Prison Letters: Confining Moments (Pt.1)

(Study in Philippians)-Part 1

“Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Jesus Christ, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops and deacons: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”-Philippians 1:1-2

Although I believe most people reading this column appreciate the weighty theological contributions that Paul pens for us in the books of Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians, and Philemon; I wonder how much time we give to considering the context within which each these books were written. Each of them would have been advantageous to us even if they had been written from an arm charm nestled nicely by a fire within Paul’s comfortable home. However, each of these were written while he was being confined and housed in a Roman prison cell. Penned in less than favorable conditions, Paul adapts to his new surroundings and looks for other avenues to proclaim the truth. This preaches to my heart and mind as much as the words that he recorded for us. His attitude, focus, and purpose were not disrupted by his circumstance or conditions. Some of Paul’s most confining moments, became his most defining moments. 

In fact, knowing this causes me to look at my faith from a new perspective. What is on Paul’s heart during this time? It is obvious that he is concerned for the church-Ephesus, Phillipi, and Colosse. He is also concerned for the individual believer as we will see in Philemon. Each book carries within it an underlying theme: Ephesians: Unity, Colossians: Christ’s Divinity, Philippians: Joy/Thanksgiving, Philemon: Forgiveness and Restoration. Would these be the themes running through your mind while kept under lock in key for more than two years. 

I wrestled with where to begin this series, but determined after considering the conditions he faced daily, the book that ministered to me most was Philippians. Take a moment to stop and read Philippians 1:3-11. Paul had such great affection for the church. Although Paul was chained and imprisoned, his heart was filled with joy for the work that God was accomplishing among the believers. The church at Philippi was about 10 years old when Paul wrote them this letter. So this wasn’t a fledgling church, it was somewhat established with bishops and deacons. 

         

Paul begins his dialogue with them by covering them with prayer and thanksgiving.  He thanks God for their fellowship in the gospel. (From                    that day until now.) He prays for them with joy! 

“Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.”-Philippians 1:6

They were partakers with him in his suffering and in his defense and confirmation of the gospel. It’s significance to remember that this isn’t the first time Paul has been in prison. Yet, restrained once again Paul turns his attention to one thing that cannot be confined. He prayed. He prayed for the church. He understood that a jail cell could not restrain him from advancing the kingdom of God. 

Pastor Scott Burr

Dayspring Community Church 

                  

Are you ready for a resurrection? (Pt.2)

(Part 2)

“Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it. It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you—unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place. I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said.”-1 Corinthians 15:1-4

How, after seeing and experiencing everything they had witnessed, could they go on living as if there was no resurrection? The resurrection of Jesus Christ is a fundamental component of the Good News that Jesus commissioned us to preach. 

In fact, without the resurrection of Jesus, there is no gospel. Without the real, physical resurrection of the dead body of Jesus, everything we believe is a lie:

“But tell me this—since we preach that Christ rose from the dead, why are some of you saying there will be no resurrection of the dead? For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless. And we apostles would all be lying about God—for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave. But that can’t be true if there is no resurrection of the dead. And if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised.  And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.”-1 Corinthians 15:12-19

There were believers in Paul’s day falling into the same trap as the disciples of Jesus day. Jesus’ disciples had witnessed His crucifixion, they had witnessed His burial, but they had not yet witnessed His resurrection and so they went on living as if there wasn’t going to be one. 

The believers in Paul’s day received the Good News. They believed in Jesus’ death, Jesus’ burial and Jesus’ resurrection; however, they they had not experienced their own yet, so they went on living as if there wasn’t going to be one. 

Paul’s emphatic point to them was this: Jesus was resurrected, so you could be too:

“But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died. So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life. But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back.”-1 Corinthians 15:20-23

Are you living like there is a resurrection in your future? Are you living like Jesus is coming back? Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection were both spiritual and physical. So is ours. When we place our faith in Christ’s death, burial and resurrection we experience it spiritually first and later we will experience physically. There is a resurrection in your future:

“Don’t be so surprised! Indeed, the time is coming when all the dead in their graves will hear the voice of God’s Son, and they will rise again. Those who have done good will rise to experience eternal life, and those who have continued in evil will rise to experience judgment.”-John 5:28-29

Those who have received Christ will be raised to experience eternal life and those who have rejected Him will be raised to eternal judgment. We are all going to experience a resurrection. Which one are you living for? 

Pastor Scott Burr

Dayspring Community Church 

Are you ready for a resurrection? (Pt.1)

(Part 1)

“But very early on Sunday morning the women went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. They found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. So they went in, but they didn’t find the body of the Lord Jesus. As they stood there puzzled, two men suddenly appeared to them, clothed in dazzling robes. The women were terrified and bowed with their faces to the ground. Then the men asked, “Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Remember what he told you back in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and that he would rise again on the third day.” Then they remembered that he had said this. So they rushed back from the tomb to tell his eleven disciples—and everyone else—what had happened.  It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and several other women who told the apostles what had happened. But the story sounded like nonsense to the men, so they didn’t believe it. However, Peter jumped up and ran to the tomb to look. Stooping, he peered in and saw the empty linen wrappings; then he went home again, wondering what had happened.”-Luke 24:1-12 

This passage is packed with people who loved Jesus and followed Him faithfully. However, irregardless of how devoted they were and how much of His teaching they had sat under, none of them were prepared for His resurrection. 

The women that followed Jesus arrived at the tomb that first resurrection morning, not looking to engage a Risen Savior, but to give their Lord a proper burial. Jesus had to be buried quickly because of the approaching Passover, so he was hastily wrapped in linens, but not properly embalmed with spices. They had showed up that day to re-wrap and properly embalm His body.  The passage said that they were puzzled to find the stone rolled away and Jesus’ body missing. It took two angels reminding them of what Jesus had taught them about his death, burial and resurrection to cause them to believe. After that, they rushed back to tell His disciples what they had experienced. 

The disciples, stricken with fear, had been in hiding since Jesus’ crucifixion. Although they too had been instructed by Jesus regarding His death, burial and resurrection; there as no indication that they were prepared for His resurrection, either. Instead, when the ladies returned to tell them everything that they had seen and heard, the story they told the disciples sounded like nonsense to them. Peter and John ran to the tomb to see what the ladies had witnessed, but it says that they left the tomb wondering what had happened.  

This does not sound like a group of people expectantly waiting for Jesus’ triumphant resurrection, even though, this particular group had witnessed Jesus resurrect the dead. They were there when He raised the widow of Nain’s son. They were witnesses to Him raising Jairus’s daughter and stood watching as Lazarus came out of the tomb. 

The sad truth is: They had went on living as if there was no resurrection coming! 

Pastor Scott Burr

Dayspring Community Church 

God puts the pain, right up front

“But the Lord said, “Go, for Saul is my chosen instrument to take my message to the Gentiles and to kings, as well as to the people of Israel. And I will show him how much he must suffer for my name’s sake.”-Acts 9:15-16

The most amazing miracle that can happen in a person’s life is that they place their faith in Christ. The most unfortunate thing that can happen in a person’s life is that they pray to receive Christ without being fully informed about what that means. Sometimes I worry that the message of the cross is being lost. I worry that we have promoted the cross of Christ as being the symbol for salvation, without mentioning that it is also a symbol of suffering.  I doubt that any of us would argue that the Apostle Paul is one of the most influential figures in the Christian faith and yet, by his own admission he faced a number of challenges serving Christ. In 2 Corinthians 11:23-28, Paul mentions the multiple ways in which he suffered including being robbed, shipwrecked, beaten multiple times and left for dead. 

I believe that being armed with with this knowledge was a huge part of Paul’s success. None of this came as a surprise to Paul. God showed him how much he would suffer for His name’s sake. Paul went into following Christ with his eyes wide open. He understood that to fully follow Christ we have to embrace the suffering along with the salvation.

Paul would later write: “I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death,"-Philippians 3:10

It is impossible to separate suffering from salvation. Unfortunately we are seeing a generation of Christians being raised to believe that salvation delivers us from suffering rather than suffering accompanying it. Yet, from very early on, God has been trying to tell us that following Him isn’t going to be a walk in the park. When it comes to following God there is going to be suffering.

When God gave Moses the design of the tabernacle in Exodus 20:24, He gave him specific direction to build a bronze altar. It was to be placed just inside the doors of the outer court, so that it was the first thing that caught the people’s eye when they walked in. The first thing they encountered when they came to worship God was suffering. It was here that the sacrifices were made. The place where the blood of bulls and goats were shed. It was a place of suffering. You could hear the bleating of the sheep from afar off. God put the pain, right up front. You didn’t get to the bronze laver (Place of Cleansing), or the inner court, or the Holy of Holies (Presence of God) without passing through the suffering. 

Have you ever wondered why the cross is the most prominent symbol of our Christian faith? Why it is often the first thing you see when you walk into a church? Because, God puts the pain, right up front!  It’s a banner proclaiming that salvation doesn’t deliver us from suffering, suffering accompanies our salvation. This message of the cross, however, has been lost on so many. We no longer identify with hymns like The Old Rugged Cross: Hymns that right from the very first stanza proclaim: “On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame; and I love that old cross where the dearest and best for a world of lost sinners was slain.”

We have somehow received a mixed message: We believe that Christ’s suffering on the cross was for our salvation, yet beyond that we see no application for us personally. However, the message isn’t that Christ suffered so that I don’t have to. The message is that if I want to share in His resurrection, I need to be prepared to share in His suffering. 

Jesus taught this on several occasions. In Matthew 16:24-25 he taught that anyone who wants to be His disciple must take up their cross and follow Him. In addition, however, He went on to teach in Luke 14:27-33, that we shouldn’t begin without counting the cost. He emphasized that becoming His disciple will cost us everything. I think this is Jesus’ way to telling us not to buy into Christianity without knowing what it’s really going to cost us.

There is obviously a cost associated with following Jesus. There are going to be sacrifices that have to be made. Attitudes that are going to have to be modified. Sinful behaviors that will need forsaken. There are things that are going to have to be surrendered. Yes, He alone paid the price for our salvation, but it costs us everything to follow Him. Perhaps, no one ever told you that!  Perhaps that is why so many backslide or fall away from their faith. They came to Jesus thinking He was going to make their lives better, but following Christ has proved more difficult than they had calculated. The Apostle Paul made certain that every new believer was aware of the hardships that awaited them and often reminded them to this truth:

 “21 After preaching the Good News in Derbe and making many disciples, Paul and Barnabas returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch of Pisidia, 22 where they strengthened the believers. They encouraged them to continue in the faith, reminding them that we must suffer many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.-Acts 14: 21-22

Like Paul, we want you to come to Christ with your eyes wide open. We want you to see the pain right up front. Not just the pain He suffered for your salvation, but what it will cost you to truly follow Him. 

Pastor Scott Burr

Dayspring Community Church