Winning Isn't Easy... But It's Still Winning! Series

I. Intro

??In his book Loving God, Charles Colson draws attention to an incident involving an Indiana judge named William Bontrager. Bontrager had to pass sentence on Fred Palmer, a decorated Vietnam veteran who was found guilty of burglary. The crime was caused partly by involvement with drugs and alcohol. Indiana law required a sentence of ten to twenty years for Palmer's offense.

??However, new regulations designating a lesser penalty had gone into effect eighteen days after Palmer's arrest. To complicate matters, Palmer had become a Christian in jail and seemed to have changed. Should the judge sentence Palmer, a man who had never been in jail, to ten years or more? Or should he declare the older statute in violation of Indiana's constitution and give him a lighter sentence? Bontrager did the latter. Fred Palmer was out of jail in seven months, had a job, and was paying back his former victims.??

The events that followed received national attention. The Indiana Supreme Court reversed the judge's decision and ordered Fred Palmer sent back to prison. The judge's attempts to fight the court's decision during the next two years led to his own indictment for criminal contempt of court and, finally, his forced resignation. Fred Palmer was sent back to prison, only to be released twenty months later by the governor. Bontrager's convictions cost him his job, but not his integrity, thanks to his perseverance for the truth. (from Between Two Truths - Living with Biblical Tensions, Klyne Snodgrass, 1990, Zondervan Publishing House, p. 40.)

A. Being Christians in this world isn’t easy. Jesus said in John 15:18, “If the world hates you, know that it hated me first.”

B. Satan’s goal is to destroy the Church, but Jesus was so committed to saving her He gave His own life. Should we offer any less defense?

C. Remember Paul’s mantra from last week: “For me, to live is Christ; to die is gain.” In the next verses, Paul will describe the nature of what “to live is Christ” means.

II. You Aren’t Alone! (v.27)

A. Integrity is our goal: practice what we preach

B. This verse is actually an introduction to a sermon He’ll share in vv.28-30 and 2:1-11, so read up until next time

1. The necessity of oneness to win the spiritual battle for the faith (vv.28-30)

2. The love of others in fellowship (2:1-2)

3. Genuine humility and self-sacrifice (2:3-4)

4. Jesus’ own exemplary proof that sacrifice produces eternal glory (2:5-11)

C. But here Paul says we are called to serve in community, working together for the same Gospel, pulling in the same direction

1. We’re like members of the same tug-of-war team

2. The rope? It’s “the faith of the gospel”—we’re always to be contending for it.

III. You’re On the Winning Side! (v.28)

A. Don’t let the enemy frighten you—it’s proof he knows he’s losing

B. Believers who suffer willingly without being frightened are a sign God’s enemies will be destroyed

“Therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring. 5This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering—6since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 7and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels 8in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 1:4-8)

C. In any tug-of-war, there are moments when we slip and fall in the mud—but getting up and back into the fight demoralizes the enemy and encourages those around us

D. We also show the power of the Gospel in the way we offer encouragement to each other as we all contend for the faith

IV. Your Suffering is a Privilege! (vv.29-30)

A. “Granted”—based on the noun for grace: Believers’ suffering is a gift of grace that brings:

1. Power—1 Peter 5:10: “And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.”

2. Eternal reward—1 Peter 4:13: “But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.”

B. “Same conflict”—reference to vv.12-14; the resistance that comes to those who “are much more bold to speak the word without fear”

C. “You saw”—refers to what the Philippians witnessed when Paul and Silas were imprisoned in Philippi (Acts 16:19-40

D. It’s easy to believe in Jesus and receive the free gift of salvation, but there’s another gift: suffering for Jesus’ sake