I remember one summer night when I was about twenty and
living in west Auckland I went out to Piha with a group of friends. It was a
very wild west coast kind of evening.so instead of swimming or surfing we
explored the rocks to the south of the beach. One of the guys who was with us
ran along the rock ledge just above the waterline when a wave… a huge wave…
came and broke over the top of him…. Boom. We thought we’d lost him that he’d
be swept away, gone… But as the water drained away there was our mate hanging
on to the rocks, a bit bruised and battered but alive.
Now being young, we decided that looked like fun and we’d
give it a go. So we found a place just a bit further up the rocks and wedged
ourselves in and let the spray from the waves break over us. Now and again a
big set would come in and threaten to break our grip on the rocks. Looking back
It was kind of dangerous and stupid but it was also exciting and exhilarating,
and one of those male bonding things. We held fast together against the wind
and the waves.
In the passage we had read to us today Paul turns from
sharing his own experience with dealing with suffering and opposition to
encourage the church to live a life worthy of the gospel and stand firm
together in the struggles that they are facing, the same struggles that Paul
had faced at Philippi and was facing now, opposition and persecution. What
reminded me of that night out at Piha is a comment from New Testament scholar
Frank Thielman, he says that Paul is not talking about suffering in general or
standing firm for our own personal agenda but rather he is writing to "encourage
a small group of people who stood as an Island of commitment to the gospel
amidst a raging sea of pagan antagonism." And what Paul says is as encouraging
to us today as it was to his first hearers in Philippi.
Over the winter months we are working our way through Paul’s
letter to the church at Philippi. A letter where he thanks the church for their
support and prayers and encourages them to stand firm in the faith. It a letter
in which Paul uses the word joy sixteen times he encourages the church not only
to stand firm but to rejoice in what Christ has done, is doing and will do for
and through them. That encouragement is not only for his original readers but
for us as we stand firm on our joyous journey following Jesus.
The passage we had read out to us today starts “whatever
happens” and it links us back to what Paul had said previously. He had started
his letter with formal introductions and thanksgiving and prayers for the
church at Philippi, then he had told them about what was happening to him. That
he was in prison in Rome awaiting his case to be heard by the emperor. He does
not know whether he will live or die . He can rejoice however because even
though he is in chains the gospel is unchained and people are hearing of Jesus
Christ, and whatever happens to him his future is certain, it is with Christ.
Now he turns to the church at Philippi and addresses them in their situation.
It is part of Paul’s ministry, he continues to live, so he continues to build
up the church.
Paul starts by telling them whatever happens to me, conduct
yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. This imperative acts as
a subject heading for the rest of the letter. Paul is going to expound ways in
which the church at Philippi can live in that manner. The Greek word that we
translate ‘conduct yourselves’, is only used two times in the New Testament,
here and in Acts 23:1. It has a political context of living as a citizen,
behave like a good citizen, in Acts when Paul uses it is translated Duty, Paul
says he has fulfilled his duty to God. Philippi was a Roman colony, which meant
that its inhabitants were citizens of Rome by right. Just as Dunedin was
designed to be the Edinburgh of the south, Philippi was designed to be a little
bit of Rome on the shores of the Agean. It’s people were to live as citizens of
Rome, keeping the roman law and order and exemplifying Roman culture. In
telling the Church to conduct themselves in a manner worthy of the Gospel, Paul
is telling them they are to live their lives not as a bit of Rome far away from
home, but as citizens of heaven, people of the Kingdom of God, to live out
God’s will on earth as it is in heaven. We’ve got the British and Irish lion’s
tour in New Zealand. The first test was last night, when you see the stadiums
you can tell who are citizens of Britain and Ireland down here to support the
Lion’s they are in red and chanting “Lions, Lions” and you can tell the All Black’s
fan’s because they are dressed in black and chanting ‘Tutiramai nga iwi’ or
Black, black…
But it is not clothing or chanting that is going to
distinguish the church as Citizen’s of the kingdom of God, it is the way in
which they live. Paul goes on to tell the church at Philippi to stand firm in
one spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel. The conduct
that Paul is looking for is their unity and love for one another.
It’s a unity of one spirit, now there are different
interpretations of this, Paul is a bit ambiguous when he says that. It can mean
that the church shares a sense of shared comradery and belonging together, a
very human emotion or understanding of being together. It could also be talking
of being one in the one Spirit, the Holy Spirit. We are united and stand firm
together because we share the same promised Holy Spirit. I think it is not a
matter of either and here, but of both and, We do belong to each other we have
that spirit of comradery because we do share the same Spirit, the Holy Spirit
given to everyone who believes. I might not have much in common with you and
you may not have much in common with me, but what makes us united is that we
have both, all been bought to know God through Jesus Christ and the same Spirit
lives within lives within me. The Irish and welsh and English and Scotts don’t
always get on together, but on the lion’s tour they see each other and
instantly there is a sense of being one as Lion’s supporters.
“with us on the
contrary, you will find unlettered people, tradesmen and old women, who though
unable to express in words the advantages of our teaching, demonstrate by acts
the value of their principles. For they do not rehearse speeches but evidence
kind deeds; when struck they do not strike back when robbed they do not sue, to
those who ask they give, and they love their neighbour as themselves.”
You may have heard that saying ‘Share the gospel, and if you
have to use words’ Well it’s not biblical. In his Introduction Paul had talked
of defending the gospel, then he goes on to talk of the gospel being proclaimed
in his personal circumstances and now he talks of a life that is worthy of the
gospel. Proclamation and living out go hand in hand together and are how all of
us strive for the faith of the gospel. The gospel is a beautiful song, with
profound life giving lyrics and what makes it catchy is the music that goes along
with it, which is our lives lived worthy of the gospel. It’s best performed by
all of in playing in unison and being in harmony.
Paul goes on to say
we are to do this striving without being frightened of those who oppose us. In
fact this is a sign that they will be destroyed but that you will be saved.
Paul had already given the church a look at his own attitude to suffering. Yes
he was in chains he was at the emperors mercy
but he didn’t let that rob him of his courage or his joy. Paul was
seeing one of the elite units in the roman army become aware of the gospel. The
gospel was permeating Roman culture and power. They respond to opposition with
kindness and exemplary behaviour. There are good examples of this in history…
I’ve mentioned it a few times but when the berlin wall came down, massive
prayer meeting had had a major part in it and one East German official had said
‘they were ready for riots and revolution, violence and uprising, but they were
not ready for prayers and candles.’ The civil rites movement in the US’s use of
non-violence showed the brutality and evil of racism up for what it was and was
able to overcome it and tear it down. In the end our hope is that it is not the
power of the majority or the mighty but of God that is at work and for us.
Paul finishes by saying that the church has not only been
given the gift of believing in Jesus Christ but also to suffer for him. This is
a hard thing for us to understand because we do not see suffering as a gift.
This passage can be skewed to make us think that all the problems we face or
suffering we have are gifts from God, which is not true. What it does mean is
that suffering opposition and struggles are not a sign of God’s forgetfulness,
that he has abandoned us, but rather that just as Christ’s suffering was
redemptive and carried out God’s will, when we face opposition and persecution
for the sake of the gospel, we are identifying with Christ, and we know his
suffering was redemptive, and that is our hope that God can bring his grace and
redemption through our persecution an trouble. That was Paul’s experience and
it is the church at Philippi and ours as well.
How do we tie all that together and apply it our lives, how
do we go from the then and there to the here and now?
Firstly, Just as the church at Philippi was told to live a
life worth of the Gospel, so that is Paul’s words to us as well. We face the
same challenge, how are we to live as good citizen’s not of our western
democracy here in New Zealand but as citizens of the kingdom of God. Together in Christ!
Just like with the Church at Philippi does with Paul, we can
share what we have with them to help them to continue proclaiming the gospel.
We have newsletters from groups like voices of the Martyrs that advocate for
persecuted Christians in our church foyer. Although I went looking for them
during the week and sadly I think some of them went out in the working bee.
But also in our own country, we don’t face such overt
persecution, but there are more subtle waves that pound against the church and
the Christian faith. There is a prevailing tendency to trivialise the
spiritual, and what Spiritual things are permissible are not from the Christian
faith or organised religion. Christianity is often mocked. Increasingly Christian notions are excluded from
public debate. Christian thinking is marginalised in academic institution,
whereas for centuries it has been foundational. And as one commentator says ‘
there are subtle pressures on believers to view their answers to life most
profound questions as unimportant and slightly backward. This can lead to
feelings of isolation and depression. It may not be wild west coast waves of
persecution, but faith can be undermined by the constant lap of these kinds of
waves… But Pauls words are equally relevant calling us to unity, not so we can
huddle together and hunker in the church like it is a bunker, but that our
unity in spirit and action would be a defence for the gospel. Together our love
for one another and in acts of kindness and exemplary behaviour opponents might
see Christ like love and who knows be drawn to Christ. That we conduct ourselves in a way worthy of
the Gospel.
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