141102 A Worthy Life

Philippians 1:27-30 Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, ²⁸ 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. ²⁹ For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, ³⁰ engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.

To live a life worthy of the gospel should be a primary goal of every Christian. Paul had earlier expressed his desire that he would in no way be ashamed. He had a passionate desire to live a life worthy of the gospel. He always wanted Christ to be honored in his body. You and I should have a similar goal. We should want to be sure that while we are alive other people will recognize Christ in us. We should want to be sure that if we face death for the gospel’s sake we will leave this life honorably. We need to remember that this life is hardly a hiccup in the span of time we shall exist. Part of the worthy life is working side-by-side with others that the gospel will be clearly presented. If we have to suffer we should do so with patience and faithfulness.

In the beginning of the New Testament there are four books that are commonly called “Gospels”. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Each one is a presentation of the good news about Jesus from a different angle. It is important that the gospel be understood by everyone on earth. So God allows it to be presented in slightly different packages. Paul would refer to his preaching as “my gospel”. You see, his entire life was caught up in presenting…

The good news about Jesus. Turn with me to Romans 15:17-20.  In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God. ¹⁸ For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience—by word and deed, ¹⁹ by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God—so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ; ²⁰ and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else’s foundation.

Paul had many things to boast about in his life. By the world’s standards he was one of the most accomplished scholars in the Jewish religion. He had studied at the feet of Gamaliel, one of their most important teachers. He had held the coats of those who stoned Stephen. He had traveled all over the region arresting Christians, imprisoning them and even putting them to death. He had a zeal for God that was stronger than most of his contemporaries.

Then, on the road to Damascus, he was confronted by Jesus Christ and he was never the same. From that day forward Christ was the center of Paul’s life. He was proud of what he had later done in bringing the Gentiles to obedience to Christ Jesus. He did these things in the power of God, beginning in Jerusalem and going all the way around to modern day Greece, Paul had made it his purpose to present a full ministry of the gospel. Then he wrote to the Romans that he wanted to come there on his way to Spain. It was his desire that he be able to preach the gospel where it had never been heard.

In order to proclaim the gospel it was important that Christians be…

Presenting a common front to the enemy. Jesus said that the world would know His disciples by how they loved one another. When he sent his disciples out in ministry he never sent them out alone. They were always in pairs. With one another’s support they were able to tell the good news and defeat the enemy.

Today it is extremely important that the church be able to stand against the enemy. Turn with me to Ephesians 6:10-13. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. ¹¹ Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. ¹² For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. ¹³ Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.

There needs to be a unity in the church about the central place of the gospel. Our enemy, the devil, will try to distract us by all kinds of disagreements. There will be arguments about the kind of music used in worship; the role of the Holy Spirit; the gifts of the Spirit; and the details of the second coming as well as the translation of the Bible used in the church. If we’re not careful all these things will turn us away from the primary purpose of presenting the gospel.

Paul said that we are to be striving side by side for the faith of the gospel and we are to be doing it with one spirit and one mind. Obviously, this does not mean we will agree on every particular issue. Over the years I have become aware that people come to church with certain expectations. I remember one year when Cherlyn and I returned from a mission trip I attended church the next Sunday wearing a shirt and slacks. The shirt had been bought in Honduras and I thought it was a good way to dress to present the report of our trip. As I walked along the hall going towards the auditorium one of the members of the church looked me up and down and said that I was inappropriately dressed as a pastor. Now, I agree that a pastor should be dressed formally, but then after all I’m getting old. My wearing a shirt that morning rather than a suit did not cause a church split but it could have in some churches. We are to stand firm for the gospel.

Philip Schaff, the distinguished nineteenth-century church historian, is reported to have said that the watchword of the Christian peacemaker is, “In essentials unity, In non-essentials liberty, in all things charity!” I tend to agree that this is the way we should approach every issue so that we can maintain a unified front in support of the gospel. If we will do this…

We will be able to face down those who oppose us. Turn with me to Ephesians 3:7-10.  Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of his power. ⁸ To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, ⁹ and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things, ¹⁰ so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

We must remember that it is the gift of God’s grace that allows us to share the gospel. Paul, even though he considered himself to be the least of all the saints, rejoiced that he was allowed to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ. In facing down our enemy, we are to bring to light the truth that the gospel is to go to all people — Jew or Gentile!

The angels and demons never fully understood the wisdom of God. For instance the spiritual rulers of the world, the subjects of the prince of the power of this air, would never have crucified Jesus if they had just understood what His crucifixion would mean! On the other hand, I believe the angels were amazed by the actions of the disciples at the garden tomb. I also think they were surprised when the disciples stood there gazing up into heaven after Jesus had told them to go to all the world and be his witnesses. I get the idea that the angels thought the disciples should immediately get on the road in obedience.

The Church is God’s tool to teach the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places about the wisdom of God. The primary purpose of the Church is to bring the gospel to the world and provide for spiritual growth and fellowship until He returns again! In unity we are to face the enemy and proclaim the gospel.

Our witness will show our salvation. Turn with me to Hebrews 10:23-25. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. ²⁴ And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, ²⁵ not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

We are to stick together and focus on the most important thing. We are to hold fast to the confession of our hope. God’s grace brings us salvation and teaches us to live godly lives while we wait for the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. Jesus had said that the whole world will know we are his disciples because we love one another. That fact may explain why the world is so skeptical about the truth of the gospel. If we love people we will reach out to them and encourage them. We will encourage others to good works and to faithful attendance at the house of God. This unified hope will cause the world to recognize that we are children of God with a desire to bring them to salvation. Rather than promoting our “brand” of Christianity we need to stay with the essentials. We need to encourage others to be part of a Christian Fellowship — of course, our fellowship is “best”! But we need to leave it up to God where others worship. Rather than spending our time on nonessentials…

Our lives should be focused on Christ. Turn with me to Colossians 3:16-17.  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. ¹⁷ And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

We are to allow the word of Christ to inhabit our minds. I think it’s interesting that we are told that we should “let” the word of Christ dwell in us. This seems to me to mean that we can refuse the word of Christ. We are not only to let the word in, we are to let it dwell in us “richly”. I believe many Christians are weak in their faith simply because they do not dwell on the word — or let the word dwell in them.

We are to teach each other and admonish each other! We are to worship together singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. We are to deeply feel thankfulness towards God. Jesus encouraged His disciples, and us, to abide in Him and allow His words to abide in them/us. We must remember that our God, dwelling in us, is much more powerful than our enemy who dwells in the world. When we stand up to the opposition we prove the Proverb, The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion. (Proverbs 28:1)

Part of God’s grace for the Philippians was that they were not only allowed to believe in Christ but also to suffer for Christ’s sake. Suffering for the sake of the gospel has been, throughout history, an expected part of ministry. Jesus had said that in this world we will have tribulation but we can take courage in the fact that He has overcome the world. (John 16:33)

Paul had begun to pay the price for sharing the gospel. Before he arrived at Philippi he had already suffered for the gospel’s sake. On his first missionary journey he had been stoned to the point of death. Immediately after establishing the witness in Philippi, Paul and Silas were arrested. When someone was arrested in those days the first thing they encountered was not a prison uniform but a prison beating. The result of their imprisonment was the Gospel going out to the jailer and his family. The jailer asked the important question, “What must I do to be saved?” Have you asked that question? Today may be the day of salvation for you.

All scripture quotes are from: The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

141026 Honoring Christ

Paul, writing from prison, is still able to rejoice because the gospel is being preached. There was then, just as there is today, a great many differences in the way the gospel is presented and in the motivations behind the presentation of the gospel. The important thing was that Christ was preached. Jesus Christ must be honored in our lives and in our deaths. In today’s passage Paul is struggling with the desire to depart and be with Christ. At the same time, he recognizes that it is important for him to remain alive. He wants to continue his ministry until the very day that Christ returns or calls him home.

Listen while I read Philippians 1:18b-26. 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.

Paul had confidence that…

The prayers of the Philippians will help set him free.

Prayer is an important theme in all of Paul’s letters. In most of his letters he included a prayer for the people to whom he was writing. He wrote to the Corinthians asking for them to help him by prayer and also to Philemon whom he asked to put feet on his prayers by preparing a room for him to stay in when he came, after he was delivered through their prayers! In fact, we today do not put enough stock in the power of prayer. I remember when I was a child it was common to have cardboard plaques around the house with sayings on them in glue and glitter. One I remember was, “Prayer Changes Things”. I believe that’s true but it is also true that prayer changes people. Paul calls on the Philippian people that they might pray that he would be released from prison…

And he will not be embarrassed in his testimony.

We learn a lot from reading the personal requests of men like Paul. We know that the early church was severely persecuted and that there were times when Christians fell away from the faith. Throughout the history of the church there have been times of persecution that have caused many Christians to renounce their faith. At the time of Paul’s arrest it was possible that he would be asked to honor Caesar as a god. Many Christians were faced with that demand. The Romans did not understand why it was impossible to say, “Caesar is Lord”. They knew it really didn’t mean anything but for the Christian such a statement meant everything. Often the Christian would be brought to the place where they should make this statement and instead they would say, “Christ is Lord”! They would then be led away to execution. Rather than causing the Christian population to be reduced those executions seemed to cause the growth of the church. In fact, the early Christian writer Tertullian stated that, “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church”.

Paul was very concerned that he might fail to stand up when it came to his execution. I am sure he was aware of the words of Jesus, “… whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” It’s one thing to be ashamed of our own actions but to be ashamed of Jesus could lead to frightening consequences! To be ashamed of Jesus could lead to denying Jesus! Jesus said if we deny him he will deny us! In his letter to the Romans Paul had proudly proclaimed, “I am not ashamed of the gospel”. Now he called for prayer because he did not want to be ashamed — he wanted…

Christ to be honored by his life. Turn with me to Galatians 2:20. Here Paul is sharing his testimony. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Paul believed, and taught, that when a person comes to Christ the old life is positionally put to death and the believer enters into a new life. He knew that Christ would be honored by his life because the life he lived, he lived by faith in the Son of God. We need to remember Paul’s words, “For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live our whether we die, we are the Lord’s.” (Romans 14:7-8)

Paul did not want to be ashamed if he had to face death for Christ. He wanted Christ be honored by his life and he also wanted…

Christ to be honored by his death. Sometime later, Paul wrote to Timothy as he approached his expected execution. Turn with me to 2 Timothy 4:6-8. He could see the handwriting on the wall, so to speak. Listen while I read. For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. ⁷ I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. ⁸ Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

Because of the prayers of many people all over the Roman world Paul was able to assert, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” He knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that there was awaiting him a crown of righteousness.

Praise God! Paul would not be ashamed when it came to giving up his life for the Lord Jesus Christ. I can only pray that I would be able to face execution for Christ with an equal confidence. We will each surely give an account of himself to the Lord. I feel fear when I think that I have to face God’s judgment with so many things that I’ve done in my life. And then I remember that the word of God tells us that God made us alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. He set it aside, nailing it to the cross. I praise God for the forgiveness that comes to us because of the cross of Christ. The Christian…

Life is nothing less than Christ. Turn with me to John 17:20-23. Now listen to the words of Jesus. I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, ²¹ that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ²² The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, ²³ I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

In Jesus’ high priestly prayer He prayed for us as well as his disciples. He prayed that we will have unity with one another that is as strong as the unity Jesus and the Father have with each other.

How does that work? Imagine a set of nesting boxes. The outer box represents the Christian believer. The next nesting box represents Jesus inside the believer. Inside the box representing Jesus is a box that represents God the Father. That would seem to be complete except Jesus said, “just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you,”. So there is a fourth box representing Jesus surrounded by the Father who is surrounded by Jesus who is surrounded by the believer.

Another way of understanding is to see that the Scripture teaches when Christ died on the cross we, positionally, died with him. Romans six clearly states that we have been united with him in a death like his! In Colossians, chapter 3, Scripture teaches us that we have died and our life is hidden with Christ in God. Further than that, verse four tells us, that Christ is our life! This is wonderful news! Since Jesus is the only one who ever lived a victorious life and He, upon our confession of faith in Him, has become our life! Jesus, who had no sin of His own, became sin for us so that we could become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21) If you are born again, through faith in Jesus’ work on the cross, Christ has become your life! So that we can say with the apostle Paul, “the life that I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” We have Jesus’ life in us and now can rise above the “life” that we lived in the past. This is not a feeling that we have it is a fact that we need to act on. We are intertwined, in our spirit, with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit! We must know that Christ is living in us and act like He is living through us, and consequently, live like it! Jesus who is in us gives us victory over the world! For me to live is Christ and to die is gain! Life is nothing less than Christ and…

Death is being with Christ. Turn with me to Romans 14:7-9.  For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. ⁸ For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. ⁹ For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

The life that we now live is no longer our own, if we live, we live to the Lord, if we die, we die to the Lord. Jesus died for us so that we no longer live for ourselves but for Him. Our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit and we should live like it! At the death of the believer there is an immediate transition — to die is gain! We need to remember that always, especially when we are down. It would seem that nothing could be greater than having Christ as our life while we’re on this earth. Paul assures us that death is better than life! Remember, Jesus Christ, who began a good work in us will bring it to completion. He who calls us is faithful and He will never leave us or forsake us while we are on this earth. He will either come back for us while we live or welcome us when we die. We need to choose life in Christ over the world’s way of living! Jesus came to give us abundant life. Believe it and behave like it!

Paul had many reasons to lose heart and live in depression yet he made a choice that wherever he was, in whatever condition he lived, he would be content. In fact, he had written to the Corinthians earlier, that he was content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities because when he was weak the strength of Christ could be revealed through him. He had written to the Romans that he actually rejoiced in suffering because suffering produces endurance which strengthens character and gives hope and courage. Today, we are not faced with the same identical problems as the first century church was but we are faced with opposition that is growing stronger every day. Put your faith in God — He will take you through whatever you have to face. Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Whatever you face He will go with you. Confess Him as Lord! Today is the day of salvation.

All scripture quotes are from: The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.