Joy Unchained
Nathan Adams · Tidal Church Shediac · September 27, 2026 · Joy Anyway series
Nathan Adams begins a Philippians series, showing how Paul found joy anyway while in prison. Joy rests on God finishing His work in us, on people, on the Spirit within, and on advancing the gospel, so circumstances cannot take it away.
More from Nathan Adams · The Joy Anyway series
Topics: Joy, Faith, Mission & Outreach
Transcript
[0:00] Sometimes it doesn't matter to me if I have sound or not. No. Yeah, that's my fault. Sometimes it doesn't matter to me what my circumstances are. I have so much inner joy, it doesn't matter. You can't rain on the parade. Other times, circumstances get me down. But haven't we all met people that have a bad situation but they're glad? We've met people that have it good, but they're sad. And it's a strange thing. I remember being in Haiti and having the experience that probably Pastor Sean and John are having right now in Africa, where you're meeting people with far, far less than you have, but they seem to have more joy than you have.
[0:48] And you're going, what is going on in this situation? Why do people in bad situations often have so much joy? And so we're going to look at the book of Philippians over the next eight weeks. We're going to go through it almost verse by verse, diving into this very rich book of the Bible, which speaks predominantly about having joy and choosing joy. So we're going to talk about it as joy anyway, joy in all circumstances. And when the apostle Paul wrote this letter, his circumstances were terrible. He is in a prison in Rome. He is awaiting trial before Caesar. And we might expect him to be seeing the fulsome prison blues with Johnny Cash.
[1:34] But instead, he is rejoicing 14 times in just four chapters. He talks about choosing joy, choosing happiness, rejoicing anyway. Now, the word that Paul uses for this positive mental state is hyro, which is kind of funny if you know one of the staff members at our churches named Hyro. So he's like basically joy. All right. It's Hyro. And this is what the definitions are from the best Bible lexicons and dictionaries. Hyro, to be in a state of happiness and well -being, to rejoice or be glad. Another one, taking pleasure in something, delighting in doing something. You know, like this is what, whoo, this is my jam.
[2:21] OK, that's not in the lexicon, but you get it. Another one, to enjoy a state of happiness and well-being, to rejoice and to be glad. Now, there's a big difference, though. This is a happiness that is not based on what happens to you. It's a deeper happiness based on what happens in you and through you. Can we say that together? It's not a happiness. Can you say it? It's not a happiness based on what happens to you. It's a deeper happiness based on what happens in you and through you, and it's not on the screen. Anyway, in English, we try to get at this sometimes by using the word joy as a special word for happiness, because we're looking for this inner, deeper happiness, a joy that we have anyway.
[3:13] So think of what's happening to Paul as he writes in Philippians. He's in prison in Rome. He's awaiting trial before Caesar. Now, how did he end up in prison? The book of Acts tells us that a guy named Saul was thinking that a new heresy had erupted in Judaism, and it was his job to stamp it out. And so he's going around trying to get rid of these Jews that believe in Jesus. And then Jesus appears to Saul and says, Saul, you've got it 100% wrong. I'm actually answer, and you're going to spend the rest of your life sharing me. And that's just what Saul did who got renamed Paul. And he runs all over. We got a map. I swear we had a slide for a map somewhere.
[3:59] Yes, there it is. So he runs all over the eastern Mediterranean, and he's just a busy bee. Look at all these lines. This is a trip for each one of them. I mean, if this was a cruise, you'd spend $20 ,000 doing this thing at least. Like this is, he's up in Turkey on the east, and then he's in the west. And then he ends up eventually going to Greece and then the southern Greece. And then he's in Malta, and he's on Crete. And finally he ends up in Rome. And let me tell you, his main method of transportation was incarceration. He spent more time in prison than any other person that's recorded in the New Testament. But everywhere he went, he was making Christians. And one of the places where he founded a church is right up here in Philippi.
[4:47] Northern Greece, not far from where Alexander the Great was born. And so he makes a church in Philippi. And so while he is in Rome, he says, I'm going to write a letter to these guys. You see, it was really appropriate because when Paul went to all these different places, he basically got two receptions. One reception was, whoa, this miraculous stuff is happening around this guy. This guy must be some sort of a god, and everyone's like, hey, you're a god, blah, blah, blah. And he's like, no, I'm not a god. Jesus is God. Let me tell you about him. The other response he got was the one he got in Philippi. Because he went into Philippi, and there was a lady there, a young lady, a slave lady, and she was telling fortunes.
[5:34] And she was actually, she had this evil spirit that was giving her some ability to go beyond the hoax of telling fortunes, to actually having insights into people's lives she shouldn't have had. And it was very profitable for her owners. But she kept going around, and she couldn't help it. She goes, these guys are servants of the Most High God. And finally, Paul turns around with Barnabas and says, I cast you out in the name of Jesus Christ. And this lady's like, I'm free. And her owners go, we're broke. You just cast out. Anyway, they're like, these guys are tearing our economy apart and our way of worship. Let's get rid of them. And they form a mob. And they take Paul, I said Barnabas, Paul and Silas, and they throw them in prison in Philippi. And so it's midnight.
[6:20] They're in prison, in the deepest part of the prison, the darkest part. And instead of depression, these guys begin to praise God. I don't think they had the song, I throw up my hands, and I sing hallelujah. But this is what they're doing. And they're praising God in the midst of it. And then God sends a miraculous earthquake that bursts that prison doors right apart. And the jailer is freaking out because the way you, there was a certain letter of expectation or like a job expectation for a jailer back then, these are your prisoners, if they escape, you're dead. And those jailers are freaking out, but Paul and Barnabas knew, Paul and Silas do that. And they're sitting there and they wait in the prison cell for the jailer to show up. And they share Jesus with the jailer.
[7:07] The jailer becomes a Christian, says, come to my house now, shares Jesus with the whole family. And the first church in Philippi was literally found in a jail. And so Paul's in jail and Rome going, what better place to write to than my buddies in Philippi? And so let's take a look at it and go verse by verse through it. So here's how it opens up. Philippians chapter one, verse one, Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus. They're servants. They're actually bond servants. Like it's not like I'm doing another job. I'm like, no, no, I'm committed to Jesus Christ. He's my Lord, Savior and Master, servants of Jesus Christ. Now, another thing about this is right in the very first thing, this Paul guy, you can't find him alone.
[7:56] I was messing up my stuff because when he started off on his missionary journeys, he had Paul and his buddy Barnabas. And then after Barnabas and he go different ways with different journeys, he picks up Silas. And now as he's in Rome writing back, who's he with? Timothy. And, you know, he's mentoring Timothy. There's a book in the New Testament called Timothy with Paul writing at another time. Hey, Timothy, I want to invest in you, the fandom to flame this gift of God. Anyway, and Timothy is probably described as Paul writes the book of Philippians. Really cool. You can't find Paul alone. He believes in the fellowship of believers. So this is what he says. To all God's holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and the deacons, grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
[8:48] So he's writing to a church full of holy people, saints. That's you. That's me. And it's together, it's on one level. Hey, you're all holy people, whether you're the lay people or whether you're an overseer or a director of something, a deacon. Every one of you, grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what the church is. That level playing field of sinners who are saved by grace and called into the mission of God. And so this is what he says to them in verse three. I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy. There it is. Joy. That's the first of the 14 instances that we're going to see.
[9:34] I always pray with joy, with joy. Why? Because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ. And this brings us to, I think, what is the first principle that Paul is laying down for having joy anyway. Joy regardless of circumstances. And that first principle is very simple. It is that God will bring everything that matters to completion. This verse here, it's a memory verse. You got to take this verse. In fact, when you leave here today, you're going to get a business card that has this verse written right on it.
[10:25] Because this is one of those verses that you need to stick on your fridge. You know, I took a fridge magnet the other day and I realized it doesn't even stick to most fridges and I felt like, where has the world gone? Anyway, but you can tape it to your fridge if your fridge happens to actually be plastic. I don't know. Anyway, you can put this in the visor of your car and when you are going along and you're going, the process that I'm in right now is taking far too long, way longer than I thought. He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion. Amen. When your character development, when who you are as a Christian has not come up to where it needs to be yet and you begin to even doubt in yourself, am I able to follow Jesus?
[11:10] I want to tell you, he who began a good work in you is going to be faithful to bring it to completion. Whatever your circumstances are, if God started with you, God will finish with you. And the other thing is, this is not just you alone. This verse, we can go back to it for a second. He who began a good work in you will see it through to completion. The you, there's somewhere around there, sorry, I'm messing with you too much. The you, he who began a good work in you, that's you plural, y'all. He who began a good work in y'all is going to bring it to completion. So if you're having trouble with completion, you might want to think about connection because that's how Paul saw it.
[12:03] And the other thing is that sometimes we get a little too focused on this life. We do. Now in the past, Christianity maybe made an error and it's basically said, this life doesn't matter. All we're talking about is heaven or hell and that's it. Those are realities. But then we came along and said, hey, by the way though, God promises, Jesus promises, abundant life now. And that's great. But what if your process to abundant life is taking a long time? Or what if your course is really not leading to as nice of a circumstance in this life as someone else's? Well, we got to remember that the God who's going to bring everything to completion, it happens at the day of Jesus Christ.
[12:50] We have to have our focus on the end-to-end goal. The end goal isn't how well did I do by the time I'm 70. It is, did I get to heaven? And so even if your path is tough, listen, it's going to be worth it. Listen, the final goal is heaven. Don't be discouraged. He who began a good work in you is going to take it through to completion. Now, if we pick it up in verse seven, Paul says this. It's right for me to feel this way about you with that joy that he had, remembering them, being so grateful for them, the partnership. It's right for me to feel this way about all of you since I have you in my heart. And whether I'm in chains or I'm defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God's grace with me.
[13:39] God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Jesus Christ. Paul says, I have you in my heart. Isn't that beautiful? That is what it looks like when we shepherd one another. You know, I'm so excited about our small groups that are starting right now. You know, we have eight small groups. Arnall was talking about the youth small group that's starting up next week, alpha small group, fantastic material. It's going to change your lives, teens. And it's something you invite friends to that know very little about God or nothing. So please take advantage of that. But as we're doing these small groups and arranging you into these groups, you know, 75% of you are going to be in groups.
[14:32] That's amazing. And there's still room for those that haven't chosen to be in one or we haven't been able to get ahold of you or anything. We'll talk to you after service and help you get into one of these groups because this is how you get people into your hearts. And this is how we take care of one another because we connect and we share and we pray for each other. We share about what the Holy Spirit's been talking to us about in the couple of weeks before and we build one another up in this way. And this is one of the reasons that Paul has joy in all circumstances, the second reason, because there's always people and people are his joy. Okay. Let me tell you, there is not always health. But there's always people. There's not always wealth, but there's always people.
[15:21] And when you have people and they've become a priority for you and you're connecting with them, you've got joy. And so Paul, his circumstances stink, but he's got his people and he's writing them a letter. And that is another key to joy in our lives. And Paul doesn't just care that they get saved. He cares about their spiritual development. In verse nine, he says, and this is my prayer, that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.
[16:11] Some of you didn't hear what I said at all because there was a very cute baby exiting. But it just so happens she's part of my illustration. And thank you very much. That's my granddaughter, Sawyer. My wife was carrying her out. Last week I got a chance to be on a beautiful property that my daughter Jessica and her husband Ben are moving into, and it has apple trees on it. And so I'm wandering around with my little, just over one-year-old granddaughter, Sawyer, and we're looking up at these apple trees, and they're just full. There's apples all over the ground. No one's been harvesting them. So I pull down this ripe apple, polish it off, and it is just amazing. And I'm like, biting into it, sharing it with her, and it's so good, like this ripe fruit.
[16:59] But Paul is saying, I want you guys to be filled with the fruit of righteousness, the fruit of righteousness. And in Galatians 5, verse 22, he says, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control, against these things of no law. And so he's saying, there's this fruit of righteousness that comes into our lives when we have a relationship with God that begins to fill us up with good things, one of them being joy. And so the third source of Paul's joy is that he has it down in his heart. It's the Holy Spirit. You're giggling.
[17:44] You are, okay, you know what? I'm going to put you right on the spot. This is Stephanie Forsythe. She is our children's men director. And when I said you've got the joy down in your heart, what song were you thinking of? Where? And I did not line that up, but it was just so perfect. When we have Jesus in our lives, we have joy in our heart. And that doesn't change with circumstances. Some of you enjoy getting spring water. And, you know, you go to that spring, and that spring's always gone.
[18:31] It's always good. Even when they're saying there's a burn ban on that spring, that spring's still gone and the water's still good. And it's the same thing in our lives when we have Jesus Christ in there, his Holy Spirit producing the fruit of righteousness in our lives. And we just need to keep going to him. So, so far we've learned that regardless of circumstances, that people are Paul's joy, that there's a God who's going to bring things to completion, and that we can have joy down in our hearts. But there's more to this joy, the last bit. So, in verse 12, Paul says, now, I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me, AKA being in prison in Rome, what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel.
[19:24] As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord. So, the church in Rome is going, if this guy can testify, I can do it too. If this guy who's in prison can testify, I can do it. They become confident in the Lord, and they dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear. Now, Paul has been in prison in Philippi, he's been in prison in Israel, he's been in prison on a ship, and now he's a prisoner in Rome for two years. And do you know what he thinks about this prison? He thinks it's the best prison he's ever been in. He says, I'm on house arrest, guys.
[20:10] This is great. I'm in Rome on house arrest. Like, oh, I watched a movie the other day, Soldomio, you know, and I'm like, yes. So, he's Soldomio in Rome, and he's on house arrest. His friends, the other church members are freely coming and going. And you know who's the captive? The only captive in that situation is Paul's guards. He's got the palace guard in the Greek, it says the Praetoria, the Praetorian guards, okay? So, if you wanted to be a big deal in the Roman military back then, you wanted to be the palace guard, Caesar's own bodyguards. And they've been assigned to Paul, and they are his captives. Because all day long, this guy's talking about Jesus.
[20:57] And one of the coolest things about the Bible is that although it describes things, miracles that we don't commonly see, it is definitely not mythology. It is set right in history. Paul would have been there in AD 60 to 61. At that time, the head of the Praetorian guard was a guy named Sextus Afrianus Burris. Don't name your kids after any of those. Sextus Afrianus Burris. This was one of the main two advisors to the emperor. And the emperor was a guy who would later go crazy, named Nero Caesar. He would later be the one that issued the order to execute Paul and Peter. But there was a time before that when he had two good advisors that kept this guy that was tended to be a megalomaniac in Czech.
[21:49] And one of them was Sextus Afrianus Burris, the head of the Praetorian guard. I wonder if Paul got a chance to preach to Sextus and thereby was influencing the emperor. I don't know. But I do know that it says, in chapter four of Philippians, that Paul says even members of Caesar's household are coming to Christ. And so if it wasn't Sextus coming to Christ, it was other people. No, no. What Paul had found in his house arrest was a pulpit at the center of the world. And he was pumped about it. He had joy about it because his fourth reason for joy was that his life is advancing the gospel.
[22:39] And this is a radical perspective change for each of us. His measure of success, his source of satisfaction is not his comfort or even his freedom. It is not getting ahead in life. It is simply whether his life is advancing the gospel. It's not getting ahead in life. It's simply that his life is advancing the gospel. And when his life is advancing the gospel, he is excited. One of the commentators on this, if we can go back to the previous slide, said that Paul actually uses a play on words because he had said that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel.
[23:26] And here's about the play on words because it's the word advance. This commentator says, we would expect to hear Paul saying that what had happened to him, his imprisonment was a proscope, a hindrance. But Paul surprises us by saying that imprisonment was a pro-cope, an advance. See, he just dropped the S. It's a little play on words that you could do in that language. It's not a hindrance, it's an advantage. I want you to think right now of the hindrances in your lives and ask yourself, how could God change that hindrance into an advantage for sharing the gospel? And what would it look like if sharing the gospel in my life was my biggest objective and not getting ahead in my life?
[24:16] How could I be like Paul in this situation? Now the thing is, Paul's in prison. It's a beautiful prison. House arrest in Rome. But there is one thing that's a real disadvantage to him. He can't go visit the churches anymore. And so guess what happens in a church when there's a leadership vacuum? People try to fill it. And so there were people that were ambitious, had the wrong motives, and they were trying to come in and swoop into the space created where there was no Paul jumping in and meeting all the churches and going back to them because he was in prison. And this is what he said about this. He said in verse 15, you know, it's true. It's true, guys. Something bad's happening.
[25:02] It's true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The later do it, do so out of love, knowing that I'm put here for the defense of the gospel. So there's some good people filling the voids. But the former, the other bunch, they preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I'm in change. 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 rejoice. The second time he talks about joy. Let me tell you something, church. There will always be people playing politics in the church.
[25:49] There will be people trying to get attention. There will be leaders trying to become important. There will be people trying to become popular. And by the way, I would say that we're at a very low level of that here at this fellowship. And I praise God for that. But we're not perfect. And if you think we're perfect, give us a little time. But I got to tell you, Paul's saying don't ever let church politics steal your joy. For that matter, don't let any politics steal your joy. But you might be like, well, so-and-so was rude to me. Paul says, so what does it matter? Well, I didn't get to sing the song I wanted to. Well, what does that matter? I was wronged.
[26:34] Well, I mean, I'm sorry, but what does that matter? And because for Paul, he's kind of doing this thing where you go on the one hand, on the other hand. Because on the one hand, it does matter to Paul. If you read one of his other letters to 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians, because the first one wasn't enough, he writes a letter of correction to the church. Guys, this matters. You guys got to stop messing up. You guys got to get with it. You got to grow up spiritually. You got to stop with the dissensions. So on the one hand, it does matter. Okay, so when stuff happens to you in church and it's not good, it does on the one hand matter. Don't just sweep it under the rug. It's got to be dealt with. But it doesn't matter on the same level as advancing the gospel. When that's the number one thing, the other things take on secondary significance.
[27:23] And so Paul is able to say, you know what? Yeah, there's some people that are trying to use this to get ahead. But you know what? Some people are genuinely responding to Jesus from these people with disingenuous motives. And so I'm going to give God praise because He's still working. And so let's review. How do you have joy in all circumstances? The first is rejoice that God will bring everything to completion, everything. The second is rejoice in people. Rejoice in their salvation, growth and friendship. The third is get the joy down in your heart. You know, if you haven't accepted Jesus yet as your personal Lord and Savior, you are missing the number one source of joy in this world. You're missing the Holy Spirit of God living in you and transforming who you are.
[28:14] And you know, you can have that today. In fact, at the close of the service, we're going to give you an opportunity to say a prayer of imitation to invite Jesus into your life and give your life to Him. I want you to start thinking about that. That's the third thing. And the fourth thing is make advancing the gospel your true joy. And never let church politics steal it. You see, God is always going to be there bringing everything to completion. There is always people to rejoice in. There is always joy, spiritual joy available in our heart. And there is always a chance to advance the gospel in your situation. No situation can take those four away from you, not one. And so we're invited today to choose joy. Now, this whole time, I've been talking about choosing joy.
[29:00] There's a few of you that I'm missing the whole time. I'm not quite connecting with you. Let me explain it this way. It's like a game of cards. There's the cards you're dealt. And then there's the way you play the cards. Okay? So some of us were dealt a lot of joy. Okay? It's this baby that comes out and they're just like, And then there's the other baby that comes out and they're like, You've met these children. And some come out with a lot of joy, and some come out with not a lot of joy. It's not an even start. It really isn't. And so if you're one of these people that is a little bit less joy-filled, maybe on the more realistic side, it's actually called pessimism.
[29:45] It's been explained to me by someone. But if you're a little more realistic, pessimistic, it's a lot harder for you to have joy. And so this could be a really irritating sermon. In fact, the entire series could drive you crazy. Because you go, I wasn't dealt the same amount of joy as other people. My disposition is different. And so you're saying, Yeah, you can choose joy. But have you ever played a game of cards and your hand just stinks? Like you got a hand like a foot. Right? And it doesn't matter how smart you are playing this. You don't have the cards. I like playing card games like Rummy. And there's other card games where you can actually see what's in people's hands.
[30:33] They lay it down on the table. And you're trying to make sets and stuff like that. So guess what? In those games, it's not just the cards you were dealt. And it's not just the way you play the cards. It's who's sitting on your right-hand side. There is nothing better than having a person on your right-hand side that's new and doesn't have a clue how to play the game. They keep just giving you the good cards, you know? One of the worst things can be having your spouse on the right-hand side. They do not want you to win. And they may withhold them, not my spouse, but, you know, in general, general observation. And they don't want you to win, right? And so they're withholding that card. But what if it's your mom on the right-hand side? And she's like, oh, would that help?
[31:22] Because it's not just the cards that we've been dealt in life. And it's not just choosing joy. It's that God is at our right hand. He who began to work in you is faithful to complete it. And he is feeding you joy. He is feeding you the cards you were never dealt. And he's going to take that foot and make it into a hand after all. And so that's the God we have. And I saw it no more vividly portrayed than a month ago when I got to go out and visit one of our church members. And I asked if I could share the story with you guys. And she said, okay, I'm like the worship team up. Some of you know Kathy Broeker and her brother Don Broeker and his wife, Bev.
[32:07] And in fact, they're two of our small group leaders. But Kathy was diagnosed with terminal cancer back at, boy, about in the fall. And she's been going through it. But I went out to visit her and I was so surprised by how much joy she had. Now, one of the reasons she had joy is that she got some really good care from hospice and some people, healthcare professionals, that really cared about her and were like helping her out. And she had a better medication and she could deal with things. But the other thing was is that she really has decided on a joy that is not dependent on circumstances. And I was so vivid in the story she shared.
[32:52] She said, I want to share something, Pastor, that happened. One of my workers is a Ukrainian. And when she lived in the Ukraine and the missiles and drones were bombing her neighborhood, she prayed to God and said, God, save my house. This is my lifetime house with my husband. Save our house. And her house was destroyed. Her whole neighborhood was obliterated. But they came over to Canada and she happens to be Kathy Brooker's healthcare worker. And she shares this story with Kathy and says, yeah, I lost my faith because God didn't answer my prayer. And Kathy just said, sometimes God answers our prayer in a different way than what we thought.
[33:41] And that lady went home and the next time she came, she said, Kathy, you're right. I have a house. I have a job. And I found my faith again.