Signs of Joy - Part 2

Bryan Chapell: Jesus said, "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Our present afflictions are not worth comparing with the glory that shall be revealed in us. And the reason that we do not put our hope in the passing evidences of this world of God's blessing is because His blessings are secure in the next world.
Guest (Male): So glad you joined us for today's Unlimited Grace, the audio broadcast ministry of pastor and author Bryan Chapell. In today's episode, Pastor Bryan shares the second half of a lesson from Philippians Chapter 1. Dr. Chapell highlights the blessing that we as believers can be to each other as we walk side-by-side on mission for the gospel. You can find this lesson and many others when you visit UnlimitedGrace.com. And while you're there, look for the children's book, *Anyway and Always*, written by Pastor Bryan and his wife Kathy. Through this book, the Chapells present the promise of the covenants fulfilled by Christ in a personal and meaningful way for young children to understand. Let's hear now from Dr. Bryan Chapell as he shares the second half of the lesson, "Signs of Joy."
Bryan Chapell: Let me ask that you would look in your Bibles this morning at Philippians Chapter 1, verses 27 through 30. The Apostle Paul has already expressed his uncertainty about whether he will ever return from prison and be back among those at Philippi. And yet he says, "I want you to stand together and work together for the cause of the gospel." I want you to think about that at the end of today's service, as you think about what it would mean for somebody to support you for the sake of the gospel. I wonder if there are prayer requests that you may have, maybe something you filled out earlier on the cards today or maybe something that will occur to you during the course of the message. We want to be that kind of New Testament church that says, "We support one another," and prayer is one of those ways. We'll give you an opportunity at the end of the service to think about someone praying for needs that you may have. You'll see why as we get there. For now, let me ask you to look with me at Philippians 1, verse 27. Let's stand as we honor God's word together. The Apostle does not know if he will return to Philippi, but writes to the people there: "Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side-by-side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. 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." Let's pray together. Father, grant us insight into your word and commitment to one another. No passage in Scripture speaks more of the blessing that we can be to one another as side-by-side we uplift and support and defend and take in prayer to you. So grant, Father, that because we have been here, we would feel your strength from your body for the gospel's sake. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen. The gospel is where people are saying, "We will put shield to shield, knowing that every generation, every ethnicity has strengths to give." I think of the beauty of being in a legacy church like this and to recognize what it means for a younger generation at times to look across a congregation and say, "You know what? I'd lost faith in marriage. I'd lost hope that a family could hold together. But in that church, there are people who've been married 30 years or 40 years or 50 years or in this church, 60 years plus." I take hope again. The gospel really can mean something in families. And there are older people who begin to think at times there is nothing we have done that makes any impact in society. And then you look at a younger generation for whom there is absolutely no currency to live for Christ today, no benefit. And yet they are going against the current of the ideals of our universities, of sometimes their friends' practices and habits. I'm going to stand for the Lord and I'm going to be a part of a body of Christ. I'm not just going to go over to a 20-something church and meet with more 20-somethings. I'm actually going to believe that there is power in the generations coming together, that there is an intentionality of God in putting shield to shield, working side-by-side for the sake of the gospel. And I'm not just going to say, "You get yours and I get mine." No, it's selflessness. It's living and it is sacrifice for the sake of others. When we are moving forward in that way against all odds, against all the differences, crossing all the boundaries for the sake of the gospel, what then happens? We become fearless in the cause of God. It's verse 28. As we are striving side-by-side for the faith of the gospel, Paul says, "I want to hear you are not frightened in anything by your opponents." That by having people around us who are standing firm, by having people around us who are side-by-side with us, linking shields in prayer, in small groups, in finance, in supporting mission, when we are side-by-side, when we are that Roman legion moving forward, fear just doesn't occur to us. We've got people all around us backing us up, supporting us, praying for us, helping us. And that reality of not only standing firm and striving forward, but being stout, fearless for the sake of God has implications the Apostle wants us to know. He says verse 28: "What happens if you're not frightened?" He says, "This is a clear sign to your opponents of their destruction, but of your salvation." The picture is this: if fear hasn't come into your eyes because you're standing firm and holding together with fellow believers, then there's a fearlessness that takes over in your heart that begins to drive back the forces of the opposition to the gospel. If we're just to be silly about it, it's almost like in the small Western town where the townspeople finally begin to pull together and recognize if they will just hold together, the gunslinger doesn't have any more power in the town. And when the gunslinger sees there's no more fear in their eyes, he knows it's time to get out of dodge. And our opponents, when they recognize we are holding together, that we are striving in unity for the sake of the gospel across all the differences of our cultures, then they know their own destruction is ahead. Why do we need to know that? That our unity is so important? Because we see a society in which it seems that civility is collapsing, when our political answers of the moment seem virtually hopeless, when there is economic instability, employment uncertainties, racial and ethnic violence, generational tension. But what if in the midst of all that, the church of which we are members did not show fear? What would we be actually demonstrating? Our own salvation. Our hope is not in this world. Our hope is not in this moment. We believe that we are eternally secure and no matter what may shake us in the temporal realm, it is not going to shake us for our eternal hope. We are strong. We are fearless. So even as we are fearless, we are marking the destruction of those who do not know the hope that we have. We are signaling the hope we ourselves have. When we will stand firm for one another, it can make such a difference for the gospel's sake in whatever culture we go. I think of my own experience in Senegal, a Western African nation, some years ago, in which I was trying to teach a group of pastors what I try to say to you Sunday after Sunday: that the gospel is not just in the New Testament. It's not the nice God of the New Testament and the mean God of the Old Testament, that the Bible is unfolding in a planned way so that God is showing us how His grace is necessary against all other alternatives. And so all the horrible things that are happening are so many ways in which God is saying, "That is not the way. That is not the answer. That is not the answer until Christ comes." And He says, "There's your answer." And when you see the Bible that way, this unfolding message of grace, what it means is that God has throughout all the Bibles not just been saying, "You need to straighten up and fly right and be better and then you'll be okay with me." What God is saying is, "I have shown you a path through all the Scriptures how people need my grace and here is Christ the culmination of that message so that you, knowing that you have been saved, will live not to earn his favor, but in reflection to the grace you have received." I was trying to say that in a deeply legalistic culture that's still coming out of its animistic roots. And not only was I trying to explain the Old Testament and the New Testament and their relationship to a group of pastors whose language was not my own, my translator was Muslim. And he was trying to get it too. And at some point, there was this great stir among the pastors that I was talking to, and they were getting angry. I finally said to my translator, "What did you just say?" And he said, "Well, I said what you said." And I said, "What did you say that I said?" And he said, "Well, I told them that Abraham was not saved by his faith, he was saved by his works." And I said, "That's not what I said." But it's what he heard because that was his background. His understanding was it was being good enough that made you right before God. And the gospel is such a turn on that, such a twist on that. It's not your race, it's not your background, it's not your education, it's not your ethnicity, it's not anything about you. It's what Christ has done that is your hope. And when we are together in that message, it begins to move forward with power. My Senegalese pastors understood it. I told you they so much struggled to hear what I was saying. And I will tell you, at the end of that day, I just felt totally frustrated. I mean, I just felt like I was just beating my head against a wall to get them to understand. But late in the afternoon after my host had kind of taken me for some relaxation, we came back by the classroom where I had been teaching all that day. And there in that classroom were virtually all the ministers still seated. I said to my host, "Why are all the pastors still here?" He said, "Well, what you said today was hard for many of us. And so no one will leave until we all understand." Shield to shield. We understand that we're in a culture that does not receive the gospel. We understand sometimes our own hearts do not understand the gospel. We understand that everything in us is resistant to the nature of grace that is the power of the gospel. But when we are saying we have to hold together, we have to get the message together, we have to stand together, we have to move forward side-by-side with this gospel understanding, there is power that we begin to learn from everybody else. It is what God is saying to us if we will but hear Him.
Guest (Male): You're listening to Unlimited Grace, the audio broadcast ministry of Pastor and author Bryan Chapell. Raising children to love the Lord can sometimes feel like a daunting task. The physical, mental, and emotional energy needed to engage with a child can also lead to feelings of inadequacy and doubt for parents. How then can you effectively talk with children about Jesus or demonstrate to them His love? Written by Pastor Bryan and his wife Kathy, *Anyway and Always* is a heartwarming children's book designed to help explain the love of Christ to a child. The Chapells present the promise of the covenants fulfilled by Christ in a personal and meaningful way for young children to understand. Page after page of beautiful illustrations complement Bryan and Kathy's captivating storytelling. Whether you read this as a bedtime story or share it around the family dinner table, this book is sure to become a favorite of children and parents alike. You can request your copy of *Anyway and Always* when you go online to UnlimitedGrace.com or by calling 844-41-GRACE. That's 844-414-7223. And now, more from Bryan Chapell on today's Unlimited Grace.
Bryan Chapell: The Apostle says in verse 29, "It has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ, you should not only believe in him." Now I love that. It's been granted to you to believe in him. Great, not me, I'm going to believe in him. "But also to suffer for his sake." If we are standing firm and striving together and not frightened by the opponents, I will assure you something will happen and it is called suffering. But what does the Apostle say? It has been granted to you to suffer for His sake, as though this is a gift. How could it possibly be? There are two clear things the Apostle is saying in that 29th verse: first, that suffering is a gift; and second, it is a gift you are not supposed to open by yourself. How do we know that suffering is a gift? I'm going to give you six quick reasons to see why the Apostle would say that suffering even that believers go through is a gift from God Himself. The first reason that suffering is a gift is it proves we are disciples of Christ. "A servant," Jesus said, "is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you." All who desire to live a godly life will be persecuted. It is the way the Master went. How do you know you're walking in His steps? Because what happened to Him will happen to you. That's how you know you are a disciple of Christ; the consequences of His life begin to touch you. What else is suffering indicating? Number two: suffering is a gift because it shifts our joy from passing realities of earth to the secure blessings of eternity. Jesus said, "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Our present afflictions are not worth comparing with the glory that shall be revealed in us. And the reason that we do not put our hope in the passing evidences of this world of God's blessing is because His blessings are secure in the next world. And we say, "I'm not going to bank my faith, I'm not going to bank my hope, my joy on what's happening in this broken fallen world." And sometimes our sufferings are weaning us from this world so that we will truly put our security in the world that Christ is securing for us. Suffering also gives opportunity to bear witness to Christ. If we're loyal to Him, we want the opportunities to bear witness to Him and Jesus said that they would come. Jesus said some will insult you, but others will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to synagogues and prisons and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name's sake. This will be your opportunity to bear witness. But it is not just governors and not just kings. Keep listening. You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death as you bear witness in my name. Suffering gives us opportunity to bear witness, sometimes to those who are actually closest to us who know us so well, know our weakness, know our fears, know our insecurities. They even know our sin. But when we say, "I will suffer for the sake of my Savior," we bear witness to a higher reality and a deeper devotion than even those closest to us thought we could possibly give. Suffering justifies the judgment of the wicked. Paul wrote, "God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not obey the gospel of Jesus Christ. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction." Why? Because they have afflicted you, God will afflict them. God is just reminding us it is a moral universe. And our sufferings are actually at the hands of the wicked, the just sentence that will come against them for eternal judgment. God is actually using we His saints to write the warrant for the arrest and ultimately the punishment of those who are against Him. Suffering sanctifies and matures us. Paul wrote, "We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that our suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given unto us." Through Christ's suffering, I begin to learn aspects of His suffering that I never would have understood otherwise. And I learn in standing for Him how my own character is changed and how my hope is increased and the reality of heaven becomes so much more important. If it was just easy street every day, would I trust Him at all? Would I even want to live for Him? But my suffering is putting my head in the right place. It's where my heart is. It is living for Christ and in living for him, I'm actually changing my character as my suffering is allowing me to see the importance of the things of heaven more than the things of earth. Ultimately, what suffering does is it unites us with the church universal and ancient. Peter said, "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trouble when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you are sharing in Christ's suffering with all of those who name him Lord." You are uniting your heart with those across the world. Right now there are those who are suffering under ISIS. Right now there are those who are suffering under Al-Qaeda. Right now there are those suffering under Boko Haram. And you are uniting heart with them. You don't want the suffering, but God is saying to you as they are depending upon you, you are brothers and sisters with them. You unite yourself with the church universal and also the church ancient. "Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, for so they persecuted the prophets before you," says Jesus. The church ancient and the church universal becomes kin to you as you stand for Christ in the midst of suffering. What he's saying though, of course, if you are part of the church universal and part of the church ancient, this isn't for you alone. Ultimately the reason you are part of a church is we need each other, not just for united witness but for united support. This is the world we live in. It is broken. It is fallen. And we live with hope in a better world, in a better hope. We have Christ who is our Savior, who secures us. And our suffering is saying to us, "I will stand for you because I've been there and I want you to stand for me because you know what I'm going through." And when we have those shields locked together in mutual support, the congregation living for one another, in prayer for one another, then we can face the world and its hurts and its hardships because we know this is not some strange thing happening to me. I am part of the body of believers and in that body of believers, I stand for you, I strive with you, and we are not frightened together because we know whatever we face is going to advance the cause of the gospel. When I support you and you support me, then God is now working in our midst. Friends, I'm so glad you decided to tune in today and listen and I would consider it a privilege to pray for you right now. Let's go together before the throne of heaven and pray for the Lord's blessing. Father, thank you for being merciful to us. Help our hearts to grasp the greatness of that mercy that you provide so that we can offer our lives to Jesus as a sacrifice of praise that you have made holy and acceptable, despite our many weaknesses and flaws. We thank you for this great grace and pray in Jesus' name, Amen.
Guest (Male): That's Pastor Bryan Chapell and you've been listening to Unlimited Grace. If you've missed anything that you'd like to hear once again, just visit UnlimitedGrace.com. And when you do so, you can sign up for Pastor Bryan's daily devotional sent right to your inbox. While you're there, also be sure to request a copy of the book from Dr. Bryan Chapell and his wife Kathy called *Anyway and Always*. We'll send you a copy right away as our way of saying thank you for your most generous financial support. Once again, go to UnlimitedGrace.com or you can give by calling 844-41-GRACE. Please be sure to join us next time as once again we endeavor to put Christ at the center of our efforts so that lives might be transformed by His unlimited grace. This ministry is brought to you by Unlimited Grace Media and continues to be made possible with your generous financial support.