Skip to main content

Am I Battle Shy? Will I Receive the Badge of Honour?


and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God.
Philippians 1:28

"Courage is not limited to the battlefield or bravely catching a thief in your house. The real tests of courage are much deeper and much quieter. They are the inner tests, like remaining faithful when nobody's looking, like enduring pain when the room is empty, like standing alone when you're misunderstood".
Charles Swindoll

Paul tells the Philippians that courage is a necessity in the gospel-worthy life. You can’t stand firm and united with your Christian brethren without courage. You can’t strive in defense of the faith, let alone sometimes carry some of your brothers and sister in Christ as your strive together, without courage.

The word frightened refers to horses that easily get spooked and throw their riders off. We all 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. When the battle comes from the unbelieving world, Paul is saying don't be afraid to face the enemy. 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.

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 our 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.

It's a badge of honor. It's a sign from God.

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 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 Stephen when he is surrounded by hostile people who want to kill him and they eventually did? And he says - "I see the heavens open and Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father."

Dear Friends, If we bow for God, we 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 we have a healthy fear of the Lord, a healthy respect for God and we bow before him, that will give us the power, the ability, the strength to stand.

God Bless you.

Labels:
Location: Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Do I Consider Suffering As a Blessing and Delight?

For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have. Philippians 1:29-30 I am sure you all have come across the roly-poly toys. You may not recognize it with this name but I am sure you know these toys. These toys 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 and he'll say, "I'll preach to the guards". He comes back up. Get him out of prison and he'll say, "I'll go visit the Philippian church and encourage them". He comes back up. When they are ready to kill him he'll say, "OK, k...
Post a Comment
Read more

Am I Giving Back What Is Precious to Christ's Heart?

So if there is any encouragement in Christ , any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy Philippians 2:1 “Flatter me, and I may not believe you. Criticize me, and I may not like you. Ignore me, and I may not forgive you. Encourage me, and I will not forget you.” William Arthur Ward (an often quoted writer of inspirational maxims) Back in verse 27, the Apostle Paul has made this point: that we are to live a life that fits the gospel. That's what he means when he says that he is urging us to conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, and the whole center section of this book is about that. Paul in Philippians 2:1-4 gives us four motives for spiritual unity, he gives us one exhortation, and then he gives us three specific aims (or ends, or purposes) to shoot for as we seek to follow out the exhortation. We deal with the first of the four motives today.  The first one is encouragement in Christ. The word “...
Post a Comment
Read more

Am I Ready for the Dangerous Joy?

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Philippians 2:1-4 CS Lewis’ autobiography is called “Surprised by Joy”. Before he was a Christian he was always trying to find joy in other things and before he became a Christian he binged on things that gave him joy. The first time he read an Icelandic saga he loved it. He reads every Icelandic saga, and learns old Norse so he can read it in the original. As he works through it he realizes it isn’t paying out as he’d hoped. Then he gets a friend and binge on the friend but then the friend backs off. At one point he starts to realize that there’s a God...
Post a Comment
Read more