Making the Gospel the Center of Everything

Outline

3 recentering truths of the gospel

I. The Gospel Is Worthy of Changing Every Aspect of Your Life (v.27)

Philippians 1:12-13 - Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else…

μόνον (… meaning ‘only, alone’) is well paraphrased as ‘just one thing!’ The word introduces an admonition ‘lifted like a warning finger’, as Barth puts it. (Peter Thomas O’Brien, The Epistle to the Philippians: A Commentary on the Greek Text, The New International Greek Testament Commentary, Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1991, 145)

“The initial description of the conduct is staggering: conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Clearly, the standard is immensely high. But what exactly do these words mean? Certainly, they are not suggesting that we ourselves become worthy of the gospel, as if Christ sets up a standard and then somehow by dint of effort we become worthy of it and gain its benefit. The gospel is the good news that Christ died and rose again for sinners. By the death and resurrection of his Son, by the power of the Spirit whom he has sent, God has transferred us out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of the Son he loves (Col. 1:13). Already we have received the Spirit as the down payment of the promised inheritance, and one day we shall enjoy the inestimable glories of the new heaven and the new earth. To conduct ourselves “in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ” therefore does not suggest we should try harder in order to secure something, but argues that because something has already been secured for us we should try harder out of gratitude and out of frank recognition that this is what the gospel has saved us for. We are to be diligent to live up to the good news that we have received, the good news that has saved us.” (D. A. Carson, Basics for Believers: An Exposition of Philippians, Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1996, 54)

Ephesians 5:4 - …and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.

II. The Gospel Is Worth Courageously Standing Up For (vv.27–28)

Philippians 1:28 - …in no way alarmed by your opponents.

A. In unity with their gospel driven believers

Philippians 1:27 - …standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, striving together, for the faith of the gospel.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27a - Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body…

B. In opposition to opponents of the gospel

John 15:18-20 - If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, “A slave is not greater than his master.” If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.

John 16:33 - These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.

Philippians 1:28 - …in no way alarmed by your opponents.

Galatians 6:9-10 - Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.

2 Timothy 4:14-15 - Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds. Be on guard against him yourself, for he vigorously opposed our teaching.

C. Two-fold results:

i. Assurance of salvation for believers

ii. Assurance of defeat for unbelievers

Joshua 2:9-13 - …and said to the men, “I know that the LORD has given you the land, and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before you. For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. When we heard it, our hearts melted and no courage remained in any man any longer because of you; for the LORD your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. Now therefore, please swear to me by the LORD, since I have dealt kindly with you, that you also will deal kindly with my father’s household, and give me a pledge of truth, and spare my father and my mother and my brothers and my sisters, with all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death.”

III. The Gospel Is Worth Engaging in the Conflicts That It Inevitably Will Bring (vv.29-30)

Philippians 1:29 - For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake…

A. Suffering for the gospel is a gift

Romans 8:32 - He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?

Philippians 1:18 - What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice…

Philippians 1:6 - For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

B. Engaging in the conflict is our privilege as believers

Acts 16:19-40

I certainly wouldn’t want to begin a sermon by offending anybody…at least not right away, so you’ll just have to listen to this intro with that little caveat in mind.

Do you have anyone friends or family members in your life that have the reputation of just being able to pick anything and everything up quickly and be fairly good at it?

So for instance, maybe they’re the kind of person that you’re excited to teach them how to surf because you’re hoping they are going to make a fool of themselves for awhile, while you get to show them how it’s done…

And then the plan back fires—because they hop on the board and it takes them all of one wave to figure out how to stand up and ride a wave…

Or maybe you take them shooting for the first time. Sure, they beat you at everything else, but you’ve been shooting your whole life and now it’s time to do something where you’re on top and you’ll be getting the chance to teach them—and perhaps teach them with a little condescension—not on purpose of course! It just comes out that way…

Well, for those of you who don’t know me very well I that was the guy who was pretty good at most things. And the burden of that kind life, is that it can lead you to be a little overconfident…

obviously when you bring the gospel to bear on this, you’re probably already concluding something like, “Man Greg, you must have been pretty good at pride as well!”…yeah, that was certainly one of things I was really good at, and it wasn’t until I came to Purdue and Faith Church when at lot of that started being rooted out.

But for sake of the story…that level of confidence because quote one quote, “I’m good at everything,” can you lead you to do things that you have no business doing!

For example, while Erika and I were engaged I was working for Great Dane Trailers located in Brazil, IN and there was a Christmas carry-in that the office was having. So I asked Erika what I should make or maybe for some reason I suggested what I should make but was asking her for help. It was help from a distance. I was living in Plainfield, IN on the southwest side of Indianapolis while she was still living up here in Lafayette. So this wasn’t the typical man’s request for help of, “Hey I need to bring something to this carry-in,” which is followed up by her saying, “Ok, I’ll take care of it.” This one was going to require ACTUAL effort on my end.

It was decided that I would make Oreo truffles. I wanted something easy, and delicious! I probably came up with this because Erika had made something like this over shortly before this…I have fairly little head space to keep foods in my head for long. I’ve often joked that I was built for the wilderness generation because I could eat the same thing day after day and grow to love it more each day.

Well, since I’m pretty good at most everything, how hard could a few Oreo truffles be…(insert oreo truffle picture)…now to be honest, when Erika and others told me they looked terrible and not to take them to the carry in, I thought they were just being over the top trying to make a joke…that probably helps you understand a little bit of my overconfidence…

Well, a couple months later I tried my hand at another new endeavor, that would be no problem for me because of course since I’m good at everything—as the oreo truffle experience clearly indicated. I decided to test my hand at painting.

You know how your 1^st grader brings home a painting from art class and as a parent you think it’s amazing and wonderful so you put it on the fridge for a while? And then because it’s so good you actually keep it for the next 15 years stored safely away. And then because it’s so incredible your mom pulls it out when you get married and gives it to your wife, because after all it was that good and amazing that it should continue to live on? Not that my mom did that…but I’ve heard of that happening before.

Well, I made a painting for my fiancé at the time, now wife, Erika. It stretched my creative capacities to the limits. I purchases canvas to paint on and the top of line Hobby Lobby paints! And I painted a killer picture of Erika and I with our respective companies at the time. I was riding a “Great Dane” dog, because I was working for Great Dane at the time. And Erika was dancing on top of a Subaru car, because she was working for Subaru at the time. It was a masterpiece.

I was looking for that painting so I could show you it…but unfortunately my wife thought that masterpiece—painted by her loving fiancé as a token of his affection for her, wasn’t worth keeping! She even asked me once if she needed to keep it, to which I said, “yes!” But at some point over the past 6 years of our marriage, she didn’t feel the need to even ask if she could get rid of it she just did!

And, we spent a couple hours looking for a picture of the painting. My wife is a photographer and she takes pictures of everything. I could reconstruct every meal we’ve ever eaten together over the past decade of our lives…but you know what can’t be recovered—this original masterpiece I painted in the 1^st quarter of 2013.

All that to say, that painting wasn’t WORTH much. Not worth keeping, not worth trying to sell at a garage sale, not even worth keeping a photo record somewhere on the cloud anywhere to remember it by…

Well, there was another painting that the previous owners thought was at least worth selling at a garage sale…this painting was sold in 2017 and the worth of that painting at the sale was $30…

Well over the past week, this painting that was purchased for $30 at a garage sale has actually turned out to be an original piece done by a German painter named Albrecht Dürer who lived in the late 1400s to early 1500s. This painting (insert picture of Albrecht painting) has been valued at over $10 million dollars, and if sold could go for much, much more.

Now, if that was you’re painting that you sold at the garage sale…you’d have to be kicking yourself pretty good to say the least. And here’s the point, if they knew the WORTH of that painting that would have changed a whole lot about how they handled that painting and how much they tried to sell it for and where they were selling it.

You see, my wife had no problem throwing out my painting, because it wasn’t worth anything. I didn’t tell you this detail about the oreo truffles, but no one found it worthwhile to try and eat any of the truffles other than myself!

Well, if the WORTH of things dictates how we’d treat a painting or what kinds of things we’d eat at a carry in, how much more should the WORTH of the gospel of Jesus Christ impact us.

Well, that’s what we’ll come to understand more fully in our text this morning.

As a church we are doing a verse-by-verse study through the book of Philippians in order to help us as a church accomplish our annual theme of Growing in Gospel Gratitude.

This morning our text is Philippians 1:27–30 and it’s going to help us Grow in Gospel Gratitude by Making the Gospel the Center of Everything.

It’s a short passage, and in fact in the Greek it’s just one sentence…but good-night does the Lord have a lot for us in just one sentence! As I read these verses we’re going to be looking for 3 recentering truths of the gospel…3 truths that will help us make the gospel the center of everything.

[Read Philippians 1:27–30]

I. The gospel is worthy of changing every aspect of your life (v.27)

Now if you’ve been around church for a while please don’t tune out, please don’t think that’s the lamest and most obvious point that could be possibly be made, I already knew that so I can just check out…don’t do that.

Before we jump into this point, I want to remind us of the situation of the apostle Paul—who wrote this letter to the church in Philippi. We learned early in the letter that Paul is actually writing this letter from prison, and he’s in prison not because of any wrong doing but actually because of his preaching of the gospel. So we read in Philippians 1:12–13.

¹² Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, ¹³ so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else,

This whole idea of being imprisoned because of the gospel used to seem like just an oversees problem in countries that have never had democratic governments or much freedom. And yet, if you’re following the news at all, or helped in the effort against ordinance 31–21 in West Lafayette, I think the relevance of a book like this is quite stunning.

Now the reason it’s so important to remember that Paul is writing from prison, for being wrongly accused, is that his emphatic imperative to live worthy of the gospel isn’t coming from a someone who has everything going his way, with no cares in the world, so of course he can think and live for the gospel! Right!?

• This is not the prosperity gospel pastor who is counseling you not to worry because God will care for you, all while flying in his private jet, wearing really expensive clothes, and playing golf at exclusive clubs around the world.

Paul had a few other things he could have been focused on. He had a few other concerns that could have taken top priority and yet, what we’ve seen in the first 26 verses is that the gospel is the center of his life and now he’s commanding the Philippians to make sure it’s the center of their life.

Well, what’s that mean?

• It means conducting…living…behaving…acting in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ!

Paul emphasizes the importance of this imperative by fronting the word ‘monon’—only.

O’Brien in his commentary notes:

μόνον (… meaning ‘only, alone’) is well paraphrased as ‘just one thing!’ The word introduces an admonition ‘lifted like a warning finger’, as Barth puts it.^[1]

So I want you to think about all the responsibilities, hobbies, challenges and relationships in your life…are you thinking about them? The staggering reality that Paul thrusts upon us here is that in all of those things there is really JUST ONE THING that matters…and it’s that you allow the gospel to dictate your conduct, actions and manner of life in all of those areas.

DA Carson helpfully comments on this verse saying:

“The initial description of the conduct is staggering: conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Clearly, the standard is immensely high. ?But what exactly do these words mean? ?

Certainly, they are not suggesting that we ourselves become worthy of the gospel, as if Christ sets up a standard and then somehow by dint of effort we become worthy of it and gain its benefit. The gospel is the good news that Christ died and rose again for sinners. By the death and resurrection of his Son, by the power of the Spirit whom he has sent, God has transferred us out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of the Son he loves (Col. 1:13). Already we have received the Spirit as the down payment of the promised inheritance, and one day we shall enjoy the inestimable glories of the new heaven and the new earth. To conduct ourselves “in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ” therefore does not suggest we should try harder in order to secure something, but argues that because something has already been secured for us we should try harder out of gratitude and out of frank recognition that this is what the gospel has saved us for. We are to be diligent to live up to the good news that we have received, the good news that has saved us.”^[2]

Now, maybe this talk about live worthy of the gospel, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel is getting you going…let me ask you to think about this in a different way.

Imagine you’re going in for a job interview and it’s your dream job with the dream company with the dream everything…let’s just imagine that job really exists…for argument’s sake.

• Imagine you go in for the interview, do you think the way dress, the way you speak, the jokes you make or don’t make are going to be carefully run through the grid of the worthiness of the job in your mind?

• Do you think showing up on time would be a natural application of conducting yourself in a worthy way of the job?

• Do you think that dressing professionally would communicate conduct worthy of the job?

So here’s my point, your conduct, your life, your actions and your words are dictated by what you deem worthy…if the gospel of Jesus Christ isn’t worth much to you, then it will be obvious in your conduct…

• So ask yourself, I believe Jesus Christ died to save me from eternal punishment and torment in hell, how valuable and worthy is that to me?

• Ask yourself this question, if the gospel is true, What could Jesus ask of you that you’d honestly say, ‘Woah, Jesus, that crossed the line! You don’t get to ask that from me!’

• This is part of growing in gospel gratitude…if Jesus died to save me, and has security eternity in heaven for me with him, then not only can Jesus command every tiny aspect of my life, I also should joyfully conduct every aspect of my life in a manner that clearly shows that the gospel of Jesus is worthy!

So here’s some areas to ask yourself the question is your conduct worthy of the gospel:

• How about money…tax season is upon us…are you handling money in a worthy manner of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

• And lest we are confused on that one, Jesus was asked specifically about paying taxes to Caesar…paying taxes to the government…and Jesus’ response in Luke 20:25 was ‘render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” In other words, pay your taxes

• When I was writing this sermon one of our church’s staff members pointed out that I was no longer just a young pup when I first came to this church…this person noted the changing hair color.

• Well, that got me thinking about my younger days, when there was no gray hair on my head, and I was just a young Purdue student. I had told myself for years as a high school student that sexual inuendo and crude jokes were, can you guess?? JUST JOKES.

• Well Pastor Aucoin helped me understand that Ephesians 5:4 addressed that specifically…

Ephesians 5:4 and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.

• Thank you, Pastor Aucoin, for helping me speak in a manner worthy of the gospel over a decade ago.

• How about your conduct at home as a husband or wife? A father or mother?

• How about your conduct online?

• How about your conduct when it comes to entertainment choices?

I hope that good news of Jesus Christ is worthy changing your conduct for.

Well, Paul keeps going with specifics of what that means.

So the gospel is worthy of us changing every aspect of our life, but more specifically the gospel is worth courageously standing up for!

II. The gospel is worth courageously standing up for (vv.27–28)

Let’s break down each part of these verses to make sure it’s crystal clear.

There is no question that these verses are calling for courage…

v.28 – in no way alarmed by your opponents.

But let’s make sure this is tightly tied to the ONE THING of conduct that is worthy of the gospel. So the gospel is worthy courageously standing up for, but notice…it’s not a stand that we are called to on our own…

Rather we are to courageously stand up for the gospel in unity with other gospel driven believers.

In unity with other gospel driven believers

Notice the emphasis on unity…

v.27 - …standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, striving together, for the faith of the gospel.

It’s hard to imagine that we are coming up on completing the 2^nd full your of COVID-19. Time has moved fast to say the least. But if you remember back, Pastor Viars shared sobering news of how many church’s divided and split over COVID protocols, vaccines, critical race theory, black lives matter, elections, and so forth.

There has been a whole like of striving, there honestly has been a whole lot of people standing firm! But as believers, as Christians, our striving and standing firm, better be tethered really tightly to the gospel.

By God’s grace our church has enjoyed quite a bit of unity during very challenging times. We’ve enjoyed a lot of standing firm in one spirit, with one mind…but it hasn’t been because we agree on every little issue! It’s been because by God’s grace as a church we have a lot of people who want to live worthy of the gospel and they want to unite with people to advance the gospel, rather than seeking to advance some other agenda!

Pastor Viars explained that there were over 2000 responses to the SMP survey (include picture of hard copy). Praise the Lord for that. We are very thankful for that. Arvid Olsen said “you can get a hard copy if you have a doctor’s note that you’re able to carry it.” The point is, it’s big. But when you read through all the results, you’re going to find out very quickly that we don’t agree on everything! In fact, there are lots and lots of opinions where you go, well we could make this person happy, but that would make this person unhappy. This person loves, loves, loves the way this is right now, and this person thinks it should change immediately…

So what does unity with other gospel driven believers mean? It means making the gospel the center…it means putting your energy towards things that are going to advance the gospel…it means only engaging in fights and battles that are about the defensive and confirmation of the gospel! That’s why ordinance 31–21 was such a big deal…that was a fight that was about the defense and advancement of the gospel!

Paul gets this same idea of picking your battles and fights carefully across in 1 Corinthians with a running and boxing metaphor…

1 Corinthians 9:24–27a

²⁴ Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. ²⁵ Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. ²⁶ Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; ²⁷ but I discipline my body…

Conducting ourselves in a worthy manner means disciplining ourselves to unite over the gospel and courageously advance the gospel together.

In opposition to opponents of the gospel

As Pastor Viars has said throughout this entire ordinance 31–21 issue, it’s not like we wake up in the morning looking to get in a fight and just love conflict.

But according to this passage, it seems that conflict is certainly something we should be expecting.

In our study of the gospel of John last year, we see that Jesus prepared his disciples for the ensuing conflict that would come as a result of being a believer and making the gospel the center of your life.

John 15:18–20

¹⁸ “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. ¹⁹ If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.

Or later in the upper room discourse Jesus summarized it this way

John 16:33

³³ These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

Now I think it’s important that we pause a remind ourselves of a point that Pastor Viars made last week. In Philippians 1:15 it says, “Some to be sure preach Christ even from envy and strife…” and then in v.17 it says of those people that they “proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment.”

• Even though those people are not sincere they are not false teachers. They are not enemies of the gospel. Even though they are wronging Paul, they are preaching the gospel, and Paul rejoices in them preaching the gospel.

My point in going back there, is that there are probably a great many things we dislike, there are certainly even a great many of sins against us, but that doesn’t necessarily make them our opponent.

The opponents in that Paul is talking about in v.28 are people that are seeking to oppose the gospel. Those are the fights where we do not back down and as v.28 says, “in no way alarmed by your opponents”.

When the gospel of Jesus Christ is the center of our lives, that’s the determining factor in those that we unite with and those that we stand firm against.

Now, please don’t take this one verse to assume that every person needs to be quickly divided into either friend or foe…

• We are called to love others. We are called to meet the needs of others and serve others.

Paul says in Galatians 6:9–10

⁹ Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. ¹⁰ So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.

The point is do good to all. Serve everyone and especially those who we are united with in the gospel of Jesus Christ. But there are some who are in clear opposition to the gospel that we need to stand firm against.

2 Timothy 4:14–15 is one such example:

¹⁴ Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds. ¹⁵ Be on guard against him yourself, for he vigorously opposed our teaching.

Quick summary up to this point: Living worthy of the gospel means every single area of life and conduct is done in a way that is worthy of the gospel, which means courageously standing united with other gospel centered believers for the advancement of the gospel, and courageously and unitedly standing in defense of the gospel.

And that’s part of the reason we believe it is so important join a gospel-centered, Bible believing church. If you’re going to live worthy of the gospel then you need to find a group of believers to join up with for the advancement of the gospel.

I love where this passage goes next…if we’re doing that what can we expect? Two fold results…

Two-fold results:

Result number one, assurance of salvation for believers.

Assurance of salvation for believers

Isn’t this amazing! There are actually delightful, delightful blessings in the midst of standing firm for the faith of the gospel.

And this is as good of time as any, to pause and ask you if you’re sure there’s been a definite time in your life when you came to the conclusion that you’re a sinner that is hopelessly lost and destined for hell apart from the gracious, and atoning blood of Jesus that he poured out on the cross. Has there been the time where you’ve truly put your faith in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ as you’re only hope salvation?

If you haven’t, I hope you know that you don’t have to wait. One of the sweetest promises in all of the Bible comes in John 6:37 where Jesus says, “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.”

If you are feeling the conviction and the call of the Lord to go to Jesus, know that he will not cast you out. Don’t wait. If you’re still unsure about the gospel and have questions, then please reach out to one of the pastors. Our contact information is on the bulletin for a reason…we want to be accessible to help people understand how they can know for sure that they have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.

To those who are Christians, and especially perhaps Christians who might be struggling with assurance of their salvation…I think this passage begs a pretty important question of you.

• Can you point to times where you’ve stood up for the truth of the gospel? This is not the only way that assurance comes, but it is one way and perhaps your struggling with assurance because you have considered the gospel worthy of standing up for courageously.

• I know it might be a fearful thing, but the more your stand firm on the truth of the gospel, in unity with other believers, the more you’ll start to experience the beginning of v.28—in no way being alarmed by your opponents.

• And then as that happens you’ll experience more of the assurance!

If you were at Church Family Night last week, you got to experience a really sweet moment of unity and assurance that I think exemplifies what this passage is talking about.

(Potential pic of Church Family Night) As Pastor Viars has led our church in standing firm, in one spirit, in one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel by opposing ordinance 31-21 it has helped strengthen our church and unity. As a church we got to affirm that we stood with Pastor Viars by a standing ovation.

Next week, we’ll study the beginning of chapter 2…

Philippians 2:1–2 Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, ² make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.

• We see how we can bring joy to our leaders by being in unity, and we also get see how we get experience joy ourselves when we are in unity with our leaders. I think that’s what we got to experience a bit of last church family night.

What a gift from the Lord. What a reason growing in gospel gratitude as a church.

But there is also a second result…it’s a different kind of assurance…it’s the assurance of the defeat for unbelievers…

Assurance of defeat for unbelievers

How many of you love losing? You grew up playing sports or board games, or dance competitions or whatever and you just loved to lose? Anyone?

• Of course not! Losing is terrible!

Now, a moment of honesty…can we do that in the church house? Have a moment of honesty together?

• How many of you have gotten sinful angry because you were losing and the more you were losing the more angry you got?

• Let’s go one step further, did the joy of the team or person beating you make you more upset or less?

Yeah…most of us probably have those stories at some point where we were on the losing side the longer it goes, the more and more clear our loss is and the more and more angry we get.

Now, that means a couple of things for us:

First, if people keep ramping up the attacks and anger and hatred towards us because of the gospel, should that surprise us?

• No…

Secondly, if our standing courageously, and united for the gospel “is a sign of destruction for them…” what might be the possibility of that outcome?

Go back to Dr. Bernard Nathanson that I mentioned in the introduction…why was it the anger and hatred of the abortion folks in the face of the peaceful, calm, courageous pro-life protesters who were praying and singing songs together that got him to consider that there must be a God for the first time in a long time?

• It’s because of what we’re studying here in Philippians 1…that was a clear sign of their destruction but of our salvation.

• If there really is a destruction and there really is a salvation, that scenario is what presented the obvious evidence to Dr. Nathanson that there had to be a god…which lead him to find salvation in Christ a few years later.

We can also find examples of this in Scripture as well…

In our ABFs we’re studying through the book of Joshua and last week we were studying Joshua 2, which is about Rahab the prostitute who is saved from the destruction of Jericho when the Israelites entered the promised land.

• The beginning of Joshua starts with God commanding Joshua to be strong and courageous and to go in and take the land…so Joshua immediately starts getting the army to go take the land…no fear of his opponents. While the army is preparing to go fight he sent two spies to Jericho and they meet Rahab and she tells them in Joshua 2:9–13…

Joshua 2:9–13

⁹ and said to the men, “I know that the LORD has given you the land, and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before you. ¹⁰ For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. ¹¹ When we heard it, our hearts melted and no courage remained in any man any longer because of you; for the LORD your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. ¹² Now therefore, please swear to me by the LORD, since I have dealt kindly with you, that you also will deal kindly with my father’s household, and give me a pledge of truth, ¹³ and spare my father and my mother and my brothers and my sisters, with all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death.”

Rahab saw the clear sign of their destruction and so what did that lead her to do? Seek salvation in the true God, the God of Israel.

What’s the point? standing firm, standing courageously for the advancement and defense of the gospel is one of the best evangelistic opportunities we might have with many people!

And if that’s true, that people might be won to Jesus Christ and the gospel might be advanced through courageously standing firm for the gospel, then that certainly leads to the final point from the text this morning…that the gospel is worth engaging in the conflicts that it will inevitably bring.

III. The gospel is worth engaging in the conflicts that it inevitably will bring (vv.29–30)

I hope as you’ve been pondering and thinking on this text and this message this morning that you’re coming to trust and believe in the worth of the gospel more and more, and that logically you got right to this final point with me…

• The gospel is worthy of every part of my life.

• It’s worthy of me purposely pursing and engaging unity with other gospel centered believers SO THAT the gospel can be advanced,

• and it’s worthy of me courageously defending the gospel against opponents of the gospel,

• and because that becomes a sign of our salvation and their destruction, others might actually come to understand salvation for the first time only because of us standing firm, with no fear in the face of opposition,

• THEN whatever conflicts that come because of the gospel are WORTH IT!!!

That’s Paul’s explicit point in v.29. It’s not even just an inferential point of the text this morning.

Philippians 1:29

²⁹ For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake,

Suffering for the gospel is a gift

It’s a gift that he puts on par with the gift of believing…the gift of faith that brings salvation!

It’s clear enough in the English translations, that suffering for the sake of Christ is a GIFT!!!

The word that is used, which the NASB translates ‘granted’ is the word χαρίζομαι.

Where it’s used helps understand how much of a gift are we supposed to see suffering for Christ’s sake as…

• For example, we know that we are supposed to give thanks in all circumstances, we know that we are to grow in Gospel Gratitude this year, but how much is suffering for Christ supposed to be part of that gratitude?

• Like on Christmas, when was 11 years old and I received a stocking full of socks, underwear, tooth paste and deodorant, how thankful was I supposed to be for that in comparison to the foosball table my brother and I received?

Romans 8:32 uses the word χαρίζομαι…see if you can figure out where our Greek word is…

Romans 8:32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?

• Did you see it? That’s right, it’s freely. Or as the ESV and NIV translate that read, “graciously.”

• God not only gave us Jesus, but because he didn’t spare Jesus on our behalf, he freely—graciously—has given us all things!

• Wow!

And according to Philippians 1:29, part of that is suffering!

And lest we think this is far-fetched…what did we find the apostle Paul doing last week?

Philippians 1:18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice,

• He’s rejoicing in prison! Rejoicing that Christ is being proclaimed by others outside while he’s in prison…rejoicing that he’s been able to preach Christ in prison…rejoicing that his imprisonment is actually producing boldness in believers to speak the word without fear.

Wow. It has been granted to you…it has been granted to me, graciously by the Lord not only to believe in Christ, but also to suffer for Christ’s sake as well.

Is the gospel worthy of your life to that degree? I hope it is. I hope it will be more and more. I hope it will be more and more as a church family. I hope that as we seek to grow in Gospel Gratitude this year, that we will be finding ourselves rejoicing in the gracious opportunities to suffer for the sake of Jesus Christ!

• And that’s no vain hope…

Philippians 1:6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

Well, one final point…if suffering for the sake of Christ is a gift, then it’s a privilege to engage in the conflict.

Engaging in the conflict is our privilege as believers

I want to emphasize the word, ENGAGE! Or as the NASB says, “experiencing.”

This is an active word, not a passive word. This is why as a church leadership we were encouraging everyone to ENGAGE in the conflict of ordinance 31–21. This command is clear...living worthy of the gospel means actively engaging in the fight for the advancement and defense of the gospel.

Paul encourages the Philippians to follow his example of engaging in the conflict that they saw in him and hear that he still has. We don’t have time to read the passage, but you can read about the conflict that the Philippians would have seen Paul engaged in. It’s in Acts 16:19–40.

• It’s a remarkable story where Paul casts out a demon from a girl, and her two owners got really mad about it because she made them money.

• So they stirred up trouble in the city and got a mob together to beat them and then after beating them took them to jail to get them locked up…not exactly innocent until proven guilty…

• But anyways, in jail even being falsely accused and beaten they in the middle of the night are having a worship session and while they are, miraculously the prison is shaken and all the doors of the prison are opened!

• The jailer comes and sees all the doors open and is about to kill himself, but Paul stops him before he does and lets him know that all the prisoners are still inside their cells.

• Well, that was evidence enough for the jailer…no fear on behalf of Paul due to his opponents…standing firm on the gospel…and this jailer is convinced of his destruction but of Paul’s salvation and so he gets on his knees and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

• And after explaining the gospel, the jailer and his whole household trust in Christ for salvation.

Get engaged in the conflict. Don’t just watch Paul take a beating, get engaged in the defense of the gospel yourself.

Don’t just watch your fellow church members and leaders be engaged, get actively engaged as well.

And as we will see as we move into chapter 2, who is the supreme example of this? It’s not the apostle Paul…he’s a great example, but he’s not the supreme example…

It’s Jesus himself.

If Jesus hadn’t courageously stood firm, not frightened at all by his opponents, there would have been no cross. There would have been no salvation. Our destruction due to our sin against a holy God would have never been CLEARLY shown to us, and salvation would have never been CLEARLY displayed for us.

Friends, this is the gospel, this is the GOOD NEWS! Let’s strive to live worthy of the gospel of Jesus. Let’s strive to follow the example of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Let’s follow Paul’s example of getting engaged in the conflict. Let’s follow our church leaders as we continue to engage in the struggle for the advancement and defense of the gospel.

Let’s pray to that end.

[1] Peter Thomas O’Brien, The Epistle to the Philippians: A Commentary on the Greek Text, The New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1991), 145.

^[2] D. A. Carson, Basics for Believers: An Exposition of Philippians (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1996), 54.