Title: Grace from God (Philippians 1:27-30)
The book of Philippians is a letter from Paul, who was imprisoned while preaching the gospel of Christ, to the Philippians who were concerned about him. Paul sheds light on his own heart in Chapter 1. In short, as in verse 20, I would say that Paul's present attitude and attitude is to make Christ glorified in my body, whether by life or death. What is Paul admonishing the Philippians to do, who is looking forward to death with such boldness?
The part where Paul's story about himself turns into words for the Philippians is from verse 27, the text we read today. That is, from this verse Paul's exhortation to them begins. In particular, verse 27 begins with the word “only”. If there is one thing I really want to tell you, if there is one thing I want to tell you, it can be said that Paul's feelings are contained in this word "only". You can think of this as the central message that Paul imprisoned in prison exhorts to the Philippians outside and to us who are reading this Bible today. Today we would like to consider Paul's request.
The flow of the content of the text is as follows. In verse 27, live worthy of the gospel --> In verses 27 and 28, it is because I want to see two kinds of you --> In verse 29, it says that this is because God has given you the grace of suffering. You can see it. Ultimately, it can be said that the words in verse 29 correspond to the basis of Paul's exhortation.
Now let's read verse 29 carefully.
- What God has given you: In this section, many English Bibles refer to this as a privilege that God has given you. You can think of it as a privilege graciously given by God. What are those privileges? What do you think are our privileges? No, what do we think of and conjure up in the word privilege?
What were these privileges for Paul?
It is the first to believe in Christ, and the second to suffer for him. This is grace, and this is a privilege that the proud Christian of saints does not have.
In particular, Paul's emphasis is on the second.
1. The saints have been privileged to suffer for him through Christ.
Even if you live worthy of the gospel of Christ, you will fall into this category. Nanhaju is moving this to civilize worthy of the gospel of Christ. We are citizens of the kingdom of this world, but above all we are citizens of the kingdom of God. That is why we must live worthy of the gospel.
What is the content of life worthy of the Gospel? Two things. The first is to stand with one mind and work together for the faith of the gospel with one mind. The second is to not be afraid of anyone who opposes anything.
We need faith to work together and faith to fight together. This is not easy. Therefore, it can be seen that it belongs to the realm of suffering privilege. You must deny yourself, and you must not be content with your situation. When all the church members go up saying, “Give me that mountain,” and I am satisfied with this mountain, it cannot be said that it is a faith that cooperates together. Everyone goes out and fights, but it cannot be called faith fighting together only when I alone enjoy a comfortable Christian life.
Do not be afraid of those who oppose you. There are bound to be adversaries in the life of faith. In a way, if there are no adversaries or persecutors in our religious life, maybe we should look back on our religious life.
2. Along with the privilege of suffering, he gave us the privilege of believing in Christ.
A life of faith in Christ is a privilege God has given us. There are records of countless people who experienced the kingdom of God through faith appearing in the Bible. Among them is the life of Abraham, who left without knowing where he was going. There is also the life of Joseph, who even though he was sold as a slave to a foreign land, lived by faith, experienced God's special grace in it, and finally reached the point of saving many people. There are Joshua and Caleb, who reported with faith in an atmosphere of despair and giving up the lever, and there is Caleb, who occupied a difficult mountainous area with faith.
Moving on to the age of the New Testament, there are the lives of Peter, James, and John who believed in one word of Jesus and followed him without having any possessions. There is also a story of a blind man who cannot see anything, but hears that Jesus is passing by and shouts at a whale and becomes blind, even seeing the eyes of faith. There are people who have been possessed by demons for the rest of their lives, harming their bodies and living in a tomb, then encounter Jesus, demons come out, and become whole. The life of Paul, who lived as a Pharisee with low power and persecuted Christ, met the Lord and enjoyed becoming a persecutor.
The stories of such people will be endless and endless, and while the Bible is complete, their lives continue unfinished. This is the privilege of the life of the saints. How would they be remembered if they had not had faith in God and in Christ? No matter how many privileges they had in the world that no one else had at the time, how and when would their lives be remembered by whom and by whom? What would be a real privilege?
The privilege of believing in him and the privilege of suffering for him were talked about separately, but in fact, these two should be seen as being combined. You will enjoy that joy and joy because you believe in Jesus Christ, and even suffering because of it will be one of the joys. In fact, hardships will not be so easy to bear if they are just hard and painful. But things would be different if suffering became a privilege and a joy. We may have heard many stories of martyrs. For them, martyrdom was not just a scary and painful experience. They said that it was a great joy and an honor to know that a man like himself was considered worthy of martyrdom for the Lord's sake. That is why he was thankful to God for calling him into the ranks of martyrs.
Dear saints, what privileges do we enjoy in the Lord's Church? Are you enjoying the privilege of believing in him in your life of faith and living by faith? Do you also enjoy the privilege of suffering for him in your church life?