Jeremy L. Berg

“For it has been granted to you not only to believe in Christ but also to suffer for him, since you are encountering the same conflict that you saw me face and now hear that I am facing.” (Phil 1:29-30)

In today’s passage Paul says something that I have stressed a lot lately — namely, that our faith must go beyond getting our heads around a certain set of doctrinally correct beliefs (as important as that is), and become a living, breathing, life-transforming relationship with the living God that changes how we live — and how we face death. “It has been granted to you not only to BELIEVE in Christ but also to SUFFER for him” (v. 29).

Jesus, Paul and early Christians were not persecuted for what private beliefs they held in their heads; they were persecuted for living their lives in a way that challenged the status quo and the socio-political powers that be. They refused to go to war for the Roman imperial army, and instead loved their enemies. They didn’t let newly born, unwanted children die out in the cold (a relatively common practice of the time) but took them in as their own. They didn’t pay homage to the so-called “divine” emperor , but worshiped the Living God alone. Our faith involves both cerebral beliefs and practical living.

Again, its hard to contextualize Paul’s sufferings for our own day – especially for the typical American teenager. You see Paul proclaimed Jesus as the one true King of the world at a time when everyone was obligated to pledge full allegiance to Caesar, the emperor of Rome, who hailed himself as King of the world, bringer of peace and provider of all good and necessary things. Paul was the renegade propagator of an outlawed and persecuted religious sect, and was regularly locked up in chains, beaten, and ultimately beheaded for his faith in the resurrected Christ. Other Christians were being subjected to far worse tortures – such as being doused with oil and lit on fire to light up Caesar’s garden parties, or being thrown to the wild beasts in the amphitheater.

So, in today’s passage where Paul says to his Philippian brothers and sisters, “You are encountering the same conflict that you saw me face and now hear that am facing (v. 30),” he is not talking about being labeled a “Jesus freak,” being shunned from the “popular table” in the cafeteria at school, being asked to avoid R-rated movies for purity sake, or “suffering” through another boring church service. Paul’s faith called for real life sacrifice and pain. He was really sharing in the sufferings of Jesus — being spat on, whipped repeatedly, thrown out of religious services, stoned on a couple occasions, abandoned by friends, wondering if God would protect and deliver him or let him die. He is writing from a jail cell for goodness sake!

So, I just don’t feel right comparing our petty sufferings for our faith to the real, hard, costly, live-giving sufferings that Paul and his fellow Christians were facing. I don’t think we should COMPARE. I think we need to REFLECT on and MARVEL at the courage and commitment, faith and hope of these early Revolutionary followers of the Way of Jesus. May we be reminded of the seriousness of the call when Jesus invites us to “deny ourselves, take up our own crosses, and follow him” (Mark 8:34). Knowing the extent to which our early ancestors in the faith suffered should spur us on to be more willing to go out on a limb for our King and Savior in our lives.

Paul was willing to trade everything to follow Christ and to be united with Him. Let these words of Paul challenge, convict, amaze and inspire you today:

“My aim is to know him, to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings, and to be like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.” (Phil 3:10-11)