Joy | Philippians 4

There is a day coming when you and I will breathe our last breath. And our eyes will either close or someone will shut them for us. And the next breath that we draw and the next image we take in will be the face of our creator. And in that moment, we do not want to say, well, here's my credentials, here's what I built my life upon. All we wanna do is just look next to that throne and look at the face of Jesus and say, I know Him. 🎵 Well, hello South Christian Church. My name is Matt Proctor. I get to serve as president of Ozark Christian College and Lincoln Seminary in Joplin Missouri. More importantly I get to serve several of the presidents of different I get to serve as dad to Lydia Florence who is on staff here sometimes teaches from this stage. You bet. Give it up for my daughter. And I'm excited to be here with you today. If you got your Bibles go ahead and grab them. Crank them open to Philippians chapter 4.

Philippians 4. Grab your journal. Grab your pen. Today we are wrapping up this four week series through the four chapters of Philippians. Key word joy. Here's how I'll start. Don't just sit there. Do something. Now that is my wife Katie's life motto. Do you know people like this? My wife Katie is a doer. Like she constitutionally cannot sit still from from sunup to sundown. She is in constant motion kind of this blur of activity. My wife she likes whiteboards. Katie loves whiteboards. She likes making to do lists on whiteboards. I'm not kidding you. I counted them before I left the house. Right now in our house we have 12 whiteboards each with different to do lists. Twelve. That's not right. OK. I'm just telling you that if we're on

vacation and I'm in charge we don't have a to do list. We're going to sit by the pool. We're to read books. But if Katie's in charge like our to do list is as long as my arm we got to go see everything we got to go do everything. The girl she has an on off switch. She has no dimmer switch. All right. The girl has no chill and she is just go go go full throttle. And she is my wife and I love her and God put her in my life so that if I am ever tempted to be lazy she can say to me don't just sit there do something. Now this is why she sometimes has to say that. This is my chair. I brought it with me from Missouri. I love my chair. I've had this chair I don't even know how many years but many many years ago when this chair was still new I gathered all of our kids around we have six children I gathered all of our kids around this chair and I said children do

you see this chair this blue lazy boy chair this blue lazy boy chair is a special chair this blue lazy boy chair is mine and it is clean. So children here is the rule. Do not sit on the blue lazy boy chair. Do not touch the blue lazy boy chair. Children do not stand next to breathe on or think about the blue lazy boy chair. Children do you remember the forbidden tree in the Garden of Eden on on every other chair in this house you may freely sit but upon this chair this blue lazy boy chair you may not sit for in the day you sit there upon you shall surely die. I love my chair. And there's nothing that I like better at the end of a long day than to come home and just get to sit and relax in my chair. That's why this chair might be the most dangerous item in my house. This was about two years ago. It was a spring evening was in

April Monday I got home from work about 530 and I was tired I'd been up all day I've been up since four worked hard all day when I got home. We have livestock so I went out took care of the cattle took care of the sheep took care of the donkey and the dog and then finally got to come in and relax in my chair. That's when the phone rang on the other end of the phone was my son Carl now my boys Carl and Conrad were 19 and 21 years old at the time they were both students at Ozark Christian College and they were on a softball team as a bunch of guys from their dorm floor had put together a softball team they're playing in the in the city league. And so when I sat down in my chair phone rang on the other end it's Carl Carl says Dad we're down three guys tonight I need you to come play for us. Now brothers and sisters I am 56 years old. All right.

I'm tired. The brand name here not active boy lazy boy. I didn't. not want to get out of my chair. I said, Carl, I haven't played softball for like 20 years. He's like, oh come on dad, we need you. And I told you we had six kids, Carl and Conrad, they're kid number four and kid number five. And so I'm realizing that my days to play ball with my kids are extremely limited. And my wife, even though she wasn't home, I could hear her voice in my head, don't just sit there, do something. And so I said, okay. Now, here's the picture. You're going to see a picture on the screen. That's me and my voice. When we got to the ballpark, I discovered the stands were filled with Bible college students. Like word had spread around campus, oh, President Proctor's going to play softball with some other guys. And so all these college kids came out, they packed the bleachers there at the softball place, and so one of them snapped this picture and texted it to my daughter, Lydia, here in Kentucky. Now, have you all, have you ever seen the movie The Sandlot? You know what I'm talking about? So Lydia instantly pops this picture out onto our family text thread, and she's like, guys, our dad is a middle-aged squint-spalladorus, and she's not wrong. And so I played ball with the guys that night, and we got our rear ends handed to us, all right? We lost 20 to one, all right? But guess who was the one? Thank you very much, all right? I'm telling you, I got up to bat, I knocked a single, I get on base, and then my son Carl is up to bat next. Now Carl's this big old guy, and so he cranks a hard double, and I'm actually able to score from first base. And so we finally, we have one run on the board, and it was President Proctor who scored it. And so all these college kids in the stands, they're cheering, they're going nuts like we just won the World Series. And my son Carl was so excited by this. He's on second base, and he's just hopping up and down with excitement, and he yells across that ball field, for everybody in the leadership here, he says, that's my president and my dad! And they went nuts. And we got smoked that night, but we had so much fun. And what I am saying to you here today is this, that I will carry that moment with me in my heart to my grave. But I almost missed it because I was sitting here in my chair. And my confession to you today is this, over the last 30 years,

I know I have missed too many moments of joy because I just wanted to sit here in my chair. Don't just sit there, do something. Now you've got your Bibles open to Philippians chapter four, right? We're in this book of Philippians, the very last chapter today, our key word joy, and look at what it says in verse four. Philippians 4.4, Paul writes this. Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again, rejoice. Notice this first, that's a command. Joy, not optional in the Christian life. This is an imperative. This is a command from God for you. My hometown preacher used to say, there's too many Christians walking around looking like they got baptized in pickle juice. You know what I'm talking about? And that's not right, says Paul. There was an old preacher named Billy Sunday and he said, if you don't have joy, there's a leak in your Christianity somewhere. And what Paul is saying is, if you're a believer in Jesus Christ, then you've got to learn to rejoice in the Lord always. But why? Why is this so important for us to have joy in the Christian life? Three reasons real quick, can I give these to you? Number one, joy reflects the character of God. Write that down. Joy reflects God's character. Now God is not, some of you might think this, but God is not this big grim sheriff in the sky, you know, wearing a badge, dark glasses, arms crossed, if he sees you smiling and having fun, you know, he stomps on you, stomp that. That's not God. He's not a great big cosmic killjoy. God, joy is at His very heart. You just went through, in a series, the book of Galatians. And I just got to say, man, what a great sermon series. I am so thankful Scott is here and leading you guys through this next chapter. What a blessing. And you remember in Galatians chapter five, that's the fruit of the Spirit. What's the second one in the list? The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy. Like that's the mark of God in your life, joy. When Jesus was on earth, He was a man marked by joy. Like Jesus got invited to parties. He enjoyed good food. He danced at weddings. Jesus made people laugh. Kids hung out with Him. I'm a children's church teacher. Kids do not like grumpy pants people. They loved hanging with Jesus, alright. Hebrews chapter one, verse nine, says that God anointed Jesus with the oil of joy. Now, hear me. The Bible does talk about the wrath of God, that is true. And the Bible does talk about the sorrow of God, that is true. But those are both just his temporary responses to sin. And the day is coming when God comes back

and he is gonna make this world right and sin will be no more and his wrath will be no more and his sorrow will be no more and all that will be left is God's joy because God is the most joyful being in the universe. C.S. Lewis put it this way, he said, joy is the serious business of heaven. And if you are going to reflect the character of God and you are called to do that, then you will need to learn to rejoice in the Lord always. You need joy, here's a second reason. Joy strengthens your endurance. Joy strengthens your endurance. It's what actually gets you through the hard times. In Nehemiah chapter eight, Israel is in a crisis. The people are grieving. The leader, Nehemiah, says, let's have a feast, a party. And here's why. He says in Nehemiah chapter eight, verse 10, the joy of the Lord is your strength. Do you remember the movie Monsters, Inc.? You remember that movie? And you remember that you got all these monsters and their job is to scare these little kids because they bottle up those little kids' screams and it's the kids' screams that are all bottled up that power the city of Monstropolis. But do you remember at the end of the movie, what do they discover? They discover that there is something more powerful

than those screams. It's laughter, the kids' laughter. And they start making these kids laugh. They bottle up that laughter. Their city is brighter than ever because joy is always the strongest energy. Did you know there is only one time in all the Gospels, only one time that Jesus is ever recorded singing? And it was the last night of his life, Thursday night, the hardest night of his life as he is on his way to the Garden of Gethsemane and then to the cross. The Bible says, Mark chapter 14, that Jesus sang a song of praise. I'm telling you, joy, joy is what gives you the strength to get through those hard times. So if you're going through trials here today, oh, you need joy. But there's one more reason real quick. Joy grabs the world's attention. It grabs the world's attention. Next to love, joy might be our most powerful witness. 10 years before Paul wrote this book of Philippians, Paul made his very first visit to the city of Philippi. And you've talked about this in the series. Paul and another guy named Silas are there in Philippi. They're preaching away. And all of a sudden, they get arrested. And you're like, yeah, that's no surprise. Paul was like always getting thrown in jail, right? And he's what we would call a repeat offender.

And so, but they get thrown in jail. But this one's a little different because this time it says the authorities in Philippi, they stripped Paul and Silas to the waist and they flogged their bare backs. You have seen probably the passion of the Christ. You know how horrific a flogging is. Their backs are laid open, raw, bloody. And then they throw them into prison. And they're in the middle of the night. They're in that Philippian prison. You know that the other prisoners, they're tossing, turning, moaning, cursing. But Acts chapter 16 verse 25 says this. It says about midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God. And the other prisoners were listening. Yeah, I'll just bet they were. I mean, if you hear singing in the middle of the night in prison, you're gonna sit up. What in the world is that? You cannot believe your ears. I mean, yeah, sure, sometimes tavern songs got sung in prison. Those aren't tavern songs, those are church songs. I'm not talking about sad, slow, gloomy, funeral organ church songs, no. One translation of the Bible says they were singing a robust hymn to God. I mean, Paul and Silas, they're going full gospel choir,

hands in the air, even though their hands are in chains there, hallelujah. Listen, when you are able to sing in the midst of suffering, the world will sit up and take notice. People will stampede over one another to ask you, what do you got and where do you get it? And that's our question for this morning. Paul, where do you get this kind of joy, rejoices? Where do you get that kind of joy? Because I'm gonna be honest, when the going gets tough for me, when things are hard for me, I'm not out here singing. I'm not, you know, hallelujah, you know, my tire blew. I've got the flu, my kids ate glue. You know, that's not me. I do not rejoice always. Paul, where do you get that kind of joy? Now, we know it's not over here in the chair. If you want joy, don't just sit there, do something. But what, what do we gotta do to find that joy? Paul, what's the secret to joy? In our text, he tells us. Philippians chapter four, look at verses 11 and 12, Paul writes this, he says, I have learned in whatever situation to be content. I know how to be low and I know how to abound in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret facing plenty and hunger abundance and need he's saying whether I'm in the palace or whether I am in the prison I know how to sing through it all I know the secret to joy and we're we're wondering yeah Paul what is it what's the secret what do we gotta do and as I read through Philippians 4 at first at

first I thought maybe this was the secret to joy maybe it's Christian generosity Christian generosity because look at what Paul writes in verses 14 through 18 this is what he says it was kind of you to share in my trouble you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel when I left Macedonia no other church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving except you only even at Thessalonica you sent me help for my needs once and again not that I seek the gift I seek the fruit that increases to your credit but I have received full payment and more I'm well supplied having received from Epaphroditus the gifts that you sent they were a fragrant offering and a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God what's what's going on here what's Paul talking about well very simply Paul is saying that the Philippian church took up an offering for him and they sent it to him in fact he says they've done this several times before they are faithful supporters of his missionary work he's preaching the gospel all through the Roman Empire and what Paul's doing is he's writing back to say thank you I'm grateful for the gift thank you but he's also saying something else can I show you a picture this picture that you see on the screen this is my daughter Clara and her husband Colton on the bottom left that's my grandson Ezra he's one but look over there on the right near the bottom the bottom right that is my granddaughter Josie now Josie is going to turn three next Sunday Katie and I we we have seven grandkids we have six grandsons whom we love dearly but Josie is the only granddaughter now if you look very closely you may not be able to see it right away but if you look very closely in that picture I am actually there in that picture in fact I look put a little red circle I am wrapped right around Josie's little finger you see that there that's where I live can you imagine the power that little girl wields she knows she can get granddad to do whatever she wants now she's super sweet she is a benevolent queen but she is a queen all right and this was this was several weeks ago they came over to our house they were staying at our house and and so I got up early in the morning I went and got donuts for breakfast I brought them donuts for everybody and so I I grab a chocolate donut and I go into the living room because I love me a chocolate donut sit down in the living room I'm gonna eat my donut and Josie is across the room she's on the couch and as soon as she sees me walk in she perks up and she says what did granddad bring Josie and I said well I got a chocolate donut and Josie immediately hops off the couch just starts coming over and she says I will help granddad share oh I see what you're doing you're helping me yes you you are giving me an opportunity to experience the joy of generosity how kind

and I literally said thank you my queen and she said you're welcome and I shared the chocolate donut and it was in fact a joy what I'm saying is this Paul is writing to the Philippians and he's saying thank you for the gift but he's also saying you're welcome because Paul knows in fact look at what he says in verse 17 look at verse 17 he says not that I seek the gift I seek the fruit that increases to your credit what he's saying is hey when I asked y'all for that money I wasn't actually asking for my sake I was actually asking for your sake I knew Proverbs 11 25 which says a generous person will prosper whoever refreshes others will himself be refreshed Paul's saying hey I know generosity isn't just good for the recipient it's actually good for the giver they will experience joy there is nothing so life giving as the giving life and Paul knows that if if he asked for the money and they give it they will experience joy and so he says thank you and by the way you're welcome can I can I show you another picture on the screen you'll see this picture this was about eight years ago at the Bible college where I serve we needed to do some campus renovation and I have a good friend named Rick Bronson Rick is an EMT runs an ambulance business down in Oklahoma and that's that's Rick in the middle of that picture and then to the right is his son Chad Chad had just graduated from Mozark He's now a preacher at a church down in Oklahoma, and to the left, far left there, you'll see Rick's wife, Kat. And Rick and Kat had some resources. They had just received a very generous inheritance, and they've been long-time supporters of our mission at the Bible College. Our mission, we train men and women for Christian service, like preachers, youth ministers, missionaries, Bible translators, all that, and they're just taking the gospel to the world. And so I asked them to financially help with this campus renovation, and Rick and Kat decided, out of this inheritance, to give Ozark Christian College a $1 million gift. And that picture that you see right there, that's the moment they gave it. They came up to campus. We had a little ceremony. We had a little photo op. Rick said a few words, and then he handed me the check.

In fact, if you look in that picture, you can see I have the check there in my hand on the right of the photo. And as I received that check, I said to Rick, I said, Rick, I just want to tell you thank you. We are grateful for your generosity, and to be honest, I've actually never held in my hand a check with seven figures on it. So thanks a million. And I want you to notice, look at that picture, I want you to notice the faces. I know Rick very well. I can tell you what put that smile on his face. It was not my dumb preacher joke. That's the joy of Christian generosity. You want that joy? Hear me, church. Don't just sit there. Do something. Practice Christian generosity, gospel giving. Yes, give your time, give your talent, but especially give your treasure. Give financially to the work of Christ, to the cause of Christ. Because you know, when you give to this church, Southland takes those monies and they use those to feed hungry kids and bless single moms and plant churches and translate scriptures and restore marriages and send missionaries to unreached people groups. Southland sends some of that money to us at Ozark Christian College and Lincoln Seminary. And we take those monies and we train up the next generation of preachers and missionaries and church planters and Bible translators who will hear me. They will literally reach millions with the good news of Jesus Christ. You did that. If that doesn't put a smile on your face, I don't know what will. That ought to fill your heart with joy and your mouth with song that the Lord allows you to be a part of that.

And what I'm saying up here is, listen, when you are generous, I want to say this to you. Thank you. I mean that. Thank you. And also, you're welcome. Because maybe, maybe that's the secret to your joy. Maybe it's Christian generosity. As I kept reading through Philippians chapter 4, and as I kept reading, I thought, oh, oh, oh, it might actually be this. The secret to joy might be Christian community. You can write that down. Christian community. Because notice how the chapter actually starts in verse 1. Paul writes this. He says, Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved. Now just listen to that. You can tell Paul is close with these folks in the Philippian church. Listen to the language. He calls them brothers. He says, I love you. I long for you. He says, you are my joy, my crown, my beloved. He's saying, listen, the folks in your church, man, I know you guys. I've been in your homes. Like, I know your names. I know your kids' names. We've swapped stories. We've shared meals and hopes and dreams and hurts and fears. And you're my people.

I mean, just thinking about you here in prison, which is where Paul is when he writes this. He says, just thinking about you fills my heart with joy. You know that people are like Legos, right? You can't play with Legos one at a time, unless you're a weirdo or something. I don't know what that is. But I'm just saying that the whole point of Legos is to combine them with other Legos. A solitary Lego can never fulfill its destiny. Legos are made to be connected. That's how you're made. A solitary human being can never fulfill his or her destiny. You need other human beings. You were made to be connected. Harvard University did a study, a longitudinal study of 7,000 people over the course of 70 plus years. It was about the effect of relationships. Here's what they discovered. They found that people who were isolated actually were three times more likely to die than people who had strong relationships. In fact, this study found that people who had bad health habits, like smoking or poor eating habits, but they had strong relationships, lived significantly longer than the people who had great health habits, but who were isolated. In fact, one psychologist wrote about this study and he said, we learned that it is better to eat Twinkies with good friends than to eat broccoli alone. And all God's people... said, amen, that's what I'm talking about, listen to me, we are made to be connected, and that's why God gave us the church. God put you in the church to nourish your heart and nourish your soul, and when you have fellow believers around you who know you and love you and pray for you

and help you and forgive you and challenge you and mentor you and guide you, what a blessing, that's a joy. So hear me, if you're here this morning and you don't have a church, or if you're here this morning, you've been coming to this church, but you have not yet joined up with like a volunteer group or a small group or some kind of class, please, get connected. Now, fair warning, anytime you live in community with other people, there will be differences, there's always differences, right? Think about when you get married, right? He likes country music, she likes pop music, you know, she squeezes the toothpaste from the middle of the tube and he squeezes it from the bottom of the tube. She puts the toilet paper on with the paper going under and he puts the toilet paper roll on with the paper going over because he was raised right and he loves Jesus. And I'm right about that. That's what it's like in the church, man. You live in community, there's all kind of differences, okay, there's theological differences and personality differences and parenting and political differences, and at some point, if you are part of a church, you will get crossways with somebody else in that church

and you will get irritated and you will shake your head and you will pass judgment on them. That's what's happening in Philippi, look at the text. What's it say there in verses two and three? Paul says, I entreat you, Odiah, and I entreat Syntyche, agree in the Lord. I ask you, true companion, help these women who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together. Now, these two ladies, Odiah and Syntyche, they're leaders of some kind in the church there, but somehow, they got crossways. Community is threatened. And so this true companion, Paul's probably talking to the pastor of the Philippian church, a guy named Epaphroditus there, and what he's saying is, hey, my friend, go sit down with these ladies and help them work this out. Do you do that? When you have a difference, when there are disagreements? In our culture, too often, when we disagree with someone else, we write them off. 60% of Gen Z has gone no contact, like they cut somebody off, they have gone no contact with a family member or friend in the last year, 60%, because of disagreements. And listen, in the midst of conflict, we all can be tempted to do that, but I had a mentor who once told me, he said, godly people have no disposable relationships.

You are made not just to be connected, you're made to stay connected with other Christians, even when they frustrate you, that's why the Bible says, love one another, be patient with one another, forgive one another, and in our text, Paul says, agree with one another, that's the word. Does that mean we all have to have the same preferences? No, the word agree in our text literally means of the same mind, it's talking about unity, not uniformity, it's saying that you have the same purpose, not necessarily all of the same preferences. In fact, look at your verse there, there's a word later on in that verse that pictures this perfectly. Paul will say, he says, they labored side by side with me in the gospel together. Now, I'm gonna get Greek-y, labored side by side in the original language, the Greek language, that's one word in the Greek, it's the Greek word, sun afleo. Now, hang with me, sun afleo, sun, that means together, together. Afleo, well, you can hear our English word, athlete, athletics in it, that word is a verb that means to contend, to compete, to struggle. Sun afleo means to compete together, to contend together, to work together as a team. My boys, Carl and Conrad, you saw their pictures on the screen earlier, now they are 23 and 21 these days, but when Carl was two years old,

his younger brother Conrad was born. A little two-year-old Carl could not say his younger brother Conrad's name, it always, instead of coming out Conrad, it came out Fadat, he called him baby Fadat, Fadat, for whatever reason, that's just how it came. And for whatever reason, that stuck in our family as kind of an inside the family nickname for Conrad, we still, Conrad's a big old boy, 21 now, but we still call him Fadat, all right, Fadat. Carl and Conrad, two years apart, I mentioned that, we kind of always treated them like they were twins. Like they always, like I said, both these big old boys worked on a farm together, and they always shared a room together, but they could not be more different. Like as teenagers, Conrad was a big boy, was a rapper, he put out a Christian rap album, and Carl was a little boy, and Conrad was a little boy. wore gold chains. Carl, listen to country music, literally wore a cowboy hat and cowboy boots, right? Conrad, he's a real feeler, and Carl is much more of a thinker. Conrad's into the details, Carl's very spontaneous. Conrad is all about taking care of other people, and Carl's about taking care of tests. They're just very, very different. In fact, when they were friends, they were the best of friends,

but when they were enemies, which was often, they were the worst of enemies. Their middle names, James and John, Sons of Thunder, okay? They fought so much, very different. But one time, Carl was like 10, Conrad was eight. They were playing on the same basketball team in this little community basketball league, and I remember one Saturday they had a game, and I was the only family member that day that could go to their game, and I'll never forget one particular play from this game. Now, Carl's always been bigger and taller, and so on the defensive end, Carl rips down this defensive rebound, and he starts bringing the ball up the court. He's a good little athlete, so he's running a fast break. And so Carl's dribbling right up the middle, and there are these three defenders that get back. They're preparing for him, they're waiting for him, and the only other one of Carl's teammates that is on this fast break, that's out ahead of him, is Conrad. Conrad's actually running up this side of the court over here, and the three defenders, they were so kind of focused in on Carl that they didn't even notice that Conrad was kind of curling in behind him. Well, Carl is running the fast break,

he's dribbling it up, and as he's getting near the top of the key, he sees Conrad has got a clear lane to the basket, but Conrad was not looking for the ball. He wasn't looking for the pass. He's eight, and so he's just looking straight ahead where he's running, right? And so Carl instantly realizes he's got a problem. If he hollers out, Conrad, the defenders are instantly gonna realize that Conrad's back there, they're gonna collapse on him, the moment will be gone. How is he going to get Conrad's attention without alerting the defenders? He's processing all of this instantaneously, and as he's dribbling, all of a sudden, I'm up in the stands, I hear Carl yell out, Fod at! The defenders have no idea what is going on. They think he's yelling out random sounds, but I'm in the stands, and I perked up, and I watched as Conrad said, all of a sudden, whipped around, and Carl, God bless him, no looks to pass. He looks this way, passes that way, right past the defenders. Conrad catches it in stride, takes it in, easy layup, all the parents on our team, they're in the bleachers,

they're giving the nice, polite little clap because we got a basket. They have no idea what just happened, all right? I realize I'm the only one in this whole building who understands what we just witnessed. This was a thing of beauty, all right? Inspired genius, NBA Finals, blah, got nothing on my boys, and I can remember sitting there in those wooden bleachers, I just remember, I remember at that moment, sitting back, shaking my head, kind of laughing to myself, and I'm telling you what, my heart, my heart swelled with joy as I watched my boys working together in perfect harmony. Soon after that, oh. And can I tell you what else I saw as those two boys were running back up the court, despite all their differences, they looked at each other, gave each other a little smile, little head nod, little point, and what I'm telling you is this. A man doesn't have to be my twin to be my brother. Do not let the differences separate you. When you get crossways with some other believer in church, when community is threatened, do not just sit there.

Go do something. Go find that other person and be reconciled. Find a way to work it out. Find a way to work together. Work for the gospel. Contend together for the good news of Jesus Christ, and when you do that, I promise you, it will bring joy to the heart of a watching father, and it will bring joy to your heart as well. That might be the secret to joy, Christian community, but I gotta bring this message home. I'm just gonna lay all my cards out on the table. Here it is. This is the secret to joy. Paul says the secret to joy is reliance on Christ. That's it. Simple as that. The secret to joy is reliance on Christ. You do remember, right, Proverbs chapter three, verse five, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Do you know what is really hard? It's hard to die to your sins, but it is harder to die to your strengths. I mostly don't like my sins, but I kind of like my strengths. Something in me kind of likes, depending on my abilities and my energy and my work ethic and my wisdom and my talents, I like knowing I can do things, like good things. And sometimes I can start thinking that joy is something that I can produce through the things that I do. I can make this happen.

But church, if you don't hear anything else I say, I hope you will hear this. Joy is not produced. Joy is received. And it is received from Christ. Look at our passage, Philippians chapter 4. Actually, just hold that for a minute. I want to take you to another text. In John 15, Jesus says this. He says, I am the vine, you are the branches. Abide in me. He says, apart from me you can do nothing, but if you abide in me, you will bear much fruit. What fruit? He says what the fruit is in John 15. It's joy. He says, abide in me and my joy will be in you and your joy will be made complete. What Jesus is saying there is this. He's saying, I'm the pump, you're just the pipe. I'm in the production business, you're just in the reception business. Stop trying to manufacture and produce joy on your own. Just stay connected to me and my joy will flow through you. Just do something. Sit there. Abide in me. Rest in me. Trust in me. Lean on me. That's what Philippians 4 is about. Look at the passage. Look at the passage.

Right in the middle, verses 6 and 7. Paul says this. 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. I'm telling you, the secret to joy is not relying on yourself. It's relying on Jesus. Look at verse 13. Paul says this. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Now that doesn't mean Jesus is going to help you bench press all the pounds. It doesn't mean that Jesus is going to help you earn all the A's. It means Jesus is going to help you sing in all the circumstances. Whether you are in the palace or whether you are in the prison. It will be Jesus who gives you the grace and the courage and the wisdom and the power and the joy that you need. Listen to me, church. That, that's the gospel. You can't do it on your own. But Jesus can. And Jesus will. So die. Die to your own strengths and abide in Him. Don't just do something. Sit there. I'll close with this. Back in 2013, I thought I was having a pretty good year. I had been president of Ozark for seven years at that point and I felt like I was kind of hitting my stride. My first year that I stepped in as president, we faced big challenges.

The college was facing declining enrollment and big debt. We were operating in the red and so we had to face some hard facts and we had to make some hard decisions and do some hard work. Seven years later, by 2013, we had turned it around. Enrollment was rising. We were completely debt free. We were operating in the black. I felt like I was winning. I finished writing my second book that year. In 2013, I served as the president of the North American Christian Convention. That's a gathering of about 5,000 churches like Southland. And I'm saying, I felt 10 foot tall and bulletproof. It is easy to sing when you feel strong. But in February of 2013, my wife, Katie, went into the hospital for what we thought was going to be a standard procedure and the doctor came back with that dreaded word, cancer. Aggressive cancer. 44-year-old mom, six kids at home. That is a gut punch. And Katie, my wife, God bless her, she kept the faith. Katie did not lose hope. In fact, Katie decided to name her tumor, she named her tumor Jezebel. And she asked that people would pray that God would strike Jezebel dead like He did in the Bible. And they did. Oh man, people prayed and we were so grateful. Those prayers were life preservers. But in hard times, even people of faith can waver. And there was a moment, it was the night that Katie came home from the hospital, we were back in our living room. It was a dark, cold February night and all of the

Adrenaline from the initial diagnosis had worn off and the painful reality of the hard battle ahead began to sink in, bone-deep weariness. I felt helpless. My strength was not enough. But do you know, in that moment, what sustained us? The worship leader that night, the worship leader at our church, our friend Paul, came over to our living room with his guitar. And my oldest son, Luke, sat down at the piano there in our living room, and Katie, my go-go-go girl, was so weak that she was stuck in this very chair. And we just gathered around her, and we sang. We sang Amazing Grace, and we sang I'll Fly Away, and we sang Blessed Be Your Name, and we sang Jesus Loves Me. You know the words. Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him belong. They are weak, but He is strong. And what I'm telling you is that dark, cold February night in our living room, Jesus, He came to us, and He gave us a joy that we never could have had on our own. And the joy of the Lord, that's your strength. Hear me, church. If you need strength in the midst of your trial, if you are bruised and bleeding and battered and broken, don't just do something. Sit there and abide in Him. Let's pray. Father God, we thank You for Your great gift of joy, that You have planted joy all around us in this world, in creation, in community, in generosity. There's so many avenues that You bring us blessing, but Father, we know none of that joy is something that we can manufacture on our own. We know it is only received from Jesus Christ, so keep us connected to Him. And Father, I pray that Jesus, the giver of all good things, would send His joy coursing

through our veins. Help us to sing. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.