Philippians 1:27a "Live Worthy of The Gospel"

Well, let us first start off with a word of prayer again to start us for this Easter Sunday.

Let's pray.

Lord God, I do just want to lift up your name again, Lord.

We are so thankful for what you have done on the cross for us by taking our sin and paying the penalty

that we are fully deserving of and giving us mercy and grace which we.

Are fully undeserving of, Lord.

God, I thank you for what you have done through your Son, Jesus Christ.

And Lord, I just pray that today as we examine what a life that is worthy of the

gospel, Lord, that we would magnify your name, that your kingdom would be advanced, Lord, and that we

would just be renewed in the Spirit, Lord, if we have had a season of low faith.

In our life, Lord.

I pray that this type of a text, your word, the singing and the praising of your name, Lord,

that these things would be the means to increase the faith in

a name that ought to be increased in our lives, and that is Jesus Christ, in whom we say these things.

Amen.

Philippians chapter 1, verse 27.

Again, last week, as we go through the context of what the book of Philippians is about, it's

important to always continually remind ourselves of the context that we're reading in, right?

If we don't understand context, we're going to take things and misapply them often.

That's going to be a very regular thing that happens when we don't understand the context.

Of what's going on in here.

And I think we can see some of that as we look through this text here in a moment, but this is written by Paul, again, and who is

he writing this letter to?

He's writing this letter to the church of Philippoi, Philippi, Philippi.

There's several different ways, as we were talking this week, that there's disagreements on how that church, that town's

name is pronounced in the Greek, but however you want to say it, it's written to this church here, and

that's the letter of Philippians that we have here today, the one that they received back then when Paul first

wrote it.

And last week, we really looked at what the fruitful labor that we see in

verse 25, I.

Believe it is.

Nope.

Is it?

It is verse, excuse me.

Verse 22, we examined very much in depth on verse 22 about fruitful labor and what that looks like, how

it's coming out of a place of humility, and it's not one where we're trying to bolster ourselves up through what we do.

And those things would be not correct, not pure motives, that those would be the motives of

envy and strife that we have talked about prior in this text where we're at.

And so it's important to remind ourselves where we're coming from to understand this verse 27

that we're in right now.

So let's go ahead and read this text, and then we'll go ahead and pray over it again.

So only live your lives in a manner worthy of the

gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you

or remain absent, I will hear about your circumstances, that

you are standing firm in one spirit with one mind contending together for the

faith of the gospel.

Let's just pray over this text here, and then we'll continue on discussing what this has.

For us today.

Lord God, I do just want to echo what has already been prayed for, Lord.

Let us magnify you today in your gospel.

Let us trust more firmly in what you have done.

And Lord God, I just pray that whatever we do throughout our weeks, whether it be in our own professions,

whether it be in our family lives, whether it be with our children or children that are honoring their mothers and their fathers,

Lord, I just ask, God, that we would live our lives in a manner that's worthy of the gospel of

Christ, Lord.

Whatever this saying is, let us live it today, Lord.

And so we say this as a congregation in the man of sorrow who has an

empty tomb's name,.

Jesus Christ, amen.

So again, written to the Church of Philippi, and I hope that by looking at just this

text today, as today is Easter Sunday, I hope that we can really see what the resurrection implies

for us, even in this text right here.

We're most likely not going to get through this whole verse today.

We're just going to be really focusing in on living our lives that is worthy after the manner of the

gospel of Christ.

That's what we're examining for today.

So in order to examine what that means, to live a life that is worthy,

we first have to answer the question of what is the gospel?

And this is something that we talk about often.

This question of what is the gospel is a question that we ask all the time in this church, and it's

important that we do so.

The gospel is the very message that I hope when you wake up in the morning, you're preaching it to yourself so that you might know it that much more

intimately, because our minds are prone to forget, our minds are prone to doubt, our minds are prone to go to the

other places other than the cross.

And so it's important to preach this gospel that saves to ourselves daily.

And we talked about this in VBS last year, and if any of the kids that were in VBS last year, they might

even do the motions that we taught to them, is that Jesus Christ died for me, that he was buried, he

rose again on the third day in victory, and they would all jump up off the ground because we'd have them lay down like they were dead, and then they would get up,

right?

This is a short summation that we have in the gospel, is the death, burial, and resurrection of

Jesus Christ.

And maybe even more thoroughly explained, it would be that Jesus lives a perfect life, he dies atoning death, he's

buried, he rises to a newness of life on the third day according.

To scriptures.

But this term gospel, the reason that we ought to talk about it regularly amongst

ourselves and church, whenever we open up the Bible, is that this term gospel is like

a seasoning that people, false religions, false professing believers in Jesus,

they use that word gospel like a seasoning on a conversation.

They don't know the definition of it, they don't have a faith in what it actually means according to the Bible, but they just use it as

a filler word, a word that sounds good is the gospel.

And if you ask them what the gospel is, oftentimes they'll say it's the good news, which absolutely is the good news, but they can't define

anything further than that.

They don't understand any way of what the gospel really is.

The conversation is lacking of logic, and the thinking of what the gospel is

usually ends when you ask them, well, tell me more about it.

They often can't.

And that's, again, it's because they don't have a true understanding of what the gospel is, and that's what we're going to examine today.

But before we jump into defining the gospel, I want to look at just a few examples of what

the gospel isn't to help us understand what's going on.

So let me first read you a definition that comes from, I won't tell you who it is,

I'll tell you afterwards who it is, but this is a definition, and just listen with your ears and think about, is this the gospel I believe in?

The newborn Jesus would grow up to be the Christ, the promised Messiah.

He would reveal God's purpose for his salvation, give up a perfect human life in behalf of mankind,

be resurrected, and then become the chosen king of God's kingdom.

Good news indeed.

That is why the message about him is called the gospel.

This comes from the Jehovah Witnesses Watchtower production.

Now the issue is, is again, if you ask more about definitions and what's going on there and what they are meaning,

you would see that they're talking about something drastically different than what they're even putting out there for you to take.

This is what every false religion does.

Let's think about maybe what the resurrection is in that scheme of the Jehovah Witnesses because we're here celebrating Easter.

What is the definition of the resurrection for the Jehovah Witness?

They say that the apostles knew that Jesus' resurrection was different from all others.

Before it.

People who were resurrected earlier were given human bodies, but later died again.

Jesus was given a spirit body that can never be destroyed.

What they're saying in there is that they deny the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ, that he didn't rise

again physically with the same body that he was crucified with.

You see, when you start understanding the definitions of what people mean and are saying behind what their message is, you

can find that they're saying something completely different than what the Christian is arguing from the Bible.

So let me give you an example.

This is just a visual for you to think about.

Chad, who's had to go to spend time with his granddaughter in Twin Falls, is

trained in rope operations through Idaho Power.

He's a rope, a certified rope ninja is what I would call him.

He knows how to tie every knot that you could ever imagine and knows how to scale down a dam to fix it and work on it, to work on these big

power equipments, right?

If Chad, who is a rope technician, a rope ninja, asked me to tie a

football knot around a large anchor or to tie a figure eight on a bite or something

along those lines, and I said, ah, I don't know that knot.

I don't know what you're talking about, but I'll tie a knot, I think.

If I said something like that, do you think he's going to go and rappel down that line?

Or do you think he's going to go and tie his own knot or check that knot that I tied and verify that it's the right knot?

Why would he want to do that?

Why would he say, before I go about in a way that I could potentially die, I need to go and

tie my own knot, or I need to go and make sure what I asked you to tie was actually.

Done so?

Because life depends on it, right?

And if I'm not competent in the definition of what he asked me to tie as a knot goes, he's not going to go

rappelling down it.

And so when somebody says the gospel and they don't have a definition for it, they can

sound as Christian as they want to sound.

But if they're placing their faith in something that's other than the definition of that knot, the definition of the gospel

in the Bible, you ought not to rappel down that rope.

Bad things could be awaiting you.

Chad's going to go and check that.

And that's so clear to see why we as Christians, when somebody says gospel, we need to understand what they

mean by it.

It's clear to see that the Jehovah Witnesses deny a bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ.

So if the bodily resurrection of Jesus is necessary for the true definition of the gospel in what we place our

faith in, is that a false gospel when someone denies the physical resurrection?

Yeah, it is.

Lydia's shaking her head, yes, it is.

It goes against what the Bible says it is.

You've gone outside of orthodoxy.

You have denied the Christ that rose again from the grave.

That is not the gospel.

That is not what saves.

That is once again why we as Christians ought to preach the true gospel to ourselves daily

so that we can know which is false around us.

Look, when somebody has a, and I've heard this story and I don't know how true it is, but when somebody is

a trained, counterfeit, spotting, fake dollar bill person, right?

So if somebody produces mass amounts of $100 bills, there's people that can see and check if those are real true

$100 bills.

But how do you know if it's a true $100 bill?

You have to know what the true $100 bill looks like first.

You have to know it so well that you can feel it and you know that that's a real dollar.

Bill.

That's a real currency.

You have to be able to look at it and know what the signs are of true $100 bill so

that when somebody presents to you the false, fake $100 bill, immediately you can say

it looks like it, but it's not it.

It looks similar.

You're trying to copy what the truth is, but you're not there.

It's not true.

It's actually worthless.

It's just trash.

You can go burn that in the fire later today.

So before again, before we define maybe a little bit more about what this gospel is that's spoken of in

here in Philippians 1, 27, let me read to you another definition of a gospel, a false

gospel, and let's just examine and think who would be saying this?

Is this what I believe in today?

So these individuals say, in its fullness, the gospel includes all the doctrines,

principles, laws, ordinances, and covenants

necessary for us to be exalted in the celestial kingdom.

I might've just given it away who this is talked about by.

The savior has promised that if we endure to the end, faithfully living the

gospel, he will hold us guiltless before the father at the last final judgment.

When we use the word gospel, are we talking about our own obedience?

Are we talking about what we do on our behalf to be saved?

This is a false gospel.

This comes from the LDS website.

Again, a group of individuals that say gospel and they use it as a filler word in every one of their sentences,

and even would say to you and argue with you that we have the true and everlasting gospel, right out of

the gate have a false definition of what the gospel is.

Again, you must know the real currency to be able to spot that which is a fake, false

attempt to copy that which is true.

The gospel, in fact, has nothing to do with your own obedience.

The gospel has to do only with what Jesus has done for us, that Jesus

was the only one that was obedient, that Jesus died in my place,

that he suffered my full penalty there upon the cross of Calvary, because in his

body he bore my sin, because he who knew no sin became sin on my behalf so that I might

be made the righteous of God in him.

The gospel has nothing to do with you.

The gospel is all about what Christ has done in victory, that he did rise again from the grave on

the third day, and that's what we're celebrating here today, is that you and I haven't done it.

We're celebrating the fact that he is merciful, that my sins have been covered.

We're not here celebrating our own obedience, we're celebrating the fact that Jesus is the only obedient one, the only righteous

one, the one that has covered me and has risen again from the grave, that he's victorious.

That's what we're celebrating here today.

So the gospel could be summed up according to 1 Corinthians 15 verses 1 -4, a quick

and short definition of what the gospel is.

It says,.

Now I make known to you, brothers, the gospel which I proclaim as good news to you, which also you receive and

which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast which I proclaim to you as

good news, unless you leave for nothing.

For I deliver to you of the first importance what I also received, that Christ

died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried and

he was raised on the third day according to scriptures.

This is a very short summation of what the gospel is and ought to be a quick place that you take

yourself to if you ever forget what the gospel is, the life, death, burial and

resurrection of Jesus Christ.

So then, in light of the false gospels, the false

admonitions of what the resurrection is in their own belief systems, consider just a

little bit later on in that same chapter in 1 Corinthians 15 verses 12 -22, we're going to read this whole text, it says,

Now if Christ is preached, that he has been raised from the dead, how do some among

you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised, and if Christ has not been raised and our preaching

is in vain, your faith also in vain.

Moreover, we have even found to be false witnesses of God because we bore witness

against God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise, if indeed the

dead are not raised.

For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised, and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is

worthless.

You are still in your sins.

Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

If we have hope in Christ in this life only, we are of men most to be

pitied.

But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead.

For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made

alive.

Did you not listen to what the Jehovah Witnesses said, that he wasn't bodily resurrected?

Their faith is worthless.

The LDS person, it's our obedience that saves us.

No, it's Christ has been risen again.

Your faith is worthless.

Your faith, the value of your faith, only comes about by the faith that it is placed, the object that it is

placed in.

The value of your faith comes about by the object that it's placed in.

And your faith has to be in Jesus Christ.

Next, Colossians 2 .14, Having cancelled out the certificate of debt

consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us, he took them out of the

way, having nailed it to the cross.

So why are we going to depth to define this gospel here in verse 27 of

Philippians chapter 1?

Only live your lives in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.

Why do we need to talk about all these things when we talk about the gospel?

Whenever we see that word in there, you should be reminded of what's being talked about today.

The reason is, is that when we see this, is Paul arguing that you live your life in a way that your

obedience ought to be rewarded?

No, that's not what Paul is arguing, in fact.

In fact, if that is what Paul was arguing for, if he was saying that you need to live

yourself, that you can become spotless, that you can do X, Y, and Z things, something like the LDS

say, right?

That you live your life, you'll be obedient to all the laws, covenants, and ordinances, then his grace is

sufficient, that's how you ought to live your life.

Paul would never say that, and Paul has actually argued very much against that kind of thinking.

Consider in Galatians chapter 2, verse 21, I do not set aside the grace of God,

for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died needlessly.

Paul has been very, very clear and very instructive in each one of his letters to say, look, if

you think that it's Christ plus your works, Christ plus your obedience, Christ plus you in any

capacity, then Christ died needlessly.

For we maintain that we have been justified apart from the works of the law, but through faith in Jesus

Christ.

That's what Paul's whole argument's going about in all these letters.

So we cannot look at verse 27 and say that the life, living a worthy life

for the gospel of Christ, it does not mean that you have to be righteous in order to live a

life that is worthy for the gospel of Christ.

It would be backwards for Paul to argue against all that he's already argued for in favor of the unmerited

righteousness that comes through the cross.

The way that the Christian lives a life in a manner that is worthy of the gospel is like this

parable that Jesus tells the Jews.

And these verses that I'm going to read right now have been on my mind very, very much here in the last months.

But Luke 18, verse 9 through 14, and I think I've read it several times here behind the pulpit the last few months.

Again, it says,.

And he told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and viewed others with contempt.

Two men went up into a temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

The Pharisee stood and was praying these things to himself, saying, God, I thank you that I

am not like the other people, swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

I fast twice a week.

I pay tithes of all that I get.

Now, I want to pause there right now and just say, many Christians define a righteous living life as

what this Pharisee just said.

You ought to stop.

Do not take pride or haughtiness in anything that this Pharisee just said about himself.

If you're doing that in your own life or towards the life of others, you need to stop because you're about to come to a great fall

because the prideful spirit deserves such.

But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to

lift his eyes to heaven, but was beating his chest, saying, God, be merciful

to me, the sinner.

I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other.

For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will

be exalted.

Beloved Church and Bride of Christ, the manner that we ought to act as Christians is to be

united with one another, subjecting ourselves to church eldership, as they, as

we, as I seek to lead under the shepherdship of Jesus.

In humility, we ought to be serving our neighbors, continually glorifying God in

all that we do, preaching the Christ that has saved us from the grave, telling the

world about the God -man Jesus that we are so undeserving of,

and proclaiming the name of the mediator of the new covenant that we've been studying in

Bible studies.

And I'm so thankful to be talking about this with everybody in the book of Hebrews lately, this new covenant.

We're to proclaim the mediator's name of that new covenant in whom we have been saved

by.

He is the one that is responsible for cutting this new covenant on our benefit.

The worthy manner that we are to live in, that's spoken of in verse 27, is the continual

recognition that we are unworthy,

but that Christ has done it.

The life that is worthy of living for the gospel of Christ is a life

that recognizes in humility what a great privilege it is to be in Christ.

Now, why does this have anything, why does this mean anything to ourselves as Christians?

If Jesus had not raised from the grave, as we discussed on Bible study, anyone can say

that they can forgive sins.

And we talked about that this morning.

Or that anyone can say that they will die for another one's sins.

A lot of people can say those kind of things.

It is another thing to say it and then rise again from the grave, fulfilling what

you had prophesied and told people about.

The empty tomb today remains empty because Jesus is sitting on his throne,

living and interceding for his new covenant members.

I beg with you today to be born again and to be covered with the blood of Jesus Christ.

Just as when you were born into this world and bore the name of your parents,

I ask that you bear the name that is above all other names today, and that in this new birth you would

continually seek the glory of God.

Living a life that is worthy of the gospel, again, is a recognition of

your unworthiness to even be considered a part of the gospel.

Your unworthiness to even be able to profess that name that is so sweet.

Jesus Christ lives.

You're unworthy.

Live your life in a way that magnifies what he has done.

That law, that new covenant law that we see there in the book of Hebrews has been written on your

heart.

And so, yes, you ought to live a life that seeks after good.

You ought to live a life that seeks the betterment of your neighbor.

You ought to live a life that glorifies and obeys God absolutely, full -heartedly.

Yes, yes, and amen.

But do not think to yourselves that that is what the gospel is, is you living a perfect life.

Or the gospel is you being elevated through what you have done.

The gospel is that you are undeservingly partaking in what Christ has done for you on your behalf

there upon the hill of Golgotha.

The gospel in its entirety is so important to consider in a day like today when we see,

when we as a majority celebrate the resurrection of Jesus.

We do this every Sunday again as we meet and profess the risen Savior together.

And in finality, I just want to, I want to read to you one more portion of scripture before we end today, but John

chapter 11, verse 25 through 26.

I would encourage you to read this one today in regard to the resurrection.

John chapter 11, verses 25 through 26.

Please turn there.

John chapter 11, verse 25 through 26.

John 11, verse 25 through 26 says this.

And to give you a little bit of context, this is Martha has come to Jesus because her brother

Lazarus has died and it seems like she's somewhat upset.

And so this is what Jesus said to her.

I am the resurrection and the life.

He who believes in me will live even

if he dies.

And everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.

Do you believe this?

Brothers and sisters, do you believe that Jesus Christ is that perfect

lamb, is that perfect high priest that he did walk 2

,000 years ago, obeying and fulfilling everything that was ever written about him

there in the old Testament and everything that was ever prophesied about him, thus pronouncing him as the Messiah, the

anointed one of God.

Do you believe that?

Do you believe that he walked that hill of Calvary undeservingly?

Do you believe that he was pierced through for your own transgressions?

Do you believe that he bore there on his body your own sin, suffering the wrath

from God there 2 ,000 years ago?

And do you believe that through him being nailed to the cross, that your sin was nailed there with him

and that he satisfied that debt that you were deserving of?

Do you believe that he actually died and was wrapped in linen and buried in a garden where no one else had laid and he

was sealed with a rock?

And do you believe also, especially today, that he was resurrected and rose

again on the third day?

Because the Bible says that if you believe these things,

it says here in Ephesians chapter 2, even when we were dead in our

transgressions, made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved and raised

us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places.

When you place your faith in Christ, when Christ rose from the grave, you rose with him then,

so that in the ages to come, he might show the surpassing riches of his grace in

kindness towards us in Christ Jesus.

For by grace you have been saved through faith and this not of yourselves, it is a

gift of God, not of works so that no one may boast.

Brothers and sisters, again, you must place your faith in what Christ has done,

participate and partake in the greatness that is his grace and live your lives

continually humble.

That's what this whole next chapter in the book of Philippians is gonna talk about, is it's gonna be a pride check for each one of us.

When we come to it.

It's gonna be nothing but humility and humility and humility that Christ, the one that is deserving of all things,

actually died on a cross.

Why do you think that you're any better than Christ?

Be humbled.

That's what the context leading us into.

So when we see live a life that is worthy after the life of the gospel, it's talking about you being humbled to

be undeserving members of that grace.

So let us pray today to God in whom we are so undeservingly

able to know and profess, even 2 ,000 years later after Christ's incarnation.

Let us pray.

Lord God, I do thank you, Lord, for today.

I thank you for this text here in Philippians 1, verse 27.

Even though we didn't even make it through the whole verse today, Lord, I just pray that you would use this text

to refine and reform ourselves so that through your gospel, we may act and live as Christians

in one spirit, in one faith, Lord, that we would be united, not because we have good things,

but we would be united in the fact that we have nothing that is good except for you, God.

Let us be united to proclaim the blood of Jesus Christ that has saved us

from our sin, Lord.

God, I would ask today that you would be glorified in all the family festivities and in the celebration of your

resurrection today, Lord.

Help us know more about it.

Let us be confirmed and know without a doubt that that tomb is empty, Lord.

David, he is in his grave.

Moses is in his grave.

Abraham in his grave.

But you, Lord, you have risen again.

And we praise you for this.

And we say this in your name, Jesus Christ, amen.

Brothers and sisters, please stand with me as we sing our last song for today.