Verse 27
The phrase “let your manner of life” or your translation might say “conduct yourselves in a manner” actually comes from one Greek week that literal means: ““live as citizens.” Now for us that phrase does not have a lot of emotional connection but the Philippians who were Roman Christians living in a Roman city they knew exactly what that phrase meant.
As a citizen of a Roman City, a person was expected to live a manner worthy of the ideals of Rome which would mean to maintain the language or speech of Roman, the customs of Roman, the virtues of Rome and its practices and dress. A Roman citizen was expected to be willing to fight for and defend Rome. Roman citizens knew that they were to be people who were to live in a manner worthy of the great Roman Empire. “Live as Citizens” in a manner in which you reflect Rome.
And so Paul takes this familiar phrase and redirects the emphasis of that phrase.
Let your manner of life (or live as citizens) worthy of the Gospel. The Philippians would have understood what Paul was exhorting them to. Let all of your life, in all that you are, in all that you do reflect the person of Christ, the work of Christ, the mission of Christ, the Gospel of Christ.
Paul spent the first part of this letter in chapter one speaking about how he defined what it truly meant to live. He said for me to live is Christ. His identity was in Christ. His citizenship was not anchored to this world but in heaven where Christ sits at the right hand of the Father. And so he lived his life out of that reality.
In Colossians 3:2 Paul wrote, “set your mind on things above not earthly things.” In other words, live life with a heavenly perspective, a kingdom of God perspective, an eternal perspective. Don’t live life as if this earth is your home, but live it recognizing you, as a Believer in Jesus Christ, are citizens of the Kingdom of God—and live as citizens that reflect that Kingdom.
Essentially he is saying: may your lives match up your with identity.
Just like a Roman official might say, “you’re a Roman citizen, live like it.” Paul is exhorting these Christians, you are believers in Jesus Christ, live like it.
Now when we hear that phrase ‘worthy of the Gospel” it can feel like a weighty phrase. It can feel like an intimidating phrase. What would be your first response be if someone asked you the question, “Are you living your life in a manner worthy of the Gospel?” I imagine there would be pause as you try to mentally comprehend what that even means. How do you evaluate that. Sometimes questions like that can seem so lofty or difficult to get our arms around that what happens is we don’t answer it. We can find ourselves saying, ‘I don’t know.”
But fortunately for us Paul breaks down what he is really asking. As we are about to see, Paul is asking a corporate question. He is speaking to them as a local church. And he is telling them this is what it looks like for you as a church, as a local body of believers to live a life worthy of the Gospel. It doesn’t mean we don’t examine our lives individually, we do. That is where it begins. You can’t truly live out the Gospel corporately if you are not living it out individually.
As we look at the rest of verse 27, I want us to be reading these words from a standpoint of who we are called to be as a church. This verse is a great way for us to examine are we living life in a manner worthy of the Gospel.
Paul begins by urging them to be a church body that is standing firm in one spirit. To ‘stand firm’ is a very intentional, proactive act. It is the idea of holding your ground, maintaining a position, being steadfast, resisting bravely, refusing to back down, remaining solid under criticism or attack.
When one is standing firm you are not doing that in a vacuum. You are standing firm because you are encountering opposition. There is someone or something that wants to move you from your position. Why would the Philippians be needing to stand firm? Because they were living in a Roman city and in a Roman culture that had a worldview that was in opposition to Christianity. And so they were having stand firm from persecution from the outside. The church in Philippi was also experiencing false teachers who were wanting to change the truth of the Gospel. And so they were having to stand firm from deceivers. And also the Philippians were even experiencing division and conflict among fellow believers and so they were needing to stand firm from other Christians.
From outside persecution, false teachers and inward conflict, all of these things can divide us and separate us keeping us from the work of the Gospel. This is why as followers of Jesus we are called to be in unity living as one body with each other so that in unity we live lives worthy of the Gospel.
When Paul says stand firm in one spirit it is not necessarily referring to the Holy Spirit. The word spirit here reflects that we would have one heart, one desire, one purpose, one mission—that we would have a common spirit among us. Of course that common spirit is because we have the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit in us. Our heart and our mission and our purpose is because we are rooted in Jesus Christ.
As a church body we are going to have a lot of different preferences in life. We are going to have a lot of different opinions about how we do life together as a church. We may even have some different personal biblical convictions. But our preferences and our personal convictions should not be the things that divide us. Because the basis of our unity is not in those things but rather our unity is in the person of Jesus Christ.
And so when we stand firm together as the body of Christ we stand firm not based on agreed preferences, or personal conviction or even a shared history as a church (those things can certainly bring us together) but we stand firm because we are in Christ committed to the Gospel of Christ.
When we ask the question, “What is my life about?”, it is ultimately answering the question, “what is this church about?” When we as individuals make our life about Christ and the work of Christ then it allows us as a church to Stand firm in one spirit in a manner worthy of the Gospel.
Every church family is going have times in which individuals within that church or groups within that church are not going to see eye-to-eye with each other. There are going to be times in which people may have some thoughts, some strong thoughts that differ. And that’s ok. That is part of being in relationship with each. That is even part of simply being in a marriage with another person. We are going to have different thoughts, and preferences and convictions.
And out of love and grace and our desire to maintain unity, we work through those things recognizing our unity is not rooted in those things but in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
We are going to see later in Philippians chapter 4, where two women, two believers who have both partnered with Paul in the Gospel have a disagreement. And the disagreement has become so public that even Paul has now heard about it. And Paul urges to them to agree in the Lord. Agree that Christ and the Gospel of Christ is what is of most importance.
Pastor Brian Brill said, “To choose to be united is not optional; it’s the heartbeat of heaven and the lifeblood of the church.”
Which is why individually we must begin with the question, ‘Why is my life about?” Because if it is not about Christ and the Gospel of Christ then I am not going to able to be unified with the body of Christ. Which could ultimately lead to me bringing division and hurt and pain into the body.
Paul is saying, “you are going to have people wanting to move you from the truth of Christ. You are going to have people trying move you away from the mission of Christ. Stand firm! Guard it as a church. Protect it as a church. Don’t let the outside move, don’t let the inside move you from Christ and the mission of Christ
When we are stand firm in one spirit it allows us to have one mind, striving side by side for the faith of the Gospel as Paul writes in the second part of verse 27. The idea of having one mind is the idea that we are like one person living out the mission of Christ.
I love this image of a church “striving side by side” That is picture of a church not only rooted in Christ but together living out the mission of Christ.
When I hear that phrase “side by side” I tend to think of people who have locked arms together moving in the same direction together. This should be the picture of the church.
When we have locked arms we are saying “I am with the people on both sides of me.” When I lock arms with someone on my right it doesn’t mean I share all of their personal convictions, it doesn’t mean I agree with all of their preferences it means that I recognize I need you as a member of the body of Christ and that I am for you as a member of Christ and we move forward together in the work of Christ.
One of the reasons that it is good to come together for a Night of Prayer like we did last Monday is that it brings us into that place of spiritual unity in which we have the same attitude of mind. We come in common spirit. We come corporately calling out to God to be aligned to His will and desires. We are often engaged in individual prayer but it is importantly that we come united in spirit and mind asking God to keep us united and keep us striving together side by side.
The idea of “standing firm: is the idea that we are not moving away from the truth of Christ and the idea of striving side by side is that we are moving forward in the work of Christ.
One of the roles of leadership in the church is to not only articulate and guard a biblical mission for that church but to develop a plan and unified manner in which we are accomplishing that mission.
I think sometimes the church as a whole can simply be an educational or a fellowship environment. We gather on Sunday mornings and learn and talk about God’s word. We gather during the weekday in Bibles Study and small groups to learn and talk about God’s word.
And yet Paul says in verse 27 that we are not just learning together but we are striving side-by-side. Back in verse 22, Paul says if I am to continue to live that means fruitful labor. The church as a body does not simply exist for fellowship with each other, it does not simply exist to learn about God with each other but to labor, to strive side by side with each other for the sake of the Gospel.
I appreciate how the Contemporary English Version translates verse 27: “…you must live in a way that brings honor to the good news about Christ. Then, whether I visit you or not, I will hear that all of you think alike. I will know that you are working together and are struggling side by side to get others to believe the good news.
When the translators choose that phrase, “I will hear that all of you think alike” I do not believe they meant we have the same opinions and preference, that we never disagree. I believe it is that we all have the same outward, Gospel-centered mindset.
Verse 27 gives us this picture of a local church working, struggling, battling, contending, striving so that the neighborhoods around them, so that the community around them would know the good news of Jesus Christ.
Paul continues in verse 28 and this verse is a continuation of what Paul desires to see in the Philippians if he visits them or hear about them.
Verse 28
Paul does not specifically say who these opponents were but these would be non-believers telling them their faith isn’t real, their gospel message isn’t real, their Jesus isn’t real. And as they preserved in this persecution, their love for each other, their unity with each other, their commitment to Christ and the work of Christ was making it evident of their salvation in Christ. But for their enemies, their persecution was revealing their destruction. Meaning their lives were currently in a state that if they died they would spent eternity separated from God.
Their unity was a testimony to their persecutors as the persecutors would begin to ask, “why is it that they continue to stand together. Why is it they continue to proclaim the name of Christ. What it is they know that we don’t know. What is it that they have that I don’t have. Our unity in the face of persecution can bring conviction to the persecutor. Maybe being salvation to our persecutors.
Verses 29-30
That word “granted” comes from the word grace. And so Paul is saying that God graciously gives us the privilege of suffering for the sake of Christ.
Now we typically don’t think of suffering as something that is a privilege or a blessing. Today we prayed for those Christian who are suffering because of Christ. And we desire their protection and safety and deliverance. But their suffering is not out of God’s design but God is using that suffering in their lives to accomplish His purposes in their lives:
John Ankerberg wrote, “Suffering is the way God has chosen to bring redemption to a fallen world. Jesus suffered for us and gave us His example to follow. We cannot ‘die to ourselves’ without suffering. Suffering has as its goal the sanctification, the purification, of our souls and spirits. Thus, suffering is a part of God’s will towards us.”
When we suffer for the sake of Christ, we not only share in the fellowship with Christ because we suffer as he suffered but we are involved in the work of God in our lives as he uses that suffering to mold us into the very image of His son. It through that suffering that we are being made like Christ which is why Paul can say this is God’s grace in your lives. Just like salvation is grace, this suffering that is sanctifying you and purifying you is God’s grace.