Three Word’s from the Father’s Heart
Phil 1:27-30
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.
I. Introduction
Three wealthy sons, wanted to impress their mother. One gave her a huge home. The second one, a Rolls Royce with a driver. The third one said, “Boys I’ve got you both beat. I found a parrot that was training in a monastery for 12 years to recite the entire Bible. You know mom can’t see very well, so all she has to do is give chapter and verse and the parrot will quote it.” “I had to pledge $100,000 per year to the monastery to get it. Mom wrote them to thank them and said “Son that house is too big I don’t have time to clean it.” “Son I stay home all the time and never use the car. And the driver is rude.” “Son you know just what your mother likes, the chicken was delicious!”
If we will follow the Word of God, we will have joy in our lives. That is what we are talking about, “the Journey to Joy.” In this series we are studying the book of Philippians, written from a prison cell, that tells us about the joy of the Lord.
In this passage there are three things that will steal your joy:
1. Lack of Good Conduct- a behavioral problem
2. Lack of Cooperation- a relational problem
3. Lack of Courage-an irrational problem
Let’s open this passage and see what it says about these issues!
II. Be of Good Conduct- vs. 27a
A. Your Conduct Should be Commendable
Think about this! Every person who ever lives will spend eternity in one of two places heaven or hell. What will determine the place is the decision they made to accept or reject Jesus Christ. The way that they will see or fail to see Christ is very much dependant on us, the church! That is huge!
This word for conduct meant citizenship. You should behave like a citizen of heaven even though you are living as a citizen of an earthly city.
Illus. -“The Ugly American”
Poem
You are writing a Gospel
A chapter each day
By the deeds that you do
And the words that you say
Men read what you write
Whether faithful or true
Just what is the Gospel
According to you?
B. Your Conduct should be Consistent
Paul warned them that their behavior should be good even if he was not present. We shouldn’t be one thing if front of our Christian friends and another thing in front of our lost friends.
“Character is who you are in the dark.”
Col 3:22
22 Bondservants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eyeservice , as men-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God.
III. Be of Good Cooperation- vs. 27b
A. Stand together in one Spirit
We will see later in our study of Philippians that there was division in the church at Philippi. Two women are mentioned that are not getting along with each other. We must guard against this in the church.
Standing firm here means to steadfastly hold one’s ground regardless of danger or opposition. It is both positive and negative. We must stand with God and against Satan.
If there is anyone in this body or in your life who you “have aught against” you need to let God open your heart and deal with that situation.
Now this is the law of the jungle
As old and as true as the sky
And the wolf that keep it may prosper
And the wolf that shall break it must die
As the creeper that girdles the tree trunk
The law runneth forward and back
And the strength of the pack is the wolf
And the strength of the wolf is the pack.
B. Strive together in one mind
This word meant the striving together of athletes on a team. Talk about when one team members causes discord. Ball Hogs. “The man who puts the ball into the hoop has ten hands.”- John Wooden
Two sons were fighting. Father told his son to snap the cane. Then added canes to the bundle. Couldn’t break it.
John 13:35
35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."
IV. Be of Good Courage- vs. 28-30
A. Opposition is a confirmation
The word for terrified is used of a horse shying away from something that often could not hurt him, something small.
All that horse needed to do was step on it! That’s what Jesus did to Satan, He stepped on his head!
Gen 3:15
15 And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel ."
Opposition confirms two things:
1. It confirms that we are saved
2. It confirms that they are lost
B. Opposition is a credit
He says, “It has been granted to suffer.” He speaks about it as if it is a gift! Paul witnessed the first martyr. He knew it was a beautiful thing. Early martyrs won people to Christ in death!
“War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling, which thinks nothing is worth a war, is worse. A man who has nothing in which he cares more about than his own personal safety is a miserable creature, and has no chance of being free unless he is made free and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.” –John Stuart Mill
Acts 5:41
41 So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.
Matt 5:10-12
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 "Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
C. Opposition is common
The word for conflict is where we get our word “agony.” Paul is saying that we share the agony of persecution together. There is someone else in it with you!
V. Conclusion
Winston Churchill’s speech to the British on the brink of facing the Germans. “The battle of France is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us on this island or lose the war. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will say, “This was their finest hour.”
