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December 2, 2007AM
Philippians 1:12-26
Challenging Chains with Hope
Paul didn’t know about tomorrow.
He was in prison and heavily guarded.
At no time was he left unguarded.
It could be because for Paul this was not his first time in prison.
His singing had rattled an earlier prison he had occupied.
All the doors swung open.
Others, like Peter had miraculously been freed from prison.
So they were not taking any chances with Paul this time.
If he escaped he would have to drag four of Rome’s finest into the streets.
Those guards were not his buddy-buddies.
He was at the frontier of enemy lines.
His life was on the line.
Paul had no idea if he would live to see the next day.
Yet he was able to live every day with HOPE.
He lived in “eager expectation and hope with full courage” (v 20).
How was that possible?
He saw what his chains accomplished.
I Paul knew that his CHAINS SPREAD THE GOSPEL (v. 12).
Paul saw something great coming from the chains that confined him.
They gave him an opportunity to reach people who were lost.
Roman soldiers had little hope of hearing or responding to the gospel.
How were they ever going to hear about Jesus?
How would they know that Jesus died in their place?
How would they know that Jesus was not a common criminal?
How would they know that God loves them?
Paul saw this as a unique opportunity to witness.
Every day was filled with the hope that Jesus saves the lost.
His chains spread the gospel.
It was not fettered.
Paul wrote to Timothy, “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descended from David as preached in my gospel, the gospel for which I am suffering and wearing fetters like a criminal. But the word of God is not fettered. Therefore I endure everything” (2 Timothy 2:8-10a).
Another way he saw how his CHAINS SPREAD THE GOSPEL was among other Christians.
When they saw what Paul did with his chains others were encouraged to witness.
He didn’t care who preached or what their motive was.
He rejoiced that Christ is proclaimed.
His chains were not going to keep Jesus from the world.
The Message puts verse 18 this way.
“So how am I to respond? I’ve decided that I really don’t care about their motives, whether mixed, bad, or indifferent. Every time one of them opens his mouth, Christ is proclaimed, so I just cheer them on!”
II Paul also knew that his CHAINS SPUR HELP (v. 19).
Paul knew that he was not alone in his imprisonment.
His tough times spurred believers to prayer.
He saw the church around him going to prayer and relying on Jesus.
Is that not how faith responds to crisis?
Tough times make us depend on Jesus and His Spirit.
When one suffers all suffer.
When one rejoices all rejoice.
And Paul rejoiced that he was not alone.
He knew He was being prayed for.
He knew that the Spirit of Jesus Christ was active and working.
That is how he could live with HOPE.
III And thirdly, Paul knew that his CHAINS SALUTE CHRIST (v. 20).
Jesus was being glorified by Paul’s imprisonment.
Paul was confident that God wasted nothing.
God was using him during this time.
Christ was honoured by his body whether it is alive or dead.
What a powerful HOPE-filled statement.
“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (v. 21).
Christ was his life.
Paul knew that where Christ dwells, hope swells.
He was discovering again the abundance of life in Christ.
Can you look at life and death in that way?
Christmas is an enigma.
It is interesting that the world’s observance of Christmas wraps us in chains.
We find ourselves confined with the trivial.
We get entangled with the tinsels that don’t really matter.
The world has done a great job at this.
It has perfected the forging of chains.
Who of us, if we look at our lives, don’t see these chains?
In the Christ of Christmas HOPE burns eternal.
The glory of Christ is our work.
If anything else becomes our work we are chained.
Paul didn’t have to worry about putting his affairs in order.
Everything was in Christ.
There was no clutter chaining him down.
Love for Jesus is what chained Paul to this world.
Love for others and their faith in Christ made his heart beat.
Love for Jesus and others is what flooded his life with HOPE.
Bob and Marie Ziemer, missionaries to Viet Nam lived with that HOPE.
North and South Viet Nam were embroiled in war around them.
But in January 1968 both sides seemed to observe a cease fire.
The Ziemers, Thompsons, and several other missionaries and nurses went to sleep
to the sounds of celebration.
But they awoke the next morning to the sound of gunfire and explosions.
Their village and missionary compound was caught in what has become one of the
most horrific campaigns in modern military history.
All but one of the missionaries lost their lives that day.
The Ziemers’ house exploded as Viet Cong soldiers filled a clearing.
Bob tried to reach his injured friends.
He scrambled from the garbage pit that protected him.
He had his hands in the air shouting to the soldiers in their language.
They responded with a barrage of gunfire.
One of the nurses ran to help as soldiers shot her repeatedly.
She fell in on top of the others in the pit.
Ed Thompson raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.
A blast of machine gun fire and grenades ripped through the pit.
Only Marie Ziemer miraculously survived that day.
The Christians who had taken shelter with them were also killed.
When the Viet Cong pulled Marie from the garbage pit she was still alive.
Both eardrums were punctured from the explosion.
She was wounded and slippery with blood.
As they dragged her away she spotted her dying husband Bob a few yards away.
He was tangled in the clothes line.
His upper body had been repeatedly shot but he was still breathing.
Weak from loss of blood, Marie kept her eyes on Bob as long as she could.
She pleaded with the soldiers to let her go to her husband.
They would not.
The words of his wife’s voice were the last Bob heard.
Bob Ziemer loved life, but he was ready for death.
To live is Christ, but to die is gain.
Not even the chains of communism could conquer hope.
Today, in the communist country of Vietnam there are 400,000 followers of Jesus.
Ellen Vaughn wrote these comments as she documented Bob Ziemer’s final hours.
“If the King is taking care of our business, then we are free to invest ourselves fully in His business and we can fling ourselves with abandon into God’s work. Even when we come to our end, He will not let us go. Like God’s servants throughout the centuries, we have the freedom to be extravagant with our very lives.” (Time Peace by Ellen Santilli Vaughn, Zondervan, 2007)
Are there chains holding you captive today?
Jesus has broken those chains of sin and death.
Christmas reveals how the King of kings is taking care of our business.
But it required His broken body and shed blood.
Chains cannot confine a person filled with HOPE.
As you receive communion this morning you are in the hands of Jesus.
Around this table we all can encounter Jesus.
In Jesus’ presence there is hope in the midst of the chains.
What a powerful affirmation - for me to live is Christ and to die is gain.
This Communion Table is a symbol of the life-transforming HOPE of Jesus.
CHAINS SPREAD THE GOSPEL
CHAINS SPUR HELP
CHAINS SALUTE CHRIST
We can all have the HOPE that Paul had.
Life is Christ - death is gain.
These emblems show us He is the Lord of life and death.