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November 09, 2003 |
"Philippians"
Knowing Him, Knowing Joy |
Pastor Brian Shimer
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"Living Like a Citizen"
Philippians 1: 27-30
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In the book of Philippians thus far, we have seen how Paul is
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what I termed an eagle Christian. An eagle Christian is someone who spreads his wings and soars in the face of difficulties or storms.
Two weeks back we put into practice the prayer Paul was praying for the Philippian believers by praying it for one another.
Last week we discussed his view on his own life when he said:
"FOR ME TO LIVE IS CHRIST TO DIE IS GAIN."
Jesus was Paul's reason for living and his resource for living.
In this first chapter Paul has focused primarily on himself -- who he is, how he prays for the recipients of the letter, and what his situation is, and now turns to focus upon them. "SINCE THIS IS HOW I LIVE," PAUL BASICALLY SAYS, "THIS IS HOW YOU OUGHT TO LIVE TOO."
In the New Living Translation v 27 reads like this: "Live in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ, as citizens of heaven."
You have the New International version in the pews where you read: "Whatever happens conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ."
Paul used a specific term for conduct here, which applies to the conduct of a citizen in a political realm. For example: Philippi was a Roman colony. If you had lived there, you would have been expected to speak the language of Rome (Latin), to wear the clothing popular in Rome (togas), and address the magistrates of your city with their Roman titles, among other various customs. To be in any Roman colony, then, was to be in a miniature Rome.
They would have been familiar with this term being applied to their Roman citizenship as expressed in Philippi, so Paul just extended its use so they can think about their heavenly citizenship as it is expressed on earth.
Paul is beginning to answer this question: How do citizens of God's city live?
A. Paul says to live with integrity. Whether with them or not, Paul tells them, they are to live lives "worthy of the gospel."
"Why don't you come to church?" I ask people. You know what they often say? I don't like what those people did… and they name some situation. Or they say, "They are just a bunch of hypocrites." Now I know, they cannot avoid that same title in their own lives.
But there is an expectation that a Christian ought to live differently because of faith. And that expectation is correct. To make the statement once seen on bumper stickers: "I am not perfect, just forgiven," is not to be an excuse for a lack of integrity between beliefs and actions. Jesus makes me different in my heart and therefore affects how I live my life.
How is my manner of life affected by Jesus? Or to say it another way: How does my life reflect the fact that I have been changed by believing good news?
My dear friend Russ recently began working with Jesus to bring life to a dying congregation in another town. The congregation had dwindled to about 20 people. The pastor had abandoned them. They had conflict and sin in the ranks. They were hurting. He has been preaching there on an interim basis for three months.
The pianist never had a happy note to share either musically nor in conversation. She was a bitter and resentful woman. Her life lacked integrity. She said she believed the Good News but there was no manifestation of that news in how she lived her life.
How is your belief seen in your actions? Or heard in your words? That is the most significant question for any of us.
I have been in contact with friends over the years, who are living secret lives and cannot live with themselves. What they do in secret, in darkness contrasts too dramatically with what they say they believe in the light.
Who am I when no one is looking? Hopefully the same person I am when in public. There ought to be no difference. Sundays are not a day to dress up and fake it. But a day for us to be real people who love Jesus coming together to worship, be strengthened and go forth the same real people, loving Jesus all the more out there. There are too many stories of families who looked perfect on Sunday but experienced heartache the rest of the week. For whom faith was just religious practice not the change of hearts and lives.
Wise is the man, Jesus said, who built his house upon the ROCK -- this is the man who puts into practice the things Jesus spoke! Such a person is a person of integrity.
B. Secondly, Paul says live with vigor -- like an athlete, like a warrior. He wants to hear that the Philippians are "standing firm in one spirit" as the NIV says.
1. Stand up for a moment would you? Link Arms. You are facing the same direction (almost!). You are linked one to another. This is a picture of unity. Eyes on Jesus. Shoulder to shoulder. For Christ but with one another. (you may be seated).
Paul says the "good defense" for the Philippians is to be standing, not sitting or reclining. For when one is standing, there is more of a readiness for action. In "Tae Kwan Do" defense routines begin from a standing position. They are ready. Paul says the Philippians are not just standing, but standing in ONE spirit. This is readiness and unity from the depths of a person's being.
The troubled church Russ went to lead had sat down. The people were spiritually facing different directions. Gone was any spiritual unity in Jesus. They were divided. Many had left. Some had stayed but were bitter toward their former pastor. Some were angry with other members. Some were angry with God. None were linked together in spiritual unity.
This precious pianist had been a member of that church since its inception and was the most vocal and perhaps the most bitter person there. She began to email Russ now and again. She knew that Russ was doing an assessment of the church. He was asking of what sin the church needed to repent.
She wrote: "I or the church had absolutely NOTHING to do with what happened!"
She wanted Russ to know that it was the former pastor's fault entirely. He was the reason the church was failing. If she had to accept that she and those who stayed were at all to blame for what happened, then there would be no restoration for her. But she wrote Russ and said, "Please explain more fully, and give me Bible references."
So, Russ did. He first told her the whole hurtful story of what he had gone through where he had once pastored. He honestly told her how he too has sinned in lack of trust, in fears and is repentant.
Then, Russ spelled out the sins he saw in the church beyond what the previous pastor had done or left undone. He listed bitterness, unkindness, anger, pride, harboring a refusal to forgive, keeping track of another's wrongs, self-seeking, secretly delighting in another person's demise, and with each quoted the Biblical reference, saying: "You see, another person's sin, never excuses our own -- and even if we say we are without sin, we are calling God a liar, for He clearly says we are (1 John 1:8, 10)!
Russ wrote: "So you see, it is never just about the other person. It is about the whole. And besides, where was the church in all of this? Why was there no attempt at reconciliation, no brokenness over broken relationships, no calling out to God in corporate prayer meetings over these failures? The Lord calls us to right relationship, to community, to grace… He has entrusted us with the ministry of reconciliation and we are failing at this task… is there no brokenness over the fact that we have failed him in this (see 2 Cor 5:18-19)?
2. Paul wrote, "You need to stay ONE spiritually" to have a good defense, and also you need that same unity in your soul, the seat of our will, mind and emotions in order to have a good offense as you contend for the faith of the Gospel!
In the word "contend" Paul uses the term here for a Grecian group-wrestling event. The olive-oiled bodies of one team would line up and face off with another team. I was talking with Karen about this verse and she compared this to our modern football games without a ball!
We are standing, one spiritually, and use our minds to contend for the faith of the Gospel. We are not against each other. We are on the same team!
Russ is contending for the faith with his congregation, and seeking to get the people onto the same team spiritually and then in their thinking.
We don't contend for the faith alone, but in community. My need is for you to be praying for me, and your need is my prayers for you. I need you to say: "How is it with your soul?" "How are you growing in Jesus?" And you need me to say the same to you.
We contend for the faith inside our heads. We have faithless thoughts. I came across a verse in Psalms 18:37 that reads, "I chased my enemies and caught them. I did not stop until they were conquered." This time I realized that I even have mental enemies, patterns of thought against which I need to daily contend for the faith. As Paul had a guard chained to his wrist daily and so do we at times have thoughts and attitudes chained to our lives that hinder our growth.
We contend or "strive together" as we seek to bring the good news we have experienced into the lives of others around us. This may be by way of sharing the gospel for the first time, or by helping someone reapplying the truth of it to their lives. Yesterday we received a phone call from a friend in a battle and Karen was there to hear his story and assist him in contending for the faith.
This is what Russ is seeking to do in that town.
His email arrived and this pianist read it and began to weep. God pierced her heart. She wrote: "I read and re-read your letter, looking up most of the verses. I didn't realize what a sinner I was, even AFTER I thought I was over the hurt which I can see I'm not."
Now she is a completely different person. She doesn't play the piano much better, yet, but she is trying! She is able to pray again. She is able to laugh. She is able to rejoice again. She is excited about going to church again and about the things of the Lord. She cries when she is there, and her tears are tears of joy.
3. Russ has had to apply Paul's third aspect of the vigorous life to his life in this journey. Paul says they must be fearless in the face of tough odds.
A good attitude will see us through. If we have faith in and through the difficulty it will testify even to those who don't believe. Don't believe what your opponents taunt. Instead believe God and walk in truth. So Russ has had to just "tell the truth," not coddle this woman, and trust God!
C. Finally, Paul also says live with Hope!
He encourages his first readers that since he is going through suffering, to have confidence when they face the same. Suffering is a gift of God's grace, Paul says. It is a privilege! Faith is what produces the spiritual life in us, but suffering produces spiritual muscles.
I can hear James in Paul's statement: "Count it all joy my brothers whenever you encounter various trials."
So Live with integrity, with vigor, with hope and thus be living as a citizen in God's kingdom.
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