Passing the Test

Passing the Test

Philippians 1:18-26

            “Here is a test to find whether your mission on earth is finished:  if you are alive, it isn’t.”

            Some of you may remember Richard Bach as the author of popular books from the 1970’s including Jonathan Livingston Seagull, and Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah.  He is also the author of the above quote.

            Soldiers in the Roman army understood when they went into battle that they were to come home carrying their shield or on it.  There was no third choice.  They had taken an oath to Caesar.  They were committed to fight for him and for Rome.  If they were Roman soldiers they had to be all in.  It was an all or nothing career.

            Few of us have a career that is that demanding.  We may work in a profession such as law, medicine, education, or engineering.  We may work for a large corporation or a small business.  We may work in retail or wholesale.  We may be government employees, or self-employed.  Under normal circumstances none of these careers demand that we give our all.  Even if our work demands that we are all in, that phrase means less than it did to a Roman soldier.

            In the first century no person was more committed to his work than the apostle Paul.  As a Pharisee he was an untiring persecutor of those who had chosen to follow Jesus Christ.  We read in Acts 9:1 that he left Jerusalem for Damascus “breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord.”  He was all in, doing everything possible to eradicate what he saw as a scourge on Judaism.

            On that Damascus Road he encountered the risen Christ in a vision so powerful that it changed the direction of his life; but it didn’t change his fervor.  The man who had been all in to punish Christians now became one.  And what an advocate for Christianity!  He spent the rest of his life traveling the roads to many cities in far-flung countries, spreading the gospel.

            When he wasn’t traveling, and preaching, and suffering the slings and arrows of those aligned against him, he was writing.  His letters became the first writings to be part of the canon of Scripture we call the New Testament.  We may not agree with everything Paul wrote, but much of the theology that makes the Christian church what it is comes from his hand.

            Near the beginning of Paul’s letter to the Philippians he talks about his career—his “mission on earth” to use Richard Bach’s words.  Paul says he would like nothing better than to be united with God in the eternity God has planned for him.  He says, “For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain.”  He anticipates the wonder, the fulfillment of being united with Christ.  Yet he knows he still has work to do here. 

            Of course, we know it isn’t Paul’s decision.  He will live until his time comes to die.  He sees the necessity of remaining here to minister to the churches he started and to others who look to him for guidance: “But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.”

            Here is where he echoes Bach: “If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me.”  He knows that as long as he remains on earth he has work to do.  His mission isn’t over.  Indeed, right up to the end, while he was imprisoned in Rome, he continued his ministry:  witnessing, writing, encouraging, challenging.

            “Here is a test to find whether your mission on earth is finished:  if you are alive, it isn’t.”

            Paul passed his test.  Will you pass yours?