Sunday, February 08, 2026
Rejoice Always 1 Thess 5:17 Philippians 4:4
Saturday, February 07, 2026
Striving together without Strife Phil 2:1-11
"Great church Fights"
Paul had rivals at Philippi 1:12-18
Depressive. Be angry but do not sin.
Phil 1:27. Strive together with one mind.
Do you remember those wonderful times of genuine comfort as you understood the gospel ? Do you remember the times of fellowship in the Spirit with other like minded believers?
Philippians 2:1-5 ESV - So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy,
But hurts come in. Self centredness can dominate. Selfish ambition for power or pleasure or fame or fortune. And the wondered fellowship is gone. And of course it's not our fault!
You should have Harmony. Vs 3
Philippians 2: 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus
You should have Humility vs 3
You should have Helpfulness. Vs 4.
How? 4 times Paul says it's about something you have control over - your mind!
Philippians 1:27 ESV - Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel
Προς φιλιππησιους 2:1-5 GRCTR - Εἴ τις οὖν παράκλησις ἐν Χριστῷ, εἴ τι παραμύθιον ἀγάπης, εἴ τις κοινωνία πνεύματος, εἴ τινα σπλάγχνα καὶ οἰκτιρμοί,
2 πληρώσατέ μου τὴν χαράν, ἵνα τὸ αὐτὸ φρονῆτε, τὴν αὐτὴν ἀγάπην ἔχοντες, σύμψυχοι, τὸ ἓν φρονοῦντες·
3 μηδὲν κατὰ ἐριθείαν ἢ κενοδοξίαν, ἀλλὰ τῇ ταπεινοφροσύνῃ ἀλλήλους ἡγούμενοι ὑπερέχοντας ἑαυτῶν·
4 μὴ τὰ ἑαυτῶν ἕκαστος σκοπεῖτε, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ ἑτέρων ἕκαστος.
5 Τοῦτο γὰρ φρονείσθω ἐν ὑμῖν ὃ καὶ ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ·
Philippians 2:1-5 ESV - So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus
Remember His Service
Philippians 2:6-7 ESV - 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
Matthew 20:17-28 CSB
[17] While going up to Jerusalem, Jesus took the twelve disciples aside privately and said to them on the way, [18] "See, we are going up to Jerusalem. The Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death. [19] They will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked, flogged, and crucified, and on the third day he will be raised. " [20] Then the mother of Zebedee's sons approached him with her sons. She knelt down to ask him for something. [21] "What do you want?" he asked her. "Promise," she said to him, "that these two sons of mine may sit, one on your right and the other on your left, in your kingdom." [22] Jesus answered, "You don't know what you're asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?" "We are able," they said to him. [23] He told them, "You will indeed drink my cup, but to sit at my right and left is not mine to give; instead, it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father." [24] When the ten disciples heard this, they became indignant with the two brothers. [25] Jesus called them over and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in high positions act as tyrants over them. [26] It must not be like that among you. On the contrary, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, [27] and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave; [28] just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
John 13:1-5,12-17 CSB
[1] Before the Passover Festival, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. [2] Now when it was time for supper, the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas, Simon Iscariot's son, to betray him. [3] Jesus knew that the Father had given everything into his hands, that he had come from God, and that he was going back to God. [4] So he got up from supper, laid aside his outer clothing, took a towel, and tied it around himself. [5] Next, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet and to dry them with the towel tied around him. [12] When Jesus had washed their feet and put on his outer clothing, he reclined again and said to them, "Do you know what I have done for you? [13] You call me Teacher and Lord-and you are speaking rightly, since that is what I am. [14] So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. [15] For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done for you. [16] "Truly I tell you, a servant is not greater than his master, and a messenger is not greater than the one who sent him. [17] If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.
Remember His Sacrifice
Philippians 2:8 ESV
And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Remember His Sovereign Supremacy
Philippians 2:9-11 ESV
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, [10] so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, [11] and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Isaiah 45:5-7,18-25 CSB
[5] I am the LORD, and there is no other; there is no God but me. I will strengthen you, though you do not know me, [6] so that all may know from the rising of the sun to its setting that there is no one but me. I am the LORD, and there is no other. [7] I form light and create darkness, I make success and create disaster; I am the LORD, who does all these things. [18] For this is what the LORD says- the Creator of the heavens, the God who formed the earth and made it, the one who established it (he did not create it to be a wasteland, but formed it to be inhabited)- he says, "I am the LORD, and there is no other. [19] I have not spoken in secret, somewhere in a land of darkness. I did not say to the descendants of Jacob: Seek me in a wasteland. I am the LORD, who speaks righteously, who declares what is right. [20] "Come, gather together, and approach, you fugitives of the nations. Those who carry their wooden idols and pray to a god who cannot save have no knowledge. [21] Speak up and present your case- yes, let them consult each other. Who predicted this long ago? Who announced it from ancient times? Was it not I, the LORD? There is no other God but me, a righteous God and Savior; there is no one except me. [22] Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth. For I am God, and there is no other. [23] By myself I have sworn; truth has gone from my mouth, a word that will not be revoked: Every knee will bow to me, every tongue will swear allegiance. [24] It will be said about me, 'Righteousness and strength are found only in the LORD.'" All who are enraged against him will come to him and be put to shame. [25] All the descendants of Israel will be justified and find glory through the LORD.
Jesus is Yahweh. Exodus 3
Exodus 3:4-6,13-15 CSB
[4] When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called out to him from the bush, "Moses, Moses!" "Here I am," he answered. [5] "Do not come closer," he said. "Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." [6] Then he continued, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God. [13] Then Moses asked God, "If I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' what should I tell them?" [14] God replied to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you." [15] God also said to Moses, "Say this to the Israelites: The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is my name forever; this is how I am to be remembered in every generation.
Bow in humility because He is Yahweh.
Bow in humility because He sacrificed Himself for you
Bow in humility He came to serve you!
Therefore serve others!
# posted by Groseys messages @ 7:34 PM
Wednesday, February 04, 2026
Concentric circles
Concentric circles of Concern
Person X may be in the high crime streets of a big city or in a third world, or in a poverty-stricken country, or in a rescue mission, or a jail— SO, WE go to them! We evangelize. We come home. We tell others about our efforts. We go back to our business, job, home, church, and/or daily routines; and every so often we repeat the cycle.
HOWEVER, WHY is it that all too often
We do not GO TO
THE FOLKS, close to us, IN CIRCLES 2 - 6?
[1] IT COULD BE because they know us! They know our salty language, lustful looks, greedy grasping, anger, business deceit, gossip, etc. They see how we are at work or at school or in our home. THUS: We might need to, first of all, ask for their forgiveness or give forgiveness— which if that is what we need to do— just do it! That is powerful witnessing!
[2] ANOTHER REALITY: With Person X, we don't have to deal with our 'hang-ups' … OR THEIRS … and we can 'love them and leave them!'
EVEN with 'Third World' type missions/evangelism right in our own town, or with outreach efforts toward neighbors just down the street— it's different and often far more difficult!
[3] AND ALSO, with ministry in Circles 2-6 — it's week after week, month after month, year after year. Ministering to those in Circles 2-6 is much like the ministry of the career missionary. We are there for the long haul— planting, watering, praying, and waiting for the LORD to give the increase! We can't leave them! We can't just do Sunday School… or Youth or Children's ministry… or ministry to a neighbor… or to a co-worker once or twice a year. Rather, we MUST minister to them week after week and year after year— or at least maintain availability to minister, being alert for the next opportunity… as we continue to pray and agonize for their souls! REALITY: To folks in our Circles 2-6, we are THEIR career missionaries! We are their full-time Ministers. SADLY: this is why many folk are looking for a church to merely attend; and not one where they will be equipped and called upon to labor for the Master!
IN OUR 'CIRCLES 2-6, we MAY have to stop and give sacrificially of ourselves and our time… you know… just like the Good Samaritan! HAVE WE SERIOUSLY CONSIDERED THIS— if we find an 'open door' with a family, with an individual— do we not have to be prepared to follow-up week after week and even beyond?
If at Sunday School or at Church services, we discover a need someone has ... Be it a member or a visitor ... — doesn't the Sunday School class, (or you as a member), have opportunity/responsibility for follow-up ministry?
Over the years a good number of dear ones have told me that they feel that it is much easier to minister the Gospel in this particular foreign land or that one. It could be. But here is some larger reality: If we were the actual ones living in and ministering in that 'third world' country; or ministering in a big city Rescue Mission every day, 365 days a year and year after year— we would not think it easy; and we would see and experience the intense spiritual blindness and warfare in those mission fields!
Years back I had spent 2 weeks, 1 month, and then 45 days in India. All of those dear folks were my Person X! But all who were Person X to me— those same folk were the people of Circles 2-6 to the Indian pastors and gospel workers— 365 days a year. They did not get to LEAVE after 45 days and, thus, get out from under the daily load of evangelizing / discipling folks in Circles 2-6!
On three different occasions I, along with others, walked the streets of major cities in India, passing out tracts and doing street preaching. In years past, a number of our folk have done good ministry in Mexico, or at the Jail, or Rescue Mission. These are all ministries to our Person X group. Praise the LORD! But our 'Person X' group is the Rescue Mission's workers' or India's pastors' and churches' and/or the Mexico pastor's and their Christian worker's Person 2-6 Group! MOST OF THE REAL WORK IS DONE IN THE 2-6 GROUPS, BY THE CHRISTIAN WORKERS WHO LIVE IN THEIR MIDST, YEAR AROUND!
Yes, we can have a valid ministry to Person X, especially IF or when we leave them connected to local churches and ministries. But as any farmer knows— he must do more than scatter a bunch of seed and then leave town! FRANKLY, whatever we do among Person X is a 'piece of cake!' … when compared to the labor required from the native pastors or from the Rescue Mission Staff!...
[BY THE WAY: THIS REALITY SHOULD ENVISION OUR PRAYING FOR MISSIONARIES and NATIVE PASTORS, ETC.
BUT, again, the PRIMARY QUESTION for us is— WHO IS GOING TO TAKE THE GOSPEL TO THOSE IN OUR '2-6' WORLD? And the answer is that I MUST! AND SO MUST YOU!
BUT: "The people in my "2 to 6" world are not responsive to the gospel!" … And, "it's so hard…" and "what if it requires me to spend time with them every week…?" WE MUST REMEMBER:
First, Many a great harvest has come after a number of apparent crop failures! Let us keep planting, watering. God will give the increase! Second, we are called to be faithful. For 100 years or more, Noah worked on building an ARK and PREACHING RIGHTEOUSNESS and living a GRACE-FILLED life BEFORE a people who would ultimately be destroyed! BUT NOAH KEPT ON PREACHING! We are, likewise, called to be faithful! Third, look in the Bible— very often God has His servants in 'gospel-hardened' places! Just ask Noah! And then remember, that Jesus says that the last days will be like the days of Noah! Fourth, beware of modeling after the apparent success methods of the entertainment oriented religious harlot! Our lost world does not need PLAY ACTING visuals! They need REAL VISUALS— Christians who genuinely love and forgive, who are manifesting joy and hope in trials and tribulations, who manifest the COMPASSION of Jesus and who are walking in holiness. Fifth, A MASTER KEY with the folks in our "2-6" world, IS THE REALITY THAT life tumbles in for all of them. They have both good and 'bad' things that happen to them. And the same things happen to saints in Christ! HOWEVER, THE LOST do not have resources to help them deal with the trials and troubles. BUT, BEING IN CHRIST, WE DO! As they WITNESS you winning the battle over bitterness, revenge, hate, fear, and resentments— the Gospel is being seen in Circles 2-6! The MUSIC of the gospel is flowing from you. You are making them 'THIRSTY' and HUNGRY for good news, for GRACE to handle life! You are REVEALING JESUS, the LIGHT of the world! Thus, when life does tumble in, we often have FRESH OPPORTUNITIES… or "points of contact" to sow seeds of kindness and love! Love is, after all, meeting real needs.
Thus, real '2-6' evangelism/missions/witnessing OFTEN starts with how I treat my wife, my family, MY CHURCH FAMILY, those closest to me, those who are neighbors, those I work around; and/or those I may casually meet in the town/county where I live.
Real '2-6' evangelism/missions/witnessing starts with being a congregation that loves, that forgives, and that seeks to live holy and pure! Real 2-6- evangelism CONTINUES as we TELL what great things God has done and is doing for us— (1) Andrew went to Peter; (2) Philip, to Nathaniel; (3) The woman at the well, back to her city; (4) Cornelius went to his household; (5) The Philippian jailer, to his household; (6) The demonic of the Gadarenes now sitting at the feet of Jesus, fully clothed and in his right mind was told by Jesus to go back to his home people and to tell them what great things the LORD had done for him! (7) AND THIS WEEK… I WILL BE GOING TO___________________?
(Some of the concepts for this article are edited from and the diagram is from Concentric Circles of Concern, by W. Oscar Thompson, Jr.)
# posted by Groseys messages @ 1:30 PM
Monday, February 02, 2026
Menzies faith
Sir Robert Gordon Menzies (1894-1978) was the founder of the Liberal Party. He remains Australia's longest-serving Prime Minister and one of our nation's most articulate statesmen.
Menzies was a Presbyterian, and his Christian convictions shaped him and his social and political views profoundly. In and out of office, Menzies promoted a down-to-earth, practical faith that served the community, improved democracy, and valued unity over sectarian squabbles.
Menzies on the Bible
Bob Menzies had a great respect for Scripture, believing in its divine inspiration, its uniqueness among the great books of history, and its irreplaceable value in shaping well-rounded citizens. He was raised to read the Bible regularly, and from university onwards he made this a daily habit.
At the opening of the National Memorial Bible House in Canberra, in 1960, Menzies made the following remarks about Scripture:
"The Bible is the most remarkable repository of religious history. Frankly, I don't think that any man could regard himself as educated unless he had become familiar with the great historic stories of the Bible."
"The Bible is the repository of our faith and of our inspiration. Never out of date, always up to date, always difficult of application and therefore stimulating to thoughtful people. It is the great source of faith, and of course that is why we ought to read it… The story is there, the great history is there, the great gospel is there, the whole spirit of Christianity is there."
"If I were, as I am not, an atheist or an agnostic or some other such unhappy person, I would still take the Bible with me to a desert island for two reasons. One, that I would have a noble piece of literature to accompany me and two, because given ample opportunity to study it I might cease to be an atheist or an agnostic."
Menzies on Self-Sacrifice
Sir Robert Menzies was ahead of his time in discerning the rise of an entitlement culture. As the modern world dawned in Australia, so much talk of rights was overshadowing the fundamental duties that citizens have towards one another that make for healthy, flourishing societies. It was in this context that Menzies regularly pointed to the great Christian ethic of self-sacrifice:
"Christianity… begins its teaching by imposing on every citizen the obligation of unselfishness, of thinking of the interests of his neighbour before his own, and regarding himself as his brother's keeper."
"This capacity for sacrifice, this capacity for preferring other people to oneself, this capacity for saying, I will contribute all if it is for the good of the country, exhibited so frequently in war is a God-like quality. The capacity for sacrifice, the whole idea of sacrifice is at the very root of the Christian faith."
"All things that our Faith stands for — quiet living and human kindness, the freedom of the soul, justice to our neighbours, the essential brotherhood of man, are today challenged and nothing less than our best can save them from eclipse."
Menzies on Spiritual Man
One of the great challenges facing Australian society during the Menzies years was a growing attraction towards materialist worldviews that saw humans as mere machines or animals.
Perceiving where this kind of thinking could lead, Menzies warned against it — but he never encouraged people to neglect the material world. Rather, he pointed to the spiritual realities that give meaning and purpose to our physical world:
"If ever man has set up a golden calf to worship, it is in the last forty-years or so, when he has been worshipping at the shrine of his own diabolical cleverness, and because he has become so great a worshipper of the material, the world has been rocked into such ruinous disaster."
"Democracy is more than a machine; it is a spirit. It is based upon the Christian conception that there is in every human soul a spark of the divine; that, with all their inequalities of mind and body, the soul of men stand equal in the sight of God."
"Nobody can suppose that we are educating our children, except for disaster, by turning them out of purely secular establishments at the age of fourteen, fifteen or sixteen years, merely educated to a point at which they think there is nothing left for them to learn, aggressively conscious of what they suppose to be their rights, and oblivious of that penetrating feeling of moral obligation to others, which alone can make a community of men successful."
"Human nature is at its greatest when it combines dependence upon God with independence of man."
Menzies on the Spectre of Tyranny
Materialism was not just threatening Australian society from within. It had also inspired diabolical ideas on the European continent that ended up dragging our young democracy into a second global conflict.
To successfully confront these evils, Menzies understood that a well-equipped military was not enough: we would need moral courage and character that can only flow from a belief that humans are spiritual creatures of irreplaceable value:
"While Fascists and Nazis concentrate their efforts upon the power of the State, regarding the citizen as the mere minister to that power, democrats must concern themselves with what they see to be the true end and final justification of the State; the chief end of the State becomes man — man the individual, man the immortal spirit."
"All war, and this one in particular, is a horrible and destructive thing, and demonstrates nothing so much as the truth that spiritual civilisation has lagged far behind material civilisation; that clever mechanics may yet have savage hearts; that a great reformation in human character must be the vital element in the keeping of the world's peace; and that great reformations proceed by slow changes step by step and not by decree."
"It is only that democracy which sees the superb spiritual value of the individual man which can really win a crusade against tyranny and force, and lead the way into a better world."
Menzies on Faith and Politics
Today people promote the "separation of church and state" and a secular public square. Those ideas go back to the founding of Australia, but Menzies wouldn't recognise them in their current form. For him, as indeed for Australia's founders, secularism was about making sure no particular denomination was favoured by the government. But that faith and religion should influence the political landscape of Australia was an absolute given:
"I don't think we ought to be seeking to express Christianity in party political terms, but I am perfectly certain that it's the duty of all of us to examine our own politics in Christian terms."
"We should all in a country like this, constantly test our politics, constantly try our political faith by seeing that we express it in Christian terms, but that doesn't mean that we can't disagree about politics. That doesn't mean that to be a good Christian you have to be a good Liberal or a good Country Party man, or a good Labor man. I'm saying exactly the opposite. To be a good Liberal, to be a good Labor man, to be a good Country Party man, you will be all the better if you are a Christian."
"In my father's house there are many mansions. Don't forget it. There is room in every political party for Christian men and women of all schools of Christian thought."
Menzies on Religious Freedom
For Menzies, what marked a civilisation was the freedom and tolerance it extended to its citizens. Freedom to worship and believe according to one's conscience was of paramount importance to Menzies, who laboured to heal Australia's Catholic-Protestant divide and who had a special affection for the Jewish community. In a time of rapid modernisation and violent conflict, Menzies elevated the vital importance of religious freedom:
"It is grimly significant that the century which has seen the greatest scientific advancements of recorded history has been, more than perhaps any other, disfigured, not only by wars of a stupendous range and intensity and destruction, but by widespread attacks upon the religion of love by organised hatreds and cruelties of the most barbarous kind."
"The religious freedom for which the Scottish Covenanters fought was freedom for all, Catholic or Protestant, Jew or Gentile, and to deny it was to go back to the dark ages of man. Religious persecution was the denial of freedom. Freedom of worship is the victorious enemy of persecution."
"That just as freedom is not easily beaten out of the heart of man, so is faith not easily beaten out of him. You cannot take thousands, millions, hundreds of millions of people who have a faith of their own, and destroy it, merely by order or command."
Menzies on Jesus Christ
According to historian and political theorist Stephen Chavura, Menzies' "Christianity was sincere, but like many of his generation leading up to the rapid secularisation of the 1950s and 1960s, probably more ethical than devotional."
Even so, he had a faith that was unshakeable, life-defining, and centred on one man:
"The one man, for he was human as well as divine, whose memory holds no blemish, whose influence has grown for nearly two thousand years, whose birthday is the occasion for rejoicing for hundreds of millions of men and women, was and is Jesus Christ."
Menzies was a Presbyterian, and his Christian convictions shaped him and his social and political views profoundly. In and out of office, Menzies promoted a down-to-earth, practical faith that served the community, improved democracy, and valued unity over sectarian squabbles.
Menzies on the Bible
Bob Menzies had a great respect for Scripture, believing in its divine inspiration, its uniqueness among the great books of history, and its irreplaceable value in shaping well-rounded citizens. He was raised to read the Bible regularly, and from university onwards he made this a daily habit.
At the opening of the National Memorial Bible House in Canberra, in 1960, Menzies made the following remarks about Scripture:
"The Bible is the most remarkable repository of religious history. Frankly, I don't think that any man could regard himself as educated unless he had become familiar with the great historic stories of the Bible."
"The Bible is the repository of our faith and of our inspiration. Never out of date, always up to date, always difficult of application and therefore stimulating to thoughtful people. It is the great source of faith, and of course that is why we ought to read it… The story is there, the great history is there, the great gospel is there, the whole spirit of Christianity is there."
"If I were, as I am not, an atheist or an agnostic or some other such unhappy person, I would still take the Bible with me to a desert island for two reasons. One, that I would have a noble piece of literature to accompany me and two, because given ample opportunity to study it I might cease to be an atheist or an agnostic."
Menzies on Self-Sacrifice
Sir Robert Menzies was ahead of his time in discerning the rise of an entitlement culture. As the modern world dawned in Australia, so much talk of rights was overshadowing the fundamental duties that citizens have towards one another that make for healthy, flourishing societies. It was in this context that Menzies regularly pointed to the great Christian ethic of self-sacrifice:
"Christianity… begins its teaching by imposing on every citizen the obligation of unselfishness, of thinking of the interests of his neighbour before his own, and regarding himself as his brother's keeper."
"This capacity for sacrifice, this capacity for preferring other people to oneself, this capacity for saying, I will contribute all if it is for the good of the country, exhibited so frequently in war is a God-like quality. The capacity for sacrifice, the whole idea of sacrifice is at the very root of the Christian faith."
"All things that our Faith stands for — quiet living and human kindness, the freedom of the soul, justice to our neighbours, the essential brotherhood of man, are today challenged and nothing less than our best can save them from eclipse."
Menzies on Spiritual Man
One of the great challenges facing Australian society during the Menzies years was a growing attraction towards materialist worldviews that saw humans as mere machines or animals.
Perceiving where this kind of thinking could lead, Menzies warned against it — but he never encouraged people to neglect the material world. Rather, he pointed to the spiritual realities that give meaning and purpose to our physical world:
"If ever man has set up a golden calf to worship, it is in the last forty-years or so, when he has been worshipping at the shrine of his own diabolical cleverness, and because he has become so great a worshipper of the material, the world has been rocked into such ruinous disaster."
"Democracy is more than a machine; it is a spirit. It is based upon the Christian conception that there is in every human soul a spark of the divine; that, with all their inequalities of mind and body, the soul of men stand equal in the sight of God."
"Nobody can suppose that we are educating our children, except for disaster, by turning them out of purely secular establishments at the age of fourteen, fifteen or sixteen years, merely educated to a point at which they think there is nothing left for them to learn, aggressively conscious of what they suppose to be their rights, and oblivious of that penetrating feeling of moral obligation to others, which alone can make a community of men successful."
"Human nature is at its greatest when it combines dependence upon God with independence of man."
Menzies on the Spectre of Tyranny
Materialism was not just threatening Australian society from within. It had also inspired diabolical ideas on the European continent that ended up dragging our young democracy into a second global conflict.
To successfully confront these evils, Menzies understood that a well-equipped military was not enough: we would need moral courage and character that can only flow from a belief that humans are spiritual creatures of irreplaceable value:
"While Fascists and Nazis concentrate their efforts upon the power of the State, regarding the citizen as the mere minister to that power, democrats must concern themselves with what they see to be the true end and final justification of the State; the chief end of the State becomes man — man the individual, man the immortal spirit."
"All war, and this one in particular, is a horrible and destructive thing, and demonstrates nothing so much as the truth that spiritual civilisation has lagged far behind material civilisation; that clever mechanics may yet have savage hearts; that a great reformation in human character must be the vital element in the keeping of the world's peace; and that great reformations proceed by slow changes step by step and not by decree."
"It is only that democracy which sees the superb spiritual value of the individual man which can really win a crusade against tyranny and force, and lead the way into a better world."
Menzies on Faith and Politics
Today people promote the "separation of church and state" and a secular public square. Those ideas go back to the founding of Australia, but Menzies wouldn't recognise them in their current form. For him, as indeed for Australia's founders, secularism was about making sure no particular denomination was favoured by the government. But that faith and religion should influence the political landscape of Australia was an absolute given:
"I don't think we ought to be seeking to express Christianity in party political terms, but I am perfectly certain that it's the duty of all of us to examine our own politics in Christian terms."
"We should all in a country like this, constantly test our politics, constantly try our political faith by seeing that we express it in Christian terms, but that doesn't mean that we can't disagree about politics. That doesn't mean that to be a good Christian you have to be a good Liberal or a good Country Party man, or a good Labor man. I'm saying exactly the opposite. To be a good Liberal, to be a good Labor man, to be a good Country Party man, you will be all the better if you are a Christian."
"In my father's house there are many mansions. Don't forget it. There is room in every political party for Christian men and women of all schools of Christian thought."
Menzies on Religious Freedom
For Menzies, what marked a civilisation was the freedom and tolerance it extended to its citizens. Freedom to worship and believe according to one's conscience was of paramount importance to Menzies, who laboured to heal Australia's Catholic-Protestant divide and who had a special affection for the Jewish community. In a time of rapid modernisation and violent conflict, Menzies elevated the vital importance of religious freedom:
"It is grimly significant that the century which has seen the greatest scientific advancements of recorded history has been, more than perhaps any other, disfigured, not only by wars of a stupendous range and intensity and destruction, but by widespread attacks upon the religion of love by organised hatreds and cruelties of the most barbarous kind."
"The religious freedom for which the Scottish Covenanters fought was freedom for all, Catholic or Protestant, Jew or Gentile, and to deny it was to go back to the dark ages of man. Religious persecution was the denial of freedom. Freedom of worship is the victorious enemy of persecution."
"That just as freedom is not easily beaten out of the heart of man, so is faith not easily beaten out of him. You cannot take thousands, millions, hundreds of millions of people who have a faith of their own, and destroy it, merely by order or command."
Menzies on Jesus Christ
According to historian and political theorist Stephen Chavura, Menzies' "Christianity was sincere, but like many of his generation leading up to the rapid secularisation of the 1950s and 1960s, probably more ethical than devotional."
Even so, he had a faith that was unshakeable, life-defining, and centred on one man:
"The one man, for he was human as well as divine, whose memory holds no blemish, whose influence has grown for nearly two thousand years, whose birthday is the occasion for rejoicing for hundreds of millions of men and women, was and is Jesus Christ."
# posted by Groseys messages @ 10:08 AM
Saturday, January 31, 2026
Phil 1c
Christian nationalism. How do we live in our pagan world? Do we violently assume power and demand all conform to our Christian beliefs
In a sense this is an extreme somewhat envisioned in Trumpism.
Or do we as Christians in Australia subjected now to no longer express our beliefs on social issues through hate speech laws retreat into communes where we live by our own rules in isolation from the surrounding pagan communities such as the Christian communes in underground bunkers at Nyngan in the 70's?
We aren't the first to struggle with these issues.
Pauls struggles and sufferings brought him to naturally encourage the Christians at Philippi to live as citizens of the colony of heaven in the midst of a pagan world. Polit. Citizens just like Philippi was a colony of Rome in the middle of Greece so we live in conformity to heaven in the midst of a pagan persecuting world.
How can you do this ?
Stand like a soldier
Strive like an athlete
Suffer as a Christian
Struggle like a wrestler.
1. Stand
It is one thing to live the Christian life when our support system is intact. When the people who have discipled us are standing by, we feel secure. Unlike many leaders of our day, Paul desired for his converts a spirit of independence. He knew that he would not always be available to help them.
One of the great illustrations of a consistent lifestyle is the Old Testament character Daniel, who proved that it is possible to maintain one's integrity even when totally isolated. As a young man, he was carried away captive to the city of Babylon. For seventy years he endured the pressures of a pagan culture. In the first chapter of the book that bears his name, we are given a simple description of his integrity. "Daniel continued until the first year of King Cyrus" (Dan. 1:21).
Throughout all the captivity, during all the troubles of his nation, through intrigues, envies, murders, and persecutions, Daniel continued.
Most of all, Paul wished the Philippians to understand that they would not be able to survive the pressures alone. They must stand fast in the Lord, but they would need to do so while joining hands with each other. Paul sounded the challenge to stand fast in many of his other letters as well.
To the Corinthians he wrote, "Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong" (1 Cor. 16:13).
To the Galatians he wrote, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage" (Gal. 5:1).
To the Thessalonians he wrote, "Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle" (2 Thess. 2:15).
Winston Churchill once wrote about British General Tudor, who commanded a division facing the great German assault of March 1918: "The impression I had of Tudor was of an iron peg, hammered into the frozen ground, immovable."6 In the war the odds were heavily against him, but Tudor knew how to meet an apparently irresistible force. He merely stood firm and let the force expend itself on him. That is how Paul wanted his friends in Philippi to respond to the pressures around them.
While the apostle was concerned about the attitude of the believers toward those who were outside the fellowship, he was also concerned about the love of the believers for those inside of the fellowship. He shared that concern again later on in this letter (Phil. 2:2–3; 4:1). It is also conveyed in many of the letters that he wrote to the other churches (Rom. 12:5–12; 1 Cor. 1:10; 10:17; 2 Cor. 13:11; Gal. 3:28; Eph. 2:11–22; 4:3–4, 13).
2. Strive together. Cooperation
In his book A Severe Mercy, Sheldon Vanauken expresses a similar thought:
The best argument for Christianity is Christians—their joy, their certainty, their completeness. But when the strongest argument against Christianity is also Christians, when they are somber and joyless, when they are self-righteous and smug, then Christianity dies a thousand deaths.5
While the apostle was concerned about the attitude of the believers toward those who were outside the fellowship, he was also concerned about the love of the believers for those inside of the fellowship. He shared that concern again later on in this letter (Phil. 2:2–3; 4:1). It is also conveyed in many of the letters that he wrote to the other churches (Rom. 12:5–12; 1 Cor. 1:10; 10:17; 2 Cor. 13:11; Gal. 3:28; Eph. 2:11–22; 4:3–4, 13).
When he instructed them to "strive together," he used the word from which we get our word "athlete." This is a special unity of striving together or struggling side by side
3. Suffer
demonstrate courage beyond what they personally possessed. He provided guidelines to help them accurately identify those times and to draw strength from each other and from Christ.
Courage to Encounter Persecution
Paul warned the Philippians not to be terrified by their enemies. The word "terrified" was used of horses that were frightened or spooked into an uncontrollable stampede. It is inward fear caused by an outward stimulus. This is the only place in the New Testament where this particular word is used, and it is very appropriate for the little group of believers living in Philippi during a violent period of history.
We are not told who the adversaries are, but they could easily be the ones Paul described later as "dogs, … evil workers.… the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction.
This courage in the face of opposition is a double-edged sword. It is evidence of the believers' salvation and of their enemies' doom. The inability of their enemies to intimidate them becomes proof of the genuineness of their faith.
Most scholars date Paul's writing of the Philippian letter around AD 60–63. If this is accurate, then the pressure in the Roman Empire was growing. For it was in July AD 64 that Emperor Nero surpassed himself in cruelty when he ordered his servants to set fire to Rome. Tacitus, one of the few eyewitness historians of that day, tells about it:
Consequently, to get rid of the report (that he had ordered the fire), Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace.
Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a deadly superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judea
hideous and shameful from every part of the world meet and become popular.
Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who confessed [Christ]; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of arson, as of hatred of the human race. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses or were doomed to the flames.8
No doubt some of those who read this letter from Paul would experience this suffering. Then they would remember Paul's words and remember that he too had suffered as a prisoner and had maintained the integrity of his faith.
Courage to Endure Pain
Paul regarded suffering for Christ as a privilege. In fact, twice in these last verses of chapter 1, he referred to persecution as a gift from God. In verse 28 we are told that to suffer is "from God." In verse 29 we read that "it has been granted on behalf of Christ …
John Huss (1369–1415) was the rector of Prague University when he was thrown into prison for advocating the doctrines of the Reformation. Two weeks before he was martyred for his faith, Huss wrote these words from his prison cell:
I am greatly consoled by that saying of Christ, "Blessed are ye when men shall hate you." … It bids us rejoice in these tribulations.… It is easy to read it aloud and expound it, but difficult to live out.…
O Most Holy Christ … give me a fearless heart, a right faith, a firm hope, a perfect love, that for Thy sake I may lay down my life with patience and joy. Amen!9
For John Huss and for Paul, and even for each of us, such suffering is a choice that we make. That is not to say that we can choose to avoid pain, but rather that we may select the reasons for our suffering
Josef Tson. Josef was the pastor of the largest Baptist church in Romania during the days when the communists ruled his country. In 1973, he published a document that described how the communist government had obstructed religious freedom in his land. As the result of his brave disclosure, he was singled out for persecution and harassment. On one occasion, they threatened him with torture and death. This was his courageous response;
Your supreme weapon is killing. My supreme weapon is dying. Here is how it works. You know that my sermons on tape have spread all over the country. If you kill me,
these sermons will be sprinkled with my blood. Everyone will know I died for my preaching.… So, sir, my sermons will speak ten times louder than before. I will actually rejoice in this supreme victory if you kill me.
Struggle
Courage to Emulate Paul
Paul realized that suffering was no longer an abstract term for the Philippians. Many of them had seen him suffer when the church at Philippi had been started. There he had been hounded by a demon-possessed girl, slandered, mobbed, stripped, beaten, and thrown into a dungeon. The courage these Philippians would need in the future was the kind they had observed in Paul during his adversity. I am certain that some of the readers of this letter wondered if they would be brave enough to stand when their time came.
In calling this persecution "conflict," Paul used the word from which we get our word "agony." It described the strenuous struggles of athletic contests. Paul employed the same word in his charge to Timothy: "Fight the good fight [agona] of faith" (1 Tim. 6:12). At the end of his life, Paul wrote, "I have fought the good fight [agona]" (2 Tim. 4:7).
Paul believed that persecution would be the lot of the believer until the end, and that "we must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God" (Acts 14:22). But he also encourages us with the promise that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us (Rom. 8:18). In fact, he says that rather than being a setback, suffering is a stepping stone. "If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us" (2 Tim. 2:12).
It is often very difficult for us to maintain a positive attitude when adversity and pressures prevail. Paul wanted the trying circumstances to spur these believers on to greater victory and joy.
Some of the world's greatest men and women have been saddled with disabilities and adversities, but they have managed to overcome them and go on to greatness. They teach us that circumstances do not make us what we are, but reveal what we are.
Churchill
The Battle of France is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us on this island or lose the war.…
Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will say, "This was their finest hour."
More than anything else, Paul wanted the Philippians to stand strong so that whether he was with them or absent from them, they would be triumphant in Christ.
# posted by Groseys messages @ 9:18 PM
Friday, January 30, 2026
Philippians 1:27-30 Stand Struggle Strong
Philippians 1:27-30 Stand Struggle Strong
Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel,28 and not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that from God.29 For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake,30 having the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear is in me.
27 Μόνον ἀξίως τοῦ εὐαγγελίου τοῦ Χριστοῦ πολιτεύεσθε, ἵνα εἴτε ἐλθὼν καὶ ἰδὼν ὑμᾶς εἴτε ἀπὼν ⸀ἀκούω τὰ περὶ ὑμῶν, ὅτι στήκετε ἐν ἑνὶ πνεύματι, μιᾷ ψυχῇ συναθλοῦντες τῇ πίστει τοῦ εὐαγγελίου,
28 καὶ μὴ πτυρόμενοι ἐν μηδενὶ ὑπὸ τῶν ἀντικειμένων (ἥτις ⸂ἐστὶν αὐτοῖς⸃ ἔνδειξις ἀπωλείας, ⸀ὑμῶν δὲ σωτηρίας, καὶ τοῦτο ἀπὸ θεοῦ, 29 ὅτι ὑμῖν ἐχαρίσθη τὸ ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ, οὐ μόνον τὸ εἰς αὐτὸν πιστεύειν ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ πάσχειν), 30 τὸν αὐτὸν ἀγῶνα ἔχοντες οἷον εἴδετε ἐν ἐμοὶ καὶ νῦν ἀκούετε ἐν ἐμοί.
Do Stand
Do Struggle
στήκετε ἐν ἑνὶ πνεύματι, μιᾷ ψυχῇ συναθλοῦντες τῇ πίστει τοῦ εὐαγγελίου,
Don't Panic
28 καὶ μὴ πτυρόμενοι ἐν μηδενὶ ὑπὸ τῶν ἀντικειμένων
Some Christians retreat from the world. Nyngan commune. Reformed commune. House of the Gentle Bunyip.
As baptists we tend to retreat into holy huddles.
Some Christians live protesting everything the government does.
Right said Fred. They can be known for what they are against not what they are for.
Some are set for the defence of the gospel brandishing fighting words antagonistically over anything not within their small doctrinal world.
Christian nationalism is a term young men throw around and fight over as though they are the first to wrestle with what it means to live as a Christian in a hostile world.
The Apostle Paul wrestled with what it meant to be a Christian imprisoned by a hostile government. And worse yet, some Christians were happy he was in jail and wanted to kick him while he was down!
Some Christians live protesting everything the government does.
Right said Fred. They can be known for what they are against not what they are for.
Some are set for the defence of the gospel brandishing fighting words antagonistically over anything not within their small doctrinal world.
Christian nationalism is a term young men throw around and fight over as though they are the first to wrestle with what it means to live as a Christian in a hostile world.
The Apostle Paul wrestled with what it meant to be a Christian imprisoned by a hostile government. And worse yet, some Christians were happy he was in jail and wanted to kick him while he was down!
Paul begins this section with. Note this one thing.
Live worthy of the gospel of Christ.
Gospel centred living in a crazy politicised world. Just like Rome and Phillipi its colony.
Politeusthai citizens. Only here in NT.
Col 1:13.
We are citizens of heaven
Ambassadors of heaven.
Are you ashamed of your heritage ?
Do you live unashamedly speaking of Jesus ?
Ashamed of Jesus … hymn.
Live worthy of the gospel of Christ.
Gospel centred living in a crazy politicised world. Just like Rome and Phillipi its colony.
Politeusthai citizens. Only here in NT.
Col 1:13.
We are citizens of heaven
Ambassadors of heaven.
Are you ashamed of your heritage ?
Do you live unashamedly speaking of Jesus ?
Ashamed of Jesus … hymn.
Be Standing Together
By Standing By Your Priority
Don't be distracted
Make the main thing the main thing
Make the gospel not an ideology nor a political party the main thing.
Make the gospel not an ideology nor a political party the main thing.
Don't be like Demas
Be Struggling
In Your Adversity
Suffering is not a sign of God's neglect but it is a sign of God's grace at work in your life.
In spite of Your Diversity
Fighting for the gospel not against one another
Acts 5:41
Acts 5:41
Be Strong
Not intimidated by opposition bullies: Don't be like Mark
(1Cor 16:8,9) ie John Knox. Funeral "here lies one who never feared the face of man." Matt 10:28
(1Cor 16:8,9) ie John Knox. Funeral "here lies one who never feared the face of man." Matt 10:28
Courageously speaking up for Christ (28) unashamed.
Don't be intimidated
Don't be intimidated
Recognising God's power in persecution
for God's sake
for your sake To consecrate you 3:10,11
for the world's sake To convert
You Are Appointed To Persecutions
Afflictions, sufferings, persecutions, hath heen the common lot and portion of the 'people of God in all the ages of the world. Witness the sufferings of the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, the primitive Christians, and the martyrs of a later date. Abel was persecuted by Cain, 1 John iii. 12 ; and Isaac by Ishmael, Gal. iv. 29 ; and Jacob by Esau. That seems to be a standing law, ' All that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution,' 2 Tim.
The history of the ten persecutions, and that little Book of Martyrs, the eleventh of the Hebrews, and Mr Foxe his Acts and Monuments, with many other histories, do abundantly evidence that from age to age, and from one generation to another, they that have been ' born after the flesh have persecuted them that have been born after the Spirit,' Gal. iv. 29 ; and that ' the seed of the serpent hath been still multiplying troubles upon the seed of the woman,' Gen. iii. 15. As there was no way to paradise but by a flaming sword, nor no way to Canaan but through a howling wilderness, so there is no way to heaven but by the gates of hell ; there is no way to a glorious exaltation but through a sea of tribulation, of persecution. Acts xiv. 21, 22. The way to heaven is not strewed with roses, but full of thorns and briars, as those ' of whom this world is not worthy ' have always experienced, Heb. xi. The serpentine brood takes a very great pleasure to be still a-representing the people of God as foolish, hypocritical, precise, proud, divisive, seditious, factious, and as persons against order and government, against good laws and customs, as disturbers and troublers of the peace. King Ahab calls Elijah ' the troubler of Israel,' 1 Kings xviii. 17 ; and Haman laid it to the charge of the Jews, that ' they were disobedient to the king's laws,' Esth. iii. 8 ; and the adversaries of the Jews told Artaxerxes the king that ' Jerusalem was a rebellious city, hurtful unto kings and princes,' Ezra iv. 15 ; and the unbelieving Jews at Thessalonica did as much for the apostles, they said they were the men ' that turned the world upside down,' Acts xvii. 6. So Luther was called 'the trumpet of rebellion ;
' and Tertullus calls Paul ' a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition,' Acts xxiv. 5 ; Aolixov, a pestilence, a botch.
Foolish Tertullus mistook the antidote for the poison, the remedy for the disease. Now if so precious a man as Paul, than whom, saith Chrysostom, the earth never bare a better since it bore Christ, were accounted and called a pest, a botch, let us think much if the choicest saints in our days are accounted and esteemed as so many pests and botches. This is the reward the ungrateful world gives the servants of Christ for their zeal and faithfulness in the cause of Christ; instead of encouraging them, they load them with ignominious and hateful terms of rebellion and turbulency, &c., labouring thereby to make them odious, and to enrage the people against them, as the persecutors of old used to wrap the Christians up in bears' skins, and lions' skins, &c., and then to bait them with dogs. It is a very great vanity to think of passing to heaven without suffering. The saints in all ages have found the way thither paved with troubles, and it would be a foolish, childish thing for any of us to think of finding it otherwise now. Constantine the Great, as piously as wittily, told Acesius the Novatian, that if he would not take up with persecution, and such like dealing, he must
Polycarp! when the governor promised to let him go free if he would deny Christ, answered, I have served him fourscore and six years, and he never hurt me in anything ; how shall I curse him who hath saved me ? And the governor adding one while promises, another while threatenings, Polycarpus thus cuts off all, Why dost thou make delays? inflict what thou lists." So Galeacius, [Carraciolus,] a gentleman of great estate, who suffered martyrdom at St Angelo in Italy, being much pressed by his friends to recant, and save his life, he replied, that death was much more sweet to him with the testimony of verity, than life with the least denial of truth. Hooper desired rather to be discharged of his bishopric, than yield to certain ceremonies. A man were better displease all his friends, all his relations, yea, all the world, than to displease his God, and displease his own conscience. So Cyprian,—Augustine relates the story,—when the emperor, as he was going to execution, told him that he would give him space to consider whether he were not better cast in a grain into the fire, than be so miserably slain ; to which he replied. "There needs no deliberation in this case."
The like we read in the history of France, in the year 1572, presently after that tragical and perfidious slaughter and massacre of so many thousands of protestants by treacherous bloody papists, Charles the Ninth, king of France, called the Prince of Conde, and proposed to him this choice, either to go to mass, or to die presently, or to suffer perpetual imprisonment ; to which he returned this noble answer, That by God's help he would never choose the first; and for either of the two latter, he left it to the king's pleasure, and God's providence. Thus you see that the people of God have, when put to it, chose rather to suffer than to sin.
For Me To Live Is Christ and to die is gain.
Mark viii. 35, ' For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it.' There is no loss, but gain, in losing for Christ. It is a very dangerous thing for men to prefer the safety of their natural lives before the glory of Christ, the cause of Christ, the gospel of Christ, and the profession of his name. It is certain that the glory of Christ ought to be more dear and precious to us than our very lives. Christ, for our redemption and salvation, freely and readily lays down his life, ' I lay down my life for my sheep,' John x. 15 ; and shall we stand with him for ours, when our call is clear, to lay them down for his sake and the gospel's sake ? He that shall attempt to save his life by crossing His light, by shifting of the truth, or by forsaking of Christ, shall lose it. It is a gainful loss to suffer for the truth ; it is a lossful gain, by time-serving and base complying with the times, the lusts, the wills, the humours of the men of this age, in whom the spirit of Cain and Esau works so furiously, to provide for our present safety, security, plenty, peace, and ease, &c., either by denying the truth, or by betraying the truth, or by exchanging the truth, or by forsaking the truth
:
Mat. X. 39, ' He that findeth liis life shall lose it.' This is a strange expression, a riddle to the world, a seeming contradiction, such as natural reason can never reconcile. ' He that findeth his life; that is, redeemeth it with the forfeiture of his faith, with the shipwreck of his conscience, 1 Tim. i. 19, 20, makes a loser's bargain; he makes more haste than good speed, whilst in running from death as far as he can, he runs to it as fast as he can. See it in some great instances. When Henry the Fourth of France had conquered his enemies, he turned papist, and gave this reason of it, that he might settle himself in peace and safety. Eavaillac, who slew him as he was riding abroad in his coach to refresh himself, confessed that the reason why he stabbed him was because he was of two religions ; and thus, by his sinful endeavours to save his life, he lost it.
There was one Philbert Hamlin in France, having converted a priest to the profession of the truth, was, together with the priest, apprehended, and cast into prison at Bourdeaux; but after a while, the priest, being terrified with the prison and fear of death, renounced Christ, and was set at liberty.
Whereupon Philbert said unto him, unhappy and more than miserable man ! is it possible that, to save your life for a few days, you should so deny the truth ? Know, therefore, though you have avoided the corporal fire, yet your life shall not be prolonged ; for you shall die before me, and you shall not have the honour to die for the cause of Christ ; but you shall be an example to apostates ; and accordingly, as he went out of the prison, two gentlemen, that had a former quarrel with him, met him, and slew him ; and thus, also, he lost his life by endeavouring sinfully to save it.
The Angrognians that yielded to the papists, and complied with them, that they might sleep quietly in a whole skin, were more sadly and cruelly handled by the papists than those that continued stout, courageous, and resolute for the truth.
Under the fourth persecution there were some Christians who, for fear of torments and death, denied their faith, and sacrificed to idols, yet did not their bloody persecutors spare them ; and it was observed that, being full of guilt, they went to their deaths with dejected and ill favoured countenances, so that the very Gentiles took notice of it, and reproached them as base apostates, and as such who were worthy to suffer as evil-doers. West, that was chaplain to Bishop Ridley, refusing to die in Christ's cause with his master, said mass against' his conscience, and soon after pined away with sorrow and grief. He that will not suffer for Christ, shall be sure to suffer worse things from Christ than ever he could have suffered for Christ. And therefore Dr Taylor, the martyr, hit the nail when he said. If I shrink from God's truth, said he, I am sure of another manner of death than Judge Hales had, who being drawn, for fear of death, to do things against his light and conscience, did afterwards drown himself.^
Cyprian, in his sermon, De Lapsis, makes mention of divers who, forsaking the profession of their faith, were given over by God to be possessed by evil spirits, and so died fearfully and miserably, making good that word that is more worth than a world, John xii. 25, 'He that loveth his life shall lose it ; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.' ^ A man that is sparing of his life when Christ calls for it, doth take the ready way to lose it ; and he that doth hazard it for him at his call, is sure to live eternally.
Christ approves of no followers who are not resolved on the loss of what is dearest to them, yea, even of life, for his sake ; therefore doth he mention our life to be hated, which is not to be understood absolutely, as if it were a sin to love life, as it is the gift of God, or that they should be weary of it, but comparatively, that they should not love it more than Christ, his word, his worship, his ways. He that resolves to save his temporal life upon any terms, he takes the shortest cut to lose both temporal and eternal life also. ' He that loveth his life shall lose it.'
To these I shall add a few examples amongst a multitude of those blessed souls, who willingly, readily, cheerfully, resolutely hazarded all for Christ while they were on earth, and are now a-receiving their reward with him in heaven. Oh, how my heart leapeth for joy, said Mr Philpot, the martyr, that I am so near the apprehension of eternal life ! I with my fellows were carried to the coal-house, where we do rouse together in the straw as
cheerfully, we thank God, as others do in their beds of down.
Mr Glover, the martyr, wept for joy of his imprisonment : and Mr Bradford put off his cap and thanked the Lord when his keeper's wife brought him word that he was to be burnt the next day : and Mr Taylor fetched a pleasant delightful frisk when he was come near to the place where he was to suffer. Mr Rogers, the first that was burnt in Queen Mary's days, did sing in the flames: Vincentius, laughing at his torments, said that death and tortures were to Christians matters of sport and pastime ; and he joyed and gloried when he went upon hot burning coals, as if he had trod upon roses. Fire, sword, death, prison, famine, are all pleasures, they are all delightful to me, saith Basil ; and in his oration for Barlaam that famous martyr, saith that he delighted in the close prison as in a pleasant green meadow ; and he took pleasure in the several inventions of tortures, as in several sweet flowers. William Tims, martyr, in a letter to a friend of his a little before his death, writes thus,
' Now I take my leave of you till we meet in heaven, and hie you after. I have tarried a great while for you ; and seeing you are so long in making ready, I will tarry no longer for you ! you shall find me merrily singing, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabbath, at my journey's end,' &c. And when they kindled the fire at the feet of
James Baiifliam, Methinks, said he, you strew roses before me.^ When the prefect urged Basil to comply with the emperor, and threatened him with death if he denied, he gave him this resolute and stout answer, ' Thou threatenest me with death,' saith he, ' and I would that it would fall out so well on my side, that I might lay down this carcase of mine in the quarrel of Christ, and in defence of the truth, who is my head and captain :
' and when the prefect pressed him to remember himself, and obey the emperor ; he, rejecting all, told him, What I am to-day the same thou shalt find me to-morrow.
When Chrysostom was greatly threatened by the cruel empress and others, he made this answer, ' If they keep me poor, I know Christ had not a house to put his head in : if they silence me, and put me out of the synagogue ; so was that poor man that confessed Christ, and the apostles enjoined not to speak in the name of Jesus: if they cast me into prison, so was Jeremiah, St Peter, and St Paul, and many more : if I am forced to flee my country, I have that beloved John, and that Atlas-like Athanasius, for precedents of the like nature : or whatsoever else should be done unto me, I have the holy martyrs for my fellow-sufferers ; and I will never count my life dear unto me, so I may finish my course with joy ; but I will, by God's help be every ready, with all my heart, to suffer anything for the name of Jesus Christ, and for the least jot of his truth,' John ix. 22, 24 ; Acts V. 40, &c., and xii. ; Eph. vi. 20 ; Rev. i.
Neither were they only a few choice persons who willingly, readily, cheerfully, and resolutely endured martyrdom in Christ's cause ; but such multitudes, year after year, month after month, week after week, and day after day, as that one of the ancients testifieth that there was never a day in the year, except the first of January, whereunto the number of five hundred martyrs at least might not be ascribed, So many, one after another, in one day suffered, as the executioner blunted his sword, and, with the pains be took, fainted. That which many of them endured, though to flesh and blood it seemed intolerable, yet with much patience, excellent cheerfulness, and divine courage, they endured it. They were not like bears hauled to the stake ; but while persecutors were sitting on their judgment-seats, and condemning some Christians, others leaped in and professed themselves Christians, and suffered the uttermost that could be inflicted, with joyfulness and a kind of pleasantness, singing psalms as long as their breath lasted.
Bucer, in an epistle to Calvin, tells him that there were some that would willingly redeem to the commonwealth the ancient liberty of worshipping Christ with their very lives. True grace makes a Christian of a very heroic nature. Holy zeal will make a Christian very ready to endure anything, or to suffer anything for Christ, his worship, his ways, his truth.
It is a high vanity for any man to think of getting to heaven without suffering. In all the ages of the world the saints have found the way to happiness paved with troubles, and we must not think of finding it strewed with rosebuds.
When Paul and Silas were in prison, their hearts were so full of joy that they could not hold ; but at midnight, when others were sleeping, they must fall a-singing out the praises of the Most High, Acts xvi. 25. They found more pleasure than pain, more joy than sorrow, more comfort than torment in their bonds. The consolations
of the Spirit rose so high in their souls that their prison was turned into a palace, yea, into a paradise. Paul was a man that took a great deal of pleasure in his sufferings for Christ : 2 Cor. xii. 10, ' Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake.' He did not only bear his sufferings patiently, but cheerfully also ; he often sings it sweetly out, ' I Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ,' Col. iv. 3, 10 ; Rom. xvi. 7 ; Eph. vi. 20 ; 2 Tim. i. IG, &c. ; not I Paul an apostle, nor I Paul rapt up into the third heaven, nor I Paul that have more gifts, parts, and learning, than others ; but ' I Paul a prisoner,' to shew how much he rejoiced in his bonds and sufferings for Christ. Chrysostom did not hold Paul so happy for his rapture into paradise as he did for his imprisonment for Christ.
Oh, the sweet looks, the sweet words, the sweet hints, the sweet in-comes, the sweet joggings, the sweet embraces, the sweet influences, the sweet discoveries, the sweet love-letters, the sweet love-tokens, and the sweet comforts that Christians experience in their sufferings for Christ ! In all their troubles and persecutions they may truly say. We have sweetmeats to eat, and waters of life to drink, and heavenly honeycombs to suck that the world knows not of ; and, indeed, when should the torch be lighted but in a dark night ; and when should the fire be made but when the weather is cold ; and when should the cordial be given but when the patient is weak ; and when should the God of comfort, the God of all kinds of comfort, and the God of all degrees of comfort, comfort his people, but under their troubles and persecutions ; for then comfort is most proper, necessary, seasonable, and suitable, and then God will be sure to pour in the oil of joy into their hearts ? 2 Cor. i. 3-5.
1. Jesus! and shall it ever be
A mortal man ashamed of Thee?
Ashamed of Thee, whom angels praise,
Whose glories shine through endless days?
2. Ashamed of Jesus? Sooner far
Let evening blush to own a star.
He sheds the beams of light divine
O'er this benighted soul of mine.
3. Ashamed of Jesus? Just as soon
Let midnight be ashamed of noon.
'Tis midnight with my soul till He,
Bright Morning Star, bids darkness flee.
4. Ashamed of Jesus, that dear Friend
On whom my hopes of heaven depend?
No; when I blush, be this my shame,
That I no more revere His name.
5. Ashamed of Jesus? Yes, I may
When I've no guilt to wash away,
No tear to wipe, no joy to crave,
No fears to quell, no soul to save.
6. Till then--nor is the boasting vain--
Till then I boast a Savior slain.
And oh, may this my portion be,
That Christ is not ashamed of me!
A mortal man ashamed of Thee?
Ashamed of Thee, whom angels praise,
Whose glories shine through endless days?
2. Ashamed of Jesus? Sooner far
Let evening blush to own a star.
He sheds the beams of light divine
O'er this benighted soul of mine.
3. Ashamed of Jesus? Just as soon
Let midnight be ashamed of noon.
'Tis midnight with my soul till He,
Bright Morning Star, bids darkness flee.
4. Ashamed of Jesus, that dear Friend
On whom my hopes of heaven depend?
No; when I blush, be this my shame,
That I no more revere His name.
5. Ashamed of Jesus? Yes, I may
When I've no guilt to wash away,
No tear to wipe, no joy to crave,
No fears to quell, no soul to save.
6. Till then--nor is the boasting vain--
Till then I boast a Savior slain.
And oh, may this my portion be,
That Christ is not ashamed of me!
1. Personally Commit To Jesus Christ.
For me to live is Christ
"Firmly believing that my times are in God's hand, I here submit myself and all my affairs for the ensuing year, to the wise and gracious disposal of God's divine providence. Whether God appoints for me health or sickness, peace or trouble, comforts or crosses, life or death — may His holy will be done!
All my time, strength, and service, I devote to the honor of the Lord Jesus — and even my common actions. It is my earnest expectation, hope, and desire, my constant aim and endeavor — that Jesus Christ may be magnified in me. In everything I have to do — my entire dependence is upon Jesus Christ for strength. And whatever I do in word or deed, I desire to do all in His name, to make Him my Alpha and Omega.
I have all from Him — and I would use all for Him.
If this should prove a year of affliction, a sorrowful year to me — I will fetch all my supports and comforts from the Lord Jesus and stay myself upon Him, His everlasting consolations, and the good hope I have in Him through grace.
And if it should be my dying year — then my times are in the hand of the Lord Jesus. And with a humble reliance upon His mediation, I would venture into the eternal world looking for the blessed hope. Dying as well as living — Jesus Christ will, I trust, be gain and advantage to me.
Oh, that the grace of God may be sufficient for me, to keep me always a humble sense of my own unworthiness, weakness, folly, and infirmity — together with a humble dependence upon the Lord Jesus Christ for both righteousness and strength." — 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐰 𝐇𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐲, diary entry for January 1, 1713
LORD, IT BELONGS NO TO MY CARE
1. Lord, it belongs not to my care
Whether I die or live;
To love and serve You is my share,
And this Your grace must give.
2. If life be long, I will be glad,
That I may long obey;
If life be short, should I be sad
to rise to endless day?
3. Christ leads me thru' no darker room
Than He went thru' before;
He who into God's Kingdom comes
Must enter by this door.
4. Come, Lord, when grace has made me meet
Your blessed face to see,
For if Your work on Earth be sweet,
What will Your glory be?
5. Then I shall end my sad complaints
And weary, sinful days,
And join with those triumphant saints
Who sing Jehovah's praise.
6. My knowledge of that life is small;
The eye of faith is dim,
But it's enough that Christ knows all,
And I shall be with Him. (RCH 549
1. Lord, it belongs not to my care
Whether I die or live;
To love and serve You is my share,
And this Your grace must give.
2. If life be long, I will be glad,
That I may long obey;
If life be short, should I be sad
to rise to endless day?
3. Christ leads me thru' no darker room
Than He went thru' before;
He who into God's Kingdom comes
Must enter by this door.
4. Come, Lord, when grace has made me meet
Your blessed face to see,
For if Your work on Earth be sweet,
What will Your glory be?
5. Then I shall end my sad complaints
And weary, sinful days,
And join with those triumphant saints
Who sing Jehovah's praise.
6. My knowledge of that life is small;
The eye of faith is dim,
But it's enough that Christ knows all,
And I shall be with Him. (RCH 549
# posted by Groseys messages @ 7:52 AM
