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Pastor Chuck Swindoll | Insight for Living – Laughing through Life’s ... · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: Have you noticed lately how life gets so complicated? Well,
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Speaker 1: for me, frustration because of that is a regular occurrence.
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Speaker 1: I sometimes think, wouldn't it be great if as we
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Speaker 1: grew older, making up our minds became a lot easier
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Speaker 1: and life got a lot less complicated. But it's just
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Speaker 1: not that simple, even for those who are getting up
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Speaker 1: in years or for those who are mature. I suppose
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Speaker 1: that's why Paul is such a great example for all
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Speaker 1: of us to follow. Talk about maturity, and even he
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Speaker 1: knew complications in our passage. For today's message from the
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Speaker 1: Letter to the Philippians, we're going to observe Paul as
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Speaker 1: he struggled through well a very difficult dilemma. From his writing,
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Speaker 1: we're going to learn a few principles that will help
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Speaker 1: all of us today when we face some of those
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Speaker 1: similar on our own. So to get started, let's turn
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Speaker 1: in our Bibles to the first chapter of Philippians. I
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Speaker 1: want to begin reading at verse twenty one. Here we
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Speaker 1: go Philippians one twenty one to thirty. For to me,
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Speaker 1: to live is Christ and to die is gain. But
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Speaker 1: if I am to live on in the flesh, this
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Speaker 1: will mean fruitful labor for me and I do not
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Speaker 1: know which to choose, but I am hard pressed from
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Speaker 1: both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ,
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Speaker 1: for that is very much better. Yet to remain on
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Speaker 1: in the flesh is more necessary for your sake. Convinced
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Speaker 1: of this, I know that I will remain and continue
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Speaker 1: with you all for your progress and joy in the faith,
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Speaker 1: so that your proud confidence in me may abound in
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Speaker 1: Christ Jesus through my coming to you again. Only conduct
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Speaker 1: yourselves in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ,
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Speaker 1: so that whether I come and see you or remain absent,
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Speaker 1: I will hear of you that you are standing firm
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Speaker 1: in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the
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Speaker 1: faith of the Gospel, in no way alarmed by your opponents,
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Speaker 1: which is a sign of destruction for them, but of
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Speaker 1: salvation for you. And that too from God. For to
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Speaker 1: you it has been granted for Christ's sake, not only
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Speaker 1: to believe in Him, but also to suffer for his sake.
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Speaker 1: Experiencing the same conflict which you saw in me and
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Speaker 1: now here to be in me, life gets complicated. I
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Speaker 1: don't know about you, but dilemmas are a regular occurrence.
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Speaker 1: Some folks it seems have life pretty well figured out.
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Speaker 1: At least from the outward appearance. It looks like their
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Speaker 1: choices are always between clearly right and absolutely wrong, black
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Speaker 1: and white, just that kind of simplicity. Not with me
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Speaker 1: and maybe not with you. In fact, I thought of
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Speaker 1: our dilemma like world when I ran across a Charles
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Speaker 1: Schultz cartoon in one of the Sunday papers in months past.
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Speaker 1: Lucy was philosophizing before Charlie Brown. As she said, Charlie Brown,
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Speaker 1: life is a lot like a deck chair. Some place
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Speaker 1: it so that they can see where they're going, and
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Speaker 1: some place it so that they can see where they
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Speaker 1: have been. Some people place it where they can see
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Speaker 1: where they are right now at the present Charlie Brown's side,
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Speaker 1: I can't even get mine unfolded. Decisiveness is tough, and
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Speaker 1: I don't care if you're older. I don't care if
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Speaker 1: you're mature. I don't care if your hair is gray
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Speaker 1: or white, or you are balding. Just because you have
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Speaker 1: age and just because you have maturity, it's no assurance
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Speaker 1: that decisions come easy to you. Some things in life
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Speaker 1: simply aren't easy to decide. There are benefits, and there
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Speaker 1: are liabilities on both sides. In fact, I've thought about
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Speaker 1: this matter of dilemmas for quite some time, and I've
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Speaker 1: got it pretty well categorized into three different groups. In fact,
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Speaker 1: when you think about these three groups, you could say,
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Speaker 1: to use the old expression, you are between a rock
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Speaker 1: and a hard place. That's an expression I was raised
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Speaker 1: with and we use it in our family now. When
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Speaker 1: you're stuck between two good or tough decisions, both of
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Speaker 1: whom have benefits, and both of both of which have liabilities,
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Speaker 1: you are between a rock and a hard place. Here's
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Speaker 1: the first category, volitional dilemmas. Volitional dilemmas where you want
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Speaker 1: to be, where you want to do two different things
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Speaker 1: at the same time. You ever find that true in
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Speaker 1: your life, you want to do two different things at
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Speaker 1: the same time. Young couples who are married, and they've
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Speaker 1: been married for two or three years, but they've still
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Speaker 1: got a few years of school ahead of them face
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Speaker 1: the dilemma of do they start their family now or
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Speaker 1: do they finish school now. It's a volition dilemma. If
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Speaker 1: you are unhappy in your church and you are facing
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Speaker 1: the continued unrest and churning that accompanies being at that church.
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Speaker 1: Do you stay at that church and try to work
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Speaker 1: things through or do you leave and go on to
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Speaker 1: another place and establish new relationship. It's a it's a
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Speaker 1: volitional dilemma. Here's another one. Conflicts with someone else. You're
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Speaker 1: fairly close to the person, You love that individual a lot,
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Speaker 1: and you see some things going on that aren't right.
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Speaker 1: Do you say something or you do you let the
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Speaker 1: Lord deal with them? Do you confront or do you
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Speaker 1: back away and wait? Volitional dilemmas. Here's a second category,
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Speaker 1: emotional dilemmas. This would have to do with entertaining contrary
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Speaker 1: feelings about the same event. Some time ago, are you
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Speaker 1: younger son discovered that his delightful dog that had been
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Speaker 1: in our family for a number of years, had a
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Speaker 1: terrible skin disease, and no matter what he did to
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Speaker 1: try to relieve his dog of this disease, he couldn't
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Speaker 1: get help. Went to a veterinarian, got medication, put the
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Speaker 1: dog through a series of baths, tried to keep the
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Speaker 1: dog in a cool environment, but nothing would solve it.
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Speaker 1: And it became obvious that the misery of the dog
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Speaker 1: was so great. He faced a tough decision. Does he
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Speaker 1: keep the dog and let the misery go on, or
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Speaker 1: does he put the dog to sleep? It's an emotional dilemma.
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Speaker 1: Here's another one. You have a wayward son or daughter,
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Speaker 1: and that son or daughter is now an adult, and
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Speaker 1: they've been wayward for several years. Your other kids are
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Speaker 1: walking with the lord, and the family's close. But there's
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Speaker 1: something about that one. Well, in a week moment, you
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Speaker 1: might call him or her the black sheep of the family.
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Speaker 1: And you see him on the street. One day, they
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Speaker 1: see you and comes up to you, and he says
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Speaker 1: to you, I need money, I need help, and he
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Speaker 1: bears the marks of living in the street. Do you
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Speaker 1: help or do you turn away? You've helped before, and
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Speaker 1: it's and it's been taken advantage of. It's an emotional dilemma.
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Speaker 1: I thought of that when I read of the letter
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Speaker 1: that this young woman wrote her mother and dad. Dear
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Speaker 1: mom and dad, I thought I'd drop you a note
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Speaker 1: to clue you into my plans. I've fallen in love
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Speaker 1: with a guy named Jim. He quit high school after
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Speaker 1: grade eleven to get married. About a year ago, he
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Speaker 1: got a divorce. We've been going steady for two months
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Speaker 1: and we planned to get married in the fall. Until then,
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Speaker 1: I've decided to move into Jim's apartment. I think I
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Speaker 1: might be pregnant at any rate. I dropped out of
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Speaker 1: school last week, although I like to finish college sometime
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Speaker 1: in the future. On the next page, she continues, Mom
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Speaker 1: and Dad, I just want you to know that everything
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Speaker 1: I've written so far in the letter is false. None
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Speaker 1: of it's true. But Mom and Dad, it is true.
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Speaker 1: I got a C minus in French and flunk math,
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Speaker 1: and she adds, it is true. I'm gonna need some
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Speaker 1: more money for my tuition payments. Question is do you
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Speaker 1: send that girl money or not. It's an emotional dilemma,
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Speaker 1: and then there are geographical dilemmas. You're happy living where
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Speaker 1: you live, but you have a wonderful occupation opportunity if
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Speaker 1: you move. By moving, you'll get clear skies, unchoked streets,
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Speaker 1: no crowds. You can sell your home for a ransom,
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Speaker 1: and you can use that money to build a much bigger,
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Speaker 1: more luxurious place. And you're getting an enormous raise in
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Speaker 1: your salary. However, your children, who have been raised where
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Speaker 1: you live, have eight nine years of friendship. You've also
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Speaker 1: got a great church, and you know by visiting the
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Speaker 1: new spot, you will not be happy in the churches
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Speaker 1: that are available. You know by uprooting that you will
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Speaker 1: face some very real liabilities. It is a geographical dilemma.
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Speaker 1: Do you move do you stay? It's that kind of
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Speaker 1: dilemma that faced the Apostle Paul when he wrote the
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Speaker 1: Letter to the Philippians. It is a letter of joy.
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Speaker 1: We have smiled our way through these first twenty verses
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Speaker 1: of the letter, and when we come to the twenty
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Speaker 1: first verse, we are ready to applaud and shout with
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Speaker 1: joy that the Apostle is able to say for me,
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Speaker 1: to live is Christ and to die is Gain. And
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Speaker 1: we say, what a way to live, no matter, no
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Speaker 1: wonder the man had such joy. But wait, he faced
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Speaker 1: a very personal dilemma. Remember, the man is chained to
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Speaker 1: a Roman soldier. He is in a prison house arrest.
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Speaker 1: Albeit nevertheless, he is under great limitation. For him to
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Speaker 1: stay in that situation means he might be there for
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Speaker 1: months yet to come. He will be able to see
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Speaker 1: a number of people in the process. But the simple
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Speaker 1: fact is he would much rather be with his Lord.
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Speaker 1: In fact, if I read the twentieth verse at the
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Speaker 1: end correctly, I get the hint that he would really
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Speaker 1: prefer death to life, that Christ shall even now exalt
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Speaker 1: as always be exalted in my body, whether by life
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Speaker 1: or by death. For it to me, to live is
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Speaker 1: Christ and to die is gain. I'll get more of Him,
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Speaker 1: I'll gain the benefits of life everlasting, and I'll be
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Speaker 1: unshackled and unfettered, and without this horrible foreign that I
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Speaker 1: live with, and without these limitations and the pain of
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Speaker 1: my circumstances. His credle could be paraphrased. My earnest expectation,
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Speaker 1: my bold hope is that Christ be exalted. The word
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Speaker 1: is mega, that He be the mega message of my life,
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Speaker 1: whether by life or by death. Those twelve words in
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Speaker 1: verse twenty one come from nine Greek words that emphasize
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Speaker 1: Christ being Paul's best friend. For me to live is
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Speaker 1: to walk with the Savior, who is my dearest friend,
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Speaker 1: and for me to die is to see him face
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Speaker 1: to face. Will Thompson put it like this, Jesus is
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Speaker 1: all the world to me, my life, my joy, my all.
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Speaker 1: He is my strength from day to day. Without him,
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Speaker 1: I would fall. Jesus is all the world to me.
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Speaker 1: I want no better friend. I trust him now I'll
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Speaker 1: trust him when life's fleeting day shall end. Beautiful life
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Speaker 1: with such a friend, beautiful life that has no end,
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Speaker 1: eternal life, eternal joy. He's my friend. That's the man
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Speaker 1: that can write for me to live. Is Christ. And
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Speaker 1: when someone is that significant to you, you want to
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Speaker 1: be with him, not only now but always. And to
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Speaker 1: be absent from the body is to be face to
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Speaker 1: face with the Lord. And the reverse is also true.
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Speaker 1: The apostle says, admittedly in verse twenty two, the last
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Speaker 1: few words, I do not know which to choose. I'm
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Speaker 1: between a rock and a hard place. Lightfoot renders this.
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Speaker 1: I am hemmed in on both sides. JB. Phillips. I
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Speaker 1: am torn in two directions. What are those directions? Well,
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Speaker 1: look at the passage. I am hard pressed from both directions.
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Speaker 1: Verse twenty three begins having the desire to depart, that
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Speaker 1: provides you with the column on the left side of
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Speaker 1: your mind. One choice is to depart and be with Christ,
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Speaker 1: for that's very much better. Yet the other choice is
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Speaker 1: to remain on in the flesh, and that belongs on
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Speaker 1: the right side of your mind. And you are in
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Speaker 1: a strait betwixt two, says the Old King James, I'm
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Speaker 1: jammed in a corner and I don't know which way
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Speaker 1: to run. I'm hemmed in on both sides. I desire
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Speaker 1: to depart and be with Christ. Look at the word depart.
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Speaker 1: You'll like the original meaning of this term. It's used
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Speaker 1: for describing loosing a ship, a large ship, from its
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Speaker 1: moorings and letting the current take it where it will.
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Speaker 1: It's used for an army pulling up its tent pigs
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Speaker 1: and folding up its tents and moving on to battle.
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Speaker 1: It's the picture of taking whatever is a part of
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Speaker 1: your life and wrapping it up, rolling it up, and
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Speaker 1: moving on to a better and more beautiful things. That's
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Speaker 1: what he says here. I tell you he says to
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Speaker 1: to depart and be with Christ is far better. At
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Speaker 1: the same time, to remain on in the flesh is
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Speaker 1: a benefit to you. In fact, he puts it this way,
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Speaker 1: it's more necessary for your sake. You See, as is
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Speaker 1: true of all dilemmas, there are definite sides to both issues,
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Speaker 1: each having benefits and each having liabilities. Let's sort of
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Speaker 1: take the verses apart and analyze both benefits and liabilities.
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Speaker 1: Take his first choice to depart and to be with Christ.
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Speaker 1: What are the benefits? Well, if we were in a
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Speaker 1: class right now, I about to ask you to answer back.
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Speaker 1: So let me answer for you some of the things
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Speaker 1: you may be thinking. First of all, he would be
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Speaker 1: instantly with Christ. Is there anything better than that? I
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Speaker 1: think of that the fifteenth of April every year. How
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Speaker 1: wonderful it would be to leave the taxes with my
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Speaker 1: family and I could be with Christ. Little selfish thought,
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Speaker 1: but I do think of it. How wonderful not to
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Speaker 1: worry about the demands and the maintenance and the requirements
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Speaker 1: of life, to simply fold my arms and be carried
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Speaker 1: into glory. I'd instantly be with the Lord, and we
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Speaker 1: would have fellowship together forever and ever. By the way,
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Speaker 1: don't think for a moment that this is not in
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Speaker 1: the thinking of Christians who commit suicide. Now, I'm very serious.
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Speaker 1: There is the feeling that the heartaches and the hardship
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Speaker 1: and the difficulties of now are so great escaping that
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Speaker 1: by death and being with the Lord is worth all
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Speaker 1: of the horror and tragedy that's left behind. I must add.
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Speaker 1: It is also the most cowardly act one can perform,
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Speaker 1: to leave one's remains for others to take care of,
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Speaker 1: to live with. The anger and the frustration and the
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Speaker 1: confusion is virtually more than most people can even bear.
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Speaker 1: I know too many cases to even bring one to
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Speaker 1: mention now, but I'm sure in the mind of that
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Speaker 1: troubled moment, in the mind of the believer is the
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Speaker 1: feeling I could be instantly with the Lord. And that's true.
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Speaker 1: There's another benefit. He would be free of Earth's limitations
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Speaker 1: and frustrations and pain. If you walk with a limp,
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Speaker 1: you anticipate walking hole. If you live with constant pain,
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Speaker 1: you anticipate being free of pain. If you struggle with
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Speaker 1: a situation that is virtually unbearable, you look forward to
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Speaker 1: the days, in the eternal days when everything is bearable.
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Speaker 1: If you're cornered through a series of circumstances and consequences
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Speaker 1: that you created on your own, and you're living in
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Speaker 1: the backwash of that, you look forward to the day
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Speaker 1: when all of that's behind you, all of that's over
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Speaker 1: all of that's unknown and not dealt with anymore, and
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Speaker 1: you're in the blazing presence of perfection. You anticipate that.
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Speaker 1: I'm sure the apostle thought, how great it would be
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Speaker 1: free to be unshackled and unfettered, to be free of
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Speaker 1: this soldier, to be free of life's limitations, to be
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Speaker 1: free of the sadnesses and disappointments, to depart and be
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Speaker 1: with Christ. I'm free of that. But there are also liabilities.
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Speaker 1: Maybe you never thought of liabilities connected with going and
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Speaker 1: being with Christ. Well, first, he would be absent from
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Speaker 1: those who need him. See the way he put it,
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Speaker 1: to remain on the flesh is more necessary for you.
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Speaker 1: If I go, I don't do what is most necessary
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Speaker 1: for you. Some time it falls my lot to minister
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Speaker 1: at the grave of a young father who was taken
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Speaker 1: by accident from earth to heaven. And I look into
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Speaker 1: the faces of a row of three or four small
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Speaker 1: children who were left in his wake, and a widow
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Speaker 1: who never anticipated facing such a future, And I think
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Speaker 1: how much better it would have been if he could
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Speaker 1: have been preserved in life and given the family a
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Speaker 1: security and a strength that they need at least for
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Speaker 1: the next ten years. But he's taken. The Apostle feels
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Speaker 1: as a father to these young Philippian believers, and he says,
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Speaker 1: for me to depart would be somewhat like a father
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Speaker 1: being taken from a family, and it would affect your growth. Furthermore,
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Speaker 1: by not departing, that is, by being able to stay,
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Speaker 1: he would be able to continue to bear fruit on
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Speaker 1: this earth and impact more and more lives. Something very
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Speaker 1: definitely stops, Something very definite stops. When a life is
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Speaker 1: snuffed out. The model fees the image is gone, and
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Speaker 1: all you have, or perhaps the things that were left
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Speaker 1: in writing or the memory I read, and I think
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Speaker 1: of how it must have been when Abraham Lincoln was
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Speaker 1: assassinated and the movement our world had taken, our nation
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Speaker 1: had taken at the time, toward a freedom for the slaves.
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Speaker 1: And what heart breaking news it was to the black
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Speaker 1: man to hear that their model was gone? Could they survive?
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Speaker 1: Would the legislation carry out the dreams of its president
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Speaker 1: now gone? I'm the same with a great man of God.
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Speaker 1: So to depart is not without its liabilities. Now let's
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Speaker 1: go to the other side. Let's say he chooses to remain.
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Speaker 1: What are the benefits? Well, as we pointed out, he'd
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Speaker 1: have a hand in their continued growth. He'd be able
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Speaker 1: to enjoy their relationship on this earth. They would certainly
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Speaker 1: feel more secure about their future. No doubt, the Church
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Speaker 1: would be stronger, or he would visit from time to
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Speaker 1: time would be more necessary for them. However, the liabilities
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Speaker 1: are he would remain absent from home. He would continue
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Speaker 1: to see through a glass darkly. He would continue to
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Speaker 1: live with the pain of his life, the imprisonment, the
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Speaker 1: threatened future. In case you think Paul was mature enough
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Speaker 1: to make the right decision, that he was able to
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Speaker 1: unfold his deck chair and look in the right direction,
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Speaker 1: go back and look again at verse twenty two. I
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Speaker 1: do not know which to choose. To die is gain,
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Speaker 1: But if I am to live on in the flesh,
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Speaker 1: this will mean this will mean fruitful labor for me,
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Speaker 1: And I do not know which to choose. You may
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Speaker 1: not either. In fact, maybe you shouldn't hurry the choice.
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Speaker 1: I'm thinking of the words of Horatio Bonar right now,
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Speaker 1: choose thou for me thy way, not mine, O Lord,
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Speaker 1: however dark it be, leave me by thine own hand.
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Speaker 1: Choose out my path for me. I dare not choose
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Speaker 1: my lot. I would not if I might choose thou
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Speaker 1: for me, my God. So shall I walk aright? The
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Speaker 1: kingdom that I seek is thine. So let the way
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Speaker 1: that leads to it be thine else, I'm as surely stray.
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Speaker 1: Take thou my cup and it with joy or sorrow,
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Speaker 1: fell as best to thee may seem. Choose thou my
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Speaker 1: good and ill, And he concludes, choose thou for me
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Speaker 1: my friends, my sickness or my health. Choose thou my
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Speaker 1: cares for me, my poverty or my wealth, not mine,
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Speaker 1: not mine. The choice in things both great and small.
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Speaker 1: Be thou my guide, my strength, my wisdom, and my all.
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Speaker 1: You realize how few people could write words like that.
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Speaker 1: Realize how few, hearing these words preached from God's word
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Speaker 1: at this moment, could honestly say. I could write that
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Speaker 1: we're not raised like that. We're raised to be decisive,
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Speaker 1: to look out for number one, to take care of
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Speaker 1: our own, to think intelligently and to plan wisely, and
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Speaker 1: especially to make sure that we are secure and stable
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Speaker 1: and safe no risk. Oh, for the Christian life isn't
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Speaker 1: like that. The apostle says, I, I'm in God's mercy.
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Speaker 1: I really cannot make this decision. These romans think that
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Speaker 1: I'm in their case and that I'm under their authority. Really,
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Speaker 1: I'm under the mighty hand of God. And I humbled
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Speaker 1: myself to his will. Will you hear that today you
25:16
Speaker 1: thought you had your future plan, you thought you knew
25:19
Speaker 1: the way you should go, And suddenly, of all things,
25:22
Speaker 1: it has been intercepted, and the plan has been moved
25:25
Speaker 1: in another direction. If you're not careful, you'll resent it,
25:30
Speaker 1: you'll fight it. Choose now for me. I would not
25:37
Speaker 1: if I could said that man now, he may come
25:51
Speaker 1: back to the Philippians, or he may die in the
25:53
Speaker 1: next few moments, for all they know, and so whatever
25:58
Speaker 1: may be God's choice for him. He addresses words of
26:01
Speaker 1: challenge to the readers, and I think not just to
26:04
Speaker 1: the Philippians, but to us as well. Verses twenty seven
26:08
Speaker 1: to thirty are addressed to people just like you and me,
26:13
Speaker 1: though they were originally written to Christians in the first century.
26:18
Speaker 1: Don't miss his comment in verse twenty seven, only conduct
26:21
Speaker 1: yourselves in a manner worthy of the Gospel. Whether I
26:29
Speaker 1: come or remain absent from you, you conduct yourselves worthy
26:35
Speaker 1: of the Gospel. Work on your testimony, work on your character,
26:45
Speaker 1: whether you ever see me again or not. Because death
26:49
Speaker 1: is coming to all of us. I may have read
26:53
Speaker 1: this to you before, I can't remember. But Tony Campolo
26:56
Speaker 1: in a book entitled who switched the price tags to
27:00
Speaker 1: of the black preacher who looks to his young audience
27:04
Speaker 1: in a graduation night and he says, cherin, you're gonna die.
27:09
Speaker 1: How's that for an opening line. You're gonna die. You
27:12
Speaker 1: may not think you're gonna die, but you're gonna die.
27:15
Speaker 1: One of these days. They're gonna take you out to
27:17
Speaker 1: the cemetery and drop you in a hole, throw some
27:20
Speaker 1: dirt on your face, and go back to the church
27:22
Speaker 1: and eat potato salad. When you were born, he said,
27:32
Speaker 1: you alone were crying, and everybody else was happy. The
27:36
Speaker 1: important question I want to ask is this, When you die,
27:39
Speaker 1: are you alone gonna be happy leaving everybody else crying?
27:43
Speaker 1: The answer depends on whether you live to get titles
27:46
Speaker 1: or you live to get testimonies. When they lay you
27:50
Speaker 1: in the grave, are people gonna stand around reciting the
27:52
Speaker 1: fancy titles you earned, or are they gonna stand around
27:55
Speaker 1: giving testimonies for the good things you did for them?
28:00
Speaker 1: Will they list your degrees and awards or will they
28:02
Speaker 1: tell about what a blessing you were to them? Then
28:05
Speaker 1: he went on a poetic rip, says Campolo. He went
28:09
Speaker 1: on a kind of rip that makes black preaching extra special.
28:13
Speaker 1: He went through the Bible, talking about those people who
28:15
Speaker 1: had titles and the ones who had testimonies. He rhythmically
28:19
Speaker 1: shouted his sermon, each line stronger than the one before.
28:22
Speaker 1: Pharaoh may have had his title, Moses had the testimony.
28:26
Speaker 1: Nebukudnaz Or may have had the title, but Daniel had
28:29
Speaker 1: the testimony. Queen Jezebel may have had the title, but
28:33
Speaker 1: Elijah had the testimony. Pilot may have had the title,
28:36
Speaker 1: but my Jesus had the testimony. Right now, I wish
28:39
Speaker 1: I were black. I could do a better job of that.
28:43
Speaker 1: The question is what are you working for? Title or testimony?
28:47
Speaker 1: And that's what he's saying the Philippians. He's said to
28:50
Speaker 1: the people, you're putting yourself through life in one direction
28:54
Speaker 1: or another. I've worked on testimony. So for me to
28:58
Speaker 1: live as Christ is losing nothing and gaining everything. But
29:05
Speaker 1: if all you have is what you can put a
29:06
Speaker 1: price tag on, you're missing it. That's why he can say,
29:12
Speaker 1: with honesty, without hypocrisy, conduct yourselves a parenthesis like I
29:19
Speaker 1: conduct myself in a manner worthy of the Gospel, so
29:25
Speaker 1: that whether I come and God gives me years on
29:29
Speaker 1: earth or whether I'm taken and remain absent. I hear
29:34
Speaker 1: one thing. You're standing firm in the spirit with one mind,
29:42
Speaker 1: striving together for the faith of the Gospel. Now you
29:45
Speaker 1: know what. Suddenly the Philippians had a dilemma because they
29:51
Speaker 1: knew to do this meant suffering. To do the other
29:56
Speaker 1: meant they could get along fairly simple in life. Just
29:59
Speaker 1: don't get connected to publicly with the Christian circles, with
30:02
Speaker 1: the Christian testimony. In fact, let me make another set
30:06
Speaker 1: of columns. Let's put positive on the left side, and
30:10
Speaker 1: let's put negative on the right side. Let's make another list.
30:16
Speaker 1: Conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Gospel. What
30:20
Speaker 1: does such a walk include? Well, positively this number one,
30:26
Speaker 1: standing firm in one spirit with one mind. That means
30:30
Speaker 1: living harmoniously together with other believers. You do that or
30:35
Speaker 1: do you make waves? Do you do you move toward
30:41
Speaker 1: harmony or do you move toward disturbance of harmony? Do
30:46
Speaker 1: you keep the unity of the spirit in the bond
30:48
Speaker 1: of peace or do you disturb the unity of the spirit?
30:53
Speaker 1: He says, if you want to have a walk that's
30:56
Speaker 1: worthy of the Gospel, stand firm in one spirit, walking
31:01
Speaker 1: in harmony with other believers. You know what, if you're
31:05
Speaker 1: in a group where you can't walk in harmony with
31:08
Speaker 1: other believers, you want to get out of that group.
31:12
Speaker 1: Something's wrong, there's a bad mix. It isn't worth your
31:16
Speaker 1: poisoning the group, or you're living unhappily. My wife and
31:22
Speaker 1: I look back years and years and years ago and
31:25
Speaker 1: remember a relationship we had in a particular a set
31:28
Speaker 1: of circumstances, and we were increasingly less happy and less fulfilled,
31:34
Speaker 1: and the best thing we did and could have done
31:36
Speaker 1: was to step away from it and get out of it.
31:40
Speaker 1: And we've never looked back and wished we hadn't done that.
31:43
Speaker 1: That's part of standing firm in one spirit and striving
31:47
Speaker 1: together for the faith of the Gospel. Second, that brings
31:52
Speaker 1: up the second, striving together for the Gospel. That's an
31:55
Speaker 1: athletic term. By the way, it means fighting the good
31:59
Speaker 1: fight of faith. If you want to know how to
32:02
Speaker 1: really walk in a manner worthy of the Gospel, then
32:06
Speaker 1: get engaged in the battle. People who fuss about the
32:10
Speaker 1: food are never those on the front line. They're always
32:14
Speaker 1: forty miles behind the front line, arguing over whether they're
32:17
Speaker 1: serving chili or liver today. But when you're on the
32:20
Speaker 1: front line, you're glad to just have a little cold
32:22
Speaker 1: can of meat. On the front line, you're striving for
32:26
Speaker 1: the Gospel, and the fight is the most important part
32:30
Speaker 1: of life. And the battle is on and you're engaged
32:33
Speaker 1: in it. Negatively. Do not be alarmed by your opponents,
32:37
Speaker 1: isn't that good counsel Verse twenty eight. In no way
32:40
Speaker 1: alarmed by your opponents. I love the word alarmed. I
32:46
Speaker 1: did a little work on it. It's the ancient picture
32:48
Speaker 1: of a horse in battle array, shying away from the battle.
32:53
Speaker 1: We refer to that as the horse being spooked. The
32:57
Speaker 1: horse comes upon battle and here's the report of the cannons,
33:01
Speaker 1: or sees the flash of the sword, or here's the
33:05
Speaker 1: sound of the bomb. It turns away as the old
33:09
Speaker 1: cavalry once fought on horses, and it shied away from
33:12
Speaker 1: the battle. That's the term used here. It's the word
33:16
Speaker 1: for an uncontrollable stampede of startled horses. That describes many
33:23
Speaker 1: a flock of Christians scared to death that archaeology is
33:28
Speaker 1: going to discover something that's going to destroy the faith,
33:31
Speaker 1: or disturbed that somebody's gonna knock on our door and
33:34
Speaker 1: point out something that we're missing in our biblical commitment. No,
33:39
Speaker 1: there's no reason to be afraid. All the more reason,
33:41
Speaker 1: I might add for apologetics, all the more reason for
33:49
Speaker 1: training the mind to stand in defense of the Gospel.
33:55
Speaker 1: You who are in that field, help us strive together
34:00
Speaker 1: for the faith and keep us from being alarmed by
34:04
Speaker 1: our opponents. Now, let me give you three or four
34:06
Speaker 1: things that will help you stand tall in the battle.
34:09
Speaker 1: And they all three or four, There are all four
34:11
Speaker 1: of them. Come right from this passage. Here are some
34:14
Speaker 1: things that you need to remember when the battle is on.
34:17
Speaker 1: Number one, we are not alone Verse twenty seven, striving
34:24
Speaker 1: together for the faith of the Gospel. There's something wonderful
34:28
Speaker 1: about being in the foxhole with somebody else. There's something
34:32
Speaker 1: terrifying about being in there all alone when you remember
34:37
Speaker 1: you are not alone. And by the way, faithful church
34:40
Speaker 1: attendance does remind you of that, it's the only place
34:43
Speaker 1: on earth where Christians are in the majority. We need
34:47
Speaker 1: to remember that by mutual fellowship together we stir up
34:52
Speaker 1: one another to good works. We remind one another in
34:56
Speaker 1: the unified singing of the great hymns of the Faith
35:00
Speaker 1: and of the agreement to the preaching of the gospel
35:02
Speaker 1: that we are not alone. Life gets awfully lonely and
35:06
Speaker 1: frightening when we're in the midst of it. Was I
35:13
Speaker 1: was ministering at a church in Reno, had a wonderful
35:15
Speaker 1: time with a pastor, in fact, several pastors, and I
35:19
Speaker 1: noticed as we drove away from his from that location
35:23
Speaker 1: where the church was, there was a sign. As you
35:25
Speaker 1: just left the church a driveway it said, you are
35:28
Speaker 1: now entering the mission field. Is not a great sign,
35:33
Speaker 1: you could add, you're now entering the battleground. Unfortunately, sometime
35:37
Speaker 1: the church is a greater battleground than outside the church.
35:41
Speaker 1: You're now entering the mission field. When you step out
35:45
Speaker 1: of the fellowship of believers, you enter the mission field.
35:50
Speaker 1: You're not alone. Second verse twenty eight. Remember this, we're
35:55
Speaker 1: promised the victory in no way alarmed by your opponents,
36:02
Speaker 1: which is a sign of destruction for them. That is,
36:04
Speaker 1: the message you have is destruction for them and its
36:06
Speaker 1: deliverance for you, and that too comes from God. There's
36:13
Speaker 1: no one that can knock on your door and present
36:14
Speaker 1: to you material from their cult that in any way
36:18
Speaker 1: should cause disturbance to your faith and The better equipped
36:22
Speaker 1: we are with the truth, the better equipped we are
36:24
Speaker 1: to answer the door. We're promised the victory. I love
36:30
Speaker 1: the verse that says he gives us the victory through
36:32
Speaker 1: our Lord Jesus Christ Corinthians Roman says we are more
36:36
Speaker 1: than conquerors. We're promised the victory. We're not alone. Third,
36:43
Speaker 1: this one's gonna hurt because it presents the dilemma we
36:46
Speaker 1: are called to suffer verse twenty nine. For to you,
36:51
Speaker 1: it has been granted for Christ's sake, not only to
36:54
Speaker 1: believe in him, that's the fun part, but also to
36:58
Speaker 1: suffer for him. That's the tough part. But we're granted both.
37:06
Speaker 1: It is easy to forget that in God's agenda for
37:10
Speaker 1: his people there are both sides. He takes delight when
37:17
Speaker 1: we believe in him, and he also calls us to
37:21
Speaker 1: suffer for him. In our greedy, take it easy, comfortable world,
37:28
Speaker 1: it is easy to forget that suffering might mean you
37:33
Speaker 1: are right in the core of God's will, and things
37:39
Speaker 1: might get worse. I am not a prophet. I am
37:43
Speaker 1: not the son of a prophet. I don't know of
37:47
Speaker 1: any prophets in my genealogy, but I do know some
37:52
Speaker 1: people who are good students of the scene on the horizon.
37:57
Speaker 1: And from what I hear and from what I read
37:59
Speaker 1: from those respected men and women, we are in for
38:03
Speaker 1: hard times. Are you ready to suffer for his sake?
38:14
Speaker 1: We're called to suffer. That'll help you when the battle
38:17
Speaker 1: is on. And fourth, we are in good company, aren't
38:23
Speaker 1: those helpful things? We're not alone, We're promised the victory.
38:27
Speaker 1: We are called to suffer, and we are in good company.
38:30
Speaker 1: Paul says, you experience the same conflict which you saw
38:33
Speaker 1: in me, and now here to be in me. See
38:36
Speaker 1: the word conflict, it's the Greek agone. We get the
38:39
Speaker 1: word agony from it, agony experiencing the same agony you
38:45
Speaker 1: saw in me. Well, welcome to the club. What you
38:49
Speaker 1: saw in me is happening in you. We are in
38:51
Speaker 1: good company. And by the way, isn't it a great
38:55
Speaker 1: reminder when in the company a fellow suffering saints, we
39:00
Speaker 1: remember that Christ is triumphing, that we are more than conquerors.
39:07
Speaker 1: In the days of Julie and the Apostate, a scoffer inquired,
39:12
Speaker 1: when what is your carpenter doing now? The answer of
39:17
Speaker 1: the unperturbed Christian was making a coffin for your Emperor.
39:26
Speaker 1: There is a wonderful spirit of invincibility that accompanies the bold,
39:30
Speaker 1: unhesitating Christian in battle. For our thirty fifth anniversary, we
39:37
Speaker 1: were Cynthia and I were given a wonderful trip which
39:41
Speaker 1: included some time in Rome. If you have never been there,
39:46
Speaker 1: then trust me on this. It's one of those places
39:49
Speaker 1: you'll not want to miss in your plans for future travel.
39:53
Speaker 1: If you have been, you went to where we were,
39:56
Speaker 1: the Colisseum. There is something about being in the ruins
40:02
Speaker 1: of a place of martyrdom that does something to you.
40:06
Speaker 1: There's something about it. I found myself wanting to get
40:10
Speaker 1: away from the crowd of tourists who were all about,
40:14
Speaker 1: and to walk all alone into one little cubicle, one
40:17
Speaker 1: little section where Cynthia and I walked arm in arm together,
40:21
Speaker 1: And I wanted to be quiet, and I wanted to
40:25
Speaker 1: hear in my mind the roar of the crowd under
40:32
Speaker 1: the maddening rule of Nero, when Christians were the torches
40:37
Speaker 1: that lit the stadium, when Christians were in the jaws
40:42
Speaker 1: of lions, when Christians were wrapped in the skin of
40:47
Speaker 1: animals and tormented by beasts, and finally torn apart there
40:55
Speaker 1: at that place. Is that reminder, Paul wrote Philippians from Rome.
41:04
Speaker 1: One wonders if he didn't hear the roar of the
41:06
Speaker 1: crowd at night, if he didn't hear the scream of
41:12
Speaker 1: the blood thirsty for more blood. Our home is located
41:20
Speaker 1: not that far from the stadium where the where the
41:24
Speaker 1: high school plays its games, and every once in a
41:28
Speaker 1: while on a Friday evening, we'll drive in after having
41:30
Speaker 1: gone out for a bite to eat together, and we'll
41:32
Speaker 1: open the door and be about nine o'clock and we
41:35
Speaker 1: can look back on the horizon and see the glow
41:37
Speaker 1: of the stadium, and we'll hear the roar of the crowd.
41:43
Speaker 1: I thought last Friday evening, having spent several hours in
41:47
Speaker 1: this passage, I thought about what it might have been
41:52
Speaker 1: like when Paul heard the roar at that stadium, perhaps
41:55
Speaker 1: not far from his house arrest. For us, it was
41:59
Speaker 1: a one moment to hear the band's play and to
42:02
Speaker 1: hear the crowd cheering and imagining a game going on.
42:10
Speaker 1: But who's to say? But what? There will not be
42:11
Speaker 1: a return of such agon and martyrdom. Does Christ mean
42:24
Speaker 1: enough to you to die for the cause. It's a
42:31
Speaker 1: very serious question. Not simply to speak, and not simply
42:38
Speaker 1: to argue, but to go to the stake, to spend
42:45
Speaker 1: your last moments giving him praise for to me, to
42:52
Speaker 1: live is Christ and to die is gain searching question.
43:06
Speaker 1: The Philippians had a practical dilemma, knowing suffering would be there,
43:13
Speaker 1: would they run to it or would they run from it?
43:16
Speaker 1: There are benefits to both and their reliabilities. Let me
43:25
Speaker 1: turn the issue to today and address a very practical
43:29
Speaker 1: response on our part. Let me mention a couple of thoughts,
43:32
Speaker 1: may I The first is this making right decisions amidst
43:42
Speaker 1: dilemmas forces us to rethink our priorities. Making the right
43:52
Speaker 1: decisions amidst dilemmas forces us to address our priorities. Are
44:06
Speaker 1: you working for a title? Are you working for a testimony?
44:13
Speaker 1: Is it true for you to live? Is Christ? No questions?
44:18
Speaker 1: I asked? How about to die? The first issue brings
44:25
Speaker 1: the second to the surface. Choosing right priorities forces us
44:32
Speaker 1: to reconsider the importance of Christ in our lives. Choosing
44:42
Speaker 1: right priorities forces us to reconsider the importance of Christ
44:48
Speaker 1: in our lives. Paul could write that we applaud it,
44:54
Speaker 1: we have no doubt that he meant it? Can anybody
44:57
Speaker 1: else write that? Can anybody else mean it like that?
45:05
Speaker 1: There are many voices these days, all of them loud,
45:08
Speaker 1: some of them persuades, many of them convincing. You hear
45:12
Speaker 1: them in the advertising slogans, you see them in the media,
45:16
Speaker 1: you read them in the books and the magazines. You
45:19
Speaker 1: are told to look out for number one, to choose
45:22
Speaker 1: what's best for you, what will result in the best interest,
45:26
Speaker 1: what will bring you the best financial security, No questions asked.
45:30
Speaker 1: You go for that if you're smart. In the midst
45:36
Speaker 1: of my reading this past week, I discovered that Malcolm
45:39
Speaker 1: Muggeridge had died. Interesting man, Muggerage. I've read him for years,
45:47
Speaker 1: and I'm sure many of you have. A man. One
45:53
Speaker 1: of the interviews is entitled God's Gargoyle. He's got a
45:58
Speaker 1: face like twelve miles was a bad road, wonderful man.
46:03
Speaker 1: Foreign correspondent, newspaper editor, editor of Punch magazine. A well
46:08
Speaker 1: known television personality in Great Britain, one of the few
46:13
Speaker 1: television critics who never owned a television Marvelous writer, he
46:19
Speaker 1: refers to himself at times as a displaced person. When
46:24
Speaker 1: he did come to know Jesus Christ. He felt displaced.
46:27
Speaker 1: He had felt it since a child. But when he
46:29
Speaker 1: gave his heart to Christ, it did something to his
46:31
Speaker 1: whole orientation to earth, and his writings bit into our
46:36
Speaker 1: times and stung like an adder. In one of his
46:42
Speaker 1: works entitled Jesus Rediscovered, he says this, I may, I suppose,
46:49
Speaker 1: regard myself or pass for being a relatively successful man.
46:54
Speaker 1: People occasionally stare at me in the streets. That is fame.
47:00
Speaker 1: I can fairly easily earn enough to qualify for admission
47:03
Speaker 1: to the higher slopes of the internal revenue, that is
47:06
Speaker 1: success furnished with money and a little fame. Even the elderly,
47:11
Speaker 1: if they care to, may partake of trendy diversions. That's pleasure.
47:19
Speaker 1: It might happen once in a while that something I
47:21
Speaker 1: said or wrote was sufficiently heated for me to persuade
47:24
Speaker 1: myself that it represented a serious impact on our times.
47:28
Speaker 1: That's fulfillment. Yet, I say to you, and I beg
47:34
Speaker 1: you to believe me. Multiply these tiny triumphs by a million,
47:40
Speaker 1: add them all together, and they are nothing less than nothing,
47:45
Speaker 1: a positive impediment measured against one draft of that living water.
47:51
Speaker 1: Christ offers the spiritually thirsty wow for me to live?
47:58
Speaker 1: Is Christ? Think from that chalice is better than the
48:04
Speaker 1: fame and the success and the pleasure and the fulfillment
48:08
Speaker 1: throughout time. Those are the words of a man who
48:15
Speaker 1: not only has lived, but has died and has come
48:20
Speaker 1: to realize firsthand now in the presence of his Lord,
48:25
Speaker 1: the truth of what he wrote. Will you I'd like
48:36
Speaker 1: you just to close your eyes and block out all
48:41
Speaker 1: visual interruptions. Like you to face the hard question about Christ.
49:02
Speaker 1: Is he a nice neat conscience salver, relieving a little
49:11
Speaker 1: bit of stress from time to time, keeping guilt away
49:15
Speaker 1: on Sunday morning, powerful leader of a religion that you've
49:24
Speaker 1: decided you're going to be a part of because that
49:26
Speaker 1: seems to be where the action is. Or is he
49:29
Speaker 1: your God? And I mean curios, I mean Lord, your
49:38
Speaker 1: reason for doing whatever you do. It may mean success,
49:45
Speaker 1: it may mean dreadful loss, could mean death. Does he
49:52
Speaker 1: mean that much to you? Given a choice? I have
50:05
Speaker 1: discovered that intelligent people appreciate freedom to decide without being
50:12
Speaker 1: pressed emotionally or had games played with them. So we
50:17
Speaker 1: play no games. I offer you no great hope of
50:23
Speaker 1: relief from pain and conflict, if you give your life
50:27
Speaker 1: to Christ, you may discover difficulties like you never knew before.
50:32
Speaker 1: But I can promise you this a guaranteed home in
50:36
Speaker 1: heaven forgiveness of sins and peace with God yours to
50:46
Speaker 1: be claimed with your faith in Christ. We've clearly marked
50:53
Speaker 1: the prayer room in this worship center. We've done that
50:55
Speaker 1: so there might be a quiet place for people to
50:57
Speaker 1: come and congregate with carefully chosen counselors who can talk
51:02
Speaker 1: with you and help you and pray with you. You'll
51:06
Speaker 1: be treated with dignity and respect. You may leave any
51:09
Speaker 1: moment you wish. You'll be given information, You'll be encouraged.
51:17
Speaker 1: They will be there to help you make this decision
51:19
Speaker 1: for Christ. If you need help, right where you're sitting,
51:26
Speaker 1: can you say for me to live as Christ, and
51:30
Speaker 1: even if I die, I gain Lord. It would be
51:43
Speaker 1: wonderful if all of us could say what Will Thompson wrote,
51:47
Speaker 1: Jesus is all the world to me, my life, my joy,
51:53
Speaker 1: my all, but that the truth of the matter is Lord,
51:58
Speaker 1: we cannot all say that. So deliver us from a
52:03
Speaker 1: phony hypocrisy that would just quickly forget a message like
52:07
Speaker 1: this and go on our way and I pray that
52:10
Speaker 1: you will dog our steps, he will stay with us
52:15
Speaker 1: and bring us convincing evidence that we can no longer
52:18
Speaker 1: live for ourselves. For what is one profited if he
52:22
Speaker 1: gains the whole world and loses his own soul? And so,
52:29
Speaker 1: as you minister to us, bring us to a surrender
52:33
Speaker 1: of wills, Encourage those who labor to assist us in
52:40
Speaker 1: the defense of the faith. Strengthen the arms of those
52:43
Speaker 1: leaders who set the model, as Paul did in his day.
52:49
Speaker 1: And may Christ be exalted, whether by life or by death.
52:56
Speaker 1: We pray in the Saviour's name. Amen.
53:00
Speaker 2: The preceding message, Laughing Through Life's Dilemmas was copyrighted in
53:04
Speaker 2: nineteen ninety and the sound recording was copyrighted in two
53:07
Speaker 2: thousand eight by Charles R. Swindall, Inc. All rights are
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Speaker 2: reserved world wide. In the preceding message, Charles R. Swindall, Inc.
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Speaker 2: Is grateful to Thomas Nelson, Inc. For permission to use
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Speaker 2: the book Who Switched The Price Tags copyrighted in nineteen
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Speaker 2: eighty six by Tony Campollo