The Joy that Defies Every Condition - Louie Giglio

i'm pumped today what an amazing way to uh to to introduce a message called the culture of joy if you're getting this later you missed the baptisms we just did we just had some incredible stories right before our eyes of the miracle power of god and that is a part of what builds a culture of joy we have been inspired in this series by baylor basketball i just keep mentioning it because i think when people lead out and do something great they should get acknowledged for it when you go and play through a hard season and give glory to god you should get acknowledged for that and so i don't know any of these people i don't know scott drew and i don't know any of the players i just say thank you for helping us make a big pivot and i wanted to get my facts right about their season so i searched baylor men's basketball and an article popped up from the waco tribunal a paper that i read for about 11 years of my life every single day living in waco texas as a grad student at baylor and then doing campus ministry there the article is going to come up on the screen this was after the national championship joyous celebration i love that and then the first line of the article you can see it down there below i liked it culture of joy indeed and i wonder could that be said about us could it be said about passion city church i'll tell you one thing about those people that is a culture of joy could that be said about your family i'll tell you when we go and are around their family when we're at their house it is a culture of joy could it be said of you when when she walks in when he walks in whenever they're in the conversation the joy quotient goes up so we want to end today just by describing and maybe painting a picture of what a culture of joy might be if you're a scientist or a biologist in the in the gathering today you know about cultures right and a culture in the biological sense is a place where you maintain the conditions for suitable growth whatever it is you're trying to study or whatever you're developing there's a culture and that culture in the lab sense and the biological senses is a place where you're trying to maintain conditions for suitable growth so the temperature needs to be right the lighting needs to be right the conditions have to be maintained so that you can grow this culture that you're studying and so i want to ask the question today how do we maintain the conditions for the growth of joy how do we set our our eyes around this goal of saying i want to be a part of a culture of joy so let me recap for a moment the talks that brad and i have done just on the top line joy and happiness aren't always the same thing a joy may look more like this group of balloons but if you're having a a birthday party or a anniversary celebration or a milestone moment it's not unusual for people to bring balloons because balloons are about celebration they're about parties they're about everybody having a good time they're about festivity they're about happiness but happiness and joy are slightly different where happiness is an emotion or a feeling that is based on the fruit or the outcome the circumstance joy is gratitude that is based on the root and so joy is a little bit like helium in a balloon where i mean happiness is a little bit like helium in a balloon where joy is more like a root that is in the ground and that root is going to produce a sense of happiness but it's going to be more powerful happiness because if we leave these balloons here through the week eventually they're going to start sagging to the ground and most likely if we get here next sunday they're going to be laying over on the floor and happiness is like that god is not against happiness we're not against happiness we all should be leaning toward joyful moments in life in celebration but happiness isn't something you can depend on it ebbs and flows with the circumstances joy we've talked about is gratitude that flows from a root and we didn't just make that up we looked at the word for joy in the greek language which is the language that the scriptures were written in in the new testament day and the word kara means to be aware of grace therefore as i'm aware of the grace of god in my life it produces a sense of gratitude which results in joy a permanent and permeating joy in my life and we looked at all the cognates of that verb korah but we see them in our text for today again coming back to paul's letter to the philippians chapter 4 verse 4 rejoice in the lord always i will say it again rejoice so rejoice is cario which comes from which is that root word of joy so now we're expressing joy and paul is saying here's the way i want you to see this i want you to build a culture of joy i want you to maintain the condition suitable for growth and what i'm talking about is not just happiness that kind of comes and goes i'm talking about a rejoicing it again and again and again and again remembering that paul is writing it to the church in philippi a church that he had shared the gospel with traveling through macedonia a pagan people with no jewish background or culture they didn't know abraham and isaac and jacob they knew zeus and the other gods of their upbringing and now here comes the story of jesus of nazareth of a death on a cross and a resurrection by the power of almighty god so again i say today christianity and the story of the gospel transcends cultures and religions and geographical areas it's not about atlanta georgia oh and you grew up in america therefore you're a christian no paul is bringing this story of god's grace into macedonia he's crossing over cultural and religious lines and the gospel still works it still finds its way into the hearts of people and a church is born in philippi the fruit of the labor of paul's preaching in his life and he loves this church we know from the story of acts that in philippi god moved in power but paul also had some rough stretches in philippi put in prison for his faith beat up and locked down in the jail because he was expressing the love of god through miraculous power and the deliverance of a slave girl and so we see god at work but we also see the headwinds in his life and yet at the same time to those people who knew about his sacrifice and hardship he said rejoice in the lord always i'm going to say it again rejoice in other words there is a kind of joy that transcends circumstances and outcomes and that's the kind of power that i'm inviting you to tap into and the kind of culture that i'm inviting you to live in i want to read the whole text for us if you don't uh mind and even if you do i feel like i'm going to read it anyway but it's an amazing chapter and as we come through it it takes us on all these twists and turns but there's nothing better for us today than to hear god's word so let's just pick it up in verse five after rejoice again i say rejoice let your gentleness be evident to all the lord is near do not be anxious about anything now how about that for a message today but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your request to god and the peace of god which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in christ jesus finally brothers whatever is true whatever is noble whatever is right whatever is pure whatever is lovely whatever is admirable if anything is excellent or praiseworthy think about such things whatever you have learned or received or heard from me or seen in me put it into practice and the god of peace will be with you now this is where it gets into the plate but there's some amazing truth here i rejoice so now i'm expressing joy i'm in a a roman prison by the way i'm writing this letter just to give some context within either one week or at the most two years of being executed for my faith okay so paul is pinning a letter and he's one to 24 months away from execution so we all have that in view today so if we're rolling in saying well you know i would be more joyful but here's the situation i i love that we're talking about joy but here's our circumstance right now i know we're supposed to be joyful but you don't know my story and paul is saying no i do know your story and i know that the root of gratitude and the grace of god works even when you're in a roman prison within a year or a week of losing your life for your faith and so he says i rejoice i rejoice greatly in the lord that at last you have renewed your concern for me indeed you have been concerned but you had no opportunity to show it i'm not saying this because i'm in need for i have learned to be content whatever the circumstances i know what it is to be in need amen and i know what it is to have plenty anybody no everybody's like i'm not amen in that they'll start zeroing in on me for my giving and start mailing me stuff about above and beyond sunday i've learned the secret can you say secret there's a secret apparently but it's not so secret that god's not about to tell you the secret so the difference between pursuing happiness and finding joy apparently there's a secret involved you can't just naturally process this you have to have revelation and assistance from god i have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation do you read the bible like this by the way this is the way i read my bible when i'm at my house so if you're thinking i'm preaching i'm just reading this the way i read i like to read the bible out loud and i like to preach to myself while i'm reading it which means you have to just stop occasionally and go wow that's amazing i'm going to read that again with a little more oomph and a little more emphasis if you're reading the bible to yourself uh quietly all the time you're missing out read the bible out loud i'm telling you you will be so more so much more inspired by what you're reading you're like well my co-workers wouldn't really love that well that's great i'm not saying do it at work i'm saying just find a space where you're never mind that's another talk for another day in any and every situation whether well-fed or hungry whether living in plenty or in want and here's the secret so he just gives it to you i can do everything through him who gives me strength there's the secret and you know that's a very famous verse of scripture um athletes have had it on their little eye patch it's something that you're gonna hear a lot in that sporting culture i can do all things through christ who strengthens me and it is a great it's a great promise it's a great passage it's a great truth but it's coming out of of not like sort of like the power of positive thinking it's coming out of the power of positive rooting it's not coming out of oh i'm just going to think positive thoughts and then i'll be more joyful no it's coming from somebody saying hey i was in a prison at midnight beat up for my faith and i still had joy i still had what i need you know why because god allows me to experience through christ the strength i need no matter what's going on i've been hungry and i've been well fed i've been in plenty and i've been in need i've been up against it and i've been moving in the power with the wind i i know what it's like to be shipwrecked on malta i know what it's like to build a fire and have a viper come out and attach itself to my hand i know what it's like to be shut down and imprisoned and to be railroaded and to be carted off uh to rome i know what it's like to be under house arrest i know what it's like to go through the struggle and even in the struggle i'm telling you there's a secret and the secret is this i can do anything through christ who gives me strength so the message today isn't you need to get more strength the message today is jesus is enough strength for you so let me finish and i'll just try not to spend too much time in the last part but we're going all the way down to the final greetings and we'll give extra credit to anybody who's highlighted made a note or any pencil mark in your bible in the final greetings of this chapter picking up now if we can in verse 14 yet it was good of you to share in my troubles okay i had some troubles but i still have joy moreover as you philippians know in my early days in your acquaintance with the gospel when i set out for macedonia not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving except you only for even when i was in thessalonica you sent me aid again and again when i was in need not that i'm looking for a gift but i'm looking for what may be credited to your account i have received full payment and even more i am amply supplied now that i've received from epaphroditus the gifts you sent they are a fragrant offering an acceptable sacrifice pleasing to god and now out of that context another famous verse and my god will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in christ jesus so let's don't yank that verse out and just parachute it down into the moment that we're like oh god said he'll meet all my needs god said he will meet all my needs because i have already moved in generosity to support the work of the kingdom expansion of god through his apostle paul i've already leaned in guess what i can be confident god's going to supply all my needs in the same way i'm now watching me be the answer to someone else's prayer of god supplying their needs there is a cycle of generosity paul is unfolding for us and my god will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in christ jesus to our god and father be glory forever and ever i'm in and then there's a header that says final greetings and that's where we all hit the eject button because why do we need final greetings but oh my goodness in the final greetings today there is a a moment where i will probably just absolutely lose my mind greet all the saints in christ jesus the brothers who are with me send greetings all the saints send you greetings especially those who belong to caesar's household underline that the grace of the lord jesus christ be with your spirit amen be to god for the power of his word so what is necessary to maintain conditions suitable for growth well before we talk about what a culture of joy is we can eliminate some things that are not necessary to maintain the conditions suitable for growth and the number one thing we can eliminate today is ease ease is not necessary to maintain conditions suitable for the growth of joy because we are getting our entire exhortation to rejoice in the lord always and again i'm going to say it rejoice out of a circumstance in a situation which is about anything but ease and so now we know having a a smooth path isn't necessary having a victory isn't even necessary seeing things play out the way we hoped isn't necessary so what is a culture of joy then and what is necessary in maintaining the conditions for suitable growth number one the culture of joy is a culture captivated by jesus in other words if you are going to be a joyful person if your family is going to be a joyful family if a church is going to be a joyful church if there's going to be a culture of joy indeed the people in that culture must be captivated by the person of jesus that sounds so elementary i know but there is a big difference between being captivated by christ as a person versus knowing christ as the namesake of a religion by which i'm saved oh i'm a christian and therefore i know who jesus is and i'm saved because of who jesus is there is a major difference between that kind of awareness of christ and a revelation of christ where you're captivated by him as a person and you don't just want what he has to offer you want him paul said it this way we looked at it last week in chapter 3 verse 10. he says i want to know christ i want to know christ i don't just want excuse me the four things that are going to help me have a better life or help fix my relationship or help me build a better business or whatever it is i need help with today i don't just want some benefits of christ falling over into the plans that i have for my life i actually want christ i want to know him and i have moved from the place of growing up in church or being around faith or being around scripture and hearing all the stories and knowing all the information to coming to a place where i have had a transformation of life for me this happened 18 19 years old georgia state university the streets of downtown atlanta and somehow a baby born into the nursery at the church on the corner came alive to the reality that every moment was a br a breathing relationship with jesus and i just wanted to wake up with him i rode a greyhound bus from cobb county to downtown to go to school i walked 10 blocks to the campus with him i went to class with him i spent every free second i had between classes and his word i ended the days with him i would go to my job at the old omni working for the hawks with him i would go to a job on a hockey night working for the atlanta flames with him everywhere i went he went and everything i did we did and it was all about going to sleep saying i love you and waking up saying i want to spend today with you and it is a game-changing life-shifting transformation when you come to want to know christ not just to say i'm a christian and some of us are missing joy because joy is jesus he is the root the second thing about a culture of joy is a culture of joy is stunned by the gospel in other words gospel blood is still flowing through your veins it's as real today as it was the day you put your faith in him it's as stunning this sunday as it was last sunday and a hundred sundays ago it's like getting baptized and knowing how powerful it is and still remembering that five years later that i was lost but now i'm found i was dead but now i'm alive and i've never ever gotten over the gospel miracle of what god did in my life and gospel blood is still flowing through my veins i love it when brad was walking us through that account of the lost things and he talked about the rejoicing that happened the shepherd put the sheep on his shoulders and went back to the the rest of the sheep and the pen and his fellow shepherds and said hey rejoice with me i found my lost sheep that that word rejoice again coming out of this root of grace and gratitude i'm grateful not only that i've received grace but that i was able to go out and extend grace to this sheep so grace extended now is bringing me joy and i want you to come and rejoice with me and so they rejoiced but the sound of the rejoicing probably only scared or annoyed the sheep the sheep probably when they all started partying went and ran over towards its friends or mom and said man i don't know what's happening over there but it's really hurting my ears the coin when it was lost yes there was a party the woman said i found my coin come and rejoice with me let's create a culture of joy because the coin that was lost is now found but the coin couldn't hear and never knew there was a party but when that son heard the music start to play the son knew the song was for him he knew that this party was his party and i wonder what it would look like if we all walked into the great assembly knowing this is my party oh my father is going to get all the glory the sacrificial lamb of jesus that made it possible he's going to get all the praise and the honor but this is my party oh well no i i've actually just kind of grew up a christian and i put my faith in jesus at a summer camp or at a youth retreat or you know somewhere back in time that was like in 1998 or 2004 instead of walking in the door today going you know what gospel blood is flowing through my veins today i'm excited about the cross as i ever was i am grateful to god for what he did in my life and i am as grateful on this day as i was on that day because when the music starts playing in this house today i know this is my song this is my party this dance that we're gonna have right now this is for me i was the one lost and am now found i am the one who is dead and is now alive and i am gonna celebrate again today as if it were the very first day because i hear the music playing and the music is playing for me and it's playing for you a lot of us have got some blockage going on in the veins a culture of joy is all in for the mission and we see this in paul's life and in this letter in other words paul had arrived at a place where his mission overrode his condition he was so convinced of what god had set him in motion to do that the circumstantial things around him were more of annoyances than they were deterrence to his joy because his joy was rooted in an unchanging situation namely the grace of god in christ and here he is at the end of the day and all he's thinking about is i want to populate heaven and empty hell and if you want to see a joyous church get some people like that in your church if you want to have a joyous family get some people like that and your family if the crew you're running with right now is not a real joyous crew then you've got nobody in your crew who's got a heart beating saying all i care about is more people being in heaven and less people being in hell let's get on with it let's move on with it but paul was convinced he you know his whole story he was arrested and taken before the sanhedrin in jerusalem and this time they planned to kill him but he appealed as a roman citizen to caesar and they were like whoa who knew you were a roman citizen man you've been cruising around as one of the pharisees and then you became a follower of jesus and now you're a builder of the church and we didn't know that you actually had roman credentials and when they found out they're like hands off guys got to go to rome and so he started a long circuitous journey to appeal to caesar and at the end of a few of those encounters before he set sail to italy he said i want to go to caesar and then they said you're gonna go to caesar and from that moment on and i even believe before that paul knew as a roman citizen that the epicenter of the universe was actually rome they had already built a road system and a transportation system that went into all the world they were the power of the moment and he said i got to take the story of jesus there and so he boards the ship and he starts a journey eventually he makes it to rome and now he is in rome he's arrived at the destination he's at the epicenter of the world but he's also under house arrest but he's happy because the mission now is being accomplished his mission i want to go to rome and so he ends this letter and his final greetings and he says and especially those who belong to caesar's household greet you in other words i can't name names right here in this letter because it'll cost people their lives before the end of the day today but i just want you to know that people who are serving in nero's court in nero's house the worst of the worst the guy who played the fiddle while rome was on fire who torched christians for entertainment that nero the gospel now maybe his cook has come to know the lord his cup bear has become a believer in christ maybe his number one guard is now filled with the holy spirit people in nero's own household are coming to faith in jesus and paul sending a message back to philippi saying hey the mission overrides the condition and i have made it to the epicenter of the known world to the most powerful man on earth and people in his house are coming to know jesus anybody can be changed by this gospel and that most likely means that nero himself before he took his life had had a chance to hear of the grace of god and i just i'm wondering is that is that us is that you are you on a mission are you are you being shot out like an arrow do you do you have something that's so all-consuming in your heart that you're like the conditions aren't great but the mission it just seems like it overrides all that i'm not minimizing the difficulty i'm not saying that it wasn't hard i'm just saying that my mission is greater than my condition a culture of joy is confident in every season in other words the glimpse that you've seen of the savior it gives you peace about all the things you don't know about the story in other words here's the here's the thing joy is not contingent on god telling you all the details of the plan because hello he's not going to do that you're like well why wouldn't he if he's a good and loving god because he's a good and loving god he doesn't tell you all the details of the story he just says i'm enough trust me i gave my life for you trust me i poured it all out for you trust me i came on a rescue mission from heaven to earth for you you can trust me i i've been faithful from the beginning to the end you can trust me i'll supply all your needs according to my riches in glory in christ jesus you can trust me you can do all things through christ who strengthens you you can trust me but i'm not telling you all the where i'm not telling you to win i'm not telling you the how i'm not telling you about how long i'm not telling you any of that you know why because that is going to distract you from doing the one thing i've asked you to do today if i tell you about next month you're going to get busy working on changing things about next month when i just need you to say yes to today and so he said if i constantly have that attitude lord you know what the situations are you know what the needs are i'm going to come with my prayers and my requests and with thanksgiving i'm going to make all that known to you he said and when you do the peace of god is going to guard your heart and your mind in christ jesus the picture there is they're going to stand guard one on one side one on the other and they're gonna pace back and forth through the day and the night guarding your emotions and guarding your thoughts in jesus name why because you've already offloaded what you're concerned about to the god you already knew was concerned about you and then lastly i just it's obvious but a culture of joy is a culture of praise in other words joy please catch this must be activated and worshiped to cultivate kingdom culture let me put that down into common language you can't just say i feel grateful and deep down inside i really am grateful and i truly down in my innermost private self am really blown away by the goodness of god and never do what the psalmist said when he said shout for joy to the lord all the earth waves are doing it mountain peaks are doing it trees of the field and the forest are clapping their hands the stars are exploding for his glory right now they spin and they sing and they shine through the cosmos the leaves on the branches they rustle the anthem of his praise and the lightning bolt and the thunder they reverberate with the greatness and the glory and the power of god even the snowfall flake by flake pitter patters of the mercy of god and all creation sings the birds are making their melody the beasts of the field are roaring in response to who he is every wave crashing on the beach today one after the other after the other after the other after the other they just say alpha and omega and beginning and end and the whole world sings a song of the praise of almighty god because he told them to he said let everything that has breath praise the lord grace rooted in jesus cannot help but be expressed in worship and praise to him so if there's not an expression of joy and joyfulness then we have to go back and ask the question is there a root and am i in it because i've been looking for fruit and i think fruit's amazing and it's awesome and it's powerful and we celebrate it today but one phone call one decision and bam bam bam bam bam bam bam happiness now is fragile but this root this root is eternal and out of it flows grace it works itself out in gratitude and at the end of the day there is a life that says i cannot be silenced i will praise his name come on church let's just give him some praise right now let's just give him an anthem of our response right now let's just tell him that he's a good and a great and a trustworthy god right now let's remember the day that he delivered us and saved us and brought us out and gave us life and breath and gave us a brand new name let's tell him the waves aren't gonna outdo us today no star is gonna outshine us today because we heard the song and we knew that the song was our song we love you jesus and we praise you we all been searching for happiness but praise you god that you led us to joy you

Channel: Passion City Church

Views: 34,518

Rating: 4.8278146 out of 5

Keywords: louie giglio, passion city church worship, louie giglio sermons, passion city, giglio louie, city church, passion, giglio, passion city church sermons, Atlanta, passion church, louis giglio, cumberland, temptations, live church, live worship, live worship songs, live worship music, live worship songs 2020, passion city online sunday gathering, joy, happiness, unconditional joy, Worship Matters, W2O2R2S2H2I2P

Id: j9Mbfsv90VQ

Length: 39min 24sec (2364 seconds)

Published: Mon May 03 2021