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
There are two gracious gifts through Christ that Paul mentions to the believers in the Philippian church. The first it the gift of faith in the gospel of Jesus. This gift from God had saved them. The second gift is one we may be tempted to see as something less that a gift of God’s grace. But suffering for the sake of faith is a blessing granted by God. It shows the genuine nature of faith. It strengthens belief in the gospel. It extends the reach of the gospel. It draws those under persecution closer to their Lord.
Paul reminds the church at Philippi that their sufferings for the sake of Jesus root them closer to Christ and closer to Paul’s own experience of persecution. When the gospel is under attack, the church unifies around Jesus. The gospel is strengthened. The church endures. The gift of faith often expands in the experience of persecution.
An evil age despises a holy Savior. And His church will also be hated. Christianity grew rapidly as the gospel was watered by the blood of Christian martyrs. And though Jesus had been brutalized by Roman whips, He is now our risen and living Lord! Death could not stop Him from saving us! It will not stop the gospel we love and proclaim.
“And though this world with devils filled should threaten to undo us
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us...”
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