Granted Faith and Suffering -Phil. 1:28-30

Philippians 1:28-30 and the Call to Boldness

28 to 30, verses 28 to 30, Philippians chapter 1, verses 28 through 27. Before we read over this text, let us come before the throne of grace and pray unto our triune God. Lord God, I thank you for the privilege and the honor it is to do and perform these different things that take place in your local bride here in Agerman, Lord.

God, I just pray that each one of us would take these things seriously, not haphazardly or looking over things, Lord, but we would take these things with a seriousness and reverence, God, and even a fear from misunderstanding what you have here in your text, Lord.

God, let us approach you today in worship, but not foregoing our reverence. Let us remember what you have done for us, God. Lord, I would ask these things as we read now today in your name, amen. Philippians chapter 1, verses 28 through 30, let us read this text now.

In no way alarmed by your opponents, which is a sign of destruction for them, but of salvation to you, and that too from God, for to you it has been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in him and also to suffer for his sake, having the same struggle which you saw in me and now here to be in me.

Paul’s Imprisonment and the Need for Christian Boldness

Let's pray over this again. God, I thank you for the privilege it is to believe in you, to have been granted grace and faith in your name, Lord, and not only these things, but God, I would ask today that we as a local body would see suffering and hardship as a mercy from you, God, that this too was granted to us for your sake, God, and that we would rationalize these things and put these things together in a way that we would glorify you better today, God.

Lord, God, let us have the same struggle that Paul had, the boldness, the attitude, the humility, the things that represented and exalted your name, Lord. Let us do this today in the same likeness and manner, Lord, as believers in your son's name, Jesus Christ, in which we say this, amen.

So, again, for context goes, this is being written by Paul to the church of Philippi.

Or Philippi or Philippoi.

Again, there's a lot of different speculation and understandings of how this church's name should be pronounced in the Greek, but he's writing this to this local body there in Philippi as he himself is in prison in Rome, in severe distress and hardship, in prison because of his eagerness to share the gospel.

This is a day that Paul is imprisoned because he had a boldness, and I think this is something that we can often overlook today, right? We often, as the 21st century Christians that we are, we often see any sort of contention as a negative thing.

Anytime, well, you shouldn't be doing that because the world could see you as such things. Do you think Paul had that kind of thinking when he went out and preached his sermons.

To the people?

No, he was bold, he was straight and pointed to the truth. Even Peter, in the very first sermon that we have recorded for us, he says, the Christ that you crucified, he calls people out, he cuts to the deep, he's very controversial by nature, and this is something that we see even in Jesus Christ when he would enter into a city and saying, repent and believe in the gospel.

That message right there is an announcement of the bad news that people have sinned against God and is a message of contention. A message of something that people would turn away from or even want to pick up stones against you with, and that's why we see Paul himself here is in prison.

It's because he's gone about living his life in boldness, not being afraid of what others that are a part of this world would bring to him, but by representing the kingdom.

Of God.

Standing Firm Together Against Opponents

And so he has done this, he's gone about it in a way that's, and this again, this is a healthy balance here, right? Because Paul loved his neighbor by doing this. He wasn't doing this in a way that was just being contentious to be contentious, being controversial for the sake of controversy.

That's not why Paul is doing any of the things, but he's boldly proclaiming the gospel, which is controversial in and of itself, and that's okay as Christians. We need to live with an understanding that it's okay at the end of the day to have people.

Dislike us.

It's okay to have people reject you.

It's okay for that, right?

It's not something that you should live in a life thinking that you have to have everybody like you. That's not how you are to live. Was there many in Paul's day that hated him, that disliked him, that imprisoned him?

Wrongly, unjustly, incorrectly?

Absolutely.

But did this stop Paul from preaching boldly in the face of those that despised him? Absolutely not. My hope is when we go through this text, especially here in verse 28, when it talks about being alarmed by our opponents, is that we would have only even just an ounce of the same kind of spirit and attitude that Paul possessed in his day.

We talk about revivals in churches. We talk about people coming to churches. We talk about spreading the kingdom of God in churches, but we lack even an ounce of what Paul possessed, and that was a boldness and an attitude to not bend his knee or bend his theology or bend his attitude to fit the view of what the outside world wanted.

Paul was a preacher of the gospel, and we ought to have that same attitude. So last week, which let's read last week's text for us again, verse 27. Only live your lives in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear about your circumstances, that you are standing firm in one spirit with one mind contending together for the faith of the gospel.

And so this text is what's going to now go into verses 28 through 30 for us today. And so again, we need to remember, and this needs to be emphasized to us, the reason that we are to have unity in the church that's operating in the means that God has told us to operate as a church is so that when the outside world is looking in and they see how we are behaving as a church, they don't see chaos and contention and wrongdoing and injustice that's taking place in the church.

What they should be seeing is an attitude of one spirit and one mind, and this isn't for our benefit. This isn't so that we can have this betterment of our physicality. It's so the gospel of Christ can go out.

It's so that we can stand together in the faith of the gospel, so that we can stand together as a church on the very thing that saves us. And so we are to have this unity and subjection. We talked a lot about subjection last week, and I hope that we could even think about this again in verse 27, is if my son Shepard, would you guys think it was a healthy family?

So in today's call to worship that we read today, we saw how an elder is to have a well-managed household. Because if he doesn't have a well-managed household, how will he be able to lead the.

House of God?

That's what we have. Think about that for a moment. Would you think it was a healthy family that I had if Shepard was making every decision for me as a family? We'd be having a lot of ice cream, right?

He answered that. Would he get unhealthy very quickly and not be nourished like how he ought to be nourished? And you, from the outside of my family, looking into our family, you would say that doesn't appear like Father Braden has a good handle on his children, a good understanding of leading.

His family, right?

And so we see this in the church, right? That the world outside should be looking in and see something healthy, see something that is of one spirit and one mind. This is important because what comes next after this in verse 28?

In no way alarmed by your opponents, no way. What does that mean? No way, no way. This includes and excludes anything that this world should attack you with. Well, what about if they threatened to destroy the church, shut our doors?

Maybe COVID comes back around and they say the doors ought to be shut. Should we be threatened by that, alarmed by that? Should we shut our doors because of that? No, we're to have the appearance of one mind and one spirit standing together firm for the gospel and not alarmed by what our opponents say about what the church ought to do, not influenced by them.

What happens if they bring the knife against our, and I go to this extreme because we don't experience this extreme in the United States that often, but if you were to have a knife against your throat asking you to deny the gospel, if we were as a church to have that happen, are we supposed to be alarmed by the sharpness of their blade?

No, no. And I go to that extreme for a reason because there's people in the world today that are suffering that. People are dying for the advancement of the gospel today. And how do you think that they're not alarmed by this?

It's because they're built upon the gospel. They're standing firm together. They're not disconnected from one another. Their connection comes about because they have been united in the body of Jesus Christ.

That's where our unity is, is in Jesus Christ. And that's how we are to come and not be alarmed by what our opponents have. Now, John Gill in a commentary on this text in verse 28, he said,. Not by Satan, though a roaring lion, for Christ is greater than he.

Nor by the world which Christ has overcome, nor by false teachers, though men of art and cunning, nor by violent persecutors, who can do no more than kill the body. Now listen to that, no more than kill the body.

If we lose our bodies, that's not the end for us. Again, what does Paul already said? For me to live is Christ and to die is gain. There's nothing that this world can do to me. So he says, he goes on to say, those that kill the body, not the power, the rage, the cunning, or the violence of the one or the other move, discourage, or frightened from a close attachment to the gospel and the truths of it, which is to them an evident token of perdition when men willfully oppose themselves to the truth and show malice, hatred to it and hold it in unrighteousness.

Our victory in the way that we behave in this world demonstrates and proclaims that Christ is our victory. And it's important that the world sees that in our lives as an operating church and operating bodies.

Everything ought to be done in a way that's showing the world that it's not us who have won, but it's Christ who has won. Christ is our victory. And that's what we ought to be proclaiming to those outside.

And if Christ is our victory, if truly we believe that Christ died for our sins and that he is our King and our Lord, our God, if we believe these things, we should have nothing done in fear. We should not be an anxious group of fellows.

And this is something that is commanded by Christ himself in the New Testament, and it's.

Hard to do.

I get anxious at least 20 times a day, right, at least. And I know all of us do. But it's something that we have to seek to destroy and kill because Christ tells us not to be anxious for anything. We have nothing to fear in this world.

Nothing.

If we are in Christ, we have nothing to fear about. So in persecution, so when we look at this and we see the opponents, who are these opponents? Who are the ones that are opponents to us, the adversaries that are spoken of here in verse 28?

I think it would be fair to say that anybody that an opponent to the church is anybody that seeks to take the bride away, to destroy the bride of Christ. Anyone that's opposed to it, whether it's out of willingness or ignorance, it's anybody that's opposing the cross of Christ.

So this could be people that proclaim to be Christians but distort the gospel and have a false gospel, a false salvation. This would be anybody that's in a false religion. This would be anybody that's just outright denying the gospel, denying Christ.

This could be government systems. This is anybody that as an attacking wolf seek to nip at the feet of the sheep. That's what an opponent is in this text. It's anybody that wishes to see the message of Christ stop.

And think about this for a moment. Every time that the martyr's head rolls or the blood is spilt upon the ground, the wicked rejoice. They rejoice at the gospel stopping. Every time a small church closes its doors and the preaching post is empty, the wicked.

Rejoice.

Every time tyranny distorts the image of God, the wicked rejoice. For us as a church, we ought not to make any room for thinking that when these things shut or the heads roll or the blood is spilt, we cannot think that they have won.

Because their joy, their smiles, and their laughs are nothing. Listen to this in this verse here in verse 27. In verse 28, excuse me, your opponents, the things that they do against you is a sign of destruction for them.

It's a sign of destruction for them, but of salvation for you. So when they rejoice over these things taking place against the church, the gospel seemingly to stop, that to us is a sign of our salvation and is a sign of their destruction.

It's a sign to show that they are truly dead in their sins and they have a judgment, a terrible judgment that is going to be coming to them. I was really reminded of the distortion of what the church is this week.

Greatly reminded of this. I guess in 1992, I didn't know that this was in Twin Falls, but in 1992, there was a forming of a church and by church, I'm not talking about the Christian church. It's called the Unitarian Universalist Assembly, our association.

And in Twin Falls, they just got a building in 2019 and they call their building, their church, Magic Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. They call themselves a church and it's nothing but people that give testimonies about their LGBT conversions.

They're coming out as homosexuals, but they call themselves a church. Greatly reminded this week about the wrong injustices of what the world considers church.

Terribleness.

This is a clear example of an opponent to the gospel. Somebody that has sought to distort the image of God, mankind being created in the image of man is both male and female and here they are calling themselves a church, denying the is right in their own way.

We're just going to be ultra accepting of everything. We're not going to call sin, sin, but we're going to call ourselves a church. This is an example of an opponent to the gospel. There's no good news there.

There's only temporary what seems to be to them peace of them talking about their sin in an open manner.

Terribleness.

That is not a church. There are a couple of things when we read this in verse 28 when it says, don't be alarmed by our opponents, which is a sign of destruction for them, but a salvation for you. And that too is from God.

There's two things that I've noticed, I think would be a way that we could take away from this verse. The first application I would say is, is that we can, we can rest assured that we will probably suffer in this world, right?

Design of destruction for them. There's going to be opponents. This means that you're going to suffer. Don't, don't fool yourself into thinking that you are excluded from this. The minute that you do as a Christian, you will suffer.

Do not think that you are exempt from suffering this world because you've come to the king of peace does not mean that you are going to be at a place of not suffering from those from the outside, the opponents.

And the second thing that I would, I would argue that is seen in this text is that faithful ministry is going to mean hardship. Faithful ministry is going to mean disappointment. Faithful ministry means that you will be hard pressed.

And what Paul has painted us so far as a picture of a Christian is the picture that he has painted a Christian that is being pampered in a spa, getting a mani-pedi and getting a glass of champagne to which he, she sips on as she is served.

Is that the picture of a Christian that Paul has painted here in the book of Philippians.

For us?

No, Lydia is shaking her head. No, the picture that Paul has painted for us is a picture of a beaten, bloodied, cut up, hard pressed trial ridden individual who's not drinking champagne, but as the children talk today, are drinking the wine, professing that Christ has covered their sins and that they have victory in Him and Him alone.

That is the picture that Paul has painted for us in here is a humble servant, one that does suffer for the kingdom, but one that does not necessarily need to be, one that shouldn't be alarmed by the opponents.

That is the picture of the Christian in today's life, that's the picture of the Christian in that day, and that's been the picture of the Christian ever since. It's a picture of somebody that is dead in their sins, that Christ has made alive, standing there, professing Christ as their victory.

We cannot have any other means of what the Christian ought to look like. So, where does this sign of destruction and the sign of salvation for the Christian come.

From?

Where does this come from? It says, and that too is from God. An example of something like this could be seen as the perfect lamb who has Pilate and the other Roman soldiers beat him and blaspheme him and scoff at him.

Those things to us are a sign of our salvation, but unto them that we're doing it to them and the people that still today reject the Jesus of the Bible, that is a sign of destruction.

For them.

Likewise, too, if you've ever gone about in your life doing open air preaching or boldly professing the gospel like Paul himself was doing, you will be scoffed at continually. That is a sign of destruction for them that are rejecting the message that the preacher is preaching, and yet is a very sign to themselves that they have salvation because the message of the gospel is an offensive one.

And in fact, if I was to preach a message and a whole bunch of people were to accept it, I would almost be worried about myself preaching that type of message, because typically people don't like hearing that they are a sinner in need of a savior.

They typically don't like that. So in verse 29, for to you it has been granted for Christ's sake. So for to you, who is this speaking about? This is speaking about those who believe, those that are the sheep of God, those that are in the local body reading this letter in that day, but it absolutely applies to us as well 2 ,000 years later.

This word granted that takes place in here, for to you it has been granted for Christ's sake, is a Greek word that is charizomai, and this word means to forgive, show favor, and give freely. Who's the one that gives in this text?

God is the one that gives in this text. You've been granted for Christ's sakes to believe in him. Now this verse is so important for our understanding of us and how we've been saved and having faith in Jesus Christ.

Many of us have heard a story of someone, or maybe even you yourself have said this.

In the past.

I'm saved because I said this prayer, or I'm saved because I chose God, right? This very much, this localizing and separating yourself, making it sound like you were the one that did X, Y, and Z things.

Listen to this verse again. To you, it has been granted for Christ's sakes. To you, it has been freely given. To you, it was offered. To you, it was given. This is what this word means. From God to you that you would believe, and it's all for Christ's sake, meaning that to us, our belief in God is a gift from God himself.

It is a gift from God for us to believe. What does this mean for us as Christians? Could any of us ever boast in anything by saying, God, it is time to reward me and give me what is owed because I put my faith in you?

Does that sound like a prideful statement? God, it's because I did this. That's very prideful, and we cannot be thinking like that. In fact, in Ephesians chapter 2, verses 1 through 5, and you were dead in your sins and your trespasses in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the rule or the power of the air, the spirit that is now working the sons of disobedience, among whom we also formerly conducted ourselves in the lust of the flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

But God, being rich in his mercy because of his great love, which he has loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved. Verses 8 through 9 then says this, by grace, you have been saved through faith, and this is not of yourselves.

It is a gift of God, not of works, so that no one may boast. If we turn our faith into thinking that it was a work that was generated from and inside of ourselves and ourselves alone, I'm sorry to tell you this, but you have made yourself no better than any false religion that boasts in a works-based salvation.

If you think that this was all you're doing, you're going to hear, depart from me, you worker of iniquity, because you're making your faith into a work that you did in and.

Of yourself.

That is not the case. We can't think of that. We must say that this is all from God, and we must then say, sola deo gloria, to him be all the glory, not of me, but of him alone, and to him be the honor and the praise and the gifts and the worship, because he is the only one that is worthy.

Sanctification, Suffering, and the Gift of Faith

Now, notice that this verse is not only talking about salvation, but it also has to deal with.

Sanctification.

This has been a topic that we've been discussing in Bible study recently, and it's been a blessing to hear from Brother Don about how important this doctrine is to him and his life, sanctification. Don is this man that has been a part of this church, and here he is talking about sanctification.

He was saved many, many years ago. And so, sanctification is an ongoing process. It never ends until Christ comes again and we're glorified. But here in verse 29, in the sanctification, so salvation is granted by God, sanctification not only to believe in him, but to suffer for him.

This is part of our sanctification. It means that we are going to be suffering, and noticing here, why do we suffer? Why has it been gifted to us to believe in him? Why has it been gifted to us to suffer for his sake?

It's for him, for his sake. We must remember that it is a blessing to not only believe in God, but it's also a blessing to bear on our body the wound marks that reflect what Christ himself went through.

That's why in many of these texts, Paul here has been saying, I don't appeal to look to my flesh and my circumcision to tell me I'm a Jew and this Israelite of God. I don't look at my circumcision anymore.

That was only a mutilation. I actually now look to my very wounds now that show to me that I am a slave to Christ. I suffer for his sake. That's the validation, is that Christ, you're good. I'm going to suffer for you.

The Same Struggle Paul Had

Now in verse 30, it says, having the same struggle which you saw in me and now here to be in me. The same struggle. Brothers and sisters, how many of us have gone to prison over your oral claiming of.

The gospel?

I haven't. I don't think any of us have. My question for us today to think about and ponder, is that because the government is so great now that they wouldn't put you in jail because that there's great laws that protect you from these things?

Well, there's definitely some benefits to being in the United States that make it so you can profess and confess. But is it because we are going about preaching the gospel in such a way that it is weak, that it's shameful, that it's actually hiding?

Do we come and close the doors in our church, hoping that the world outside won't hear.

The message?

Paul is in prison because he proclaimed the gospel boldly enough to be put in prison in.

The first place.

I hope that through the reading of this text that you would be encouraged that the only way that you as a Christian are to have the same struggle which Paul himself was in by preaching the same gospel that he preached in the same manner that he preached it.

That's with boldness and not being fearful of what the world has to offer to you, not being fearful of what will come down the pipeline. It's preaching a gospel to yourself that is so boldly proclaimed to yourself that you can't help but tell your neighbor about it.

If you know Jesus Christ, you can't help but open your mouth and tell the neighbor who likewise is just as dead in their sins as you once were about Christ who has made you.

Alive again.

And if that's the life that you now live, you ought to mimic the behavior and the boldness.

That Paul himself possessed.

Let's read this again in here in verse 30. Having the same struggle which you saw in me and now here to be in me, how are we to have the appearance of one spirit with one mind contending together for the faith of.

The gospel?

It's to be set up locally as a body that is biblically exhorted and set up on biblical principles, being united in the gospel, that life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ so that when the opponents come, we will not be alarmed because we are preaching this gospel to ourselves daily.

And when they come against you in any shape, form, or fashion, this is to be a sign for them. It's a sign of salvation to you. These things are from God because not only is it a gift to have faith in him, but it's also a gift to suffer for his sake.

And this is to reflect the very same struggle that Paul had. I would ask you to consider that text, consider the way that you've gone about preaching the gospel today to yourself, to your neighbors, to your family, to others even in this local body, some of the closest neighbors that you have, and let us pray over this text today.

Final Exhortation to Preach the Gospel with Boldness

Lord God, I thank you, Lord, for the privilege, the honor it is to know you, God. Lord, let us not become lazy in our preaching and proclaiming of you, and let us not think too highly of ourselves to think that we do not have this great commission that's even over us today, Lord.

God, let us proclaim with the boldness just like Paul did. Let us follow his example, and his example was an example of yours, Lord. God, let us do these things in our local families. Let the little ones hear the singing and the praise from their parents.

Let grandmothers and grandfathers hear of the glory of God coming from their children, from their grandchildren. And Lord, be known today through that same singing and preaching with boldness that our neighbors too might hear these things, Lord.

God, be glorified as we go about this rest of the service in song and in praise to you, Lord. God, we as a church say these things and ask these things in your name, Jesus Christ, amen. Brothers and sisters, please stand with me now.

We'll go ahead and do our final song, after which we'll then do that membership vote. So please, let's sing our final song to God.