turn your Bibles if you would to the book of Philippians and just being a an observer of people I have noticed one thing that most of you all do and I've caught myself doing it as we're singing and I don't know why we do this but Everybody on this side of the building, including this couple here, you guys all look over here. Don't know why. And then the people over here look at this one. And I've done the same thing. Instead of, okay, I've got a screen right in front of me, I'm just gonna look at that. But I don't know why we all kind of, turn our bodies a little bit that way. So just again observation for the future. But so anyways turning your Bibles to the book of Philippians chapter 1 verses 27 through 30 is our passage and let me just read these. and pray and then we'll get going. Philippians 1, verse 27, reading out of the New American Standard. Paul writes and he says, only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel. in no way alarmed by your opponents which is a sign of destruction for them but of salvation for you and that too is from God for to you it has been granted for Christ's sake not only to believe in him but also to suffer for his sake experiencing the same conflict which you saw in me and now here to be in me let's go the Lord in prayer. family, father, we do thank you, Lord, for your goodness to us. We thank you, Lord, for the faith, Lord, that so many people have fought and died for over the years, Lord. And, Father, we thank you, Lord, for the faith that's once delivered to the saints, as Jude 3 talks about. Father, we thank you, Lord, for this time that we have that we can preach the gospel Lord and. Exposit this tax and thank you Lord for the opportunity to do so Lord. It truly is a privilege to stand in front of your people and to. Teach your word. And so father I pray Lord that you would. Help me Lord to be at my best. I'd like to help the listeners to also be at their best as they as they listen and pay attention and thank you Lord for all those who have come out this evening. in Christ's name. Well we're in the section of Philippians in which Paul has been giving his testimony and kind of his autobiography and we learned last time from from Brian who did such a good job handling his passage we learned that we are to live even as Paul did and remember that Paul's mindset was Jesus Christ the main thing Jesus Christ the only thing. and so we we had that instruction last time from from Brian in other words Paul had he had one driving force in his life and that was obedience and service to Jesus Christ. So let me ask you something if folks look at our lives and they do what someone see that in your life and in mind that our driving force our main reason for living is Jesus Christ the main thing Jesus Christ the only thing would we be able to live our lives and do we live our lives in such a way as a motivator for others to follow Christ as Paul did So we need to remember as we look at this tax need to remember that Paul is writing this letter from a Roman prison Philippians is one of the prison Epistles and yet this letter is full of a vibrancy and a joy that literally leaps off the page the word joy or rejoice in the book of Philippians depending on your translation is used at least sixteen times in some translations it's nineteen because I went through and circled them in the past So we're looking at Philippians one twenty seven to thirty. And I believe we can outline this section by using. Three C's OK and I believe we can look at this. Conduct in verse twenty seven. We can look at courage in verse twenty eight and then conflict. in verses 29 through 30. And so those are our three C's. And eight times, just in the first chapter alone, Paul is addressing the church as a whole. In other words, he uses phrases like, you all, your, meaning plural. Though Paul is in prison, He is other-focused. He is other-focused. And how many of us would say that if we were, found ourselves in prison? Many, we would be quite self-focused, like, help! When am I getting out of here? How much longer do I gotta stay here? But Paul is, he's other-focused. But Paul had a he had a confidence that he would be released from prison sooner than he would visit these folks again and in our section Paul is turning the corner and becomes very pastoral in this little three verse section Paul says that he wants the Philippian church to focus on on one thing And he says to only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. And certainly this is not a new thing with Paul. Ephesians 4 and verse 1, Paul says, I beseech you that you would walk worthy of the calling to which you've been called. and then the other places. We find in Colossians one. And verse ten. Colossians one and verse ten. If you want to turn over a page or two verse nine is. Paul, Paul is talking about his prayer and he says, for this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please him in all respects. bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. And so we find here that Paul exhorts the Colossians to walk worthy. In 1 Thessalonians and chapter 2, we find also that Paul exhorts this church here at Thessalonica verse eleven of first lesson on its chapter two paul says just as you know how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you as a father what his own children so that you would walk in a manner worthy of the god who calls you into his own kingdom and glory a couple pages over in second Thessalonians chapter one and verse five where Paul is talking again to the Thessalonians and they're undergoing persecution and affliction and verse five says this is a plain indication there afflictions this is a plain indication of God's righteous judgment so that you will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God for which indeed you are suffering. And so as you can say this this whole notion of a worthy walk is so important that it gets measured here, it gets mentioned several times throughout the New Testament. There is an idea that particularly Jay Adams has talked about in some of his writings about that we need to be able to query the text. We need to ask questions of the text as we are going through it. And so one of the questions that we need to ask I believe is what does a worthy walk look like? And Paul tells us here in the rest of verse twenty seven all the way up through chapter two and verse two and I'll begin in verse twenty nine for to you it has been granted for Christ's sake not only to believe in him but also to suffer for his sake experiencing the same conflict which you saw in me and now here to be in me Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. And so, one of the marks of a worthy walk that we're told here in these few verses is it's unity. It's unity, folks, and it jumps off the page. So, whatever a person may claim about himself or herself, if they are someone who is causing friction all the time and they're all time pulling against godly leadership they're not walking worthy of the gospel I don't care what they might claim or or what they might say but they are not walking worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let's look at some of the look at some of the terms here that we that we have in verse in verse twenty seven Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you so that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel. So let's look at this little phrase standing firm. Philippi was a Roman colony. And so what that means is while the Philippians enjoyed some measure of freedom, they would always have to answer to Rome if particularly Roman law was violated or they got a little too out of control. but they would always have to answer to Rome. Much like we have local laws here, we have local ordinances in Ypsilanti. We also have to abide by Michigan state laws, you know, pay state taxes. Our cars have to have Michigan license plates and so on and so forth. And so we do have local laws, we have local ordinances, and yet we are beholden to the federal government and its laws and regulations. And so as the Philippians here, we're also under under the legal laws and things of Romans, of the Romans. In fact, Roman soldiers, this notion of standing firm, Roman soldiers, they would stand shoulder to shoulder. They would lock arms, and then they would hold up their shield. Couldn't do this before. But they would hold up their shield with their hand, and lock arms and Roman soldiers. If you see in Ephesians 6 and part of the armor is they would have heavy nails drilled into their sandals into their boots and they would plant them things in the ground and you've got the shield and you've got this and these are Roman soldiers who are under threat of death. If they let somebody through them They'd be executed. And you see this many times even in our day on TV where you see the police in riot gear have their shields to keep folks from, you know, breaching into a store or a building or whatever that might be. And so this idea of standing firm comes from that world and that culture and again the Roman soldiers they would have the hobnail boots kind of like we have football cleats or baseball cleats to dig in. Paul wants the Philippians to be unified as they strive together for the gospel and so the spirit inspired scriptures are telling us stay at your post stay at your post I guarantee you there will not be not one Roman soldier who would be like this and then he go forget this I'm going home you know and leave a hole in the wall what happened folks what happened would never happen and we're called upon the same way we are to be striving together and we are to be standing firm and I think Paul is telling the church here that and us because many times when persecution. We might be tempted. To depart from our post. and to lose our nerves we might would say. So just as the soldiers would have a fierce loyalty to Rome we are to have a fierce loyalty to heaven and we are to behave in fact as citizens of heaven while living here on earth. and Paul mentions this again in Philippians three verse twenty he says for our citizenship is in heaven. From which also we eagerly wait for a savior the Lord Jesus Christ. And so Paul is telling again the Philippians to to keep in mind where your citizenship is it's it's not here as the old him we're just a passing through. Another mark of the worthy walk whether it be a a church as a whole or. Individuals is that we're to have. Unity of spirit while they have unity in mind as he says but there's also to be the striving together for the advancement of the gospel and this idea of striving together that Paul uses. The word comes from athleto. Okay, where we get our word athletics, athletics. And some of us have been very involved in athletics for a number of our days. And certainly they would be familiar with the idea of athletics as they would have relay races and things like that. And I think instead, everything pretty much has to do with a team. unless it's golf or maybe tennis. And the thing about athletics is that it takes a group of individuals combining their talents and their skills and everyone pulling in the same direction, working towards the same goal. In fact, today, On January 30th, there are a couple of playoff games going on. And all of those players on all four teams are striving towards the goal to win today so that they can get to the Super Bowl. And then after that, they're working towards winning the Super Bowl and becoming world champions. And so Paul is telling the Philippians to to be striving together just like a team would in athletics working towards the same goal which is the advancement of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And I think that Paul is concerned that this church was starting to show signs of division as we looked at here in Philippians chapter two and verses one through four. Chapter four and verses, first couple of verses, Paul talks about two people, Iodia and Syntyche. And have you ever noticed that in the world of professional sports, the world of athletics, some teams, will pay an absolutely ridiculous amount of money for one player, for one guy. And yet the team doesn't win the championship. And yet they've shelled out all this money. It takes more than one player to win. And folks, it takes more than one person to make a successful church. And so folks, as you're sitting here in front of me, some of you online, we need to find our place on the team known as Calvary Baptist Church, or whatever local church you might be attending, but we need to find our place in our church where we can best be used with our gifts and our talents, and we need to run in the same direction as the leadership. Because as gifted as our pastors might be, they can't do it alone. They can't do it by themselves. And so we need to all be pulling in the same direction. So we've talked about our conduct. Now let's take a look at the second C which is courage. Courage. Verse 28, Paul says, in no way alarmed by your opponents which is a sign of destruction for them but of salvation for you and that too from God. So Paul is calling the church and individual members to remain courageous even in the face of persecution. I'm sure most all of us remember the Wizard of Oz from the movie and we remember the cowardly lion and many times I think that we believers we need to have we need to have courage we need to have courage and sometimes we fall short sometimes we fall short don't we this was not unusual for people to have issues with courage even in the days of the early church. We've seen throughout the New Testament that Paul took on the role of preacher and teacher. Certainly evangelist, mentor, motivator, and coach. And we know all about his preaching and teaching. We know Paul the evangelist. And so let's look at some places where that Paul might put on his coach's whistle. Ready? but there are several places in this letter where Paul exhorts these people to rejoice Philippians 3 1 finally my brethren rejoice in the Lord to write the same things again is no trouble to me and it's a safeguard for you and Philippians 4 4 talks about rejoicing the Lord always and again I say rejoice and some other places where that Paul takes on the role of the of the coach we find in the first Corinthians chapter fifteen first Corinthians fifteen and verse first fifty eight first Corinthians fifteen fifty eight Paul says therefore my beloved brethren be steadfast Immovable always abounding in the work of the Lord knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord and so the Corinthians needed a little shot of of courage here and Paul tells them to hang in there to be strong. Look at the first Corinthians chapter sixteen right there and verse. 13 and. Dickley verse 13 and 14. Paul says be on the alert. Stand firm in the faith. Act like men. Be strong. Let all that you do be done in love. and so we find again that the that Paul is telling the the Corinthians to be strong to be courageous to act like to act like men as some translations have yet now first of Sloan and Paul also says the same thing to this church in first of the only as chapter two and verse verse twelve Paul talks about walking a manner worthy of the Lord. And he says that you walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. And so there's this idea of stirring them up. Verse 1 of chapter 4 of 1 Thessalonians says, We request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus that as you receive from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God just as you actually do walk that you would excel still more. And again, like any good coach, Paul tells them, you know what? You guys are doing well. You guys are doing good. But, like any good coach, you can be better. You can be better. You can do more. Timothy was someone who needed Paul's strong hand of of encouragement and we won't look at all the all the verses but if you would just turn to Second Timothy chapter one or I can just read them to you Second Timothy chapter one verse seven all says that God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and love and discipline verse eight therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me a prisoner but join with me and suffering for the gospel according to the power of God chapter two of verse one you therefore my son be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And Paul goes on at different points in this letter to his young friend Timothy to encourage him to stay strong, to stay in the battle, to stay in the fight. So we've looked at courage and now we're going to look at conflict. conflict verse twenty nine and thirty of Philippians one says for to you it has been granted for Christ's sake not only to believe in him but also to suffer for his sake experiencing the same conflict which you saw in me and now here to be in me you might not have realized that perhaps no one told you But when you got saved you entered a war zone. You entered a war zone and you are a member of Christ's army. We're a member of Christ's army. We are to be defending and preaching the true gospel of Jesus Christ that he was born of a virgin that he lived that he died that he rose from the dead and that he rose again with a body of a little body after three days in the grave according to the scripture Jesus Christ we're told is the way the truth the life and no one goes to heaven except through him and this is where the conflict begins And this is where the offense happens. And if you keep up with the culture, how many times do we hear folks say, oh, there's more than one way. All religions are equal, and they're all headed the same place. Well, they might think they're headed to the same place, but they're getting there a different way. And they're not going to get to the place that they think they're headed unless it's through Jesus Christ and him alone. First Corinthians 118 talks about that the preaching of the cross to those who are perishing is foolishness. It's it's an offense to those who are not part of Christ's Christ Church. and Paul tells us in verse twenty eight here in Philippians one that they were not to be alarmed at the opposition that comes with standing firm for the gospel but rather Paul said we're to expect it we are to expect it in fact the word here in the New American Standard that that in verse twenty eight in no way alarmed by your opponents the word alarmed there or or frightened was used to describe a horse that had been spooked. So if you have a horse and it's out in the pasture and it's just quietly grazing on the grass and then maybe a wolf comes out of the forest or maybe there's a gunshot what happens the horse rears up and takes off it the horse becomes alarmed and Paul uses the same word there and the opposition that we face when we stand firm on the gospel as Paul talks about here it's a sign that God has saved us and that they are destined for destruction unless they repent and turn to Christ. Two things. Paul says here in our passage that that God has has gifted us with and the word gifted is or granted in verse twenty nine for you it has been granted is the word. Where we get our word charismatic. but God has harassed us or gifted us and the one thing he's done is he's granted us salvation that's God's gift to us as John one twelve tells us as to whatever suffering we might experience as a result of standing firm for the gospel of Jesus Christ and the faith once delivered to the Saints that Two, Paul says, is a charis, a gift. So let me just ask you a question. How are we doing as we've looked at these three verses here? Paul talks about our conduct. He tells us to be strong, to take courage, And then he tells us that there's going to be conflict. And Paul says, in fact, I'm suffering for the faith of the gospel. And look at me and follow in my footsteps. Is our conduct worthy of the Christ who bought us? Are we doing our part? to maintain unity? Are we doing our part to maintain unity as part of our conduct, as part of our worthy walk? Do we need a shot of courage as we go on in these last days? I believe one of the ways to increase our field of courage is by remembering where we're headed. And the battle's won. The war's won. We're in the battle. But sometimes we need a shot of courage, and I believe that it'll help us to remember where we're headed. Another question. Are we missing in action when it comes to advancing the gospel? or have we become spooked by whatever opposition we might encounter. So as we close here, let's ask the Lord to help us stand with Paul and other faithful believers who have given us an example. And we're just one part of the chain. as we as we go throughout history. Paul says you know what follow after me follow after my conduct and let's ask the Lord that we would be found to be walking that worthy walk and that our conduct would be sought that people would look at us and go. I see it. I see it. That's how a Christian is to live. Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, for your word. God, we thank you, Lord, for your Holy Spirit, Lord, who indwells each and every one of us. Father, as we've looked at your word, I pray, Lord, that you would help us, Lord, through the power of your Spirit, Lord, to just take a moment and examine ourselves and see whether our conduct is worthy. of the gospel of Jesus Christ I would ask Lord that you'd help us to examine ourselves to see if we're someone who majors in unity or that we do all we can to keep unity here father I pray Lord you'd help us to have courage Lord even when things are difficult father help us to remember where our citizenship is that our citizenship is in is in and father we. Pray Lord that again you would help us remember that we're in a conflict we're in a battle and Lord pray again that you give us give us the courage to to stand firm on the gospel of Jesus Christ and for the faith once for all delivered to the saints I see things in Christ's name.