Our message this evening comes from Philippians, Philippians chapter 1, verses 27 through 30. Philippians 1, I will begin reading at verse 12. Let's keep in mind that this is the word of the Lord. Now, I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly. It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this, I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will not turn out for my deliverance. What has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now, as always, Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know. I am torn between the two. I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far, but is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in faith. So that through my being with you, again, your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me. And now our text for this evening. Whatever happens, conduct yourself 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 one spirit, contending as one man in the faith, for the faith of the gospel, without 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. For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him. Since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have. Last weekend the young adults, or the young people, went on their annual winter retreat up into the Sequoias to Quaker Meadows. And it was a good retreat. We had excellent speakers. And there was a lot of snow, they had just had a storm. But one of the things I enjoy about going up there are the trees. And not just any trees. In this campground, there are giant sequoias that grow. And so we had the opportunity to hike to one of these giant sequoias and just stare up at the amazingness of God and His creation. These giant sequoias are amazing for multiple reasons. First of all, they're size. These trees grow to about 278 feet up into the sky. I was told before our service this evening that our sanctuary is about 85 feet long. So imagine three sanctuaries standing up on end, straight up into the air. The trunk of these trees is 102 feet around. So imagine 20 people holding hands in a circle and then they just barely be able to get around the base of this tree. But something that is even more amazing in the way that God created these trees is the fact that they grow in only about four feet of soil because four feet below the surface is solid granite. The way these trees stay standing is by interlocking their roots with each other. And so when the winter winds hit and their branches are heavy with snow, instead of toppling over, because they are intertwined with each other, they are able to stay standing. Because they are on the solid rock, because their roots are intertwined with each other, they're able to endure the storms. These trees provide an excellent example for our own lives, our own Christian walks with the Lord. They're an example of how we need to stand firm on the solid rock of the gospel, of how we need to unite with fellow believers in the gospel and endure suffering for the gospel. Our three points that we will consider this evening are living out the gospel, live out the gospel, unite in the gospel, and suffer for the gospel. And so our first point, live out the gospel. And in light of Cadet Sunday, I would encourage you all to scratch off, live out the gospel, and simply put living for Jesus. Because that's what this is about. Philippians 1, verse 27. Whatever happens, conduct yourself 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. What is this gospel that we are called to stand firm in? This gospel is the fact that Christ came and gave up himself for us, Christ lived a perfect life, was the perfect sacrifice, and died in our place. He was the perfect sacrifice. There is nothing that we can do to earn our salvation. There are no good things that we can do that will get us to heaven. Because Christ did it all. And we need to hold on to this fact because that is what we are solidly standing on top of. That is the gospel that Paul is telling these Philippians, stand firm in this. That in Christ you will have eternal life. But how do we live in a way that's worthy of the gospel? How do we go about living for Jesus? The city of Philippi was a Roman colony. But it was full of Roman citizens still. It was a place for Roman soldiers to go and retire. And it was also a place where there were active Roman soldiers because it was on the border of the Roman Empire at that time. It provided stability for the border. But these Philippians, who were living outside of Rome and a long way away from what they called home, still lived as Roman citizens. They still wanted to dress like Romans. They spoke Latin instead of Greek. They worshipped the Roman emperor. And they even followed the social trends that were going on in Rome, which included persecuting Christians. And Paul is writing this letter to these Philippians, and he's saying, conduct yourselves. And that word can also be translated, be a citizen. Live as a citizen of the gospel. Conduct yourself in a manner worthy of the gospel. These citizens of Philippi knew what it was like to be living as a Roman when you are away from Rome. And Paul is saying, live as a citizen of heaven, even though you are not in heaven yet. Conduct yourself in a manner worthy of the gospel. Live this out, and living this out will make you different. Just like being a Roman citizen in the city of Philippi made them different from all the people around them, so you need to live out the gospel in your own life, which will make you different. If you are standing firm in the gospel, if that is what is central to your life, then living your life out here will look different from those you come in contact with, from those that you interact with. But it is the only way to live because that is the only sound and solid foundation that you can root yourself into. Just like those sequoias grow on top of that solid granite, we need to be basing our lives on the solidness of the gospel of Christ. And we need to allow that to influence the way we live, to influence the way we talk with others. How we talk with our friends, how we conduct our business, the things that we do at school. But Paul is also reminding us and calling us to unite with each other. It's not just that we're lone rangers stationed on this rock all alone by ourselves in this world. Paul is calling us to unite with fellow believers, to unite with Christians. Philippians 1, verse 27 through 28. Then, whether I come and see you, or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for faith in the gospel. The ESV translates this verse like this. I may hear that I may hear that you are standing firm in one spirit with one mind striving side by side for faith in the gospel. Paul uses two different words to describe the unity that we as believers need to have. The unity that we as believers need to have with each other. First, we need to be united in the way we believe, in the way that we think. And second, we need to be united as one man in the way that we live out this gospel. And so first, what does it mean to be united in the way we think, in the way we believe? Paul says, stand firm in one spirit. Another way to say this is, I know that you are like-minded. I know that you believe the same thing. I know that Christ is central to your life. That you are standing firm on Christ. That he influences the way you live. He influences the way you act. And so unite with your fellow brothers and sisters in that. You are not alone in this. Unite. If we imagine a target, we can get at the heart of what Paul is saying here. Christ and his gospel for the Christian is the center of the target Christ is what is central are we united in that? that is what we're called to be united in but too often we let the things that are outside of the target become what is central. Too often, we let things divide us. We let things irritate us. Things that aren't central. And instead of uniting with our brothers and sisters in Christ, these little things, these little peripheral things, consume us, and they become what is central. On the one hand, we as Reformers have a tendency see, to major in the minors, to major in these little things. They're important things. They are even good things. We blow them out of proportion, and instead of uniting with our brothers and sisters in Christ, we build up walls and barriers and reject others because that has become our focus. But now we can also go to the other extreme. The world that we live in is a world that is preaching tolerance. You do it your way, I'll do it my way, we'll all just get along. Oh, you may believe that, but I believe this, and that's okay. Brothers and sisters, we can't go to the opposite stream of tolerating everything. Paul isn't calling us to be wimps that just tolerate everything and get along with everyone just for the sake of unity. The reason we are uniting with each other is because we have Christ as central. That's where our unity comes from. And when we have Christ as the center, we can unite in our actions. We're on the same page when it comes to our beliefs. We're on the same page when it comes to our understanding. And then we can move forward, contending as one man for faith in the gospel. The second kind of unity is the unity of action. We have the same mindset. We have the same goal. We are contending. We are fighting side by side. Imagine two soldiers who make up their minds to stay put in the middle of a battle, refusing to move no matter what. We are called to have the same kind of steadfastness when it comes to the gospel in our own lives. When it comes to being united with each other. When it comes to fighting against a common enemy. The Philippians would understand this message when Paul was writing it to them. It's a city full of retired soldiers. Retired soldiers who fought in the Roman style of fighting with their shields interlocked, marching forward. And we as Christians today are called to have the same steadfastness with each other as we contend for the gospel of Christ. And when we have this steadfastness, when we are united in mind and in action, we have nothing to fear. We can be fearless. Verse 28, Without 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 by God. When we have unity in Christ, and others are opposing what we believe, Others are opposing the steadfastness of the gospel. It's proof that they aren't going to last. Because we know that Christ has already won the victory. And by standing firm in him, we have won the victory in Christ. And when they want to be anti-Christ, anti-the gospel, it's proof that they aren't going to last. And so we have nothing to fear. When Christians are attacked, when people attack the gospel that is in us, that we are standing firm on, it is evidence that they will not last. We stand firm in Christ, living out his gospel, living for Jesus. We unite with each other in this gospel. And third, we suffer for the gospel. Philippians 1, verses 29 through 30. For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him. Since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, And now hear that I still have. Christians living in this world, Christians spreading the gospel, are going to face persecution. Not just persecution from the world out there, but also persecution from our sinful nature within us. We are being bombarded from all directions by forces that are trying to root out this gospel that is inside of us by forces that are trying to undermine the stability that we have in Christ the assurance that we have for salvation Paul is telling these believers you're going to suffer in the same way that you heard that I suffered Paul constantly faced persecution. If you turn in your Bibles to Philippians 3, verse 5 through 7, you'll see a list of how Paul was the perfect Jew. Circumcised on the eighth day from the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, in regard to the law, a Pharisee. He had it all going for him. Think of the person in your classrooms that gets straight A's. He was the perfect student. He was the perfect Jew. But that all changed on the Damascus Road. When Christ entered into his life. When he was transformed by the gospel. And all of a sudden, instead of being the star student in the temple, he was getting kicked out. instead of being the one with all the answers and the leader of the Pharisees, he was getting thrown into jail. He was getting chased out of town. He was being shipwrecked. He was getting arrested. And he was getting beaten. But in Acts 5, verse 41, we read about the apostles being thrown into prison, being led out by an angel, and then being beaten. But the apostles left the Sanhedrin rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the name. Whose name? Jesus Christ. They had been worthy to suffer for Christ. The early Christians that Paul is writing to, those Christians who are in the city of Philippi, are enduring suffering and Paul is trying to encourage them. earlier we mentioned how those philippians worshipped the roman emperor this butted heads with these christians who worshipped god alone these christians in philippi were being faced with legalistic jews who had a whole list of sacramental laws that they needed to keep in order to be right with god you need to be circumcised you need to go to the temple and they were trying to yoke these early Christians with a burden that was unnecessary because Christ had been the ultimate sacrifice. Within that culture there were also pagan sensualists who focused on the senses. If it feels good, do it. How can it be wrong if I like the way it feels? And these are butting heads with these Christians who are trying to follow God in every way and trying to follow his will. And on top of all this, within the body of believers in Philippi, there was conflict and there was strife and there was division. Paul is encouraging them to stand firm in the gospel, to unite with each other and to suffer for this gospel. This is our struggle today. The struggle that those Philippians had back then is the same thing that we are enduring today. Our technology and our entertainment tries to take us away from our attention on God. Tries to refocus our attention onto something else. The only time, not the only time, But our friends will question us when we come to worship. You're going to miss the game. You're not going to go on the ski retreat because you're going to church. You're not going to go to the ocean with us or you're not going to go to the beach with us because you have to go to church. And so the entertainment can become a God that takes our attention, that demands us to focus on it. We fight against the same kind of legalism. A good Christian does this and this and this and this and this. Okay, good, I did that, I did that, I did that. Well, I'm a good Christian. And we forget about what Christ has already done. We forget that Christ has paid the price. That Christ has earned our salvation for us. And instead of letting our obedience flow out of our love for Christ and what he has done, It just becomes a list of do's and don'ts. Something that undermines the gospel. Something that tries to take us off of that solid foundation that we have. We also live in a culture, if it feels good, do it. What's wrong with it if it makes me happy? Every billboard that we have, every commercial that we see on TV is about making me happy. about satisfying what I want. And we need to realize that we can only find our ultimate satisfaction in Christ. And we still deal with conflicts within the body of believers. We still deal with divisions between our brothers and our sisters in the Lord. And we're called to fight against that. We're called to endure the suffering. We're called to stay united with each other and stay firm in the gospel. But there is hope in spite of the suffering that we will endure. The sequoias that we've seen up at Quaker Meadows were covered with snow. They had had a snow storm the day before we got there. And as we were leaving, they were getting more snow. And all that snow adds weight and tons of pounds of snow onto these branches of these sequoias. And then the winds come. But yet these trees that are towering up into the sky stay standing. And that is evidence that they are on the solid rock and united with each other. In the same way, when we face suffering in our lives for being Christians, for standing firm and holding tight to the gospel, it's evidence that we have the gospel within us. It's evidence of our salvation. Another amazing thing about these trees is that their acorns or their pine cones don't grow until they're under extreme heat and pop open. And that extreme heat only comes from a forest fire that sweeps through the forest, burning away all the extra grass and the underbrush and leaving a clear and open space for these new seeds that have popped open to start growing a new tree. Suffering in the lives of believers is not a bad thing. Yes, it hurts. Yes, it's painful. But it's burning away all of the extras in our life. It's burning away all these extra things that are trying to distort the gospel, trying to add to it. And it's forcing us to stay firm and solid on the gospel alone, in Christ alone. James 1, verses 2 through 4. Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance and perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete not lacking anything in Matthew 5 verses 10 through 12 blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness for theirs is the kingdom of heaven blessed are you when people insult you persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me because of Christ rejoice and be glad because great is your reward in heaven for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you the Christian life is not easy we live in a sinful world that is constantly bombarding us constantly trying to distort the gospel and the hope that we have in Christ but we are not depending on our own strength we have the strength of the Lord he has already won salvation for us and our strength comes from him we're not doing this on our own God is giving us the strength that we need God has given us the gospel the hope of eternal life in him and so we stand firm in that living out the gospel we stay united with each other uniting in the gospel and we endure the suffering suffering for the gospel let's pray Father in heaven we come before you and we ask you to give us the strength we need give us the strength we need to stand firm in your gospel to live for Jesus in all that we do give us the strength we need oh Lord to unite with our brothers and sisters to stay strong together with them and to endure the suffering that we will encounter because of the gospel Lord we ask all of this in your precious name, Amen Thank you.