For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, having the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear is in me.
— Philippians 1:29-30
Many, instead of struggling alongside the faith of the gospel, are “head counters” when it comes to the gospel, asking visitors in the meetings to stand if they wish to pray. Such an understanding cheats us. The gospel is always advancing. We need to struggle to stay up with it. The gospel is advancing, but are we struggling to advance together with it? If we struggle alongside the faith of the gospel, we will advance with it as it advances.
The saints in Philippi were even willing to participate in the same struggle that was in the apostle on behalf of Christ (1:29-30). He was in bonds and thus was limited, but the saints were willing and desirous to carry forward the apostle’s struggle for the Lord’s testimony. How encouraging this was to the apostle. Eventually his feeling was that the boasting of the saints would abound in Christ Jesus through his coming again to them (1:26).
Adapted from Oneness and the One Accord, page 62.
Tomorrow: “Standing with the Apostle for the Gospel (5)”
