Philippians 1:27-28

Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, 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.

Philippians 1:27-28

As Paul continues to exhort the Philippian Christians he urges them to remain firm in the faith in spite of his absence. In the early days of the New Testament, churches were planted when itinerant preachers such as Paul and the other disciples would visit a city, preach in the synagogues and squares and gather a community of believers. They would stay for a time and (often prompted by persecution) depart. These young communities of faith would then be left in the care of leaders usually from the local congregation. The planting missionary obviously had a huge amount of clout and respect in the eyes of the church. In our days in which pastors remain with churches for a long period of time we are apt to miss the increased importance that Paul’s words would have on the Philippian Christians. Here he commends them to live a life worthy of the gospel whether he ever comes back or not. Paul did not want their faith to be dependent on whether he was able to help direct it. He wanted their faith to stand on its own.

Interestingly, the word used here for ‘life’ is politeuomai, a word that is usually used in regards to civil participation, or being a citizen of the state. The most interesting usage (per Thayer’s Greek Lexicon) includes implications to “conduct one’s self as pledged to some law of life.” To this group of new believers Paul exhorts that they should continue to commit their lives to the new law of life that they have found in Christ.

This call to live a worthy life does not negate in any way the truth that we are, ever and always, saved by grace or that we can somehow repay the debt paid by Christ on our behalf. That grace, administered at the moment of our salvation justifies us solely on the merits of Christ regardless of the level of holiness we achieve or do not achieve. Rather, the call to holy living is the natural result of a Spirit-infused life. It is entirely right to call believers to holy living since we have already been given the means to do so!

On a practical level, the call to holy living serves to focus our minds toward a singular aim. For the older or more experienced Christian (I do not say mature) it is becomes undeniably easy to fall into a pattern of dull repetition that can, if left unchecked grow into apathy, or, at worst, something closer to moral therapeutic deism or practical atheism. In the midst of mortgages, jobs, house payments, or rearing children it becomes easy to lose one’s focus. Paul instead reminds the Philippian Christians (and us) that our allegiance is to the kingdom of God above and before the demands of our particular cultural institutions.

Specifically, Paul highlights four individual areas for the church to focus its holiness efforts:

Standing firm with one spirit … with one mind.

The first manner of living a worthy life Paul emphasizes is that the church should be standing firm with one spirit. As we will see later, one of Paul’s main themes in his letter to the Philippians is unity within the church. He first points to it here as an opportunity to fulfill the calling Christ places on our life. Here, he hints at that unity by exhorting the believers to persevere together. The distinction between words used for the spirit and the mind here used are nuanced and slight. Suffice to say, Paul encourages the believers to be united after a single cause; to view themselves not as independent entities but as members of a larger whole.

We need this truth today. Too often even the faithful view church attendance as optional or at best obligatory. We have many excuses for such a mindset, among them being time commitments, past hurts, misunderstandings, and feeling like we don’t fit in. All of these issue forth from an understanding about church involvement that is faulty. A church does not exist to fulfill some missing need of ours. It does not exist even as a duty to perform. Rather, the New Testament treats involvement with a local community of believers as the normal state of the Christian. It isn’t something we do; it’s something that we are. It would be akin to a single piece of a 5000 piece puzzle deciding that it would rather be alone. It is not simply inefficient; it is not what the piece was designed for. We were designed to exist in a community of believers. We need to view ourselves as members of a large community.

Striving side by side

The call to strive side by side elaborates on the mindset we should have as a community as well as giving the community a drive and focus. The image of a community standing side by side united is a powerful one. Even as we live in a world that is growing both more connected electronically and disconnected physically, the impact of such a phrase is telling. We feel strong when we stand side by side. We feel united. There is a power of physical proximity that Paul is alluding to here. Our purpose and our community should be such that our understanding and commitment to one another brings the same sense of unity that we would have if we were standing arm in arm.

Beyond this understanding, the inclusion of the word ‘striving’ implies that we are focused not just in abstract belief statements but also in practice. Striving implies work.

For the faith of the gospel

The translation of this word as ‘faith’ makes understanding this aspect of Paul’s command a bit muddled as we often have a tendency to use ‘faith’ and ‘gospel’ interchangeably in conversation. In this context the word ‘faith’ means the conviction or the truth in the gospel. Essentially, Paul is saying that they are to strive together for the conviction of salvation through the death and resurrection of Christ. The unity that the church experiences is not one akin to a social club or Masonic lodge. The unity of the church is rooted in the fact of personal inclusion in the body of Christ AND a united effort in the gospel. The implications here are twofold:

-         The church is united as they strive for personal and communal purity.

-         The church is united as they strive to spread the good news of Christ to all.

I believe this explains what we our striving should be for. As a community we should be striving for personal holiness. Practically, this occurs through corporate worship, teaching, prayer, accountability, and fellowship (though that’s a pretty loaded word that deserves being unpacked as well).

At the same time, the church should also be united in the way it seeks to witness to the change in its own members’ lives and preach the hope of salvation in Christ to the unbelieving world.

In short, the unity of the church is not to be a feel-goody sense of friendship but rather a united corporate drive toward personal holiness and the expansion of the gospel.

And not freighted in anything by your opponents

We cannot read the words of Paul here without understanding the implications of being a believer in Jesus during this time. Upon arriving in the city of Philippi, Paul preached the gospel and cast out a demon which prompted the local authorities to beat both he and Silas and place them in prison. Even after a miraculous earthquake and subsequent conversion of the jailer, the authorities, not knowing exactly what to do with them, still had them beaten once again.

There was a cloud hanging over the formation of these new Jesus-follower communities either from the secular authorities or the Jewish leaders (and sometimes both). Paul, of course, knew this well as he had at one time focused his personal efforts at rooting out the new Christians prior to his conversion. Now, this community, founded by Paul, was left alone without their commanding founder in a world actively opposed to their existence. Into this Paul tells them not to be afraid of their opponents. These are difficult words indeed. They felt the immense personal cost of their decision to follow Christ.

Do we?

Nothing unites like adversity. This adage has rung true throughout history. As believers though, the thing that unites us should be Christ, not fear. There has been over time (and especially in recent years) a tendency of the church to circle the wagons when faced with adversity. As we have seen, Christians are called to community, but it is not to be out of fear. If we are honest with ourselves as a Church, we have used fear of the world to gather new believers and inspire personal holiness. This is a classic case of good goal but wrong execution. Instead of focusing on our call as a church to unite and celebrate the power of God, we have instead used fear to motivate us.  The examples over even the last fifty years are endless: rock music is the devil and will come for your kids, television is evil, movies are evil, legislators are out to get us, this group or that group is out to get us. Make no mistake, it may be that these statements are TRUE but the motivation for personal holiness should not be fear of some thing or some group of people. The Philippian Christians WERE opposed by people who wanted to beat and kill them. This is a fact. They had a reasonable claim to be afraid of the surrounding culture. Yet Paul tells them NOT to be frightened by their opponents.

He goes on to elaborate: “not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God.”

Paul says that the lack of fear in their opponents, and by implication, trust in God, will be a visible sign to nonbelievers that the salvation that they believe is REAL. If we do not fear, even persecution is a witness to the truth of the gospel.

It is difficult not to fear [as someone who suffers from anxiety, I know this too well] but we need to make sure no decision is prompted by fear. Should we be seeking personal purity in the face of an idolatrous and unbelieving world? Absolutely. Should we be doing it because we are afraid of the world might do to us? Never. Should we form strong bonds within our own churches? Absolutely. Should we be doing it because we are afraid of our neighbors or the culture surrounding us? Never.

If there has been one word that has defined and shaped the last twenty years it has been ‘terrorism’. It has been inescapable. The intent of terrorism is to inspire fear (and perhaps change) through violence and threats. Paul encourages the Philippians never to respond in fear but to let their resolve be a witness to the truth of the gospel. As we respond to terrorism both as a physical threat of violence and in the broader sense as a looming threat (in any arena) against the followers of Christ, Paul’s words should convince us that we should respond not in reactionary ways driven by fear but that our resolve in the truth of the good news (and in the ultimate impotence of the world’s attacks) should serve as a testament to the veracity of the gospel.