And oh, how when we look at the
life of the disciples and the apostles, they needed the Lord.
Nothing's changed. Nothing's going to change. Our
need for God's grace and his everlasting presence is eternal. Without the Lord, there would
be no hope for us. Without the Lord, even in our
faith, there would be no hope for us to maintain, to be secure,
to worship, to love, to forgive. As we look at this text today
in Philippians, I want you to consider the world in which you
live. I want you to think about the tragedies that you have experienced. I want you to think about the
stress and the anxiety and the things that cause you grief and
harm to your heart, to your soul. I want you to consider the fact
that not one of us in this room is without such testimony. There's
none of us who would ever hear those questions who would say,
well, I just don't have anything to think about. Because if there's
one thing common unto man other than sinfulness, it is suffering,
it is pain, it is heartbreak. And so there is no reason to
feel as though we are the only ones who suffer in this way. And as God's people, there is
no guarantee. As a matter of fact, there is
more of a guarantee that we will suffer in a greater way in some
sense than those who are not in Christ. And I think about
the situation over the last few days, the massacre in Charlotte,
and not just the shooting there that we saw with this hateful,
murderous heart that went in and took the lives of nine people.
But the reason that he did so, his hatred toward certain ethnicity,
his hatred toward certain people groups. But in the end, nine
human beings have died. and not because of their faith,
but because of their color. I guarantee you across the world
today and across this nation, there are many pastors who are
preaching to that point. And I would say to you that while
it is important to discuss these things, it is important for the
church to have a position on these things. It stars the church
to death when pulpits become political. It stars the church
to death when pulpits become a platform for pundits to express
their views, even if they're right and biblical. The church
lives on the gospel of Jesus Christ. The church is rewarded
by the grace with the grace of God through the teaching of scripture.
And so, although it may be fitting to talk about fathers, it may
be fitting to talk about race. It may be fitting to talk about
these things. To do so would interrupt the flow of God's word
through the letter to the Philippians. And I believe it would be inappropriate
to put then what is primary secondary because of the situations in
which we live. In no way, though, should I be heard saying that
it's not important, that it's not a tragedy, that it's not
a crisis. But at the same time, where is
the sermon there? Where is the hope there? Where is the the
fruit that we want to see where people would not hate each other
like that? Our friends, I've seen that there's no other place
in the world, in the universe, except the gospel of Jesus. And
so if we want to understand what it's like to see God's grace
in the midst of great suffering, I believe Paul's letter to the
Philippians is just that, not just in the life of Paul, but
most certainly in the life of Christ. As we see the Christ
come to earth, as the magnificent, holy and ineffable God and subject
himself to death on a cross that was not his to bear. Friends,
there is no greater tragedy than the death of Jesus Christ, but
there is no greater beauty than the death of that Christ. Paul
has taught us much thus far in this letter, and yet we're not
even through, in some sense, the introduction. Paul has taught
us the power in which he rests. Paul has taught us that there
is the affection that is given him by the Lord for these people
in Philippi. Not just the church, but also
the lost. Because Paul has zeal and excitement over the reality
that because of his suffering, the gospel is going out to those
who would have not heard it otherwise. We see an opportunity here for
celebration. Paul tells these Philippian Christians
that there are those who seek to do him harm, but in doing
so, they preach the right gospel. And so that God could even use
the wrong motives to produce the right outcomes. We see here
that living is Christ and dying is gain, but it is a greater
reward to live in this present day so that more and more would
come to the knowledge of grace and grow in the depth of the
knowledge of grace to the praise of the glorious grace of God
rather than Paul receive that which is his already face to
face with Jesus Christ. Paul says that he would not at
all be ashamed in his body or in his suffering or in his stance
for the gospel. Paul would not be ashamed in
proclaiming that Jesus Christ alone is hope and that there
is no justice apart from God's mercy and that has been poured
out on Christ. There is no justice and forgiveness
except that Christ took our punishment on the cross. Paul is explaining
himself in such a way, in such a personal testimony, that we,
the readers, some 2,000 years later, can see the pulse of his
being, can see the core of his existence. We can see the essence
of his thriving in his soul, that Paul is satisfied in Christ
alone. And that his hope is that these
Christians, not just the Philippians, but also his heart would be the
same for us today, that we, the church, would be encouraged and
empowered and equipped to celebrate life in Christ Jesus in such
a way that our lives would display the reflection of the holiness
of Christ. And in verse 27, he says these
words. 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 verse 28, 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. Now, I want you to see something
in this text. There's a lot there. I say that
all the time, but I'm being serious now. There's a lot there. And
in this text, there's several key things that I want us to
have on our plate as we eat. The first thing I want you to
see is the very last phrase that Paul says, and that from God. I want you to realize, beloved,
that salvation is from God. You see that this is not new
here in the book of Philippians. This is not new for Paul. He's
already expressed this time and time again. He's expressed that
grace to you and peace from God, our father and the Lord Jesus
Christ. So the peace of salvation comes
from God. Now, you might say, well, this
is a theology that I know. Why repeat it? Why would Paul
continue to emphasize such things? Because, friends, in the midst
of trial, we often lose sight of who is our victor. We often
lose sight of to whose hand we should grasp, whose lead we should
follow. We often think that it's each
other that we should be looking at. But Paul himself would say,
follow me as I follow Christ. So that as you follow Paul, you
follow Christ. As you follow me, you follow
Christ. If I follow Christ and you are the same, we are to understand
that it is following Christ that is following God. It is doing
that which Christ did. that is following God. It is
walking in the way of Christ that is following God. And so
as Paul is sitting and suffering for the sake of the gospel, because
of the gospel, he says he is following Christ not only in
his life and in his soul, but in his example of living. And
so as then then as he is finishing his testimony, he comes to his
readers and he says, your salvation is from God. And you are going to be saved
because you are saved no matter what your enemies say, no matter
how fearful you may be by your opponents because of your opponents. You are saved and that is the
work of God. And so if nothing else, as we
see Paul begin to talk about how these Christians should live,
he starts here and he goes all the way through to the end of
chapter two. And he gives some details, some
examples, some instruction and some command of how we, the church,
should conduct ourselves in mind and body. in a way that is pleasing
to the Lord Jesus Christ, that gives Him honor and glory, that
reflects His work. See, do not forget so quickly
that because salvation is from God, so is the fruit of salvation. So is the fruit of holiness.
So is the life that we've been given to live. It is a reflection
of the truth that God has changed us. So when we live mired, disobedient
to the cross, but obedient to the flesh, we are reflecting
not the work of God, but the work of the flesh. And Paul is
clear that that is not the way we are to walk. He is not saying
try your best. He is saying you walk in this
way, showing that who you are and what you are is a reflection
of God's work. Lest we make God a liar. You
see how John and other places in scripture where it really
challenges those who say they're in the faith, but do not love,
say they're in the faith, but they have idols. Why do you think
John ends his first epistle with keep yourself from idols? Because
that's what we do. We love our theology, not the
God of it. We love our church, not the body
of Christ. We love our ministry, not the
work of the gospel. We love our family, not as gifts,
as stewards. We love our country. We love
our flags. We love our our our stuff. We love our our theories, our
philosophies, our belief systems. These are idols. There is no
such thing as an American Christian. There's no such thing as a as
a as a European Christian. We are Christians that happen
to live in America. There is no segregation of individuals
by race in heaven. There is no sect of Indian Christians
and Asian Christians and American Christians. This doesn't work.
It's anti-gospel. It's antithetical to the truth
of the cross. God has called all people of
all tribes of all nations and all tongues to be the body unified. Now, why are you pumping that?
Because Paul deals with it right here in these two verses. Let
your manner of life. Now listen, you wouldn't believe
How many different translations have come from that little phrase?
If you look at the NIV, the ESV, the KJV, there's all. But let
me tell you what Paul is really saying. First, he starts with
the with the the word only. What is he doing there? Paul
is focusing on a single thing. He is saying to these Christians
here. That you will grow glory in Christ. And therefore, because you are
in Christ, because you are suffering for Christ, because Christ is
in you, because life is Christ, therefore only let your manner
of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ. So in this, Paul is
focusing on the one true, vital, important thing for the church
to focus on, and it's the gospel. Let your life be worthy of the
gospel only. I want you to hear it. And that's a command. And when you see the words, let
your manner of life, some some translations actually go into
the meaning there rather than just the words. The meaning there
is this as a citizen, live and live as a citizen this way. That's
what it means. And some translations will say
that to you, but that's not translation. The Greek says, let your manner
of life. But it means as a citizen live. And as a citizen, live worthy
of the gospel, live as a citizen. So as we live. As the church
lives, as the Philippians live, he is saying, let their manner
of life be worthy of the gospel. What is this? What what does
it really do for us to think of this way? Who were these people?
Who was Paul? Paul is a citizen of Rome. A
Jew. And he gave it all away. He quit. He quit being. A proponent of Judaism. He quit
working for the sake of Rome. He worked for the cross and it
cost him everything. When Paul says, I count it all
as loss. That's part of it. Yes, he had
rights under Rome and he exercised them, which is why he sat in
prison for two years. But why did he exercise his rights
for himself now for the gospel? We don't have rights apart from
the gospel, lest we be selfish idolaters. Listen to me, friends. Now, the implications of that
are huge. And the application of that is
for you to discern. But as for me, I would not sue
anyone. Anyone, no matter what. No one. Have I wanted to? You betcha, I got a list. The
back of my Bible, I could write it right there. Wouldn't that
be funny? My pending lawsuit list. But that's... I may have grounds, I may have
rights. I'm not saying that we don't have to get a lawyer sometimes
and defend ourselves and protect ourselves in some sense. But
why is it that we put our rights as citizens of this country above
the sacrifice of those rights for the sake of the gospel? Do
you know, even in small things like eating and drinking, I am
supposed to submit to the weakness of others? If I'm amongst the Muslim people
and they think it improper to eat pork, and I eat bacon every
day, then I should let it go for the sake of their conscience.
And they're unbelievers. How much more so should I let
go for the sake of conscience, those things that are polarizing
in my life for the brethren? As citizens live a life worthy
of the gospel. And the gospel is all about giving
ourselves up The gospel, as Paul would say, if there is a mind
to have, it is this one and it is yours, that Christ, who was
equal with God, became a slave. Have this mind. Have this mind,
have this focus, have this zeal, have this manner, live this way. You live this way. Why? Because
had Paul become a Roman more than a Christian, Paul would
have made shame to the cross of Christ. Paul would not have
been without shame in his body. You can't honor God. You cannot
serve two masters. Paul could not have submitted
to the imperialism of Rome in the context of exercising his
rights to transform that community. He had grounds. They were wrongfully
persecuting a peaceful people. They were not just persecuting
them to cause them harm in their financial world and in their
personal world, but they were taking away their very lives.
Paul did not work to try to satisfy Rome and fix that situation. Paul set himself subject to the
law of Rome and submitted to it, even to the removing of his
head from his body, which he said glorified Christ. He didn't
care about the indiscrepancies of what was just. It wasn't just
that Paul was in prison. It wasn't just that the Philippians
were being persecuted. It wasn't just that they were
being whipped and beaten and murdered. It was unjust, but
Paul said, let it be for the glory of Christ. Die with honor
because it is the will of the Lord for you to submit all things
to Him. Walk worthy. I will tell you, friends, it
is a very. Divisive thing to say these things
in an American on American soil. Because I believe that the heart
of idolatry in America starts. From the ground up. And I don't want you if you want
to hear my thoughts on now, you don't hear my thought that you
want to read history and hear history. Let's just we'll do
another church history class, American church history class.
I'll show you the documents of the people who did it, not what
historians say they think. You want to know what people
did in history, read what they wrote, not what people wrote about them.
That's not history. That's opinion. History, you
read people's journals, you read newspapers, you read documents,
you read congressional bills and you see who the people really
were. And God is sovereign. Over our citizenship. And so
there was we should walk in a manner worthy of the gospel as citizens
of a of a seen community. like the community in which we
live, like the state in which we live, like the country in
which we live, putting to death those things that are not Christ
like walking in a way, in a manner that the world would look at
us and say, wow, this this is what it means to be a good citizen.
This is what it means to live amongst the people who are not
in Christ. This is what it means. Friends,
even as much as us trying to do things in the name of the
gospel of transforming morality, you know where morality takes
you to the pit of hell. Immorality takes you to the pit
of hell. Morality takes you to the pit of hell. If God want
a morality, he would have never sent Christ. It's not about what is moral,
it's about what is Christ like. And there's an essence to things.
People in their ignorance are looking for the absolute black
and white. Do this, don't do this, don't
do this. Well, they've been given to us. And we break them all. And we're guilty as charged.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind,
and with all your strength. Have no other gods before me.
We can't get the first two. And so Christ came to satisfy
that guilt on the cross. and died when he did not deserve
to die so that you and I could be found innocent of breaking
the law of the holiness of God's glory. We live as citizens of
an unseen community, and Paul says we ought to walk in a manner
worthy of such things. And in the next six paragraphs,
he's going to teach us what that looks like in the weeks to come.
We'll see what it looks like. But we are to walk as citizens
of a same community, but we are to do so in such a way that we
show that we're citizens of an unseen community. We're supposed to walk in a way
as we're seen as though we don't belong where we're seen. See
what I mean? You see. The kingdom of heaven. We are in Christ, and guess what?
There is no nation over Christ. all nations under Christ, to
which he will put his foot upon and strike them down forever.
That's hard for us. Jesus is not a Republican, never
would be. He's not a Democrat either because
they're not mutually exclusive. He doesn't wear a donkey, he
rode one. When a king was to ride a stallion,
he rode. A donkey. Christ. Is the gospel, your salvation,
and that from God is the power in which we walk as citizens,
as people, as Christians. There's a lot that I could say
here, but I'm refraining because it's not good for us. Polarizing
punditism. Friends, I want each of us to
all of us, every one of us. I want you to look in your hearts
and I want me to look in my heart every day and I want us to see
how we walk, in ways that are not worthy of the gospel. What do we say? What do we post? What do we love? What do we ponder?
Where do we place our time? To what end are we preparing
for our future? And then as a community that
is unseen, as a citizenry of the Church of Jesus Christ that
has no king but Christ. over which the church shall govern
all things. We are to walk amongst ourselves,
each other, in such a way that is worthy of the gospel of Christ.
What does that look like? Well, I could go in many other
places in Scripture, and I could show you where Paul gives instructions. Just Paul gives instructions
on how we should bear one another's burdens. and pray for each other,
how we should be forgiven, how we should be gracious. I could
go to the teaching of Jesus and show how when those who claim
our lives, our purpose to take our lives from us because of
our faith, we should pray for their souls. And when our enemy
is hungry, we should starve that we might give them their food,
give them our food. This is the extreme example that
Jesus says. To pray for your enemies. Love
those who persecute you. Jesus then says that there's
no greater love than this that a man would lay down his life
for a brother. Well, these enemies of the cross are not our brothers.
They're your fellow human beings. It's easy to become radical.
It's easy to become this, I don't know, hermit in a cave. throwing everything away for
the cause of Christ. And for some people, God calls
some people, God calls to that end. But for most of us, we need
to just deal with the little things that we're dealing with
now. We need to see in this great, rich world that we live in, how
we are walking in a manner worthy of the citizens of heaven. How
we're walking together as the church. You know what baffles
the world? What is what is revealing of the manifold wisdom of God
is that we as the church deal with things differently than
the world does. When a man gets addicted to methamphetamines
and beats his wife, we don't call the cops. Without first
trying to help this brother in Christ repent and get help. And ultimately, he will be handed
over to the state. When someone commits infidelity. We don't file for divorce right
away, we work to see if the gospel is indeed inside of them, that
if Christ is their savior, they can forgive that indiscretion. We don't look to make restitution
or receive restitution when we're wrong, but yet we give that which
has not been robbed us away. I tell you what, I've seen many
a young man ruin their lives over petty theft. Well, there's
nothing petty about theft. Yes, there is. In the scheme
of life. You're saying it's okay to steal. I did not say that. I'm saying
that if we just look at Paul's writing to Philemon, who was
a piece of property, who had a piece of property named Onesimus,
and Onesimus stole from Philemon, and the penalty of stealing was
death. If your dog comes in and gobbles up your television, you
kill it. Well, in the same way, Onesimus as a dog, as an old
piece of property, like a farm animal stole from Philemon and
Philemon rightly under the law could put him to death. Let me
tell you something. What did Paul say when he met when he
met Onesimus? What did he write? He says, when
Onesimus shows back up, you treat him as though I have come to
see you. And I want to I want to think
that there's probably a private message. Maybe an instant message
or something that Paul sent to Philemon and says, and if you
mention this to him, I'm coming through you. Of course he didn't. But you know what I mean. That's
implied. He didn't have to say that. Because Philemon was a
believer. Paul was a believer. Onesimus
was a believer. And so now everybody's on equal
ground. Set him free. He's no longer beholden to you
as property. You don't own men. It's deplorable. And the Bible, though there was
slavery, hates it. There's nothing biblical about
slavery. Nowhere. Anyone who'd say that to you
is a liar. Anyone who would try to argue
that to you better go to the New Testament and prove it or
less. They need to be told to leave your presence. You see what I mean? It runs
deep. What do we do if we live in a
manner worthy as a business owner and our profits are good and
our employees are suffering? Whose profits are they? I'm not talking about the world,
I'm talking about the church. John says that if we see our
brother in need and we withhold the world and have the world's
goods and we close our heart to him. We're a liar, we do not
practice the truth. We live in a manner, we walk
in a manner worthy of the gospel as the church, when we are very
concerned with each other, as Paul has already said, we pray. We're thankful. We rejoice in
our suffering. We pray that our love may abound
more and more. We seek the knowledge of the
Gospel and of Scripture so that we may have discernment, so that
we may live by approving what is excellent. All this stuff.
See, you can start over from verse 1 and just go in there
and pick it up from there. This is what he's talking about.
And now he's going to give more instruction on some more details
and specific things that should be tended to as Christians. Are
we living in a manner worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ
as His people. Together. And in the world. You know, one of the biggest
sins that I see amongst the church that does live holy and does
live intimately is that we forget about the world. Oh, we've got
the people that we love that think just like us, that dress
just like us, that act just like us, that talk just like us, and
we're fine. That's wicked. You know how you
can prove you're elect and have effectually been called by God
and have a true faith? Is that when you find somebody
who's nothing like you but has everything in common in Christ,
period, alone, nothing else, and you have such an intimacy
that everything else just goes away. If we've got to be the same,
then let's just break up. Because there's no God in it. Do you ever see anywhere where
Paul prescribes to the Greeks to act like Jews? No, quite on
the contrary. In Galatians he says, look, you
want to be men, you want to practice circumcision? Cut it all off
and let's see how you do with that. You want to do something?
Do it, do it all the way. That's just about how good it
is. Don't go there, Paul said. Don't start trying to include
customs of your culture and calling it Christian. So how does it look? What's the
foreground? What's the foundation? There's
three things Paul gives in this text. There's just three. There's
just three. Walk in a manner worthy of the
gospel of Christ. So the result of the walking,
so that whether I come, Paul speaking, he wants to come back
to them. Why? To grow them. Remember? In grace. To grow them so that
they can grow, so that they can Glory so they can have joy. Which is the evidence of fruit
of the gospel is fruit of the gospel. So whether I come and
do that personally. With you or I am absent because
he doesn't know he may not get out of jail, he doesn't know.
He feels deeply convicted that he's praying for his release,
that he may continue to do the work of the ministry. And his plan is to come back
to them. But whether he's there or he's not there, I want you
to walk in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ so that
whether I'm there with you to see it or whether I'm not there
at all and I hear it. And he says something very interesting.
He says, I may hear. Of you that you are standing
firm and then he gives these three things. I find it interesting
though, in that this is not, I want to possibly hear, it actually
says, I will hear. that I may hear, that word may
there is an absolute, it's I will hear. No matter if I'm with you
or I don't come to see you ever again, I will hear. You know
why he knows that? If Christ is in you, I'm praying
for you, my prayers are effectual, my affection is for you, your
affection is for me, we're on the same mission with the gospel,
so you walk in a manner worthy of the gospel, I will hear. I will hear of you. You don't have to report, I'll
hear. Remind you of the Thessalonians. The disciples are showing up
all over the place and they're going into towns and the reputation
of Thessalonica has preceded them. And Paul says to the Thessalonians,
we've heard, I've heard of your stuff here. We give thanks to
God always for you, for all of you, constantly mentioning you
in our prayer. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?
Remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and
labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
For we know, brothers, loved by God, that He has chosen you
because our gospel came to you not only in word but in power
and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what
kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became
imitators of us. You walked in a manner worthy
of the gospel as we walked. You walked where we were and
of the Lord as we imitated the Lord. For you received the Word
in much affliction with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you
became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in
Achaia. For not only has the Word of
the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and in Achaia, but
your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not
say anything." How's that for a mission trip? You show up and
say, are you going to tell us what happened in Thessalonica? Would you tell me how you have
that joy in your life? I see it. You never had anybody
say that to you. You need to live in front of
people then. themselves report concerning
us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned
to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait
for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, Jesus,
who delivers us from the wrath to come." It's the same message
here now that these Philippians, he is sure he's going to hear.
I'm going to hear it! I will hear! And what does he
want to hear? He wants to hear them living
in a manner worthy of the gospel, and there are three ways in which
you'll hear it. Three specific things. One, standing firm in
one's spirit. Two, you'll have one mind striving
side by side for the faith of the gospel. one spirit with one
mind, but striving side by side with the faith of the gospel.
And thirdly, that you would not be frightened at all in anything
by your opponents. There you go. When I walk in
a manner worthy of the gospel, let's break that down for a minute.
I will hear that you are standing firm in one spirit. Now, somebody then would say,
well, now you're contradicting what you just soapboxed a minute ago,
that we're supposed to be different. We are supposed to. That has nothing to do with our
differences. That has everything to do with who we are in Christ,
has everything to do with our mission, our values, our beliefs. As it relates to the gospel.
Friends, there are some people who are never going to grow up
in Christ. Let me go ahead and tell you that right now. There
are some people who are going to be Christians until they're 6 billion years
old. And they're going to be babies. And I hate that. And
as a shepherd, it grieves me. I stay up at night thinking about
these people and praying for these people. And then I check
on them. I look at what they're posting on Facebook. And then
I think, this is stalky. This is a little creepy. So I
stop and I pray for them because of what I just saw. but I'm concerned with their
soul. Because I hear them say, I'm a believer, I'm a believer,
I'm a believer, but they can't get along with Christians, they can't
get along with the world. They're always complaining, they're never
rejoicing. They don't have joy, all they do is worry. They see
somebody that they love today and they're, oh, tomorrow, oh
no, I don't know about them, they're probably not Orthodox anymore. God's called
me here, no, God's called me there. People, that's not godly.
That's immature, that's infantile. That's like going to my year
and a half year old baby girl When she's got her mind set on
popsicles and you show her a grape. Oh, I think I'll take a great.
Well, how about a toy? A baby dog? Great popsicle. She's
not thinking about that. He goes, well, this is in front
of me now. I'll just take that. And now this is a front. I'll take
that. And you say nap time and she screams and runs away like
a crazy person. And it's just, that's not the way we are maturing
in Christ. We cannot be that way. But sadly,
there are many who will always be that way. You know what we've
got to do with those people? Just hold on. We just got to hold
on and we've got to pray more than we ponder and certainly
more than we poke at them. Would you stop that? Would you?
Because you know what I find with people like that who are very
immature? They poke at everything. They poke at everything. They're
constantly trying to be the heroes of holiness. That sounds like a good comic
book, doesn't it? The hero of holiness. And here they are with
their halo and their shield and their sword and they're whacking
and they see all this. Look at that there. That hairstyle's
not of Jesus. There you go. Look at there. Those shoes don't look very godly.
There's your little Dutch reformed sandals. Friends, this is an absurd, funny,
example, but it's really the way people are. And people would
look, people would look at these Philippian Christians, people
looked at Paul and said, Oh, Paul, get with the program. You
know, Rome has a Senate, right? You know, you need to just argue
this case and get this stuff resolved. This is a mockery of
the great empire of Rome. Well, you're a Jew. You need
to you need to settle this mess. You have gone astray. Look what
you're doing to the reputation of the Sanhedrin. Look what you're
doing to the name of God. You need to stand up, be a man,
Paul, you need to fight for what's yours. Need to transform this
city. Show them that you're a friend
of both Jews and Romans. But sadly, Jews and Romans are
all in one boat. Lost sinners. Just like Paul
was before God found him, just like you and I are or were before
Christ found us. Hopeless, without hope in the
world, separated. Standing firm in one spirit is
forsaking everything else for the common ground of the cross
of Christ. Now, that's very simplistic. Let me tell you what it does
mean in a simple way, and then I'll tell you what it doesn't
mean. It does mean that we are of one mind, of one spirit in
doctrine. Especially essential doctrine.
When I say doctrine, that that the Bible teaches about. who God is, who Christ is, salvation,
who the church is. I mean, it'd be very hard for
you to be members of Grace Truth Baptist if you didn't agree with
our ecclesiology of what we thought about the church. It'd be difficult
because you'd have to conform to that if you didn't agree with
it. So you wouldn't be of one spirit. But even that is not
the primary thing that Paul's talking about. I'm sure there
were many facets of congregations around Philippi who probably,
you know, These are the people I have an affinity with here,
but they had one spirit and that they considered each other one
part of the same body. They considered each other part
of the same church. They considered each other all
on the same mission. So when we say one spirit we're
talking about, we believe the same stuff about the Bible, about
scripture as it relates to the gospel kingdom. Because if anything
was written in the New Testament that refers to America, guess
what? Don't show it to the Chinese. And if anything in the New Testament
was written just for Greek churches, don't show it to the Americans.
See how silly that is? No, it's for the body at large. Let's learn it. Let's be unified
on these things. Have the same spirit means that
we're unified in the teachings of the gospel primarily. We understand
that salvation is from God alone. And that salvation with it brings
a pursuit of holiness like nobody's business. A pursuit of intimacy
like there's no tomorrow. An urgency like tomorrow is already
gone. But what it doesn't mean. It doesn't mean it has anything
to do in unity of what we think on these issues of how we cook
our food or or what we do with our shoes or to what direction
we cut our grass or where and what time we should pray. Or
to what end of heritage or history we should hold to or what icons
of significance we should labor under. It doesn't mean that we're to
be unified in anything but Christ. One spirit. Friends, the diversity
of the church is part of its beauty because God takes people
who could never come together. On any form, music, clothing,
literature. Entertainment, none of you would
probably enjoy my entertainment, my own family, my Well, Abigail
does what I tell her, or goes where I put her, because she
can't really climb out of things. But, you know, none of my family
really enjoy my entertainment. What I like to do in leisure
is, they're like, really? But I would rather read than
do anything. I would rather create something. What do we want to do for fun?
Nah, let's just go in the study. Oh, let's do something outside. Let's go shoot something. I don't want to watch a movie.
I don't watch a television show. I don't I don't want to watch
those. That's not really. Hey, let's go spend time together.
Let's watch a movie. And if you talk, I'm going to
be mad. You know, do you want to talk or you want to watch
a movie? So even my own household, we would have hardly nothing
in common in our leisure time and our hobbies and our interests.
In my own household, why do we think that that's supposed to
be the case in the church? You know what's amazing? Some guy
who's a brick mason and some guy who's a brain surgeon can
spend 10 hours together and not even know it around the gospel.
And I can guarantee you neither one of them care about what each
other do. That guy wants to worry about whether his mortar's the
right set, and this dude doesn't want to fry somebody's brain.
And the brick mason doesn't want to learn about synapses, and
the neurosurgeon or whatever doesn't want to learn about brick.
But they can spend eternity together rejoicing in Christ. You see
the difference. And the implications are far
reaching. Friends, when we say, oh, this
is how this is what it means to be unified, and it isn't from
a specific. Letter of the New Testament,
we are probably wrong. We're probably wrong. You want
to know one of the main qualities of a cult? Everybody's got to
look, speak, think, and walk the same. Well, we look, speak,
think, and walk the same in the gospel, and everything else is
up for grabs as long as it's honoring to God. And even that
can have cultural distinctives. I think it's deplorable when
we go overseas to these tribes and we try to make them look
American. It's wicked. Now that you're a Christian,
you need to wear slacks. When that lion gets after you, be
sure you pull him up. You need to wear a coat and a
tie, because they die of a heat stroke. You see, we're standing
firm in one spirit. Paul says, I'm going to hear
that about you. Can we hear that about us? Secondly,
I want you to have one mind. It goes along with one spirit,
but one spirit in the sense there is that well, I didn't even really
answer that one spirit. Ultimately. Is that we have we
have been birthed by the spirit of God. We have one salvation. We are the one true church. And
one mind incorporates all those things that I've just expressed.
And then because we have one mind, we're striving together,
we're walking together, we're partnered together side by side. for the faith of the gospel.
So let's look back a minute and remember it's what has Paul already
said about these things. Paul says that with you are walking
with me in my suffering, you are partakers of grace in my
imprisonment and my suffering for the what? Defense and the
proclamation and the advancement of the gospel. My friends, do
you and I fellowship together for the advancement of the gospel
in each other's lives? We should. And then at the same
time, as we do that together, are we also concerned and prayerful
and motivated and striving to actually advance the gospel for
others to come to faith in the gospel? We should. It's both
and all the time. And when we get heavy on either.
We get. We get twisted up. We should have one mind on mission. So if my mission is to transform,
I don't know, let me share with you some of my personal things
that I'd like to see happen. It's to transform the poverty
level in this community. To take it, take the poverty
level down. Sorry, take the poverty level up. I want everybody to
be poor. And that's easy. Take the poverty level down.
But that's a good cause. I love it. And one of the things
that I think would help do that is to find people who are skilled
and teach them that their skills can make them money. Make them
a living and help pay giveaways to someone else. It's not all
about. So this I've been thinking about this for a long, long time.
I've got documents and pages of things that I've thought about
how to make, but that's not the mission of the church. There's nothing wrong with it.
It's a good thing. And I hope and pray that if God would bring
the right people to get involved, that even un-Christian people
would grab it and go, yes, I can get behind that. And it would
become something vibrant here that we could spread into other
cities around rural Georgia. But that's not where I spend
my time. It's not going to be where I'm going to be pressing
and pursuing. Because as a Christian, as a pastor, as a shepherd, as
a brother, as a believer, The most important thing, beside
all that, is to press the gospel into the community. And not a
bait and switch either. Hey, come over here and learn
how you can make a living. Now let me tell you about Jesus.
That didn't work like that. Because as Christians, we don't
make a living apart from Christ. We don't set retirement up apart
from Christ. We don't deal in real estate
apart from Christ. We don't flip burgers apart from
Christ. We don't farm or knit or sew
or read or write or bake apart from Christ. He is our life. And so we strive together as
the church because we've been transformed by the gospel with
one mind. And so our mind, let me tell
you, and I'm going to steal away from Dr. Piper if I can, and
he's probably not the one who coined it or the one, but he's
the one who says it the most. He may not do it anymore, but
back in the years past, he used to always say this to vote as
though we're not voting. To mourn as though we're not
mourning. I'm just going to add some things here. To be involved in politics as
though they don't matter. with greatest of zeal. It reminds
me of what we see in scripture where, as we are to work for
our bosses, we work as not for our boss, do we? As to the Lord. So if we're to worry ourselves
in politics, or we're to worry ourselves in problems, or we're
to worry ourselves in our communities, or we're to worry ourselves,
and I'm not saying worry as in the worrying, but I mean, if
we're to burden ourselves with these things, we do that as a
way of, okay, we're gonna be involved, We're not going to
turn a blind eye to the things that need to be dealt with. But
at the same time, we're knowing that these, even if they succeed,
are not ultimate because they make no difference in the context
of eternity. So at the end of the day, at
the end of time, when the day of the Lord has come, what will
be the reason for Christ to say, well done by good and faithful
servant? Because we fed the sick. What good does it do to give
people bread for their stomachs but their soul is empty and starving?
Jesus in John 6 even tells us that. Don't labor for the food
that perishes but for the bread that endures you eternal life.
I am the bread. What good is it to give a cup
of cold water if it's not in the name of Christ? And that's
not a Romanistic type chant either. Here's a bottle of water in the
name of Jesus. No. Here's a bottle of water. Let
me tell you the living water. Jesus showed us how to have a
water bottle ministry. When he went to Sychar and he
stood at the well and the woman came and he says, can I have
a bottle of water? And she said, why would you ask me for water?
I'm a Samaritan. I'm a woman. Well, if you knew
who I was, you'd ask me for water. She's like, you can have a jug.
Let me tell you about my water then. It wells up to eternal
life. It's greater than the well of
Jacob that we sit upon. And you know the story. He saved her. Christ saved her. That's how
we give water. That's how we give bread. That's
how we give clothing. God, Jesus Christ in the Garden
of Eden was the first clothing giver. And everybody was like, they
were naked. Who told you were naked? This woman. did this,
the serpent did this. I'll tell you what I'm going
to do, I'm going to give you clothes. Why did he give him
clothes to show a shadow of the covering through the redemption
of Christ, that this land that I killed for your nakedness today
is just a temporary picture. It's a coming attraction to the
lamb of God that I will slay. To the lamb of God that I will
become. That's awesome. that I will become to take away
your sins. I will cover you with righteousness.
These clothes are nothing. Changes your mission mindset,
doesn't it? One mind. And thirdly and finally, he says, I will know that you are walking
in a manner worthy because you have one spirit and you stand
firm in that you do not waver, you do not walk, you do not stand
in fickleness running from here to there to everywhere, but you
stand firm together in one spirit. You have one mind. One mission,
one goal, one thought process, one focus. And you do it together
and you strive in order to see others come to faith in the gospel
and to be strengthened in their faith by the gospel. And thirdly,
I will know you were walking when I hear that you were not
frightened at all by your opponents. Now, we can relate to Paul by
thinking. Okay. Paul was hated by the Romans. He was hated by the Jews. He
was put in prison due to a concerted effort of both the Sanhedrin
and the Roman guard. And everywhere he went, he went
to prison. That's pretty much it. If he didn't go to prison,
he was whipped. If he didn't get whipped, he was stoned. If
he didn't get stoned, he was shipwrecked on the way to see the emperor
that he should have, that he, you know, he could have easily
gotten out of, but he wanted to see the emperor hear the gospel. How would the emperor hear the
gospel if not a Roman citizen appealed to the emperor? And people would say, well, okay,
Paul has opponents. Paul has opponents who are enemies
of the cross. That's easy to see, isn't it? Friends, it's
easy to see the enemies of the cross in our world today. It's
easy to see those groups and those individuals and those ideals
and those philosophies that are enemies of the cross of Christ,
that reject the gospel, that make a mockery of the cross,
that mock the word of God, that mock Christianity and call it
foolish and stupid. Those are simple. That's easy.
Okay, we see the enemies. They've drawn a line in the sand.
It's easy to see the line. It's a big chasm. It's not just
a line. But friends, let me tell you the opponents that I think
Paul is also referring to. because he states it in there
about his own testimony. He said there are those who preach
out of rivalry, who wish to do me harm, and they preach the
cross of Christ correctly. These people are enemies of the
cross, even though they preach the cross. How? Because they don't strive with
one mind with Paul and the church. They don't strive with one spirit.
They don't stand firm with one spirit. They've made themselves
the right ones. Lovers of Christ on the outside
can be enemies of the cross on the inside. Now. I'm not saying that Christian
can be the enemy of the cross, I mean, we can surely impose
hatred. We can surely do ungodly things,
but God and his power and the gospel and the church collectively,
as we care for each other, we can correct those things. I'm
talking about people who walk this world and walk this earth,
who claim Christ and preach him not even correctly, nor do they
live him correctly. These are lovers of Christ on
the outside that a lot of times are among the church. We saw
that in Titus. We saw that in Jude. We saw that
these people who are shaft would come out of the venue, would
come out of the field, would come out from amongst the church.
They would be there to cause division. These are some of the
opponents. So whether you've got people
trying to kill you who hate the gospel or people who claim to
love the gospel and who are persecuting you and badmouthing you, do not
be frightened at all by any of them. Don't be frightened at all. Don't
be frightened by people who claim to want to kill Christians. Don't
be frightened by people who claim to want to shut down Christian
things by law or executive command or decree. Do not be fearful. Do not be frightened by the laws
that come from your emperor. Do not be frightened. Do not be frightened at all by
your opponents. Because these opponents do not
love Christ, they love idols. These opponents do not love Christ,
they love themselves. These opponents do not love you,
so they are not Christ's. Friends, if you ever find yourself
in a quandary, Considering whether someone in the fellowship of
the faith is doing something that is godly or ungodly or thinking
or be careful not to assume what you know. But in all reality, I think it
can be settled with one specific question to each other. Do you
love me? Or do you know that I love you? And if you can answer the question
that someone loves you by how they love you, not that they
say it, but how they love you, then chances are they're probably
not the wicked heretic you think them to be. They're probably
not the enemy that you sought after exposing them as. And I'll
tell you time and time again, even in our little tiny short
season that we've been here as Grace Truth, Many opponents have
come against some of us publicly. And it amazes me time and time
again, as they claim to be in Christ, when I sit with them
and I say, I love you and I will give my salvation up for you,
though you spit in the face of the gospel. They hate it, hate
that. Ultimately, how we deal with
our opponents is we have this heart and the spirit that Christ
has been given. Or that Christ has displayed
that we've been given. I would be willing. And I used
to not always be able to say this, I would be willing to give
up my salvation for the salvation of my enemies. Would you? You would. When it's really set
to you, you would. Because the spirit of God, do
you know what's awesome? It's easy to give away something
we know we can't get rid of. So let's just all say, yeah,
we give it away. But more than that, what about
everything else? Would I be willing to lose my
right to free speech for the sake of the gospel? Yes. Because I got the right to free
speech now, and there are several cities I can't open my mouth
in. So what would be the difference? What do we think would happen
if the First Amendment went away? People would not tolerate it.
Well, I can't preach now? Watch me. These people who preach
out of rivalry. I really think that's the human
character. I think there'd be more street
preachers on the street in every town and highway and byway if
by some crazy sense the Supreme Court struck down the First Amendment.
I hope it doesn't come to that, but I'm willing to let it. What
about other rights? What about the destruction of
our great nation? What if there was a country that
came in and invaded and we lost everything? Worse, what if a
tyrant took control of our country and changed everything? I'm willing
to let America die for the sake of the cross. Pray that it doesn't,
and I will vote as though it won't, that it doesn't really
matter if it does. Would we give up our patriotism
for the sake of the gospel? Would we lean in? Would we stand
firm in one spirit? Here's Paul. And would we lean
into the position? of someone who's African so that
we might grasp them and yank them out of their African position
into the position of Christ. We lean in into a position of
poverty. To show people that true riches
comes when there's nothing to eat, but the bread of life is
in us. Becoming all things to all people,
we stand firm in the spirit of the gospel, but we lean in, we
reach into where these people are, what they hold dear, the
idols that they love. And we snatch them out. We don't.
But God does through our mouths and our teaching. We see God
snatch them out of the idolatry of nationalism, the idolatry
of heritage, the idolatry of wealth, the idolatry of of government,
the idolatry. Of self-sufficiency. And here, Paul is saying, don't be frightened
by your opponents, but stand firm, go, preach, pray, declare,
advance, protect, defend the gospel, that they may come to
the knowledge of truth. You're not being frightened is
a clear sign to them of their destruction. And it is a clear
sign of them, to them, of your salvation. I mean, think about it. You ever, you ever, I don't know,
you ever threatened your kids with something scary? And I look
at history and I see writings, poor Puritans and the people
who came after them. You know, if you don't go to
bed, the boogeyman will get you. What's the boogeyman? He lives
under your bed. He's gonna grab you and eat you. I mean, they used to
tell their kids this. The Sandman. Remember that? That's horrifying. I like to
read the original fairy tales. They're awful. I mean, Little
Red Riding Hood was... It was awful. Don't read that.
Now, Go to Bed. I mean, you know, you read... Everybody dies in Snow White.
I mean, Cinderella. People die at the wedding. It's
terrible. And they used to read these things
to their children before bed. If you don't obey daddy, the
boogeyman's gonna... Now imagine the kid that's a little bit older,
that's like 12, sleeping in the room, and you're threatening
everybody with the boogeyman, and he's just rolling his eyes.
Why? Because he already had to change
his sheet several times as a child. He wouldn't get out of the bed.
He'd use the bathroom. He'd just wet himself. He was scared to death,
and he realized the boogeyman was a bunch of baloney. Had no
power over him. It wasn't even real. So he just
rolls his eyes. He just snickers under the covers
as his little brothers and sisters just weep. Matter of fact, he
probably gets in the game sometimes, and when they try to get out
of bed, he goes... In that same way that that kid
knows better, the church knows better. The church knows better
that there's no enemy that's going to stop us. There's no
persecution that's going to hurt us, and there's no death that's
going to kill us. There's no temptation that's
going to overcome us. There's no division that's going
to break us. But in all things, in one spirit,
in one mind, for the sake of the cross, we are going to stand
united, immovable, unshakable. and glorified. And so as we see
the pains of life come swelling away, rising up, blow in our
direction, we can stand without fear and all those great boiling
turmoil tumultuous. Persecutors can stand there and
they'll still run a slap over, but they will see that there's
no fear. Because You're about to send me to the greatest gain
I've ever gotten. You're about to advance the gospel
in a way you've never seen. Stephen understood this. They
threatened him. He preached. He called him stiff
necked, uncircumcised, heart and eared fools. They stoned
him and as their, well, He looks up and as they're stoning Him,
preparing to stone Him, He says, I see the Son of Man standing
at the side of the Father. And He's smiling. Don't you think
that made them angry? And then in a fit of rage, they
killed Him. giving him exactly what he wanted,
sending him to the very Christ that he was allowed to see awaiting
him. And then the persecution led to the explosive expansion
of the gospel. And here we are. Can't stop it. And friends, I'll
tell you, the people who seem to want to or who always are
trying to divide and conquer or get their way or get their
points of view into the church, let's just pray for them. When
tragedy strikes Charlotte, when tragedy strikes Claxton, we pray
and we preach and we're at peace. Our peace only comes through
the gospel. Salvation is from God. Let's pray. We thank you, Lord, that we are
citizens of an unseen kingdom. But in a small way, Lord, in
a very microscopic way, we're able to display this kingdom.
We're able to. Reveal this kingdom, we're able
to project this kingdom. Father, I pray, though, we are
small in number today. That we would be mighty in spirit. Unified and stand with one mind.
as we worship you and praise you, as we pray for those who
cannot be with us today, as we long to see each other
and to grow together in the Word and to celebrate life together
in Christ. Let us be about your business
without fear, without hesitation, without fickleness, Lord, help
us to stand firm in the salvation that you've given us in Christ.
And it's in his name.