Hello, and welcome to this
teaching from Skip Heitzig of Calvary Albuquerque. We pray that God uses this
message to reach people around the world with his love. If this message encourages you,
we'd love to hear about it. Email us at
mystory@calvaryabq.org. And if you'd like to support
this ministry financially, you can give online securely
at calvaryabq.org/give. As believers, we're outnumbered. The vast majority of
people we encounter don't share our values
or worship our god. But we're called to
stand up for Christ when the rest of the world
wants us to sit down. In the message, How to Stand
When They Want You to Fall, Pastor Skip considers
four spiritual weapons that will help us fight to
stand strong in our faith. Now, please turn in your
Bible to Philippians Chapter One as he begins. Hey, it's a real joy
to be with you today. Would you turn in your
Bibles, the Epistle of Joy, to Philippians Chapter One,
Book of Philippians Chapter One? Do you ever feel like you're
being watched by unbelievers? Ever feel that unbelievers look
at you and they analyze you and scrutinize you? Well, if you ever get that
feeling, you're right. That's what they're doing. And not only are they
analyzing and scrutinizing you, they're criticizing you. And probably, more so
now than ever before in American history,
the Christian church is being criticized by
the unbelieving world. Every Christmas you
hear the same stories about how kids can't sing Silent
Night in a public setting. Or throughout the year you hear
about a Christian group who doesn't go along with the
mainstream idea of sexuality, et cetera, and they're
labeled as being intolerant and mean spirited. I was listening to
the news yesterday. And in North Carolina the
board of commissioners every year get together. And for the last 50 years
it has been their practice to get together and open
up their public session with the Pledge of Allegiance
followed by a prayer. It's been in their
history a long time. So they did it this time. They opened up their
session with the Pledge of Allegiance and prayer. But this time the
ACLU is watching them and filed a lawsuit against
them because they prayed. And get this. They said the worst thing
of all you could say. They said at the end of
the prayer, in Jesus' name. So that became a violation. And a lawsuit was filed. And I've been asked to pray
publicly from time to time. And a couple of times
people have said, well, the only thing
we're skittish about is if you use that term at
the end, in Jesus' name. You probably shouldn't use that. And I said, so do you
want the prayer to work? I saw an article on cnn.com
that admitted that Christians are becoming a hated minority. A hated minority. I've long had an article in
my arsenal about the neighbors that Americans don't
want living next door. The article is called,
Not in My Backyard. And it's actually a little
graph that shows this truth. It says, this is the
percentage of Americans who do not like the following
minorities as neighbors. 1% say they don't want
Catholics living next door. 2% don't want Protestants
living next door. 3% don't want Jews
living next door. 9% say they don't want
Hispanics as neighbors. Then comes unmarried couples. Then comes blacks. And finally, the bottom of the
list, the highest percentage, 13% say they don't want
religious fundamentalists as neighbors. They especially
hate bold believers, the kind that make a stand
for what they believe. Because bold believers,
the kind that don't fold with the
culture and just go along with the flow, the
bold believers, they are the ones that will
be labeled narrow, myopic, bigoted, and biased. One website that I found,
one honest atheist wrote-- and I quote-- I've considered myself an
atheist for four or five years and I feel a real
hate of Christians more so than any
other religious cult. And it's growing inside of me. I cannot just read a story or
watch a video of a Christian without this huge fireball of
impatience and anger coming up through my body-- close quote. So who's intolerant? You ever feel like you're
the missionary surrounded by cannibals and the
missionary noticed one cannibal is staring intently at him
and he got really nervous and said, why are you
looking at me so intensely? And the guy said, I'm
the food inspector. You feel like the world is
watching you because they want to gobble you up. Well, Paul understood
this dilemma. Paul understood that if
you become a Christian and you follow Christ boldly
that the Christian life is not a playground. Man, it's a battleground. He got that. He understood that. In fact, here's
part of his resume. In second Corinthians
11, he says, I've been in prison frequently. I've been flogged severely. I've been exposed to
death again and again. Five times I received from
the Jews 40 lashes minus one. Three times I was
beaten with rods. And once I was stoned. And that's not Colorado stoned,
that's stoned with rocks. Now, as we have been reading
in the book of Philippians, this chapter, this
Book of Joy, we saw that Paul begins by
writing to the Philippians as saints, Paul and Timothy
to the Saints who are at Philippi in Christ Jesus. Then he writes to
them as servants, those who enjoy the fellowship
of the gospel with him. They were partners
in the gospel. But now there is a shift. Now he writes to them
not as saints, not as servants but as
soldiers, as it were. And the focus of his letter
beginning in Chapter One, verse 27, turns from
his imprisonment to their predicament. And you'll notice by just the
wording in this little grouping of sentences, the
word adversaries appears, or enemies. The word suffer shows up. And the word conflict is all
in what we are about to read. So what I want to show you
from this set of verses is how to stand for Christ when
the world wants you to fall. Verse 27, Paul writes,
only let your conduct be worthy of the
gospel of Christ, so that whether I come
and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that
you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together
for the faith of the gospel, and not in any way be terrified
by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition,
but to you of salvation, and that from God. For to you, it has been
granted on behalf of Christ not only to believe in Him, but
also to suffer for His sake, having the same conflict
which you saw in me and now here is in me. I want you to picture
something in your mind. I want you to picture a man. And around him is
standing a hostile crowd. The crowd does not like the man. The crowd is yelling at
him, shouting at him, threatening him. They're jeering and they're
taunting and they wish him ill. They want to see
him gone or hurt. Now, with that
picture in mind, I want to show you
four qualities on how to stand and not fall in the
midst of a hostile world. I want you to picture it
like a stool with four legs. Each leg will add a little
more stability to the whole. First, consistency. Consistency is
the first quality. Verse 27, Paul says, only
let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ. You see the word conduct? I'm going to give you a literal
translation of that then I'm going to explain it. The word means your
political affiliation. Don't think of politics in
the terms of modern America. The Greek word is polituo. And polituo is the
word by which we get our word political or
politics or policy or police. They all come from this
word because polituo was all about the
polis in ancient times. A polis is a city
or, more accurately, a city state, a free state. It's the citizens that
belong to a city state and they conduct themselves
in a manner that represents the best of that state. So the idea carries. The word carries the idea
of being a good citizen, honoring the political
affiliation or the city-state that you're a part of. And what are we a part of? Chapter Three will say your
citizenship is in heaven. So the idea is let's
conduct ourselves so that we are offering the
very best of the Kingdom of God. Wherever we travel, we
represent our nation whether we like it or not. You're an American. I don't know if you know what
the reputation of Americans is around the world. It's not favorable
in most cases. The loud American,
the ugly American, there's several things that we
are noted for around the world. And I remember on one
trip I was on in India, I was with a group of people
from different places. And there was one group of
guys that were very, very loud. And they were at a meal and
were laughing and loud and obnoxious. And the Indians in
that culture didn't know how to read these guys. They just sort of
thought, I guess this is how Americans Act. and I'm over in the corner
with my head in my hands going, they don't represent the
best my country has to offer. Trust me. But they were representing
their kingdom. They were conducting
themselves in a certain way. Or like the time
I went to England and tried to sound
like I was English. I tried really hard to come
up with a best British accent. I practiced it. I thought I had it down. So we went to breakfast and I
ordered in an English accent. And the maitre d'
looked at me and said, and you're from California. So I must have given
myself away either in my fake British accent or
the mannerisms that I displayed. So let your conduct,
your display, of your national identity-- and notice what it says. Let your conduct be worthy
of the gospel of Christ. The word worthy means to balance
the scales or to weigh as much. That is the weight on one
side of the scales equals the weight on the other
side of the scales. We use the word in that way. We will say that person
is worthy of his pay. What we mean is the money we are
giving that person corresponds or weighs as much as
the output of the work that he or she produces. If we say she is
worthy of this honor, we are saying the accolades
we give her weigh as much or correspond to the
productivity or the achievement that she has produced. So when Paul writes,
let your conduct be worthy of the gospel,
that's his way of saying that your practice must
match your proclamation. If it's like a set of scales
and on one side you say, well, this is what I believe,
that's your proclamation. Your practice, what you
do, needs to match up, needs to weigh as much. And, by the way,
John the Baptist used this word like that. He said, bear fruits
worthy of repentance. If you say you have
a repentant life, let's see it in what
that life will produce. So what Paul is doing
here is calling us to a consistent Christian life. If you're called Christian,
then live up to the name. A Christian must never
live beneath his theology. A Christian must never
live beneath his belief. I know that you've heard all the
research statistics for years. Barna Research
every year comes up with what Americans
say they believe in. And every year we're
always astonished because every year we find
out that a large majority of Americans say that
they're Christian. And a lot of them say they're
born again Christians. But as I look at the
American landscape, I just got to say it doesn't
quite weigh the same. What they say we are
isn't really what we are. There's got to be some
inconsistency in that. Back in 1986-- get this-- an IRS 25-year
auditor, a veteran of auditing for the IRS,
was arrested and convicted for tax evasion. You know, that just
gets to you, right? It's like, yeah, those are
the guys that try to stiff me. You know, they're
always bummed out about this little discrepancy. They audit me. Well, this auditor
thought that he had found a loophole, that he
had found a flaw in the system. He didn't. The system found a flaw in him. And when they found it,
they find him $115,000. He was inconsistent. What he said he believed
in and what he actually practiced in his personal
life were vastly different. And John Bunyan put it this way. A man could be a saint
abroad and a devil at home. And if that is the case, then
that is unworthy conduct. It is inconsistent. Now, let me turn that around. One of the greatest weapons
you can use against the devil is a consistent life,
a consistent life, a godly, consistent life, not
that God expects perfection. He does not. The Bible says he knows our
frame, that we are dust. But he does expect
that, as citizens of the Kingdom of God,
of the kingdom of heaven, we show a consistency in that. John says, first John
Chapter One, verse 6, if we say we have
fellowship with Him and we walk in darkness, we lie
and do not practice the truth. So simply put, our
lives must give proof that they have been
touched by the gospel, by the good news
about Jesus Christ. That's worthy of the gospel. So here's a question. Is your life filled with love? Because the gospel
is, for God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten son. Is your life filled
with forgiveness? Because the gospel is. Is your life filled with hope? Because the gospel is. Is your life filled
with holiness? Because the gospel is. So consistency is the
first tool, weapon, strength that will
help you stand when the world wants you to fall. Here's a second, unity. Unity. He says, continuing on verse 27,
so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may
hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in
one spirit, with one mind, striving together--
that's the unity-- for the faith of the gospel. Now, Paul doesn't know if
he's going to live or die. He said that. I don't know if I'm
going to live or die. I don't know if I'm going to be
set free or stay incarcerated. I may come and see you. I may not. But that doesn't matter. Whether I'm around or
not does not matter. What matters is that
whether I'm with you or not, you stand firm. Now, that's soldier talk. The word that Paul uses here
in the imperative [GREEK],, stand firm, means
stand your post. Don't leave your guard. It speaks of a soldier who
would stand his position even with the onslaught of tremendous
opposition or temptation. So go back to that little
picture I put in your mind. Here's a man. There's a hostile
crowd around him. He's standing. Maybe he's standing upright
in a relaxed position but the crowd gets
louder and closer. And so he does this. He widens his stance to
give him more stability. He's now going to
stand firm, stand fast. He's not going to
move his position. But he would be
better served if he himself wasn't the
only one standing fast, but he had a whole bunch of
friends next to him doing this, right? When you have other
people standing with you, your odds for victory increase. That's the thought
of this verse. Stand fast in one spirit, with
one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel. I just got to say there
are some great metaphors in this section. Paul the Apostle uses
some great words. The words for striving together,
a single Greek word, sunathleo, sun, the prefix for together. Athleo, we get the term
athletic or athlete from it. So come together as
athletes, you might say. Strive and stand together
in this race as athletes. It is clear, it is evident
that Paul saw the church as a team sport-- That's good. --not as some little
private, personal island experience that I have
with God all by myself. No. He said our team is in conflict. Our team is in a battle. And it takes teamwork. We have to stand together. That's good. We need unity. Now, I would like to explain,
when the New Testament talks about unity, what it doesn't
mean and what it does mean. Unity, in the Bible, doesn't
mean necessarily unanimity, Where everybody thinks
exactly the same. It doesn't necessarily mean
uniformity, where everybody acts exactly the same. If you think that you're going
to get every Christian to agree on every point of doctrine and
style of worship, good luck. It's not going to happen. You may not agree with my
view on certain things. You may not agree with
my view on eschatology, the rapture of the church. You may not agree with my
view on spiritual gifts. You may not agree with
my view on the election of the believer. And I always give anybody
the privilege to be wrong. You can believe
whatever you like. Somebody once said, if
you find two people that agree on everything, one
of them is not thinking. So I think vigorous
debate can be good. It can be healthy. it
can be helpful as long as we don't divide over it. Can you imagine? If we could assemble the
great Christian minds throughout the centuries
and put them in one room together, for
example, if we were to go back to the 4th century
and get Augustine of Hippo, North Africa, who spiritualized
so many texts of the scripture, put him in the room
and sit next to him the 10th century
Bernard of Clairvaux? And, for fun, let's add the
16th century reformer John Calvin next to him. And then to really
spice things up, we'll go to the
18th century, we'll get John Wesley, Charles
Wesley, and George Whitfield. Just those three in and of
themselves would be fireworks. Then let's go to
the ninth century and put in Charles Haddon
Spurgeon and D.L. Moody. We'll go to the 20th century. We'll put C.S. Lewis in
that room and Billy Graham. We'll go to the 21st century
and put the likes of N.T. Wright in there. I'm going to tell you something. There is not going
to be unanimity on every single point. It'll be a very, very
lively discussion. But at the end of the
day what you will have is unity when it comes to the
essential historic Christian gospel. We're not much different
than an athletic team. You've all heard of
teams every season. The season starts
out where there's bickering between some
of the individual players on that team. They're out for their own
glory, out for themselves. But as the season moves on
and they near the playoff, they know they need
to act together because victory is in sight. If they've made
the playoff, they had better give their best parts
of who they are to the team so they can win the battle. So unity then doesn't mean
uniformity or unanimity. It does, however, mean harmony. It means harmony. It means we choose
to work together. We choose to cooperate
over the essentials. The essentials. I've always loved that little
axiom from the Reformation. You've heard it. In essentials, unity. In non-essentials, liberty. In all things, charity. Amen. That was Jesus' passion. He prayed for unity. In his high priestly
prayer, John 17, Jesus prayed that they all may
be one, that they also may be one in us, that the world
may believe that you sent me. Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones,
Dean Martin Lloyd-Jones, was a medical doctor who became
a pastor, a very interesting story on a personal level. He was a medical doctor, became
an assistant pastor to Dr. G. Campbell Morgan of
Westminster Chapel. When Morgan died, the church
was given to, as the pastor, Dean Martin Lloyd-Jones. And one of the stories
that Jones told is that, before
the Spanish Civil War, in the great
cities of Spain, like Barcelona and Madrid,
that the psychological clinics treated large numbers
of people for what he called little issues,
personal problems, personal anxieties. But then the Civil
War broke out. And when it did, one of
the most striking effects the Civil War had on
the Spanish population is it virtually emptied the
medical clinics overnight. They were suddenly all
cured by a greater anxiety. No longer are they worried
about little personal problems. Now they're worried
about, will my husband be alive because of this war? Will my son come home
from the battlefield? And says Martin Lloyd-Jones,
greater anxieties get rid of lesser anxieties. Why am I sharing that with you? Because just in case
you're the type of person who likes to bicker and
banter and meddle and gossip and divide, let me just say
get into the real battle. Yes. Quit using your sword
against other Christians and realize there's this huge
demonic onslaught and world that wants you to fall. So the team needs
to get together. We need to sunathleo. We need to work together
and strive together, unity. Unity will help you stand. Consistency followed by unity. Here's a third leg on
that stool, bravery. Now, watch Paul. Again, Paul's a prisoner
facing Caesar Nero. And he practiced what he
preached, verse 28, and not in any way terrified by
your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition,
but to you of salvation, and that from God. The new Living Translation
renders it this way. Don't be intimidated
by your enemies. Or let's put it this way. Don't let unbelievers scare you. Don't let unbelievers scare you. Now, look at that word,
terrified, in verse 28. That's a word that
refers to horses who easily get spooked and
throw their riders off. You know, sometimes a horse
will become afraid or terrified by meaningless things, like
a little rabbit jumps out or a person gets too close. And they get all nervous
and they shoot up and they buck their riders off. And so when that happened,
when a horse became terrified, what they would say in antiquity
is the horse is battle shy. Don't take this
horse into battle. He's battle shy. Paul is saying don't be
a battle shy believer. Don't be battle shy. Don't be afraid of unbelievers. Now, nobody wants to fight
unless you're insane. Nobody looks for a fight. Nobody wants to
rush into battle. But when the battle comes
from the unbelieving world, Paul is saying don't be
afraid to face the enemy. Don't you love that slogan? Have you seen it? No fear. It's been around awhile. No fear. When I first saw that, I
said, hey, that's our slogan. That belongs to the church. We can't be motivated by fear. Why? Because fear controls people. It cripples people. Fearful people can be
manipulated easily. They can be shut down easily. I've told you stories about
some of my college professors who wanted to make
me a public example because I was the stupid little
Christian guy who believed Jesus and they would go out
of their way to threaten or ridicule or intimidate me. Now, the Philippians, they had
some good reasons to be scared. Because believing in Jesus in
Philippi, this colony of Rome, well, we saw what
happened to Paul there. He got thrown into jail. He got beaten up. That could happen to them. They could be executed. They had already been
ostracized by family members and by society. But here's what Paul says. Here's the gold in this verse. When that happens,
when opposition comes your way for the sake of
Christ, it's a sign from God. Look at verse 28, which is
to them a proof of perdition, but to you of salvation,
and that from God. That's just a way of
saying, when that happens, it shows you which side you're
on or which side they're on. That's right. If you're getting
hassled by unbelievers for the sake of Christ,
when that happens, it shows you it's
darkness against light. That's right. It proves who I am. It's a badge of honor. That's right. It's a sign from God. So can I encourage you? Be a brave nonconformist. I like nonconformists. I am one. Be a brave nonconformist. When you are, you will
stand out like a diamond against a dark
backdrop of this world. In a world that has rejected
God, for you to step forward and bravely announced
your allegiance to Christ, you will be a
refreshing exception and you'll make a difference. Remember when they
tried to arrest Jesus? Well, they did arrest him. But they came to the garden,
soldiers well-equipped, swords and shields. And they come to the
garden of Gethsemane. And Jesus said, who
are you looking for? They said Jesus of Nazareth. He stood up and said, I am he. They all fell backward. He didn't shrink
away and go, no. He stood up. He presented himself. Or how about Steven
when he is surrounded by hostile people who want to
kill him and they eventually did? And he says-- he can't
keep his mouth shut-- look. I see the heavens open and
Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father. Or how about Peter? Now, he was a little skittish. He denied Christ three
times to a servant chick in the garden of
the high priest. He couldn't even give a
testimony to a woman who said, aren't you one of the
guys that followed him? No. No, I'm not him. But then we see him filled
with the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost after an
encounter with the resurrected Christ. And he boldly, bravely preaches. So it says the audience
was cut to the heart. That's bravery. That's bravery. And that courage, verse
28, proves you're saved. And if you don't have
it, ask God for it. And step out and try it. Don't shrink from your world. Stand up to it. One person can make a difference
and actually change history. Have you heard the
story of Telemachus? Some of you have. Around 400 AD, well,
you know what was happening in Rome in 400 AD. The Colosseum was
filled with spectators watching blood sport. They would sit there
and their entertainment was watching people
kill other people, or animals kill other people. It's not unlike what we'd like
to watch on violent television. But they just saw
it in real life. And then they were
entertained by it. One day a Syrian monk by
the name of Telemachus, this little Syrian
monk, was in the crowd, saw what was happening,
was repulsed by it. And so this little
Syrian monk runs down, jumps over the
balustrade, goes out into the arena floor,
waves his little monk arms and says, in the name
of Christ, forebear. Stop this. This is senseless. This is nonsense. Because he interrupted
their entertainment, like somebody
switched the channel, they ordered him to be
thrust through with a sword and killed. Some accounts say he
was stoned to death. Others say he was
cut with a blade. But he died. His blood filled the arena
floor and he died that day. But something happened. Over the next few
months, the flow of people to be entertained by
that blood sport diminished. And a few months later
it ended all together because one person stood bravely
and said that's not right. So here's the point. If you bow before God, you
can stand before anyone. That's right. If you bow for God, you
can stand before anyone. Remember, Jesus said,
don't fear people. Don't fear man who
can kill the body. Fear God who can cast both
body and soul into hell. Fear him. If you have a healthy fear of
the Lord, a healthy respect for God and you bow
before him, that will give you the power, the
ability, the strength to stand. So we have three legs on
this four-legged stool. We have consistency,
unity, and we have bravery. Lets finish it off and
make it even more stable. You're not going to
like this one, agony. Agony. Verse 29, it has been granted
to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him but
also to suffer for his sake-- I know your saying, oh, boy-- having the same conflict
which you saw in me and now here is in me. Now, look at how
he phrases that. It has been granted
on behalf of Christ not only to believe
but to suffer. There's two parts of that. And the first part always
guarantees the second part. If you believe in him,
that's the first part, Then you'll suffer for him,
that's the second part. Paul said, all those-- finish out this verse with me-- who live godly in Christ,
Jesus, shall suffer persecution. You know we never
mention that, do we, to new believers, new converts. It's probably rightfully so. But I think sometimes
we give the impression to younger believers
or brand new converts in the faith that, OK, you've
made this decision now. The birds are just going to
sing louder than ever before. The sky's going to be
bluer and all your problems are going to go away. All your struggles
are going to go away. It's true that the biggest
battle has been won. But you have now invited a
whole host of new battles. Because Jesus
said, in this world you shall have tribulation. Jesus said, they have hated me. Don't be surprised when
they hate you because you align yourself with me. But please look at
how Paul writes. He says, it's been
granted to you. It's been given
you the privilege. He is saying, God's
doing you a favor. You go, oh, good. What is it? He's going to let you suffer. You're going, can I not
have that favor, please? Could god give that gift to
somebody else, but not me? I like God's other gifts. I wish health and wealth
preachers would study these verses more carefully. Because Paul sees suffering
far differently than Americans see suffering. We think it's just the evil of
all evils to suffer anything. Paul says, if you
suffer well and you suffer for the right
reason, it's a privilege. Yes. In fact, the word
he uses, granted, comes from the word grace. Just as God has given
you the grace to believe, God has given you
the grace to suffer. The grace to suffer. Listen, I know you
don't see it as a gift. But I'll tell you. This gift will do more
to build up your life and make you strong and
bless you than just about anything else. It will. My challenge is that
you become like popcorn. What I mean is, most
grains, when you heat them up, shrivel up and get hard. Not so with popcorn, right? You put 400 degrees Fahrenheit
to that kernel of popcorn and a gas is emitted on the
inside of that kernel that pushes out that hard exterior
and cracks it and it becomes enlarged and it becomes a
blessing, a delight to people. You know, suffering
will do that for you? It will enlarge your life. That's good. It will make you a
delight to other people as you are tempered
by that suffering and you become more
valuable by that experience if you do it well and you
do it for the right reason. In fact, in Philippians
Chapter Three-- if, by God's grace, we ever
get there, and we will-- here's Paul's prayer. Listen to this,
that I may know him and the power of
his resurrection and the fellowship
of his suffering and even be shaped by death. That's his prayer. I want a fellowship with
the sufferings of Christ so that when I
suffer for the reason that I am attuned to
and following Christ, I am entering into a
certain kind of fellowship. I've done many studies on
the value of suffering. Let me just shoot out
a few little truths. When you suffer on earth, it
makes you long for heaven. It does. It does. I mean, you're a
citizen of heaven. So the more you suffer because
of Christ on this earth, you're thinking,
man, I can't wait to get home and get
a reward for this. It looks pretty good. Second, when you
suffer on this earth, it produces patience in you. It's very productive. It's like the
young preacher that went to the old preacher
and he said to the old man, could you pray for me? I'm an impatient young man. Did you ever have that
problem, you're impatient? This guy said,
pray for patience. So the old preacher
said, I'd love to. He bowed his head and he prayed,
Father, give this young man tribulation and suffering. The young guy said,
whoa, preacher. I didn't ask for that. I want patience. And the old man quoted to him
the scripture, tribulation worketh patience. This is how you get patience. You don't get it from
reading the latest Christian book on it. You get it from going through
the suffering that produces it. So it'll orient
you toward heaven. It'll give you
patience on the earth. And the third thing
suffering will do is make you sensitive
to other believers who are suffering, at
least it ought to. Do you know that right now
over in the Middle East there is a genocide
going on of Christians who have been crucified,
who have been beheaded, who have been
ostracized, thousands, millions of brothers and
sisters for the cause of Christ? Our suffering here, if people
laugh at our bumper sticker or get mad that we
are a bold Christian, is nothing compared to the
sacrifice that they have. That's right. So what that does is it
orients us to heaven. It brings us patience here. But it also gives us a
sensitivity toward others who are suffering. However, as I already
mentioned, make sure, when you suffer, that you
suffer for the right reason. Yes. Look at the words. Look at how Paul writes. He doesn't do it by accident. It has been granted
on behalf of Christ not only to believe in Him but
also to suffer for His sake. When you suffer, it should be
on his behalf, for his sake. Isn't that exactly
what our Lord said? Blessed are those
who are persecuted for righteousness sake. You know Jesus never said
blessed are the persecuted? It's not a blessing to be
persecuted if you're just being persecuted for no good reason. Because some people
get persecuted because they're weird. They're just weird
pers-- they're obnoxious. Their personality
invites persecution. Jesus said, make sure that
when you get persecuted, you get persecuted for
righteousness sake. I know people who try to
represent the Lord in such a caustic manner. Listen. If you yell at a
group of unbelievers, you uncircumcised Philistine,
how does hell sound, you probably won't
win their hearts. And you probably
will get persecuted. It will not be for
righteousness sake. It would just be
because you're weird. Jesus said, in
the world, we need to be wise as serpents
and harmless as doves. Why have some of us
turned that around? Some of us are as
wise as doves, which aren't too bright, and harmless
as serpents, which are deadly. I think, when it comes to
our witness for the world, that God is looking for sharp
shooters, not machine gunners. Yes. When you launch
that arrow of truth, when you speak that truth, when
you pull that trigger of gospel truth, make sure it's
well-placed and well-timed. As Paul said, let
your speech always be filled with grace,
seasoned with salt. So these four qualities
are like the four legs on a chair or a stool. They will add
stability to your life when the world
wants you to fall. And they do. So my encouragement
to you is don't fall. Stand. Stand tall. Stand strong. Stand together even if it hurts. Do you remember those toys-- I don't know if they
still make them, but it used to be this
vinyl doll that was weighted at the bottom, you know? It had it a face painted on it. And no matter what
you do to that doll, it always comes up, upright,
because it's weighted. So you can punch it. It'll fall down but it
comes right back up. You can kick it. It'll fall down,
come right back up. You can do it repeatedly. It keeps coming back up. I picture Paul like that. Lock him up in prison. OK, I'll preach to the guards. He comes back up. OK, get him out of prison. OK, I'll go visit the Philippian
church and encourage them. He comes back up. OK, we'll kill him. OK, kill me. But before you do, let
me tell you about Jesus. He's like the doll that
keeps coming back up. May God make us like that. Stand. Stand together. Stand strong for His glory. Let's pray. Father, thank you for these
powerful words of Paul the prisoner, a man who wrote
or dictated this while in chains to a Roman soldier. No wonder this man's
life and this man's words brought conviction even
to hardened Roman soldiers hardened by battle. But they saw a man
fighting for truth, standing strong, standing
brave, standing together with other believers. May that consistency and unity
and bravery and even agony be a part of our lives. In Jesus' name, amen. Though the world would rather
we keep our mouths shut, we're called to
represent Christ. Did this message encourage
you to stand up for Jesus? Let us know. Email mystory@calvaryabq.org. And just a reminder, you can
give financially to this work at calvaryabq.org/give. Thank you for listening
to this message from Skip Heitzig of
Calvary Albuquerque.
