Dwell in the Word Philippians 1:19-30

Consider these questions as you dwell in Philippians 1:19-30:

1. How does Paul's perspective on life and death, as expressed in Philippians 1:21, challenge our conventional views about suffering and persecution for the sake of Christ? How does this perspective impact the way we approach difficult circumstances in our own lives?

2. What does it mean to live a life "worthy of the gospel of Christ" (Philippians 1:27)? How does this call to holiness and honorable living serve as a response to the gift of salvation through Christ? How can we practically strive for this in our daily lives?

3. In Philippians 1:29, Paul speaks of suffering being "granted" for the sake of Christ. How does this concept of suffering for Christ's sake align with our understanding of God's providence and His purposes in our lives? How can we cultivate a trust that God will use our suffering for His glory and our ultimate blessing?

Transcript:

This part of the Book of Philippians is an absolutely amazing portion of scripture. There's so much richness and depth here in Paul talking about his life and talking about the suffering that we may have to do for the Lord Jesus. Now, as we look at this passage, we see in verse 21 that he says, For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. What an amazing statement. It's a very well-known verse, but what an amazing statement that Paul is talking about his persecution. He understands he may be martyred, but yet he is saying that, Hey, if I live, I'm living for Christ. But if I die, it is gain. He has a trust. He has a sure confidence that he will be with Christ if he dies. What an amazing faith that he has. He knows that if he lives in the flesh, he'll have fruitful labor, and he's torn. But he knows. He knows that he will choose that God will give him more opportunity to serve. Eventually, Paul would be martyred. But Paul is convinced here that he's going to have the opportunity to continue to labor for the cause of Christ.

But then we come down to verse 27 and another awesome part of this passage. Look at verse 27, Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or I'm 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. That no matter what happens, we are to let our lives be worthy of the gospel of Christ. Well, what does that mean for us? It means that no matter the circumstances that we're in, we're to live a life that is honoring to the price that was paid for us. Christ suffered and died that we might live forever, that we might live in faith for Him. And so, what does that mean? That means that we strive for holiness. It means that we strive to live a life that is honoring to God, not because it's going to earn us points with God that hopefully we'll be able to climb the ladder to Him, but instead that we might understand that because God came down the ladder to us, we have the gift of faith.

He came to us in Christ and He has saved us. And so, we want to live our lives as a response to this amazing gift of salvation that He has blessed us with. And so, we come to verse 29 and we see something difficult, for it's been granted to you that for the sake of Christ, you should not believe in him, but also suffer for his sake. Wait a minute. What's going on here that we've been granted to suffer? Shouldn't God want to take us out of this suffering? But that's not what Paul says. He is saying that this suffering that they may do for the sake of the gospel, that they are to live a life in such a way that it honors Christ in the midst of that persecution. He's saying that that suffering is from God, and God is going to use it, and he's going to be honored in it. And we struggle with that idea. When we come up against hardship, it is difficult for us to understand what's going on. We assume that we have done something wrong, that God is punishing us, or maybe he's not blessing us.

But here Paul says that they're blessed ultimately, because they are suffering for Christ. And so, we have to have a sure trust that God is using our suffering. When things are difficult, we need to remember that God is going to use that to bring glory to His name. I think a lot of us have seen that, if not most of us haven't seen that, someone who's suffering with an illness, but yet they're able to say, God has blessed me. God has given me the opportunity to proclaim to people that He is with me through my illness, through my sickness, through my suffering. And so may we pray that when those things come our way, and chances are that they will. Life is hard. We live in a fallen world where people suffer. So may we, when life gets difficult, may we be that witness to other people that they might see us living a manner of life worthy of the gospel, and they might understand how much we have been blessed in Christ. So let us focus on what Christ has done today that we might understand that all things that happen to us, whether good or bad, are an opportunity for us to bring glory to Him.