Philippians 1:27-30

A lady was walking through Walmart the other day pushing a buggy with a toddler in it and the toddler was not happy. The little girl was screaming and crying and throwing stuff but the mother was very calm. She kept saying, “Now, Becky, be quiet. Becky, be calm. Becky, use your inside voice.”

I saw her and knew she was struggling and I wanted to encourage her so I said, “You’re doing a good job with little Becky there.” The woman looked at me and said, “I’m Becky!”

Did your mother ever tell you that y’all were about to go to a store and if you didn’t behave in there you were going to be in trouble? My mom did. I think most moms do. And if they don’t, they should. It’s part of being a good parent. You know that your child is a reflection of you and you want your child to be well-behaved.

You want your children to grow up to be well-adjusted and productive members of society. You, as a parent or grandparent, have the most vital role in making sure that happens. It’s not up to the schools or the courts or politicians to make sure your kids grow up well. In fact, a big part of your job is going to be un-teaching them what the world wants to teach them.

I saw a headline on Apple News the other day that said, “Make a difference: Learn, give back, take action, and more.” Now, that sounds like a good thing, doesn’t it? But the picture that went along with it gave away their intentions. The picture showed a rainbow flag with a black power fist drawn on it. When I went to the article I found that their definition of “Learn, give back and take action” is a lot different than what the Bible teaches.

You have to teach your kids how to behave as good citizens of this country but also as travelers just passing through this world on our way to the next. And that’s hard! It is a struggle. You will face push-back and challenges every step of the way. The world doesn’t want you raising your kids that way. Don’t expect any real help from anybody that is not a true Spirit-filled follower of Jesus that gets their help from scripture.

But thank you, God, for scripture! We have help to know how to raise our kids and also to know how we are supposed to live. The Apostle Paul has been our teacher for several weeks now as we continue our sermon series going through the joyful little book of Philippians. We have come to a passage at the end of chapter one that, as usual, I didn’t understand at first. I really thought about just skipping it and going on to the incredible chapter two but God gave me no peace about that, so I hammered down and got to studying.

And it was so much fun digging into this passage. At one point, I had three different Bibles open, four commentaries, my 32-pound concordance and my laptop had seven web pages up but I learned so much. What I found was that Paul really felt like a parent trying to raise a bunch of kids. He had started the church in Philippi and thought of them as his children in the Lord and he wanted to make sure they grew up to be mature citizens of the Kingdom of God.

He wanted them to be aware of what to expect and what was expected of them. He warns them that it was not going to be easy and it would mean hard work and they should expect to be persecuted for doing it. Just like raising godly kids today. Let’s turn to Philippians 1 and read verses 27-30. As always, Paul can say more in three verses than most of us ever will.

Remember from last week, Paul has just told them he doesn’t know if he will ever see them again or not. He is writing from jail and he may be released tomorrow and sent home or they might lop his head off. These are his next words to his children in the Lord.

Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel 28without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved-and that by God. 29For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him, 30since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.

Doesn’t that sound very fatherly? He starts off saying, “Look kids, whether I’m there or not, you better be acting right.” Did your dad ever say, “Don’t make me come in there!”? Or maybe he was driving down the road and said, “Don’t make me pull over!” My favorite was always, “Do you want a spanking?” I’m thinking, that’s a dumb question but I usually kept my mouth shut.

Paul tells them to conduct themselves worthy of the Gospel of Christ. Then everything after that is a description of what that means. What is the Gospel of Christ? It’s the Good News that Jesus was born, lived a sinless life, died on a cross and rose again three days later and lives today and wants to have a relationship with you. That’s the great Good News but if you truly believe it, you better live it. That’s what Paul is saying here in verse 27.

It’s almost cliché to point out the hypocrisy of some people on social media. They post one thing that is a scripture verse with a wonderful message under it and the next is full of bad language and calling people names. Don’t do that, please. If you claim to be a Christian, you have to realize that the world is watching you just waiting for you to do something like that so they can say, “Well, obviously that Christianity stuff is no good. I don’t want anything to do with that.” They shouldn’t feel that way but that’s how the world is and you can’t give them that out.

Now, Paul goes on to say what conducting yourselves worthy is going to look like. The first thing he mentions is standing firm in the one spirit. The Greek word for “standing firm” is “steko” which means to hold one’s ground regardless of the danger. It was used of a soldier who defended his position at all costs.

Paul uses the same word in Ephesians 6 where he says to put on the full armor of God and then…stand. Stand strong. Stand for truth and against lies. Now, when I say that we all think, “Oh yes. I’m standing for truth all the time. My opinions are all correct!” Maybe. But where this is hardest is when the father of lies tempts you to sin. Now how ya standing? It’s not that hard to stand up for truth when somebody else is falling for the lies of Satan. It’s something else when we see ourselves falling.

John Newton said, “When people are right with God, they are apt to be hard on themselves and easy on other people. But when they are not right with God, they are easy on themselves and hard on others.” We are to stand up against sin but first make sure you are standing against it in your own life.

Paul goes on to say that when you stand, there is good news. You don’t stand alone. At the end of verse 27, he says, “I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel…” That’s good news when you are struggling against sin either in your own life or in the world itself because it means you will have others to stand with you. But remember, that means you have to stand when somebody else is fighting that battle. You have to stand with them.

This past week, I posted something on Facebook speaking harshly against the new presidential policy of giving money to other countries to further abortion. I thought it was going to be a pretty easy battle, to tell you the truth. I mean, what kind of sicko thinks it’s okay to kill babies? But also, who wants our taxpayer money to be used for other countries to do it? I thought it was a no-brainer. I didn’t expect to get hammered for it, not only by unbelievers but also by some who claim to be Christians. It blew me away.

But I had a bunch of brothers and sisters to stand with me. They were nice and polite, unlike some on the other side. They were there to support me but mainly to support the truth and it made all the difference. They repelled the enemy’s arrows in places I didn’t see them coming and God got the glory for it so it was a winning situation.

But that is what is going to happen when you stand. The world is not going to like it and they will attack. That is the next thing that Paul warns us about in this passage. He says when you stand, you will have to strive. Look at the end of verse 27 again. “I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together…”

That word that Paul uses there means to be an athlete competing in a match, something like wrestling or boxing. But Paul uses this word to say that this life, if lived well and lived correctly, will be a battle.

Alright, I want you to think in terms of a battle for just a minute. Let’s get tactical, if you will. We are fighting a battle and, again going back to Ephesians 6, we know that this battle is not against flesh and blood, right? We are flesh and blood and there are opponents on the other side, non-believers, that are flesh and blood but our battle is not really against them. Our battle is against Satan and all the forces of this dark world.

I can tell you that one of Satan’s favorite battle plans is to divide and conquer. He does it in the family. He does it in the church. He will do it in your own mind if you let him. And he does it because it works. I repeat. Divide and conquer works…so why don’t we use that strategy? Let’s divide some of those flesh and blood on the other side and actually bring them over to our side. What better way to win a battle than to make your enemy your friend and brother? I’m not saying unbelievers ARE really our enemy but they are on the other side because they have fallen for Satan’s lies just like we used to. So, let’s bring them over to the side of truth by standing together for the sake of the Gospel, being polite and nice at all times, but it’s time to start fighting this battle aggressively.

No army wins a battle by just being defensive. We need to start picking out and picking off some of those on the other side and speaking the life-changing Gospel of Jesus to them. Don’t get carried away with this battle illustration and think we are out to hurt anybody in any way. Just the opposite. Satan is taking them straight to hell with his lies. We want to aggressively speak truth to the people in our circle of influence and pray fervently for those outside our circle. That’s a battle plan to divide and conquer for the Kingdom of God and I’ll give you some encouragement. Our commanding officer is the Creator of all the universe and has equipped you with everything you need to fulfill your duty as a soldier. That’s the good news about sharing the Good News.

The bad news about sharing the Good News is that, as Paul tells us in verse 28, there will be those who oppose you and when people oppose you, Paul goes on to say that you will suffer. Now, I need you to look at verse 28 again and this will make sense. He says, “28without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you.” He goes on to say that when they oppose you as you speak truth to them, it shows them to be on their way to destruction. But when they oppose you, you will be saved. But you have to expect to be opposed.

Some people can’t handle rejection very well and it keeps them from sharing their testimony or telling somebody what scripture says about how to get to Heaven. But you have to get over that fear of rejection and know that some people are always going to reject you. They rejected Paul plenty of times. They rejected Jesus so they are going to reject you.

Let me give you an illustration of what this could very well look like. Did you know that on Joe Biden’s very first day in office he signed seventeen executive orders?  Yep. And one of those executive orders was a mandate to allow transgender athletes to play sports as whatever gender they identify with. What that means is that schools now have to allow boys who say they feel like girls to not only play sports with those girls but also share locker rooms.

Don’t believe me? Here are his exact words: “Children should be able to learn without worrying about whether they will be denied access to the restroom, the locker room, or school sports.” Now, we can all work ourselves into a dither talking about how wrong that is but let me give you a scenario to show what Paul was talking about in this passage.

Let’s say you go to see your daughter or granddaughter play volleyball at her high school or college like you have for years. But this year there is a boy on her team that identifies as a girl. He’s 6’4” and 200 pounds and has a beard but he says he “feels like” he’s a girl so the school has to let him play volleyball with the girls. You can imagine how unfair that is to all the other girls but that’s not the big problem.

After the game you realize they are all headed back to the same locker room. What ya gonna do? Sit there? No. You walk down the bleachers and stand in front of that boy and explain nicely to him that your daughter is in there and you will not allow him to go in there while she is changing clothes.

He explains that he identifies as a girl and you have to let him by. I know what you are thinking. You are thinking that you now identify as the tooth fairy and you are going to knock his teeth out if he goes any further. But you don’t say that. You are nice but you stand your ground. The word is steko in Greek, to stand.

So, the boy goes home and tells his parents. The parents tell the principal and the principal calls the cops who show up at your door the next morning. And if you think this is implausible you have not been paying attention to the world around you. So, the cops knock on the door and ask about the run-in you had with the transgender individual last night. But here is what the nice officer says, “Look, what you did is now a hate crime. That is discrimination against a member of the LGBTQ community and we are here to arrest you…unless you recant your statement, apologize to the boy and agree to never do it again.”

So, now what do you do? It’s easy to say now but are you positive? I hope you go to jail because, if what Paul says is true, then you won’t be in jail long but pretty soon you will be joined by me and several others in our church there to support you and the biblical truth that God created ONLY man and woman. All of us there standing firm and striving together and being opposed.

Look again at the incredible words that Paul uses in verse 28. “This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved.” Paul is saying that when this oppression happens, just know that it is a sign that as John McArthur says, “the enemies of God are under severe judgment…eternal punishment…everlasting suffering in hell.” (Philippians, page 93)

And it is also a sign that as Christians suffering for the cause of Christ that we are true believers. Now suffering sounds like a scary and depressing thing but Paul goes on to say that it is a gift of God. Look at it in verse 29. “For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him.”

Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:12, “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” Paul understood that in a way that most of us never have and never will but times are coming when we just might need to remember that suffering is a gift and Paul wanted all the gifts Jesus had to offer. In fact, he said in Philippians 3:10, “I want to know Christ-yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.”

That’s big talk and a hard prayer to pray. I’m not saying I’m there yet but I will say I want the joy that Paul had in the difficulties of this life because I believe, like David said, that this life is a wisp of smoke. (Psalm 39:5) James 4:14 says, “You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” But we know our treasure in Heaven last forever and ever.

Are you ready? Are you living in such a way that might warrant persecution in the last days because we are living in the last of the last days and it is coming. We aren’t guaranteed another breath. Make sure your relationship with God is what it should be. If you don’t have that relationship then ask God for forgiveness right now. Repent of your sins. Turn away from that old lifestyle that was leading you to hell and allow God to change your life. All you have to do is truly believe. Do it right now.