Worthy of the Gospel

In the book of Philippians, there is an interesting way that Paul explains what it means to live a life worthy of the gospel. He does this by giving four examples from 1:27-2:30 of what a lifestyle worthy of the gospel looks like. These four examples have different things emphasized and show people living out Christian principles in their lives.  When we look at what things are happening in the world today, we need to look to how we are living examples of Christ to bring honor to Christ as Paul sought to do in Philippians 1:20.

In Philippians 1:27-30 we have the first example of how we should live our lives worthy of the gospel through steadfastness. When we look at what that meant to Paul, we can see that he was not talking about being an angry loner who only looked to themselves, but to strive “together for the faith of the gospel.” Paul was in prison at the time that he wrote this letter, but he still understood that the people of Philippi would face some of the same persecutions that he faced. He knew that they would have difficulty facing these things by themselves, but together they would be able to overcome the things that they faced. This is no different today, even though our enemy may not be the same as it was for the people of Philippi, we still face judgment from people for the things that we try and stand for. The best illustration of why we need to strive together comes from Ecclesiastes 4:12, “Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” We are stronger together than we are if we are fighting each other

The next example that Paul gives is that we need to be humble much like Christ was humble in Philippians 2:1-11. Paul knew that the Philippians believed that Christ was God in the flesh so he showed them that even though Jesus was God, he did not desire to hold onto equality with God, but took the form of a slave (that is what the word translated bondservant or servant means) and chose obedience to God no matter what it cost him physically. Through this humility, God exalted Jesus. When we look to ourselves, we need to be humble and put God above ourselves and our desires. This goes even further to the point of looking who all Jesus put before himself. He washed the Apostles’ feet even though he was their teacher. We too need to put others before ourselves if we are to live a life worthy of the Gospel.

Paul then shows the people of Philippi themselves as an example of living worthy of the Gospel in Philippians 2:12-16. He reminds them of how they had acted when Paul was there teaching them the things that they needed to know to be the people of God. They need to “work out their own salvation with fear and trembling.” This is explained when Paul tells them to be “children of God in a crooked and perverse generation” which is telling as to how they work out their salvation. We too need to hold fast to the “word of life.”

The final example that Paul gives us is himself, Timothy and Epaphroditus. Paul shows that they are all examples of people living a life worthy of the gospel because of their sacrificial attitude, like-mindedness, and humility. Paul was willing to sacrifice things for the people of the church, Timothy was humble and like-minded when it came to serving, and Epaphroditus was humble and willing to help Paul when he needed it. We need to be like these examples and work together to show ourselves worthy of the gospel that we teach others.