The Holy Martyrs Sergius and Bacchus (293-305)
Philippians 1:12-20; Luke 5:33-39
Read Philippians 1:12-20
We encounter an amazing and inspiring commitment by St. Paul to preach the Gospel at all times. He gave his whole life to the furtherance of the Gospel no matter the circumstance even if he found himself in chains and prison—the letter to the Philippians is one of these prison epistles. In his suffering, he finds an opportunity to witness and preach to a group of people who were inaccessible to him and who normally paid no attention to the preaching of the Gospel. Not only was he able to preach with the word, but now his suffering for Christ amplifies his preaching much more. The suffering and discomfort that he experienced helped others to learn about Christ, so he rejoices in this: ‘Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice.’ (Phil 4:4).
Real joy, the kind that not even suffering can overcome, only comes to us as a Heavenly gift by the Spirit of Jesus Christ. St. Paul models that the path of growth in heavenly joy is walked by our continual growth of love for Christ. That we ought to do everything for the Glory of God, for the Love of Christ and for the building up and furtherance of his Gospel. Every Christian can ask these three simple questions: 1. Does what I’m doing give Glory to God? 2. Can I do it out of love for Christ? 3. Does it further the Gospel? The more we can answer ‘Yes’ the better.