PAUL WROTE THE LAST of his epistles from prison, not in response to some crisis in a church—as the other three prison letters had been—but instead in a reflective and thankful look back over his years of ministry. It is a letter of calm reflection and deep encouragement. “Therefore, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life.” (Phil. 2:12-16)
The church at Philippi was one of Paul’s favorites, and also was one that deeply cared for Paul, and which had looked after Paul’s needs. They sent emotional support in the form of friends to visit him, as well as the money he needed to sustain him under the conditions of privation that were the norm in Roman prisons. The mood throughout the letter is pensive, but devoid of melancholy. A reader is drawn to the conclusion that Paul desired to impart, as a legacy to others, only and specifically the most important of life’s lessons.
Just preceding, Paul lauded the humility of Christ Jesus. His obedience to death on the cross was righteously and rightfully honored by God, who “exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil. 2:9-11) God’s perfect will demanded much of Jesus—his perfect sacrifice. That same thing, Paul believed, was true for those who would follow him, hence the foundational and cautionary ‘fear and trembling’ statement. In such a light as the enormity of eternity exposing the glory of God in us— ‘you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life’ —Paul then pointedly set the importance of each individual’s actions in life: ‘Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault.’
Each of us will arrive at our inevitable voyage waypoint called ‘death.’ In oblique deference to the quote from the trial of Socrates, “The unexamined life is not worth living,” what legacy will we leave behind? What is there that is authentic about my life or yours that might give any weight to our desire to impart some great gift of wisdom to our heirs? Paul would certainly agree with poem of English missionary C. T. Studd: “Only one life, ’twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.”
Paul left a legacy, and that legacy is found in his thirteen letters included in the New Testament. In this, the last, his personal truth statements are worthy of our consideration: “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.” (Phil. 3:7); “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.” (Phil. 3:10-11); “I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” (Phil. 3:12); and, “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.” (Phil. 4:11). In this letter, which we might consider as his last will and testament, Paul bequeaths to all his spiritual children this inheritance: “My God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 4:19)
Father, thank you for Jesus, and thank you for all who have served him from the earliest times of his church up to today, and those who will serve in times to come. May we all live and leave an authentic testimony of life as a legacy.
Q. What will my legacy be?
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