CONTENTMENT (16): Paul's Lifestyle

If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ...

Philippians 3:4-8

I’m resuming the theme of last weekend’s Reflection. St Paul described his life in some detail in his two letters to the Christians at Corinth: see 1 Corinthians 4:11-13, 2 Corinthians 6:3-10 & 2 Corinthians 11: 21-28. He wrote about being hungry and thirsty, not suitably dressed for the climate, assaulted (‘buffeted’) and homeless. But he added something only possible if he was content with such a lifestyle: 'When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things...’

In his second letter he explains that so not to put obstacles to belief in anyone’s way, he endured ‘afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labours, sleepless nights, hunger...through honour and dishonour, through slander and praise...’ Later, he was specific: ‘Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches...’

That final reference to daily pressure from the churches would, I think, have been enough to crush many ministers. As we read in his other letters, many Christians were abandoning the faith he had so faithfully taught them at such great personal cost. He later told Timothy that ‘all who are in Asia turned away from me’ (2 Timothy 1:15).

When Peter said to Jesus that the disciples had left everything to follow Him, Jesus replied, 'Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life' (Mark 10:29-30).

We should remember that Paul had things to be ashamed of in his life. In the passage at the start of this Reflection, along with his noble birth and religious devotion, he refers to the way he persecuted the church. He imprisoned many Christians and almost certainly caused the deaths of some. That he had come to terms with that, and didn't try to hide it, should encourage every Christians with a difficult past, especially where they have acted persecuted other out of a misguided zeal to please God.

A life of ease does not necessarily indicate God's favour; a life of hardship does not necessarily indicate God's disapproval. We need to be committed to what's right. For St Paul to be content with his life, and to remain content in the belief that things could get still worse, required solid faith in God, a clear understanding of his purpose and a focus on a future that would make all the hardship worthwhile. He wanted to ‘gain Christ’ and, because this is fundamental to our own contentment, it's the subject of next weekend’s Reflection.

© Copyright Philip Evans 2015.

What is freely received should be freely shared and not sold for profit, so please feel free to copy these Reflections freely and without cost to others. Unless otherwise stated, Scripture quotations in these Reflections are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

CONTENTMENT (15): Paul's Discontent

If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ...

Philippians 3:4-8

None of the early Christians had more right than Saul of Tarsus to boast in their nobility and intellect. He was born into a prominent Jewish family as a Roman citizen; he trained as a Jewish scholar and would have excelled in both the civil and the religious establishments had he not been attracted to Jesus of Nazareth. ‘I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord’, he wrote. ‘For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish…’ The Greek word that Paul used for 'rubbish' actually means something worse and so doesn’t appear in many English-language translations. It really means excrement.

Saul had met Jesus on his way to Damascus about 30 years before and it had cast a deep shadow over everything he had at that time and everything he stood to gain in the future. But he gladly laid it all aside. He laid it aside as completely as Jesus had laid aside the privileges of deity to be born as a human. Saul soon stopped using his Jewish name and began calling himself by his Roman name, Paul. And after 30 years of misunderstanding and hardship, Paul had no regrets! In fact, he looked forward to more of the same: ‘Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own…’ Press on to what? ‘That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share His sufferings…’

I plan to resume this theme next weekend to look more closely at what Paul meant by that but I think we should pause to think about what it means to be content. While it is right to describe contentment as being mentally and emotionally satisfied with the state of our lives – our homes, jobs, possessions, friends, difficulties, hardships and everything else – it doesn't imply complacency. To say that we're content with our home does not prohibit wanting something better for our families if we're living in a place that does not support a healthy lifestyle. People on a persistent low income that does not allow them to eat a healthy diet should not be complacent about that. If we're unjustly imprisoned, as Paul was, it doesn't mean that we shouldn't want to be freed.

I think Paul highlighted the distinction in his letter to Timothy. ‘Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires...’ (1 Timothy 6:6-9). There are important distinctions between wanting to be healthy, dress warmly, sleep peacefully and enjoy social contact and with unnecessarily exposing ourselves to the temptations of ‘senseless and harmful desires’.

The last of the Ten Commandments prohibits coveting our neighbours’ spouses, houses, fields, servants, livestock and anything else they own. St James warned both rich and poor Christians, ‘You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel....’-quarrelling that undermined their individual spiritual growth and corporate witness. But the Bible also mentions a good type of coveting: a desire that we could call a holy coveting.

St Paul encouraged the Christians at Corinth to ‘earnestly desire the higher [spiritual] gifts’ and ‘earnestly desire to prophesy’ (see 1 Corinthians 12:31 & 14:39.). In both passages, Paul used the Greek word for covet, although I expect many translators doesn't use the English word in case it's misleading. But those passages could accurately be translated as 'covet the higher gifts' and 'covet to prophesy'. Similarly, as content as Paul was in detention, there were some holy things that he wanted to press on to.

There are many dangers in material and financial increase and the English phrase, 'be careful what you wish for' comes to my mind. But we’re usually on safe ground when we desire spiritual enrichment, a closer fellowship with Jesus, a greater openness to the Holy Spirit and a life of discipleship whereby we may become worthy of spiritual gifts.

© Copyright Philip Evans 2015.

What is freely received should be freely shared and not sold for profit, so please feel free to copy these Reflections freely and without cost to others. Unless otherwise stated, Scripture quotations in these Reflections are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

CONTENTMENT (14): Paul's Companions

I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you. For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.

Philippians 2:19-21

I wonder if anyone in the church at Rome read St Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi. If they did, I wonder what they thought of the above passage. ‘For they all seek their own interests....’! How would you feel if your own church leader wrote that about you and your church?

I doubt the Christians in Rome neglected Paul. He had previously written to them and I expect they treasured his letter. In the final paragraphs of Acts 28, we read how they went to welcome Paul as he approached the city and of his ministry there continuing for at least two years, ‘proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance’. At the end of his letter to Philippi, he adds, ‘All the saints greet you, especially those who are of Caesar’s household’. And yet it was a church about 700 miles away that sent him the money he needed to support himself in his ministry.

‘For they seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ’! That’s was terrible comment on the church at Rome, especially the Christians who served Caesar personally. So the only person that Paul could send to Philippi with good news was Timothy.

At the start of this section of his letter to Philippi, Paul has described how Jesus gave up his rights and privileges as God to serve and save people. Jesus took a downward path that ended with a cross and a borrowed tomb. Paul had begun that description with the words, ‘Have this mind among yourselves...’

The story of Paul’s life in Acts and in his own letters demonstrates that he developed this sort of mind. He explained to the Philippians how he, himself, was being ‘poured out as a drink offering’ in the service of others. The mind of Jesus Christ was in Timothy, also.

After commending Timothy, Paul commends the man the Philippians had sent with their gift, Epaphroditus. He was excluded from Paul’s view of the other Christians in Rome because Epaphroditus was a visitor. Moreover, Epaphroditus had suffered a great deal to reach Paul with the Philippians’ gift. ‘For he nearly died for the work of Christ’, Paul explained, ‘risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me’. That wasn’t meant as a criticism of the Christians back in Philippi but only acknowledged that Epaphroditus completed their intention by delivering the gift.

This passage leaves us with a lot to think about. First, anyone in Christian ministry can learn to be content with very few likeminded Christians around them who truly seek to serve Christ. More generally, we all ought to think about whether we might be more like the Christians in Rome than we care to admit, especially if we’re in jobs where we need to be careful, like the Christians who served Caesar. Do we seek our own interests, not those of Jesus Christ? If we do, might that explain why we cannot experience the same sort of contentment as Paul enjoyed?

© Copyright Philip Evans 2015.

What is freely received should be freely shared and not sold for profit, so please feel free to copy these Reflections freely and without cost to others. Unless otherwise stated, Scripture quotations in these Reflections are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

CONTENTMENT (13): Paul's Guidance

Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ…not frightened in anything by your opponents… Do nothing from rivalry or conceit … Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent … Rejoice in the Lord… Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone… Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God… What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me – practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

Philippians 1:27-30, 2:3, 2:14-16, 3:1-2, 4:4-7 & 4:8-9

We concluded last weekend with Paul's instruction to 'Do all things without grumbling and questioning...' The quotes at the start of this Reflection brings together all the lifestyle guidance in St Paul's letter to the Philippians because following it is necessary to us enjoying the quality of contentment that he enjoyed. This is my summary that I hope you find helpful.

1. Unafraid of opponents but nevertheless cautious of evildoers, especially those who pervert the Christian faith.
2. Looking to the interests of others (loving our neighbours as ourselves), not acting out of rivalry or conceit and without grumbling or questioning.
3. Transparently reasonable, blameless and innocent, even living in a crooked and twisted generation.
4. Not anxious about anything but committing everything to God and letting the peace of God guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
5. Meditating on (focusing on) what is true, honourable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent and praiseworthy.
6. Practising things learned from Paul; living the life - actually living as one of Jesus’ disciples.
7. Rejoicing in the Lord... Rejoicing always!

I’ve been a Christian since 1968 and I think it’s true to say that throughout most of that time the way to live has become clearer and more straightforward. It can be simply summed up as Jesus Himself summed it up: loving our neighbours as ourselves and treating others we'd like to be treated. A few times, St Paul wrote that loving our neighbours fulfils all the requirements of God’s law. Reading the New Testament letters, it seems to me that, on the whole, this simply requires us to be honest and sexually restrained. 

We read in Romans 12-15, for example, about humility, using the gifts that God gives us for everyone’s benefit, genuine love to everyone, including those who persecute us, submission to authority, sexual purity, judgementalism, causing others to stumble in their walk with God and bearing with the weak. We read in Ephesians 5-6 and Colossians 3-4 about promoting good social relationships.

Or we can read in 1 Corinthians 6, Galatians 5 and Ephesians 5 about the sorts of behaviour that prevent Christians from inheriting the Kingdom of God. I've put the list into alphabetical order and eliminated the duplication: adultery, angry fits, coveting, drunkenness, enmity, envy, greed, idolatry, jealousy, orgies, revilery, rivalry, sensuality, sexual immoralities, sorcery, strife, swindling and theft. Most if not all of these involve money, sex or power - all the motivations of a capitalist, consumer society!

Prayer, Bible reading, worship and Christian fellowship are all very important to Christians lifestyle but they need to be within the context of living as Jesus described, not supplementing an otherwise secular way or living.

I must add that although I believe that how Jesus wants His followers to live is straightforward and simple to understand, I don't believe that it’s necessarily easy to do. But, as St Paul assured his readers, ‘What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.’ We all ought to be very content with that!

© Copyright Philip Evans 2015.

What is freely received should be freely shared and not sold for profit, so please feel free to copy these Reflections freely and without cost to others. Unless otherwise stated, Scripture quotations in these Reflections are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

CONTENTMENT (12): Paul's Resolution

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Philippians 2:12-13

We return to the theme of the last Reflection before Christmas (Paul’s Inspiration, posted 19 December), when we considered what St Paul wrote about the humility and obedience that Jesus demonstrated in laying aside His rights as God and following a downward path that ended in crucifixion as a common criminal. Paul follows this description with this exhortation: ‘Therefore...work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you...’

This passage refers to two activities: we work out our salvation; God works in us. This is how we achieve contentment, and very much more, but it’s a life-long process that's called sanctification. It's a paradox, both assertiveness and surrender, a process that New Testament writers describe in a variety of ways but about which two things are clear: it’s something we do and something God does for us; it’s more than we can achieve on our own but more than God wants to do on His own.

This is why Paul could write about God who works in us and our need to endure. It may be helpful to think of it like this. We can plant a seed but only God can make it grow. We can water it, remove the weeds from around it and protect it from predators like birds and slugs. But only God can give life and growth. And although we can't make growth happen, we're free to stunt it. We could neglect to water the plant and leave it exposed to more dangers than necessary. We could nip off every sign of life that pushes through the soil before it has the chance to develop.

It's the same with the spiritual life within us. It's planted within us when we're 'born again' (or 'born from above' with spiritual life), as Jesus explained to Nicodemus in John 3. We can't make this growth happen but we need to care for it. That's why Paul writes about both the God of peace who sanctifies us, 'He who calls you is faithful; He will surely do it' (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24), and the need to never tire of doing what's right (2 Thessalonians 3:13). This is why Christian lifestyle is much more than making time for prayer and worship but must extend to changing our lifestyles to conform to Jesus' teaching. 

Jesus taught a lifestyle centred on loving God with our whole selves and loving our neighbours as ourselves, a lifestyle very different from the societies in which we live. We therefore need to study what He taught, measuring ourselves against what He said in the Sermon on the Mount and at other times, reflecting on the examples He described in His parables, and adapt our own lives accordingly. If, for example, we find that the ways we earn and spend money are not consistent with loving our neighbours as ourselves, we need to change! If we love money and covet possessions and status, we need to change. I don't think it's going too far to say that it’s something we need do with a level of commitment as if relying on nothing but our own effort but nonetheless knowing that ‘God works in us’.

This will almost certainly involve more inconvenience and hardship than putting aside some time each day to read the Bible and pray! Jesus, who was content to live in humility and obedience, said, ‘A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher’ (Luke 6:40). As we can read in his letters and in Acts, Paul’s own lifestyle followed Jesus’ pattern: he laid aside his privileges and opportunities as a Jew and a Roman and lived in obedience, suffering shipwreck, hunger, persecution, arrest, torture and execution. Paul became like Jesus in the way he lived. And writing to the Philippians, he says, in effect, Therefore you...

Paul follows this with ‘Do all things without grumbling or questioning...’ This is a serious challenge that requires a dedication to contentment and is the subject of next weekend's Reflection.

To commit ourselves to this process and let God do His work in us is the ultimate New Year’s Resolution for any Christian!

© Copyright Philip Evans 2015.

What is freely received should be freely shared and not sold for profit, so please feel free to copy these Reflections freely and without cost to others. Unless otherwise stated, Scripture quotations in these Reflections are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.