Directions: Persecution = Comfort

Philippians 1:27-30

²⁷Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, ²⁸and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. ²⁹For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, ³⁰engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.

This was a passage that i preached through in my Pulpit Speech class and it has really stuck with me. I thought I'd share with you my thoughts from this passage. First, Paul is writing to the church in Philippi, a well known Roman port city that had mixed Greek and Roman culture. This fact will help us understand the different images Paul uses to convey his message in these verses. Paul was very close to the Philippians from the time he founded the church. We see Paul's instructions to his dear friends to "let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ." the verb Paul uses "be worthy" used in the context means to live in a way that is honoring of your citizenship. Later on in the book Paul will tell the church that their citizenship is in heaven. Citizenship is a thing that a Roman colony would understand quite well. Roman citizenship was either given by birth, earned by service in the military, or bought; no matter how one received Roman citizenship it was expected of them to act in a way that would be honoring to the emperor. However, in this passage Paul is saying that believers must act in a way that is honoring and consistent with the gospel of Christ. How does one live a life worthy of the Gospel? Paul gives us 2 ways that we can live lives worthy of the gospel.

1. Living a life worthy of the gospel requires being unified.

" you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, "

a. the first part to being unified is standing firm in one spirit.

This is not some ecumenical command for all people who call themselves Christians regardless of biblical beliefs. Instead this is a call to all those who seek to follow Christ to stand fast. This is a Roman military reference. Soldiers would dig in their feet to not be pushed backwards. In more modern terms it'd be similar to an offensive line in football. Their job is to work together to make sure their opponents do not push past them. Standing firm so they are not moved backwards. Applied spiritually this means that we cannot budge on the things that are mandatory to the gospel. If we are willing to be pushed aside on things about the gospel how can our lives be honoring to the gospel? 

b. the second part to being unified is striving side by side.

This is a Greek games term for wrestling. The idea is to be struggling, to be pushing forward. Again similar to a running play in football, an offensive line must not just simply stand firm but must push forward acting as one person to accomplish a goal. In our lives we must not be satisfied with "being doctrinally sound" but we MUST put those beliefs into action! We have been called to tell the world about the gospel of Christ. we must stand together push together until everyone has heard.

This is the first part to living a life honorable of the gospel; however, this is not the end.

2. living a life worthy of the gospel requires persecution

This is a really popular topic on Bible campuses and those who explore other cultures. So often we worship people who go through persecution for their beliefs and sit back in our Lazyboy chairs and thank God that we live in a country where we do not have to suffer persecution. Unfortunately I see no room for that type of attitude when we consider what Paul has to say about persecution.

"and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. ²⁹For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, ³⁰engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have."

Paul says that when Christians suffer for the gospel that those who persecute them will see it as a sign of destruction for them, but as Christians suffer it is a sign to them that they are saved. Paul says that persecution is a gift for Christians. Paul seems to not think twice about Christians not suffering. Yes, in his time period it would have been almost impossible to claim Christ and not suffer in the religious system in Rome. But Paul knew the world and that claiming Christ would never be viewed by pagans as good thing. Persecution is a gift given to Christians to be assured of their salvation. In America though the worst persecution is a slammed door or expletives thrown at us. We never face persecution as severe as other Christians across the globe. Am i thankful i live in America? Yeah! Unfortunately though American Christians tend to lack the fervor to spread the gospel like we ought. Now i think that following Paul's logic in this passage he says in effect, "If you live a life worthy of the gospel; you will be persecuted" So what would the logical conclusion to American Christians NOT being persecuted? that the American church is NOT LIVING a life worthy of the gospel....why would anyone persecute Christians that aren't doing anything worth trying to stop. I am convinced that we do not suffer persecution simply because of our geographical location, but our lack of living a life worthy of the Gospel. I believe if the American church would start standing firm together striving forward together, that we will be persecuted. That is not a bad thing! it actually assures us that we believe something worthy of suffering for. so the directions are to view Persecution (no matter how small or large) as Comfort (a gift from God) SO START DOING SOMETHING WORTHY OF THE GOSPEL 

Directions: Be Broken to Be Better

We have all experienced “breaking points.” Whether it was after a long day at school or work and being so tired that when someone asked us a dumb question we snapped back at them, or being so overwhelmed by emotions and stress we crumpled over and cried…we’ve all experienced these “breaking points.” When was your latest breaking point? What was the cause? What did it make you change? Are you right now at the Nth degree? Are you ready to snap? Is one more thing going to push you over the cliff?

We tend to view breaking points as negative. Sometimes the cause; sometimes the result. I submit though that there are breaking points that are necessary to experience. The first is the breaking point of Salvation. What does/did God have to do to break you into realizing your need of him? Our pride must be broken and we must realize that nothing we can do will get us to heaven. The second is the breaking point of obedience. How can you be convinced to do what you should and forsake that which you should not be doing? You may say I am doing what I should be. Are you? You know yourself better than I do, but if you are anything like me there is a sin that is like a splinter to you. It hurts a little bit so you try to squeeze it out, but settle for just getting a little piece at a time. You don’t view it as a major problem, just an annoyance. Instead we need to go ahead and get the needle out. Sure, it will hurt more than the splinter, but you will get rid of it and the cut can heal the way it needs to. Find that splinter and remove it. Or be as radical as to cut the limb off that it is on. 

Finally, I believe there is one breaking point that is essential in the Christian life. The breaking point of the Gospel. What is bigger than the Gospel? You? Me? Your Job? Your relationships? What hinders you from sharing the Gospel? Why aren’t you doing it with more fervor? Who doesn’t deserve the Gospel? Who are you to judge? Don’t homosexuals deserve to hear of the true love of Christ for them? Don’t Politicians deserve to hear of the Justice of God? Don’t Catholics deserve to hear about the GIFT of eternal life? What about the Pope? What about President Obama? DO NOT ALL OF THESE DESERVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO HEAR THE TRUE GOSPEL? I’ve found that most Christians subconsciously think that _________ doesn’t deserve to hear the Gospel because ________. We justify our action of uncaringly refusing the Gospel to people by judging the person. What about the thief on the cross? He didn’t deserve the Gospel because he was a terrible person and he even mocked Christ at the first. He reached his breaking point of salvation moments before dying. He was not the prime candidate of receiving the Gospel. What about the cashier at WalMart? “well they are working I don’t want to get them in trouble.” COME ON! A simple tract won’t kill you. And if you are buying enough stuff for the Apocalypse then you have plenty of time to share the Gospel. Sometimes “hearing” of the Gospel doesn’t come through audible speaking, but by the nature of your actions people can see the difference. Walking around with the name of Christ on you is a huge duty! It should cause us to always think, “Does this showcase Christ?” Does my conversation cause others to consider me one of them? Or is there something that is evidently different? This breaking point is the hardest one to overcome. Break yourself. Decide that you are going to LIVE the Gospel.
Every man deserves to hear of the good news of Christ. We are called to give every man that opportunity. If we fail on our end, then millions will die and enter into eternity without hearing. They will go to Hell. You CANNOT withhold the Gospel in good conscience. You are then handing them tickets to Hell. Everyone and I mean EVERYMAN and EVERYWOMAN and EVERYCHILD deserves the chance to hear the Gospel. You CANNOT NOT share the Gift of God, Christ Jesus, Messiah, the Lamb.

Directions: Pour out Hate Add in Love

  I walked into chapel tired and worn out. The classes had taken a toll on me and I had just stayed up really late to finish a project. I was pleasantly surprised however to find out that our president would be speaking. I always enjoyed listening to him speak. I had to fight so hard to stay awake and to be completely honest I didn't stay awake the whole time but I did understand his message. He was speaking about Christ's answer to the lawyer in Matthew 22. He spoke a while about Loving God and loving others. He said that if we all loved God and loved others we wouldn't even need a rule book. This got me thinking for the entire rest of the semester.

  Some people may ask, "what is Christianity all about?" this could be an incredibly hard question to answer but I think I have found an answer that is satisfactory for me. Christianity is all about RELATIONSHIPS. First it has to deal with your BROKEN RELATIONSHIP with God due to sin. Then your RECONCILED RELATIONSHIP through Jesus' sacrifice. And then it has to deal with your RELATIONSHIP with OTHERS. I then started looking into commands that Christ gave that had to deal with relationships. Jesus instructed us to love one another. This is a hard enough command to obey but i think perhaps the hardest one that Christ gave was that we are to love our enemies. When we apply this to our lives we often apply to the Christians that we do not get along with, however; we were already command to love them in the loving one another. i had to put this into more current times in order to understand the full meaning of it. So I asked "who is my enemy?" First person that came to mind was Osama Bin Laden. There's no way God expects me to love him! Next was Sadaam Hussein...NO WAY!!!! Hitler! OH COME ON GOD!!!! Really? How am I suppose to love men like this??

    I realized at this point that God didn't want me to love their murderous ways or their hatred, but love them because God has told me to. Why would i love someone just because God has told me to? The answer is found in one of my favorite passages Romans 5.
vs8  But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
9  Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
10  For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

God has the authority to tell me to love Bin Laden, Hussein, Hitler because HE LOVED ME when i was just as these men. I was the reason Jesus died on the cross, HIS SON died for me and God loves me. How if we are to show God's love to people, can we hate anyone? Another thing to consider is that man is created in the image of God....even these men bear the image of God. We have no right to hate another human when we have been forgiven such a great debt. Otherwise we are just like the Unforgiving Servant in the parable Jesus gave us. "forgive us our debts AS WE FORGIVE OUR DEBTORS."

So Christian, do you love Bin Laden? are you grieved by the fact that Hussein and Hitler were not reached with the Gospel? For as much wrath as we would like to demonstrate on such men, God had and more wrath towards us, however; He chose to demonstrate that wrath on Christ while he hung on the cross and He turned his back on His Son, so that we can know light. How can we hold this truth inside us and refuse to share it? THAT IS THE MOST HATEFUL THING WE CAN DO TO SOMEONE, NOT TO SHOW THEM GOD'S LOVE!!!!

So Empty yourself of Hate and let God fill you with His love.

Directions: Empty until Full

Welcome to my very first blogging attempt. 

I am a Christian, "little Christ," so if you watch me you should be able to learn about Christ. I am trusting fully on God's gift of salvation won through Christ's sacrifice on the cross. I have gained access to a personal relationship with God by trusting in Christ's blood. Even when I was God's enemy He provided a way for me to be reconciled to Him(Rom. 5:10.) I boldly proclaim the name of Christ and aim to honor Him in all I say, do, think, and post on this blog. I would be glad to explain my faith to anyone who is interested.

Paradoxical?

How can you empty something until it is full? Isn't the meaning of emptying mean to get rid of everything? If you get rid of everything how can it be full? This reminds me of the widow and Elijah and how as much as she tried she could not get rid of that last little bit of oil because she had obeyed and trusted that God would supply the oil she needed. Over the last 2 years it has been obvious that God has been working on me in the area of emptying myself. Empty yourself???? this is what i mean by emptying myself: I have come to the realization in my spiritual life that God must have control of my life. Romans 12 :1 tells us to present ourselves as living sacrifices. This is not easy especially for me since my tendency is do it all on my own. I have come to the conclusion that nothing and i mean ABSOLUTELY NOTHING can satisfy me except Christ. I must empty myself of everything that threatens to stop the filling of myself with Christ. 

Phlippians 3:7  But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 

8  Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 

God has worked on me hard to believe this in faith and obey his leading just as the widow and the oil. First he lead my family away from everything i had known my senior year in highschool. Through a very rough time in my life dealing with bitterness and anger. God had taken my identity away from me-my location, reputation could NOT satisfy me fully. I had to empty my identity and take on my identity in Christ. Then He lead me to change my plans for college. He had now taken over my plans and i had to trust Him and empty my plans to take His plans because they are so much higher than mine. Then He took some friends away from me. My friends could NOT satisfy me fully. I had to empty my friendships (not to get rid of all my friends but the idea that they would satisfy me.) and make my relationship with Christ most important. Then this summer i came home from college to the reality that i no longer had a job. He had taken my money (in a very hard way. and He made me choose this time if i was going to do right) Money could not satisfy i had to empty my desire for money out and find the riches of my Father through Christ. I have come to the point where it sounds as though i must be emptied right? WRONG! I am being filled!!!! Every time i had to pour out something of myself that was in the way of being filled with the Holy Spirit, God filled that void and more with Himself. I have overcome my bitterness and anger, received a new identity, found better plans, made godly friends, and he even gave me work for the last part of my summer with a good paying job. I have an abundance of work for many people. And all through His Amazing Grace. I'm not trying to sound like a salesperson here, but i have witnessed God's working in my own life and i am the happiest i have ever been before. So i will continue in my pursuit of emptying myself so that i will be overflowing with God. So here's where it get's down to the point to you, the reader. What is keeping you from being overflowed by God? pride, greed, desiring your own way, relationships? Will you present your self as a sacrifice and count everything as loss to gain Christ? Are you going to Empty yourself until you are overflowing?

-Cabbie