This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Welcome to Daily Drive Time Devotions, we're looking together through
Philippians chapter 1. The principle in Philippians is the principle of joy.
It's a book that talks to us about the fact that joy is found in the very places
that we think joy is stolen from us.

We've talked the last couple days about the fact that joy is found in our
relationships, the way that we handle those relationships, the way we see those
relationships. Even the relationships that you might think are stealing joy from
you right now are a place where you can find joy when you and I begin to respond
in a different way. Let me take a quick survey here about circumstances, because
beginning in Philippians 1.

12, Paul begins to talk about circumstances as being one of those places where
we find joy. Here's the survey, which of these four circumstances do you think
would give the greatest opportunity for joy? An unexpected inheritance, an
unexpected hurricane, an unexpected promotion, or an unexpected health problem?

The answer is all the above. Now I know you might be reaching for your iPod
right now to turn it off and delete this thing because you're thinking this guy
does not know what he's talking about. It is ingrained in all of us that joy is
a matter of circumstances, and because of that we miss out on joy.

We have to redefine joy. Joy is not perfect circumstances. In fact, you might
even say that back in your mind.

Joy is not perfect circumstances. If you're in your car by yourself, say it out
loud. Joy is not perfect circumstances.

If you're listening to this on a train, go ahead, say it out loud and see how
people around you look at you. Joy is not perfect circumstances. Joy is not
saying everything is okay because sometimes everything is not okay.

Joy is God using our imperfect circumstances to work his perfect will into our
lives. When I recognize that, I can have joy no matter what the circumstances.
The most popular misconception about joy is that joy is the result of a set of
happy circumstances.

When things are good, up goes the joy meter. When things go bad, the happiness
needle heads to freezing. Now, obviously that's not true.

That's just obviously not true. We've all met people in great situations who
have terrible dispositions. On the other hand, we've all met people who are in
terrible circumstances, but they have a kind of joy in their lives that we can't
quite seem to capture.

Joy and circumstances, they do have something to do with each other. No doubt
about that, but joy is found in the way that I respond to my circumstances. In
fact, your attitude towards your circumstances is the second place that joy is
won or lost in our lives, first in people and now in circumstances.

And beginning in Philippians 1. 12, Paul outlines an entirely different way of
looking at circumstances. It's really not the circumstances that create or
destroy joy.

It's the way that I look at those circumstances. The principle is this, joy is
not found in a single event or feeling. Joy is found in a God-given process of
life.

Let me just give you a picture as we think about joy and circumstances. Suppose
you go to see the Grand Canyon and you get a perfect seat just to sit and you
want to just sit there for maybe an hour or two and look at the Grand Canyon.
But where you have chosen to sit is a little bit back and all of a sudden, right
in front of you drives this big Winnebago, this big, huge family truck, and it
parks right in front of your view.

That is a circumstance that has spoiled your view of life. What are you going to
do in that moment? Well, you got several choices.

You could sit there and gripe and groan about the Winnebago. You focus on the
ugly Winnebago. Look, it's rusting here.

It's in my way. I wanted to see the Grand Canyon and I'm sitting here looking at
this ugly thing. You could do that.

Or you could sit there and say, you know, I deserve this. I've done some rotten
things in my life. This is my lot in life.

I deserve this. You could do that. Or you could look around and see some people
that aren't behind the Winnebago and you could become jealous of those who have
a better view.

It's pretty obvious there is another option. Move your chair. Get someplace
where you can look beyond the motorhome and see the view, the greatness, the
grandeur of what God has created.

That's the secret to joy in any circumstance. You change your focus. If you
don't pretend that the circumstances aren't there, you learn how to look beyond
the Winnebago, to look beyond the circumstances that are there to see what God
is doing.

These next couple days as we look at the last part of Philippians 1, we're going
to look at four ways to look beyond, to see what God's really doing. Starting in
Philippians 1, 12-14 with the first one. Look beyond the circumstance to see the
result.

Verses 12-14 of Philippians 1 say this, "Now I want you to know, brothers, that
what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. As a result,
it's become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I
am in chains for Christ. Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord
have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly.

" Now, remember, Paul is in Rome riding to Philippi. He is in prison, and that
is not at all what he expected. He wanted to go to Rome and preach in the
churches, not preach in the prisons.

But he doesn't ask, "Why is this happening to me? " Maybe he asked that at
first, but he got past that. He didn't say to himself, "Didn't Jesus come to
give me a pleasant life?

How could he let this happen to me? " Instead, he looked past the circumstances.
Paul's circumstances were difficult.

Paul was chained 24/7 to a Roman guard. He was under house arrest, and they
actually put a chain around the guard and around Paul to make sure that he
couldn't escape. And Paul saw two results, two positive results of his chains.

He was able to look past the chains to see evangelism and encouragement. He saw,
first of all, evangelism. He says, "The whole palace guard is hearing because of
my chains.

" This is the praetorian guard, the palace guard. That means the emperor's
bodyguards. These were the elite guards in Rome.

And Paul is being chained to them one at a time. They're sort of like the Secret
Service of that day, and they actually became a political power of that day.
They were the ones with the swords, and so their nominee for Caesar always
seemed to win.

Now remember, this is the apostle Paul. This is the man who wrote most of the
New Testament. This is the one who went to city after city, and nothing can stop
him from sharing the good news of Christ.

And he's being chained to one guard after the other after the other. What do you
think they talked about? They didn't talk about Paul's pain.

They didn't talk about the weather. They talked about the good news of Jesus
Christ. It wasn't Paul's plan to be there, but God used even that.

Christian history tells us that Paul had an impact. Nero, one of the later
emperors of Rome, kills his own wife and his mother-in-law because they had
professed Christ. The good news of Christ got even into Caesar's household.

How did it get there? It got there through Paul's preaching and others'
preaching, even at the centers of power. Paul saw the result of evangelism, and
he also saw the result of encouragement.

The believers were bolder because he was in chains. He says this has happened to
advance the gospel. The word "advance" there has the idea of somebody who cuts
away the underbrush so that an army can go forward.

And Paul had the machete. He was out in front, and he saw what God was doing,
even through the difficulties. There's all kinds of chains in our lives.

One of the most difficult circumstances is the circumstance of feeling chained,
unable to move ahead. Although not nearly as dramatic as Paul, you might feel
chained. You might feel chained to a job or to a debt or to a circumstance that
you just can't change or to a sickness or to a family member who is sick.

And you're thinking, "This is keeping me from moving ahead. This is not at all
what I expected. " Paul reminds us that God wants to use even our chains.

You might feel chained to a job, and you think, "Why in the world has God put me
here? Why has he allowed me to be in this drudgery or why has he allowed me to
be around these people that I just don't enjoy? " You want to get out of it, but
don't you think that God might just use you?

Someone who's different, somebody who can have joy like no one else in that
office, no one else in that school, no one else in that place of work. God might
just use you to bring joy to someone that no one else could. I know some people
who feel chained to their marriage.

They feel like, "I'm not going to get a divorce, but I'm going to just be
chained to this marriage the rest of my life and pretty much be miserable. It's
my lot in life. " But don't you think that God wants to use even the
difficulties of your marriage?

Not only to develop your own heart and life, but to give an opportunity to serve
others and maybe, just maybe, as you're honest about what you're facing, to
bring some kind of joy into your marriage that would not have been there except
that you face difficulties together. God can work even through the chains of
life, even through those times when it's not what I expected. Paul chose to
focus not on the chains, but on his freedoms.

He still had the freedom to talk to the guards, so he did. He still had the
freedom to write and send letters, and so he did. In fact, he wrote and sent
letters while he was chained to the guards, so you might call them the first
chain letters.

I hesitate saying that because I can't hear you groan when I say it, but I'll
say it anyway. Paul encouraged people and he shared the good news with people
even during difficult times. He looked past the circumstances to see the result.

As you head on towards verse 15 of Philippians chapter 1, you see a second way
that Paul found joy in any circumstance. He was able to look beyond. He also
looked beyond the personalities to see God's plan.

God's plan worked even through those who sometimes try to work against it,
worked even though sometimes we have the wrong motives. Let me read for you
Philippians chapter 1 verses 15 to 19. "It is true that some preach Christ out
of envy and rivalry, but some others out of good The latter do so in love,
knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel.

The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that
they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. But what does it matter?
The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true,
Christ is preached.

And because of this I will rejoice. Yes, I will continue to rejoice. For I know
that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Christ Jesus, what
has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance.

" If you can catch hold of what Paul is talking about here, it can be one of the
most transforming things that ever happens to you. When life is going tough,
let's just be honest, there are people around you who encourage you. There's no
doubt about that.

But when life is going tough, there are also people around you who come along to
make it worse. They love to build on your pain. And that's what was happening to
Paul.

There are some people, their hurt rather than their heart guides them. So even
while he's in prison, they're trying to say that he is a liar, that he has false
motives and they're trying to outshine him in some way. Paul's talking here
about some who preach Christ from bad motives and some who preach Christ from
good motives.

And the question a lot of people have is, "How can I tell which is which? " And
do any of us even really have totally pure motives? And what Paul says here is,
"What does it matter?

As long as Jesus is being preached, don't worry about it. I don't have to worry
about any of that. I can trust God.

I can trust God to deal with the bad or the good motives with that person
personally. And I can grow in Christ no matter what. What does it matter?

" Trying to figure out motives, "Have you found this? " is a risky game. "I
can't even figure out my own motives, but I can tell if Jesus is being preached.

" Now what we're talking about here in these verses, it drives some people
crazy. They ask themselves, "How in the world could God use someone who has a
bad motive? " Well, he does it all the time.

He's used me when I've had bad motives. And if you're honest and you search your
heart, you'll probably find that he's used you when you've had bad motives. Now,
that doesn't make the bad motives good.

That doesn't mean I shouldn't work on them. It doesn't mean I won't suffer for
them. If I allow them to continue in my life.

But it does mean this. God is bigger. God is bigger than my bad motives.

And as long as Jesus is being clearly preached and he is being lifted up, that
truth will win out. That truth is bigger and greater than my motives any day. I
love the way of thinking that's revealed in these verses.

Paul saw God working for his best in the realities of life. He didn't have to
pretend that those realities weren't there to see that God was at work. That's
joy for a lot of Christians.

They put a pretend smile on. Everything's okay, even though it isn't. Paul
didn't have to pretend.

He freely admitted he was in prison. He was honest about the fact that some
preached from envy and not from good motives. And yet, he did not find himself
in despair because he knew that God could work in the realities of life.

I love the phrase that's in the New Living Translation here. Whether or not they
do this, the fact remains. Whether or not things work out as I want them to
today, the fact remains that God is in control.

Whether or not people act as I would want them to today, the fact remains that I
can choose to follow Jesus. Whether or not I feel great today, the fact remains
that Jesus has an awesome and eternal love for me. Whether or not.

Let's pray together. Jesus, we thank you that joy is not dependent on good
circumstances. That whether or not the circumstances are good today, I can look
beyond and I can see what you're doing.

Jesus, I thank you. We thank you that right now, whatever the struggle that's
going through in our lives and our hearts, we can see you. We can see that you
have a purpose, that you have a plan.

We thank you that whatever the people in our lives are doing right now, whether
they're being supportive or whether we're being attacked right now, the truth
is, God, you're greater than all of that. And so we lean on that right now. We
lean on you right now.

And we pray for this kind of joy, the whether or not kind of joy, the kind of
joy that is not dependent on circumstances and doesn't have to ignore or pretend
about circumstances, the kind of joy that sees you at work in the midst of the
real circumstances of our lives. We pray for that kind of joy. Help us to learn
it.

In your name, we pray, Jesus. Amen. Well, join us tomorrow as we continue to
talk about circumstances and joy in Philippians chapter one, verses 20 to 30.