Redefining Success
Success is a term that resonates with everyone. One doesn’t have to look far to find a book, article, podcast, or YouTube channel dedicated to helping people succeed in any given pursuit.
If we are honest, we all want to be successful. I don’t think anyone blames us either. We all want to look back on our lives and see that this whole thing was worth it. Our definitions of success may differ from one another. It could be money, a career, popularity, or having the perfect family. Regardless of what it is, all of us have these material, temporary things in our lives that we feel successful if we were to have them, and feel like we are a failure if we fail to obtain them.
Recently, my church did a sermon series through the book of Philippians. Most scholars believe that Paul wrote the letter from prison. Roman prisons were not known as being luxurious places. They were places of exploitation and disease. Prisoners were often treated as less than human.
Yet, within the pages of Philippians, the topic of joy shows up more than in any other book in the Bible. The word “Joy” is seen twenty times throughout the 104 verses. That seems ironic when you consider the letter’s author is sitting in a jail cell probably fending off rats. Paul is not helming the pulpit of a megachurch. He’s not signing book deals with Zondervan or Tyndale. He’s not traveling around the world preaching to stadiums of people. Paul is in prison.
However, despite everything that is happening in Paul’s life at the moment, his joy is not shaken. He says this:
“I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Phil. 1:18-21 ESV)
Paul is utterly convinced that this circumstance will turn out for his deliverance. He is not talking about “deliverance” from the perspective of a cheap prosperity gospel that promises material possessions and temporary blessings. His definition of deliverance is found in his goal to honor Christ wherever he is, whether he lives or dies.
For Paul, his definition of success wasn’t making a giant empire of churches. It wasn’t in being the number one booked conference speaker, having everyone’s respect, or having a ton of cash. His idea of success was centered on walking with Jesus and making the name of Jesus known. If his life’s circumstances made Jesus known to those around him, then he was successful.
Paul’s idea of success was building Christ’s kingdom - not his own.
Jesus once spoke about life like this. He said, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in an steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21)
In this text, Jesus says that what you invest in is where you will find your heart and your definition of success.
Friends, how do you determine if your life is successful? Is it in being seen as unique or in a perfectly sculpted persona? Is it in collecting wealth? Is it in gaining others’ respect? Often we are so obsessed with these human measurements of temporary success, that we are surprised when they leave us wanting and longing for more.
The reality is if you define your life as successful or not successful based on human standards of success, expect human levels of disappointment if you don’t reach them or they aren’t enough. In order to find true joy we must define success as Paul did in that Roman prison cell: our success is found in building Christ’s kingdom - not our own.
