This morning we begin a new sermon series from the book of Philippians called "Your Best Life Anyhow." In this series we are going to discover how that we can live lives filled with the joy that comes from Jesus Christ even if we are living through the most difficult of circumstances. We are going to see how Paul made deliberate decisions to live his best life in spite of great difficulties. Today I want us to see how that this begins with our making an individual choice to be positive even though negative thoughts, circumstances and emotions want to steal the best of life from us. I believe we can learn, as Paul did, to live our best life anyhow!

Joel Osteen, pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, which has 30,000 adults attending weekly, has written a bestselling book called "You Best Life Now." In the book he outlines seven steps that can lead a person to begin living their best life now. While I am sure that there are things that Joel Osteen and I may not fully agree upon, I do believe he is right when he says, "Happy, successful, fulfilled individuals have learned how to live their best lives now…No matter where you are or what challenges you are facing, you can enjoy your life right now." (Your Best Life Now, p. ix)

I meet people all the time who have made that choice. There are people who face equal circumstances and for some it is a stepping-stone to greater things and for others it is a bitter tragedy of life. What makes the difference? For most, it is a choice they have made to be positive. For the Christian, it is more than choosing to be mentally positive; it is a decision to positively trust that through Jesus Christ the best is still possible. Regardless of my challenges and circumstances I can live my best life anyhow!

Now it is one thing for a man like Joel Osteen to write a book called Your Best Life Now when you are at the pinnacle of your success. It is another matter to be locked in a jail cell, shackled to guards twenty-four hours a day and say, "I am living my best life anyhow!" That was the situation for Paul when he wrote the book of Philippians. The city of Philippi was located in what we now know as Northern Greece. He had been there on his second missionary journey and established the church. Through the years a very special bond developed between Paul and this church. They had often sent him money to help him as well as helping the poor in Jerusalem. Toward the end of Paul’s life he was arrested and placed in prison in Rome. The Philippian church sent another gift to Paul and it encouraged him so much that he wrote a letter filled with love and gratitude that we call the Book of Philippians. In this book you and I will find how Paul, and we, can live our best life anyhow!

Where does living a life like this begin? It begins with a choice—a choice to be positive. That was what Paul did as he wrote verses 12-21 of Philippians 1. He tells us in these verses that we can choose to be confident, joyful, hopeful and contented even though we are enduring the most difficult circumstances of life. Choosing to be positive doesn’t come naturally for me. I have told you before that I am an "Eeyore," the toy horse that is always negative in Winnie the Pooh. I am so much like that that the only character I wanted to have my picture with at Disneyworld was Eeyore! Yet, in spite of my personality type, God’s word tells me that I have the opportunity to choose to be positive about my life!

You see I can choose to be confident even when life is unfair (Phil. 1:12-14). If you want to look up a description of someone for whom life was unfair, it would have Paul’s name at the top. After a life-changing encounter with the Risen Christ, Paul had literally sold out his life to one thing: telling other people how they could have their life changed forever through Jesus Christ. That is literally all he wanted to do with his life. Yet for that he is beaten, robbed, starved, criticized, shunned, threatened, abused and now abandoned for two years in a Roman prison. So if anyone had a right to say, "Poor me," it was Paul.

Yet that is not what he did. Instead, he says in verses 12-14 that what has happened to him has caused his life mission to be furthered. He tells them, "I want you to know…" meaning, "I have come to a key conclusion about this…." He expresses confidence that even though life has treated him unfairly that there is something positive that is happening for him. Here he is chained to two soldiers around the clock, locked away in a prison cell, not knowing what his future is going to be and is able to say, "This is good!"

What was Paul confident about? First, he was confident that the Good News of Christ was being spread even farther. The word he used for "spread" is a word that meant, "to blaze or cut a trail in the wilderness." He is excited because everything that has happened to him has resulted not in diminishing his life mission but causing it to grow! Then he says that one way he knows this is that everyone, including the soldiers to whom he is chained, knows that the reason he is there is because of his devotion to Jesus Christ. So he is thrilled that more and more people are discovering the truth because of what has happened. Finally, he says that the Christians there in Rome have become more confident and are bolder in telling others about Jesus because of his imprisonment. Paul had every reason to give up and be discouraged but, instead, he sees his confidence growing because of his being treated unfairly.

There is a lot that happens to us in life that isn’t fair. Getting cancer when you have everything to live for isn’t fair. Loosing your job when you have your best skills to offer the company isn’t fair. Having a teacher give you a hard time in a class just because they can isn’t fair. Having your whole life turned inside out, upside down, and blown off course by a hurricane isn’t fair. There’s a lot that isn’t fair. The decision is will you choose to be confident that God can further his purpose through you while at the same time life is unfair? It is simply a choice that only we can make. You can choose to say, "I’m confident that what’s unfair right now can be used by God to make me better and let someone else know about Jesus!"

Choosing to be positive begins with a choice to be confident when life’s unfair but also involves a choice to be joyful in spite of the actions of others (Phil. 1:15-18). It’s not enough that life itself is unfair. Paul is given further reasons to be negative because of the malicious actions of others toward him while he was in prison. What Paul is describing here is that while he was in prison in Rome some of the other ministers in other churches were being critical of him. What was the criticism? To be honest we are not sure but it may have been that they believed that if Paul were really the sold-out preacher he said he was then he would rather die than be in jail. Another idea was that they may have believed that if Paul was really so great then he would not have allowed himself to be imprisoned. We are not sure but it just points out that not everyone who calls themselves a Christian is going to work for you and, in fact, may work against you.

He says that there are two groups of people, some with impure motives and others with pure motives. Those with impure motives were driven by jealousy, competition, and selfish ambition and with a deliberate intent to make his life difficult. Others, he says, are serving Christ and are bound by love and have a common mission. The key here to understand is that both groups are Christians who are preaching the gospel. This isn’t a division between those who believe and those who don’t. It’s between persons who are supposedly working for the same goal but are doing it from different motives. They are driven by different desires.

So what is Paul’s response? Joy! He says, " But whether or not their motives are pure, the fact remains that the message about Christ is being preached, so I rejoice. And I will continue to rejoice." If the message is being shared, then that is what is important. So he was going to be joyful and going to continue to be joyful in spite of the actions of others. How can he say this? Doesn’t he care about what others are saying about him? Not really, because what he cares about most is that the gospel is shared regardless of who is sharing it!

Wouldn’t it be great to get to a place where what others do to us just didn’t bother us? That we could really be joyful in spite of the actions of others? According to Paul, it is and it’s a choice we can make! How? By deciding that how people treat us is of less importance than how people treat the truth of Christ. You see I’m just not all that important. One of the first things I do when some other church, preacher or Christian is more successful or effective is begin to question their motives. I drag them down so I can build myself up. Doing that is easy. The hard choice is to be excited when good things are happening even when they may be happening at my expense! I can choose to be joyful in spite of the actions of others!

Being confident when life is unfair and being joyful in spite of others’ actions are both positive choices that we can make in difficult times. Another choice we can make is to choose to be hopeful regardless of what’s uncertain (Phil. 1:19-20). Paul begins verse 19 with the words, "For I know…," meaning again he has a certain confidence about his perspective on what is happening around him. It is obvious that he doesn’t have any control over the choices of others but when it comes to his perspective he is going to be hopeful even in the uncertainty. He doesn’t know if he is going to live or die but that doesn’t matter to him. What matters is how he sees or understands what’s happening and he is choosing hope.

How could he do this? In these two verses there are three factors that contribute to his hopeful outlook on things. The first factor is prayer (v. 19). He has confidence that the prayers of the Philippian Christians will make a difference for him. The second factor is the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. He trusts that through the Holy Spirit’s working that there is hope for him. Then a third thing that is creating hope for him is his own clear convictions about himself (v. 20). He says that he’ll never bring shame to Christ, he’ll always be bold and his life will always honor Christ. Now the key is that he says all this regardless of the uncertainty of his own life or death!

How can we choose hope regardless of uncertainty? We can do it the same way Paul did: Prayer, Holy Spirit power and persistent convictions. We need the prayers of others to sustain us, the power of the Spirit to strengthen us and the courage of our convictions to guide us, regardless of the uncertainties. That is the way Paul chose hope and the way that you can also.

When I think of someone being hopeful regardless of uncertainties, I think of Dr. David Crosby, pastor of First Baptist Church, New Orleans. Dr. Crosby was for the last year or more my daughter and son-in-law’s pastor. First Baptist Church, New Orleans, is very similar in size to our church. They have a magnificent new facility that sustained minimal damage in Hurricane Katrina. I had called Dr. Crosby after the hurricane to tell him of my prayer support for him. He returned my call and we talked of his circumstances: 75% of his church scattered, three-fourths of his budget gone, three staff members left, a beautiful building with no one to fill it. I told him that Jen and Daniel were determined to come back to New Orleans and he told me that he hoped they would. Then he told me of his vision for a new New Orleans, where he hoped to be in two years and how that God was going to raise up a new place of hope out of the flood of despair! Where does that come from? It comes because he knows people are praying, the Holy Spirit is giving him strength and that regardless of what is uncertain about the future, the convictions that have carried him before Katrina are what will carry him beyond Katrina! That is choosing to be hopeful regardless of what’s uncertain.

But there is one choice above all of these that guides these other three. The confidence, joy and hope all flow out of one place: Jesus Christ. We can choose to be contented because Christ is our focus (Phil. 1:27). Paul says that he can choose to be so positive regardless of his mistreatment, the actions of others and the uncertainties about the future because, "For to me living is for Christ and dying is even better!" (v. 21)

For Paul, there was one single passion: Christ. His waking moments, daily living, and closing thoughts were with one focus in mind: Christ. Living life was for Christ! For Paul there was nothing else! You can put anything else in place of Christ—money, prestige, power, influence and possessions and you will end life never knowing the joy that comes from being content when Christ is your focus. All of those things will deprive us of contentment. Only Jesus Christ can give you what no one else can take away—real satisfaction in life. When he is your focus then contentment is more than a choice, it is a reality!

How does he do this? When he is our focus our circumstances don’t hinder us. Also, with Christ as our focus we refuse to be preoccupied with what others say or do. As long as Christ is our focus, our fears about our future are removed and peace fills that void. I want you to say the words with me, "Living is for Christ." Say them again, "Living is for Christ." Then if it is, contentment is going to follow.

I want to be honest with you. I’ve not been the most positive person recently. I have, as I know several other families in our church have, experienced the personal effects of Hurricane Katrina. I have joined my daughter and son-in-law as they grieved the loss of their school, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, the sense of purpose for their life, their friends, their church, their ministry, their jobs and, yes, the expected loss of their material possessions. One night in all of this Jennifer said she asked God, "Why? Why, when I chose the hard path, have done the hard thing, gave up the easy things, has this happened?" They don’t make answers for that question in parenting books. In all of this I have struggled with being positive.

This past week I had a visit with someone who didn’t know it but they helped me get a new perspective. Jerry and Loretta Bookout have been a part of this church family for their lifetime. Jerry, as most of you know has Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Jerry has had a pretty rough time for the last three months. He and Loretta know the gravities of their future. Yet, visiting with Jerry and Loretta Tuesday all they could talk about was how God was using his illness for good in their life, how it had brought them closer to God, closer to each other, closer to their family, closer to their friends. They have made a choice to be positive—not because being positive will change the diagnosis, but because Christ is their focus. When you are around people like that and you look at your life and its challenges, then you look at them and their challenges, you stop and say, "What’s wrong with this picture?" What’s wrong is me! I’m called to make the choice to be positive because Christ is my focus!

Nothing I’ve said takes away from the reality of your adversity. All I can say is this: If you want to waste your time living for the negative then you are going to miss the best life that is possible for you. Two thousand years ago, a lonely preacher in a prison cell made a choice to be confident, joyful, hopeful and content because he put his focus in the right place—and so can you! Is this your best life now? Maybe not but you can choose for it to be your best life—anyhow!

Sunday, October 2, 2005

Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor

First Baptist Church

Jonesboro, Arkansas

btippit@fbcjonesboro.org

(Resources used: Laugh Again by Charles R. Swindoll; Your Best Life Now by Joel Osteen)