BaptistWay Bible Series for October 26: See life from an eternal perspective

“It was a simpler day and time.” While we hear that statement often, those days really have never been.

Example: Things were simple for me when I was a child. All I had to do was play, go to school and church, and try (sometimes half-heartedly) to get along with my two brothers.

Not so for my parents. My father was in the Army, and we moved about every three years. Moving was not simple. Nor was providing for three hungry, active, “interesting” boys. Further, it was the era of the Cold War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the assassination of President Kennedy, etc.
Likewise, the era of racial segregation may be referred to by some as “the good old days.” Not so by many—nor should it be.

What is the difference? Perspective. Our station in life filters how we perceive and experience the events around us.

This is the foundation for our study this week. Paul’s letter to the Philippians is another of his “Prison Epistles.” It was written during the two years Paul spent in what was more like house arrest in Rome.

That may not sound so bad. However, it was the culmination of several years of hardship for Paul. It had started with his arrest in Jerusalem (Acts 21:27-36). Then, the Romans moved him to a prison in Caesarea, the Roman capital of Judea (Acts 23:12-35). For two years, Paul remained imprisoned in Caesarea awaiting trial. After Paul asked to be tried in Rome (his right as a Roman citizen), he was taken there. Even that journey was filled with difficulty including being adrift in a storm on the Mediterranean Sea before being shipwrecked (Acts 25-28).

Talk about ups and downs of life. Paul had just about seen—and suffered—it all. Now, his life  continues in chains as he writes this letter. The amazing thing is that Paul writes about faithfulness and joy. How can that be? Perspective.

In verses 12-14, Paul wrote that everything that had happened to him had served to “advance the gospel.” The word Paul used for “advance” was a military term and would have been familiar to the many Roman veterans who lived in Philippi. The picture Paul draws is one of an army cutting a trail through new territory.

Paul identifies two ways this was happening. First, in v. 13, Paul reports that, due to his imprisonment, the gospel had been shared within the “palace guard and to everyone else.” This may be a reference to the Praetorian Guard who served as the emperor’s personal protectors much as the Secret Service does for the U.S. President.

Notice that the witness was one of Paul’s being “in chains for Christ.” That is, those who knew about him also knew Paul was a man innocent of any real crime. There had been those who had tried to silence Paul by putting him in jail. That the tables were turned was actually both a witness to God’s work and a testimony to God’s power. It may have reminded Paul of what he had written to the Romans some time before in Romans 8:28.

Second, in verse 14, Paul describes how his imprisonment also had been a testimony and example to other Christians. Paul was aware of the importance of one Christian being an example for others, both the saved and the unsaved. Paul himself must have been influenced by the model of Stephen’s martyrdom (Acts 7:1-8:1).

Now, it was Paul’s turn, and his imprisonment remains an encouragement today as it has been to countless Christians across the many years since. Roman chains bound him to a wall or a guard, but grace and love bound him to God. From Paul’s perspective, this was a source of great joy.

Paul writes more about the reasons for his joy. In verse 19, he writes he had faith the prayers of the Philippian Christians and the work of the Holy Spirit would result—somehow—in his deliverance. This probably refers to deliverance or salvation in its most complete and ultimate sense.

Paul’s meaning becomes clearer when we read verses 20-24. Paul’s assurance was that Jesus would be glorified no matter what was about to happen—whether in his life or death. Paul’s confidence was not in his innate courage, but in the strength and endurance promised by God.

Just as importantly, Paul was convinced that dying would mean being in the direct presence of Jesus. When Paul wrote, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (v. 21), he was considering the immediate and full reality of what Jesus said to his disciples in Matthew 16:24-26. Paul knew life with Jesus is the same whether in this world or in the next. Paul would have loved the words of the hymn, “Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine; oh, what a foretaste of glory divine.”

We can live like Paul—with faithfulness and joy—no matter our situation. It requires of us an eternal perspective. This calls us beyond our egocentricity and narcissism. Living from an eternal perspective means exalting and proclaiming Jesus and trusting him to care for us no matter the circumstances. In life and in death we can be—we are—witnesses.

Questions to explore

• How does your relationship to Jesus shape how you look at life and death?

•  How is your perspective on living and dying in Jesus similar to and different from Paul’s?