I Rejoice in Having a Future

Pastor Burcham’s Sermon
Sunday, July 10, 2011

Paul’s letter to the Church at Philippi has been called his letter of joy. In four short chapters, he uses the word joy or rejoice some sixteen times. Joy, by definition, is the emotion which is evoked by well being or success or good fortune.

So one would then conclude that Paul, in writing this letter, well, he must have been on vacation someplace, sitting on the beach. Maybe he just entered into retirement and life is going well or, at the very least, he just won the holy land lottery. Life must be going well. But we know that’s not true. He’s sitting in a dingy jail cell someplace. No telling how long he’ll be there before he even comes to trial, and there’s a good chance that trial would conclude with them condemning him to death.

Now lest you think this is just a recent streak of bad circumstances for him, we cannot forget that ever since God has called him into ministry, he has been shipwrecked a couple of times, he’s been beaten up, he’s been left for dead, he’s been bitten by venomous snakes. Life has not been easy for this guy. So either he’s delusional or he has something that I want. If in his life, in his circumstances, he can find reason to rejoice, he can have joy in his life, then I’d like to find out what that’s all about.

That’s what we’re doing. We’re digging into his letter to the church at Philippi, looking at all the various reasons why Paul finds joy, why he finds occasions that he can rejoice.

Last week, we discovered what brings him great joy is when the message of salvation is shared. The message of Jesus Christ that had completely turned his life around, that transformed him, he says whenever that message is shared, he didn’t care by who or by what means but when that gospel was shared, that brought great joy to his life.

This week, we discover that he finds reasons to rejoice because he’s confident that he has a future, that the God of all eternity has plans for Paul, that there’s a reason and a purpose for his life and he is so convinced of that future, that brings great joy to his life. Now I don’t know about you, but I could use some of that.

As I look around at the world and all the things that are happening, either just around the world with wars or rumors of wars or just the natural disasters that are happening, how can we have a sense of joy? Where can we find reasons to rejoice?

I believe Paul is speaking to us this morning. We have a reason to rejoice because we have a future. Paul finds a reason to rejoice because he is convinced about that future. He is convinced there is a future that God has planned for him and that future is good. Being convinced of that can bring joy in his life because, friends, it’s the unknown that takes joy away from us, does it not?

It’s when we don’t know. It’s the unknown circumstances. What will tomorrow bring? Next week? Next month? Next year? Isn’t it while we’re waiting to find out what’s going to happen that there’s not a whole lot of room to rejoice, to have joy? So you’re waiting to find out will they approve the mortgage or won’t they? Will you get the promotion or will you not? Will you be able to keep your job or will you be eliminated? Are they going to allow you to get into grad school or are you going to have to apply again? Isn’t it the waiting for the test results that are the worst? It’s the unknown. That’s what takes away our joy.

Now wouldn’t it be great, wouldn’t it change everything if you did know the future? Couldn’t you go through some pretty uncomfortable circumstances if you knew how it was all going to turn out in the end? You could go through some rough spots if you knew, yeah, eventually you are going to get the promotion. You could go through some tough times if you knew, yeah, the test results are going to come back negative and you’re going to be fine. If you knew how the story ended, if you knew what the future was going to be, well, there wouldn’t be a whole lot of stress in your life. There wouldn’t be a whole lot of anxiety. There would be room for joy in your life.

There’s a great example of this, at least I think so, in the recent movie, Star Trek. I’m kind of a fan. In this movie, we have James T. Kirk but he’s not Captain Kirk yet. No, he’s still in Starfleet Academy and he’s about to graduate. But there is one test that he wants to re-take. He’s taken it three times. Now this test is designed that no one can pass the test. Everyone fails. They’re in a simulator. They’re being attacked by Klingons and it always ends the same way. The ship is destroyed and the entire crew is lost. He’s taken it three times. He convinces his friends to go with him. He’s going to take it for the fourth time. Watch this and check out his demeanor through the whole test.

[Video] “Two Klingon vessels have entered the neutral zone and are locking weapons on us.” “That’s okay.” “That’s okay?” “Yeah, don’t worry about it.” “Did he say don’t worry about it? Is he not taking the simulation seriously?” “Three more Klingon war birds de-cloaking and targeting our ship.” “I don’t suppose this is a problem either.” “They’re firing, Captain.” “Alert medical bay to prepare to receive all crew members from the damaged ship.” “And how do you expect us to rescue them when we’re surrounded by Klingons, Captain?” “Alert medical.” “Our ship’s being hit, shields at 60%.” “I understand.” “Should we, I don’t know, fire back?” “No.” “Of course not.” “What is this? What’s going on?” “Hm. Arm photons. Prepare to fire on the Klingon war birds.” “Yes, sir.” “Jim, their shields are still up.” “Are they?” “No, they’re not.” “Fire on all enemy ships. One photon each should do, let’s not waste ammunition.” “Target locked an acquired on all war birds. Firing.” “All ships destroyed, Captain.” “Begin rescue of the stranded crew.”

Not too much stress in his life, no anxiety there. Everyone else has failed. He’s not going to fail. He changed the rules. He put in a subroutine. He knew he was going to win. It makes all the difference in the world when you know how it’s going to turn out. Then all of a sudden, you can experience joy.

It’s what St. Paul was trying to say to the Church at Philippi. When you are convinced of the future, when you’re convinced you know how it’s all going to turn out, that makes all the difference in the world. Listen to what he says to the church there. He says, “For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” He says, “Either way, I win, whether I live or whether I die.” He says, “If I’m going to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet, what shall I choose? I don’t know!” he says. “I don’t know.”

You see, Christ changed the rules. Either way, he wins, whether he lives or whether he dies. If he lives, then he lives in Christ and he gets to continue to do what his passion is, what his purpose is, that is, to preach the gospel message to whoever will hear him, to minister to the congregation that he has planted. But if he dies, then he spends an eternity with Christ. He wins either way. He’s convinced of the future. I can almost imagine him sitting in his jail cell munching on an apple. His jailer is saying to him, “You know you’re never going to go to trial. You know once you get to trial, they’re probably going to condemn you to death.” And he takes a bite of the apple and goes, “Mm-uh. Not worried about it.”

Can I interest you in an apple? The same confidence that he had was the confidence that you and I can have. We can be convinced about the future. We know how it’s all going to end. Of all the things we have to deal with in this life, all of the unknowns that are out there, I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, I don’t know how the test results are going to turn out, I don’t know whether you’re going to get the promotion or not but there’s the one thing that I do know. There’s one thing that cannot be taken from you and that is your life in Christ Jesus.

You see, the rules have been changed. You have a life in Christ here and you’ll have a life with Christ for an eternity. We know how it is. What I’m saying is yes, life is going to deal us dirty sometimes and we have to go through some muck and some icky things but we don’t live moment by moment by moment and get caught up in that. We live for the future because we’re convinced about the future. We’re convinced that God’s promise is true, that all things, good and bad, will work together for the good of those who love Him. We are convinced that by the blood of Jesus Christ, my sins have been forgiven and I will spend an eternity in heaven. Convinced about the future is reason to rejoice. It means we can have joy in our lives.

But we are also called to live in the present. We can be convinced about our future and be convinced about heaven, but God still calls us to live in the present. In other words, we’re not going to just sit around and wait for heaven. God didn’t say, “Listen, it’s really going to be terrible and it’s not going to be pleasant but just suffer through it, 70, 80, 90, 100 years and then heaven will be yours. It will be terrible up until then, but then everything will be great.” No, God says that He wants you to live in the present. In fact, God says He has plans for you, there is a reason why you’re here. There’s a purpose to your life. Whether you’re 10 or whether you’re 100, God still has plans and a purpose for you.

This is what St. Paul was trying to tell the Church at Philippi. He has a plan and a purpose for them. He uses himself as an example. He has this thing that’s tearing him apart. He says, “You know, I’d kind of like to go to heaven but yet, well, in the same sense, I want to be here.” He goes on with his letter. He says this, “I’m torn between the two. I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far.” I’d agree with him. I would rather be in heaven than to deal with all the crud of this world. It’s better by far. “But it’s more necessary for you,” that is the people of Philippi, “that I remain in the body. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain.” It’s almost as if, when he’s writing the letter, it dawns upon him. He doesn’t have to have this battle of whether he lives or he dies. He says, “No, I have to live.” He says, “I’m so convinced of it, I know I’m going to get out of here.” Because God still has work for him to do. God has a purpose for him. He needs to minister to the Church at Philippi. He needs to stay in contact with all those other congregations that he planted by God’s grace. He knows that God has a plan for him. He’s going to answer that call and live in the present.

God has plans for you. If you’re still living, God has a reason for it. God has a purpose for your life. I don’t know about you, but that makes all the difference in the world, to know that God is calling upon you to accomplish something and that He’ll use your life. Sometimes you’ll know it and sometimes you won’t. But to know that you have a higher calling, that you’re not just going to float along aimlessly in life but there’s a reason why you’re here, that would get you up in the morning.

There’s a great story of when Apple started. Steve Jobs was great at putting the little machines together and he was good at making it easy for user interface and all of that and he had this outlandish dream and idea that there would be a PC in every home. How ridiculous was that at the time? He had one big problem, though. He didn’t know how to market it. He didn’t know how to get those little boxes into people’s hands. He knew that he needed a high power hitter, somebody who could really get the job done. So he set his sights on a man named John Scully who at the time was the youngest president of the Pepsi Corporation.

Scully was in his early 40’s when he took over Pepsi. He’s the one who introduced the Pepsi Generation campaign that propelled them for the first time in their history to outsell Coke. This is a big deal. So Jobs goes after him. He wines and dines him with money that he probably didn’t have but to no avail. This guy wasn’t going to leave Pepsi and the secure future that he had. Finally, exhausted, exasperated, Jobs looked at him and he said, “So, do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want to have a chance to change the world?” Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want a chance to change the world? Scully left Pepsi. I think you know how it turned out.

Paul was saying to the Church at Philippi, “Do you want to just wander through life aimlessly or do you want to have a chance to change the world?” Truly, what he’s saying, he uses himself as an example but then he goes on from there. Now at Philippi, there was a lot of trouble for the Christian Church. They were being attacked on two different sides, trying to pull the church apart, trying to drive divisions in between them. And there were a lot of people who just simply wanted to see the church wiped out, but Paul says this to them, “Now whatever happens,” in other words, whether he makes it out of jail or whether he doesn’t, “whatever happens, conduct yourself in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending for the faith.” Why’s that important?

He goes on, “This is a sign to them,” that is, the enemies of the church, “This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed and that you will be saved and this is from God.” In other words, he says to them at Philippi, “Do you want to just wander through aimlessly in life or do you want to change the world? Do you want to change the city of Philippi? Do you want to have an impact on that community? Stand firm in the faith and it will become evident that your detractors are wrong and that you hold the truth of the one true God in Christ Jesus.”

Do you want to wander aimlessly through life or do you want to have a chance to change the world, Gloria Dei? That’s what God’s calling us to do, to live in the present. There’s a reason why you’re here. There’s a reason why we’re here. God’s given us a higher calling and we can make an impact in our community. That should bring you joy. That can give you a reason to rejoice, to answer God’s call, to live in the present.

But we cannot let the past drag us down. We cannot let our past drag us down. We have to forget the past because the past will rob us of our joy. Regrets, failures, past mistakes, these are the tools of the devil himself. Scripture calls the devil Satan. He also calls him the Accuser, the Accuser who’s constantly wanting to accuse us, constantly wanting to point out our sinfulness, constantly pointing out our mistakes, constantly bringing up our regrets. It’s the Accuser that whispers in our ear saying, “Remember the one thing you said you’d never do? You did it.” That will zap the joy out of your life. That will bring you down and make you feel that you are unworthy. You have to forget the past and look to the future.

Paul, a little bit later on in his letter, comes back around to this idea of being future focused. He says this, “But one thing I do, forgetting what is behind and straining for what is ahead.” He had a lot to forget. He persecuted the church. He hunted down Christians and threw them in jail. Do you think for a moment that the Accuser didn’t whisper that in his ear every single day? He says you have to forget the past and strain ahead because Christ has given you a new future. He’s released you from the past.

Christ has given you a new future. God says that He will remember our sins no more. The devil would like to get a foothold in your life and I don’t know what it is in your past, we all have something, probably many things, regrets, failures, sins that no one else knows about. You have a new future in Christ. God says that He will remember them no more. This is what our faith is all about. This is what it comes down to. This is why Jesus came into the world. The Son of God left heaven to release us from the past. The Son of God came to give us a new future. Before Jesus, our future was certain. It was a future of being condemned. It was a future of damnation. Now we have a future of salvation. Jesus came and He lived among us and, on the cross, He took upon Himself our sin, our regrets, our mistakes, our failures and, through His blood, He made the payment for us and He gave us a new future. He released us from the past so that we could look forward, we can look ahead. Do not let the devil get a foothold and whisper in your ear and steal the joy away from you, because Christ has given you a new life and a new future.

That’s why Paul could rejoice. Even under the worst circumstances, he writes a letter and sixteen times, he uses the word “joy” and “rejoice.” How could he do that? The same way that you and I can. If we are convinced of the future and we know how it’s all going to end, if we heed God’s call and we live in the present and know there’s a reason and a purpose for our lives and, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we forget the past, as God has, and we strain on to the future, that can bring us joy and a reason to rejoice. Amen.