Choosing Well
The Rev. Dr. John Judson
September 18, 2011
Philippians 1:21-30
For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labour 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.Since I am convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy in faith, so that I may share abundantly in your boasting in Christ Jesus when I come to you again.
Only, live your life 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, and are in no way intimidated by your opponents. For them this is evidence of their destruction, but of your salvation. And this is God’s doing. For he has graciously granted you the privilege not only of believing in Christ, but of suffering for him as well—since you are having the same struggle that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.
Before you this morning are two doors; door one and door two. Behind each is a particular vision of the foundation for the Christian life. I am going to describe each and then we are going to vote on which one you believe you would like as the foundation for your Christian experience. So here we go. Door number one has at its core a foundation of blessing. Its most popular current proponent is the pastor of the second largest church in America with about 43,000 people a Sunday in attendance. The pastor is intelligent, charismatic and I believe is honest about his faith and this foundation. The foundation can be found in several quotes from his website, books and sermons. “God wants us to prosper financially, to have plenty of money and to fulfill his destiny. He has it laid out for us.” “God’s will is for you to live in prosperity.” “God wants you to have a good life, a life filled with love, joy, peace and fulfillment. That doesn’t mean it will always be easy, but it does mean it will always be good.” It is a foundation of blessing, which by the way does have a Biblical basis.
The second door comes to us this morning from someone who never had a website or a blog and never tweeted anything. He wasn’t even a very successful pastor or church planter. Though he founded several congregations he was usually run out of town after he got them started. He was in fact in trouble a great deal of his ministry which meant he was flogged, arrested and imprisoned on numerous occasions. His foundation is a foundation of a willingness to suffer. You can hear that in the following words. “For God has granted you the privilege not only of believing in Christ, but of suffering for him as well.” “Honor him because he came close to death for the work of Christ.” “And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance.” It is a foundation which not only sees suffering as part of life but actually wants to embrace it as part of our Christian life.
There you have them; door number one and door number two. Before we vote, however, I want to set some ground rules. What I would like us to do is to vote for the door we want and not the door we think we ought to want. This is sort of like when you go to the restaurant and on one side of the menu is the picture of the half-pound burger, dripping with five slices of cheese surrounded by another pound of steak fries, then on the other side of the menu is the mixed green salad with soy bacon bits and tofu chunks covered in low fat no calorie dressing. You know which one you want and which one you ought to choose. I want you to choose the one you want. So let’s vote. How many for door number one? How many for door number two? Thank you for your honesty. What is amazing about this kind of vote is that any of you voted for door number two at all. And what is more amazing is that door number two was the overwhelming choice of the Christians at Philippi, a church which Paul had founded. The question we ought to ask ourselves is why anyone would choose a theology of possible suffering over a theology of blessing. There is I believe only one answer; the Philippians believed there was something worth suffering for.
We human beings are amazing creatures. Unlike many animals which will suffer and die defending their offspring or their herd, we will suffer and die for ideas. This nation was founded by men and women who were willing to suffer and die for the idea of freedom. We will suffer and die for people to whom we are not related and who we do not know. All we have to do is look back ten years to those first responders who rushed into the twin towers to save people they had never met…or the members of our armed forces who are defending the ideals of freedom not only for us but for strangers in Afghanistan. This concept is nothing new. The people of Philippi were Roman citizens. They understood clearly that their freedom was due to the thousands of Roman soldiers who risked and gave their lives defending the borders of their nation from those who, given a chance, would crush the Empire. The people first reading this letter knew why someone would choose to suffer…because there was something you believed in so much it was worth suffering for. So once again a question; what was it that the Philippians thought was worth dying for?
The answer I want to propose to you this morning is this: what was worth dying for was the Kingdom of God; the kingdom of God on earth that Christ has inaugurated with his life, death and resurrection. I know that the words Kingdom of God are not used here. Instead Paul speaks of the Gospel of Christ. “Only live a life worthy of the gospel of Christ.” But what we miss in the English is that the Greek which Paul uses to describe a manner of life is the same language which was used in the Roman Empire to describe leading a manner of life worthy of being a good citizen. In other words what Paul is saying is live your life in a manner worthy of a citizen of God’s very kingdom. This understanding helps us make sense of the rest of the passage. As we listen think of how this nation came together on 9-11. See if that idea helps make a bit more sense out of Paul’s words. “I know that you are standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind…that you are in no way intimidated by your opponents. For them this is evidence of their own destruction, but of your salvation.” The image upon which Paul is drawing is one to which we can all relate. There is something, or someone in all of our lives for which we would be willing to suffer…and consider it a privilege. In the same way he tells us, we are to be willing to suffer for our faith in Christ and the kingdom he has launched in the world.
The gift most of us will be given in our lives however is that we will not have to suffer for the Kingdom as did the Philippians. Unlike Christians in Iran and elsewhere we will not face jail time or political persecution for our faith. Yet chances are there will come a moment, an instant in which we will be faced with a choice between what we know to be what a good citizen of the kingdom would choose, and one that would not be kingdom honoring. And on that choice could hang one’s job, one’s friendships or even one’s family. The question in that moment is whether we are willing to suffer the consequences of living a life worthy of the kingdom. Ed was the beloved pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Birmingham Alabama in the late 40s and 50s. In many ways it was the perfect ministry, that is until Martin Luther King began to stir things up around Birmingham. Along with several other white pastors he wrote a Letter for Unity which implored blacks in Birmingham to cease protesting. In response King wrote the famous Letter from the Birmingham Jail challenging the assumptions of the white pastors. Cut to the heart Ed went before his congregation and insisted that they integrate the church and the community. He knew what the consequences might be but he chose to walk through door number two. He only lasted a short time before being driven from his pulpit.
Door number one and door number two; chances are most of us would like to choose door number one. We would prefer that the Christian life is all about blessing and good times…which for much of our life it is. Yet in this world there are those moments when stand before door number two and we have to decide whether or not to go through. We have to decide if the Kingdom of God and our faith are worth it. The choice is never easy, yet in the end door number two is the Christ honoring one; the one that allows us to sleep at night knowing we have chosen well. So the challenge I want to leave you with is this, to ask yourselves this question, “Am I willing to choose door number two even in the face of the consequences it brings knowing that it is the one that honors my citizenship in the Kingdom of God.”
