(Audio Version)
Introduction
I wonder how many of you might be
following the story of Dr. Meriam Ibrahim. I have taken a particular interest
in the story because of Meriam’s profound courage in the face of Muslim
persecution for her Christian faith. For those of you who are unfamiliar with
the story, let me bring you up to speed on this woman’s amazing faith and this
season of pain and suffering in her life.
Meriam is a 27-year old physician
from Sudan who received her medical degree from the University of Khartoum
Medical School. When she was 6-years old, her Muslim father abandoned their
family and Meriam was raised by her Ethiopian Orthodox Christian mother. Meriam
is married to Daniel Wani, a Christian and an American citizen originally from
South Sudan. Daniel and Meriam have a 20-month old son and now a newborn baby
girl. In February, Meriam was accused of adultery because of the relationship
with her Christian husband. The court deemed that Meriam was technically Muslim
because of her father even though she was raised in a Christian home. Eight
months pregnant with their second child, Meriam was formally arrested and put
in prison. During this time, Daniel was not allowed to see his wife nor was he allowed
to care for his son because Sudan’s law does not permit Christian men to care
for their children. As a result, their young son was imprisoned with his
mother! After her initial sentencing on May 11, Meriam was given three days by
the court to renounce her Christian faith to avoid execution. After those three
days, during which she was repeatedly harassed by Islamic organizations sent by
the court to "counsel" her on her faith, Meriam calmly confirmed to
the judge that she remains a Christian. Failing to renounce her Christian
faith, the judge condemned Meriam to be subjected to 100 lashes for adultery as
a Muslim in relationship with a Christian and then executed by hanging for
apostasy as a professing Christian who they considered was at one time a Muslim
because of her father. However, the judge said he would allow Meriam to give
birth to their child before executing her. After being shackled to the floor of
her cage for four months, her shackles were temporarily removed and she was
moved to the hospital wing of the Obdurman Federal Women’s Prison where she
gave birth to a healthy baby girl five days early. The baby girl now joins her
mother and her brother in prison. Meriam has been steadfast in her faith
throughout this entire ordeal. After telling the judge that despite the courts
efforts to force her to renounce her Christian faith and return to Islam, she
remains a Christian as she has always been. Consequently, she claimed the court’s
ruling of adultery and apostasy is invalid. Her husband, Daniel, says that when
the judge read his wife’s verdict, he couldn’t stop crying. But Meriam didn’t
even flinch at the verdict. She was confident in the truth of her Christian
faith and leaned hard on its hope and promises for strength and comfort during times
of persecution and suffering. She was clearly prepared to lose everything—her
freedom, her career, her husband, her small children and even her own life for
the sake of her faith. Her faith was clearly more valuable to her than anything
else. When Does A Loss Represent A Gain?
Meriam clearly determined that all theses loses would eventually result in her
gain if she persevered in her faith. If you didn’t know this story was
something that has unfolded before our very eyes over the last few months, you
might be tempted to think it came right out of the Bible. Let’s take a look.
Subject Text
Philippians 3:7-11
7But
whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of
Christ. 8What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the
surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose
sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my
own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in
Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10I want to know Christ and the power of
his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings,
becoming like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, to
attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Context
Paul is writing this letter to the
Philippian church in order to encourage them to experience the joy found only
in a relationship with Jesus Christ even in the face of persecution and
suffering. The Philippian church was established by Paul during his second
missionary journey and was the first church on the European continent. Paul is thanking
them for the gift they sent him as he awaits his fate from a Roman prison. In
light of Meriam Ibrahim’s painful journey of faith, Paul’s witness is
particularly relevant. In the verses leading up to our Subject Text, Paul recounts the privilege of his former life as a
respected religious leader in the Hebrew community of Jerusalem. Paul reminds
us that he was set apart as an elite Jew among Jews—he was circumcised
according to the Law; a direct descendant from the tribe of Benjamin; not just
a Hebrew but a Hebrew Pharisee; zealous and diligent to put down, by force if
necessary, any religious claims not strictly aligned with Hebrew religious
practices; and a strict follower and practitioner of the Law. In Paul’s Hebrew
culture, he had it all—fame, fortune, respect, and power. His life was defined
by elite privilege. But that was no longer Paul’s life. Paul willingly and
knowingly lost everything. When Does A
Loss Represent A Gain? For Paul, and for all of us who call ourselves
Christian, it was the day he became a believer in Jesus Christ. For Paul, the
decision to follow Christ meant he was:
1)
Stoned and left for dead.
2)
Beaten with rods three times.
3)
Whipped with 39 lashes 5 times.
4)
Attacked by angry mobs.
5)
Received numerous death threats.
6)
Shipwrecked 3 times.
7)
Criticized bitterly by other Christians.
8)
Bitten by a viper.
9)
Imprisoned for 2 years without a trial.
And the final cost of Paul’s decision was that he was executed by order
of Rome. Nevertheless, Paul considered everything he lost and everything he
endured as the price for gaining the ultimate prize—the joy of eternal life in
the presence of Jesus Christ.
Text Analysis
Paul is no different than many of us
who spend our lives nurturing an ever-growing relationship with Jesus. All
things change (or should change) when a person becomes a believer including
their perspective on what they once considered important or valuable. Paul
tells us in vv. 7-8 that his perspective has changed and we see that he has
undergone a radical transformation. The things he and the culture of his day
thought were so important, fame, fortune, respect, and power, he now considered
to be worthless in exchange for his present and future relationship with Jesus.
Not too different from many of your stories I suspect and not too different
from my own. I’m sitting in my basement office as I prepare this lesson where I
have to crane my neck and press my face against the glass and look up just to see
the sky. I’m a simple carpenter as a means to support my family and the costs
associated with this ministry for which I receive no financial consideration. I
meet regularly with people who don’t have it together; people who have smashed
their lives on the jagged rocks of the circumstances of bad choices (their own
or someone else’s) and are struggling just to get to the next day. A far cry
from my former life where my spacious corner office overlooked bustling downtown
Denver, where the money and power were intoxicating, and days were filled with
meetings with prominent political figures and some of society’s most powerful
business leaders. It’s been more than 20 years since I left that life behind
and you know what? I would do it again! Nothing can compare to my life since I
began to diligently pursue what I believe God has called me to do. “Coming to
know Christ Jesus brought about a reversal in Paul’s life. His judgment on all
these former advantages, everything that he considered gain, is that he now
considers it loss. The result of the conversion/call experience in which Paul
came to know Chris is a complete transformation. Being found in Christ means
that Paul is no longer found in the Law. Now Paul’s whole life is shaped by his
sharing in Christ’s death and resurrection. This process of being transformed
in Christ is a continuing process in Paul’s life as he responds to the call of
God in Christ Jesus.”[1] Paul’s perspective and
transformation has so changed and progressed that he doesn’t simply refer to
the privileges of his former life as a loss at the close of v. 8, he refers to
them as “rubbish” according to the NIV. The word that the NIV translates as
“rubbish’ is from the Greek word, skubala,
which can be translated as “garbage or kitchen scraps.” Therefore, the NIV is
technically correct. However, I also believe they have attempted to avoid the
crudity of the statement which is the real sense of Paul’s statement. The word
can also be translated as “human excrement” which is how it should to be
translated here. This is what I love about the Bible in its original language—it
pulls no punches. The force of what Paul is saying here gives us a sense of
just how far Paul has come from his former life. In the Greek text Paul is
saying that he considers all the privileges of his former life to be crap or shit compared to the treasures of a life as a follower of Jesus
Christ.[2]
In the verses leading up to our Subject Text, Paul referred to the
righteousness of his former life as a legalistic righteousness derived from the
meticulous observance of the Law. The legalistic righteousness of his former
life led to boasting and the pride of accomplishment. Paul’s former life was centered
on his accomplishments as opposed to being God-centered and focused on what God
had done or was doing in His creation. Paul’s former life was motivated by an
attempt to earn his way into heaven. However, according to v. 9, Paul’s former
life has given way to a new way of relating to God—a relationship based on
grace! Paul is now no longer relying on his own righteousness that depends on
his own accomplishments. Instead, he is relying on God’s righteousness that in
theological terms has been imputed
upon each believer. In practical terms, here’s what that means: When God
examines the righteous of our lives as believers, He only sees the
righteousness of Christ. And we receive that righteousness not by anything we
have done but by accepting, in faith, that we have been judged righteous
because of what Christ did on the cross on our behalf. “Being made right with God
is his gift to us; it cannot be earned. God secured the gift and offered it to
us. Because of Jesus’ death on the cross, God can exchange sin and shortcomings
for his complete righteousness. Believers are offered a gift; all we have to do
is accept it. We are considered righteous at the moment we believe, and we
gradually work out the fruit of our righteous life on a day-to-day basis as we
live in Christ and he lives through us.”[3]
Paul was not just a passive follower
of Christ. He was fully committed according to vv. 10-11. In fact, Paul looked
forward to the opportunity to experience suffering and death in common with his
Lord and Savior. It is important to keep in mind that Paul is not celebrating
pain, suffering and death for their own sakes. Instead, Paul is taking Jesus’
words literally when Jesus said, “No servant is greater than his master. If
they persecuted me, they will persecute you also (Jn 15:20).” There is an
English idiom that says, “Imitation is the greatest form of flattery.” Paul is
simply imitating the example of his Master through his life and eventually his
death. It is important to understand what Paul is saying at the beginning of v.
10 when he says “I want to know Christ.” Paul intends something more than
academic knowledge of Christ even though it includes that sense of knowledge.
Instead, this is a relationship idiom. Paul’s desire is to be in relationship
with Christ at the deepest level; a depth that can only be fully realized in
the resurrected life. “Knowledge is a relationship term of intimacy. Paul
wanted the closest possible personal relationship with Christ, a relationship
pictured in baptism as buried to the old life of sin and raised to a new life
of righteousness. To know Christ in this way meant he was ready to share in
Christ’s sufferings, even if that meant sharing his death.”[4]
Paul recognized that there is a cost
involved in any meaningful relationship. The more important the relationship,
the greater the potential cost. If our relationship with Jesus is to be the
most important relationship in our lives than it shouldn’t come as a surprise
that it comes with the greatest cost. The struggles in our lives that result
from our relationship with Christ are part of the cost of that relationship
with the power to transform our lives. Also, every time we pay the price, our
relationship with Christ grows stronger. “The mystical union with Christ in his
sufferings and death…is but strengthened and deepened by any physical pain that
may be experienced because of faith in Christ. The hazards that Paul faced in
his apostolic work, the batterings he was subject to as a Christian, had the
potential for being ‘the concrete external means’ by which he could be
conformed to Christ’s death. Thus, the expression ‘conforming oneself to his
death’ can be enlarged to include ‘costly discipleship,’ the kind of suffering
expressed so poignantly by the apostle.”[5]
Application
When
Does A Loss Represent A Gain? Well a loss represents a gain if what we lose
is replaced by something more valuable. We are convinced that maintaining our
lifestyles is supremely valuable until God calls us to follow Him and change our
lifestyles to conform to something different, and then what we lose gives way
to something far greater. Meriam Ibrahim lost her family, her safety, her
freedom, and unless someone intervenes, she will lose her life because she has
deemed her relationship with Christ to be of greater value. Meriam Ibrahim is
imitating her Master in the same way that Paul imitated his Master and the same
way that countless others imitated and continue to imitate their Master when
they embrace the loss of their lives through pain, suffering and even death in
exchange for the gain of being in an eternal relationship with Jesus Christ.
As you know, one of my favorite
authors and pastors is Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran pastor in
Germany during the murderous reign of Hitler. He was part of Germany’s Confessing
Church that refused to be silent about Hitler’s attempted genocide of the Jewish
race and actively sought to remove Hitler from power by any means possible.
Bonhoeffer was arrested for his involvement in what was called The July 20 Plot
(aka “Operation Valkyrie”) that had as its ultimate goal the assassination of
Hitler. You can learn more about The July 20 Plot in a previous lesson titled
“The Cost Of Discipleship” at: http://seredinski.blogspot.com/2012/02/cost-of-discipleship.html.
During his time in prison prior to his execution, Bonhoeffer wrote many letters
to his friends and family memorializing his personal and theological thoughts. When Does A Loss Represent A Gain? I’ll
let Bonhoeffer answer that question with one of his poems:
“Stations
on the Road to Freedom”
by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
from Tegal prison…
Discipline
If you set out to
seek freedom, then learn above all things to govern your soul and your senses,
for fear that your passions and longings may lead you away from the path you
should follow.
Chaste be your mind and your body, and both in
subjection, obediently, steadfastly seeking the aim set before them;
only through discipline may a man learn to be
free.
Action
Daring to do
what is right, not what fancy may tell you,
valiantly grasping
occasions, not cravenly doubting—
freedom comes only
through deeds, not through thoughts taking wing.
Faint not nor fear,
but go out to the storm and the action,
trusting in God whose
commandment you faithfully follow;
freedom, exultant,
will welcome your spirit with joy.
Suffering
A change has
come indeed.
Your hands,
so strong and active, are bound; in helplessness now you see your action is
ended;
you sigh in
relief, your cause committing to stronger hands; so now you may rest contented.
Only for one
blissful moment could you draw near to touch freedom;
then, that
it might be perfected in glory, you gave it to God.
Death
Come now,
thou greatest of feasts on the journey to freedom eternal;
death, cast aside all
the burdensome chains, and demolish the walls of our temporal body, the walls of
our souls that are blinded,
so that at last we
may see that which here remains hidden.
Freedom, how long we
have sought thee in discipline, action, and suffering;
dying, we now may
behold thee revealed in the Lord.
When
Does A Loss Represent A Gain? Experiencing the much-anticipated time of
living in eternal relationship with the One who made our salvation possible.
That’s when the loss of even our lives will represent the greatest gain of all.
[1]
Gerald F. Hawthorne, Ralph P. Martin, and Daniel G. Reid, eds., Dictionary of Paul and his Letters,
(Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), p. 158.
[2]
Frederick William Danker, ed., A
Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature,
(Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 2000), p. 932.
[3]
Bruce Barton, Philip Comfort, Grant Osborne, Linda K. Taylor, Dave Veerman, Life Application New Testament Commentary,
(Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2001), p. 857.
[4]
Max Anders, Galatians, Ephesians,
Philippians & Colossians—Holman New Testament Commentary, (Nashville,
TN: B&H Publishing Group, 1999), p. 244.
[5]
Gerald F. Hawthorne and Ralph P. Martin, Philippians—Word
Biblical Commentary, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2004), pp. 199-200.
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