We Will Be Delivered

Philippians 1:18-20

It is easy to go to church when it doesn’t cost you anything. My parents took us to church every Sunday when I was a child. We lived in a culture that made going to church a helpful thing. Going to church was part of being a good citizen. It helped with business relationships. People who did not go to church were viewed with suspicion. We were a decent, respectable family and we did what decent, respectable families did. We went to church.

But if the culture had not been in favor of going to church, I am certain we would not have gone each Sunday. My parents had no love for God, no relationship with Jesus to draw them to worship with others who believed. Going to church was a benefit for my parents social and business standing in the community. It cost them nothing except the money they gave to the church.

I met with a woman this past week who grew up in a Muslim family and who was distressed by the behavior of Muslims who prayed and then did not live lives consistent with their piety. I told her I had a similar background. I grew up with people who went to church on Sunday and then lived their lives the rest of the week without regard to the teaching and example of Jesus. This was one of the barriers for me when I began to consider following Jesus. The hypocrisy of people in the church turned me off to Christian faith.

It should not be a surprise that when persecution comes, it is only a minority of those who consider themselves to be followers of Jesus who stand with Jesus. Most people, in the present and throughout the centuries of the church of Christ, walk away from Jesus during persecution. They deny Jesus because he is not more important to them than their life in this world. This is the unfortunate history of the church which leads to contemplation of verses in the Bible that are not often preached.

In the parable of the wedding banquet, Jesus concludes by saying, (Matthew 22:14)
“For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus taught, (Matthew 7:13–14)
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

It is good for us to reflect on these verses and ask ourselves if we are among the few who will hold on to Jesus no matter what happens to us. I am not going to preach that sermon this morning but it is worth taking some time and reflecting on what these teachings of Jesus mean.

This morning we will continue in Philippians which we love because it is a joy-filled letter. There are so many encouraging and uplifting verses in Philippians that we like to read over and over again. But we need to remember that Paul is writing to the church in Philippi partly because they are suffering from opposition. They are being persecuted for their faith in Jesus. As Elliot and I preach to the end of the first chapter of Philippians, we will be dealing with Paul’s advice and encouragement to the church in Philippi as they suffer for their faith.

As a reminder, Paul is in prison in Rome and writing this letter because he cannot go to Philippi in person. Timothy is with him, probably writing the letter as Paul dictates, and will take the letter with him to read it when he arrives in Philippi.

While Paul is in prison and unable to go preach to the people of Rome, there are some men who are taking advantage of his imprisonment, trying to build up their own ministries. They had been unable to compete with Paul because of the depth of his experience with Jesus, the depth of his intellect that understood the implications of Jesus having died and then resurrected to new life, and the depth of his well-deserved reputation as a church planter. As Paul said about himself in 1 Corinthians 3:10, “By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, (an expert builder)” Paul was good at what he did.

But now Paul was out of the way and they could build their own ministries. When I get to heaven I want to hear their stories. What do they think as they watch men and women who make the same mistake they made? This happened a couple thousand years ago, but we have not changed.The same thing happens all the time. People work for Jesus with one hand while they are building their own kingdom with the other. Can you imagine how different the church would look like, if through the ages, men and women had worked for Jesus without caring about their own personal kingdoms? Jesus must grieve over our selfish egos that inhibit his work to rescue people he loves and bring them into his kingdom.

Paul stands as an example for us all. Paul did not have a kingdom he was building and so he was able to say, “What does it matter as long as Christ is being preached?”

Because of this, Paul wrote, “I rejoice.” This is where we left off last week and today we pick up at the second half of verse 18.
Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, 19 for I know that through your prayers and God’s provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. 20 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.

Paul takes us from his present joy, “And because of this I rejoice,” to his future joy, “Yes, and I will continue to rejoice.”

Almost every week I receive news of followers of Jesus in North Africa, the Middle East, and some surrounding countries who are being persecuted. Our brothers and sisters in Christ are continually being put into prison because of their faith in Jesus. Some have been in prison for a long time.

When do we rejoice? I rejoice when they are released from prison. Sometimes this happens and then they are arrested again within a few months and go back to prison. Rejoicing belongs to those who are set free.

But Paul rejoiced while in prison. When he and Silas were put in prison on their first visit to Philippi, they were arrested and after being severely flogged, not just flogged, but severely flogged, we read about what they were doing while in chains in their cell. (Acts 16:25)
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.

Perhaps because of his experience with prisons, Paul was not intimidated by them. He prayed and sang hymns in the jail at Philippi. He wrote inspirational letters when he was in prison in Rome that have fed the church through the ages.

What set Paul free to rejoice in prison?
Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, 19 for I know that through your prayers and God’s provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance.

The prayers of the Philippians and others encouraged and sustained him. The presence of the Holy Spirit filled him with peace and hope. Because of the prayers and the presence of the Holy Spirit Paul knew that his present circumstance would lead to his deliverance.

This coming Saturday there will be a prayer seminar that I hope you can attend. There are many aspects of prayer, but this is certainly one of them. God uses our intercessory prayers for the benefit of others.

In the secular society of the West, people will say, “Our thoughts and prayers go out to you.” After the bombing in Manchester, one person posted: “Thoughts and prayers with all the families affected by this tragedy. Also with the emergency service personnel dealing with the aftermath.”

“Thoughts and prayers.” For many people, these are indistinguishable. They are two words for the same action. “I feel sorry for those who suffered in the bombing. I wish it hadn’t happened. I hope the families are ok.” Thoughts and prayers both express what we think and feel about what happened. The difference is where our thoughts and prayers go.

Prayers are not sent out on Twitter. Prayers are not sent out on the internet or in media interviews. Prayers are prayed to God who created this world and who in some mysterious way, uses our prayers to reach into the lives of those who need his help.

If I need support, I want people to pray to God for me. I will appreciate that other people have good and sympathetic thoughts about me, but what I need is people who will pray to God who can actually do something about my situation.

Paul writes about the prayers, plural, of the Philippians. They were continually praying for Paul.

My instinct is to pray about something once. Why should I keep reminding God about something over and over again? But I have been in the home of godly people who pray each morning and I have heard them pray once again for their son, their daughters and their spouses and children. I have heard them pray each day and there is something holy and beautiful about their daily prayers. I want to emulate them. I want to follow their example.

I need to be reminded and perhaps you also need to be reminded to come again and again to pray for the people God puts on our hearts. Our prayers make a difference because God uses them to bless, encourage, and deliver those we pray for.

Along with the prayers that were prayed for Paul, the presence of the Holy Spirit encouraged Paul to believe that his imprisonment would end with deliverance.

I met with a young woman this past week who became a follower of Jesus just a month ago. She is in a difficult situation with a religious family who are opposed to Christian faith, so she is keeping her new faith hidden from them. She has reason to be fearful, but her face is radiant with joy. She bubbles with joy that cannot be contained. She has been filled with the Holy Spirit.

We can take the Holy Spirit for granted. After many years of following Jesus we have become accustomed to what life is like with the Holy Spirit. When I met with this young woman I told her my own story of growing up in the church, being painfully bored with church, bored with the hymns we sang, bored with all of church. And then, the week after I surrendered to Jesus, I went to church and we sang some of the same hymns I grew up with and I could not contain the joy I felt in singing those words. The Holy Spirit brought us life and continues to give us life.

The prayers of people and the presence of the Holy Spirit gave Paul confidence that his imprisonment would end with deliverance.

What did Paul mean by deliverance? Did he mean he would get out of jail? Maybe, but he was thinking of a far greater deliverance. In the next verse Paul wants Christ to be exalted in his body whether by life or by death. Paul did not know if he would be released from prison or not, but he had confidence that he would be delivered.

Job sat with his grief and pain and contemplated the meaning of good and evil with his three friends. (Job 13:13–16)
Keep silent and let me speak;
then let come to me what may.
14 Why do I put myself in jeopardy
and take my life in my hands?
15 Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him;
I will surely defend my ways to his face.
16 Indeed, this will turn out for my deliverance,

Paul was reflecting on these words of Job because he quotes Job exactly – “this will turn out for my deliverance.” Job did not know if he would live or die but he had hope of deliverance and throughout the book of Job he calls out for a redeemer who will intercede with God on his behalf so he can be rescued.

When Paul was on the road to Damascus and met the risen Lord Jesus, he had the benefit of having met the redeemer Job longed for. Paul did not know if he would be taken from prison and be set free or taken from prison to his execution, but he had confidence that he would be delivered.

There may come a day when some of us are in prison for our faith. It is far more likely we will someday be lying in a hospital bed with a fatal disease. We will be asking for prayers for healing. Our desire and the desire of those who love us and pray for us will be for our healing, but whether we are healed in that moment or not, we will be delivered.

Imagine if gravity operated by having bungee cords attached to our waist, holding us down on earth. And then imagine that when we submit to Jesus we have new cords attached to our waist that are pulling us up to heaven. We move on in life in the tension created by the gravity cords holding us to earth and the heaven cords pulling us toward eternal life.

We are far away from what may or may not happen to us. It is difficult for us to imagine ourselves in a prison cell or in a hospital bed. The pull of the gravity cords is too strong. There is so much we want to see and experience. We want to get married. We want to have children and then grandchildren. We want to progress in our career. We want to visit places on earth we have always wanted to see. We want to see how our favorite sports team will do. We have so many earthly desires that it is difficult to imagine our feet ever leaving the ground. This world is our home.

But if, one day, we are in a prison cell or a hospital bed, the reality of death will allow us to loosen our hold on the things of this world and the heaven cords will begin to pull us to our future reality. We hold on to what we know with our five senses, but one day we will be set free to let go of what we know. All the material things we have collected will begin to lose their hold on us and we will lift up arms to be taken into glory.

This is what I think Paul was feeling in his prison cell in Rome. His hold on the world was loosening. Elliot will preach about this next week when we come to verse 21. “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”

Paul has confidence that because of the prayers of people and the presence of the Holy Spirit, he will be delivered. He then continues:
I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.

“Eagerly expect and hope” This is not wild imagination. This is hope-filled expectation. “Hope” expresses the highest degree of certainty about the future.

What Paul hopes is that he will in no way be ashamed. Ashamed of what? Paul is not ashamed of being in prison. He writes that he “is in chains for Christ” and that God has used his being in chains to bring the gospel of Jesus to those who guard him. What shame is he talking about?

His concern is that there will be no reason for disgrace as far as the gospel is concerned when he finally stands before the Roman tribunal. He has lived his life well in prison and many of the guards have become followers of Jesus in the process. The way Paul handled his imprisonment was different than the way others handled their imprisonment. Guards who stood watch over Paul did not see someone who moaned and complained. They did not stand guard over someone who felt he was a victim being treated unfairly. They saw a man who sang hymns and prayed, who expressed interest in their lives, who prayed for them, who answered the questions that arose from watching the way he lived. They watched the men and women who visited Paul and were impressed with these people as well. The way Paul lived with his imprisonment was as much his witness for Jesus as his preaching and teaching.

In 2010, 150 foreign followers of Jesus were abruptly deported from Morocco. Many were escorted by police to their planes as though they were criminals. It was a very dishonoring process. People left in shock and pain. There were some who shared their faith with the police as they were being deported. There was one man who fought and resisted and had to be sedated in order for the police to put him on the plane. Most of those deported demonstrated their faith in Jesus by the way they handled this dishonor. This one man disgraced the gospel of Jesus by the way he resisted.

Paul has hope that he will not bring shame to Jesus by the way he behaves. When he stands before the Roman tribunal his hope is that he will be a witness to the tribunal, just as he had been a witness to Governor Felix, Governor Festus, and King Agrippa.

Our witness for Jesus is not simply what we say, it is how we live.

Pope John Paul II decided not to resign as pope when he became ill. For several years he suffered from Parkinson’s disease, arthritis and other ailments. He decided he wanted to model for the world how to die and the way he died did not disgrace the gospel of Jesus. He brought honor to Jesus in the way he lived and he brought honor to Jesus in the way that he died.

I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.

None of us are in prison. I don’t know of any of us who have a fatal disease. But we, like Paul did, have a life through which we are moving. At every step we are a witness for Jesus. When things are going well, we want Christ to be exalted. When our world is crumbling, we want Christ to be exalted.

The older I become, the more aware I am that I will not be on this planet forever. I read the news and see people who die who are about my age. It is easier for me to think of my home on earth as temporary than it is for someone who is young with a lifetime in front of them. The younger we are, the more help we need to see the reality of life and death in this world.

Benedict of Nursia founded The Order of Benedict in the 6th century. In our worship this morning we read a prayer of Augustine who lived in the 5th century. These men are testimony, as are the writers of the Bible, that great wisdom is not contained to our current modern age.

There are 72 rules in The Order of Benedict. Here are ten of them:

1. First of all, to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy strength.

9. Not to do to another what one would not have done to oneself.

12. Not to seek after luxuries.

14. To refresh the poor.

16. To visit the sick.

21. To prefer nothing to the love of Christ.

22. Not to follow the promptings of anger.

33. To suffer persecution for justice’ sake.

34. Not to be proud.

72. And never to despair of God’s mercy.

It might be helpful for you to take time meditating on these rules. If you read six a day, that would take you through them in a week (Monday – Saturday)

I mention this because of rule 47. To keep death daily before one’s eyes.

Every day the monks in The Order of Saint Benedict reminded themselves that they would die some day in the future.

When you are tempted by what the world has to offer, it will be helpful for you to remember that you will die someday and leave everything behind. When you are tempted to do something you know you should not do, it will be helpful to remember that you will die someday and face the judgment of Christ.

When you find it difficult to let go of the anger and bitterness that comes from being hurt or offended by someone, it will be helpful to remember that you will one day stand before Jesus who forgave you for much more than the offense you have suffered.

When you are tempted to hide the truth and lie in order to protect yourself and what you desire, it will be helpful to remember (1 John 2:17)
The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.

Job held on to his faith in God, despite his pain, despite his loss, despite his friends’ lectures. As he sat he proclaimed (Job 19:25–27)
I know that my redeemer lives,
and that in the end he will stand on the earth.
26 And after my skin has been destroyed,
yet in my flesh I will see God;
27 I myself will see him
with my own eyes—I, and not another.
How my heart yearns within me!

Paul certainly had a lot of people who offended him, a lot of people who had hurt him. As he sat in his prison cell in Rome he wrote this: (Philippians 3:13–14)
one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

It is good to keep your feet on the ground. The world needs you. Your friends and family need you. But keep your hopes and longings for what will only be found in heaven. Let the reality of your heavenly destination help you as you face whatever comes along in this life.