“Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a
manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only
hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit,
contending as one man for the faith of the gospel (28) without
being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them
that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved—and that by God.”
“Conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of
the gospel of Christ.” That is an intimidating phrase isn’t it? The gospel is by grace alone and we are
incapable of earning even a portion of it – how then can we live to be worthy
of that gospel? Well, we can’t. But Paul is not calling us to be worthy of
the gospel as in, “earn the gospel”; the phrase literally means, “behave as citizens”.
In the ancient world, civic pride and duty was incredibly
important. Possibly building on that
thought, Paul exhorts the Philippians to behave as citizens of the gospel. The faith that had transformed their lives
should be lived out in public. It should
be a conscious decision to live according to the gospel, to represent their
true home to the best of their ability.
What does living as a citizen look like? I could spend the rest of year writing about
that, but I’ll simply say this:
“Do nothing out of selfish
ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own
interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” – Philippians 2:3-4
That
should be enough to keep us busy for a while…
“I will know that you stand firm in one
spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel without being
frightened in any way by those who oppose you.” When we behave as
citizens of the gospel, we will be unified in the faith and work of the
gospel. We also will not be afraid of
opposition because we are striving together as one man. I love that picture!
I see it over and over during the summer when a group of
staff are working on the same project – 6 or 8 or 10 people working as one to
accomplish a task. It is a beautiful
thing! That is what the body of Christ,
the church, should look like. Thousands
upon thousands of believers striving side by side as one to accomplish the work
of Christ! What could we do if we would
just work together? Or more appropriately,
what couldn’t we do?
Poverty eliminated…orphans adopted…the bible translated…slavery
eradicated… unreached people groups reached…you name it – as Christ directs and
empowers, we, the Body of Christ could
achieve if we worked together. I can do all things through Christ who
strengthens me…and last I checked, “all things”, means EVERYTHING!
That was a bit of a rabbit trail, but one I thought was
worth chasing. I’ll finish up this
passage next time… Something to consider as you go through your week: I Googled
“Christian Mission Organizations in Africa” (and could have chosen anywhere) and
came up with page after page of missions.
Do you think we would be more effective if the ministries
that deal with orphans or microfinance or whatever pooled their resources and
worked together? Or at least partnered
together? Frankly, I don’t know – but feel free to consider…
“But our citizenship is in heaven. And we
eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ” – Philippians
3:20
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