Today on Wisdom For The Heart, Stephen Davey has an important challenge for us. It's easy to say, Lord, please show people your glory. Lord, please allow people to hear the gospel. Lord, please allow the truth of your word to be known. Please, Lord, let your grace be seen to others. It's another thing to say, Oh Lord, may your glory be seen in the way I live. May your grace be seen through my actions. May the truth of your gospel be heard through my lips. When the Apostle Paul was facing a terrible hardship, one of the things he prayed for was that God would be magnified in his life. There are other principles you're going to learn today as we examine one of the Apostle Paul's prayers.
This is Wisdom For The Heart, and Stephen Davey is working his way through a series entitled Moving Forward. Today, we're going to see what praying confidently looks like as we examine the example of the Apostle Paul in a message Stephen's calling, Pray For Me. If you're able, open your Bible to Philippians chapter one, as we get started with today's message from God's word. When we observe the Apostle Paul in Philippians chapter one, where I invite you to return with me, he declares his joy, and it is a deep sense of joy, which is all the more remarkable because, well, for one thing, there isn't any ship anchored off the island to rescue him. In fact, the believers in Rome, for the most part, have abandoned him. He might as well be on a deserted island.
There's no rescue party showing up after a sleepless night or two. In the words of one commentator, Paul is surrounded in a sea of troubles. He's shackled to a soldier, a Praetorian guard 24-7. He's confined to house arrest.
He's charged with fomenting civil unrest, which was a capital crime. Most of the believers in Rome had abandoned him assuming that he was under the judgment of God for even being incarcerated. He's awaiting his day in court, yet he remarkably says in verse 18, as you come to the end of it, which we looked at last Lord's Day, yes, and I will rejoice.
Remarkable. There's no ship in sight to rescue me, but yes, I will rejoice. Paul's decision to rejoice, whether he lived or died, wasn't some kind of irrational piety because apostles are supposed to talk like this. It was actually based on knowledge. In fact, let's move into verse 19 where he writes, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, this will turn out for my deliverance. For I know, you ought to underline that or circle it, I know.
Oida is the Greek word. It means to grasp with mental certainty. Not I hope so. I think so. I'm gonna bite my nails about this, but I'm hanging on. No, I know this is gonna turn out for my deliverance. Most commentators, by the way, as I studied and researched what they thought or read themselves on the subject, many of them believe that Paul was actually quoting Job's reply to Zophar, one of his counselors, as Job delivers that incredible statement of trust, though he slay me, though God slay me, yet while I trust him, this will turn out for my deliverance, Job 13. Now the question that immediately comes to your mind as a Bible student is, what's Paul actually thinking about here when he says that he's absolutely convinced he's gonna be delivered? Is he hoping for some rescue party to come and have one of those baskets down the wall kinds of events again?
Is he expecting an angel perhaps to come and start moving that little house around and his shackles fall off and he can walk past the sleeping guard? Is he referring to being vindicated in court? Is he talking about having his testimony delivered in the sense that the leaders in Rome will understand he's not being incarcerated because of God's judgment? From the way Paul clarifies it in this paragraph about living or dying, it seems best to understand Paul's idea of deliverance as either being delivered in court by means of an innocent verdict or a verdict of innocence, which allows him to live, or being delivered by death into the presence of Christ. As if to say whether I live to see the light of day again as a free man or end up being executed, I consider either one of these conclusions my deliverance and I'm gonna trust God for whichever comes and in that I can rejoice.
One way or another, life or death, they will mean deliverance for me. Now you get to the end of that, if that's where we stop, we could come up with this amazing testimony of Paul, the great man of confidence and all of us wish we were more like him and he just sort of leaves us in the dust. I mean if there is a testimony of the epitome of a confident Christian, here it is. No wonder he's the apostle and we're not.
Well not so fast. Sometimes it helps to just keep reading. While Paul is convinced of his ultimate deliverance, he's actually not sure how he's gonna behave in the meantime. So he's gonna reveal now two things that he's absolutely dependent upon which by the way are the same two things that you and I have upon which we can depend or should as we're on our deserted island where we discover the truth of Charles Spurgeon's words 150 years ago that we really are at our spiritual best when we're shipwrecked on the island of God's sovereignty.
What are these two critical things that we learn to appreciate more than ever when isolated or feeling deserted? Well the first thing Paul is depending on is the prayers of the saints. Look at verse 19 again. For I know that through your prayers, the end of the verse, this will turn out for my deliverance. In other words, I can't rejoice unless I know you are praying for me. I love the fact that Paul was never too big to ask for prayer. He was never so confident, you know as an apostle ought to be, never so confident that he didn't fully realize he was actually helpless without the help of God and he says, would you pray to that end for me? In fact throughout his letters, you find this theme where he's begging other believers to pray. To the Thessalonians he writes, pray for us. First Thessalonians 5 25. In second Thessalonians 3 he says, brethren he writes, pray for us that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored and that we may be delivered. Second Thessalonians 3 1 and 2. He writes to the Corinthian church, you also must help us by prayer so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many. Second Corinthians 1 verse 11. He wrote to the Roman believers, I appeal to you. I beg you brothers and sisters, strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf.
In other words, I know I'm going to be delivered either by life or death, but I need help along the way through your prayers. Here's the balance of Paul's confidence. Like John MacArthur writes in his commentary, Paul believed in the limitless sovereignty of God and he had total confidence that God's purposes would be carried out. But he also knew that God's sovereign plan incorporated the prayers of his people in the mystery of God's providence. His plans and our prayers co-labor in fulfilling his purposes. And I can tell you, having known the Lord now for several decades, that is still as much a mystery to me today as it was 30 years ago. But if you've noticed in your study of the word, God's word never hints that we don't need to pray because God's just going to do it.
In fact, the opposite is true. Paul will tell the same group of believers later on in Philippians chapter 4, pray about everything, in everything, by prayer and supplication let your requests be made known to God. The truth is the Lord emphasizes our praying much more than we apply and our prayers are much more significant than we could ever begin to understand.
But I'll tell you what we do understand. We do understand what it means when someone comes to us and says, I am praying for you. We unfortunately assume the stronger someone is in Christ, the less they're going to need the prayers of other believers. Here's Paul saying, you've got to pray for me.
Aren't you glad he did? Here Paul, who is confident in his ultimate deliverance as God unfolds for him his purposes, in the meantime tells these Philippian believers he must have their prayer support on his behalf. Secondly, Paul not only depends upon their prayers, the prayers of the saints, but also on the provision of the Spirit. Notice again, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, this will turn out for my deliverance. The word here used by Paul translated help, the help of the Spirit is from a word that can be rendered supply or full provision.
In other words, it describes that generous, sufficient, bountiful resource of the Spirit of God. Paul has every reason, by the way, to be concerned about what he's going to say when he stands before the imperial court. That is no doubt troubling his mind. He begs for them to pray for him and specifically that the Spirit will supply him. He's probably thinking, we're not sure, but he more than likely is thinking back to that promise of Jesus that he made in Matthew's gospel in chapter 10, where he said, you're going to be dragged before governors and kings, for my sake, to bear witness for me. And when they deliver you over, don't be anxious how you're going to speak or what you're to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speaks, but the Spirit speaking through you. Matthew 10, 18 to 20. Paul is absolutely confident in the purposes of God being fulfilled.
He's just not that confident in how well he'll do when he's called to stand and speak. So he states with utter and open transparency, he's depending on the prayers of his friends, and he's depending on the prayer or the supply of the Holy Spirit. Now if you've been with us, you remember perhaps back in chapter one in verses nine to 11 that Paul prayed for the Philippians and that wonderful list of things that he prayed for. Now he is about to hand over to them his personal prayer requests.
And there are three of them I'm going to point out. Let me give you the principled statement first if you're taking any kind of outline. He prays first, pray that I will mind what matters most. Notice the first phrase of verse 20. As it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed. In other words, I really want you to pray that I'll not let you down. I don't want to let you down. I don't want to let the Lord down. I don't want to let the church down. I don't want to let the gospel down. Pray that I'll not be ashamed. The world's going to watch me. Caesar himself may perhaps hear from me.
I don't want to miss at the moment what matters most. Paul now gives the Philippian believers another prayer request. Pray that I will model courage where it counts. Look at verse 20 again. That I will not be at all ashamed but with full courage now as always. So Paul isn't as concerned about the courtroom as he is about his character.
In other words, pray that I'll be true no matter what the verdict is. It's easy for us to forget, isn't it? But Paul is actually on the tight rope of life and death.
We'll look at it more in our next study. This was serious. There are brothers and sisters of ours in the Lord around the world today paying that price. There are more people martyred in the last century than any other century in church history paying the price for trusting Christ. Paul says, I don't want to be ashamed. Pray that I'll be, I'll have courage. What does that imply?
He's not feeling very courageous. I've often thumbed through the pages of a book published by the Voice of the Martyrs organization. It's an attempt to update Fox's Book of Martyrs which was published originally in 1563. There's a new publication in about 2004, 2005 where they've put a lot of new testimonials from around the world of those who paid the price.
For instance, this updated version includes a note smuggled out of Romania while it was under a communist regime just a decade or so ago. It reads this, we do not pray to be better Christians but that we may be the only kind of Christian God meant us to be. Faithful. Paul is effectively writing to the Philippians, pray for me that I'll be the only kind of Christian there really ought to be.
Faithful. Let me point out as well, Paul's word here for courage can be understood as bold speech. It gives a little nuance to it when you understand it could be translated forthrightness or forthrightness in speech. In other words, he's not praying for the courage to just take it on the chin. He's actually praying for the kind of courage that ultimately publicly verbally identifies with the gospel. The same kind of temptation perhaps that you're wrestling with now more than ever.
You know, the kind of pressure that wants to sort of tempt you to be quiet or you might cause trouble. In this updated book of martyrs, it also included the recent testimony of Chet Bitterman, a Wycliffe Bible translator. He was abducted in Bogota, Columbia and his abductors, his soldiers demanded a ransom and they also demanded that Wycliffe exit every missionary from the country. Of course, Wycliffe refused both as evangelical missionary organizations that I know of do the same.
They refused to pay ransoms or bribes because that would put every missionary at risk immediately. So they refused. Chet was able to get out a letter to his wife who was in the States and he wrote about the potential ministry he might have among these soldiers. God was buoying his spirit with courage as people prayed for him.
And he added this. He said, remember Paul and the Praetorian Guard in Philippians 1. Maybe God will give me the same opportunity with these soldiers who are guarding me. We're not sure of any of the details. All we do know is that after 48 days, his life was ended by a single bullet. Heaven alone has recorded the impact of his testimony. But Wycliffe received an unbelievable amount of requests of potential missionaries following his death.
Not long ago, according to information smuggled out of North Korea, a country brutally persecuting Christians which our media shuts down. Several families were herded together and their children taken from them to be hung unless the parents recanted of their belief in Jesus Christ and the parents refused to deny Christ and as their children were hung, these adults gathered quietly through tears and anguish, sang the hymn text, more love O Christ to thee, more love to thee. So you get that kind of courage when it happens. Paul is saying, I think it's going to happen. So would you pray that when that happens, I will have that kind of courage. That I won't be ashamed. That I'll be bold so that Christ will be honored in my body. By the way, that last part of verse 20 provides one last prayer request. Notice this third. He's saying, pray that I will magnify my master with all my might. Did you catch the request? That Christ will be honored in my body.
I want you to watch this. Paul isn't just praying that Christ will be honored. Paul knows that Christ one day will be. In fact, all of human history will acknowledge by bending on their knee that he is indeed sovereign Lord. You really don't even need to pray about that.
That's going to happen. Paul knows it's going to happen. Paul isn't just saying, oh, pray that Christ will be honored. He wants them, notice carefully again by looking, that Christ will be honored in him. It's easy to say, Lord, please show people your glory. Lord, please allow people to hear the gospel. Lord, please allow the truth of your word to be known. Please, Lord, let your grace be seen to others. It's another thing to say, oh Lord, may your glory be seen in the way I live. May your grace be seen through my actions. May the truth of your gospel be heard through my lips.
That's another thing entirely. Jesus Christ will be exalted one day. Paul's saying, I want Jesus Christ to be exalted today in my body.
Again, he's not so concerned with the verdict of his trial as much as he was the value of his testimony. In the public arena, I want people to see Christ honored in my life. Let me take this a bit further.
Paul says here, pray that Christ will be honored. You could render that word magnified. It's from the word megaluno, which means to make bigger, to make large. We call it supersizing something, right?
What does that mean? How can we little human beings make Jesus larger? Warren Wiersbe provoked my thoughts along this way in a helpful illustration. He said, you know, the stars and the planets out there are actually very large. But to our naked eye, they're very tiny, the little dots in the sky.
Many of them, however, make earth look like a marble. However, if you take a telescope, a little telescope, and you train it toward one of those objects, you bring them closer as it were to you as they're magnified. Warren Wiersbe writes this, to the average person, Jesus Christ is a misty figure, a far off figure who lived centuries ago. But as they watch your life and mine, we act as a telescope. We're bringing Jesus Christ closer in real life to them.
That's what Paul is saying. He's effectively saying, I want my actions and my character to reveal, to bring closer to people Jesus, my master. I want to make my master larger, as it were, more magnificent in what people see demonstrated through my life. I want to make much of my master with all my might. This isn't going to be an easy life, but it'll be right.
It might require a great sacrifice and effort, but it will be possible. So we're choosing to live our lives not on the basis of that, which is easy, but what God has determined to be right. And for each of us, that is going to look a little different here and there, not talking about doctrine, I'm talking about application or practice. He chooses each one of us and we're all a little different kind of telescope.
We're all a little different kind of microscope or magnifying glass. And he's going to magnify through us uniquely his character to those who see him through us. The best way to do that, Paul is saying, is to focus on what matters, to model boldness, to make much of Jesus Christ. So don't forget it means to admit here with the great apostle, I'm going to have to depend on the Holy Spirit and then, and this is where he started in our study, I'm going to need your prayers on my behalf. It's never been easy to live for the Lord. It's never been easy to testify of him. There are some cultures where it's more difficult, but I've never met a Christian who said, you know, the wonderful thing about Christianity is it's just so easy. It's just so easy to live for.
Simple. Rose petals are strewn along my path. It's one glorious, cheerful day after another. I smiled as I read recently this interesting article. A researcher had spent a lot of time excavating or reading and studying excavated documents that track back to the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries BC. So three or four hundred years before the birth of Jesus Christ.
I was intrigued with what they were wrestling with back then and he categorized everything into five forms. These are things that people really struggle with in general. He's not talking about the church, he's talking about life in general. Number one, people struggle with the imminent outbreak of international hostility. Number two, the weakening of marriages and the breakup of homes. Number three, the rebellion of young people and their lack of respect for their parents, like my brothers. Number four, the corruption of politics.
And number five, love this one, holes in the public roads. Some things never change, do they? Frankly, it's never been easy to live, much less live for Christ. For the believer, the battle never lets up. So take it from this aging apostle, a man who tutored the church, but at the same time honestly and openly and transparently said, I need you to pray for me. And like never before, I need to depend on the Holy Spirit.
I can't do it without him and I can't do it without you. And pray when you pray for me this. And by the way, this clarifies our own prayer requests.
It isn't for our aches and pains and these things that are trivial and passing. Pray this, pray that we will mind what matters most. Pray that we will model courage. Pray that we will magnify Jesus Christ. Pray that. The choir sang earlier a wonderful arrangement. The words are sent to me in a manuscript in the weekend and I thought these words perfectly summed up some of the study today. So let me close by reading them again.
You can pack your things away. There are moments on our journey following the Lord when God illumines every step we take. There are times when circumstances make perfect sense to us as we try to understand each move he makes. But when the path grows dim and our questions have no answers, turn to him and bow the knee. Bow the knee. Trust the heart of your Father when the answer goes beyond what you can see.
Bow the knee. Lift your eyes toward heaven and believe the one who holds eternity. When you don't understand the purpose of his plan, in the presence of your King, bow the knee. There are days when clouds surround us, the rain begins to fall and the cold and lonely winds won't cease to blow and there seems to be no reason for the suffering we feel.
We're tempted to believe God doesn't know. When the storms arise, don't forget we live by faith and not by sight. Bow the knee. Trust the heart of your Father when the answer goes beyond what you can see. Bow the knee. Lift your eyes toward heaven and believe the one who holds eternity. When you don't understand the purpose of his plan, in the presence of your King, bow the knee. In the presence of your King, bow the knee.
That was Stephen Davey and this is Wisdom for the Heart. Today's message is called Pray for Me. The song at the end entitled Bow the Knee is a powerful way to conclude this message and I hope those lyrics as well as this entire message has been a blessing to you today. If you have a request you'd like to share with us, you can know that we will pray for you by name. Visit wisdomonline.org forward slash prayer. There's a form on that page that you can use to send us your prayer request, today or any day. Once again, the address you're looking for is wisdomonline.org forward slash prayer. You can call us today at 866-48-BIBLE or you can send an email to info at wisdomonline.org. I hope we hear from you. Our number again is 866-48-BIBLE or 866-482-4253. Call us today then tune in next time for more wisdom for the heart.
