Philippians 1:27-29 (ESV)
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. 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,
“Let your manner of life be
worthy of the gospel of Christ . . . not frightened in anything by your
opponents.” Paul is speaking to our day as powerfully as he was speaking to his
day. The common thread I see in American believers is fear. We’re afraid of the
immigrants at the border. We’re afraid the Muslims are going to take over our
community. We afraid the liberals have already taken over and are ruining our
country, or we’re afraid that the conservatives will take over and ruin our
country. We’re afraid that a sinner might move in next door, or even worse,
they might visit our church and try to change us. We’re afraid of spiritual
warfare. We’re afraid of talking to someone about Christ. We’re afraid of that
church across town that holds to a slightly different theology than we do. We’re
afraid of the big church that is drawing all the people away from the little
churches. We’re afraid. We are a people characterized by fear, yet Paul says
that a key aspect of a life worthy of the gospel is the lack of fear. It makes
me wonder if we really believe what we claim to believe.
“Standing firm in one spirit, with
one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel” is
absolutely undermined by our fear. Notice that we are to be striving for the
faith of the gospel, not striving for a particular political position,
theological position, or sociological position. We are to be striving for the
faith of the gospel, not a particular form of church service, a particular style
of worship music, or a particular form of church government. Somehow all of
these second and third level issues have become primary. While we give lip
service to the gospel, we fight over everything else. It is the gospel that
unifies. Fear divides. It is the gospel that changes lives. Fear tries to coerce
change. It is the gospel that brings peace, yet we live in anxiety. Maybe we
are not as Pauline in our theology as we would like to think. Maybe we are not
as Christ centered and gospel grounded as we claim. Let us, by the grace of
God, strive side by side for the faith of the gospel filled with the peace of
the gospel not the anxiety of the world. Then maybe, just maybe the world will
be convinced that the gospel we proclaim is actually true.
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