To Live Worthy Of The Gospel

Good morning The scripture reading is from Philippians chapter 1 verse 27 to 30

And it can be found on page 980 in your pew Bible When you find that would you please rise?

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 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 for it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ You should not only believe in him, but also suffer for his sake

If you be seated, I'll pray this morning Heavenly Father we come before you to worship you we use your word

To hear how you want us to understand and to see things and we pray that you will have a pastor

Josh Use this passage to teach us what you would have us know

We give you thanks Heavenly Father and we pray that your spirit will help us to Open our ears and to soften our hearts to hear your word

In Jesus name Amen GK Chesterton once wrote

The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting it has been found difficult and left untried

Now his thought was directed of course towards unbelievers those who have not come to Jesus Christ Those who look at the

Christian life that they might observe in people around them neighbors and co -workers and so forth

And see nothing but the struggle nothing but the constant mortification of sin look at them

Striving to be like Christ and say well this looks like a lot of bother and work

Tsuris as they say in Yiddish and I'm just not going to delve into that I see the ideal

But I will leave it untried he was thinking mostly of unbelievers at the time but too often what we see actually is the

Christian Christian men and women who haven't come joyously to Christ in gratitude to God for the salvation

That he wrought for us on the cross Perceiving rightly that the

Christians life is one of constant struggle and seeing how hard it is

They sort of end up off to the sidelines They don't really enter into the fray what we see is

Christians who have come to Christ And then sort of balk at the difficulties that that life of Christ or in Christ brings to you

As Jesus says in one of his parables you must count the cost There's a cost to discipleship

And sometimes we don't think about that when we joyously enter in salvation and don't think of the cost of discipleship

Which is great It is a difficult struggle To go through this life in these bodies

Surrounded by flesh and try to be like Christ try to follow his word

Too often without denying the faith at least not in word not

Explicitly that hard that narrow road of holiness that road of growing into Jesus Christ is

Left untried and too often even within the church And I wonder this morning

If that might be you if you might be one Christian who could look at GK Chesterton's Quote and say well

I am a Christian and I have entered into that Christian ideal of salvation

But the difficulty of this life of growing into the image of Christ this difficulty of doing what

God would please be pleased with Has just discouraged me I?

Haven't grown. I haven't progressed I see others who seem to be more holy than they were last week last month last year, but it's not me

I Stalled out like a car sitting in an intersection in neutral with the engine running

Using up all the energy in the gas tank, but going nowhere Is this you have you stole stalled out in your progress towards the

Christian ideal? Maybe never really got started and now so many years have gone past that you've given up Hope you feel as if the world of the church has left you behind Floundering in a riptide that's drawing you further and further from the ideal and into deep and dangerous waters

Is that you this morning? Have you slowed down? Stalled or perhaps never really entered into this life of struggle this

Conflict that we have as we try to live a life worthy of this gospel

Well this morning's passage Philippians 1 27 to 30 Maybe just what you need to sort of jump -start this effort again to get yourself going to get yourself moving

Back into the image of Christ to working to be like him this passage could give you the hope even the comfort and Perhaps the incentive that you need to get rolling again as it were you know a couple of things a few things

I want you to understand before we dig into the passage and first is that you're not in this alone if you're in the struggle of trying to be like Christ this struggle of trying to Be insulated somewhat from the world around from its influences that come in against you so often so pervasively and so influentially

You're not in this alone. You are side by side With like -minded believers whose goals in Christ are the same as yours.

You're not alone And that's verses 27 to the first half of verse 28 in our passage this morning

You're not alone and the second thing. I want to encourage you with is That the second half of verse 28 tells you something it tells you that as you are in Christ side by side with these other believers

That you are a testimony you are a sign to them going both ways to the unbelievers who may be observing and To the other believers around who you may be encouraging once you return to the struggle

There is a divine purpose being accomplished in you And the third thing

In verses 29 and 30 you're suffering for the gospel, and we do suffer for the gospel

Make no mistake that becoming more and more like Christ Striving for holiness pursue holiness without which no one will see

God. It is a struggle it is suffering Bibles clear about that And we do a great disservice

If we try to lessen the impact of that part of the

Christian life But in verses 29 and 30 the passage before us this morning know that you're suffering for the gospel is not needless

It's not just bad things happening to you God in his grace has granted you the privilege of this suffering

Insofar and as long as that suffering is for the sake of his Son Jesus Christ A brief introduction to our text this morning.

This is Paul's first ethical call to the Philippians we've been in this book for several weeks now and Finally Paul's gotten around to telling us what to do

How to do this thing that finally comes out in this letter in verses 3 through 11

You might recall he assured them of his deep affection for them He had a relationship with the

Philippian church that seemed to be like no other of the churches that we have his letters for He was close with them

He was passionate towards them and his affection for them seemed to be in some special way deeper

Than other churches he had founded You remember from Acts chapter 16 the abuses that he and his fellow workers received when they first came to Philippi Yet those early converts in that city stuck close to the

Apostle With a love that endured well after the events that occurred there in Acts 16 and later in this letter

He's going to thank them for their gifts for their open support and identification with him Verses 12 to 18 he assured them that even in his imprisonment

He was being used by God for the advancement of the gospel His guards and all the rest had come to know that he was in prison for one reason one reason only the gospel of Jesus Christ and in those verses you recall he told them that some are preaching out of love and others out of rivalry and envy and Whatever it's happening is there are as long as they're declaring

Christ and his name is going out. I Rejoice in this finally says what then?

Only the Christ is proclaimed Only that in every way in pretense or truth

Christ is proclaimed and in that I rejoice in the verses 18 to 26 He wrote of his assurance that so long as Christ kept him alive on earth

He would be able to serve him by proclaiming and spreading the gospel and whether by life or by death

He knew that Christ would be honored in his body and finally said for to me to live as Christ and to die is gain

And that brings us very quickly to our verses this morning this first ethical charge this first What then shall

I do? What do we do? Let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ This first major ethical call in this letter a life

Lived in a manner worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ is what? Well, it's one that is joined with other believers in defense of the gospel

That's to live worthily to join side by side with fellow believers in your defense of the gospel and In this you live this life worthy if the question was how do

I progress in Christ? What do I do? How do I please God? Here's part of the answer live worthy

Live a life in a manner worthy of the gospel by defending the gospel side by side with fellow believers

How do you defend it? Well with us standing firm and brave What will

God do with that God will make you assigned to believer and unbeliever alike and how much you view the suffering that this

Might entail I should take out the word might that this will entail

Take it as a grant from God God in his graciousness has given you this gift of suffering for the sake of his son

Jesus Christ You live worthy of the gospel of Christ when you stand firm with other

Christians You're worthy of the gospel of Christ. Your manner of life is worthy of the gospel of Christ when you stand firm

With other Christians Verse 27 only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ So that whether I come and see you or I'm 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 not frightened in anything by your opponents

You know the Golden State Warriors the basketball team Had a model last season it's called strength in numbers

Now I'm not much of a basketball fan myself, I don't understand the game too well, but I like championship sports

Series so baseball which I don't watch during the year I'll watch that and a few years ago some friends at the church came over to watch the

Warriors in that recent championship they won And I learned a bit about the game and watching the

Warriors in this model They have strength in numbers and what was pointed out to me is that there's no glory hogs

That those five guys or whoever the replacements were as they came on to the basketball court They were in this together and they were there together to win and so if a guy had the ball

He didn't push through and take a chance so that he got the glory. He looked for the open guy

I'm not much of a baseball Aficionado or a basketball aficionado. I don't know the game that well, but I was started to watch for this

I saw that he was right that they passed to the guy who could get the two points so that the team Got the glory.

There was no one glory hog. There's no idea that two points is two points. It goes to the team

No, it's all of them together working for this one goal this one purpose

The intent was never Self -glorification The whole team got the benefit of the score

It was the player was in it not for himself though. He was in it for them I think the

Apostle Paul would have appreciated that model And he might have appreciated the way that they play the game

There's no Lone Ranger Christian there's no glory hogs in Christianity the focal point of Christ's work by his spirit and Through his is is through his church and it is collective.

We are all in this together And there's one reason why the Apostle Paul uses the military metaphors that he does

It's one of his favorite analogies of the Christian life that's one reason we call it the church militant he uses so many military

Metaphors in his letters and so we have here He says But let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ So whether I come to you or and see you or I'm absent.

I may hear of you that you are standing firm standing firm

That's military language It's language that speaks of soldiers who are lying abreast formation

Each shield locked with the one on either side and making this impenetrable wall that in Roman hands conquered the world

They marched together They marched in sync with each other left right left right and as they were going towards the enemy

They had their shield up to protect themselves each individual but also locked to the one next to them and Should a missile be coming and was going to hit the guy next to them

They would raise their shield and bring it over to protect him and then back to protecting themselves. They were all in this together

That's what it means to stand firm Like a line of Roman legionnaires

Trained dedicated determined and All thinking with one mind and one purpose which was not just to get out of the battle alive

But to accomplish the person purposes of their commander whose purposes were the generals purposes who purposes were the emperors

Purposes who ostensibly had purposes to help the Empire as a whole

This whole thing working together in unity standing firm in the face of attack

In order to accomplish the purpose for which they were there on the battlefield Paul uses this military analogy of the church that we stand together side by side in protection of each other

With one mind towards that one goal, which is to represent

Jesus Christ Standing firm military language for you this morning

To live a life worthy of the gospel means to do just that Shoulder -to -shoulder side -by -side shield -to -shield with fellow

Christians He says not frightened in anything by your opponents

We're going to have opponents. Are we not and even if they're not attacking you directly

The church as a whole Christ's message as a whole the scripture has its opponents

And we can go into a long diatribe of all the things that are happening out there in the world They're trying to be imposed upon the entire

Society including the church as we have much to defend ourselves against and we could go on to a long list a laundry list

If you will of things that are wrong in the world that we need to resist This is not frightened in anything by your opponents.

It is frightening what is happening out there You look with the world at large in many countries.

I Think most profoundly here is doing to marriage That's frightening this detestable

It's something against which the church needs to stand firm And even if it doesn't affect you directly and personally it's part of the gospel message that that is wrong the world calls murder reproductive health

Incredible and That's a frightening and a horrific thing It was in Indiana where the abortion doctor was found with all the fetuses that he collect over the years

I I don't even have the details on that story You talk about yuck factor. There it is, but it's a frightening thing.

It's an anti gospel thing It's something that the opponents are constantly bringing in and pushing

Beto O 'Rourke who recently dropped out of his run for the president not presidential nomination in the

Democrat Party He said that if churches don't hold to certain standards or don't stop teaching certain things.

He would take away their their taxes gun status Again we have opponents and we could go on and on and on with it, but we won't

But Paul says don't be frightened now one thing that would be frightening about all this think about this for a moment is if you

Were the only victim if you were the only one who was receiving all this resistance to the gospel

Would that not be frightening? If you were the one who had to stand up and by yourself

With no one else around you to support you or applaud you or give you any comfort or encouragement

You're the one That needs to defend that gospel Would you not be frightened

I would I would I've always said we know there are certain things that we hold to that are correct

For example when we take the Lord's table the wine stays wine the bread stays bread but if I had to debate against let's say the

Pope who believes that it becomes the blood of Christ literally or the body of Christ literally even though I was right

I would lose the debate I think Just because he's smarter than me

More trained It would be frightening though if I was at that debate and all the cameras were on the two of us and The truth of the matter depended upon me winning or you would that not be frightening?

It was like Paul says to be side -by -side with fellow believers striving for this gospel

Have you slowed down In your walk with Christ have you stalled out

I? Ask you are you side -by -side in this military metaphor that Paul uses not just in Philippians But in many of his letters

Are you part of the line of defense? Are you with us? Don't be frightened by anything by your opponents the one the first cures of the fear is that you're with others

You should be with others Our defense is not a literal shield our defense is

Christ Jesus and his word and the faith. He has given us in that Be side -by -side with us

And it would keep you from being frightened by it all From letting it stir you up keep you up at night all these things that are happening out there in the world

You're not gonna stop them just by being frightened you're not even gonna stop them by being in defense with us

It's gonna keep you though from that fright. You know what the word frightened is It's another one of his military metaphors

It speaks of a horse that couldn't be a military charger type of course because it's too easily startled

At the first sound of the conflict it would ride away from it taking its rider away with it

Too easily startled to be of any use in the battle The would panic it would run away with its riders.

So Nobody could benefit. That's what it means to be not easily startled

What happens when you get startled when you get frightened like the Apostle Paul says here is you can't think anymore

I I wonder have you ever been frightened of your very life.

I Was on the freeway once with my son We were up going up towards Richmond and as we went past what they call the the maze

You know where all those highways to come together around the Bay Bridge Well, it was a Saturday. We didn't expect much traffic, but there was a lot of traffic

We had to slow down you have lanes ending and lanes merging and people going 80 miles an hour because they're used to it and I wasn't and here

I am in my old pickup truck with this big trailer behind and all of a sudden This guy pulls up in the left lane, which is supposed to be the commuter lane.

It's the only lane that was really open And I was stopped because of the traffic and my elbow out the window

I'm saying it leans over. It's got his passenger side window down a leans over starts yelling at me

Using all kinds of language, which we won't even try to replicate But his point was if you just signaled

I would have let you in you didn't have to cut me off and he was furious frothing And it startled me.

I think myself if that guy's got a gun. There's nothing I can do My only point here is

When you get frightened like that We get scared like that The mind freezes up everything kind of goes away.

You're just frozen in place And this is what Paul says here. Don't be frightened in anything by your opponents.

How are we not frightened? By looking to your left and looking to your right and seeing that you're with fellow believers

There's much unity that Paul would have us to to reflect in the church to you to be a part of if the military

Metaphors are not enough standing side by side this idea of strength in numbers. No glory hogs

We're all in this together shields are locked. I'm looking out for you. You're looking out for me he speaks of being of one spirit and one mind as A shield line must act as if it were one or its effectiveness has taken away entirely

So also we're to be one spirit one mind one line of defense for each other

And he goes on one spirit one mind Remember we're speaking of living a manner of life that is worthy of this gospel

Paul's calling you into unity with the church to be one with fellow believers

One spirit the word spirit is properly left uncapitalized Paul speaking of the unity that we have in our common purpose for the gospel in Christ And One spirit means something more something deeper than just being friends

It approaches the oneness of a husband and wife who are one flesh together

It doesn't rise to that level But it approaches that Now nearest example

I could find is actually in 1st Samuel 18 In 1st Samuel 18 This is just after David had killed

Goliath and he's taken into King Saul's service King Saul knowing that David had been anointed by Samuel and soon will be his replacement

Will King David and Saul's son Jonathan become friends? become very close friends and We read in the scripture as soon as he had finished speaking to Saul That's Jonathan Saul's son speaking to Saul as soon as he had finished speaking to Saul the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.

These are two we might say manly men warriors Trained skilled fighters and get bound together in soul and spirit

Having this love this pure and godly and right kind of love and I would argue this love of Jonathan for David because Jonathan knew

David was anointed to do God's work and what God would do for Israel for God's own glory through David That's the closest

I can find in the scriptures to a Paul's calling us to be calling you to be one spirit and one mind with Believers a spirit meaning we we think together

That we have the same overall goal. We're not lockstep with each other. We're not automatons for each other

We do have individual gifts. There's a diversity of gifts as Paul says in Romans 12 and 1st

Corinthians 12 But to be of one spirit together the way he says here

Means to have the same goal in Christ Jesus Holding to the same gospel of God's salvation in Christ and for what he has done is a work of God that's binding us together as Jonathan was bound to David and David to Jonathan something close to but not there but close to a husband and wife

Bound together like that It's only by God's Holy Spirit that race and sex and ethnicity and all those other things are set aside in favor of this common bond in Christ Standing firm in one spirit means to be united as deeply with others as you are with Christ himself

To have the same gospel based outlook on life and the world The next phrase is going to drive this even closer to us

It's going to firm up this picture even more if it needs to be We're speaking of how to Live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ Look at the next phrase there in Philippians 1 and 27

Be of one spirit, but we're to be of one mind one mind striving with one mind

And you might ask well, how does that support the unity that is implied by one spirit? It's because the word behind the word mind is not that usual word that we would find for mind for your thought process

The word behind it is psuche Psuche now you don't have to remember that that's the

Greek But it's the word for soul striving together in one spirit and one soul

That's why I brought up David and Jonathan because they were bound together In soul his soul was connected or attracted to David in that way

The soul as a sphere of our affections the soul as subordinate to the

Holy Spirit But is man's higher man's heavenly nature that part of us that reaches out to God that part of us

That is the Spirit of God within That part that is part of this unity

There's a manner of life that is worthy of the gospel Connected to each other in spirit and now in soul

One man wrote of this verse there's sometimes natural and antipath antipathies among believers

But these are overcome when there is not only one unity of spirit, but of soul

Do you know how to overcome your aversion To giving up or thinking you might have to give up your independence

See what the scripture says That you to be bound together with fellow members in your church in Spirit and in soul as we stand together defending the gospel

And this is what will keep you from being frightened and this will get you back into the fray if you slow down in this living of a life worthy of the gospel if you've given up on it if you think you can't

Do it you can't get back on that treadmill The scripture tells you

Perhaps this is what you've left behind The unity the oneness the soul connectedness that you are to have with fellow believers.

I Ask you are you not in a church? Are you not a member of a church? I Would answer to you if you say yes to that.

Yes. I am NOT a member or no. I I'm not in a church Scripture says you're on your own

You're that guy you're that gal Who's defending the gospel and you have no one around you?

You may have a shield you may not if we extend the military metaphor, but you're still standing alone

You're vulnerable on your side. You're vulnerable from behind You're outside of the scripture you're outside of the protective sphere that the church is meant to be for you

You're not living a life worthy of the gospel. If you're not side -by -side in spirit and in mind in spirit and in soul

Are you outside the church? Do you claim Christ but you're not a member a committed member of a church?

You're on your own and you're weak because you're alone and you're weak because you're outside of Christ's will And more to my concern

We're not exactly weak without you, but we're less strong without you To be outside of the authority and the discipline and the fellowship of a local church

Certainly means if it doesn't at least strongly imply that your Christianity is on your own terms

And too often we do this Are you one who? Resonates with what

I said at the beginning About not living this life worthy of the gospel of Christ not growing in his image not progressing in holiness and sanctification

Are you one of those? I'd ask you Look to your conscience

Look to your own situation Do you claim Christ Jesus? and Yet are outside of the church

Are outside of that unity that one battle line with shields locked together

Striving together for one purpose, which is to glorify Christ with one

Mindset, which is to try to be more and more and more like him But you're on your own

You stand isolated You need to repent of that You need to carefully consider your ways

You need to understand that if you're not in unity with the church and striving together with the church with fellow believers

That you're outside the will of Christ. I don't say this is a

Determined conclusion, but it does put to question your testimony of Christ to be so far outside as well

You live worthy of the gospel The gospel of Christ When you strive together with one spirit and one mind

With this military discipline with the rest of us And you live worthy of the gospel of Christ when you are assigned

Assigned to believer and assigned unbeliever in verse 28 the second half of it This is a clear sign to them of their destruction.

But if your salvation a life worthy of the gospel of Christ There's a life where you are actually a sign an emblem a billboard if you will

Going two ways really to the believer and unbeliever alike It's a clear sign to them your opponents those of whom you're not to be frightened

And you won't be frightened if you're locked together with the rest of us a clear sign to them of their destruction

But if your salvation and that from God I Need to take a moment and tell you that this verse is a very difficult one to translate

And the commentators also have a hard time with it. There's a clear sign to them of their destruction

What is a clear sign? Well your unity your together defense of the gospel your unwillingness to bend on biblical truth is a sure sign to them of their destruction and the question the commentators ask is

How is that a sign to them of their destruction? Well, it becomes their destruction of you in other words

You're standing for the gospel Somehow is a sign to them that they will succeed in destroying you

Or back then the Philippians a sure sign to them of their destruction their success in completing the destruction

But to you of your salvation. I had a bit of a hard time with that And I really wrestled with this verse the

Greek is sort of ambiguous And you know how what respect I have for the commentators these men whose minds are highly trained and especially in the languages and the scriptures

It's a clear sign to them of Their destruction and I would leave it at that.

I would say this sign is to them a sign of their own destruction But of your salvation as you stand firm together in the church in unity of mind and spirit

That's a sign to them to the Enemies to those who are trying to frighten you it's a sign to them of their own destruction their coming destruction

But if your salvation and that from God You see a sign is a sign if God says is the sign

It doesn't matter what you think of it It doesn't matter if you recognize it even if God says it's a sign.

It is a sign you think just of traffic signs

The speed limit says 55 miles an hour Let's say you're going along you say well,

I don't recognize that as a sign That communicates nothing to me because I don't care to recognize it as something that's supposed to communicate to me

The speed I'm gonna drive. I'm gonna go 72 And CHP pulls you over and says sir, ma 'am, do you know how fast you were going?

Do you know what the speed limit was? Well, yes, I was going 72. Well, did you see the sign?

Are you mean that thing with the two fives on it? Yes, I saw that but that wasn't a sign to me Yes, sir.

Yes, ma 'am. And you know what the next thing he's gonna say is Here's your ticket he doesn't care what you think of that sign

There's other examples I've spoken of this before this still Surprises me how often people ignore the sign up at Nevada Falls in Yosemite Because there's a landing there's sort of a an outcropping of the granite where you can go and bathe in the

Sun after the long hike from Yosemite Valley you get up there and There's a sign that says don't go in the water

I'm gonna paraphrase it really quickly because it says the currents are strong you won't be able to get back out of the water and Right there a little bit past the sign is the

Falls and you will not survive It says words to that effect and people ignore it This is if they read that it's in five or six languages say, okay.

It says to me Go in the water and die You won't be able to get back out

But to me, it's not a sign Well, you know what the result is Let's speak biblically about signs and Why I take this verse the way

I do It's a sign to them. It's the sign to the opponents those who are trying to frighten you of their destruction

They don't need to recognize it as such in Genesis chapter 9 after the floodwaters have receded

The Lord speaks to Moses in this way at verse 12 and God said this is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you

For all future generations I've set my bow in the cloud and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth

When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh and The water shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh now,

I ask you When you see a rainbow What do you as a believer in Jesus Christ think?

well, it's beautiful and The brighter and clearer they are. I just love to see those divisions of the color so they go from yellow to that deep purple and Sometimes they seem so close

It's like if I could just get out of the car and walk really fast before all the water evaporates I might get to the end of the rainbow

Go as Dorothy said somewhere over the rainbow or something like that. They're just beautiful If you're with your unbelieving friends

They look at that and you say What do you see there? Well, I see the light refracting through the water molecules and causing this array of color band

No You see the sign of the covenant that God made with you that he will never again destroy the world by flood

No, that's not the sign to me. I don't see that I just see the technical thing that caused those colors to bend in my view

Well, I ask you Does that mean it's not a sign from God? No, of course not.

I Have a couple more. I want to talk about In Matthew chapter 12 verses 38 to 42, we won't read the whole passage right now

But this is where Jesus says an evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign But no sign will be given it except the sign of Jonah for his

Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three Nights, so will the Son of Man be in the belly of the earth for three days and three nights

Now people look at Jonah People knew what had happened

People saw Jesus in the belly of the earth For three days three nights.

They knew he was there Did they all believe? Did they all accept?

No Does that mean then that what Jesus said was wrong that Jonah was not a sign?

Of course not it is a sign It was a sign Whether or not they recognized it

And just one more in John chapter 12 verses 36 to 43 after Christ had raised

Lazarus from the dead said Lazarus come out and John goes on to say Jesus did so many signs so many other signs he did and Yet still they did not believe

The fact that they didn't believe it was a sign does not mean it was not a sign quite the opposite it's a sign because God said it was a sign and So To our point

Your faith You're standing side -by -side In a worthy manner, which is a worthy manner of the gospel a life lived in a manner worthy of the gospel

Is a sign to those who see it? Of their destruction your faith by God's decree a

Sign that they will be destroyed It's a sign to you of your salvation your faith as you stand firm with others for Christ as You resist the inroads that the world is trying to make as you say no marriage is this way

No life means this and on and on we could go as You live that life.

That is a manner worthy of the gospel It is a sign to those who observe whether they care to call it a sign or not

Whether they care to interpret it rightly or not God says

It is a sign of their destruction And of your salvation meaning as I stand firm with Christ Stand firm on his word

It is a sign to me that I'm actually saved the book of first John Much of it is about the assurance you can have of your salvation

If you're one who has repented of your sins and come to Christ Jesus If you haven't

I would call you to that today to repent now and come to Christ and the book of first John if you read it the whole book would take you about half hour just to read through one thing it tells you and I summarize and paraphrase here is that by doing the deeds that Christ would have you to do by doing the things by doing the works you are assured that you are indeed saved and As you stand for Christ as You are a sign of the destruction of those who observe

Because it shows the error of their ways as you stand on scripture It's a sign to you that you really are saved

This gospel really has gotten through to you. You're not just being pugnacious. You're not just being

Someone who's got a cause You really do have

Christ. I really do stand for him Being a sign puts you in pretty heady company

This is scripture. God says you are a sign In Isaiah chapter 20 verse 3 we find the prophet had to walk for three years barefoot and naked as a sign

He was a living parable a sign Does that mean that those who saw him as his sign was one of Israel's pending destruction because of their sins against God?

If they didn't see it as such, of course not Ezekiel chapter 12 and Ezekiel chapter 24 he too had to be a sign

Their lives became signs that became living parables of what God was about to do

And so also in this life that lived in a manner worthy of the gospel Your life is a sign when you stand firm with the rest of us

Defending the faith. What does it mean to defend the faith?

Does that mean you have to go into a debate and win the debate as I was picturing myself debating?

Transubstantiation if you know what that means we could talk about that later No It just means standing together positively on God's Word and That's a sign a sign according to the

Word of God That those who are seeing will ultimately be destroyed because they have not the gospel of Christ And to you that you indeed do have it is a sign because God says it is

You live worthy of the gospel of Christ by standing in unity with the rest of us You live worthy of the gospel of Christ when you understand yourself to be a sign to others

Going both directions and you live finally worthy of the gospel of Christ when you see your suffering as a gift from God And we wouldn't need to stand in military array protecting each other

If there weren't suffering It is suffering it is hard and being a sign being the one who by that stance is that Conviction Lord willing conviction to the world

Understand it is suffering and that suffering is a gift from God and to understand that as a gift from God as a grant from a gracious God Is one way

Be able to live in a manner worthy of this gospel Verse 29 for it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ You should not only believe in him, but also suffer for his sake

Excuse me engage in the same conflict that you saw I had and now here that I still have

Do you remember Tevye Tevye in his discourses with God and one time he says back

I know I know we are the chosen people but once in a while can't you choose someone else?

Well, the answer is no God doesn't change his mind God doesn't choose someone else and God has granted to you as you stand in unity with the rest of us in defense of the

Gospel as a sign to the unbeliever of their ultimate destruction It's been granted to you with it for the sake of Christ.

Not only to believe but to suffer That's a grant from God to you suffering for the sake of Christ Jesus his son

And now the metaphor changes from the military to another of Paul's favorites which is athletic engage in the same conflict and That word conflict is where ultimately we get our word agony, but back then it didn't have that emotional

That emotional flavor to it back then it meant the

Discipline the work the constant effort of an athlete to be the best at his event

It's like a Michael Phelps I read once that he ate something like 6 ,500 calories a day and lifted weights and swam for six hours a day and Did everything he could and did nothing that would prevent him from becoming the best swimmer in the world

Which ostensibly he became? Read of Jerry Rice's training routine the best receiver the

NFL ever had Man was incredible He worked and worked and worked just on being able to take two steps off the line of scrimmage and Turn so the defensive back would be left behind He would just work on that turn that turning away from him over and over and over he agonized

And this is the word we have here the same conflict the same agony this same

Suffering it's the grant from God. You are the Lord's whether we live or whether we die.

We are the Lord's Understand that Paul's not sending it sending him to ground that he didn't himself tread

The same conflict you saw I had and now here that I still have the suffering of the

Christian life The struggle that we have this never -ending fight against the forces of good against good and evil

Brings you into the life of constant struggle and constant suffering

It's not easy That's one reason Paul says you to be of standing firm this battle line analogy

One mind one spirit why? Because it's not easy because you can't do it on your own.

I can't do it on my own You weren't meant to do it on your own and nor was

I We're meant to do this together because it's a struggle because it's hard and And understand this struggle as hard as it is and Brethren, if it's not hard, you have to ask yourself if you've even entered the fray

But understand this struggle is a grant from a gracious God. It's been granted to you

It's been given to you this privilege and why is it a privilege? Why are hard things like that?

Considered to be a grant or a present or a gift from a gracious God because it's representing

Christ Jesus Whose life was one of struggle was it not? It's fully human.

He was fully man But he was all at the same time fully God who was tempted in all ways as we are yet without sin

And he struggled against unbelief And he struggled against his enemies and Ever they were trying to destroy him

It's a never -ending fight Christ Jesus did not send the

Apostle Paul anywhere that he himself hadn't gone nor does Paul send the Philippians anywhere that he didn't go

Nor does he do the same to us? It's not easy

It's not easy personally to mortify your own sin It's not easy corporately

To help others to mortify theirs and to together grow into the image of Christ because the image of Christ is so far from us

And yet as we strive together as we work together as you join the battle line

Then we're in will with God according to his word Living a life living in a manner worthy of this gospel

God gave many signs He gave the sign of the rainbow

He gave the sign of Jonah Jesus did many signs that means miracles The greatest sign that God gave of all of this

Was what? the empty tomb the sign of the empty tomb

Do you know that that tomb was empty? Is your faith in the

Christ who exited from that tomb? We could back up from the empty tomb because the empty tomb was empty because Jesus Christ was resurrected

He was resurrected because he had died was in the tomb He died was in the tomb because he had been on the cross and he was on the cross where he suffered and died for your sins

I Give you a sign to confirm all this The resurrection

Romans 4 25 says that he was raised up for our justification Do you know this sign?

to deny this sign Is to deny that Christ Jesus even did that that God raised him up from the dead

Do you know this sign? Just as the 55 mile an hour speed limit the

CHP officer. He doesn't care whether you recognize it as a sign or not He's going to give you the ticket

Whether you recognize the resurrection is a sign or not. God calls it a sign a sign of his the completion of Jesus Christ and his answer for your sins

Do you recognize this sign I tell you That whether you or not you do is the sign that God gave is a sign that God gives

If you don't recognize it as such that doesn't change what God says Do you know this sign?

Do you know that Jesus Christ who rose up from the dead? If you do

God bless you I Hope that this morning you found that in Being together with others side by side one mind one spirit striving for the gospel of Christ You'll find strength to continue in the struggle to grow more and more in the image of Christ if you do not

Recognize that sign of the resurrection. I just mentioned I Call you now

To repent of your sin to know that Jesus Christ the eternal

Son of God became flesh Lived a perfect life Became God's sacrifice for your sins

And by the sign of the resurrection Confirmed that Jesus Christ when he says it is finished.

It was indeed finished. I Would call you this morning To put your faith and your trust and your hope in him to recognize the sign of the resurrection and So to you be a sign of your salvation rather than ultimately your destruction

Amen Our Grace heavenly father. Thank you again for the day that you've given us

For being able to come together father and look to your word And to know your will for us

I pray that we would live in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ that in all things Lord as we strive

Side by side with one spirit one mind for the gospel in defense of Jesus Christ The you

Lord would bless us with More more strength and success and all that we do because we do it for Christ Jesus and his glory in whose name we pray