Philippians 1:27-30 How Should a Christian Behave?

Transcription

1 Philippians 1:27-30 How Should a Christian Behave? How many of you remember in school when the teacher left the room and said, Y all be good. I ll be right back? How did you react? Maybe it was a substitute teacher for a few days. How did you react? As a parent you know what this is like if you ve ever gotten a baby-sitter or maybe grandparents. You get back and you ask, How were they? You are hoping they behaved themselves, but if you get blank stares from the sitter you know it was probably otherwise. Paul was having a bit of apprehension about the good folks in Philippi. He was in essence like a teacher or a parent away and he didn t want to get bad news. He wanted to hear that they were continuing to be faithful to the Gospel and behaving like Christians. Now remember, Paul has a lot of experience with a lot of churches and in essence, every letter he writes is polemic. He is solving problems and pointing out areas of improvement. Isn t that what a parent does? Teacher? Coach? Boss? Paul is imploring the believers in Philippi to stand strong in the faith and behave in a manner that will not bring shame to the name of Jesus, but integrity and credibility. This desire is embodied in verse 27 and it one of the most powerful verses for the church and for Christians in general in the N.T. Philippians 1:27 27 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. Think with me. Paul is away from the believers in Philippi and he longs for them. He wants to see them and yet he can t. He s under arrest in Rome. You will remember Paul is not concerned about himself. He s only wanting the Gospel to expand. He felt like this 1

2 He was hard pressed on both sides. He said, To live is Christ and to die is gain. He was having a hard time choosing. Ultimately we know that he would be released and he would travel another 3-5 years and possibly end up in Spain, which was his great desire to share the Gospel there. Remember this map? He would travel from Rome to Macedonia to Corinth to Crete to Miletus to Ephesus and Colossae and then to Troas. It appears he would go back to Nicopolis and then head to Spain ending back up in Nicopolis or Troas, where he would be arrested for a second time taken back to Rome and then beheaded. What was Paul s desire? He wanted the Gospel preached WE KNOW THAT! He said, Woe unto me if I don t preach the Gospel. And with that he wanted the churches to be faithful in how they lived. See the word only. Philippians 1:27 27 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. 2

3 The word only. That s written in the emphatic in the Greek. It s the BOTTOM LINE of the Christian experience. Absolute and powerful, and forceful! It s the essential issue for the saved. Act like a Christian! (remember from Sunday we are little Christ s. That s what the word Christian means.) But, you might say tonight Surely this was easier for them than it is for us! Right? After all, According to ESPN, Caitlyn (Bruce) Jenner will be the recipient of the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage at the 2015 ESPY s. He goes from being a man winning the Olympic Decathlon in the 1976 Olympics to a woman gracing the cover of Vanity Fair magazine and we re supposed to applaud that. Transgendered rights are the next stop on the road to moral decay in this country. But, folks, Paul shares in Chapter 2 just how bad it was in the first century Philippians 2: that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, 16 holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. Let me show you this quote: Morality in first-century Rome and the Roman Empire reflected the plurality of cultures from the Latin west and the Greek east. Romans focused on enjoying the material world as the goal of existence. With this materialistic view of reality, Roman society was polytheistic (believing in many gods). In 42 B.C., the Roman Senate proclaimed Julius Caesar to be a god and thus worthy of worship. Rome s imperial cult demanded that people worship the emperors. Emperor Nero (54-68 A.D.), for instance, descended into grave sexual debauchery. Nero married a boy, Sporus, who was castrated and played the part of a woman. Nero also had incestuous relations with his mother, Agrippina, whom he later murdered. Nero would also marry a man, Doryphorus, while he, Nero, played the part of a woman. The men of the home had the legal right to expose to death, slavery, exile, or execution his wife, children, or slaves. Early documents speak of parents intentionally starving male and female children to death that were undesired or unwanted. Romans did not consider sexual promiscuity with lower classes, (prostitutes and slaves), to be adultery. 3

4 In 80 A.D. Emperor Titus opened the coliseum in Rome with animal fights and gladiatorial games. On one day, he ordered 5,000 animals just for fights. Public entertainment with the spectacle of blood was common in Rome. Bennie R. Crockett, Jr., professor of religion and philosophy, William Carey University Turn to Romans chapter 1. As you are turning, let me tell you, it was common in first century Rome to divorce and it was common for men to have many mistresses. One tomb inscription goes as far as remarking: "He remained faithful to one wife for forty years." What would Paul say about the Roman culture? Romans 1: For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools. Jump down to verse 26 Romans 1: For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. 28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. It was in this culture that Paul said, Stand! Stand arm in arm, in one spirit! See it? Look back at: Philippians 1:27 27 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. But you see, we are afraid to stand for truth today aren t we? I heard Megan Kelly on Fox News (who portrays herself to be a conservative Christian) say, Good for her! when it was said Caitlyn Jenner had picked up 1 million new Twitter followers in 4 hours on Monday (setting a Twitter record). Paul says, Don t be afraid to stand for truth! The phrase, manner of life is one word poli-two-o-my (politeuomai) in the Greek. From this word, we get our English word for politics or political state or city. You see, the Philippians were a province of Rome and thus, they acted like Rome. They were just a smaller scale version of Rome. Remember this map? 4

5 The city of Philippi was located 800 miles from Rome on the Egnatian Highway. The city was very important to the economy of Rome. And the Philippians loved being part of the Roman culture. The people spoke Latin and they had all the rights and privileges of any Roman citizen. They dressed and acted the part. Here is the draped clothing of 1 st Century attire. The toga was worn by both sexes. The differentiation between rich and poor was made through the quality of the material and color of the material. The upper-class wore thin, naturally colored togas while the lower-classes wore coarse material. They also differentiated by colors. For instance: a toga entirely in purple was worn by emperors, such as Emperor Tiberius: So we see that the Philippians wanted to act like Romans. What is the application for us? 5

6 Paul says let your manner of life, your poli-two-o-my be like the city and citizens you are seeking to be like? What city is that? Heaven! And who are its citizens? Christians! We are to let our lives exemplify Christ and represent him well! Paul would tell the church that we are citizens of heaven and we must live like that. Philippians 3: But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. How does a citizen of heaven conduct himself? We live consistent with the Gospel. The greatest weapon of the church is its integrity. Yet, the church in America today is leaving beneath its theology. We re living beneath the message of the gospel. So much of the church is not living lives in a manner worthy of Christ and His gospel. We ve dropped the bar. But, to be effective for Christ, we ve got to live at the highest standard, but people cringe when they here that now. They want to lower the bar. What is the message we offer? DELIVERANCE FROM SIN! It s unfortunate, but people today often look at the church and they hear us preach the gospel, but they see lives that often don t reflect holiness and virtue. They don t see deliverance from sin. They see a gospel that looks impotent! So, why would they want that? It s like giving a man with a cough your brand of cough syrup and the guy keeps coughing! We tell them to come to Jesus and be delivered from sin, but they see the way we live and they say, They don t look delivered from sin. Why would I want that? The life of the believer must demonstrate a gospel that delivers what it promises that delivers a person from sin to righteousness. We ve got to live as citizens of heaven and the King and we ve got to do this together. We ve got to be accountable to one another Philippians 1:27 27 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. Church we must be unified around the Gospel. We must not be afraid to stand and strive side by 6

7 side for the faith of the Gospel. Yes, we face a hostile world and it s likely to get harder and harder, so even more we should stand together. It s been said that: The army that faces death does not have any internal quarrels. BTW That phrase standing firm is a military term that means: to hold your position. It refers to not budging from your assigned duty. Like this guy What s his job? He s a soldier/guard at Buckingham Palace and he can t laugh or smile. He must hold his position and stand firm. What does it mean to stand firm as a Christian? On what do we stand? Christ He s the Rock. And the firm foundation is the Word of God. We stand on the teachings of Scripture. It s our firm foundation. Listen carefully, what I m going to now say you know intuitively to be true doctrine and behavior go hand in hand? If you have been trained right, you will act right. If there is proper doctrine and training and with that doctrine, if it is taught with consistentence and is reinforced with accountability, then I can almost guarantee you that you will have proper behavior. But so many Christians are driven by peer pressure today we re afraid (like Megan Kelly) to take a stand. Philippians 1:28 28 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. Do you know that the word, frightened used there in verse 28 means this: Horse Stampede It s the only time it s used in the N.T. Would you stand there through that? 7

8 Do you know what that clear sign is that Paul is talking about? Our opponents realize that the only reason we could stand and take what we are taking is because we have been strengthened supernaturally by God! What are we taking? Suffering Philippians 1: 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, 30 engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have. You see God grants (gives as a gift) suffering for the sake of Jesus. Literally, persecution is a sign you belong to Jesus. Suffering for Jesus is a privilege. To be considered worthy of suffering is to be considered worthy to Jesus. Luke records how Peter and John felt for suffering for Jesus after having been brought before the Sanhedrin and then beaten. Acts 5:41 41 Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. Jesus, Himself said that we are blessed when we suffer for Him. Matthew 5:10 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And this brings us back to our citizenship. We are citizens of the kingdom of heaven. We are longing for the Father s house and our home with Him. But, in the meantime, we are to behave and act like we are citizens of heaven. I close tonight with this analogy. As I was thinking about what it means to let our manner of life be worthy of the Gospel of Jesus, I was thinking about living in such a way to represent Jesus in a worthy way. My mind was drawn to this place. Do you know this place? That s the Biltmore House of course. Let me ask you this: 8

9 What if that was your house? What if you lived there? How would you act? What if this was your den? What if this was your bedroom? How would you dress? How would you act? Like this? How about this? What if you were part of the Vanderbilt family and were given the Biltmore House to live in and $1 billion to see it out. How would you live? You are now part of the Vanderbilt family. Would you wear flip flops and tank tops around the house? 9

10 Have you ever seen a wedding at Biltmore? Who gets married there? Rich people No flip flops and tank tops there. The point is this. We are citizens of heaven and that s much better than being part of the George Vanderbilt family. We ought to act like it. Philippians 1:27 27 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. You know Jesus is away right now (much like a teacher or a parent who is not in the room). And while He s away, He s saying, Y all be good. Y all do what I ve asked you to do. Represent me well, for when I do come back, I want to be pleased that you honored my name while I was away. And then He ll take us home to the Father s house and George Vanderbilt has nothing on that house! 10