Imprisonment in the Cause of Christ
Philippians 1:12-14 · Bob Eckel · Feb 5, 2012
Philippians (2012), No. 05
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492631145081

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

All right. Enjoyed listening to Jim teach the last two weeks on our MP3, which is really nice opportunity to catch up when you're not here. So let's, unlike Jim, I'm not going to review the whole reason for for this epistle every time we meet. Now that's good, but I'm not gonna go there, but in fact I think we will read the first 18 verses of Philippians and in fact I think that importantly puts this in context as to where we're at today. So whoever, Margaret could you read 1 through 18 please?

Paul and Timothy, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi with the bishops and deacons. Christ be unto you in peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you, all making requests with joy for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now. Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Christ Jesus. Even as it is for me to think of you to think of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace. For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Christ Jesus. And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more, and more in knowledge, and in all judgment, to that you may See, I have all this written in here. That ye may approve things that are excellent, that ye may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God.

But I would ye, I would ye should, but I wish Should we get someone else to read? No, it's okay. I can only get away with that with her. But I would you should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel, so that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace and in all other places.

And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife, and some also of goodwill. The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely supposing to add affliction to my bonds, but the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defense of the gospel. What then? Notwithstanding every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached, and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. Okay, thank you. You know, I noticed last week that Jim kind of stopped short and didn't get through, clearly didn't get through verse 11. And I think he probably felt that he had more to share in verse 10.

Just briefly, I think the interesting thing about being filled with the fruits of righteousness is an aorist tense kind of thing. And, you know, it's kind of like we've already then offered the opportunity to be filled. And it's matter now experiencing that. So it's kind of neat to think about that. Being filled with the fruits of righteousness is in fact positional truth in terms of now experiencing that here. That's kind of neat. The fruits of righteousness are entirely in all of us as we grow by grace and truth. And then the experience of having that filling take place is really something we can all take advantage of.

So let's start with verse 12 here. But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happen, that's in parenthesis, not in the text, to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel. So again, before we begin, let's again reflect on the fact that Paul's got a very personal touch here. This is a different kind of epistle than his other epistles, which are really as I think Jim mentioned, kind of more constructive and ultimately corrective in nature in terms of the church and what was going on there. But here we're thinking about something that's really uplifting, encouraging, and ultimately very personal. So Paul's got a relationship here with this church a little bit different than he had with the Church of Corinth or Galatia and other places.

All right, so Philippians 2.17 says, Yay, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all. I think that verse, which is in the next chapter, kind of reflects on this atmosphere that's surrounding him. You know, he's undergoing, you know, some trials here, but yet he's joyed and uplifted and rejoiced by the circumstances because it's going to benefit what's going on in Philippi. So again, it kind of reflects the overall theme of the book to the Philippians.

So I want you to know, this is Gnoska, and want the verb is indicative. I mean, it's factual. I definitely factually want you to know this. And knowing is the infinitive. And this kind of implies a new direction. So he very much wants, factually wants them to know or experiential. know that this is kind of something new that they need to have in mind. That's the infinitive tense of the verb.

And I think it suggests a previous misunderstanding about what's going on with Paul. They may have thought that, you know, Paul's in chains, in prison in Rome. Epaphrodites had communicated that to the church. But ultimately, Paul's saying, hey, look, I've got kind of something else I want you to know here. This is kind of a new direction, making sure you really understand what's happening here. And this no-genoskes experiential, as if they, the brethren, were with Paul.

In other words, I want you to kind of put yourself in my position here, what's going on, that this is really to benefit you in terms of the strife and trials and tribulations that I'm currently experiencing in the Roman prison. So that's kind of a different atmosphere, and I think we'll come back to this, but think about that yourselves in terms of the trials and tribulations we have. Are we thinking about how these things are benefiting others who are viewing us? I think sometimes, I'll speak for myself, you really pretty much focus on your own trials and not thinking that the way you respond, in fact, is like Tammy, right? Like you just mentioned.

I mean, what a blessing to all of us to see the way she's handling the circumstances related to her husband. Well, and you think here too, he focuses you back on the Lord and what the Lord's doing rather than the earthly circumcision. But think about being chained to some soldier for two years in a Roman prison and being uplifted and joyful because of it. I always thought about the soldier being chained to Paul.

We're going to come back to that. You hold that thought. That will resurface. So I noted that Paul reflects here in verses 12 through 18 on what had happened because of this imprisonment in the past. This is kind of reflecting where he's been and what's occurred. Whereas in verses 19 through 25, he then reflects more on what's going on right now. So just keep that in mind going forward.

To what things do you think Paul's referring? the things that have happened to me actually turned out for the Freemasons of Gospel. Well, the odd bit... Well, wasn't he shipwrecked, and he was stoned, and he's been through a lot of things before his imprisonment, right? Do you think that's a more broadly interpreted thought here? I think it could be.

I mean, if anyone knows his history, it's not just what's happening in Rome, but... I mean, he's spoken of all these things previously, the other things that happened to him. Okay, and things would be things that they made, this misunderstanding may be the fact that he in fact is going through these strifes and trials and tribulations and dealing with them in the flesh about, oh, woe is me, right, kind of atmosphere? So Paul is now transitioning his message to what's been happening in Rome.

So the initial part of verse 12 really points to the fact that he's rejoicing and excited about the fact that Philippi needs new understanding and that will ultimately make them understand a little bit better what's going on. Now he's going to come back to the circumstances that are surrounding him.

Actually could be referred to as rather so let's go back. So if we look up here To me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel That's true. Actually this did come up to the furtherance of the gospel. It could be rather I mean other than what you've been thinking It's kind of this is really for the furtherance of the gospel.

So don't worry about me. I'm getting by fine here and It's maybe not what they have expected. Epaphroditus may have been transmitting a somewhat different message about Paul being in chains in Rome, and ultimately that their prayers for him would be very motivated to him being released. Of course, that's an okay prayer. I mean, that the Lord would allow him to be chain-free. But ultimately, Paul is saying, something else is going on here that you guys need to be considering.

Furtherance or progress, this word's in the verb form as a compound of copto, means to cut, and the preposition pro, before. So he's kind of cutting before him, you know, a new message, that this is really something that's now being opened up. A furtherance isn't exactly taking what you have and just taking it on to a new turf. It's actually cutting new grounds for the message that had never been really prepared before.

It's used for, I think, blazing a new path and here specifically to the gospel or the good tidings. In the gospel, very specifically, we know what it is. But in fact, this is exactly what Paul was doing. He was spreading the gospel in the circumstances where he was. And by the way, this was an entirely new message, right, to these Roman soldiers. They had no clue. They knew he was imprisoned.

We're going to come back to that in a second in terms of the uniqueness of these soldiers who were in fact chained to Paul. This is a special group of guys. This isn't just any old soldier who's assigned this task. These were a privileged group of soldiers.

And the reason for that is ultimately Paul was a Roman citizen. And so he gets special consideration. Now, that doesn't mean that this was a pleasurable experience. It's just that he was felt to be unique because here he was being accused, but yet the accusations were based on him being a Roman. If he'd just been a Jew, he would have been out of there. I think that because he was a Roman citizen, he got the right to ultimately be held, at least indefinitely, till other decisions were made in terms of his fate.

All right, verse 13, so that it has become evident to the whole palace guard and to all the rest that my chains are in Christ. Wow. Okay. So let's take a look at this. It has become evident or manifested, I think that speaks for itself, to make known what is the unknown. Okay. So it was something that that others weren't recognizing.

Here what's unknown is what the Church of Philippi is understanding about his imprisonment. He's making it known also to the whole palace guard and all the rest, but the issue is I think what's clear is that he's making it known to the Church of Philippi that his chains are in Christ. That's what he's making known. Oh by the way, yeah, he's making it known to the palace guard and to those who are the rest But ultimately, he's letting the Church of Philippi know that his chains are in Christ, and that's really what needs to be manifested here.

Note that Paul lived for two years with a Roman soldier chained to his wrist. Acts 28, verses 16, 30, and 31. Let's go ahead and take a look at that. We have time today to look at a few of these verses that I've listed. And when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard, but Paul was suffered to dwell by himself with a soldier that kept him. And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him, preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no man forbidding him. Okay, the selection of those verses relate to, number one, that he was chained to a soldier, and secondly, that two years was the time period at which he was in the Roman prison. And Margaret and I have had the opportunity to see that prison.

And it's pretty small, pretty down the hole. Now it's a tourist site. Anyway, I'm not sure that most people, when they tour that, reflect on this truth in Philippians 2.13.

There are no windows, totally cut out of stone. Now there are some steps that go down for tourists to see it. initially it was only a hole at the top and they pushed him down in there so there's no light. They kept the hole covered. Then they would just, if there was any food, they'd drop down through this hole. So you're in this, I mean it's like a big...

It's stone encased. It's all stone. I mean it's not a window of nothing. It's just stone. It's quite something. And you worry about daily activities and things that relate to being down in a place like that. Anyway, they probably had ways of dealing with that. So, to the whole palace guard implies the headquarters, by the way. Okay, so this isn't just some local hangout.

So, this is really the tent of the commander-in-chief and where is he? Where's the commander-in-chief of the Roman army? Well, he's in Rome on Palatine Hill. So this palace guard really implies that ultimately all the way to Rome at the very head of the whole Roman army, presumably the Caesar of the times, is who in fact was being ministered to here directly or indirectly. And to all the rest and all other places.

So this suggests that it could be soldiers of the imperial regiments whose barracks were in Rome also, not only the Praetorian Guard, but in fact all the other soldiers, or could it have been also unsaved Jews? And we don't need to look at these 12 or 13 verses, but there's some thought that the Jews who were in Rome, ultimately, there were quite a few. In fact, that they, in fact, were being witnessed to by Paul in some way. That this message of his chains were in Christ was somehow getting through to the Jews. I like the fact that this is probably talking about Rome and Roman soldiers rather than the Jews, but I don't think we know absolutely for sure.

But clearly, this is a witness to all. This is not uniquely to the soldier who was, in fact, in chain to Paul. So I'm just asking us to identify this. Can you picture this? I mean, the fact that is, and do you wonder whether Paul, in fact, had a sense that this was actually reaching them? He must have. He wrote about it. So he must have heard stories from these guys that he was chained to about what was being transpired around the area and ultimately to the various highest of the leadership in Rome on Palatine Hill.

So, you know, my understanding, too, in reading the history of this of this time is that unless you had friends in the area who brought you food or brought you a blanket or any of that, you didn't you got basic food and water. I mean, like a piece of bread or they slopped the water down there. I mean, there was nothing from what we could understand when we saw that.

So unless you had someone there who brought you these things, you didn't have these things, which means that he had contact with people. I mean, somebody would bring stuff, a blanket or a... How did he have writing instruments? I mean, someone had to bring him that stuff.

The guards didn't. That's not what the Roman guards would do, would be to give that stuff. Well, again, he was considered somewhat of a special prisoner because it was a Roman citizen. But again, I think he had to have some contact with other people, maybe Stephen or some people, who brought him these things. Yeah, we don't have any record of that at the time. No, because they know, I mean, the historic, you know, situation was that you didn't get these things from the Roman guards.

The thing I thought about was possibly as people, other prisoners came into the prison over that period of time or in the area, they may have, you may have got wind of things on the outside. You know, it's possible you get the idea, having seen this prison, that there couldn't have been too many people down there. It's pretty confined there. There could have been communication between the soldiers. Keep in mind, my understanding is that these soldiers were many who got chained to him. They were only there temporarily, a day or two, and then they're taken out and somebody else is put down there.

But who knows? I mean, we can speculate. I think the thing for each of us is to think of being in these circumstances in terms of what kind of message is being transmitted through us. And Paul says, you know, this reached all the way to the top of the Roman Empire, and probably all the people around the area, whether they be Jew, Roman, or both. I mean, I think the message of Paul's witness was known locally. And by the way, Blodom probably said, who is this kook anyway? I mean, you know, think about that.

Well, and you also have to think, a lot of people probably were speculating, why is this guy in prison? If this is all, this is his crime. This is what he's being accused of by the Jews. So I would imagine that some of those Roman soldiers had sympathy for him because they sort of didn't think he belonged there. He was a Roman citizen. Yeah, exactly. But that wasn't the first time that Paul had been really looked upon as getting unjust due. I mean, in Athens, another kind of similar circumstance where many people really say, why is this guy being persecuted? They said, Paul was certainly asked by the many soldiers to whom he was chained why he was in prison.

What are you doing here anyway? I mean, you think about chained with somebody, you know, 24-7, there's probably going to be a conversation that's taking place here. You know, Paul just getting a sense for this guy. He's not very bashful about sharing, you know, why he's there, what ultimately these chains in Christ really mean.

And this type of soldier I alluded to before was also responsible to guard prisoners who had appealed to Caesars, such as Paul himself. And so, again, him being a Roman citizen allowed him to get kind of a special type of soldier. And the best I could find is that this was an honor for these guys to be guarding such an individual who had appealed to Caesar directly about their innocence. And I'm quoting a text called Robertson, and he says, quote, there were originally 10,000 of these picked soldiers concentrated in Rome by Tiberius. They had double the pay and special privileges and became so powerful that the emperors had to court their favors.

Paul had contact with one after another of these soldiers. So what the source of that information is, I'm not entirely clear, but I believe that probably he's stating information that I didn't gather any further insight on. But anyway, so privilege, more pay, and ultimately many, many soldiers had these responsibilities and all, I'm sure, heard the gospel. So thus Paul had the opportunity to provide the gospel message day in and day out to those to whom he was bonded.

Now again, Paul views this as his chains or bonding was in Christ, not bonded to some soldier by chains. I mean, just think about the mental attitude and the great grace God gave Paul to say that these earthly circumstances really become pale. when you think about ultimately the glory that's being brought to me by the way we respond.

The problem that I have with this a little bit is are we working on this? How are you doing bringing Adam up to the plate and having him respond in this way? This isn't an Adam response, right? I don't think, I mean just like what Tammy's going through, I don't think that day after day she could be uplifted like that if she really wasn't trusting the Lord. I mean, when you read what she's written, there's just no way when her husband has been on a deathbed, for her to be so uplifted, I mean, and you have to believe that people even who are not believers who are reading that, they're blown away by what she's having to say. So that's not, I don't think that's a flesh thing. You could try that for a couple of days, but I don't think for that to continue, you can't do that in the flesh. Agreed. Kind of been there, right? You are uplifted. You deal with the circumstances because you have to deal with them. You can't ignore them, but yet you are lifted up above and that's all a pillow of citizenship.

You've got to view this from eternal places because this is just our business address down here. I don't know about you all, but sometimes the bigger things like Sharon's illness and death ultimately was something that became real in terms of who you were in Christ and his view, but the little, the day-to-day little things, the inconveniences that frustrate us so much are things that I sense I don't have that's kind of victory. Sometimes the bigger things, you put yourself into a resolve that, God, thank you for your grace to view this through a heavenly pair of eyes, right? I'm not saying we want big things so we can demonstrate God's glory in our lives, but in fact I think often, and Doris you've been there fairly recently, the bigger things seem to ultimately allow this type of Christ in us to be seen, the change in Christ, more so than I think the day-to-day bumps along the road, which in terms of yours truly frustrates the old man. Can anybody relate to what I'm saying here? I'm not saying the big things are easy. I'm just saying the peace that God gives for the big things often seems like so much greater than the peace we get in the little bumps along the road on a day-to-day basis.

Anyway, let's look at 1 Peter 4, 12 through 16. We just kind of finished this in our Friday evening study a couple months ago in 1 Peter. Those verses I think are worth reading. Okay, Wayne, I'll let you do this when you get there. 1 Peter is before 2 Peter. We're doing well, we've got time.

1 Peter 4.12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you.

But to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, You are blessed because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. By no means let any of you suffer as a murderer or thief or evildoer or a troublesome meddler. But if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not feel ashamed, but in that name let him glorify God. For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God. And if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

So, you know, Paul and Peter had their different paths that the Lord had provided in terms of, you know, they both at times, we sense, didn't agree on everything. But isn't it so neat to see Peter grow in his epistle and how he and Paul bond with the same truth here? You know, these things that occur like Paul's imprisonment and all the other, you know, trials and tribulations he'd been through and what Peter had been through.

I mean, they're both saying this is to bring glory to the Lord. And as we just discussed, I think sometimes the bigger things, you know, the great grace that God gives for those, it seems like You know, it's just infinite in nature in the way that can show up by our rest and trust. Whereas I think the small bumps are sometimes a little bit more challenging in terms of the day-to-day experiences. So for Paul, being bonded in Christ was more than servitude and more than an experience.

This is a relationship, a grace-based relationship. And how do we experience that in our own walk? How do we experience this grace-based relationship? Do we intellectualize this? What's the process by which the rest Paul had, his ability to be ministering to the Philippians in an encouraging and joyful manner, resided in Paul when sometimes we seem to fall far short of this?

I think it's knowing our position in Christ, who we are in Christ. Okay, and how do we get there? You believe what he's revealed, which I think is the hardest part for a lot of people is to, not just to believe, but to believe what he prompts, that we have a position, that we've already received.

It's biblical truth, isn't it? Believing is that. Again, is that something I intellectualized to you? That's what the Bible said, and I believe that. That I think is true, but also a bit shallow. than just an intellectual knowledge of Christ. It's all grace. It is.

But being made conformable unto his death, how do we interpret that? I mean, we're jumping a little bit tangential here, but I think it all relates to how Paul's dealing with this imprisonment. What does it mean to be made conformable unto his death? Well, that's our identity with Christ. The identity in terms of what? Our identity with Christ in terms of being made conformable unto his death is what, the sufferings? Reckoning ourselves in de-identity.

I think you're on, that's where I'm going with this. It's kind of not guess what Bob's thinking. I mean, the idea, I think, scripturally, how do we understand this? And I don't know about you, it seems that the Christ life became evident in me, and I think this is just, I think you've got to kind of realize you've come to the end of yourself here. I mean, I think, and you know, death brings new life. And this conformable unto his death is seeing Adam just crucified.

Are we reckoning that or counting that true and being uplifted in that truth? And I think when we bring Adam to the plate, we strike out. I mean, we may take a couple of good swings and foul a few off, but we're not getting the first base. And that's because Adam has no capability here.

This is a rest based on God's great grace to believe that he's allowing each and every circumstance that occurs in us to be able to minister us in a way that he has glorified. And that can only be done by faith. But I don't think it's just... How many times have you said, gee, you're being tested by some circumstance and you say, God, put Christ in me right now so I can live in the new nature. I mean, it just doesn't work that way. It's this constant acceptance of the fact that in our own selves, in the Adam nature, we bring no glory to God. And it's only life out of death in the new life that allows this type of message to occur, as Paul had with all those around him while he was in prison. Yeah, Donna? Well, I think about Miles' statement about keep looking down for your life.

I think the Spirit over time convinces us of where we are. And this God that we have is an incredible God. And He is who He says He is. And I think that has a play into being able to rest because you know who He is. We pray frequently, selfishly, in terms of God, take this circumstance away from us. But what God's about in His business doing is ultimately showing us that he's above our circumstances. And the way we respond to being chained to some Roman prisoner 24-7 for two years is in fact to God's glory because of his grace-given identification of bonds in Christ. And that bond, by the way, bond servant, that's a relationship. It's a very close one, a tight one. And it's a very heavenly legal one. Not earthly legal, but heavenly legal.

But anyway, I think we can read through these verses and reflect on the historical nature of all this. We can even reflect a little bit on what Paul's ministry is to the Church of Philippi through all this, which is really the purpose of this text. But yet, we've got to ultimately identify with this in our own lives. And why would God give this to us in His Word if, in fact, we weren't able to ultimately see how we grow in grace through these messages that He provides us?

Most of the brethren in the Lord, having become confident by my chains, are much more bold to speak Notice here again that Paul is uplifted by the fact that most, which is better really many. Most and many are a little bit tough to know. Most I think reflects more than 50% and the many just means there are many. I think many, we don't know how many. We don't know it's 50.5% or something to call it most.

We know that the many brethren have been made more bold in speaking up. for the gospel because of what Paul's experiencing here in the Roman prison. And as we think of Tammy and what she's going through, it's not that we want to be like her, but we want to reflect on God's great grace in her life as it may be manifested in our own when we're under similar trials.

Lord is curious in the Greek, he to whom a person or thing belongs. So most of the brethren in the Lord means that he's talking to believers. This isn't his earthly brothers or the next-door neighbor. This, in fact, are the believers. So I said, should we presume that these believers were in Rome? Well, the previous verse kind of indicates those in the palace gardens and the rest. The rest could be Rome, but perhaps the rest are also other people who are ultimately by by verbal transmission of what Paul's going through, also being uplifted by these truths. And I state here that his chains have made him even more confident and more bold to speak the word without fear.

So 2 Timothy 2.9, wherein I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even unto bonds, but the word of God is not bound.

All right, so what does this more boldly look like? Bold is a pretty strong term, more boldly. Anybody want to reflect on more boldly? Mine says much more bold. Much more bold. Well, or more bold. So it's hyper-bold. Hyper-mo-mo-bold. Bold to the max. Hyper-bold is super bold. Today is the Super Bowl. No, today is the Super Bowl, not the Super Bowl.

Anyway, you get the idea. There's a lot of boldness going on here. I don't know what this looks like. I mean, I think you're reminded, as Hebrews tells us, we approach the throne of grace boldly. I mean, we approach it confidently. There's not a cockiness about it.

It's just a confidence that the Lord knows us. Paul's gone there frequently here. And he's now, even because of these experiences, saying, God, you've been proving yourself true to me. desperate circumstances and I'm now able to go to you even further with things that I maybe last year didn't even consider going to you about. I mean the fact when God proves himself true to us in terms of who we are and ultimately the spirit-led life and how we're revealing God's glory, ultimately we do get more comfortable with his presence.

Yeah. I think you know we grow in grace and in him. He always I guess before, you don't think of God as Abba Father. And with your father, your Abba Father, your daddy, you talk to him about everything. Right. And I think there's more courage as we grow in him to talk to him about everything, every little thing, because you realize that he is there, you know, and he understands. And, you know, whether, just have you go through some things that he, for conforming to him, but you can talk to him and I think to me that you need more courage but far more courage that's what my version says but you know as you grow in him then you have that courage to speak to him and come to him. Think of your own children I mean I think you guys got a lot of kids and we have a lot too and some of it fewer or greater but the point is I think The relationship there, I think when there's more transparency, there's more bonding, there's a greater ability to be transparent going forward so that ultimately you can really get down to the deep heart and soul of your kid. As you start to know him, you find out he invites that, he wants that.

That's really encouraging. You're not just saying, excuse me, I hope you're not really busy. If he was, he'd say, no, I want to talk to you. And is it too simplistic to say that it works? If you have this relationship with Christ, then you're more bold to share because you, I mean, He works.

Yeah, the other thing is that there's nothing we're hiding here, right? I mean, you may think, God, I'm not sure I want to reveal that to you, but you're right. So in a sense, we're always transparent before the Lord, aren't we? We may not be with our fellow believers or our spouses or children, but we clearly are with our Heavenly Father.

And we'll see next week that there were others who preached with a very different type of message, and I think Roger's on board for next week and the following week. But in Philippians 15 and 16, what Margaret read today, you're going to see some people are sharing the gospel a little differently, and probably wrongly. So we want to keep in mind that Paul's got a message here that really is quite contrary to what many of his brethren in the Lord are sharing.

Can you relate to this? Again, this fact of Paul being so uplifted and so bonded in Christ. His chains weren't to this soldier. His chains were to Christ. And those chains are bonding in a relationship. They're not bonded by ultimately being subservient to in a way that he's being put down to have to follow the rule of the land.

Are there trials where a peace and confidence pass all understanding? That's what Philippians 4 or 7 tells us. A peace that passes all understanding really is something that only God can give. We can't give that because circumstances ultimately appeal to Adam and Adam's only response is, woe is me. There's no victory here. We only see the downside.

We work out ways intellectually that we can get out of these dilemmas. And that's almost always attempting to remove the circumstances, not in fact growing by grace through the circumstances. And by faith, we're comforted throughout, and we don't have time now, but 2 Corinthians 1, 3-7 is a great set of verses, four or five verses here that talk about comforting. You know, God comforts us, but we're there to comfort one another in these truths. And the comfort comes through circumstances which are beyond our ability. So I'm going to end with this.

A constant reminder needs to be our citizenship, and we reflected on that a little bit earlier. We're in a foreign land here, everybody. Keep in mind, if we don't really rest in the fact that our citizenship's in heaven, and Paul in the book of Philippi tells us that, then we lose track. We get too earthly expectant. And boy, when we expect things down here, this entitlement mindset, which, if you will, is an increasing problem in the Western world, in that everybody thinks they're entitled to something. that the government owes them something. I mean, but in a sense, we, I think, personalize that a lot, that we think we're entitled to something.

And in fact, our entitlement is entirely at the right hand. And we have everything we need there. So I find it's helpful often to momentarily, when I'm feeling stressed and tried, that my citizenship gives me a bit of temporary comfort and often one that lasts a little bit longer. So I think it's a good view of earthly circumstances. All right. Well, that's our lesson for today.

Alan, could you close us in prayer? Father, thank you for this time. I have to spend the word and thank you for your And we pray that you'll be with us now as we go to the next service and that things that we've heard here today be things that we apply to our life throughout the week. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.