April 25 – Philippians 1:27-30
“Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved—and that by God. For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him, since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.”
Each of us takes pride in our surroundings. We have civic pride which shows up in any manner of ways, we have pride in our home football teams, we make fun of states surrounding us to lift up how much we love where we live, we call ourselves Americans and fly a flag that inspires us to feel patriotic. The people of Philippi were proud to be Roman citizens.
As much as they were proud of their affiliation with Rome, Paul reminds them that they are to act as if they are citizens of heaven. The words (In the NIV translation) ‘conduct yourselves’ are translated from the Greek word ‘politeuomai’ which implied a higher calling of citizenship. (Our word political comes from the Greek word ‘polis’ which means city or city-state and from which this word is created.)
Paul knows how highly the Philippians regard their citizenship with Rome and calls them to offer that much honor in their actions regarding the heavenly kingdom whether or not he can be with them to continue encouraging them.
When he asks them to ‘contend as one man for the faith of the gospel,’ he is asking them to join together like an athletic team to strive together to achieve a common goal. I guess it isn’t difficult to put this image into our minds. When teams work together, they aren’t afraid of walking onto an opponent’s field (or court) and engaging them to win. How many times have coaches and teams worked to ‘psych out’ the opposing team, taunting them with threats of destruction.
We can take the field knowing that in this case, God will save us and in the end will destroy those who oppose His will.
But like any team knows, there will be pain before glory and Paul tells us that it isn’t going to be easy. This is a man sitting in prison. He knows that standing firm for the cause of Christ will bring persecution and pain. We can not expect to have it easy and if we do hope for an easy faith, we will be disappointed. The only thing Paul can guarantee is that we will have struggles as Christians. He has lived them. He knows what he is talking about.
“Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved—and that by God. For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him, since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.”
Each of us takes pride in our surroundings. We have civic pride which shows up in any manner of ways, we have pride in our home football teams, we make fun of states surrounding us to lift up how much we love where we live, we call ourselves Americans and fly a flag that inspires us to feel patriotic. The people of Philippi were proud to be Roman citizens.
As much as they were proud of their affiliation with Rome, Paul reminds them that they are to act as if they are citizens of heaven. The words (In the NIV translation) ‘conduct yourselves’ are translated from the Greek word ‘politeuomai’ which implied a higher calling of citizenship. (Our word political comes from the Greek word ‘polis’ which means city or city-state and from which this word is created.)
Paul knows how highly the Philippians regard their citizenship with Rome and calls them to offer that much honor in their actions regarding the heavenly kingdom whether or not he can be with them to continue encouraging them.
When he asks them to ‘contend as one man for the faith of the gospel,’ he is asking them to join together like an athletic team to strive together to achieve a common goal. I guess it isn’t difficult to put this image into our minds. When teams work together, they aren’t afraid of walking onto an opponent’s field (or court) and engaging them to win. How many times have coaches and teams worked to ‘psych out’ the opposing team, taunting them with threats of destruction.
We can take the field knowing that in this case, God will save us and in the end will destroy those who oppose His will.
But like any team knows, there will be pain before glory and Paul tells us that it isn’t going to be easy. This is a man sitting in prison. He knows that standing firm for the cause of Christ will bring persecution and pain. We can not expect to have it easy and if we do hope for an easy faith, we will be disappointed. The only thing Paul can guarantee is that we will have struggles as Christians. He has lived them. He knows what he is talking about.
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