Walk Worthy Of The Gospel

Sermon Transcript

Philippians 1, we’re going to be taking a look at several verses at the very end of the chapter from verses 27-30. The title of tonight’s message is, “Walk Worthy Of The Gospel.” You know, Jesus called His followers to live according to a different standard, a different standard than what the world was living according to, a different standard to what most people were living, not only in the day that Jesus was ministering but even today. On one occasion, He was considering those that had the mentality that it was okay to love your neighbor but to hate your enemy, and He told His disciples, “I don’t want you to be like that. You are also to love your enemy. You’re to bless those who curse you; do good to those who hate you. Pray for those who spitefully use and persecute you.”

On another occasion He was there with His disciples and was making mention of those that liked to rule over others, those that like to lord over other people, and He said, “I don’t want you to be like that either. In fact, if you want to be great in the Kingdom of God, you ought to be the servant of all.” On another occasion, Jesus was considering those who often did the right thing but for the very wrong reason. They were doing things in order to impress men, to get the praise of mankind, and Jesus said, “I don’t want you to be like that. In fact, I want you to do what you do before the eyes of your heavenly Father, and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.”

On many occasions Jesus would contrast the way that most of mankind was thinking and living and conducting their lives with the life that He was calling them into. It was a different life. It was a godly life. It was a life that would be built upon the principles of Scripture, what God desired for them, and the disciples picked up on that. After Jesus had ascended into heaven, and they began to write many of the books of the New Testament, they carried that theme through teaching in many of the New Testament books that we are not only to say the right thing, we are to live the right way because too often there are people that say the right thing, but they’re living contrary to the very words that come out of their mouth.

In the book of Philippians Paul does the same thing exhorting these Philippian believers to not only say the right things but to live the right way. In fact, earlier in the chapter, Philippians 1:10, He exhorted them to live lives of sincerity. In other words, they were to live a life that was authentic, that they weren’t to masquerade being something outwardly that they were not inwardly. They were not to pretend to be something different than they actually were, they were to live authentically before the eyes of God. Here at the end of the chapter he’s going to carry that theme a little bit further that I think would be profitable for us to consider what he has to say because he’s going to give to us practical guidance on how to live a life of sincerity, how to live a life that is honoring to God.

Follow along with me beginning in verse 27. We’ll just read to the end of the chapter, which is only four verses. This is what the Apostle Paul says to the Philippians, and more importantly for us, what he is saying to us tonight. “Only 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 stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel, 28 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. 29 For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, 30 having the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear is in me.”

There are a couple words of note that I want to draw our attention to before we really dive deep into this passage. They are found in the very first verse that we took a look at, verse 27. In fact, the very first word is the word, “only.” It’s not a significant word, you wouldn’t think, except for the placement. Paul places this word as the first word in this particular passage which gives it some added significance because oftentimes in Greek grammar if the author wanted to emphasize something, he would place a word at the beginning of the sentence rather than in the middle of the sentence, and in doing so, that word would now be emphasized. We read the word in our English Bible, “only,” but it might be better translated in saying, “Above all.” In other words, what Paul was saying is that, “Above all that I have said already, I want you to consider this.”

Now, Paul had said some pretty significant things already earlier in the chapter. I’m not going to take the time to go back and dive into some of those things that he had stated, but I think we could sufficiently say that what Paul wrote was meaningful, and it was purposeful, and it ministered to the hearts of the Philippians leading up to verse 27. But now he’s getting to the end of this particular chapter, and almost as a means of him saying, “Now I want to tell you something that I really want you to remember. In fact, if you forget everything else that I’ve already said, this is the one thing that I want you to hold onto.” That’s somewhat what the word “only” is leading us into. In fact, in these four verses that we have there are several sentences in the English language, but in the Greek it was just one continuous sentence. In other words, he was wanting to emphasize at the end of this particular chapter something that he figured for the Philippians, and consequently, for us, was super important, something that we really need to hear. Above all, “let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ.”

The other word in this sentence that I think is important for us to consider is the word “conduct.” It comes from the Greek word pólis which actually gives us a number of English words that we are familiar with. For example, metropolis, Indianapolis, even the word “police” finds its root in the Greek word here that is translated “conduct.” A more accurate translation of this particular word would not actually be the word “conduct.” It literally means to be a citizen, which makes a lot of sense when we consider the English words that have been developed based upon the Greek word pólis because a metropolis is a large group of citizens that are living in close quarters with each other. Indianapolis is a large city that has citizens living there that consider themselves citizens of that particular community. Police themselves are citizens, but they have a particular role among the other citizens of their community. They are there to protect, to restore order, to make sure that everybody is safe in that community.

In fact, there’s another word that is also in the English language that came directly from this particular word pólis, and that is “politics,” which makes it really interesting, if we insert the word “politics” in this statement: “Only let your”—politics—“be worthy of the gospel of Christ.” We ought to let that marinate in our minds for a few minutes, and I do want you to know that this is not going to be a political message, but it should give us some food for thought when it comes to the way that maybe we vote or the way that we engage in our cities, in our state, in our country. But, I digress.

I think we need to get back to really what the whole point of what Paul was writing here. He is calling these believers to let their conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ. You see, they were citizens, but not primarily citizens of Israel or citizens of Rome or citizens of Philippi, they were citizens of heaven, as we are as well. We may be Americans, but we are not primarily Americans, if we are Christians. We are first and foremost citizens of the Kingdom of heaven, which means we ought to conduct ourselves as citizens of the Kingdom of heaven. We are part of the community of God, and we ought to live our lives out as such. That is the motivation behind what Paul is now addressing with them is that they are to conduct themselves or live in a manner that is worthy of the gospel. Interestingly enough, this is not the only place in the New Testament writings in which a statement is made like this where we are to conduct ourselves or walk in a worthy manner.

Let me share with you a few others. In Ephesians 4:1, we’re told, “ . . . to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called.” In Colossians 1:10, we’re told to “ . . . walk worthy of the Lord . . . .” In 1 Thessalonians 2:12, we’re told to “ . . . walk worthy of God,” and then here, we’re to conduct ourselves, “ . . . worthy of the gospel of Christ.” Each of these statements is slightly different than the others, but I think all of them are giving us essentially the same exhortation; that is, we are called by God into a relationship with Himself, and that He not only has forgiven our sins and given us citizenship in heaven, but He has called us to live a life that is different than those in the world are living. We are to become more and more like Christ, conducting our lives as Jesus Himself would, and that itself is transformative. He’s calling us to reflect the high calling of being a Christian so that if we call ourselves Christians, that has some obligation to it that we are to live as Christ lived, we are to think as He did, conduct ourselves as He did in as much as possible knowing that we’re not perfect people, we’re not going to totally measure up, but we surely can’t be people that are living like the world. We need to live like our Savior, so he’s calling us to a different lifestyle in each of these statements to walk worthy.

I think it’s interesting, too, and maybe very important to point out is that never do we read in any of these passages a statement like this, “Walk worthy of salvation.” Why wouldn’t it say that? Because it’s not possible because all of us have fallen short of the glory of God. The Bible tells us, “There is none righteous, no, not one,” which in and of itself automatically disqualifies us from walking worthing of salvation. You see, the point is it’s not about earning your way. Instead, it’s about living a life that matches the faith that we claim to possess, and I need to emphasize that because there are always those that have the idea that, “I’m going to earn my place in heaven based upon how I live my life here on the earth,” and Scripture makes it very clear that no one will get to heaven that way. If it was earned by our own works, there was no need for Jesus to come and die. The fact that Jesus came and gave His life was because none of us could live a life worthy enough for the Kingdom of God.

It’s not about living a life worthy of salvation, but it is possible for us to live a life that is worthy of the gospel, otherwise we would not be called in this verse to do just that, which means we need to look at the word “worthy” itself to understand the concept of what being worthy is. That word “worthy” in the Greek language, one of the meanings of it at least, is to be of equal weight, and it should give us the picture of some of those old fashioned types of scales that had two plates that were suspended on a bar by a chain. So, there was a stationary piece and then a bar that came across, and that bar was on a hinge with two plates suspended beneath it.

It was often used in old time grocery stores. When a grocer would sell some of his goods, oftentimes it was sold by the weight. If a customer came in and said, “I would like to buy five pounds of rice,” the scale was used with the two plates to determine what five pounds actually was. The grocer would put a five-pound weight on one of the plates which would immediately cause that plate to fall, and then in a bag he would begin shoveling rice on the other plate until both of those plates evened out. When both of the plates were on an even level, that meant that that rice was five pounds because what was on one side was now in perfect match with what was on the other side.

That was the concept about the word “worthy,” so that if we are called to live a worthy life, it means what is said on one hand is matched with conduct on the other hand. What I say that I am must match the life that I live, and if those are in balance, then it is a “worthy” measure. Does that make sense? If I stand before you, and I tell you that I’m a pretty phenomenal singer. You might believe me, until I open my mouth. If I began to sing, you would immediately realize that one plate is not at the same level as the other plate. You’re not worthy of that title. There are some that are on this stage that are very worthy of that title, we just heard them sing. What a blessing it is. But not everybody that claims to be something is something. Not everybody that says such and such about their life can match it with a life that backs up those words.

When Paul is talking about living a life that is worthy of the gospel, we need to understand what that actually is saying. What is the gospel? The gospel is the simple message that man could not save himself. We were lost. We were separated from God, and there was nothing that we could do about it. We could not fix our own problem. But “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son”—who lived a perfect life and then went to a cross to give His life to pay the debt for the sins of you and me and all of humanity. The Bible goes on to say that if anyone believes this message, believes in Christ, they can be forgiven of their sins, they will not perish, but they will be given everlasting life. That is the gospel.

Oftentimes we focus on the fact that as a Christian I have been forgiven and I have been given a place in heaven that I will one day inherit, and those things are very true, but one of the parts of the gospel that we often neglect and maybe don’t focus on is the fact that not only has Jesus given us eternal life, He has also called us to a life that is different than what we were living. We are to turn away from the old life; we are to live a new life in Christ Jesus because now our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. We literally have God dwelling within us whose goal and purpose is to transform us into the image of the Son of God, Jesus Himself.

We have many people who claim the title “Christian,” but we look at their lifestyle, and the lifestyle doesn’t match the claim because there’s a disconnect believing that I can claim to be a Christian, claim to be forgiven, claim to have citizenship in heaven without changing anything about my life. That’s not what God has called us to, and that’s what Paul is getting at here is that our “ . . . conduct”—ought to—“be worthy of the gospel of Christ,” so that if on one hand I say, “Jesus is my Savior, and He has died for my sins,” then I ought to on the other plate be living a life that reflects the fact that I have been saved and I’m not who I used to be. If the Bible can tell us that “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away . . . all things have become new,” well then, if I’m in Christ, “ . . . old things have passed away,”—and—“all things have become new,” so then I’m living worthy of the gospel.

Paul is going to go on here in this passage and give us five ways that we can walk in a worthy manner. I will tell you up front that this is not an exhaustive list, but it is the list of things that Paul shares in this passage. It’s the things that I think that we ought to consider ourselves. These will be my five points of how to walk in a worthy manner. First, to walk worthy of the gospel you need to have personal integrity. I want you to notice here again in verse 27, right after he says, “Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ,”—he says—“so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs.”

You see, at the time that Paul was writing the book of Philippians, he was not with the Philippians. He actually was a prisoner of Rome. He was not free to leave. Paul is writing a letter to them, but he does not have the possibility of even going to see them at that particular time, so there was a separation. He knew them because he had visited them before when he first brought the gospel to the city of Philippi, but at this particular time he’s not where they are, and you know the phrase, “When the cat is away, the mice will play.” Oftentimes when the guy that you want to impress is not around, you choose not to impress anybody. This oftentimes happens in the workplace. When the boss isn’t around, the people goof off. What Paul was saying is that “I’m not with you now, and I hope to come to you. I hope to be able to visit you again, but if that does not happen, I still want to hear that you’re living right, that you’re living the right way.”

Here’s what’s important about that is that a life that only measures up when you are in a certain environment around certain people is a life that lacks integrity because if you really are what you say you are, you ought to be that way not matter who’s present, you happen to be in front of, or where you happen to be.

For many years I was a youth pastor doing high school and junior high ministry. I’ve now graduated to young adult ministry. In ministering to a lot of young people, I had a lot of youth in my ministries that their whole family came to our church, so their kids were in my ministry, and I got to know these kids, and they came from Christian families. But I noticed over time that there were some of the kids in these Christian families that seemed to really have a heart for the Lord and they were active in their Christian faith, yet there were others that were part of these Christian families that would show up but were completely disinterested, detached, and oftentimes just flat out rebellious against the Christian faith. I always wondered why that was. For a long time I thought, Here are these kids all coming from Christian households, but some are actually living out the faith and some are trying to get away from it as much as they possibly can. Why is that? How can two Christian families produce two very different types of kids?

What I’m about to say is not across the board. It’s not true of every case, but it’s something that I began to notice that was more true in situations than it was untrue, that is, the kids that were hungry for God, that were growing in their own faith came from a household that not only did their parents come to church, but their parents were the same people in the house that they were in the church. Where the kids that happened to be more rebellious against the Christian faith, more often than not, their parents were putting on the smile when they came to church but were very different in their own household. Here are these kids that are growing up watching the hypocrisy of their own parents, the lack of integrity—when dad is smiling, shaking hands when he shows up to church, but when we get home, when we close the door, he’s yelling and screaming. He talks a good talk when he’s around his Christian buddies, but he holds us to a different standard than he holds himself when we’re at home. I could see that it began to breed an attitude in some of the kids that this is just a bunch of baloney. This Christian thing is just not real because it’s not real in my parents’ lives.

In other parents who were living out their faith at home as well as at church were instilling in their kids what integrity looks like. They were living out their faith, so their kids grew up seeing that the Christian faith is real because I see it as a reality in my mom and my dad. I want to make sure that I reiterate this because there’s no doubt that there may be some parents that are in here that you have faithfully walked with the Lord and your kids are now in rebellion against the Lord. This is not said to heap guilt upon you or in any way to say that you did anything wrong, it was just an observation from a youth pastor in seeing it played out in many families that when parents had integrity in their Christian life, their kids were more prone to walk with the Lord when they became adults; and those that had very little integrity, their kids tend to walk away. It’s so important to have a walk worthy of the gospel is that we are people of integrity, that we are living out the faith that we claim to possess.

It goes on and tells us, again, we’re still in verse 27, the second point is that if we’re to walk worthy of the gospel, we need to walk in the strength of conviction. In the middle of verse 27 it says, “ . . . that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind . . . .” You know, that word “stand fast” was actually a military term. It was making reference to a soldier who was given a post with the instructions that he was to hold that post no matter what came his way. If he were in a position where he needed to hold possession of a bridge, he was to make sure that the enemy did not take over that bridge. If it was an area of a town, he was not to let the enemy come into that area of the town, and he was to stand firm, “stand fast,” making sure that his side held onto what they had.

If we consider that in our context right here is that we need to make a stand in the place that God has placed us, and if we are to have strength in our convictions, it means holding to your convictions and principles without any compromise. I will tell you that our Christian principles will be challenged. They’re challenged all the time. Sometimes they’re challenged by our culture because we live in a world that is contrary to the values of Christ, so the world is going to challenge us. Sometimes the devil himself is going to come to tempt us in order to get us to fall, and we need to stand, “stand fast,” with our convictions. Sometimes it’s your own flesh that is going to be your worst enemy, your sin nature that wants to rebel, and we need to fight against that.

I think there’s a perfect example in the book fo Daniel because you know how the book of Daniel begins with Daniel as a young man who is taken captive from Israel to Babylon, he and his friends. We know them as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. The four of them are all young men. They’re pulled out of their country and brought to a different country that did not recognize their God or hold their values, and now they’re going to have to live their lives surrounded by a culture that was contrary to how they were raised and the faith that they had. In Daniel 1 we read an amazing verse, verse 8, where it tells us that Daniel, as a young man, “ . . . purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself.” In other words, he understood, “I don’t have a choice whether to live in Babylon or not, I’m here. But I do have a choice on the things that I value, and I value my relationship with God and want to live my life to His honor.” The rest of the book is really played out showing us that he honored that vow that he made that he would not defile himself.

His buddies must’ve made the same vow because they did the same. We know the stories of both of them, as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, these Jewish boys, were instructed along with all of the other Jews that were taken captive, some ten thousand plus Jews that were now there in Babylon. Here’s the king, King Nebuchadnezzar, erecting up a ninety-foot golden statue of himself commanding that everybody was to bow down to it. Evidently, most of the Jews that were transplanted from Israel to Babylon were bowing because they knew that if they did not bow, the king could have them executed. But there are these three boys, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that refused to bow. They would not bow to the king’s command because it violated their conscience. It violated their convictions as followers of the God of the Bible. Later on, Daniel would do the same. When the laws of the land would go against his convictions, he faced being thrown into a lion’s den, but he refused to back down. So, to live worthy of the gospel is to be people that are not going to back down. We are going to stand fast in the convictions that we’ve received from the Word of God.

Third, to walk worthy of the gospel, is to maintain a unity in the fellowship. Still in verse 27, I promise you we will get out of verse 27 eventually, but at the end of the verse it tells us, “ . . . striving together for the faith of the gospel.” This term “striving together” came from the athletic realm. It was speaking about team events where instead of it being an individual sport, as many sports are, this was specifically speaking about a team sport where you were dependent upon your teammates in order for you to be successful, as they were dependent upon you as well. This throws us back to that word “conduct” at the beginning of verse 27, remember it meant a citizen, being a citizen of a community. Guys, we need to remember that we are citizens of the community of God. That places us in the fellowship of believers, the koinōnía that the Scripture talks about. We are not just about succeeding ourselves, we need to be about making sure that the rest of the people that are around us are successful as well. We are interdependent upon each other, that’s why it’s telling us to strive together. That “striving together” was as if it was talking about a team, a sports team, that was all coordinated together, working together for the same goal—to win the match, to win the game.

Back in 2004, the NBA finals were taking place between two powerhouse teams, one was the Los Angeles Lakers, the other was the Detroit Pistons. The Lakers at that time had four guys on their roster that would eventually be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame—Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, Karl Malone, and Gary Payton were all part of the 2004 Lakers team. The Pistons, on the other hand, had zero players on their roster that would ever make it into the Basketball Hall of Fame. So, you would think that this finals would be completely lopsided. Obviously, the team with all of the Hall of Famers would demolish the team that had no Hall of Famers. Well, it was a lopsided series, but not in the direction you would think. The Lakers lost, four games to one, to a team that did not have any Hall of Fame players on it, and the reason was because they were a team that worked together for success. The Lakers—and I’m a Lakers fan—had prima donnas on their team, all wanted to be recognized, all wanted the limelight. They did not work together like the Pistons worked together.

Guys, we are the body of Christ, and we not only need to be concerned about our own success and our walk with the Lord, we need to be concerned about the success of the people that are around us right now. In fact, I want you to turn to the people around you and say to them, “I’m really concerned about you right now.” I hope you didn’t say that sarcastically, but I think what Paul is driving at is we have an obligation to each other. It’s not just about you, it’s not even just about your success as a Christian man or a woman. It also includes you desiring to see those that you fellowship with be successful in their walk with God.

Something that is important about that, too, and for a moment I want to address…I know all of you are here at church, those of you that I can see your faces, but there are other faces that are probably watching online right now. I know in many cases, those that watch online do so because they’re just not able to be here for one reason or another. They could be living too far away to attend our services. They could be sick at the time and normally would be here but instead they’re watching online tonight. Others maybe have transportation issues that prevent them from being able to get to church on a regular basis, so watching online is the next best thing.

I do think that it should be the exception and not the rule. Why? Because we need each other. We need one another in order to be encouraged, to be prayed for, to be built up, to be listened to, to be given godly counsel, to see examples around us of people that are living godly lives, and to be a part of their lives as well—you being an influence on them. We’re exhorted to do exactly that. In fact, in Hebrews 10, we’re told, “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together,” we shouldn’t forsake the assembly of God together, coming together as the body of Christ. Why? Because it’s our opportunity, as it says, “ . . . to stir up love and good works.” That is encouraging one another to live the life, to conduct yourselves in a manner that is worthy of the gospel that has saved our souls.

So, personal integrity, strength of conviction, unity in fellowship, and fourth, courage when opposed. We find that in verse 28, “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.” The first part of that verse says, “and not in any way terrified by your adversaries.” These Philippian believers were living at a time that there were many that were hostile to their Christian faith. The Christians were by far in the minority back at that time, and those who were not believers oftentimes were very critical, very hostile, to those that were now these followers of Christ, and it was going to get worse because in a manner of years the full-on outbreak of persecution against the Christian faith was going to be unleashed in Rome.

Not many years after the time that Paul actually wrote these words, Caesar Nero was going to unleash an intense persecution against Christians. There was an event that had taken place, he got very angry. He kind of flew into a rage at one point of his reign that triggered him to literally set his city on fire. That fire burned much of the city down, and when it was over, there were many people that were part of his own government that began pointing the finger at him, that he was to blame. In order for Caesar to deflect that blame off of himself, he chose to blame the Christians that lived in the community, “It’s the Christians’ fault that this happened.” That turned Rome against the Christian faith so that not only did Nero begin to persecute Christians to death, but many other citizens of Rome began to persecute Christians as well. He should’ve took the blame himself, but he deflected the blame onto the believers.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but that’s starting to happen now, surely not to the degree that Nero took it, but it seems like many of society’s ills today are now being blamed upon the Christian conservatives that we’re in the way of progress and that we’re holding things back, and we have twisted views and we’re full of hate. Have you noticed that? Many of us, I’m sure, we have. We as American believers haven’t really faced a lot of the persecution that believers in other parts of the world have had to contend with. But if it ever does come our way in a more intense way, we need to be prepared for it. One of the ways that we can walk worthy of the gospel is to have courage when we are opposed because even if we are opposed in simple ways, and sometimes in our lives it is very simple ways, sometimes we do cower, we pull back.

My wife works at a place that when she goes to work she brings a bag that has some of her belongings in it. On the side of the bag it says, “Jesus loves you.” In the employee’s space, she has to leave the bag there, so there’s hooks for employees to put their things on. She always places the bag with those words facing outward so that the other employees can see it, “Jesus loves you.” Well, oftentimes, when she goes back in to collect her bag, her bag is now faced the opposite direction. Somebody there does not want to see those words. It’s a little jab, a little way to say, “Knock it off. I don’t want to hear it.” Sometimes that’s the extent of the persecution that Christians here in the United States face, but it may not always be that way. The day may come when it gets more intense. Scripture seems to indicate that in latter days it will be that way. We need to be people of courage when we’re opposed.

The final point we find in verse 29, that is, faithful in suffering. “For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.” You know, suffering is a terrible word. None of us like it. It’s usually something that we try to avoid at all costs, and there’s definitely no place in the Scripture that we are encouraged to seek it out. If we can avoid suffering, we should avoid suffering; but the reality is that we’re not guaranteed a life that is free from suffering. In fact, oftentimes as Christians, it’s going to invite certain types of suffering that we wouldn’t otherwise face. In fact, this verse seems to indicate that because it doesn’t talk about just suffering in general, it specifically is mentioning suffering for His sake. It’s the type of suffering that we may have to go through for the sake of Christ.

What are we being called to do then? Endure that suffering with faithfulness, keeping our eyes on the Lord, staying faithful to Him, and not allow the suffering that we’re going through to maybe extinguish our faith or get us to compromise in other ways. We need to take Jesus’ words to heart because He told us up front, “If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.” If they hated Me, they’re going to hate you. “A servant is not greater than his master.” The way that they have treated Me, they are going to treat you, and so it will be.

What’s interesting about the way that it is worded here is it actually tells us, “For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.” Do you know what that word “granted” means? It’s to count it as a favor. Okay, now that’s tough. Count suffering as a favor? Do you know the disciples actually were able to do that. Back in the book of Acts, when they were proclaiming the message of the gospel, and people were turning their lives over to Christ, the religious leaders got angry about that, had them rounded up, had them arrested, had them beaten and then threatened them to never speak in the name of Jesus again. When they were released, it tells us that they went away rejoicing. Why? “ . . . that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for”—Christ’s sake. To them it was a blessing to be able to suffer for the name of Jesus.

That is a radical thought. It’s one thing to endure suffering, it’s another thing to rejoice in suffering. I like the way that the New Living Translation puts this same phrase. It says, “For you have been given the . . . privilege of suffering for him,” and the disciples thought it was a privilege as well. How could we possibly consider suffering a privilege? I will tell you, I don’t think there is any of us in here that would not count it a privilege to suffer for someone that we love with all of our heart. If you’ve ever had a child that was very sick and in pain, how many of you parents would not have happily and gladly taken the pain from them so that they could feel okay? If you’ve ever cared for an elderly parent who was suffering, how many of you have ever thought that you would gladly take what they were suffering through so that they could have relief and you would count it a privilege to do so?

You see, when the object is loved, suffering is a privilege, and it’s why the disciples could rejoice for suffering for the name of Jesus and why also I think that we as part of being worthy of the gospel. It’s also considering that we need to be faithful, if we’re ever called to suffer for the name of Jesus, that we would take it gladly. I think about the words of Job, a man who we all know was acquainted with suffering. He made statements like this, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” “The Lord gave, and the LORD has taken away; Blessed be the name of the LORD.”

There was a missionary by the name of David Livingston who went to Africa to bring the gospel to people that did not know Christ. He spent the bulk of his life there in Africa, and he loved much and he labored hard and made a lot of personal sacrifices to do so. There was one occasion after many years of serving there that he was asked about his personal sacrifices, “What personal sacrifices did you have to make in order to come serve the Lord here in Africa?” This was his response, “I never made a sacrifice. We ought not to talk of sacrifice when we remember the great sacrifice that He made who left His Father’s throne on high to give Himself for us.” What sacrifice are we really making when we consider what He sacrificed for us? If He could love us the way that He did, it should not be difficult to motivate us to live a life worthy of the gospel that brought us salvation.

So, we ought to live with integrity, have strength of conviction, be unified in our fellowship, have courage when opposed, and let’s be faithful in suffering. Amen?