It is graduation season once again. Our senior students at JCA just graduated. Many students everywhere are graduating. Why do we celebrate graduation? Because it is an achievement. Students work hard to complete their degree programs. They experience many hardships and setbacks along the way. But on graduation day, they can stand proud knowing that they have fulfilled all tasks and have overcome all challenges.
Graduation ceremonies have a way of making us look forward to the day when we who are followers of Christ will meet our Maker face to face. It is a great honor to receive a diploma at our school graduation day. But on the last day, we who are in Christ will receive the highest honor from our Lord. We will experience many challenges along the way. But all the suffering, pain, rejection, persecution, and loss we experience for Christ in this life will be rewarded.
About five thousand Christians were murdered for their faith last year. Today, 365 million Christians are experiencing the worst levels of persecution. We are grateful that we do not experience those kinds of persecution in our context. But all true Christians will experience some level of opposition from those who reject the faith. Some of you are already experiencing rejection from friends, classmates, and even family members because of your beliefs. When we experience rejection or opposition for our faith, what do we do? How do we handle persecution?
Paul was well acquainted with persecution. He wrote his letter to the Philippians while he was in chains. In today’s passage, Paul gives encouragement to the Philippian saints who have shown concern for him during his imprisonment. We will learn from this text the two duties that we Christians must fulfill when others persecute us.
Duty #1: Trust God.
“Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel.” (Philippians 1:12)
Notice how this sentence begins: “Now I want you to know, brothers….” Paul wanted the Philippian Christians to know what he was about to tell them. Why? Because they didn’t know it yet. What did they not know? They didn’t know “that what has happened to [Paul] has really served to advance the gospel.” They knew what had happened to Paul. He experienced persecution and was imprisoned for preaching the gospel. What they didn’t know was that his suffering was helping advance the gospel. In their minds, Paul’s predicament was hindering the gospel. The authorities rejected his message. They bound him in chains and kept him from preaching the gospel to others. The saints found this discouraging. Who can blame them? But Paul encouraged them by saying that God is still at work. In fact, God was not just building His kingdom despite Paul’s suffering. He was building his kingdom through Paul’s suffering.
There are plenty of reasons why we dislike persecution. We don’t like pain and suffering. We don’t like being ridiculed and slandered. These concerns are understandable. But the Philippian Christians had a concern that is much more noble. They wanted Christ’s name glorified. When people reject and oppose the message of Christ, it may look like the Church is failing in its mission. It may seem like we are not fulfilling God’s calling for us to preach the good news and make disciples of all nations.
Some of you here have been trying to honor Christ by sharing the gospel at home, at school, and in the workplace. Some of you have already experienced opposition and persecution from friends, classmates, and even family members. As a result, you may feel like a failure before God. But Paul’s words remind us that God can use even our most trying circumstances to advance the gospel. We serve a sovereign God who is at work through the pain and rejection we experience as we preach the name of Christ. Persecution and rejection are painful. Thankfully, we serve a loving Father in heaven who cares for us and will hear our cries for comfort and relief. But even if we suffer for the gospel, we know that our suffering for Christ is never meaningless. Why? Because we serve a sovereign God who can use even our greatest suffering to serve the greatest purpose: to “advance the gospel.”
Most folks have a simple philosophy in life. They want to be happy. They want to maximize pleasure and minimize pain. But the most successful people in the world live with a different philosophy. Successful athletes beat their bodies to win a prize. Honor students sacrifice sleep to study and complete their assignment so they can get high grades and receive an award on graduation day. As human beings, we do not despise suffering. We despise meaningless suffering. We are all willing to suffer for what we deem to be most meaningful. Paul reminds the Philippian Christians that his imprisonment is not meaningless at all. God is using his suffering to serve the greatest purpose of establishing a heavenly kingdom.
This is our first duty as Christians when we experience persecution and rejection for our faith: Trust God. When our peers slander us and our family members reject us because of our faith in Christ, we remember that our suffering, shame, and pain are not meaningless. God can use them to fulfill his greater purposes. But how does Paul’s experience of persecution contribute to advancing the gospel? This leads to our second duty when we experience persecution as Christians.
Duty #2: Remain Faithful.
“As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ.” (Philippians 1:13)
Paul assured the believers that his experience of persecution is helping advance the mission of God. But how was God using Paul’s imprisonment to build his church? Notice what Paul wrote: “As a result, it has become clear….” Paul’s suffering was a clarifying event. God was using it to make something clear. What was Paul’s experience of persecution clarifying? That Paul is “in chains for Christ.” Paul’s suffering reveals that he is doing his ministry for Jesus Christ alone. He is not doing it to become rich and famous. He is not doing it to impress his peers. Instead, Paul is truly serving the risen Lord. If Paul was just serving himself through his ministry, then he would have quit early. He endured despite everything his enemies were doing to him. Paul’s endurance, amid suffering, proves he is a genuine servant of Christ.
When Christians experience persecution for their faith, what should they do? The answer is simple. Remain faithful. Suffering, persecution, rejection, and hardships change nothing. When the trials of life come, we must continue living the same way we have always lived as Christians. We do not stop trusting in Christ, worshipping Christ, and preaching Christ. The presence of persecution in a Christian’s life changes nothing about his duty as a Christian. The trials and tribulations God allows in our lives only show the world that our faith in Christ is real.
I recall the story that one of my seminary professors shared in our class some years ago. I can never forget this story because I can relate to it so well. He shared about how he often tried to share the gospel with his father, but his father would always reject his message. He often got into heated arguments with his dad over the issue. Their disputes discouraged him, but he still kept on sharing the love of Christ both in word and deed. After many years, his father still didn’t go to church with him. But one day, the dad encountered a street preacher who was preaching a false Christian message. The dad could tell that this preacher was preaching a false gospel because of his many debates with his son in the past. The dad engaged the preacher and soon got into a heated argument with him. At the height of their disputation, the dad exclaimed, “You are not a real Christian! My son is a real Christian and you are nothing like him!”
Church, some of you here have friends and family members who have yet to know Christ. Perhaps you have been trying to share the gospel of Christ with them. Some of you may be feeling that your efforts are going nowhere. Maybe you have already experienced rejection and persecution for trying to present Christ. Church, when people reject you for seeking to be a faithful witness for Christ, do not stop. Do not let persecution discourage you. It is in those dark moments when you are rejected, persecuted, and slandered that you can shine the brightest for Jesus Christ. Don’t think that no one is noticing your faithfulness. God sees. God is using your faithfulness in that moment to soften the hearts of the people around you, even those who are persecuting and hurting you.
These are the two duties that we must perform as Christians when we experience trials and tribulations because of our faith: (1) trust God and (2) remain faithful. What will happen if we perform these two duties during our most trying times?
Conclusion: The Result of Faith and Faithfulness
“Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly.” (Philippians 1:14)
What resulted from Paul’s faith in God and faithfulness to God amid persecution? Many among the brethren “have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly.” The saints shared God’s word with great boldness and faith. This happened “because of [Paul’s] chains.” How was Paul’s imprisonment instrumental in emboldening preachers to preach the gospel all the more? One would think that, if people discover that the result of preaching Christ is suffering, they would avoid doing it. Why, then, did the saints find Paul’s imprisonment encouraging? It wasn’t the chains that inspired them. It was Paul. He proved himself to be a genuine servant of Christ. His willingness to suffer showed everyone that he was the real deal. Likewise, if we want to inspire others to live for Christ, we must show them we are the real deal. We must prove ourselves steadfast amid suffering and persecution as faithful servants of Christ.
I remember the time I was first hired to serve as a youth pastor here at Jubilee. I shared my ministry ambition during a board meeting. My goal was to inspire more people among the Filipino-Chinese community in Jubilee to serve the Lord, even as pastors and missionaries.
How will I achieve this goal? How does anyone inspire people to devote their lives to the mission of Christ? We do it the same way Paul emboldened the saints “to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly.” We can’t do it just by wearing nice clothes, preparing nice sermons, and hosting fun church activities. That is not how we inspire believers to live courageously and fearlessly for Christ. The only way we can inspire the church to live for Christ is by living for Christ. We must live for Christ even when it is difficult. Why? Because when we trust God and remain faithful amid persecution, we show the world that our faith is real and that we are the real deal. When we persevere amid suffering and rejection, we show the church that the gospel of Christ is worth dying for.
Some of you here are experiencing persecution and rejection because of your faith in Christ. Our Lord teaches that when we experience such hardships, we have much reason to rejoice (Matt 5:11-12). Why? Because such hardships provide us an opportunity to show the world that our message is true. When persecution comes, take heart. Trust God. Remain faithful. If you do, you will soon see others following you as you follow Christ. You will soon see God building his church through your faith in him and faithfulness to him. And when it gets difficult, receive strength from your Father in heaven, who graciously gives us all we need. Look to the example of our Lord Jesus Christ, who exercised true faith and faithfulness when he endured the greatest suffering—receiving the wrath of God on our behalf because of our sins. Rely on the power of the Holy Spirit who is the seal of our salvation and our present help until the day when our suffering and pain will be no more, and our joy will be complete and everlasting with our God and Savior in the new heavens and the new earth.