Fear is a powerful emotion that can suck the joy and the beauty out of this life. There are many things that can cause us to live in fear.

For some of us it’s the fear of death that consumes our hearts. For others it’s the loss of freedom that scares us. Some of us are afraid of being embarrassed or being rejected. We fear the thought of being alone. We fear for our health. We fear losing our friends and family to some kind of physical disease. We fear the loss of income.

When we begin to follow Jesus, we hear that “we have not been given the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but that we have been given the Spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry, ‘Abba Father’” (Rom. 8:15). Likewise, we learn that “God has given us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Tim. 1:7). So why do we still have to fight against our fears? Why do we fear the economy crashing? Why do we fear death? Why do we fear loss?

At the end of the day we are creatures of habit and when the habitual rhythms of our lives are threatened, we feel afraid. This is a normal human emotion. Sadly, most of us are afraid to face our fears; we struggle to find the confidence that we need to move out of the shadows of fear and into the light of lasting confidence. Oftentimes, the popular self-help books teach us to dig way down deep inside of ourselves to find the confidence that we need to face our fears. On the other hand, we are often taught to change our circumstances to alleviate the fear that we feel.

The problem with many of these approaches to dealing with fear is that they typically rely heavily on our human ability to pull up our bootstraps and do something about the circumstances of our lives. Don’t hear me wrong, humans are capable of pulling off some really amazing things but at the end of the day I will never be able to manage my fears by mustering up my human bravado or by changing my momentary circumstances. As soon as I muster up the human bravado inside of me a bigger fear looms on the horizon. As soon as I change my circumstances to alleviate my fear, I will find myself facing a new circumstance that I cannot change or control.

Fear is something that originates from deep within me in response to or reaction to something outside of me. If I am going to face my fears with any kind of lasting confidence, then I need something lasting to place my trust and my hope in. The book of Philippians is a great case study for what it looks like to lay hold of lasting confidence in the midst of fearful circumstances. It is a book that exudes the fruit of joy overflowing out of the heart of a confident author. Listen to what Paul says in Philippians 1:18 – 26:

18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice, 19 for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, 20 as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. 24 But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.

These verses have a deeply personal ring to them. The depth of the longing and the exuberance of joy overflows from Paul’s pastoral heart. If the heart is the heart of the issue and if our reactions prove what’s happening deep down inside of our hearts, then it’s easy to see that Paul’s heart is not controlled by fear; he’s not living in fear because of his circumstances (in chains for preaching the gospel) or the problems he will begin to address in the Philippian church.

Paul is not afraid to address the self-centeredness or the pride or the complaining or the arguing or the disagreements or the division in the Philippian church because he is confident that as the Philippians put on the mind of Christ and focus on their own salvation in Christ and stand firm in the joy of Christ, that, Christ who is all and is in all, will reign supreme (Phil. 2:3-8, 12 – 15; 4:1 – 7; Eph. 1:22 – 23; Col. 3:11).

In short, the apostle Paul will live every breathe of his life in complete freedom from fear; true freedom that is not infected with the entitlement that is running rampant in our world right now. He will live in true freedom because his confidence is in the crucified, resurrected and returning Christ. What does this mean for us? What can we be confident of that will help us to remain steady and immoveable as we face our fears? What sure and steadfast anchors can we hook our hearts to so that our souls will remain full of joy?

#1: WE CAN BE CONFIDENT IN A FINAL VINDICATION (VV. 18 – 20)

Paul says “What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.” We can be confident in a final vindication.

Paul is not afraid of those who preach Christ out of rivalry or selfish ambition or insincerity. He is confident that if Christ is named then Christ will be known. His joy is attached to his confidence in the name of Christ. He knows that the prayers of the saints enabled by the Spirit of Christ will strengthen him in this moment so that he may endure until he is finally delivered from this body of death (Rom. 7:24 – 25). His expectation is not that his captors will finally admit that he is right. He is not concerned with governing officials proclaiming his essential or non-essential status. He doesn’t need them to vindicate him publicly. He knows whose he is and therefore he knows who he is.

Paul’s expectations and hope are resting in the Lord for his final vindication. He knows that Christ has delivered him eternally and that his momentary circumstances (the chains, the restrictions, the limitations, the problems) he is experiencing will not dictate his eternal identity or destiny. He will not be ashamed or let down because he knows, he expects, he finds courage in the truth that Christ will deliver him, and that Christ will be made famous through him whether he lives another day or dies tonight. This leads us to the next thing we can be confident in…

#2: WE CAN BE CONFIDENT IN LIFE OR IN DEATH (VV. 21 – 24)

Life has a funny way of throwing hard fearful circumstances at us. One of the most fearful circumstances is death. Death comes for everyone. Death is no respecter of persons. You don’t know when death will knock on your door and when it does you cannot escape it unless the Lord says it’s not your time. Likewise, life can be scary. For some people the thought of death seems like a sweet release from all of the sin and all of the pain and all of the suffering of this life.

How are we to live with resolute confidence in the face of fearing either life or death? Paul is writing this letter from jail and he knows that death could come knocking on his door at any moment. And yet, he does not live in fear of death. Paul has also experienced the suffering of this life; he knows that life can be excruciatingly painful and scary (2 Cor. 11; Gal. 6:17). But Paul is not living in fear of life’s circumstances either.

Paul lives in complete confidence as he wrestles openly with the prospect of either dying today or living another day when he utters these famous words: “for to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.” Paul is confident at the prospect of either life or death; both are ideal because both are full of the benefits of Christ.

One author, whose basic outline I have adopted here, reminded me that when Paul says “For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain” he is not sounding the trumpet of the triumphant sentimentality of a trouble-free life but he is instead sounding the horn of the joyous embrace of the burdens of the cross of Christ (Hughes 2013: 59). The Scriptures teach us that “for the joy set before Him [Jesus] endured the cross, despising the shame, and is [now] seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2).

We can be confident in life or in death because we have anchored our souls to the reality that being present in this life is to be the fruitful reflection of Christ to others. Likewise, to be absent from this life is to be present in the perfection of Christ in Heaven. Neither the pain of this life nor the physical loss experienced in death can separate us from the love of the Father in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:38 – 39).

This truth of our eternal union with Christ, points us away from our present circumstances and focusses our hearts on our eternal future. We must always interpret our immediate circumstances in light of our future hope. This brings us to our last reason for being confident…

#3: WE CAN BE CONFIDENT IN A FUTURE REUNION (VV. 25 – 26)

In these final verses, Paul says, “Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.” Paul is confidently convinced that the Lord is going to preserve his life on this earth a little bit longer. He obviously doesn’t know beyond a shadow of a doubt and he’s already confessed that his deepest desire is to be in Heaven in the perfect presence of Jesus (v.23).

But despite Paul’s inability to fully know the immediate future and despite his deep desire to be in Heaven, he has a deeper conviction that gives him great confidence. This deeper conviction is that if he is alive then his presence will benefit the Philippians. In other words, Paul is modeling what it looks like to lay aside his own desires for the benefit of others. Paul looks forward to a future reunion with his beloved Philippian friends and it brings him great joy even if their reunion is in Heaven. The truth of their mutual union with Christ solidifies a confident joy in the present.

CONCLUSION…

In conclusion we always ask why does this matter? Why does it matter that we can be confident? Why does it matter that we can find confidence in a final vindication? Why does it matter that we can find confidence in either life or death? Why does it matter that we can find confidence in a future reunion?

I think that these truths matter because they are like anchors for our souls when facing the fears of this life. What do you fear the most? Do you fear the loss of life? The loss of freedom? The loss of your livelihood? Do you fear the loss of control or loss of power? Do you fear being alone or being rejected? Do you fear looking like a fool or being wrong? Are you afraid of facing your own fears?

At the end of the day we can admit together that we do struggle with fear at varying levels. But we can also hold on tight to the truth that if Christ is at the center of our lives then we can remain confident that whether we live on until tomorrow or we die in the next moment, if we are in Christ and Christ is in us then we have the hope of a future reunion in Heaven.

This world is not all there is to life. The Corona Virus is small when compared to eternity. Being an American is not all there is to life. Being married, having children, having friends, having money, enjoying the pleasure of sex, eating great food in public, is not all there is to life because as Paul says, “To live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21).

To live is to cling to the hope of the great love that our Father has for us in the cross of Christ and to die is to walk into the sweet presence of everlasting love in Heaven. Knowing this…What do we have to fear my friends?