FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

Scripture Reference: Philippians 1:12-25

God Can Use Our Problems to Encourage Others – Continued

Read Philippians 1:14-18 for insight into this section.

The lesson here is clear: God often uses the problems that envelop us to encourage others in life’s struggles. Most assuredly, He uses the problems Christians face victoriously to encourage other Christians to live courageously and victoriously.

What we owe to the encouragement of others can never truly be calculated. All of us have been encouraged in some difficult experience of life, by the encouragement of others, to press on and not give up.

A. J. Cronin was one of these. Born in Scotland in 1896, he took his medical degree from the University of Glasgow and served as a surgeon in World War I. When Cronin was a medical student, his surgical skills were severely criticized by one of his professors. Because of the severity of being criticized Cronin had a hard time getting over it.

“You do not have the skills to become a surgeon,” the teacher told Cronin. “You would be well advised to give up the idea of being a surgeon and settle for being a general practitioner.”

Cronin believed what his professor said, and in discouragement he gave up the idea of becoming a surgeon. After completing medical school at Glasgow, he went to a remote village in the Highlands of Scotland and there, as the only doctor for many miles around, he opened his office.

Physician A. Dudley Dennison, Jr. wrote in his book Windows, Ladders, and Bridges, that one cold winter day a pastor in the area was seriously injured when a tree fell on him. Cronin knew that unless a delicate surgical procedure was done immediately, the pastor would be paralyzed. But he also remembered what his professor in medical school had told him: “You do not have the skills to be surgeon.”

Cronin wrestled with what he should do. He knew that one mistake could mean complete paralysis or maybe even instant death for the pastor. But the pastor encouraged the young doctor to perform the needed surgery. “I will pray as you operate,” the pastor said. Encouraged by the pastor, Cronin performed the surgery and the pastor recovered. It was the pastor’s encouragement that made the difference for Cronin, and his confidence was restored.

Often we have been encouraged by the way others have handled their problems. We have learned from them.

Napoleon’s military tactics have been studied for generations by military strategists. But Napoleon came from humble, poor people and his early years were a terrible struggle.

Millions have been encouraged by the struggles of fellow sufferers: Daniel Defoe wrote Robinson Crusoe while in prison. John Bunyan produced The Pilgrim’s Progress because of prison. Sir Walter Raleigh wrote The History of the World during thirteen years in jail. Luther translated the Bible while imprisoned in the castle at Wartburg. Dante wrote magnificently during his twenty years in prison, part of the time under a death sentence.

Who has not found encouragement in John Milton? Blind, sick, poor, he refused to give up. “Who best can suffer, best can do,” Milton said.

One of the lessons God teaches us when the darkness falls upon us is that He can use our problems to encourage others. Didn’t He greatly use Paul in that capacity?

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture Reference: Philippians 1:12-25

God Can Use Our Problems to Encourage Others

Read Philippians 1:14-18 for insight into this section.

Roman persecution of the Christians had not yet become severe or widespread. Ominous signs did foretell its coming, but Nero hadn’t yet launched his wholesale attack upon the followers of Christ.

However, Paul’s presence in Rome, although as a prisoner, was still a valuable source of encouragement to the believers there. His boldness in preaching the gospel, and his witnessing to his Roman captors and visitors, gave courage to the Roman believers.

Paul’s courageous example was encouraging; “most of the brethren in the Lord, having become confident by my chains, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.”

There are always those who play it safe and then there are the risk takers. The same is true in the Christian life. In Rome, there were some courageous believers who faithfully shared the gospel without concern for their safety, but there were also those who were timid and withdrawn, fearing they would be found out if they said too much.

But Paul’s brave preaching and witnessing had encouraged “most of the brethren.” It was “most of the brethren” that constituted that inner circle of believers, the one’s that dare to do things for Christ while the rest hang back. Paul was encouraged by the Holy Spirit to have won a majority to this scale of activity. It is usually the minority of Christians who put energy into the work while the majority drift along or criticize what the minority do.

Paul’s courage had shamed those who were timid into greater boldness, and it had encouraged the bold ones to witness with greater conviction and joy.

Some, never eloquent before, now find “tongues of angels” as they catch the spirit of Paul. The bolder spirits were rendered “much more bold to speak” than they were before. These cast caution to the winds and are overwhelming daring in their championship of Jesus.

God was at work and Satan would not defeat the eternal purposes of God. He would even use Paul’s imprisonment to hasten the spread of the gospel. Paul’s problems would produce sweet fruit!

The apostle’s courageous testimony had stirred some of the believers up to “preach Christ even from envy and strife.” It had stirred others up to preach Christ “also from goodwill.”

One group preached because it was envious of Paul’s success. These may have been, as suggested, “old teachers of the church in Rome who did not relish Paul’s leadership since it displaces them, a form of jealousy that one sees only too often even in this modern age.”

Or, these may have been the Jews, as others have suggested, who preached that conformance to Moses’s law was the door to Christianity. Their real goal was to advance Judaism, not the gospel of the Galilean.

To Paul it didn’t matter which group was preaching Christ. Certainly, it mattered to him that the full and clear message of Jesus was not being declared by some, but Paul lays that aside to rejoice in the fact “that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached.” He found joy in knowing that Jesus is preached.

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture Reference: Philippians 1:12-25

God Can Put a Silver Lining in Every Dark Cloud – Continued

Read Philippians 1:12-13 for insight into this section.

During one of his most difficult experiences, as the darkness of uncertainty settled around him in his prison, Paul learned, again, that God gives a silver lining to every dark cloud. This is the very essence of what he meant when he wrote: “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).

Think of the great blessings that have come to the world as the result of hardships some have suffered. These blessings are silver linings on otherwise dark clouds.

Sir Walter Scott was physically lame and, consequently, was not as active as other boys his age. But out of these difficulties came the novels Ivanhoe and The Lady of the Lake.

Abraham Lincoln suffered from poverty with almost no opportunity for a formal education. But because of these hardships, in spite of them, Lincoln was able to empathize with the common, hurting people of his day so much so that he became known as “the great commoner.”

Benjamin Disraeli, elected to the House of Commons in 1837, was a Jew who suffered from racial prejudice. He was such a poor speaker that when he stood the first time to speak in the House of Commons, he was laughed down by his colleagues. But his dark cloud had a silver lining. Disraeli was the only Jew in history ever elected Prime Minister of Great Britain.

Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, suffering from tuberculosis, moved to the South Pacific in an attempt to regain his health. He didn’t find health there, but he did find the inspiration to write poetry and novels such as Treasure Island and Kidnapped, loved by young and old alike. His cloud had a silver lining.

Louis Pasteur was lame in one leg and suffered a stroke in his adult years, but his dark cloud had a silver lining. Refusing to give up, Pasteur developed the process by which children could be immunized against killer diseases.

Beethoven’s increasing deafness did not stop him from hearing great symphonies in his mostly quiet world and then putting those great symphonies down on paper to bless millions.

Handel’s depression and sense of failure became the catalyst that drove him to write the Messiah. Edison’s near deafness from childhood was a major factor, he said, in helping him concentrate in his quiet world. John Bunyan’s twelve-year imprisonment in Bedford’s jail produced The Pilgrim’s Progress, one of the greatest, most popular books ever written.

Charles H. Spurgeon, one of the most prolific and beloved preachers, suffered often from severe bouts of depression, yet still seeing God in his dark clouds has blessed millions even after he went to be with the Lord. His dark cloud became silver linings for countless believers and those searching for God.

One of the lessons we learn when the darkness descends upon us is that God can put a silver lining on every dark cloud.

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture Reference: Philippians 1:12-25

During life’s daylight hours, when we are lighthearted and full of life, we don’t take time to listen. But when the sunlight fades in some sorrow or difficult experience, God gets our attention and in the darkness He teaches us some lessons we need to learn.

The shadows had fallen upon Paul. He was a prisoner of the Roman government. He knew the Philippians loved him and were praying for him because Epaphroditus had told him so. For Paul the sunlight had faded, temporarily, yet the darkness had descended, and nightfall had come.

However, the darkness will not defeat God Almighty. He would work even in it and teach Paul some lessons that would bless not only the Philippians but all believers in the ages to come.

Life will not always be sweet and joyous. But as we walk with faith in God, life’s dark hours will not defeat us. There are some lessons that God will teach us even in the darkness.

God Can Put a Silver Lining in Every Dark Cloud

Read Philippians 1:12-13 for insight into this section.

In her poem “Keep the Home Fires Burning,” Lena Guilbert Ford has an interesting thought: “There’s a silver lining / Through the dark clouds shining.”

Though Paul was a prisoner surrounded by dark, uncertain clouds, he found the silver lining God had put on the dark clouds.

After carefully thinking through his problems, Paul came to the steadfast conclusion that “the things which happened” to him was producing good fruit. “The things which happened” could literally be translated, “the things dominating me.” Nothing ever “just happens” to the believer. Things either come directly from God or in His permissive will He permits them to come. As believers, we are most definitely not controlled either by fate or luck.

Paul wanted the Philippians to understand that the things dominating his life, namely his imprisonment at that time, would not curtail his ministry or hinder the spread of the gospel. Rather, his dark cloud had a silver lining and his imprisonment had really served to advance the gospel.

Paul’s imprisonment, which Satan planned to use to short-circuit Paul’s preaching ministry, was instead being used by God to spread the gospel of redemption.

For months Paul lived in his own rented quarters in Rome. He was chained to a Roman soldier day and night. The guards were changed every few hours, and these pagan guards couldn’t help but hear the gospel of Jesus from the lips of the apostle they were bound to.

History tells us also that the soldiers who guarded the apostle were not just ordinary soldiers. They were the Praetorian Guard. During the reign of Emperor Tiberius there were approximately 10,000 of these handpicked soldiers. It’s be stated that they had double pay and special privileges and they became so powerful in their own right that the emperors had to court their favor. Paul had contact with one after another of these highly esteemed soldiers.

Chained to these palace guards, Paul had opportunity to witness to Rome’s most elite soldiers, many of whom would be saved and, in turn, become missionaries to the ends of the earth where they would be stationed.

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture Reference: Hebrews 9:22

The Death of Christ Is the Atonement of God for Our Sins

What is the meaning of the death of our Lord? This is God’s redemption for our souls. This is God’s way for our salvation. This is God’s answer to our sins. This is the Lord’s reply to Job when Job cried, “I have sinned, O God, what shall I do?” This is the answer to the cry of Macbeth, “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hands?”

What is the meaning of that cross? This is the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world. This is the blood of the Passover Lamb, for the Lord had said, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.” This is the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53:6, “The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” This is the great redemption of the Lord God through all time and history. This is the pivotal moment in human story toward which all God’s sovereign efforts finally found their ultimate consummation.

So Jesus bowed His head on the cross and cried, “It is finished!” The drops of blood that poured out from the cross to the dust of the ground whispered to the grass, saying, “It is finished!” The grass whispered to the herbs, “It is finished!” The herbs whispered to the trees, “It is finished!” The trees whispered to the birds in the branches, “It is finished!” The birds spiraling upwards to the clouds cried, “It is finished!” The clouds spoke to the stars in the sky, “It is finished!” The stars in the sky cried to the angels in heaven, “It is finished!” The angels in glory went up and down the streets of the heavenly city echoing this glad refrain, “It is finished!” The crucifixion of our Lord was God’s redemption for the sin of the world.

The Cross Is the Message of Our Salvation

This is not only the death of our Lord, this is not only the result and the judgment upon our sin, it is not only God’s redemptive plan for the ages, but the cross is the symbol of our hope in glory.

Wherever men have fallen in the faith, there will you see a cross placed by the grave. It is a sign of our faith, of our promised heaven in the world to come. The arms of that cross are extended wide, wide as the world is wide. As far as the West goes West and the East goes East, just so far are the arms of the cross extended. In their embrace, all of us can find refuge, forgiveness, salvation, and hope. This has God Almighty done for each of us.

The cross is a sign of our hope, our faith, our commitment to Jesus. Every word that He said He will faithfully keep. Every promise that He made will be faithfully kept for us. No word of our Lord will fall to the ground. He is able and mighty to save. That is our Lord, our Savior, our Redeemer, who died for our offenses and was raised for our justification. With what infinite gladness, gratitude, praise, and thanksgiving does the Christian lift up his head in the name of the Lord who died for us, who is able to save us, and who some day will present us before the throne of His glory without spot or blemish, washed clean and white in the blood of the Lamb!

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture Reference: Hebrews 9:22

What is the crucifixion of the Son of God on the cross? What happened on Golgotha, on Calvary? Is this a dramatic play like the tragedy of Shakespeare’s Macbeth or King Lear? What is this that is happening on Calvary? Is it a historical tragedy like Socrates drinking the hemlock or Julius Caesar murdered at the foot of the statue of Pompey? Is it like the assassination of President Lincoln in Ford’s Theater or like the tragedy that brought a cloud over Dallas in the assassination of President John Kennedy? What is this that happened on Calvary?

The Crucifixion Is the Judgment of God Upon Our Sin

The death of Christ on the cross is the fruit and the result of our sins. Who killed the Lord Jesus? Who executed the Prince of Glory? Who nailed Him to the cross where He suffered until He died? Whose fault is that?

So many would answer, “God did it.” Like Job’s wife said to him when he fell into abject suffering, “Curse God and commit suicide.” It is God’s fault. He did it.

There are others who would say: “It is His own fault. He should have been a better manager. Had He been smart, He would not have been nailed to that tree. It is His own fault.”

There are those who would say: “It is Judas’ fault. He sold Him for thirty pieces of silver. He betrayed Him. It is Judas’ fault. He did it.”

There are those who say to this very day: “It is the Jews’ fault. They delivered Him. They accused Him. They encompassed His execution. It is their fault. They did it.”

There are those who would say: “It is the Roman soldiers’ fault. They are guilty of the death of the Lord. They did it. Who drove those nails through His hands? They did it. Who thrust the spear into His side? They did it. Who raised Him up between the earth and the sky? The Roman soldiers did it. They killed Him.”

It is remarkable that each one disavows the guilt of the Lord’s crucifixion. According to one tradition, when Pilate was recalled, he committed suicide, and they flung his body into Lake Lucerne. That is why just beyond the city of Lucerne there is a tall, towering mountain called Mt. Pilatus, Mt. Pilate. Legend says that in the mist of the twilight of every evening, the peasants see Pontius Pilate rise from the depths of the sea and wash his hands in the clear blue water of Lake Lucerne. “I am guiltless of the blood of this just man. I did not do it.”

Then the Jews did it. They are Christ-killers. They crucified Him. Without exception, the Jew cries, “Would you bring the blood of this man upon us and upon our children? We did not do it.”

Then surely it was the Roman soldiers. They executed Him. But the Roman soldiers would stand in attention before you and say: “We are men under authority, and we but carried out the mandates and the commandments of the Roman government. We are soldiers obeying orders. We did not do it.”

Then who did? Who is responsible for the crucifixion of the Son of God? Who ultimately must stand at the judgment bar accused?

It must be that we all had a part. My sins pressed upon His brow that crown of thorns. My sins drove through His hand those jagged nails. My sins thrust that spear into His heart. My sins nailed the Lord Jesus to the tree. That is the first meaning of the death of our Lord. It is the fruit and the judgment upon my/our sins.

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture Reference: Hebrews 9:22

The secular and material world is bold and blatant in its rejection of the gospel of atoning blood. They refuse and repudiate the whole message of redemption, stating their opposition bluntly, rudely, and brutally. They say if we have tractors to move mountains, we do not need faith. If we have penicillin, we do not need prayer. If we have positive thinking, we do not need salvation. If we have the state, we do not need the church. If we have manuals on science, we do not need the Bible. If we have an Edison or an Einstein, we do not need Jesus. They define life altogether in secular and material nomenclature.

The Christian Religion Is a Message of Redemption

The gospel of the Son of God addresses itself to a far deeper need of humanity than penicillin, government, or manuals of science. The Christian faith addresses itself to the need for regeneration, the forgiveness of sins, a new life, a new heart, a new way, and a new day. The religion of Jesus Christ is one of deliverance and redemption from the judgment of sin. You see that in the very definition and description of the faith itself. The Christian faith is not, in the first place, an ethic, although it is ethical. It is not in the first place a theology, although it is theological. It is not in the first place reformational, although it has social, cultural, and political overtones. The religion of Jesus Christ is first, foremost, and always redemptive. He was delivered for our offenses, and He was raised for our justification (Romans 4:25). You can see that in the advocacy, the sign, and the symbol of the Christian religion.

The sign of the Christian faith is not a burning bush. It is not two tables of stone bearing the Ten Commandments. It is not a seven-branched lampstand. It is not a halo above a submissive head. It is not even a golden crown. The sign and the banner of the Christian faith is always a cross, a cross in all of its naked hideousness, as the Romans would have it; the cross in all of its philosophical irrationality, as the Greeks would have it; but the cross in all of its saving power and potency, as Paul would have it. “But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ . . .” (Galatians 6:14). This is the very epitome and summation of the redemptive message of Christ.

The Descent and Sufferings of Our Lord

Our minds can hardly enter into the most significant and dramatic of all of the events in human history, the descent of our Lord from the highest glory to the lowest humiliation, the immeasurable distance between His throne in heaven and the ignominy of His cross in the earth. Down and down and down did the Lord descend until He was made in the likeness of a man, made out of the dust of the ground, a slave, poor even among the poor. He was finally executed in a manner reserved for the criminal, raised between heaven and earth, as though He were rejected by men and scorned by God, reviled and abused. As though abuse were not vile enough, they covered Him with spittle. As though spittle were not contemptuous enough, they crowned Him in the mockery of thorns. As though the thorns were not sharp enough, they drove great nails through His hands and His feet. As though the nails did not pierce deeply enough, they thrust Him through with a Roman spear, and the red, crimson flow of His life poured out. Even the sun in the sky refused to look upon such shame and suffering.

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.