Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 18 Nov. 2012 and to Nipawin and Tisdale Corps on 06 Jan. 2008 by Captain Michael Ramsay.
To read the 2008 version of this sermon click here: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2008/01/philippians-1-be-bold-be-prepared-are.html
To read a version of this as an article in the Journal of Aggressive Christianity click here: http://www.armybarmy.com/JAC/article6-54.html
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Today, before we get into our text a little bit, I thought that we would look at some background information about Philippians. I have a little quiz for us to see if any of us know anything about the historical context of Philippians (answers below):[1]
1) Philippians live in what city?
2) Who is the city of Philippi named after?
3) Who was Phillip?
4) What other famous battle took there?
5) Does anyone remember, where in the Bible – just recently would we have read about Caesar Augustus? [2]
Very good, so this battle of Philippi that Augustus fought in is less than 100 years before this letter to the Philippians was written; there may even still be some veterans around. We just had Remembrance Day here. Reflecting on the battle of Philippi it would be similar to our reflecting on WWI or WWII. It is still in our general consciousness and just like our world changed after the World Wars of our time, the Greco-Roman world had changed significantly by the Apostle Paul’s time as well.
The world does change very quickly, doesn’t it? I remember when I was growing up in the 1970s. We lived in a semi-rural area of Victoria. Behind our house were cornfields and beside our house were Farmer Wild’s potato fields and my parents had a very small orchard of our own in our back yard. And the Vantreights, they had Daffodil fields everywhere. Between Farmer Wild and the Vantreights there was no end to seasonal agricultural employment for the neighbourhood teens and pre-teens. In the Spring some of us would even cut school in order to make some money cutting daffodils.
Now, of course, my parents’ former house has been completely swallowed up by the city Victoria, which is now a community of more than 300 000 people. It is Canada’s 13th largest city.[3] Things change.
But in those days life was different. The area in which we lived was semi-rural and dogs could even roam free without being on a leash or without even their owners. They would often stroll along by themselves or together in pairs or even packs and then they would meet up with another pack of dogs and they would start to investigate each other. Of course, every once and a while there would be an aggressive dog or two and I certainly saw more than one dog fight growing up.
In those days, we had a dog. His name was Tuffy. Now Tuffy, he was a little border collie/sheltie cross and he was a smart dog but every once in a while, of course, he would get into one of these scraps himself.
I remember more than once, Tuffy would see some dog on our block that doesn’t belong there. He would charge them. It wouldn’t matter how big is the dog. It doesn’t matter how fierce is the dog; Tuffy runs at him. He’s not afraid of him. He growls at him. He, completely without any fear, he engages the intruder. He charges him.
Now sometimes, like I said, the dogs are a lot bigger than Tuffy. Still Tuffy charges, teeth bared- no fear – he charges the giant intruder with full confidence. And then when the large dog strikes back, he… runs away.
The other dog inevitably chases him and Tuffy runs right toward home. Tuffy runs faster and faster as he gets closer and closer to home. The pursuing dog inevitably, nonetheless, gets closer and closer to Tuffy. And as the dog gets closer, Tuffy – never afraid – Tuffy runs to… our next-door neighbour’s house. He bounds up the stairs to his deck. The dog comes flying after Tuffy and arrives on the deck where he is trapped and … there is Goldie.[4] Goldie is by far the biggest dog you have ever seen and Goldie and Tuffy are quite a pair. They really are the best of friends.
So now this pursuing dog, the dog chasing Tuffy – which until this moment seemed quite large - is all of a sudden dwarfed by the giant Goldie. He is surrounded and trapped on our neighbour’s deck. After a couple of very noisy minutes, the intruding dog finally finds a way out and off of our neighbours deck and runs away as fast as it can never to come back again. And there is little Tuffy standing at the top of the stairs (if dogs could smile) this little collie-sheltie cross is telling the much bigger dog, I’m sure, never to come back – or he’ll have to deal with Goldie.
When Tuffy saw the intruder, he wasn’t worried, he engaged him; he did not avoid a conflict. He was prepared; he was not afraid. He didn’t worry about what could happen to him. His goal was to encourage his opposition toward Goldie and have Goldie take care of the rest.
This is actually the same sort of thing that is happening in Paul’s life as he writes this letter to the Christians in Philippi. Paul has been openly engaging the non- and pre-Christian Roman world of the first century AD/CE. He has met with some strong resistance and it is just like he is Tuffy up against a bigger dog. Paul is even in jail right now as he writes this letter that we are looking at today. Paul is in a jail and jails then, like jails now, really are not the best places in the world to be and not only that, Paul is facing a capital charge[5]. Paul, if convicted, is facing execution. Paul is seemingly cornered by a larger and an aggressive part of the pre- and non-Christian world of his day but he is neither afraid nor is he even apparently concerned for himself.
Look at our text today…well…actually wait a minute…imagine with me first, that you are in prison. I don’t know how many of you have ever seen the inside of a prison. I’ve seen a couple. I can tell you that they themselves can be more than a little intimidating – even when you aren’t confined there.
Now imagine that you aren’t just in any prison. Imagine that you are in an off shores American prison – the Super Power of our day – imagine that you are in Guatanamo Bay or something and that they’ve actually charged you OR even imagine that you are in Afghanistan or Pakistan and in the hands of the Taliban or another such group and imagine that you are facing a capital charge. Imagine that you are facing execution if you are convicted.
What would you write in your letters home? If you could make a video tape or leave a phone message, what would it say? I imagine that we would be more than a little afraid. I imagine that we would ask for everyone to pray for us. We would try to activate a prayer chain on our behalf and we would get everyone that we could to pray for our safe return, right? We would send up the prayer alert and ask everyone to pray for our deliverance.
Now this is interesting because, this isn’t what Paul does here at all. Paul mentions that he is in prison but it is not with his own state that he is concerned (1:18b-26).[6] He is bold and he is concerned with how well the Philippians are doing at standing firm in preparing to meet Christ (cf. 1:11) on the balcony, as it were. Paul is concerned that they not be afraid and Paul is concerned that they are prepared for this Day of the Lord by living in a manner worthy of the Gospel (1:27), by being united in purpose (1:18; 2:1-8; 3:15-16), by staying the course, by fighting the foe, and Paul is even now rejoicing in the Lord’s accomplishments through them (cf. 1:3, 6);[7] Paul is encouraging them to be bold in making preparations for the day of the Lord’s return. Are they ready for Christ’s return? This is Paul’s concern as he is sitting in prison awaiting appeal.
Look at earlier in Chapter One. Instead of ‘Please pray for me’, Paul writes in Verse 3, ‘I thank my God every time I remember you.’ Paul is not concerned about himself. He is thinking about others and he is thinking about their participation in the Gospel and Kingdom of God; and Paul goes on, Verse 6, he tells them how confident he is that God will complete the good work in them that God has already started. Verses 9 and 10: he speaks of his desire that their love may overflow with wisdom and knowledge to help them determine what is best so that they are prepared when the day of the Lord does arrive – and it’s coming soon. When the day of the Lord does arrive, Paul reminds us, that when we are prepared, the righteousness that we will have comes from God.
Paul is not worried about his own self. Paul is concerned about others standing firm, about others being prepared for the Kingdom of God. This is a man in chains writing here. This is a man facing a death sentence. This is a man who has put his life on the line for the Gospel and right now is in jail awaiting appeal.
He is in jail and we don’t read in his letter any “Oh why is this happening to me, Lord”, do we? We don’t read any of the, “What have I done to deserve this?” or “How could this be happening to me?” Talk. Do we? NO, we don’t. Rather he is bold because he is prepared; he says to live or die, both are good. Death is gain (because of the resurrection) and life, life, is Christ!
We don’t hear him whining and complaining (cf. Romans 8:19). We don’t hear him making accusations about his captors. We don’t hear him calling down curses upon Caesar. We don’t read of him complaining about even the food or his fellow inmates. What do we hear? We hear that his captors are hearing the Gospel and we hear Paul encouraging others to be bold and to be prepared to share the Gospel in Philippi. Paul is in jail and he is concerned about the Philippians and their courage to fully participate in the Messianic Kingdom of Jesus when Jesus returns.
Now Philippi, which was once a predominately Greek city, is a small Roman Colony with special status and many Romans citizens.[8] It is a city of privilege[9]. Paul has visited it before, and now he, imprisoned by the Romans, is writing to encourage them who are in this privileged city and who are free and he is writing encouraging them how to live.[10] Interesting.
The one imprisoned is writing to encourage those who are free. Paul is imprisoned for his defence of Christ. In our world today, people are still imprisoned for defence of the Gospel. Missionaries are still martyred but lest we think ourselves better than we are, let us not forget that there are Canadians who struggle against our own current governments for the Kingdom of God.
Now in this part of Saskatchewan we still have it relatively good. We sang Christian hymns, read Scripture and I briefly spoke about Christ in the public Remembrance Day ceremonies last week. The schools put on Christian plays at Christmas and there has even been reference to Christ in Rebecca’s homework. But let’s not be mistaken about what is happening in this country. Today people are suffering for the Gospel and we do need to stand up for Christ.
In BC, in previous sermons and articles[11] I have mentioned the religious persecution that has already begun in the public school system. In the 80s or early 90s, we were told not even to refer to Christmas in the schools. We were told rather to call it a ‘Winter Festival.’ I heard of Christian student teachers taking a stand at this time and I heard of some of these Christians not successfully completing their degree or suffering even worse consequences.
Even more recently, it was decided in BC’s lower mainland that Christian parents were not allowed to protect their children from courses –taught by outsiders, not even their regular school teachers, if I remember correctly- that they felt encouraged promiscuity, fornication, homosexuality and adultery. So not only are Christians not allowed to try to protect others from what some consider very dangerous things, but they are even forced to subject their own children to these things.[12]
Persecution for serving Christ is not constrained to the Roman Empire of the 1st Century or the third world of today; so are we prepared to be bold in defence of the Gospel?
In Nova Scotia, after the Swissair crash, the Christian clergy was told not to mention the name of Jesus and after 9/11, the only world view represented in the official Canadian ceremonies was that of secular-atheism: God was excluded from the ceremonies.
In Saskatchewan, I have heard a local politician, encouraging others to write letter to the editor defending our freedom to proclaim Christ in the public arena. In Ontario, however, people are calling the police to step-in when politicians dare to pray in even small meetings. Persecution for serving Christ is not constrained to the Roman Empire of the 1st Century or the third world of today. It is happening more and more here in Canada of the 21st Century. As it comes here, are we prepared to be bold in defence of the Gospel?
We here in Canada and Saskatchewan have it pretty good, just like the citizens of Philippi did. Canada is one of the richest countries of the world and a close ally of the Super Power of our day. Philippi had a privileged status within the Empire of its day; people had it pretty good by comparison but even in Philippi persecution had begun and even now in Canada persecution has begun.
As this is true let us not just lament the acts of our aggressors. Paul didn’t. Let us not run away and hide. Paul didn’t. The Philippians were not to. Let us not cry out, ‘whoa is me.’ Let us not let our predecessors’ preaching have been in vain. Let us not let those who are hauled before the courts in this very country for our faith today do so in vain. Let us rather stand firm in proclaiming the Gospel.
Paul is encouraging us, thousands of years later; Paul is encouraging us, since we have the same struggles that he had (cf. 1:30), Paul is encouraging us to be bold in our proclamation and Paul is encouraging us to be bold in our preparation for the Day of the Lord so that our love may overflow and so that indeed the harvest of holiness, the harvest of righteousness may be produced in our own lives through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God (1:11; cf. 1:27,28).[13]
Let us not be mistaken, in our world today, as we walk along we, like Tuffy, we will run into dogs who will attack us for the truth of the Gospel of Christ. We will run into big, aggressive beasts. We must stand firm in proclaiming the Gospel and we must stand firm living a life worthy of the Gospel (1:27,28) and - who knows? - in the process we may lead even our aggressors to Jesus Christ so that even they may be saved and so that even we may be saved alongside them because it is only through Christ that our salvation comes.
Let us pray.
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[1] 1) Philippi 2) Philip of Macedon; Macedonia is one of the northern most Greek provinces 3) Alexander the Great’s father; he laid the ground work for the Greek Empire and when he took over Philippi he really encouraged Greek immigration to the Area 4) The Battle of Philippi which was around 300 years later; this was an important battle in the Roman civil war in which Caesar Augustus won. 5) The Christmas story, remember, “In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that the entire Roman world should be taxed (Luke 2:1).”
[2] Octavius, as he was called at this time, was allied with Antonius (Mark Antony) and Lepedus against the republicans, led by Cassius and Brutus. Octavius later defeated Mark Antony as well which led to the famous story of Cleopatra’s suicide by Asp. Octavius / Augustus, after securing power, and thanks to Julius Caesar’s wrestling power from the Senate and placing it instead in the leader’s hands, would turn out to be arguably the most powerful Roman Emperor ever.
[3] 2006 Census. Canadian’s largest urban area:. www.stascan.ca
[4] I can’t remember her real name.
[5] Cf. Fred B. Craddock, Philippians, Interpretation Series, 1985, p. 19He may or may not actually be in a jail as we think of it today. He is still awaiting trial so he could be in a cave, a secured room, a house, or a barracks. Regardless, he is in the hands of the Super Power of his day, the Roman authority (Paul, of course, is himself a Roman citizen) and we should not assume that his imprisonment is necessarily easy. In some of our contemporary Canadian minimum security facilities, which are undoubtedly more comfortable than Paul’s arrangements, outsiders have greatly underestimated the effects of confinement upon people. Imprisonment is not a pleasant experience. Let’s not forget as well that he is awaiting trial for a crime that is punishable by death. This fact itself does not tend to gain oneself favour from one’s captors. See also DW Palmer, “To Die is Gain.” Novum Testamentum 17. 1975. pp. 203-208, re: release from imprisonment via death (and later resurrection, of course).
[6] This segment (1:18b-26) serves to clarify to readers that even if Paul does die, it doesn’t matter and they (we) should still be encouraged. After all if he does die, the next thing he knows will be the resurrection, when the Kingdom to come has indeed been established and gained and if he does live, he can continue to rally the troops to be prepared for the coming ‘Day of the Lord.’
[7] Paul’s reference to “Joy” is repeated numerous times throughout the letter.
[8] This is particularly interesting in the context of this letter because it doesn’t appear that there was much of a Jewish population in the tiny city of 10 000 people at all. This is interesting because Paul usually first evangelised the Jewish communities in the towns. Here there is no such evidence of such a segment even existing.
[9] There was however persecution of the Christians in this city. Cf. Philippians 1:28-29.
[10] Cf. Morna D. Hooker, The Letter to the Philippians, NIB XI, 476. It is interesting that there is some debate as to the theme of the letter itself. One thing, however, that is evident regardless of the primary theme (if there need be one at all) is that Paul is indeed encouraging the readers how to act in accordance in relationship to our theological understanding. Cf., also, R.C.H. Lenski, St. Paul’s Epistles to the Galatians, Ephesians, and Philippians, p. 695.
[11] Full citations for the references in this list are in other sermons and papers of mine, most of which are available on-line at www.sheepspeak.com.
[12] , Cf. StatsCan: http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census01/Products/Analytic/companion/rel/bc.cfmS ince this type of indoctrination has begun in the schools, atheism has become the fastest growing religion in BC
[13] Paul is encouraging us not to fight amongst ourselves (cf. 1:18: How it is that we proclaim the gospel doesn’t matter; what matters is that it is proclaimed).[13]He is encouraging us to proper actions, ethics, and to have
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