So let's go before the word of prayer. Merciful God, will you meet with us through the word of Christ, by the power of your spirit, will you grant us the grace to understand your word, to believe it, to be transformed by the renewing of our minds as we encounter the very mind of God, Grant us a desire to be a holy people, wholly set apart to the glory and honor and praise of the risen Christ. We ask this in His name. Amen. Our goal today is to finish the first chapter of Paul's epistle to the Philippian church. We come today to the very final paragraph of that first chapter, and Paul has been updating the Philippian church on the goings-on with him, updating them as to his circumstances, and he's seeking to encourage them by way of gently correcting what seems to be their wrong idea that the gospel has been hindered by his being in prison. And Paul says, no, no, no, actually, it's worked out for the advancement of the gospel. And in fact, there's a boldness now among the brothers to preach the gospel that wasn't there before. And indeed, the whole Imperial Guard knows that I'm here in these chains for the sake of the gospel. And further, he exhorts them to a boldness, a holy courage in the gospel of Christ, whether it's in life or death. And now, having updated his partners in the gospel about his own situation, his thoughts now naturally turn to their lives. And his thoughts now turn to the strong encouragement that they need for the conflict that is in their midst and conflict that surely will come to them. And specifically, his exhortation to the Philippian church centers around the theme of persevering. Persevering by faith with joy, irrespective of the opposition or the conflicts or the adversaries that you might face. That's going to be a theme throughout the rest of the epistle, is persevering by faith with joy, no matter what comes. And what the Apostle of Christ here speaks about at the end of Philippians 1 is how those who are washed by Christ's blood and made partakers of the grace of the gospel should live. And you'll recall back in early part of chapter 1, verses 5 through 7, he calls them partners in the gospel. And he says, it's right for me to feel this way about you all because I hold you in my heart for you are all partakers with me of grace. For those who are partakers, participants in the grace of the gospel of Christ, how ought we to live? In light of our participation in the benefits of Christ, what kind of people ought we to be? What kinds of responsibilities does that place upon us? Before I read our passage, I want to explain a very important concept that Paul introduces here. I'm going to read in a moment verses 27 through 30. And in the ESV, and many translations translate this in a very similar way, it says, only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel. Here, Paul introduces a word and a concept that's really important. This whole sentence in the original language was, or this whole section, verses 27 to 30, was one sentence. And it had one main active verb. And it's the word translated, manner of life, or let your manner of life. There are supporting verbs and modifying verbs in the rest of the sentence. We'll look at some of those in a moment. But there's one driving word here, and it's a concept that Paul's going to develop throughout the rest of the epistle. And it's the word polituste. Now, that's a Greek word that means nothing to most of us, but we get our English word, politics, or polity, or even metropolitan from that. There's a concept in the Greek mind and language, the concept of polis, not police, but polis. That's the city-state. So politics had to do with that city-state. It has to do with citizenship. It has to do with citizenship. You've probably heard of the Greek Acropolis. It's the city, okay? So what he's talking about here is that citizenship is the idea behind the main verb in this section. Now, Paul's intentionally uses a term that's going to set up a comparison in their minds, and probably a contrast as well, to their Roman citizenship. Now, something we know already that's unique about Philippi is that it is a Roman colony. It's like a little Rome. To be a citizen of Philippi is to have great privilege and benefits in the Roman Empire. It came with great pride. Just as we, as Americans, and probably particularly we as Texans, we take a great pride in our citizenship. And Paul's introducing this concept, but he's going to do so with a twist. It's an unusual word in the Bible. It's only used twice. And it's only used once by Paul, and it's right here in Philippi, to the Philippian church. And the other use in Acts just refers to more just the way you live. It's really more of a common meaning. But Paul here is using this word in a very intentional way, and he's doing so, I think, by no coincidence, exclusively with the Philippian church, because they would have understood, more than others, what it meant to be a citizen. That concept of citizenship was very important to them. And both the Greeks and then later the Romans really understood this concept in a very developed way. the thinking and teaching of Aristotle. If you go back into ancient Greece, the thinking and teaching of the philosopher Aristotle had really shaped the way that people thought about the city-state and about citizenship. And that affects, then, how the Romans viewed their own citizenship. Listen to this description. I take this from the World Biblical Commentary. And I want you to, again, just kind of orient yourself even before I read the passage. So we have in our minds the concept that Paul is introducing here and what's going to drive his thinking. To the ancient Greeks, the state, the polis, was by no means merely a place to live. It was rather a sort of partnership. Now, we've heard that word before, haven't we? It's the kolonia. Again, the Greeks used that language to describe the polis. To the ancient Greeks, the state was by no means merely a place to live. It was rather a sort of partnership formed with a view to having people attain the highest of all human goods. Here in the state, the individual citizen developed his gifts and realized his potential, not in isolation but in cooperation. Here, he was able to maximize his abilities, not by himself or for himself, but in community and for the good of the community. As a consequence, mutuality and interdependence were important ideas inhering in the concept of Polish. So politusthe, that's the verb that Paul uses here in verse 27. Politusthe means to live as a citizen, and it therefore meant for the Greek, and later the Roman, rights and privileges, but also duties and responsibilities. So when Paul says, let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel, we can literally hear him say, demonstrate a citizenship worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul is using this idea to establish in the minds of the Philippians that they enjoy privileges of being citizens of heaven along with responsibilities. And they are now citizens of a much higher and more important place, a much higher kingdom, a heavenly kingdom. And Paul wants them, and he wants us, to understand those responsibilities. Now, we know from Paul's teaching elsewhere, throughout the Scriptures, we know all the other apostles taught this. We know the Lord Jesus Christ taught this. He's not saying that we should live in such a way as to be worthy of the grace of the gospel. We can discount that. We know that's not what Paul's saying. He's not talking about how are we to be justified before God. He's not talking about how we can be reconciled to God or made right with God. That happens on the merits of Christ alone. What he's saying is in response to that, What kinds of citizens ought we to be? What kind of heavenly citizens ought we to be? Okay, now with that in mind, it's kind of a long introduction, but with that in mind, let's read the text. Beginning in verse 27, here, the Word of God. Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you, or I 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." Or 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." The Lord bless the reading of the word. The title of today's sermon is Gospel Citizenship. Gospel Citizenship. And I want to put before us Now that we understand Paul's focus is on this gospel citizenship, we need to ask the question, what is this citizenship and what are its features? What describes the citizen? So for those who were citizens of Rome, those who were members of the church in Philippi and citizens of Philippi, they would have understood sort of the scope and the bounds and the privileges and duties of their citizenship. They would have had a duty to pay taxes to Caesar. They would have had the privilege of not being beaten without a trial, not being incarcerated without a trial. So for example, we know in Acts chapter 16, Paul was arrested because the owners of a servant girl who had a demon, who was prophesying, and Paul cast out the demon. Now the hope of gain for those men was gone. Their profit was taken away. So they made accusations to the civil magistrates that Paul, here's these Jews and they're stirring up trouble. Well, Jews stirring up trouble is a problem in a Roman colony. The Romans don't like that. So they put him in jail. Actually, before they did that, they beat them. Paul and Barnabas were beaten with rods. And of course, we know the Philippian jailer, as a consequence of God's providence, he was converted, he was saved, he and his household. But then the magistrates find out that Paul was a Roman citizen. Paul and Barnabas were Roman citizens. So that's a big no-no to beat a Roman citizen, to flog them and put them in jail without a trial. So they said, send word to Paul and ask them just to leave. And Paul said, oh, no. Oh, no, no, no. You come down here and see me. You come and face me. before I leave town." And they did. The magistrates were fearful. And it was because that was a privilege of being a Philippian citizen. So they understood this concept. And Paul is leveraging what they already know about citizenship, and now he's seeking to apply that to gospel citizenship, heavenly citizenship. So what are those features? And here in verses 27 to 30, we see two key features. And then we're going to see what's the effect of this gospel citizenship on a watching world. So, the outline is really simple. There's the two features, and then what's the effect? The first feature that we see is steadfastness in the gospel. Steadfastness, or we could say perseverance, or we could say tenacity, or we could say kind of a Mark Twain kind of word, stick-to-itiveness. The second feature, suffering. Suffering. Gerald Hawthorne in his commentary said, Words of exhortation now control the thought of the apostle. The musings about life and death are gone. Hesitation between two decisions is past, and everything is now directed toward life, the rigorous life of a Christian who is called to be loyal to the faith, to fight for the faith, and to live worthily of the faith. Battle terms, or terms from the athletic games, stand firm, struggle, suffer. characterize this section. One is tempted to compare Paul with a commanding officer or a coach who is determined to inspire his troops or to encourage his contestants as he sends them into the fray with the hope of getting back a good report about how they conducted themselves in the fight. See, there's some wonderful imagery here. And again, I've said this before, there in the congregation when this letter would have been read for the first time aloud, there would have been soldiers present, many of them probably, and military families present. That was the nature of Philippi. And Paul leverages this very martial military imagery throughout his epistle. And we're going to see it today, very strikingly. Steadfastness and suffering are two central characteristics of gospel citizenship. Now, one of the features of the Bible for which we ought to be very thankful is its honesty. The Bible doesn't sugarcoat things for us. The Bible tells us straight. God is honest with his people about what life is really like. And contrary to what you might hear or see from a TV preacher, the world is not filled with prosperity. The Christian life is not filled with comfort and ease. That's not the nature of our citizenship, not at least in this age. And Paul speaks here of opponents. He speaks here of conflict. He speaks here of warning them not to be frightened. He's saying, this is the real world. This is the world in which you live. This is the world in which Paul says, I live too. You're engaged in the same kind of conflict that I've been involved in. But Paul also offers the Philippians an exhortation by which they can overcome their adversaries. He doesn't say, yeah, it's really rough out there. Good luck. He says, here's what you do. Here's how you live as citizens in this context. A steadfast and united commitment to the gospel and a life disciplined in self-sacrifice is the remedy to facing the adversaries that you will face. The remedy to facing the opposition that is bound to come in this life. is a steadfast and united commitment to the gospel and a life disciplined in self-sacrifice." Paul says, he says, I want to hear that you're standing firm. Paul, we just saw last week, Paul says, I don't know whether or not I'm going to be released from prison or whether I'm going to die here. He said, I'm kind of leaning towards, I think I'm getting out, but he's not certain. And here we see that uncertainty again. so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit. This is kind of like the parents who tell their children, we talked about this at the dinner table last night, my kids have certainly heard this, I'm sure yours have too, that whether I'm in the room or not in the room, I expect you to be conducting yourself in a certain way. Just because mommy has turned her back doesn't give you permission to do something else, right? I see some moms smiling. You know this, Paul is saying something very similar in a very fatherly tone. Whether I come, I'm released and I'm able to come to you and visit you face to face and I get to see for myself how your faith is steadfast. Or whether I don't get to do that, but I get to hear about it. Either way, I want you. I want you standing firm. And again, here's the military imagery. It's soldiers lined up in battle array. And they're firm. They've taken their place. They're armored up and they're standing firm. They're not retreating. He said, I want you standing firm. And he gives five characteristics. I want you standing firm in one's spirit, with one mind, striving side by side for the faith of the gospel and not frightened in anything by your opponents. And we're going to work through those. But there's five different descriptions of what he means by standing firm. Now, remember, All the way back to the introduction in verse 1, he writes this to the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi with the overseers and deacons. Paul's not giving these exhortations just to the pastors or just to the deacons. He's giving this to every member of the body of Christ, but he's not doing that as an individual only. Surely every soldier in the line has a duty, but it's not a unit of multiple soldiers, it's one unit. That's the idea. striving, I want you standing firm. He uses these two terms, in one spirit, and it's not, some translations you'll see spirit capitalized as if it's the Holy Spirit. That's not what Paul intends to mean. Paul means the human spirit. I want you united in spirit and mind, meaning your affections and your will, your purpose, your mission, and your desires and affections. I want you united together, standing firm that way. Now again, soldiers in the congregation, as he's saying this, would be thinking to themselves, well, duh, of course. What kind of army has multiple missions going on within their ranks? What kind of army has multiple agendas going on? What kind of unit is going to have different objectives and different missions? There's one mind, there's one objective, there's one united purpose. John Calvin says, although Paul was desirous by means of this antidote to provide against novel and strange doctrines, yet he requires a twofold unity of spirit and soul. The first is that we have alike views, the second that we be united in heart. So in other words, and Paul is going to touch on this again in a moment for the faith of the gospel, but to stand firm In one spirit, with one mind means we are united on the same doctrines, we believe the same things, but also that we have the same affections, we have the same desires. Paul says also, I want you striving side by side. Now Paul here mixes some metaphors. And he's still thinking in these military images, but he uses a word that comes directly out of the athletic games of ancient Greece. There's the word atleto, or atleo, and you can guess what words we get in the English language from atleo, athletics, athlete. But it uses a compound word. It's only used here and one other place. It's sun atleo, which means with. So you're athletizing together. You're striving together. You're working as athletes on the same team, which means you may have different functions, you may have different tasks, but you have one objective and you're striving side by side. You're a football fan. I think where this comes into mind is like an offensive line. You've got five offensive linemen who have different responsibilities, but they all have to be in perfect sync and harmony. Otherwise, the play's not executed. Quarterback gets his head knocked off, or the runner's not able to get through because somebody didn't do their job. They weren't coordinated. Paul said, I want to see you striving side by side. Now, Paul mixes these metaphors in another place, too. Later on, in his very last epistle, in 2 Timothy, Paul mixes the metaphors of soldiers and athletes. Why? Because they're very similar. They both require extraordinary discipline. Self-sacrifice, a willing to suffer, a willing to endure pain and hardship. Any athlete that's going to be in any kind of, especially championship caliber, disciplines their body severely. Any soldier that's going to be very effective is going to be willing to discipline their body, make it hurt. 2 Timothy, Paul says, share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits. since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the hardworking farmer who ought to have the first share in the crops. Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. See, Paul adds another one to the metaphor of farmer. There's no such thing as a successful farmer who does it part-time, the successful soldier who's a part-timer, the successful athlete who's a part-timer. This is a full devotion. That's what he's saying. Whether I come and see you face to face or whether I hear about this, I want you striving side by side. This is a vigorous, coordinated work. One commentator says, at the very outset, Paul alerts us to the fundamental thesis that Christian sanctification cannot be reduced to an individualistic exercise. The struggles of the Christian citizen must be faced with the fellowship of the believing community. That's his whole idea. He's mixing these metaphors, but whether it's an army or whether it's an athletic pursuit, you're working as a team. You're working together. Paul says, the fourth thing he says, about this standing firm is it's standing firm for the faith of the gospel. Standing firm for the faith of the gospel. Now, he uses a definite article there. It's not just standing firm for faith, it's the faith. And why is that important? Paul has a habit of using it that way. It's the faith, meaning he's looking at the objective content. It's not just our subjective feelings of faith or whether or not we believe something is true, but what is actually true. He's talking about the apostolic faith. Paul says here, it's not striving, to stir up our subjective faith. He's not saying, I want you striving together so that you can encourage each other to believe more or to believe more strongly. I mean, he does that in other places. That's certainly commendable. But here, what Paul is saying is we must be willing to fight together for the objective content of the apostolic faith. We must be willing to fight and stand on God's Word as revealed to us and be willing to contend for the faith. You can turn with me if you want, or you can just listen. I'm gonna read a couple verses out of Jude. Jude's that short little letter right before the book of Revelation. And in Jude, verse three, He says, "'Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.'" See, Jude uses the same kind of language. Contend, that's military, athletic imagery, and contend for the faith that was once for all. delivered to the saints. He's talking about an objective content. In the pastoral epistles, Paul would use language like, guard the good deposit. This is the apostolic faith transmitted so that we might receive it and then pass it on intact to the next generation. Jude goes on, "'For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.'" So this is one of the key reasons that we have a confession of faith as a church. and that why we commend to you catechisms and creeds because this gives us an objective content. It doesn't replace our Bibles. It doesn't say everything that the Bible says, but it does give to us a summary of what we believe is the apostolic faith. These are those things that are worth dying for. These are the hills on which we must be willing to die. We must be willing to contend for the faith once delivered to the saints, but we can't contend for it if we don't know it. If we don't know what we believe, we can't contend for it. And I think that's part of the reason when Paul's urging a unity here, he's not asking for a false unity. He's not asking for or commending a shallow sort of unity. And I think one of the reasons that we see so little unity in the evangelical world and so much fracturing is because most churches have relied upon very small confessions of faith, if any at all. And there can be no unity where there's no agreement on what the doctrine is. How can soldiers fight if they don't have a blueprint for their mission? If they don't know what their objective is, if they don't know where they're going, how are they going to fight effectively? Paul said, I want you striving side by side for the faith of the gospel. And he adds to this an important addition, an important word. Verse 28, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. Now this is an interesting word here, and it's another one that comes in that would be familiar to soldiers. This word frightened isn't the normal word that Paul would use for fear. That's the word phobos, which we get our word phobia. It's not that, it's a different word. It's the word that would describe a skittish horse in battle. A horse that becomes skittish in battle. Now, you don't have to have served in the military on horseback to realize what kind of problem that would be, to be riding into a battle on a horse that could easily be spooked. Some of you have been around horses. You know that a horse, a skittish horse, is a problem. You know, it's kind of like having a hunting dog that's gun-shy. I had one of those one time. I'd work real hard to train him and work my way up from BB guns to 22s to big, and I don't know if a neighbor shot at him or we don't know what happened, but one day he was scared of a gun. And even just by sight, you pull even a BB gun, just visually he'd go hide. Well, that's a worthless hunting dog because it's gun-shy, skittish. So in a sense, a horse that's afraid in the context of battle is worthless. But it's not only worthless, a horse that's scared is dangerous. Dangerous, dangerous to its rider, dangerous to the others around there. A skittish horse is not only useless in battle, but it's a potential danger. It scares the other horses, scares the other soldiers, and it can directly harm the one on its back or the one nearby. And this reminds me when I was reading through this, and I'm meditating upon Paul's admonition not to be frightened. And he's giving this as an exhortation to the gathered assembly, to the churches. He doesn't say you, he says, y'all don't be frightened by any of your opponents. And I was thinking about Gideon. Remember in Judges 7, when Gideon is commissioned by the Lord to overtake and overthrow the yoke of the Midianites. And the Lord commands Gideon, gather all the men together. And Gideon does, he gathers all the men together. And there were 32,000 men that assembled, camped out. And the Lord told Gideon, the numbers are too many. If I let you go to battle with 32,000 men, Israel will take the glory for the defeat of the Midianites. That's too many, so here's what I want you to do. The Lord said, now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home and hurry away from Mount Gilead. 32,000 men gathered. Gideon stands up, speaks the word of the Lord. If any of y'all are afraid, go home. 22,000 of them. 22,000 left. I'll try not to make a cultural commentary at this point or a commentary on evangelicalism at large. I'll let you be your own judge of that. 22,000 men left in fear. Paul says, don't be like that. Do not be frightened. Don't be skittish. When your enemies approach, don't be like a frightened horse. who runs away or who tramples on someone nearby. Because fear is contagious, isn't it? Particularly in the context of an army or in a locker room, in an athletic event, fear is contagious. Paul says, we don't need that in the camp. So Paul says, I want you, whether I come and see you face-to-face or whether I only get to hear about it, I want to hear that you're 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. All of these exhortations point to our gospel citizenship, which is steadfast. These are the way we define steadfastness. The citizenship perseveres. This gospel citizenship strives brother with brother, sister with sister, brother with sister. This requires each individual to persevere in faith, but the steadfastness to which Paul calls the Philippian church is corporate, it's collective. So he doesn't have in his mind that the church is kind of standing back behind somebody and saying, the pastor goes, we're praying him to be bold. We're praying that he will get out front. He's the tip of the spear and that he's going to say hard things and that the opponents are going to...he's going to have the bullseye and we're going to be in the shadows somewhere. Speaking of the whole congregation, are we willing to be bold in such a way? Are we willing to persevere? Are we willing to be steadfast in the faith? Now, there's a second feature of gospel citizenship, and it's a willingness to suffer for the sake of Christ. The willingness to suffer for the sake of Christ. We see this in verse 29. The language Paul uses is actually, I think, somewhat shocking. 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 here that I still have." Paul says, it's been granted to you. It's been gifted to you to suffer. The word that's used here is the same word that our English word grace comes from. It's been graced to you. It's been gifted to you. It's been favored to you to suffer. Do we think that way? Normally, we think of suffering as something that we have to endure, that it's something that's given to us as a necessary evil. Paul uses language here that's unique in all the New Testament. He says, no, suffering itself is a grace of God. It is a grace of God. Paul never defines specifically the kind of suffering that the Philippians are enduring, or the kind of conflict, or who their adversaries are. But I think we can reasonably speculate based on where they are. They're in Philippi. We know what happened when Paul went to Philippi the first time. He met the ladies down by the river bank, and Lydia believed the gospel. They soon after planted a church in her home. But then while Paul and Barnabas were there, a servant girl who was owned by pagan masters kept following them around and prophesying. And at some point, Paul, being irritated with that, casts out the demon that's in her, and I already mentioned all the charges that were made against him. Paul was attacked by violent pagans. He's escorted out of town. He goes to the next city over, Thessalonica. And what he meets there is jealous Jews who reject the notion of Christ as Messiah, and they violently attack him. So whether the Philippians are dealing with jealous Jews or violent pagans or both, we don't know. Likely both, knowing their context. So it's reasonable to conclude that that's the nature of the opposition he's facing. But Paul, regardless of the specific kind of suffering, the specific kind of opposition they're facing, Paul says, this is a gift from God. It's been granted to you. It's been gifted to you. That for the sake of Christ, you should not only believe in him. I mean, obviously, we see that's a gift. I've been given the gift of faith. I believe in Christ. Praise God, that's a gift of God. But he says, but also, but also to suffer for his sake. Moises Silvas says, Paul's description of suffering as a gift is lexically unique, means that wording is unique in the New Testament. It's also startling. Believers find it difficult enough to accept the inevitability of suffering. We feel we are making spiritual progress if we can resign ourselves to the fact that grief cannot be avoided. But here, the apostle challenges the Philippians' theology and asks them to understand their afflictions not merely as inevitable, but as a manifestation of God's gracious dealings with them. See, that's not the way we ordinarily think, is it? That suffering is not only something that's just inevitable, but actually is manifestation of God's gracious dealings with us. Now, Paul is going to expand on this point in Chapter 2, where he points us to Christ himself as the chief object of our imitation in the midst of suffering. But the first duty of gospel citizenship is steadfastness, and particularly a corporate steadfastness. And the second duty and privilege of gospel citizenship is a willingness to suffer. Christ's sake, a willingness to endure hardship. And again, the image of the athlete, the soldier. Now, having exhorted these features of the gospel citizenship, Paul also points us to the effects of this on the watching world. What happens when the watching world sees a Christian church steadfast in the faith of the gospel, laboring, striving side by side of one spirit, of one mind, willing to endure hardship, willing to suffer for the sake of Christ? What happens when the watching world sees that? Well, we back up in the very middle of our passage and in the second half of verse 28, he says, this is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation and that from God. When Paul says this, we have to ask, to what does this point? Well, he's just said, I want you standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, striving side by side for the faith of the gospel and not frightened of anything by your opponents. This. is a clear sign to them. This is a clear sign to them. When the enemies of the cross see a church united in spirit and mind, laboring side by side with one another, persevering with one another, unified in the apostolic faith, not compromising on the truth once delivered to the saints, not frightened, their hearts melt. They began to see this is a sign of their destruction. Paul's teaching something here that's very powerful when we grasp it. A unified church laboring as if one man. Speaking with the one voice of Christ, enduring persecution and hardship for Christ's sake, that unified church is an awesome sight to behold. That is the radiant bride of Christ clothed in splendor. That is an army marching under the banners of Christ. And yet clothed in weakness. See, we have these biblical paradoxes, don't we? Here's the suffering church, which is actually the mighty church. Here is the suffering people of God, who are actually the triumphant people of God. And Paul is clear. It's also a sign of your salvation, which is not yet. Your prosperity is not guaranteed in this world. Your comfort is not guaranteed in this life. Your victory is not guaranteed in this age, but it is guaranteed. This is a cosmic paradise. The weak things confound the wise. The apparently weak and suffering bride of Christ will actually cause the enemies of God to tremble and to anticipate their own destruction. Paul says this in Ephesians 3, he says, of this gospel, I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by the working of His power. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ and to bring to light for everyone What is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things? Now, listen to this, so that through the church, the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. Paul's saying, it's by the testimony of Christ's gathered people. Proclaiming the excellencies of God the Father and His eternal redemptive plan worked out through the Son. In Sunday school this morning, we looked at the covenant of redemption, that covenant made between the Father and the Son in eternity to save a people for the Son. And the Son took on the obligations that He would come and clothe Himself in human flesh, that He would die on behalf of sinful men. And the Father committed Himself to raise that same Son from the grave and to exalt Him above every name. that every knee would bow and every tongue would confess that Jesus Christ is Lord of all. Paul says it's through the church that this manifold wisdom, this word manifold, it means variegated, multifaceted. Think of a diamond. A raw diamond is not much to look at, but when it's cut by a skilled jeweler, it's got all the different faces and it reflects light in all these different ways. That's manifold. The church gets to proclaim the manifold, the multifaceted wisdom of God to all the rulers and authorities in heavenly places. Now, picture in your mind, picture in your mind a mighty army, decked out for battle. The soldiers are lined up in perfect rank. Their faces gaze forward with determined expressions. They stand shoulder to shoulder. There's not a gap between them. They're obviously disciplined, they're determined, they're well-armed, they're of one mind, one mission, one goal. They're not a thousand men, they're one unit. And as they begin to march forward, what happens to the hearts of their enemies? Melts. Fear strikes them. That's the picture that Paul's painting here. A unity of mind among the American soldiers entering World War II struck fear into the hearts of the Axis powers. The Axis powers had prospered under conditions of appeasement, and bullies always depend upon such conditions, right? But when a country united, at least at that time, was united upon a strong moral foundation that Nazism and fascism was evil and must be resisted, when such a country united on that moral foundation approached, the Axis powers began to understand that their end was near. Victor David Hansen, who's a military historian and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, was interviewed about three years ago for the Stanford University Journal. And he's interviewed about the miscalculations that the Axis powers had made during World War II about the commitment of the Allied forces. Listen to this. He says, at the start of the war, the misperception was that the Axis powers were ferocious war makers in the global sense, and that they were strategically adept and almost unstoppable. The Axis powers, Japan and Germany primarily, had convinced the world and themselves that they were capable, militarily and economically, of waging a global war. An apparent aversion to conflict among Western nations laid the groundwork for Nazi and Japanese aggression. From the 1930s onward, the Allies had sent a message of appeasement to Hitler that fooled Hitler into thinking that they were materially and spiritually weaker than Germany. Today, World War II offers valuable lessons in deterrence for leaders and policymakers. Deterrence is the idea that a potential aggressor understands in a cost-benefit calculation that it's not in his interests to start a war, because his intended target either has the spiritual or the material wherewithal to resist him in such a way that it would be catastrophic. The study of military history is a confirmation of human nature as unchanging and predictable in times of crisis. Now he goes on, it's an interesting side note, he says, today the study of military history is waning in higher education. Peace studies programs in U.S. universities outnumber military history courses by about 30 to one. Some critics believe that the study of war betrays, quote, a morbid curiosity about death and war. But he says that's akin to saying someone studies oncology because they like tumors, rather we go into oncology because they want to prevent cancer. I want you to listen to this phrase again. Deterrence is the idea that a potential aggressor understands in a cost-benefit calculation that it's not in his interest to start a war, because his intended target either has the spiritual or the material wherewithal to resist him in such a way that it would be catastrophic. The study of military history as a confirmation of human nature is unchanging and predictable in times of crisis. I think Paul's making this point. I think Paul's making this point. The Apostle Paul is exhorting the Philippian church to believe that because human nature is unchanging, that their united and steadfast stand in defense of the faith once delivered to the saints would be a clear sign to their adversaries of their own destruction. The wisdom and power and glory of God is on display when his people are united in one mind, striving together side by side. That's the picture. But it's not only that. It's not only the watching world that sees this and trembles, but the unwavering commitment to the gospel of the Philippians would be a sign to themselves of God's salvation of them. Look what he says. Look back at verse 28. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation and that from God." And we says, and that from God, meaning both the destruction and your salvation is from the hand of God. Suffering for Christ is actually proof of our coming salvation. Suffering for Christ is proof of the soon to come and certainly to come destruction of the ungodly. Later on in this same letter, Philippians 3 verse 18, Paul says, "'For many of whom I have often told you, and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction. Their God is their belly, and they glory in their shame with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship..." See, this theme comes up again. Our citizenship is in heaven. And from it, we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body. by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself." I'm looking forward to being able to work through that passage together. But in short, Paul's saying this, he's repeating himself, but he's expanding on it. When the church of Jesus Christ stands firm in the faith once delivered, strives side by side, without fear, without shrinking back, without being skittish, The opponents of the gospel will tremble, and they will see that as a sign of their own destruction, but the saints of God will be emboldened. We already saw that. Paul testified. The other brothers have been much more bold to preach now. They will be emboldened, and it will actually be evidence and a reminder of the salvation that is ours that is yet to take place, the full glorification of our bodies. He will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. But what happened to Christ before he got the glorious body? He suffered. And so must we. Are we greater than our teacher? Paul said to the Thessalonian church, and again, next town over, In 2 Thessalonians 1, verse 4, therefore, we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring. This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God for which you also are suffering. Since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. The question must come, must be put forward, do you know this Savior who's promised to come? Are you able to stand with the kind of confidence? Because Paul's not saying anywhere in this commandment here, stand firm, strive side by side for the faith of the gospel, not frightened that you do this in your own strength or by your own will. He would say later, it is God who works in you both to will and to do, his good pleasure. Paul is saying, are you a partaker of grace? Because it is by partaking in the grace of Christ that you also have the grace to suffer. You have the grace to persevere and stand firm. Do you know this Savior? Today you can. You will turn from your sin. You will believe that Christ has been raised from the dead by the Father according to the Scriptures. Jesus says, and I can tell you on the authority of His Word, you will be saved if you will believe that. Anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. Paul introduces this concept of gospel citizenship, and he gives us two features, a steadfastness, a stick-to-itiveness, and suffering. And you see those go hand-in-hand, don't they? But also, we see the sign that comes from that gospel citizenship. It's a sign on the one hand of our salvation, and a sign on the other hand of the destruction of the enemies of the cross. Let's pray together. Our Lord and our God, will you humble us before your majesty? Will you humble us before your wisdom? Will you humble us before your glory? Thank you for your decree by which you have governed all things for the praise of the name of your Son. to accomplish at the appointed time. His incarnation is taking on our humanity. Of your spirit working in Him, teach and to preach the gospel of the kingdom. And ultimately for Him to die for the sins of your people. And we give you glory and praise and honor that you've raised him from the dead and established his name above every name. We pray that not only knowing that and believing that, but by the power of that same resurrection, you working in us, stand firm as one people. to seek to unite ourselves, to associate ourselves with other churches who stand firm, striving side by side for the faith of the gospel. Lord, forgive us when we are frightened by lesser adversaries. Forgive us when our faith falters and we shrink away, forgetting that we have the word of life. Lord, will you grant to your people a boldness to speak the word of Christ, to support the ministry of the word, live as gospel citizens. May Christ be glorified in us walking worthy of his call.