Coping consistently in Crisis and challenge
Philippians 1:18b-30 WBC 15/01/06pm
Forgive me if you’ve heard this before
A stressed-out woman on a busy boulevard is tailgating an honest man. Suddenly, the light turns yellow, just in front of him. He does the honest thing, and stops at the crosswalk, even though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating through the intersection.
The tailgating woman hits the roof, and the horn, screaming in frustration as she misses her chance to get through the intersection with him.
As she is still in mid-rant, she hears a tap on her window and looks up into the face of a very serious police officer.
The officer orders her to exit her car with her hands up. He takes her to the police station where she is searched, fingerprinted, photographed, and placed in a cell.
After a couple of hours, a policeman approaches the cell and opens the door. She is escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer is waiting with her personal effects.
He says, "I’m very sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping the guy off in front of you, and cussing a blue streak at him. I noticed the "Choose Life" license plate holder, the "What Would Jesus Do" bumper sticker, the "Follow Me to Sunday School" bumper sticker, and the chrome plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk. "
" Naturally I assumed you had stolen the car."
So- here’s Paul, in prison. Reflecting on whether it’s better to live or die. Concluding that going and being with the Lord is far better, for HIM, but that he will most likely remain in prison or be set free as that is better for the gospel
- in fact, he kind of got all three as we think from here he remained under house arrest for 3 years and then was martyred and went to be with the Lord
o but we spoke about the hope of heaven this morning
Now- the rest of the passage. How he deals with the challenge of court that awaits him. How he seeks to conduct himself with consistency and how he is looking for the same from the other Christians
So- how do you act, react when something comes your way?
- a huge challenge? A crisis? A call to come before the court, as we think Paul was anticipating? The challenge of those antagonistic to the gospel? Exams?
CALL FOR HELP
Enlist help.
V19 Paul says that his help and deliverance will come through "your prayers and the Spirit of Jesus"
You know- it’s just crazy how reticent some of us are to ask for help.
- maybe we fear we’ll be like those who ask for it all the time
- maybe we fear we’ll be a ’pest’? Or it won’t work
But again and again Paul enlists the help of those he has helped.
- Rom 15:30, 2 Cor 1;11, Col 4:3, 1 thess 5:25, 2 Thess 3:1, Heb 13:18
- And he was a coper. A giant
I have phoned or emailed key friends and asked for prayer
- and felt immediately strengthened
o particularly by the prayers of those you are ’linked with’ in spirit. Special people. Maybe a friend or your spouse
- (and I’m a giant and a coper! NOT. I basically am an example of God’s grace and the grace and prayers of others.
o Particularly Jeremy for example: What you doing up at 3am! "praying!" Who for? "I’m praying for YOU"
So- what stops us following the apostle’s example (and so coping consistency with crisis and challenge)?
- is it pride? Lack of faith? Individualism? Isolation? Rebellion? Disobedience? Laziness?
It’s the prayers of others that help him
And the Spirit of Jesus Christ
Note the wording- through your prayers and by the help given me by the Spirit
- other’s prayers help us be helped by the Spirit
- and we need to enlist His help ourselves, to cope consistently
Do you?
Paul says "I can do all things through Him who gives me strength" Phil 4:13
Stop…. Pause… and plug into His power
CONFIDENCE OF VINDICATION
Now- what’s it on about here, v19- "what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance" (NIV)
- is he expecting to be set free? Or not die? Not dogmatically, confidently. He’s saying ’whatever happens to me conduct yourself consistently’
- is he thinking this suffering ’saves’ him? (as that’s the word, salvation. See NIV footnote)
o no way. He does equate suffering with part of being a Christian, being made holy, entering ’into Christ’ (v 29, 2 Cor 1:5)… but he doesn’t believe it saves you
- what is he confident of? (might help us to know!)
Not of deliverance. Trouble/crisis/conflict going away.
Of Vindication.
In Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s "A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich," Ivan endures all the horrors of a Soviet prison camp. One day he is praying with his eyes closed when a fellow prisoner notices him and says with ridicule, "Prayers won’t help you get out of here any faster." Opening his eyes, Ivan answers, "I do not pray to get out of prison but to do the will of God."
SOURCE: Our Daily Bread, December 29, 1993
Contributed by: SermonCentralPRO
You see- he’s anticipating having to stand up in court and be challenged about his behaviour, faith, God. Ridiculed etc.
- and he’s confident that God will vindicate him. Make his cause shine. Make him stand out. Make even more people hear the message
Basically- he’s quoting Job (as that’s the wording it uses for Job 13:16 in the Gk LXX)
- JOB 13:16 Indeed, this will turn out for my deliverance,
Salvation in THAT sense
- saved from shame.
PS 25:3 No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame,
And it applies particularly to him (and to us) because Jesus had said
- Mk 13:11 Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.
Have you ever been challenged about your faith and found your spirit rising within you? Found you’ve ’held the court?’
- that’s because of the HS!
- I was talking to someone only this last week about it
Lk 21:13 13 This will result in your being witnesses to them. 14 But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. 15 For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict
"But that hasn’t happened to me!" Well maybe it’s
- 1) we don’t actually put ourselves in a situation where anyone challenges us. We think we can ALWAYS win them by just ’smiling’! Or we don’t really care
- 2) it’s not time to talk- it’s time to listen, or be silent. That’s why the HS isn’t giving you the words!
Don’t be condemned! But if you feel you’ve been crushed/lost
1) you can’t really tell
2) don’t push it. The HS knows when it’s best to speak. When they are ripe. And you have to earn the right to be heard by listening
But expect that God will vindicate you… if not deliver you
( do you see the difference. Deliverance is about you and your circumstances. Vindication is about Him and his Kingdom)
CONDUCT YOURSELF CONSISTENTLY
But here is the thing Paul is trying to do and wants the Philippians to do as well. Whatever his result in court. Whatever is coming their way
- crisis, storm, challenge
As it is the greatest witness, vindication! As they watch. And it is what God wants for us
- rather than swinging and saying "oh no. I’ve lost it. I’m losing my faith. Can’t cope. Must have a drink! I’ll never finish the race!"
No, he says Phil 1:6 "I am confident of this: that He who began a good work in you WILL carry it through to completion"
- good news eh?
Actually, how he words it is fascinating! It’s all lost in English.
- PHP 1:27 Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.
Some (AV) translate it "Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ"
- and there’s truth in that, isn’t there?- because the first thing that shows our inconsistency when we hit crisis is our speech. Becomes unfitting
But literally it’s "only let your life as citizens worthy of the gospel of Christ"
Isn’t that interesting? It uses a citizenship word- and citizens of a city behave in a certain way
- Philippi would have understood this.
- Acts 16:12 2 From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia.
20 They brought them before the magistrates and said, "These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar 21 by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice."
They were proud of their Roman citizenship- and with it came behavioural responsibilities. "Rank imposes obligation" as the saying goes
- he says it’s the same for you! Citizens of Zion. Heaven
- they are to be true to their membership of that new city "which has Christ for it’s King, the gospel for its law and the Christian for its citizen" (Benoit)
Now- you may never have to be consistent in the crisis that Cassie Bernall
Faced in the Columbine shooting on 20 April 1999- and mostly we need to be consistent on the little things when no one is watching. But it serves as an example:
Cassie was a 17-year-old junior with long blond hair, hair she wanted to cut off and have made into wigs for cancer patients who had lost their hair through chemotherapy. She was active in her youth group at Westpool’s Community Church and was known for carrying a Bible to school.
Cassie was in the school library reading her Bible when the two young killers burst in. According to witnesses, one of the killers pointed his gun at Cassie and asked, do you believe in God?" Cassie paused and then answered, "Yes, I believe in God." "Why?" the gunman asked. Cassie did not have a chance to respond; the gunman had already shot her dead.
Cassie’s martyrdom was even more remarkable when you consider that just a few years ago she had dabbled in the occult, including witchcraft. She had embraced the same darkness and nihilism that drove her killers to such despicable acts. But two years ago, Cassie dedicated her life to Christ, and turned her life around. Her friend, Craig Moon, called her a "light for Christ."
According to the Boston Globe, on the night of her death, Cassie’s brother Chris found a poem Cassie had written just two days prior to her death. It read:
"Now I have given up on everything else
I have found it to be the only way
To really know Christ and to experience
The mighty power that brought
Him back to life again, and to find
Out what it means to suffer and to
Die with him. So, whatever it takes
I will be one who lives in the fresh
Newness of life of those who are
Alive from the dead."
Contributed by: Rick Stacy on www.sermoncentral.com
And so Paul’s wish for them is to
- be consistent. Consistent citizens
- stand firm. Whatever happens (whether he is in or out)
- contend for the gospel
Songs: may the words of my mouth
Over all the earth
