It's good to be with all of you. If you would, we're going to be looking at Philippians chapter 1, verses 27 through 30. I believe it's on page 1349, if you're using one of the Pew Bibles. I'll say a few words before we get to the reading of our passage. Most of you are probably aware, you've probably heard of JFK's famous quote, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. In the context of Kennedy's speech, this was Kennedy's way of reminding Americans that their citizenship brought not only benefit, but responsibility. And it's really this idea of the responsibility of citizenship that we'll be looking at today. Now, on Paul's day, Philippi was a Roman military colony. The city had received what was known as the Italic right, which basically meant that Philippi, though not on Italian soil, had all of the rights and privileges as if it was. And the citizens of Philippi, though not born citizens of Rome, had all of the rights and privileges as if they had been born as Roman citizens. And so you see, there was this kind of sense of civic pride that came with being a Philippian. It meant something to be a Philippian. And they were expected to live lives worthy of their Roman citizenship, worthy of this great italic right which they had received. And so it's into this culture that Paul speaks these words to the church in Philippi, to remind them and to remind you of your infinitely greater citizenship, that better than any Philippian, Roman citizenship, better than any American citizenship, any earthly citizenship, is your heavenly citizenship. the fact that you have received what we could call the heavenly right. And you've probably heard the church referred to in this age between the first coming and the second coming of Christ as the church militant. That is the church at war, at spiritual warfare with sin and the flesh and the devil. And so what we could say is that you, you here in Bloomington are a heavenly military colony. So Paul's reminding you that as citizens of heaven, as this local heavenly military colony, you not only have citizen benefits, but citizen responsibilities. You are to live lives worthy of your heavenly citizenship, which just begs the question then, what is a worthy manner of life? And that's what we're gonna get into this afternoon. So with that, let us now hear the word of God. It is the infallible and the pure word of the living and true God. And so here it is such. Philippians chapter one, be looking at verses 27 through 30. Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or I'm 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, 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, for to you has been granted on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake. having the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear is in me. Well, if you would, look back with me at verse 27. And Paul starts out only. He's just finished up a section in verses 12 and 26 where he is speaking to them about his affairs, the fact that he's in prison. And in some sense, he says that he would rather die because that would mean to depart and to go and to be with Christ, which is better. But for their sakes, Paul says, it's better if I were to come to you, if I were to get out of prison and come to you. And he's confident that because it's better for them, this will be the case, that the Lord will bring him out and bring him back to them. But Paul starts out, he says only, he says really regardless. If I get out where I don't, what I desire most is that you live lives worthy of the gospel of Christ, that you live in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. And what we have here, let your conduct That phrase, let your conduct, really just translates one word in the Greek, and it's the Greek word palidomai, palidomai. And you can hear it in the Greek word. It's the word from which we get our English word politics, palidomai, politics. So it's a word that has to do with public life, and public government, and public affairs. But for our purposes, what's important to note is this is the verb form. of the noun Paul uses in Philippians 3.20 when he speaks about our heavenly citizenship. And so when Paul uses the verb form of it, really what he's saying is that you are to conduct yourselves, you are to behave as citizens of heaven. And it's in the present tense. So he's saying this is something you are to do continually and habitually. It's not something you do once at one time in your life or just sporadically whenever it works best for you, but you are to behave as a citizen of heaven all the time. Now remember, we said that we are those who have received the heavenly right. We are citizens of heaven. So Paul is saying, conduct yourselves in a way worthy of your heavenly citizenship. And the word here, worthy, is also very interesting. It was used historically when you would have scales, and these balancing of scales, and some sort of standard would be set on one side of the scale. And when something was set on the other side, If it balanced out, it was said to correspond, it was to be fitting, and in that sense, it was said to be worthy, worthy of the standard that was on the other side. And so when Paul says that our conduct as citizens is to be worthy of the gospel of Christ, he's saying that our behavior is to correspond, it is to match up to the gospel, which just is the law and the rule of heaven. of us as heavenly citizens. So our lives are to match up to the truths of the Christian faith, the demands, the imperatives of the faith that we hear, that you guys hear, proclaimed from this pulpit week after week, that you read in your Bibles day after day. Your lives are to conform to the gospel of Christ, both as individuals and as a unified corporate body. And Paul goes on, he says, conduct yourselves, 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, he's saying, no matter if I come or not, regardless of my presence or absence, what again I care about most is that you let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ. And he goes on then to give us three aspects of a worthy manner of life. In the first manner he gives, the first aspect he says is to stand firm. You are to stand firm, stand fast in one's spirit. I'll submit to you that when Paul says here, stand fast in one's spirit, he's not referring to some kind of team spirit or some community disposition we are to have, but he's saying to stand fast in the Holy Spirit. in the Holy Spirit. And I want to give you four reasons for thinking that's the case, because it's important that we get this right. And the first is that this word spirit, whenever it's used by itself, that is without any sort of qualifier, like spirit of meekness or spirit of gentleness, whenever it's used by itself, nowhere in any known place in Greek literature, outside or inside the New Testament, is it used to speak of some sort of common mindset or team spirit kind of deal. And second is when Paul uses the phrase, stand firm in, he's always using it in a way of position or location, not of manner. Meaning that Paul is always telling the church to stand firm here, not to stand firm in this way. He's telling the church where to stand and not how to stand when he uses the phrase, stand firm in. And then third reason is that in two other passages in Paul's writings where he uses the phrase one spirit in a context speaking about unity, it's undeniable that he's talking about the Holy Spirit. And I want to read two of those to you. First Corinthians 12. You don't have to turn there if you don't want. First Corinthians chapter 12 verses 12 and 13. Listen to this. Paul says, for as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one spirit, we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and have all been made to drink into one spirit. In Ephesians chapter 2. verses 17 through 19. And he came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through him, that is Christ, through him, we both have access by one spirit to the Father. Now therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. And then fourth and finally, in the passage we've already mentioned, chapter three, verse 20, where Paul speaks about citizenship, he begins the same sequence of ideas that we're gonna see in our passage. He speaks about citizenship, and then he speaks about standing fast in the Lord, and then he speaks about being of one mind, and then about struggling and striving. And there you can see the parallels are stand fast in the Lord, and stand fast in one's spirit. So again, Paul is telling us here to stand fast in the Spirit. That is because the Holy Spirit is the only source of unity and blessing. But we ask, and how? How do we stand fast in the Spirit? Well, remember we said it's not just a phrase of position, but also of location. Paul's saying to stand fast in the realm of the Spirit. that is the Church, the realm of the Spirit's special operation of His special and saving grace. We are to stand fast in the realm of the Church, that by the means of grace, through the preaching of the Word, through the singing of the Word, according to Ephesians 5, is how we are filled with the Spirit. And so partaking of the means of grace, we're built up, we're knit together, unified by the Spirit. So we're to stand fast in the sphere of the Spirit. And then from this united stance, this firm united stance in the Spirit, Paul goes on to give us the second aspect. of a worthy manner of life. Second aspect of a worthy manner of life. He says that you stand fast in one spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel. Striving together for the faith of the gospel. Some translations will say side by side for the faith of the gospel. In Paul here literally the word mind is soul, literally soul. So Paul's not saying less than mind, but he's saying more. He's saying stand fast as one whole person with one mind, with one heart, with one will. We are to have common beliefs, we are to have common affections and common purpose, and from these to strive side by side for the gospel. And likely the imagery that Paul's drawing on, the imagery that would have come to mind for the Philippians, remember they're a military colony, would have been the ancient military formation known as the phalanx. which basically was soldiers, they would stand really tight together with their shields forward and their spears pointed ahead. And this formation was basically impenetrable. It was basically unstoppable. And why? It's not because it depended on any one soldier's strength or skill, but on the strength of the unified whole. And Paul's saying that you are to stand firm and fight as a heavenly phalanx for the gospel, for the advancement of the gospel and the sanctification of the saints. So you see, living a manner of life worthy of the gospel just is living a life of fighting together, striving together for the gospel. And now is not the time, right, for sowing strife amongst one another. As we look at what's going on in the world around us, now is not the time for sowing division within the body of Christ. It's a time of striving together for the advancement of the gospel. That's what Paul says is the second aspect of a worthy manner of life, and then he goes on to give us a third. From this firm, stance in the spirit, the striving together as a heavenly phalanx, side by side, we are, he says, in no way, not in any way, to be terrified by your adversaries. And the word here, terrified, was often used of timid horses who were quick to run at the first sight of any Danger, so you see Paul is saying a worthy manner of life is a life of fearlessness It's a life of fearlessness and we know that the devil is certainly doing much the world is doing much to cause fear Especially in the hearts of Christians in the hearts of the church at this point in time, right? The culture says conform Or be canceled, right? That's What's going on? And the temptation to fear can be real. We can fear losing our jobs. We can fear losing our reputations. And who knows where it'll get in this country, but certainly around the world, many of our brothers and sisters can fear losing their lives for the gospel. But here's the thing. Here's the thing. If you can picture me getting in some sort of confrontation with somebody, if I've got some six foot eight, 300-pound ultimate fighter behind me, I'm not afraid. I've got no problem with what's going on in front of me. And it has nothing to do with me, right? It has everything to do with who's with me. And how often we forget, in the face of our adversaries and confrontations with the world, who it is who is with us. Think about Acts chapter four. The apostles, right, standing together, firm in the spirit, fighting side by side for the gospel. They're bold, fearless in the face of their persecutors and adversaries. And why? It had nothing to do with them. They're a bunch of fishermen. They're a bunch of nobodies and tax collectors. But they had clear in their minds, crystal clear, who it was that was with them, the same one who's with us today, the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who literally raised himself from the dead, who then ascended into heaven and sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, and has been given all authority in heaven and on earth. He is our king, and we are his citizens. Why would we fear man? We ought not. We ought not. And so when our manner of life, then, is worthy of the gospel, you see, when we stand firm together in the spirit, when we strive together for the advancement of the gospel and the building up of the bride of Christ, when we're fearless in the face of persecution, Paul goes on. He says, it is to them, that is, they who would persecute the church, the adversaries, it is to them a proof of perdition. It's a legal term there. It's a proof of their future destruction. So we could say it's a prophetic proof, if you will. That is, the fearlessness of Christians hits home to the persecutors. meaning that no matter what they may say or how they may act, when they persecute the church, it hits home to them that they are fighting not against flesh only, but against their maker, against the God of the church. How do we know this is the case other than that it says it right here? Think of Romans chapter one. If you're talking to someone who says, I don't believe God exists, you know that no matter how much they've deceived themselves, how much God may have given them over to sin, and they may have suppressed their knowledge in unrighteousness, and maybe they can even pass a lie detector test saying, I don't believe in God. But the God who made them and cannot lie says that they do know him. And they know him so clearly through the things that are made and through their conscience that on judgment day, they will be without excuse, without a defense. And you know this because God who knows everything has told you. So he's saying no matter who or how they act, who persecute the church, when they're persecuting the church, it is a sign to them that if they don't cease, if they don't repent, they're heading for destruction. And that word destruction almost always refers to final judgment in hell. But Paul says, he goes on, he says, it's not only a sign to them, but it's also a sign to you. of your salvation, and not just of your future salvation, your reception of the fullness of glory to come at the end of time or the end of history here, but of your present possession of it, that eternal life that you possess now. Why is that the case? Because you and I know that in our flesh, we are man-fearers. And so when we do stand together, firm and fearless in the face of the kings, the powers that be in this world, we know it's not of us, but God in us. We know that we are His, and the Spirit is in us when we are fearless in the face of our persecutors, when we fear God and not man. And Paul says as much. He says, of your salvation and that from God. of your salvation and that from God. And he continues on in verses 29 through 30. He says, for to you has been granted on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake, having the same conflict which you saw in me and now here is in me. So we see that it's not only a gift of God to believe unto eternal life But it's a gift of God to suffer for Christ in this life It is a gift to suffer for Christ in this life, to be engaged in the Christian life that we see in the book of Acts, that we see played out in Paul's life. Maybe not to the same degree always, but the same kind of life. It is a gift. It is a gift. It's a gift to walk in the footsteps of the humiliation of Christ. It is a gift to be hated as Christ was hated, to suffer as he was suffered, as he suffered. and to be counted worthy to suffer for his name. Listen to Acts chapter 5. Acts chapter 5 verses 40 and 42. And they agreed with him. And when they had called for the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer for his name. And daily in the temple and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ. They rejoiced. And that doesn't mean that the pain of suffering goes away or isn't real or is somehow good in and of itself. Their bruises still hurt. It still hurts to suffer, to be mocked. But it is worthy. It is something we should rejoice over because it's a gift to conform us to Christ. And if we could remember that, Paul goes on in Philippians 3, 1 to tell the Philippians that it's good for you to always be reminded of these things. If we could remember the truth that suffering is a gift of God, be vital, vital if and when suffering and persecution comes our way, right? Because we talk about it all the time, but can we be reminded about it enough that when we are persecuted, though our persecutors mean it for evil, God works it for good, to conform us to Christ, to conform us to the suffering Christ, to the cross, that we may be later conformed to the exalted Christ, to the exalted Christ. Christian suffering, brothers and sisters, is a gift. Calvin put it this way. He said, if this truth, if this truth that suffering is a gift would be impressed enough on our hearts and minds, how great our piety would be, how great our piety would be. It's vital, vital to persevere in times of suffering. And so it's no secret. It's no secret that hypocrisy and division are two of the greatest hindrances to the cause of Christ and the advancement of the gospel. And this afternoon, we've been exhorted against both of these. Against hypocrisy by being called to live lives that correspond, remember, that are worthy of the gospel of Christ. And also against division. by being called to stand fast together in the spirit and to strive together side by side for the gospel of Christ. So as those who have been made citizens of heaven by grace, who have received that heavenly right, we are to live lives worthy of that. We're to stand firm together in the church, in the spirit, being built up by the means of grace, and by fellowship with that spirit, with the Holy Spirit, and with one another. We're to strive together to fight evangelistically in the church, making disciples for the cause of Christ and the advancement of the gospel. And all in the midst of this are to be fearless in the face of persecution, for this is a worthy manner of life. So in Bloomington, let's be about it. And let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we do thank you. We do thank you for. your work amidst this congregation here in Bloomington. And Lord, we do just pray that you would continue to knit us together. Holy Spirit, we pray that you would be at work in our midst, knitting us together, building us up. Lord, we pray that you would continue sanctifying your bride as you have promised to do, impressing your word and the truths of it. more deeply on our hearts. May you grant us boldness and fearlessness as the tensions in the world around us and the threats of persecution for those who stand fast in the spirit, who stand fast on the word of the spirit, oh Lord, that you would grant us boldness and fearlessness to glorify Christ in these days and in our lives. Pray that you would do this now in Christ's name, amen.