Abounding Joy - Part 1

Bryan Chapell: We're just human. And being human means we will do precisely what we love the most. So if Christ's love for you is filling you with affection for Him, then you'll want to walk with Him, you'll want to please Him, you'll want to know all those things in life that satisfy Him. And the reason that's important is because ultimately it will satisfy you the most.
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 a lesson from Philippians Chapter 1. Dr. Chapell shares about the abounding joy that comes from a unity of heart inside the church and a unity with Christ. 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 covenant's 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 lesson "Abounding Joy."
Bryan Chapell: What would you want the most for those that you love the most? I think I could answer for my wife because I've heard the way that she answers questions that we have had on occasion in our family when our children have begun to introduce us to someone they are thinking about marrying. And for those that my wife loves the most, she has questions that speak about her priorities and her desires for her children. The first question that Kathy will ask when one of our children is talking about someone they are thinking of spending a lifetime with is this question: does that person love the Lord Jesus? More important than career, profession, money, personality, does that person love the Lord Jesus? And now, to some ears, that will sound just like prejudice or bigotry. But what actually is driving that question is revealed in the next question. Kathy will sometimes say to young people who are struggling with should I marry this person or not, and maybe that person has said "Oh, I love Jesus," knowing all the time that's what we want to hear. That there is something deep in the heart of our child that needs to answer yet a further question, revealing themselves to themselves. Kathy asks the next question: "And when you are with that person, is your relationship with Jesus better?" That's a different question. It's going just beyond kind of the minimalization that we sometimes will do to our own relationship when we're with a person we recognize that we feel tormented, or tempted, or anxious, or even God-ignoring. But they're a Christian, so it's okay. To actually recognize what God wants for His people is that oneness of being. So that the person I am with loves Christ, the most important thing in our lives, as much as I. Instead of us being on two different paths, we're on one path. We are one in spirit and heart. And so Kathy dares to ask the question: "When you're with that person, does your relationship with Jesus improve?" It's actually that that is driving the Apostle Paul here as he speaks to those that he loves at Philippi, and he wants their relationship with the Lord Jesus to be wonderful. And he actually begins to disclose his own heart in verse nine. What does Paul want for these people? He actually says in his prayer, "It is my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment." That word for "abound" means to be in excess. And Paul uses a present tense verb, which means he wants it to keep on going. Some of your translations actually say it that way, "I want your love to abound more and more," as though it's ever increasing. There's to be this superabundance of love, but curiously, the Apostle doesn't say whether it's for other people or for the Lord Himself. And there's wisdom in that, in that the Apostle knows that the love that comes out of us, whether it is horizontally directed toward other people or toward God Himself, if it's healthy, has an ultimate source. "We love," said the Apostle John. Why? "We love because He first loved us." And it's the perception of the greatness of His love for us that is actually going to create an abounding love in us, both for those that God loves here on this earth and for God Himself. And that abounding love is what the Apostle so wants for those at Philippi, that there would be this unity of heart with those who are in the church, but also a unity of heart with the Savior itself. But it is not just without any understanding. After all, that love is being revealed first in human expression, so that we'll get a taste for it. The Apostle Paul begins to talk in the early verses of this same chapter of God's love through his own love, expressing it in the way that he feels. Verse three, he remembers the Philippians and gives thanks for them all. Verse four, he prays for them all. Verse five, he commends them all for their generosity, in particular that they kept supporting his ministry when he left the church and went on mission. These people continued to say "What you stand for is so important, we're going to keep supporting your work for the sake of the Gospel." Ultimately, Paul says he has expectations for all those who are at Philippi. He says in verse six, "What God, what work God has begun in you, I expect Him to bring to completion until the day of Jesus Christ. I think there are great things ahead of you." And that notion of God being at work in people that the Apostle loves is just saying if God loves you, then I, representing Him, should be expressing that. Whether you're a pastor or a parent or a teacher or a friend, it's just a little reminder that people know Christ's love through us. That our abounding love is something that we express. And the way that Paul is about to do it is just so special in terms of understanding what the love of God is for us, as Paul is making it plain. In verse seven, where I began this morning, the Apostle Paul says it's right for me to feel this way about you. And the reason it's right is because he said, "I hold you in my heart." Now, if the Apostle Paul was an Olympian getting up on the award stage, he would be giving the heart sign right now. "I hold you in my heart, you are dear to me," right? Except the reasons he's going to give go a lot deeper than that. Why do I hold you in my heart? Verse seven: "Because you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the Gospel." You are partakers with me of grace even in my imprisonment. The word that you have in your Bibles for imprisonment is just the Greek word for "chains." You are partakers with me of grace, even though I'm in chains. And that word "partakers," some of you will recognize it's the word koinonia, which we often use for just fellowship. But Paul puts a prefix on the front of it to say this binding fellowship that we have. I'm in chains bound to a Roman soldier, but at the same moment, I am bound to you in being partakers of grace. That we are together in this provision of God for us, which is His grace. And the way that I know that you are partakers is even in my imprisonment, you were supportive of me in the defense and confirmation of the Gospel. We are under this cover of grace. You know about me, says Paul. I was a persecutor of the church. I murdered people because I thought it was right for the sect of religion that I was following. And now, I'm in chains in Rome. This is a matter of shame in my past and a matter of shame in my present. But you're in grace with me. You're shackled to me even as I'm shackled to this soldier. We're in grace together as though this grace is covering us. And you're partakers with me of that grace because I know things about you too. I know one of you was a Roman jailer. I know one of you was a Greek businesswoman. I know one of you probably was a fortune-telling slave girl. And yet, the grace of God has enveloped us, and we're partakers together of this wonderful expression of the love of God. And I'm feeling that from you because you could have walked away. But instead, while I'm here in Rome defending the Gospel and confirming it, the fact that you're still with me, that you didn't get out from under the covers when I got in trouble, is saying that you too think this Gospel is real. I'm risking my life, but you're risking your reputations in keep supporting me. And I know that what it's saying is you're confirming the reality of the Gospel too. And when you support and when you say that you believe in this grace and you're helping me spread it and you're standing with me in it, then we're partakers together. And you're actually proclaimers of it together with me by your willingness to stand firm. And so, Paul says in verse eight, it's just so wonderful: "God is my witness, I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus."
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 covenant's 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 844-4-GRACE. That's 844-414-7223. And now, more from Bryan Chapell on today's Unlimited Grace.
Bryan Chapell: When you begin to believe how great is God's love for you, you begin to love Him greatly back. And that's actually the foundation of the Christian life. After all, what is the greatest commandment according to Jesus? The greatest commandment is that you should love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And where does that love come from? We love because He first loved us. And so here is Paul the Apostle, speaking for Jesus, "I'm just loving you with the affection of Jesus. I'm panting for you." But if that's what Jesus is doing, that's how great is His love for you. And that's going to stimulate in you a wondrous, strong love itself. And the reason you and I need to know that is because we're just human. And being human means we will do precisely what we love the most. So if Christ's love for you is filling you with affection for Him, then you'll want to walk with Him, you'll want to please Him, you'll want to know all those things in life that satisfy Him. And the reason that's important is because ultimately it will satisfy you the most. Anything that is second to Christ is actually second best for your life. And so the Apostle Paul is saying, listen, I want you to know how great is Christ's love for you. I'm expressing it to you, but it's actually just His love for you. Because when you have that love, you will have the foundation that you need for decision-making in difficulty in your life. Just two weeks ago, it's hard for me to actually put myself in that setting, I was in China ministering to a large group of house church pastors. And often in those situations, I feel humbled. Who am I to teach you? Your lives are so difficult, your circumstances so hard, I need to be sitting at your feet and learning from you. And yet, I'm there to teach, and so I teach. And it's interesting the conversations that you can get into as a consequence. After one of those talks, a young pastor in training came to me. And he said, "I'd like to get some advice from you. There's a young woman I'm thinking about marrying." I'm thinking I'm not going to tell you anything. But he went on, "She is a Christian and she comes from a Christian family, but she does not want me to be a pastor. Because she knows if I become a pastor, our life will be full of suffering. Should I marry her?" Now, I'm really thinking, I am not going to answer this question. We talked for a long time. And when we finally got to the end of the conversation, I asked Kathy's question. I can't tell you what to do, but I need to ask you this: "Does she bring you closer to the Lord Jesus?" He said, "I thought you said you weren't going to tell me what to do." I said, "I'm not, but ultimately I recognize that is the question." If your life is full of suffering, whatever it is, if you're with someone that is one with you in heart and mind, you will endure that. But ultimately, the reason you can both endure it is because you know the affection of Christ Jesus. And God is talking to you about the affection that He has for you because ultimately you must know that the affection that He has for you is going to create such love in your heart that you will put His priorities first. And if you put His priorities first, if He is first, then you get what is absolutely best for your life. That's actually God's intention. That He's not saying you love Me first and then I'll make things difficult and awful for you. No, He's saying you put Me first, and because you know how much I love you, I even pant in affection after you. You know that whatever you face, whatever you do in My name's sake is ultimately what is best for you. And that's My intention for your life, that your joy may abound. And it does when your love for Me abounds so much that you actually will be making those choices and those decisions that are based upon that love. It's not blind love, it's not love without a purpose. And so the Apostle says, listen, I'm praying for you not only that your love may abound, but ultimately that your understanding may deepen. Did you see that in verse nine? He says, "It's my prayer for you that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment." This love that's to abound is not abstract, it's not ethereal. Paul says, "I want you to love and have this love abounding with knowledge and discernment." If you're really going to love somebody deeply, you have to know something about them, who they are and what pleases them. And so Paul says if you're really going to be loving the Lord deeply with a love that abounds, and loving His people with this abounding love, then you need to know who God is and what He requires. That's just part of knowledge. And so we do a lot of that in this church, don't we? We say what does the Word of God say, who is God, and what does He expect? And that's not just rules, it's relationship. If you love somebody deeply, you want to know who they are and what pleases them. And so the Apostle then says and not only do I want you to have knowledge, I want you to have discernment. Knowledge is about acquiring information, discernment is about using it well. And so the Apostle is saying, "I want you to have discernment about who God is and what pleases Him." It's not enough just say, well, I love God and I'll do whatever I want to my own destruction or to His defamation. No, I want discernment to know who God is and what pleases Him. And so I want to search His Word and find out what He requires and what He understands. Because one of the things that's so sad in the church is you meet people first who say they love God but don't seem to have much knowledge. Or secondly, people who have a lot of knowledge and not much discernment. Paul will just in a little bit say that what he's ultimately after is the fruit of righteousness in our lives. That's that fruit of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. It's so sad at times when you find people in the church who are filled with knowledge but not gentleness, filled with all kinds of understanding but not self-control. Sometimes in the church, we find people whose knowledge swells their heads and hardens their hearts. And Paul is saying that's not what I want for you. I want the knowledge that is discerning of how you might be that person who is peaceable and kind and gentle and faithful, all those things that are part of the fruit of righteousness being in your life. It is not enough just to know. I want discernment that comes in such a way that verse ten will actually apply to you: "So that you may approve what is excellent and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ." This understanding is of knowledge and discernment and ultimately so that you can approve what is excellent. That word "approve" means to assess so as to properly judge. It's actually a word in the Greek that is what a metallurgist would do. How do I test the metal to see if it's pure and right, what grade it is? I'm praying, says Paul, that you can test and discern what God's will is so that you can approve what is excellent. What is actually best for you. And by the way, it's not just rules again, because if you actually follow the language of the Apostle, he's actually saying what I want that is best for you is actually what gives you a fantastic engagement. Now, you won't see that if you don't interpret the words as they're intended. "I want you to be pure and blameless for the day of Christ." That there is ultimately a great wedding feast ahead when Christ returns, when He will claim His bride, the church. And until that day, the Apostle is saying, "I want you to be abounding in love." And the way you're going to be abounding in love is by knowledge. Yes, you need to know what the Word of God says, but discernment so that ultimately you're testing and approving. This isn't just kind of abstract knowledge, it's not knowledge you put on the shelf. But as you are going through life, you're discerning and making choices for what is absolutely best for you so that your engagement is fantastic. That this life until the return of Jesus Christ, when He claims His bride, is a wonderful, wonderful engagement, what's absolutely excellent. We don't think of it this way much anymore. The early church fathers sometimes talked about baptism itself. That when we mutually acknowledge before one another and the world I'm a sinner in need of the shed blood of Jesus Christ, and what it means to be a Christian is to acknowledge this to the world, and I show that in my baptism. The early church fathers said that baptism was a sign of our engagement to be the Lord's. Isn't that wonderful? That I'm engaging with the Lord. And you know what happens in that engagement period, you're finding out about another person so that the fullness that God intends will be absolutely even more wonderful.
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. 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.