Rainbows, Unicorns, and Fairy Dust

“and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God” (Philippians 1:28).

What do rainbows, unicorns, and fairy dust all have in common? Easy. They have absolutely nothing to do with following Jesus. Zip. Zilch. Zero. Life doesn’t suddenly become a leisurely skip down the garden path once you place your trust in Christ. Far from it. The Bible makes it clear that believers are headed into battle. There’s an enemy and he’s nasty. While we’ve got a fight on our hands, we can take it to the bank that we’re going to win. As a matter of fact, Jesus made sure it was over before it started. Because of that, Paul tells us there’s no reason to freak out when we go face-to-face with our opponent. As a matter of fact, our lack of fear is a sign of three things. One, they will lose. Two, we are saved. Three, God is behind it all.

In the previous verses, the apostle encourages his friends back in Philippi live Gospel worthy lives by playing together as a team. A church must be “standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, striving side by side for the faith of the Gospel” (Phil 1:27). As teammates, we must play together. The enemy is NOT fellow believers. As Walt Kelly famously said in his comic strip Pogo, “We have met the enemy and he is us!” Can we be blunt for just a moment? Too often we spend all our energy fighting what we think are enemies inside the church when these folks are actually our teammates. We get hot and bothered about the music. We get worked up over how we do communion. We fly off the handle about what the pastor wears. Stop it! We are NOT the enemy! 

Our attacker loves it when we’re fighting in our own locker room before we take the field. In the movie “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” the bad guy gets the Avengers on the ropes by fooling them into fighting themselves. If you think Ultron is a bad mamma jamma, he’s little league compared Satan. He’s not known as the deceiver for nothing (Rev 12:9). The devil uses every trick in the book to get the followers of Jesus fighting each other. Jesus made it crystal clear to His posse that our enemy  “comes only to steal and kill and destroy” (Jn 10:10). Before we realize what’s happening, we’re so focused on music volume that we’ve lost sight of the lost and dying world right outside our front door. We are NOT the enemy!

Spoiler alert! If you read the end of the Book, Jesus wins. And because He wins, we win too! But that doesn’t mean the devil and gang of thugs aren’t scary. Paul tells the Philippians that we should stand strong and “not frightened in anything by your opponents” (v28). He uses a powerful Greek word here: pturo. It means to terrify, intimidate, and scare. The verb actually comes from a root word mean to spit. Our opponent is so intimidating that he’ll scare the spit out of you. Think of stepping into the octagon. You look across at your opponent. The dude outweighs you by 150 pounds. He’s a foot taller than you. You have every reason to freak out. Except for one. Jesus has already kicked his tail. That’s actually the lesson behind David’s one-on-one showdown with Goliath. It’s NOT that God helps who slay the giants in your life. The purpose of the passage is that the Son of David has whooped Satan, sin, and death once and for all. Don’t let him scare the spit out of you.

Remembering Christ wins the ultimate victory, we can stand confidently before anything the devil and demonic toadies sends our way. Paul tells us “this is a clear sign to them of their destruction” (v28). They are used to intimidating people and sending them scattering like scared bunny rabbits. But wait a minute. Something’s different with this crew. Why aren’t they shaking in their boots? Why aren’t they running in the opposite direction? We’re not terrified because of Who stands with us. We aren’t rattled because God didn’t give “us a spirit of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2Tim 1:7). When we don’t bail, it tells our enemies that the jig is up. It announces loud and proud that they won’t just lose but they’ll be wiped off the map. 

By placing our courage in Christ, we also demonstrate our “salvation” (v28). Once God makes us a member of His supernatural team, we share in His supernatural victory. And nothing can ever take that away from us. Jesus tells His boys that once we’re in His grip, nobody can ever rips us out. He doesn’t just save us for a few days. He saves us once and for all time. Using the team analogy once again, God doesn’t cut anybody from his roster. Once he gives a jersey, He never takes it away. 

Finally, our tenacity in the face of demonic opposition announces to the world exactly who’s behind our salvation. Our rescue is “from God” (v28). This is proof that our Hero has come to our rescue. We only win because of what He’s done on our behalf. We don’t save ourselves. We can’t. He does for us what we could never do on our own. Jesus lived the perfect life that I failed to live. He died the death on the cross for my sin that I should have died. He rose to a spectacular new life that I don’t deserve. He saved my bacon when I had zero chance of escape. 

Following Jesus isn’t a series of rainbows, unicorns, and fairy dust. It’s better than that. It’s an enemy who has lost the power of intimidation. His defeat is a lead pipe lock. It’s certain rescue from the Hero of the universe. You can keep your unicorns. I’ll take Jesus every single time.