BIG IDEA

Joy with other Christians comes from putting the cause over the conflict.

MESSAGE NOTES:

WHAT: 

Criticism and conflict present challenges to our joy.

It is not an enemy who taunts me— I could bear that. It is not my foes who so arrogantly insult me— I could have hidden from them. Instead, it is you—my equal, my companion and close friend. Psalms 55:12-13 NLT

It’s true that some are preaching out of jealousy and rivalry. But others preach about Christ with pure motives. They preach because they love me, for they know I have been appointed to defend the Good News. Those others do not have pure motives as they preach about Christ. They preach with selfish ambition, not sincerely, intending to make my chains more painful to me. Philippians 1:15-17 NLT

SO WHAT:

Being harshly criticized by others can be a joy-sucker. But harshly criticizing others shows that your joy is already gone. Your joy may have already been sucked up.

Jealousy, rivalry, and selfish ambition are never good motives for criticism.

There’s great joy for someone who can unify in disunity.

NOW WHAT:

If you find yourself overly-critical of others: Ask God to reveal, remove, and replace your joy-sucking motives.

But that doesn’t matter. Whether their motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being preached either way, so I rejoice. And I will continue to rejoice. Philippians 1:18 NLT

3 personal convictions to put the Cause over conflict:

1. Death to division.

If you love and follow Jesus, that’s enough for me to call you my teammate in the cause. I’m not going to care as much about the open-handed things we disagree about.

2. No cheap shots.

Anytime you feel the need for people around you to know something negative about someone else, you’ll be tempted to take cheap shots. Cheap shots ultimately reflect poorly on us because we come out of it looking petty.

3. Look for treasure in the trash.

You can actually turn critics into coaches by looking for anything you can learn from and grow from in the criticism. If they are other followers of Jesus, they may be highlighting an aspect of life in Christ that is real and pertinent and could use our attention.