Series: Philippians
Sermon: “A Call to Arms”
Philippians 1:27-30
Pastor John Bright
Philippians 1 “27 Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel, 28 and not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that from God. 29 For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, 30 having the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear is in me.”
In one of his first major speeches, on Jan. 27, 1838, Abraham Lincoln spoke about "the perpetuation of our political institutions." During that address, he said: "At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide."
When we look around today – the church is in the same boat. There are forces from outside the church and from within the church that seek to tear down. That simply means that nothing has changed in 2000 years since Paul was writing to the house churches in Philippi. These verses I read look to the threat from the outside – the threat of persecution. Then, Chapter 2 begins with Paul’s instruction on how they can (and we can) face opposition and disunity on the inside.
With a sermon title like, “A Call to Arms”, I better clarify that I am not calling for us to literally take up arms. You already know how I feel about the 2nd Amendment, so hear me loud and clear that those who desire to destroy the Church, Christianity and all of Western Civilization can be defeated without firing a single shot. Paul gave clear directions and we need to remember them in the chaotic times – 2 Cor. 10 “1 Now I, Paul, myself am pleading with you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—who in presence am lowly among you, but being absent am bold toward you. 2 But I beg you that when I am present I may not be bold with that confidence by which I intend to be bold against some, who think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.”
We don’t use force. We don’t use chaos. We don’t use their language. So what’s left?
Live Like a Christian… No Matter What!
“27 Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ…”
Paul is asking them to do no less than he has done when faced with outside opposition – live in a way that is totally consistent with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul had professed his conduct worthy when he faced the Jewish leadership in Acts 23 – “Then Paul, looking earnestly at the council, said, “Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day.”
In that day, the folks in Philippi had to conduct themselves as Roman Citizens and as Philippian Citizens. Could their previous citizenship have come into conflict with becoming a Citizen in the Kingdom of God? Maybe so. It would be hard for them to stand up and be counted among the Believers in their city. What about now? Christians are silenced every day. We live in a day where certain folks – especially on social media – participate in what is known as “cancel culture.” If you share an opposing view to theirs, you are called vile names and they seek to get you shamed and fired and exposed and shamed and you are guilty of whatever they claim as soon as they claim it.
The folks in Philippi didn’t have to contend with a Twitter Mob or being “doxed” on Facebook, but did need to keep working and running businesses as Believers. We are all aware that being open about your Christian beliefs in the workplace can lead to trouble in today’s world.
I have lost plenty of “friends” (in quotes) on Facebook because of my pro-life stance and what I shared openly. I have lost “friends” (in quotes) on Facebook who support the full inclusion of openly gay and lesbian clergy in the UMC and support UM clergy having to marry ANYBODY that wants to get married. Why do I keep putting “friends” in quotes? Because they are just called “friends” on Facebook. They are not your real friends. If Facebook had called them “goats” we would be bragging about how many “goats” we have. Either online or at work – anywhere you go – do you live like a Christian?
It’s not just the way I live – it’s the way all Believers live that matters
“27…that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel, 28 and not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that from God.”
“WE’RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER!” How many times have you heard that or read that in the last four months since we were locked down? It was meant to encourage those who were alone and it was meant to be a call to arms for each of us to do our part. It was meant to calm the fears that have been fueled by over the top media coverage.
Could we take these words of Paul and interpose them on our Pandemic world? They seem to fit – “stand fast”, “one spirit/one mind”, “striving together”, “not in any way terrified”. Yes – they fit. Now maybe, just maybe, we can begin to imagine the fear and many voices that were telling folks how to live as Christians in the Roman Empire. The day would come later when Christians would be used in the Arenas as entertainment as they were eaten by wild beasts. Actually, they were not much fun to watch because unlike criminals who would run and scream, the Christians knelt and prayed.
That was their witness to the God of Glory. That was their last proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. A few hundred years ago, John Wesley was on a ship traveling from England to the colony of Georgia as a missionary. Let me share a journal entry for Sunday, January 25, 1736 – “At seven I went to the Germans. I had long before observed the great seriousness of their behaviour. Of their humility they had given a continual proof, by performing those servile offices for the other passengers, which none of the English would undertake; for which they desired, and would receive no pay, saying, “it was good for their proud hearts,” and “their loving Saviour had done more for them.” And every day had given them occasion of showing a meekness which no injury could move. If they were pushed, struck, or thrown down, they rose again and went away; but no complaint was found in their mouth. There was now an opportunity of trying whether they were delivered from the Spirit of fear, as well as from that of pride, anger, and revenge. In the midst of the psalm wherewith their service began, the sea broke over, split the main-sail in pieces, covered the ship, and poured in between the decks, as if the great deep had already swallowed us up. A terrible screaming began among the English. The Germans calmly sung on. I asked one of them afterwards, “Was you not afraid?” He answered, “I thank God, no.” I asked, “But were not your women and children afraid?” He replied, mildly, “No; our women and children are not afraid to die.”
From them I went to their crying, trembling neighbours, and pointed out to them the difference in the hour of trial, between him that feareth God, and him that feareth him not. At twelve the wind fell. This was the most glorious day which I have hitherto seen.”
Wesley was amazed at the behavior of the whole group of Moravians in the face of danger. It was a powerful witness.
Are we capable of the same witness today? All of us? Together?
It’s hard when we live in such a divided time. It’s hard when we live in a day with so many fears. It’s hard when most of the Church only meets in their Church buildings once a week for study and worship. I truly believe it would be different if we met today as the Philippian Believers met, as the Moravian Believers met, as the Early Methodists in America met – in small groups in homes. If you are a mainline Christian that grew up in a mainline church – take a deep breath. It was in those small groups that Believers grew to have a powerful witness to the culture. It was in those small groups the Holy Spirit moved and changed lives forever. I asked you last week to read the Book of Acts and tell me how much Holy Spirit power we should have as Believers. I truly believe that we will not see that power from the Early Church until we let the Holy Spirit lead us in our living rooms with small groups of Spirit-hungry Believers who want to walk in radical freedom.
We can be free together as we suffer together
“29 For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, 30 having the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear is in me.”
We live in a day where suffering is avoided at ANY COST! Yet the New Testament is full of Saints of God who suffer. Paul is very clear in his descriptions of the Believer’s response to suffering. In Philippians, he describes suffering as having confirmed the salvation of the Believer – 1:28 “but to you of salvation, and that from God.” Paul wrote that suffering is how we are identified with Christ in 3:10 “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,.” And we hear the same in 2 Cor. 4 “8 We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— 10 always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.”
No – the Believer never seeks suffering for the sake of suffering – that would be masochistic! But what do we do if the heat gets turned up in the culture? Do we run from the fight for the FAITH?
This is not a new question in the Church and it goes way back to the Early Church. I will probably use this same scripture next week when I will be teaching on division within the Body of Christ. Jude “3 Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. 4 For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.”
That sounds like a call to arms – “contend earnestly for the faith.”
Just know that if you take up this call to arms today, there will be a price to pay. Paul warned the Philippian Believers that they experience “what you saw in me” (v. 30) What had they seen? In Acts 16:12 we read that Paul, Silas, Timothy and Luke are in Philippi when they are identified as followers of Jesus by a slave girl with a demon. Paul casts the demon out so her owners, who used her to tell fortunes (let that being a warning to Christians who would seek fortunetellers) make a complaint to the government - so Paul and Silas are beaten and thrown into prison. And they were all bummed out, right? NO! Listen to what happened – “25 But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed.”
I believe Paul is writing to tell them they may suffer and tell them how to face it and give them hope for the possibility of supernatural deliverance. That’s faith in God for all to see! What happens when we see a Christian baker who refuses to bake a cake for a lesbian wedding and gets sued over and over? What happens when we hear about a teacher who is fired for referring to a group of young women with praise for their project with “Well done, girls” and one of them is self-identifying as male? What happens when a street preacher is arrested because his words from the Bible are considered intolerant?
Are we emboldened… of do we cower and retreat?
This is a call to arms for Believers in days of slowly eroding, slippery slope battles in the culture that is all around us. Why do I care? God told the Prophet Ezekiel that he was a “watchman on the wall.” If I don’t warn you – that’s on me. If I warn you and you do nothing, that’s on you! This is a call to arms for every Believer… before it’s too late. Amen.
