Unstoppable Joy - Part

Bryan Chapell: What I'm going through with my family, what I'm going through with my job, what I'm going through as a nation, this is so hard! But I trust you because I believe in the hand of providence, that there is a God who is working all things, even the awful, horrible, evil things. They are somehow not beyond the hand and the artistry of God to accomplish gospel purposes, so even the Apostle Paul could say, "I want you to know what has happened to me."
Guest (Male): So glad you joined us for today's Unlimited Grace, the audio broadcast ministry of pastor and author Bryan Chapell. In today's episode, Pastor Bryan shares a lesson from Paul's letter in the book of Philippians, chapter one. While in prison, Paul declares that what has happened is to advance the gospel, as God is working to accomplish His purposes with power beyond our discernment. You can find this lesson and many others when you visit unlimitedgrace.com. And while you're there, look for the children's book Anyway and Always, written by Pastor Bryan and his wife, Kathy. Through this book, the Chapells present the promise of the covenant's fulfillment by Christ in a personal and meaningful way for young children to understand. Let's hear now from Dr. Bryan Chapell as he shares the lesson on unstoppable joy.
Bryan Chapell: If your God is so good, then why are you in this prison camp? The question asked from a North Korean guard to my former student, Kenneth Bae, who had made the mistake as he led a tour of Christians into North Korea, leaving on his computer messages indicating that he was hoping to help people pray for the people of North Korea. When he left his hotel room and the government searched the room and scanned the computer, they came across those email and text notices, and as a result, convicted him of sedition, of seeking to undermine the North Korean government by having Christians pray for brothers and sisters in North Korea. He was sentenced to hard labor for 15 years and became the longest-held American in a North Korean prison. And it was in that prison camp under hard labor that the guard asked Kenneth, "If your God is so good, why are you in this prison camp?" Kenneth responded, "If my God were not good, I would not be here to tell you about Him." Can it really work that way? Can it really work that beyond the hardship, beyond the difficulties that come into our lives, that God is still working in such a way that the gospel is intended to advance? That even God's people experiencing difficulty, hardship, and tears are nonetheless the witnesses of a God who is faithful? Kenneth Bae later wrote in the book Not Forgotten his purpose for telling people what happened to him in that prison camp. He wrote these words: "The one thing I want people to take away from reading this book is God's faithfulness." Is that possible? It's of course exactly the thing that's happening to the Apostle Paul in this letter to the Philippians. He says, "I am in prison, but I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really happened to advance the gospel." That beyond the hardship, beyond the tears, beyond the things that don't make sense, beyond the things that are truly evil, God is not confused. God is not lost but is working to accomplish His purposes with power beyond our discernment. That working of God sometimes we talk about as God's providence, which is an old-fashioned word that sounds like something an Amish father would name one of his daughters, right? There's Conscience and Prudence and Providence. But it's a word that believers through the ages have clung to, to say we believe that God is working beyond the trial that we can see for the purposes that He will accomplish eternally. Our Reformation forefathers said it this way: "God's works of providence are His most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing of all His creatures and all their actions." God's works of providence are His most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing of all His creatures and all their actions. This is more than just saying God knows what's happening in the world. It is precious to know that not a sparrow falls to the ground except that He knows it. But beyond that is the message of providence, that God is holy, wise, and powerful in preserving and governing all His creatures and all their actions. So that this same Apostle Paul could write in Romans 8:28, "Now all things are working together for good to them that love God and are called according to His purpose." I'm so glad that he did not write "all things are good." No, it is a fallen world with true evil and sadness and tears. But the message of God's providence is that those things in the mystery of the Godhead are still being worked for a greater purpose than that which is evil, intense, or ever could fathom. That we as believers somehow profoundly profess over and over again the hard things in our lives are like broken glass on the battered beaches of our lives that God assembles into stained glass art to reveal the gospel that we need. And the mystery, the absolute majesty of faith is to believe that the broken glass as well as the storms that batter are not beyond the artistry of God. That He is at work so that an apostle can say, "I'm in prison," verse 12, "but I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel." It is the old, old story that what we see and perceive that is really and truly evil, it is wrong, nonetheless is used by God to accomplish purposes beyond what humans could ever even imagine. So that Joseph, remember, sold by his brothers into slavery, falsely accused, imprisoned, could nonetheless by those circumstances rise to a place of authority in Egypt, so that ultimately when there was famine back in Israel, what would happen was his family would come to Egypt. And it would become the incubator of the nation of Israel out of which a savior would come. But do you remember when the brothers of Joseph who had sold him into slavery recognized they had been discovered, they thought that Joseph would kill them now? Instead, he said, "You meant it for evil, God meant it for good to save many people." You are here today because Joseph was sold into slavery, betrayed by his brothers, falsely accused and imprisoned, so that God could have him in the place for God to work and to save many people. It's most profoundly perhaps evident in Jesus Christ himself. Betrayed by his brothers, falsely accused, imprisoned, put on trial before Pilate. Pilate is going to condemn him to die on a cross, and Jesus speaks directly to Pilate and says, "You could do nothing to me had you not been given authority by my Father in heaven." God's works of providence are His most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing of all His creatures and all their actions. The evil thinks it has succeeded, the evil thinks it has its day. We sometimes think if my life is this hard, if I'm going through this crisis, God must be gone. But the heart of faith is still saying, "No, my God is present and by my testimony even in hard things, terrible things, awful things, the things that are wrong, God is nonetheless working all together for a good through those that love Him." When I believe that, I have explanation for a world that I can't otherwise explain. I think of the Christians who would have come before this same set of Roman emperors that are holding Paul now, after this Caesar there will be one who is named Nero. And Nero will be so upset with the believers, remember that he will begin to persecute them, he will begin to imprison them, he will begin to put them in the Colosseum to be torn apart by the lions and the gladiators. John is sent to Patmos where he writes Revelation, and out of all that cruelty God actually begins to disperse the Christians across the lands so that the message of the gospel goes far, further, and faster than they ever would have done had they just been left on their own. They are sent out, and by the second century, Tertullian begins to plead with the Roman emperor saying, "Justice of Rome requires justice even for the Christians." And he begins to plead for Roman justice to extend even to those who call themselves after the name of Christ. But even Tertullian wrote, "But what has happened is that the blood of the martyrs has become the seed of the church." That God is planting further, wider, faster than we ever would have thought possible. It's almost as though the enemies of God have stubbed their toes on the ear of corn of the gospel in a field and have said, "I know how to get rid of this ear of corn, let's bury it." And instead, what begins to happen is the seed prospers and spreads. And it is not just a story of an ancient time. I think of the story of our time. So many of you who are of a certain generation, I know grieve as you see the pressure and the marginalization of Christianity in this culture. But as a consequence of what the Lord has done here, as He has used the resources of this people to reach further peoples, do you recognize the center of Christianity has moved from the West to the Global South? So that faster than we ever could have thought possible by just individual missionaries that we would be sending out, now the most Christians in the world are in Africa and Asia and South America. And God is just multiplying the kingdom. And it's not just in past decades, it is happening right now.
Guest (Male): You're listening to Unlimited Grace, the audio broadcast ministry of pastor and author Bryan Chapell. If you've missed anything that you'd like to hear once again, just visit unlimitedgrace.com. And when you do so, you can sign up for Pastor Bryan's daily devotional sent right to your inbox. Raising children to love the Lord can sometimes feel like a daunting task. The physical, mental, and emotional energy needed to engage with a child can also lead to feelings of inadequacy and doubt for parents. How then can you effectively talk with children about Jesus or demonstrate to them His love? Written by Pastor Bryan and his wife Kathy, Anyway and Always is a heartwarming children's book designed to help explain the love of Christ to a child. The Chapells present the promise of the covenant's fulfillment by Christ in a personal and meaningful way for young children to understand. Page after page of beautiful illustrations compliment Bryan and Kathy's captivating storytelling. Whether you read this as a bedtime story or share it around the family dinner table, this book is sure to become a favorite of children and parents alike. You can request your copy of Anyway and Always when you go online to unlimitedgrace.com or by calling 844-41-GRACE. That's 844-414-7223. And now more from Bryan Chapell on today's Unlimited Grace.
Bryan Chapell: So often we in a Christian culture think about ISIS and Al-Qaeda launching efforts against Christians and virtually eradicating Christianity from the Middle East. But we forget that far more Muslims have been killed by ISIS and Al-Qaeda, which are Sunni oriented, and they so much take their rage against Shia Muslims that often it's the Shias who receive far more terror than even the Christians do. So this grisly video that has details we can't even talk about in a church setting shows one after another Muslims being hung up on meat hooks and slaughtered like farm animals. And we say, "How could this possibly be good?" It is not, it is evil, it is wrong, it is awful. But what has been the consequence? The greatest dispersion of peoples in the history of the world as we know of is happening in our lifetime. And where nations are not simply overwhelmed by fear or bigotry and are taking refugees in, the Christian church has had opportunities such as it has never had among the Muslim world. Already the West so much has been reached, now Africa, now Asia, now South America. And suddenly the Muslim world becomes the next great opportunity for the gospel because the Muslims are being dispersed across the world. Listen to this, just this last week from Christianity Today: In Germany, more than 2,000 recorded converts in the last 18 months in Bible-believing churches. In Switzerland, their 20 minutes news program has reported through the center for integration and religious affairs similar numbers of Afghans and Kurds coming to faith in Jesus Christ and being baptized in Bible-believing churches. They would have been murdered for that in their own countries and now able to believe, they see an Islam that is violent in orientation, murderous in intent, and are saying we believe there has to be something else. And the opportunities for the gospel are amazing. I've told you before of Christian ministries working in the refugee camps of Lebanon who now have opportunities with hundreds of thousands of Muslims to explain the ministry of Jesus Christ. But even I was not prepared for the news report that came out this past week from the Southern Baptist Convention's news service that reported these figures: 80% of the conversions of Muslims to Christ in the history of the world, 80% of the conversion of Muslims to Christ in the history of the world have happened since 9/11. With the cataclysmic world events so tragic and so horrible, 80% of the conversions of Muslims to Jesus Christ have happened since that moment. Some of you know the name of Nik Ripken who, in The Insanity of God book, was put into a movie that was here in town just a week or two ago. And in that book, The Insanity of God, he writes this: prior to 9/11 we were hearing of hundreds of conversions of Muslims to Christianity. But since 9/11, tens of thousands of Muslim conversions. There is a flood of the work of God as God is saying, "My works of providence are my most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing of all my people and all their actions." And when you see someone like the Apostle Paul who is in prison experiencing the awfulness of the assaults upon body and spirit, you begin to recognize that what God is calling him and us to do is to be those people who will say, "God, this is so hard, but I trust you." What I'm going through with my family, what I'm going through with my job, what I'm going through as a nation, this is so hard! But I trust you because then the works of providence begin to work in such a way that it actually increases people's boldness for the gospel. Did you catch that in verse 14? "And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear." One of the reasons they're bold is even they begin to see the works of providence. What the palace guard believes now? There are saints in the household of Caesar? God's doing something! But the other thing that's happening is that boldness begets boldness. When you see people standing for the Lord against all odds against the horrors of the world, when you see that you say there's something real in what they believe. This Christianity thing is not just about appearance and prosperity and getting along, I mean there's something real. These people are willing to sacrifice everything, risk everything to stand for their Lord despite horror in their lives. There must be something concrete and real to this gospel. And so people become more committed, more bold to it. I think of it in my own life. You know, just a few days I will be in Belfast, Northern Ireland. I've been there before. Some of you may remember the great tensions during what they called the troubles, when Protestants and Roman Catholics murdered each other because of politics that paraded as religion. Being there just a couple of years ago, I was with a young pastor whose ministering in a part of Belfast where it's an older church, just a few older people left. And I began to walk with this young pastor who's taken his family into a very troubled neighborhood and walked with him on a Sunday morning as he began to collect his congregation. Going to a set of apartments and knocking on a door and I'm a little scared because there's graffiti from militant gangs that are on the wall of the apartment building. And he knocks on the door and as a woman greets him in her bedclothes he says, "Mary, church is in 30 minutes. You need to get the kids, you need to come." And then we're driving along and he sees another young woman with her kids in a stroller. "Elizabeth, 20 minutes, need to be done with your walk so you can come to church." And then as we're driving by what is their equivalent of a 7-Eleven, he sees one of the attenders of his church go inside and he knows what's going to go on. So he pulls up into the 7-Eleven, he goes to the liquor aisle and he says, "Betty, this is not the answer. Church is in ten minutes. You need to be there." And I think this is a bold man. And I think of how easy my life is and how much more willing I'm to be bold because I see people living in boldness for the sake of the gospel. It's what we recognize Paul says when you believe in the providence of God, it not only advances the gospel, it's giving boldness to His people.
Guest (Male): That's Pastor Bryan Chapell and you've been listening to Unlimited Grace. If you've missed anything that you'd like to hear once again, just visit unlimitedgrace.com. And when you do so, you can sign up for Pastor Bryan's daily devotional sent right to your inbox. Please be sure to join us next time as once again we endeavor to put Christ at the center of our efforts so that lives might be transformed by His unlimited grace. This ministry is brought to you by Unlimited Grace Media and continues to be made possible with your generous financial support.