One Thing You Can't Do in Heaven

Well hey there friends!! It feels SO good to be back blogging on Fearless--we took a much needed break but are really excited about this series we are doing with y'all!


I am so glad I get to go through this part of the scripture with y'all. Out of the whole book of Philippians these 10 verses might just be my favorite!! I have broken the verses up into chunks to make it a little easier to follow.


Let's jump on in....



²⁰ I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. 

Just like Savannah talked about on Wednesday, Paul was unashamed and fearless when it came to presenting the gospel and spreading the name of Jesus. He knew he had to do it. We are all here to make known the name of Jesus and it is our duty to proclaim our faith fearlessly and with courage. This doesn't just mean leading good lives it means interacting and making meaningful, authentic relationships with people in hopes that they will see Christ in us. 

²¹ For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. ²² If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! ²³ I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; ²⁴ but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. ²⁵ Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, ²⁶ so that through my being with you again your boasting in Christ Jesus will abound on account of me.

This is the part I love the most. I have read Philippians tons of times but when I sat down to work on this post I had a new insight to these verses. A few weeks ago in student ministry at Athens Church we did a series called "One Thing you can't do in Heaven" and the whole idea behind the series was that there is only one thing that we KNOW we can't do in heaven--and that's tell people about Jesus. Obviously if they're in heaven then they accepted Jesus into their hearts and believed that He died for our sins.. sooo there's not really too much we can tell them. But on Earth there are SO many people that have NEVER heard about Jesus and our job is to tell them about him. When I was in Nicaragua we met a lot of people that literally had NO clue who Jesus was or what He was about. Sometimes in life we are faced with heartache and it would be much easier if we weren't on Earth to deal with stuff like that and were hanging out with Jesus in heaven but it is more necessary for us to be here and  tell people who Jesus is. Paul knew that the people of Philippi needed him there to help encourage them to pursue relationships with Jesus. 

²⁷ Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit,^[a] striving together as one for the faith of the gospel ²⁸ without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved—and that by God. ²⁹ For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him, ³⁰ since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.

Isn't it easy to put on a good front in front of "church people" but then do whatever we want when we know they're not looking? That is what Paul warned the people of Philippi about. He wanted them to be so firm in their faith that whether he was there or not they would conduct themselves in a manner that glorified the gospel. We really need to remember the big picture here. It's not all about being good or doing the right thing, it's about glorifying God with our actions, or words, and our relationships.

I think there are so many valuable lessons to be learned by studing the book of Philippians! I really hope y'all like where this is going and will stick around and learn with us!

We are by NO MEANS experts on the bible, just 20-something year olds that LOVE Jesus and want to tell everyone how He has impacted our lives.
Let us know what you think about this series in the comments section. Is there any particular book of the bible you want us to do next? Any ideas on a new series you think we should do? We would LOVE to hear what our readers want, because after all we are here for YOU!