How would you like to “make Paul’s Day”?    Paul laid out some conditions by which he could approach the “Day of Christ” with rejoicing…and they involve you and I (and the Philippians of course).

Let me explain…

In the second part of Philippians 2:16, Paul says, “…that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain.”   Paul wanted to make sure that all the work that he had done in sharing the gospel was not in vain…in other words, that he hadn’t wasted his time!

Sounds reasonable…wouldn’t we all want to say that! He had some very specific things in mind, that would help him approach the “Day of Christ” with rejoicing.  So what are these things?  The answer is found in Phil. 2:14-16…

“Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.”

I don’t know about you, but I would like to make the Day of Christ for Paul a day of rejoicing in which he feels like he hadn’t wasted his time! How?

Let’s break it down a bit…

“Do all things without complaining”…this is inner warfare and undoubtedly we all have been guilty of it. The KJV calls it “murmuring.”  Not necessarily voiced to anyone other than ourselves (and of course,God), but rather, just complaining to ourselves.  Just grumbling about things…

“…and disputing“…this is outer warfare.  Fighting with other people.  Perhaps you have seen how one can lead to the other.  Have you ever had a bad day and been “grumbling” within yourself…and then someone comes up and you take out your frustrations on them?  And they had nothing to do with what you were frustrated about!  No one can read Paul’s letters and not come away with the notion that the concept of Christians at “war” with each other as utterly foreign to a concept of godliness! Paul was horrified at the thought!

Paul said if we would do these two things – not grumble/complain AND not dispute with one another…we would be “blameless” (not in the theological/positional sense – that only comes through Christ), but in the “life-well-lived” sense.  Or, nothing negative to point out or as he goes on to say, “…without rebuke…”.

Such a life will have a tremendous impact on the culture around us…especially the type of culture thatPaul described in these verses (“crooked”, “perverse”).  Indeed, Paul says refusing to fight within(grumbling, complaining, murmuring…), and refusing to fight without (disputing, fighting, quarreling…),will make us stick out – to be “lights” in the midst of a dark generation.  Peter calls us to be a “peculiar”people (1 Peter 2:9).  Paul’s hope was that we would all be different than the world in these areas!

And then also, Paul says that to refuse to complain or dispute would be to “hold fast (or forth) the word of life.”  In what way?  Those who are not complaining or disputing are manifesting a trust in the Word of God and the God of the Word.  We are declaring that He and His promises are trustworthy.  Such trust will silence inward complaining (which is the antithesis of trusting/faith) and outward dispute (“I trust God to provide through His promises what you aren’t!” – see James 4:1-3).Let’s all “make Paul’s ‘Day'”…let’s cause him to rejoice that his labors were not in vain! Let’s make Paul(and the Lord!) HAPPY!  And just as an added benefit…I think we’ll be happier too!

Tracy Gray