Confidence in Upheaval

Transcript

This transcript was generated automatically from the audio and may contain small errors.

Good morning. To start us off, I want to tell you about one of the worst road trips I've ever taken. It was 2010, and Christy, my wife, and I, we decided to take a road trip from Fort Worth, Texas to Rogers, Arkansas. It's northwest Arkansas. It's about a six-hour trip. Because we were taking five kids with us, it was a nine-hour trip. We had five young children at the time, ages 6, 5, 3, and we had two year old twins. Now we were not naive, we were well equipped. We had movies, we had games to play, we had songs to sing, we had snacks to give. We were planned, we had everything we needed. The only thing we forgot to pack was an extra transmission for the car. So when our 10-year-old Honda Odyssey would not get out of first gear in Salasaw, Oklahoma, which is roughly halfway, a little bit more than halfway, when we couldn't get out of first gear and it was raining and there were tornadoes looming and it was pitch dark at

At 10 p.m. there was a low-level terror that sank in slowly. We really didn't know what we were going to do. Everybody in life has these upheaval moments. They receive unexpected, life-altering news. And the only thing they know to do is to not expect anything, because the previous plan is scrapped. You are in upheaval. So my upheaval moment was that I no longer had a transmission. Your moment could maybe be about your child, or about your health, or about your parents, or about your job. All you know is that the situation has changed and you are unsure of what to do next. You are in an upheaval moment. And so today, as we open our new series on the book of Philippians, now we call it a book of Philippians, but it's actually a letter from the Apostle Paul to the church in Philippi. So they were called Philippians. Most of the people in this church in Philippi, they have experienced major upheaval in their

life. Jesus has come and reordered everything. They follow Jesus, but they've gone, they've undergone a lot of change since then. Their marriage roles have changed, their social events have changed, even the way they buy food at the market has changed, right? And while they are hopeful, this church is very hopeful, they are also young and immature. And so when Paul comes, Paul is like this gritty, old saint and he writes a letter to them to help them and bless them and he wants to trace out for them what confidence looks like in the midst of this upheaval. And in that same way, the Holy Spirit wants to use the book of Philippians to do the same thing for us to help us see what confidence can look like in the midst of upheaval. And this is why we call the series, Are We There Yet? A confident generosity on a painful journey. We call it, are we there yet? Because that's how we feel in upheaval.

We just want it to be over. We want to be done with it. And the subtitle, confident generosity on a painful journey, is how we are going to navigate that upheaval. And so in Philippians, there are these three connected ideas and you can see it in the subtitle. It's confidence, generosity, and pain. is possible, we could grow in generosity all in the midst of pain. And so today we're going to be reading through Philippians 1, 3 through 18. And so a lot of the verses are going to be on the screen, and you can follow along in your Bible. And the first step, the first thing that Paul talks to this Philippian church about is confidence. And so that's what we're going to look at today, we're going to see how it grows in us and what our part is in that process. And so if we're going to develop confidence, we're going to need four things to develop confidence. We're going to need Jesus's record.

We're going to need a valuable cause. We're going to need a trusted team and we're going to need a risky future. And so we're going to begin in Philippians 1, 3 through 5, and we're going to look at Jesus's record. Philippians 1 through 6, it says, I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you, for you all, making my prayer with joy because of your partnership in the gospel for the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. When he says, I'm sure of this, right? This is confidence. Paul is saying, I have confidence that this is going to happen. That Jesus, the one who began a good work in you, will bring it to completion. Jesus is the beginner and he will finish his work. So what has Jesus started in this Philippian church? What has he started in us? Well, look at the previous verse.

It's this partnership in the gospel. In the gospel. Jesus has begun the work of the gospel in the hearts of this Philippian church and he's begun the work of the gospel if we follow him he's begun that work in us. What Jesus will complete in them and in us if we are vulnerable with him is an unfolding huge cosmic gospel plan and it is unimaginable in scope. It is a plan to reconcile all things to himself, like it talks about in Colossians 1:20. And this means if we are vulnerable with Jesus, it means that we will become like Him. If if you are vulnerable with Jesus, you will find peace in Him, right? There's no maybe, there's no sort of, if that is begun in our heart, if we are vulnerable with Jesus, He will bring those things to completion in us. It means that Jesus is working in your current upheaval toward an enormous and detailed plan to reconcile all things

to himself. And it doesn't matter if you're stubbing your toe or if you're losing your job, Jesus is never ever surprised. And he's actually working it toward his plane. And so if we are going to have confidence in Jesus, we need to place trust in Jesus's perfect record. Philippians 1:6 is saying, I'm confident that Jesus is going to come through. Paul knows Jesus. He knows what Jesus is capable of, and he knows how Jesus works. And notice what he doesn't say. He doesn't say, hey look, I'm confident that you guys are gonna make it because you're hard-working, you're smart, you've got a lot of things going for you, you've got a great smile, like he doesn't he doesn't pop him up, he doesn't tell him how great they are. His encouragement simply is, I know Jesus and I know that he's going to work all of this out in you and this is a theme that recurs several times in the book of Philippians. And so we take confidence

because Jesus is going to work things out. Now there's two ways that we react negatively to this news. There's two ways that we disbelieve or disregard the idea that Jesus is going to work out. The first way is skeptical. So if you're skeptical you're tempted to maybe oversimplify or make it sound naive. Oh, Oh, oh, you mean, you mean I just need to trust Jesus to fix it? Right? The skeptical dismisses Jesus' record, and they act like it's all up to them. Now, if you're not skeptical, you might also disregard the idea that Jesus will work it out because you are unassuming or over modest. You trust Jesus's record, but you don't think it counts for you. So you hear the grand cosmic plan of Jesus working all things out, Jesus working to reconcile all things to himself, but you think that your concerns, the things that you need, the things that you're praying for are not big enough.

They just don't matter. And so you also do not apply Jesus's record to you. You act like it's all up to you. Both the skeptical and the unassuming believe they're on their own. It's just two different ways to get there. And both have a way of depersonalizing Jesus in the midst of upheaval. The skeptical, they want a predictable, rational process. And so when they're in upheaval, right, they say, okay, what steps do I follow? Right? What happens next? Right? And when anybody suggests trusting Jesus, their questions are about process. They say, okay, well, how do I do that? How do I know it's working? What am I guarantees? How does this, how does this happen? And they're frustrated. They want something more tangible. They want a rational, predictable process. And the unassuming, they kind of view Jesus as like this uncaring CEO with bigger problems to worry about. And so when upheaval happens in their life, they think that Jesus

expects them to clean it up as quickly as possible. That Jesus doesn't have time for that. Listen, don't make a big mess, right? And so both of these depersonalize Jesus in the midst of upheaval, and they do not experience the healing process. They don't experience confidence in the middle of upheaval because they think it's all up to them. The truth is that Jesus is always interested in a personal relationship. It's always a personal invitation into a relationship. And for the skeptical, relationships are messy and unpredictable. For the unassuming, it's this relationship. Yes, Jesus means you. Nobody is second class. Nobody's in the inner ring and you're on the outer ring. That's not how this works. And when you begin to have confidence in Jesus' record, He will bring the work to completion in you. And when he begins to do that, Christianity shifts from being drudgery to being an adventure.

There's a joy, a true joy, in knowing that Jesus has a plan. And that joy replaces the burden of everything being on your shoulders. When you trust Jesus' record, when you trust His plan, what the Bible calls confidence in the Lord or godly confidence, the upheaval in your life, it doesn't go away, but it also doesn't crush you. It still hurts, but there is confidence that runs underneath. It runs underneath the upheaval. And so in the midst of upheaval, you can have confidence. And the first thing that you're going to need to develop that confidence is Jesus's record. You need to hold on to it. You need to live in it. The second thing that you're going to need is a valuable cause. And we see it here in verse 7. Philippians 1, 7. It is right for me to feel this way about you all. This is Paul talking to the church. Because I hold you in my heart, and listen, for you are all partakers with me of grace,

both in my imprisonment and in the defense and the confirmation of the gospel. I want you to see how the cause, the defense and confirmation of the gospel, that is front and center here. He says that you're partakers with me in my imprisonment and then the defense and the confirmation of the gospel. And in verse 12, you see it a little bit later, that the cause is advancing the gospel. Verse 14, the cause is to speak the word of truth without fear. Verse 18, the cause is that Jesus Christ is proclaimed. It comes up many times in Philippians, but confidence comes from knowing that the cause that you are fighting for is valuable. And I want to illustrate this. Fathers, mothers, let's just talk about a cause that you really care about protecting your children, okay? There's no question it is valuable to you. And if I were to ask a mother, hey, what would you do if a speeding car was headed toward

your children? I believe her response would be something like, well, I would warn them. I would yell. I would move them. I would run at them and push them out of the way. I would get them to safety however I could. But I ask, what if it cost you your ability to walk? The mother would reply, I'd still do it. Well, what if we put you in the hospital for the rest of your life? The mother unflinching would say I would still do it and then I would say well, what if it would cost you your life?

She would say no, I would still do it There's nothing I could say There's nothing anybody could say to deter a good mother from the valuable cause of protecting her children because the cause in and of itself is valuable. That's why it's not because she's brave or holy or more loving than any other person. It's because her children, protecting her children is a valuable cause. And she would run out in front of a speeding car, not because she's superhuman, not because she doesn't care about her life, but because the valuable cause brings out confidence because we quit being afraid of doing it the wrong way. The mother is not worried, for example, about looking dumb as she rescues her children. She's not worried about what her makeup looks like. She's not worried about what she's wearing because the cause is more important. Our valuable cause as people who follow Jesus,

is the defense and the confirmation of the gospel. And all that means is that we proclaim the gospel is true and we confirm the gospel with our love, with the way we love each other, with the way we love our community. This is defending and confirming the gospel. And there is no higher cause. Our families are not more important than this cause. Our health is not more important than this cause. Our lives are not more important than this cause. Jesus is on a mission to bring people to himself, and it will cost you and I everything to follow him. This is what Jesus was saying, Mark 835, and many other places. Jesus said, for whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospels will save it. Jesus is not playing around. This cause is the most important thing. It's going to cost us our lives, And it's worth it. When you have confidence that Jesus and His perfect record

are busy working in the lives of those around you, when you believe that the gospel is taking hold in someone's life, and you believe that your life is woven into this valuable cause, your upheaval, whatever you're going through, That's going to stay the same, but your view of it will shift. You quit worrying about how you look following Jesus. You quit worrying about if you're doing this just right or just so, and what you start doing is you just start following Jesus because he's worthy, because it's valuable. Following him is valuable in and of itself. You gain confidence because you're concentrating on the right things. You're not second guessing every step And I hope that you could begin to see now how confidence happens in the midst of upheaval

We've got two to go we've covered two we've got two to go the next is a trusted Team if you're going to have confidence confidence in the midst of upheaval Then you need to have a trusted team and we've already alluded to this gospel partnership in verse five and we see it again here in verses 7 and 8. It says again, 7, we're gonna read it again, it's right for me to feel this way about you all. Look, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. Verse 8, for God is my witness how I yearn for you with all the affection of Christ Jesus. Paul and the Philippian Church collaborate in this cause. They are a team. They work together on the defense and the confirmation of the gospel. And this means there is an entire ecosystem going on, right? We're just looking at maybe just the tip of the iceberg here,

but there's a whole ecosystem of people following Jesus and working together, being vulnerable with Him together, making disciples together, everybody playing their part. All of us know some really great duos out there, right? I've got some of them pictured up here. Phineas and Ferb, a great duo. Sean and Gus from Psyche. Batman and Robin, Simon and Garfunkel. Paul and the Philippian Church here are like this dynamic duo. They have a partnership where everybody's making disciples. Some of them are going to jail. Some of us keep, some of them keep the homes going. Some go out proclaiming gospel in the streets, some make disciples while they're sharing chores, right? Churches are built for gospel partnership. By definition, churches are a trusted team of people that are sharing ministry to make disciples. Some of them are making disciples. You're making one disciple every 10 years, right? You're heavily

investing, slowly plodding along, steadily going, and in others of you are making 10 disciples in one year, right? Jesus just gave you a bigger harvest. Some people are in our churches are preaching with clear and passionate words, and others are demonstrating the gospel calmly and consistently. And when you have a trusted team, you can be confident because you know where you fit.

You're confident because you're not trying to do 50 things. Well, you know, your job, you know, you're doing one thing. Well, Robin's not trying to do Batman's job. Batman's not trying to do Robin's job, right? Everybody's staying, staying together, but doing what they're equipped to do. You know where you fit in the midst of upheaval. You got a team to lean on because you are together. following Jesus. Together you are working toward a valuable cause. You are trusting Jesus together in the midst of upheaval, in the midst of Jesus's plan. I mean look at how Paul prays for these people in verses 9 through 11. It says, and it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment so that you may approve what is excellent and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ

to the glory and praise of God. Paul here is overflowing, overflowing for hope, for his team to have a confident love. Talking about knowledge and discernment, that is a confident love. Love filled with knowledge and discernment. And this is Paul's prayer. He's on a trusted team. He wants good things for them. And when I read this, I just I can't help but think of of Saperlistan and the prayers that I have, the hope that I have for you, church. I pray that your confidence in Jesus grows as He fills you with hope of a better future where you pray for people to be changed. The people that are in your life right now, you pray for them to be changed. You pray for Jesus to work with them. You confidently train others to love Jesus well. And together, we plant seeds that will send a thousand harvests out into the future. That we will see disciples made, that we will see churches planted,

And that we will do that as Jesus is working in each of us. So we talk about this confidence. That's the confidence that I want you to have. That's the confidence I want to have. The last thing that we need to develop this confidence in the midst of upheaval is a risky future. So we got Jesus's record. We got a valuable cause. We got a trusted team. And now we've got a risky future and we can see evidence of this risky future in verses 12 through 14, really 12 through 18, but we're only going to read 12 through 14 right now.

It says, I want you to know brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole Imperial Guard, and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. Look back at verse 12. It says, what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. So what he's saying is, look, it looks like my imprisonment is a disadvantage, but it's not. It's really good. It looks bad, But it's really not bad. Here's why. Because Jesus is still in control. His record is perfect. He doesn't fail. When he begins something, he brings it to completion. That's a perfect record. He's still in control. Why they're confident. Why Paul is excited. Even though he's in prison.

It's because the valuable cause is still going forward. They're still preaching the gospel. And the team is still doing the job. The risky future, that'll come up in a minute, but he's confident because Jesus is still working. The valuable cause is still going on. The team is still doing his job. And if all this is happening and your confidence is growing, that confidence is going to pull you into a risky future. And here's why. Not because you all of a sudden love risk. I'm sure plenty of us totally hate risk. But it's not because you now like risk. Here's why. It's because when you have confidence in the Lord and you see a situation that's filled with pain and trouble and complexity, when you don't have that robust confidence that Jesus is going to work it out, the only thing that you consider is your own willpower, is your own intestinal fortitude. How am I going to make that happen?

Can I bear this burden? That's the only questions that you ask yourself. And that's a really losing battle because we are frail. And we are only getting more frail as time goes on. However, if you have confidence that Jesus is working, that the cause is worth losing your life, and that you have a team to help you and to lean on, then what happens is You don't shrink from those situations that are potentially painful. You actually understand that Jesus is calling you into that painful journey. He's calling you into that difficult discussion. He's calling you into the pain of relational strife, to heal the marriage, to be the shoulder to lean on. I'm gonna end with this example. And I don't know why I keep using examples speeding car, but I'm going to use another one with a speeding car. If you need to get to the hospital,

time is of the essence and the only road forward is blocked with those huge orange barrels, you know, filled with water. They're meant to stop cars, right? And you see it and you begin, You immediately think, okay, I need to know if I can make this. You are judging your ability to run through those orange barrels, which you know will hurt your car. You know it's not going to be, you know, you're going to have an insurance claim. It's going to be a hassle, but you know what? Something's more important. You've got to get to the hospital. The first thing that you could fit or consider in that equation is your vehicle and not your body. In other words, you don't look at those orange barrels and think, oh, that's going to hurt my shoulder. Why? That'd be dumb. It's because you're in a car. You're thinking about your car. Because the only thing that matters is if the car can take the punishment or not.

You aren't wondering if your body can make it through that. That's just not in play. When you have a confidence that is based on Jesus's record and you're fighting for a valuable cause alongside a trusted team, Christian, you are going to push through anything because you're not worried about your ability to take it on. You're worried about what Jesus is calling you toward.

We can trust that whatever comes at us in the midst of that painful journey, We can trust that Jesus has it accounted for, that Jesus more than that will use it for good. And it doesn't mean that the upheaval in our lives will not hurt. It means though that we have ultimate comfort because there is purpose in the upheaval. There's a plan in the upheaval. And that, when we hold onto that, can give us confidence in the midst of anything. What Jesus has begun in you, this marvelous plan in the gospel to reconcile all things to himself, that huge cosmic plan, Jesus will bring to completion in you. And in that, friends, we can have confidence. Let's pray. Jesus, we know that you are the giver of all good things. We know that you are the only source for our confidence. what you call us toward, what you tell us to do, how you give us strength. All of these things come from you.

Help us to draw confidence from your record, from the valuable cause of making disciples, following you, from the trusted team, the local church that we are a part of, South Burleson. Help us to lean into one another as a team, And then help us just to know that a confidence in you is going to draw us into that risky situation and that you're going to be there in the midst of it. Help us to do that and to do it well. And it's in your name that we pray. Amen.