27Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel 28without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved—and that by God. 29For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him, 30since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.
After reading today's passage, the first thought that came to my mind was that our actions speak louder than our words. I feel like Paul is telling us that our faith is shown through our actions. That is if we truly live for Christ, then our lives should show it. It's like he's telling us that our lives must show that we aren't ashamed of the gospel, and we should live by it. I feel like he's also warning them or advising them that there will be suffering and struggles that come with living the Christian life. But I don't think that he's trying to discourage them by asking them to look at his life, but he wants them to see him as an example that even through Paul has struggled and had his fair share of hardship, he's still living strong for Christ and has not falter from his calling.
I feel like Paul is actually encouraging us to live righteously so that our lives reflect that of Christ. In which, when the world sees us, they cannot find fault or ridicule that would stumble themselves and others with the wrong idea. And even in our sufferings, which he guaranteed that we will have, he encourages us to not falter and go back to the way we were before we met Christ, wallowing in our sinful nature, but to stay strong and push through it because he went through the same ordeal and was still going through them when he wrote this letter.
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2 comments:
wow michelle, what a terrific analysis of today's passage! we would do well to remind ourselves every day, "WHATEVER happens, [to] conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ". when circumstances get so extremely difficult, how we act sets us apart from the unbelieving world.
i was also moved by the verse 29: that it has been GRANTED to us on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for Him. according to the apostle paul, suffering for the sake of Christ is a privilege-it has been GRANTED to us. those who suffer because of their association with Jesus Christ are granted a special knowledge and closeness and fellowship with Jesus that those who are merely at arms length from Christ could not possibly understand.
it certainly puts persecution and suffering for the sake of our christian faith in a much more appealing light.
Michelle, thanks for leading our discussion today. It's true that actions can go further in expressing who you are and I realized something new about heeding Paul's exhortation to the Philippians to live out what they professed in Christ.
What caught my attention was how Paul goes on to say "then, ..., I will know that you stand firm in one Spirit..." I think this is what gave Paul peace and joy about those he loved in Philippi.
He probably misses them and wonders about how they're doing. And, you know, he's not looking forward to hearing about how they're doing in their business, how they're coming along with their personal dreams, or what personal journeys or exciting adventures and they are experiencing. Paul's concerned about only one thing in their lives, their relationship with Christ. So, I imagine if Paul asks me, 'hey, how have you been doing?', my usual answer of 'fine', 'pretty good', or 'oh, you know, it's same o, same, o' would be ...probably disheartening.
The Gospel of Christ is alive and powerful. To live a life worthy of it should mean that I'm always conscience and mindful of it and should respond with prayer, praise, repentance, thanksgiving . Not only that, I should be ready to share these interactions I have with the gospel with those around me. Somewhat like what we do on these blogs.
I'm so privileged to encounter the Gospel of Christ everyday but I realized how I've compartmentalized it to a personal/private place in my life when it should be what my life is all about. Almost everything else in my life is trivial and can be summed up as 'good' but my encounters with the Gospel really must speak louder in my life.
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