What steals your joy?




    John MacArthur's commentary on Philippians 1:12-18 is valuable for personal reflection and assessment of the condition our faith in Christ. He says this,

Now I have always believed that the measure of a person's spiritual character, the measure of their spiritual strength and the measure of their spiritual maturity is what it takes to steal their joy. At whatever point your joy breaks down, that's the level of your spiritual strength. You can find out how mature you are, how Spirit-controlled you are, how spiritually virtuous you are by finding the breaking point where joy is lost and bitterness and negativism, critical spirit, sullenness begins to creep in and take over your life. The measure of your joy is how you react not to things the way you'd like them to be but the things the way you wouldn't like them to be.

    A brief background on this letter to the Philippians helps us to understand it better. The apostle Paul is under prolonged house arrest in Rome and is chained to a Roman guard 24 hours a day (see Acts 28) while awaiting trial. There was the possibility of being sentenced to death but it did not break his joy in the Lord. Clearly, Paul's joy did not rest upon his present circumstances which is more dire than what many of us will ever experience in our lifetime. John MacArthur continues with the following point,

There should be no point in the life of a believer where joy is forfeited to sullenness, bitterness, negativism because of some things that aren't the way we'd like them to be. There's only one justification for the loss of joy and that is sin. And when you have fallen into sin, you will need to cry out with the psalmist, "Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation." But nothing short of sin should steal our joy, certainly not circumstances. And yet typically, I mean typically for everyone, a sudden change in conditions, a sudden change in circumstances in our lives, great difficulties, confusion, trials, hard times, attacks, disagreements, unfulfilled ambitions, unmet desires, conflicts, strained relationships, unrealistic expectations unmet, all of these things can throw us off balance and joy is forfeited and bitterness takes its place.

    So how did Paul possess such an unbreakable joy? The answer might surprise you but it's clear in Philippians 1. It was because of his life's purpose which is the advancement of the gospel. Again, John MacArthur beautifully writes,

So, here is a man who has negative circumstances beyond our ability to understand them, chained to a Roman soldier. And yet he's a model of joy. Why? Because his joy isn't related to his comfort. His joy isn't related to his self-indulgence. His joy isn't related to his freedoms. His joy isn't related to his success. We'll find out it isn't even related to his reputation. It isn't related to any of those things. His joy is strictly tied to the advance of the gospel, so he has joy in his ministry, in spite of trouble, as long as the gospel is advanced, as long as Christ's cause is extended. His chains, in a sense, became an effective line of communication to these elite soldiers of the Roman empire. And if they were converted, they would carry the message to the rest of the city and for that matter, the rest of the world. And so he was rejoicing in the progress of the gospel.

Is that where you are? That's really the question. As you look at your own life, is your joy that sort of ebbing and flowing tide of earthly things? Does your joy rise and fall on your pleasure? On your possessions? On your prominence, your prestige, your reputation, your comfort, your fulfilled ambitions? Your almost unrealistic fantasies being realized? Is that where your joy is? If it is, you're going to ride the crest and sink to the depths. You're going to ebb and flow with the times of life, the changing times, the shifting sands. But if your joy is tied to the progress of the gospel and your life is committed to that end, then your joy is ever ever undiminished.

Paul's desire was to honor Christ with his body by courageously sharing the gospel. When we live to honor Christ, then our joy rests on a firm foundation and nothing can ever take it away.

For more on this : Joy in Spite of Trouble by John MacArthur.

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