Living Worthy of The Gospel
“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.”
I remember in school, when the teacher walked out of the room chaos broke loose, pens were put down, and the talking began, I remember rubbers were thrown across the room and my classmates were standing on their desks. And if we were in IT and the teacher left the room, people had swivel chair races across the room - it was utter chaos, all sense of order, or good behaviour went out the window. But, if the principal ever came into the room, the pupil’s backs suddenly straightened, pens went to paper and eyes focused on the work in front of them, never daring to look up. But Paul in this passage didn’t want to be the teacher leaving the room, or the principal coming into the room, he wanted to hear a good report of the Philippian church, whether he was with them, or whether he was absent. He didn’t want their behaviour to depend upon his presence with them or his absence from them.
He wanted them to live a life worthy of the gospel, and he states what this looks like in 3 ways,
‘Standing firm in one spirit’. Paul was calling for unity in the church, he didn’t want them endlessly bickering and fighting each other, he wanted to remind them that they are united in the Holy Spirit, that is who unites them, and they must stand firm in the Spirit which leads to the next point.
‘With one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel’. Being united by the Spirit, they are to be of one mind, and going in the same direction, striving shoulder to shoulder for the gospel. Paul didn’t want the church to face inward, looking at each other, he wanted them side by side looking outward, being missional, actively reaching out to the world, for this is what being united for the gospel looks like.
‘Not being frightened in anything by your opponents’. The church isn’t made up of superheroes that do all the work on their own, it operates as like a body does - the body has lots of parts that all work together to achieve what the mind wills. The church must be of one mind, and we all work together using our gifts and opportunities for the sake of the gospel. Working together in harmony is where the church’s strength lies. Our unity is in the Spirit and therefore it’s the Spirit that gives us that strength. So being strengthened by the Spirit, we strive forward shoulder to shoulder, holding each other up, and in this profound unity the church is bold and fearless, our opponents have no leverage over us for not even death can frighten us. The church’s freedom and strength lies in her unity.
And this unity is completely radical to anything else the world knows. This is what makes the church so attractive, it’s our unity. When I was at university, each year the Christian Union had a week called Missions Week, where we would devote the entire week to reaching the university with the gospel. And as non-Christians began attending our events, they were taken back by the unity our CU had, they had never experienced anything like it, there were no fights, or bickering or fall-outs, it was just a really peaceful and comfortable environment to be in, everybody got on. This is one of the things that is so attractive about Christianity, it is the profound unity we have in the Spirit, and this is a sign of true salvation. But it is also a sign of the destruction of the world. Most of the people coming to the CU events usually spent their evenings at house parties or night clubs which usually ended in fights and fall-outs, and our unity as a CU sometimes helped them to see the destruction the world’s idea of fun can have.
God doesn’t intend for us to live fighting and bickering, but he intends for us to live in a loving community, that truly cares for each other, working together, for the sake of Christ and his gospel by the Spirit.
