WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.560 Father, we want to thank you for your word to us. 00:00:02.660 --> 00:00:06.780 And we want to pray that now at the end of what's been a busy day 00:00:06.780 --> 00:00:08.540 with lots of different things going on, 00:00:09.140 --> 00:00:12.480 we want to pray that you might graciously speak to us 00:00:12.480 --> 00:00:18.039 and also be at work in us to give us ears and hearts that would listen well, we pray. 00:00:18.640 --> 00:00:20.679 Bless our time together for the sake of your glory. 00:00:21.500 --> 00:00:24.100 We thank you that time in your word is never time wasted. 00:00:24.820 --> 00:00:27.920 And so we pray, Lord, that you do us good for the sake of your glory. 00:00:27.920 --> 00:00:28.640 Amen. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:35.039 Okay, so Philippians chapter 1, verse 27 to 30. 00:00:35.240 --> 00:00:40.679 I've printed it out on the front of your handout so that you can scribble on it if you want to. 00:00:41.759 --> 00:00:43.120 Just these four verses. 00:00:44.560 --> 00:00:51.900 Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. 00:00:52.760 --> 00:00:57.879 Then whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, 00:00:57.880 --> 00:01:02.760 I will know that you stand firm in the one spirit, 00:01:03.120 --> 00:01:07.200 striving together as one for the faith of the gospel, 00:01:07.200 --> 00:01:12.200 without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. 00:01:12.200 --> 00:01:21.159 This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved, and that by God. 00:01:21.960 --> 00:01:30.840 For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him. 00:01:30.840 --> 00:01:38.340 Since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have. 00:01:40.939 --> 00:01:43.200 Now, I'm not sure that anyone is going to admit to this. 00:01:43.260 --> 00:01:44.840 Maybe you will, because we're only a small group. 00:01:44.840 --> 00:01:48.780 But I wonder whether you've ever been given a gift that you didn't want. 00:01:50.200 --> 00:01:54.880 Anybody been given a gift that they didn't want? 00:01:55.520 --> 00:01:55.820 Mm-hmm. 00:01:57.420 --> 00:02:02.320 I once gave Vanessa an iron in the early days of our marriage, 00:02:02.719 --> 00:02:07.439 which wasn't particularly well received. 00:02:08.159 --> 00:02:09.599 Seemed a little heartless. 00:02:09.599 --> 00:02:15.579 Anybody want to confess to a gift that they received that they didn't appreciate? 00:02:16.519 --> 00:02:17.780 You were nodding your head, Jen. 00:02:17.900 --> 00:02:18.819 What did you get? 00:02:25.680 --> 00:02:27.060 A colorful vase. 00:02:32.500 --> 00:02:33.180 Oh, dear. 00:02:33.299 --> 00:02:34.139 An ugly vase. 00:02:34.139 --> 00:02:41.959 My grandfather, everyone used to combine their money, my mum's side of the family, 00:02:42.039 --> 00:02:43.719 in order to buy you a bigger present. 00:02:44.500 --> 00:02:45.679 And I asked for a watch. 00:02:46.359 --> 00:02:48.979 And I was only probably eight or nine, and I was really excited, 00:02:49.119 --> 00:02:51.479 because it was going to be like an expensive watch. 00:02:52.019 --> 00:02:55.839 Anyway, he gave me a ladies Casio watch. 00:02:55.959 --> 00:02:58.219 I was so, so disappointed. 00:02:58.959 --> 00:03:00.519 Anyway, there you go. 00:03:00.520 --> 00:03:06.920 So I think in the center of this passage in Philippians is a gift that you probably don't want. 00:03:07.980 --> 00:03:10.040 Well, at least half of it is what you don't want. 00:03:10.160 --> 00:03:11.300 Let me show it to you. 00:03:11.660 --> 00:03:12.700 It's there in verse 29. 00:03:12.820 --> 00:03:13.420 It's right at the center. 00:03:13.520 --> 00:03:15.160 This is how the passage works structurally. 00:03:15.340 --> 00:03:17.180 It's the four at the beginning of verse 29. 00:03:17.980 --> 00:03:22.240 For it has been granted, literally there, graciously given to you. 00:03:22.240 --> 00:03:30.240 On behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, that's the first part, but also to suffer for him. 00:03:31.460 --> 00:03:32.439 So here's the gift. 00:03:32.520 --> 00:03:33.280 There are two parts to it. 00:03:33.400 --> 00:03:35.620 Believing and suffering. 00:03:36.100 --> 00:03:44.100 In other words, God in Christ has blessed us with faith in him and suffering for him. 00:03:45.420 --> 00:03:48.219 It doesn't often make it to our evangelistic appeals, does it? 00:03:48.219 --> 00:03:52.039 But come to Christ so that you might suffer for him. 00:03:53.020 --> 00:03:55.539 But it does in Jesus' teaching, doesn't it? 00:03:55.580 --> 00:03:57.319 Take up your cross and follow me. 00:03:57.759 --> 00:04:00.639 Deny yourself and come after me. 00:04:02.139 --> 00:04:08.099 But this suffering is at the center of these few verses as Paul tells the Philippians what the Christian life is like. 00:04:08.180 --> 00:04:10.240 And so we're just going to think about two things tonight. 00:04:10.360 --> 00:04:12.219 The first is the nature of Christian suffering. 00:04:12.620 --> 00:04:14.740 And the second is the purpose of Christian suffering. 00:04:14.740 --> 00:04:18.740 And we're going to spend some time discussing it together and asking questions as well. 00:04:18.819 --> 00:04:21.019 So firstly, the nature of Christian suffering. 00:04:21.879 --> 00:04:25.960 Now, we've got to be quite specific about what the suffering is here. 00:04:26.040 --> 00:04:28.660 And we have talked about it before, but we're going to go over it again. 00:04:28.939 --> 00:04:34.620 Because it's important that we acknowledge that not all suffering that we face is the same. 00:04:35.019 --> 00:04:35.139 Okay? 00:04:35.860 --> 00:04:40.780 So there is a kind of suffering that everybody faces in a broken world. 00:04:40.779 --> 00:04:46.019 Yeah, we live in a world which does not work as it should. 00:04:46.579 --> 00:04:52.259 And there is a suffering which comes to us as a result of living in that world. 00:04:52.299 --> 00:04:53.839 And it comes to all of us. 00:04:54.259 --> 00:04:56.599 It's sort of unevenly spread, isn't it? 00:04:56.639 --> 00:04:59.579 But it comes to you whether you're a Christian or not a Christian. 00:04:59.739 --> 00:05:05.139 Whatever religion, faith, creed you are, you find that you suffer because you live in a broken world. 00:05:05.219 --> 00:05:08.279 You live in a world where people are angry with one another. 00:05:08.279 --> 00:05:13.000 You live in a world where deluges of rain come and flood the world around you. 00:05:13.139 --> 00:05:16.039 You live in a world where tornadoes hit, that kind of thing. 00:05:16.619 --> 00:05:18.219 We live in the suffering of this world. 00:05:18.339 --> 00:05:22.239 Now, that is not the suffering that Paul is talking about in verse 29. 00:05:23.000 --> 00:05:25.759 Nor is he talking about the kind of suffering that comes from doing wrong. 00:05:25.759 --> 00:05:32.959 It's right to say, isn't it, that not all suffering comes from sin, our specific sins. 00:05:33.139 --> 00:05:37.579 But it is also true to say that sin does lead to suffering. 00:05:37.819 --> 00:05:39.519 We saw that this morning, didn't we, with David. 00:05:40.120 --> 00:05:43.800 That even though our world is twisted and messed up, there is still, in God's common grace, 00:05:43.899 --> 00:05:47.639 a link between doing wrong and suffering for it. 00:05:47.639 --> 00:05:51.879 Just by the natural law of consequences in a world that was made good. 00:05:53.000 --> 00:05:57.120 If you commit a crime, you will suffer the punishment for it. 00:05:57.740 --> 00:06:02.439 If you lack integrity, you will suffer the consequences of nobody trusting you. 00:06:03.159 --> 00:06:04.860 Paul is not talking about that either, is he? 00:06:04.939 --> 00:06:05.039 Right? 00:06:05.099 --> 00:06:09.219 So Peter talks about this suffering for doing evil is of no great benefit to anybody. 00:06:09.360 --> 00:06:09.539 Right? 00:06:09.599 --> 00:06:10.439 He's not talking about that. 00:06:10.439 --> 00:06:18.819 Rather, he is talking about and saying to Christians, there is a particular gift of suffering that is given to you as a believer. 00:06:19.300 --> 00:06:24.959 A kind of suffering that is not shared by the non-Christian or by the person who's just doing something wrong. 00:06:26.180 --> 00:06:27.100 And what is that? 00:06:27.220 --> 00:06:30.139 Well, have a look at verse 30 and let's work out what it is together. 00:06:30.920 --> 00:06:31.699 He says this, 00:06:32.220 --> 00:06:39.819 Since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have. 00:06:40.439 --> 00:06:45.180 In other words, the suffering here is what he calls the same struggle. 00:06:45.660 --> 00:06:49.839 In other words, this gift of suffering that has been given to the Philippian church was also given to Paul. 00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:53.199 And they saw him struggling with it when he was with them. 00:06:53.439 --> 00:06:55.199 And they now have it themselves. 00:06:56.040 --> 00:07:00.579 And that means that Acts 16 is the really important background to the book of Philippians. 00:07:00.879 --> 00:07:07.139 Because what's going on in Acts 16 when Paul is in Philippi actually explains what's going on in Philippi now. 00:07:07.139 --> 00:07:13.819 And Acts 16 tells you that the struggle that Paul had in Philippi was the struggle with his citizenship. 00:07:14.979 --> 00:07:27.000 Specifically, the Roman authorities, egged on by the owners of a slave girl, who you may remember, and the angry crowd, said that it wasn't possible to be a Christian and a Roman citizen. 00:07:27.000 --> 00:07:35.819 So these men are arguing for and presenting things which are not lawful for us as Roman citizens. 00:07:36.560 --> 00:07:42.560 So they argue that to be a Christian was necessarily to be a bad Roman citizen. 00:07:43.000 --> 00:07:45.000 These things are incompatible, they're saying. 00:07:45.100 --> 00:07:53.060 These guys can't be Roman citizens because of the way that they are teaching the gospel and preaching Christ. 00:07:53.160 --> 00:07:54.379 The two are incompatible. 00:07:54.379 --> 00:08:01.000 So either their choices are, you know, either leave Jesus or leave life in Philippi, basically. 00:08:01.920 --> 00:08:06.420 Now that happened to Paul, so much so that he ended up getting locked in prison, then they come out of prison. 00:08:07.339 --> 00:08:12.120 Interestingly, they get flogged, but then they say, actually, no, we're Roman citizens, is it lawful for you to flog us? 00:08:12.159 --> 00:08:12.879 And then they stop. 00:08:13.219 --> 00:08:14.719 And then they get asked to leave. 00:08:15.199 --> 00:08:21.719 So Paul leaves Philippi with this struggle of its being told that it's incompatible with his Roman citizenship to follow Christ. 00:08:21.720 --> 00:08:25.060 And now that is happening in the Philippian church. 00:08:26.640 --> 00:08:32.040 That it's this kind of suffering that the Philippians are suffering is gently hinted at in verse 27 as well. 00:08:32.259 --> 00:08:39.660 So he says in verse 27, whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. 00:08:39.659 --> 00:08:45.600 And the word translated there for conduct yourself is literally citizen yourself. 00:08:45.600 --> 00:08:52.540 I know that because Nick's Greek and Mike's a genius. 00:08:53.139 --> 00:08:55.639 I'm kind of slightly trepidatious about these things. 00:08:55.680 --> 00:08:59.200 But anyway, it's from the root word polis, which is for city. 00:09:00.100 --> 00:09:05.279 So you've got the, you know, we get the word politics from that, don't we, about running a nation or a city or whatever. 00:09:05.279 --> 00:09:11.339 So Paul is telling them to see themselves as Christians first. 00:09:11.879 --> 00:09:18.199 The first thing that the Philippians are to do is to citizen themselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. 00:09:18.600 --> 00:09:24.379 In other words, you are first, above all things, a citizen of the Lord Jesus. 00:09:25.240 --> 00:09:27.919 You belong to him before you belong to Philippi. 00:09:28.179 --> 00:09:32.819 To own their membership of God's kingdom more dearly than their membership of the Roman Empire. 00:09:32.820 --> 00:09:36.760 Now, then sits the scene, doesn't it? 00:09:36.940 --> 00:09:41.340 That citizenship for the suffering of the exclusion that's described in verse 30. 00:09:43.200 --> 00:09:49.920 Now, I think this is worth thinking about some more because I think this kind of suffering for the Lord Jesus is still alive and well in our day. 00:09:50.060 --> 00:09:54.100 I think we are given the same kind of suffering, aren't we? 00:09:54.600 --> 00:09:57.000 We are given to this suffering. 00:09:58.220 --> 00:10:02.360 Okay, let's move on because I think this is going to be helpful to think about some more. 00:10:02.360 --> 00:10:03.960 The purpose of Christian suffering. 00:10:05.180 --> 00:10:08.779 Now, I want to be careful here, again, because I'm not giving here. 00:10:08.879 --> 00:10:13.220 This is not me giving an exhaustive list of the Bible reasons for suffering. 00:10:13.519 --> 00:10:13.620 Okay? 00:10:14.460 --> 00:10:21.419 Paul, in this short section in the book of Philippians, is not giving you an exhaustive list for suffering itself. 00:10:22.060 --> 00:10:24.519 Sometimes I think we make that mistake, don't we, when we read the Bible. 00:10:24.519 --> 00:10:30.679 But we try and say everything rather than just following the text precisely and saying exactly what it is saying. 00:10:31.480 --> 00:10:38.100 So Paul has his sights on a very particular kind of suffering for the Christian that is given by God and experienced by Paul and the Philippians and by us. 00:10:38.579 --> 00:10:43.419 And then he's got two very specific reasons that that kind of suffering exists. 00:10:43.419 --> 00:10:50.319 So if tonight you'll find yourself suffering sickness or grief or loss, that is not what we're talking about here. 00:10:50.799 --> 00:10:55.799 And, you know, you can be sure as a Christian that that kind of suffering is not purposeless, right? 00:10:56.179 --> 00:10:59.519 The Bible is full of all sorts of different purposes for suffering in our lives. 00:11:00.019 --> 00:11:04.299 Romans 8, 28 ultimately tells us that all things work together for our good. 00:11:04.299 --> 00:11:13.539 So it's not that, but we're going to be really specific about what this passage says about the reasons for this specific kind of suffering, 00:11:13.659 --> 00:11:17.459 the exclusion from the predominant culture for belonging to Christ. 00:11:17.859 --> 00:11:21.259 And that suffering in these verses happens for two reasons. 00:11:21.779 --> 00:11:25.939 The first reason being in the church and the second reason being in the world. 00:11:26.019 --> 00:11:27.799 So let's do the first one first and second one second. 00:11:28.259 --> 00:11:29.919 So firstly, in the church. 00:11:30.620 --> 00:11:32.000 Notice how these verses go. 00:11:32.000 --> 00:11:49.600 Paul wants to hear verse 27, that they are standing firm in the one spirit, side by side or striving together as one for the faith of the gospel without being frightened in any way by those who oppose them. 00:11:50.779 --> 00:11:57.320 Now, I think the NIV footnote probably captures it better in verse 27, that it's not a capital letter spirit. 00:11:57.500 --> 00:12:00.879 I think the parallel here is the one man. 00:12:00.879 --> 00:12:03.720 So it's talking about our unity with each other. 00:12:03.879 --> 00:12:07.399 So not so much is talking about the indwelling spirit of God. 00:12:08.159 --> 00:12:10.360 In other words, Paul, I think, is slightly mixing metaphors. 00:12:10.460 --> 00:12:20.799 He's going from citizenship to the military, where you stand firm, to then competing together as one man, as a sports team for the sake of the gospel. 00:12:20.799 --> 00:12:28.259 So this then is his understanding, is that suffering in some senses unites the church. 00:12:28.259 --> 00:12:29.559 It pulls us together. 00:12:30.120 --> 00:12:32.079 Because here is the place that we belong. 00:12:32.599 --> 00:12:35.279 We know we don't belong in the world, because we're told that all the time. 00:12:35.319 --> 00:12:42.419 But we do belong here, because we are like one man or one person suffering the same things in the same way for the same reason. 00:12:42.419 --> 00:12:46.599 And that pulls us into each other for refuge and for strength. 00:12:47.059 --> 00:13:02.399 So he says, then when I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one spirit, striving together as one man or one for the faith of the gospel, without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. 00:13:02.399 --> 00:13:14.220 It's not difficult, is it, to imagine how this might work in the church in Philippi, that actually their suffering from exclusion from the world pulls them in together into relationship with one another. 00:13:14.559 --> 00:13:17.959 Oh, we know we don't belong there because we get told that all the time. 00:13:17.959 --> 00:13:19.919 But we do belong here. 00:13:20.159 --> 00:13:21.139 And we know that. 00:13:21.220 --> 00:13:22.279 And so we pull together. 00:13:22.279 --> 00:13:28.059 And actually, we're not frightened because we are encouraging one another and spurring one another on. 00:13:28.179 --> 00:13:33.319 And we stand shoulder to shoulder with each other, giving each other strength. 00:13:34.439 --> 00:13:36.659 But there's more to this suffering as well, isn't there? 00:13:36.679 --> 00:13:39.480 So let's just finish by thinking about its purpose in the world. 00:13:40.279 --> 00:13:44.779 Not only does suffering like this unite the church, it's also, I think, in these verses, a witness to the world. 00:13:44.879 --> 00:13:46.339 So look at the end of verse 28. 00:13:46.340 --> 00:13:53.040 This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved and that by God. 00:13:54.580 --> 00:13:58.759 Paul doesn't expand exactly on how this works, but I'm not sure that it's that difficult to work out. 00:13:58.860 --> 00:14:09.060 I think the fact that the Philippians are willing to have their Roman citizenship questioned and challenged shows the world that they are living for something else. 00:14:09.379 --> 00:14:13.040 That's something different to what the rest of the world are living for. 00:14:13.039 --> 00:14:26.620 In other words, it's the willingness of the Philippians to live and die without what the rest of their culture thinks to be the most important things points to a steadfastness and an assurance beyond anything they know. 00:14:27.000 --> 00:14:31.319 Sort of like a, goodness, what are those guys on that they are willing to suffer like that? 00:14:31.360 --> 00:14:33.279 Look at their confidence in the face of suffering. 00:14:33.379 --> 00:14:36.039 Look at their steadfastness, even in the face of our ridicule. 00:14:36.039 --> 00:14:43.939 And then they see, don't they, not only the steadfastness of the church, but they see their exclusion from the church. 00:14:44.539 --> 00:14:50.860 So they see that they don't have something that they can live for or die for in the same way. 00:14:52.120 --> 00:14:58.679 So this is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved and that by God. 00:14:58.679 --> 00:15:02.099 So they know that they don't have this. 00:15:02.319 --> 00:15:04.819 I don't have a confidence beyond this world. 00:15:04.899 --> 00:15:09.059 I don't have anything that I can hope for in this world. 00:15:10.279 --> 00:15:14.539 It's this realization, isn't it, that I, like we were talking about this morning, 00:15:14.679 --> 00:15:19.679 I don't have anything that can speak to my guilt or my experience of betrayal. 00:15:20.399 --> 00:15:22.159 I don't have those kind of things. 00:15:22.199 --> 00:15:23.439 I'm excluded from them. 00:15:23.439 --> 00:15:26.359 I'm being destroyed and will be destroyed. 00:15:26.360 --> 00:15:35.940 So our willingness to suffer and our willingness to suffer and contend as one person alongside each other for the sake of the gospel 00:15:35.940 --> 00:15:38.940 is a witness to the world as well as to one another. 00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:44.960 I think it's just really helpful, isn't it, if our non-Christian friends can get this idea that 00:15:44.960 --> 00:15:51.899 my Christian friend is, they're not living for what I am living for. 00:15:51.899 --> 00:15:58.019 And they are not troubled by the loss of things that I would be devastated by. 00:15:59.220 --> 00:16:04.899 Because it seems as though their treasure and their hope and their desires are placed somewhere else, 00:16:04.980 --> 00:16:08.559 other than in the place where my treasure and my desires are. 00:16:09.419 --> 00:16:11.860 And it works out in church life as well, doesn't it? 00:16:11.860 --> 00:16:20.039 Because we want people, we want people who are not Christians to feel really welcome to come and hear the gospel. 00:16:20.800 --> 00:16:28.320 But we also want them to know that outside of faith in Christ, you don't, you belong by faith in Christ, not any other way. 00:16:28.399 --> 00:16:35.720 So our testimonies to what it means for us to be a Christian, to belong here, are because of our faith in Jesus Christ. 00:16:35.720 --> 00:16:42.200 Attendance at a gathering of the church is not the same as belonging to God's people, 00:16:42.879 --> 00:16:45.879 as it's described here in the church in Philippi. 00:16:48.180 --> 00:16:50.360 Philippians chapter 1, verse 13. 00:16:50.500 --> 00:16:58.379 As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace garden to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. 00:16:58.379 --> 00:17:09.299 You know, maybe at work, it's possible to say, Steve is suffering at work because he's a fool, right? 00:17:10.039 --> 00:17:17.359 But it needs to be like, Steve is suffering at work because he holds dearly the truth of the gospel, 00:17:17.880 --> 00:17:19.400 and people are persecuting him for it. 00:17:20.220 --> 00:17:23.980 But if you're, yeah, so it's important, isn't it, the way we express that. 00:17:24.220 --> 00:17:25.380 Yeah, thanks, Mike. 00:17:25.380 --> 00:17:28.100 Let me close our time in prayer. 00:17:28.540 --> 00:17:36.760 Heavenly Father, we thank you that you have given us not only to believe in Christ, but also to suffer for him. 00:17:38.780 --> 00:17:45.420 We pray that you might just give us a grasp of what a treasure it is to know the Lord Jesus, 00:17:45.860 --> 00:17:48.680 that we might be willing to suffer for him. 00:17:48.680 --> 00:17:58.100 To know that actually exclusion from this world does not matter because we are citizens of heaven. 00:17:59.740 --> 00:18:02.160 Sons and daughters of you, the living God. 00:18:02.160 --> 00:18:11.240 We pray, please, as a church family, that this kind of suffering together might draw us towards one another, 00:18:11.320 --> 00:18:13.700 that we might love and care for one another. 00:18:14.480 --> 00:18:20.480 And also that we might demonstrate to the world that we have a treasure that they don't have, 00:18:21.100 --> 00:18:22.580 a hope that they don't share. 00:18:22.579 --> 00:18:30.279 And Lord, we pray that that might open opportunities that they too might come to know and love and trust you for themselves. 00:18:31.139 --> 00:18:32.720 Do this work amongst us, we pray. 00:18:33.019 --> 00:18:38.679 And as it feels like we live at a point in history where these things will be increasingly important to us, 00:18:39.500 --> 00:18:46.439 we pray that you might strengthen us to be willing to suffer like this for the sake of your glory. 00:18:46.960 --> 00:18:48.119 In Jesus' name. 00:18:48.399 --> 00:18:48.720 Amen. 00:18:48.720 --> 00:18:48.879 Amen. 00:18:49.579 --> 00:18:49.980 Amen. 00:18:49.980 --> 00:18:50.119 Amen. 00:18:50.119 --> 00:18:50.139 Amen.