A devotional thought presented originally to Swift Current Men’s Prayer Breakfast, Thursday 09 April 2015
Read
Philippians 1:3-6
Imagine
you are in prison. Imagine you are in an off shore American prison or in the
Middle East in the hands of ISIS or another group and imagine you are facing
possible execution.
If you
could write a letter, make a video or leave a phone message, what would it say?
I imagine we would be more than a little afraid. I imagine we would ask
everyone to pray for us. We would activate a prayer chain and ask everyone to
pray for our safe return, right?
This
is not what Paul does. Paul is in prison but it is not with his own state that
he is concerned. He is concerned with how well others - free people, privileged
people - are preparing for Christ’s return (cf. 1:11). He is in jail awaiting
execution and he is encouraging free people to prepare for the ‘Day of the
Lord’ by living in a manner worthy of the Gospel (1:27), being united in
purpose (1:18), staying the course, and he is even now rejoicing (cf. 1:3, 6)
in the Lord’s accomplishments through them.
Instead
of ‘please pray for me’, Paul writes, ‘I thank my God every time I
remember you’. Paul is not concerned about himself. He is thinking about
others and their participation in the Kingdom of God. Paul tells them how
confident he is that God will complete the good work in them that God has
already started. He speaks of his desire that their love may overflow with
wisdom and knowledge so that they are prepared when ‘Day of the Lord’ arrives.
Paul
is not worried about himself. Paul is concerned about others and the Kingdom of
God. This man is in chains. This man is facing a death sentence and he is in
jail awaiting appeal.
He is
in jail and we don’t read in his letter, “Why is this happening to me, Lord”?
We don’t read, “What have I done to deserve this?” or “How could this be
happening to me?” Paul is not bemoaning or even questioning his situation. Just
the opposite: Paul is bold because he is prepared; he says to live or die, both
are good. Death is gain (because of the resurrection) and to live… life is
Christ.
We
don’t hear him whining and complaining. We don’t hear accusations about his
captors. We don’t hear him calling down curses upon Caesar. We don’t read
complaints about the food or fellow inmates. What we read here is that his
captors are hearing the Gospel and we see Paul encouraging others to be bold
and to be prepared to share the Gospel.
Paul
is in jail and he is concerned about others and their courage to fully
participate in the Messianic Kingdom. As Paul awaited the ‘Day of our Lord’,
that was his primary concern even with all that was going on in his life. So
then, the question for us today: as we await the ‘Day of our Lord’, what is our
primary concern - our own state of affairs or God’s Kingdom and others’
salvation?
[1] Based on the article by Captain Michael Ramsay, Be Bold for the
Gospel...a look at Philippians ch.1. JOURNAL OF AGGRESSIVE CHRISTIANITY 54
(April-May 2008) On-line: http://www.armybarmy.com/JAC/article6-54.html
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