Standing in Unity

Introduction:

If you have your Bibles, please open to Philippians Chapter 1, we will be looking at verses 27 through 30 today...

As you turn there, I want you to think about how people who live on the coast respond when they receive the news that a hurricane is coming.

Picture in your mind, maybe you’ve seen on the news or maybe you experienced first hand, what it looks like when that news comes to a town along the coast that is in the path of a coming hurricane

Here are some of the suggested things to do:

Cover windows and doors with wood

Maybe your thinking of loose items outside that could cause damage being taken inside or secured

Make sure gutters and downspouts are secure and clear to prevent water damage

Secure outdoor loose items that could cause damage

Now, I think we could all agree that, if your home is important to you, and you know a storm is coming, you should follow these instructions.

And that’s what we see happening in this passage.

Throughout this letter to the Philippians, Paul makes it clear that he desires for God’s people to experience the joy that comes from serving God and serving each other as we recognize who we are in Christ.

But Paul also knows that there is a storm of conflict, persecution, and suffering that has been, and always will be, blasting against the Church of the living God,

and he wants us to be prepared

he wants us be stand firmly united, as we bravely work together to protect our precious faith.

He begins by explaining the proper instructions, and closes by giving his reason, by giving us the storm warning.

make sure to set context (Paul wants them to experience joy, getting ready to explain in more detail how to live and serve each other in humility as Christ did, so that, as we express our salvation, God’s work in us will cause us to shine brightly to the world around us.

Let’s begin at verse 27, where Paul instructs us to demonstrate the gospel by standing in unity

Paul’s Instruction: Demonstrate the Gospel by standing in unity

(vs 27a: 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)

Lets being at verse 27

and I’m going to take a little bit of time here on the first part of verse 27 because it is the critical foundation for the rest of the passage.

1. I’m going to take a little bit of time here on the first part of verse 27 because it completely controls the rest of the passage.

1. First, look with me at the phrase, “let your manner of life”

The ESV doesn’t do a great job here, because the word Paul uses here carries the idea of citizenship.

The Philippi was a colony, and Paul is reminding the Philippians to keep in mind their heavenly citizenship.

We know this because in 3:20 he says that our citizenship is in heaven.

Now, being a citizen of a place means that certain rights are legally granted to you.

As Christians who are citizens of heaven, we have been given undeserved rights, privileges, and benefits through Christ.

This could be a sermon in itself, but briefly we can say this: Anyone who recognizes and confesses that they are a sinner, and in faith falls on Christ alone as their Savior has been transferred into God’s kingdom and is a citizen of heaven

that person, as a heavenly citizen, is declared forgiven and justified, with the perfect righteousness of Christ given to them. Not because of anything we have done for God, but because of what God has done for us.

2. In the next phrase then, we see that Paul is instructing us: as citizens of heaven, our lives should be “worthy of the Gospel of Christ.”

Brothers and sisters, God doesn’t want to see the lives of his people disgracing the gospel

instead, we are called to live lives that put a spotlight on the gospel and elevate it to its proper place.

But what does this look like?

I think, often times, we can take that to mean I need to get my act together, I need to buckle down and work harder to be a good Christian and prove myself, but I think it would be wise for us to slow down and look at this a little closer

Now, let me be clear here - obedience plays a critical role in the growth of our assurance, our joy, and our peace as Christians

Throughout Scripture we are reminded that we are saved for good works, which includes dying to ourselves and, as we will see in this passage, pursuing unity in the church

And, without a doubt, our disobedience can dishonor the gospel that saves us and delivers us from death to life

Throughout Scripture we are reminded that we are saved for good works, which includes dying to ourselves and, as we will see in this passage, pursuing unity in the church

BUT, to understand a life worthy of the Gospel, we need to dig a little deeper, or we could frustrate ourselves by putting the cart before the horse and possibly end up more divided.

A life worthy of the gospel of Jesus Chris begins by learning to fully and humbly trust in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Elevating the gospel to its proper place begins with me being honest about my sin as I trust that my sin is fully forgiven and that there no longer remains any condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus

Whether seeing you or absent

I cannot ignore my sin, or try to hide it, or be afraid of it, if I want to kill it

Instead, an open and honest look at the depths of my own depravity, my own sinfulness

seeing my own pride

my own control

and my pursuit of my own self-righteousness

as I lean completely on the perfect obedience and the total victory of Jesus Christ.

And here is why this is so important: an open and honest look at the depths of my own sinfulness

begins to free me up to graciously forgive and lovingly serve others in humility.

And

And it is here, in the midst of a people

who are growing in forgiveness towards each other,

and who are learning to love and serve with a humble spirit

it is here that unity is established, which is exactly what Paul wants.

3. We then see the reason for Paul’s instruction: so that, whether he is present or absent, the church will be standing firm in one spirit.

3. We then see the reason for Paul’s instruction: so that, whether he is present or absent, the church will be standing firm in one spirit.

3. We then see the reason for Paul’s instruction: so that, whether he is present or absent, the church will be standing firm in one spirit.

3. Look at what he says next in verse 27: “so that, whether he is present or absent, the church will be standing firm in one spirit.”

3. We then see the reason for Paul’s instruction: so that, whether he is present or absent, the church will be standing firm in one spirit.

The ever present desire of God for his people,

regardless of where we are or who we are with,

is that the Church of God would stand firm in one Spirit

The image being painted here is of a strong and unified army, unwilling to be influenced by any opposing force

And Paul’s point for the church is

that we would stand unified and unwavering in our convictions,

Convictions which must be anchored in the gospel itself

Primarily that we woul

4. So, to summarize this first part of verse 27, which controls the rest of the passage, Paul is saying:

As citizens of heaven, as God’s church on earth,

be trusting fully in the gospel of Jesus Christ

so that you can obey the will of God to stand firm and united.

…

In the rest of verse 27 and the first part of verse 28, then, Paul explains what it looks like, or how, we should be standing firm,

and he begins be explaining that we are to stand in unity by working together

Stand in Unity by Working Together

(vs 27b: with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel)

Look at last part of verse 27, and we see that Paul doubles down on his call for unity when he says “with one mind"

United, he says, we are to be striving side by side for the gospel

and here, the image moves from an unwavering and unified army to a group people working as a team unified in their efforts.

Paul is making it clear that standing firm does not mean standing still

Instead, when Paul defines standing firm in unity,

He describes it as a group of people working together in unity

In other words, we won’t be united and standing firm unless we are also united in our actions

working together…struggling together, serving each other, etc.....

direct application here, use scripture - love, not showing partiality, serving each other (php 2), showing grace and forgiveness,

for what Paul, why is this so important?

We see it at the end of verse 27, “for the faith of the gospel”

Our unity as we stand firm and work together is so extremely important

because of what it is that we are called to protect and proclaim

we are called to protect and proclaim the faith, the word of truth, the very gospel message that has saved us

now we begin to see why our trusting and leaning on the gospel is so important

when we trust and lean fully on the gospel, we demonstrate its power

and it frees us up to stand firm and work together as a united people that are protecting and proclaiming the gospel

shining as lights in the midst of a dark world (as Paul goes on to say in the next chapter)

For the faith of the gospel (a common aim - protect and proclaim the gospel)

and passing the torch, preserving this powerful and precious message

unity as we stand fimr and work together are extrememtly important, because of what we are called to protect and proclaim

as we have have received from the generations before us, passing it to the generations coming after us

while the storm of conflict, persecution, and suffering blast against us as God’s church on every side

And we should note that Paul’s idea of striving together also implies a sense of bravery, which is important

because Paul goes on to instruct us to stand in unity by being courageous

Carries a kind of bravery, which is important, because

Stand in Unity by Being Courageous

(vs 28a: not frightened in anything by your opponents.)

Look at the first part of verse 28: this is very simple: as God’s people, we have nothing and no one to fear.

Now, there are many things that will try to intimidate us,

practical application

When these things control us,

we can become intimidated and manipulated, we will not work together or stand firm, and we will become divided

and we will fail to protect precous message that we are called to protect and proclaim

But, as we lean on the gospel, we recognzie, we are not controlled by these things

when the love of Christ compells us, we can stand unified and courageous while the storm against us rages,

and we need to hear this, because, in calling us to not be frightened by our opponents,

and we

Paul opens the door to the discussion that opposition and suffering cannot be avoided

Transition: opponents, the ones opposing, leads us to Paul’s reason for this instruction

Transition: opponents, the ones opposing, leads us to Paul’s reason for this instruction

Paul’s Reason: Opposition and Suffering Cannot be Avoided

(vs 28a: not frightened in anything by your opponents)

In verse 18, Paul indicates that there will be opponents, he literally labels them “the ones opposing”

in fact, the “ones opposing” have always been around,

conflict, opposition, and suffering have always been part of the Christian walk

But what is it that is being opposed?

It is the faith, the gospel message, and the devotion of the Church to that message

They oppose the message that says they need a Savior

and will do anything to fight against that

could be trying to show everyone, or convicne themselves, that they can be a good person wihtout faith

could be that they try to water down the gospel message to the point that it fits their lifestyle

or it could be that they try to snuff out any hint fo faith around them

Regardless of the method,

The ones opposing, repeated, what is being opposed - most likely pointing to faith

, opposition against God’s church is guaranteed, and Paul goes on in the remaining verses to tell us two reasons why this is

first, at the end of verse 28, we see that opposition to faith is a sign

Opposition to faith is a sign

(vs 28b: this is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God)

Opposition to faith is a clear sign that:

the ones opposing the faith that their end, apart from turning to Christ in faith, is eternal destruction

Thesss - no matter how cleaned up you are, or how often you go to church, if you do not have faith in Christ, you are living in opposition to that faith - there is no neutral

The life without faith in Christ proclaims that a Savior is unecessary and that God’s perfect and powerful work at the cross is either untrue or a wasted effort

at the saome tie, the opposition to the faith is a sign of salvation to those who have the faith

now hear this clearly - persecution doesn’t automatically mean that your faith is genuine or that your message is the pure gospel

but the pure gospel message of faith in Jesus Christ will always be opposed by the world that hates the God of the Bible

so, if you are experiencing opposition due to your faith, it might mean you are holding to the true Gospel…let the Word of God be your test

and if the world that hates the God of the Bible accepts your gospel message as perfectly legitimate and acceptable, you probably have a watered down gospel at best…let the Word of God be your test

And we see, in the last 2 verses, not only is opposition to faith a sign, suffering for Christ is by design

Suffering for Christ is by design

(vs 29-30: 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, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have)

First in verse 29, we see that it has been granted to us that, for the sake of Christ, we would believe in him

Our salvation is a gift, it is given freely to us, as a privilige that we do not deserve

We know this right, and we celebrate it - saved by grace alone through faith alone - we find great comfort that we have been given this great gift

but sometimes we need to be reminded that our salvation is for Christ,

our salvation is for his glory

Probably even more often, though, we need to be reminded that we have been freely given, as a gift, the privilige of suffereng for the sake of Christ

The apostles got this (in Acts)

Paul got this, and he reminds the Philippisnas of that of that in verse 30,

you aren’t engaged in a new conflict, in new suffering, this is the same suffering that Paul had experiencd and continued to experience

in jail as he writes thsi letter,

he exoplainsin chapter 2 that he is glad to be poured as as a drink offering on the s

telling us in chapter 3 that he has turned his back on all of his earthly religous accomplishmensts for the saike of knowing Christ and sharing in his sufferings

Brothers and sisters, the storm of conflict, opposition, and suffering is crashing against the church.

The strong winds of opposting are whipping against windows,

trying to extinguish the lgiht of fiath that shines brighlty through the lives of the siants who have been called out and gathererd to worship God Almighty

in many places, the walls have been breached,

Our only hope lies in the finished work of our Lord adn Savior Jesus Christ

As we rest in this gospel message, as we find forgiveness here, as we

, the storm reminds us of how precious this message is,

and how importnat it is that we stand in unity e

recieving the torch of faith from those who have come before us,

and braveily working together to protect and proclaim it as we pass it on to future generations.

Demonstrate the Gospel by standing in unity

(verse 27a: 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) Citizenship Worthy of the Gospel of ChristWhether see you or absent Standing firm Stand in unity by working together (verse 27b: with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel gospel)With one mind (emphasizing prev.) striving side by side (standing firm is not standing still) for the faith of the gospel (a common aim - protect and proclaim the faith)Stand in unity by being courageous (verse 28a: and not frightened in anything by your opponents) unafraid - no one, no thing

Transition - opponents, the ones opposing, leads us to Paul's reason for this instruction

Paul's Reason:

Opposition and suffering cannot be avoided (verse 28a: by your opponents, the ones opposing - repeated) the ones opposing - what is being opposed? most likely pointing to faith Opposition to faith is a sign (verse 28b: this is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God)This opposition to the faith is a sign - of destruction and salvation - don't be surprised, don't be afraid (be encouraged)Suffering for Christ is by design (verse 29-30: 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, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have)for the sake of Christ we have been given belieffor the sake of Christ we have been given sufferingAs we see in Paul - it is by design