{"id":26726,"date":"2023-06-12T22:00:29","date_gmt":"2023-06-13T05:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/philippians_1_12-21-copy\/"},"modified":"2023-05-30T12:38:44","modified_gmt":"2023-05-30T19:38:44","slug":"philippians_1_22-30","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/philippians_1_22-30\/","title":{"rendered":"Mature Christians Think Team First"},"content":{"rendered":"

Philippians 1:22-30\u00a0\u00a0 Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

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Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

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Today\u2019s passage is Philippians 1:22-30.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

One of the big themes of\u00a0Philippians\u00a0is putting the needs of others, or the needs of the team, ahead of your own.\u00a0 We see this theme played out in various ways in today\u2019s passage.<\/p>\n

Philippians 1:22-26 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know!
\n23\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far;
\n24\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.
\n25\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith,
\n26\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0so that through my being with you again your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses\u00a022-26: \u00a0Facing the possibility of execution, Paul is torn between the thought of dying and going to heaven and the thought of continuing to live and serve God on earth.\u00a0 For the sake of his own happiness, Paul would prefer to die and go to heaven (“which is better by far” – v23).\u00a0 But Paul senses that God still has more work for Paul to do on earth with his churches (v24).\u00a0 Paul believes God wants to keep using him to help his churches grow (v25) and to experience the joy and encouragement of seeing him again (v26).\u00a0 For these reasons, Paul is convinced that his time to die has not yet come, even though a part of him would love to leave and go to heaven right away.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this? \u00a0A big part of following Jesus is learning to set aside what we prefer so that we can do what is best for the bigger body of Christ. \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>When we choose the team over ourselves, we’re following in the footsteps of Jesus and Paul.<\/p>\n

Philippians<\/em><\/strong>\u00a01<\/em><\/strong>:27\u00a0(NIV)\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
\n27\u00a0<\/sup><\/em>Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 27: \u00a0Paul tells his church in Philippi that whatever happens — whether Paul departs and goes to heaven or lives and gets to see his church again — he urges his church to conduct themselves “in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ” (v27). \u00a0What does it mean to conduct yourself in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ?\u00a0 It means to stand firm and united with your church in serving God’s purposes.<\/strong><\/p>\n

What is the greatest measure of a Christian’s maturity?\u00a0 It’s not whether that person has gone to seminary or Bible school.\u00a0 It’s not how much of the Bible that person knows. \u00a0The\u00a0<\/strong>greatest\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>measure of a Christian’s maturity is in how they love others, especially how they love God’s church. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

How about you?\u00a0 Do you love God’s church persistently (through thick and thin), humbly (setting aside your own preferences for the greater good of the body), and responsibly (others can count on you)?\u00a0 Or do you relate to the church in a mostly self-centered way (“it’s all about what I want, what I need and what I prefer”)? \u00a0 I pray we would be excellent lovers of God’s church.\u00a0 May we conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel by standing firm together in one Spirit and one purpose.\u00a0 When we do that, we will grow spiritually, bless others and glorify God in ways we never could if we just chased our own preferences.<\/p>\n

Philippians<\/em><\/strong>\u00a01<\/em><\/strong>:28-30 (NIV)\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
\n28\u00a0<\/sup><\/em>without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved–and that by God.\u00a0<\/em>
\n29\u00a0<\/sup><\/em>For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him,\u00a0<\/em>
\n30\u00a0<\/sup><\/em>since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 28-30: \u00a0Here Paul confirms that\u00a0if you’re serious about your faith in Jesus, at some point you are going to encounter opposition and suffer for Him<\/strong>.\u00a0 Suffering for your faith can be a good sign that you’re on the right track.\u00a0 If life is always smooth and you never encounter any opposition, difficulty or suffering because of what you believe, then it might be that you\u2019re not living out your faith as God meant you to.<\/p>\n

Lord Jesus, just as you put our interests ahead of your own, and just as Paul put his church’s interests ahead of his own, help me to be a greater lover of people, including my church family.\u00a0 Thank You for every opportunity You give us to suffer for You.\u00a0 It is our honour and privilege to be counted worthy to suffer for Your name.\u00a0 In Jesus’ name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

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Copyright \u00a9 2021 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Philippians 1:22-30.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

One of the big themes of\u00a0Philippians\u00a0is putting the needs of others, or the needs of the team, ahead of your own.\u00a0 We see this theme played out in various ways in today\u2019s passage.<\/p>\n

Philippians 1:22-26 (NIV)
\n22\u00a0\u00a0If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know!
\n23\u00a0\u00a0I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far;
\n24\u00a0\u00a0but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.
\n25\u00a0\u00a0Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith,
\n26\u00a0\u00a0so that through my being with you again your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me.<\/p>\n

On verses\u00a022-26: \u00a0Facing the possibility of execution, Paul is torn between the thought of dying and going to heaven and the thought of continuing to live and serve God on earth.\u00a0 For the sake of his own happiness, Paul would prefer to die and go to heaven (“which is better by far” – v23).\u00a0 But Paul senses that God still has more work for Paul to do on earth with his churches (v24).\u00a0 Paul believes God wants to keep using him to help his churches grow (v25) and to experience the joy and encouragement of seeing him again (v26).\u00a0 For these reasons, Paul is convinced that his time to die has not yet come, even though a part of him would love to leave and go to heaven right away.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26728,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26726"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26729,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26726\/revisions\/26729"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}