Megaphones and Gardening

In my previous post, we talked a little about the fact that if you are living out the Gospel in your day-to-day life, you are going to experience opposition.  It can come in many forms, in varying intensity, and will arise both internally and externally.  But rest assured, it will come.  It's easy for even those with the strongest faith to come to terms with this truth.  But that's because we are looking at it through human eyes, through broken lenses.  When we take a different perspective, we see purpose behind our persecution.  And I believe, as we move through to the end of chapter 1 in Philippians, we see that Paul is attempting to help the church at Philippi to embrace this new perspective on the resistance they are facing, a perspective that will put purpose behind their suffering.

In Philippians 1:12-14, Paul says this:

"And I want you to know, my dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News.  For everyone here, including the whole palace guard, knows that I am in chains because of Christ. And because of my imprisonment, most of the believers here have gained confidence and boldly speak God’s message without fear."

Here we see Paul emphasizing the first of the functions of persecution in our lives: it serves as a megaphone for God to speak into the lives of others.  And here we see that how we respond to persecution speaks to 2 groups of people: those who aren't Christians, and those who are.  Let's look at how each group is affected specifically:

1) For the Non-Christian: Keeping true to our faith during persecution shows to the non-believer that we truly believe what we claim.  When we suffer for Christ, the power of Christ in us is made known to others.  And as a result, people are drawn to Christ.  In short, through our suffering we allow Christ to minister to others, in a powerful and life-changing way....even if we don't understand it!

2) For the Believer-Simply put, staying the course of faith during times of opposition sets an encouraging example to other believers.  Boldness is contagious.  When others see the Spirit of God working in us like that, they are encouraged, because they know that they have that same Spirit within them.  This is part Christian leadership: building others up through radical faith.

So if we maintain this perspective, and we begin to see how persecution is about God speaking to others through us, it will radically change our outlook on the struggles we face, and it will cause us to step up our own walk with the Lord in hope that He will speak through us.  And peoples lives will be changed.  Everybody wins.

But I believe that Paul wants us to see a second  function that persecution serves in our lives: it reveals a lot about the spiritual condition of our heart.  Move to 1:20-24:

"For I fully expect and hope that I will never be ashamed, but that I will continue to be bold for Christ, as I have been in the past. And I trust that my life will bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die. For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ. So I really don’t know which is better. I’m torn between two desires: I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me. But for your sakes, it is better that I continue to live."

I see 3 areas of our heart that are revealed during times of persecution:

1) The Foundation of Our Confidence (v.20)- Our confidence comes from what or who we are rooted in.  And if Christ is not our foundation, then we can have no confidence that we will stand in times of persecution.  Jesus says it like this in the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:3-6):

“Listen! A farmer went out to plant some seeds. As he scattered them across his field, some seeds fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate them. Other seeds fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The seeds sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow. But the plants soon wilted under the hot sun, and since they didn’t have deep roots, they died." 

Without the proper foundation, the plants couldn't take the oppressive heat.  Without being rooted in Christ and His Gospel, we will meet the same fate in the face of persecution.

2) The Object of Our Focus (v.21)- Our focus in this life determines the path that we take.  Paul's focus was on one thing: Christ.  As he says it, "living means living for Christ".  And as a result, the path he took was fulfilling the Great Commission and making disciples.  But as we know, it's so easy to get distracted from the mission.  If we return to the Parable of the Sower, we see in v.7 that Jesus addresses this too:

"Other seeds fell among thorns that grew up and choked out the tender plants."

The world is a distracting place.  Like weeds choke out plants, the lures of the world choke out our faith, and keep us from the mission of God.  We can't stop the weeds from growing, but we can cut them back to keep them from distracting us.  Trials are a great barometer for measuring where our focus is.  We've got to keep our focus on Christ if we want to persevere.

3) The Priorities of Our Life (v.22-23)-Paul was genuinely concerned about others, to the point that he was torn between wanting to be with Christ and ending his suffering, and continuing to suffer so that the Gospel would be preached and the church would continue to grow in numbers and in faith.  His priorities during hard times showed the condition of his heart: he truly cared about others well-being more than himself.  He loved others sacrificially.  Our priorities must be the same in that they look past our own selves.  And opposition in our lives prove just where our priorities lie.

I know this is a lot to take in, and it can seem overwhelming.  It is to me.  But let me say this: be convicted, but not discouraged.  Let's return to the end of the Parable of the Sower and see why it is that I say this:

"Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted!"

If we are going to stand in the face of opposition, then we need to really evaluate whether or not we are "good soil".  If you've ever planted a garden, you know that good soil doesn't have anything in it that keeps the plant from taking root.  Rocky soil is not good soil because the roots have nowhere to go.  Translate this to what Jesus is saying here: if you want to be good soil, you've got to get rid of the rocks.  Get rid of the things that keep the roots of the Gospel from going deep inside your being and taking hold of you.  That's a convicting statement, but I believe that this is what the Lordship of Jesus is all about: we can't hold anything back.

But on the flip side, remember Philippians 1:6...it's God who will complete the work in us.  He is the one who grows the seed into a plant with deep roots, and is the one who produces the fruit.  If this is happening in our lives, God assures us that no amount of persecution will bring us down.

So that's the takeaway today.  Let God speak to other through the persecution you experience, but also use those times for spiritual self-examination, to make sure that you are growing and not fading away.  Look to Christ, ask for His help in being good soil, and trust Him to grow you into what He wants you to be.  And remember, as Paul says in 1:6, He is faithful to finish the process.  Let that encourage you today.