never thought about it!" But their lives will be driven by unacknowledged aims and goals just as surely. Make gaining Christ your over-riding aim. That is the secret of joy in the end. After all, what's the competition?

What other aims might crowd in as the years go by and take over the top spot, relegating Jesus to the "if time and energy allow" section? There's quite a range of possibilities. It might be a career to challenge you, or a spouse to find, or children to adore, or money to bank, or possessions to surround you, or power to boost your ego, or security to sooth you , or fame to glorify you, or pleasure to thrill you, or adventure to exhilarate you, or comfort to coddle you. What's yours?

Paul had quite a list that he proudly put in the assets column of his personal life-accounts before he met Christ on that road to Damascus. What did he think afterwards? The end of verse 8:

I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ …

And what does that mean – to "gain Christ"? Does it mean that he is uncertain of his relationship with Christ? No, it can't be that. We've already seen the confidence that he has in God. A good way to think of it is this. He's sure that Christ has taken hold of him and won't let him go. But he's determined that he'll take hold of Christ ever more strongly until the day when Christ returns and transforms us all. So there's no uncertainty. But what exactly does it mean, then, to "gain Christ"?

Well, I can see in this passage nine different aspects of Paul's relationship to Christ. They're like different facets of the one diamond that is gaining Christ. We need to ask ourselves whether these things make up our over-riding aim in life.

First there's glorying in Christ (v 3). He is the one and only ground for boasting and pride and exulting.

Secondly there's being found in Christ (v 9):

… that I may gain Christ and be found in him ..

He longs for the day when his union with Christ will be fully revealed.

Thirdly there's knowing Christ (which is in both verses 8 and 10). He had discovered a new experience of personal knowledge of Jesus that was so overwhelmingly wonderful that it became his central concern.

Fourthly there's having the righteousness of Christ (v 9 again). He'd exchanged his own filthy rags of sin for the pure white robes of the righteousness of Christ.

And that was the result, fifthly, of trusting in Christ (v 9 again) – believing in him; putting his faith in him.

Sixthly, there is knowing the power of the resurrection of Christ in his life (v 10).

And that resurrection power gives him the ability to withstand the pressure of the seventh facet of gaining Christ, which is knowing the fellowship of sharing his sufferings (v 10). The suffering that Paul experienced was not an accident. It was part of God's plan to unite him with Christ. And God uses our suffering in the same way.

Then number eight is dying with Christ.

And nine is rising with Christ. Those two are at the end of verse 10 and verse 11:

becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. (10-11)

The experience of resurrection power alongside the suffering that following Christ brings gives way eventually to the reality of death – and beyond that, to the final and greater reality of sharing in the resurrection of Christ.

Those are the facets of the diamond that is gaining Christ and ultimately the source of all our deep and lasting joy. Glorying in him. Being found in him. Having his righteousness. Trusting in him. Knowing him. Knowing the power of his resurrection. Knowing the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings. Dying with him. And in the end rising with him.

The whole of Paul's being was focused unrelentingly on that multi-faceted diamond of gaining Christ. Is that our aim now? Will that be our aim through the remaining years of our life, however many that may be? Will that be our over-riding aim when our earthly life draws to an end? Let it be so. Make gaining Christ your over-riding aim in life and in death.

Fourthly, PRESS AHEAD REGARDLESS

This is from verses 12-14.

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,I press on towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (12-14)

He's not going to let anything stop him.

I press on [says Paul] … forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal … (13-14)

Joni Eareckson was in her late teens when, in 1967, she had a diving accident. She was permanently paralysed from the shoulders down. She was also a Christian – from childhood. Decades later she wrote:

Accepting my wheelchair didn't happen in one afternoon. There was a long series of many days when the Holy Spirit covered my pain and hurt with his gentle grace … Christ has come for our redemption, and we have every reason to break forth with the resounding words [of the carol], 'Rejoice … rejoice'. Long ago and far away in an old stone Methodist church, I was captivated by that haunting melody .. even though I was a child I rejoiced to that chorus of His coming. Thank the Lord, I'm still rejoicing to this day.

Like Joni Eareckson, press ahead regardless. Rejoice that God called you. Rejoice that Christ took hold of you. Rejoice that he will not let you go.

That's how to live a joyful life. Live the years ahead of you according those four guidelines. Rejoice in the Lord. Don't let those who deny the gospel take away your joy. Make gaining Christ your over-riding aim in life and death. And press ahead regardless.