Philippians 1:12-14, 19-30
I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ.And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.
for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.
Only 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 is 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.
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week, I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The Epistle reading for Sunday, September 24, comes from Philippians chapter one, verses 12 through 14. And then verses 19 through 30. It reads, I want you to no brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole Imperial Guard, and to all the rest, that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. And then it skipped ahead. For I know that through your prayers, and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, this will turn out from my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always, Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me, yet, which I shall choose, I cannot tell, I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith. So that in me, you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again, only 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 a view 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 is 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 here that I still have Here ends the reading. St. Paul is writing this in a time when he is imprisoned. He is we're not exactly sure what portion of this life part of his life it is. St. Paul was likely imprisoned twice, once is recorded in the story of Acts when he is put in jail and then set in the prison for three years. And then he appeals to Caesar and he goes to Rome. And it's likely that he made it their appeal to Caesar and was released. And then again later on when he was murdered, he would have been imprisoned and arrested. We don't know exactly which one this is, if I were to guess it is likely to me that this is the the first imprisonment, because he talks about that it's likely he will get out and head off and visit the Philippians again. So Paul is in prison, in chains for the gospel because of his proclamation. And he starts like this. I want you to know brothers, that what has happened to me has really to serve to advance the gospel. So it has become known throughout the whole Imperial Guard, and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. So he is saying much like Joseph, that this imprisonment, this bad thing that has happened, has brought about some kind of good. The guards know that this imprisonment is because of Christ. And so they hear about it as he is in prison. He also continues, and most of the brothers having become confident and Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. This is something that the church has always focused on is we tell the stories of the martyrs. They've always encouraged us by their example, to be bold in the face of persecution. So stories like St. Paul's, but also stories of the martyrs throughout the history of the church are good reminders to encourage us that as we face similar or even less difficult circumstances, we can be bold just like they were. He continues, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. This will turn out for my deliverance, for it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now, as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by my life or death. This follows the way the early church often talked about what would happen when they were imprisoned and headed on their way to trial, that they didn't want to be ashamed. But they wanted to prove to be a Christian. And by that they meant that when they stood on trial, they would remain faithful, deliver in faith, the message of the gospel, and suffer the consequences, whatever it would be. Now, it's likely if this is this first imprisonment, the Paul would be let go. But here he still is assured or wants to be assured that he will remain faithful when he stands on trial. Then he says, For me to live is Christ and today's game, if I am to live in the flesh, that will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose, I cannot tell. I'm hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better, but to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. So he's saying there's a division, it would be wonderful to be with Christ, and to be out of this veil of tears and to suffer no more and not have to deal with the the persecutions and imprisonments. And Paul's lists of suffering goes on and on beatings, stoning, and eventually death. But he says that while we are here, we have a purpose. And that purpose is to serve Paul's purpose particularly, is to preach the gospel to the Philippians, and others, and helps us to see that our purpose is service for our neighbor. Because the good works that we do, the things that God calls us to do, aren't because God needs our service and our works, but because our neighbor does. St. Paul knows the same thing that the proclamation of the gospel doesn't make God any more powerful or any stronger. But it does bring the message of Jesus Christ to people who need to hear it. And then we'll skip ahead just a little bit. He says, Only let your man or of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ. So whether I come and see you or an 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. St. Paul is doing two things here, one, he is saying that they need to be as one body, one mind, standing side by side with each other. This is an image of the congregation working together in unity, for the good of the gospel against the opponents who would persecute them. That's the other part is that this side by side, this togetherness is a united front against the persecutors. And we always have to remember that there is this. There's unity that we have in Christ that guides us. And this unity makes it possible for us to stand together against a sinful world and share the message of Jesus Christ skips ahead, and he says, 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 here that I still have it's interesting success word has been granted to you almost like a gift. One of the things that the church often talks about in his history is the gift of suffering with Jesus, that we are counted worthy to be like Christ and share in His suffering and this is part of the gift. And I think St. Paul is talking about, it's granted to us to participate with Christ in his sufferings. That's the end of our reading today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai