Conduct of the church, Philippians 1:27- 30

Jesus said in Mat 5:13 "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.”  The church is supposed to be the salt, the preservative, against the corruption that is in the world.  But instead, the modern church has become so much like the culture, we have accepted so much of the world’s corruption into the church, that we are no longer salty.  We are just part of the corruption.  It has infiltrated the church. 

And I believe that’s because the modern church, for the most part, have stopped calling sin, sin. They have stopped preaching repentance from sin.  Their love has grown cold.  They have lost their saltiness.  They are no longer the light to a dark world.  The light has gone out in the church in America. There is no more a distinction between how the world lives and how Christians live. 

Jesus warned the seven churches in Revelation that if they did not repent and do the works that they did at first, He would remove their lampstand out of their place.  One of those churches was the church at Ephesus.  The very church Timothy was the pastor of.  And sure enough, a few years later Timothy was martyred, and within another century the church at Ephesus was history.

I believe the church in America has lost it’s saltiness.  And it is about ready to be thrown out and trampled under foot.  If something doesn’t change, God is going to remove our lampstand.  We didn’t exist 300 years ago, and we won’t be here much longer if we continue down this path.  We have lost our way, we have strayed from the truth.  We have replaced the absolute authority of God’s word and sound doctrine with a watered down secular relativism that has damned the church and robbed our country of it’s moral compass.

The Old Testament counterpart to the church is the nation of Israel.  There are many parallels between Old Testament Israel and the church.  They were the nation of God, we are the kingdom of God.  They were God’s chosen people, we are chosen to become sons and daughters of God.  In the OT temple, the Spirit of God dwelled in the Holy of Holies.  In the NT Temple, the Spirit of Christ dwells in us, that we might be holy.  In the OT, the priests offered gifts and sacrifices in the temple, in the NT we are priests, our bodies the temple of God, offering ourselves as living sacrifices to God.

But when the nation of Israel turned back to pagan gods and pagan practices, God sent prophet after prophet to warn them to turn back to God.  Instead, they hardened their hearts. God called them a stiff necked people and warned them that if they did not repent that he would send a nation to war against them and take away their lands, slaughter their armies, and take them into captivity.  Eventually that happened.  And though the judgment of God seems severe, God said it was actually for their salvation, that a remnant might be saved.  That they might turn back to the worship of the one true God and keep his commandments. By the time Christ appeared on the scene, there were only two tribes, Benjamin and Judah, left out of the original 12.  And even then most of them rejected their Messiah and so the gospel was given to the Gentiles.

Now 2000 years later I believe that today the church is in a similar place as the nation of Israel was in the days of the minor prophets.  The false prophets are going around proclaiming peace and safety and prosperity for the children of God.  That nothing bad is going to happen, that God doesn’t really care about sin and God has nothing but blessings in store for us.  And the few prophets that are warning of God’s impending judgment, are ridiculed and scorned, and our message is rejected.  People don’t want to hear the truth, and they certainly don’t want to repent from all the lusts of the flesh that they enjoy in the world.  But I believe the church today is living in the last days, and like Lot living in the midst of Sodom and Gomorra God’s judgment is imminent.  And the Bible teaches that judgment will begin with the house of God.

Now as Paul writes to the church in Philippi it is important to understand the similarities between the Roman Empire of Paul’s day and our present day.  Philippi was a Roman colony in Northern Greece.  It operated as a microcosm of Roman culture and society.  They worshipped many gods.  They were immoral.  They had every immoral sin in practice that we have today.  The citizens had come to depend upon the bread and circuses that were used by the emperors to curry favor from the masses. As citizens of Rome they prided themselves on belonging to the most powerful, influential empire in the world.  The Roman Empire was very comparable to America today in many ways.

But Paul’s message to the church at Philippi is a reminder that they are not to live according to the standard of citizens of Rome, but as citizens of heaven.  And Paul’s message to us today is to remind us that our hope is in heaven and not in the kingdoms of this world. The word Paul uses in verse 27 is interpreted conduct in the NASB, or conversation in the KJV.  But it has as it’s root in the Greek the word polis, from which we get the word political, a city state, a free state.  You might recognize it in the word metropolis.  And he is using this word to say that they are to conduct themselves in a manner that would be proper behavior for a citizen. But he's not talking about a citizen of earth, he's talking about a citizen of heaven, a citizen of the Kingdom of God, which constitutes the church of Jesus Christ. 

Phil. 3:20 says, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”  A good example of that kind of citizen is Abraham. Hebrews 11:9 tells us that Abraham “By faith lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” 

The author of Hebrews continues a few verses later saying that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. They desired a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.

Paul says I want your conduct, I want your behavior as a church, as a Christian community in a pagan culture, to be worthy of the gospel that you believe and the gospel that you proclaim. In Phil. 2:15 he says,  “so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain.” You are to conduct yourselves in a worthy way.

Now how does a citizen of heaven conduct himself? Follow verse 27, "In a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ."  In other words, consistent with what we know, consistent with what we teach, consistent with what we preach, consistent with what we believe. That is the integrity of the church.  We have to practice what we preach, and what we preach is the transforming power of the gospel of salvation.  That is the issue in the church today. The church is impotent to have any affect on society, because the church has lost it’s integrity.

When he mentions the gospel of Christ here, what he refers to is the good news of salvation, the good news of eternal life which God has sent into the world, that men can be saved from sin unto righteousness. And the church has to live that out, our lives evidence that we have been delivered from darkness to light, from death to life, from sin to righteousness. 

Unfortunately, in a lot of churches today, only half of the gospel is being taught at best.  IF they even tell you about salvation in most churches they leave out the second half of salvation.   And the second half is vital. For instance, if you look at the book of Romans, you learn in the first half of Christ’s sacrifice for us.  But in the second half you will see that we are to become a living sacrifice for Christ.  But most of the church today stops at the first half.  We are more than happy to accept God’s gift of our justification, but unwilling to respond by our sanctification.  We have the mentality that we can come to Christ just as we are and stay just as we are.  We don’t have to sacrifice anything for Christ.  But that’s not the truth of the gospel is that salvation and sanctification are inseparable in real Christianity.

Paul said in Romans 12: 1,   “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Salvation results in a transformation.  And that transformation produces what we call sanctification.  That is when we allow the Holy Spirit to live through us as Christ would live, becoming a light to a dark world.  But our self centeredness is keeping us from the life of sanctification that God requires. Hebrews 12:14  talks about “the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.”  We are to be transformed and become sanctified.  We no longer live according to the lusts of the flesh, but we walk by the Spirit. That is the full gospel of Jesus Christ.

And then Paul adds, "So that whether I come to see you or remain absent, I may hear about you."  This reminds me of  a definition of character that I heard once.  It said character is defined by what you do when no one is looking.  Not whether you can get away with it or not, whether or not you think anyone cares, but doing right, doing it as unto the Lord, regardless.  Because whether you realize it or not, someone is always looking.  For one, God is watching.  Proverbs 15:3 says "The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good”.  And Hebrews 4:13 says "And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account”.

So then what are the characteristics of a church that is acting worthy of the gospel? How am I understand it? Paul gives us four characteristics of a church that is conducting itself worthy of the gospel:  they are standing, sharing, striving and suffering.

First of all, a church that is behaving itself is standing, verse 27, "I want to hear of you that you are standing firm.” The Greek word is used to refer to a soldier who will not budge from his post, that you will be at your post and not move...no compromise with error, no compromise with sin, an unyielding testimony for the Word of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ. Stand firm, don't move doctrinally, don't move in terms of conduct from where you are to stand. 

 Don’t abandon your post in defense of the gospel.  Don’t stray from the truth of the word.  Don’t move to the left or right in response to the culture in regards to doctrine.  And stand firm in your personal life, your life of holiness, set apart for a sacrificial life to God.  Satan will try to ruin you doctrinally, he will try to ruin you financially, try to ruin you in terms of sexual purity, in terms of sobriety, whatever way he can undermine or destroy your life and testimony.  Stand firm.  Having done everything, stand firm.

A second word that Paul brings up is implied in the next section, that's the word sharing. In our standing firm there must be a sharing.  So he says, "I want to hear that you are standing firm in one spirit with one mind."  God calls individuals to salvation, but he wants to bind individuals together into a unit called the church.  A single soldier can be overrun at his post, but a battalion of soldiers can hold the fort. And the church is the weapon that He has formed that will prevail over Satan.  Christ said to Peter, “Upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.”   God wants us to work together in this battle. 

 You might think you can worship God sitting on your surfboard, or sitting on your fishing boat, or laying out on the beach and you don’t need anyone else.  But God defines worship as service.  And our service is done together through fellowship and serving one another as unto the Lord.  Eccl. 4:12 says, “And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart.”  We need each other, and God needs us to work with each other to be effective.

But the only way to unity in fellowship is through purity of doctrine.  That’s why Paul’s order here is so important.  You never sacrifice doctrinal purity for the sake of unity.  God devised the body of Christ to have many parts, and many functions. But for the body of Christ to function properly, they all have to be under the headship of Jesus Christ.  An example is an orchestra.  The only way to have unity in an orchestra is if everyone is tuned to the same key and playing from the same sheet of music. And the key to unity in the church is being conformed to Jesus Christ and His gospel.  I cannot have unity with those that do not hold to the truth of the gospel of salvation just for the purpose of getting along.

Thirdly, Paul says, the purpose of this unity is not just to get along but to “strive together for the faith of the gospel." The term he uses here is synathleō. We get the word "athletics" from it. It means to struggle along with someone. It's talking about team sports. To struggle along with someone as a team of athletes battling against the opposition to win the victory.  Or as we talked about last week the metaphor of a soldier who is part of a battalion.

So the church is to operate in community to defend the gospel.  To contend for the faith. Jude1:3 “Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.  For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” We need each other to fight the battle.  We need to strive together for the faith of the gospel. 

And in vs 28 he says “in no way alarmed by your opponents—which is a sign of destruction for them, but of salvation for you, and that too, from God.” If the church is contending, if it’s striving for the gospel, then there will be an opposing team who will fight against you.  But God will deliver you, and will overcome the opposition.  Don’t fear them, and don’t retreat from the truth. Stand firm and let God fight for us. And I believe that most of the time He defeats His enemies through the truth of God’s word. 

And the last word, suffering. What does he say about suffering? He says to expect it. If a church is striving for the faith, contending for the faith of the gospel,  it won't be easy. It will result in suffering. Vs. 29, “For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.  Suffering is a gift of grace. He uses the word granted here related to the Greek word charis, which means grace.  God has chosen you not only for salvation, He's chosen you for suffering and He's chosen you to experience, Paul says, the very same conflict which you saw in me. You saw it when I was at Philippi, Acts 16, and you now hear about it in me here in Rome. It goes with the territory...suffering. 

But unfortunately suffering is a foreign concept to evangelical thinking today.  Rather than prophesying suffering, these modern false prophets are prophesying prosperity and blessing. Jeremiah 14:14  “Then the Lord said to me, “The prophets are prophesying falsehood in My name. I have neither sent them nor commanded them nor spoken to them; they are prophesying to you a false vision, divination, futility and the deception of their own minds.”  Why do they preach this message?  Because it is what people want to hear.  It may be the popular message and it may be what builds congregations, but it’s not from God.

No, Paul says in Phil. 3:10 that  when we are tuned to Jesus Christ, then it is going to mean that we are going to participate in “the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.” 

Listen, the only way that the church is going to be really relevant as salt and light in this culture, is when we can say with Paul in Gal.  2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”  That means we are willing to give up our lives for Christ, even as He gave Himself up for us.  And when our families see us living like that, as men and women who don’t just claim to be followers of Christ but actually do follow the example of Christ, when our neighbors and coworkers see us living like that, then the world will be drawn to our testimony rather than repelled by it.  When our walk matches our talk. 

If we live like that, we can expect some suffering to go along with it.  It happened to Paul, it happened to Christ, and we should expect it to happen to us.  But if it results in the furtherance of the gospel, if it results in the furtherance of the kingdom, if it results in the furtherance of Christ’s church, then we should say with Paul, bring it on!   For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.  Everything I once counted as gain in this world, I now count as loss for the sake of knowing Jesus Christ.  More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” 

This is the triumph of the church.  This is the victory of the church.  Not just to see a conservative politicians elected for a few more years, though that might be nice.  Not to see some laws overturned in this country, though that might be nice.  But to see men and women’s lives changed by the power of the gospel.  To see men and women transformed from citizens of the kingdom of darkness into citizens of the kingdom of heaven.  That is the purpose of this church that Christ has built upon the rock of the gospel, and this church the gates of hell will not overpower.

To live is Christ, to die is gain, Phil. 1:19-21

Whether you like it or not, whether you believe we should be involved in it or not,  our nation is involved in a war.  It’s a war that I hope will end quickly, without a lot of loss of American lives. And in my personal opinion, if we are in it, we should be in it to win it. I don’t think we should stop halfway without finishing the job. But there is another war that I would like to talk about today.  One that is just as dangerous, just as deadly, and one that we need to be committed to be fighting, regardless of whether we even realize we are engaged in it. It’s fought in a different kind of battlefield arena perhaps than the present conflict with Iran, but our sacrifices are just as real and the commitment needed to finish the fight, is just as necessary .

Paul talked about this battleground in Eph 6:10 which says, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.  Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.”

Today I’m talking about the elite forces engaged in this spiritual battleground, whose  fortress stands in the battlements of heaven, and the men and women who occupy this fortress have consecrated their lives in service to the King.  They have sacrificed much and are willing to even lay down their lives, if necessary.  And across the archway of this fortress reads their motto, “For me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” 

This statement was coined by the Apostle Paul around 55AD.  We find it here in Philippians 1: 21.  I believe this was Paul’s motto.  It was the reason that he was so fearless in all the trials and dangers and hardships that he suffered. Paul wrote in 2 Cor. 11:23 that he had been in “far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death.  Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes.  Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren;  I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.”

Paul wrote to his son in the faith, Timothy, in 2 Tim. 2:3 “Suffer hardship with [me,] as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.”  And I’m sure that any modern day Christian that followed Paul around for a day or two would be amazed to see what hardship he had to endure for the cause of Christ. In fact, at the time of this letter to the Philippians, he was chained to a Roman guard 24 hours a day.  He was awaiting trial to be judged by Nero, one of the most feared emperors of the Roman Empire. 

Let’s pick it up starting in verse 19; “for I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.  For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”

Paul isn’t cowering in some prison, scared to death of meeting the notorious Nero, but he says it’s his “earnest expectation and hope” that he will not be put to shame, but with all boldness, with all confidence, he is looking forward to this encounter.  Philips Modern English version translates this phrase “earnest expectation and hope” as standing on his tiptoes in anticipation.  Paul is ready to go.   He is rising up on his tiptoes ready to charge into the fray to defend the gospel.  How can Paul have such confidence?  How can he be so sure of himself? 

Well, first of all, because Paul has confidence in the prayers of the saints.  Note verse 19; he knows his deliverance will come because of the prayers of the church.  Notice, Paul isn’t praying to some dead saints, he is saying to this church in Philippi that he knows they will be praying for him.  As we talked about a couple of weeks ago, they are participating in Paul’s ministry through prayer.  James says, the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much.  We don’t know how it works, but we know the prayers of the righteous men and women God uses to accomplish His will.  He uses our prayers.

Some Bible translations may substitute the word salvation there instead of the word deliverance.  But Paul isn’t talking about his own spiritual salvation in the sense of being born again.  He is talking about deliverance, salvation from his circumstances.  Perhaps this means Paul was expecting to get out of prison. Some commentators believe that this was Paul’s first imprisonment, which lasted about two years, and then he was released. But he would be imprisoned again, and that time he would not get out of prison, but would end up being put to death by Nero.

But from the context of these verses we can’t be certain that Paul absolutely expects that he will soon be freed.  He says in verse 20, whether by life or by death, Christ will be exalted.  Either way, Paul says, I’m not going to be ashamed.  I’m going to be delivered either way, either by life or by death, and my goal is going to be accomplished, Christ is going to be exalted.  And Paul knew that the prayers of the church at Philippi were helping him in this situation.  He had more confidence because of their prayers for him.

You know, a lot of times we pray for someone who is deathly ill, that they will recover, that God will heal them.  And I must say that in my experience God has not always see fit to heal that person and they passed away.  We end up feeling like God has failed us somehow.  But in reality, God may decide that He will give them ultimate healing, a better body, by taking them from this life. And though we have a hard time understanding that, the fact is Paul says that is infinitely better.  He says in vs 23, “But I am hard-pressed from both [directions,] having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for [that] is very much better.”  So either way, by life or by death, Paul is confident that God will glorify the cause of Christ through him.

Secondly, Paul is confident because verse 19 says of the provision of the Spirit.  In other words, Paul is confident because he is sure the full resources of the Holy Spirit will be brought to bear upon this situation.  In the present conflict of our nation with Iran, we have seen the full military resources of the United States brought to bear.  I was looking at a map the other day of all the navy ships we have in the Gulf as well as in the Mediterranean. It’s just a tremendous force that is arrayed against Iran, not only in naval vessels, but also in air.

Thank God, as soldier of the heavenly kingdom we don’t have to worry about the full availability of God’s resources.  They are always ready at our disposal. Eph 1:3 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,”   Everything we need is available to us through the Holy Spirit to do the will of God. 

Romans 8:26 tells us “In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;  and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.  And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”  That is our confidence, as we are engaged in this present conflict.  God will provide all your needs according to His riches in glory so that you have every resource available to do His will. 

But that reveals the error of many in modern Christianity today.  They don’t understand the purpose of the gifts and power of God.  Spiritual gifts are not given to thrill us, but to use for the glory of God.  And God will supply us the power to do what he wants us to do.  He will not send us on a mission without giving us the means to do the mission.  If he calls you to witness, he will give you the power and the words to witness.  Just be obedient to His call.  If he calls you to give, he will give you the power and the gifts to be able to give, just be obedient to His call.  Whatever he calls you to do, be obedient and God will supply your needs.  But the gifts  aren’t for our edification.   They are to be used to edify the church.  

My dad used to be a drill sergeant in the Army and he taught me as a kid never to point my gun at a person unless I was going to shoot them.  My gun wasn’t to be used for fireworks.  It was a weapon.  And our gifts of the Spirit are to be used as weapons in this warfare we are in.  This idea of using spiritual gifts like a bunch of drunken cowboys riding into town and hooping and hollering and shooting up the place is not Biblical.  Gifts are the provision of the Holy Spirit to equip us to do the will of God.

And thirdly, the confidence that Paul had was because of the promises of God.  Listen, your faith must be founded in the promises of God if it is to be an unwavering faith, a certain conviction.  Faith that will stand in the fire.  Faith that will stand through the trials of life.  That’s why we unapologetically preach the word of God here at the Beach Fellowship.  Because we need to be rooted and grounded in the promises of God,  the sound doctrine found in God’s word.

Paul was probably paraphrasing from scripture when he spoke of this deliverance.  Job 13:16 says, "This also will be my salvation, For a godless man may not come before His presence.”  Paul’s statement is basically a paraphrase from Job 13.  And to put that in even more context, just one verse prior to that in 13:15, Job says, “though He slays me, yet will I hope in Him.”  That’s the confidence that Paul is expressing here, whether I live or die, doesn’t matter.  One way or another God will deliver me. One way or another God will be glorified. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord and that is very much the better.

Or maybe Paul was thinking of Deut. 31:6 "Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the LORD your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you."  Paul had confidence in the promises of God.  Because nothing can separate us from the love of God.  In Rom 8:38 Paul said,  “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,  nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Fourthly, Paul had confidence in the plan of God.  What is the plan of God for our lives? I saw a church sign the other day, a very liberal church I might ad, which said in effect, “God has a plan for your life.” I agree, God has a plan, but I doubt very much that they are in it. Many modern Christians today think that the plan of God is just to make our lives better.  To make us healthy, wealthy and wise.  But in the light of this passage where Paul is talking about possibly losing his life for the sake of the gospel that sounds pretty superficial, doesn’t it?  No, the plan of God is that we live lives that exalt God.  God made man to bring glory and honor to Christ.  Nothing short of that will do.  That is why a man that spends his whole life trying to bring honor and glory for himself and ends up empty and unfulfilled. 

The Westminster Catechism says that “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”  Augustine during his younger years had lived a wild life of pleasure which produced only misery until one day his soul searching led him to the Bible.  He then confessed, “O God, thou has made us for thyself and our souls are restless until they find their rest in Thee.”

Paul knows that God’s plan will not be thwarted.  Vs. 20; “Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.”  Paul wasn’t afraid of dying.  You know about 30 years ago, I went through about 3 and a half years of being so afraid. I really thought I was dying. I joke that I discovered panic attacks about a couple of decades before they became popular.  But God used this terrible time in my life to break me and then remake me.  So I give thanks to God for that.  But still, it was very painful.  I lost my career, my home and my money and cars, pretty much everything, due to a debilitating time of panic attacks.  And one of the verses that was most helpful in getting me through those times is found right here in Philippians chapter 4 verse 6.  “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication let your requests be made known before God, and the peace of God will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” 

But while that was helpful, I didn’t really realize that verse was inescapably tied to chapter 1: 20 and 21.  Until I had really committed my life to Christ even to the point of death, then I would never really be able to live without fear.  It’s still a struggle for me in my flesh.  But I have learned that the key is what Paul is saying here in verse 21, and I aspire to commit my life the way he committed his.  That I too might say with all confidence, “for me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” 

Prior to that time of anxiety, I used to be successful in my career.  I used to make a decent income from my business.  But you can’t put those words in that sentence and have it make any sense.  “For me to live is success, and to die is….it must be loss.”  If living is success, then dying is loss, it can’t be gain.   How about this one.  For me to live is money, and to die is….loss.  I can’t take it with me.  How about love?  For me to live is love and to die is…loss. If for me to live is prestige or fame, then to die is loss.  How about power?  For me to live is power, then to die is loss.  There is only one right answer to that statement.  For me to live is Christ, then to die is gain.  He is the only thing worth living for that results in a gain when I die. My death will only result in further exaltation of Jesus Christ.  I will be changed from corruption to incorruption.  I will be like Him for I will see Him face to face.

In closing, let me break this sentence down to six words that I think encapsulate what it means to be a Christian and live the Christian life.  I don’t know where you are spiritually today.  But if you don’t know Christ personally as your Savior, then I want you to listen to these words. 

The first two; “To me”;  It means it’s personal.  My salvation must be personal. It can’t be inherited, it’s not captured by association, by joining a church.  But I must accept Christ as my substitute for my sins, as my Savior and as my Lord.  “To me” means a personal commitment with Christ.  In exchange for my forgiveness I give Him my life.

The second is “To live”: means it’s practical.  You aren’t really alive until the Holy Spirit gives you spiritual life.  The Bible actually refers to your sinful condition as being dead in your sins.  To be made alive in Christ  provides satisfaction, it provides hope, it provides security, it provides comfort, it provides help.  It provides a continuity of life that stretches into eternity, never ending, never stopping.  Life without Christ is impractical.  It is fruitless.   Life with Christ is infinitely practical.  We are made alive in Christ.

The third, “Is Christ”: means it is possible.  With man it is impossible, but with God all things are possible.  God makes it possible for us to live our life through Him, by His power.  I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.  Christ provides freedom from sin.  Freedom from the penalty of sin, and freedom from sins enslavement.  So now by faith in Christ I have been given the gift of righteousness.  And being made holy and righteous, God is able to give me the Holy Spirit to live in me, that I might do the righteousness that God wants me to do. 

Jesus said, “What shall it profit a man if he should gain the whole world and lose his own soul?”  Christ is the only real gain.  I gain everything that matters.  And so I am willing to lay down my life in exchange for that gain.  I pray that whether you are a Christian who has never really come to a full commitment to Christ, or you are an unbeliever, who has never given your life to Christ, wherever you are this morning, I pray you lay down your life as a living sacrifice to God.  I pray you can say, starting today, by God’s help, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”  I’m going to live my life for Christ.  That Christ may live in you and through you.   Let’s pray.

Progress of the gospel, Philippians 1:12

The title of my message today is the progress of the gospel. We started off in Philippians looking at our partnership in the gospel, then the next week it was our participation in the gospel, and now today we’re looking at the progress of the gospel.  Some people have said that joy is the theme of Philippians.  But I would suggest that the gospel is the theme of the book.  In fact, the theme of every book in the Bible is the gospel. 

So before we go too far into this passage, let’s define the word gospel.  It’s a very important word that encompasses so much and yet is understood so little. A good definition is found in Romans 1:16 which says, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation.”  So the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. The gospel is the doctrine of salvation, presented in every book of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation.  And doctrine simply means the truths that the gospel is built upon.  The irrefutable promises, principles and truth of God.

 Our message then comes from the first verse of our text, verse 12, in which Paul says that his circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel.  Now on the surface this would seem to be an incongruous statement.  After all, Paul was in prison.  He spent two years incarcerated in his own private, rented quarters in Rome but he was in prison nonetheless.  He was chained to a Roman guard 24 hours a day.  The guards worked 6 hour shifts and someone was constantly chained to him.  He could receive visitors, but he was unable to come and go himself.

And I suppose that Paul had this certain luxury of his own quarters because he had not been convicted of a crime yet, in fact, he really had not even been charged with a crime.  He had merely been charged as having caused a disturbance among the Jews.  It seems everywhere he went, the Jews began a riot on his account.  And so they locked him up for his own protection at first, and then one thing led to another and he stayed locked up until he appealed to Caesar. Paul had a very valuable citizenship as a natural born Roman citizen.   So he had a certain privileges because of that, yet he was held waiting for trial.  He was awaiting trial by Caesar, who happened to be the infamous Nero, who would eventually be known for having Christians tarred and placed on poles around his garden terrace and set on fire to light up his dinner parties.  And so this imprisonment was the circumstances that Paul found himself in, and was actually giving thanks for. 

Now Paul had intended to come to Rome for years, but I’m sure he would have never thought that the way God would accomplish that would be in prison, yet he says that his imprisonment had turned out for the progress of the gospel.  He says in verse 13, “so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else,  and that most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear.”  

Now the first thing we can notice here is that God used difficult circumstances to further the progress of the gospel.  Yet how often do we allow difficult circumstances to hinder us in the furtherance of the gospel.  Our difficulties at work, or our difficulties due to some unforeseen circumstance ends up hindering our purpose of fulfilling our ministry to participate in the gospel, rather than furthering it.  And perhaps that  may be because it was never our priority to begin with.  The ministry of the gospel is far too often at the bottom of our priority list.  Yet for Paul, his purpose was never shaken.  His mission was the furthering of the gospel no matter what the circumstances.  There was no higher priority. 

And notice a couple of things Paul said happened as a result of that commitment to not let his circumstances deter his mission.  One, the whole praetorian guard had come to know about Paul and the gospel of Christ.  Paul is sitting there in this house day after day, for two years, chained to a different guard every 6 hours.  But rather than Paul thinking of himself as a captive of unfortunate circumstances, he sees the guards as a captive audience and the result is in two years many of them had become saved, to the point that the gospel was known throughout the praetorian guard and throughout Caesar’s palace.  What an amazing thing. 

It would help you perhaps to know that the Praetorian guard were the elite, “Navy  Seals” of the Roman army. The Praetorian Guard, or the palace guard of Rome had been originally instituted by Caesar Augustus. You may remember, he was Caesar at the time of the birth of Christ. They were a body of about 16 thousand hand-picked troops. They were the elite soldiers in the Roman army. Augustus had kept them stationed throughout the city of Rome because they were the force of his presence there, responsible for keeping the peace and for putting down any opposition. They had a specially built and fortified camp so they had high profile presence in Rome. They were a threat to any insurrection, any rebellion. At the end of their enlistment which ran up to 16 years, they were granted all the highest privileges of citizenship and also a large sum of money. They eventually became so powerful that they ultimately became the bodyguard of the emperor himself and after that, they became so influential that they literally became the king makers of Rome and every emperor was the choice of the Praetorian Guard.  They could impose their will by force on the population or on the leadership. And so they chose all the emperors...they were extremely powerful men. 

And in the providence of God Paul is being guarded by these men, and they are being saved, to the point that Christ is becoming well known throughout even the palace.  And such a testimony provokes the question:  what or who are you chained to?  Are you chained to a desk all day?  Are you chained to an assembly line?  Are you chained to an office?  For Paul, there was no where to hide from his testimony.  These men saw him at all hours of the day, every day of the week.  And yet his testimony was consistent with his message. These elite soldiers would lay down their life for the Emperor, and yet I think that Paul’s dedication to Christ in spite of his circumstances was the impetus for their salvation.  I hope and pray that your testimony is consistent with the gospel.  The greatest criticism we Christians face is that we are hypocrites.  This doesn’t come from within the church, but from without.  The world sees a discrepancy between our walk and our talk.  But it wasn’t that way with Paul, and as a result the gospel progressed, it went forward in spite of his circumstances.

Now another thing that happened for the progress of the gospel is that the brethren, that is those that were saved in the church of Rome, were witnesses to the providence of God in Paul’s imprisonment, and it emboldened them in their witness.  Have you considered how your testimony impacts other Christian’s walk? One of the greatest shortfalls of most Christian testimonies is that they fail to show by example a courageous, committed, sacrificial walk. And I think it’s because we have this mentality that our Christian walk is just between us and God and it doesn’t have to cost us anything.  But folks, people are watching your walk.  They notice when you are at church and when you are not.  They notice how seriously you take your commitment to the gospel.   

So I would ask you, does your perseverance give encouragement to other believers or does your testimony cause them to be less committed?  Are you telling others by your words that Christ is everything, but telling them by your walk that you really don’t have to take it so seriously?  Sometimes I think some people would better serve the church if they didn’t tell anyone that they were a Christian.  But Paul’s testimony gave them more courage to speak the word of God without fear.  His testimony encouraged them to greater sacrifice.

(14-16)Now a lot of people go off the track on this next verse which builds on verse 14.  They want to point out that verse 15 says that some are preaching Christ “out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment.”  And then they point to verse 16 and say, “Aha!  See there!  We shouldn’t speak ill of any preachers or churches or even false religions, because Paul says we should just be happy that Jesus is being preached.”  And so they want to stifle any criticism of any false teachers or cold dead, apostate churches.  “Let’s try to find the good in every thing.  Let’s just all get along.  That’s what Paul would want.”

But folks, read the text.  First of all, Paul says in vs. 14 that they were preaching the word of God.  In other words, they were teaching the gospel.  Paul isn’t condoning false teaching here.  He is not saying here that we should show some sort of leniency towards those that are teaching a false doctrine of works, or of some other way to become acceptable to God.  Far from it.  To believe that would make a liar out of every other book that Paul wrote.  Consider Galatians Gal. 1:6 where  Paul writes, “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; (in other words, there isn’t but one true gospel) only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.  But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!” 

Does that sound like inclusiveness to you?  Does that sound like we all just need to get along?   Does that sound like we’re all just worshipping the same God?  Not hardly. There are a lot of so called churches out there claiming to preach Jesus Christ, but if they don’t preach salvation, then they aren’t preaching the gospel.  Paul never intends a permissive sort of easy believe-ism, or some sort of watered down gospel that says that if you just praise Jesus you’re good to go.  The gospel of Jesus Christ as far as Paul was concerned was nothing less than the message that Jesus came to save lost sinners, and only by faith in His atonement on the cross, God reckons righteousness to our account, so that being made holy, we might receive a new life by the Spirit, and that being filled with the Spirit of Christ we might live the life of service to God that He requires, but we were unable to do in the flesh.  That is the gospel in a nutshell.  Nothing short of that is the gospel.  And anyone that doesn’t preach that gospel Paul said is to be accursed, shunned, rejected and called out from.

So what is Paul really saying here?  Well, what he is saying is though the gospel is being preached by some even with impure motives, possibly some sense of competition to be seen as better than Paul, yet Paul is rejoicing because his goal is being reached.  His goal was to proclaim the gospel to Rome and that was being done.  In other words, there were some brethren who for whatever reason were jealous of Paul, and yet they were genuine believers, and they began to preach out of that wrong motivation, yet even though they thought they were causing Paul distress, he was celebrating because his goal of the progress of the gospel was still being accomplished. 

The point of distinction here is not false doctrine but impure motives.  What they were preaching was the truth, was in alignment with what Paul was teaching, otherwise Paul would have called them out as false teachers.  In 1 Timothy, for example, Paul says he is delivering over to Satan Hymeneaus and Alexander so that they would learn not to blaspheme.  They were teachers in the church at Ephesus who had twisted the truth and were teaching a blasphemous doctrine.  In another place Paul says of false teachers who were teaching that you had to be circumcised to be accepted with God, he said he wished those guys would mutilate themselves rather than continue to preach false doctrine.  Paul was never for unity at the cost of doctrinal purity.  But that’s not the case here, Paul is not focusing on false doctrine, but impure motives. 

There are lots of people working today in the church out of impure motives, but God can still use that as He sees fit for the further progress of the gospel.  For instance, an evangelist might be motivated by pride, the desire to be famous, yet God can still use his message if it’s the truth of the gospel, or a pastor might be motivated to build a huge church, but still preaching the truth.

Vs18 “What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.  For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”

Paul rejoiced that his difficult circumstances turned out for the  progress of the gospel.  His life’s goal was for the progress of the gospel.  He was willing for his life to be poured out for the church.  And that prompts the question for us; what is your greatest passion? Is it the gospel? It was for Paul. It was of little consequence to him what happened to his own body, what happened to his ministry career, what happened to his own life. The only thing that really mattered to him was the progress of the gospel. Back in the twentieth chapter of Acts  Paul says, "I don't consider my life of any value." I could care less about my life and my possessions, my clothes, my recognition, reputation, prestige, whatever it is, I just want to finish the course and the ministry I received from the Lord Jesus "To testify of the gospel," that's all I want to do. In Romans 1 he says, "I am ready to preach the gospel." In 1 Corinthians 9 he says, "Woe is me if I do not preach the gospel." Paul was willing to lay down his life if it meant the greater progress of the gospel.  I ask you today, is the progress of the gospel your greatest concern?  Have you made it a priority in your life?  Are you willing like Paul to commit your life to the service of the gospel?

Unfortunately, our response to that question more often than not is limited to going to church on a somewhat regular basis.  We’ll make sure we check in at a church for an hour or so every other week or so somewhere and that covers our consecration to the gospel.  But that answer reveals a gross misunderstanding of the nature of the church and of our mandate to carry the gospel to the world.  Church isn’t a building, and it’s not attending a service.  It’s not even  hearing a message.  If it was, then why not just all of us  stay home on the couch and download something on the internet and we can watch it at our convenience? 

Well that’s not church according to the Biblical definition. The Bible defines church as the body of Christ.  Now what does that mean? It means that  the church is a body of living organisms, each filled with the spiritual presence of Christ, each connected to one another in a local body, a living community, each dependent upon the rest of the parts of the body for their well being, and the body as a whole dependent upon the healthiness of the individual parts.  And that body that we are all to be a part of, it’s purpose is to reach the world with the gospel of salvation and to be effective, God needs all of the parts of the body to participate in the work.

Eph. 4: 15 says, “we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.”  Notice it says grow up.  As Christians there is a time and a place for infancy and for being fed and nurtured and a newness in life.  But we are called to grow up, start eating the meat of the word, which is sound doctrine, and start serving the church in agape love, sacrificial love for the body the same way Christ served the church.

So by that definition then, church is not merely  checking in somewhere to watch a religious service.  But rather, church is reporting for duty, becoming a servant to the local body God has placed you in.  And if you aren’t fulfilling your responsibility to the local church you’re not fulfilling your responsibility to serve God.

We need to understand the equivalency of the terms gospel, church and ministry.  They are all connected.  They are all interdependent.  God never intended for a separation between the clergy and the laity.  God never designed the church to be operated by a few professionals, and populated by a congregation of spectators.  God’s design for the church is presented in 1Peter 2:5 which says “you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” 

Christ changed Simon’s name to Peter, which meant rock or stone, and Jesus said upon this rock I will build my church.  And from that statement evolved a twisted doctrine that has resulted in the false notion  that only priests or ministers are the appointed professionals that God uses in the church.  But look at what Peter, the original stone, had to say.  You also, are living stones, you’re a holy priesthood, and you are designed to offer up spiritual sacrifices to God.  

I would ask you today, how is your priesthood going?  Have you consecrated your life, have you consecrated your body, have you consecrated your resources, have you committed your life to be a living sacrifice in service to God?   Are you offering up spiritual sacrifices to God?  Are you serving the church even as Christ served the church and gave His life up for her? Who is on the throne of your life?  Is  Christ on the throne or are you still in control and serving your  passions and your desires and your goals?

Or can you say with Paul, “I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.  For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”  Whatever I counted as success in my life before, I now count as loss for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I pray that your circumstances have brought about progress for the gospel.  That you will not let circumstances keep you from service, but you would see difficulties as opportunities for service.  I pray that those things or those people that you are chained to are being impacted for the gospel and that your testimony is matching your claim to Christianity.  I pray that your enthusiasm and commitment for the progress of the gospel is resulting in an encouragement to other Christians to step up in their commitment to the gospel as they see the sacrifices you have made.

And I pray that at the day of Christ’s appearing, you will be able to say with Paul that you are not ashamed, but Christ was exalted in your body, both in life and in death.  I pray that we might live according to the motto of Paul, the most elite warrior for Christ in the kingdom, “for me to live is Christ, but to die is gain.”