“Keeping A Kingdom Perspective”
See God’s hand in your problems
in the circumstances of life.
Philippians 1:12-14
when you have people problems
Philippians 1:15-18
Decide to rejoice
Philippians 1:18c
Exhibit godly character
Philippians 1:27
The ancor text is 1:21. How can Paul keep this type of eternal perspective? How can we keep from getting bogged down in the muck and mire of our daily lives and be able to look not on what is temporal but what is eternal? How can we maintain a Kindgom Perspeciuve?
The test first says that we must look for God’s hand in our problems. Paul is in jail but he sees that he can share Christ with the guards and also discovers that people now speak more bodly on the outside because of what has happened to him. You can elaborate much here on your own personal experiences of God working through difficult times and how you can now see his hand was there. We walk by faith and not by sight. We must trust God and ask Him what he wants us to learn about Him during our trying times. Whether these times be trying circumstances(vs. 12-14) or people problems(15-18) What a Kingdom mindset Paul shows when he says that he rejoices even when Christ is preached from false motives or vain conceit!! How the church of Jesus Christ needs that type of mature thinking.
Verse 18 says we must decide to rejoice. in this verse I see a resolve in Paul’s mind to rejoice no matter the problem. Rejoicing is not an emotion; its a decision. It does not mean that I must jump up and down and wave my hands in the air. It means that I will decide my reaction to the problem and I decide to rejoice. We do not control much in this life but we do control our attitudes. You can preach the best of the postive thinking theology here while leaving out that which is not evangelical.
Verse 1:27a says to exhibit godly character during the diffcult time. Folks who maintain a kingdom perspective can see past the problem to how God wants you to react to it. They know their responsiblity to model godly behavior during these times. How much purpose it gives us when we understand that we are being watched during our trying time and we then can show how children of God are to conduct themselves. During a recent struggle with losing a valuable leader in our church, my main concern was to show our church how christians can have people problems but it can be done in a way that honors God. At least it can on our behalf. "As much as it depends on you, live at peace with all men." We can disagree agreeably!! Kingdom people conduct themselves worthy of the gospel.
