I was thinking about something lately. You see, Paul gave some excellent instructions for the church at Philippi:
“Do everything readily and cheerfully—no bickering, no second-guessing allowed! Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society. Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God. Carry the light-giving Message into the night so I will have good cause to be proud of you on the day that Christ returns. You’ll be living proof that I didn’t go to all this work for nothing” (Philippians 2:14-16).
I love the way The Message renders this passage! “No bickering, and no second-guessing allowed!” No arguing over the color of the carpet or the way the Pastor dresses. Whatever you do, to it “readily” or with excitement and “cheerfully.”
Picture this: One of the elders or even a lowly deacon (and I say that politely, but all of the ministers in the church should be simply servants, so a “lowly” deacon is a compliment), anyway, someone asks you to help with the offering today. Be excited about it and accept the request joyfully. Be excited about it. Even if they come up to you to shovel the sidewalk (if you are physically able to do it) or clean the bathrooms. Do it cheerfully and excitedly.
Then he says, “Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society.” Look at the world around you; couldn’t you brighten up the world? Imagine the response you will get when you smile at the people who pass by you. If someone trips or drops something, imagine how it will impact that person if you help them up or help them pick up the things they dropped. Be that “Breath of fresh air” to those around you? You can’t do it? Sure you can. Paul said, “Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God.” He is living within you. Just let Him shine out!
“Carry the light-giving Message into the night.” What an image! Try this. Go into the darkest room in your home and close all the doors and curtains. I want it dark. Now simply light a match and then a candle. Do you see the light shining into that darkness? You just brought “light” into this room of darkness. You are that candle in the world! You are the reflection of the Messiah in a lost and hopeless world.
Something that you may find interesting is that in Genesis, when it says, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And [now watch this] the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep . . . and God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness” (Genesis 1:14-16)
Now here is the fascinating thing. The Hebrew words here (owr) for light and (chosek) for darkness, don’t mean what we think. “Owr” doesn‘t mean an object that emits light—like the sun or the moon or the stars, or a lamp sitting on your desk. It actually means illumination, enlightenment. Ooh, I just saw your eyes pop open on that—When the Bible says God is light, it says Elohim is owr. This word Owr is closely associated with life and joy and good. In fact, when we read about the first day, it says God created the light, “And saw that it was good.” Then this light was divided from the darkness. And notice this: only the light is called good.
Then when you look at the word darkness, you get choshek. In the Hebrew culture, this word was used as the opposite of owr—the opposite of illumination. Choshek carries in it the tone of blindness, of misery, of falsehood and ignorance. It means something that leads to death and destruction. Choshek is negative—and it carries spiritual overtones with it—evil spiritual overtones.
So you are to be the “owr” to the world around you. You are to bring life and enlightenment. By doing this, Paul says, “I will have good cause to be proud of you on the day that Christ returns. You will be living proof that I didn’t go to all this work for nothing.” Paul was picturing the day when he would stand in Christ’s presence and the secrets of redemption would be unveiled.
Scripture says that on that day our eyes will be opened, and we will behold the Lord’s glory without rebuke from him. My spirit rejoices just thinking of it. Our hearts will be set on fire as he opens all the mysteries of the universe and shows us his power behind it. Suddenly, we will see the reality of everything that had been available to us in our earthly trials: the power and resources of heaven, the protective angels, the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit.
When we watch the awesomeness of these things, the Lord will say to us, “All along, my warriors were camped about you, an entire army of powerful messengers assigned to you. You were never in any danger from Satan. You never had any reason to fear your tomorrows.”
Then our Savior will show us the Father, and what an overwhelming moment that will be. As we behold the majesty of our Heavenly Father, we will fully realize his love and care for us, and suddenly the truth will come to us in full force: “This was, and is, and forever will be our Father, truly the great ‘I AM.’”
We will fall on our faces before such Majesty and Glory. We will be overcome with His Splendor! This is why Paul “held forth” his word about God’s faithfulness. On that glorious day, he did not want to stand in the Lord’s presence thinking, “How could I have been so blind? Why didn’t I fully trust my Lord’s purposes? All my worries and questions were in vain.”
Paul is exhorting us: “I want to rejoice on that day, when my eyes are fully opened. I want to be able to enjoy every revelation knowing I trusted in his promises, that I didn’t go about my labors full of doubt. I want to know that I held forth the Word of life in all my reactions to my sufferings, that I fought a good fight, that I proved my Lord faithful.”
Paul then sums it up with the word: “One thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14). In his mind, it was impossible to place his future into the Lord’s hands without first laying down his past. What about you?
