WWUTT 011 Suffering Is a Blessing (Philippians 1:27-39)

When we suffer for the cause of Christ, we are sharing in Christ's suffering. And get this, the suffering that you endure for Christ is actually a gift from God.

Yes, indeed, it is a blessing to suffer for Christ when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand The Text, and my name is Pastor Gabe Hughes. Sure, great to be along with you for another week as we are continuing to study through the book of Philippians.

Now, I said on Thursday of last week that we were going to finish up Philippians chapter 1, but I actually want to extend one more day into Philippians 1, and then we're going to begin in chapter 2 tomorrow.

But there's still a section there in those last few verses of chapter 1 that we've not yet quite covered yet, and I thought was such a good and important lesson for us to draw out of this.

We needed to spend some time studying it together. So we're back in Philippians chapter 1 today.

We're going to look at verses 27 through 30, and then tomorrow we will get into chapter 2.

Toward the end of this program, we're going to take a question, and it actually has to do with justification by faith.

This was something we talked about last week in our sermon series in church. We've been going through Romans 4.

Actually, just yesterday, we started in Romans chapter 5. But while we were studying through Romans 4, we talked about justification by faith, so it's a topic that is fresh on my mind.

So I'm going to take a question related to being justified by faith alone, and that will come up toward the end of the program.

If you have a question that you would like to submit to this broadcast, go to our website, www .utt

.com. We've gotten in the habit of placing the latest podcast episode there on the right side of the page, and you'll notice the email link that is under that podcast play button.

So click on the email link, send us your question. If we get one from you by email, we'll for sure answer the question and then also ask your permission if we could use it in this broadcast.

You can also follow us on Twitter and on Facebook. And don't forget our videos that are on YouTube, all of that accessible through www .utt

.com. But the best way to get us a question is by email. Let's go to the text here, and then we'll pray and continue to digest these things together.

Philippians 1, beginning in verse 27. Let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent,

I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit with one mind, striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents.

This will be a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation and that from God.

For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ, you should not only believe in him, but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw

I had and now hear that I still have. God, as we come to this text today, as we continue to learn from what we read in this book and Paul's letter to the

Philippians, I pray that we understand what it means that we've been granted for the sake of Christ to suffer.

And I pray that when we have to undergo persecutions for declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ, that it is a blessing of God that we go through this, because we share in Christ's sufferings and then also share in his life.

And it renews and it restores our hope in the promises that come through Christ Jesus, our

Lord. And it is in his name that we pray. Amen. So again, Philippians chapter one, starting in verse 27, only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ.

And when we talked about this last week, we mentioned how the Greek word that's used there lends itself to understanding that we need to behave as citizens of the kingdom of God.

So Paul is calling the Philippians to behave as citizens, placing our hope not in Caesar, but in Christ.

But as we look at it phrased, I mean, there's a reason why in English, it was translated in a way that it reads only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ.

We can still take from that to understand that the way that we live needs to show that we're worthy of the gospel that we proclaim.

What do I mean by that? Simply that if we expect the gospel of Jesus Christ to change others, if we go out with the gospel, expecting it to transform another person and make them more in the image of Christ by what they've heard proclaimed, and then they repent and they follow after Christ and live in his righteousness.

We also need to display with our lives that we have been changed by the gospel of Christ and follow in his righteousness.

So his righteousness is the righteousness that we show. It's a righteousness that does not come from us.

It comes from God. It comes from Christ. Here's something that we need to remember as we go out with the gospel.

What we want other people to become in Christ, repenting and coming to life in Christ, we need to remember that we were just like them.

All of us at one point were following the prince of the power of the air. We were children of wrath like the rest of the world, following the passions of our flesh and the desires of the body and the mind.

Okay, Paul talks all about that in Ephesians chapter two, but then Christ saved us, pulled us from that and into his righteousness.

In Titus chapter three, Paul writes to Titus and he says that we ourselves were once foolish.

We were once disobedient. We were led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.

But when the goodness and loving kindness of God, our savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the

Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ, our savior, so that being justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

You get that? Through Christ, we become heirs, meaning that we get all the stuff the king gets.

But there was at one point when we were in this place where we were once foolish and disobedient and led by various passions and slaves to our own sin.

We once were there. And so when we go out with the gospel of Christ, we need to go out with the same grace and mercy that Christ showed us, knowing we once were just like you in our testimony, being able to share.

I once was this, but in Christ, I've been changed. I've been transformed. We need to show the righteousness of Christ in the ways that we live, his holiness, and by his power, we will be able to be obedient and follow in that path of righteousness.

So we show with our whole lives, our manner of life, we show that we are worthy of the gospel of Christ.

So therefore, when we go out with it, it becomes a testimony in our lives of how we've been changed and transformed.

And so Paul goes on to say, as he's saying this to the Philippians, he says, let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ so that whether I come and see you or I am absent,

I may hear that you are standing firm in one spirit with one mind, striving side by side for faith in the gospel, for the faith of the gospel.

Now, I want to tell you that there's enough evidences going on here in Paul's letter to lead us to believe that there was some strife going on in the

Philippian church. There was a little bit of discontinuity and a little bit of disunity going on there.

In particular, I think of Philippians 4 .2. We'll talk about this more when we get there. But Paul says,

I entreat Yodia and I entreat Sintesh to agree in the Lord. Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women who have labored side by side with me in the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life.

So there's these two women in the Philippian church that apparently have been disagreeing. And Paul actually calls them out in his letter.

Can you imagine sitting in the Philippian church and hearing your name called by the Apostle Paul? Imagine this happening in your church.

Hey, I encourage Stan and Steve. You guys need to start getting along.

Can you imagine if that started being said from the pulpit? How would you feel if you were Stan or Steve, right?

So Yodia and Sintesh hear their names called by the Apostle Paul as this is being read in the assembly of the

Philippian church and saying, you guys need to agree together in the Lord. Stop your squabbling. Stop your fighting.

Get along with one another. But then to the rest of the church, he puts it on them. These two have been arguing and fighting because you as the church need to come together with these people and get them into agreement.

I ask you, true companion, help these women who have labored side by side with me in the gospel, together with Clement.

You know, I'm not questioning these women's faith because they've labored with me, along with Clement, along with the rest of you and my fellow workers whose names are written in the book of life.

So he calls their attention to this matter and calls them to operate in unity.

So there was some strife that was happening there in the Philippian church. And so Paul kind of comes to that here for the first time in Philippians 1 .27.

He says, I want to hear from you that you're standing firm in one spirit. There's no division in this church.

Let you be standing firm in the faith in one spirit, with one mind. The mind of Christ, as we'll see

Paul talk about in Philippians 2 .5. He'll clarify that more later. Striving side by side for the faith of the gospel with one another.

Not frightened in anything by your opponents. That's verse 28, or the start of verse 28.

You know, we're able to have more confidence in the flesh because of what we're able to do together. And if we are standing side by side in one mind, it gives us greater confidence in this mission's work that we're supposed to do to share the gospel.

We saw evidences of this already previously in the letter where Paul is talking about how the persecution that has come upon him for advancing the gospel has actually emboldened other brothers in Christ because they are now more bold to speak the word without fear.

So if we stand side by side and we encourage one another in one mind in Christ for this one faith that we are able to not be frightened in anything when our opponents come up against us.

And Paul actually goes on to say in verse 28, this will become a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation and that from God.

Your unity, your bond in the faith to see that when your opponents come against you that you stand firm in the faith, whether and we're talking about here, whether this is a criticism or it is a physical persecution.

They're both persecutions. Now, it is true that here in the United States, we don't experience the same kind of persecution that people experience in other parts of the world, actually being beaten for their faith and thrown in prison for their faith, just as the apostle

Paul has experienced. But still, we can be made fun of for our faith. We can be ridiculed and persecuted in that way.

And that is a persecution. And I want to tell you this. If we in the United States of America cannot even stand against being verbally assaulted for our faith, then how on earth would we ever stand if a day comes when we would be physically assaulted for our faith?

There are physical assaults that happen even here in the United States. I was just reading of an account last week where a group was witnessing outside of an abortion clinic.

Tony Miano was among them. And there was a guy that came up and tried to douse them with comet cleaner. That stuff gets in your eyes.

It'll blind you. And a cop that was nearby would not even arrest the guy that caused the assault.

There's that family in Oregon who stood upon their convictions and would not bake a cake for a gay wedding.

And they're being persecuted by the state, fined in excess of $124 ,000, even threatened to have their home taken away from them if they don't pay that fine.

That's a persecution. We do experience persecution. And that's persecution from the state itself.

So there are persecutions that we experience here. And the Apostle Paul did say to his servant

Timothy that anyone who desires to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

But when we stand together, when we do not shrink back because of our opponents, and we stand together in one body and in one mind, it'll become a clear sign to our opponents of their destruction, but of our salvation and that from God.

Let's put this in the context of the Philippians in particular, because I talked about last week how for a Roman Christian, it was impossible to believe the gospel.

We're only able to believe the gospel because of the power of God. So when somebody comes up against a

Philippian Christian and persecutes them and sees that they're still standing firm, and furthermore, they're standing with one body, with others side by side with them in the faith, it becomes a clear sign to them of their destruction because they will realize their ability to continue to believe, even in the midst of that persecution, is a power that comes not from themselves.

It is the power of God. That becomes a testimony even to those who oppose them.

It becomes a clear sign of their destruction. They will realize by the testimony of just that I've persecuted them and they remain strong in the faith.

It'll become a testimony to them that they are on a path to destruction, a path to eternal destruction.

And so hopefully there are some that will even come to repentance as a result of that witness.

It'll become a testimony to them of the salvation of those who are in Christ Jesus and that it comes from God.

It comes from God. Our faith, our steadfastness. We've been talking about this since we started the study in Philippians 1.

It comes from God. Our salvation, all of it, it's from God.

Verse 29, for it has been granted to you. Get that? All right, coming back to that.

It has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake.

How about that? It's been granted to you. It is actually the blessing of God that you get to suffer for Christ.

Should we actually pray to be able to suffer for Christ Jesus? Yeah, we should. We should actually ask

God, how can I suffer for you today? What is it can I endure on behalf of the gospel of Jesus Christ?

And folks, I don't think that we as Christians are praying for that enough. I think that we pray for comfort. I think that we pray that things will be nice.

It'll all be hunky -dory. That all the laws will go my way. All of the governors will be elected that I want to have elected.

That everything is nice and friendly in this place that I am in. Now I think that we should desire that.

I think that we should because Paul instructs Timothy to pray for that. Let me flip here to 1

Timothy chapter 1. He says in 1 Timothy 1, sorry, chapter 2.

1 Timothy 2, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people. For kings and all who are in high positions that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.

This is good and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior who desires all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

So we should desire to see a transformation happen in our environment, in our government, and in our country.

That would be one that honors and glorifies God, yes. But we should also pray for an opportunity to suffer for Christ Jesus because we have been promised that we would be persecuted.

In Mark chapter 10, Jesus says to his disciples, you will receive all of these things in my name.

Brothers and sisters, people, all of these things will be given to you with persecutions.

You will be persecuted for my name's sake. We do need to pray and ask that we can suffer for Christ Jesus because that is a blessing of God.

It is granted to you that for the sake of Christ, you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake.

Peter says, 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 12, beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you.

But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.

If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed. If you're insulted, that's verse 14.

If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed. God has blessed you because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

You know, when Jesus gave the Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapter 5, you know what I'm talking about?

Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted. On and on it goes.

Jesus is not talking about how to be saved. He is describing those who are saved.

Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.

These are those who are saved and are following in Christ Jesus. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the sons of God.

And here we get into these further blessings in verses 10, 11, and 12. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Just as the prophets were persecuted, you partake in their sufferings. You partake in Christ's sufferings.

You partake in the suffering that the apostle Paul has had to go through because we have suffered for Christ.

It's been granted to you for the sake of Christ that you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake.

Engaged in the same conflict that you saw that I had and now hear that I still have.

The apostle Paul writes to the Philippians, God, as we have read this text, as we've come to understand these things,

I pray that we understand what it means to be blessed to suffer for your sake. And may we do that. May we not shrink back from declaring the gospel, but may we put ourselves out there walking into our communities, declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ so that others might hear the gospel and be saved.

And if we are persecuted for it, all the more blessing upon us for that. We pray and ask these things that you embolden us in Jesus' name.

Amen. Is atheism a faith?

Sure seems like it. They have their share of fanatics like most any religion. And you know what? They even have their own churches.

Seriously, guys? As for the question, the answer is no, it's not. Atheism is not a rebranding of faith.

It's the absence of faith. And scripture affirms this. In 2 Thessalonians 3, the apostle Paul asked the church for prayer.

And one of the things that he asked them to pray for is deliverance from wicked and evil men who are faithless.

In this context, that doesn't mean just atheists, but anyone who does not follow Christ, to whom faith is offensive. Even polytheists are faithless.

They worship gods of their own making because they do not have faith. You could surely say that an atheist worships, they worship themselves.

But if we're serious, a statement like, I don't have enough faith to be an atheist, is a misunderstanding of what faith really is.

Hebrews 11 .1 reads, Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

So the biblical definition of faith is not a guess at something we can't see. It is knowing with absolute certainty the promises of God.

We can see in history that He's fulfilled His promises in the past, and He will do what He's promised for the future. So certain are we of His words that we are convicted to obey them.

Here's something that goes against the common understanding. To not have faith is to actually refuse to think. Psalm 92 .5

-6 reads, How great are your works, O Lord! Your thoughts are very deep. The stupid man cannot know, the fool cannot understand this.

When the subject of faith comes up, avoid semantic arguments and direct others to the truth. To live by faith is to know the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.

And that's when we understand the text. Our question today comes from Chris in Nigeria. Hey!

Who says, Hey, what? Greetings from Nigeria and in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And thank you for your ministry.

I have a question about something I thought you might be able to clear up. I saw Josh McDowell on TBN saying that we are not saved by faith.

But I've heard you say that we are. Is one of you wrong or am I misinterpreting something?

Thank you for your time. Chris, thank you for listening in Nigeria. I have seen the clip that you are talking about.

I actually tried to find it on YouTube, but I wasn't able to locate it. I did, however, find this video where McDowell makes the same statement.

I'm going to go ahead and play it and then give a response. This is author and apologist Josh McDowell. You know, one of the most heretical phrases

I hear today by evangelists, pastors and Christians is this.

That I've been saved by faith or salvation is by faith. Men and women, that is not true.

That is impossible. You say, wait a minute. What do you mean I haven't been saved by faith? Well, you can't be saved by faith.

Look, if you could be saved by faith, you wouldn't need Jesus. Just build up your faith and you would be saved.

You see, the value of Christian faith is not in the one who is believing, but rather in the one who is believed.

The key to faith is not so much in the one who is trusting, but rather in the one who is trusted.

It is the object of your faith, Jesus Christ, that gives value to your faith.

If we remove the object, then your faith is worthless. It is

Jesus and Jesus only who has the power to forgive you and to raise us from death unto life.

You've got to understand this. I beg you to read this chapter in The Unshakable Truth.

You see, you can't be saved by faith. Biblically, we're saved by grace through faith in Jesus.

You remove the in Christ and you can have all the grace and all the faith you want and you won't be saved.

Okay, McDowell there is selling a book called Unshakable Truth in that clip. Now, I want to share with you that I have worked with Josh.

He probably wouldn't remember me, but we did a rally together down in Texas. My band at the time led the worship and Josh did the speaking.

I think that he's had a great apologetics ministry. I've personally witnessed him undergoing persecution for the faith and remaining steadfast.

I think that he's led thousands, if not tens of thousands to Christ. So I have no reason to doubt the legitimacy of his faith.

But on this particular subject, in the particular clip that you just heard, McDowell is dead wrong.

In fact, I am very disappointed with the way that he opens up his argument. He says that the statement I've been saved by faith is heresy.

As knowledgeable as McDowell is about so many different biblical subjects, he is way off on this.

Isolating Ephesians 2 .8 and saying that any other statement is contrary to that verse and therefore heretical.

Well, then he's going to have to explain Romans 5 .1 where straight up Paul says we are justified by faith.

No ifs, ands, or buts about it. We're saved by faith. There are two major problems with what

McDowell is doing. Number one, he's quarreling over words and that causes division. And number two,

McDowell doesn't actually understand faith. The first problem is explained through 1

Timothy 6, starting in verse 3. It says that if anyone teaches anything in such a way that does not accord with the sound words of our

Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness. In other words, teaching that produces godly living.

If someone strays from that or develops quarrels over it, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing.

He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.

Okay, so that's the first problem. That McDowell is quarreling over words that causes friction and division.

The second problem is that McDowell doesn't actually understand faith. He says, if you could be saved by faith, you wouldn't need

Jesus. Just build up your faith and you would be saved. Excuse me. But then he goes on to say the value of Christian faith is not in the one who is believing, but rather in the one who is believed.

And here's the thing. I totally agree with that because that's what faith is. It's faith in Christ.

A person who doesn't have faith does not believe in Christ, period. McDowell says, if you remove the object of your faith, then your faith is worthless.

Well, if you remove the object, then you have no faith. It's a very simple explanation.

We tend to abuse that word faith. We think that you can have faith in the weather, that it'll be clear tomorrow, or you can have faith that your favorite football team is going to win their game this weekend.

But none of that is faith. Christ is the author of faith. Hebrews 12, 1 and 2.

If Christ has not authored it, then it isn't faith. That's why Paul says that we are justified by faith alone.

It is a faith that is God -given. It is a faith in God given by God. In Romans 4, he explains that Abraham was justified by faith alone.

And Abraham was not justified because he concentrated hard enough and, bam, he was able to have faith.

No, no one can do that. And McDowell seems to have this idea that faith is something that we do. It is not our work.

It is God's. Abraham was justified by God by a faith that came from God.

That's it. All right? Faith comes from God. If McDowell truly understood what the scriptures say on this subject, he would know that.

John 6, 29. This is the work of God that you believe in whom he has sent.

So, again, very disappointed with McDowell calling justification by faith heresy. He calls me a heretic in that clip right at the very beginning because I have said that we are saved by faith alone.

Everything that he says in that clip has a biblical foundation, but the way he words it and throws in the word heresy makes it divisive.

A better way for him to have worded his argument should have been more like this. Faith alone saves, but saving faith is never alone.

He could have said that and then go on to talk about faith and works that authenticate that faith as genuine, but instead saying that it's heresy and not even considering passages like Romans 5.

It was just a very divisive statement for him to make. So, anyway, thank you for your question, Chris. God bless you guys.

We'll be back again tomorrow as we continue our study of Philippians, jumping into Chapter 2. You've been listening to When We Understand the

Text with Pastor Gabriel Hughes. We feature dozens of videos covering a wide range of biblical topics viewed by thousands around the world each day.

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.com. Thank you for listening. Tomorrow we'll continue in Philippians, rejoicing together in God's truth when we understand the text.