Telling the Truth

Guest (Male): Today Stuart Briscoe shares a powerful message giving you the keys to stand firm and react in a manner worthy of the gospel, no matter what happens in your life. It's just the kind of encouragement so many of us need these days. So don't go anywhere. We'll get started with his message in just a moment. But first...

In their two-message series, *Worry Less*, Stuart and Jill Briscoe help you break free from worry and experience the joy and peace God wants for you. We'll send you a copy of this resource, plus Jill's booklet, *Me Worry?*, as thanks for your gift today to help others experience life in Christ.

And if it's your first time to give, for today only, your gift will be doubled by a special matching grant. So call today to request your copy of *Worry Less* and *Me Worry?* at 1-800-889-5388. That's 1-800-889-5388, or you can give online at tellingthetruth.org. Now, here's Stuart.

Stuart Briscoe: Now we're going to embark on a brief series of messages from Paul's letter to the Philippians entitled "Whatever Happens." It's a nice generic title, that, isn't it? And it's rather all-embracing. The simple fact of the matter is this: stuff happens.

Sometimes it happens because we do it, but other times it happens because it is done to us. If stuff happens because we do it, then of course it is our actions that precipitate things. If stuff happens to us, then of course it is our reactions that count.

The Apostle Paul seemed to be saying in this particular passage of Scripture that the way that we react to the things that happen in our lives is important. So let me read you from Philippians 1:27. This is what he said: "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 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. For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for Him, since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had and now hear that I still have."

You'll notice then that the apostle is giving instructions to the Philippian church here and he is saying in effect, "Whatever happens, stand firm. Whatever happens, stand firm." Actions and reactions. One of the interesting things about our reactions is that very often they are intuitive, they are instinctive, they are not premeditated.

The reason for that is rather obvious. Things happen so quickly, we've no idea that they're going to come our way, and so we react without having time to think about it. Very often our reactions are indicative of what we have already built into our lives.

And therefore, it is worthwhile not only for us to sit down on occasion and evaluate our actions: Why did I do that? What made me decide to do that? What were the principles upon which I did that? What is the philosophy that led me to do that? What is my belief system that led me to do that?

It's valuable to do that, but it's also valuable to sit down and look at your reactions. Why did I react the way that I did? And what does it tell me about what is going on inside me? For our reactions do show what is already inside. Our reactions say quite a lot about the kind of people that we are.

Now as far as Paul is concerned, he says, "I want you to make sure whatever happens, that you conduct yourself in a manner worthy of the gospel and that you stand firm in the situations that come your way." Well, what kind of situations did the Apostle Paul have in mind, do you think?

We don't have to guess, and we do know that he was not functioning in a vacuum. He was dealing with real-life situations. Let me identify a few of them for you. You will notice, for instance, in this first chapter that he mentions on more than one occasion that he is in chains, that he is in prison.

Now we are not certain which imprisonment, because he was imprisoned on more than one occasion. We're not sure which imprisonment he is referring to here. Some think it was in Caesarea, others think it was in Rome, some suggest that perhaps it was in Ephesus.

The body of opinion, however, suggests that it was the Roman imprisonment towards the end of his life and ministry. Be that as it may, he has now got himself in a situation where he is at the mercy of the political system of the day. It's a pretty cruel system.

It's a pretty relentless system, and in actual fact, he was finally executed by the authorities under whose control he was sitting at that time literally in chains. So, one thing we can say about Paul as he's saying "Whatever happens, stand firm" is this: he finds himself in a political situation that is not particularly to his liking.

And it's going to exert phenomenal pressure upon him. In fact, it is an extremely dangerous situation. But his response to that is presumably because he's telling the others to do it and he usually practiced what he preached, his response to it was, "Whatever happens, stand firm."

In other words, whatever the political environment might be in which you find yourselves, your mandate is to stand firm and conduct yourself in a manner worthy of the gospel. I have many dear friends who grew up under the communist regime, a political system that was inimical to their Christian profession.

But the thing that is so wonderful about them is this: whatever happens, they seem to be able to cope with it and they stand firm. Now, our circumstances obviously differ. It may be that we live in a circumstance where we don't particularly like the political system, but that's probably as far as it goes. But whatever happens, Paul says, "Stand firm."

The second thing that you need to notice that Paul is talking about here is that he not only was subjected to political situations, but he was also subject on occasion to natural disasters. He went to Philippi originally to speak after an interesting set of circumstances.

He had been ministering in Asia Minor. While he was there, he had been a little unsure of which way to go next. He'd tried a number of things, none of which worked out. One day, getting rather discouraged about this, he had a vision.

The vision was of a man from Macedonia who said to him in the vision, "Come over and help us." And so he determined that that was what he should do. He immediately got on a ship, they sailed without any trouble over to Macedonia and very quickly they arrived in the city of Philippi, a strategic city on one of the main roads that led of course to Rome.

This particular decision to go to Philippi was of critical significance. In fact, I believe in a sense it changed the history of the human race. Because when Paul went to Philippi, he took the gospel to Europe. And because the gospel came to Europe and spread throughout Europe and eventually throughout the Western world, the Western world to a very large extent became the world it is because of the profound influence of Christianity.

You look at the rest of the world where it isn't, and it's an entirely different world. Try to imagine what our world would be like if the gospel had headed east instead of heading west.

Guest (Male): Stuart Briscoe with his message, "Stand Firm," here on Telling the Truth. Within a moment, you'll hear more biblical guidance to help you stand up to any trial. But before we get back to Stuart's message, anxiety, fear, and worry can keep you in a painful state of uneasiness and limit you from truly experiencing the incredible joy and peace God wants you to have.

We want to help you break free from worry and embrace God's abiding peace with Stuart and Jill Briscoe's encouraging two-message series, *Worry Less*. This powerful series shines a critical light on the root cause of worry and gives you practical guidance on how to rule your anxieties instead of having them rule you.

It's fresh encouragement straight from God's Word to help you overcome the stresses of life, whatever they may be, so you can start living with more joy. We'll send you the *Worry Less* series as well as Jill's booklet, *Me Worry?*, as our thanks for your gift today to help us share the healing truth of God's love with people around the world through the resources and teaching of Telling the Truth.

If you've never given before, today is a great time to do so because today is your last chance to have your first-ever gift doubled by a special matching grant. The match ends today, so don't miss the chance to increase your impact.

And be sure to request your copies of *Worry Less* and *Me Worry?* when you give. Call 1-800-889-5388. That's 1-800-889-5388, or you can give online at tellingthetruth.org. Use your phone to make a spiritual connection with the free Telling the Truth mobile app.

Listen to daily programs, read and comment on devotions and relevant study plans, and share your thoughts and prayers on the community wall. Get the Telling the Truth app through your app store today, and remember you can give to support Telling the Truth right on our mobile app. Okay, now let's head back to Stuart for more of his message.

Stuart Briscoe: Well, that was the critical juncture of what happened when Paul arrived in Philippi. But within a very short time, he is beaten up by the authorities, he is thrown in jail. But his attitude is, "Well, whatever happens, even though they throw you in jail, conduct yourself in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ and stand firm."

Well, he and his friend not only stood firm, they decided to have a praise and worship session in their cell. And while they were doing that, there was an almighty earthquake, and the city of Philippi began literally to collapse all around them.

Now, I've been to Philippi on a number of occasions and there is ample evidence of numerous earthquakes in that particular area. In fact, once when we were in that area of Macedonia, there were earthquakes at the time. It is a very scary situation.

I was not in an actual earthquake, although when I was in Japan last time, somebody told me the safest place in an earthquake is in a bamboo grove. And so I said well, I'll try to remember that, and whenever I find myself in an earthquake I will look for the nearest bamboo grove. And I give you that information at no extra charge; it may come in useful sometime.

Here he is in an earthquake. The whole place is collapsing all around him. And his attitude is this: whatever happens, whatever happens, stand firm. There are times when you will actually come up with the situation that you have to confront, that you will face physiological and physical problems.

How do we react to them? Paul says, "Whatever happens, whatever happened, whether it be physical, whether it be ideological, whether it be political, whether it be natural, whatever happened, the important thing is stand firm and conduct yourself in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ."

It's worth pointing out at this juncture, of course, that there really are only two sets of circumstances that we have to learn to cope with. Paul tells us what they are in the first chapter. He puts it this way. He says, "For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain."

The two eventualities that will come our way, the two possibilities that we confront every day of our lives, are very, very simple: today I will either live or die. That's it, folks. Today I'll either live or die. Therefore, whatever happens, whether you are facing living, whether you're facing dying, stand firm.

And this is his Christian attitude to life and death. Listen very, very carefully. "For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain." There you have one of the most profound, succinct statements in literature. "For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain."

What does it mean? Well, let me suggest to you that when Paul says, "For to me to live is Christ," he is saying in effect that he understands that Christ is the very bedrock of his life. Christ is the very core of his existence. Christ is the one who is his savior, Christ is the one who is the Lord of his life.

Christ is the one whom he believes is in control of his life and who will oversee his death, and Christ is the one to whom he has committed his eternal destiny. Christ is his beginning, Christ is his end, and in between, Christ is the dynamic, the source, the empowerment of his being.

Christ is his goal, Christ is his love, Christ is his life. That's a Christian attitude, sisters and brothers. Now he says, "I have to be perfectly frank about this. There are a whole lot of things about this life that are not particularly pleasant," like being in prison, like being lashed with lashes, like being broke, like being bitten by snakes, like being hungry, like being adrift on a piece of driftwood after you've been shipwrecked. All these things had happened to him.

There are many unpleasant things happening to him in the churches. People are ripping his reputation, they're maligning him, they're accusing him of all kinds of things. In actual fact, he could have said life is very unpleasant. Perhaps he might even have been tempted to use the vernacular and say life's a real bummer.

The reality of it is this: he says, "Christ is my life, but all these things happen anyway." Now he says, "One day I will die. And when I die, that will be to my advantage." Now you say, how in the world could that be? Surely dying is the biggest loss, it's the biggest tragedy, it's the final enemy, it's the thing we all detest, it's the thing we all dread, it's the thing that we all try with all our might and main to resist.

How in the world can death be my gain? And he says, "Well, think about it. If Christ is your life, but it also includes all kinds of unpleasant things, one day when you die, you'll be with Christ without all the unpleasant things. All the sickness, all the pain, all the anguish.

No more snakes, no more shipwreck, no more hunger, no more adrift on the ocean, no more maligning, no more abuse, no more of all the bad stuff of life. It will simply be Christ. If Christ is my life with a lot of unpleasant stuff, and death is Christ without the unpleasant stuff, then Christ is my life and death is my gain."

When you get that mentality, you begin to face whatever happens with a certain degree of equanimity. For you begin to understand life and death from a Christian perspective. Now he says, "I don't know which to choose." He said, "I'm torn two ways."

He said, "It's wonderful if I can go on living because I can experience Christ. Not only that, my experience of Christ is overflowing in rich benefit to all you people." He said it's wonderful to be alive, it's exciting to be alive, it's thrilling to experience Christ and to make Him known.

He said, "Boy, I really want to stay." But he says, "On the other hand, what a relief it will be to be rid of all the downside and be released into all the fullness of glory and experience of Christ. I don't know which to choose. To be or not to be."

Which reminds me, you remember your *Hamlet*, don't you? You remember the Prince of Denmark? The Prince of Denmark was a very unhappy young man. And he begins to slip so far into discouragement and depression that he contemplates suicide.

And this is what he says: "To die, to sleep. To sleep, perchance to dream. Ay, there's the rub! For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, when we have shuffled off this mortal coil, what then must give us pause?"

I'll translate that into American English and what he's saying is this: It would be wonderful to be rid of all this. Oh, just to be able to sleep, just to be able to dream, just to be able to get away from all this stuff. But then he said, but what would come in those dreams?

What happens when we shuffle off this mortal coil? What kind of things will we discover at that particular point? And he begins to realize that for him life is unbearable, but death is unthinkable. And so from the depth of his soul he says, "To be or not to be, that is the question."

You didn't know that in my other life I was a Shakespearean actor, did you? That's all I can remember. But remember, here's the point. As far as Hamlet is concerned, there are two possibilities: being or not being. To go on living is unthinkable. To die is unacceptable.

He's torn between the two and neither is acceptable. And Paul says to be or not to be, that's the question. To be, Christ is my life. Not to be, death is my gain. It's all in His hands. And as I rest in that benevolent lordship, secure that whether I live or whether I die, whatever happens, I can stand firm and conduct myself in a way that is worthy of the gospel of Christ.

Well, there are a whole lot more things here I don't have time to get into them; you can study them for yourself. Let me just identify one more for you and then I'll let you go. Notice that he says not that he conducts himself in a manner worthy of Christ, that he conducts himself in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.

What's the gospel? Well, the gospel is the good news that God in Christ came into the world and died in order that our sins might be forgiven and it's all because of grace, not because of what we deserve. The gospel is all about grace and it's all about sacrifice.

Now says the Apostle Paul, "Whatever happens, conduct yourself in a manner worthy of a gospel that's all about grace and all about sacrifice." So, whatever happens, learn to react with grace. Whatever happens, learn to react with a sacrificial spirit. And if you do that, you'll stand firm.

Oh, he says one other thing. He said always remember this: that you were given two gifts. One gift was the gift of being able to believe in Christ, and the other gift was the privilege of suffering for Christ. Two gifts. It was granted unto you to believe, it was granted unto you the privilege of suffering for Christ.

So whatever happens, respond in grace and with a sacrificial attitude, because that's what the gospel's all about. And whatever happens, stand firm because you know that if you go on living, Christ is your life. And if the worst thing that happens can happen and you die, then death will be your gain.

So the message really is this: whatever happens, stand firm. It's a rather short message, isn't it? I'm just sorry it took so long.

Guest (Male): Thank you, Stuart. Before we go, just a reminder that we'll send you the Briscoes' two-message series, *Worry Less*, and Jill's booklet, *Me Worry?*, as thanks for your gift of support to Telling the Truth.

And don't forget that the special matching grant doubles your first-time gift, but this opportunity ends today. Start to worry less and live with more joy by requesting your resources when you call 1-800-889-5388. 1-800-889-5388, or you can give online when you visit tellingthetruth.org. Thanks so much for listening today. Come back next time for more encouragement right here on Telling the Truth.