JULY 19

OUR PERSONAL PROMISES:

NAMES FOR GOD:

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EL HAYYAY—GOD OF MY LIFE

ELOHIM KEDOSHIN—HOLY GOD

EL KANNA—JEALOUS GOD

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This month we will read the book, “Whatever Happens – How to Stand Firm in Your Faith When the World is Falling Apart.”  By a contemporary author of many best-selling Christian books, Robert J. Morgan.  He took care of his wife when she had MS, until she went home to her Savior.  “He knows of which he speaks.”  I pray that this book blesses you.

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Philippians 1:27-30

“ Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel,  and not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that from God.  For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, having the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear is in me.”

STRIVE TOGETHER FOR ONE FAITH

Second:  We conduct ourselves as citizens of heaven when we strive together for one faith:  “Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.  Then …I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, STRIVING TOGETHER AS ONE FOR THE FAITH OF THE GOSPEL”

The phrase “striving together” comes from the Greek term “ATHLOS,” from which we get our word “athletics.”  The apostle Paul often used sports and athletic metaphors. 

A year or so ago, I had a speaking engagement that was seven hours away by car.  A month or so earlier, I had contracted COVID.  I was over the illness, but not the fatigue.  I awoke Saturday morning, so tired that I thought, “I can’t possibly make this trip.  I don’t feel like driving to the grocery store, let alone to my appointment.”

I tried to figure out how to get out of the engagement, but I knew people were counting on me.  I got in my truck, pulled onto the interstate, and drove to the first rest stop.  There, I took a nap.  Then I drove to the next rest stop and did the same.  By stopping, I was able to get to my hotel by the end of the day. 

Later, on a call with Dr. David Jeremiah about a totally different subject, we began talking about our travels. I told him about the experience, and he looked over at his wife, Donna, and said, “Who does something like that?”

“You do,” Donna replied.

“Well, yes, we all do.  We all do.  That’s called ministry.”

Just like an athletic contest, living “worthy of the gospel of Christ” takes endurance.  We’re striving together for the faith without being intimidated by our opponents.  Many Western Christians are caught in a triangle of trepidation.  We don’t speak up because we’re afraid we’ll come across as harsh and intolerant; we’re afraid we’ll hurt or offend someone; or we’re afraid we’ll be criticized, rejected, or attacked.

I know what it’s like to speak as lovingly as I know how about the sanctity of gender, sexuality, and marriage – only to have my own friends question  whether I should have brought up the subject.

None of us want to be harsh, hurt or hunted.  But our silence isn’t doing the world any good.  The Lord tells us here to always be “striving together as one for the faith of the gospel without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you.”

SUFFER FOR ONE CAUSE

That may lead to suffering, but that’s all right.  The passage anticipates that.  Conducting ourselves as citizens of heaven while in this hostile environment means standing firm in one Spirit, striving together for one faith, and suffering for one cause.

Verse 29 can’t say it any clearer:  “For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for Him.”

For the Philippians and for Paul, some suffering was caused by persecution.  But there was also the inevitable sufferings of life.  None of us like that word, “suffering,” and when we see it in the Bible it often makes us shrink back a bit.

Recently, however, I’ve been reading in two Old Testament books – Deuteronomy and Isaiah.  I’ve found the same truth in both books:  Our Lord carries us.

Isaiah 46:3

“Listen to Me….You who have been carried by Me from birth and have been carried from the womb;”

Deuteronomy 1:31

“ and in the wilderness where you saw how the Lord your God carried you, just as a man carries his son, on all of the road which you have walked until you came to this place.”

I had lunch with a couple of friends not long ago, and I told them how much this had been true for me over my life.  The Lord has carried me, especially across the rough places.  One of my friends said, “Yes, and when God carries us, we have only one obligation.”

“What is it?” I asked.

“To hold on.”

I’d never thought of that.  God carries us through times of suffering, yes.  But we must hold on to Him, arms around His neck, as it were, by faith.  Of course, we don’t have to hold on – God can carry  us without any effort on our part, but we don’t always allow Him to do so.  Like a toddler being picked up by his father, we can either rest or (as many toddlers do) resist and push away.

One of the most gripping books I’ve read is pastor Andrew Brunson’s account of his 735-day ordeal in Turkish prisons because of his work for Christ.  I’ve not met Brunson, but he attended a couple of schools after me, and I have utmost respect for him.  When Turkey’s President Erdogan had Brunson arrested in 2016, it began a harrowing period.  Brunson writes about his fear, the psychological torture he endured, the gripping anxiety and panic he felt, and how he thought he was losing his mind.

He clung to the neck of Jesus, but sometimes he feared the Lord would drop him.  At times Brunson wasn’t sure he would survive or that he would stand for Christ when the moment came.  When his case finally came up for trial, he was in as much peril as Paul when he wrote Philippians – and maybe more.  He was terrified.  But God gave him grace, and when he rose to speak, this is what he said in the courtroom and to the government and to all of Turkey:

“Jesus told His disciples to go to all the world and proclaim the good news of salvation to everyone and make disciples.  This is why I came to Turkey – to proclaim this.

There is only one way to God: Jesus.  There is only one way to have our sins forgiven:  Jesus.  There is only one way to gain eternal life:  Jesus.  There is only one Savior:  Jesus.  I want this to echo in all of Turkey.”

It did.   And it will.

These are the most dangerous days we have ever faced.   There’s opposition and uncertainty.  But there is grace for the moment – grace for the standing, grace for the struggling, and grace for the suffering.  We are being carried through it all, and we simply need to hold on to our Savior in faith and confidence …whatever happens.

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