Imagine that you, like the Apostle Paul, are sitting behind the bars of a cold, stone prison cell, anxiously wondering if you will soon exit the doors as a free man or as a gray corpse. Will you live or will you die? The hours and hours of complete boredom will not allow your mind any reprieve from thinking about this; from focusing on the anxiety of the unknown.
I imagine that I would handle Paul’s situation with a less than stellar performance than he. How many of you have spent a sleepless night of vacation worrying about if you put the ham in the fridge before leaving home?
But, Paul handles this terrible alone time in jail so inexplicably well. As he considers the two possibilities, being set free from jail or dying, he says, “For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which I prefer. I am hard pressed between the two: my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better; but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you” (NRSV, Philippians 1:21-24).
Just so you really get the optimistic sense that Paul has in this normally anxiety riddled situation, here is a plain language rendering from The Message Bible:
“Everything happening to me in this jail only serves to make Christ more accurately known, regardless of whether I live or die. They didn’t shut me up; they gave me a platform! Alive, I’m Christ’s messenger; dead, I’m his prize. Life versus even more life! I can’t lose.
As long as I’m alive in this body, there is good work for me to do. If I had to choose right now, I hardly know which I’d choose. Hard choice! The desire to break camp here and be with Christ is powerful. Some days I can think of nothing better. But most days, because of what you are going through, I am sure that it’s better for me to stick it out here” (The Message, Philippians 1:21-24).Paul’s mind works so differently than mine. Paul is not full of anxiety; rather he is full of hope, looking to the future no matter what happens. If he dies, he gets to be with Christ, which he thinks is a really, really great thing. He thinks that maybe it is even the best thing. But then, he thinks about his congregation in Philippi, and sees that they need him as they face their own persecutions. So, as much as it is in his control, he plans to stick around for the sake of the people he loves.
Can I just stop us right there for a second? It is like Paul lives in a different world. I mean, who does not obsess over “the end” when faced with the threat of death? Who says, “You know what, dying would really be the best thing for me.”? Maybe, if you are in terrible end-of-life pain you would consider death better. Otherwise, it seems to me that Paul is living in a different world. It is like he is the citizen of a completely different reality than the rest of us. And, Paul agrees. In fact, he invites his people in Philippi to live as a citizen of that sort of life also.
After-all, the people of his congregation in Philippi have faced life-threatening difficulties and persecutions also. The entire city was conquered by the Romans and the ancient, ancestral lands of the people was stripped away from families and given to Roman commanders as a retirement gift. The Palestinians of our time were not the first to face such a stripping away of family lands, nor will they be the last. The native Philippians were a people who had been pushed down, beaten, and kept in the background of society. This was clear on a daily basis as they walked down the streets, Roman faces turning away as if they were a despicable sight. Native Philippians were not to be trusted. They were not Roman citizens.
But, Paul tenderly and carefully reminds them that they are citizens. Using his own personal struggles as an example, he shows them that they are a different kind of citizen. They hold the same citizenship as you or I, and I am not talking about citizenship in our own great nation. All followers of Jesus Christ are citizens of the kingdom of God. Paul instructs:
“Only, live your life (in the Greek – “conduct your citizenship”) in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that, whether I come and see you or am absent and hear about you, I will know that you are standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel” (Philippians 1:27).
They are citizens of the kingdom of God, where the good news of Jesus Christ is the primary thing about which everyone cares. It is a citizenship that upholds forgiveness, the care of the poor (even those who have had their family lands stripped away), the concern for those needing healing, shows friendship toward those who are socially unacceptable, and seeks to serve one another through love instead of intimidation or cutting others down.
It is a citizenship where Christ is present with us whether we live or die. It is a citizenship that is eternal and cannot be removed. It is a citizenship where all people in God’s kingdom strive to think and act like Jesus Christ.
But, never forget that thinking and acting like Jesus Christ can get you into very big trouble. Jesus got a cross. The apostle Paul was stoned and jailed over and over again for preaching the good news of Jesus, German theologian Dietrich Bonheoffer was put to death for plotting to protect the Jews by ridding the world of an evil man, The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. lost his life defending the rights of dark skinned people to exist and flourish, and countless other people have suffered from slander and verbal abuse when they stand up for those who have no voice and have no power.
But, when the values of the kingdom of God are the basis our life together, even mockery and suffering is gain. How so?
Suffering for the sake of those who Jesus cares about is proof that you have a thriving life in God’s eternal kingdom. It is proof that you are one with Christ, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. You are a citizen of the only kingdom that matters: the kingdom of God.
Paul says that God, “has graciously granted you the privilege not only of believing in Christ, but of suffering for him as well” (Philippians 1:28). Living in God’s kingdom is always a gift and is always a privilege. Being invited to live as one with the eternal is what it is all about.
Sometimes, people get punished for doing what is good and true in the eyes of Christ, but that punishment does not change the fact that what they did was good and true.
I just read the story of a lifeguard on the shores of a popular beach. While staring out at the ocean, someone ran up and got his attention. Their friend had swum too far out and was struggling to stay afloat. The lifeguard immediately jumped into action, swam far out to the struggling man, brought him safely to shore, and certainly saved his life. Everyone thought the man was a hero and thanked him for a job well done.
Christ is all about salvation, and the lifeguard had become at one with the mind of Christ as he rushed to save that man.
Everyone thought that he was a hero except his employer who promptly fired him the next day. Apparently, the struggling swimmer was outside of the marked swim area, having swum too far out, and that area was supposed to be out of the jurisdiction of the lifeguard. The lifeguard was not supposed to venture into those restricted waters. Swimmers out there were supposed to be left to fend for themselves.
Sometimes, we suffer for doing what is right. Sometimes, we suffer for being a citizen of the kingdom of God. But, that suffering just proves that we, indeed, are citizens of a greater kingdom with greater concerns.
“It is a struggle being without a job right now, I am not going to lie,” the former lifeguard stated. “I still did the right thing, and that guy is still alive.”
I also think of another person, who I care deeply about, who has forgiven a member of their family. The family member was quite destructive in former years, and the forgiveness was long in coming.
But, forgiveness has been shown and my friend has devoted themselves to spending time with that family member, helping them as the person’s health deteriorates. They have shown this family member what the forgiveness, mercy and love of God looks like.
Unfortunately, it has been at the expense of their relationships with other members of the family. Other members still cling to their hate, and have stretched their blanket of hate as far as possible so that it covers this forgiving person also.
The forgiving person is devastated, of course, but they also know that what they have done of good and holy. They know that they have been invited by Christ to live in the kingdom of God where forgiveness reigns; and that will never change.
As Paul himself says nothing will be able change that fact. He says in Romans 8: “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).
And, in Romans 14:8, Paul again reaffirms: “If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.”
It does not matter if you live or if you die, if you are at peace or if you suffer, you are claimed by the one who will love you through it all forever. You are forever a citizen of Christ’s kingdom.
This is Paul’s basis for hope. This is the warm truth he clings to while facing a possibility of death after sitting in a cold prison cell. And, it is the truth that Paul hopes we, the readers of his letter, will cling to as well. He hopes that we too will cling to Christ and his kingdom. He hopes that we too will agree that this is the highest goal. He is convinced that it is in Christ only where life and salvation is found.
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