Well, who would know better than Paul? He's sitting in chains, not sure whether he'll live or die, and outside people are preaching the gospel with the motivation of causing him trouble. And yet Paul is able to say in this first chapter of Philippians, "I thank God when I remember you;" "I pray with joy for you;" "I pray that your love would flourish." Paul recognizes that even in the situation he's in, it's good to see the gospel advancing. He even rejoices in the fact that no matter what the motivation, it's good that the gospel is being preached.
We can conclude that Paul knows what he's talking about when he calls it a gift to suffer for Christ's sake, even if it's a stark truth to stare at. Before looking into this truth further, I want to back up just a bit, to the beginning of the paragraph (v.1:27) where Paul begins one long run-on sentence that ends with this truth, and that he faces with them. Here's the verse:
"Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ so that – whether I come and see you or whether I remain absent – I should hear that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, by contending side by side for the faith of the gospel, ..." (Philippians 1:27 NET)
The Greek in this verse, translated as "conduct yourselves" is literally, "live as citizens". As noted in the translators' notes in the NET Bible, the idea is to live as Roman freemen, something that carried privileges much of the populace of the Mediterranean didn't have. It would be somewhat the same as the privileges we have as American citizens compared to much of the world. Not slaves. Not kings. Basically equal to one another. Be citizens, then, with rights and responsibilities, who act in accordance with and in response to, the good news of Christ.
I think it's important to catch this idea of citizenship, because we might take this admonition as applying to us strictly as individuals. Of course, there is that aspect -- our individual behavior contributes to our collective behavior, and vice versa. But it's easy to miss the collective behavior aspect. In essence, Paul's admonition is to the community. Makes sense, since he's writing to the church at Philippi.
I went searching through my various translations, looking for something that captured the spirit of citizenship and community within the admonition for right living. The Amplified Bible uses citizen directly, and the New Living Translation and Today's New International Version both go ahead and say "as citizens of heaven". Finally, I turned to a translation that I look at from time to time by Andy Gaus, and I liked the fact that not only did he catch the idea of community, but he managed to do the translation of the paragraph as one long sentence. Here it is:
"Just act like a community worthy of the good news of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or whether I'm far away, what I hear about you is that you are standing firm, united in spirit, not at all abashed by your enemies, striving as one, joined by your belief in the good news, the belief that is the sign of their destruction and your salvation -- in both cases coming from God; since you were given the gift of being for Christ, not just believing in him but also suffering for him and facing the same battle that you saw me face and now hear that I am faced with again." (Philippians 1:27-30 The Unvarnished New Testament)
I think this understanding of community when it comes to worthy living is also helpful when we get to what Paul says about the gift we receive. In broad terms, the gift we receive is "being for Christ", both in belief and in action -- facing suffering. But we do it in community. And that helps.
For the Philippians, who did suffer, and as hard as it was to hear, Paul let them know this was something special. The history of the church demonstrates that it in times of persecution, the church flourishes. For us today, we may or may not suffer. But around the world, others are suffering for Christ's sake. And they are a part of our community. We need to recognize that. In line with our reading yesterday from Ephesians 6, we need to always keep on praying for all the saints. If you would like more specifics about the persecuted church, and how you can pray, go here or here. This is our community.
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