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Philippians 1:3-6: letters from prisoners

Imagine you are in prison. Imagine you are in an off shore American prison or in the Middle East in the hands of ISIS or another group and imagine you are facing possible execution.

If you could write a letter, make a video or leave a phone message, what would it say? I imagine we would be more than a little afraid. I imagine we would ask everyone to pray for us. We would activate a prayer chain and ask everyone to pray for our safe return, right?

This is not what Paul does. Paul is in prison but it is not with his own state that he is concerned. He is concerned with how well others - free people, privileged people - are preparing for Christ’s return (cf. 1:11). He is in jail awaiting execution and he is encouraging free people to prepare for the ‘Day of the Lord’ by living in a manner worthy of the Gospel (1:27), being united in purpose (1:18), staying the course, and he is even now rejoicing (cf. 1:3, 6) in the Lord’s accomplishments through them.

Instead of ‘please pray for me’, Paul writes, ‘I thank my God every time I remember you’. Paul is not concerned about himself. He is thinking about others and their participation in the Kingdom of God. Paul tells them how confident he is that God will complete the good work in them that God has already started. He speaks of his desire that their love may overflow with wisdom and knowledge so that they are prepared when ‘Day of the Lord’ arrives.

Paul is not worried about himself. Paul is concerned about others and the Kingdom of God. This man is in chains. This man is facing a death sentence and he is in jail awaiting appeal.

He is in jail and we don’t read in his letter, “Why is this happening to me, Lord”? We don’t read, “What have I done to deserve this?” or “How could this be happening to me?” Paul is not bemoaning or even questioning his situation. Just the opposite: Paul is bold because he is prepared; he says to live or die, both are good. Death is gain (because of the resurrection) and to live… life is Christ.

We don’t hear him whining and complaining. We don’t hear accusations about his captors. We don’t hear him calling down curses upon Caesar. We don’t read complaints about the food or fellow inmates. What we read here is that his captors are hearing the Gospel and we see Paul encouraging others to be bold and to be prepared to share the Gospel.

Paul is in jail and he is concerned about others and their courage to fully participate in the Messianic Kingdom. As Paul awaited the ‘Day of our Lord’, that was his primary concern even with all that was going on in his life. So then, the question for us today: as we await the ‘Day of our Lord’, what is our primary concern - our own state of affairs or God’s Kingdom and others’ salvation?
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