Whoa! Blown away by Dr Joe Stowell's exposition of Philippians last night. He is truly God's anointed. For the past week and a half, I'd been reading the book to prepare myself for the seminar and reading it as in depth as I could. And still, Dr Stowell was able to enlighten me on portions of the text which I thought I had full grasp of. Amazing isn't it? That's why it always pays to drag your feet to a bible study, and find God's Word to dazzle you and realize that it was worthwhile the time and energy. Nothing beats listening to God's anointed unveil biblical truths that you seek to understand on your own but to no avail. Last night's preaching was TRULY AN INTERACTION OF MY SOUL WITH THE WORD OF GOD!
Enough said, I would like to share some key points, though I would really like to exclaim about the wonderful time of song and praise we had again. Paul exemplified many traits that deserve our modeling, let's look at them in detail:
THE APOSTLE PAUL, OUR ROLE MODEL--what kept him going?
It is important to know that Paul wrote this letter to the believers in Philippi when he was in a Roman prison. It didn't occur to me how treacherous the circumstance was till Dr Stowell revealed that Emperor Nero was a brutal man, who would discharge the most torturous executions. Christians would be hand on lampposts in the city and become a human torch by night. Sometimes, they were buried to death in tar. Wouldn't you be in fear if you didn't know when you would be called for sentencing and how you would be executed?
But Paul didn't feel bitter at all. He didn't beat his breasts (I mean that as a metaphor, for those who don't get it) and cry "unfair" to God. He took it all in just like how his Lord Jesus Christ did. Because he considered that pure joy to be in fellowship in suffering with Christ. Isn't this amazing, and God-like I presume. Nope, Paul wasn't a masochist, and neither did he have self-destructive tendencies. Why was he able to bear with this torment despite knowing that he had done so much for God? How can I be like that in life's difficulties?
Because he knew that whatever we have in life cannot compare to Heaven and the best is yet to be (Ph 1:23). Now think, what is the greatest pleasure now you have in life--Playstation, scoring straight As, sex? Okay, Heaven beats everything by more than a mile! It is beyond our imagination. A Pastor once said this: "Jesus has designed your passport and there's no hassle at the border!" For those of us who ask, what is Heaven like? Streets of gold, gates of pearl? Is it going to be boring? Are we just singing all day and flapping our angel-wings? Whatever it is, it is definitely far better than what we have now and what we can imagine. Come on, Jesus wouldn't create a boring eternity!
Well, more importantly, it wasn't the alluring reward of escaping hell and making it to Heaven that drove Paul to do whatever he did. Rather it was his eager expectation to magnify Christ (Ph 1:20). In our own lives, we are victimized by many expectations that we don't have control over. But if your only expectation in life was to exalt Jesus, just like Paul had, you will always be in control and will not be victimized but be victorious! Even through his impending death, he said: "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain" (v. 21). He will live with courage to magnify Christ, and dying was actually a way out of the misery and anguish he experienced-- Heaven is going to be great! But he chose to take the "fruitful labor" so that he could advance the work of God.
Have you ever thought whether God put you in a particular place for the purpose of advancing the gospel? It need not be a mission field or a church. It could be anywhere--your workplace, your school, your family which you wish you never been born in, among your friends who you wish you never had (I love my friends...really!) If you check out Ph 1:12-14 and 4:22, you will see what Paul knew was God's purpose for him. He was preaching to the Caesar's household! Whoa! They probably heard of the resurrection of Christ--that miraculous morning where the guards from Rome guarding the tomb were struck unconscious and Christ's body was raised. And those guarding Paul were probably nudging him to tell them the story of how Christ resurrected..."so was it true, what we heard?" They were probably amazed at Paul's courage and composure amidst his plight. This probably spread to palace maids and royal cooks, etc.
WHAT'S KEEPING YOU DOWN IN YOUR SITUATION TODAY? CAN YOU SEE HOW YOU CAN GLORIFY GOD'S NAME IN THAT SAME SITUATION?
That's a lot of content! I'm going to stop here and continue blogging about a second important point that was raised by Dr Stowell that night in my next posting. Stay tuned!
For now, don't miss out opportunities to live as shining stars for God. Don't let other expectations in life cloud that one expectation you should have. Regardless of the uncertainty, turn your despondency into delight by banking on His promise that He will deliver you. Perhaps you want to go to a top university to do a psychology degree (no prizes for right guesses on whose expectation that is!) and you try so hard to make it into one, but you end up missing the opportunity to testify that it doesn't matter and you are cool about everything because God is in control. People would have seen that and witnessed the power of Christ.
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