[Generated Transcript]

Would you turn with me to Philippians 1? We will pick up in verse 27. Please join me in prayer. Lord, we come to you to hear the God who speaks as you continue to speak through your word to us. We pray that your word would be a sharp, double-edged sword that pierces to the heart and soul, that you would divide us out, that we would see ourselves more clearly, and that we would see our need for Christ. We pray that you would give me the words to say, but you would be most active in applying it to our hearts where we need it, where each has need. We pray this in Christ’s name. Amen. But it’s a word of quick review before we get into our text.

We’ve covered the first week, two weeks ago, Sir Paul speaking to his heart for the Philippians. And he talked about how he feels a strong partnership with them, but he has great confidence in the Lord working in them. And then he ends speaking about his affection for them. And then Paul turns and gives an update.

And he first speaks about the unity that he finds in the work of Christ. Even as some are speaking against him and some are speaking with him, well, if the gospel is proclaimed and Christ is exalted, then he can rejoice in that. And then he speaks about the certainty that he has in God’s work, that he won’t be ashamed, that he will be delivered. And finally he ended speaking about his great desire to see Christ glorified.

Both of those sections have the same sort of pattern. First, the unity or partnership, and then Paul’s confidence in the Lord. And finally, ending with a desire to draw close, affection, or a desire to be with Christ. And we see that pattern because now we’re going to hit the thesis. As Paul turns, and you’ll see that at the beginning, he turns and starts speaking to the Philippians.

And he’s going to hit three similar notes. This is sort of a summary of what he wants them to learn in this letter. So we’ve only got four verses, but we’ll spend a week on it and look at things that we’ll dig into more deep in the weeks to come as we look at what Paul wants them to see and know about Christ. as they’re on a difficult journey, but he says, this is what you should be aimed at. This is what you should be focused on growing in. Again, there’s three things. Those same three things show up. First, unity, then confidence or courage, and then finally, looking at Christ and seeing him more clearly, growing in the gift of Christ.

Okay, with that, let’s read God’s word, starting in verse 27. We’ll read to verse 30, the end of the chapter. This is God’s word. 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. and not frightened in anything by your opponents. For this is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation and that from God. 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, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.” It’s the end of the reading of God’s Word. As Paul writes this, he’s seeing kind of underneath the veil.

We look around at the world and we see sort of the things our eyes can see, the regular conflicts. What are you aiming for in the next week? What are you concerned about? Well, maybe you have a conflict with a co-worker or maybe you have something that you’re excited to get to, a birthday party or spending time with a friend. It’s the things that we can taste and see.

But what Paul’s most concerned about is underneath sort of the stuff on the surface. We may see sort of conflict, we may see things of joy, but Paul is saying actually what’s underneath all of that is there’s a world at war. God is fighting against the spiritual forces of evil, and there’s a battle between sin and righteousness. Now, in Christ, that victory has already been secured, but the battle is constantly waging. And so, the reality of the world that we live in is often way more serious than we take it to be.

How often have you found yourself in some really bad situation, and then you sort of are tracing back, how did I get there? Maybe you’re caught in some sin that you haven’t been able to get out of. And you think, where did this all start? And you realize, well, I guess I made that decision back there, but I didn’t realize it would have these consequences. I didn’t realize how much it would trap me. I didn’t realize the effect it would have on so many people. I just made a small decision over here because I didn’t think it was very serious.

Well, what you’re feeling is the weight of the war that we live in. That Satan wants to make everything look kind of, well, it’ll be okay. Things aren’t that serious. Things aren’t that big of a deal. But then you take that step, and you give in to that argument, and then the world crashes down on you, right? And if you’ve been in that spot, what is Satan’s voice now saying? It then changes and says, well, there’s no way out of it. You’re just lost. It’s too hard. Just give up. What you’re feeling is there’s a war going on underneath.

And so keep that in mind when we read, when we’re looking through these verses, because what Paul is gonna press to us in these verses is a really high calling. It’s something that we need to be aiming for to attain. None of us are gonna be able to come out of this and pat ourselves on the back and say, well, good, I’m glad I got that already covered. I feel really good about myself. But there’s gonna be things that we’re gonna think, well, I don’t know how anyone could get to that spot.

But it’s because Paul is seeing the severity of the situation that he says, you need to know what you’re aiming at. You need to know where you need to be, not just feel bad about where you’re not yet, okay? So set your eyes on the goal that Christ has for you. Look how it begins.

Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ. Do you hear that exalted language? You think, well, how is my life gonna be worthy of the gospel of Christ? The gift that God has given to me for forgiveness of my sins, joining me to his family, how can my life be worthy of that?

Paul says, no, you’ve, it’s been a gift that you’ve been given, and now you need to live your whole life transformed by that reality. This is a world at war. So it’s gonna be a high calling because the situation we’re in, but also because of who God is. If you believe in Christ, you are a child of God and you are a part of his mission.

And so then how you view yourself and what you, the standards you hold yourself to need to be held in respect to the country that you fight for. Where is your citizenship? There’s stories of people who were in France in World War II before the Germans came through.

And their assessment was this country’s going to fall really quick. And they did. They got decimated. It wasn’t because Germany had a huge army, but they looked at the eyes of the people and they said, they have no pride in themselves. No one here is willing to fight for their country. There were also people who were in Ukraine when the Russians came through. A huge army, way bigger than Ukraine could ever muster.

But they stayed there and they said, no, this country is not going to fall. Because they looked in the eyes of the people and they said, these people have pride in where they live. They’re willing to fight for their country. So this is what Paul is trying to muster up.

Do you see that you belong to a great country? not the country of America, not the country that you may have come from. You belong to God’s country, and so now your life is determined by your citizenship. You have been claimed by Christ, and now when you look at the world in front of you, it’s not based on, well, what do I think I can do? But there’s an honor because you are living a life that’s gonna be worthy of the gospel of Christ, worthy of that country. Now, thinking along that pattern, Paul is now setting out, okay, here are three things that you need to look at, that you need to focus in on, on here’s how you live worthy of Christ.

Now, they may not be the things that you would think of, but say someone came to you and said, okay, what does a good soldier need? What does a good soldier need? You’d think, well, he’s probably like really big, and he’s been through a lot of battles, so he knows what to do, and he’s heroic.

He’s done all these conquests. But the great sort of advances in warfare, even in ancient times, the advances in warfare were not based on a single hero who could do miraculous things. But think of the Greeks taking over the world, or the Romans. They developed this thing called the phalanx.

Now, what was the good soldier for the Greeks? A good soldier was one who knew his spot and would hold in line so he was unity. He had unity with all of his brothers. He knew that, well, my role is to hold my shield here, hold my spear there, and do my one job, and I know the rest of us will all do the same thing, and together we’re going to conquer the world. They could withstand even great armies because they had courage. They knew who was behind them. These are great commanders, and they knew their own power.

So what did you want in a soldier? Really basic things. Can you follow orders? Are you fighting for yourself, or are you fighting for your country? Are you willing to trust your commander? And finally, well, if you needed to die, were you willing to do it? Did you love your country?

Those are the same three things that Paul hits. He’s gonna look at, well, unity. And then he’s gonna hit, do you have confidence in God? Do you have courage? And third, changing your mindset about Christ. Do you love Christ? Do you love all of Christ? As we look at the unity, it begins here because everything matters about how can you hold a line in the Christian life.

The worst soldier is the one who’s going to try and break out ranks, and I’m going to do something heroic. And all of a sudden, his spot’s missing, and all of his friends got killed, and he did too. because he wants out there for himself. But what is the first thing that Paul says? 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. Does he want heroics of faith? Does he want, the thing I want for you is to be a great teacher, or to know all this great theology, No, what he wants most of all is just their unity in the body of Christ. That’s the first thing he wants them to have. But in stress, isn’t that the first thing that starts to fall apart? If you’re married, think of your marriage. You had all of these plans. You knew why you and your wife or you and your husband, well, there’s no way we’re going to fail. Because look how much we love each other. Look how much unity we have.

And then you hit a speed bump. Maybe it’s a weekend. Maybe it’s 20 years in. And stress starts to crack some of those things. Maybe one of you changes ideas. Well, I think we’d rather go this way. Or one of you is holding to something and it doesn’t make sense, but there’s stress in your marriage. And then what happens?

Well, you start blaming each other, right? Wives, how often have you begun doubting your husband’s leadership? I don’t think he actually has my best intentions in mind. I don’t think he’s caring for my kids. And then you start to pull back and reserved. But how many of you husbands have done the same thing? And you start pointing the finger at your wife.

Well, it’s because she’s not doing this. It’s because she’s not strong enough for that. And you all know what the fault is, and it’s not yours, it’s hers, right? You may not say it to people because you know you can’t say that in a church, but you’ve said it to God plenty of times in your mind, and you’re quick to point the finger at someone else.

When stress comes in, The first thing to fall apart is unity. Every man’s out there for himself. I need to defend myself against God. I need to make sure other people know that I’m not the one at fault for what’s going wrong. I need to claim what’s mine and get credit for doing something great. Unity starts to fall apart.

But what God holds to first is that it’s not about you. The first thing you need to have is unity in Christ. Whether I come and see you or I’m absent, the one thing Paul wants to hear is that you’re standing firm in one spirit. Paul sees that the glory of Christ is seen in the unity of the church. Isn’t that amazing? Whether you see yourself as someone who is going to be a great person, do wonderful things for God, or maybe you just feel overwhelmed by what you already have in front of you, Well, this is something to be pursued wherever you fall on that spectrum of sort of desire and endeavor. Okay, well, how do I pursue unity in the church? How do I find my unity in Christ? How am I looking to make peace in the church?

Now, notice something else, though. It’s not just about how do I keep everything calm. It’s not just about, well, I have these opinions, I’m just going to quiet down so that no one knows there’s any sort of conflict. But it’s an active pursuit of unity. You’re standing firm in one spirit, but also you’re striving. You see that? With one mind, striving side by side for the faith of the gospel. You know you’re on a mission. You know we’re trying to glorify Christ. And how do we get on the same mind?

How often have we run into conflicts with people, and you think, well, they didn’t hear me. Maybe you talked to them two or three times, and you think, well, we’ll just have to leave good enough alone. They’ll do their thing. I’ll do my thing, and we’ll stay separate. You can kind of get away with that in a church if it’s big enough. It’s harder for a church that’s this size. But some people even try and do that in a marriage. We think, well, we’ll just do our own separate things. We won’t talk about this area. But Paul’s driving at a really full unity. I don’t want just surface-level peace.

But how are we coming together that we are striving for Christ with one mind? Now, there’s going to be diversity in a church. There’s going to be difference of opinions, but this is the goal. What you’re longing for, what you’re hoping for is that we would all see things and be striving towards the same thing. That we’d be able to act with one mind. We’d be within all in one spirit.

Do you see that? Do you see how hard that is? You might just see in your own family, wow, that’s really hard to get us all on the same page. Now how do we do that with a church? Do you see what I said, that there’s gonna be some high callings? There’s gonna be things you think, I don’t see how that’s gonna ever be possible.

But Paul says that you need to strive for that. Strive for unity in the church. Because Christ is one. And we need full unity that, like that Greek phalanx or the Roman Legion, you’re walking step by step and you know, oh, we’re all on the same page. We’re going in this together. I can walk this way because I know that my brother has my back and that we’re doing the same thing. That’s the unity that Paul’s drawing on to show you this is the sort of unity that we need in the church.

Then he goes on, though, and says something that may be even harder to understand. Verse 28. Not frightened in anything by your opponents. So as you’re striving forward with unity, he then says, and you’re going to do it with full courage. Look at the courage that he calls it to. Not frightened in anything by your opponents.

Think of the things that have come against you in your Christian life, or maybe that are right there on the horizon, that you’re worried about. Well, this might happen to me, or I need to defend against that. Are you frightened by it? I’d be concerned if we weren’t frightened by all the things that could come against the church, against you personally, against all that you hold dear.

But Paul says you’re not frightened in anything by your opponents. He says you should have full courage even in the hardest of circumstances. Because this church he’s writing to is underneath persecution. They’re facing way more extreme stuff than we face. They’re way smaller than we are. They don’t have the connections that we have. And yet Paul says to them, you don’t need to be frightened about anything. And my hope for you, what I want you to learn is not to be frightened in anything. I was with someone in Mexico.

We were running, and the guy in the group, a dog came out, a giant dog, like a guard dog, came out and started chasing. And instead of running away, he turns and just starts barking and screaming at the dog, holds up his hands and starts to jump at him like he’s going to attack the dog. And afterwards, we asked him, what were you doing?

And he said, well, the dog had to know I was going to attack him, because he was going to attack us. And I was like, well, that dog was going to hurt you. He’s like, yeah, I know. But if he thought I was going to hurt him, then he was going to stop. Do you see that there’s a courage of, well, did that guy think he was going to beat the dog? Well, probably not. But he had confidence.

You know, this is the right way to do it. Maybe you grew up with an older brother in school, and someone was going to bully you, but you had complete confidence. It doesn’t matter, because my older brother is going to come, and he’s going to defend me. Right? There’s a confidence to knowing, well, who’s got my back? I don’t need to be frightened about anything that guy’s going to say, because I’m going to go walk over and tell my brother what he said, and then he’s going to take care of it. That’s the confidence that Paul is talking about. Not frightened in anything by your opponents. Well, why? What’s underneath that? Because you know who has your back. You know that God is on your side, that you are on God’s side. Do you see that?

It drives more than just knowing some theological realities, but it actually comes from knowing the reality that God is living and active right now. I know that God will defend me. I know that he will carry things through. I know that he’s not gonna leave me stranded.

And believing it right down to your core means that you can face whatever troubles that there are and you don’t need to be afraid. Isn’t that an amazing thing to think about? But Paul says there’s a purpose to this too. Keep reading in verse 28. He says, look what this will do. This is actually evangelistic. You need to actually believe in this for you to be able to live without fear. But there’s a purpose to it. And what’s the purpose?

Well, if someone comes and does something frightening to you, I’m going to scare that Christian. And you don’t respond that way. I don’t care if you cheated me. I don’t care if you stole that from me. Well, why? Well, because God’s going to defend me. If you live that way, if you respond that way, they realize, wow, there’s something I didn’t account for. See, I was just living based on this little world here, but they’re seeing a bigger army. There’s that story of Elisha, right?

He’s going out, and there’s the army of the Assyrians, and he says, well, He wasn’t afraid at all, and his servant says, well, why aren’t you afraid? He says, well, I know who’s on our side. And then he sees all of the angels around the army and says, oh, there’s nothing to be afraid of, because I know that God’s army is bigger.

But the Syrians had no idea that was going on. They thought, well, we’re up against one man. That guy should be trembling in his boots. But he wasn’t, because he saw God’s power, and he knew that God was on his side. And when they see a reaction, the world sees a reaction like that, then they realize, oh, there’s a reality beyond this world. There’s something else happening. There’s a spiritual reality that I can’t account for. And this is how Paul describes it. This is a clear sign. The word’s like an omen. It’s proof. It’s proof of their destruction, but of your salvation and that from God. So by your faith in Christ, your day-to-day faith in the power of Christ to defend you, to guard you, to carry you through, living out of that faith is testimony itself.

See, some of you probably don’t think, well, I can’t be an evangelist. I don’t know, I don’t know the words to speak and bring someone to faith. Well, this is actually saying, well, what is great evangelism? How do you face troubles? How do you face frightening things? If you’re able to pray and face it with confidence and courage, people will see that and think, oh, there’s something different. There’s something that’s coming from God. And that itself is testifying to God’s truth. There’s a purpose to this. And finally, the third thing he says is looking at the gift. Verse 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. Engage in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have. So undergirding all of this is a reality. And this is what is undergirding both the unity, what can we have unity in, and the courage, how can we face great fearful things?

Undergirding all of that, you see verse 29, there’s a cause of it, for, because it’s been granted to you. Because God has given you a gift. What is that gift? There’s actually two things. One of them you already know, but the other one is interesting and hard to believe. It’s been granted to you that for the sake of Christ, you believe in him.

Why can you have courage? Because God has chosen you. He has given you a gift of belief. You believe in him and he’s going to carry you through. You believe in him, he’s going to bring you with his people. This is a gift that God has given you. And so you’re not basing it on, well, here’s what I think I can do, or here’s how much I can give. But it’s because God has given you the gift of faith. Oh, I saw Christ. I saw my sins. And I’ve turned towards him. And you realize, I couldn’t have done that on my own.

It’s a gift of faith. The other one is interesting, because there’s two gifts. Not only that you believe in him, but also suffer for his sake. Now, who thinks of suffering as a gift? Not very many of us. We spend most of our time trying to figure out, well, how do I not suffer? Say you go home and your spouse or your kid goes to the thermostat and turns it off and says, you say, well, it’s 100 degrees out. He says, yeah, but I’m giving you the gift of suffering. So we’re going to live without AC for the rest of the year.

How many of you would say, oh, that’s right. Thank you. I really appreciate that. It’s like Christmas, Christmas in August. No, you’d say, well, this is ridiculous. That’s not a gift at all. You didn’t give me anything. But Paul says here, you’ve been gifted something. You’ve not only been gifted faith, you’ve been gifted to suffer for Christ’s sake.

Paul is saying that this is a good thing. I have spent this week just trying to figure out the right analogy and nothing seems to quite communicate the strength of it. And I don’t think there’s a good way to put it because we don’t want to suffer. But I think what Paul is communicating here is when you see Christ in all of his glory, you not only are willing to suffer for Christ, but there’s a joy to it. There’s a desire. You don’t become masochist just hitting yourself, but you want to be like Christ in everything. you want to share in Christ’s sufferings. Isn’t that interesting? That we don’t want just the gifts of Christ, we want all of Him.

And I think when we see Christ well, when we get glimpses of Him in His full glory, it begins to make a little more sense. Just keep this in mind as you grow in Christ and you see, oh, yeah, right there I saw it. Right there I was excited to suffer with Christ.

There’s a story at the end of the Gospel of John, and Peter is being brought back into the fold, and three times Jesus asks, Will you follow me? Do you love me? And Peter responds, yes, you know I love you. But Jesus repeats it, and three times he says that. Feed my sheep. Feed my lambs. He’s bringing him back into the fold and saying, follow me.

But what immediately follows that? He tells Peter how he’s going to die. When you were young, you used to dress yourself. But when you’re old, another’s going to dress you and take you to a place you do not want to go. After this warm embrace, don’t worry. You’re coming back. You’re in the fold. Take care of my sheep. Take care of my lambs. And what’s immediately joined with that, oh, and here’s your suffering. Peter immediately welcomes that and says, oh yes, I would love to suffer just like you have suffered.

No, he doesn’t. He points to John and says, well, what about that guy? Does he have to suffer too? And Jesus says, don’t worry about that. Follow me. What’s communicated in that? Well, our natural reaction is we don’t want to suffer. But what Jesus is communicating, as he said in other places, is if we want Christ, then we want all of Christ. we want the suffering too. The suffering of Christ is his glory and as Christians our suffering is our glory. Do you see that?

Now some of you are thinking of that in terms of all of the things you have to sort of persevere through. And some of you are thinking of that more like men, of like, all right, where am I going to conquer, and how many battle wounds am I going to have? Well, the funny thing about suffering is we don’t get to choose which kind of suffering we have to endure. So if you’re leaning towards one, the battle wounds kind, if you’re probably a middle-aged man, Or if you’re leaning towards just persevering and getting your head through, well, are you open to whatever suffering Christ has for you?

That is your glory. You see, we think of heaven as the relief of everything. I’m going to be with Christ and all suffering is going to be gone. And that is going to be beautiful. Every tear we wiped away, there will be no more crying, nothing to be afraid of. But there’s a glory, an opportunity we have right now, where now is our chance to suffer with Christ. Now is our chance to endure like Christ endured.

So look at your life and you see the ways that you’re suffering. And you struggle with it. Are you seeing that suffering as being part of being with Christ? I don’t just mean, we think of Christ’s suffering as when he was being mocked, or maybe when he was being placed on the cross, and the agony of that. That’s extreme suffering. And it’s easy to see how that leads to salvation for us, and glory. Everyone is worshiping that Christ, because they see, my sins are taken off of me because Christ has died on the cross for me.

But do you realize how many other ways that Christ suffered? The Son of God skinned his knee or had to wait till he was 30 years old to begin his ministry. He spent his life building houses. He had friends betray him, speak ill of him, people not listen to him. Think of all the small ways of suffering that Christ didn’t have to go through as the Son of God, but he chose to.

That was his glory. It was his glory to be able to live as a human and live with all of the small little things of suffering that we struggle with. That was the glory of Christ. And what’s beautiful about the gospel is it’s not just going to be made better, but you are joined with Christ so that your menial sufferings, your things that don’t make any sense and you don’t see leading towards anything good, all of that is for your glory too. All of that is for your glory. This is how Paul explains living a life worthy of the gospel.

Well, how are we striving for unity in the church among other Christians, striving to be of the same mind? How are we seeing and growing our faith in Christ that we can have full courage? We know who is behind us. And finally, how do we view Christ better? That we see him, all of him, as a gift given to us. That even in our times of suffering, we say, yes, I want to be like Christ. Make me more like Christ. Again, I don’t have an answer for, oh, this is the small thing that’ll be easy to do. But look at that goal and pray towards that end.

Christ has granted you not just the forgiveness of your sins, not just relief from this world, but he’s given you so many blessings in this world too. He’s given you relief from your fear here and now. He’s given you a family and a unity in the church. He’s given you even the opportunity to suffer with him.

And that’s what Paul wants for the Philippians, to fully appreciate all of Christ. And that’s what we need to grow in if we are gonna live a life worthy of the gospel of Christ. Would you join me in prayer? Lord, we come to you and we pray that we would not just be Christians, but Christians who hear on that day, well done, good and faithful servant. that God himself would look at our life and say that was a life worthy of the gospel of Christ.

We know that we can only do that through your power. We pray that you would be giving us great perseverance and desire for unity. Would you give us humility in our own understanding and a great fervor for your truth in that humility? Give us a love for those who we labor with. And we pray that we would look not to our own interests, but the interests of others. Lord, we pray that you would be also giving us great courage in Christ.

That the things that we are afraid of would either seem small in comparison to what we have in Christ, your blessings, But even more than that, that we would know that you stand behind us and you fight for us. That we don’t just stand in an army with the church members who surround us, but that you are fighting alongside us and you are guarding our back. You are our defender. And you are not a distant God, but you stand right beside us.

Grow our faith. Help us to have eyes like Elisha’s servant that can see you at work. That we see your spiritual army. We see your great power in the day to day. And give us hearts of faith that we don’t forget. We don’t forget what we have seen. We don’t forget your work.

But we strive with full courage remembering your great power and what you have shown us. and grow our hearts to see Christ in his beauty, that we don’t just see the gifts that Christ gives, the things that we are going to be given, the things that we want from Christ, but that we value Christ for himself.

Help us to understand that paradox, that it is a gift not just to believe in Christ, to be counted in his family, but it is a gift to suffer with him. Pray that you would give us moments this coming week that we would see that gift in action. That we would look and see how you were at work or how you were blessing us in our suffering. That we are seeing Christ suffering alongside us and with us. And how you are glorified in all of this and how we get our glory in that. Lord, we pray that you are building your church now. building your church in maturity, that we as a church are living worthy of the gospel of Christ, and through that be a witness to the world, that they would know that there is judgment to come, that they are living in a war, but that there is also salvation, salvation found in your church. And that the world would open their eyes to see the proof right before them of this reality. And that many would turn and be saved. We pray this in Christ’s name, amen.